SATURDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2021

SAT 00:00 The Heart of Hark'un (b007jq83)
Episode 1
The Great Wizard sends student sorcerer Arcos on a mission, little realising how perilous and menacing it will prove to be...
A fantasy-adventure by Peter Thomson and Jamie Thomson in six parts.
Arcos ..... Francis Thomson
Kaddah ..... Trevor Peacock
Vanna ..... Elizabeth Whiting
Shazir ..... Crawford Logan
Bereneth ..... Edward Kelsey
Va ..... Melanie Hudson
Alviza ..... Emma Fielding
Zander ..... Robert Portal
Kishah ..... John Church
Rashiq ..... Theresa Streatfeild
Producer: Peter Hutchings
First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in September 1991.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b00kpzdd)
Welcome to the Real World
Dominic Arkwright is joined by clinical psychologist Oliver James, author of The Selfish Capitalist and Britain on the Couch; French journalist Agnes Poirier; and Annie Caulfield, creator of the Radio 4 series Reasons to be Cheerful, to discuss why people avoid confronting reality, and what happens when they do.
Produced by Miles Warde
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
SAT 01:00 Shaun Prendergast - Only the Good Die Young (b007jzgw)
Episode 5
Acting on information from Seeta, Kim and DS Love follow the trail towards "Bird in Hand". But what secrets will their digging unearth?
Shaun Prendergast's techo thriller in six-parts.
CAST:
Kim Drake …. Siriol Jenkins
Todd …. Jack Klaff
Stone …. Kenneth Cranham
Charles …. Okon Jones
DS Love …. Jonathan Tafler
Jill Noone …. Alice Arnold
John Maschler …. Terence Edmond
Anne …. Kate Binchy
Frank …. Shaun Prendergast
Wilson …. Peter Gunn
Nelson …. Kenneth McClellan
Doctor …. Teresa Streatfield
Directed by Adrian Bean
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1992.
SAT 01:30 Mark Tavener - High Table, Lower Orders (b008x7tk)
Series 1
Episode 5
Losing the struggle to keep his job, Simon receives an intriguing offer.
Following the death of one of its most prominent Dons, celebrity TV historian Peter Devanti - everyone at a Cambridge College gathers to attend the funeral. Simon, an ex-student and now disillusioned health and safety officer, starts wondering whether his death was not as straightforward as it at first appeared.
CAST:
Gilbert …. Geoffrey Palmer
Simon …. Samuel West
Patricia …. Rebecca Front
with Sharon Small, Michael Maloney, Jonathan Coy, Emily Wachter, Nicholas Boulton, Martin Hyder, Laurence Howarth and Beth Chalmers
Script Editor: Paul Schlesinger
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2005.
SAT 02:00 Dirt Road by James Kelman (b07ks4md)
Episode 5
Booker prize-winner James Kelman’s novel is a potent exploration of love, grief and the power of music.
As the days settle into a routine in Alabama, Murdo is beginning to feel trapped at Uncle John and Aunt Maureen’s house.
Read by Finn den Hertog
Abridged by David Jackson Young
Producer Eilidh McCreadie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
SAT 02:15 Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (b08rfqb6)
Okay I Lied
Anthony Bourdain's no holds barred exposé of the restaurant trade. A high octane culinary adventure set in New York, dramatised by Marcy Kahan.
Kitchen Confidential was a sensation on publication in 2000, taking the reader right to the heart of a sweaty, noisy, fast and furious cooking station with a fiery, likeable anti-hero protagonist. This radio dramatisation is a full-on behind the scenes tour of a range of kitchens, which questions why anyone would want to lead the exhausting, adrenalin-fuelled, harsh and precarious life of a restaurant chef. Marcy Kahan's clever dramatisation brings out the tenderness and real passion of its writer, as well as his high-octane roller coaster career.
