SATURDAY 02 NOVEMBER 2019

SAT 00:00 James Follett - Earthsearch (b00cfzsp)
Earthsearch I
Earthfall
Despite the difficulties put in their way by the two guardian 'Angels', the crew of the Challenger have found Paradise - an earth-like planet originally discovered by the second generation crew.However, the 'Angels' are by no means beaten.Conclusion of James Follett's 10-part adventure serial in time and space.Commander Telson ...... Sean ArnoldSharna ...... Amanda MurrayAstra ...... Kathryn HurlbuttDarv ...... Haydn WoodAngel One ...... Sonia FraserAngel Two ...... Gordon ReidDirector: Glyn DearmanFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1981.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0076n97)
Malingering
Matthew Parris pulls a sickie with guests Patrick Neate, Guy Browning and Dr Len Fisher. From September 2004.
SAT 01:00 Agatha Raisin (b011pv6k)
Series 2
6. The Moment of Truth
Agatha must quickly discover the identity of the poisoner, but James is refusing to help.Has he really ceased to care for her?Penelope Keith stars as PR guru turned amateur sleuth, Agatha Raisin.Dramatised by David Semple from MC Beaton’s novel.Agatha Raisin ...... Penelope KeithJames Lacey ...... Malcolm SinclairDC Bill Wong ...... Stephen HoganMrs Wendle ...... Tina GrayEve ...... Fay RuslingBobby ...... Matthew CarterDirector: Carol SmithFirst broadcast on BBC Radio in November 2005.
SAT 01:30 Leading Ladies (b00vhg2z)
Theatre director and artistic director of the Southbank Centre Jude Kelly marks the 350th anniversary of the first performance by the first English professional actress.Before the restoration and the reopening of the theatres after years of Puritan rule, boys and men had played women's roles. However, when Charles II came to the throne he requested that women be allowed on stage and the course of theatre history was changed forever when a woman took the stage in the role of Desdemona on 8th December 1660.Although little is known about who she was, Jude Kelly pieces together a picture of what life would have been like for the first generation of actresses. She visits the real tennis court at Hampton Court Palace to find out what the first performance would have been like, takes Celia Imrie to the site of where the first performance took place and tours the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in search of Nell Gwynn.Were the first actresses' victims of exploitation or women who exploited the situation to their own advantage? Were they whores or pioneers?Producer: Benjamin PartridgeA Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in October 2010.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b054tnzs)
Kazuo Ishiguro - The Buried Giant
Episode 10
In this time of forgetting, one elderly couple - Axl and Beatrice - are determined to hold onto memories of their life together and have set out to find their long-lost son.On their journey they encounter knights, holy men and warriors. With the she-dragon Querig slain and memory restored, the land faces a dark future as old wounds are laid bare. With Beatrice weakening, the couple continue their journey to find their son but buried memories of their own lives are also stirring.David Suchet concludes Kazuo Ishiguro's powerful novel - a moving, mysterious and deeply philosophical book about how societies remember and forget.“It’s queer the way the world’s forgetting people and things from only yesterday and the day before that. Like a sickness come over us all.”The Romans have long since departed and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. In this desolate, uncultivated land of mist and rain, people find that their memories are slipping away from them. They live in an uneasy peace but memories of the wars that once ravaged the country are stirring.Abridged by Sara Davies.Producer: Mair BosworthFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
SAT 02:15 A Voyage to Lundy (b008tzzn)
Episode 5
Writer and poet Gwyneth Lewis explores the allure of Lundy Island and considers the satisfaction of adventure close to home.Producer: Penny ArnoldFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.
SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04sy3qm)
Patricia Highsmith - Carol
Episode 5
In an attempt to retain custody of her daughter, Carol has abandoned her 19 year-old lover, Therese, after her husband obtained evidence of their affair.Therese has returned to New York to try and pick up her career as a theatre designer – and to forget the woman who has torn her life apart.Conclusion of Patricia Highsmith's tender and unsettling love story about two women – one of them married, and the other 19 - who risk everything to be together.Highsmith is best-known as one of the 20th century's most accomplished thriller-writers - a role she assumed overnight when Alfred Hitchcock turned her sublimely disturbing first novel, Strangers On A Train, into a hit movie in 1951.Written a year later, Carol broke all the rules for the portrayal of lesbians in American fiction. Despite warnings from her publisher and her agent that a lesbian novel would ruin her new-found reputation, the book became a major best-seller, with over a million sales when it was released in paperback – and Highsmith went on to write thirty more books before her death in 1995.Carol is a genuinely groundbreaking classic – and a truly modern love story.Carol...................Miranda RichardsonTherese................Andrea DeckAbby...................Lorelei KingGenevieve Cranell...Felicity DeanMr Bernstein..........Colin StintonWith David Jarvis, Barbara Barnes and Gunnar CautheryWritten by Patricia HighsmithAdapted and directed by Neil BartlettProducer: David BlountA Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b052m59l)
Alexandra Fuller - Leaving Before the Rains Come
"It's not supposed to happen this way"
A tragic accident threatens to change everything.In a follow-up to the award-winning memoir "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight", Alexandra Fuller charts her temptestuous marriage to the man she thought would save her from the chaos of life in southern Africa.In 1992, after her parents had seen off all other suitors, Alexandra Fuller married Charlie Ross, a charismatic adventurer and polo player, and the only man who seemed able to stand up to her parents. In this witty, frank and courageous memoir, Fuller charts their twenty tempestuous years together from brutal beauty of the Zambezi to the mountains and plains of Wyoming.Concluded by Tracy-Ann Oberman. Abridger: Richard HamiltonProducer: Justine WillettFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2015.
