SATURDAY 16 MARCH 2019

SAT 00:00 Philip Levene - The Disposal of Digby (b08hld40)
Deemed a security threat, an employee is swiftly "removed" in an unusual way.Stars John Baddeley as Digby, Garard Green as Kendrick, Austin Trevor as Sir Gerald, Peter Pratt as Taxi Driver/Doctor, Margaret Wolfit as Miss Trevelyan, Valerie Kirkbright as Air Hostess and Peter Bartlett as Passport Official / Braithwaite.Producer: Michael BakewellFirst broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1964.
SAT 00:15 Book at Bedtime (b03d6r34)
Algernon Blackwood's Ghost Stories
The Kit Bag
Johnson has attended a shocking court-case and, as he packs for his holiday, the memories of the details of a brutal murder comes back to haunt him. But so does something else.Stories abridged by Robin BrooksRead by Matthew MarshProducer: Clive BrillA Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0076d34)
Crowds
John Cooper Clarke, Kathryn Flett and Owen Shears are the writers with Matthew Parris for a bout of intense interest in the theme of crowds.In each programme, Matthew Parris introduces a group of writers of fact and fiction: new talent and established names. In the context of a discussion of one of the ideas and pre-occupations of our times, each presents a piece on this week's topic.Produced by Jane Greenwood.First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2003.
SAT 01:00 Colvil and Soames (b007jt7v)
Series 1
Requiescant in Pace
"Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead."Two are indeed now dead, so who keeps the secret?Christopher Lee's six-part murder-mystery starring Christopher Benjamin as Henry Colvil and Amanda Redman as Alex Soames.With Dudley Sutton as Arthur Guscott, Stephen Thorne as Joseph Kutner, Christian Rodska as Father Williamson Beth Porter as Donna Hanley, Elaine Claxton as Theresa and Joseph O'Conor as Father Dominic Byrne.Producer: Pete AtkinFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
SAT 01:30 The Race to Dover (b00kpw1z)
BBC cricket correspondent and keen pilot Jonathan Agnew tells the story of the competition held in July 1909 to become the first pilot to fly across the English Channel.Louis Bleriot, a 37-year-old engineer with a badly burned foot, took the prize offered by Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail. Jonathan finds out what happened to the favourite, the young international playboy and sportsman Hubert Latham, and climbs into the cockpit of the first flying machine to make the crossing, the Bleriot XI.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b06811qf)
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
Episode Ten
A tale of love, betrayal and espionage as the political alliances forged during the Second World War give way to the moral uncertainties of the Cold War.Marian Sutro is a highly successful British SOE operative working with the French Resistance. Then she is betrayed and imprisoned in Ravensbrück by the Nazis.Returning to England a broken woman, she attempts to immerse herself in a normal life with a mundane job in London. However, the lure of the secret service and her desire to work for the greater good is never far away.As the Americans test ever more deadly atomic weapons and the Russians join the frantic race to match them, Marian finds herself in demand by all sides with no moral compass to guide her.She must walk an increasingly precarious tightrope between her beliefs, her profession and her desires.Episode Ten.By Simon Mawer. Sam, now a young man, helps Marian put her final plan into action. Back to the present and she tells him what happened with the rest of her life.Reader: Peter FirthAbridger: Jeremy OsborneProducer: Rosalynd WardA Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:15 A History of Britain in Numbers (b03j5czm)
Homes
Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority (2012-2017) tells the story of a transformation in personal life in Britain, through the numbers that capture change on the grand scale.He delves into the data for the big patterns and trends in history, finding new ways of thinking about the whole shape of the population - the balance between adults and children, for example, or the shifting shape of what we do with our lives, from infancy to retirement and death. He seeks answers in history to some of the problems that perplex us now, such as how badly austerity has bitten or the paradox of why no-one seems able to afford a house but so many people own one. And he tells these stories not just with data, but through people and the real experiences that bring the numbers to life.In the search for data to measure how we've changed, the programme counts rotten teeth and adds up what people ate, what they own and throw away. What did we earn through the centuries, how do we know, and what could we do with it? What was our health like, or our homes, our jobs or education? What was the status and experience of women? And how has it all changed?Each of these ten programmes takes one theme, to explore how far we have made progress, and why it might continue, or falter.HomesAndrew Dilnot tackles the history of our homes in numbers, looking for the big trends and statistical details over the centuries that might help explain why housing has become a national obsession. Continues next week.Producer: Michael BlastlandA Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4From 2013.
SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04m3cf2)
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
The Arrival
By Rachel JoyceQueenie is waiting for Harold Fry to arrive but she is runnng out of time. As she writes we discover why she has hidden away from him for over twenty years.Queenie ..... Sophie ThompsonHarold ..... Paul VenablesSister Mary Inconnue ..... Roslyn HillSister Catherine ..... Elaine ClaxtonSister Lucy ..... Hannah GenesiusFinty ..... Jane SlavinMr Henderson ..... Michael BertenshawDavid ..... Monty d'InvernoDirected by Tracey Neale
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b0418wy7)
The Land Where Lemons Grow
Episode 5
A journey to Calabria, in the deep south of Italy, to discover one of the rarest and most precious of citrus fruits: the bergamot.Bergamot is the product of a natural cross-pollination between a lemon tree and a sour orange that occurred in Calabria in the mid-seventeenth century. It's very particular about its environment and fruits successfully only on a thin strip of land that runs for seventy-five kilometres from the Tyrrhenian coast to the shores of the Ionian Sea.Mixing travel writing, history and horticulture, Helena Attlee's celebratory journey through Italy explores the special place that citrus holds in the Italian imagination.Read by Francesca DymondWritten by Helena AttleeAbridged by Laurence WareingProduced by Kirsteen CameronFirst broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
SAT 03:00 Saturday Drama (b04nqpd0)
The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War
Farshid Rokey, Noof Ousellam and Jalleh Alizadeh lead an outstanding young cast in this heart-rending drama, based on the moving debut novel by Sumia Sukkar.'The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War' presents the Syrian conflict through the eyes of Adam, a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome, who can only speak the truth.As the war creeps ever closer to home, it devastates and disrupts the life of his family.Struggling to make sense of the conflict, as he and his family try to survive in an impossibly brutal world, Adam paints as a way to record and cope with the horrors he witnesses.His older brothers face the dilemma of whether to take sides - and the consequences of their choices have repercussions for the entire family. But can they make it to safety as the conflict in Aleppo rages all around them?The immediacy and impact of this drama bear witness to the horrors of war, its effect upon the innocent, and the triumph of the human spirit over almost unbearable adversity.Dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle.Original Music: Imran AhmadSound Design: Wilfredo AcostaExecutive Producer: Andrew Mark SewellProducer: Patrick ChapmanDirector: Fiona McAlpineA B7 Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 04:00 Who Goes There? (b0075yzs)
Series 4
Episode 3
Martin Young chairs the quiz which looks at the noteworthy and the notorious from history.Tackling the biographical teasers are team captains Francis Wheen and Fred Housego with guests Vivienne Parry and Jonathan MeadesProducer: Liz AnsteeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2000.
SAT 04:30 Mr Finchley Takes the Road (b007k17f)
Episode 3
Edgar Finchley gets captured, wins an unlikely prize and hits the wrong note with an army band.Victor Canning's novel about the adventures of a man and his horse-drawn caravan touring the 1930s countryside of Kent.Richard Griffiths stars as Mr Finchley.With Ronald Fraser as Colonel Greatorex, Joe Melia as Marshall, Chris Emmett as Garge, Jon Glover as Ernie and Susie Brann as the Young Woman.Narrated by James Villiers.Adapted in six parts by Andy and Eric Merriman.Producer: Gareth EdwardsFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in April 1993.
SAT 05:00 The Elephant Man (b04phhxw)
It Could Be the Zoo
Tax problems and incompetent staff are just two of Southwood Zoo's problems.But the National Lottery is designed to come to the aid of such hopeless causes.Debbie Barham's eight-part sitcom about sitcom about the life of an elephant zoo keeper.Starring Peter Serafinowicz as Terry Lyon, Chris Emmet as Leonard, Geoff McGivern as George, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Maureen, Richard Pearce as Adam, Joanna Monro as Stephanie and Wayne Forester as Morse. Producer: Richard Wilson.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1996.
