SATURDAY 04 NOVEMBER 2023

SAT 00:00 John Wyndham - The Midwich Cuckoos (m001rxkt)
2. The Children
It’s four years since ‘The Day Out’ in Midwich. The children now exert an eerie hold on the village.
John Wyndham’s sci-fi masterpiece, first published in 1957, is the tale of an English village where the women are simultaneously impregnated by parasitic aliens.
Starring Bill Nighy and Sarah Parish.
The conclusion of Dan Rebellato's gripping two-part dramatisation.
Richard .... Bill Nighy
Janet .... Sarah Parish
Zellaby .... Clive Merrison
Alan .... Nicholas R Bailey
Ferelleyn .... Katherine Tozer
Chief Superintendent John Westcot .... Seamus O'Neill
David Pawle .... Lloyd Peters
Miss Lamb .... Christine Brennan
Reverend Leebody .... Malcolm Raeburn
Miss Ogle .... Rebecca Bridle
William .... Casey O'Brien
Angela .... Mariella Brown
Girl .... Rosie Fleeshman
Boy .... Mat Belshaw
Director: Polly Thomas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2003.
SAT 01:00 Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (b007jpbp)
5. An Appalling Discovery
Franklin Blake makes an appalling discovery at Shivering Sands.
Surprise 'proof' reveals who has been responsible for the theft of the Moonstone...
Victorian novel written by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1868.
Dramatised by Brian Gear.
Gabriel Betteredge ...... John Sharp
Sergeant Cuff ...... John Franklyn-Robbins
Godfrey Ablewhite ...... Geoffrey Beevers
Franklin Blake ...... John Telfer
Rachel Verinder ...... Sally Baxter
Rosanna Spearman ...... Tammy Ustinov
Mr Bruff ...... Nat Brenner
Penelope ...... Josie Kido
Rosanna Spearman ...... Tammy Ustinov
Jennings ...... Philip Sully
Mr Bruff ...... Nat Brenner
Candy ...... Danny Schiller
Music composed by Sidney Sager
Directed by Brian Miller
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1979.
SAT 02:00 Whodunnits (b06d8h0y)
Miss Marple's Final Cases
3. Sanctuary
Miss Marple and her god-daughter, Bunch, arrive at the local church to discover a dying man.
His last words provide the clues to unlock an unsolved crime.
June Whitfield stars as Miss Marple
Agatha Christie's whodunnit, first published in 1954.
Short story dramatised by Joy Wilkinson.
Miss Marple ...... June Whitfield
Bunch ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Inspector Slack ...... Stephen Critchlow
Edna ...... Alex Tregear
Mrs Eccles ...... Sally Orrock
Edwin Moss ...... Michael Shelford
Director: Gemma Jenkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2015.
SAT 02:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzckt)
Magnolia Blossom
The 20th century Queen of Crime can still seem astonishingly adult in the 21st century.
So when a woman's adultery is exposed it can pale beside the crimes and arrogance of men...
Starring Emilia Fox and Julian Rhind-Tutt.
Mike Walker's revamp of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit from 1926.
Theo …… Emilia Fox
Vincent …… Julian Rhind-Tutt
Richard …… Alex Jennings
TV News Reader …… Ewan Bailey
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2002.
SAT 03:00 The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (b036q7t8)
5. Waves of Evil
Sir James Monmouth's eerie obsession reaches a terrifying conclusion, but is that the end of the story?
Conclusion of Susan Hill's atmospheric and chilling ghost story.
Abridged by Oliver Reynolds.
Read by Gareth Armstrong
With John Moffatt as the Narrator.
Producer: Jocelyn Boxall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1994.
SAT 03:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gvwxr)
15. The Flag That Failed
The problems in uniting Scotland and England and in creating a Great Britain are encapsulated in a set of designs for a common flag.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
SAT 03:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b05wyhnv)
Series 10
Joan of the Junction
Ed tramps along the canal trying to find someone to take him, and Elgar, in.
When he fortunes upon the somewhat colourful Joan, he hits the jackpot in more ways than one.
Not only does he gain a rather comfortable cabin bed, but as the pair chat about Joan's rather picaresque life over a can of cider,
Ed discovers she has lived her life in the manner for a perfect Sunday night TV drama. Cue a call to his agent, Ping.
The comical world of an author, pipe smoker, consummate fare-dodger and master of the abusive e-mail.
Starring Christopher Douglas.
Written by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds.
Ed Reardon ...... Christopher Douglas
Suzan ...... Raquel Cassidy
Olive ...... Stephanie Cole
Joan ...... Pam Ferris
Pearl ...... Brigit Forsyth
Bill ...... Geoff McGivern
Ping ...... Barunka O'Shaughnessy
Stan ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on Radio 4 in June 2015.
SAT 04:00 Albert and Me (b007jv04)
Series 1
Pilot Episode
Single dad Bryan Archer struggles to work as well as bringing up his baby son, Albert.
Stars Richard Beckinsale and Pat Coombs.
The struggles of single parent Bryan Archer to find work while raising his baby son, Albert.
Written by Jim Eldridge.
Bryan Archer …. Richard Beckinsale
Mum/Albert …. Pat Coombs
Dad …. John Comer
Vernon Wordsworth …. Frank Thornton
Anna Jameson …. Sharon Duce
Alice …. Anne Cunningham
Patrick …. Douglas Blackwell
Incidental music by Max Harris.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1977.
SAT 04:30 Kathmandu or Bust (b07rhlzg)
A Sticky Wicket
Nepal is almost in sight and the travellers are in a mellow mood - until their truck is stolen by bandits.
The five travellers battle on with their expedition to Kathmandu
Series written by Mike Yeaman and David Napthine.
Simon …. David Haig
Petra …. Michelle Chadwick
Callum …. Forbes Masson
Trigger …. Richard Ridings
Joan …. Sarah Crowden
Ellie …. Lolly Susi
Bandit …. Lyndam Gregory
Bandit …. Shiv Grewal
Producer: Lissa Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1996.
SAT 05:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mlq)
Series 2
Episode 1
Journalist and food critic Jay Rayner gives his four contestants a good grilling on their knowledge of food and drink.
On the menu:
* Devour the secret of Stephen Fry's home-made mayonnaise
* The song that keeps Josceline Dimbleby happy while cooking
* The store cupboard staple of food writer Elisabeth Luard
* The best way to catch an eel, according to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Producer: Dixi Stewart
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2004.
SAT 05:30 Plum House (b07fg2q7)
Series 1
Why Why WI?
Sitcom about the inept staff at an historic house, picking up from the successful pilot.
Starring Simon Callow and Jane Horrocks.
Every year, thousands of tourists flock to the Lake District. But one place they never go to is Plum House - the former country home of terrible poet George Pudding (1779-1848).
Now a crumbling museum, losing money hand over fist, it struggles to stay open under its eccentric curator Peter Knight (Simon Callow).
Can anyone save Plum House from irreversible decline?
Tom Collyer, sent from the Trust to do just that, seems to be the most likely candidate but the challenge is huge as he confronts the reality of winning round Peter Knight's handpicked team - the hopelessly out of touch deputy Julian, the corner-cutting gift shop manager Maureen intent on making profit from extremely cheap plum-themed merchandise, and maintenance man Alan who has heard the words "health" and "safety" but never in the same sentence.
In this series opener, the museum's preparations for the annual WI visit include hiding away valuable artefacts as, according to Peter, some members are prone to stealing them.
And Julian gives a disastrous lecture on the life and work of George Pudding.
Written by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna
Peter ...... Simon Callow
Maureen ...... Jane Horrocks
Julian ...... Miles Jupp
Tom ...... Tom Bell
Alan ...... Pearce Quigley
Emma ...... Louise Ford
Mary ...... Kate Anthony
Jean ...... Sandra Maitland
Director: Paul Schlesinger
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2016.
SAT 06:00 Genevieve (m000b07f)
Remember the 1953 cinema classic, starring Kenneth More, John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kay Kendall and two vintage cars?
It's probably the first British road movie as well as a wonderful romantic comedy.
Genevieve is the story of two men behaving badly with their cars - and their girlfriends on the annual London to Brighton car run.
Starring Michael Maloney, Amanda Root, Robert Bathurst and Samantha Bond.
William Rose wrote the original screenplay.
Adapted for radio by Adrian Bean.
Alan .... Michael Maloney
Wendy .... Amanda Root
Ambrose .... Robert Bathurst
Rosalind .... Samantha Bond
Miss Windsor .... Jennie Stoller
Commentator .... David Holt
Roger .... Kenny Blyth
Policeman .... Phillip Joseph
Harry .... Jonathan Keeble
Mechanic .... Alex Trinder
Old Gent .... Gordon Reid
Sidney .... Jack Miller
Director: Tracey Neale
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
SAT 07:30 Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Omnibus) (m0006mln)
Episode 2
Adrian has regular radiotherapy and his suspicions around Daisy and Fairfax-Lycett continue to grow
The sixth and final instalment of Adrian Mole’s diaries by Sue Townsend, one of our most celebrated comic writers.
It starts in 2007 when Adrian has reached the age of 39. Having fallen into debt, Adrian and his wife Daisy are forced to move into a semi-detached converted pigsty next door to his parents.
Adrian worries that the passion has gone out of his relationship and that his five-year-old daughter Gracie is turning into a tyrant. On top of this, he is having to empty his bladder several times in the night - and getting a doctor’s appointment is far from easy.
Omnibus of the last five of ten episodes abridged by Sara Davies.
Read by Harry McEntire.
Producer: Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2019.
SAT 08:45 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
Terence Stamp
"Terence would make a good manager of Woolworths”
Actor Terence Stamp is summoned for a quiet word about his school reports.
Robert Booth interviews celebrities about their school reports.
With extracts from actual reports and other pertinent school documents.
Readers:
Sheila Grant
Paul Gregory
Victoria Carling
Tim Reynolds
Alan Dudley
Producer: Nigel Acheson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1987.
SAT 09:00 The Men from the Ministry (b0141zn4)
The Export Caper
The bungling bureaucrats botch a trade agreement with the Italians.
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler.
Written by Edward Taylor and John Graham.
Lennox-Brown …. Deryck Guyler
Lamb …. Richard Murdoch
Mildred Murfin …. Norma Ronald
Sir Gregory Pitkin …. Ronald Baddiley
'Creepy' Crawley/Commander Strange …. John Graham
Newsreader …. John Cole
The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 in May 1973.
SAT 09:30 Something to Shout About (m000kp3h)
Series 3
Episode 19
The hiring of a hunky artist sends shockwaves among the female colleagues at the advertising agency.
"A light-hearted exposé of the advertising world!".
Set in a London ad agency called 'Apsley, Addis, Cohen, Barbican, Blythe, Giddy & Partners'.
Written by Myles Rudge and Ronnie Wolfe.
Michael Lightfoot …. Michael Medwin
Janet Harris …. Fenella Fielding
Maggie Tufnell …. Eleanor Summerfield
Adrian Beales …. Nicholas Phipps
Arnold Wisley …. Warren Mitchell
Shirley …. Sheila Hancock
Producer: John Simmonds.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in February 1962.
SAT 10:00 The Real Comedy Controllers: The Things That Made Us Laugh (m0017d7z)
Alternative Comedy...and Beyond
3. Goodness Gracious Me and On the Hour
BBC Comedy Controllers from across the decades look back at radio shows from the past.
Clocking up over 150 years on the job between them, Paul Jackson, Beryl Vertue, John Lloyd and Jimmy Mulville reveal what they do, why they do it and what makes them laugh.
From London's iconic BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House - the home of British Radio comedy.
In the last of three programmes, they travel back to the 1980s to celebrate alternative comedy.
Featuring:
Goodness Gracious Me - from 18th January 1997 - BBC Radio 4
On The Hour - from 9th August 1991 - BBC Radio 4
The League of Gentlemen Charity Shop: sketch - 21st November - BBC Radio 4
Round the Horne: - Rambling Syd Rumpo - 15th January 1967 - BBC Light Programme
Series Producers: Paul Kobrak and Dixi Stewart.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in April 2017.
SAT 11:00 Genevieve (m000b07f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 12:30 Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Omnibus) (m0006mln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 13:45 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:45 today]
SAT 14:00 The Men from the Ministry (b0141zn4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 14:30 Something to Shout About (m000kp3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SAT 15:00 The Real Comedy Controllers: The Things That Made Us Laugh (m0017d7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SAT 16:00 John Wyndham - The Midwich Cuckoos (m001rxkt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]
SAT 17:00 Genevieve (m000b07f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 18:30 Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Omnibus) (m0006mln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 19:45 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:45 today]
SAT 20:00 The Men from the Ministry (b0141zn4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 20:30 Something to Shout About (m000kp3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SAT 21:00 The Real Comedy Controllers: The Things That Made Us Laugh (m0017d7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Susan Calman - Keep Calman Carry On (b09jvvny)
Series 2
Birdwatching
Susan Calman is the least relaxed person she knows. Unless she finds a way to switch off, and soon, her wife says she's going to be unbearable.
Susan decided her best bet was to try to immerse herself in the pursuits that her friends find relaxing, to find her inner zen and outer tranquillity.
So now she’s going birdwatching with the writer and comedian Emma Kennedy.
In this audience stand up show, Susan reveals how successful she's been - both at relaxing and at the pursuit itself - as well as playing in and discussing a handful of illustrative clips from her efforts.
Written by Susan Calman and Jon Hunter.
Producer: Lyndsay Fenner
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2017.
SAT 22:30 Cowards (b00fm5s8)
Series 2
Episode 3
Meet a cheery bailiff - and an office induction with a twist...
More from inside the strange and happy world of the Cowards.
Sketch comedy with a comic slant on human frailties
Written by and starring:
Tom Basden
Stefan Golaszewski
Tim Key
Lloyd Woolf
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.
SAT 23:00 Fred at The Stand (m00045lx)
Series 2
Jess Robinson, Raul Kohli, Elf Lyons and Chris Forbes
Fred MacAulay is back at The Stand Comedy Club in Glasgow doing what he does best - making people laugh.
The series brings another selection of some of the best of stand-up comedians working in the UK right now. Some you’ll know and some you won’t - yet.
As well as Fred's tales of bringing up dogs now the kids have left, this episode is packed with great stand-up, impressions and even inspiration:
* Jess Robinson has got a new twist on Six Degrees of Separation.
* Geordie comedian Raul Kohli makes his first return to Glasgow since "the incident".
* Elf Lyons cements herself as everyone's favourite imaginary friend.
* Glasgow's Chris Forbes headlines the show with two examples of inspiration and self belief - one more authentic than the other.
Fred At The Stand is the closest thing your ears are going to get to an actual night in a comedy club.
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2019.
SAT 23:30 The Shuttleworths (b007jm3p)
Series 2
Wireless Wanderings (Part 2)
Sheffield’s aspiring singer/songwriter John Shuttleworth and his agent Ken continue their expedition of the radio airwaves.
Written and performed by Graham Fellows.
Featuring;
Sue Lawley
Melvyn Bragg
Terry Wogan
Ken Bruce
With Charlotte Green.
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1995.
SAT 23:45 Armando Iannucci - Facts And Fancies (b007jrlb)
A Life at the Opera
Tackling operas and some thoughts on ears.
Producer, writer and performer Armando Iannucci presents his own collection of humorous essays.
Compiled by Jenny Baynes.
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1997.

