When the Oblivions are introduced to the pleasures of the flesh, one thing leads to another. Stars David Haig, Michael Troughton and Tony Robinson.

The Stabat Mater's imagines the sufferings of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross, and Pergolesi's eighteen-century setting remains a choral favourite.

Pam Self tells the moving story of how this piece unites her and her friend Helen Vaughan, both during life and after.

Soprano Catherine Bott reflects on the piece's themes.

The Stabat Mater has been reinterpreted many times over the years: Sasha Lazard recalls singing it in the school choir, before later taking the melody and transforming it into a dance version for her album 'The Myth of Red' rechristening it 'Stabat Mater IXXI' in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

Victor Alcantara also sang it as a boy, before returning to the piece as an adult and transforming it into a jazz opus.

Composer and Conductor Paul Spicer examines the musical tensions in the piece, likening its opening to "a heartbeat."

Professor Anthony DelDonna recalls a performance of the Stabat Mater in his hometown of Naples, and reflects on the moment which reaffirmed his his faith.

Producer: Toby Field
Researcher: Nicola Humphries.

As they hunt for Julia's killer, a fortune teller in Brighton warns the Temples they're in grave danger...

Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.

With Jon Rollason as Tony Wyman, James Thomason as Sir Graham Forbes, Tommy Duggan as Mike Langdon, Julian Somers as George Kelburn, June Tobin as Linda Kelburn, Joan Matheson as Mrs Fletcher, Hugh Manning as Larry Cross and James Beattie as Charlie.

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.

Producer: Martin C Webster

First heard on the BBC Light Programme in 1961.

Pete McCarthy takes a whirlwind tour of the world of chewing gum, from its ancient origins to the present day. From May 1999.

By Andrew Miller
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Read by John Sessions.

It's Paris in 1785. The cemetery of Les Innocents is the oldest in the city, but it is overflowing and can no longer hold on to its dead. Newcomers to the quarter are overpowered by the smell. It taints the breath and food of the locals. And some believe it can even taint the mind.

By order of the King, the church and cemetery are to be destroyed and every last bone rehoused. The place is to be made sweet again. It shall be made pure.

Charged with the task, Jean-Baptiste Baratte - a young engineer from Normandy - arrives in Paris. And thus begins "A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of ... chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived."

Episode 5 of 10: In Valenciennes, Baratte meets Lecoeur, a former colleague from his days at the mines, to recruit workers for the excavation of les Innocents.

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and finished a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing at Lancaster University in 1995. He lives in Somerset.

His first novel, Ingenious Pain, was published in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). His third, Oxygen (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. One Morning Like A Bird (2008) was also produced by Sweet Talk for Book At Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Pure is Andrew Miller's sixth novel and won the Costa Book Of The Year award in 2011.

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

The Ideas That Make Us is a new Radio 4 series which reveals the history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, ideas which continue to affect us all today.

In this 'archaeology of philosophy', the award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history and have impacted on history and the human experience. In this, the last of five programmes, Bettany explores the idea of justice with philosopher Angie Hobbs, British Museum curator Dr Irving Finkel, historian Dr Peter Frankopan and out-going Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge.

Other ideas examined in the first series are desire, agony, fame and justice. Wisdom, comedy, liberty, peace and guest-host friendship will be explored in January 2014.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Anna has succumbed to desire, but can she ever know happiness? Stars Sian Thomas, Ben Miles and Teresa Gallagher.

Taking stock and a fateful decision. How Charlie Chaplin became a legend of silent cinema, concluded by Nigel Hawthorne.

The true and historical tragedy of the Very Magnificent Lord Don Cristobal Colon, Grand Admiral of the Ocean Sea.

What was the first "American Dream"?

What did Christopher Columbus hope to achieve when he landed in the New World?

And how did his notable voyage alter the course of his own life?

Craig Warner's play about God and Gold.

Starring Ben Kingsley as Don Cristobal Colon, Frances Barber as Isabella, Queen of Spain and Simon Russell Beale as Father Luis de Torres.

With Patrick Maladhide as Martin Alonso Pinzon, Constance Chapman as Anacaona, Hedley Goodall as Guacanagari and David Plimmer as Vincente Pinzon.

Producer: Andy Jordan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1992.

Martin Young's famous people quiz. With Francis Wheen, Sue Cook, Fred Housego and Annabel Giles. From January 2000.

Victoria is very excited about Emily's pregnancy, but is Roger being premature thinking about the child's education? Stars Angela Thorne. From April 2007.

Jack is in for a birthday surprise, while a ladykiller woos barmaid Mrs Drummond. Stars Michael Williams. From January 1999.

The second series of the sitcom with Hal Cruttenden finds the hapless house husband still trying to cope with his mid-life crisis and doubting his every move.

His wife Sam (Kerry Godliman) is still a highly successful business woman, his two daughters Lily and Molly continue to grow into teenagers and find their dad just a little annoying, his bitter and embittered sister Pippa (Abigail Cruttenden) has inconveniently decided to stay with Hal alongside her angry teenage son Oberon, racist neighbour Penny (Ronni Ancona) proves to be a major thorn in Hal's side and best mates Fergus (Ed Byrne) and Barry (Gavin Webster) hinder rather than help Hal's goal of finding himself.

In this third episode, Hal's vision of himself as a romantic partner are confounded as Sam reveals she's catching up with a 'blast from the past'. And refugee housemate Mahmoud causes a stir.

Written by Hal Cruttenden and Dominic Holland
Produced by Paul Russell

An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.

London, 1937: Harriet Carmichael must battle new nanny Ada Molesbridge for the love of her young daughter:

ADA: When it comes to whose child, Flora might decide. Who she cleaves to. Whose bed she chooses in the middle of the night. Who she loves.

HARRIET: Don't be ludicrous. She's my daughter, my flesh and blood. She belongs to me.

ADA: Flesh and blood is one thing. But belongs. Slippers, candlesticks, necklaces, they belong. Ask her who she chooses. Go on, wake her. Ask her. We're all people, aren't we. All human beings... Not mistress and servant, you said. Let her choose.

Starring Rosemary Leach as Ada Molesbridge, Carole Boyd as Harriet Carmichael, Katherine Hughes as Flora and John Rowe as David Carmichael.

For her performance as Ada Molesbridge , Rosemary Leach won the 1977 Imperial Tobacco Award for the Best Actress.

Special music by Roger Limb, BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Director: David Spenser

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977.

Philip Sweeney visits one of the last great accordion dance halls, Le Balajo in Paris. From August 1998.

"What is irony ? Why do we need it ? Does it have any socially redeeming features whatsoever, or is it merely nasty ?"

Ian Hislop, John Sergeant, Kathy Lette, Barry Cryer and Madonna join the American satirist Joe Queenan in a search for the meaning and purpose of irony - or saying one thing to mean something else. Juvenal, Swift and John Lennon all find a place in the spotlight, as do the bible, Oliver Cromwell and World War One.

