SATURDAY 05 OCTOBER 2019

SAT 00:00 Wally K Daly (b007nfs5)
625Y

Episode 2

Scientist Kate Brown's attempt to bring her dramatic new gene discovery into the public domain doesn't go to plan...

Conclusion of Wally K Daly intriguing sci-fi drama.

Kate Brown …. Amanda Root
Professor Slingsby …. Geoffrey Whitehead
Joe Barnard …. Jon Strickland
Reporter …. Elizabeth Conboy
Prime Minister …. Chris Tranchell
Minister of Defence …. Ian Masters
Major Peters …. Brett Usher
Danny Flowers …. Stuart Milligan
Lab Technician …. Harry Myers
Minister of Health …. Sandra Clark

Director: Gordon House.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1999.


SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0076n30)
Redemption

Matthew Parris knows what he did, and so do Gillian Slovo, Dannie Abse and Paul Burke. They all discuss atonement. From September 2004.


SAT 01:00 Wimsey (b007jvmb)
Unnatural Death

7. Miss Climpson Investigates

Lord Peter Wimsey enlists help to try and solve the puzzling murder mystery.

Ian Carmichael stars as the aristocratic sleuth.

British gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey features in a number of detective novels and short stories by English crime writer, Dorothy L Sayers. Have Unnatural Death was first published in 1927.

Classy and sharp-witted, aristocratic amateur sleuth Lord Peter Bredon Wimsey was born in 1890 and educated at Eton and Oxford, before serving in the military during the First World War.

Ian Carmichael appeared as Lord Peter Wimsey for BBC Radio from 1973 to 1983, in addition to the BBC TV adaptations that were broadcast between 1972 and 1975.

Conclusion of Chris Miller's radio adaptation.

Lord Peter Wimsey …. Ian Carmichael
Inspector Parker …. Gabriel Woolf
Miss Climpson …. Ambrosine Phillpotts
Mrs Forrest …. Bridget McConnel
Mr Tredgold …. John Forrest
Dr Faulkner …. John Dunbar
Sacristan …. Mark Penfold
Bunter …. Peter Jones

Producer: Simon Brett.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1975.


SAT 01:30 Fela Kuti Comes Home (b011j8zj)
Fela Kuti is Africa's most famous musician. Before his death in 1997 he recorded nearly 50 albums and invented his own genre of music: Afrobeat. In the 70s and 80s his legendary club in Lagos was famed for housing the best live band on Earth. As witnessed by James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.

But there was more to Fela Kuti than ground-breaking music. He was also a political revolutionary who spent his life strongly criticising successive military regimes in his native Nigeria. While his contemporaries would sing in more general terms of oppression, Fela singled out his targets, personally naming them in songs which became popular all over Africa. It wasn't long before he was a hero to many working class Nigerians.

But his taunts didn't go down so well with the authorities. Nor did his controversial lifestyle: he openly smoked marijuana, declared his home an independent state of Nigeria and married 27 women on the same day. The story goes he was the most arrested person in Nigerian history. He appeared in court hundreds of times, had spells in prison and permanently suffered from his injuries after regular beatings at the hands of the military and police. Fela believed they were also responsible for the death of his mother, who was thrown from an upstairs window when his home was stormed by 1000 soldiers.

In 2009 his incredible story was turned in to a successful Broadway musical and it was performed in Lagos for the first time in 2011. Fela Kuti was coming home. But while the rest of the world is finally paying attention to this musical and political revolutionary why will you struggle to hear any of his music on Nigerian radio? Have they forgotten Fela? Or do the powers that be still find his music offensive? Radio 4 visited Lagos to find the answers.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2011.


SAT 02:00 Book of the Week (b0b490rv)
Feel Free

Episode 5

Some thoughts on the Alte Frau, an enigmatic painting of a woman by the German painter Balthasar Denner.

Zadie Smith reads from her essay collection where she offers sharp, and sometimes funny, insights and observations on high culture, pop culture, social change, political debate and the personal.

Zadie Smith is the award winning author of the novels, White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time. Feel Free is her second essay collection. She was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. Her 2000 debut White Teeth, won numerous literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. Zadie Smith is a professor of fiction at New York University.

Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Allard.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2018.


SAT 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03zdkkc)
A Battalion of Pals

Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of the changing meaning and experience of friendship over the centuries

Two contrasting stories for this examination of the impact of World War One on male friendship.

Dixon begins and ends with the pacifist Bloomsbury Group, focusing on EM Forster and his famous remark, "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country". Dr Matt Cook places this remark - shocking at the time - in the context of Forster's hidden sexual orientation.

Forster began his masterpiece, A Passage to India, before the war, in optimism about the possibility of friendships and love across the nations. As Dr Santanu Das explains, he completed it, after the War, in a far bleaker mood.

Meanwhile, amongst the less highly educated classes, groups of work-mates were being conscripted into the army. Thomas Dixon explores this new role for friendship - as a recruiting sergeant - and its tragic consequences.

Producer: Beaty Rubens

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.


SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b06gx5qh)
Early One Morning

Episode 5

Italy 1943. Sisters Chiara and Cecilia are now installed in their grandmother's farmhouse in the mountains, where they shelter passing army deserters and Daniele, the small Jewish boy Chiara saved from the Nazis' clearance of the Rome ghetto.

Thirty years later, in 1973, Chiara has lost touch with her troubled, junkie adoptive son, but is now preparing for a visit from Maria, the Welsh teenager who claims to be Daniele's daughter.

Greta Scacchi, Juliet Aubrey and Sophie Melville star in Virginia Baily's powerful novel of love, loss and learning to be a mother.

Narrator.....Greta Scacchi
Chiara.....Juliet Aubrey
Maria.....Sophie Melville
Cecilia.....Alex Tregear
Daniele.....Adam Thomas Wright
Gennaro/ Adult Daniele.....Cesare Taurasi
Simone/ Nonna.....Jessica Turner
Antonio.....David Hounslow
Gabriele.....David Acton
Tommaso/ Nazi officer/ Brian.....Felix Auer
Edna.....Amelia Lowdell
Barry/ Goffredo.....Chris Pavlo
Gianni.....Sam Dale

Dramatised by Miranda Emmerson.

Director: Emma Harding

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2015.


SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b04xs49r)
Reaching down the Rabbit Hole

Episode 5

Emphasising the importance of neurology - Dr Allan H Ropper and his co-writer Brian D Burrell conclude their behind the scenes look at the Harvard Medical School's neurology unit.

"In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," says Ropper, "Alice jumps into a rabbit hole and finds herself in a bizarre realm where everything bears little relation to the outside world. It is a place where, as the Red Queen mentions to Alice, it helps to believe six impossible things before breakfast. I have no need to believe six impossible things before breakfast because I know that on any given day I will be confronted with six improbable things before lunch..."

Concluded by Colin Stinton.

Written by Dr Allan H Ropper and Brian D Burrell
Abridged by Pete Nichols

Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in January 2015.


SAT 03:00 Melissa Murray - The Inheritance (b0075gsn)
Simone has been exiled from her family since her appearance in a TV programme revealing that she is gay.

Now she's seriously ill with leukaemia and her only hope is a bone marrow transplant from a close relative. But will anyone of her estranged family help?

Written by Melissa Murray.

Simone .... Kate Buffery
Claire ... Stella Gonet
Imelda ... Carolyn Pickles
Peter ... Roger Allam
Derek .... Charles Simpson
Nurse/Laura ...Priyanga Alan
Doctor/Mark ....David Allister
Joan .... Amelia Taylor
Gary/Waiter ... Ben Crowe

Director: Cherry Cookson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1999.


SAT 04:00 It's Not What You Know (b036v9hd)
Series 2

Episode 2

Frank Skinner, Grace Dent and Jonathan Agnew each nominate someone they know well to answer a series of questions and they than have to second guess how they answered.

Host Miles Jupp tests Frank on how well he knows his friend and radio co-host Emily Dean, Grace her best friend, the Times columnist Caitlin Moran, and Jonathan his wife's best friend Anne Davies.

What is Frank's favourite drink? Who is Grace's favourite writer? And what would Jonathan do if he wasn't a cricket commentator?

