SATURDAY 06 JANUARY 2018

SAT 00:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k0y9)
Episode 4Earth's last living man, Robert Neville, edges closer to a cure, but then he gets distracted. Read by Angus McInnes. From January 2006.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b07x2zd2)
Series 23, A Change Is Gonna Come, by Sam CookeSoul Music explores a song that has become synonymous with the American Civil Rights Movement, Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come released in December 1964 two weeks after he was shot dead in Los Angeles. Contributors include Sam Cooke's brother LC, singer Bettye Lavette who sang it for Barack Obama at his inaugural ceremony and civil rights activists from the Freedom Summer of 64, Jennifer Lawson and Mary King.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
SAT 01:00 Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag (b0089bws)
The Wife of a HeroThere's an outbreak of cup fever on the eve of Levenford United's semi-final against Glasgow Rangers, but Dr Finlay must cope with more serious sickness.
Sue Rodwell's six-part dramatisation of AJ Cronin's stories about the early years of the celebrated doctor.
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Katy Murphy as Janet, Irvine Allan as Ned Sutherland, Annie George as Jenny Sutherland, David McKail as Paxton, Sharon Small as Nurse Angus and Roddy Forsyth as the Match Commentator.
Producer: Jeremy Howe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SAT 01:30 Looking for Ripley (b00hrk2v)
Crime writer Mark Billingham investigates Tom Ripley, the suave and amoral central character in Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
Mark tracks down those with a real insight into Ripley's ambiguities. Opera director Jonathan Kent once played Ripley and was thought to be perfect in the role by Highsmith herself. Professor Dinesh Bhugra, President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists, is an avid fan and uses the Ripley books to teach medical students about psychopathy.
Andrew Wilson, Highsmith's biographer, thinks the elusive Ripley is to be found in the unpublished notebooks of his creator. The readings are by Ian Hart.
SAT 02:00 George Orwell - Animal Farm (b00c02sc)
Episode 5As Boxer becomes gravely ill, are all the residents of the farmyard really equal? Concluded by Bill Nighy. From June 2003.
SAT 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zdkkc)
A Battalion of PalsDr Thomas Dixon presents a timely new history of the changing meaning and experience of friendship over the centuries
Episode 10: A Battalion of Pals
Dr Thomas Dixon tells two contrasting stories for this examination of the impact of World War One on male friendship.
He begins and ends with the pacifist Bloomsbury Group, focusing on E.M Forster and his famous remark, "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country". Dr Matt Cook places this remark - shocking at the time - in the context of Forster's hidden sexual orientation.
Forster began his masterpiece, A Passage to India, before the war, in optimism about the possibility of friendships and love across the nations. As Dr Santanu Das explains, he completed it, after the War, in a far bleaker mood.
Meanwhile, amongst the less highly educated classes, groups of work-mates were being conscripted into the army. Thomas Dixon explores this new role for friendship - as a recruiting sergeant - and its tragic consequences.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
SAT 02:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01q98rv)
Tales of the City, Episode 5Christmas is coming to Barbary Lane, but what will it bring for Mrs Madrigal's special people ? Something shocking for Mary Ann ? Something heartbreaking for Anna ? What about Mona and Mouse ?
Directed by Susan Roberts
Set in 1976 in San Francisco , Tales of the City is the first in a sequence of novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed the way we live forever.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b01px4q3)
The Examined Life, Episode 5The world bedevils us. To make sense of it, we tell ourselves stories. In a series of short, vivid, dramatic tales, using psychoanalytic insight without psychoanalytic jargon, The Examined Life tracks the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind apparently ordinary behaviour patterns.
Written with precision and insight, these case studies are all based on actual people. While factually true, they demonstrate a novelist's sense of an ending and empathetic understanding of the subterfuges of the human mind.
In his work as a practising psychoanalyst, Stephen Grosz has spent the last twenty-five years uncovering the hidden feelings behind our most baffling behaviour. The Examined Life distils over 50,000 hours of conversation into pure psychological insight, without the jargon.
This extraordinary book is about one ordinary process: talking, listening and understanding. Its aphoristic and elegant stories teach us a new kind of attentiveness. They also unveil a delicate self-portrait of the analyst at work, and show how lessons learned in the consulting room can reveal as much to him as to the patient.
Episode 5 of 5:
Analysts don't always have all the answers, sometimes they have questions and sometimes they have dreams. Stephen Grosz examines his own night time anxieties.
Read by Peter Marinker
Abridged and produced by Jane Waters
A Waters Partnership production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b01n606d)
Thomas Hardy - Far From the Madding Crowd, A Successful RivalBy Thomas Hardy, adapted by Graham White. 3/3 - one man proves constant in his love for Bathsheba, while she gives up on all hopes of happiness.
Musicians ... Colin Guthrie, Chris Davies, Lauren Swift
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
This episode will be available to listen to until 14th October 2012.
SAT 04:00 The Motion Show (b06s1bnp)
Series 2, Episode 5Dr Phil Hammond chairs the debating game with Hugh Dennis, Jon Plowman, Jenny Eclair and Nick Revell. From February 2000.
SAT 04:30 After Henry (b007jnl5)
Series 2, The KittenSarah and her mother disagree over tidiness of the house - until a visitor arrives...
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Starring Prunella Scales as Sarah, Joan Sanderson as Eleanor, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell, Gerry Cowper as Clare, Michael Hadley as the Policeman and Simon Brett as Percy Bradshaw.
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.
SAT 05:00 The Leopard in Autumn (b00761mn)
Series 1, The Pilgrim IndustryFollowing a fleeting visit from a cardinal, Plethora initiates plans to put Monte Guano on the pilgrimage map.
Neal Anthony's comedy drama about the chaotic lives of the ruling family of Renaissance Italy's most inconsequential city-state.
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.
SAT 05:30 Just William - Live! (b09k0p7k)
Series 5, Violet Elizabeth Runs AwayMartin Jarvis performs the second 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 Violet Elizabeth Runs Away, Martin tells the tale of six year old control-freak Violet Elizabeth Bott and her determination to latch onto William Brown and his faithful friends, the Outlaws. If they don't let her stick with them following her escape from school, she'll "scweam and scweam and scweam 'til she's sick". She can too. Reluctantly, William allows her to spend the afternoon with them. But then fate takes an unexpected turn.
Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 Georgette Heyer - Friday's Child (b007jq09)
"I'm going back to London! And I'm going to marry the first woman I see!" So cries young Lord Sheringham when his proposal of marriage is rejected...
Published in 1944, Georgette Heyer's Regency tale of romance dramatised by John Peacock.
Stars James Frain as Viscount Anthony Sheringham, Elli Garnett as Hero Wantage, Nicholas Boulton as Montagu Revesby, Mary Wimbush as Lady Saltash, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Ferdy Fakenham, Simon Russell Beale as Jasper Tarleton, Ian Hughes as Lord George Wrotham, Peter Kenny as Jason, Annabel Mullion as Isabella Milborne, Paul Panting as Gil, Cathy Sara as Ruth, Susan Sheridan as Lady Sheringham, Eva Stuart as Jane Bagshot, Tessa Worsley as Mrs Milborne, Jilly Bond as Lady Jersey,David Antrobus as the Postboy and David Bannerman as Groombridge.
Music by Trevor Allan Davies
Producer: Ned Chaillet.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SAT 07:30 Michael Bentine - The Reluctant Jester (b01jwk8q)
The Reluctant Jester, From the Ridiculous to the ParanormalMore memories from the founding member of The Goon Show, Michael Bentine - with tales of Australia and New York, plus some outrageous showbiz pals.
Michael Bentine CBE was born in 1922 and died in 1996.
Producer: Andy Aliffe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in September 1993.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01pt74f)
Rural RidesMark Steel's review of reporters' journeys round Britain, starting with William Cobbett, the great English journalist and radical campaigner who was born 250 years ago. Mark talks to veteran horseman Dylan Winter and analyses a classic radio and TV genre that owes more than it realises to Cobbett - the tradition of going out and taking a look at Britain.
The formula is a simple one: a hired hack goes on a whistle-stop tour of a part of the country that's unfamiliar to him (it's usually a him) and then publishes his ill-informed impressions together with any wild generalisations he cares to base upon them.
In print, it starts with Cobbett's 'Rural Rides' and ends with the likes of Bill Bryson, Beryl Bainbridge and of course Mark Steel, taking in along the way such scribblers as James Boswell, J.B.Priestley and George Orwell. In radio it's Tom Vernon ('Fat Man on a Bicycle'), Ray Gosling, the many incarnations of 'Down Your Way'... and Mark Steel (again). In TV it runs from Alan Whicker to Clare Balding and Griff Rhys Jones.
When it's done well, Cobbettry can celebrate the differences between us. It can give us an insight into people and places we might be interested to know more about; it can illuminate the human condition by shining a light on particular examples.
When it's done badly - as it often is - Cobbettry can be feeble, patronising and full of cliches. In his own prejudiced and over-simplified whistle-stop tour, Mark Steel demonstrates that Cobbett's legacy has been a mixed blessing.
Producer: Peter Everett
A Pennine production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 09:00 Tony Law's Surreal Guide to Surreal Comedy (b03vztjc)
Absurdist comedian, Tony Law, takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of Surrealism in comedy, with rare interviews from Gerard Hoffnung, Monty Python sketches, plus Peter Cook and Chris Morris's "Why Bother".