"Some might think it ironic that the BBC has hired an American presenter for this show," says the presenter, "but the latest chapter in irony's history was written in the United States." The reference is to the 2001 destruction of the Twin Towers, and the proclamation that the Age of Irony was dead. "Shattered Nation Yearns to Care About Stupid Bullshit Again," replied the Onion newspaper. We have an interview with the editor about the dangers of stepping into the irony-free zone.

The programme also features Armando Iannucci, Kurt Anderson, Brenda Maddox, Dean Martin, Bert Kaempfert and The Mike Flowers Pops.

The producer is Miles Warde.

Tony Lidington traces the role of the clown in British humour, from the Great Grimaldi through stars of circus, pantomime and pierrots, to modern entertainers and even activists.

Drawing on his own performances, BBC archive and contemporary experts, Tony traces the clown's evolution from Shakespeare's plays, whose rustic clowns and court fools could speak uncomfortable truths to those in power. He recreates the role of "the Great Grimaldi", whose panto clown became the most popular entertainment of Regency London and defined the clown's image for generations to come. Light is also cast on the popular 19th century travelling circuses, the enormous appeal of pantos and harlequinades and the successful careers - and often tragically short lives - of entertainers like Dan Leno, once hailed as "the funniest man in the world".

The days of organized leisure time for working people and the growth of the middle class produced new diversions and the era of mass entertainment. White-clad Pierrot troupes entertained visitors at seaside resorts and troops abroad as Britain descended into two World Wars. The tradition of physical theatre and anarchic comedy clowning continued in the latter half of the 20th century, with The Goon Show and characters like Professor Wallofski, created by Max Wall.

Tony also explores the role of the clown today, still active in circus and panto and even in political demonstrations.

Made for Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.

Terry Scott pokes fun at public services, future prisons and reveals his own life story.

With June Whitfield, Hugh Paddick, Dilys Watling and Colin Jeavons.

Surviving episode of Eric Merriman's Great Scott! which ran for one series on BBC Radio 2 beginning in 1971 and later repeated in 1972 on BBC Radio 4.

Terry Scott co-starred with June Whitfield on both radio and TV, most notably in BBC1's 'Happy Ever After' and 'Terry and June' (1974-87).

Producer: John Browell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1972.

It's the clash of the game shows! Jo Kendall, Chris Emmett, Fred Harris and Nigel Rees try to win the car.

Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.

Scripted by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall.

Producer: David Hatch

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1979.

Police officers Henry and Anna are getting married, but their engagement party has not gone as planned. Stars Jill Halfpenny.

Singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae chooses 'Me and Mrs Jones' by Billy Paul and 'There's More to Life Than This' by Bjork.

Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh is grilled about his life and career by Charles Wilmot, Jack Davies and Stephen Black

Regarded as one of the most brilliant novelists of his day, Waugh loathed the BBC. His grandson Alexander believes that this interview, along with a cocktail of sleeping draughts, helped to send him "rather mad". The author later turned his experience on Frankly Speaking into a scene in his novel 'The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold' with Stephen Black becoming the character Angel who haunts Pinfold in his hallucinations.

Launched in 1952 on the BBC Home Service, Frankly Speaking was a novel, ground breaking series. Unrehearsed and unscripted, the traditional interviewee/interviewer pairing was initially jettisoned for three interviewers firing direct questions - straight to the point.

Early critics described it as 'unkempt', 'an inquisition' and described the guest as prey being cornered, quarry being pursued - with calls to axe the unscripted interview. But the format won out and eventually won over its detractors.

Unknown or very inexperienced broadcasters were employed as interviewers, notably John Freeman, John Betjeman, Malcolm Muggeridge, Harold Hobson, Penelope Mortimer, Elizabeth Beresford and Katherine Whitehorn.

Only about 40 of the original 100 programmes survive.

First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1953.

Mort and Carter continue sampling Welsh hospitality, and come across the sex-mad Jones. Peter Tinniswood's adventures with Stephen Thorne.

An isolated house. The discovery of children's graves. A large number of tagged children in the house. Award- winning playwright Bryony Lavery explores of the world of genetics.

Starring Malcolm Sinclair as Patrick Lear, Penelope Wilton as Helen Lear, Adjoa Andoh as Chisobe Oylele and Deborah Findlay as Dr Serkassie.

Director Claire Grove

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2004.

Shappi is joined with black comedian Ava Vidal who'll be looking back at her unusual childhood. Shappi also chats with another 'related' guest- and this week she talks to author Ben Okri who reveals some amazing story from his childhood with a very alternative father and some childhood challenges.

There'll also be a chance for Shappi to chat with the audience and there'll be a song from Hils Barker.

Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.

Made for 4 Extra. Rob Deering and Laura Lexx present highlights from the Machynlleth Comedy Festival in front of a live audience.

The Welsh comedian sets out on his quest to free us from the seven deadly sins. With Tim Key and Tim Minchin.

Made for 4 Extra. Rob Deering and Laura Lexx present highlights from the Machynlleth Comedy Festival in front of a live audience.

Master character comedian Colin Hoult presents his much anticipated debut comedy series for BBC Radio 4. Enter the Carnival of Monsters, a bizarre and hilarious world of sketches, stories and characters, presented by the sinister Ringmaster.

Meet such monstrous yet strangely familiar oddities as: Thwor - the mighty (but Leeds-based) god of Thwunder; Len Parker - Nottingham-born martial arts and transformers enthusiast; Anna Mann - outrageous star of such forgotten silver screen hits such as 'Rogue Baker', 'Who's For Turkish Delight' and 'A Bowl For My Bottom'; and many more.

Writers Guild Award-winner Colin Hoult is best known for his highly acclaimed starring roles in 'Being Human', 'Life's Too Short', and 'Russell Howard's Good News', as well as his many hit shows at the Edinburgh Festival. He has also appeared and written for a number of Radio 4 series including 'The Headset Set' and 'Colin and Fergus' Digi-Radio'.

'Lewis Carol meets The League Of Gentlemen . A beautifully staged masterclass in character comedy' - Time Out
'Comic gold' - Metro
'Delightfully funny' - The Telegraph

Produced by Sam Bryant.

Made for 4 Extra. Rob Deering and Laura Lexx present highlights from the Machynlleth Comedy Festival in front of a live audience.

The comedian sets out to validate herself through 18th-century philosophy - even her frog collection. From February 2009.

Anna is suspicious of diplomat George Darrow. Can either of them know happiness? Stars Jodhi May, Ben Miles and Sian Thomas.

4 Extra Debut. Two young brothers are forced to stay with their foster aunt but they are desperate to return home. Read by Robert Harper.

Comedian Deborah Frances-White tells the true story of her teenage years as a Jehovah's Witness.

Assisted by fellow comedians Thom Tuck, Alex Lowe, and Cariad Lloyd, Deborah recalls her treks around the streets of Brisbane where she gets abducted by a gang of bikers and tries to convert a Cuban jazz musician.

