SATURDAY 23 DECEMBER 2017

SAT 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b01pgjyc)
A Little Twist of Dahl, The NeckA series of stories by Roald Dahl
Episode 5: Neck
Charles Dance leads the cast as the urbane Storyteller in dramatisations of five classic tales by Roald Dahl. Bizarre and amusing by turns, these black comedies are justly famous for their surprise endings.
The stories show Dahl at the height of his powers as a writer of adult fiction. They are stylishly plotted, vividly characterised and made unforgettable by their breezy cynicism, presenting as they do, a hilariously bleak view of family life. Their satisfying conclusions invariably leave bullies, schemers, adulterers and frauds soundly punished.
In Neck, Sir Basil Turton, a wealthy newspaper magnate, has recently taken a young wife. Bossy and openly adulterous, the new Lady Turton is despised by Jelks, Sir Basil's butler, for her cruel treatment of his master. One morning she is openly frolicking with her latest lover in the grounds of the estate, when, for a joke, she sticks her head through a hole in one of Sir Basil's priceless Henry Moore sculptures. When she finds she is stuck, Sir Basil with Jelks' assistance, must decide on a course of action.
Produced and directed by David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:15 Charles Dickens - Tales of the Supernatural (b0729ggy)
The Queer ChairToo many glasses of punch and Tom feels the queer chair in the room of his inn turn on him. Read by Adrian Scarborough.
Extracted from 'The Pickwick Papers', the first of Dickens major novels, written in 1836 when he was just 24.
The last of a series of five tales of the supernatural by Charles Dickens.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b06s9d1h)
Series 21, Fairytale of New YorkThe tragi-comic tale of love gone sour and shattered dreams eloquently depicted in the Christmas classic Fairytale of New York is the focus of this edition of Soul Music. James Fearnley, pianist with The Pogues recounts how the song started off as a transatlantic love story between an Irish seafarer missing his girl at Christmas before becoming the bittersweet reminiscences of the Irish immigrant down on his luck in the Big Apple, attempting to win back the woman he wooed with promises of 'cars big as bars and rivers of gold'.
Gaelic footballer Alisha Jordan came to New York to play football aged 17 from County Meath in Ireland. Despite being dazzled by the glamour and pace of New York City, she missed her family and friends and stencilled the words 'Fairytale of New York' on her apartment wall as an affirmation of her determination to make the most of her new life in the city. When she was later attacked on the street by a stranger, the words came to signify her battle to recover and not to
let the horrific facial injuries she suffered defeat her or her ambition to captain her football team.
Rachel Burdett posted the video of the song onto her friend Michelle's social media page to let her know she was thinking of her and praying for her safe return when Michelle went missing suddenly one December. Stories of redemption and of a recognition that Christmas is often not the fairytale we are sold, told through a seasonal favourite.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
SAT 01:00 Paul Temple (b01460dn)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which Sir Gilbert ExplainsEpisode 3 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of 'Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery' aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, 'Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery' and 'Paul Temple and Steve'.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of 'A Case for Paul Temple', in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'.
Episode 3: In Which Sir Gilbert Explains
Steve has ulterior motives when she makes an appointment with Madame de Briac, one of Mayfair's most fashionable hairdressers.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Mary ELIZA LANGLAND
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Captain O'Hara ROBIN LAING
Sir Gilbert Dryden MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
SAT 01:30 Friends through Thick and Thin (b019rqgz)
An exploration of female friendship through the moving stories of three sets of friends - when times are tough it's often friendships which sustain. This programme tells the story of three female friendships which have weathered the years. In a tie-in with Woman's Hour, we asked listeners to send their stories.
We hear from Jean and June, who first met in the ladies' at work 65 years ago; they started a business together, lived on a boat, then started a commune with husband and son and mother in tow; now, they are living next door to each other - widowed, with each other as company.
The second couple, Geraldine and Catherine, also built a business - but as it became more and more successful, the strains started to show. There was a rift, and then a rupture which lasted ten years. They tell the story of how and why they came back together.
Finally, we hear the extraordinary story of the most precious gift one friend can give another. Sue and Sarah were old friends; when Sarah's kidney began to fail, Sue decided the obvious thing was to donate one of hers. Sarah refused. Sue persisted, for two years. She won, the operation was a success, but how did it affect their relationship?
Through these stories we explore the complexity of female friendship: intimacy vs possessiveness; support vs competition. There's lots of affectionate bickering, and some music from Judy Garland.
Following on from this programme, a special edition of Woman's Hour will explore the psychology of female friendship from childhood through to old age.
Producers: Elizabeth Burke and Kim Normanton
A Loftus Audio production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:00 Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day (b07h1gyj)
Evening, WeymouthStevens finally meets Miss Kenton, but the event makes him question the worthiness of his life's work. Read by John Moffatt. From February 1990.
SAT 02:15 A Cause for Caroling (b03lsdg6)
Ring in the NewJeremy Summerly concludes his history of the carol in Britain pondering the success of new carols over the last century. While King's College, Cambridge organist Stephen Cleobury insures a supply of newly commissioned carols for his massive international audience Jeremy wonders whether the popular songs from Berlin's 'White Christmas' to Slade's 'Merry Christmas' don't help sustain a more genuine caroling tradition.
He also recalls his own first experience of carols at Lichfield cathedral where John Rutter's 'Shepherd's Pipe Carol' was an astonishing discovery for the eager young chorister.
And Jeremy also ponders the continued appeal of the carol and why, while it's been in decline throughout its history, it continues to thrive.
Series Description:
The Christmas carol is as popular now as it was when carolers celebrated the birth of Edward III in 1312. Back then the carol was a generic term for a song with its roots in dance form, nowadays only the strictest scholar would quibble with the fact that a carol is a Christmas song.
But the journey the carol has taken is unique in music history because each shift in the story has been preserved in the carols that we sing today. Go to a carol concert now and you're likely to hear folk, medieval, mid-victorian and modern music all happily combined. It's hard to imagine that happening in any other situation.
In these programmes Jeremy Summerly follows the carol journey through the Golden age of the Medieval carol into the troubled period of Reformation and puritanism, along the byways of the 17th and 18th century waits and gallery musicians and in to the sudden explosion of interest in the carol in the 19th century. It's a story that sees the carol veer between the sacred and secular even before there was any understanding of those terms. For long periods the church, both catholic and protestant, was uneasy about the virility and homespun nature of carol tunes and carol texts. Nowadays many people think that church music is defined by the carols they hear from Kings College Cambridge.
He traces the folk carol in and out of church grounds, the carol hymn, the fuguing carol and the many other off-shoots, some of which survive to this day and many others which languish unloved but ready for re-discovery.
It's a journey full of song describing the history of a people who needed expression for seasonal joy in the coldest, hardest time of the year. And however efficient the heating system may be, the carol still generates warmth. Much of that is to do with the positive nostalgia of this music.
That nostalgia is in part due to the fact that carols are one of the first kinds of song children actually sing rather than hear. Many favourite carols were actually written for Children; Once in Royal David's City the most familiar example. Another factor is the concentration in the texts on the humanity of nativity with tunes garnered from the uninhibited world of folk song and ballad.
The series title is taken from a Thomas Hardy poem in which he ponders of a Darkling Thrush why it should chose to sing - 'so little cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound' - is the question asked. THis series is an attempt to answer why Carols remain so popular and familiar to so many. In fact Hardy himself, in his first novel Under The Greenwood Tree, went some way to answering his own question when he described the Mellstock Quire singing at Midnight on Christmas Eve:
'Then passed forth into the quiet night an ancient and time worn hymn, embodying a quaint Christianity in words orally transmitted from father to son through several generations down to the present characters, who sang them out right earnestly."
Jeremy brings the series up to date with the story of the famous Nine Lessons and Carols service broadcast by the BBC since the 1920s but born originally in Truro. It's a service that commands a worldwide audience measured in many millions, but as Jeremy concludes it has left an imbalance in the appreciation of our caroling tradition, a tradition that has always had one foot in the pub and another in the choir stalls.
Producer:Tom Alban.
SAT 02:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09jn2bl)
Episode 15Edith is driven to extreme measures by Dombey's attempts to control her. Stars Robert Glenister and Helen Schlesinger. From December 2007.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b06r88pp)
Alive, Alive Oh! And Other Things That Matter, A Life of LuxuriesStephanie Cole reads from Diana Athill's essay collection.
Written from the vantage point of her great age, Athill's writing is honest, cheering and thought-provoking. In "A Life of Luxuries", she looks back on the things that have brought her simple pleasure through the different stages of her long life.
Photo credit: Mark Crick
Read by Stephanie Cole
Written by Diana Athill
Abridged and Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.
SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b008ncs3)
Edith Wharton - The Age of Innocence, Episode 2Despite Newland's recent marriage to May, he is still consumed by thoughts of Ellen Olenska. Dramatisation of Edith Wharton's novel starring Ryan McCluskey. From January 2008.
SAT 04:00 The Motion Show (b0075wtm)
Series 2, Episode 3Dr Phil Hammond chairs the debating game with Tony Hawks, Simon Fanshawe, Steve Punt and Arthur Smith. From January 2000.
SAT 04:30 After Henry (b00fzc3s)
A Week of Sundays"It seemed a bit sad that we weren't doing the full Christmas bit this year, and I thought maybe it'd be a good idea if we had our own little Christmas lunch on Sunday..."
Sarah bickers with daughter Clare and mother Eleanor bicker over their festive planning.
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, Gerry Cowper as Clare, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell and Alan Thompson as the Customer.
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 December 1985.
SAT 05:00 Capital Gains (b007rq8b)
Series 1, Capital ReturnHome at last, how will Julius Hutch come to terms with the bank that made him rich? Can he set himself up to live happily ever after?
Starring Peter Jones as Julius Hutch.
With Celestine Randall as Mrs Pauline Tone, Justine Midda as Kate, Peter Whitman as Peter Fang, Jeffrey Wickham as Sexton Lewis and Collin Johnson as the News Reader.
Scripted by Collin Johnson.
Producer: Andy Jordan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1995.
SAT 05:30 Jeeves Live (b09jc26h)
Series 3, Jeeves and the Yule-Tide SpiritMartin Jarvis performs the second of two beloved Jeeves stories by P G Wodehouse in front of an enthusiastic, invited audience at the Riverhouse Barn Theatre, Walton on Thames in Surrey.
In Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit, Martin - as Bertie Wooster - recounts his visit to a Christmas Eve house party. There's seasonal high-jinks as Bertie's rival, Tuppy Glossop, is also a guest. Bertie is smitten with attractive Roberta Wickham. Jeeves doesn't approve. Old scores must be settled in the dead of night, involving a darning needle and a punctured hot-water bottle. But will things go according to plan? Ask Jeeves!