SUNDAY 05 NOVEMBER 2023

SUN 00:00 James Follett - The Destruction Factor (b007k4lg)
1. The Seeds of Creation
Ralph Exon works for an international fertiliser corporation - and he's created a new strain of plant. It's a mutation which he hopes will bring relief to the famine-ridden countries of the world.
It's an innocent-looking specimen. But in that plant - known as the Exon Strain - there also lurks the Destruction Factor...
Starring Paul Copley and Rosalind Adams.
James Follett’s sci-fi thriller in six-parts.
Howard Rogers …. Paul Copley
Denise Exon …. Rosalind Adams
Max Flinders …. TP McKenna
Ralph Exon …. Clifford Rose
Balfour …. Peter Wickham
Garrard …. Rod Beacham
Ted Downes …. Bruce Beeby
Kathy Downes …. Joan Matheson
Milly …. Karen Archer
Anne …. Christine Absalom
Harriet …. Debby Cumming
Producer: David Spencer
First broadcast as two x 90 minute dramas on BBC Radio 4 in March 1978.
SUN 00:30 The Price of Fear (b01s4f4p)
Guy Fawkes Night
Unaware at first that a crime had been committed, Vincent Price remembers a bonfire party when a bullying father disappeared.
Vincent Price introduces another chilling tale.
Dramatised by Richard Davis from his own story.
CAST:
Vincent Price
Adrienne Corri
Alexander John
Derek Lamden
Peter Craze
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in 1974.
SUN 01:00 Genevieve (m000b07f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:30 Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Omnibus) (m0006mln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 03:45 Could Do Better (b03m7dn7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:45 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 The Men from the Ministry (b0141zn4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:30 Something to Shout About (m000kp3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Saturday]
SUN 05:00 The Real Comedy Controllers: The Things That Made Us Laugh (m0017d7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Poetry Extra (m001s476)
The Essay - WB Yeats
To mark 100 years since poet, dramatist and prose writer WB Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive and selects two programmes from the series The Essay.
William Butler Yeats is a commanding presence in 20th-century literature and has inspired, and occasionally infuriated, successive generations of readers, writers, and performers ever since.
The Essay: Yeats by Heart
Celebrated actress and director Fiona Shaw explains the lasting impact of her childhood introduction to the work of WB Yeats.
Producer: Stan Ferguson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2015.
The Essay: Not Liking Yeats
Writer and cultural commentator Fintan O'Toole explains why it is not always necessary to like everything about the man himself to appreciate the wonder of the poetry of WB Yeats.
Producer: Stan Ferguson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2015.
SUN 06:35 The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (Omnibus) (m001s47g)
In a gentlemen’s club in Victorian London, some of the extraordinary events that occurred during his travels are revealed by Sir James Monmouth.
Susan Hill's atmospheric and chilling ghost story.
Omnibus of five-parts abridged by Oliver Reynolds.
Read by Gareth Armstrong
With John Moffatt as the Narrator.
Producer: Jocelyn Boxall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1994.
SUN 07:50 Shakespeare's Restless World (Omnibus) (m001s47v)
Episode 3
A tabloid history of Shakespeare's England, told through a collection of contemporary accounts of plots to murder Elizabeth I and James I.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Omnibus of eps 11-15 of 20 episodes.
Neil MacGregor shows what a delicate glass goblet reveals about the twin seductions of Venice: its sought after luxuries and its equally sought after women and the problems in uniting Scotland and England, creating a Great Britain and a set of designs for a common flag.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
SUN 09:00 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
3. Tragedy
"At Abingdon, the river passes by the streets. Abingdon is a typical country town of the smaller order - quiet, eminently respectable, clean and desperately dull."
George, Harris and J encounter a tragedy and some nasty weather, as they conclude their holiday on the River Thames - with Montmorency the dog.
Adapted and performed in three episodes by Jeremy Nicholas.
Music by Jeremy Nicholas.
Performed by The Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1984.
SUN 09:30 Tony's (b007jt1y)
Series 1
Money Money Money
While checking the pipes in the cellar, Tony makes an amazing discovery.
Starring Victor Spinetti,
More misadventures of corner-shop barber, Tony.
Tony …. Victor Spinetti
Hector …. John Laurie
Maisie …. Deborah Watling
Carlo …. Anthony Morton
Guest …. Henry McGee
Guest …. Roland MacLeod
Guest …. John Blythe
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1979.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (m001s480)
Doctor Who at 60
David Tennant
Actor David Tennant is castaway on a desert island by Kirsty Young.
He has been voted the best Doctor Who ever and has redefined the Time Lord for a generation of parents and children.
As a child he was a huge fan of the programme; he reckons he only ever missed one episode, wore a long stripy scarf and queued up to meet Tom Baker and get his autograph.
As a role, he says, it appealed not just to his adult self but to the eight-year-old boy who was just below the surface.
DISC ONE: Over and Done With - The Proclaimers
DISC TWO: Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello
DISC THREE: Me and the Farmer - The Housemartins
DISC FOUR: Dignity - Deacon Blue
DISC FIVE: The Starship Enterprise - Eddie Izzard
DISC SIX: Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
DISC SEVEN: White Wine in the Sun - Tim Minchin
DISC EIGHT: Greetings to the New Brunette - Billy Bragg
BOOK CHOICE: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu - Marcel Proust
LUXURY CHOICE: A solar DVD player loaded with the seven series of the West Wing
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: White Wine in the Sun - Tim Minchin
Producer: Leanne Buckle
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.
SUN 10:45 David Attenborough's Life Stories (b00yrg3g)
Series 2
Kiwi
New Zealand had several species of flightless bird living across the islands, all of which are now extinct, bar one.
The Kiwi has become one of those species iconic of the country, like the Koala to Australia, the Giraffe to Africa and the Alpaca to South America.
Historically, New Zealand didn't have ground predators such as wild cats and stoats - which allowed birds to exploit living on the ground. Being flightless in New Zealand was a good way to be a bird.
Having filmed Kiwis, Sir David Attenborough muses on the niche the Kiwi occupies on the ground. He argues the Kiwi behaves more like a mammal than a bird, but what mammal do you think, in his view, the Kiwi most resembles..?
Producer: Julian Hector
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2011.
SUN 11:00 Poetry Extra (m001s476)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 11:35 The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (Omnibus) (m001s47g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:35 today]
SUN 12:50 Shakespeare's Restless World (Omnibus) (m001s47v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:50 today]
SUN 14:00 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 14:30 Tony's (b007jt1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SUN 15:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (m001s480)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SUN 15:45 David Attenborough's Life Stories (b00yrg3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
SUN 16:00 James Follett - The Destruction Factor (b007k4lg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]
SUN 16:30 The Price of Fear (b01s4f4p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:30 today]
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (m001s476)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 17:35 The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (Omnibus) (m001s47g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:35 today]
SUN 18:50 Shakespeare's Restless World (Omnibus) (m001s47v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:50 today]
SUN 20:00 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 20:30 Tony's (b007jt1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SUN 21:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (m001s480)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SUN 21:45 David Attenborough's Life Stories (b00yrg3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
SUN 22:00 Start/Stop (b07qc3gc)
Series 3
6. Friends
Barney is being suspiciously nice to Cathy. Fiona wants Evan to invest in her new business but Evan thinks it will be a disaster.
And David is trying not to be so controlling.
Jack Docherty's sitcom about three marriages in various states of disrepair.
Starring:
Couple 1:
Barney ...... Jack Docherty
Cathy ...... Kerry Godliman
Couple 2:
Evan ...... John Thomson
Fiona ...... Fiona Allen
Couple 3:
David ...... Charlie Higson
Alice ...... Laura Aikman
Producer: Claire Jones
A BBC Studio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2016.
SUN 22:30 Brian Appleton's Unofficial Multi-Media Lecture (m001093c)
From Cliff to Dale
Disgraced Rock Musicologist and Media Studies lecturer Brian Appleton delivers a series of unique and bizarre lectures to an invited audience.
Drawing on his own bitter memories of thwarted stardom - he begins by charting five decades of British pop music.
Written by and starring Graham Fellows.
Additional Research by Rex Brough
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2005.
SUN 22:45 We Know Everything (b082qz7c)
Episode 1
Experts Dan Gaster and Paul Powell tackle the questions no-one can be bothered to ask.
For starters - Which is the best aphrodisiac? Oysters or a naked woman?
The solution to this and many other needles queries will be revealed in the show.
Written by and starring Dan Gaster and Paul Powell.
With:
Simon Godley
Clare Cathcart
Martin Hyder
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1995.
SUN 23:00 Small Scenes (b04lq2ys)
Series 2
Episode 2
Oxford Zoo is annexed by its own monkey kingdom and a young woman falls under the romantic spell of "The Great Dimbleby".
Symphonious sketch show.
Starring:
Daniel Rigby
Sara Pascoe
Mike Wozniak
Cariad Lloyd
Henry Paker
Written by Benjamin Partridge, Henry Paker and Mike Wozniak.
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
SUN 23:30 The Skivers (b00j1ff4)
Series 3
Michael Fish
High winds alert! Weatherman Michael Fish bids for stardom.
Skilful sketch show written and performed by Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh.
With:
Peter Bradshaw
Sally Phillips
Special guest: Michael Fish
Announcer: Patrick Allen
Producer: Jon Naismith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1997.

MONDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2023

MON 00:00 Poetry Extra (m001s476)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:35 The Mist in the Mirror by Susan Hill (Omnibus) (m001s47g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:35 on Sunday]
MON 01:50 Shakespeare's Restless World (Omnibus) (m001s47v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:50 on Sunday]
MON 03:00 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Sunday]
MON 03:30 Tony's (b007jt1y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (m001s480)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]
MON 04:45 David Attenborough's Life Stories (b00yrg3g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (b007vgg2)
6. Extreme Action
Franklin Blake is to put himself into the frame of mind he was in the night a year ago when the Moonstone was stolen.
Conclusion of the Victorian novel written by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1868.
Dramatised by Brian Gear.
Gabriel Betteredge ...... John Sharp
Sergeant Cuff ...... John Franklyn-Robbins
Godfrey Ablewhite ...... Geoffrey Beevers
Franklin Blake ...... John Telfer
Rachel Verinder ...... Sally Baxter
Rosanna Spearman ...... Tammy Ustinov
Mr Bruff...... Nat Brenner
Gooseberry ...... Debby Cumming
Hopkins/Landlord ...... Barkley Johnson
Woods ...... Emlyn Harris
Luker ...... Adrian Egan
Murthwaite ...... Gordon Dulleu
Music composed by Sidney Sager
Director: Brian Miller
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1979.
MON 06:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y015)
1. Enter a Frightened Lady
Veteran detective Bill Galbraith wants a quiet life, now he's retiring from a long career in the police force.
But his old pal Tommy Evans needs his help over murky goings on from a criminal mastermind...
Starring Bernard Hepton as Bill Galbraith.
Galbraith …. Bernard Hepton
Tom Evans …. Richard Davies
Cater …. Tom Watson
Gelder …. Peter Dyneley
Anne-Marie …. Eva Haddon
Cornell …. Hector Ross
Mary Galbraith …. Katharine Page
Milne …. Bruce Alexander
Robert Barr also wrote TV scripts for the BBC's Z Cars and Softly Softly, as well as being a prize-winning TV producer.
Producer: John Browell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1975.
MON 06:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxh)
1. The Cave of Secrets
Ex-commando Dick Barton uncovers an enemy plot to capture a British secret weapon.
Noel Johnson stars as Dick Barton
From 1946 to 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent thrilled millions of listeners to the BBC Light Programme. The daily serial followed the exciting adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton and his wartime mates Snowey and Jock, who solve all manner of intriguing crimes and mysteries.
Heralded by an iconic signature tune - Devil's Galop by Charles Williams - each gripping episode left listeners with a torrid cliff-hanger.
Sadly many of Dick's adventures didn't survive in the BBC Archive. But in 1972, as part of celebrations for the BBC's Golden Jubilee, Dick's very first ten-part adventure by Edward J Mason was recreated, featuring many of the original performers.
Dick Barton …. Noel Johnson
Snowey White …. John Mann
Jock …. Alex McCrindle
Colonel Gardiner …. William Fox
Jean Hunter …. Margaret Robertson
The Professor …. Heron Carvic
Jimmie Law …. Derek Birch
Sir Archie Wrangle …. Richard Hurndall
The Corporal …. Geoffrey Collins
Producer: Raymond Raikes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1972.
MON 07:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000blwk)
1. Perfect Send Off
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers’ tender novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Nan contemplates the perfect send off with the help of her grandson.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Written and abridged in ten parts by Salley Vickers.
Producer: Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.
MON 07:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
16. A Time of Change, a Change of Time
A rare domestic clock with an equally rare minute hand and quarter-hour chimes reveals the changing relationship Shakespeare's audiences had to time.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
MON 07:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b01r7b8n)
Series 1
Power Block
Katrina Lyons was only visiting Cresdon Green, the village where she grew up, to borrow some money from her parents. But when she tried to head back to London, it turned out alien beings known as the Geonin had lowered a force field around the village - refusing to let anyone in or out.
Unfortunately almost everyone in the village is too cowardly, apathetic, polite or stupid to stand up to them, so Katrina’s had to start the resistance movement herself.
Eddie Robson's sitcom about an alien invasion of a small English village.
Starring Hattie Morahan and Julian Rhind-Tutt.
In this episode, Uljabaan is busy with a construction project and asks Margaret to help with some routine duties in the village - collecting data, checking up on the man they put down the old well, that sort of thing.
Katrina is dismayed - he's too busy to oppress the humans, so he's getting them to do it to each other.
But the construction project involves opening up the force-field that surrounds the village. Can Katrina and Lucy sneak a message into the outside world?
Katrina Lyons ...... Hattie Morahan
Field Commander Uljabaan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Margaret Lyons ...... Jan Francis
Richard Lyons ...... Peter Davison
Lucy Alexander ...... Hannah Murray
Computer ...... John-Luke Roberts
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 2013.
MON 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b00t4qmv)
Series 2
My Old Man's a Tory
Angry Albert disrupts Harold's Labour party meeting.
Starring Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett.
Classic sitcom about the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Albert .... Wilfrid Brambell
Harold .... Harry H Corbett
Stonelake .... Dudley Foster
Miss Frobisher .... Beth Boyd
Adapted for radio from Galton and Simpson's TV script by Gale Pedrick.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1967.
MON 08:30 The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere (b007js6w)
Series 1
Episode 2
An Everyday Story of Towering Genius.
Sue Limb’s four-part soap opera set in and around the Lake District at the turn of the 18th century
Lord Biro arrives with his menagerie. He attempts the seduction of both Stinking Iris and Dorothy. His mysterious half-cousin is in labour. William is afflicted by his ailment....
Dorothy Wordsmith ...... Denise Coffey
William Wordsmith ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Samuel Tailor Cholericke ...... Simon Callow
Stinking Iris ...... Miriam Margolyes
The Leechpedlar ...... Chris Emmett
Lord Biro ...... Tim Curry
Teresa Sanseveria ...... Helen Atkinson-Wood
Music by Stephen Oliver and sung by Cantabile
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1985.
MON 09:00 The Write Stuff (b09yh0q9)
Series 17
Jilly Cooper
James Walton takes the chair for the game of literary correctness.
Team captains John Walsh and Sebastian Faulks are joined by Jane Thynne and John O'Farrell.
This episode focuses on Jilly Cooper.
Reader: Beth Chalmers
Producer: Alexandra Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.
MON 09:30 Snap (m00016gc)
Series 2
Episode 6
Doug and Molly go on a secret date in the countryside.
They both want to be together again, but now they've told each other, getting close isn't as simple as they thought it would be.
Starring Rebecca Lacey and Paul Venables.
Paul Mendelson’s sitcom about life for a couple after they've split.
Molly ....... Rebecca Lacey
Doug ....... Paul Venables
Kaz ....... Soumaya Keynes
Ryan ....... Jessie Sullivan
Annie ....... Marlene Sidaway
Dawn ....... Samantha Spiro
Raymond ...... Jonathan Tafler
Ansel...........Richard Firth
Producer: David Ian Neville
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2004.
MON 10:00 Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (b007vgg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
MON 11:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y015)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 11:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
MON 12:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000blwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 12:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
MON 12:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b01r7b8n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 13:00 Steptoe and Son (b00t4qmv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 13:30 The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere (b007js6w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 14:00 The Write Stuff (b09yh0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 14:30 Snap (m00016gc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 15:00 Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (b007vgg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
MON 16:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y015)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 16:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
MON 17:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000blwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
MON 17:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b01r7b8n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Steptoe and Son (b00t4qmv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 18:30 The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere (b007js6w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 19:00 The Write Stuff (b09yh0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 19:30 Snap (m00016gc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 20:00 Radiolab (m001b3cz)
Series 10
Escape
Radiolab explores what happens when you’ve got no way out, and then, suddenly, you escape! With Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.
Radiolab is a Peabody-award winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.
Jad Abumrad and the Radiolab team investigate a strange world.
From WNYC. First broadcast on public radio in the USA in 2012.
MON 20:55 Inheritance Tracks (m000qcfl)
Jodie Prenger
Actress and singer Jodie Prenger chooses ‘D.I.S.C.O’ by Ottawan and ‘Both Sides Now’ by Joni Mitchell.
MON 21:00 Mastertapes (b08b7ttt)
Series 6
Craig David (A-side)
Craig David discusses his debut album from 2000, the multimillion selling, 'Born To Do It'.
Series in which leading performers and songwriters talk to John Wilson about the album that made them or changed them.
Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios, each edition includes two episodes - the A-side and B-side.
In the A-side, Craig talks to John Wilson.
'Born To Do It' was his debut album, which went on to sell 8 million copies world-wide.
Recorded and released when Craig David was only 18 years old, the album includes the hits, Fill Me In, Walking Away, Rendezvous and 7 Days. Described as a '2-step garage' and R&B album, Born To Do It draws heavily on electro beats, garage and hip hop. It became (and remains) the fastest-selling debut studio album ever by a British male solo act.
16 years later, a more mature Craig David released his 6th studio album, Following My Intuition, which followed in the footsteps of his debut and became his second record to debut at Number 1.
In the B-side of the programme, it's the turn of the audience to ask the questions.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2017.
MON 21:30 Doctor Who (m001s4fj)
Tenth Doctor Adventures
Technophobia Part 1/2
When The Doctor and Donna visit London’s Technology Museum for a glimpse into the future, things don’t go to plan.
The most brilliant IT brain in the country can’t use her computer. More worryingly, the exhibits are attacking the visitors, while outside, people seem to be losing control of the technology that runs their lives.
Is it all down to human stupidity, or is something more sinister going on?
Beneath the streets, the Koggnossenti are waiting for all of London to fall prey to technophobia...
Part 1 of the first of six adventures featuring the tenth incarnation of The Doctor.
Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Written by Matt Fitton.
The Doctor …. David Tennant
Donna Noble …. Catherine Tate
Jill Meadow …. Rachael Stirling
Bex …. Niky Wardley
Brian …. Chook Sibtain
Lukas …. Jot Davies
Kevin …. Rory Keenan
Original music by Howard Carter.
Producer: David Richardson
A Big Finish production.
* Cover artwork by Tom Webster *
MON 22:00 Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz (m001rybm)
Series 2
Episode 9 - Ipswich
Can AI write a good pub quiz? Paul Sinha finds out in this episode, recorded in Ipswich.
Written and performed by Paul Sinha
Additional material: Chat GPT
Additional questions: The Audience
Original music: Tim Sutton
Sound engineer: David Thomas
Producer: Ed Morrish
A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 22:30 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b01mk5nk)
Series 2
Hermicia
Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have experienced a succession of bizarre adventures.
More memories as Brian relives his experiences in Hermicia where charity is strangely in abundance.
Brian Gulliver ..... Neil Pearson
Rachel Gulliver ..... Mariah Gale
Kalfa ..... Colin Hoult
Mena ..... Nina Conti
Boria ..... Martin Treneman
Doctor ..... Patrick Brennan
Rimanda ..... Amaka Okafor
Producer: Steven Canny
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2012.
MON 23:00 The Now Show (m001ryqx)
Series 63
Episode 1
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches. They are joined by Ken Cheng who uses air fryers to help explain his frustration with the housing market, Helen Bauer arguing why school uniforms need to remain affordable, and Rachel Parris gives her musical take on what truly scares us at Halloween.
The show was written by the cast with additional material from Cameron Loxdale, Tasha Dhanraj, Jules Garnett and Cody Dahler.
Voice actors: Roisin O'Mahony & Ed Jones
Producer: Sasha Bobak
Production Coordinator: Katie Baum
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4
MON 23:30 Forty Nights in the Wildebeest (b007k16j)
Episode 4
Dan Freedman and Nick Romero push the pun count beyond the pain threshold.
Including:
American 'Blackadder'
A sheep version of 'Star Trek'.
Music is performed by the Gents.
Producers: Julian Mayers & Jayne Gibson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2000.

TUESDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2023

TUE 00:00 Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone (b007vgg2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y015)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000blwk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h6461)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b01r7b8n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Steptoe and Son (b00t4qmv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Monday]
TUE 03:30 The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere (b007js6w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 The Write Stuff (b09yh0q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 Snap (m00016gc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009s39)
1. Mediocre Poet and Bad Verse
Enderby, mediocre poet sans pareil bursts onto an unsuspecting world, scattering bread crumbs and bad verse.
Misadventures abound as Enderby becomes the bemused recipient of the attentions of the lovely Vesta Bainbridge.
Classic 1960s acerbic comedy by Anthony Burgess.
Enderby .... Philip Glenister
Vesta .... Valerie Edmond
Rawcliffe .... Russell Dixon
Harry .... David Fleeshman
Stepmother ...... Ann Rye
Mrs Meldrum .... Pauline Jefferson
Walpole .... Malcolm Raebum
Nurse .... Liz Stooke
All other parts played by members of the cast
Dramatised in two parts by Jim Poyser.
Director: Polly Thomas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2001.
TUE 06:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y956)
2. Dutch Treat
Veteran detective Bill wanted a quiet life in retirement, but now he's on the trail of a missing diamond courier.
Will he meet the King of Diamonds or even the Joker in Amsterdam?
Starring Bernard Hepton as Bill Galbraith.
CAST:
Galbraith …. Bernard Hepton
Cater …. Tom Watson
Gelder …. Peter Dyneley
Anne-Marie …. Eva Haddon
Lindemanns …. Cyril Shaps
Dykers …. Trader Faulkner
Brent …. Peter Williams
Milne …. Bruce Alexander
Jacobus …. Stephen Grief
Robert Barr also wrote TV scripts for the BBC's Z Cars and Softly Softly, as well as being a prize-winning TV producer.
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1975.
TUE 06:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxj)
2. Formula for Death
Dick Barton learns about the true nature of the secret weapon - and sets off to secure its vital instructions.
Noel Johnson stars as Dick Barton
From 1946 to 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent thrilled millions of listeners to the BBC Light Programme. The daily serial followed the exciting adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton and his wartime mates Snowey and Jock, who solve all manner of intriguing crimes and mysteries.
Heralded by an iconic signature tune - Devil's Galop by Charles Williams - each gripping episode left listeners with a torrid cliff-hanger.
Sadly many of Dick's adventures didn't survive in the BBC Archive. But in 1972, as part of celebrations for the BBC's Golden Jubilee, Dick's very first ten-part adventure by Edward J Mason was recreated, featuring many of the original performers.
CAST:
Dick Barton …. Noel Johnson
Jean Hunter …. Margaret Robertson
Sir Archie Wrangle …. Richard Hurndall
Colonel Gardiner …. William Fox
Andrews …. Nigel Graham
1st Policeman …. William Bedle
2nd Policeman …. Ronald Herdman
Producer: Raymond Raikes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1972.
TUE 07:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bmxg)
2. Honesty
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers' tender novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Nan’s given herself a mission: to help her grandson, Billy, be less honest. In the meantime, she notices another person struggling with honesty.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Written and abridged by Salley Vickers
Produced by Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.
TUE 07:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
17. Plague and the Playhouse
May 1603 saw not only a new king but the worst plague outbreak since the Black Death. Its impact and reach is told through a series of early seventeenth century proclamations.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
TUE 07:30 Making the Best of It (b03w38q5)
The Last Minutes
Daisy Haggard stars as Debra, a Crisis Branding Consultant brought in during a major boardroom crisis, with only minutes to manage how the truth comes out.
And what that truth is, exactly...
Series of comedies developed with the Comedians Theatre Company.
Debra ...... Daisy Haggard
Cassie ...... Tiffany Stevenson
Thomas ...... Matt Green
Jonah ...... Stephen Harvey
Phillip ...... Ben Norris
Written by Stephen Keyworth.
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2014.
TUE 08:00 The Goon Show (b00k7xd2)
Series 9
The £50 Cure
Neddie Seagoon picks up a lavish NHS prescription for his broken legs.
Groundbreaking, surreal BBC radio comedy written by Spike Milligan.
Starring:
Spike Milligan
Peter Sellers
Kenneth Connor stands in for Harry Secombe.
First billed as Crazy People, ten series of The Goon Show were recorded between 1951 and 1960, but sadly many of the earliest shows weren’t kept in the archive.
With the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray.
Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.
Announcer: Wallace Greenslade
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in February 1959.
TUE 08:30 King Street Junior (b007jndm)
Series 8
Mr Chips
A school inspection's due, but the visitor in the playground is not from Osted.
Created by Jim Eldridge, ten series of this comedy about a junior school ran between 1985 and 1998. King Street Junior Revisited ran from 2002 to 2005.
Written by Paul Copley.
Mr Sims …. Karl Howman
Headmaster …. James Grout
Mrs Patterson …. Deirdre Costello
Mr Long …. Paul Copley
Miss Lewis …. Marlene Sidaway
Mrs Stone …. Margaret John
Mrs Rudd …. Vivienne Martin
Mr Chips …. Trevor Peacock
Rupert …. Joseph Spinks
Craig …. Luke Nugent
Sunitra …. Lucy Kent
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1995.
TUE 09:00 Quote... Unquote (m000c9md)
Dame Esther Rantzen, Steve Pemberton, Konnie Huq
Nigel Rees quizzes his celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes and quotes.
With:
Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen
Actor and comedy writer Steve Pemberton
TV presenter Konnie Huq
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2019.
TUE 09:30 The Change (b0076cwf)
Series 2
Episode 3
George's desire to move back in with Carol is not reciprocated.
Lynda Bellingham and Chris Ellison star as troubled hormonal wife Carol who kicked out her mechanic husband George when he revealed he's a transvestite.
Sitcom by Gavin Petrie and Jan Etherington.
Carol …. Lynda Bellingham
George …. Chris Ellison
Violet …. Sylvia Syms
Maureen …. Maureen Beattie
Ken …. James Vaugnan
Sonia …. Emma Kennedy
Jerry …. Barnaby Kay
Dave …. Mark Powley
Di …. Di Aitcheson
Producer: Elizabeth Freestone.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2003.
TUE 10:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009s39)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
TUE 11:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y956)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 11:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
TUE 12:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bmxg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 12:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
TUE 12:30 Making the Best of It (b03w38q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 13:00 The Goon Show (b00k7xd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 13:30 King Street Junior (b007jndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Quote... Unquote (m000c9md)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
TUE 14:30 The Change (b0076cwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
TUE 15:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009s39)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y956)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 16:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
TUE 17:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bmxg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
TUE 17:30 Making the Best of It (b03w38q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 The Goon Show (b00k7xd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 18:30 King Street Junior (b007jndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 19:00 Quote... Unquote (m000c9md)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Change (b0076cwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
TUE 20:00 TED Radio Hour (m001s4hq)
Monday - Friday
A journey through fascinating ideas based on talks by riveting speakers on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) stage.
Manoush Zomorodi explores the 9-to-5 grind, and questions how long we work, why we valorize work and what is good leadership?
First broadcast in the USA on National Public Radio in 2023.
TUE 20:50 Inheritance Tracks (b07wzr9y)
Judy Tzuke
English singer-songwriter Judy Tzuke chooses 'My Funny Valentine' sung by Chet Baker and 'Blue' by Joni Mitchell.
TUE 21:00 Mastertapes (b08b7wcy)
Series 6
Craig David (B-side)
Craig David answers audience questions about his bestselling debut album from 2000, 'Born to Do It'.
Series in which leading performers and songwriters talk to John Wilson about the album that made them or changed them.
Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios, each edition includes two episodes - the A-side and B-side.
The B-side: Craig David's 'Born To Do It'
Having discussed the making of 'Born To Do It', the 8 million selling debut smash album (in the A-side of the programme) Craig David responds to questions from the audience and performs acoustic live versions of some to the tracks from his first No 1 album, and the second which was a further 16 years in the waiting.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.
TUE 21:30 Doctor Who (m001s4j2)
Tenth Doctor Adventures
Technophobia Part 2/2
The Doctor and Donna strive to prevent the people of Earth from un-evolving.
The most brilliant IT brain in the country can’t use her computer. More worryingly, the exhibits are attacking the visitors, while outside, people seem to be losing control of the technology that runs their lives.
Is it all down to human stupidity, or is something more sinister going on?
Beneath the streets, the Koggnossenti are waiting for all of London to fall prey to technophobia...
The conclusion of the first of six adventures featuring the tenth incarnation of The Doctor.
Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Written by Matt Fitton.
The Doctor …. David Tennant
Donna Noble …. Catherine Tate
Jill Meadow …. Rachael Stirling
Bex …. Niky Wardley
Brian …. Chook Sibtain
Lukas …. Jot Davies
Kevin …. Rory Keenan
Original music by Howard Carter.
Producer: David Richardson
A Big Finish production.
* Cover artwork by Tom Webster *
TUE 22:00 Best Medicine (m001ryf0)
Series 1
4. Surgical Microrobots, Backlash, The Immune System, Keeping an Open Mind
Joining Kiri this week are Dr Christos Bergeles demonstrating surgical micro-robots that can transport the surgeon to areas of the body that are normally impossible to operate on, historian Dr Elinor Cleghorn champions Backlash by bringing us the tale of Victorian medical hero Mary Putnam Jacobi, Professor Daniel Davis explores the beauty of the immune system, and comedian Sukh Ojla tells us to keep an open mind.
Best Medicine is your weekly dose of laughter, hope and incredible medicine. Award-winning comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean is joined by funny and fascinating comedians, doctors, scientists and historians to celebrate medicine’s inspiring past, present and future.
Each week, Kiri challenges her guests to make a case for what they think is 'the best medicine', and each of them champions anything from world-changing science to an obscure invention, an every-day treatment, an uplifting worldview, an unsung hero or a futuristic cure.
Whether it’s micro-robotic surgery, virtual reality syringes, Victorian clockwork surgical saws, more than a few ingenious cures for cancer, world-first lifesaving heart operations, epidurals, therapy, dancing, faith or laughter - it’s always something worth celebrating.
Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Featuring: Dr Christos Bergeles, Dr Elinor Cleghorn, Professor Daniel Davis and Sukh Ojla
Written by Laura Claxton, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Nicky Roberts and Ben Rowse
Producer: Ben Worsfield
Assistant Producer: Tashi Radha
Executive Producer: Simon Nicholls
Theme tune composed by Andrew Jones
A Large Time production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 22:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01b9kdj)
Series 1
Sally's Birthday
Will and Annabelle attend her mum's 60th Birthday Party. Will makes an effort to get on with his straight talking father-in-law John.
Will Smith's sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling,
Counsellor Guy mediates a recent dispute between Will and Annabelle, with flashbacks to the events that spawned the argument. By the end, the couple find marital equilibrium once more.
Sort of.
Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
John ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Sally ..... Susie Blake
Shop Assistant ..... Tracy Wiles
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
TUE 23:00 The World of Simon Rich (m0002cgv)
Series 2
Episode One
Celebrated American humourist Simon Rich returns with more of his enchanting tales of the absurd.
Performed in London by a top-drawer cast of comic talent including:
Robert Webb
Cariad Lloyd
Jamie Demetriou
Lewis Macleod
Freya Parker
Produced by Jon Harvey
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2019.
TUE 23:30 Think the Unthinkable (b01hbrw8)
Series 3
Iota Credit Cards
The management consultants tackle credit card security, with the morally dubious Owen.
The return of James Cary’s award-winning sitcom about incompetent management consultants.
Ryan ...... Marcus Brigstocke
Owen ...... David Mitchell
Sophie ...... Beth Chalmers
Daisy ...... Catherine Shepherd
With:
Ewan Bailey
Sally Hawkins
Sue Elliott- Nichols
Martin Hyder
Music by John Whitehall.
Producer: Adam Bromley.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2004.

