SATURDAY 15 MAY 2021

SAT 00:00 Planet B (b00j0hqr)
Series 1
5. The Smart Money
John and Medley are transported to a world of orgies and circuses, where the slaves seek a new leader.
Ten-part series about a mystery virtual world.
Written by Paul May.
John ...... Gunnar Cauthery
Lioba ...... Donnla Hughes
Medley ...... Lizzy Watts
Cerberus ...... Chris Pavlo
Trader 1 ...... Janice Acquah
Trader 2 ...... Robert Lonsdale
Wheeler ...... Paul Rider
Regulator ...... Stephen Critchlow
Lyall ...... Inam Mirza
Fracta ...... Jill Cardo
Other parts played by the cast.
Director: Jessica Dromgoole
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in March 2009.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b00p6rr2)
Me Time
Having it all is no longer enough - if you haven't factored some 'me time' into your diary you're missing out.
Dominic Arkwright asks journalist Anna Raeburn, clinical psychologist Oliver James and writer Phoebe Gibson to explain how it works.
Producer: Christine Hall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.
SAT 01:00 RD Wingfield (b0089kpv)
Daylight Robbery
'Elderly lady living alone in remote house, willing to take in paying guests.'
When Miss Pickering puts this ad in the newspaper, she has an ulterior motive.
So have the four gentlemen who reply...
Monica Grey stars in RD Wingfield’s crime drama.
Miss Pickering .... Monica Grey
Colonel Fryatt .... Norman Shelley
Dr Brown .... Jonathan Scott
Harris .... Peter Woodthorpe
Wakeson .... Howard Goorney
Bank Manager .... Lewis Stringer
Woman in Telephone Kiosk .... Daisy Bell
Jones .... Brian Gear
Woman in Crowd .... Elizabeth Havelock
Constable .... Douglas Leach
Car Driver .... David Ponting
Other parts played by the cast.
Directed at BBC Bristol by John Cardy.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1977.
SAT 01:45 Murder & Mystery (b0b2n44h)
Series 1
Nobody Move by Sophie Hannah
A woman asks her family not to make mess before a house-viewing.
Read by Monica Dolan.
An occasional series of stories from life's murkier places.
Taken from Sophie Hannah's 'Something Untoward: Six Tales Of Domestic Terror (2012)
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Sweet Talk productions and first broadcast in May 2018.
SAT 02:00 Someone Like Me by Miles Kington (b00dpspz)
Episode 5
A shock at the age of 18 from his sausage-loving father...
Broadcaster, writer and musician, Miles Kington continues his account of an endearingly eccentric childhood.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Producer: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2005
SAT 02:15 Gudrun (m0001kb9)
Series 5
Episode 10
Gudrun has been captured and faces execution at dawn. Have all her allies deserted her?
Gudrun, a young woman in 11th century Iceland, must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness.
Lucy Catherine's Viking epic of love, revenge and faith inspired by the Icelandic sagas.
Gudrun . . . . . Kate Phillips
Freija . . . . . Samantha Dakin
Dag . . . . . Cameron Percival
Bolli. . . . . Lewis Bray
Sigrid . . . . Rosie Boore
Guard 2 . . . . . Michael Bertenshaw
Heidr . . . . . Jeanette Percival
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.
SAT 02:30 The Surgeon Of Crowthorne (b00758bl)
True story about Dr William Chester Minor, a mentally ill American surgeon, who posted scholarly contributions illustrating the way words were used - to the New English Dictionary (later Oxford English Dictionary) from his rooms in Broadmoor.
Readings by John Rowe and Brian Parr.
Producer: Jill Waters
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1998.
SAT 03:00 Mrs Henry Wood - East Lynne (m0006ljw)
5. The Yearning of a Broken Heart
No sooner has Lady Isabel been betrayed by the wicked Francis Levison than she is left unrecognisably disfigured by a terrible train crash.
What is to become of her?
Mrs Henry Wood's novel dramatised by Michael Bakewell.