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 Agatha Christie (b007jwwc)
The Pale HorseCan death be brought about by remote control? Historian Mark Easterbrooke discovers that witchcraft and black magic can induce a terrifying series of events.
First published in 1961, Agatha Christie's classic thriller dramatised by Michael Bakewell.
Stars Jeremy Clyde as Mark Easterbrooke, Stephanie Cole as Ariadne Oliver, Terence Alexander as Mr Venables, Mary Wimbush as Thyrza Grey, Hilda Schroder as Bella, Stephen Hodson as Jim Corrigan, Jonathan Adams as Inspector Lejeune and Federay Holmes as Ginger.
Jill Graham as Sybil, Jillie Meers as Rhoda Despard and John Evitts as Colonel Despard, John Fleming as Zachariah Osborne, John Baddeley as Bradley, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Hermia, Philip Anthony as Rev. Calthrop and John Church as Soames-White.
Matthew Morgan as Ardingly, Teresa Gallagher as Poppy and Keith Drinkel as Father Gorman, David Thorpe as Mike, Mike Hudson as Eileen Brandon, Melinda Walker as Mrs Tuckerton, Diana Payan as Mrs Coppins, Sandra James Young as Mrs Davis and Kate Binchy as Mrs Gerahty.
Originally aired to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Night Theatre.
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SAT 07:30 Neil Tennant's Smash Hits Christmas (b01pcs5s)
Neil Tennant had a life as a journalist before he became famous as a Pet Shop Boy. In fact, it was on a Smash Hits trip to New York that he had his big breakthrough with the record producer Bobby O.
Here, 30 years after his first stint on pop's most successful and inventive magazine, Neil recalls the golden days of Smash Hits.
We hear from founder and legendary magazine maker Nick Logan, editors David Hepworth and Mark Ellen, writers Miranda Sawyer and Sylvia Patterson, and from regular Smash Hits cover girl, Toyah.
We also sample a rare recording from the 1982 Christmas Flexidisc (a message from the stars) and probably Neil Tennant's first recording - the music for a trailer advertising Smash Hits stickers.
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio Ltd. production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b09jvgph)
Bing Crosby MeetsKen Barnes - Bing Crosby's record producer - explores how this beloved American crooner also maintained a high profile radio career. One out of four Americans tuned into his Kraft Music Hall.
For 30 years, Bing Crosby was the King of Radio, hosting over 4000 broadcasts - including singing and speaking with stars like Louis Armstrong, Groucho Marx, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Hope.
Producer: Caroline Barbour
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SAT 09:00 Michael Palin's Radio Adventures (b09jvgpk)
In a completely different broadcast from London's Radio Theatre John McCarthy meets with Michael Palin to celebrate the actor-adventurer's remarkable life and career as heard on BBC radio.
Michael Palin has been a Python, a world traveller, author, actor and screenwriter, and often described as "Britain's Nicest Man". However one area which is often overlooked from his long and impressive career are his fascinating radio contributions.
In this programme we hear extracts from his mighty canon of work including his famous diaries, interviews about his comedy and travel work, documentaries about mental illness and dramas. We also hear rare footage of the time he tried his hand as a BBC disc jockey, his charity work and a hilarious pythonesque local radio broadcast from a taxi rank.
Recorded in front an enthusiastic audience the celebration features contributions from comedians Barry Cryer and John Finnermore, broadcasters Paul Gambaccini and John Waite and throughout we discover Palin's love for radio as we hear a treasure trove of archives on an eclectic mix of subjects and plenty memories of Monty Python.
Producer: Stephen Garner
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in December 2017.
SAT 12:00 Sid and Dora (b04vd29z)
From 25/12/1965Celebrating Christmas doesn't quite go to plan for Sid and Dora Edge. Starring Sid James and Dora Bryan. With Pat Coombs and Derek Lanyon.
Incidental music by Jack Emblow
Script by Eddie Maguire
Produced by John Browell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1965.
SAT 12:30 The 99p Challenge (b0075w2m)
Series 4, Episode 1Crazy panel show capers as host Sue Perkins grills Simon Pegg, Armando Iannucci, Bill Bailey and David Quantick.
The game where someone stands to leave the studio 99p richer than when they came in.
Producer: David Tyler
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2003.
SAT 13:00 Jon Canter - Holmes and Watford (Omnibus) (b09jvks7)
Two village policewomen - one seeks to keep the peace but the other yearns for excitement. Stars Jessica Ransom and Susan Wokoma. Omnibus.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b09jvks9)
Sarah DunantSarah Dunant picks Frank Sinatra's 'You Make Me Feel So Young' and Palestrina's 'Surge illuminare Jerusalem' performed by Musica Secreta.
SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b048jck2)
Lord LawsonNigel Lawson reflects on a high profile political life and keeping feelings private. With Dr Anthony Clare. From September 1988.
Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare's in depth interviews with prominent people from different walks of life.
Born in Dublin, author Anthony held a doctorate in medicine, a master's degree in philosophy and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. After becoming a regular on BBC Radio 4's Stop the Week in the 1980s, he became Britain's best-known psychiatrist and earned his own vehicle, In the Psychiatrist's Chair.
Starting in 1982, this series ran until 2001 and also transferred to TV. Series highlights include conversations with Bob Monkhouse, Cecil Parkinson and Gerry Adams.
Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b09jvgph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Agatha Christie (b007jwwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Neil Tennant's Smash Hits Christmas (b01pcs5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Vanessa Rosenthal - The Drover's Path (b0076q43)
Based on a real-life family history, a chilling ghost story set on a remote Yorkshire sheep farm in 1890.
Vanessa Rosenthal's spooky drama stars Jeff Hordley as John, Malcolm Hebden as Percy, Kenneth Alan Taylor as Robert, Ellanne Byrne as Ellen, Matthew Lewney as Arthur, Catherine Jenkins as Young Ellen and Oliver Hudson as Young John.
Signature tune: Wench All
Directed at BBC Manchester by Polly Thomas.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005.
SAT 19:00 Michael Palin's Radio Adventures (b09jvgpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Old Harry's Game (b00wqfn8)
Christmas Special, Christmas SpiritSatan decides to ban Christmas in Hell.
Two-parter written by and starring Andy Hamilton.
With Annette Crosbie as Edith, Robert Duncan as Scumspawn, Jimmy Mulville as Thomas.
And Felicity Montagu, Nick Revell, Philip Pope and Michael Fentons Stevens.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
SAT 22:30 The Shuttleworths (b0075t54)
Shuttleworth ShowtimeSinger-songwriter John Shuttleworth holds a Christmas Party at his house in Sheffield.
Janet le Roe (Paula Kit) comes to the door with a card for John and the family and Mary serves her Christmas lunch. The wandering bard, Hovis Presley, sits down with John over some poetic thoughts for Christmas and a mince pie.
Jo Brand tries to make Mary merry and Bonnie Tyler drops by for a game of Buckeroo and agrees to sing a duet.
Script writer: Michael Redmond. Produced by Paul Schlesinger.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in December 1994.
SAT 23:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01h77ln)
Series 2, Episode 2Sony Award-winning comedian Tom Wrigglesworth performs another of his open letters. This week Tom turns his attentions to the low-cost airline industry, as he asks whether they are all they are cracked up to be. And whether, if he does enough online check-in, he can legitimately claim to be part-time staff and get an invite to the Christmas do.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth, James Kettle and Miles Jupp.
Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.

SUNDAY 24 DECEMBER 2017

SUN 00:00 Vanessa Rosenthal - The Drover's Path (b0076q43)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Jon Canter - Holmes and Watford (Omnibus) (b09jvks7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b09jvks9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b048jck2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Archive on 4 (b09jvgph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Agatha Christie (b007jwwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Neil Tennant's Smash Hits Christmas (b01pcs5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (Omnibus) (b09jxgds)
Episode 3Harriet Carker tries to appeal to her brother's better nature.
Originally published in monthly parts from 1846, Charles Dickens's novel appeared in one volume in 1848. Adapted in 20 parts by Mike Walker.
Charles Dickens.......................Alex Jennings
Dombey..................................Robert Glenister
Florence..................................Abigail Hollick
Edith.......................................Helen Schlesinger
Mr Carker...............................Adrian Lukis
Captain Cuttle.........................Trevor Peacock
Mrs Brown..............................Geraldine James
Mrs Skewton...........................Fenella Fielding
Alice.......................................Claire Rushbrook
Feenix....................................Bertie Carvel
Susan.....................................Nadine Marshall
Harriet....................................Katy Cavanagh
Toots......................................Sam Pamphilon
Other parts played by Lloyd Thomas, Ben Crowe and Judith Jones.
Music by Nicolai Abrahamsen.
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
SUN 07:15 Maeve Binchy - Christmas Present (b06sqq25)
A young boy spots a simple way of showing three generations of a family the true magic of Christmas Day. Read by Hannah Gordon. From December 1995.
SUN 07:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
Series 10, My Kinda TownEpisode One - My Kind Of Town
Clare gets involved with a devious TV producer who's making a documentary about the Sparrowhawk estate. Brian has gone on a fitness kick and joined a men's group, which is threatened by the arrival of a new member.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Alexandra Smith.
SUN 08:00 Much Binding in the Marsh (b018zl22)
From 01/12/1953Stop Press! The staff of 'The Weekly Bind' newspaper visits a Christmas novelty factory.
Stars Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham and Sam Costa.
Scripted by Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne.
With the BBC Men's Chorus and BBC Variety Orchestra: Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet.
Producer: Leslie Bridgmont
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1953.
SUN 08:30 Spike Milligan (b04vdhcy)
The GPO ShowSpike Milligan delivers first class fun to Postmaster General Tony Benn and General Post Office staff.
A seasonal Goon's-eye view of Operation Mailbag in full swing at London's Mount Pleasant sorting office scripted by Spike Milligan.
With Harry Secombe, John Bluthal, Barry Humphries, Bob Todd and Gary Miller.
Music from the Grand Piano Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet.
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1964.
SUN 09:00 Laurie Lee - Village Christmas (Omnibus) (b09jxgdv)
A new collection of the author's writings about the traditions of his homes in Slad, in the Cotswolds, and in London. Read by Derek Jacobi.
SUN 10:10 The Listening Project (b085bfyx)
Graham and Lisa - Where Angels WalkFi Glover introduces a conversation between a Buddhist Father Christmas and a Baptist chaplain about how they spend Christmas morning in the hospice. Another 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 (b09jxnbn)
Absent Friends, Peter Sallis4 Extra Debut. From Fats Waller to Beethoven. Last of the Summer Wine's Peter Sallis and his castaway choices. With Kirsty Young. From May 2009.