WEDNESDAY 08 NOVEMBER 2023

WED 00:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009s39)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041y956)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bmxg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h666y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Making the Best of It (b03w38q5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 The Goon Show (b00k7xd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Tuesday]
WED 03:30 King Street Junior (b007jndm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Quote... Unquote (m000c9md)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 The Change (b0076cwf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009srr)
2. Trapped Into Marriage
Trapped into marriage, will Enderby lose his poetic gift and become simple Hogg the Gardener instead?
Conclusion of the classic 1960s acerbic comedy by Anthony Burgess.
Enderby, mediocre poet sans pareil bursts onto an unsuspecting world, scattering bread crumbs and bad verse.
Enderby .... Philip Glenister
Vesta .... Valerie Edmond
Rawcliffe .... Russell Dixon
Drunk .... David Fleeshman
Stepmother ...... Ann Rye
Doctor .... Malcolm Raebum
Dramatised by Jim Poyser.
Director: Polly Thomas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2001.
WED 06:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041ycyn)
3. Fear Is the Key
The mysterious pack puts pressure on the King of Diamonds - as veteran detective Bill Galbraith races to save a life...
Starring Bernard Hepton as Bill Galbraith.
Galbraith …. Bernard Hepton
Cater …. Tom Watson
Gelder …. Peter Dyneley
Lindemanns …. Cyril Shaps
Tom Evans .... Richard Davies
Anne-Marie …. Eva Haddon
Dykers …. Trader Faulkner
Brent …. Peter Williams
Jacobus …. Stephen Grief
Producer: John Browell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1975.
WED 06:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny2)
3. The Treacherous Invitation
Trapped with chum Snowey, special agent Dick Barton gets some unwelcome room-mates.
Noel Johnson stars as Dick Barton
From 1946 to 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent thrilled millions of listeners to the BBC Light Programme. The daily serial followed the exciting adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton and his wartime mates Snowey and Jock, who solve all manner of intriguing crimes and mysteries.
Heralded by an iconic signature tune - Devil's Galop by Charles Williams - each gripping episode left listeners with a torrid cliff-hanger.
Sadly many of Dick's adventures didn't survive in the BBC Archive. But in 1972, as part of celebrations for the BBC's Golden Jubilee, Dick's very first ten-part adventure by Edward J Mason was recreated, featuring many of the original performers.
CAST:
Dick Barton …. Noel Johnson
Snowey White …. John Mann
The Professor …. Heron Carvic
Colonel Gardiner …. William Fox
Andrews …. Nigel Graham
Wilhelm Kramer …. Francis de Wolff
James Thirgood …. Denis McCarthy
Sid the Taxi Driver …. Haydn Jones
1st Policeman …. William Bedle
2nd Policeman …. Ronald Herdman
Producer: Raymond Raikes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1972.
WED 07:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bnbl)
3. A Day Out
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers' tender novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Nan finds herself escorting her grandson, Billy, to a museum for the day. There they bump against an unusual grandparent and child duo.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Written and abridged by Salley Vickers
Produced by Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.
WED 07:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
18. London Becomes Rome
A set of designs for the Coronation Procession of James I reveals the extent of classical knowledge amongst Shakespeare's audience.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
WED 07:30 Shush! (b06c48pr)
Series 1
Mobile Library
An intruder, an ice-cream van and Daniel Barenboim make life difficult for Snoo and Alice as Simon constructs a deadly cornflakes-based trap.
Meet Alice, a former child prodigy who won a place at Oxford aged 9 but, because Daddy went too, she never needed to have any friends. She's scared of everything - everything that is, except libraries and Snoo, a slightly confused individual, with a have-a-go attitude to life, marriage, haircuts and reality. Snoo loves books, and fully intends to read one one day.
And forever popping into the library is Dr. Cadogan, celebrity doctor to the stars and a man with his finger in every pie. Charming, indiscreet and quite possibly wanted by Interpol, if you want a discrete nip and tuck and then photos of it accidentally left on the photocopier, Dr Cadogan is your man.
Their happy life is interrupted by the arrival of Simon Nielson, a man with a mission, a mission to close down inefficient libraries. Fortunately, he hates his mission. What he really wants to do is once, just once, get even with his inexhaustible supply of high-achieving brothers.
Written by Morwenna Banks and Rebecca Front
Alice ...... Rebecca Front
Snoo ...... Morwenna Banks
Simon Neilson ...... Ben Willbond
Dr Cadogan ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Ice Cream Seller ...... Philip Pope
Angry Parent ...... Georgie Fuller
Based on an idea developed with Armando Iannucci
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2015.
WED 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jsvk)
Series 5
The Election Candidate
The electioneering Lad battles to represent East Cheam in the Houses of Parliament.
Stars Tony Hancock.
With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1958.
WED 08:30 Ballylenon (b007k4hw)
Series 1
Episode 2
A "gramophone record recital" is the Irish town's cultural highlight of 1953 - the start of something big?
Series set in the sleepy town of Ballylenon, Co Donegal, in 1953, before the days of mass tourism and proper plumbing in every home.
Written by Christopher Fitz-Simon.
Phonsie Doherty ...... TP McKenna
Muriel Maconchy ...... Margaret D'Arcy
Vera Maconchy ...... Stella McCusker
Vivienne Boal ...... Aine McCartney
Guard Gallagher ...... John Hewitt
Stumpy Bonnar ...... Gerard McSorley
Eithne Ni Phartalain ...... Marcella Riordan
Aubrey Frawley ...... Dominic Letts
Music arranged and performed by Stephanie Hughes
Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1994.
WED 09:00 Counterpoint (b01hjgdt)
Series 26
2012 Heat 4
Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz
The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.
The fourth trio of 27 competitors are in the BBC Radio Theatre in London for the fourth heat of the series.
Damien Dill from Surrey
David Callendar from The Isle of Wight
David Sherman from Essex
Producer Paul Bajoria
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
WED 09:30 The Right Time (b00c5snp)
Series 3
Episode 5
Time-share shock, home shopping revenge - and the perils of redundancy...
The sketch comedy for people growing older disgracefully.
Stars Eleanor Bron, Graeme Garden, Neil Innes, Clive Swift, Roger Blake and Paula Wilcox.
Written by Nicholas Barber and Glenn Dakin, Mike Coleman, Jan Etherington, Graeme Garden, Mike Haskins, Ged Parsons, Bob Sinfield, Chris Thompson and Pete Reynolds.
Script Editor: Ged Parsons.
Music by Ronnie & The Rex and Neil Innes.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2003.
WED 10:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009srr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
WED 11:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041ycyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 11:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
WED 12:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bnbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 12:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
WED 12:30 Shush! (b06c48pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 13:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jsvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 13:30 Ballylenon (b007k4hw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 14:00 Counterpoint (b01hjgdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 14:30 The Right Time (b00c5snp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 15:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009srr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
WED 16:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041ycyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 16:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
WED 17:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bnbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
WED 17:30 Shush! (b06c48pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jsvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 18:30 Ballylenon (b007k4hw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 19:00 Counterpoint (b01hjgdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 19:30 The Right Time (b00c5snp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 20:00 Archive on 4 (b00nmzp7)
This Is the Army, Mr Jones
Actor and entertainer John Barrowman tells the story of Irving Berlin's groundbreaking army show, 'This Is The Army', that came to bomb-ravaged London in 1943 before setting out on a world tour that raised military morale from Glasgow to Guam.
The show's choreographer, Robert Sydney, and Irving Berlin's daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett, recall how the show was put together and the effect it had in places as far afield as Washington DC and Tehran, via Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow, London and the fiercest area of fighting in the south of Italy shortly after the British and American landings there.
Also remembering the show are members of the audience in Birmingham, Glasgow and London, where a young airman by the name of Denis Norden was spellbound by the show at The Palladium.
The programme also features archive recordings made especially for the BBC in the winter of 1943, including a performance from Irving Berlin himself.
Producer: Tom Alban
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
WED 21:00 Short Cuts (b07lg0mg)
Series 9
Field Guides
Josie Long ventures outdoors to present stories of how our hearts entwine with the landscape - forests, lakes and skylines of the natural world.
The lessons about love and life that we can learn from a fig, a walk in the woods and a connection to a lost love found in the water.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in July 2016.
WED 21:30 Doctor Who (m001s4gc)
Tenth Doctor Adventures
Time Reaver Part 1/2
With the TARDIS is in need of spares, The Doctor heads for the spaceport Calibris. It’s a place where anything goes and everything can be bought… at a price.
The Timelord is surprised the find the officious Vacintians are trying to impose some order on the chaos. He soon discovers why...
An outlawed weapon – The Time Reaver - is loose on the streets. It’s a weapon that can destroy its victims… slowly and agonisingly.
Part 1 of the second of six adventures featuring the tenth incarnation of The Doctor.
Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Written by Jenny T Colgan.
The Doctor …. David Tennant
Donna Noble …. Catherine Tate
Cora …. Sabrina Bartlett
Gully …. John Banks
Soren …. Alex Lowe
Rone …. Terry Molloy
Dorn …. Dan Starkey
Original music by Howard Carter.
Producer: David Richardson
A Big Finish production.
* Cover artwork by Tom Webster *
WED 22:00 Daliso Chaponda: Citizen of Nowhere (m001ryn3)
Series 4
4. '...I've started writing a will...'
In this new series, Daliso is in a more philosophical mood. We find him working through his thoughts, feelings, and opinions by sharing his stories with a live audience in his hometown of Manchester.