Mrs Henry Wood ... Rosemary Leach
Lady Isabel ... Moir Leslie
Mr Carlyle ... David Collings
Miss Cornelia ... Maxine Audley
Barbara Hare ... Julie Berry
Richard Hare ... Kim Wall
Justice Hare ... Brian Hewlett
Joyce ... Jo Kendall
Afy.... Angela Crow
Little Isabel ... Bernadette Windsor
Little William ... Ben Robb
Baby Archibald ... Alexander Goodman
Wilson ... Betty Huntley Wright
The Rev Little ... David Garth
Mrs Latimer ... Pauline Letts
Director: David Johnston
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1987.
SAT 04:00 Counterpoint (b00s2w22)
Series 24
2010 Heat 6
Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz from Manchester.
The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.
The three contestants from Glasgow, Cheadle and Blackpool are:
Wilson Bain
Mick Frankel
Christopher Rodwell
Producer: Paul Bajoria
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2010.
SAT 04:30 Two Doors Down (b008j0lm)
Series 2
Out of Tune
Miss Black throws a dinner party in honour of Sean Rafferty who’s in Belfast to interview her lodger Fintan for BBC Radio 3.
Musical prodigy Simon’s asked to play for the guests, but he has other ideas...
Starring Stella McCusker.
Annie McCartney's sitcom about the bohemian Belfast residents of Marlborough Road, saved from chaos by their cleaning lady, Sally.
Sally ...... Stella McCusker
Clare ...... Marcella Riordan
Evie ...... Katy Gleadhill
Victor ...... Alan Mckee
Miss Black ...... Roma Tomelty
Fintan ...... Gerard Murphy
Layla ...... Emily Walmsley
Simon ...... Patrick Gleadhill
Tony ...... Robert Patterson
Trevor ...... Des McAleer
Fidelma ...... Aine McCartney
Anna ...... Hannah R Gordon
With Sean Rafferty as Himself.
Director: Tanya Nash
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2002.
SAT 05:00 The Break (b07ffb29)
Series 1
Dead Man's Dinner
Jeff and his nephew Andy are contacted by the editor of The Flamford Bugle. They have won a slap-up dinner for two at Flamford's poshest eaterie, The Royal Albion Hotel.
Eagerly anticipating the night out of a lifetime, Andy and Jeff's dreams of gourmet heaven quickly deteriorate into the nightmare of a lifetime. The prize had been promised to local citizen Wally Metcalfe, but he died just after the draw. Now his widow is on the warpath with her two burly sons.
Social media doesn't help either, and in no time there is a mob baying for Jeff and Andy's blood.
Andy ...... Tom Palmer
Jeff ...... Philip Jackson
Frank ...... Mark Benton
PC Clark ...... Mark Benton
Corinne ...... Alison Steadman
Joyce ...... Alison Steadman
Morag ...... Alison Steadman
Kevin ...... Rasmus Hardiker
Mira ...... Shobna Gulati
Chris ...... Gordon Kennedy
Writers: Ian Brown and James Hendrie
Director: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2016.
SAT 05:30 The Confessional (m000vy28)
Series 1
The Confession of Suzi Ruffell
Actor, comedian and broadcaster Stephen Mangan presents a comedy chat show about shame and guilt.
Each week Stephen invites a different eminent guest into his virtual confessional box to make three 'confessions' are made to him. This is a cue for some remarkable storytelling, and surprising insights.
We’re used to hearing celebrity interviews where stars are persuaded to show off about their achievements and talk about their proudest moments. Stephen isn't interested in that. He doesn’t want to know what his guests are proud of, he wants to know what makes them ashamed. That’s surely the way to find out what really makes a person tick. Stephen and his guest reflect with empathy and humour on things like why we get embarrassed, where our shame thresholds should be, and the value of guilt.
This week, writer, podcaster and ‘confessional’ comedian, Suzi Ruffell recalls disruptive behaviour in class, a disastrous romantic break-up and the most embarrassing cab ride of her life.
Other guests *in this series include Marian Keyes, Cariad Lloyd, Joan Bakewell, Phil Hammond and Phil Wang.
Written and presented by Stephen Mangan
With extra material by Nick Doody
Devised with Dave Anderson and produced by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 Death at Broadcasting House (b07grh62)
An actor is strangled during the live broadcast of a murder mystery play at the BBC’s London HQ.
Once it's off-air, the cast discover that the victim really is dead - and millions of listeners must have heard the crime being committed!
Starring John Moffatt, Peter Sallis and Jeremy Clyde.
Whodunit first adapted for the cinema in 1934 by Val Gielgud and Holt Marvell from their book of the same name.