Deborah turns her comic spotlight on the trials of being a trainee witness and of some of the unexpected fellow travellers she meets on the way, including Peter Andre and Michael Jackson.

Producer: Alan Nixon
A So Television production for BBC Radio 4.

Titters aplenty as Frankie Howerd turns agony uncle and has terrible trouble with his announcer.

Plus stars from the world of entertainment - Anita Harris, Aidan J Harvey, George Roper and Bill McGuffie.

Music from the Max Harris Orchestra

Scripted by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville, Peter Gruner, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran

Producer: Richard Willcox

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1978.

There are parallels between Homer's Odyssey and the journeys of refugees today. Poets who are themselves migrants offer new responses to The Odyssey.

The Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans chooses 'That's My Funeral' by Barry Humphries and Steve Earle's 'Me and the Eagle'.

4 Extra Debut. From Prokofiev to Nina Simone, actress Dame Harriet Walter shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From June 2011.

Guy Raz explores whether we are in a new geological age created by human activity? What does that mean for our future?

A journey through fascinating ideas based on talks by riveting speakers on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) stage.

Fi Glover introduces Adie, who might not have been born if his mother hadn't set off travelling, and Ruth, who might have had fewer worries if Adie hadn't inherited her travel bug - another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Marya Burgess.

All is not well at Pennington Hall as Rachel's worst fears come to pass. Compelling new novel about wilderness, family, power and love. Read by Hattie Morahan.

Colin Ford discovers how Eadweard Muybridge's photos of animals revolutionised our understanding of movement. From December 1999.

"If I drew my town I'd do people with no faces. No ears, no eyes and no tongues."

A Sicilian teenager risks ostracism - and worse - when she bravely speaks out against the Cosa Nostra.

Actress Rachel Joyce's first play stars Sarah-Jane Fenton as Anna, Jilly Bond as Michela, Kenneth Cranham as the Judge, Natasha Pyne as Isabella, Andrew Branch as Pablo, Jonathan Keeble as Gino and Tess Worsley as Ma.

Director: Tracey Neale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'Ask Me - the Poetry of William Stafford'.

William Stafford's achievement is extraordinary. He wrote over 20,000 poems, 4,000 of which have been published, in more than 80 books and 2,000 periodicals. But it's the quality of his work that distinguishes him. Stafford was the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress - the post that became the Poet Laureate of the United States, for years he was Oregon's Laureate and he won the National Book Award.

Stafford was born in Kansas in 1914, growing up during the Depression. A conscientious objector, he spent the Second World War in camps, working in forestry. Too exhausted after work he took to rising early to write, and he continued this practice of daily writing until his death in 1993. For Stafford it was the act of writing that mattered most. Writers who got stuck he advised to, "Lower your standards - and carry on."

His poems are mostly short and accessible, but acquire great depth. They can be tough, too. He was sensitive to landscape, people, animals, nature and history. So it's not surprising that Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath were both admirers.

Poet Katrina Porteous visits Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where for decades Stafford taught, wrote and developed his ideas. His son Kim takes her to the huge William Stafford Archive, as Katrina hears recordings of his readings, meets people who knew him, and students and poets he continues to influence. And she goes out into the wilderness of Oregon to investigate and reflect on the life, outlook and work of this great American poet.

Producer: Julian May
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Marooned accidentally on Mars, telephone engineer Barton waits for the rescue rocket and goes on putting up the phone lines. Then one morning - on his 80th birthday - the phone rings.

Ray Bradbury introduces his own thriller dramatised by Brian Sibley.

Starring Kerry Shale.

Directed in Edinburgh by Hamish Wilson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.

Opening in 1920s Manhattan, Edwardian dandy and secret agent, Lucifer Box is in hot pursuit of the dodgy dealer responsible for an influx of cheap cocaine to the city.

Mark Gatiss reads his novel abridged by David Jackson Young.

Dashing hero, Lucifer Box is an assassin, spy and sometime portrait painter.

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in 2010.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

The cult BBC Radio 1 series hits Greenwich University, London. Starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. From November 1993.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

The Sheffield singer-songwriter investigates unsolved phenomena, with agent Ken Worthington and guest Patrick Mower. From March 2006.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

With her thirst for knowledge unquenched, the comedian aims to become the ultimate quiz show contestant. From March 2009.

The suave sleuth probes whether an international criminal is behind Julia's murder.

Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.

With James Thomason as Sir Graham Forbes, Simon Lack as Superintendent Raine, Tommy Duggan as Mike Langdon, Julian Somers as George Kelburn, June Tobin as Linda Kelburn/Sidney, James Beattie as Charlie and Douglas Storm as Detective Inspector Burton.

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.

Producer: Martin C Webster

First heard on the BBC Light Programme in 1961.

4 Extra Debut. Tommy Pearson examines the role of the orchestral leader and its relationship with the conductor and fellow players. From March 2005.

Edgar Finchley takes to sea, disturbs an intruder, sees double and visits a house of spirits. Stars Richard Griffiths.

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.

David O'Doherty, Richard Osman, Zoe Lyons and Marcus Brigstocke are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as colour, vegetables, pizza and carpets.

Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.

Dracula and Oedipus Rex get a good going over from Fred Harris, Jo Kendall, Nigel Rees and Chris Emmett.

Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.

Scripted by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall.

Producer: David Hatch

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1979.

Captain Mainwaring's platoon causes havoc in Walmington-on-Sea during an air-raid.

Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Ian Lavender as Private Pike and Arnold Ridley as Godfrey.

Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1975.

Ian McMillan chairs the literary quiz with Dillie Keane, Mark Radcliffe, Sophie Hannah and Simon Armitage. From December 1998.

Tamsin is invited to a wedding. Can she persuade anti-traditionalist Josef to accompany her? Stars Ben Miller. From April 2004.

A mysterious letter from New Orleans arrives to disturb the untroubled existence of Combe Raven House in West Somersetshire.

What is the secret being kept by Mr and Mrs Vanstone from their devoted daughters, Magdalen and Norah?

Wilkie Collins novel dramatised in six parts by Elizabteth Bradbury.

Directed at BBC Birmingham by Anthony Cornish.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.

The series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.

In Martin Cathcart Froden's beguiling tale about humankind's desire to conquer the natural world, a young man answers the siren call of the sea and pushes his body to extremes.

Read by Stuart McLoughlin
Produced by Gemma Jenkins.

Ex-trombonist George can't remember his son's name. But put on some music, and it's remarkable what he can recall of his days on the road - and what intimate detail.

First of three plays about memory by David Napthine.

Stars Windsor Davies as George, Carol McGuigan as Heather and Jack McBride as Stan.

Director: Jonquil Panting

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.

By Andrew Miller
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Read by John Sessions.

It's Paris in 1785. The cemetery of Les Innocents is the oldest in the city, but it is overflowing and can no longer hold on to its dead. Newcomers to the quarter are overpowered by the smell. It taints the breath and food of the locals. And some believe it can even taint the mind.