Episode 5: Okay I Lied
Anthony makes his final confession - everything he has told us is untrue. Well, sort of. His love of chaos and the dark side means that his version of restaurant life is not the only one. As an example, we visit the kitchen of Scott Bryan, a fellow cook and the antithesis of Anthony - quiet, calm, always well mannered. Anthony brings us up to date with his own career as a jet setting cookery writer and presenter, whose love of food drives all his endeavours.
The dramatist Marcy Kahan is an award-winning radio and theatre playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include 20 Cigarettes (Soho Theatre, 2007), a stage version of Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally (Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 2005) and Intimate Memoirs of An Irish Taxidermist (Perrier award, 1986 Edinburgh Festival). Marcy's screenplay Antonia and Jane was the first television film to be given cinematic distribution by Miramax and won a Gold Plaque award for best original screenplay at the 1991 Chicago Film Festival.
Anthony Bourdain .... Michael Esper
Dimitri .... Sargon Yelda
Mother .... Barbara Barnes
Scott Bryan .... Richard Laing
Dramatisation: Marcy Kahan
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Polly Thomas
Executive Producer: Robert Abel
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2017.
SAT 02:30 The Vernons Girls (b0076wgg)
An all girl group from Liverpool rose to success in the male dominated popular music scene of 1950s and early 60s. Michael Angelis charts the girls rise to fame with songs such as 'We love the Beatles', 'Do the Bird' and 'Funny all over.' How did they fare when the rollercoaster ride was over and what are they doing now?
Produced in Manchester by Angela Sherwin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 2006.
SAT 03:00 Keats - The Eve of St Agnes (m000skhj)
A gothic fantasy in which the heroine Madeline hopes to be visited on St Agnes' Eve, according to legend, by the vision of the man she is to marry. The story inspired the romantic poet John Keats to write his celebrated poem.
CAST:
Beadsman .... David Calder
Keats .... Michael Maloney
Porphyro .... Robert Glenister
Madeline .... Emma Fielding
Angela .... Tessa Worsley
Baron .... Geoffrey Whitehead
Hildebrand .... Stephen Critchlow
Maurice .... Jonathan Keeble
Music specially composed by Elizabeth Parker
Director Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1995
SAT 04:00 Say the Word (b00764zg)
Episode 5
Frank Delaney's panel game revolving around the English language.
With Andrew Sachs, Felix Dexter, Helen Lederer and Kathy Lette.
Plus words of wit from the Nimmo Twins
Producer: Simon Elmes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2001.
SAT 04:30 The Sit Crom (b00m5qlg)
A Draught of Malmesy
The household is in need of a steward, The captain undertakes a search and Lady Anne is desperate for a drink.
Sue Limb's six-part comedy set during the English Civil War.
Sir John Firebasket ...... Joss Ackland
Lady Anne Firebasket ...... Denise Coffey
Tobias Thynne ...... Clive Merrison
Mercy, alias Melissa ...... Miriam Margoyles
Father Francis ...... Nickolas Grace
Slow Ned ...... Chris Emmett
Gazebo Fogg ...... Jack Klaff
Captain Arise Higgs ...... Alun Armstrong
Counter Tenor ...... Peter Hayward
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1990.
SAT 05:00 Rudy's Rare Records (b00y8vkb)
Series 3
Rudy's Rare Record
Father and son comedy set in the finest old-school record shop in Birmingham.
With the discovery on one of the rarest records ever recorded on a dusty shelf at the back of the shop, Rudy, Adam and Richie each allow themselves to imagine what life would really be like if they were that rich. Turns out, their dreams are a bit premature...
Written by Paula Hines
Script Edited by Danny Robins
Produced by Lucy Armitage.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
SAT 05:30 Stand-Up Specials (m000sgwf)
Eleanor Tiernan: Success Without a Sex Tape
Stand-up comedy from Eleanor Tiernan, arguing with herself on the merits of releasing a sextape.
So you still haven't made your most intimate sexual acts available on pay per view? What?! Not even willing to tweet as much as a naked pic? How old school! In our click-bait, "no such thing as bad publicity" world, one woman dares to stand against the tide. How? By not releasing a sextape, obviously.
