SATURDAY 02 MAY 2009

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b00jwy4k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00k35lw)
For All the Tea in China

Episode 5

By Sarah Rose.

Robert Fortune travels 250 miles by junk and sedan into the interior of China to discover what he can of the secrets of black tea. Read by Maureen Beattie.

A Jane Marshall production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00jwy56)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00jwy5v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00jwy6p)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b00jwy7d)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00jwy81)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


SAT 05:45 The Estuary (b008kmqt)
Episode 4

Peter France narrates an extraordinary story of life on the Wash as the tides and the seasons change, set against a backdrop of sounds recorded on location by Chris Watson.

As the tide begins to recede, the hundreds of thousands of birds which had been roosting inland on the shingle banks and lagoons return to the mud flats, providing a noisy and wonderful spectacle.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00k2m79)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b00k2m7c)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b00k2m7f)
Four Hundred Years of Parish Life

Countryside magazine. The extensive survival of historical records for the Worcestershire village of Rushock enabled historian Peter Edwards to complete his first research project in the early 1970s. Helen Mark joins Peter as he revisits the village and people and charts the highs and lows of farming in the last 400 years.

In 1972, Peter found a treasure trove of historical documents outlining the farming history of the small rural parish of Rushock. When he matched the dusty maps and land agents' reports to the fields and farms of the village, a new interest in social history was born. He spent many months traipsing the fields of the parish looking for agricultural clues to the past and getting to know the people who worked the land. What changes will Peter see on his return, and will he find the people who helped his research all those years ago?


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b00k2m7h)
Farming Today This Week

Charlotte Smith pays her first visit to the Farming Today beehive in Warwickshire and finds out the chances of the bees surviving for a year.

The British honeybee may be facing one of its toughest years yet. Last year, one in every three colonies in Britain died out.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b00k2m7k)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b00k2m7m)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague

Wes Cuell, of the NSPCC, discusses the independent review into Haringey social services which is now underway.

Reporter Ross Hawkins explains claims that Labour MPs have discussed defecting to the Lib Dems.

Education correspondent Kim Catcheside reports on claims that a boycott of the SATs tests is 'irresponsible and illegal'.

Correspondent Jonathan Head reports on the aftermath of the cyclone which ripped across the fertile delta of the Irrawaddy a year ago. British Ambassador to Burma Mark Canning discusses the UK's involvement in providing support.

Public Health professional Gabriel Scally reports on the cases of swine flu reported in the southwest of England.

Novelist Tibor Fischer discusses events in Hungary and Austria as the Iron Curtain came down 20 years ago.

Alex Bushill reports on an initiative to help British farmland wildlife.

Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari discusses the situation in Iraq as the British troops begin their final withdrawal.

Lord Laming, who was chairman of a review into social services in England, discusses what the case of Baby P shows about the scale of the challenge facing children's services.

Screenwriter Stanley Weiser discusses whether the greed of the 1980s matches the current morals of the financial sector.

Reporter Stephen Gibbs explains how Mexicans, nervous about the flu outbreak, are preparing for the partial shutdown of the Mexican economy for five days.

John Prescott says that he is staggered that Labour MPs are criticising the state of the party.

Andrew Hosken reports on claims that the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka are only days from defeat.

Baroness Morgan, Lords minister for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, discusses what an independent review about the Baby P case could discover.

Cricket pioneer Jay Mir and author Joseph O'Neil discuss if cricket will catch on in the US.

Author Lionel Shriver and journalist Erica Wagner discuss if the dash should be ditched.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00k2m7p)
American author Jodi Picoult's new novel, Handle With Care, explores the impact of 'wrongful birth' litigation on an ordinary New Hampshire family and asks a number of moral questions.

Jodi's first story was called The Lobster Which Misunderstood. She wrote it when she was just five years old and it was the start of a glorious career. Her books have sold millions and she regularly tops the bestseller lists.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak more than 8,000 people contracted the disease and 774 people died. One British woman, Sally Blower, had just returned from Malaysia and after spending a week back home in London feeling fine she packed her bags for her next work trip, this time to Brazil. It was in the cab on the way to the airport that she first began to feel unwell.

Gareth Carins always dreamt of joining the French Foreign Legion. Unable to settle after university and looking for adventure, he followed his boyhood dream and joined up in 1996.

Simon Rouse, better known as DCI Jack Meadows in The Bill, chooses Up, Up and Away by the Johnny Mann Singers and All Along The Watchtower, performed by Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as his Inheritance Tracks.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00k2m7r)
John McCarthy explores three very different aspects of Italy.

He hears from travel writer Peter Moore about the scooter trip he made around Italy's western coast and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Sicily; places where, he discovered, the sight of an old Vespa can still raise the passions of the Italians.

Journalist David Lane tells John how the criminal organisations of southern Italy have infiltrated daily life there and whether their activities affect tourism.

And novelist Geoff Dyer reflects on the essentially unreal nature of Venice and why that makes it such a perfect setting for art, as exemplified by the Biennale.


