SATURDAY 18 JANUARY 2020

SAT 00:00 James Follett - The Destruction Factor (b007jpbx)
Search and Destroy

Despite the national emergency, landowners try to profit from the deadly Exon strain.

James Follett’s sci-fi thriller starring TP McKenna.

Max Flinders ...... TP McKenna
Denise Exon ...... Rosalind Adams
Howard Rogers ...... Paul Copley
Nurse ...... Joan Matheson
Prime Minister ...... Noel Johnson
Blowers ...... Michael Shannon
TV Presenter ...... Henry Knowles
TV PA ...... Mary Elliott Nelson
Climatorium Technician ...... Rod Beacham
Helicopter Pilot ...... Peter Wickham
Farmer ...... Roy Spencer
Corporal ...... Gregory de Polnay
Sachs ...... Denis Goacher

Producer: David Spencer

First broadcast as 2 x 90 minute plays on BBC Radio 4 in March 1978.


SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0076qr3)
Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned

Matthew Parris, Rachel Royce, Harry Thompson and Libby Potter discuss the dangers of a woman scorned. From March 2005.


SAT 01:00 Edward Boyd - The Same River Twice (m000d94x)
4. Mortuary

The longer Johnny Maxen's search for his estranged wife goes on, the more mysterious her disappearance becomes.

As he reports back to his mother-in-law, there’s a message from Inspector Wardlaw...

Edward Boyd's thriller serial starring Gordon Jackson.

Johnny Maxen ...... Gordon Jackson
Helen Duncan ...... Lennox Milne
Detective Inspector Wardlaw ...... Roddy McMillan
Pete Hodgson ...... Roy Hanlon
Linda ...... Karen Ramsay
John Havergal ...... Eric Wightman
Hannah ...... Irene Sunters

Producer: Eddie Fraser

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in October 1966.


SAT 01:30 Chant (b04lpzz2)
Richard Coles delves into the 1990's when a recording of Benedictine monks singing became so popular it sold in the millions around the world.

If an album of classical music sold anywhere near one million copies at that time, it was considered unusual. For one to sell more than that was unprecedented. Adding further to this phenomenon was the fact that this was unfamiliar music at the time, Gregorian Chant, performed not by celebrity artists who might attract a large following, but by monks from a remote corner of Northern Spain. EMI marketed this album Canto Gregoriano, or Chant as it was named in Amercia, as a unique antidote to stress.

Richard Coles with former EMI employees Kick Klimbie and Jane McCann, retrace EMI's marketing tactics in the promotion of Canto Gregoriano. Professor Adrian North will also be providing insights throughout the programme into the psychology of marketing, exploring what drives people to buy certain things, and how music can impact upon us physically and emotionally.

Richard Coles also takes a trip to the Isle of Wight, where Gregorian Chant is still an important aspect of life at both St Cecilia's Abbey and Quarr Abbey, and questions whether such music is still capable of having any meaning or impact upon our lives in the twenty-first century.

Producer: Luke Whitlock.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2014.


SAT 02:00 Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar (b01qkqv0)
Episode 5

Home from New York, Esther faces a summer in the suburbs and finds herself slipping into lethargy and at a loss.

Sylvia Plath's haunting and only novel tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a talented girl with a prestigious internship on a magazine in New York in 1953.

With dreams of becoming a writer and an impressive track record of scholarships and prizes, Esther seems to have it all - and knows she should be 'having the time of her life'. But between the cocktail parties and the piles of manuscripts, unsatisfactory men and the choices ahead, she finds herself spiraling into confusion and depression. As she retreats from the world in despair, she will attempt suicide and find herself in the world of the asylum before finding a way through.

The Bell Jar is both darkly funny and acutely observed, capturing in vivid and witty prose the society Plath inhabited in the 1950s. A modern classic, it's a powerful portrait of a clever young woman with great and varied ambitions, confounded by the hurdles the world puts in her way, as relevant today as when it was written.

Read by Lydia Wilson.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.

Producer: Di Speirs

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in February 2013.


SAT 02:15 Will Self's Great British Bus Journey (b09qhscb)
Series 1

Last Bus to the Border

Will Self concludes his bus tour of the UK, assessing British identity at a time of rapid change.

His final stop is Derry-Londonderry - on the very edge of the UK - where he speaks to young people about how they see themselves in 2018.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2018.


SAT 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04bryc0)
Queens of Noise: Get It On

Episode 5

Velveteens' debut single's out. The band love it, the record company loves it and Janice Long "loves it to bits". Will the nation agree?

