SATURDAY 01 AUGUST 2020

SAT 00:00 Earthsea (b0bn5qb4)
Series 2
A Bad Thing
On the island of Gont, Tenar saves a remarkable young girl from certain death. She also makes a dangerous enemy.
Ursula Le Guin's enduring fantasy saga starring Nina Wadia.
Published between 1968 and 2001, the five novels and short story collection of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, The Other Wind and Tales from Earthsea) are re-told across 12 episodes. In the first series, the first three novels were re-told, and series two takes in Tehanu, The Other Wind and the short story Dragonfly.
As a girl, Tenar, was taken from her home and family on the island of Atuan to become Arha, the Priestess Ever Reborn, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. Deep within the Tombs, Ged and Tenar met and became unlikely allies, escaped from Atuan, and brought peace to the troubled archipelago. Now in her late middle age, widowed and with grown up children, Tenar runs a farm on the island of Gont. She has not seen Ged for many years.
Ged was born on Gont, with innate magical talent and a reckless nature. He trained in wizardry on the island Roke, where he released a terrible shadow into the world and then risked his life to restore the balance. He grew to become Archmage on Roke and the greatest wizard on all of Earthsea. When the evil wizard Cob attempted to cheat death and live forever, Ged found him and closed the breach between life and death. In doing so, he lost his powers of magic.
Set on a vast archipelago of islands, where magic is a central part of life, they tell the stories of Tenar and Ged.
Based on the novel Tehanu adapted in six-parts by Judith Adams.
Tenar . . . Nina Wadia
Ogion . . . Michael Bertenshaw
Tehanu . . .Laura Elphinstone
Therru . . . Rosie Boore
Moss . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Aspen . . . John Lightbody
Handy . . . Ryan Early
Therru's father . . . Stephen Hogan
Clearbrook . . . Sean Murray
Kalessin . . . Emma Handy
Senini . . . Lauren Cornelius
Apple . . . Kerry Gooderson
Fisherman . . . Ryan Whittle
Original music by Jon Nichols
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in October 2018.
SAT 00:30 Shooting Through to Alice (m000l970)
Ali Ballantyne travels across Australia on legendary railway engine, The Flying Scotsman.
She was transported to Australia as part of the country's bicentenary celebrations in 1988-89.
Producer: Peter Griffiths
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1990.
SAT 01:00 Paul Temple (b007jqq5)
Paul Temple and the Conrad Case
Hotel Roemer
A fresh cocktail stick clue sees Paul and Steve head to the suppliers in Oberammergau.
Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.
Paul Temple …. Peter Coke
Steve …. Marjorie Westbury
Fritz Gunter …. George Hagan
Elliot France …. James Thomason
Denis Harper …. John Bryning
Elsa, The Countess Dekker …. Joan Matheson
Mrs Wheldon …. Virginia Winter
Dr Conrad …. Rolf Lefebvre
Herr Brechschaft …. Jeffrey Segal
Between 1938 and 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated, well-heeled world of cocktails and fast cars.
Producer: Martyn C. Webster
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1959.
SAT 01:30 Miss Marple (b007jpmx)
A Caribbean Mystery
Episode 5
After two murders and an attempted suicide, amateur sleuth Miss Marple is battling to find a link.
The conclusion of Agatha Christie's whodunit starring June Whitfield as Miss Marple.
Miss Marple …. June Whitfield
Mr Rafiel …. George A. Cooper
Tim Kendall …. David Thorpe
Molly Kendall …. Alison Pettit
Esther Walters …. Yvonne Edgell
Evelyn Hillingdon …. Carolyn Jones
Edward Hillingdon …. Christopher Wright
Lucky Dyson …. Tracy-Ann Oberman
Jackson …. Andrew Wincott
Canon Prescott …. David King
Dr Graham .... John Rowe
Dramatised by Michael Bakewell
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1997.
SAT 02:00 The Personality Test (b00m5tks)
Series 1
Gyles Brandreth
Broadcaster, author and ex-MP Gyles Brandreth quizzes a panel about himself.