All answers and more will be revealed.

Producer: Sam Michell.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.


SAT 04:30 Mark Tavener - In the Red (b007k0qh)
Episode 6

Reporter George is due in court - while BBC controllers keep on plotting to axe the Director General.

London is plagued by a series of bizarre murders of bank managers. Hot on the trail of the killer are an old-style Chief Police Inspector and BBC Radio's crime correspondent, George Cragge.

A blackly humorous murder mystery set in the world of City finance, the BBC and political parties. Dramatised in seven-parts by Mark Tavener and Peter Baynham from Mark Tavener's novel.

George Cragge ...... Michael Williams
Frank Jefferson ...... Barry Foster
Geoffrey Crichton-Potter ...... Stephen Moore
Henry ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Max ...... Peter Woodthorpe
Controller Radio 2 ...... Stephen Fry
Controller Radio 4 ...... John Bird
Dominic De'ath ...... Benjamin Whitrow
Hercules Fortescue ...... Nicholas Le Prevost
Andrew James ...... Peter Serafinowcz
Laetitia ...... Victoria Carling
Controller BBC 1 ...... Ian McNiece
Prosecution ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Fortescue's PA ...... Jane Slavin

With Alice Arnold, Eva Stuart, Gavin Muir, Annabel Mullion and Richard Turner.

Music by Paul Mottram

Producer: Paul Schlesinger

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.


SAT 05:00 Babblewick Hall (b01nchms)
Series 1

Episode 4

With a General Election on the horizon, Fenton Babblewick has the chance to represent his constituents in Parliament, as Babblewicks have been doing for centuries.

Only the rakish Thomas Berridge - confirmed gambler and general desperado - stands between Fenton and a glamorous political career...

Starring Nicholas Le Prevost as Fenton Babblewick and Forbes Masson as Augustus Snipe.

Scott Cherry’s six-part sitcom set in the 18th-century.

Fenton Babblewick ...... Nick Le Prevost
Augustus Snipe ...... Forbes Masson
Barney ...... David Antrobus
Jack ...... Sam Kelly
Molly ...... Gillian Bevan
Berridge ...... Jeremy Clyde
Dribb ...... John Baddeley

Music by Paul Mottram.

Producer: Paul Schlesinger

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1996.


SAT 05:30 Cooking in a Bedsitter (b09jrkr2)
Series 2

Bolognese Cutlets

Beattie Edmondson and Nikesh Patel star in Sue Teddern's romantic comedy, inspired by Katharine Whitehorn's cookery classic. Trisha is definitely over Deepak. She really, truly is. Extracts from Cooking in a Bedsitter are read by Eleanor Bron.

Directed by Emma Harding.


SAT 06:00 Rosemary Timperley - Where Are You, Juliet? (b08l63l0)
Rowena moves into a flat which is strangely haunted by the presence of its previous owner, Juliet. Where is she? What is the mystery surrounding her disappearance?

Rowena's life becomes dominated by the missing girl - the haunting presence of Juliet in the flat driving her to find the answers.

Written by Jill Hyem based on the novel Juliet by Rosemary Timperley.

Staring Julie Berry as Rowena/Juliet.

Bernard Carter ...... Frank Moorey
Maggie ...... Linda Gardner
Twist ...... Jonathan Tafler
Richard Malengry ...... Edward de Souza
Leo Bartlett/Hari Patel ...... Sean Barrett
Serinder Patel ...... Seeta Indrani
Ralph Gordon ...... Graeme Kirk
Mandy ...... Hannah Lavender
Mrs Smith ...... Sheila Grant
Miss Wright/Nurse ...... Joan Campion
Henry ...... James Quinn

Directed at BBC Manchester by Kay Patrick

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1987.


SAT 07:30 Mabey in the Wild (b0367sqd)
Series 2

Elm, Beech And Holly

Richard Mabey is that rare species - a gifted writer who can talk about the natural world in a way that interweaves botany, personal insights, intellectual history, art, memoir, poetry and an account of man's relationship with Nature.