Helping Tony make sense of it all; Historian, Mary Beard talks about the oldest surviving joke book; Comedian, Sean Hughes remembers Elvis the talking spider; Comedy Writer Robert Popper confesses to a prank call about Gordon Brown that got slightly out of hand; and Writer, Will Self renders the entire exercise practically pointless by asking us to be clearer about what the word Surrealism actually means.
Is the world becoming more surreal? Have the targets of Surrealism changed?
ToneZone, as he insists the Producer calls him, investigates...
SAT 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01rqnj3)
Series 11, Episode 1David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Lloyd Langford, Henning Wehn, Katherine Ryan and Graeme Garden are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Sharks, Photography, Sugar and Jeremy Clarkson.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:30 Round the Horne (b00j05vh)
Series 1, Episode 1The bona beginnings of one of the BBC's most popular comedies. The story so far, the BBC's Backroom Boys and part one of The Clissold Saga.
Starring Kenneth Horne. With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith
Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1965.
SAT 13:00 CJ Sansom - Shardlake: Heartstone (Omnibus) (b09lsn4q)
Episode 11545. Tudor lawyer-detective Shardlake goes to Portsmouth, but the French are preparing to attack. Stars Justin Salinger.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b09lk0x9)
Benny AnderssonABBA's Benny Andersson selects 'Rattvikarnas Ganglat' by Dalarnas Spelmansforbund and 'Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix' by Maria Callas.
SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b0075nd0)
Dame Barbara CartlandRomantic fiction writer Dame Barbara Cartland talks to Dr Anthony Clare about her career and strongly held beliefs.
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.
Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1991.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01pt74f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Georgette Heyer - Friday's Child (b007jq09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Michael Bentine - The Reluctant Jester (b01jwk8q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four (b01qhd0y)
Episode 1Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth. Sick and separated from his wife, he lives alone in a one-room flat in Victory Mansions in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities.
One of the most influential novels of the 20th century, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published in 1949. Dramatised by Jonathan Holloway.
Winston Smith...Christopher Eccleston
Julia...Pippa Nixon
O'Brien...Tim Pigott-Smith
Parsons...Kim Wall
Charrington ...Robert Blythe
Syme ...Sam Alexander
Prostitute...Susie Riddell
With Christine Absalom, Don Gilet, Joe Sims and Joshua Swinney
Director: Jeremy Mortimer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
SAT 19:00 Tony Law's Surreal Guide to Surreal Comedy (b03vztjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 4 at the Store (b00cpvsk)
Series 1, Episode 1From London's Comedy Store, Simon Bligh introduces stand-ups Dominic Holland, Sue Beard and Felix Dexter. From December 1998.
SAT 22:30 The Jason Byrne Show (b01p9jsb)
Series 3, First I Was a Nurse Then I Became a RooferThe hyperactive humour-boffin scrutinises the realm of employment. With Daisy Haggard and Laurence Howarth. From November 2010.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b09m5gwf)
Mackenzie Crook 2/3Arthur Smith chats to star of The Office, The Detectorists and many a Hollywood film, Mackenzie Crook.
SAT 23:00 Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation (b04gyp8k)
Series 10, How to Eat FoodStand by your radios! Jeremy Hardy returns to the airwaves.
In this show, in order to help explain one of our most fundamental acts as human beings, Jeremy Hardy picks up the topic of food with the chopsticks of enquiry and then drops it on his trousers of former cleanliness.
Helping him tackle the subject will be special guests Vicki Pepperdine (Getting On, My First Planet) and Speaks To The Nation regular, Paul Bassett Davies.
Welcome to "Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation", a series of debates in which Jeremy Hardy engages in a free and frank exchange of his entrenched views. Passionate, polemical, erudite and unable to sing, Jeremy returns with a new series of his show, 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".
Few can forget where they were twenty years ago when they first heard "Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation". The show was an immediate smash-hit success, causing pubs to empty on a Saturday night, which was particularly astonishing since the show went out on Thursdays. The Light Entertainment department was besieged, questions were asked in the House and Jeremy Hardy himself became known as the man responsible for the funniest show on radio since Money Box Live with Paul Lewis.
Since that fateful first series, Jeremy went on to win Sony Awards, Writers Guild nominations and a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He is a much-loved regular on both The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. He can't sing.
Written by Jeremy Hardy
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 23:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01hxpy6)
Series 2, Junk MailSony Award-winning comic Tom Wrigglesworth performs the last in his series of open letters. This week, he takes issue with his local curry house and their addiction to junk mail. Tom also tracks the development of advertising and marketing - a development trajectory which has now led us to the rather ridiculous stage where we can be "Facebook friends" with Jacob's Crackers.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth, James Kettle and Miles Jupp.
Produced by Simon Mayhew-Archer.

SUNDAY 07 JANUARY 2018

SUN 00:00 George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four (b01qhd0y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 CJ Sansom - Shardlake: Heartstone (Omnibus) (b09lsn4q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b09lk0x9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b0075nd0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Archive on 4 (b01pt74f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Georgette Heyer - Friday's Child (b007jq09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Michael Bentine - The Reluctant Jester (b01jwk8q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b09lsnw2)
Tales of the City, OmnibusA comedy of manners set in San Francisco in 1976 and a warm portrait of an era that changed the way we live. From February 2013.
SUN 07:15 RK Narayan Stories (b01dbqjv)
Father's HelpSwami is the pupil. Samuel is the teacher. A classroom battle is about to start. Read by Zia Mohyeddin.
SUN 07:30 Clare in the Community (b062n4nb)
Series 10, SistersEpisode Three- Sisters
Clare and her estranged sister are forced to co-operate with one another, in between some Sparrowhawk team lead self-defence training.
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 Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead (b00hk2f1)
From 16/7/1972Improvement grants for everybody explained and a plumber muses on words.
A sequential entertainment for radio starring Ronnie Barker.
With Terence Brady and Pauline Yates. Pianist: Gordon Langford.
Written by Tony Bilbow, Mike Fentiman, David Climie, Gordon Langford, John Graham, Miles Kington, Roy Lomax, Myles Rudge, Max Harris and Peter Spence.
Producer John Fawcett-Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1972.
SUN 08:30 Harry Worth in Things Could Be Worse (b09lspnb)
The Blackmail LetterWhen he receives a menacing letter, the biggest threat to Harry's wellbeing is Harry himself!
Harry blunders his way through another catalogue of mishaps.
Written by David McKellar and David Renwick.
Starring Harry Worth. With John Baddeley, John Graham and Miriam Margolyes.
Producer: Simon Brett.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1976.
SUN 09:00 Alan Taylor - The Vital Spark: Appointment in Arezzo (Omnibus) (b09lspnd)
A journalist's memoir of a friendship with Muriel Spark, one of the twentieth century's great writers. Read by Paul Higgins.
SUN 10:10 The Listening Project (b05nvj7d)
Joe and Kevin - Barstool PhilosophyFi Glover introduces a conversation about how working in a bar in Derry has changed over a generation, and how the emigration of Ireland's young continues, in the series that shows 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 (b09lsq7n)
Business, Tidjane ThiamKirsty Young's castaway this week is businessman Tidjane Thiam.
He's chief executive of the Prudential, but he's about as far from the archetypal "man from the Pru" as you can get.
The seeds of his success were sown amid the complex political terrain of the Ivory Coast with an extended family heavily involved in politics and a father imprisoned for his beliefs. His life quickly took on an international flavour from West Africa to Morocco, Paris to Washington, but in his early 30s a coup in his homeland left him high and dry. He says "I had no job, no career, nothing at all. It taught me a lot about myself. If you've been in a situation where you have nothing there's nothing much you're afraid of."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
SUN 11:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b09lsq7q)
Series 6, Live from Portsmouth, New HampshireTrue stories told live in the USA: Dame Wilburn introduces tales of people encountering high anxiety.
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 (b09lk87r)
Kirstie AllsoppTV property presenter Kirstie Allsopp selects 'American Pie' by Don Mclean and 'Fix You' by Coldplay.
SUN 12:00 Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead (b00hk2f1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 Harry Worth in Things Could Be Worse (b09lspnb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b09lsnw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 RK Narayan Stories (b01dbqjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Matt Haig - How to Stop Time (b09lk87t)
Episode 2Witchfinder William Manning finally tracks Tom down at the Globe Theatre. An age-old tale read by Tom Hollander.
SUN 15:45 Painted for Posterity (b007667b)
Britain and the BeastThe Recording Britain project. which began in 1939, for artists to paint the wartime British landscape. With Peter Wright. From February 2002.
SUN 16:00 Saturday Drama (b01rv0lm)
Great Escape: The JusticeIn the spring of 1943, a group of Air Force officers began work on an ambitious plan to tunnel their way out of a German POW camp called Stalag Luft Three. A year later the tunnel was ready and seventy-six made their escape. All but three were recaptured, but fifty were then systematically executed on orders from German High Command. This much was made internationally famous by Hollywood in the film The Great Escape, which mixes a meticulous depiction of the tunnelling plan with highly fictionalised American characters on motorbikes.
But there is a stranger part of the story which starts where the film leaves off, and reveals the real history behind the nation-building legend. The British Government vowed to avenge the murders, and within weeks of the war's end, sent RAF investigators into the ruins of Germany, with orders to track down the killers, and bring them to exemplary justice.