Sue Perkins, Alan Carr and Lucy Porter battle with queries based on Greg's life, whims and interests
Series in which a fresh host every episode quizzes a comedy panel about themselves.
Script by Richard Turner
Devised & produced by Aled Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2006.
SAT 02:30 Romantic Friction (b0075w4v)
Thwarted
Lovelorn romance writer Anna is up against a deadline for her latest potboiler, a tale of love, suffering and jealousy.
But her creative juices don't seem to be flowing as, after years of having a purely fictional love-life, she's met a real-live man.
She's also constantly thwarted by her characters, who keep leaping off the page into her living room to challenge her about their plotlines.
Samantha Bond and Hugh Bonneville star in Michelle Read's 4-part comedy-drama
Anna ...... Samantha Bond
Brian ...... Hugh Bonneville
Deirdre ...... Beth Chambers
Fertility Doll ...... Adjoa Andoh
Book ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2000.
SAT 03:00 EM Forster - A Room with a View (b007qvgf)
The Triumph of Phaeton
Engaged to Cecil Vyse but haunted by her dreams of George Emerson, Lucy Honeychurch feels muddled..
Conclusion of EM Forster’s 1908 tale of a young woman from repressed Edwardian England.
Lucy Honeychurch ...... Cathy Sara
Charlotte Bartlett ...... Sheila Hancock
Mr Emerson ...... John Moffatt
George Emerson ...... Gary Cady
Mr Beebe ...... Stephen Moore
Mrs Honeychurch ...... Julia McKenzie
Freddy Honeychurch ...... Roger May
Cecil Vyse ...... Nathaniel Parker
Minnie Beebe ...... Sara-Jane Derrick
Floyd ...... Jonathan Keeble
Miss Alan ...... Anna Cropper
Phaeton ...... Andrew Branch
Pianist: Terence Allbright
Director: Glyn Dearman.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1995.
SAT 04:00 Podcast Radio Hour (m000l96x)
Anti-racist activism, bingeworthy documentaries and other new listens.
Amanda Litherland and Scott Bryan recommend great new podcasts and speak to creators.
Firstly, some bingeworthy documentary and real life podcasts:
The Town That Didn't Stare (Nick Hilton & Podot)
Rabbit Hole (The New York Times)
Real Dictators (Noiser)
The Reality of Reality TV with Fleur East (Planet Radio)
We hear from Shade podcast creator Lou Mensah about her series of discussions around creativity and anti-racism.
And a selection of other notable new listens:
The Joe Wicks Podcast (BBC Sounds)
When Someone Great Is Gone (Izzy Lee-Poulton and Transmission Roundhouse)
The Harrowing (Storyglass)
Crossbread (ABC)
SAT 05:00 Michael Frayn's Matchbox Theatre (b06r8cjk)
Episode 3
Michael Frayn: the most comic philosophical writer of our time.
An all-star cast has great fun with his hilarious view of us all. People talking. To each other, to themselves. To no one. Trying to communicate. To explain.
In this episode, a controlling theatre director (Alex Jennings) thinks he can direct anything. Lloyd Owen and Rosalind Ayres talk to each other on their mobiles, yards apart. Patricia Hodge and Roger Allam can't agree on how to deal with household repairs. And Matthew Wolf decides to take a short break from this very programme. Ian Ogilvy, Julia McKenzie, Julian Sands and Sophie Winkleman attend an unusual Memorial, and Janie Dee and Richard Sisson enjoy a musical invitation list. Martin Jarvis lectures on being 'quite clear'.
So no worries about queuing up to get a drink in the interval or finding the loo. We're on the radio - the theatre of the listener's imagination. Sit back and enjoy.
With:
Alex Jennings
Patricia Hodge
Roger Allam
Rosalind Ayres
Mathew Wolf
Ian Ogilvy
Julia McKenzie
Sophie Winkleman
Julian Sands
Janie Dee
Richard Sisson
Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.
SAT 05:30 Cabin Pressure (b00lxh3r)
Series 2
Johannesburg
When Carolyn makes a foolish bet with her pilots, what better place for a race against time than a sleepy Spanish airfield? Plus we learn about the thermodynamic properties of boiled sweets and the kinetic thrust of white wine.