SAT 10:30 Reasons to be Cheerful (b00jwphw)
Series 1

Episode 3

A series which seeks to challenge the prevailing atmosphere of doom and gloom and dare to be optimistic.

Comedian Stephen K Amos offers an antidote to grumpiness. He is cheerful that school pupils no longer have to wear tank tops, classrooms are generally cheerier places and that houses are more individual than when he was growing up.

He is also pleased that racism is no longer so overt, and talks to former MP Oona King and grumpy comedian Felix Dexter, who concedes that things have improved since the days of The Black and White Minstrel Show and Love Thy Neighbour.

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b00k2m7t)
Popular opinion on the issue of allowing visas for former Ghurkas to enter Britain took the government by surprise this week leading to a defeat in a vote in the House of Commons. Damian Green Conservative spokesman on immigration and Liberal Democrat Sir Menzies Campbell, whose party lead the charge on behalf of the Gurkhas assess the misjudgement.

MPs expenses came up again in the Commons, in spite of the government having backed a review of the whole question to be undertaken by Sir Christopher Kelly. Tony Wright, chair of the Public Administration Committee and Sir George Young chairman of the Standards and Privileges committee put their heads together to chart their way through the various proposals.

Also in the programme:

Do we need a defence review now that British troops are leaving Iraq? Two former defence secretaries Lord Robertson and Lord King discuss.

And two former secretaries of state for health Stephen Dorrell and Patricia Hewitt talk of their experiences during the health scares of CJD and Avian flu.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b00k2m7w)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00k2m7y)
Paul Lewis with the latest news from the world of personal finance.

A row is brewing between the government and insurers over age discrimination in insurance.

Plus, if your holiday has been cancelled in the wake of the swine flu outbreak, will you get your money back?

And the building society model has served people better than banks, says the Treasury Select Committee.


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (b00k0b4f)
Series 68

Episode 1

Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. Panellists include Andy Hamilton, Fred MacAulay and Jeremy Hardy.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b00k2mfc)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b00jwy94)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00k1wsq)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in Surrey. The panellists are neuroscientist and head of the Royal Institution Baroness Susan Greenfield, human rights lawyer and Labour life peer Baroness Helena Kennedy, shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Nick Herbert and Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats' spokesman on home affairs.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00k2mff)
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00k2mfh)
JM Barrie - The Admirable Crichton

Russell Tovey stars in JM Barrie's classic satire about the changing fortunes of Crichton, the perfect butler.

Liberal aristocrat Lord Loam favours a return to nature, with masters and servants living together as equals, but Crichton is the perfect butler and the perfect snob who adores the intricacies of the class system. He cannot help but be horrified by his master's opinions, and it will take a sea change to alter them.

Crichton ...... Russell Tovey
JM Barrie ...... David Bannerman
Lady Mary ...... Beth Chalmers
Lord Loam ...... David Timson
Lady Agatha ...... Martha Howe-Douglas
Ernest Woolley ...... Gunnar Cauthery
Tweeny ...... Lizzy Watts
Rev John Treherne ...... Adrian Grove
Lord Brocklehurst ...... Stephen Hogan
Lady Brocklehurst ...... Tina Gray

Abridged and directed by Fiona Kelcher.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2009


SAT 15:30 The Music Group (b00jxc7f)
Series 3

Episode 3

Comedian, broadcaster and GP Dr Phil Hammond asks each of three guests to play the track of their choice for the delight or disdain of the others.

His guests are BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders, whose musical heritage is bound up with the lyrics made famous by her father, 'mud, mud, glorious mud' and 'I'm a gnu', historian Dominic Sandbrook, author of White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, and comic broadcaster and author Karl Pilkington.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b00k2mgy)
Weekend Woman's Hour

Highlights of this week's Woman's Hour programmes with Jane Garvey. Including:

Impressionist Jan Ravens was a founder member of the Dead Ringers team, and few females in the public eye have avoided her comic attention. Fiona Bruce, Sophie Raworth, Ellen MacArthur, the Queen and Ann Widdecombe have all featured in the comedy series, and now Jan is taking her impressions on a national tour. She talks to Jane about her art.

Jenni Murray interviews the new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. The post has existed for around 400 years but it nis the first time that it has been awarded to a woman.

In an attempt to create a more open, transparent and accountable system, the family courts have been opened to the media for the first time. Some campaigners have argued that there is very little change, as judges still have wide powers to restrict reporting and media access. On the other hand, some child solicitors say that this openness still poses a risk to vulnerable children. To discuss the issues, Jane is joined by The Times' columnist Camilla Cavendish and Caroline Little, Joint Chair of the Association of Lawyers for Children.

A new fat-busting pill has gone on sale over the counter. Jenni Murray looks at whether dieting mechanisms like these can ever work without confronting the pyschological and emotional issues that may have caused overeating or obesity in the first place.

Jane meets three women who have been following Arsenal football club for nearly 100 years between them. What is it that keeps them going back? Jane speaks to them at Arsenal's Emirates stadium in north London.