SUN 11:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b09k85pj)
Series 6, Holiday SpecialTrue stories told live in the USA: Sarah Austin Jenness presents tales of people's experiences during the last month of the year.
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 11:50 Inheritance Tracks (b09k85pn)
Roberto BenigniFilm director and actor Roberto Benigni inherits 'Casta Diva' sung by Maria Callas and passes on 'Azzurro' by Adriano Celentino.
SUN 12:00 Leslie Bricusse - Scrooge: The Musical (b09k85pv)
"Bah! Humbug!" Can a host of ghosts change Ebenezer Scrooge's mind about Christmas?
Starring Anthony Newley in the title role, with Stratford Johns and Barry Howard.
Recorded at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.
Based on the film of Charles Dickens's 1843 story 'A Christmas Carol, this stage musical was first performed in Birmingham in 1993. Book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.
With Garth Beardsley, Christina Thornton, Geoff Steer. Michael McLean, John Fleming, Dudley Owen, Dermot McLaughlin, Joy Graham, Julie Armstrong, Angie Smith, Martin Hibbert, Zoe Curlett, Catharine Duncan, Jennie Dale, Vivian Davies, Lisa Joanne Cook and Gary Milner.
Director: Tudor Davies
Musical Director: David Beer
Producer: John Langridge
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1994.
SUN 14:30 Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Opliphant Is Completely Fine (Omnibus) (b09k85px)
Episode 2With her thoughts still on an ageing rocker, Eleanor lets the bubbles go to her head partying with Raymond. Read by Tracy Wiles.
SUN 15:45 The Snowman (b0075zpl)
From pagan times to contemporary creations, a look at the myths and history surrounding the figure of the snowman. From December 2000.
SUN 16:00 Saturday Drama (b09k8hp4)
The Red ShoesThis dark tale collected by Hans Christian Andersen is reimagined for radio by Frances Byrnes and stars Lizzy Watts as the teenage Karen whose vanity and skittishness compel her to demand a forbidden pair of red shoes. But as she had been warned on countless occasions, the red shoes are so imbued with sin and lasciviousness that they utterly destroy her both spiritually and corporally. In so doing, this version of The Red Shoes shirks none of Anderson's ruthlessness or darkness. Fairytale this may be but its bleak warning against wanton behaviour under threat of a violent and bloody demise, holds nothing back from young and old alike.
In The Red Shoes is reimagined for Radio by Frances Byrnes.
The Red Shoes was directed in Belfast by Eoin O'Callaghan.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b09k8q28)
What the Donkey Saw: UA Fanthorpe's Christmas PoemsPoet Daljit Nagra revisits BBC radio's poetry archive with 'What the Donkey Saw' - UA Fanthorpe's Christmas poems.
Starting in 1972, UA Fanthorpe wrote a Christmas poem every year. Sheila Hancock reads a selection, with an introduction by UA's partner, Rosie Bailey, who designed and printed the cards they sent.
Fanthorpe was witty, original, and she reworked the Christmas story from quirky angles. These were so popular with recipients that a collection was published.
Featuring some of those on this very special poetical Christmas card list, including Carol Ann Duffy, Lawrence Sail and Jackie Kay. For them receiving the poem was important - a funny but thoughtful beginning to Christmas.
Producer: Julian May
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
SUN 17:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Charles Dickens (b09k8r00)
The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a SextonA less than merry grave-digger is persuaded to change his ways.
Ralph Richardson stars in this tale from 'The Pickwick Papers' by Charles Dickens.
Music composed and conducted by Christopher Whelen.
Goblins: The Ambrosian Singers.
Adapted and produced by Charles Lefeaux.
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in December 1962.
SUN 18:30 Michael Robson - The Spirit of the House (b09k8q2f)
Dick and Alison retire after 30 years in the Far East, to realise their dream of an English home.
On Christmas Eve, however, this dream becomes a nightmare without end...
Michael Robson's ghostly drama stars Bernard Brown as Dick Lennox, Sheila Grant as Alison Lennox, Norman Bird as Wedderburn, David Goodland as George Evans, Carole Boyd as Daphne Evans and lan Dudley as the Reverend Colet.
Director: Gerry Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1988.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b09k85pj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:50 Inheritance Tracks (b09k85pn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:50 today]
SUN 20:00 Laurie Lee - Village Christmas (Omnibus) (b09jxgdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 The Listening Project (b085bfyx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b09jxnbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Cabin Pressure (b012x12f)
Series 3, St PetersburgWritten by John Finnemore.
Some vodka and an unwary bird could spell the end of the line for MJN Air and when Carolyn meets her ex-husband the atmosphere turns even icier.
With special guest Timothy West
Cast:
Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ..... Stephanie Cole
1st Officer Douglas Richardson ..... Roger Allam
Capt. Martin Crieff ..... Benedict Cumberbatch
Arthur Shappey ..... John Finnemore
Gordon Shappey ..... Timothy West
Tommo ..... Paul Shearer
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for the BBC.
SUN 23:00 Tim Key's Christmas Poetry Programme (b06sddm9)
Tim Key has pulled out all the stops for his Christmas special - he's hired a stable, a cow and a set of sleigh bells for his long suffering musician, Tom Basden. He also has a fist-full of festive poems ready for recital. But no amount of yuletide joy can hide Tom's despair at having to work on Christmas day.
Written by Tim Key
Produced by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.
SUN 23:30 Jelly Mountain (b00fkp5z)
Episode 3A visit to the circus heralds arcane amusements. Songs and stories from Ivor Cutler, with Craig Murray-Orr. From May 1996.
SUN 23:45 Don't Start (b06vc3sg)
Series 3, ChristmasWhat do long term partners really argue about? The third series of Frank Skinner's sharp comedy. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson.
In this episode, our loving couple, Neil and Kim, spend a harrowing Christmas Day together.
The first and second series of Don't Start met with instant critical and audience acclaim:
"That he can deliver such a heavy premise for a series with such a lightness of touch is testament to his skills as a writer and, given that the protagonists are both bookworms, he's also permitted to use a flourish of fine words that would be lost in his stand-up routines." Jane Anderson, Radio Times
"Frank Skinner gives full rein to his sharp but splenetic comedy. He and his co-star Katherine Parkinson play a bickering couple exchanging acerbic ripostes in a cruelly precise dissection of a relationship." Daily Mail
"...a lesson in relationship ping-pong..." Miranda Sawyer, The Observer
Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Each week, our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint. Each week, the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses. Underneath the cutting wit, however, there is an unmistakable tenderness.
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 25 DECEMBER 2017

MON 00:00 Charles Dickens (b09k8r00)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:30 Michael Robson - The Spirit of the House (b09k8q2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (Omnibus) (b09jxgds)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Maeve Binchy - Christmas Present (b06sqq25)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Opliphant Is Completely Fine (Omnibus) (b09k85px)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 The Snowman (b0075zpl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Saturday Drama (b09k8hp4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b09k8q28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Paul Temple (b014gclv)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which Sir Graham Is SurprisedEpisode 4 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery and Paul Temple and Steve.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of A Case for Paul Temple, in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'...
Episode 4: In Which Sir Gilbert is Surprised
A dead man's watch chain leads Paul and Steve to the San Chow, one of London's leading Chinese restaurants.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Sir Gilbert Dryden MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Layland ROBIN LAING
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
MON 06:30 An Alternative Christmas (b01p70p6)
In An Alternative Christmas, Reverend Richard Coles is on a mission to compile a playlist full of songs that were recorded for Christmas but have mostly been unplayed and forgotten, until now.
The programme starts with a pair of uplifting Christmas sermons that were originally advertised in the December 17th, 1927 edition of the Chicago Defender: Rev. J.M. Gates' "Will The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus?" and "Did you spend Christmas Day in jail?". There were plenty of Christmas sermons in the 1920's and 1930's when recorded sermons, many which were sung and performed with a blues guitar, rivalled blues in popularity among black audiences.
We'll hear other songs and the stories behind them, such as Santa's Rap Party, a favourite hidden Christmas treasure of Radio 1 DJ, Huw Stephens.
Rev Coles finds someone on a similar mission to him. Andy Cirzan is the longtime vice president of concerts at Jam Productions in Chicago. He's searched high and low to add to his own collection of wildly obscure Christmas recordings for his own playlist for more than a quarter of a century. He plays Richard some of his treasured recordings from the 50's and 60's, including the cold war era's 'Santa Miss Those Missiles' and the dark Christmas track, 'There is No Sanity Claus II', with its references to guns, missiles and napalm.
Music critic and recent Christmas album curator Pete Paphides also shares his well stocked alternative Christmas record box.
Producer: Jo Meek
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 07:00 Winston (b007s165)
Winston Comes to Town, Easy to LoveOld rogue Winston's new-found wealth goes to his head - but what's to be done about Father?
Peter Tinniswood's bawdy comedy serial stars Bill Wallis as Winston, Maurice Denham as Father, Shirley Dixon as Nancy, Liz Goulding as Rosie and Christian Rodska as William.
Director: Shaun MacLoughlin.
First broadcast on BBC Radio in January 1990.
MON 07:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b09jcnfb)
Series 68, Episode 6Back for a second week at the New Theatre in Hull, regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Miles Jupp and John Finnemore with Jack Dee in the chair. Piano accompaniment is provided by Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
MON 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jqps)
Hancock's Happy ChristmasThe festive spirit is in short supply at 23 Railway Cuttings. Then the vicar arrives...
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams.
Children: Michael Anderson and Dorothy Marks.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed and conducted by Wally Stott.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1956.
MON 08:30 Dad's Army (b007jqxp)
Series 3, High FinanceCaptain Mainwaring realises Corporal Jones's money troubles involve the whole platoon.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges, Frank Williams as the Vicar and Pearl Hackney as Mrs Pike.
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 July 1976.
MON 09:00 The 99p Challenge (b06sqn7w)
Series 4, Episode 6Crazy panel show capers as host Sue Perkins grills Armando Iannucci, Simon Pegg, Marcus Brigstocke and Jon Holmes.
The game where someone stands to leave the studio 99p richer than when they came in.
Producer: David Tyler
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2003.
MON 09:30 Living with Betty (b09k8sy0)
Series 1, Episode 6Betty's ex-husband turns up unexpectedly and Bill is concerned.
The East End meets Cheshire in Arline Whittaker's six-part sitcom.