Written and performed by Eleanor Tiernan
Produced by Daisy Knight
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 There are Crimes and Crimes (m000sq14)
Paris, 1899: On the cusp of literary success, will Maurice keep his promise to Jeanne, his mistress, and Marion, their daughter?
Kenneth Griffith stars in Swedish playwright, August Strindberg's comedy.
Adapted by Max Faber from his English version.
Maurice Gerard, a playwright .... Kenneth Griffith
Jeanne .... Barbara Mitchell
Marion, her daughter .... Sheila Grant
Abbe .... Earle Grey
Emile, Jeanne's brother .... Anthony Viccars
Madame Catherine .... Vivienne Chatterton
Henriette Mauclere .... Joan Greenwood
Adolphe, an artist .... Nigel Stock
Police Commissaire .... Haydn Jones
Detective .... Michael Spice
Producer: HB Fortuin
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in February 1962
SAT 07:30 Great Lives (b079pr90)
Series 39
Richard the Lionheart
Richard the Lionheart has been portrayed on screen by Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Patrick Stewart, quite a starry list. But what is the reality behind the legend of this famous king?
Richard's nominator is Timmy Mallett, a legend of children's TV but also unexpectedly a history graduate. Great historical characters, he says, have great stories attached to them, and Richard's life was not short of adventure, particularly on the Third Crusade.
Applying a cool head to Richard's life is the historian and broadcaster Helen Castor. She concedes that much of Timmy's enthusiasm is probably deserved.
Presenter Matthew Parris attempts to discover the truth about whether the Lionheart was in fact gay.
Producer: Miles Warde.
Produced in BBC Bristol and first broadcast on Radio 4 in May 2016.
SAT 08:00 The Motion Show (b0075x94)
Series 2
Episode 6
Dr Phil Hammond chairs the debating game with Stuart Maconie, Steve Punt, Chris Neill and Linda Smith. From February 2000.
SAT 08:30 Beachcomber... By the Way (b0081s34)
Series 1
Episode 3
Cads and Swine, The Giddy Girlhood of Mrs Wretch, plus a few problems with parrots.
Richard Ingrams, John Wells, John Sessions and Patricia Routledge recreate the world of the JB Morton.
Running in the Daily Express from 1924 to 1975 – JB Morton’s surreally comic ‘Beachcomber’ column paved the way for a great deal of modern humour.
Adapted by Michael Barfield with Richard Ingrams.
Announcer: Brian Perkins
Producer: Harry Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.
SAT 09:00 Elizabeth Jane Howard Remembered (b04wjh11)
BBC Radio 4 Extra celebrates the life of the novelist, Elizabeth Jane Howard who died aged 90 on January 2nd 2014.
This 3 hour special features material from the BBC archive including two of Howard's short stories, and her choice of Desert Island Discs from 1995. But it also includes an extract from her first novel The Beautiful Visit (read by Juliet Stevenson), as well as new interviews with, among others, her step-son Martin Amis and her biographer Artemis Cooper, all recorded at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
As well as being the author of 14 novels, and selling more than a million books, Howard lived a richly eventful life. She walked out of her first marriage to naturalist Peter Scott, taking with her just £10, a suitcase and half a novel. She subsequently went on to remove herself from two more marriages. As her life-long friend, Jacqui Graham, points out, it was enormously brave. "Women just didn't do that."
Cathy Rentzenbrink, who presents the programme, says of Howard, 'What I find interesting is the way her life and fiction intertwines. I can't think of any other writer where the mistakes of life are transformed, reinterpreted, recycled into such brilliant novels."
Producer: Sarah Wade
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2015.
SAT 12:00 People In Cars (b00qx1m7)
Getaway
People In Cars
1. Getaway
The first in a season of three Simon Brett comedies set in cars. Gilly's fourteen year old son Ben complains that nothing exciting ever happens to them. Until a gangster on the run jumps into their car.