Here he turns his attention to three favourite trees in the British landscape - the much-battered Elm, the festive Holly and his own 'personal' tree, the Beech.

Recorded on location in the New Forest his guests include the naturalist Clive Chatters and founder of Common Ground, Susan Clifford.

Producer: Susan Marling

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in July 2013.


SAT 08:00 The Archive Hour (b007777j)
Auntie Beeb and Religion

Jean Seaton explores how the BBC has faced the task of trying to accommodate, explain and negotiate religious beliefs.

From director general Lord Reith's reading of Blake's poem Jerusalem on the day the General Strike ended in 1926 to the controversy surrounding the decision to screen Jerry Springer: The Opera, the British Broadcasting Corporation has always had to tread carefully with regard to the nation's religious sensitivities.

Producer: Bob Dickinson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2007,


SAT 09:00 Pam Ayres - The Radio Years (b09w3762)
In a special show recorded at The Storyhouse Theatre in Chester, as part of the City's literary festival, broadcaster Paul Blezard meets with Pam Ayres to celebrate the author and poet’s remarkable life and BBC radio career.

Pam Ayres has been a writer, broadcaster, and entertainer for over 40 years, and is one of the few authors who has had books in the Sunday Times bestseller charts in almost every decade since the 1970s. In front of an enthusiastic audience she reflects on the radio years that have encompassed many programmes including Open Road, Ayres On The Air, That Reminds Me, Just A Minute, With Great Pleasure, Desert Island Discs and many more.

As Paul Blezard charts the highs and lows of her life we hear rare radio footage including an early appearance with Frankie Howerd and with her unique brand of humour Ayres recalls her love of working on radio and introduces a new poem exclusive to 4 Extra.

** With Great Pleasure (1979). Pam Ayres presents her personal choice of poetry & prose with Martin Jarvis providing the readings.

** That Reminds Me (2002) Poet, writer and broadcaster Pam Ayres entertains an audience with stories, poems and anecdotes about her life and career.

** Ayres on the Air (2014) A classic episode from series 5 with Geoffrey Whitehead and Felicity Montagu.

Producer: Stephen Garner

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in March 2018.


SAT 12:00 Act Your Age (b00zm0mc)
Series 3

Episode 1

Simon Mayo hosts the three-way battle between the comedy generations to find out which is the funniest.

Will it be the Up-and-Comers, the Current Crop or the Old Guard who will be crowned, for one week at least, as the Golden Age of Comedy.

Holly Walsh is joined by Henry Paker, Lucy Porter by Miles Jupp and Tom O'Connor teams up with Duggie Brown.

Devised and Produced by Ashley Blaker and Bill Matthews.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.


SAT 12:30 Sisters (b065xhth)
Series 1

No Wi-Fi

Susan has hidden Fiona's work phone, in a bid to encourage a healthier work-life balance. But Fiona declares Susan a hypocrite due to her own constant internet use and online gaming. Each sister thinks the other is completely addicted so they set themselves a challenge to go without their devices for 24 hours.

In the empty hours that lie ahead, the pair try to find ways to occupy themselves but inevitably end up getting increasingly irate with one another.

As they try to stave off the building frustration, Susan makes a rash decision, while Blake's attempts to hijack the neighbours' Wi-Fi don't end well.

Written by Susan Calman.

Starring Susan Calman, Ashley Jensen and Nick Helm.

Producer: Mollie Freedman Berthoud
Executive Producer: Paul Schlesinger

A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2015.


SAT 13:00 Cry Babies (Omnibus) (m00093m8)
Sally and Bea are best friends in their late 30s - which means it's crunch time. The decisions they make now will affect them forever.

They meet whenever they can for coffee, but life - work, money, family - is in danger of pushing them apart.

Montserrat Lombard and Ophelia Lovibond star in EV Crowe's frank and funny exploration of female friendship in all its gruesome glory.

Sally .... Montserrat Lombard
Bea .... Ophelia Lovibond
Dave .... Shaun Mason

Omnibus of five episodes.

Director .... Abigail le Fleming

THE WRITER
EV Crowe is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme Super Group.