SAT 03:00 Joanna Trollope - Parson Harding's Daughter (m0009tcz)
3. The Bargain
Caroline's marriage to Johnnie Gates is a charade, but she has made a bargain and is determined to stick to her side of it.Written by Joanna Trollope under her nom de plume, Caroline Harvey.Isobel Grant ... Emma GregorySir Edward Ashton ... Nicholas Le PrevostCaroline Harding ... Rebecca EganJohnnie Gates ... Charles SimpsonNawab of Fultar ... Badi UzzamanRalph Buxby ... Andrew WincottRanjit... Sam DastorGeorge Carew ... Stephen CritchlowJohn Eyre ... Gavin MuirBella Rathbone ....Jillie MeersAnn Wheeler .... Monica DolanLady Lennox .... Jennifer Hilarywith John Hartley and Tessa WorsleyDramatised by Eric Pringle.Director: Jane MorganFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1995.
SAT 04:00 It's Not What You Know (b0383z2q)
Series 2
Episode 6
What is Joe Lycett's favourite book? Which is Anneka Rice's film-maker son's favourite film? Who is Dave Gorman's all-time hero?All these questions, and more, will be answered in the show hosted by Miles Jupp, where panellists are tested on how well they know their nearest and dearest.Producer: Sam MichellFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2013.
SAT 04:30 Gush (b050h4wd)
Episode 3
Foxwell Cravate and Max Pomeroy face execution by ritual disembowelment.Will Lady Arabella's wiles coax Prince Saudi into making a last-minute reprieve?Or will lolanthe Diamond start reminiscing about her 1973 Oscar-winning performance in Tinseltown?Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's epic tale of power, love, passion and oil.Foxwell Cravate ...... Martin JarvisMax Pomeroy ...... Mac McDonaldArabella Derbyshire ...... Felicity MontaguIolanthe Diamond ...... Caroline QuentinCharles Ambrose Fortescue de Vere ...... Jonathan CoyWith Julian Dutton, Toby Longworth and Steve Steen.Producer: Colin SwashFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1994.
SAT 05:00 A Whole 'Nother Story (b0076h1z)
Series 3
Boyfriends
Pete's back and Cassie's happy - but how can she explain her relationship with PJ the postman to him?Amanda Murphy’s comedy-drama series about Cassie and Pete, who'd make a great couple - if they weren't so busy being friends.Starring Debra Stephenson as Cassie and David Lamb as Pete.PJ ...... Brendan BurnsJanet ...... Paula WilcoxMaddie ...... Julia MorrisSimon ...... Shaun DooleyBill ...... Mike GradyProducer: Dawn EllisFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2003.
SAT 05:30 Heidi Regan: Overthinker (m0009rzb)
Stand-up special from BBC Radio 4 New Comedy Award winner, Heidi Regan, all about overthinking in the modern world.Overthinker was written and performed by Heidi Regan. The script editor was Tom Neenan and the show was produced by Suzy Grant for BBC Studios.