Gilly .... Samantha Bond
Ben .... Angus Imrie
Nigel .... Stephen Critchlow
Policewoman .... Tessa Nicholson
Writer: Simon Brett
Director: Peter Kavanagh
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
SAT 12:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b0075ng9)
Series 3
Episode 1
Sofa-bound TV presenters Mike and Sue take on party food and reading, plus therapy - could it have helped the Beatles and Henry VIII?
Series 2 of Bill Dare's sitcom stars Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens.
With Ronnie Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Roger Blake and Steve Punt.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Aled Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1998.
SAT 13:00 Archive on 4 (b07lf4gg)
The Norma Percy Tapes
Norma Percy draws on taped interview rushes and her own TV archive to reflect on her long career in documentary making, recalling her favourite encounters and the interviews she will never forget - as well as the role of television in making history.
For decades television documentary maker Norma Percy and her team have interviewed Presidents and Prime Ministers, global leaders and heads of state. She has spoken to key players in some of the most monumental events in modern history - from the end of the Soviet Union and the break-up of Yugoslavia to the quest for peace in Northern Ireland; from Iran and its relationship with the West to the rise of Putin and the fall of Milosevic, the war in Iraq, elusive peace in the Middle East and decisions inside Obama’s White House.
The list of interviewees for her TV series read like a Who’s Who of modern history and international politics: Obama, Sharon, Clinton, Gorbachev, Milosevic, Putin, Blair, Carter, Bush, Yeltsin, Powell, Barak.
At the heart of her approach lies ‘the method’, devised by Norma. The starting point is that key political decisions take place between powerful people, behind closed doors, in private. Many of these meetings are secret. So, for a television series to tell these stories, the interviewer must first find out that the meetings occurred, then uncover in detail what happened, and then get the people who were actually there to tell their version of events.
This is what her programmes do, producing a body of work that is archived and cherished by historians as primary source material for students and scholars. But it’s also exciting television, showing in incredible detail the human drama behind high politics.
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
SAT 14:00 Revolting People (b007jrqj)
Series 1
Storm Clouds
The year is 1770 and Baltimore shopkeeper, Samuel Oliphant has much to worry about.
Historical sitcom written by Andy Hamilton and Jay Tarses.
Stars Jay Tarses as Samuel Oliphant, Andy Hamilton as Sergeant McGurk, Sophie Thompson as Mary Oliphant, James Fleet as Captain Brimshaw, Hugh Dennis as Ezekiel Spriggs, Felicity Montagu as Cora Oliphant, Tony Maudsley as Joshua Oliphant, Susie Blake as Mrs Arbuthnot.
With Penelope Nice and Michael Fenton Stevens.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000.
SAT 14:30 Pleased to Meet You (b007k2kz)
Series 1
Episode 1
90-something good-time girl Dora Dale spills the beans on her many celebrity friends. And how did the Rat Pack get its name?
Betraying confidences and breaking unwritten rules galore, the friend of the stars reveals some surprising and salacious secrets.
Written by and starring Martin Kelner and Jake Yapp.
Made for BBC7 and first broadcast in July 2006.
SAT 15:00 Lee and Herring's Fist of Fun (b007zmh6)
Edinburgh
Stewart Lee berates Richard Herring for his lack of street cred, Peter Baynham shares some unusual recipes and is Radio 1 really the youth-friendly station it pretends to be?
Recorded at the Pleasance Theatre during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. With Alistair McGowan and Rebecca Front.
Stewart Lee and Richard Herring's mix of sharp sketches and situations, stand up topical gags and banter.
Lee and Herring went to write and star in their successful TV transfer to BBC TWO in 1995.
The rest of the series comes from university venues, including Plymouth, Lancaster and Belfast.
Cult BBC Radio 1 series first broadcast in October 1993.
SAT 15:30 The Brig Society (b0832rjd)
Series 4
Scandal!