Episode 4 - '...I've started writing a will...'

A family discussion about his father’s health gets Daliso contemplating his own mortality, so in this final episode he leaves us with his thoughts on ageing, how he’d like to be remembered and what he'll leave behind. He chats to the audience about debt and thinks of ingenious ways to clear his own arrears. And, heartened by his father finally accepting, and even encouraging his career choice, he ends the series with an inspiring speech.

Writer... Daliso Chaponda
Additional Material... Meryl O'Rourke
Production Coordinator... Katie Baum
Sound Manger... Jerry Peal

Theme music by Lawi
Image by Steve Ullathorne

Producer... Carl Cooper

This is a BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

--
Daliso Chaponda shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent, making it to the final of the 2017 series and establishing himself as a firm favourite with the judges and the British public. He became a Facebook and YouTube star amassing over 200 million views of his performances. He's also appeared on the Royal Variety Performance.

He has performed around the world and at the Edinburgh, Melbourne, Singapore, and Cape Town comedy festivals. He has also toured the UK and Africa to sell out audiences and rave reviews.

In addition to stand-up comedy, Daliso is also a prolific fiction writer. He has published science fiction, murder mysteries and fantasy fiction in numerous magazines, and anthologies. He is currently working on his new novel and a children’s book.

This is this fourth series of his Rose D'Or nominated Radio 4 series.
WED 22:30 Date Night (m0002z4w)
Series 1
Episode 1
DATE NIGHT, noun: A pre-arranged occasion when a couple who have been together for a long time commit to a regular night out in order to keep their relationship alive.
Semi-improvised comedy show in which a series of couples are desperately trying to keep their relationship functioning by creating a weekly date night intervention.
For some, the relationship is already broken, for others it's their pre-emptive strike in the hope of new-found longevity. More often than not, the stakes are high, involving children, careers and homes.
Richard/Barry/Patrick/Terry .….. Marc Wootton
Maddy …... Katherine Parkinson
Rita …... Ellie White
Carol …... Monica Dolan
Terri …... Catherine Tate
Narrator ...... Fi Glover
Produced by Anna Madley
A Black Hat production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2019.
WED 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (m001sdmv)
Tom Walker 1/3
From 10pm until midnight, seven days a week, The Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. And tonight, Jon Holmes is in conversation with Tom Walker – the man behind the Radio 4 and BBC Sounds hit, Call Jonathan Pie.
WED 23:00 The Harpoon (b007n0st)
Series 2
Episode 2
Broadcasting secrets are revealed in the nostalgic spoof of boys' adventure story papers.
Fun, frolics, and much, much, more. Subscribe now!
With:
Susie Brann
Alistair McGowan
Julian Dutton
Peter Baynham
Mary Elliot-Nelson
Producer: Sarah Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1992.
WED 23:30 The Skewer (m001ryqq)
Series 10
Episode 4
Fresh from winning Gold for Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards (and Highly Commended as Podcast of the Year), Jon Holmes' comedy current affairs concept album returns for its 10th series to remix the news into satirical shapes.

This week - The Ghost of Cummings Past, high level governmental swearing, and God meets Guns.

Creator / Producer: Jon Holmes.

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:45 The Problem With Adam Bloom (b00gswf0)
Series 2
Comedy
Want to write comedy? Adam unveils the six steps to success.
Written by and starring Adam Bloom.
With:
Alistair McGowan
Rob Rouse
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2004.