By order of the King, the church and cemetery are to be destroyed and every last bone rehoused. The place is to be made sweet again. It shall be made pure.

Charged with the task, Jean-Baptiste Baratte - a young engineer from Normandy - arrives in Paris. And thus begins "A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of ... chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived."

Episode 6 of 10: The first spades cut the ground of the cemetery, but the miners' digging disturbs more than the earth.

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and finished a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing at Lancaster University in 1995. He lives in Somerset.

His first novel, Ingenious Pain, was published in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). His third, Oxygen (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. One Morning Like A Bird (2008) was also produced by Sweet Talk for Book At Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Pure is Andrew Miller's sixth novel and won the Costa Book Of The Year award in 2011.

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Bettany Hughes examines changing ideas of liberty by allowing a neuroscientist to take control of her brain and by perusing the pornography of the French Revolution.

The Ideas That Make Us is a Radio 4 series which reveals the history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, ideas which continue to affect us all today.

In this 'archaeology of philosophy', the award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history and have shaped the human experience. In the first programme of this series, Bettany examines changing ideas of liberty with neuroscientist Professor Patrick Haggard, classicist Professor Paul Cartledge, historian Dr. Stephen Pigney and Ruth Porter from the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Other ideas examined in this series are comedy, hospitality, wisdom and peace.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

By Oliver Emanuel.

A tense and moving drama, inspired by a set of exceptional true events, that explores the nature of identity and the notion of family.

A twelve-year- old girl's world turns upside down when she's told an unbelievable truth.

Director: Kirsty Williams.

By Paul French.

Read by Crawford Logan.

On a frozen night in January 1937, in the dying days of colonial Peking, the body of a young woman was found in the shadows of a haunted watchtower. It was Pamela Werner, the daughter of the city's former British consul Edward Werner.

A horrified world followed the hunt for Pamela's killer but the police investigation drew a blank and the case was forgotten amid the carnage of the Japanese invasion. Only Pamela's father carried on, employing a network of private investigators to follow the murder trail into Peking's notorious Badlands and back to the gilded hotels of the colonial Quarter.

Seventy-five years later, deep in the Scotland Yard archives, British historian Paul French accidentally came across the lost case file prepared by Edward Werner and, through his fresh eyes, uncovered the killer's identity.

An evocative account of the end of an era, the book spent seven weeks in the South China Morning Post's Top 10 bestsellers list.

Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

Oblivion is in the grip of an Ice Age. Norman and Max make a sacrifice.

Conclusion of Colin Swash 's comedy about two space-age humans stranded on a friendly alien planet.

Stars Tony Robinson as Norman, David Hague as Max, Louise Lombard as Stella, Michael Troughton as Macari, Daniel Main as Vince, Lorelei King as Ume, Ronnie Ancona as Louise, Carla Mendonca as Suzy and Geoff McGivern as Tony.

Producer: Richard Wilson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.

Sue MacGregor and her guests - broadcaster and writer, Anna Raeburn and theatre director, Paulette Randall - discuss books by Georgette Heyer, Oliver Sacks and Jamaica Kincaid. From 2004.

Awakenings by Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Picador

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
Publisher: Arrow

Mr Potter by Jamaica Kincaid
Publisher: Vintage.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

Made for 4 Extra. Showcasing acts from Wales' premier comedy festival for 2017.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

Miles is joined by Hugo Rifkind, Katy Brand, Rich Hall and Kiri Pritchard-McLean in the extended version of last Friday's show.

Our top story is of course the UK General Election. But we're also talking about the French Presidential elections.

Producer: Benjamin Sutton
A BBC Studios Production.

Made for 4 Extra. Arthur Smith brings you the best of the 2017 Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

The suave sleuth edges one step closer towards solving the murder and discovering the identity of The Fence.

Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.

With James Thomason as Sir Graham Forbes, Simon Lack as Superintendent Raine, Tommy Duggan as Mike Langdon, Julian Somers as George Kelburn, June Tobin as Linda Kelburn, Joan Matheson as Mrs Fletcher, Mary Wimbush as Dr Benkaray, Hugh Manning as Larry Cross, James Beattie as Charlie and Kenneth Dight as Inspector Milton.

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.

Producer: Martin C Webster

First heard on the BBC Light Programme in 1961.

It inspired bestsellers and Hollywood, but Martin Palmer wants to know the truth behind the medieval Knights Templar. From June 2007.

After reading a press release announcing his assassination, president Dr Heaven realises that life as a puppet dictator doesn't mean always getting your own way.

The second series of the bizarre four-part comedy - half sketch show and half psychological thriller. Written and performed by Richard Bean, Andrew Clifford, Clive Coleman and Colin Swash. With Geraldine Fitzgerald.

Producer: Jon Rolph

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.

One of Britain's finest comedians, Rob Newman, is our guide on a unique audio odyssey of the brain, taking in everything from love and guilt to robot co-workers and the unlikely importance of prehistoric trousers.

It's a witty, fact-packed series mixing stand-up and sketches, challenging notions of neuroscience with a new theory that's equal parts enlightening and hilarious.

Rob offers an alternative to some of the more bizarre claims in modern popular science, as well as rejigging theories of our brains in light of what we know about nature, artificial intelligence and Belinda Carlisle.

Created by the award-winning team behind Robert Newman's Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution.

Written by and starring Rob Newman
Co-starring Claire Price and Richard McCabe

Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producer: Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.

After news of a jail break at Wormwood Scrubs, Albert and Harold get some unwelcome visitors.

Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold. With Leonard Rossiter as Johnny Spooner and Paddy Joyce as Frank Ferris.

Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the BBC TV's Comedy Playhouse in 1962. The Offer was set in a house with a yard full of junk, featuring the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold and it was the spark for a run of 8 series for TV.

Written for TV and adapted for radio by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Produced by Bobby Jaye

First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in May 1974.

The bumbling civil servants find a demob letter written 20 years before.

A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Wilfrid Hyde White and Richard Murdoch.

With Norma Ronald, Warren Mitchell, David Nettheim and David Graham.

Written by Edward Taylor, Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer.

'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977. Deryck Guyler replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966. Sadly many episodes didn't survive in the archive, however the BBC's Transcription Service re-recorded 14 shows in 1980 - never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Producer: Edward Taylor,

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in August 1965.

Who wants to be a milliner? The Luton laureate entertains a class of schoolchildren and gets fitted for one of the town's famous hats. From February 2000.

What next for Magdalen and Norah, suddenly orphaned with no name and no inheritance? Stars Sophie Thompson and Jack May.

The series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.

Daisy Haggard reads Sarah Courtauld's comic tale about a precocious young girl trying to find her place in the world who decides to adopt John the Baptist as her role model.

Producer: Robert Howells.

After a head injury, Terri keeps notes to help her memory, but her notebooks begin to contradict each other. With Jo-Anne Horan.

By Andrew Miller
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Read by John Sessions.