Julian Caird ...... John Moffatt
Detective Inspector Spears ...... Peter Sallis
Rodney Fleming ...... Jeremy Clyde
BBC DG ...... Graham Crowden
Leopold Dryden ...... Bill Nighy
Isabel Dryden ...... Diana Quick
Stewart Evans ...... Julian Glover
Detective Sergeant Ring ...... Nicky Henson
Macdonald ...... David Holt
Higgins ...... Gavin Muir
Pat ...... Caroline Strong
Topsy ...... Becky Hindley
Guy Bannister ...... Roger May
Surgeon ...... John Hartley
Adapted for radio by Sue Rodwell and recorded on location.
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1996.
SAT 07:30 Great Lives (b07vs2hb)
Series 40
AA Gill on Arthur Neville Chamberlain
The writer and critic AA Gill nominates Neville Chamberlain as his great life.
But his choice is someone who is regarded as one of the worst Prime Ministers Britain has ever had. Chamberlain is someone entrenched in popular legend, as the man who failed to stand up to Hitler.
So will AA Gill’s choice stand up to the scrutiny and will he be able to convince presenter Matthew Parris that this was a great life?
To help tell the story of Arthur Neville Chamberlain they are joined by Stuart Ball, Professor of Modern British History at the University of Leicester.
Producer: Perminder Khatkar
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016.
SAT 08:00 The Motion Show (b0075dc8)
Series 3
Episode 6
Debates galore over smelly food on trains - and is sex over-rated?
Graeme Garden chairs the quirky battle of words and wit.
With Hugh Dennis, Boothby Graffoe, Steve Punt and Stuart Maconie.
Producer: Helen Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2000
SAT 08:30 Smelling of Roses (b007jrl9)
Series 1
Sleeping Partners
Rosie is arranging the activities for partners of delegates to a major finance company's conference.
Kate meanwhile sees it as her ticket back into a high-flying job...
Prunella Scales in Simon Brett's sitcom.
The trials and tribulations of Rosie Burns and her event management company, based in Brighton.
Rosie ...... Prunella Scales
Kate ...... Arabella Weir
Jo ...... Rebecca Callard
Bob ...... Duncan Preston
Tess ...... Annette Badland
Sheila Wilkinson ...... Debbie Norman
Philip Wilkinson ...... Alan Cowan
Producer: Maria Esposito
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2000.
SAT 09:00 Writing Yorkshire (b007jy0t)
Poet, radio presenter, and Yorkshireman Ian McMillan takes a literary tour around God's Own Country to visit the streets, towns, cities and moors that have inspired so much classic writing.
From Ian's own home town of Barnsley and his own literary hero Barry Hines, to the Moors of Haworth that will forever belong to The Brontës, we're exploring a county bursting at the seams with writers and writing.
Ian chats to Blake Morrison, author of 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?' about the idiosyncratic way that Yorkshiremen speak.
He also visits the offices of Peepal Tree Press to hear from poet Khadijah Ibrahiim, who writes about her Jamaican Yorkshire identity.
Along the way, Ian shares this Yorkshire-flavoured selection from the BBC Archives:
* A Kestrel for A Knave
Episode 1 of the 2008 adaptation of Barry Hines novel read by James Anthony Pearson.
* Still Angry After All These Years
Documentary following Barry Hines as he returns to the streets of Barnsley
* The Shuttleworths - Mini Break in Giggleswick. Comedy starring Graham Fellows.
* Wuthering Heights
Episode 4 from the 2018 adaptation by Rachel Joyce of Emily Bronte's novel
* Writers on Themselves - Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes' essay 'The Rock', first heard on the Third Programme in 1963
* Billy Liar
The final episode of the 1991 adaptation
* A Chip in the Sugar
Alan Bennett reads his classic monologue
Producer: Jessica Treen
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in September 2018.
SAT 12:00 Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Addiction (b09byzdk)
What Makes a Habit an Addiction?
Mae Martin is kicking the habit.
She’s exploring how we as a society think about addiction, and on a personal level, trying to understand who she is now she's no longer addicted to anything.
Through the lens of her own experience, this guide follows Mae chronologically through a lifetime of obsessive behaviour and addiction with all her characteristic wit and levity.
What makes a habit an addiction?