Award-winning dramatist Robin Brooks and internationally best-selling novelist Robert Radcliffe tell the extraordinary story of the escape, the murders, and the postwar manhunt in the chaos of divided Germany, through the eyes of one of the senior investigating officers: a straightforward by-the-book detective from Blackpool CID.
Producer/Director ..... Jonquil Panting.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b09lk87w)
Siegfried Sassoon - A FriendPoet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'Siegfried Sassoon - A Friend'
Dennis Silk recalls his 13-year friendship with the war poet and shares a precious private recording he made in the 1960s of Siegfried Sassoon reading his own work, including The General, Base Details, Died of Wounds and several other poems.
Producer: Tom Alban
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004.
SUN 17:30 Clare in the Community (b062n4nb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Fear on 4 (b007jq0d)
Playing GodThe Man in Black reveals how homeless people face falling prey to unscrupulous operators.
Another in a series of nerve-tinglers from Fear on 4.
Starring Melanie Hudson as Alma and Edward de Souza as the Man in Black.
With Nicholas Murchie as Tom, Ann Windsor as Hilary, Margaret Heery as Mrs Drewitt, Peter Gunn as the Police Sergeant, Melinda Walker as the Sister, David Bannerman as PC Crambles, John Church as the Doctor and Eric Allen as Ralph.
Written by Denise Sims.
Producer: Martin Jenkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SUN 18:30 David Calcutt - The Otherworld Child (b07lpf3k)
"It was only when she got back to her cottage and the candles were lit, that she saw what a strange creature it was she'd found ..."
David Calcutt's play is based on the traditional story of lonely Alice Proudfoot and her curious discovery in a moonlit wood.
Stars Mary Wimbush as Gran, Rebecca Wright as Alice and Alex Jones as Joe.
Director: Nigel Bryant
First broadcast in Thirty-Minute Theatre on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b09lsq7q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:50 Inheritance Tracks (b09lk87r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:50 today]
SUN 20:00 Alan Taylor - The Vital Spark: Appointment in Arezzo (Omnibus) (b09lspnd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 The Listening Project (b05nvj7d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b09lsq7n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Clare in the Community (b062n4nb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Cabin Pressure (b01l02j9)
Series 4, TimbuktuCabin Pressure is a sitcom about the wing and a prayer world of a tiny, one plane, charter airline; staffed by two pilots: one on his way down, and one who was never up to start with. Whether they're flying squaddies to Hamburg, metal sheets to Mozambique, or an oil exec's cat to Abu Dhabi, no job is too small, but many, many jobs are too difficult...
Episode 1:
Hooray hooray, it's Birling Day once more, where the crew traditionally swap their dignity for cash! But where have all the camels gone? And why is Arthur reading a book?
Written by John Finnemore
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b09m5hbl)
Mackenzie Crook 3/3Arthur Smith chats to star of The Office, The Detectorists and many a Hollywood film, Mackenzie Crook.
SUN 23:00 What Does the K Stand For? (b03ktz0w)
Series 1, First LoveYoung Stephen falls in love, makes a self-discovery and breaks his first heart.
Violin ... Rachel Barnes
Written by Jonathan Harvey with Stephen K Amos
Produced by Colin Anderson.
SUN 23:30 Jelly Mountain (b00ftk74)
Episode 5Musings on a footkerchief and a forest full of girls. Songs and stories from Ivor Cutler, with Beverley Crew. From May 1996.
SUN 23:45 Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (b00s8lgd)
The HatchingSurreal saga of a dynasty delicately balanced on the edge of sanity. Written by and starring Viv Stanshall. From December 1996.

MONDAY 08 JANUARY 2018

MON 00:00 Fear on 4 (b007jq0d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:30 David Calcutt - The Otherworld Child (b07lpf3k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b09lsnw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 RK Narayan Stories (b01dbqjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Matt Haig - How to Stop Time (b09lk87t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Painted for Posterity (b007667b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Saturday Drama (b01rv0lm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b09lk87w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Clare in the Community (b062n4nb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag (b0089kwf)
The Sisters ScobieFinlay rashly decides he can cure both the crabby cohabiting Scobie sisters of flu and the fact that they haven't talked to each other for 15 years...
Sue Rodwell's six-part dramatisation of AJ Cronin's stories about the early years of the celebrated doctor.
Ready with his black bag, Dr Finlay sets out to remedy all manner of ailments suffered by his patients in the Scottish Highland town of Levenford.
Stars John Gordon Sinclair as Dr Finlay, Brian Pettifer as Dr Cameron, Katy Murphy as Janet, Jennifer Piercey as Beth Scobie, Muriel Barker as Annabelle Scobie, Sharon Small as Nurse Peggy Angus and Gordon Reid as John Angus.
Producer: Jeremy Howe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
MON 06:30 The Qatar Philharmonic (b01gng58)
The Qatar Philharmonic was established in 2008, the first western symphony orchestra in a Gulf state, and just one of a number of institutions intended to demonstrate the country's cultural ambitions.
Razia Iqbal visits Katar, the official cultural village of Doha, and talks to members of the orchestra, many of whom have been imported from Europe. And she interviews the country's 'culture queen', Sheikha Mayassa Al-Thani, daughter of the Emir of Qatar.
Produced by Francesca Panetta and Lucy Greenwell.
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 07:00 Millport (b00761w5)
Series 2, Happy ReturnsIt's Irene's 33rd birthday - so the island inhabitants have a few surprises in store...
Bittersweet comedy written by and starring Lynn Ferguson as 30-something island barmaid Irene Bruce, who hankers after a better life on the mainland.
Stars Lynn Ferguson as Irene, Janet Brown as Moira/Agnes, Lewis McLeod as Alberto/Robert/Ferryman/Bob, Gabriel Quigley as Ena/Bunty and Kenneth Bryans as Dougie.
Music arranged by Olly Fox.
Producer: Lucy Bacon
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
MON 07:30 I'm Dave Podmore, Get Me Out There (b03hn2rt)
After his over-exuberant victory celebrations at the Oval, Dave Podmore finds himself in the celebrity doghouse.
A brush with death at his local reservoir then annoys Pod even more, if only for thwarting his plan to get on series 2 of "Splash!" with Tom Daley. It's a good job Radio One County's Andy Hamer is on hand to take his speeding points, as not even Pod would do that to his wife. (She's already banned after she covered for him last time).
With Ashes fever upon us again, Pod knows that Down Under is the place to be, but the big question is will he get picked... for a juicy jungle payday on "I'm a Celebrity"?
Producer: Jon Harvey
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b00dyp5l)
The First Night PartyThe lad throws a launch party - with cocktails and dinner - for his very first half hour, but things don't quite go to plan.
Starring Tony Hancock. With Moira Lister, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Gerald Campion and Kenneth Williams.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1954.
MON 08:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
Series 3, A Jumbo Sized ProblemThe Home Guard platoon must pave the way for a convoy, but then the circus turns up.
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 and Larry Martyn as Private Walker.
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 (b0075wj9)
Series 4, Episode 4Crazy panel show capers as host Sue Perkins grills Armando Iannucci, Marcus Brigstocke, Nick Frost and Peter Baynham.
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.
MON 09:30 The Party Line (b012f9s5)
Series 2, Episode 2MP Duncan Stonebridge's party agent Roger has a penchant for married women. So instead of concentrating on political struggles, he ends up trying to save the philanderer from the wrath of an enraged Russian Oligarch with powerful connections...
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis's topical sitcom from 2006 about a hapless backbench MP.
Stars James Fleet as Duncan Stonebridge.
With Simon Greenall, Geoffrey McGivern, Geraldine McNulty, Matilda Ziegler and Sarah Coleman.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2006.
MON 10:00 Drama (b08j9r66)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Episode 1Adapted from the Jules Verne novel by Moya O'Shea
The first of the extraordinary tales from the golden age of adventure. Three intrepid explorers venture into the heart of a dormant Icelandic volcano where there is shock and peril at every turn beneath the earth's layers.
In the first drama from To The Ends of the Earth: extraordinary tales from the golden age of adventure, renowned professor, Otto Lidenbrock, discovers a mysterious, runic cryptogram in a rare manuscript he has bought. It is his nephew, Axel, who accidentally cracks the message which is by a sixteenth century alchemist who claims to have found a pathway to the centre of the earth! "Descend, bold traveller into the crater of the Jokul of Snæfell, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the kalends of July and you will attain the centre of the earth."
Lidenbrock decides he must see for himself if such a journey is possible and with the reluctant Axel in tow, and the help of their guide, Hans, the three venture into the heart of a dormant, Icelandic volcano on a dangerous expedition beneath the earth's layers.
It's the ultimate adventure story in the best Victorian tradition with plenty of action, science, knowledge, discovery and surprise. The three attempting this tremendous feat are - the somewhat cowardly, dewy-eyed romantic, Axel; the highly strung and oh, so eccentric, Otto Lidenbrock and the calm, phlegmatic Danish speaking, Icelandic guide, Hans.
MON 11:00 Writing Lives (b047wfpk)
Slum Songs in the Sun, by Jane Campion HoyeWriting Lives is a series of short stories by writers new to Radio 4 and based on personal experience.
In Slum Songs in the Sun by Jane Campion Hoye, when a woman volunteers at a school in a slum in Kenya she meets a girl who makes her confront an impossible dream.
Jane Campion Hoye is a Midlands-based writer and performer. This is her first commission for BBC Radio 4.