Stars Barbara Windsor as Betty, Peter Sallis as Harold, Glynn Edwards as Bill, Rosalind Knight as Muriel, Simon Molloy as Trevor, Diana Mather as Katherine and Chris Ellison as Vince.
Producer: Mike Craig
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1986.
MON 10:00 Joe Mahon - A Christmas Story (b09k8v2y)
"Molly's mind raced round the house. The back door was shut and bolted, as was the front door. All the windows were closed and tightly locked, even the fanlight.
She looked at the fireplace. The fire was nearly out. Well, if he could get down the chimney then he really was supernatural...."
Jo Mahon's festive story stars Michael Gormely as Joe and Sheila McGibbon as Miss Kincaid.
With Maureen Gallagher as the narrator.
Producer: Maureen Gallagher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1985.
MON 10:30 Max Hillman - Christmas Shopping (b0075ftj)
On the seismic register of stress, shopping for Christmas presents is like simultaneously getting married, divorced and selling your house.
So when two strangers meet in the mayhem of the high street, the odds seem stacked against romance...
Stars Toby Jones as James, Sarah Jane Holm as Frances and Adam Blakeney as Michael.
With Alastair Danson and Carolyn Jones.
Director: Cathryn Horn
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1997.
MON 11:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zkj)
Swan Lake by Elizabeth Buchan4 Extra Debut. Prince Siegfried's first taste of love is a midnight encounter with Odette, a swan-woman. Read by Sian Phillips. From December 2000.
MON 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00g3t1k)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Remarkable Performance of Mr Frederick MerridewSeries of four new tales of mystery and murder by Bert Coules, inspired by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
A night at the music hall ends in death, a Wild West sharpshooter finds a new personality, a brick wall crumbles and Holmes is engaged by a most unexpected client.
Sherlock Holmes ...... Clive Merrison
Dr John Watson ...... Andrew Sachs
Merridew ...... Hugh Bonneville
Stamford ...... Malcolm Tierney
Charlotte ...... Jill Cardo
Fragson ...... Jonathan Tafler
Flora ...... Donnla Hughes
George ...... Stephen Critchlow
Directed by Patrick Rayner.
MON 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jqps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Dad's Army (b007jqxp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Paul Temple (b014gclv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 An Alternative Christmas (b01p70p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vdqpm)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, EM Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial LadyE M Delafield was great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, and became a director of Time and Tide magazine. When the editor "wanted some light 'middles', preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something". And so it was, in 1930, that her most popular and enduring work The Diary of a Provincial Lady was written. It has never been out of print.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady charts the day-to-day life of a Devonshire-dwelling lady and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.
Husband Robert, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance. Her children are gleefully troublesome. A succession of tricky servants invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances - particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, with whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) endeavours to compete.
This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Claire Skinner
Produced by Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yn6xm)
Gossips and GoodfellowsSocial networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely, major new history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Episode One: Gossips and Goodfellows
In the 16th century, friendships were generally limited to an overlapping network of family members and neighbours, who lived and worked in close proximity, and shared their lives at home, in church, at the well, the bake-house and the tavern.
Today, our friendships often extend across the globe, and our Social Networks can extend to thousands.
Thomas Dixon launches the series by talking with the anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, whose influential research explores the number of people with whom each individual is cognitively capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship.
The newly named "Dunbar's Number" is around 140, and Thomas maps this figure onto the historical picture of village life. He speaks with historians Bernard Capp and Naomi Tadmor about close-knit, real-life friendships in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He learns how a group of female "Gossips" supported their friend Mary Freeman when her husband accused her of giving him the pox; and about two young "Goodfellows"in 1617, who got so drunk that they pissed into a chamber pot and shared the contents.
This is the beginning of an absorbing story in which both the similarities and the differences between friendship past and present emerge.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
Presenter: historian Dr Thomas Dixon is the Director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London.
MON 14:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k8yk2)
Episode 16Cast out of her home, who can Florence turn to?
Originally published in monthly parts from 1846, Charles Dickens's novel appeared in one volume in 1848. Adapted in 20 parts by Mike Walker.
Charles Dickens...........Alex Jennings
Dombey.......................Robert Glenister
Edith............................Helen Schlesinger
Florence.......................Abigail Hollick
Captain Cuttle..............Trevor Peacock
Mr Carker.................. .Adrian Lukis
Major..........................Nicky Henson
Walter.........................Joseph Arkley
Mrs Brown..................Geraldine James
Alice...........................Claire Rushbrook
Susan.........................Nadine Marshall
Toots..........................Sam Pamphilon
Harriet........................Katy Cavanagh
Rob............................Lloyd Thomas
Other parts played by Ben Crowe, Alex Lanipekun and Simon Treves.
Music by Nicolai Abrahamsen.
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
MON 14:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xblgw)
Episode 1Kenneth Cranham reads Andrew McConnell Stott's account of the world-famous clown who became a superstar of Georgian panto. From December 2009.
MON 15:00 Joe Mahon - A Christmas Story (b09k8v2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 15:30 Max Hillman - Christmas Shopping (b0075ftj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 today]
MON 16:00 The 99p Challenge (b06sqn7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 Living with Betty (b09k8sy0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Winston (b007s165)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b09jcnfb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Good Omens (b04knthd)
Episode 1According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, the world will end on a Saturday. A Saturday quite soon, here on Radio 4.
Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.
Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.
Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.
There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...
With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap this is the first ever dramatization of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.
Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b09k8ykb)
Dan Pearson and Anna PavordGarden designer Dan Pearson and Anna Pavord, author of The Tulip, talk to Sue MacGregor about their favourite books by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, John Keats and Michael Pollan. From 2005.
Heat And Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Publisher: John Murray
Keats - Selected Poems And Letters (Poetry Bookshelf Series)
Publisher: Heinemann Educational
Second Nature by Michael Pollan
Publisher: Bloomsbury.
MON 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jqps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Dad's Army (b007jqxp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Paul Temple (b014gclv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 An Alternative Christmas (b01p70p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zkj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00g3t1k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b09jcnfb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Absolute Power (b007v1pd)
Series 2, Episode 3Can spin kings Prentiss McCabe turn a failed novelist into a best seller? Stars Stephen Fry and John Bird. From February 2001.
MON 23:00 Dead Ringers (b09jgzhy)
Christmas Specials 2017, Episode 1A special topical Christmas edition from the satirists featuring HM The Queen, Dame Joan Bakewell, Donald Trump and The Brexit Bulldog David Davis.
The series is written by Private Eye writers Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain, together with Tom Coles, Ed Amsden, Sarah Campbell, Laurence Howarth, James Bugg, Max Davis, Jack Bernhardt and others.
The series stars Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.
Producer - Bill Dare
Production Coordinator - Beverly Tagg
A BBC Studios Production.
MON 23:30 The Museum of Everything (b007k425)
Series 2, The DigDrop in on a 'live' archaeology excavation, and visit a very liberal safari park. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From March 2005.

TUESDAY 26 DECEMBER 2017

TUE 00:00 Good Omens (b04knthd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b09k8ykb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Paul Temple (b014gclv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 An Alternative Christmas (b01p70p6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vdqpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yn6xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k8yk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xblgw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Joe Mahon - A Christmas Story (b09k8v2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 03:30 Max Hillman - Christmas Shopping (b0075ftj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 The 99p Challenge (b06sqn7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 Living with Betty (b09k8sy0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Winston (b007s165)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b09jcnfb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Paul Temple (b014qncy)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which Mr Layland Tells the TruthEpisode 5 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery and Paul Temple and Steve.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of A Case for Paul Temple, in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'...
Episode 5: In Which Mr Layland Tells the Truth
Hot on the heels of the Valentine gang, Paul and Steve set out on a high speed midnight drive to the coast.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Mary ELIZA LANGLAND
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Sir Gilbert Dryden MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Layland ROBIN LAING
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
TUE 06:30 We Three Kings (b00g1rmq)
Ian Hislop examines the myths and realities surrounding the Three Kings of the Christmas story.
They merit only a small mention in the Bible but they have had a huge impact on our understanding of Christ's birth story, so much so that they even have their own feast day. Ian examines 2,000 years of the telling of their story to see how history has shaped the legend of the Kings. Along the way he meets theologians, historians, the Archbishop of Canterbury and, curiously, a lot of people from Colchester.
TUE 07:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b04368f3)
Episode 2Guests are like Fish by Shelagh Stephenson
When ANNA and JIM left London to move to the country, they blithely issued invitations to come up and see us any time! to all and sundry.
Unfortunately, most of those who take them at their word are the ones they never in a million years dreamt would turn up, with predictably disastrous results.
Each weekend, over 4 episodes, a different couple pitches up on their doorstep demanding food, more food, wine and roaring fires, when what they really need is prolonged therapy. And each week Anna and Jim swear they'll never do it again...Guests, like fish, tend to go off after three days.
Anna ....................Haydn Gwynne
Jim........................Tim McInnerny
Joan......................Patricia Hodge
Colin.....................Ron Cook
Directed and produced by: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 07:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09jd67l)
Series 8, InvernessMark Steel's In Town - Inverness
Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the 8th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In this episode Mark visits Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland.
Inverness is the 2nd happiest place in Britain, according to some polls, but Mark finds them to be a bit grumpy if the truth be known... some of them anyway... some of them are marvellous. He meets Sheena from the local taxi firm who tells a story about a fib she told to a tourist, and he meets Steve the Nessie Hunter, a man who has lived in a van on the shores of Loch Ness for 26 years.
Written and performed by ... Mark Steel
Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinator ... Hayley Sterling
Sound Manager ... Jerry Peal
Producer ... Carl Cooper
Picture Credit ... Tom Stanier.
TUE 08:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b054yttg)
From 12/07/1964Ornithology tips from Ivor Wagtail, a trip to a Diddy farm and the world's worst bobby.
Starring Ken Dodd.
With Judith Chalmers, John Slater, Patricia Hayes, Peter Hudson, Wallas Eaton and Percy Edwards.
Music from The Barry Sisters.
BBC Revue Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Lockyer.
Script by Ken Dodd and Eddie Braben.
Producer: Bill Worsley
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1964.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jlvm)
A Private AffairThe bumbling bureaucrats cause chaos as London's new airport opens - in Scotland.
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley, John Graham and Clive Dunn.
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 April 1973.
TUE 09:00 Dead Ringers (b09jgzhy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:30 Nev Fountain - Son of Santa (b0075qqt)
Freshly qualified as a management consultant, Santa's son has big plans for the North Pole.