Starring
Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ..... Stephanie Cole
1st Officer Douglas Richardson ..... Roger Allam
Capt. Martin Crieff ..... Benedict Cumberbatch
Arthur Shappey ..... John Finnemore
Senor Quintanilla ..... Michael Fenton-Stevens
Diego ..... Javier Marzan
Written by John Finnemore.
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 Adrian Alington - The Amazing Test Match Crime (m000lgsq)
A dastardly plot to destroy the British, by wrecking cricket, is investigated by Brian Johnston.
Starring Madeline Smith, Trevor Nichols and Brian Johnston.
Dramatised from Adrian Alington's book by Peter Thomson.
Monica …. Madeline Smith
Norman Blood …. Trevor Nichols
Joe Prestwick …. Tom Wilkinson
Ralph the Disappointment …. Nicholas Le Prevost
The Professor …. Bill Paterson
Interviewer …. Brian Johnston
Sir Timothy …. Garard Green
Sawn-Off Carlo …. Danny Schiller
Alice …. Alice Arnold
Beltravers …. James Faulkner
Alf Blowman …. Brian Miller
Lathbridge/Aussie …. Peter Dahlsen
The Vicar/Flailers …. Alan Thompson
Squire/Music Hall Singer …. Michael Kilgarriff
Posse …. Joe Dunlop
Squire's Son …. Vincent Brimble
Perfect …. John Bull
Captain/Trimmer …. David Goudge
Old Crony …. David King
Director: Jane Morgan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1989.
SAT 07:30 Great Lives (b05r3w3s)
Series 36
Kulvinder Ghir on Zoran Music
Comedian and actor Kulvinder Ghir nominates the life of the artist Zoran Music. Matthew Parris finds out about Music who sketched corpses during and after he survived the horrors of being held at Dachau- a concentration camp in 1944.
They are also joined by art critic, curator Michael Peppiatt who was a friend and an admirer of Zoran Music in this week's Great Life.
Producer: Perminder Khatkar.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
SAT 08:00 Dilemma (b0183rb5)
Series 1
Episode 5
Sue Perkins puts John Finnemore, Danielle Ward, Alun Cochrane and Dame Ann Leslie through the moral and ethical wringer in the show where there are no "right" answers - but some deeply damning ones...
Hypothetical situations involve old ladies shoplifting, gentlemen "pocket-patting", unqualified doctors and fake psychics.
The panel also debates which figure least deserves their place in history out of Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and David Attenborough.
Devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
SAT 08:30 An Actor's Life for Me (b00rzqpw)
Series 3
The Police Farce
Robert Wilson is acting in a disorderly manner.
Farcical sitcom about the trials and tribulations of a young actor desperately seeking work.
John Gordon Sinclair stars in Paul Mayhew-Archer's sitcom.
Robert ..... John Gordon Sinclair
Desmond Shaw ..... Gary Waldhorn
Sue ..... Gina McKee
With:
Toby Longworth
Simon Slater
Jon Glover
Millie Tiffin
Harriet Thorpe
Andrew Berkeley
Producer: Diane Messias
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1993.
SAT 09:00 Brian Blessed's Radio Adventures (b07y77x3)
Arthur Bostrom meets with Brian Blessed to celebrate the adventurer’s remarkable life and career as presented on radio.
A giant of a man accompanied by an eloquent wit and booming, operatic voice the boisterous British actor Brian Blessed is known for his hearty, king-sized portrayals on film and TV, however what is often overlooked is his fascinating career in radio.
There are over 40 years of recordings in the BBC radio archives, including hilarious interviews, dramas, poetry readings and panel shows. He's presented Down Your Way, appeared on the nature series Sounds Natural and hosted his own radio show. As a regular guest Brian Blessed has been interviewed on a diverse number of subjects and memorably on BBC Radio 4’s Midweek revealing how he helped to deliver a baby in a South London park.