Read by Sally Orrock
Producer: Paul Dodgson
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 11:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt1bh)
The BeanoA works outing aboard the Devonia in 1911 reunites childhood sweethearts Harry and Mercy.
Three plays about the life and times of a paddle steamer and its crew depicted across three decades - written by Andy Rashleigh.
Starring John Duttine as Harry and Sophie Thompson as Mercy,
With David Thorpe, David Allister, Tessa Worsley, Stephen Critchlow, Tilly Gaunt and Harry Myers.
Producer: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
MON 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b00dyp5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag (b0089kwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 The Qatar Philharmonic (b01gng58)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jlkv)
Episode 14 Extra Debut. The soul of Siberia described through its buildings, people and amazing quirks of nature. Read by John Rowe. From January 2000.
MON 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zy1c0)
Testaments of FriendshipDr Thomas Dixon brings his timely new history of the changing face of friendship into the era immediately after the First World War, when the international friendship movement flourished.
Episode 11: Testaments of Friendship
At the centre of this episode is the story of Vera Brittain, author of the ever-popular memoirs, Testament of Youth and Testament of Friendship. Thomas Dixon traces Brittain's life through her pre-war loves, the heart-breaking war-time losses of her brother, her two closest male friends and her fiancee, and her post-war friendship with the writer, Winifred Holtby.
Thomas Dixon hears from Brittain's daughter, Baroness Shirley Williams, about her mother's passionate belief in the ability of women to sustain profound friendships even during a period when they were frequently depicted in films, books and newspaper articles as being hostile to one another.
He also speaks with Professor Seth Koven about Muriel Lester, whose friendships both with a poor East End girl, Nellie Dowell, and with Mahatma Gandhi, represented a drive for international peace and reconciliation after the horrors of the First World War.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
MON 14:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdsmq)
More Tales of the City, Episode 1With a huge windfall, Mary Ann and Mouse set off on a cruise with the aim of seducing people in shifts . With no following wind and no extra cash Mona runs away, setting off on a road-trip she will never forget
DIRECTED BY SUSAN ROBERTS
Set in 1976 in San Francisco, Tales of the City is the second novel about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane; Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed the way we live forever.
In this sequel to Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal reveals her secrets to her second family - the tenants of her house, 27 Barbary Lane . Mona Ramsey is on a cross-country trip that takes her to a brothel which may hold a secret about her past. Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton go on a cruise where they meet up with lovers old and new. Brian Hawkins becomes involved with a mysterious woman he spots from his window, while DeDe Halcyon Day becomes acquainted with a new friend who helps her discover her true inner feelings.
MON 14:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrdv)
Episode 1Winston woos his bride as "Pug" and "Cat" get romantic.
From one of the great romances of the 20th century - the personal letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill, edited by their daughter Mary Soames.
Read by Alex Jennings and Sylvestra le Touzel.
Narrated by Helen Bourne.
Abridged in ten parts by Penny Leicester.
Producer: Di Speirs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
MON 15:00 Drama (b08j9r66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 The 99p Challenge (b0075wj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 The Party Line (b012f9s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Millport (b00761w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 I'm Dave Podmore, Get Me Out There (b03hn2rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b00cfzw4)
Episode 5Earth's last living man, Robert Neville, sharpens up his hunt for the origins of the plague. Read by Angus McInnes. From January 2006.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b09lkd7x)
Connie St Louis and Miranda SawyerSue MacGregor and her guests - broadcaster, Connie St Louis and journalist, Miranda Sawyer - discuss favourite books by Tobias Jones, Walter Mosley and Hunter S Thompson. From 2005.
'Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned' by Walter Mosley
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
'Fear and Loathing in Las Vega's by Hunter S. Thompson
Publisher: Flamingo Modern Classics
'The Dark Heart of Italy' by Tobias Jones
Publisher: Faber & Faber.
MON 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b00dyp5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag (b0089kwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 The Qatar Philharmonic (b01gng58)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Writing Lives (b047wfpk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt1bh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 I'm Dave Podmore, Get Me Out There (b03hn2rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Absolute Power (b007w32v)
Series 2, Episode 5Charles tackles prison reform, as Martin helps Delia Smith with a new image. Stars Stephen Fry and John Bird. From February 2001.
MON 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b09m5hhm)
Carly Smallman 1/2Jake Yapp chats to musical comedian and co-founder of a comedy club for new parents and their babies, Carly Smallman.
MON 23:00 News Quiz Extra (b09lt1bk)
Series 22, Episode 1Made for 4 Extra. Miles Jupp chairs a satirical review of the week's news in an extended version of Friday's programme.
MON 23:45 Hearing With Hegley (b009y1s3)
Series 1, Episode 1The poet laureate of alternative comedy, John Hegley presents a selection of his work. From November 1996.

TUESDAY 09 JANUARY 2018

TUE 00:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b00cfzw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b09lkd7x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag (b0089kwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 The Qatar Philharmonic (b01gng58)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jlkv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zy1c0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdsmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Drama (b08j9r66)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 The 99p Challenge (b0075wj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 The Party Line (b012f9s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Millport (b00761w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 I'm Dave Podmore, Get Me Out There (b03hn2rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzc)
Murder MansionIt's 1934 and a New York warehouse is ablaze on the Lower East Side. A gang of gun-runners are holed-up until their supply of ammo explodes. Tough-nut hero, Secret Agent X-9 receives a phone call from wealthy industrialist, Tarleton Powers asking for his help.
Stars Stuart Milligan as X-9 and Connie Booth as Grace Powers. With Rachel Power and William Hootkins
The heroic agent's 4-part adventure was adapted for radio by Mark Brisenden, from the comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. Syndicated by King Features, it ran from 1934 to 1996.
Originally agent X-9 had no name, but opted to call himself "Dexter" in the opening tale.
Author Dashiell Hammett is best remembered for his detective novels, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, while cartoonist Alex Raymond famously created sci-fi comic hero Flash Gordon.
Produced by Chris Wallis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in January 1994.
TUE 06:30 Phil Collins - King of the Wild Frontier (b01b8w65)
The largest private collection of Alamo memorabilia resides in an impressive Geneva home in Switzerland. Also resident is singer songwriter and Genesis drummer - Phil Collins.
Davy Crockett and The Alamo are his very private passion and Collins invites presenter Patrick Humphries into his home to talk us through his impressive collection. We discover how he began collecting, where he secures his artefacts and how he has organised excavations through the profits of a gift shop at the famous Alamo battle site.
We have all heard of The Alamo but why does this American battle of March 6th 1836, when 180 Texans fought an army of 6,000 Mexicans still resonate nearly two centuries on? Collins is very knowledgeable about this particular period of American history and talks impressively about the framed the documents and letters, the dozens of rifles and swords, authentic uniforms and the many artefacts collected across 30 years. His comments, are complemented by Historian Bill Chemerka and we hear Film buff Lee Pfeiffer, he talks us through films and TV series which have enshrined the Alamo in many young minds 50 years ago.
Crockett was a largely forgotten hero, but his legend was reborn in the 1950s thanks to a Walt Disney TV show, which also introduced his legendary coonskin cap into his legacy. The John Wayne Alamo movie also raised Crockett's profile. The programme also hears from a living relative of Davy Crockett, his great great great grandson also called Davy! He reveals how the family see his famous father's legend and the events at The Alamo. However it's Patrick's visit to Phil Collins home that makes sure this is a different kind of history programme, revealing in the process why this particular piece of American history touches people so deeply.
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 07:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b044jh6q)
Episode 4Guests 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.
Produced and directed by: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 07:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09k6pn3)
Series 8, HullMark Steel's In Town - Hull
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 Hull. He has a wonderful time exploring the 2017 City of Culture exhibits as well as all the other normal stuff like the world's smallest window and white phone boxes. He talks to a man who painted himself blue and walked naked through the town as part of the Sea of Hull installation, samples the delights of Chip Spice and patties and gets to the bottom of why they call their aquarium a submarium.
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
This is a BBC Studio Production.
TUE 08:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b053hndh)
From 28/06/1964Can Sir Doddy rescue a damsel in distress? - and meet the unluckiest sailor.
Starring Ken Dodd.
With Judith Chalmers, John Slater, Patricia Hayes, Peter Hudson and Wallas Eaton
Music from The Caravelles.
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 June 1964.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b013qzgl)
Safe and UnsoundThe bungling bureaucrats spark fears of a top level security leak...
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler.
With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley, John Graham, Patricia Hayes and John Cole.
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 News Quiz Extra (b09lt1bk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Hearing With Hegley (b009y1s3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Drama (b08jk8x6)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Episode 2Adapted from the Jules Verne novel by Moya O'Shea
The first of the extraordinary tales from the golden age of adventure continues. Axel is in grave danger. Thirty leagues of rock lie above him. Should he go up or down?
TUE 11:00 Behind the Screen (b0685jg0)
The Guest in the House, by Hugh WalpoleAgatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers in a collaborative detective serial written by six members of the Detection Club.
Something strange has befallen the Ellis household. Things have never been the same since City worker, Paul Dudden, came to lodge with them. When Amy Ellis's fiancé, medical student Wilfred Hope, visits them one wet and stormy evening, the atmosphere in the house seems more peculiar than ever. Wilfred has no idea what can be going on - until he takes a look behind the screen in the parlour....
Read by Michael Jayston
First broadcast weekly on the BBC National Programme in 1930, with each author: Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, EC Bentley and Father Ronald Knox reading their own part of the story.