THURSDAY 09 NOVEMBER 2023

THU 00:00 Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr Enderby (m0009srr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041ycyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bnbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h73pq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Shush! (b06c48pr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jsvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Wednesday]
THU 03:30 Ballylenon (b007k4hw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Counterpoint (b01hjgdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 The Right Time (b00c5snp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Moya O'Shea - Late in the Day (m001s4gm)
Since moving to their retirement home in Shell Cove, a small resort on the coast of Western Australia, Myra has felt redundant, but then an urgent call goes out on the radio to help with the rescue of a number of whales who have become stranded on the beach.
CAST:
Myra .... Lyn Ashley
Dan .... John Turnbull
Tony .... Stefan Dennis
Jeannie .... Julie Balloo
Bernie .... Federay Holmes
Greg .... Dominic Letts
James .... Trevor Gare
Esther .... Juliet Prew
Ted .... Daniel O'Grady
Woman .... Becky Hindley
Written by Moya O'Shea
Director: Tracey Neale
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1996
THU 06:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041yksc)
4. The £7,000,000 Touch
The 'King' is taken and double-crossing ends in death.
Retirement continues to elude veteran detective Bill Gailbraith. Bundled into a car, he's face-to-face with Jacobus.
Starring Bernard Hepton as Bill Galbraith.
Galbraith …. Bernard Hepton
Cater …. Tom Watson
Lindemanns …. Cyril Shaps
Gelder …. Peter Dyneley
Anne-Marie …. Eva Haddon
Paul …. Richard Davies
Dykers …. Trader Faulkner
Jacobus …. Stephen Grief
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1975.
THU 06:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny3)
4. The Nest of Rats
Special agent Dick and his chums get more ruthless in pursuit of the secret weapon. Can they persuade our hero to jump ship?
Noel Johnson stars as Dick Barton
From 1946 to 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent thrilled millions of listeners to the BBC Light Programme. The daily serial followed the exciting adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton and his wartime mates Snowey and Jock, who solve all manner of intriguing crimes and mysteries.
Heralded by an iconic signature tune - Devil's Galop by Charles Williams - each gripping episode left listeners with a torrid cliff-hanger.
Sadly many of Dick's adventures didn't survive in the BBC Archive. But in 1972, as part of celebrations for the BBC's Golden Jubilee, Dick's very first ten-part adventure by Edward J Mason was recreated, featuring many of the original performers.
CAST:
Dick Barton …. Noel Johnson
Snowey White …. John Mann
Wilhelm Kramer …. Francis de Wolff
Colonel Gardiner …. William Fox
Jean Hunter …. Margaret Robertson
Andrews …. Nigel Graham
Sid the Taxi Driver …. Haydn Jones
Hans …. Arthur Bush
Inspector …. Derek Birch
Producer: Raymond Raikes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1972.
THU 07:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bp3x)
4. Secret Meeting
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers' tender new novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Blanche arranges to secretly meet her estranged granddaughter. Meanwhile Nan has Billy for a sleep-over when an unusual parcel arrives at her door.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Written and abridged by Salley Vickers
Produced by Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.
THU 07:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
19. The Theatres of Cruelty
A human eyeball in a silver setting provides a striking insight to the theatre of cruelty in Elizabethan and Jacobean Britain.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
THU 07:30 The Break (b07ctt0z)
Series 1
The Key
Welcome to Flamford, the setting for this sitcom starring Philip Jackson, Tom Palmer and Alison Steadman.
Andy Chambers - edgy, sharp-tongued City burn-out - has fled London for his Uncle Jeff's seaside home. When we meet him, all Andy wants to do is sleep, but Jeff is having none of it.
Jeff gets Andy out of bed and gives him breakfast with the promise of an interesting surprise which is safely stowed in the shed. He suddenly realises his keys are missing - his friend Fat Sid borrowed the keys three years ago and hasn't given them back. Jeff leads Andy on a quest around Flamford for Fat Sid and the missing keys.
On their Odyssey they encounter Fish Shop Frank and his outré selection of fish, Pest Control Officer Corinne with whom Jeff has an "understanding", and finally Fat Sid himself in an unexpected new role.
Andy Chambers ...... Tom Palmer
Jeff ...... Philip Jackson
Fish Shop Frank ...... Mark Benton
Pest Control Officer Corinne ...... Alison Steadman
Writers: Ian Brown and James Hendrie
Director: Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in May 2016.
THU 08:00 Dad's Army (b007s8kl)
Series 2
Put That Light Out
Captain Mainwaring's platoon causes havoc in Walmington-on-Sea during an air-raid.
The comic exploits of a Second World War Home Guard platoon.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Michael Knowles and Harold Snoad.
Captain Mainwaring …. Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson …. John Le Mesurier
Corporal Jones …. Clive Dunn
Private Frazer …. John Laurie
Private Pike …. Ian Lavender
Private Godfrey …. Arnold Ridley
Warden Hodges …. Bill Pertwee
Telephone Operator…. Avril Angers
Second Warden/Lighthouse Keeper…. Stuart Sherwin
Announcer …. John Snagge
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1975.
THU 08:30 Second Thoughts (b00fnfns)
Series 2
Health and Efficiency
Faith heads to a health farm, leaving Bill to mind the happy home.
Sitcom about the battles of divorcees Bill MacGregor and Faith Greyshott trying to forge a relationship whilst balancing the demands of his ex-wife, Liza and her teenage children, Hannah and Joe.
Stars Lynda Bellingham as Faith, James Bolam as Bill, Celia Imrie as Hilary, Belinda Lang as Liza, Kelda Holmes as Hannah, Norman Bird as Mr Burrows and Nicholas Courtney as Ray.
Series two of four inspired by the real lives of its writers, husband and wife Jan Etherington and Gavin Petrie.
A TV version made by LWT for ITV appeared in 1991 and ran for four series, with a spin-off 'Faith in the Future'.
Producer: Sioned Wiliam
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1989.
THU 09:00 The Unbelievable Truth (m000k7jr)
Series 24
Episode 2
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Lucy Porter, Zoe Lyons, Sean Lock and Jack Dee are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Country and Western music, sharks, jobs, and the 1970s.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
First broadcast in June 2020.
THU 09:30 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrc7)
Series 1
Lights
Eddie scores tickets to Stockport County's biggest match ever. An even greater challenge faces his son-in-law Dave
The lives of the Stockport-based, Conroy family in Series 1 of Jim Poyser and Damian Lanigan's comedy drama.
CAST:
Jason …. Dominic Monaghan
Eddie …. John McArdle
Michael …. Jason Done
Dave …. Stefan Escreet
Colette …. Emma Clarke
Maureen …. Beverley Callard
Debbie …. Jo-Anne Knowles
With Alan Green as himself.
Music: Big George
Producer: Neil Mossey
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
THU 10:00 Moya O'Shea - Late in the Day (m001s4gm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
THU 11:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041yksc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 11:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
THU 12:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bp3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 12:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
THU 12:30 The Break (b07ctt0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 13:00 Dad's Army (b007s8kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 13:30 Second Thoughts (b00fnfns)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 14:00 The Unbelievable Truth (m000k7jr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 14:30 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 15:00 Moya O'Shea - Late in the Day (m001s4gm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
THU 16:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041yksc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 16:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
THU 17:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bp3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
THU 17:30 The Break (b07ctt0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Dad's Army (b007s8kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 18:30 Second Thoughts (b00fnfns)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 19:00 The Unbelievable Truth (m000k7jr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 19:30 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 20:00 The Real Comedy Controllers: The Things That Made Us Laugh (m0017d7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]
THU 21:00 Great Lives (b01f5mmf)
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas, arguably Wales's most famous poet, comes under scrutiny on Great Lives.
A man famous both for his linguistic exuberance and his chaotic, alcohol-fuelled private life, Thomas is proposed by another Welsh poet in a specially recorded programme at Bristol's ‘More Than Words’ Listening Festival in 2012. Owen Sheers, author of ‘Resistance’, is one of Britain's brightest young writers and keen to bust some myths about his fellow Welshman's reputation.
Joining Owen and presenter Matthew Parris is Damian Walford-Davies of Aberystwyth University.
The programme includes archive recordings of Dylan Thomas's unmistakable voice, and Richard Burton reading the opening of ‘Under Milk Wood’.
Producer: Miles Warde
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
THU 21:30 Doctor Who (m001s4l8)
Tenth Doctor Adventures
Time Reaver Part 2/2
The Doctor and Donna’s search continues for an evil, outlawed weapon.
With the TARDIS is in need of spares, The Doctor has arrived at spaceport Calibris. It’s a place where anything goes and everything can be bought… at a price.
The Timelord is surprised the find the officious Vacintians are trying to impose some order on the chaos. He soon discovers why...
An outlawed weapon – The Time Reaver - is loose on the streets. It’s a weapon that can destroy its victims… slowly and agonisingly.
Part 2 of the second of six adventures featuring the tenth incarnation of The Doctor.
Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Written by Jenny T Colgan.
The Doctor …. David Tennant
Donna Noble …. Catherine Tate
Cora …. Sabrina Bartlett
Gully …. John Banks
Soren …. Alex Lowe
Rone …. Terry Molloy
Dorn …. Dan Starkey
Original music by Howard Carter.
Producer: David Richardson
A Big Finish production.
* Cover artwork by Tom Webster *
THU 22:00 The Absolutely Radio Show (m000747y)
Series 3
Episode 4
In the final episode of the series Mr Muzak takes on his social media network’s algorithms, Little Girl explains global warming and Stoneybridge Town Council discuss possible content for their brand-new Digital Information Board.
The show also features two followers of Sober October revealing what rhyming activities they do for the other months of the year and Gwynedd’s insomnia driving Denzil to despair and then song.
The cast of TV's hugely popular sketch show revisit some of their much-loved sketch characters, while also introducing some newcomers.
Starring:
Pete Baikie
Morwenna Banks
Moray Hunter
Gordon Kennedy
John Sparkes
In 2013, the group that made their name on Channel Four in the 1980s and 90s got back together for Radio 4's Sketchorama: Absolutely Special - which won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy. The first series of The Absolutely Radio Show picked up a Celtic Media Award nomination for Best Radio Comedy.
Producers: Gordon Kennedy & Gus Beattie
An Absolutely/Gusman production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2019.
THU 22:30 The Lawrence Sweeney Mix (b008tnzk)
Series 2
Episode 1
Fom something your Dad did to something you save up for...
Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney make it up as they go along!
Faced with a live studio audience and a couple of microphones - the masters of improve create sketches from shouted out suggestions.
Producer: Dawn Ellis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.
THU 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (m001sdmn)
Tom Walker 2/3
From 10pm until midnight, seven days a week, The Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. And tonight, Jon Holmes has another chat with Tom Walker – the man behind the spoof journalist, Jonathan Pie.
THU 23:00 State of the Nations (b086s8z1)
England
Elis James is in The Stand Comedy Club in Newcastle to get a comedy snapshot of England and Englishness.
With:
Rahul Kohli
Suzi Ruffell
Tom Allen
One of four stand-up shows from the four nations of the United Kingdom exploring what it means to be variously Welsh, English, Scottish and Northern Irish.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in January 2017.
THU 23:30 A Look Back at the Future (b01rlngt)
2005
It's the year of the Telepathone.
Recorded in 1994, the futuristic show recalls the turbulent upheaval of 2005 - a year that was yet to happen.
Starring:
Brian Perkins
Kate Robbin
John O'Farrell
Everything you wanted to know then, about the 21st century.
Written by Mark Burton, John O'Farrell and Pete Sinclair.
Producer: Caroline Leddy
First broadcast (with the aid of a crystal ball) on Radio 4 in July 1994.

FRIDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2023

FRI 00:00 Moya O'Shea - Late in the Day (m001s4gm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b041yksc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jny3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bp3x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h75y2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 The Break (b07ctt0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Dad's Army (b007s8kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Thursday]
FRI 03:30 Second Thoughts (b00fnfns)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 The Unbelievable Truth (m000k7jr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Alice's Friend (b04hkk1m)
When 84 year old Alice employs Len as her chauffeur, a genuine friendship gradually develops between them.
But Alice's son and daughter don’t approve, thinking Len’s after the old woman's money. Even Len's wife and family begin to resent the amount of time he gives her...
Alice ...... Joyce Carey
Enid ...... Pauline Letts
Len, ...... Harold Goodwin
Charles ...... David Gooderson
Muriel ...... Jean Trend
Donald ...... Spencer Banks
Robert ...... Stephen Garlick
Phyllis ...... Theresa Streatfeild
Mr Hampton ...... Owen Holder
Writer: Owen Holder
Pianist: Neil Rhoden
Director: Ian Cotterell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1982.
FRI 06:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b042m3c2)
5. Appointment in Zurich
The 'King of Diamonds' stays in Amsterdam, whilst Galbraith chases the 'Queen of Hearts'.
A quiet retirement still eludes veteran detective Bill Galbraith. His criminal mastermind foe, Cater, sets an intricate plan in motion.
Starring Bernard Hepton as Bill Galbraith.
Galbraith …. Bernard Hepton
Cater …. Tom Watson
Lindemanns …. Cyril Shaps
Gelder …. Peter Dyneley
Anne-Marie …. Eva Haddon
Tom Evans …. Richard Davies
Betty Van Druten …. Francis Jeater
Lander …. Peter Hawkins
Milne …. Bruce Alexander
Robert Barr also wrote TV scripts for the BBC's Z Cars and Softly Softly, as well as being a prize-winning TV producer.
Producer: John Browell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1975.
FRI 06:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnyn)
5. Interrogating Archie
Kramer and his gang home in on the final clue about the secret weapon, turning their attention to its inventor.
Noel Johnson stars as Dick Barton
From 1946 to 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent thrilled millions of listeners to the BBC Light Programme. The daily serial followed the exciting adventures of ex-commando Captain Richard Barton and his wartime mates Snowey and Jock, who solve all manner of intriguing crimes and mysteries.
Heralded by an iconic signature tune - Devil's Galop by Charles Williams - each gripping episode left listeners with a torrid cliff-hanger.
Sadly many of Dick's adventures didn't survive in the BBC Archive. But in 1972, as part of celebrations for the BBC's Golden Jubilee, Dick's very first ten-part adventure by Edward J Mason was recreated, featuring many of the original performers.
CAST:
Dick Barton …. Noel Johnson
Snowey White …. John Mann
Wilhelm Kramer …. Francis de Wolff
Colonel Gardiner …. William Fox
Jean Hunter …. Margaret Robertson
Andrews …. Nigel Graham
Sid the Taxi Driver …. Haydn Jones
Hans …. Arthur Bush
Inspector …. Derek Birch
Announcer/Policeman/Constable …. Geoffrey Collins
Producer: Raymond Raikes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1972.
FRI 07:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bs41)
5. Caught in the Act
Three very different women’s lives collide in Salley Vickers' tender novel about grandparents and the children they help to raise.
Blanche is once again caught shoplifting, but this time it isn’t the understanding Nan that spots her.
Read by Eleanor Bron.
Abridged by Salley Vickers
Produced by Kirsty Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2019.
FRI 07:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
20. Shakespeare Goes Global
The publication of the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected plays in 1623 began the process of turning an early modern playwright into a global phenomenon.
An annotated copy of the Collected Works of Shakespeare reveals the extent to which Shakespeare has inspired and influenced audiences across the globe and through the ages.
Object-based history series presented by Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum.
Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed.
He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Producer: Paul Kobrak
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
FRI 07:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b05xglm4)
Series 10
Moby Dave
Ed's fortunes have taken a turn for the better as he's been given an advance to write a projected television series perfect for Sunday night viewing.
He has comfortable lodgings, money in his pocket and a warm glow, in fact all is going very well indeed until Suzan decides that her new assistant, Jonathan, should help Ed with 'the scripty stuff'. At which suggestion someone loses their temper, and for once it isn't Ed.
Ed Reardon ...... Christopher Douglas
Suzan ...... Raquel Cassidy
Olive ...... Stephanie Cole
Jonathan ...... Jack Farthing
Joan ...... Pam Ferris
Pearl ...... Brigit Forsyth
Frank ...... Simon Greenall
Jaz Mivain ...... Philip Jackson
Bill ...... Geoff McGivern
Ping ...... Barunka O'Shaughnessy
Stan ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas.
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
First broadcast on Radio 4 in June 2015.
FRI 08:00 Albert and Me (b007jynb)
Series 1
Rate of Decline
Struggling to bring up his baby son Albert, single dad Bryan Archer desperately needs cash for his rate arrears.
Stars Richard Beckinsale and Pat Coombs.
The struggles of single parent Bryan Archer to find work while raising his baby son, Albert.
Written by Jim Eldridge.
Bryan Archer …. Richard Beckinsale
Mum/Albert …. Pat Coombs
Dad …. John Comer
Joe Billings …. Harry Fowler
Sandra …. Karin MacCarthy
Magistrate …. Douglas Blackwell
Mr Benson …. John Arnatt

Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1977.
FRI 08:30 Kathmandu or Bust (b07s6dls)
End of the Road
The lights of Kathmandu are twinkling on the horizon, the truck is in fine working order, and a haunch of goat is roasting on an open fire.
What can possibly go wrong?
Series written by Mike Yeaman and David Napthine.
Simon …... David Haig
Petra …... Michelle Chadwick
Callum ..…. Forbes Masson
Trigger …... Richard Ridings
Joan …... Sarah Crowden
Ellie ..…. Lolly Susi
Mechanic ..…. Peter Serafinowcz
Consul ..…. Derek Waring
Producer: Lissa Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1996.
FRI 09:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mtq)
Series 2
Episode 3
Journalist and food critic, Jay Rayner gives four contestants a good grilling on their knowledge of food and drink.
What's a fucivore's favourite food? How is porridge traditionally eaten? Which wine writer had a bit part in a Hollywood blockbuster?
Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, food writers Anissa Helou and Sue Lawrence and greengrocer Charlie Hicks chew over these culinary conundrums.
Producer: Rebecca Wells
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2004.
FRI 09:30 Plum House (b07gfzw3)
Series 1
Perilously Poorly Peter
Peter is forced to visit town, somewhere he hasn't been since Woolworths closed down, for a medical emergency.
He leaves his hopelessly out-of-touch deputy Julian in charge who sees it as a perfect opportunity for him to finally make his mark on the place by, amongst other things, establishing his cafe Chez Julian, a hangout for 'Cumbrian Jean Paul Sartres'.
Ben Cottam and Paul Mckenna's comedy about the inept staff at an historic house starring Simon Callow and Miles Jupp.
Every year thousands of tourists flock to the Lake District. But one place they never go to is Plum House - the former country home of terrible poet George Pudding (1779-1848). Now a crumbling museum, losing money hand over fist, it struggles to stay open under its eccentric curator Peter Knight.
Peter ...... Simon Callow
Maureen ...... Jane Horrocks
Julian ...... Miles Jupp
Tom ...... Tom Bell
Alan ...... Pearce Quigley
Emma ...... Louise Ford
Mary ...... Kate Anthony
Jean ...... Sandra Maitland
Directed and Produced by Paul Schlesinger.
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2016.
FRI 10:00 Alice's Friend (b04hkk1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
FRI 11:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b042m3c2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 11:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
FRI 12:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bs41)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 12:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
FRI 12:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b05xglm4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Albert and Me (b007jynb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 13:30 Kathmandu or Bust (b07s6dls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 14:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mtq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 14:30 Plum House (b07gfzw3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 15:00 Alice's Friend (b04hkk1m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Galbraith and the King of Diamonds (b042m3c2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 16:45 Dick Barton - Special Agent (b007jnyn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:45 today]
FRI 17:00 Grandmothers by Salley Vickers (m000bs41)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01h7cdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
FRI 17:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b05xglm4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Albert and Me (b007jynb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 18:30 Kathmandu or Bust (b07s6dls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 19:00 The Food Quiz (b0076mtq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 19:30 Plum House (b07gfzw3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Blue: Pain and Pleasure (m000x0y1)
Marking the 50th anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue, Laura Marling tells the story behind the writing and recording of the album, and explains why Blue is regarded by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Joni Mitchell’s masterpiece was conceived and created with raw emotion at its heart and she poured everything she had into the writing and recording of her music. As Joni said at the time, "I couldn’t look at people without weeping, I was just dripping in earnestness and sincerity. I realised a lot of people were listening to me, so they better find out who they’re worshipping, let’s see if they can take it, let’s get real - so I wrote Blue, which horrified a lot of people. I just revealed human traits. When people see themselves in it the communication is complete."
Laura explains how she first became aware of Blue and describes the enormous impact the album had on her - artistically and personally. Laura will also include contributions from other fans of Joni's iconic work - including Emeli Sande, Beth Orton, Ellie Goulding, James Taylor, Graham Nash and Seal.
A Zinc Media production, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2021.
FRI 20:30 Soul Music (m0001l70)
Series 27
River
Soul Music with stories of the lasting impact of Joni Mitchell's song 'River', from her iconic 1971 album Blue.
A song about the breakdown of a relationship and of a longing to be elsewhere that has become a melancholy Christmas anthem.
It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on....
Emotional true stories of what the song means to different people, including comedian Chris Forbes, who lost his father on Christmas Day; Isobel, who fell sick far from home and understands the longing to be elsewhere captured in the song; Laura, who heard the song while pregnant at Christmastime; writer Rob Crossan, who will forever associate the song with his first love; Canadian poet Lorna Crozier who describes the frozen rivers of her and Joni's Saskatchewan childhood; and from Joni Mitchell's biographer David Yaffe.
Includes a rare live recording of 'River' from a BBC Concert in 1970, hosted by John Peel. The other versions of the song are by (in order of appearance) Joni Mitchell (Blue, 1971), Scott Matthews (Live Session for BBC 6 Music, 2011), Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (Jingle All the Way, 2008) and the Belgian indie choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers (Live Session for BBC 6 Music, 2011).
Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.
Producer: Mair Bosworth
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2018.
FRI 21:00 Monsters of Music with Tom Allen (p0gb5dcd)
Handel The Royal Glutton with Issy Suttie
George Frideric Handel was the Royal composer behind some of the most famous and majestic coronation anthems in history. But beneath the music lurked a dark illness, a complicated relationship with food, and an infamous, furious temper. From threatening to throw people out of windows to hiding food from his friends when they came over for dinner, Handel earned himself quite the reputation, but was he really a monster?
In this episode, comedian Isy Suttie joins Tom and Ben to dive into the real story of Handel's life to figure out whether he was a menace or just deeply misunderstood.
Listen only on BBC Sounds.
Produced by Audio Always
Producer: Rufaro Faith Mazarura
Exec Producer: Jo Meek
Sound Design: Craig Edmondson
FRI 21:30 Doctor Who (m001s4p6)
Tenth Doctor Adventures
Death and the Queen Part 1/2
Donna falls madly in love with handsome Prince Rudolph of Goratania.
Little does she suspect that on her wedding day, the line ‘till death do us part’ has a more literal and deadly meaning…
Part 1 of the third of six adventures featuring the tenth incarnation of The Doctor.
Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Written by James Goss.
The Doctor …. David Tennant
Donna Noble …. Catherine Tate
Hortense …. Beth Chalmers
Death …. Alan Cox
The Queen Mum …. Alice Krige
Rudolph …. Blake Ritson
Original music by Howard Carter.
Director: Nicholas Briggs
A Big Finish production.
* Cover artwork by Tom Webster *
FRI 22:00 Who Runs the World? (m001s4pg)
All The Single Ladies
Despite making up 51% of the UK’s population, only 34% of MPs are women. Catherine Bohart may be bad at maths, but even she knows something doesn’t add up. So she’s off to Westminster to find out where all the women are hiding.
In this episode, Catherine learns about the disproportionate hurdles faced by women in politics, before asking MP Stella Creasy, "who the hell would even want to be a female politician?"
Join “one of Europe’s top debaters” (one of Catherine’s kinder nicknames) as she struggles with the legacy of her own failed foray into the political sphere - trying to get students exempted from PE (it did not go well).
Performed by Catherine Bohart
Written by Catherine Bohart, Charlie Dinkin and Georgie Flinn
Produced by Benjamin Sutton
A Daddy’s Superyacht production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 22:30 I Think I've Got a Problem (b007wwdc)
Series 1
Episode 2
Having been arrested for inciting a near riot at a football match, Tom is sentenced to do community service at an old folks home where he meets an ageing banjo player who can also see his "imaginary" band.
Will Charlie prove to Sadie that he's not going mad? Will there be lots of dancing and singing on the terraces? Will there be a pun about "perfect-pitch..?
Andrew McGibbon and Nick Romero's everyday story about a man who can't stop himself from breaking into song.
Suggs ..... Tom Caine
Bob Monkhouse ..... Dr Boone
Mika Simmons ..... Sadie
Phil Cornwell ..... Bouche
Michael Roberts ..... Clammy Clemence
Andrew McGibbon ..... Jake
Nick Romero ..... Monty DeVere
Emma Clarke ..... Judge
Songs: Andrew McGibbon. Nick Romero and Suggs
Director: Chris Neill
Producers: Torquil MacLeod. Julian Mayers and Andrew McGibbon.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2001.
FRI 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (m001sdms)
Tom Walker 3/3
From 10pm until midnight, seven days a week, The Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. And tonight, Jon Holmes is once again in conversation with Tom Walker - the man behind Jonathan Pie.
FRI 23:00 On the Hour (b007jmkm)
Series 2
Episode 1
Pre-natal beauty therapy, DNA shocker – and a special report on sumo wrestlers.
All the news as it happens, if it happens from the BBC's urgent and incisive news overview.
Plus all the sport from Alan Partridge.
Savagely satirical award-winning comedy starring Chris Morris.
With:
Steve Coogan
David Schneider
Rebecca Front
Patrick Marber
Doon Mackichan
Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Richard Herring, Steven Wells, Patrick Marber, Andrew Glover and Stewart Lee.
Producer: Armando lannucci
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1992.
FRI 23:30 The Boosh (b007jmg2)
Jazz
Vince can't make the porpoise derby because his band's on New Faces of Pop and Howard can't relax because he's constantly being visited by the spirit of jazz.
Written by and starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt.
The Boosh is a surreal adventure based on the Perrier Award-winning comedy show, featuring Howard and Vince's battles with zoo manager Bob Fossil.
Howard Moon ...... Julian Barrattt
Vince Noir ...... Noel Fielding
Bob Fossil ...... Rich Fulcher
With Simon Evans.
After BBC radio gave them their big break with this series, they transferred to BBC TV where The Mighty Boosh ran for three series.
Producer: Danny Wallace.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2001.