Conclusion of Louise Wener and Roy Boulter's story about Velveteens - an all-girl band desperate to make it in the days before the digital revolution changed the music business forever.

Rain ...... Hannah Arterton
Sylvie ...... Samantha Robinson
Beth ...... Anneika Rose
Sam ...... Joe Absolom
Herself ...... Janice Long
Shop Assistant ...... Mark Edel-Hunt

Music directors: Brian Rawling and Marky Bates

Director: Toby Swift

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.


SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b05qt729)
The Story of Alice

Episode 5

Oxford gossip is catching up with Lewis Carroll. And while the ‘real’ Alice begins married life in a grand Georgian country house, he remains an object of fascination at Christ Church.

Where did Alice stop and 'Alice' begin?

Wonderland is part of our cultural heritage – a shortcut for all that is beautiful and confusing; a metaphor used by artists, writers and politicians for 150 years.

But beneath the fairy tale lies the complex history of the author and his subject. The story of Charles Dodgson the quiet academic, and his second self Lewis Carroll – storyteller, innovator and avid collector of child-friends. And also of his dream-child Alice Liddell, and the fictional alter ego that would never let her grow up.

This is their secret history - one of love and loss, of innocence and ambiguity, and of one man's need to make Wonderland his refuge in a rapidly changing world.

Drawing on previously unpublished material, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst traces the creation and influence of the Alice books against a shifting cultural landscape – the birth of photography, changing definitions of childhood and sexuality, and the tensions inherent in the transition between the Victorian and modern worlds.

Read by Simon Russell Beale.

Producer: Joanna Green

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2015.


SAT 03:00 Classic Serial (b00772m2)
Leo Tolstoy - Resurrection

Episode 2

Prince Dmitri follows the young prostitute Katerina Maslova to Siberia.

Having been unable to reverse the sentence for murder served in error upon her, he proposes marriage in the hope of redeeming the wrongs he did to her as a girl.

But he finds his proposal contested by a fellow prisoner Simonson, a man who has already made all the sacrifices in life that Prince Dmitri only threatens to make.

Conclusion of Robert Forrest's dramatisation of Leo Tolstoy's last major work.

Katerina Maslova ...... Katherine Igoe
Dmitri Nikhloydov ...... Richard Dillane
Lydia Menshova ...... Vivienne Dixon
Vera Bogovskaya ...... Joanna Tope
Princess Marya ...... Lesley Hart
Anatoly Krylstov ...... Joe Arkley
Nabatov/Ivan ...... Phil McKee
Simonson ...... Tom Brooke
Old Man ...... Finlay Welsh

Director: Lu Kemp.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2007.


SAT 04:00 We've Been Here Before (b00ft41b)
Series 2

Episode 1

Clive Anderson hosts the panel show that pokes fun at events of the past.

Second series of the topical historical satirical panel show setting out to prove that there's nothing new under, or in, The Sun.

Gyles Brandreth and Arthur Smith battle it out against John O'Farrell and Arabella Weir.

Producer: Ed Morrish

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2004.


SAT 04:30 The Emerald Green Show (b077ygkd)
Face Value

The show has failed to deliver, but Emerald's too desperate to give up so easily. Her feathers are ruffled when a bright and talented intern arrives.

A vain, ambitious black woman dreams of becoming a chat-show queen.

Lisselle Kayla's comedy series starring Llewella Gideon as Emerald Green.

Tristram ...... Jonathan Firth
Fabio ...... Iwan Thomas
Victor ...... Dean Hill
Eunice ...... Sheila Reid
David ...... Jonathan Keeble
Tanesha ...... Jo Martin

Director: Pam Fraser Solomon

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1998.


SAT 05:00 Reluctant Persuaders (b08kxzvv)
Series 2

Live Young

Welcome back to Hardacre's, the worst advertising agency in London.

Series two of Edward Rowett's award-winning sitcom starring Nigel Havers, Mathew Baynton and Josie Lawrence.

We find the team a little higher up the proverbial ladder. No longer fighting to stay afloat, but now fighting to get ahead, this week the team are confronted with an unexpected challenge - a can of water.

Tasked by accounts manager Amanda with creating a campaign to sell water to impoverished millennials, copy-writer Joe and art director Teddy face an unsettling question - can you convince people with no money to buy something they could have for free? And even if you can - should you?

As ever, they are alternately assisted and obstructed by their washed up creative director and self-professed advertising god, Rupert Hardacre (Nigel Havers) and disinterested receptionist Laura.