To reflect the changes of storyteller, we have a different reader for each part of this new version:
When first broadcast, some listeners were puzzled by the method employed in planning a collaborative detective story. If the whole thing were indeed to be written like a game of consequences, with each new writer picking up where the last one left off, how could any consistency be achieved, and how could a satisfactory plot be managed and concluded?
Lord Peter Wimsey creator, Dorothy L Sayers, who co-ordinated the different contributions, explained the process: "The first three authors carried the story along according to their own several fancies; while the last three used their wits, in consultation, to unravel the clues presented to them by the first three."
Abridged by John Peacock
Producer David Blount
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
TUE 11:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt3jd)
Day Trip1925: Steward Harry's life aboard Devonia is made a misery by a group of upper class students out to celebrate the end of their finals.
Three plays about the life and times of a paddle steamer and its crew depicted across three decades - written by Andy Rashleigh.
Starring John Duttine as Harry and Emilia Fox as Isabel.
With Adrian Lukis, Paul Copley, Charles Simpson, Harry Myers, Elizabeth Conboy, Stephen Critchlow and David Allister.
Producer: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
TUE 12:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b053hndh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b013qzgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 Phil Collins - King of the Wild Frontier (b01b8w65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn1g)
Episode 2North of the Arctic Circle, the author visits the mines, graveyards, camps and an 87-year-old survivor. Read by John Rowe. From January 2000.
TUE 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zy24b)
The Suburbs of the HeartContinuing his history of friendship over the last five hundred years, Dr Thomas Dixon explores how friendship was changed by a new form of technology and a new type of science in the early years of the twentieth century.
Episode 12: The Suburbs of the Heart
Just as the internet has been seen as an enemy of friendship, so the new technology of the early twentieth century - the telephone - was initially viewed with mistrust. Magazines and newspaper articles listed it along with the telegram and the motor car as potentially detrimental to the art of friendship.
One author wrote: "we live, alas in the suburbs of each other's hearts".
Meanwhile, as the real suburbs were extended, the new science of psychology began to advise lonely city-dwellers on how to form new alliances and friendships.
Dr Thomas Dixon hears from Professor Mark Peel about the impact of urbanisation on friendship, and is won over by his surprisingly passionate defence of Dale Carnegie's often mocked best-seller, How to Make Friends and Influence People.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
TUE 14:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdvlh)
More Tales of the City, Episode 2On the cruise, Mary Ann and Burke get closer, and an old friend turns up for Mouse. At home, 28 Barbary Lane seems empty . Mrs Madrigal is looking for Mona who has interrupted her road trip for a stay at the best whorehouse in Winnemucca .
DIRECTED BY SUSAN ROBERTS
For more than 3 decades, Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series has blazed its own trail through popular culture-from ground-breaking newspaper serial to classic novel. This is the first time it has appeared on radio, dramatised by Bryony Lavery.
Set in 1976 in San Francisco, More Tales of the City is the second novel about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane; Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed the way we live forever.
In this sequel to Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal reveals her secrets to her second family - the tenants of her house. Mona Ramsey is on a cross-country trip that takes her to a brothel which may hold a secret about her past. Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton go on a cruise where they meet up with lovers old and new. Brian Hawkins becomes involved with a mysterious woman he spots from his window, while DeDe Halcyon Day becomes acquainted with a new friend who helps her discover her true inner feelings.
TUE 14:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrf5)
Episode 2The letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill, recalling time spent apart as their daughter grows up. With Alex Jennings. From February 1999.
TUE 15:00 Drama (b08jk8x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mlq)
Series 2, Episode 1On Jay Rayner's menu are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Elisabeth Luard, Josceline Dimbleby and Stephen Fry. From August 2004.
TUE 16:30 Semi Circles (b007jtyy)
Series 2, A Lack of Moral FibreChristmas is coming and Ben is getting fat, but will dieting with Helen raise his spirits? Starring Paula Wilcox. From December 1982.
TUE 17:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b044jh6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09k6pn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k10v)
Episode 6Crushed by his dog's death, Earth's last living man's vampire quest continues, with a shock in store. Read by Angus McInnes. From January 2006.
TUE 18:30 Dad Made Me Laugh (b00mzw55)
Anthony BygravesMax Bygraves' son chats to Sally Magnusson about growing up with a famous showbiz father. From September 2006.
TUE 19:00 The Ken Dodd Show (b053hndh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b013qzgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 Phil Collins - King of the Wild Frontier (b01b8w65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Behind the Screen (b0685jg0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt3jd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b09k6pn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World (b007v2y5)
Series 2, The FutureThe sci-fi star probes our destinies. With Richard Herring, Stewart Lee and Tom Baker at Glasgow University. From July 1993.
TUE 23:00 Elvenquest (b00kpw9l)
Series 1, Episode 6Sci-fi comedy series by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto.
The Quest seems near its end as the noble band reach the Rock of Sorrows. But Sam is tempted by Lord Darkness and has to decide between his friends and his home.
Vidar ...... Darren Boyd
Dean the Dwarf/Kreech ...... Kevin Eldon
Amis ...... Dave Lamb
Lord Darkness ...... Alistair McGowan
Sam ...... Stephen Mangan
Penthiselea ...... Sophie Winkleman.
TUE 23:30 The Consultants (b007k320)
Series 1, Episode 2The team ponder how to revamp tea to make it more dangerous and exciting. With Neil Edmond, Justin Edwards and James Rawlings. From February 2003.
TUE 23:45 Where Did It All Go Wrong? (b0076gqv)
Series 1, Blakey 'Blake' BlakesonSimon Munnery debunks the image of one of England's forgotten folk heroes. From August 2003.

WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY 2018

WED 00:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k10v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Dad Made Me Laugh (b00mzw55)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 Phil Collins - King of the Wild Frontier (b01b8w65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zy24b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdvlh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrf5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Drama (b08jk8x6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mlq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Semi Circles (b007jtyy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Guests Are Like Fish (b044jh6q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b09k6pn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzt)
Carnage at SeaThe 1930s heroic agent takes on the law to pursue his arch enemy in the heart of New York.
Stars Stuart Milligan as X-9 and Connie Booth as Grace Powers. With Rachel Power and William Hootkins
Adapted for radio by Mark Brisenden, from the comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. Syndicated by King Features, it ran from 1934 to 1996.
Originally agent X-9 had no name, but opted to call himself "Dexter" in the opening tale.
Author Dashiell Hammett is best remembered for his detective novels, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, while cartoonist Alex Raymond famously created sci-fi comic hero Flash Gordon.
Produced by Chris Wallis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in January 1994.
WED 06:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dkff3)
Episode 1Horatio Clare joins the crews of lifeboats based on the river Thames. Established in 2002 in response to the inquiries into the Marchioness disaster, the four lifeboats are permanently manned and have to respond to a distress call within 30 seconds. The boats are not like familiar sea-going lifeboats but are jet-propelled, capable of travelling at 40 knots.
Horatio attends a night shift with the full-time and volunteer crew at Tower Station, near Waterloo Bridge. He witnesses rescue training and gets a call-out. Moving on to Gravesend, he joins the crew on a melancholy mission, searching for someone feared drowned.
WED 07:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009sdcy)
Series 1, Episode 6Comeback singing duo Tommy and Sheila hit stormy waters performing on a cruise ship.
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 and Chris Pavlo.
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 (b09k80tl)
Series 1, Jeremy Hardy Feels... HopefulJeremy Hardy returns with his brand new series that not only seconds that emotion, but explains it too. In this show, Jeremy is feeling... hopeful.
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 (b0103qmd)
Johnson's DietCommander Povey discovers there's no official record of HMS Troutbridge - and someone's very hungry.
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 Commander Bracewell 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 February 1960.
WED 08:30 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
Series 1, Episode 2Kenneth Horne's secrets from the BBC backroom boys and continuing 'The Clissold Saga'.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith
Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1965.
WED 09:00 The Write Stuff (b01shsv6)
Mark TwainRadio 4's literary panel show, hosted by James Walton, with team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh and guests John O'Farrell and Jane Thynne.
Produced by Alexandra Smith.
WED 09:30 Change at Oglethorpe (b00mvs9q)
Off the RailsTicket sales at Oglethorpe railway station are at an all-time low.
Could passengers be put off by Points's Platform 1 FM Punk Rock Show? Or is it down to June's seances in the cafe? - or perhaps because Rocket refuses to sell anyone a ticket to Barnsley?
New station manager, David Clare has a challenge on his hands!
Peter Morfoot's comedy stars Michael Williams as Rocket, Peter Davison as David, Rosemary Martin as June, Phillippa Wilson as Points, Madge Hindle as Hattie and Chris Emmett as Sodd. Other parts played by Caroline Strong and David Timson.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in December 1995.
WED 10:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tnrv2)
The KidnappingDuring May 1931, the revolutionary situation in Baskul worsened and Air Force machines arrived from Peshawar to evacuate the residents.
A few miscellaneous aircraft were also employed - among them one lent by the Maharajah of Chandapore. In this, four passengers embarked: Miss Roberta Brinklow, of the Eastern Mission; Henry D Barnard, a US citizen; Hugh Conway, HM Consul; and Captain Charles Mallinson, HM Vice-Consul.
Mysteriously none of them reached their destination.
James Hilton's novel about Shangri-La, the mystical lamasery hidden in the mountains of Tibet.