It's Paris in 1785. The cemetery of Les Innocents is the oldest in the city, but it is overflowing and can no longer hold on to its dead. Newcomers to the quarter are overpowered by the smell. It taints the breath and food of the locals. And some believe it can even taint the mind.

By order of the King, the church and cemetery are to be destroyed and every last bone rehoused. The place is to be made sweet again. It shall be made pure.

Charged with the task, Jean-Baptiste Baratte - a young engineer from Normandy - arrives in Paris. And thus begins "A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of ... chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived."

Episode 7 of 10: Still recovering from the attack in his bedroom, Baratte starts to make some changes.

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and finished a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing at Lancaster University in 1995. He lives in Somerset.

His first novel, Ingenious Pain, was published in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). His third, Oxygen (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. One Morning Like A Bird (2008) was also produced by Sweet Talk for Book At Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Pure is Andrew Miller's sixth novel and won the Costa Book Of The Year award in 2011.

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Bettany Hughes considers changing ideas of comedy by listening to a rat laughing and by giggling at schoolboy jokes from Ancient Mesopotamia.

The Ideas That Make Us is a Radio 4 series which reveals the history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, ideas which continue to affect us all today.

In this 'archaeology of philosophy', the award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history and have shaped the human experience. In the second programme of this series, Bettany considers changing ideas of comedy with neuroscientist Dr Sophie Scott, Assyriologist Dr. Irving Finkel, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Gregory Doran, and comedian John Lloyd.

Other ideas examined in The Ideas that Make Us are idea, desire, agony, fame, justice, wisdom, liberty, hospitality and peace.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

By Oliver Emanuel.

Following a DNA test to establish paternity, a mother and father have discovered that Laura, their twelve-year-old daughter, isn't biologically related to either of them.

Now in the knowledge that the life she's been living should have belonged to someone else, Laura visits the detective investigating how this could have happened.

A tense and moving drama, inspired by a set of exceptional true events, that explores the nature of identity and the notion of family.

Director: Kirsty Williams.

Read by Crawford Logan.

Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.

January, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.

Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

Clive Anderson anchors the improvisations with Stephen Fry, John Sessions, Jimmy Mulville and Nonny Williams. From January 1988.

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.

Starring TP McKenna as Phonsie Doherty, Margaret D'Arcy as Muriel McConkey, Stella McCusker as Vera McConkey, Aine McCartney as Vivienne Boal, John Hewitt as Guard Gallagher, Gerard McSorley as Stumpy Bonnar, Marcella Riordan as Eithne Ni Phartalain and Dominic Letts as Aubrey Frawley

Music arranged and performed by Stephanie Hughes

Director: Eoin O'Callaghan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.

A screwball scientist mouse escapes from the future to 1994 and enlists the help of three children to save the planet.

A five-part comedy sci-fi by Alan Gilbey and David Richard-Fox.

Stars Sara Crowe as EK6, David Harewood as RV101, Nicola Stapleton as Steph, Paul Reynolds as Baz, Dax O'Callaghan as Max, Bradley Lavelle as Harley, Ian Masters as Norton, Margaret John as Mrs Miller, Gavin Muir as Scarrion and Oliver Senton as Scab.

Music by Richard Attree.

Producer: Nandita Ghose

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.

David Hockney rightly observes to Stephen Fry that it feels odd to be making a programme about colour on the radio. In a way, that's the point. Colour is subjective and emotive. The very phrase "colourful language" is a metaphor for vividness. But, until quite recently, we've been confused about how colour language developed. A discovery by statesman William Gladstone, who was also a Homer expert, led to a staggeringly wrongheaded theory. Gladstone helped show that most ancient cultures didn't have a word for blue. As a result, it was concluded that the ancients had under-developed colour vision. The reality was that they had under-developed vocabularies.

We meet a man who sees no colour but hears it electronically and can "name" colours with audio signals. We also hear from the head of colour marketing at Dulux paints whose job it is to find new words for new colours. And a bilingual woman says she might think differently about colour depending on which language she's using. The conclusion - how we see colour and how we describe it can shed light onto how language works.

Produced by Nick Baker
A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.

Unusual pets and shock elections in the bizarre world of Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf. From May 2007.

The best in contemporary comedy. Iain Lee chats to Barry Ferns.

Strap in for fifteen minutes of rip-roaring comedy as Clever Peter bring you a Health & Safety blowdart, a killer whale and a soufflé.

Clever Peter - the wild and brilliantly funny award-winning sketch team get their own Radio 4 show.

From the team that brought you Cabin Pressure and Another Case Of Milton Jones comes the massively bonkers and funny Clever Peter, hot off the Edinburgh Fringe and wearers of tri-coloured jerseys.

"If they don't go very far very soon there is no such thing as British justice" - Daily Telegraph
"A masterclass in original sketch comedy" - Metro
"Pretty much top of the class" - The Scotsman

So -
Why "Clever"?
Dunno

Why "Peter"?
Not a clue mate

Should I listen to the show?
Yes, of course! Derrr.

Starring Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley
and special guest Catriona Knox

Written by Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley & Dominic Stone

Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive Television Ltd Production for BBC Radio 4.

by Tony Bagley

The second in a series of four talks by well-known Downing Street cats, relating their trials and tribulations under four different Prime Ministers.

The notoriously photo-shy Humphrey, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office 1989 to 1997, a cat with a robust vocabulary and a pretty earthy view of political life, looks back on his struggles with all things New Labour.

Humphrey ..... James Fleet

Directed by Marc Beeby.

Comedian-activist Mark Thomas and his studio audience consider proposals for a People's Manifesto.

The Agenda:
1) Cancel out everyone's debt.
2) Sue Goldman Sachs for their part in the Greek economic collapse.
and
3) Increase the indicated speed on car speedometers.

Plus throughout the show there are "any other business" policy suggestions from the studio audience.

Produced by Colin Anderson.

With time running out, can the suave sleuth finally confront who murdered Julia Kelburn?

Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.

With James Thomason as Sir Graham Forbes, Simon Lack as Superintendent Raine, Tommy Duggan as Mike Langdon, Julian Somers as George Kelburn, June Tobin as Linda Kelburn, Joan Matheson as Mrs Fletcher, Mary Wimbush as Dr Benkaray, James Beattie as Charlie and Hugh Manning as Larry Cross.

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and the men wore cravats - a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case.

Producer: Martin C Webster

First heard on the BBC Light Programme in 1961.

Romford Market was vibrant in the 1980s. Now it is struggling to survive - a victim of supermarkets and cut-price stores.

Presenter Cathy FitzGerald bought her first - and last - pair of white stilettos in the market as a teenager. David Eldridge worked on the shoe stall. He's now one of Britain's leading playwrights, with credits that include In Basildon at the Royal Court and Market Boy, a play about Romford that premiered at the National Theatre. Selling espadrilles isn't obvious training for a playwright, but in the 1980s the market was a stage.