Rupert Hardacre ...... Nigel Havers
Amanda ...... Josie Lawrence
Joe ...... Mathew Baynton
Teddy ...... Kieran Hodgson
Laura ...... Olivia Nixon

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in April 2017.


SAT 05:30 The Skewer (m000czy8)
Series 1

Episode 1

A satirical river of sound and a platform for diverse new talent, this is topical satire like you’ve never heard it before. A new open-door comedy for a fresh generation of satirists who don’t write sketches, jokes and one liners, but instead channel their talents into playing around with sound.

Following an award-winning pilot and an award nominated Halloween Brexit special, the "disorentating, dizzying, dazzling" Skewer returns for a full series.

"A freeform assault on the senses.. deeply haunting..an eerily beautiful discombobulating mosaic of spin" - comedy.co.uk

Creator and producer Jon Holmes curates contributions from brand new and diverse talent in a show where the experience is enhanced through headphones, attaching the listener to a late night drip of current events as they melt into the brain, evoking a feeling of drifting off, but with the occasional uncomfortable sleep-twitch.

Sketch-writing has long been the way into radio comedy but, for the new generation of satirists who don’t put pen to paper and instead beaver away on laptops using self-taught skills to toy with the news-scape, The Skewer's guerrilla approach to satire is their new playground.

“If ever there was an audio version of Coldwar Steve, it might well be this! Incredible.”

“Cassette Boy meets Blue Jam. Superb.”

“A whole new genre of radio comedy programme invented right there. Clever, funny and scary all at the same time.”

“Weirdly, hypnotically funny. More please.”

“Pushes the boundaries of satirical radio into the murky depths. The world needs exactly this kind of creative commentary right now. Looking forward to more.”

“With this new show, Jon Holmes asserts his place as king of outsider radio art. Its woozy, punch drunk style operates as a perfect satire of our times. Headphones on and fall down it’s K-hole, friends. Exceptional stuff.” Rufus Hound

Producer: Jon Holmes
An Unusual production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 Theo (b007jt2n)
Made in Germany in 1908, a rare cinnamon plush bear with boot button eyes - still with the Steiff button in his ear - discovers he’s Lot 107, and the auction is about to begin...

Martin Jarvis stars as Theo in Moya O'Shea’s drama.

Theo ...... Martin Jarvis
Little Tom ...... Thomas Connor
Tom ...... Ross Livingstone
Mr Lonsdale ...... David Collings
Mrs Lonsdale ...... Jilly Bond
Charles Morgan ...... Henry Cormack
Nicholas ...... Jonathan Praeger
Jessie ...... Becky Hindley
Hannah ...... Caroline Strong
Mrs Tyler ...... Zulema Dene
George ...... Alexis Edyvean
Mr McKee ...... Jonathan Keeble
Mrs McKee ...... Linda Regan
Little Greg ...... George Allonby
Young Greg ...... Jack Allonby
Greg ...... Paul Jenkins
Imelda ...... Jane Whittenshaw
Janice ...... Sandra James Young
Mark ...... Gary Bryden
Roland ...... Stephen Critchow
Auctioneer ...... John Turner

Producer: Tracey Neale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1995.


SAT 07:30 The Voices of... (b07vq2c2)
Marta Sebestyen

The voice of Marta Sebestyen is closely associated with the folk traditions of Hungary and its neighbouring regions.

Through her work with the band Muzsikas, she helped revive the cultural phenomenon of Tanchaz, dance house, which preserved music and dance traditions and, during the Soviet era, provided a beacon for national identity - perhaps most vividly in the dissenters' song The Unwelcome Guest.

Her mother had studied with the folklorist and composer Zoltan Kodaly and Marta inherited her passion for music and village culture, collecting and recording songs from across the Balkans, some of which have found their way onto the soundtracks of films, such as The English Patient and Only Yesterday.

Marta talks about her relationship to the music of her homeland, its political connotations and the quality of the voices of village singers she's most admired.

Producers: Simon Broughton and Alan Hall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in September 2014.


SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b072zn42)
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Anarchy Must Be Organised

2016 saw the 50th anniversary of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band going “professional” – kick-starting the chaos with a performance on the bastion of psychedelia and avant-garde: Blue Peter.

The legendary Neil Innes looks back at the influence and influences of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and the collision of art, humour, music, language and anarchy that permeated the band’s career.

Archive interviews and performances accompany new interviews with Legs Larry Smith, Rodney Slater, Vernon Dudley Bowhay Nowell, Sam Spoons, and Bob Kerr and contributions from friends and fans including Terry Gilliam, Adrian Edmondson, Kevin Eldon, Diane Morgan, Rick Wakeman and Stephen Fry.