Her first play ‘Kin’ was nominated for the Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards, her second Royal Court play, ‘Hero’ was part of the Olivier Award winning Season in the Theatre Upstairs. Her third play for the Royal Court The Sewing Group was performed in the JTU in November 2017.

She is currently under commission to Manhattan Theatre Club, The Royal Court, The Unicorn Theatre, The Coterie, Manchester International Festival and Chichester Festival Theatre.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2019.


SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m00093mb)
Susan Hill

Writer Susan Hill chooses ‘The Sea Interludes’ from Benjamin Britten's ‘Peter Grimes’ and Mozart's Oboe Concerto 3rd movement.


SAT 14:15 With Great Pleasure (m00093md)
Martha Kearney

Martha Kearney chooses pieces of writing which have a special meaning for her, either personally or in her work as a broadcaster.

Writers chosen include: Lewis Carroll, Muriel Spark, Dorothy Parker, John L Stevens, Arundhati Roy, Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, WB Yeats, James Lasdun and Horace.

Readers: Niamh Cusack and David Morrissey.

Producer: Christine Hall.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2008.


SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's North Country (b007jl4w)
Series 1

Par for the Course

Carter Brandon gets a week off work, so he decides to go on day-trips in his car, with his Uncle Mort, 'where the fancy takes them'.

Peter Tinniswood’s continuing tales of Carter Brandon and his curmudgeonly uncle.

Uncle Mort and his Yorkshire based family first appeared in Tinniswood’s novel ‘A Touch Of Daniel’ which earned them a run of four series of ‘I Didn't Know You Cared’ on BBC TV from 1975 to 1979.

Uncle Mort …. Stephen Thorne
Carter Brandon …. Peter Skellern
The Landlord …. John Samson
Ambulance Man …. Steve Hodson
Narrator …. Christian Rodska

Producer: Pete Atkin.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1987.


SAT 15:00 The Archive Hour (b007777j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]


SAT 16:00 Rosemary Timperley - Where Are You, Juliet? (b08l63l0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]


SAT 17:30 Mabey in the Wild (b0367sqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]


SAT 18:00 Doctor Who (b08wx032)
The Lost Stories: Point of Entry

Episode 2

With The Blood Moon imminent, can the Sixth Doctor thwart the deadly arrival of the Omnim?

An adventure originally written for the BBC's Doctor Who TV series but never made.

Colin Baker stars as the Sixth Doctor.

Peri ...... Nicola Bryant
Kit Marlowe ...... Matt Addis
Velez ...... Luis Solo
Iguano ...... Sean Connolly
Tom ...... Tam Williams
Alys ...... Gemma Wardle
Sir Francis Walsingham ...... Ian Brooker

Written by Barbara Clegg and Marc Platt.

Director: John Ainsworth

Producer: David Richardson

Made by Big Finish and reversioned for broadcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra.


SAT 19:00 Pam Ayres - The Radio Years (b09w3762)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


SAT 22:00 Comedy Club Extra (m00093mg)
Monty Python at 18,262 Days

On the 50th anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Comedy Club raises a toast to celebrate the work of Messrs Cleese, Chapman, Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin.

Angela Barnes chats to the ‘seventh’ Python Carol Cleveland about her experiences of performing alongside the team on TV, film, stage and record, as they introduce an intriguing archive of programmes covering various aspects of the world of Python.

Over the course of two hours we’ll hear such delights as…

CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS: In a programme which has not been heard since its original airing, John Cleese and Graham Chapman make what we believe are their radio debuts in a recording of the 1963 Cambridge Footlights Revue.

MICHAEL PALIN DIARIES - THE PYTHON YEARS: In a 2006 reading Michael Palin recalls the group’s huge success in the 1970s and making the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

INHERITANCE TRACKS: Eric Idle reflects on the Python anthem Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

MONTY PYTHON'S FLIEGENDER ZIRKUS!: The comic Henning Wehn tells the story of how the team made two programmes for German television.

TERRY JONES'S FAIRY TALES - THE FLY-BY-NIGHT: Terry Jones reads the enchanting tale of a little girl who goes on a magical adventure in a programme originally broadcast on BBC Radio Wales in 2013.

Produced by Stuart Ross.