With an enthusiastic audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in London, Arthur introduces extracts and programmes from Brian’s radio years to build an enthralling and unique insight into the actor and explorer’s life. In in his own irreverent style Brian reveals a passion for radio which has rarely been discussed.
Programmes include:
* Down Your Way: Stratford Shakespeare
Actor Brian Blessed was to have gone to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford straight after drama school. Instead he joined Z Cars and was unable to do a Season until 1984, he returns in this episode from 1991
* Sounds Natural:
Brian Blessed discusses with Derek Jones his interest in wildlife & mountaineering & chooses some recordings from the BBC's Sound Archive, in an episode from 1975.
* Outlook – Galahad of Everest:
Brian Blessed talks to John Waite about his expedition to climb Everest in the footsteps of George Mallory
* The Brian Blessed Show:
A programme from 1988 where Brian Blessed talks to theatre critic Jack Tinker about his career.
Producer: Stephen Garner
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in October 2016
SAT 12:00 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b007jq77)
Series 1
Families and Relationships
Radio's sofa-bound daytime presenter duo share some surprising items about smoking, underpants and old age.
Bill Dare's sitcom starring Robert Duncan as Mike and Julia Hills as Sue.
With Roger Blake, Mark Kilmurry, Sally Phillips and Dan Strauss.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Pete Sinclair
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1996.
SAT 12:30 Round the Horne (b00tb9j7)
Series 4
Episode 12
Kenneth Horne is making Fleet Street headlines - and pays a visit to Julian and Sandy's Bona Private Detective Agency.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden.
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. Marty departed after series 3.
Scripted by Barry Took, Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer.
Music by the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in May 1968.
SAT 13:00 Miss Marple (b007jpkt)
A Caribbean Mystery
Episode 1
Amateur sleuth Jane Marple's peaceful island break is disrupted by a death - and a photo.
Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple.
From the thriller first published in 1964 and dramatised in five parts by Michael Bakewell.
Miss Marple …. June Whitfield
Major Palgrave …. Windsor Davies
Dr Graham .... John Rowe
Canon Prescott …. David King
Miss Prescott …. Jenny Lee
Evelyn Hillingdon …. Carolyn Jones
Edward Hillingdon …. Christopher Wright
Lucky Dyson …. Tracy-Ann Oberman
Greg Dyson …. Brian Parr
Molly Kendall …. Alison Pettit
Tim Kendall …. David Thorpe
Victoria .... Amanda Gordon
Jim Ellis …. Anthony Ofoegbu
Raymond West …. Iwan Thomas
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1997.
SAT 13:30 Miss Marple (b007jplb)
A Caribbean Mystery
Episode 2
After Major Palgrave's sudden death, the amateur sleuth wonders whether it was murder?
Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple.
Miss Marple …. June Whitfield
Mr Rafiel …. George A. Cooper
Dr Graham .... John Rowe
Esther Walters …. Yvonne Edgell
Miss Prescott …. Jenny Lee
Evelyn Hillingdon …. Carolyn Jones
Edward Hillingdon …. Christopher Wright
Molly Kendall …. Alison Pettit
Tim Kendall …. David Thorpe
Greg Dyson …. Brian Parr
Victoria .... Amanda Gordon
Jackson …. Andrew Wincott
Daventry …. David Brooks

Dramatised by Michael Bakewell
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1997.
SAT 14:00 Miss Marple (b007jplv)
A Caribbean Mystery
Episode 3
Tensions start to grow on the beautiful tropical island.
The authorities have been called in and a murder investigation is underway.
Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple.
Miss Marple …. June Whitfield
Evelyn Hillingdon …. Carolyn Jones
Edward Hillingdon …. Christopher Wright
Lucky Dyson …. Tracy-Ann Oberman
Greg Dyson …. Brian Parr
Molly Kendall …. Alison Pettit
Tim Kendall …. David Thorpe
Victoria …. Amanda Gordon
Jim Ellis …. Anthony Ofoegbu
Inspector Weston …. David Bannerman
Daventry …. David Brooks
Cook …. Chris Pavlo
Dramatised by Michael Bakewell
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1997.