SAT 05:30 Where's the F in News (m0002zrr)
Series 2
Episode 1
An energetic, intelligent female-anchored show with a female panel - using the events, trends and talking points they think should really be top of the news agenda in a series of fresh and funny challenges.Host Jo Bunting is joined by a panel of women including Gemma Cairney, Julia Hartley-Brewer and comedians Jayde Adams and Zoe Lyons.Jo Bunting is a producer and writer of topical comedy and satire, with credits including Have I Got News For You, the Great British Bake Off spin off show An Extra Slice with Jo Brand, and the successful topical chat show That Sunday Night Show presented by Adrian Chiles on ITV. Jo was a guest interviewer on Loose Ends for several years and a panellist on Loose Women.An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 The Complete Smiley (b0112csv)
Call for the Dead
Dramatisation by Robert Forrest of John le Carre's first novel.London, the late 1950s, and a disenchanted George Smiley is engaged in the routine job of security vetting. When a Foreign Office civil servant commits suicide not long after being cleared of Communist sympathies, Smiley investigates and uncovers a deadly conspiracy with its roots in his own wartime past.George Smiley ...... Simon Russell BealeInspector Mendel ...... Kenneth CranhamElsa Fennan ...... Eleanor BronAnn Smiley ...... Anna ChancellorPeter Guillam ...... Richard DillaneMaston ...... James LaurensonDieter Frey ...... Henry GoodmanAdam Starr/Mundt ...... Sam DaleLudo Oriel ...... Janice AcquahNursing Sister ...... Caroline GuthrieWith Benjamin Askew and Jonathan Tafler.
SAT 07:30 The Road to the National Theatre (m0003ltv)
A House for Shakespeare
James Naughtie traces the long road to the foundation of the UK's National Theatre, and explores whether the struggles and delays in fact resulted in a more versatile and creative establishment than elsewhere in Europe.France has had a national theatre since 1680, Greece since 1880. The National Theatre in London is a youngster by comparison, opening in 1963.For the homeland of Shakespeare, this may seem anomalous, but as James Naughtie investigates the reasons why the founding of a National Theatre took so long, he comes to the conclusion that the delays resulted in an unusually versatile, creative and popular cultural institution.In the first of two episodes, James traces the story from 1848, when the radical publisher Effingham Wilson publishes a pamphlet called A House for Shakespeare, to the years of the First World War when hopes for a fitting celebration of the tricentenary of Shakespeare's death were at first dashed and then met in an unexpected way. He speaks with Nicholas Hytner, Richard Eyre, Michael Frayn, Michael Billington and Jacky Bratton, as well as listening to the voices of Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thordyke and other theatrical luminaries in the BBC Archives, tracing a story in which the arts, history, politics and national identity share the stage. Readings: Simon Russell BealeProducer: Beaty RubensFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2013.
SAT 08:00 K: The Civilised World Of Kenneth Clark (m0003cdm)
Peggy Reynolds profiles the last of the gentlemen aesthetes, best known for his 1960s TV series ‘Civilisation’.Simply referred to as K - art historian Kenneth Clark’s pioneering series was shown around the world – tracing the history of Western art and philosophy. It was one of the first colour series made for BBC2 and the accompanying book has never been out of print. Clark’s style was dubbed ‘the great man approach’ but he described himself as a hero-worshipper and stick-in-the-mud.With family members, friends and colleagues alongside archive footage of the man himself - Lord Clark (1903-1983)Producer: Sarah BowenFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.
SAT 08:40 Paper Gardens (b007k2cs)
Restoring the Ghosts
Leslie Forbes explores the links between artists and gardens.In the first programme, the daughter of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, Angelica Garnett returns to the garden of her childhood in Sussex.Charleston inspired the Bloomsbury set, but can the garden match her memory?Producer: Sally FlatmanFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000.
SAT 09:00 4 Extra Goes Gardening (b03tws3x)
The great gardener Gertrude Jekyll once said: "A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust." Through her fascination with colour, cottage gardens and experimentation, it has been said she "changed the face of England more than any save the Creator and perhaps Capability Brown".Penelope Keith explores Miss Jekyll's own 10-acre garden - the enchanting Munstead Wood in Surrey - and along the way unearths some horticultural wisdoms and delights from the BBC sound archive.Joining Penelope to discuss Gertrude's influence and changing horticultural fashions are broadcaster and author, James Wong, author Catherine Horwood and Munstead Wood's head gardener, Annabel Watts.Programmes include:Great Gardens: Gertrude Jekyll, with Chris Serle from 1984Gardeners' Question Time from 1947The BBC Home Service's Radio Allotment from 1942At Home With the Snails, from 2001 starring Geoffrey Palmer and Angela ThorneAn interview with Percy Thrower from 1963 in Beyond the Back Door: That Reminds MeDesert Island Discs from 2000 when Sue Lawley's castaway was the gardening writer Christopher Lloyd.Made by Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4 Extra.