Nev Fountain's festive comedy stars Ron Moody as Santa, James Fleet as Santa's Son, Lynda Bellingham as Miss Berry, Dave Lamb as Kidwink and Ronni Ancona as Spindle.
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1999.
TUE 10:00 Classic Serial (b01h2kvn)
F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsbyby F Scott Fitzgerald.
Dramatised by Robert Forrest.
F Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel, a portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, is perhaps the greatest book on the fallibility of the American dream. Nick Carraway arrives in Long Island and is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan. He falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, the self-made and self-invented millionaire, Gatsby, is the man who has everything - but one thing will always be out of his reach.
Nick ..... Bryan Dick
Gatsby ..... Andrew Scott
Tom ..... Andrew Buchan
Daisy ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Jordan ..... Melody Grove
Wolfsheim ..... Karl Johnson
Klipspringer ..... Sam Dale
Wilson ..... Gerard McDermott
Myrtle ..... Susie Riddell
Catherine ..... Tracy Wiles
Chester ..... Patrick Brennan
Lucille ..... Christine Absalom
Alice ..... Amaka Okafor
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
TUE 11:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zl1)
Coppelia by Adam ThorpeSkilled toymaker, Dr Coppelius, makes a clockwork doll so lifelike that one man falls in love with her. Read by Emily Woof. From December 2000.
TUE 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00g449n)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Eyes of HorusSeries of four new tales of mystery and murder by Bert Coules, inspired by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The police are baffled when a priceless antique disappears, but Holmes solves the mystery with the aid of a pawnbroker, a landlady and two stout rubber bands.
Sherlock Holmes ...... Clive Merrison
Dr John Watson ...... Andrew Sachs
Lady Mallory ...... Colette O'Neil
Lestrade ...... Stephen Thorne
Lofting ...... Stephen Critchlow
Wilson ...... Jonathan Tafler
Mrs Hartnell ...... Janice Acquah
Sergeant ...... Malcolm Tierney
Constable ...... Paul Rider
Directed by Patrick Rayner.
TUE 12:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b054yttg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jlvm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Paul Temple (b014qncy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 We Three Kings (b00g1rmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vf437)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, EM Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial LadyE M Delafield was great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, and became a director of Time and Tide magazine. When the editor "wanted some light 'middles', preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something". And so it was, in 1930, that her most popular and enduring work The Diary of a Provincial Lady was written. It has never been out of print.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady charts the day-to-day life of a Devonshire-dwelling lady and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.
Husband Robert, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance. Her children are gleefully troublesome. A succession of tricky servants invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances - particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, with whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) endeavours to compete.
This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Claire Skinner
Produced by Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yns3j)
A Marriage of MindsSocial networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Episode Two: A Marriage of Minds
Having launched the series by exploring the close-knit but instrumental friendships which most people experienced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Dr Thomas Dixon turns to the elite ideal of friendship as expressed in classical writers such as Aristotle and Cicero, and as lived out by Renaissance men such Thomas More and Erasmus.
He looks into the continuing influence of these emotional "friendships of choice". Today we take such friendships for granted but in the seventeenth century they were available only to those who had the time, money and education to pursue them.
It was commonly believed that only men had the capacity for such friendships but Thomas Dixon reveals how women too were beginning to spread their social wings. He tells the story of the Welshwoman Katherine Philips, a published poet and the wife of a wealthy landowner, who argued that since the soul has no gender, then friendship - a mingling of souls - was equally available to both men and women.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
TUE 14:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9d9r)
Episode 17As Florence is reunited with her old friend, Rob the Grinder spills the beans. Stars Claire Rushbrook and Geraldine James. From December 2007.
TUE 14:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xc8k8)
Episode 2When tragedy strikes, the young clown seeks consolation in making others laugh with a new character. Read by Kenneth Cranham. From December 2009.
TUE 15:00 Classic Serial (b01h2kvn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The Food Quiz (b09k9g9q)
Christmas Special 2004Jay Rayner gives Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Clarissa Dickson-Wright, Pat Chapman and Jancis Robinson a festive grilling on their knowledge of food and drink.
Producer: Dixi Stewart
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2004.
TUE 16:30 Semi Circles (b007jtw6)
Series 2, The Liberated GenerationBen and Helen's marriage is at a standstill. Will Dick and Marian get it moving? Starring Paula Wilcox. From December 1982.
TUE 17:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b04368f3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09jd67l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Good Omens (b04vdqpp)
Episode 2Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.
Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.
Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.
There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...
With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap this is the first ever dramatization of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.
Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
TUE 18:30 Dad Made Me Laugh (b00d3k8c)
Max HuddRoy Hudd's son chats to Sally Magnusson about life with the 'News Huddlines' and 'Coronation Street' star. From September 2006.
TUE 19:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b054yttg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b007jlvm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Paul Temple (b014qncy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 We Three Kings (b00g1rmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zl1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00g449n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b09jd67l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Richard Herring's Objective (b017mt04)
Series 2, The Old School TieRichard Herring's Objective
Episode 4: 'The Old School Tie'
Richard Herring examines 'The Old School Tie' an object that has come to represent public school networks and contacts. Richard asks if it is acceptable to be prejudice against the posh.
Written by and starring Richard Herring, with Emma Kennedy and special guest Alexei Sayle.
Produced by Tilusha Ghelani
Richard Herring's Objective returns for a second series to poke and prod a variety controversial objects and see if the controversy falls out. Through vox pops, interviews and stand up comedy Richard examines the objects' history, meaning and significance and challenges our assumed logic and stereotypes. Can we reclaim these objects away from their unfortunate associations?
In series one the comedian investigated 'The Hitler Moustache', 'The Hoodie' and 'The St. George's Flag' and in the new series he'll be training his beady eye on 'The Golliwog', 'The Wheelchair', 'Page 3' and 'The Old School Tie'.
TUE 23:00 Elvenquest (b00kfgcx)
Series 1, Episode 4Sirens interrupt a sea crossing. Are they what they seem? Fantasy comedy starring Darren Boyd and Dave Lamb. From May 2009.
TUE 23:30 Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack (b00wlg3h)
Series 1, Episode 4Lucy Montgomery's Variety Pack is a multi-paced, one woman Fast Show for BBC Radio 4 showcasing the exceptional talent of Lucy Montgomery. Featuring Lucy Montgomery, Philip Pope, Sally Grace, Waen Shepherd and Natalie Walter.
Written by Lucy Montgomery with additional material by Steven Burge, Jon Hunter and Joe Wilkinson.
Music by Philip Pope
Produced by Katie Tyrrell
In the final episode of the series, posh privately educated teenagers Daisy and Maisie show prospective parents around their school. Joanna Lumley visits her mother with a Christmas present and the Mona Lisa lets us into a secret.
Lucy Montgomery is a rare and multifaceted performer. Like Paul Whitehouse, she's a true chameleon who can embrace any character with uncanny accuracy, from a non-stop chattering public school girl to an 80-year-old diva. Laugh-out-loud, mainstream funny in attitude, her intelligence and Barry Humphries-esque glee give her characterisations a smart and distinctive edge that's hugely appealing to young and old alike.
Lucy's honed her talents on Radio 4 shows as diverse as the Sony Gold winning Down the Line, The Museum of Everything, The Department, Another Case of Milton Jones, Mastering the Universe, Torchwood, The Don't Watch With Mother Sketchbook and The Way We Live Right Now. On television she has made her mark on BBC THREE's TittyBangBang, BBC ONE's Armstrong and Miller, and - coming soon to BBC TWO - Bellamy's People.

WEDNESDAY 27 DECEMBER 2017

WED 00:00 Good Omens (b04vdqpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Dad Made Me Laugh (b00d3k8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Paul Temple (b014qncy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 We Three Kings (b00g1rmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vf437)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yns3j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9d9r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xc8k8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Classic Serial (b01h2kvn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 The Food Quiz (b09k9g9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Semi Circles (b007jtw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b04368f3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09jd67l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Paul Temple (b0151nxt)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which Valentine StrikesEpisode 6 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery and Paul Temple and Steve.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of A Case for Paul Temple, in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'...
Episode 6: In Which Valentine Strikes
Temple and Sir Graham go looking for the gang's hideaway - and fall into a deadly trap.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Mary ELIZA LANGLAND
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Layland ROBIN LAING
Sergeant Turner MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
WED 06:30 Candlelight: The Living Flame (b00765mf)
Through personal story and commentary, an exploration of the symbolism of candlelight and its affinity to Christmas time. From December 2001.
WED 07:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009mbjl)
Series 1, Episode 4Despite their successful comeback tour, Tommy and Sheila aren't in the money.
Winners of the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, sweethearts Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr are back in the limelight. The only snag is they can't stand the sight of each another...
Mike Coleman's sitcom stars June Whitfield and Roy Hudd.
With Pat Coombs, Julian Eardley, Joshua Henderson, Edward Halsted, Rachel Smith, Chris Pavlo, Paul Rogan and Steven Rhodes.
Singers: John Barr and Lisa Peace.
Music by Frido Ruth.
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1998.
WED 07:30 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09jf11d)
Series 1, Jeremy Hardy Feels... SadJeremy Hardy returns with his new series that not only seconds that emotion, but explains it too. In this show, Jeremy is feeling... sad.
Radio 4's most passionate polemicist returns to the airwaves with a new format which promises to be both personal and profound, and to present sides of Jeremy you won't have heard before. He may even sing. (He won't sing.)
The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" regular, proud progenitor of ten series of Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, and winner of numerous awards and almost certainly the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Jeremy is famous for lines like:
"Kids should never be fashion slaves, especially in the Far East. My 12-year old daughter asked me for a new pair of trainers. I told her she was old enough to go out and make her own."
and -
"Islam is no weirder than Christianity. Both are just Judaism with the jokes taken out."
His unique world view once lead him to be likened to "an incendiary vicar". Gillian Reynolds called him, "an idealist, a dissenter, a polemicist and moralist - he's a salutary reminder that jokes can, and should, be about big things."
The show is produced by Jeremy's long-standing accomplice, David Tyler, whose radio credits include Cabin Pressure, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Marcus Brigstocke's The Brig Society, Kevin Eldon Will See You Now, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off, The Castle, The 99p Challenge, Deep Trouble, My First Planet, Radio Active and Bigipedia. His TV credits include Paul Merton - The Series, Spitting Image, Absolutely, The Paul Calf Video Diary, Coogan's Run and exec producing Victoria Wood's dinnerladies.
Written by Jeremy Hardy
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
The Lighthouse LarkCommander Povey probes smuggling aboard HMS Troutbridge during a rescue attempt of a lighthouse keeper.
Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as Number One, Richard Caldicot as Commander Povey, Ronnie Barker as AS Johnson,Heather Chasen as Heather, Michael Bates as Mr Proudfoot and Tenniel Evans as Goldstein.
The Navy Lark ran for an impressive 13 series on BBC Radio between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in January 1960.
WED 08:30 A Very Private Man (b09k9kp0)
Episode 6David dreads the forthcoming visit by his mother and Helen tries to get back on the job ladder...
Terry Gregson's sitcom stars Rodney Bewes as David Parkinson, Ann Bell as Helen Parkinson, Daphne Oxenford as Mrs Henderson, Marlene Sidaway as Mrs Wilshaw and Peter Wheeler as Mr Sands.
Produced at BBC Manchester by Ron McDonnell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1981.
WED 09:00 Act Your Age (b010mrzk)
Series 3, Episode 6Simon Mayo hosts the three-way battle between the comedy generations to find out which is the funniest. Will it be the Up-and-Comers, the Current Crop or the Old Guard who will be crowned, for one week at least, as the Golden Age of Comedy. This week Holly Walsh is joined by Andrew Lawrence, Rufus Hound teams up with Paul Foot and Ted Robbins is paired with Stu Francis.
Devised and Produced by Ashley Blaker and Bill Matthews.
WED 09:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b01nlp10)
Series 2, Episode 5The lifestyle show hosts have revelations on the "home" and "commune living".
Series 2 of Bill Dare's sitcom stars Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens.
With Roger Blake, Alistair McGowan, Sally Philips and Niall Ashdown.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Jo Clegg
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1997.
WED 10:00 Classic Serial (b01hdyq0)
F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsbyby F Scott Fitzgerald.
Dramatised by Robert Forrest.
F Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel, a portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, is perhaps the greatest book on the fallibility of the American dream.
Nick has fallen in with the wealthy crowd on Long Island. His neighbour, Gatsby, asks Nick to engineer a meeting with his lost love, Nick's cousin, Daisy.
Nick ..... Bryan Dick
Gatsby ..... Andrew Scott
Tom ..... Andrew Buchan
Daisy ..... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Jordan ..... Melody Grove
Wolfsheim ..... Karl Johnson
Klipspringer/Michaelis ..... Sam Dale
Wilson/Gatz ..... Gerard McDermott
Myrtle ..... Susie Riddell
Alice ..... Amaka Okafor
Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
WED 11:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zlk)
The Firebird by Bonnie GreerSo entranced by a beautiful bird of fire, Prince Ivan captures her. But she offers to make a deal.
WED 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00gdz3w)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Thirteen WatchesSeries of four new tales of mystery and murder by Bert Coules, inspired by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
It takes more than a vanishing pair of railway passengers and a corpse that appears out of thin air to interest a bored Sherlock Holmes. But then he learns what the dead man had in his pockets.
Sherlock Holmes ...... Clive Merrison
Dr John Watson ...... Andrew Sachs
Sir Gregory Nigel Anthony
Inspector Jones ...... Sion Probert
Harkness ...... Stuart Milligan
Sam ...... Inam Mirza
Ted ...... Robert Lonsdale
Landlady ...... Donnla Hughes
Sergeant ...... Dan Starkey
Directed by Patrick Rayner.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 A Very Private Man (b09k9kp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Paul Temple (b0151nxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 Candlelight: The Living Flame (b00765mf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vf960)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, EM Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial LadyE M Delafield was great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, and became a director of Time and Tide magazine. When the editor "wanted some light 'middles', preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something". And so it was, in 1930, that her most popular and enduring work The Diary of a Provincial Lady was written. It has never been out of print.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady charts the day-to-day life of a Devonshire-dwelling lady and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.
Husband Robert, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance. Her children are gleefully troublesome. A succession of tricky servants invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances - particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, with whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) endeavours to compete.
This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Claire Skinner
Produced by Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03ynvdb)
Love Your EnemiesSocial networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Episode Three: Love Your Enemies
At a time when Christianity taught a gospel of universal love, including loving your enemy, individuals might still find themselves drawn to particular friendships. The Bible itself contained such contradictions, as the 17th century Anglican poet George Herbert put it: "David had his Jonathan, Christ his John." These apparent contradictions were the cause of real anxiety amongst devout Christians.
The role of individual friendships became even more apparent after the Reformation, when personal friendships began to assume the confessional role once held by priests.
Thomas Dixon takes up the story during the Civil War, and considers this tension within particular religious communities such as the Quakers.
He talks with the historian Naomi Tadmor and also hears from Anglican-turned-Quaker, Terry Waite, who movingly recalls the meaning of friendship and of learning to love himself as a friend, during years of solitary confinement after being taken hostage in 1987.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
WED 14:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9kqg)
Episode 18Walter Gay plucks up the courage to tell Florence what she means to him. With Alex Glenister and Joseph Arkley. From December 2007.
WED 14:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xmvf8)
Episode 3Mother Goose makes the clown a fully fledged Georgian superstar, but fame brings a downside. Read by Kenneth Cranham. From December 2009.
WED 15:00 Classic Serial (b01hdyq0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 Act Your Age (b010mrzk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b01nlp10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009mbjl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09jf11d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Good Omens (b04vf43c)
Episode 3Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.
Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.
Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.
There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...
With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap this is the first ever dramatization of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.
Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
WED 18:30 Musical Legends (b01f52g8)
Ian Anderson of Jethro TullIan Anderson's widely recognised as the man who introduced the flute to rock music.
Born in Dunfermline in 1947 he attended primary school in Edinburgh before his family moved south to Blackpool. Following a Grammar school education Ian went to Art College before embarking on a career as a musician.
Jethro Tull was formed in 1968 and first performed at London's famous Marquee Club. The band have gone on to perform at over 3000 concerts in over 40 countries.
Along with the flute Ian plays whistles, acoustic guitars and mandolin.
In recent years Ian has toured more and more under his own name and has recorded four solo albums. He's about to embark on a 19 date tour to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Jethro Tull album 'Thick as a Brick'. His Scottish dates are in Perth on 14th April and Glasgow on 15th April.
Tom Morton talks to Ian about his love of the flute, his passion for performing and his newly recorded album Thick as a Brick 2 and they listen to some songs from the Tull repertoire.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 A Very Private Man (b09k9kp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Paul Temple (b0151nxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 Candlelight: The Living Flame (b00765mf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zlk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00gdz3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09jf11d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 The Secret World (b0125n5t)
Series 2, Episode 1From Al Pacino to Keith Harris and Orville, Jon Culshaw and friends probe the private lives of the famous. From July 2010.
WED 23:00 Mr and Mrs Smith (b019rpw8)
The Dinner PartyEpisode 1 - The Dinner Party
An audience sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling. Will and Annabelle throw a disastrous dinner party. The quarrelling couple tell their counsellor Guy all about the event, with flashbacks to the dinner party itself.
CAST:
Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
Katrina ..... Tracy Wiles
Doug ..... Simon Bubb
Heather ..... Morwenna Banks
Written by ..... Will Smith
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani
ABOUT THE SERIES
A year into married life and already things are a little creaky. So, following Will's unimaginative anniversary present (a draining rack), Annabelle has signed them up for a course of marriage counselling.
Each week, counsellor Guy mediates a recent dispute between Will and Annabelle, with flashbacks to the events that spawned the argument. By the end, the couple find marital equilibrium once more. Sort of.
Guy arbitrates, usually leaning towards Annabelle's more sensible point of view. In contrast to Will's uptightness, Guy is confident and urbane and clearly irritates Will.
The writer and comedian Will Smith leads the starry cast of Mr and Mrs.Smith. Sarah Hadland (Miranda, The Mitchell and Webb Look, Moving Wallpaper) stars as Will's wife Annabelle. Paterson Joseph (Peep Show, Survivors, Green Wing) plays Counsellor Guy. The series also includes Geoffrey whitehead (Reggie Perrin, Worst Week of My Life) and Susie Blake (Coronation Street; Victoria Wood as Seen on TV) as Will's mother and father-in-law.
Will's writing credits include Armstrong and Miller (BBC1), Harry and Paul (BBC1), Moving Wallpaper (ITV1), Time Trumpet (BBC2), The Thick Of It (BBC2) in which he also appears as Phil Smith, and the upcoming Veep (HBO).
WED 23:30 Clayton Grange (b01nb1sm)
Series 1, Episode 4by Neil Warhurst with additional material by Paul Barnhill
Episode 4
Anthony Head leads a team of brilliantly stupid scientists. This is Clayton Grange, top secret Scientific Institute with a government brief to solve the global fuel crisis, cheer people up and make war just a bit more gentle. Meet the scientists who are a bit rubbish at life. And not much better at science.
Saunders ..... Anthony Head
Geoff ..... Neil Warhurst
Roger ..... Paul Barnhill
Jameson ..... Stephanie Racine
Verenovsky/Quiz master ..... Don Gilet
Alan Dobson ..... Paul Stonehouse
Silas ..... Joe Sims
Producer/Director ..... Marion Nancarrow.

THURSDAY 28 DECEMBER 2017

THU 00:00 Good Omens (b04vf43c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Musical Legends (b01f52g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Paul Temple (b0151nxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Candlelight: The Living Flame (b00765mf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vf960)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03ynvdb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9kqg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xmvf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Classic Serial (b01hdyq0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Act Your Age (b010mrzk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b01nlp10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009mbjl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09jf11d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Paul Temple (b015cmrw)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which the Net TightensEpisode 7 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery and Paul Temple and Steve.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of A Case for Paul Temple, in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'...
Episode 7: In Which the Net Tightens
Acting on a tip-off, and with the Flying Squad standing by, Temple lays a trap in Piccadilly Underground Station.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Mary ELIZA LANGLAND
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Sir Gilbert Dryden MICHAEL MACKENZIE
Jules Condré JOHN PAUL HURLEY
Supt. Bradley SIMON TAIT
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
THU 06:30 Strictly Come Brucie (b00g3h56)
In a rare in-depth interview, Bruce Forsyth talks revealingly to Paul Morley about his life in showbiz.
The master of Light Entertainment looks back over his professional career spanning over seven decades. Bruce was 14 when he turned professional as 'Boy Bruce - The Mighty Atom' and he never looked back.
Aged a sprightly 80, Bruce recalls his family background, auditioning at The Windmill, his National Service and 16 years paying his dues on the provincial circuit before hitting the big time presenting ITV's Sunday Night At The London Palladium.
Bruce reveals what it takes to remain at the top of the entertainment tree, how he likes to relax, and the dedication required to maintain such a calm exterior when fronting such family favourites as The Generation Game, Bruce's Price is Right and Strictly Come Dancing.