How to change your life for the better. In these times of economic uncertainty, many people are re-evaluating their career and goals in life. But taking the plunge and changing your situation can be a daunting prospect, especially if the years have rolled by in a steady job, there is a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed. Jane discusses what steps to take to realise your dreams with the philosopher Alain de Botton, entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi and co-founder of careershifters.org, Catherine Roan.

Plus there is another chance to hear a performance by the opera singer Yvonne Howard.


SAT 17:00 PM (b00jwy9x)
Saturday PM

Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Ritula Shah, plus the sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b00k2mj1)
The weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring online conversation and debate.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00k2mj3)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b00k2mj5)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00jwybk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00k2mw0)
Clive Anderson is joined by actor Martin Freeman, comedian and Loose Ends regular Arthur Smith and writer Peter Flannery.

Jon Holmes talks about extreme male beauty with Tim Shaw.

Plus comedy from young stand-up Ahir Shah and music from Tom Hickox and Soothsayers.


SAT 19:00 From Fact to Fiction (b00k2mw2)
Series 6

Coughs and Sneezes

Playwright Laura Wade creates a fictional response to a story in the week's news.

With a swine flu pandemic increasingly likely, the spotlight is thrown on an anxious couple newly returned from Mexico.

With Samuel West, Lucy Akhurst and Benjamin Askew.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00k2nkv)
The Children's Book, Bob Dylan's Together Though Life and Bronte goes Bollywood

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by writer and broadcaster Bidisha, actor Kerry Shale and playwright Michelene Wandor to discuss the cultural highlights of the week, featuring a weighty slice of Fabian life, starry-eyed young Europeans, and Bronte goes Bollywood.


SAT 20:00 Pete Seeger in Word and Song (b00k2nkx)
The folk-singer and activist Pete Seeger, who died earlier this year at the age of 94, was often known as "America's Tuning Fork".

His appearance at Barack Obama's first inauguration concert brought him to public attention once more.

Drawing on the BBC's extensive archive and on two recent new interviews with him, BBC World Service Arts Correspondent Vincent Dowd celebrates Seeger's life and examines his belief in the power of song.

Lucid and lively as ever, Pete spoke to Vincent as much about environmental and urban issues as about his lifelong commitment to disarmament and civil rights. Even at his grand old age, there was nothing predictable in his words- with refreshingly positive views about city life as the model of the future.

Above all, Seeger spoke about performing the Woody Guthrie song, This Land Is Your Land, with Bruce Springsteen outside the Lincoln Memorial for Barack Obama's inauguration. He also treated Vincent to an impromptu, unplugged version of This Land is Your Land.

Pete Seeger in Word and Song explores the continuing role of folk music in American political life while also celebrating the artist who brought the world songs such as Where Have All the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Turn, Turn, Turn and new versions of spirituals such as We Shall Overcome.

Producer - Beaty Rubens.


SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00jwxv2)
Geoffrey Chaucer - Troilus and Criseyde

Episode 1

Dramatisation of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.

One of the great works of English literature, this powerful, compelling story explores love from its first tentative beginnings through to passionate sensuality and eventual tragic disillusionment. Lavinia Greenlaw's new version for radio brings Chaucer's language up-to-date for a modern audience while remaining true to his original poetic intention.

After seeing the beautiful widow Criseyde at the temple in Troy, Troilus falls instantly in love with her. Inexperienced in love, he is unable to act on his feelings and locks himself in his room to compose love songs. Pandarus, worried for his friend, eventually persuades Troilus to tell him why he is so miserable and is delighted to hear that the cause is Troilus' love for his niece Criseyde.

Worried about her reputation, Criseyde is at first reluctant to enter into a relationship with Troilus. After much cajoling and manipulation, she reluctantly comes around to the idea. Pandarus is frustrated that the relationship is moving too slowly and engineers a complex plan to get Criseyde and Troilus in bed together.

Troilus ...... Tom Ferguson
Criseyde ...... Maxine Peake
Pandarus ...... Malcolm Raeburn
Servant/Friend ...... Kathryn Hunt
Calchas/Servant ...... Kevin Doyle
Priam/Servant ...... Terence Mann
Hector/Diomede ...... Declan Wilson

With music composed by Gary Yershon and performed by Ehsan Emam, Tim Williams and Mike Dale.

Directed by Susan Roberts.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b00k2nkz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Bringing Up Britain (b00jz1lt)
Series 2

Episode 4

Mariella Frostrup hosts a debate about parenting with families, experts and policy-makers.

Dealing with children who don't fit in easily can be challenging for parents and teachers, but if we seek to modify behaviour and attitude too much, do we risk homogenising children?

Featuring a mother who feels that her inattentive and quirky son is a problem at home and school. She worries that she is failing him by trying to mould him to be more like her other children, but also feels strongly that he needs to fit in to get on in life.

Mariella's guests are writer and journalist Fiona Millar, youth worker Shaun Bailey, Dr Jackie Ravet of Aberdeen University and law lecturer Daniel Monk.


SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b00jwxzx)
Series 23

2009 Heat 8

Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz.

The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.

Three contestants battle it out:

Producer: Paul Bajoria

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2009.