SAT 12:00 Counterpoint (b009rzmx)
Series 22
2008 Heat 3
Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz, covering the whole musical spectrum from the classics to jazz, stage and film music, rock and pop.Three contestants battle it out - Graham Bandy from Woking, Chris Cook from Haslemere and Brian Thorne from Blandford.Producer: Paul BajoriaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.
SAT 12:30 Play It Cool (b05pb52t)
Episode 1
Fast moving sketches and a plethora of comedy characters starring Ian Carmichael, Joan Sims and Hugh Paddick.Films like Private's Progress and I'm All Right Jack helped make Ian Carmichael a major star of both British stage and screen. Play it Cool was his first radio comedy series promising a variety of potty and pompous situations.Written by Eric Merriman - best known for his work on numerous series of Beyond Our Ken.With music from Rosemary Squires, The Mike Sammes Singers and The Ken Thorne OrchestraProduced by John SimmondsFirst broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1964.
SAT 13:00 A Passage to India (Omnibus) (m0003cdp)
Episode 1
Tanika Gupta's imaginative and bold adaptation of E.M. Forster's masterful novel.When Mrs Moore and Adela arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they are excited about seeing the 'real India'. Dr Aziz, a charming young Doctor, puts out the hand of friendship but a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar Caves. This sets off a train of events that have serious repercussions for everyone including the friendship between Dr Aziz and Mr Fielding, the School Master at Government College.Muddle and mystery disturb the British Raj sense of order. Is it possible for an Englishman and an Indian to be friends while the British still rule India?Mrs Moore ..... Penelope WiltonAdela ..... Ellie KendrickDr Aziz ..... Shubham SarafFielding ..... Jonathan FirthRonny Heaslop ..... Christopher HarperRalph Moore ..... Joseph AyreProfessor Godbole ..... Thusitha JayasunderaHamidullah/Mr Das ..... Nicholas KhanMahmoud Ali ..... Ashley KumarMr Turton ..... Tony TurnerMrs Turton ..... Joanna MonroMajor Callendar ..... Michael BertenshawMrs Callendar ..... Susan JamesonMr McBryde ..... Sam DaleDr Panna Lal/Amritrao ..... Ronny JhuttiWith Don Gilet, Franchi Webb and Sarah OvensProduced and Directed by Tracey NealeE.M. Forster's A Passage to India is clever and thought provoking. There is an extraordinary richness of emotion and the philosophy is cleverly wrapped within the startling event at the Cave and its haunting echo that plagues both Mrs Moore and Adela. There is mastery, muddle and mystery and this is captured in this imaginative adaptation by Tanika Gupta with its multi-layered soundscape and Indian music. Tanika brings an insight that combines all the elements together beautifully. In addition to her original writing, Tanika has shown, both on radio and stage, that she can take an existing text and give it a rich an exciting feel. From her Midsummer Night's Dream for the Globe to Jane Austen's Emma for Radio 4 (Memsahib Emma) to Ibsen's A Doll's House.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m0003cds)
Sharon D Clarke
BBC TV’s Holby City actress Sharon D Clarke chooses 'Sweet Jamaica' by Clancy Eccles and 'What's Goin' On' by Marvin Gaye.
SAT 14:15 Down Your Way (m0003cdv)
Bel Mooney at Great Ormond Street
Writer Bel Mooney visits a place close to her family’s heart, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.Down Your Way was a schedule staple for decades - starting on the BBC Home Service in 1946 and ending its run on BBC Radio 4 in 1992. Using a variety of hosts, including Richard Dimbleby and Brian Johnston, the programme toured villages, towns and cities across the UK. At the height of the series' success in the 1950s, it was attracting 10 million listeners a week.Producer: Jill Marshall.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1988.