Three-part dramatisation by Barry Campbell.
Starring Derek Jacobi as Hugh Conway, Andrew Branch as Mallinson, Alan Tilvern as Barnard, Carol Marsh as Miss Brinklow, John Livesey as Rutherford, Sion Probert as Wyland, Alaric Cotter as Hilton, Gary Cady as Sanders, John Bull as the Doctor and Garard Green as Chang.
Pianist: Antony Miall
Producer: Graham Gauld
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1981.
WED 11:00 Behind the Screen (b06874ny)
Something Is Missing, by Agatha ChristiePenelope Keith reads the next instalment of the 1930s 'whodunit' continued by Agatha Christie.
Behind The Screen is a collaborative detective serial written by six members of the Detection Club. It was first broadcast weekly on the BBC National Programme in 1930, with each contributor reading his or her own part of the story.
The six authors were Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, EC Bentley and Father Ronald Knox.
To reflect the changes of storyteller, we have a different reader for each part of this new version:
When first broadcast, some listeners were puzzled by the method employed in planning a collaborative detective story. If the whole thing were indeed to be written like a game of consequences, with each new writer picking up where the last one left off, how could any consistency be achieved, and how could a satisfactory plot be managed and concluded?
Lord Peter Wimsey creator, Dorothy L Sayers, who co-ordinated the different contributions, explained the process: "The first three authors carried the story along according to their own several fancies; while the last three used their wits, in consultation, to unravel the clues presented to them by the first three."
Abridged by John Peacock
Producer David Blount
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
WED 11:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt68h)
Night Boat1936: Devonia has a curious group of passengers aboard who may well be spies. Meanwhile, will Harry and Mercy finally tie the knot?
Three plays about the life and times of a paddle steamer and its crew depicted across three decades - written by Andy Rashleigh.
Starring John Duttine as Harry and Sophie Thompson as Mercy.
With John Rowe, Selina Cadell, David Allister, Robert Harper and Stephen Critchlow.
Producer: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b0103qmd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dkff3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn1z)
Episode 3Omsk, where Fyodor Dostoevsky languished in a wooden prison for four years condemned to hard labour. Read by John Rowe. From January 2000.
WED 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b040014g)
In Need, In Deed, By PostDr Thomas Dixon continues to trace the changing meaning of friendship over the last five hundred years.
Episode 13: In Need, In Deed, By Post
Mass Observation and the archive of the Co-Operative Correspondence Club provide intimate evidence for friendship during the Second World War.
Dr Clare Langhamer discusses how, in 1935, one lonely mother in County Wicklow began a correspondence network that continued through to the 1990s, long preceding today's MumsNet and NetMums.
She also shares some revealing evidence from the vast Mass Observation archive at the University of Sussex about how women's friendships were affected by their war-work.
Thomas Dixon also considers how men on active service formed new bonds across the class divide, and, in one extraordinary case from the BBC Sound Archive, not only with other human beings: "I have a passion for tanks," begins Captain Michael Halstead's account of life on the front line.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
WED 14:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdxwj)
More Tales of the City, Episode 3Michael and Jon are re-united and Mary-Ann's relationship with Burke is blossoming on the cruise.
Dede meets a new friend and Beauchamp tries another way of dealing with his wife's pregnancy.
DIRECTED BY SUSAN ROBERTS
In this sequel to Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal reveals her secrets to her second family - the tenants of her house. Mona Ramsey is on a cross-country trip that takes her to a brothel which may hold a secret about her past. Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton go on a cruise where they meet up with lovers old and new. Brian Hawkins becomes involved with a mysterious woman he spots from his window, while DeDe Halcyon Day becomes acquainted with a new friend who helps her discover her true inner feelings.
WED 14:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrfh)
Episode 3The letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Tragedy strikes and more loneliness follows. With Sylvestra Le Touzel. From February 1999.
WED 15:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tnrv2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The Write Stuff (b01shsv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Change at Oglethorpe (b00mvs9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009sdcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09k80tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k125)
Episode 7Earth's last living man Robert Neville's shock discovery leaves him feeling deeply suspicious. Read by Angus McInnes. From January 2006.
WED 18:30 Musical Legends (b01hl0bp)
Gary Numan2/2
Gary Numan had hit records with the songs 'Are Friends Electric' and 'Cars'.
A pioneer in the field of electronic music his work on record and live remains potent and relevant.
Ahead of a tour which includes a gig in Glasgow on the 23rd of May 2012, he gives Tom Morton a frank and in-depth interview.
With music from his back catalogue they talk about his long career in music, the role his wife Gemma played in reviving his career and the story of how he wrote his greatest hit song in only ten minutes.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b0103qmd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dkff3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Behind the Screen (b06874ny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Andy Rashleigh - Devonia (b09lt68h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09k80tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 The Secret World (b012gs0y)
Series 2, Episode 3David Beckham tries to hire a rainbow for a party. Jon Culshaw explores famous folk's private lives. From July 2010.
WED 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b09m5hmt)
Carly Smallman 2/2Jake Yapp chats to musical comedian and co-founder of a comedy club for new parents and their babies, Carly Smallman.
WED 23:00 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01blzkq)
The Music FestivalA 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, and 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 laconic and urbane and clearly irritates Will.
The writer and comedian Will Smith leads the starry cast of Mr and Mrs.Smith.
Episode 3 - The Music Festival
An audience sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling, written by Will Smith. Will reluctantly accompanies wife Annabelle to a music festival. She brings her annoying friend Heather along.
FULL CAST DETAILS:
Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
Heather ..... Morwenna Banks
Various ..... Simon Bubb
Written by ..... Will Smith
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
WED 23:30 Children's Hour with Armstrong and Miller (b007jpyk)
Episode 2Martin Bain-Jones and Craig Children do battle at a special music awards ceremony.
Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong write and star in their first full-length radio comedy series.
With Charlie Condou, Melissa Lloyd and Tony Gardner.
Producer: Jon Rolph
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1998.

THURSDAY 11 JANUARY 2018

THU 00:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k125)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Musical Legends (b01hl0bp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jpzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dkff3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn1z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b040014g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qdxwj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrfh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tnrv2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 The Write Stuff (b01shsv6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Change at Oglethorpe (b00mvs9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009sdcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Jeremy Hardy Feels It (b09k80tl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq0q)
The Powers That BeThe all-American hero battles to save gold bullion and solve Evelyn's disappearance.
Stars Stuart Milligan as X-9 and Connie Booth as Grace Powers. With Rachel Power and William Hootkins
The heroic agent's 4-part adventure was adapted for radio by Mark Brisenden, from the comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. Syndicated by King Features, it ran from 1934 to 1996.
Originally agent X-9 had no name, but opted to call himself "Dexter" in the opening tale.
Author Dashiell Hammett is best remembered for his detective novels, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, while cartoonist Alex Raymond famously created sci-fi comic hero Flash Gordon.
Produced by Chris Wallis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in January 1994.
THU 06:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dnz10)
Episode 2Horatio Clare joins the crews of lifeboats based on the River Thames. Established in 2002 in response to the inquiries into the Marchioness disaster, the four lifeboats are permanently manned and have to respond to a distress call within 30 seconds. The boats are not like familiar sea-going lifeboats but are jet-propelled, capable of travelling at 40 knots.
Horatio joins the crews at Chiswick and Teddington, whose work mostly involves helping people who use the river for pleasure rather than business. Horatio explores the changes in the ways that people use the river and the RNLI's response to them, and undergoes storm training at the Lifeboat College in Poole.
THU 07:00 Fat Chance (b019m4rs)
Celebrity SquareGraham becomes Tina Tattersall's escort for the night in a bid to make her errant husband jealous - and the rest of the slimming club have some surprising news.
Jenny McDade's high-fat bittersweet comedy for those believing there's a thin person inside them begging to get out.
Starring Janine Duvitski, Anne Reid, Julia Deakin, Tilly Gaunt, Harry Myers, Frances Jeater, Gareth Corke and Michael Troughton.
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.
THU 07:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b09k8fsn)
Series 7, Episode 1John Finnemore returns to Radio 4 with a seventh series of his multi-award-winning sketch show, joined by his regular ensemble cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.
This week we hear a very awkward phone call, and a poem from a world-famous polymath. There's also a correction to something that happened in the first series and, well, since you ask him for a story about the importance of good manners...
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme was described by The Radio Times as "the best sketch show in years, on television or radio", and by The Daily Telegraph as "funny enough to make even the surliest cat laugh". Already the winner of a BBC Audio Drama Award and a Radio Academy Silver Award, John was named the 2016 Radio Broadcaster of the Year by the Broadcasting Press Guild for his work on Souvenir Programme.
Written by & starring ... John Finnemore
Cast ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Cast ... Simon Kane
Cast ... Lawry Lewin
Cast ... Carrie Quinlan
Production Coordinator ... Beverly Tagg
Producer ... Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios production.
THU 08:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05s7k07)
Series 1, A Real Family EveningRobin has won a scholarship to boarding school and this is the eve of his departure, so Jennifer is keen to make his last night at home a rather special one.
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 (b014s6hl)
The Secret EscritoireNeddie Seagoon's furniture is at the centre of a Malayan man-shrinking plot. Stars Peter Sellers. From September 1955.