SAT 23:30 Baghdad of the Mind (b00jwxvs)
An impressionistic portrait of the fantastical city of Baghdad, a metropolis at the heart of an empire that for more than a thousand years has captured the imagination of Western and Arab worlds alike.

Using the logic of a dream interspersed with music and poetry, the broadcast summons up a dusty but glittering mosaic of real, dreamt, nostalgic, oriental and orientalist poems and melodies inspired by and from Baghdad.

Long before the city was synonymous with tyranny, occupation and oppression, Baghdad was a place of learning and culture that attracted hundreds of poets. In the labyrinthine city of the Arabian Nights, the real and the romanced are confused in the iconic figure of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. According to the tales, he would disguise himself to go among his people and meet fabulous adventures. We re-create this poetic city through a night of chanced encounters on the radio.

In conversation and poetry, contemporary Iraqi poets in exile Salah Niazi, Fawzi Karim and Nabeel Yasin reflect on the city they left and describe how the City of Peace still exerts a powerful pull on their work. The picture they paint is fresh and unexpected: a weekly pilgrimage to the book market to buy Sartre or Hemingway, poets bar-hopping their way across the city and small boys spending blissful, endless days swimming in the Tigris.

With additional contributions from Robert Irwin and Professor Geert Jan van Gelder.

Featured poems:

Salah Niazi
The Abode

Fawzi Karim
At The Gardenia's Entrance
two excerpts from The Plague Lands
(forthcoming Carcanet Press)

Nabeel Yasin
New York Baghdad

Abu Nuwas - Untitled
trans. Eric Ormsby from Questions For Stones: On Classical Arabic Poetry reproduced in Abu Nuwas - A Genius For Poetry by Philip F Kennedy, Oneworld 2005.

A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 03 MAY 2009

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2pjl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Afternoon Reading (b0084s1m)
The Big Chill

This is How

Specially commissioned stories exploring the darker side of life.

When Patrick Oxtoby is sent down for murder, one of the first things he learns in prison is that you don't get to choose your cell-mate.

By MJ Hyland, read by Paul Brennen.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2prz)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2ps1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2ps3)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00k2ps5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00k2ps7)
The sound of bells from St George's Church, Poynton in Cheshire.


SUN 05:45 Petitioning the Modern Way (b00jz2jr)
Episode 1

Journalist and author Jon Ronson examines Number 10's e-petitioning system, which allows the public to submit petitions directly to the Prime Minister.

Jon wonders whether the petitions really make an impact.


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00k2q80)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00k2q82)
Weaving

Mark Tully explores weaving as a metaphor for how we should live our life, beginning in Gandhi's house. He believed that weaving was a necessary spiritual discipline and, perhaps surprisingly, many western poets and musicians echo this view. With poetry by William Blake, Henry Vaughan, Walt Whitman and DH Lawrence and music by saxophonist Jan Garbarek.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b00k2q84)
Charlotte Smith meets Beate Kubitz, who went from being a high-flying executive working with charities in London to a sheep farmer and running a knitwear firm in Todmorden in West Yorkshire.

Beate had what many would regard a dream job: a high flying exeutive who worked with charities, travelling aroud the world and earning good money. But Beate Kubitz decided to sell her London home and buy a barn and a few sheep in Todmorden in West Yorkshire. Initially regarded as a 'hobby' farmer, she has survived and now even shears her own sheep. With a flock of 70, she uses the wool from her sheep to make knitwear. The garments are designed and knitted by local people; they regularly attend London Fashion Week and have even designed a wedding dress.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b00k2q86)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00k2q88)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00k2q8b)
Roger Bolton discusses the religious and ethical news of the week. Moral arguments and perspectives on stories, both familiar and unfamiliar.


SUN 07:55 Radio 4 Appeal (b00k2q8d)
National Benevolent Fund for the Aged

Baroness Betty Boothroyd appeals on behalf of the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged. Donations: Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144.

This charity tackles the issues of loneliness, physical pain and isolation, all of which can leave older people feeling excluded from our society.

If you are a UK tax payer, please provide NBFA with your full name and address so that they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation worth another 25 per cent. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode.

Registered Charity No: 243387.


SUN 07:58 Weather (b00k2q8g)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00k2q8j)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00k2q8l)
A choir and congregation of workers in the financial sector gather at Wesley's Chapel in the City of London to find Christian hope in the current financial crisis.

Address: Philip Robinson, the FSA's Director of Financial Crime and Intelligence.

With Rev Dr Fiona Stewart-Darling, Bishop's Chaplain in Docklands and Rev Dr Leslie Griffiths; Director of Music: John Tripp.


SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00k1wsv)
London Underground

Loft extensions are for ordinary citizens. When the property market gets tough, the wealthy dig down to create the ultimate den, says Clive James – but he thinks it’s a worrying sign that rich people living in London are developing a bunker mentality.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00k2q8n)
The thoughts of MP Stephen Pound on Hazel Blears' comments about the Labour government. Plus investor Warren Buffet; the swine flu outbreak of 1976, the papers with Gill Hicks and a tribute to UA Fanthorpe.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00k2q8q)
The week's events in Ambridge.


SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b00k2q8s)
Beirut Hostages

Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Beirut hostages John McCarthy, Brian Keenan and Terry Waite discuss their shared experiences and are joined by campaigner Jill Morrell, who was the girlfriend of John McCarthy at the time.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b00jwy1d)
Series 3

Episode 6

David Mitchell hosts the game show in which panellists are encouraged to tell lies and compete to see how many items of truth they are able to smuggle past their opponents.

With Jeremy Hardy, Fred MacAulay, Jack Dee and Will Self.

A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00k2qr3)
Brogdale

Sheila Dillon explores Brogdale in Kent, home of the National Fruit Collection, updating a story covered by the programme in the early 1990s and in 2007 when one of the greatest of our living food plant collections was under threat. They are to remain there following a reversal of a government decision two years ago to move over 4,000 trees and plants to another site. Since then Brogdale has flourished in many different ways. Sheila revisits the site and explores some of the new food-related businesses that have developed in the 'Market Place' with new investment and refurbishment.

In addition to the food businesses, there are educational tours and a laboratory that can analyse the nutrient value of different soils and diagnose plant problems. The Plant Centre, which can identify different varieties for Brogdale, boasts over 2,000 different varieties of apples, including 60 different varieties of cooking apples. It remains of global as well as national significance.

Sheila meets Joan Morgan of the Friends of Brogdale, who campaigned to save Brogdale, and talks to Tony Hillier of Hillreed Land and landscape architect Tom le Dell. She drops in on food businesses including the Tiddly Pomme, selling ciders, wines and fruit juices, and events caterers, Scott Anderson.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b00k2qr5)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00k2qr7)
The communities secretary, Hazel Blears, has spoken out about the 'titanic battering' that the Labour government has suffered. Labour backbenchers Richard Burden and Nick Palmer and the justice secretary Jack Straw give their views.

Campaigning is underway in elections for the European Parliament and English county councils. We visit Nottinghamshire to find out if Labour can hold on to power in County Hall. Plus we board the BBC's election train in India.


SUN 13:30 Catholics and Jews (b00k9ppm)
From Pogroms to Pius XII

Edward Stourton examines the history of the complex relationship between Catholics and Jews.

He looks at claims that Christian theology paved the way for modern anti-Semitism, visiting Rome and Poland as he explores an often violent relationship.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00k01gc)
Peter Gibbs chairs the popular horticultural forum. Pippa Greenwood, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Biggs are guests of Tunstall Gardeners' Society in Sittingbourne. They also answer questions sent in by post and email.

Plus news of a trial to see if it is possible to grow a crop of olives in the UK.

Including Gardening weather forecast.

A Taylor Made production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 Lights, Camera, Landmark (b00fgblq)
Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

Matthew Sweet visits parts of the man-made landscape which have been used in films over the years.

Not used as a prison since 1924, from the 1960s onwards it has been used for films such as In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins and The Italian Job.


SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00k2qr9)
Geoffrey Chaucer - Troilus and Criseyde

Episode 2

Dramatisation of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.

One of the great works of English literature, this powerful, compelling story explores love from its first tentative beginnings through to passionate sensuality and eventual tragic disillusionment. Lavinia Greenlaw's new version for radio brings Chaucer's language up-to-date for a modern audience while remaining true to his original poetic intention.

Criseyde's Uncle Pandarus has been the matchmaker for the Trojan hero Troilus and young widow Criseyde, who are desperately in love. But what will happen when Criseyde is handed over to the Greeks at the gates of Troy to join her 'traitor' father?

Troilus ...... Tom Ferguson
Criseyde ...... Maxine Peake
Pandarus ...... Malcolm Raeburn
Servant/Friend ...... Kathryn Hunt
Calchas/Servant ...... Kevin Doyle
Priam/Servant ...... Terence Mann
Hector/Diomede ...... Declan Wilson

With music composed by Gary Yershon and performed by Ehsan Emam, Tim Williams and Mike Dale.

Directed by Susan Roberts.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b00k2sdt)
Xiaolu Guo

James Naughtie and readers meet Chinese author Xiaolu Guo to talk about her novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. It is a story about discovery, language and understanding, and how cultural differences can sometimes be too great for a relationship to last.


SUN 16:30 Ossian (b00k2vz6)
Kenneth Steven tells the story of one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of poetry and literature. James MacPherson's apparent 'discovery' of the ancient poems of Ossian in the 1760s transformed the image and acceptance of Highland Scottish life throughout the world and helped to inspire the Romantic movement, but very quickly doubts were voiced about the authenticity of the poems.


SUN 17:00 Hacked to Pieces (b00jyyl0)
Jolyon Jenkins investigates whether we have lost the war on cybercrime and looks at a new criminal economy which has grown to feed the demand for our most private details.

Jolyon finds that the security details of ordinary members of the public - their bank details, passwords, and secret security questions are being openly traded in cybercrime forums. He hands over his own laptop computer to an 'ethical hacker' and finds that it takes two minutes for its password to be cracked. Within a few more minutes, the hacker has installed a key-logging Trojan that secretly passes all his computer activity - passwords, emails and all - back to the hacker's own computer.