Bruce Forstyth was born in 1928 and died in 2017.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.
THU 07:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b0080q77)
Series 2, Episode 6Lucy's offer to help a first-time celebrity author write a book finds her stuck in a remote Cornish cottage with an ex-page 3 model and a neurotic mother, leaving Daniel to have an unusual boy's night out...
David Spicer's comedy drama about modern life and parenthood, as seen through the eyes of two 30-something non-parents.
Starring David Tennant as Daniel, Liz Carling as Lucy, Samantha Spiro as Katie, Tony Gardner as Andy, Tony Gardner as Andy and Paula Wilcox as Suzie.
Producer: Liz Anstee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
THU 07:30 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09jgklb)
Series 2, BakingSusan Calman is the least relaxed person she knows. She has no down time, no hobbies (unless you count dressing up your cats in silly outfits) and her idea of relaxation is to sit on her sofa playing Assassin's Creed, an hour into which she is in a murderous rage with sky high blood pressure. Her wife had to threaten to divorce her to make her go on holiday, and she's been told by the same long-suffering wife that unless she finds a way to switch off, and soon, she's going to be unbearable.
Susan decided her best bet was to try to immerse herself in the pursuits that her friends find relaxing, to find her inner zen and outer tranquillity. In the first series of this show she attempted to ditch the old Susan Calman and attempted to find the new Susan Calm, by watching Cricket; going Hillwalking; visiting an Art Gallery and being spontaneous. She enjoyed these pursuits, but all too soon found herself slipping back into her old ways. So she's trying again. This week she learns how to bake with Great British Bake Off star Selasi Gbormittah.
In other episodes Susan will learn about gardening with Val McDermid, go to a music festival with Robin Ince and try birdwatching with Emma Kennedy.
Keep Calman Carry On is an audience stand up show in which Susan reports on how successful she's been - both at relaxing and at the pursuit itself - as well as playing in and discussing a handful of illustrative clips from her efforts. It's an attempt to find out how people find solace or sanctuary in these worlds and how Susan can negotiate her own place in them.
Written by Susan Calman and Jon Hunter.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
A BBC Studios Production.
THU 08:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05qdylk)
Series 1, Echo of the PastJen gets jealous when she sees Henry talking to an old girlfriend.
Starring Wendy Craig as Jennifer Corner and Francis Matthews as Henry Corner.
The comedy mishaps of the Corner family: Jennifer and Henry and their three children Trudi, Amanda and Robin. Family sitcom, Not in Front of the Children originally ran for four series from 1967 to 1970 on BBC TV. Richard Waring adapted his own scripts for this radio version, now fully restored from the original reel-to-reel tapes.
Wendy Craig won a Best Actress BAFTA award for the TV version of Not in Front of the Children in 1969. This was the first of several housewife roles that Wendy Craig was to play on television. Later series included And Mother Makes Three and Butterflies.
Music by Ronnie Hazlehurst
Producer: Trafford Whitelock
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1969.
THU 08:30 The Goon Show (b007td29)
YehtiNeddie Seagoon offers to lead an expedition to bring back a yehti - from deepest, darkest Yorkshire. Stars Spike Milligan. From March 1955.
THU 09:00 Counterpoint (b007nf2p)
Series 21, FinalEdward Seckerson chairs the final of the music quiz with contestants Sean Gilligan, Geoff Smith and John Wrigley. From June 2007.
THU 09:30 King Street Junior (b007jnf4)
Series 8, Settling InThere's a new member of staff at the school and certain male colleagues are most impressed. Stars Karl Howman.
Created by Jim Eldridge, ten series of this comedy about a junior school ran between 1985 and 1998. King Street Junior Revisited ran from 2002 to 2005
Written by Ivan Shakespeare and Dave Single.
Stars Karl Howman as Mr Sims, James Grout as the Headmaster, Deirdre Costello as Mrs Patterson, Paul Copley as Mr Long, Marlene Sidaway as Miss Lewis, Margaret John as Mrs Stone, Vivienne Martin as Mrs Rudd, Moya O'Shea as Adele McAfee, Dan Strauss as Brian Frome, Serena Evans as Jill, Rosalind James as Shaheen, Dax O'Callaghan as Wayne and Adam Dean as Ranjit.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1995.
THU 10:00 Virginia Woolf - Night and Day (b0076fvb)
Episode 1Katherine and Mary are challenged over their assumptions about love in pre-First World War London. With Kristin Scott Thomas. From July 2003.
THU 11:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zm7)
Giselle by John BurnsideGiselle by John Burnside: After midnight, beautiful, dancing sylphs can be found in the forest, but danger is in the air. Read by Ronald Pickup. From Dec 2000. Episode 4 of 5.
THU 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b00gm601)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Ferrers DocumentsSeries of four new tales of mystery and murder by Bert Coules, inspired by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
What is the link between a slum landlord, a missing witness and a break-in at 221B Baker Street? In a case with no leads, the most important clue is that there are no clues at all.
Sherlock Holmes ...... Clive Merrison
Dr John Watson ...... Andrew Sachs
Lestrade ...... Stephen Thorne
Dawkins ...... Thomas Arnold
Ferrers ...... Jonathan Tafler
Alice ...... Donnla Hughes
George ...... Gunnar Cauthery
Mrs Radcliffe ...... Janice Acquah
Johnson ...... Dan Starkey
Directed by Patrick Rayner.
THU 12:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05qdylk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 The Goon Show (b007td29)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Paul Temple (b015cmrw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Strictly Come Brucie (b00g3h56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vjb5w)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Episode 4E M Delafield was great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, and became a director of Time and Tide magazine. When the editor "wanted some light 'middles', preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something". And so it was, in 1930, that her most popular and enduring work The Diary of a Provincial Lady was written. It has never been out of print.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady charts the day-to-day life of a Devonshire-dwelling lady and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.
Husband Robert, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance. Her children are gleefully troublesome. A succession of tricky servants invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances - particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, with whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) endeavours to compete.
This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Claire Skinner
Produced by Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqj3f)
Webs of LoyaltySocial networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Episode Four: Webs of Loyalty
Renaissance thinkers insisted that friendships were purely about emotional ties, but, in reality, friendships are often formed for more instrumental reasons - to give practical support in times of need. "That's what friends are for", observes one speaker in the opening montage of this episode.
Thomas Dixon takes up his story to explore the impact of expanding commerce and politics on friendship in the 18th century.
He learns about the friendship of the midwife and money-lender, Elizabeth Hatchett, with the pawn-broker, Elizabeth Carter, who lived and worked together in London in the early 18th century. And he looks into the circles of friendship of a Sussex shopkeeper, Thomas Turner, during the 1761 General Election, as an example of friendship within political life. Historians Alex Shepard and Naomi Tadmor share their research and vivid examples of such complex webs of loyalty.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
THU 14:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9mvh)
Episode 19Dombey's manager, Mr Carker, has an appointment with fate. With Claire Rushbrook and Adrian Lukis. From December 2007.
THU 14:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xnd57)
Episode 4The clown's lampoonery and satire take panto into new areas, but physical comedy takes its toll. Read by Kenneth Cranham. From December 2009.
THU 15:00 Virginia Woolf - Night and Day (b0076fvb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 Counterpoint (b007nf2p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 King Street Junior (b007jnf4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b0080q77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09jgklb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Good Omens (b04vjb60)
Episode 4Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.
Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.
Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.
There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...
With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap this is the first ever dramatization of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.
Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b008nz63)
Series 14, Groucho MarxGroucho Marx: Documentary filmmaker Roger Graef chooses acerbic comedy movie star Groucho Marx. With Matthew Parris. From January 2008.
THU 19:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05qdylk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 The Goon Show (b007td29)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Paul Temple (b015cmrw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Strictly Come Brucie (b00g3h56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zm7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b00gm601)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09jgklb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Sean Lock - 15 Storeys High (b09k9mvy)
Series 1, Episode 4Could the detritus of Sean's domestic life have artistic worth? With Tracy-Ann Oberman and Chris Pavlo. From December 1999.
THU 23:00 Sarah Millican's Support Group (b011j6lq)
Series 2, Episode 5Award winning comedian Sarah Millican is back for a second series playing Sarah, modern day agony aunt dishing out real advice for real people.
Solving the nations problems with her Support Group, she wants you to live life to the utmost, and she's got tons of ideas of how to help. Together with her team of experts of the heart - man of the people local cabbie Terry, and self qualified counsellor Marion - Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on and has a solution for everything, (which normally encompasses cake, tea and hugs).
This week the team tackle two problems - "Sibling Rivalry: The grass is always greener in my brother's massive garden" and "I'm a mother in need of quiet - do drum kits have a mute button?"
Sarah Millican Sarah
Ruth Bratt Marion
Simon Day Terry
Isabel Fay Melissa
Miles Jupp Michael
Annie Aldington Janet.
THU 23:30 The Show What You Wrote (b036kysj)
Series 1, HistoricalThe Show What You Wrote is a brand new sketch show, which is made up entirely from sketches sent in by the public. Recorded in Manchester in front of a live audience, and starring John Thomson, Helen Moon, Fiona Clarke and Gavin Webster.
We've picked the best sketches from thousands of submissions to make each show, and every week we'll be covering a different theme, from kitchen sink drama, to suspense heavy thrillers. This week's episode is Historical.
Script editor ...... Jon Hunter
Producers ..... Carl Cooper and Alexandra Smith.

FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER 2017

FRI 00:00 Good Omens (b04vjb60)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b008nz63)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Paul Temple (b015cmrw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Strictly Come Brucie (b00g3h56)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vjb5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqj3f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9mvh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xnd57)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Virginia Woolf - Night and Day (b0076fvb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Counterpoint (b007nf2p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 King Street Junior (b007jnf4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Double Income, No Kids Yet (b0080q77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09jgklb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Paul Temple (b015p864)
A Case for Paul Temple, In Which Paul Temple Meets ValentineEpisode 8 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed with equal success by two more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery and Paul Temple and Steve.
Now, from 1946, it's the turn of A Case for Paul Temple, in which Paul and Steve brave great danger to reveal the identity of the mysterious West End drug dealer known only as 'Valentine'...
Episode 8: In Which Paul Temple Meets Valentine
Paul and Steve return to the Esplanade Hotel for a final showdown with a ruthless enemy.