As a young child, Mae may not have been addicted yet, but she was certainly OBSESSED. She's never just "liked" things, she's always loved them. Mae is finally drawing connections between her obsessive, all-consuming patterns of behaviour, and examining why they might occur.
Written by and starring Mae Martin – an award-winning stand-up and Edinburgh comedy award nominee.
With:
Dr Gabor Mate
Carolyn Taylor
Producer: Alexandra Smith
A BBC Studios Production, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2017.
SAT 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jyyw)
Cinderella Hancock
Bill bans the Lad from the National Film Ball, but then there's a knock at the door.
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Moira Lister, Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Dora Bryan, Paul Carpenter and Kenneth Williams.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in January 1955.
SAT 13:00 Archive on 4 (b09tybwl)
The Advance Guard of the Avant-garde
In the 1960s, a group of writers set about shaking up the polite conventions of the British realist tradition through a whole range of experimental approaches.
Sound poets created some of the strangest programmes ever broadcast by the BBC, while the likes of BS Johnson cut holes in the pages of his novels - and in the case of his book 'The Unfortunates' published the unbound chapters in a box for the reader to mix up and read in whatever order they wished.
Johnson and similarly minded writers like Ann Quin, Bob Cobbing, Alan Burns and Christine Brooke-Rose were prominent in their day, appearing regularly on TV and radio, but they've now largely been forgotten.
Using some of the rich archive these writers left behind, DJ Taylor sets out to tell their story, with the help of Johnson's biographer Jonathan Coe, editor of a new Ann Quin collection Jennifer Hodgson, novelist Eimear McBride and poetry critic Jeremy Noel Tod.
Borrowing some of their techniques Taylor argues that while we may no longer talk about this group of determinedly experimental figures, many of today's most prominent writers, from David Mitchell to Alice Oswald, owe them a debt of gratitude.
Producer: Geoff Bird
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2018.
SAT 14:00 Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks (b03vgr6q)
Best Man Speeches and Weddings
Comedian Jason Cook uses his life experiences to help us better navigate the choppy waters of life.
In this opening episode, Jason examines the pitfalls of making best man speeches, with advice on how to make a wedding memorable.
With Zoe Harrison and Neil Grainger.
Jason was the creator of BBC2's comedy Hebburn.
Producer: Sam Michell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.
SAT 14:30 Safety Catch (b00fc4vp)
Series 1
Show Me You Care
Simon McGrath likes to think of himself as a good citizen.
He donates blood, recycles his newspapers and has adopted two tigers.
He just also happens to be an arms dealer...
Starring Darren Boyd as Simon McGrath.
First of three series of Laurence Howarth’s black comedy of modern morality.
With:
Joanna Page
Lewis MacLeod
Sarah Smart
Brigit Forsyth
Ben Onwukwe
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2007.
SAT 15:00 Tina C (b01b1jwx)
Tina C's Global Depression Tour
Australia
Country legend Tina C challenges the Secretary for the US Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Where they have failed, she can come up with a solution to the Global Recession.
So Tina has set off on a six country tour to prove it - and her next stop is down under.
Tina C ...... Christopher Green
With:
Andrew Cornell
Victoria Inez Hard
James Lailey
Musical arrangements by Duncan Walsh Atkins and Christopher Green
Director: Jeremy Mortimer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
SAT 15:15 Bunk Bed (b07j68qd)
Series 3
Episode 5
Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place.
Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander.
This is the nearest faraway place for Patrick Marber and Peter Curran.
Here they try to get the heart of things in an entertainingly vague and indirect way. This is not the place for typical male banter.
From under the bed clothes they play each other music, and archive of Angela Carter, ex-Prime Ministers, a Castrato singer, and an elephant playing the piano.
Work, family, literature, and their own badly-scuffed dreams are the funny, if warped conversational currency.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2018.
SAT 15:30 Sean Lock - 15 Storeys High (b09kct7r)
Series 1
Episode 5
A romantic neighbour and a group of aggressive children try to disturb Sean’s peace.
However much Sean tries to avoid the rest of the world, occasionally it will try to engage with him.
Starring Sean Lock
Written by Sean Lock and Martin Trenaman.
With:
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Peter Serafinowicz
Martin Trenaman
Chris Pavlo
Script Editor: Robert Fraser-Steele
Producer: Chris Neill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1999.