He finds that we are all vulnerable to criminals who trade on our human weaknesses: our magpie-like obsession with gaudiness and trivia, and our willingness to click the OK button without thinking through the consequences.

Ever since the internet became mainstream, we have been hearing warnings about hackers, spammers and other renegades of the online world. The internet security business now threatens to overtake the Chinese army as the largest employer on earth. But what has this army of consultants achieved, apart from spending billions of dollars? Every year the situation gets steadily worse.

The threat comes not from lone hackers, but from networks of criminals who have developed an astonishingly complex and mature organisational infrastructure that the authorities seem virtually powerless to deal with.

Entire internet relay chat rooms are controlled by the criminal underground economy and the turnover of cybercrime is possibly as big as that of the global illegal drugs trade. And as many as one billion computers - 12 per cent of the world's total internet-connected machines - could be hiding malware of one type or another. Some experts think it's only a matter of time before every PC in the world is infected.

The anti-hacking world is almost entirely privatised - its growth mirroring the rise of the opposition. Frequently, criminal networks have been closed down not by law enforcement authorities but thanks to investigations carried out by dedicated volunteers.


SUN 17:40 From Fact to Fiction (b00k2mw2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00k2vz8)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b00k2vzb)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k2vzd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00k2vzg)
Sheila McClennon introduces her selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00k2vzj)
Nic's disappointed that Annette's working in the shop - it would have been perfect for her.

Adam reckons David's silaging will be easy with the new paddock system. David feels frantic though and Adam worries he won't make it to the cricket practice. David's OK today but can't promise to turn up every week. Adam's pleased when Will arrives with Nic. He suggests she signs up for the single wicket but Nic prefers David's idea of helping Shula with the teas.

Matt's desperate to know what Chalkman said when he handed himself in to the SFO, so decides to go and have it out with him. Lilian begs Matt not to - it won't help if he's charged with GBH as well. Lilian persuades him to take his anger out on the golf course.

Before they even start, Will appears and suggests that Matt arranges for the board to look round the shoot. Matt snaps and tells Will that's the last thing on his mind. Shoving the clubs back into the car, Matt rants off to Lilian, who reminds him he's still on the board so he can protect his interests. Matt's bad company, so goes off for a walk, telling Lilian he's better on his own.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


SUN 19:15 Go4it (b00k2vzl)
Children's magazine. Barney Harwood talks tactics and fair play with a young go-kart racer and cricketer Rosalie Birch.

He also hears from some runners-up who are doing really well - Faryl Smith came second in Britain's Got Talent but is now beating all records in the classical charts, and she is only 13; Giorgos came third from bottom in Junior Eurovision but is the star of the film Sounds Like Teen Spirit.


SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b00cm7h0)
Stories with Latitude

Episode 2

Readings recorded on stage at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk. AL Kennedy's piece of comedy is on the troublesome subject of teeth.


SUN 20:00 More or Less (b00k00tq)
Tim Harford presents the magazine which looks at numbers everywhere, in the news, in politics and in life.

An Open University co production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00k01nw)
Matthew Bannister talks to Elizabeth Sandie about the life of poet UA Fanthorpe; Lord Ashdown and Archie Tuta talk about Lieutenant-General Sir Martin Garrod; Nobby Clark, Eddie Tobin and Caroline Sullivan on the former manager of The Bay City Rollers, Tam Paton; Asjad Nazir on Bollywood actor and director Feroz Khan; Brian Miners and Ann Jenkin on the life of former Grand Bard of the Gorsedd of Cornwall, Hugh Miners.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00k2m7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00k2q8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b00jzx33)
Network News

What happens to leading-edge high technology companies when their customers are plunged into recession? Peter Day puts the question to two top business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic: John Chambers, chairman of the networking giant Cisco Systems, and Mike Lynch, the founder of Britain's biggest software company, Autonomy.


SUN 21:58 Weather (b00k2vzn)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00k2vzq)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster. Including Petitioning the Modern Way.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00k01ny)
Francine Stock talks to Michael Caine, who reveals the reason why his wife banned their daughter from seeing his new film, Is Anybody There? The star of Get Carter, Alfie and The Italian Job also admits that he partly based his character on an old friend.

British director Terence Davies waxes lyrical about the Alistair Sim comedy, The Happiest Days Of Your Life.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00k2q82)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 04 MAY 2009

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2w4w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00jz10v)
Suicide - The Midriff

Laurie Taylor talks to Caroline Simone about her new study of the families of suicide victims, and hears how retelling stories of the experience can help people enormously.

Also, how the 'mid-riff' has become a professional term in the advertising industry to signal a post-feminist generation who see no contradiction between sexiness and equality. The 'midriffs' get their name from the late 1980s Madonna-influenced style for exposed abdomens and pierced belly buttons. Laurie talks to Rosalind Gill about her study of the depiction of women in advertising, and asks whether the ad industry has rejected or merely repackaged its old sexism.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00k2ps7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2w56)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2x16)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2x41)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00jgzjg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00k35tf)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00k3612)
Anna Hill visits an intensive broiler farm producing 800,000 chickens and asks what the future holds for British chicken growers.