THU 09:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01rvnxc)
Series 11, Episode 2David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Rhod Gilbert, Richard Osman, Lucy Beaumont and John Finnemore are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as moles, cabbages, trains and the BBC.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 09:30 King Street Junior (b007jng7)
Series 8, Left Out, Roped InMrs Rudd champions playground "back to basics", while Mr Sims has an equally tough challenge.
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 Martin Davies.
Stars Karl Howman as Mr Sims, James Grout as the Headmaster, Tom Watson as Mr Holliday, Margaret John as Mrs Stone, Paul Copley as Mr Long, Deirdre Costello as Mrs Patterson, Vivienne Martin as Mrs Rudd, Marlene Sidaway as Miss Lewis, Moya O'Shea as Adele McAfee, Adam Searles as Nadeem and Nicky Skarott as Hopkins.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1995.
THU 10:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tp809)
Shangri-LaHugh Conway and the others are stranded in the Tibetan wilderness, but a man named Chang comes to their aid. Stars Derek Jacobi. From September 1981.
THU 11:00 Behind the Screen (b068b3j7)
Out Damned Spot, by Dorothy L SayersSarah Badel reads the next instalment of the 1930s 'whodunit' continued by Dorothy L Sayers.
Behind The Screen is a collaborative detective serial written by six members of the Detection Club. It was first broadcast weekly on the BBC National Programme in 1930, with each contributor reading his or her own part of the story.
The six authors were Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, EC Bentley and Father Ronald Knox.
To reflect the changes of storyteller, we have a different reader for each part of this new version:
When first broadcast, some listeners were puzzled by the method employed in planning a collaborative detective story. If the whole thing were indeed to be written like a game of consequences, with each new writer picking up where the last one left off, how could any consistency be achieved, and how could a satisfactory plot be managed and concluded?
Lord Peter Wimsey creator, Dorothy L Sayers, who co-ordinated the different contributions, explained the process: "The first three authors carried the story along according to their own several fancies; while the last three used their wits, in consultation, to unravel the clues presented to them by the first three."
Abridged by John Peacock
Producer David Blount
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
THU 11:15 Afternoon Drama (b009ts31)
Good EveningRoy Smiles' celebration of the Beyond the Fringe team takes a funny and affectionate look at how four young men from Oxbridge changed the face of British comedy.
Alan Bennett ...... Matt Addis
Peter Cook ...... Rory Kinnear
Jonathan Miller ...... Jonathan Aris
Dudley Moore ...... Benedict Cumberbatch
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05s7k07)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 The Goon Show (b014s6hl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq0q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dnz10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn2j)
Episode 4Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia, and a visit to Akademgorodok, once the brain of Russia. Read by John Rowe. From January 2000.
THU 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b04009c6)
Families of ChoiceDr Thomas Dixon brings his major history of friendship up to the 1970s, when gender politics began to change friendships once again, and considers how popular culture both reflected and influenced this change.
Episode 14: Families of Choice.
Professor Barbara Taylor shares with Thomas Dixon her personal memories of how the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s altered women's friendships in the way that Mary Wolstonecraft had discussed right back in the eighteenth century.
Thomas Dixon also explores the growing freedom of gay men and lesbian women to establish their own "families of choice".
And - somewhat excitedly - he debates with the cultural critic Matthew Sweet how television reflected friendships between men. While Thomas confesses to an erstwhile love of the phenomenally successful American sit-com, Friends, Matthew Sweet makes an expansive claim for British television's The Likely Lads, comparing the depth of Terry and Bob's friendship to that of Tennyson and Hallam.
Meanwhile, slightly extending a quotation of the 17th Century poet, George Herbert, Thomas declares: "David had his Jonathan, Christ his John, Eric had his little Ern, Ant his Dec."
Producer; Beaty Rubens.
THU 14:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qfhh2)
More Tales of the City, Episode 4Mary Ann is determined to solve the mystery of Burkes amnesia . Turning detective she follows some clues from his past in search of answers. Also wanting to get things out into the open, Michael decides to open up to his mother about being gay.
Directed by Susan Roberts
In this sequel to Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal reveals her secrets to her second family - the tenants of her house. Mona Ramsey is on a cross-country trip that takes her to a brothel which may hold a secret about her past. Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton go on a cruise where they meet up with lovers old and new. Brian Hawkins becomes involved with a mysterious woman he spots from his window, while DeDe Halcyon Day becomes acquainted with a new friend who helps her discover her true inner feelings.
THU 14:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrfx)
Episode 4The letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. Another world war is looming. With Alex Jennings and Sylvestra Le Touzel. From February 1999.
THU 15:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tp809)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01rvnxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 King Street Junior (b007jng7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Fat Chance (b019m4rs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b09k8fsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k14x)
Episode 8Worried that Ruth has the vampire plague, last man on Earth Robert Neville regrets being so candid. Read by Richard Matheson. From February 2006.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b00tbhbc)
Series 22, SapphoThe Greek poet Sappho has been described as everything from a great intellectual to little more than a vamp. Hard facts about her life are in short supply - we know that she lived on the island of Lesbos over two and half thousand years ago, and fragments of her poetry still survive. The best examples deal with the language of desire, but whether she really was a lesbian (with a small l) is less clear. Historian Bettany Hughes is as obsessed with who Sappho might be, as with whom the fragmentary evidence suggest she was. "This lack of facts has not stopped people making up stories about her," writes expert Peggy Reynolds. "Sappho is not a name, much less a person. It is, rather, a space." An enigmatic choice for presenter Matthew Parris to decipher. The producer is Miles Warde.
THU 19:00 Not in Front of the Children (b05s7k07)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 The Goon Show (b014s6hl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq0q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dnz10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Behind the Screen (b068b3j7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Afternoon Drama (b009ts31)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b09k8fsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Sketchorama (b01s5d64)
Series 2, Episode 1Thom Tuck presents the pick of the new sketch groups currently performing live on the UK comedy circuit - with character, improv, broken and musical sketch comedy.
This is the second series, and in the first episode:
THE BETA MALES
Writer-performers John Henry Falle, Jon Gracey, Guy Kelly and Richard Soames have been circuit and Fringe favourites since 2010. The critically acclaimed sketch-storytellers and waistcoat enthusiasts gained a raft of 5 and 4 star reviews for their three Fringe outings, and were nominated for the Chortle Award for Best Character or Sketch Act in 2012.
SHIRLEY & SHIRLEY
A female double act, Joanna Carolan and Pascale Wilson, accompanied by co-creator and Director, Michael Pearce. They have racked up four Fringe runs and an appearance at the Latitude Festival, gaining rave reviews from the critics. Be prepared for inspired comic observation, top class character creations and wonderfully dark ideas.
JONNY & THE BAPTISTS
The world's first comedy-blues band. We think. Well, we haven't heard of any others. Featuring Jonathan Donahoe and Paddy Gervers, these circuit favourites play satirical, political, edgy, silly but often sexy sketch comedy songs.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Start/Stop (b039dbjr)
Series 1, Episode 1A new sitcom about three couples sailing off in to the sunset. And sinking. This week a trip to a classical concert poses difficulties for everyone.
Producer ..... Steven Canny
Jack Docherty
Jack has an exceptional record of making stand-out comedy. He first performed at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the comedy sketch group The Bodgers and went on to write for radio and television including: Spitting Image, Alas Smith and Jones, Vic Reeves Big Night Out, Absolutely, The Lenny Henry Show, Max Headroom, Weekending, The News Huddlines and a ton of other things.
He has also performed in a huge variety of comedy shows including in The Comic Strip Presents, The Morwenna Banks Show, Monarch of the Glen, Red Dwarf V, The Old Guys and Badults. He has also featured in the Radio 4 comedies Baggage and Mordrin MacDonald - 21st Century Wizard and has appeared on various comedy panel shows including Have I Got News For You and It's Only TV But I Like It. Jack presented his own show The Jack Docherty Show which ran for 2 years on Channel 5.
THU 23:30 Armando Iannucci - Facts and Fancies (b007jrkw)
A Switch in TimeTackling time-wasting and greetings cards, the producer, writer and performer presents his own collection of humorous essays. From March 2004.
THU 23:45 Peter Bradshaw - For One Horrible Moment (b0082khk)
Episode 1Memoirs of a boy growing up in 1970s Cambridgeshire at the hands of his eccentric dad. Written and narrated by Peter Bradshaw. From January 1999.

FRIDAY 12 JANUARY 2018

FRI 00:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k14x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b00tbhbc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq0q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Lifeboats on the Thames (b00dnz10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn2j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b04009c6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qfhh2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrfx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tp809)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b01rvnxc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 King Street Junior (b007jng7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Fat Chance (b019m4rs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b09k8fsn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq13)
You're the TopThe 1930s action hero finally confronts his nemesis at the top of a New York landmark.
Stars Stuart Milligan as X-9 and Connie Booth as Grace Powers. With Rachel Power and William Hootkins
Adapted for radio by Mark Brisenden, from the comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. Syndicated by King Features, it ran from 1934 to 1996.
Originally agent X-9 had no name, but opted to call himself "Dexter" in the opening tale.
Author Dashiell Hammett is best remembered for his detective novels, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, while cartoonist Alex Raymond famously created sci-fi comic hero Flash Gordon.
Produced by Chris Wallis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in January 1994.
FRI 06:30 The Howling Terror Mystery (b00tv7wz)
In 1900 a huge megaphone hurled a human voice over the South Downs terrifying locals. Alan Dein resurrects this strange story. From August 2005.