SAT 15:00 K: The Civilised World Of Kenneth Clark (m0003cdm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 15:40 Paper Gardens (b007k2cs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:40 today]
SAT 16:00 The Complete Smiley (b0112csv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 The Road to the National Theatre (m0003ltv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Nigel Kneale - The Stone Tape (m0003cdx)
In 1979, a team of scientists moves into a new laboratory in a Victorian mansion. When Jill Greely hears a strange disembodied scream, the team decides to analyse the phenomenon, which appears to be a psychic impression trapped in the wall. The scientists begin to realise that their work has disturbed something hidden beneath the stone, something ancient and malevolent.Acclaimed British filmmaker Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy) re-imagines a classic 70s horror.The original 1972 TV movie is now a cult favourite. Written by Quatermass creator, Nigel Kneale, it's known for its cutting edge sound effects from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.This remake has been conceived by Peter Strickland in collaboration with writer Matthew Graham (Life On Mars). It features new music from James Cargill (of the band Broadcast) and sound design from Andrew Liles. A stellar cast includes Romola Garai, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Julian Barratt with a special cameo by the star of the original version, Jane Asher.Available for this broadcast in BINAURAL SOUND – please listen on headphones to get the true experience. Also available online and on demand. Jill Greely.............Romola GaraiDr Leo Cripps......Julian Rhind-TuttMarvy Wade........Dean AndrewsTerry Briscoe.......Julian BarrattCleft....................Tom BennettJill's mother.........Jane AsherThe scream.........Eugenia CarusoMusic and electronics: James CargillVocal effects: Andrew LilesAnalogue effects: Steve Haywood and Raoul BrandSound mix: Eloise WhitmoreWritten by Matthew Graham and Peter StricklandBased on the original TV play by Nigel KnealeDirector: Peter StricklandProducer: Russell FinchExecutive Producer: Polly ThomasA Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.
SAT 19:00 4 Extra Goes Gardening (b03tws3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Chain Reaction (b01l1g68)
Series 8
Jeremy Front interviews Rebecca Front
Rebecca Front is interviewed by the man who knows her best, her big Brother Jeremy Front.Producer ..... Carl Cooper"I have a very strong childhood memory of you playing the flute in a concert and falling off stage into a box of fezes."The Chain starts with star of The Thick Of It, Grandma's House, The Day Today and most other comedies of note over the past twenty years, Rebecca Front, speaking to the man who knows her best, her writing partner and big brother Jeremy Front.They cover childhood teasing and being a woman in comedy, reveal how a cough scuppered Rebecca's chances of working with Mike Leigh and end with Jeremy attempting to maker her re-live an amusing childhood trauma."I've heard all the anecdotes so I'll probably just read a book."The chain continues with:Rebecca Front talking to her Thick Of It co-star and fellow non-nudist, Chris Addison, about working with Armando Iannucci and embracing his middle-classness through stand-up;Chris Addison in a rare interview with the actually-really-nice-and-he-doesn't-do-any-of-that-weird-stuff-in-real-life, Derren Brown;Derren Brown chatting hair, beliefs and Tim Minchin with comedy musical megastar and fellow sceptic Tim Minchin;A poorly Tim Minchin being handed tissues whilst attempting to interview with no questions a not-at-all-poorly and hilarious Caitlin Moran.Caitlin Moran getting to spend time and talk shoes, Bananarama and women with her comedy hero Jennifer Saunders.And...Jennifer Saunders turning up a week later to find the series has ended. Probably. We weren't there because the series had ended.
SAT 22:30 Richard Herring's Objective (b00v730v)
Series 1
The Toothbrush Moustache
The first in a new series in which Richard Herring reclaims objects that we've grown to hate. This week he's reclaiming the toothbrush moustache on behalf of comedy - taking it back from Hitler to give to it's rightful owner Charlie Chaplin. Based on his Edinburgh show Richard examines why a particular piece of facial hair can evoke revulsion in all who see it when in fact the person first associated with it was one of the funniest people on the planet. He grows his own toothbrush moustache and hears what passers by make of it, talks to a German moustache expert about Hitler's vanity and describes how wearing it on the day after the BNP won seats in the last European election strengthened his resolve to continue his campaign. The show was recorded in front of an audience.Producer ..... Alison Vernon-Smith.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (m0003cdz)
Lizzie Roper 2/3
Jake Yapp chats to actress, comic, podcaster and all-round hoot Lizzie Roper.
SAT 23:00 28 Acts in 28 Minutes (b009ly1p)
Series 2
Episode 3
John Humphrys gives 28 performers 60 seconds each to entertain. With Phil Cornwell and John Finnemore. From January 2008.
SAT 23:30 The Big Booth (b007k1pc)
Series 1
Episode 2
Tasty monologues and sketches starring Boothby Graffoe. With Kevin Eldon and guitarist Antonio Forcione. From January 2000.