SAT 06:00 William Rose - Genevieve (m000b07f)
Remember the classic 1953 fim starring Kenneth More, John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kay Kendall and two vintage cars? Probably the first British road movie as well as a wonderful romantic comedy,Genevieve is the the story of two men behaving badly with their cars and their women on the annual London to Brighton car run.Adapted by Adrian Bean from the original screenplay by William Rose. Alan .... Michael MaloneyWendy .... Amanda RootAmbrose .... Robert BathurstRosalind .... Samantha BondMiss Windsor .... Jennie StollerCommentator .... David HoltRoger .... Kenny BlythPoliceman .... Phillip JosephHarry .... Jonathan KeebleMechanic .... Alex TrinderOld Gent .... Gordon ReidSidney .... Jack MillerDirector: Tracey NealeFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
SAT 07:30 Reasons to be Cheerful (b00t833v)
Series 2
Katharine Whitehorn
A glass of bubbly at Europe's longest champagne bar before skipping across to Paris for lunch: Katharine Whitehorn shows us how to grow old disgracefully.It's a common assumption that older people must be miserable about their lot in the modern age.But Katharine, doyenne of female columnists, loves modern travel, especially the Eurostar; she believes conveniences around the home have revolutionised the lives of women and marvels at advances in medicine that have transformed what it means to be a pensioner.Katharine is joined in her crusade by cultural and social historian Amanda Vickery, Independent travel editor Simon Calder and Professor Tom Kirkwood from Newcastle's Institute of Aging and Health.She battles against professional Grumpy, comedian and travel writer Tony Hawks, and tries to convince him that modern life has more ups than downs.Producer: Martin McNamaraA Loftus production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2010.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b06vg1ph)
Utopias
First published in 1516, Michael Symmons Roberts examines the intellectual legacy of Thomas More's celebrated book, 'Utopia'. It is a book that generated an idea that has been hotly contested throughout the hundreds of years since its release.More had been on a trade mission to Antwerp, and spent much of his time talking to fellow humanist scholars like Erasmus about the notion of an ideal society and what it might look like. Out of those conversations came the book, a slippery tale that blurs fact and fiction and which has left readers ever since trying to fathom whether More was indeed presenting his island of Utopia, where equality is paramount and greed attacked, as a model society or as a salutary tale.Half a millennium on, Michael Symmons Roberts heads to Antwerp himself to find out more about the actual book, that so many make reference without ever having opened its pages. He finds out that partly for safety's sake (the text being one on level a critique of contemporary England) it was published abroad and in Latin; he also hears about its great popularity, how it led many to try and set up their own perfect communities, and examines the irony that More would rather have seen this book about an equal society burned rather than seeing it translated into the vernacular and therefore made available to all.Along the way, Michael also eavesdrops on figures from the BBC archives describing what their personal Utopias might look like - including Tony Benn, Jeanette Winterson, Aldous Huxley, Nawal El Saadawi and Ian Banks.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2016.
SAT 09:00 Sisters in Satire: The Pioneering Women of Comedy (m000b07k)
From the dawn of broadcast comedy, women played a vital but largely overlooked role; more in the background rather than the forefront. What impact did the sisters of satire from the 60s and 70s have on the comedy we know today and what was their cultural influence? In the less enlightened sixties and seventies, women were often the joke, rather than making them. Just because they weren’t the stars of the show didn’t mean their influence wasn’t felt. June Whitfield, Eleanor Bron and Miriam Margolyes were all quietly but firmly making their name in comedies such as The Glums, The Establishment Club and The Betty Witherspoon Show. These women paved the way for comedians and actors such as Jan Ravens, Meera Syal and Linda Smith. Samira Ahmed in conversation with actor and director Arabella Weir, former radio producer and novelist Lissa Evans and stand-up comedian and actress Tiffany Stevenson discuss some of the best sitcoms from the Radio 4 archives and listen again to the joys of Week Ending, Goodness Gracious Me! and a Brief History of Time Wasting and assess the impact these funny women have had on contemporary comedy and the extent of their satirical legacy. This programme takes us on a comic journey from the early 1970s to the present day and celebrates women in satire.Producer: Belinda NaylorMade for BBC Radio 4 Extra
SAT 12:00 Just a Minute (b01hjq76)
Series 63
Episode 1
Chairman Nicholas Parsons hosts the classic panel game. Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Sue Perkins and Greg Proops are challenged to speak on an allocated subject for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Subjects range from 'The Importance of Eyebrows' to 'How I Would describe myself on a Dating Website'.First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
SAT 12:30 Street and Lane (b00vls7z)
Series 2
Ringing the Changes
The white van men are back. University drop-out and would-be writer Johnny Street and his worker-of-the-world mate Arthur Lane are Yorkshire builders for whom no job is too small.Can they manage to fix some church bells with the help of slightly suspect 'bell expert' Stan French?Shaun Dooley and Fine Time Fontayne star is series 2 of Ian McMillan and Dave Sheasby's comedy.Johnny Street ...... Shaun DooleyArthur Lane ...... Fine Time FontayneStanley ...... Stephen HoganSusan ...... Claire RushbrookProducer: David HunterFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2007.
SAT 13:00 Tracks (m000b18z)
Indigo (Omnibus)
Episode 1
Dr Helen Ash is involved in a road accident. But where was she going in such a hurry? Why can’t she remember? And what is wrong with time?The return of the conspiracy thriller by Matthew Broughton. Starring Romola Garai and Jonathan Forbes.Chart-topping podcast and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards).Omnibus of the first five of ten headphone-filling thrill-ride episodes.Helen…. Romola GaraiFreddy….. Jonathan ForbesLuke….. Andrew GowerDoctor…. Lucy ReynoldsFrances…. Juno RobinsonJulia.... Georgia HenshawIrene.... Sally OrrockRebecca.... Carys EleriOwen.... Sion PritchardKatherine.... Joanna van KampenMary... Scarlett CourtneyPoliceman.... Adam CourtingDirector: James RobinsonA BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio first broadcast in 2019.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m000b07m)
Marty Wilde
The singer chooses 'Blowing Wild' by Frankie Laine and 'Rock Around the Clock' by Bill Haley & His Comets.