Producer: Laura Grimshaw
Made for Radio 4 Extra

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2016.


SAT 09:00 Braden Back on the Beat (b05vj0c8)
Oldie magazine founder Richard Ingrams presents a retrospective of the pioneering star of TV and radio, Bernard Braden.

Compiled from scouring the BBC Sound Archive and liaising with Bernard Braden's family and long-term friend Gillian Best, this 3 hour showcase features:

* Leave Your Name and Number: 21/07/1950

* Bedtime with Braden: 06/04/1951

* The Ransom of Red Chief: date unknown

* Braden Beside Himself: 04/07/1987

* Offbeat with Braden: 23/09/1978

Born in Canada, actor and broadcaster, Bernard Braden (1916 – 1993) made numerous radio and TV appearances in the UK – many with his wife Barbara Kelly. Braden is particularly remembered as a pioneer of UK TV consumer programmes - ‘On the Braden Beat’ (ATV) and ‘Braden's Week’ (BBC).

Producer: Mik Wilkojc.

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in May 2015.


SAT 11:30 Phil Hammond's Bad Golf Day (b00t1tkm)
GP, writer and comedian Phil Hammond spends a day at his local golf club in a bid to understand the complexities and absurdities of the most socially divisive sport on the planet.

With Tom Cox, Professor Richard Holt, Chris Cairns, John Richards, Jenny Butler and Martin Edenborough.

Producer: John Byrne

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.


SAT 12:00 Just a Minute (b01mhxnf)
Series 64

Episode 6

Join Nicholas Parsons and friends for the grandaddy of all panel games.

Jenny Eclair, Tony Hawks, Alun Cochrane and Kevin Eldon must talk for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation - a task much more difficult than it sounds.

Tony Hawks describes his preparations for Rio 2016, Jenny Eclair speaks on The Brontes, Alun Cochrane talks about Victorian Inventions and Kevin Eldon reveals how he keeps his body looking that good.

Producer: Claire Jones

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2012.


SAT 12:30 The Goon Show (b007jlsh)
The Last Tram (from Clapham)

London's trams are no more, but boss Neddie Seagoon must pursue the one that got away.

Groundbreaking, surreal BBC radio comedy written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes.

Starring:

Peter Sellers
Harry Secombe
Spike Milligan

First billed as Crazy People, ten series of The Goon Show were recorded between 1951 and 1960, but sadly many of the earliest shows weren’t kept in the archive.

With the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray.

Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.

Announcer: Wallace Greenslade

Producer: Peter Eton

First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in November 1954.


SAT 13:00 Exile (Omnibus) (m000dgm5)
Episode 2

What do you do when your beliefs are condemned by the rest of society?

Adrian Bean marks the 400 year anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower. A gripping story about one family's journey into the unknown.

The Hargreaves family have fled England to start a new life in America but things are far from perfect in the new Utopia. Elizabeth has to fight for her baby to be accepted, Ben's conscience is troubling him, Saul will have to confront the past and Sarah has had enough of her husband and the rest of the Puritans.

Omnibus of the last five of ten episodes.

Sarah Hargreaves - Louise Brealey
Matthew Hargreaves - Trystan Gravelle
Ben - Joel MacCormack
Elizabeth - Megan McInerney
Blackbird - Ashleigh Haddad
Samoset - Daniel Taylor
Minister - Marc Danbury

Directed by John Norton

A BBC Cymru Wales production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2020.


SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m000dgm7)
Andre Rieu

Conductor and violinist Andre Rieu chooses ‘Sphärenklänge’ by Josef Strauss and ‘What A Wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong.


SAT 14:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b00751vc)
Gillian Slovo

South African-born playwright and novelist Gillian Slovo shares thoughts about her parents' dedication to their cause.

Psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare's in depth interviews with prominent people from different walks of life.

Born in Dublin, author Anthony held a doctorate in medicine, a master's degree in philosophy and was a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. After becoming a regular on BBC Radio 4's Stop the Week in the 1980s, he became Britain's best-known psychiatrist and earned his own vehicle, In the Psychiatrist's Chair. Starting in 1982, this series ran until 2001 and also transferred to TV. Series highlights include conversations with Bob Monkhouse, Cecil Parkinson and Gerry Adams.

Anthony Clare died suddenly in Paris aged 64 in 2007.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1997.


SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b072zn42)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]


SAT 16:00 Theo (b007jt2n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]


SAT 17:30 The Voices of... (b07vq2c2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]


SAT 18:00 Dan Dare (m000dgm9)
Series 2

Prisoners of Space 1/3

Dan Dare, Digby and Peabody have overcome The Mekon’s ruthless robots and staved-off an attack by a rogue human scientist – Blasco - in cahoots with the fearsome Vora. Now, even though there has been no sign of the evil Mekon anywhere in the solar system for some time, Dare is wary.

All seems well until unexplained spaceship disappearances near Venus, an Astral Academy student accidently launching a prototype spacecraft and a purpose designed floating prison all indicate that The Mekon has embarked on his latest scheme to defeat his nemesis.

Continuing adventures based on the Eagle comic strip 'Dan Dare' created in 1950 by the Reverend Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson.

Dan Dare …. Ed Stoppard
Digby …. Geoff McGivern
Professor Peabody …. Heida Reed
Sir Hubert …. Michael Cochrane
The Mekon …. Raad Rawi
Old Timer …. Robert G. Slade
Cadet ‘Flamer’ Spry …. Noof McEwan
Treen Captain …. Alistair Lock
On-board Computer …. Dianne Weller

Original music: Imran Ahmad

Dramatised by Colin Brake from an original story by Frank Hampson.

Produced and directed by Andrew Mark Sewell.

Made by B7 Media


SAT 18:30 Weird Tales (b01ns0yb)
Series 3

Louisa's by Amanda Whittington

When a stranger walks into Louisa's café, the juke box which hasn't played a record for years whirrs into action, the lights start flashing and Louisa is thrown into a world where her past challenges life as she knows it.

Series of chilling plays for winter nights.

Louisa ... Sara Poyzer
Pete ... Paul Rider
Joe ... Gerard McDermott

Producer, Jessica Brown

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.


SAT 19:00 Braden Back on the Beat (b05vj0c8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


SAT 21:30 Phil Hammond's Bad Golf Day (b00t1tkm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 today]


SAT 22:00 The Show What You Wrote (b06s9f1j)
Series 3

Crime & Punishment

John Thomson, Shobna Gulati, Fiona Clarke, Chris Jack, and Gavin Webster star in the themed sketch show made entirely from contributions sent in by the public.

The best ideas have been chosen from thousands of submissions from new writers resulting in a show like no other.

The theme of "Crime & Punishment" features some remarkably literal highwaymen, a door-to-door salesman who is in no way a conman, and an HR policy that shows it's always best to read the small print.

Written by Cassie Atkinson, Tim Craig, Sarah Glenister, Helen Green, Jack Hall, Dai Hill, Joe Hodgson, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Rose Johnson, Graham Kilvington, Derek Martin, Steve Nelson, Owen Seddon & Emlyn Williams.

Script editor: Jon Hunter
Producers: Ed Morrish and Paul Sheehan.

A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2015.


SAT 22:30 Masala FM (b007jypp)
Episode 3

When one of Auntieji's disgruntled listeners decides to take matters in to his own hands, Khalid may be the only one who can save the station.

Six-part sitcom written by Meera Syal

Starring Sanjeev Bhaskar, Nitin Sawheny, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia.

Music by Nitin Sawhney.

Producer: Liz Anstee

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1996.


SAT 23:00 Wondermentalist Cabaret (b00y2f1f)
Series 1

Episode 1

Poet, performer, enemy of all that's difficult and upsetting, Matt Harvey brings his own comedy-infused, musically-enhanced, slightly interactive poetry cabaret to the airwaves.

Recorded in front of an audience in Bristol, he's joined by Elvis McGonagall and one man house band Jerri Hart.

Fellow poets Lucy English and Byron Vincent battle it out with Elvis in a Dead Poets' Slam, while the audience compose their own poem on the subject of Sundays.

Producer: Mark Smalley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2011.


SAT 23:30 Dr John Cooper Clarke at the BBC (b0832rjq)
Series 1

Crime and Retribution

The Bard of Salford performs a selection of poems on stage at the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London.

* 36 Hours
* Kamarad Klaak (All Rise)
* Crazy Mixed Up Killer
* Kung Fu International

Written and performed by Dr John Cooper Clarke.

Introduction by Johnny Green.

Producer: Joe Nunnery

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2016


SAT 23:45 Political Animals (b03mhwd5)
Series 2

Rex and Ron

Ronald Reagan's dog, Rex, reveals that he shared his master's passion for acting.

Another unreliable dog's eye view of the trials and tribulations of Washington living in the White House.

Rex ...... Michael Bertenshaw
West Wing Guy ...... David Seddon

Written by Tony Bagley.

Director: Marc Beeby.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.