There were the characters (the Fruit & Veg Man, the Leather Boys, and the Lampshade Man) and the dialogue - bantering with the customers was rude, funny, and definitely an art. Cathy and David return to Romford to weigh up what's been lost - and see if the stiletto still fits.

Producers: Cathy FitzGerald and Matt Thompson
A Rockethouse production for BBC Radio 4.

As Rabbi Abraham struggles after his collapse, Rabbi Su meets a hospital doctor. Stars Tracy-Ann Oberman. From March 2002.

You always remember where you were when you first heard certain pieces of music, watched films that were important to you, were told of big news events. Sometimes when you hear a song you are transported back to the first time you heard it, you remember everything: where you were, who you were with, what was going on in your life that means it was so important to you.

If you were growing up in the nineties it is likely you can chart your life by where you were as each new Blur album was released. This is the story of a Blur fan, who looks back on his life remembering where he was the first time he heard 'the new Blur album; from their first in 1992, to seventh and most recent release in 2003. From being at school, to his first jobs and relationships, this is John's story of life, love, friendship and growing older, with the new Blur album as a constant backdrop.

Captain Povey's keen to clear the decks of HMS Troutbridge, but Number One fights back.

Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Commanding Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Heather, Tenniel Evans as the Admiral and Michael Bates and Lawrie Wyman as the Captains.

Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.

Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.

Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in October 1968.

The lad's new image leads to a major makeover away from the camera.

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 February 1958.

Sue Perkins presents a third series of Dilemma, the panel show where she puts four guests through the moral and ethical wringer by posing a series of finely-balanced dilemmas and then cross-examining them on their answers.

The show was devised by the actor and award-winning comedian Danielle Ward.

"A non-irritating, hilarious panel show" (Radio Times)

Devised by ... Danielle Ward
Producer ... Ed Morrish.

Charles learns of Izzy's torrid past, when her friends join them for a holiday. Stars Imelda Staunton. From November 1988.

Aided by the swindler Captain Wragge, Magdalen is determined to retrieve her inheritance from cousin Noel, but has to deal with the devious Mrs Lecount. Stars Eleanor Bron.

The series which gives first-time and emerging short story writers their radio debut.

Philip Arditti reads Atar Hadari's straight-talking monologue. A young blade working as a hired hand in a kibbutz kitchen offers friendly advice on love but his motives are far from clear cut.

Produced by Gemma Jenkins.

Eddie is found wandering Newcastle with no idea of his past. What should he do until his memory returns? Stars Derek Walmsley.

By Andrew Miller
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Read by John Sessions.

It's Paris in 1785. The cemetery of Les Innocents is the oldest in the city, but it is overflowing and can no longer hold on to its dead. Newcomers to the quarter are overpowered by the smell. It taints the breath and food of the locals. And some believe it can even taint the mind.

By order of the King, the church and cemetery are to be destroyed and every last bone rehoused. The place is to be made sweet again. It shall be made pure.

Charged with the task, Jean-Baptiste Baratte - a young engineer from Normandy - arrives in Paris. And thus begins "A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of ... chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived."

Episode 8 of 10: To the consternation of those around him, Baratte asks Heloise Godard to move in with him.

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and finished a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing at Lancaster University in 1995. He lives in Somerset.

His first novel, Ingenious Pain, was published in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). His third, Oxygen (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. One Morning Like A Bird (2008) was also produced by Sweet Talk for Book At Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Pure is Andrew Miller's sixth novel and won the Costa Book Of The Year award in 2011.

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Bettany Hughes samples changing ideas of hospitality by gazing into outer space and by inviting poet and author Ben Okri 'round to her house for supper.

The Ideas That Make Us is a Radio 4 series which reveals the history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, ideas which continue to affect us all today.

In this 'archaeology of philosophy', the award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history and shaped the human experience. In the third programme of this series, Bettany samples changing ideas of hospitality with astronomer Professor Didier Queloz, classicist Professor Paul Cartledge, poet and author Ben Okri and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Other ideas examined in The Ideas that Make Us are idea, desire, agony, fame, justice, wisdom, comedy, liberty and peace.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

By Oliver Emanuel.

Following a DNA test to establish paternity, a mother and father have discovered that Laura, their twelve-year-old daughter, isn't biologically related to either of them.

Now in the knowledge that the life she's been living should have belonged to someone else, Laura turns detective and tracks down the medic in charge on the day she was born and swapped.

A tense and moving drama, inspired by a set of exceptional true events, that explores the nature of identity and the notion of family.

Director: Kirsty Williams.

Read by Crawford Logan.

Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.

January, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.

In today's episode, D.C.I. Dennis finally makes a breakthrough in the case, when he discovers blood-spattered clothing belonging to one of the main suspects.

Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

The chase is on as the children catapult further back in time and find themselves in deep water. Stars David Harewood.

What's the worst thing that could be served to you for lunch? Fox lasagne? Tripe? Raw seal blubber? Dominic Arkwright joins three guests for new writing and stimulating discussion on the subject of Terrible Food.

His first guest Jonathan McGowan explains how liver turns his stomach, but doesn't think anything of eating dead rats - as long as they're rats from the countryside. Johann Hari reveals how for many years he's had a culinary addiction that now makes him shudder, and Stephanie Calman describes what definitely not to serve at a dinner party.

Produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Births, Deaths and Marriages is the sitcom set in a Local Authority Register Office where the staff deal with the three greatest events in anybody's life.

Written by David Schneider (The Day Today, I'm Alan Partridge), he stars as chief registrar Malcolm Fox who is a stickler for rules and would be willing to interrupt any wedding service if the width of the bride infringes health and safety. He's single but why does he need to be married? He's married thousands of women.

Alongside him are rival and divorcee Lorna who has been parachuted in from Car Parks to drag the office (and Malcolm) into the 21st century. To her, marriage isn't just about love and romance, it's got to be about making a profit in our new age of austerity.

There's also the ever spiky Mary, geeky Luke who's worried he'll end up like Malcolm one day, and ditzy Anita who may get her words and names mixed up occasionally but, as the only parent in the office, is a mother to them all.

In the final episode of the series, the office is reluctantly taking part in a team bonding exercise in the grounds of a country house. Lorna is doing the celebrity wedding of the Honourable Sebastian Foster at the same venue but Sebastian wants to have a hymn - which Malcolm says is strictly not allowed in a civil ceremony.

Producer: Simon Jacobs
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.

Little Monster follows the fortunes of new mother Karen (Sarah Hadland) as she struggles to get to grips with her little monster. No really, he is literally a monster. Or should that be she is? Or even it is? To be honest it's all a bit of a jumble, but they're opted for the name Benjy for now.

Like all babies, Benjy (Cariad Lloyd) keeps growing. Horns mainly. Scales. Fangs. Tail. Karen never quite knows what's going to greet her when she unbolts the reinforced door of his nursery and turns the padlock on his cot.