FRI 07:00 The Leopard in Autumn (b00c0r22)
Series 1, The Coining of the CapricornPrince Ludovico plans to introduce a new currency to his 16th century Italian domain.
Neal Anthony's comedy drama about the chaotic lives of the ruling family of Renaissance Italy's most inconsequential city-state.
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 The Break (b07ctt0z)
The KeyWelcome to Flamford, the setting for a new comedy series starring Philip Jackson, Tom Palmer and Alison Steadman.
In this first episode, Andy Chambers (Tom Palmer) - edgy, sharp-tongued City burn-out - has fled London for his Uncle Jeff's (Philip Jackson) seaside home. When we meet him, all Andy wants to do is sleep, but Jeff is having none of it.
Jeff gets Andy out of bed and gives him breakfast with the promise of an interesting surprise which is safely stowed in the shed. He suddenly realises his keys are missing - his friend Fat Sid borrowed the keys three years ago and hasn't given them back. Jeff leads Andy on a quest around Flamford for Fat Sid and the missing keys.
On their Odyssey they encounter Fish Shop Frank (Mark Benton) and his outré selection of fish, Pest Control Officer Corinne (Alison Steadman) with whom Jeff has an "understanding", and finally Fat Sid himself in an unexpected new role.
Writers: Ian Brown and James Hendrie
Producer/Director: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 08:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00ckcmh)
Series 5, Episode 10Censorship, a ghost story - and a depraved dentist.
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Bill Oddie and Jean Hart.
Written by David Hatch, Bill Oddie, Derek Farmer and Tim Brooke-Taylor.
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 (b007k0dw)
Series 2, A Moving StorySingle dad Bryan tries to get a loan to move house, but it's not simple. Stars Robert Lindsay and Pat Coombs.
Robert Lindsay takes over as the single parent struggling to find work and raise his baby son. In the original 1977 series, Bryan was played by the late Richard Beckinsale who tragically died in 1979. After a six-year hiatus, the series returned with Bryan's mother and baby Albert played once again by the ever-versatile Pat Coombs.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1983.
FRI 09:00 The Motion Show (b0075x94)
Series 2, Episode 6Dr Phil Hammond chairs the debating game with Stuart Maconie, Steve Punt, Chris Neill and Linda Smith. From February 2000.
FRI 09:30 After Henry (b007jnsf)
Series 2, The Married ManClare's latest love affair proves difficult to keep secret from granny Eleanor.
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Starring Prunella Scales as Sarah, Joan Sanderson as Eleanor, Benjamin Whitrow as Russell and Gerry Cowper as Clare.
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 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tp95x)
The InheritanceThe Inheritance: Hugh Conway's old acquaintances try to discover if there is any truth behind his Shangri-La adventure. Stars Derek Jacobi. From October 1981.
FRI 11:00 Behind the Screen (b068bg2c)
In the Aspidistra, by Anthony BerkeleyInspector Rice probes Paul Dudden's death. Julian Rhind-Tutt reads the next instalment of the 1930s 'whodunit' continued by Anthony Berkeley.
Behind The Screen is a collaborative detective serial written by six members of the Detection Club. It was first broadcast weekly on the BBC National Programme in 1930, with each contributor reading his or her own part of the story.
The six authors were Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, EC Bentley and Father Ronald Knox.
To reflect the changes of storyteller, we have a different reader for each part of this new version:
When first broadcast, some listeners were puzzled by the method employed in planning a collaborative detective story. If the whole thing were indeed to be written like a game of consequences, with each new writer picking up where the last one left off, how could any consistency be achieved, and how could a satisfactory plot be managed and concluded?
Lord Peter Wimsey creator, Dorothy L Sayers, who co-ordinated the different contributions, explained the process: "The first three authors carried the story along according to their own several fancies; while the last three used their wits, in consultation, to unravel the clues presented to them by the first three."
Abridged by John Peacock
Producer David Blount
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.
FRI 11:15 Bonnie Greer - Rosa Parks (b01qfl2m)
On December 1st 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks boarded a bus and refused to give up her seat. Her arrest gave birth to the American Civil Rights Movement.
Bonnie Greer's drama stars Albie Parsons as Rosa Parks, Clarke Peters as ED Nixon, Ray Shell as Martin Luther King, Mona Hammond as Rosa's Mother, Anthony Ofoegbu as Parks, Amanda Gordon as JoAnn Robinson, Alastair Danson as the Judge, Iwan Thomas as the Bus Driver and Christina Chou and Matthew Givens as the Children.
Director: Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.
FRI 12:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00ckcmh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 Albert and Me (b007k0dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq13)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Howling Terror Mystery (b00tv7wz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Colin Thubron - In Siberia (b007jn2y)
Episode 5The author travels to the stunning Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake in the world. Read by John Rowe. From January 2000.
FRI 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b0400mh3)
The Lonely CyborgDr Thomas Dixon brings his major new series on the changing face of friendship to a close with a look at how the old and the young are navigating their friendships today through technologies old and new, and at how friendship might look in the future.
Episode 15: The Lonely Cyborg
A group of Birmingham schoolgirls prove themselves thoughtful and self-aware about how to conduct their friendships online and about the differences between online and face-to-face friendships. Professor Deborah Chambers, an authority on social media and personal relationships from the University of Newcastle, confirms that fears about children's online friendships with strangers have been exaggerated.
At the other end of the life-span, Thomas Dixon speaks with the writer Penelope Lively about friendship in her ninth decade, and about why she likes to consider herself part of "the landline generation".
Closing the series, Thomas Dixon emphasizes the importance of physical touch and presence for friendship, and presents a final montage of the voices which have featured throughout the series, sharing stories of their own friendships.
Producer: Beaty Rubens.
FRI 14:30 Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City (b01qfk3p)
More Tales of the City, Episode 5Mary Ann and Burke's detective work to solve the reason for his amnesia steps up a pace . Mona's extrmely worried as her mother is in town . Anna Madrigal has a mystery of her own to reveal .
DIRECTED BY SUSAN ROBERTS
In this sequel to Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal reveals her secrets to her second family - the tenants of her house. Mona Ramsey is on a cross-country trip that takes her to a brothel which may hold a secret about her past. Michael "Mouse" Tolliver and Mary Ann Singleton go on a cruise where they meet up with lovers old and new. Brian Hawkins becomes involved with a mysterious woman he spots from his window, while DeDe Halcyon Day becomes acquainted with a new friend who helps her discover her true inner feelings.
FRI 14:45 The Churchills - Speaking for Themselves (b007jrg7)
Episode 5The letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. The reality of war strikes home. With Alex Jennings and Sylvestra Le Touzel. From February 1999.
FRI 15:00 James Hilton - Lost Horizon (b00tp95x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The Motion Show (b0075x94)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 After Henry (b007jnsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 The Leopard in Autumn (b00c0r22)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 The Break (b07ctt0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Richard Matheson - I Am Legend (b007k167)
Episode 9With the new society on the attack, Robert Neville refuses to leave his house. Read by Richard Matheson. From February 2006.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b07z43fm)
Series 23, Jerusalem"Jerusalem" has become a quintessentially middle-class and very English song, but it is held in the hearts and memories of people from different backgrounds and cultures.
There is a bit of cricket - Aggers discusses England's stunning and unexpected victory in the 2005 Ashes. Jerusalem reminds of that extraordinary summer.
We hear from Pamela Davenport, the daughter of a man who felt that the words of Jerusalem highlighted inequality in society; lack of money prevented him fulfilling his academic potential and he died in a care home that didn't care well enough for him.
For the American poet, Ann Lauterbach, the unusual and little-known Paul Robeson version was the theme-tune to her escape from the difficult years of Nixon and Vietnam to 1960s London.
The singer, Janet Shell, recalls the burial of her Great Uncle who was killed during World War One, but whose body was only discovered in 2009.
Susanne Sklar - a scholar of William Blake - discusses the inspiration behind the words of the poem. Probably, she says, he wrote them while awaiting his trial for sedition; he was in trouble for fighting with a soldier who had urinated in his garden.
The composer and writer, Paul Spicer, plays, sings and talks through the tune which was composed by Sir Hubert Parry.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
FRI 19:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00ckcmh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 Albert and Me (b007k0dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Dashiell Hammett - Secret Agent X-9 (b007jq13)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Howling Terror Mystery (b00tv7wz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Behind the Screen (b068bg2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Bonnie Greer - Rosa Parks (b01qfl2m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 The Break (b07ctt0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 On the Hour (b0090br1)
Series 2, Episode 2Alan Partridge is at the Olympics. Barbara Wintergreen is in America. Chris Morris fronts the news satire. From April 1992.
FRI 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b09m5jch)
Russ Peers 1/3Arthur Smith chats to comedian - and former, highly talented, checkout operator - Russ Peers.
FRI 23:00 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b04vkl9j)
Series 6, Ann WiddecombeI've Never Seen Star Wars - Ann Widdecombe
Marcus Brigstocke persuades his guests to try new experiences. Ann tries camping in a tent for the first time and watches as much of The Thick Of It as she can stand. Marcus also offers her a Jagerbomb - but will she accept?
FRI 23:30 Life: An Idiot's Guide (b01qmxfy)
Series 2, Health and MedicineComedian Stephen K Amos is joined by Paul Sinha, Andre Vincent and John Hegley to compile an Idiot's Guide to Health and Medicine. Produced by Colin Anderson.