Chicken is the UK's favourite meat and we are eating 62 per cent more than we were 20 years ago. However, UK production has only risen 42 per cent in that time so we are importing more from Europe, Brazil and Thailand. Anna visits an intensive chicken farm in Norfolk which produces 800,000 birds a year. Farmer Nigel Joice says that his five million-pound high-tech sheds have allowed him to farm efficiently, but others with older equipment have made sustained losses and cannot afford to reinvest. With new costs and legislation round the corner he says the next generation of farmers are questioning whether it is really worth farming British chicken. So where will our roast chicken come from?


MON 05:57 Weather (b00k3n05)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 06:00 Today (b00k3dtt)
With John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.

Complaints by a cabinet minister about the government's performance have prompted renewed speculation about the leadership of Gordon Brown.

Doctors in the United States say the swine flu virus has spread across the country with cases confirmed in 35 states.

More than 300 hotel guests in Hong Kong spent another day in quarantine after a Mexican guest was diagnosed with swine flu. Mexican correspondent Steve Gibbs discusses the official reports from Mexico and quarantined guest Eddie Sweeney describes the scene at the hotel.

Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond reports from across the EU to ask voters what issues will influence their ballot in the European elections in June 2009.

Oliver Madge of the British Pest Control Association discusses how to address the national rat issue.

Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant discusses the 'best job in the world': working on the Great Barrier Reef.

General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers Mick Brookes, and John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, discuss the value of SATs tests and the outcome of a possible boycott.

Johannesburg correspondent Peter Biles talks to the apartheid photographers portrtayed in the new film 'The Bang Bang Club'.

Sir Hilary Synnott discusses US attempts to improve relations with Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

Harriet Harman denies a report that she would fight for Labour Party leadership.

Author and Mini enthusiast Christy Campbell and design consultant Stephen Bayley discuss the social importance of the Mini.

Reporter Andrew Hosken discusses the Sri Lankan army's fragile relationship with the foreign media.

Lord Maurice Saatchi discusses Margaret Thatcher's legacy 30 years after she became prime minister.

Virologist Dr John McCauley discusses the value of stock piling vaccines against swine flu.

Assistant editor of the Financial Times Gillian Tett and author Seth Freedman discuss where responsibility for the economic downturn lies.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00k3n07)
Journalist David Aaronovitch on the dangerous seduction of conspiracy theories, from 9/11 to swine flu. Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History is published by Jonathan Cape.

Monica Ali stirs the melting pot in her new novel set in a multi-national hotel restaurant, where a dead body is discovered in the cellar. In The Kitchen is published by Doubleday.

Journalist Christopher Caldwell argues that mass immigration across Europe post-WWII has been an expensive mistake. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West is published by Allen Lane.

According to the international strategist Joshua Cooper Ramo, our society's models are hopelessly out of date as we face an era of instability and constant change. He calls for some creative thinking - and fast. The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What to Do About It is published by Little, Brown.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00k3fg7)
From Harvey River

Episode 1

Dona Croll reads from Lorna Goodison's portrait of past generations of her unconventional family in Harvey River, Jamaica.

Lorna remembers her remarkable great-grandfathers. The Englishman William Harvey, who is shunned by his peers for marrying a black Jamaican woman. Then George Wilson, an Irish sailor who jumps ship and finds himself at home among the wattle-and-daub rum shops and brothels of Jamaica - until he is bewitched by a beautfiful young Creole woman.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00k3fx1)
Family Feuds

A special programme focusing on family feuds. What are the reasons for family estrangement? Plus, learning to get along with the in-laws, and being candid with relatives.


MON 11:00 A Tale of Two Emirates (b00k3vkh)
Episode 2

Jenny Clayton visits Dubai and Abu Dhabi to see how these two emirates are coping with the credit crisis.

As the less well-known, wealthier neighbour of Dubai, Abu Dhabi has never sought the limelight. But, with potentially disastrous timing in the light of the global economic crisis, the emirate has embarked on a massive cultural development programme including beach resorts, housing, art galleries, museums and an opera house.


MON 11:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b00nvyzv)
Series 1

Roots Manoeuvres

Now all living crammed above an old record store in Birmingham, Grandad Rudy, father Adam and son Richie collide over a local history exhibition.

Written by Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell from an original idea by Lenny Henry.

Adam Sharpe ...... Lenny Henry
Richie Sharp ...... Joe Jacobs
Rudy Sharpe ...... Larrington Walker
Doreen ...... Claire Benedict
Jamelia/Tasha ...... Natasha Godfrey
Clifton ...... Jeffery Kissoon
Alison ...... Tracy-Ann Oberman
Francis ...... Michael Fenton Stevens
Customers ...... Colin Hoult/Doc Brown

Producer: Lucy Armitage.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2008.


MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00k3gg6)
Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker.


MON 12:57 Weather (b00k3gh5)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b00k3gqh)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.