SAT 14:15 With Great Pleasure (b00ctlhk)
Dominic Dromgoole
From London's Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, its Artistic Director from 2006-2016 Dominic Dromgoole shares his passion for poetry and prose.But - is this an act of disloyalty? - without the whiff of a word by the Bard.Featuring the works of Jack Kerouac, George Eliot and WH Auden.Readers: Michelle Terry and John Light.Producer: Mark SmalleyFirst broadcast on Radio 4 in August 2008.
SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's North Country (b007jl6n)
Series 1
Beside the Seaside
Carter and his Uncle Mort enjoy some sea air and some miserable memories.Carter Brandon gets a week off work, so he decides to go on day-trips in his car, with his Uncle Mort, 'where the fancy takes them'.Uncle Mort and his Yorkshire based family first appeared in Tinniswood’s novel ‘A Touch Of Daniel’ which earned them a run of four series of ‘I Didn't Know You Cared’ on BBC TV from 1975 to 1979.Uncle Mort …. Stephen ThorneCarter Brandon …. Peter SkellernMrs Keanleyside …. Hilda FennemoreNarrator …. Christian RodskaProducer: Pete AtkinFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1988.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b06vg1ph)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 William Rose - Genevieve (m000b07f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Reasons to be Cheerful (b00t833v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Drama (b05qynrl)
Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness
Episode 2
In the middle of an Ice Age on an alien world, two friends flee across endless snow plains on a journey that will take them to the edge of their physical and emotional endurance. The stakes are high – to save a world from war, and save their own lives.The first radio dramatisation of Ursula Le Guin’s novel which is as groundbreaking in its approach to gender as when it was first published in 1969.Genly Ai has arrived from Earth onto the planet Gethen, a world in which humans are ambigendered - everyone can be a mother and everyone can be a father. In coming to terms with their otherness - and also their sameness - Genly must let go of everything he understood about his own identity.Adapted by Judith AdamsEstraven – Lesley SharpGenly Ai – Kobna Holdbrook-SmithAshe – Ruth GemmellGaum – Louise BrealeyObsle – David ActonShusgis – Stephen CritchlowEsvans and Asra – Sam DaleSorve – Ayesha AntoineDoctor – Rhiannon NeadsSkipper – David HounslowDirector: Allegra McIlroyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
SAT 19:00 Sisters in Satire: The Pioneering Women of Comedy (m000b07k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b09jd67l)
Series 8
Inverness
Mark visits Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland.Inverness is the 2nd happiest place in Britain, according to some polls, but Mark finds them to be a bit grumpy if the truth be known... some of them anyway... some of them are marvellous. He meets Sheena from the local taxi firm who tells a story about a fib she told to a tourist, and he meets Steve the Nessie Hunter, a man who has lived in a van on the shores of Loch Ness for 26 years.The 8th series of Mark Steele's 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.Written and performed by ... Mark SteelAdditional material by ... Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator ... Hayley SterlingSound Manager ... Jerry PealProducer ... Carl CooperPicture Credit ... Tom StanierFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in Decenber 2017.
SAT 22:30 Big Problems with Helen Keen (b0608n2d)
Series 1
Boredom
Helen looks at the problem of boredom, and the potential solution that is gamification.Covering everything from bear-baiting to loyalty points, the show also asks how many times you can spot the mystery word?Starring Helen Keen with Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane.Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.Producer: Gareth Edwards.First broadcast on BBC Radoi 4 in July 2015.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (m000bght)
Dave Gorman 1/2
From 10.00pm until midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Arthur Smith is joined by the very goodish comedian Dave Gorman.
SAT 23:00 Meet David Sedaris (b065xch2)
Series 5
Little Guy, The Ones That Got Away, Now Hiring Friendly People
More from one of the world's best storytellers, David Sedaris, doing what he does best:Reflections on being small in Little Guy, fulmination in the coffee queue in ‘Now Hiring Friendly People’. An off the cuff question to David's boyfriend leads to a surprising answer in ‘The Ones That Got Away’.Plus more questions from the audience.Producer: Steve DohertyA Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2015.
SAT 23:30 The Problem With Adam Bloom (b019jtl7)
Series 3
Technology
The comedian explores the barriers and dilemmas which technology creates in normal everyday relationships.Fast-paced and inventive comedy, written and starring Adam BloomWith Rob Rouse, Hattie Hayridge and Stefano Paolini.Producer: Adam BromleyFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2005.