Not that he's dangerous, of course. Just very excitable. And strong. And surprisingly advanced for his tender age. While most babies lie in their cots looking sweet, Benjy is soon galumphing around the house and bringing in the remains of next door's chickens. And though he may be a monster, he's still Karen's monster. She loves him and she always will, no matter what he puts her through. And he's sometimes very well-behaved, especially when his Dad, Nick (Rufus Jones) or Grandma (Geraldine James) are around.

While Karen has to cope with one very real monster, she also has to deal with her own 'monsters' - the monsters of guilt, envy and low self-esteem that gnaw away at her from the inside. She wants to be the best mother in the world and just ends up behaving like the worst.

Written by Gerard Foster (At Home With The Snails, Horrible Histories) this is a darkly comic look at modern parenthood, set in our child-obsessed world of big buggies and Little Einsteins.

In this pilot episode, Nick and Karen have planned their first night away since Benjy was born. But is it worth the trouble - and will they actually have the courage to leave him?

CREDITS
Karen - Sarah Hadland
Nick - Rufus Jones
Benjy - Cariad Lloyd
Val - Geraldine James
Sammy - Bridget Christie
Nina / Receptionist - Hannah Wood
Security Guard - Gerard Foster

Written by Gerard Foster.
Produced by Ed Morrish.

The third episode of American comedian Rita Rudner's new sitcom - written by herself and her real life husband, Martin Bergman.

Rita continues to face somewhat challenging circumstances as she returns to the UK after a fifteen year break. With the help of her husband Martin (Martin Trenaman), she tries to re-establish her comedy career in the UK and her agent arranges for her to play a gig for a French industrialist - with chaotic results.

Rita and Martin are also helped by the bizarre Mrs Harrison (the wonderful Phylida Law), a hotelier who has introduced them to an array of slightly off kilter characters. And Martin decides to assemble a scratch team of card players to win a fortune at a casino and, not unexpectedly, things don't quite go to plan!

Again featuring some classic stand-up comedy from Rita, this old-fashioned style sitcom has a sterling supporting cast, including Martin Bergman, Michael Fenton-Stevens, Dominic Frisby and Vivienne Avramoff.

Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.

The parents of Mike, Pete and Janey Jago disappear overnight - and there are mysterious marks in the garden...

A spy thriller in six parts by Wally K Daly.

Stars Judy Bennett as Mike, Abigail Docherty as Janey, Simon Radford as Peter and Peter Jeffrey as the Headmaster. With other parts by Joanna Myers, Timothy Carlton and Andrew Wincott.

Audio from the author's own collection.

Producer: Dan Garrett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1990.

4 Extra Debut. Harry Gration leafs through the pages of a magazine dedicated to life in the Yorkshire Dales. With Fred Trueman. From December 2000.

Circulation is going through the roof as the old newspaper hacks struggle with new media. Stars Robert Lindsay. From June 2009.

Starring Nigel Havers, Mathew Baynton and Josie Lawrence. Welcome back to Hardacre's, the worst advertising agency in London, for the second series of Edward Rowett's award-winning sitcom.

This week, things are looking up for Hardacre's. They're pitching for the biggest account of their lives - the cutting edge new smartphone, the Cosmos X10.

It's the day of the big pitch and Hardacre (Nigel Havers), Joe (Mathew Baynton), Teddy (Kieran Hodgson), Amanda (Josie Lawrence), and Laura (Olivia Nixon) are waiting to be called in. They may be waiting rather a long time, in fact, as they appear to have turned up six hours early.

As the day unfolds and the wait continues, it emerges that some of the team may have something to hide. Is there more at stake than meets the eye? And what does it have to do with Charles Blackwell (guest star Martin Jarvis), Hardacre's oldest and dearest nemesis?

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.

George and Kate step in when they overhear their neighbours rowing. Stars Richard Briers and Prunella Scales. From June 1965.

Fred Scuttle describes his exclusive club for playboys and a bingo winner heads for Paris.

With Peter Vernon, Jan Waters, Patricia Hayes and Anthony Sharp,

Music from the Mike Sammes Singers and the Johnnie Spence Orchestra.

Scripted by Benny Hill.

Producer: John Browel

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in April 1964.

Animal, vegetable or mineral? Barry Took's revised 20 questions. With Geoffrey Durham, Nigel Dempster and Frances Edmonds. From May 1998.

Woodhouse is confused by contradictory accounts. Comedy-drama starring Tim Pigott-Smith and Zoe Wanamaker. From September 1989.

Disguised as Susan Bygrave, Magdalen begins to suffer at the prospect of marrying Noel. But Mrs Lecount suspects her true identity. Stars Jack May and Sophie Thompson.

A pair of historical tales set in the heart of the capital.

The Tyburn Jig

Sarah Middleton witnesses her husband's final journey from Newgate to the gallows at Tyburn Tree, but the sight provokes some surprising emotions.

Katy Darby studied English Literature at Somerville College, Oxford and took her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where she won the David Higham Award. Her first novel, 'The Unpierced Heart'was published in 2012. She teaches creative writing at City University and co-runs the monthly live fiction event Liars' League. 'Cries Of London' are her first stories for BBC Radio 4. Katy lives in London.

Reader: Hattie Morahan

Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Written by Carole Hayman.

When Peggy and Ken come to the South Coast town of Warfleet they imagine they will exhibit their prize winning pigeon at a convention in the Winter Gardens, then head off to nearby Canterbury to celebrate their 35th Wedding anniversary, with a few days off and a visit to the Chaucer experience. But life takes a different turn when Peggy, out for a walk in the town, sees a flyer for Rumer, the psychic healer, and goes for a tarot reading above the Delphinium Tea Rooms. So begins a chain of events that means Peggy's life will never be the same again.

The Page of Wands is the new comedy drama from Carole Hayman, who co-wrote the long running BBC Radio 4 series Ladies of Letters.

Gwen Taylor stars as Peggy and Louise Plowright as Rumer.

Cast:
Peggy ...... Gwen Taylor
Rumer ...... Louise Plowright
Ken ...... Alan Leith
Jim ....... Peter Pacey
Teddy ....... Dan Goode
Jeremy/bouncer ....... Paul Mundell
Darryl/Someone ........ James Joyce
Waitress / Woman ....... Sally Orrock

Director: Paul Dodgson
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.

By Andrew Miller
Abridged by Jeremy Osborne
Read by John Sessions.

It's Paris in 1785. The cemetery of Les Innocents is the oldest in the city, but it is overflowing and can no longer hold on to its dead. Newcomers to the quarter are overpowered by the smell. It taints the breath and food of the locals. And some believe it can even taint the mind.

By order of the King, the church and cemetery are to be destroyed and every last bone rehoused. The place is to be made sweet again. It shall be made pure.

Charged with the task, Jean-Baptiste Baratte - a young engineer from Normandy - arrives in Paris. And thus begins "A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of ... chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived."

Episode 9 of 10: Following the rape, Lecoeur is hiding in the charnels of Les Innocents. He Has a pistol. Armed with only a spade, Baratte goes looking for him.

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 1991 and finished a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing at Lancaster University in 1995. He lives in Somerset.