Marcus Brigstocke becomes a victim of his own newspaper as he gets caught up in a scandal and discovers that it's really, really difficult to doorstep yourself.
This week, there's sex, scandal and saucy secrets on Radio 4! But enough about Moneybox Live. In this show, Marcus examines how the great British press combine the difficult jobs of both selling newspapers and ruining peoples' lives.
Helping him peek through the curtain will be Margaret Cabourn-Smith ("Miranda"), William Andrews ("Sorry I've Got No Head") and Colin Hoult ("Derek")
Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby, Toby Davies, Nick Doody, Steve Punt and Dan Tetsell
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 16:00 There are Crimes and Crimes (m000sq14)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Great Lives (b079pr90)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Red Moon (m000sq16)
Phase 4: Eclipse
Former agent Eddie Sloper ‘disappears’ for his own safety, then finds an ally.
An alternative-history, Cold War thriller, where American and Soviet Moon bases aim their nuclear missiles at targets across the planet.
Winner of Best Online Audio Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards, 2019.
CAST:
Eddie Sloper …. Philip Bulcock as Eddie Sloper
Dr Susan Madison …. Yasmine Holness-Dove
Mrs Jones …. Georgina Periam
Benji …. Richard Reed
SPACECOM Security Guard …. Greg Page
Music composed and performed by Francesco Quadraruopolo.
Story by Jack Bowman and Robert Valentine.
Written, directed and produced by Robert Valentine.
A Wireless Theatre Production recorded at the RNIB Talking Book Studios.
SAT 18:20 The Fanthorpe Investigations (b038bfcn)
The Moving Coffins of Barbados
The curious case of the moving coffins in a vault in a Barbados cemetery.
Priest and paranormal investigator Lionel Fanthorpe relates a story from the world of the strange and unexplained.
Producer: Paul Arnold
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in 2013.
SAT 18:30 John Wyndham - Trouble with Lichen (b007k3r3)
Episode 4
Biochemist Diana Brackley's attempts to conceal the true source of the antigerone are finally overcome.
The scientific world, government, media and the beauty salon collide in John Wyndham's 1960 sci-fi novel.
Read by Joanna Tope.
Abridged by Scott Stainton Miller.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Made for BBC Radio 7 by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in 2007
SAT 19:00 Elizabeth Jane Howard Remembered (b04wjh11)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Party Party (b007wwh3)
Episode 5
The town of Microcosm is set for revenge, greed and attempted murder. Stars Hugh Laurie and Clive Mantle. From June 1987.
SAT 22:30 Elastic Planet (b0089jhr)
The Shape
Drugged electricity and artificial icebergs.
Oliver Postgate narrates a stream of bizarre coincidences in Ben Moor’s cosmic comedy of connections.
With Johnny Ball, Henry Cooper, Kerry Shale, Dan Strauss, Michael Troughton, Neil Mullarkey, Siriol Jenkins, Jamie Owen and Alan Dedicoat.
Producer: Jon Naismith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995
SAT 22:45 We Know Everything (b08461wq)
Episode 3
If all roads lead to Rome, how do you drive out again? Dan Gaster and Paul Powell tackle audience quirky questions. From July 1995.
SAT 23:00 Tina C (b06s0njv)
Tina C: Herstory
Episode 3
It's 2003 and Tina has geo-political aspirations, and a role promoting US values overseas.
Ritula Shah asks about her role as a special advisor to US President George W Bush.
Written & Performed by Christopher Green.
Additional voices: Debra Baker & Leo Wan.
The band: Duncan Walsh-Atkins, Mark Hardisty & Phil Wraith.
Guest Interviewer: Ritula Shah.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
SAT 23:30 Chain Reaction (b01lv7ys)
Series 8
Derren Brown interviews Tim Minchin
Last week's interviewee, Illusionist Derren Brown, dispenses with the trickery and gets inside the mind of Tim Minchin by cleverly asking him some questions then listening to the answers. They talk beliefs, magic, music and Minchin.
Producer ..... Carl Cooper
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2012.