SAT 16:00 Death at Broadcasting House (b07grh62)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Great Lives (b07vs2hb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Dan Dare (b0bf49hj)
Series 1
2 The Voyage to Venus 2/2
Arriving at Venus, will brilliant test pilot, Dan Dare, be able to hold his own against a cunning new enemy?
Adventures based on the Eagle comic strip 'Dan Dare' created in 1950 by the Reverend Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson.
Dramatic conclusion of a two-part adventure starring Ed Stoppard.
Dramatised by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle.
Dan Dare ....... Ed Stoppard
Digby ....... Geoff McGivern
Professor Peabody ....... Heida Reed
Mekon ....... Raad Rawi
Sondar ....... Bijan Daneshmand
Treen General ....... Amber Aga
Flight Engineer ....... David O'Mahony
Flight Control ....... Kelly Burke
On-board Computer ....... Dianne Weller
Director: Andrew Mark Sewell.
Made by B7 Media.
SAT 18:40 The Garden of Time by JG Ballard (m0001h0s)
"The garden of the villa extended for some two hundred yards below the terrace, sloping down to a miniature lake, spanned by a white bridge... Here in the garden the air seemed brighter. As was his custom before beginning his evening stroll, Count Axel looked out across the plain to the final rise...and saw that the advance column of an enormous army was moving slowly over the horizon..."
The Count manages to repel the advance of the army by magically re-arranging time - time and time again! But soon the tools that help him will no longer will work.
So how will he and his beloved wife - who is indoors, playing a Mozart rondo - manage to survive the threat, as it marches forward, closer and closer...
Read by Allan Corduner.
Abridged and produced by Duncan Minshull.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in June 2010.
SAT 19:00 Writing Yorkshire (b007jy0t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Rigor Mortis (b007m331)
Series 1
Episode 6
The pathologists are invited to assist the celebrated Dutch anatomist, Professor Raymond van den Hoogenband, in the first ever 'live' radio autopsy.
Laurence Howarth’s sitcom set in the fascinating, but misunderstood world of the pathology lab.
Dr Anthony Webster ...... Peter Davison
Dr Ruth Anderson ...... Tracy-Ann Oberman
Professor Donaldson ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Gordon ...... Tom Price
Chloe ...... Marianne Levy
Simon ...... Gus Brown
Prof Van den Hoogenband ...... Chris Pavlo
Music by Paul Mottram and Stephanie Benavente.
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2003.
SAT 22:30 Josie Long: Romance and Adventure (b075tddy)
Series 1
Episode 2
Josie swears off romance and almost imediately finds herself in a budding relationship with Darren's former flatmate, Roddy.
Comedy drama from award-winning comedian Josie Long about a young woman trying to build a new, more fulfilling life for herself in Glasgow.
Based on characters from the short films "Romance and Adventure" and "Let's Go Swimming" by Josie Long and Douglas King.
Josie ...... Josie Long
Darren ...... Darren Osborne
Roddy ...... Sanjeev Kohli
Kerry ...... Hatty Ashdown
Eleanor ...... Clare Grogan
Chris ...... Michael Bertenshaw
Janie ...... Georgie Glen
Mona ...... Rebecca Hamilton
Fraser ...... Chris Pavlo

Written by Josie Long
Produced by Colin Anderson
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2016.
SAT 23:00 Jason Cook's School of Hard Knocks (b03w32c0)
Asking Out and First Dates
Field marshal of mirth and high priest of Hebburn, Jason Cook dispenses advice on how best to navigate the choppy waters of life and come out the other side without feeling woozy, using the full spectrum of his own experiences as his educational aids.
In this episode, Jason examines how to successfully ask someone out.
Discover the traps to be avoided when going on a first date - using Jason's trademarked "Place, Face, Case" methodology,
Stories from the audience help to throw more light on the matter in hand.
With Zoe Harrison and Neil Grainger.
Producer: Sam Michell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.
SAT 23:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b05077kz)
Series 6
Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith had never had a driving lesson - until now.
Marcus Brigstocke also persuades him to try wallpapering for the first time.
Series which persuades guests to try new experiences: things they really ought to have done by now.
Some experiences are loved, some are loathed, in this show all about embracing the new.
Producer: Bill Dare
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2015.