His first novel, Ingenious Pain, was published in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction). His third, Oxygen (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. One Morning Like A Bird (2008) was also produced by Sweet Talk for Book At Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.

Pure is Andrew Miller's sixth novel and won the Costa Book Of The Year award in 2011.

Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Bettany Hughes enquires into changing ideas of wisdom by watching a football match and going to a synagogue to hear the Song of Deborah being sung.

The Ideas That Make Us is a Radio 4 series which reveals the history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, ideas which continue to affect us all today.

In this 'archaeology of philosophy', the award-winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history and have shaped the human experience. In the fourth programme of this series, Bettany enquires into changing ideas of wisdom with footballer Eniola Aluko, philosopher Professor Angie Hobbs, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, and papyrologist Professor Dirk Obbink.

Other ideas examined in this series are liberty, comedy, hospitality and peace.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

By Oliver Emanuel.

Following a DNA test to establish paternity, a mother and father have discovered that Laura, their twelve-year-old daughter, isn't biologically related to either of them.

In the knowledge that the life she's been living should have belonged to someone else, Laura has ran away from home to find the answer to who she is.

Today she tracks down the woman she believes is her biological mother and discovers what her life could have been like.

A tense and moving drama, inspired by a set of exceptional true events, that explores the nature of identity and the notion of family.

Director: Kirsty Williams.

Read by Crawford Logan.

Author Paul French reveals the true-crime "cold case" that haunted the last days of old Peking.

Spring, 1937. As invading Japanese troops move into the countryside around Peking, two policemen try desperately to discover who was behind the brutal murder of a young British woman, Pamela Werner.

A prime suspect is found for Pamela's murder, but is there enough evidence to arrest him? And will continuing interference from the British consul jeopardise progress in the case?

Abridged by Robin Brooks.
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

Steph stumbles on an unexpected part of the puzzle to help Eek's mission to change her planet's fate. Stars Nicola Stapleton.

4 Extra Debut. Poet Pam Ayres chooses the lad himself, Tony Hancock. With Matthew Parris and Tony's biographer John Fisher. From January 2009.

Episode 5 - Panic Room

Clare is forced to confront an old phobia after a regular home visit takes an unusual turn. Fortunately Helen is on hand to help. Back in the office, Joan is left holding the babies.

Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.

A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.

Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.

Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Alexandra Smith.

The best in contemporary comedy. Iain Lee chats to Barry Ferns.

Insomnia: Local government worker Martin faces a deadly combo - new boss, cats and wheelie bins. Stars Reece Dinsdale. From October 2007.

The musical comedian presents his selection of some of the finest comic songs. With guest Boothby Graffoe. From July 2005.

The parents of Mike, Janey and Peter have disappeared.

What's in their father's briefcase?

And who or what is 'The Hyena'?

A spy thriller in six parts by Wally K Daly.

Stars Judy Bennett as Mike, Abigail Docherty as Janey, Simon Radford as Peter, Danny Schiller as the store manager and Auriol Smith as the woman in the store.

Audio from the author's own collection.

Producer: Dan Garrett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1990.

Sue Limb uncovers the secret world of mannequins - their early history, changing shapes and styles. With Mary Quant. From October 1998.

When old chum Ralph arrives with a trophy wife, landlord Jack invents a fiancee. Stars Michael Williams. From January 1999.

The second series of the sitcom with Hal Cruttenden finds the hapless house husband still trying to cope with his mid-life crisis and doubting his every move.

His wife Sam (Kerry Godliman) is still a highly successful business woman, his two daughters Lily and Molly continue to grow into teenagers and find their dad just a little annoying, his bitter and embittered sister Pippa (Abigail Cruttenden) has inconveniently decided to stay with Hal alongside her angry teenage son Oberon, racist neighbour Penny (Ronni Ancona) proves to be a major thorn in Hal's side and best mates Fergus (Ed Byrne) and Barry (Gavin Webster) hinder rather than help Hal's goal of finding himself.

In this final episode of the series, after a challenging few weeks, Hal Cruttenden tries to calm things down by hosting a dinner party with Sam to show off their new basement - with wholly unexpected results.

Written by Hal Cruttenden and Dominic Holland
Produced by Paul Russell

An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4.

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers reunite to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the BBC in 1972.

Recorded on 30th April 1972, their farewell performance with a distinguished audience is broadcast complete with the pre-show warm-up at the Camden Theatre, London. It was simultaneously recorded for broadcast on BBC TV.

Written by Spike Milligan and featuring:

Peter Sellers: Grytpype-Thynne, Bluebottle, Major Denis Bloodnok, Henry Crun.
Harry Secombe: Neddy Seagoon in floral cretonne.
Spike Milligan: Eccles, Minnie Bannister, Moriarty

With the Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and the Wally Stott Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight.

Producer: John Browell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 5th October 1972.

Martin Young's famous people quiz. With Francis Wheen, Amanda Foreman, Fred Housego and Maria McErlane. From February 2000.

Comedy series by Simon Brett following the fortunes of three fortysomething sisters.

3/6. Model Behaviour

Emily's baby hasn't even arrived yet, but Victoria is already into competitive granny mode. And is it really possible that Eddie the dentist has a girlfriend?

Anna ...... Rosemary Leach
Victoria ...... Angela Thorne
Charlotte ...... Felicity Montagu
Eddie ...... James Greene
George ...... Bruce Alexander
Felicity ...... Susan Jameson.

Will Magdalen marry her loathed cousin Noel and regain her inheritance? When Mme Lecount attempts to outwit her, she comes across something she hadn't counted on.

A pair of historical tales set in the heart of the capital.

On Apollonian Shores
London in the 1830s. Matthew Hathersedge first attempt to drown himself was an embarrassing failure. This time - following some very, very bad reviews for his latest volume of poetry - he is determined to leave nothing to chance.

Katy Darby studied English Literature at Somerville College, Oxford and took her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where she won the David Higham Award. Her first novel, 'The Unpierced Heart' was published in 2012. She teaches creative writing at City University and co-runs the monthly live fiction event Liars' League. 'Cries Of London' are her first stories for BBC Radio 4. Katy lives in London.

Reader: David Bamber
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Talking To Zeus
by Don Shaw

Inspired by the book Talking To Zeus, by Jane Shaw; Greek, green, fresh and vivid, this is based on a true story set in the world renowned environmental gardens called Helikion. Perched on a steep hillside, thirty miles from Athens, Jane starts work as an intern in the Gardens which are managed by the elderly, feisty, eccentric, garden fanatic Joy. Helikion is at the forefront of the battle against global warming. World scientists come to observe and take note. When suddenly the Gardens are under threat of closure we see how Jane, Joy and the local Greek volunteers combine forces to fight the proposed demise of the Garden.
Joy ..... Brigit Forsyth
Jane ..... Verity May Henry
Pavlos ..... Andonis James Anthony
Tom ..... Conrad Nelson
Debbie ..... Deborah McAndrew.