SAT 14:30 Miss Marple (b007jpmc)
A Caribbean Mystery
Episode 4
With the island's murder tally now standing at two, the spinster sleuth needs an ally.
Agatha Christie's whodunit stars June Whitfield as Miss Marple.
Miss Marple …. June Whitfield
Mr Rafiel …. George A. Cooper
Dr Graham .... John Rowe
Miss Prescott …. Jenny Lee
Esther Walters …. Yvonne Edgell
Evelyn Hillingdon …. Carolyn Jones
Edward Hillingdon …. Christopher Wright
Molly Kendall …. Alison Pettit
Tim Kendall …. David Thorpe
Dramatised by Michael Bakewell
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1997.
SAT 15:00 Miss Marple (b007jpmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 01:30 today]
SAT 15:30 A Good Read (b00sty76)
John Sergeant and Anjum Anand
Journalist and Strictly Come Dancing's John Sergeant and food writer and TV presenter,Anjum Anand talk to Sue MacGregor about favourite books by Arthur Ransome, Aravind Adiga and Evelyn Waugh.
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Publisher: Randomhouse
White Tiger by Arvind Adiga
Publisher. Atlantic Books
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2010
SAT 16:00 Adrian Alington - The Amazing Test Match Crime (m000lgsq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Great Lives (b05r3w3s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b09th4hf)
Hexagonal Phase
1. Part the 0.16
Following the publication of his diaries, Arthur Dent’s hopes for a secluded life soon evaporate.
A full-cast production of the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy, based on Eoin Colfer’s ‘And Another Thing...’
The Book …. John Lloyd
Arthur Dent …. Simon Jones
Ford Prefect …. Geoff McGivern
Zaphod Beeblebrox …. Mark Wing-Davey
Trillian …. Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan
Marvin the Paranoid Android …. Jim Broadbent
Fenchurch …. Jane Horrocks
with Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.
Based on the novel with additional material by Douglas Adams
The series is co-written, directed and sound-designed by Dirk Maggs.
Music by Philip Pope
Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2018.
SAT 18:30 Ben Moor - Undone (b007jwq5)
Series 2
Unaccompanied
Edna tries to make sense of a reality without Undone. Are the gaps closed?
Staring Alex Tregear and Ben Moor.
Series 2 of Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga about a magazine editor called Edna Turner who enters a parallel world where her version of London is replaced with the city of Undone.
Edna Turner ...... Alex Tregear
Tankerton Slopes ...... Ben Moor
Billy ...... Duncan Wisbey
Voodoo Electrician ...... Nitin Ganatra
Grant ...... Tim Key
Other parts played by the cast.
Producer: Colin Anderson
Made for BBC Radio 7 by BBC Radio Comedy and first broadcast in January 2008.
SAT 19:00 Brian Blessed's Radio Adventures (b07y77x3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Tim Minchin and Friends (b007knth)
A marvellous collision of mirth and piano from the award-winning singer-songwriter in a BBC concert.
With Justin Edwards.
Producer: Will Saunders
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 2007.
SAT 23:00 That Mitchell and Webb Sound (b03jb1wp)
Series 5
Episode 1
The future of farming - battery penguins; Thomas Hardy's exciting idea to make his books even sadder; and the very confusing goings on in a cash-register shop.
Comedy from the lopsided world of David Mitchell and Robert Webb.
With Olivia Colman and James Bachman.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2013.
SAT 23:30 Sarah Millican's Support Group (b0113086)
Series 2
3. 'I'm a cherry childless and proud of it'
"I'm a cherry childless and proud of it"
"I'd like to be romantic but I have a voice that makes children cry"
Sarah Millican is a life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt tackling the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people.
Assisted by her very own team of experts of the heart - man of the people local cabbie Terry, and self qualified counsellor Marion,
Sarah tackles the nation's problems head on and has a solution for everything.
Sarah ...... Sarah Millican
Marion ...... Ruth Bratt
Terry ...... Simon Daye
Jenny ...... Bridget Christie
Keith ...... Joe Wilkinson
Written by Sarah Millican.
Producer: Lianne Coop
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2011