Paul Temple CRAWFORD LOGAN
Steve GERDA STEVENSON
Sir Graham GARETH THOMAS
Major Peters GREG POWRIE
Supt. Wetherby RICHARD GREENWOOD
Sheila Baxter MELODY GROVE
Mary ELIZA LANGLAND
Charles Kelvin NICK UNDERWOOD
Serg. Hodson JOHN PAUL HURLEY
Supt. Bradley SIMON TAIT
Producer Patrick Rayner
Francis Durbridge, the creator of Paul Temple, was born in Hull in 1912 and died in 1998. He one of the most successful novelists, playwrights and scriptwriters of his day.
FRI 06:30 Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale (b01pgg3x)
Philip Glassborow recounts the tale of the original version of The Tailor of Gloucester - Beatrix Potter's personal favourite - and learns about her attachment to the many traditional songs and carols which were included when the book was first published in 1901 but excised from the more familiar later version. With Finty Williams as Beatrix Potter.
It was after a visit to Gloucester that Beatrix Potter became fascinated by the true story behind the miraculous tale of grateful mice stitching the mayor's wonderful waistcoat after the tailor himself had fallen ill and there was no "no more twist".
Potter transformed this into The Tailor of Gloucester and sent it as a gift to Freda, the little daughter of her old governess. She published this privately, including many local songs and carols associated with the old legend that on the stroke of midnight on Christmas eve, the animals are able to speak.
As she had anticipated - and in spite of the astonishing success of her first book, Peter Rabbit - Frederick Warne declined to publish this and eventually brought out a version stripped of most of its music.
Philip Glassborow tracks down the sources of this music and explores Potter's passion for it and the traditions at the heart of the story.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRI 07:00 The Leopard in Autumn (b00bs464)
Series 1, The Caramba CampaignLudovico - the henpecked Prince of Monte Guano - hears two neighbouring states are set to go to war. His wife Plethora badgers him into leading his ragbag of conscripts in search of booty, accompanied by his sons and mistress Rosalie...
Neal Anthony's comedy drama set in Renaissance Italy.
Stars David Swift as Ludovico, Sian Phillips as Plethora, Graham Crowden as Francesco, Paul Bigley as Alessandro, Saskia Wickham as Rosalie, Nick Romero as Salvatori, Christopher Kelham as Guido and Kim Wall as Brother Michael.
Producer: Helen Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
FRI 07:30 Just William - Live! (b09jr62j)
Series 5, The Christmas TruceMartin Jarvis performs the first of two Just William stories by Richmal Crompton in front of an enthusiastic, invited audience at the Riverhouse Barn Theatre, Walton on Thames in Surrey.
In The Christmas Truce, William's arch-enemy Hubert Lane and his cronies sabotage William's Christmas party. William and his Outlaws are then forced by conniving mothers to attend Hubert's party in return. So can they execute a pleasing and satisfactory revenge?
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 08:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00cgl74)
Series 5, Episode 8A travelogue of Wales, major surgery - and a trip to Venus.
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 Eric Idle, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden. With Ray Butler and Ian Fagelson.
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, Leon Cohen and Bill Oddie.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1967.
FRI 08:30 Albert and Me (b007jsm1)
Series 1, The HomecomingSingle dad Bryan gets worried when his son's mum wants to visit.
Stars Richard Beckinsale as Bryan Archer, Pat Coombs as Mum/Albert and John Comer as Dad. With Robert Gillespie as the Police Sergeant and Diana Berriman as Rose.
Written by Jim Eldridge.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in December 1977.
FRI 09:00 The Motion Show (b0075wz8)
Series 2, Episode 4Dr Phil Hammond chairs the debating game with Gyles Brandreth, Hugh Dennis, Jeremy Hardy and Arthur Smith. From February 2000.
FRI 09:30 After Henry (b007k2z7)
Series 2, Bedside MannersPoorly Sarah's in hospital and must cope with visits from her mother and daughter.
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, Gerry Cowper as Clare, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell and Deborah Findlay as the Sister.
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 September 1986.
FRI 10:00 Virginia Woolf - Night and Day (b0076fym)
Episode 2Katharine is engaged, but her secret admirer is also in Norfolk, invited by torn suffrage campaigner Mary. With Dervla Kirwan. From July 2003.
FRI 11:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zmx)
The Nutcracker by Berlie DohertyClara gets a toy nutcracker from her godfather sparking a magical overnight journey. Read by Anna Massey. From December 2000.
FRI 11:15 Susie Maguire - The Fairy Godmother (b00761jx)
Ann is a 'couples counsellor' used to dispensing wise and balanced advice about rocky relationships from her base in Edinburgh.
But when her best friend's marriage is threatened by infidelity, Ann decides on a rather more direct approach to solving the problem...
Stars Phyllis Logan as Ann, Simon Tait as Jack, James Bryce as Russell and Martha Leishman as Diana.
With Gayanne Potter and Alistair Ritchie.
Director: David Jackson Young
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
FRI 12:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00cgl74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 Albert and Me (b007jsm1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Paul Temple (b015p864)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale (b01pgg3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b04vjl7k)
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, EM Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial LadyE M Delafield was great friends with Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, and became a director of Time and Tide magazine. When the editor "wanted some light 'middles', preferably in serial form, she promised to think of something". And so it was, in 1930, that her most popular and enduring work The Diary of a Provincial Lady was written. It has never been out of print.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady charts the day-to-day life of a Devonshire-dwelling lady and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos.
Husband Robert, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance. Her children are gleefully troublesome. A succession of tricky servants invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials are not enough, she must keep up appearances - particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, with whom our Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) endeavours to compete.
This largely autobiographical novel substituted the names of "Robin" and "Vicky" for her own children, Lionel and Rosamund.
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Read by Claire Skinner
Produced by Joanna Green
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqyz9)
When William Met MarySocial networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Episode Five: When William Met Mary
The famous 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally, crystallised for modern viewers the key question of whether a man and woman can truly be friends without any sexual element.
This was a question which radical and educated people were beginning to ask in the 18th century, alongside its mirror image - can a husband and wife also be friends?
Thomas Dixon traces the changing face of friendship and the new idea of "companionate marriage" during this era, through the linked histories of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher William Godwin.
With the help of the historian Barbara Taylor, he considers three moving stories: Mary's early friendship with Fanny Blood, of whom she declared: "To live with this friend is the height of my ambition"; the halting start, close friendship and devoted but tragically short marriage of Wollstonecraft with Godwin, who described their relationship as "friendship melting into love"; and the marriage of their daughter, Mary, who wrote of her desolation after the death by drowning of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley: "I have now no friend."
Thomas Dixon brings together issues of friendship and marriage in this most contemporary of historical series.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRI 14:30 Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son (b09k9vw3)
Episode 20As Florence and Walter embark on a new life, Dombey reaches the limits of despair. With Abigail Hollick and Robert Glenister. From December 2007.
FRI 14:45 The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi (b00xnddx)
Episode 5Crippled by his comedy antics, the superstar clown must bow out. Kenneth Cranham concludes Andrew McConnell Stott's account. From December 2009.
FRI 15:00 Virginia Woolf - Night and Day (b0076fym)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The Motion Show (b0075wz8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 After Henry (b007k2z7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 The Leopard in Autumn (b00bs464)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Just William - Live! (b09jr62j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Good Omens (b04vjll9)
Episode 5Events have been set in motion to bring about the End of Days. The armies of Good and Evil are gathering and making their way towards the sleepy English village of Lower Tadfield. The Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pollution and Death - have been summoned from the corners of the earth and are assembling.
Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and his assistant Newton Pulsifier are also en route to Tadfield to investigate some unusual phenomena in the area, while Anathema Device, descendent of prophetess and witch Agnes Nutter, tries to decipher her ancestor's cryptic predictions about exactly where the impending Apocalypse will take place.
Atlantis is rising, fish are falling from the sky; everything seems to be going to the Divine Plan.
Everything that is but for the unlikely duo of an angel and a demon who are not all that keen on the prospect of the forthcoming Rapture. Aziraphale (once an angel in the Garden of Eden, but now running an antiquarian bookshop in London), and Crowley (formerly Eden's snake, now driving around London in shades and a vintage Bentley) have been living on Earth for several millennia and have become rather fond of the place. But if they are to stop Armageddon taking place they've got to find and kill the one who will the one bring about the apocalypse: the Antichrist himself.
There's just one small problem: someone seems to have mislaid him...
With a cast led by Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap this is the first ever dramatization of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens.
Adaptation and sound design by Dirk Maggs.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b085trlz)
Auld Lang SyneIt's gone from being an 18th century song about impotence to one of the best known songs all over the world. Most of us have sung Auld Lang Syne at some point in our lives on New Year's Eve, but how many of us know more than a few of the words and anything of its origin and meaning? Soul Music hears the stories behind the song, how it went from being a reflective melancholic Scottish air about the parting of the ways, to the jaunty tune we know today. There are also stories of love, sorrow, hope and joy, emotions that are especially heightened at this time of year.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
FRI 19:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00cgl74)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 Albert and Me (b007jsm1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Paul Temple (b015p864)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale (b01pgg3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Ballet Stories (b0075zmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Susie Maguire - The Fairy Godmother (b00761jx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 It's David O'Doherty Time (b00tlw72)
The comedian combines documentary with song to describe the busy day he spent tidying his Dublin bedsit. From December 2008.
FRI 22:30 Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro (b01rl708)
Mark Thomas' award-winning show about his opera-loving father and their relationship. The story of how Mark came to book Royal Opera House singers in his parent's bungalow.
Not many South London builders play Opera at work but Mark Thomas' father did. A rough sometimes violent man who swore 'like Cleo Laine with Tourettes', took enormous pride in being working class and yet developed a passion for opera. When he became ill with
Progressive Supranuclear palsy - PSP, a degenerative disease leading to paralysis and dementia this giant in Mark's life was reduced to a bed -ridden dependent almost totally unable to communicate with his family. Mark decided to get Royal Opera House singers to perform in his parent's bungalow as a gift to his father. This show is the story of that performance and the lives of his family leading up to it.
This is a moving but very funny testament to the love between father and son and the ambiguous relationships we all have with our parents.
This recording was of a live performance of the show at the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera house
and features Mark Thomas, recorded interviews with his family and the live performance of Soprano Catherine May, Tenor Michael Bracegirdle and Pianist Jill Farrow.
The director of the stage show was Hamish Pirie and the Producer for Radio 4 is Alison Vernon-Smith.
FRI 23:30 Life: An Idiot's Guide (b01qfjdg)
Series 2, Crime and PunishmentStephen K Amos is joined by stand-up comedians Alfie Moore, Ava Vidal and Richard Herring to compile an Idiot's Guide to Crime and Punishment. Producer: Colin Anderson.