MON 13:30 Counterpoint (b00k3vkk)
Series 23

2009 Heat 9

Paul Gambaccini chairs the general knowledge music quiz.

The questions cover every aspect of music - from the classical repertoire to world music, show tunes, film scores, jazz, rock and pop.

Three contestants battle it out:

Ian Bayley from Headington, Oxford
David Saxon from Northwood, Middlesex
Gary Williams from Weston-super-Mare

Producer: Paul Bajoria

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b00k2vzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b0081n8b)
Annapurna

By Jod Mitchell. Tension mounts as a young English couple trek their way across a treacherous Himalayan mountain range and realise that a mysterious Nepali is stalking them, getting closer by the day.

Tim ...... Ben Crowe
Emma ...... Clare Corbett
Sher; Krishna ...... Padam Chhetri

Director Conor Lennon.


MON 15:00 Pete Seeger in Word and Song (b00k2nkx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 15:45 Sacrifices (b00k3j0r)
Josh

Families with a talented child talk about the sacrifices they make to help them fulfil their potential.

Josh wants to dance, but when he gets a coveted place at Elmhurst dance school, associated with Birmingham Royal Ballet, his parents have to dig deep to ensure that his dream comes true.


MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00k2qr3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Traveller's Tree (b00k3vsv)
Series 5

Raising the Iron Curtain

Katie Derham presents the programme which examines our holiday and travel trends.

As the countries of the former Soviet bloc prepare to celebrate 20 years of democracy, Katie and the team look at how our curiosity to travel and experience Eastern Europe has affected those countries. Former tour leader and travel writer Neil Taylor reflects on the momentous changes that were precipitated by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

Plus a report from 20-year-old Mike Copus, who visits Berlin as a cold war tourist.

A Just Radio/Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 17:00 PM (b00k3kkt)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k3ksf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


MON 18:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b00k3x21)
Series 2

Episode 1

John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three distinguished guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary museum.

John and Sean's guests are Brian Eno, Chris Donald and Dave Gorman.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b00k3gv3)
Kenton has a free afternoon, and appears as David and Ruth are sorting the lambs. Ruth feels he can help but Kenton is too rough-handed and causes mayhem. David fires Kenton saying that he cannot be trusted, but he has plenty of other jobs for him.

Whilst out metal-detecting Eddie bumps into a bored Kenton, who persuades Eddie to let him have a go. Reluctantly Eddie hands over and Kenton goes off with great gusto just as David appears on the scene. David can't believe what he is seeing.

Eddie confides in Joe that his workload is looking sparse and he certainly doesn't want to end up on the dole. Joe will work something out.

Lynda is eager for Jill to get into training for her stint on the plinth. Lynda is 'cracking the whip' as a struggling Jill encounters Joe coming round the bend on Bartleby. Jill and Joe both have a good giggle.

Lynda apologises for pushing Jill to her limits. She confirms that Jill the perfect choice, but of course she needs to be successful in the ballot. Joe later tells Eddie that he has a much better idea for the plinth, but Lynda must not hear about it.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b00k3kw1)
Arts news and reviews.

Armando Iannucci discusses the combination of luck and judgement which led his film In The Loop to be released in the week that strikingly similar events unfolded in UK politics.

The producer of TV spy drama Spooks explains how writers aim to predict events when planning storylines - for example, an episode about financial turmoil which aired at the moment when real banks were collapsing. He also reveals some of the programme makers' tricks of the trade.

Through new and archive interviews with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, the late novelists JG Ballard and Michael Crichton, ITV Director of Television Peter Fincham and a nun whose book predicted the credit crunch with uncanny accuracy, Mark Lawson looks at the films, books, plays and TV programmes which, intentionally or by chance, achieve great topical resonance.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00k3lqh)
Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit

Episode 1

By Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.

Financial problems force Vera to live on her allotment while Irene finds a rich friend reduced to begging.

Irene ...... Prunella Scales
Vera ...... Patricia Routledge.


MON 20:00 France's Forgotten Concentration Camps (b00k3x23)
Philip Sweeney travels to southern France to investigate a network of concentration camps set up 70 years ago when hundreds of thousands of refugees fled over the Pyrenees after the Spanish Civil War. Since then thousands of others have been detained: Jews, gypsies, Algerians and more recently immigrants escaping persecution in their own countries.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b00jts6m)
Hard Times in Middletown, USA

Stephen Smith finds out how the city of Muncie in Indiana reflects the impact of the economic crisis on the American middle class.

In 1929, the Rockefeller Institute published Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture, a scientific study of a 'typical American city' which examined church, school, family and work in Muncie. The book was an instant hit and is still in print. It launched Muncie's reputation as the most widely studied small town in the world.

Today it is a rust-belt city grappling with de-industrialisation and deepening recession.

A co-production with American RadioWorks for BBC Radio 4.


MON 21:00 Costing the Earth (b00k3x25)
Raising a Stink

Medical doctor and anatomist Dr Alice Roberts investigates the potential savings available by harnessing the power of sewage through anaerobic digestion and the fertilisation of farms using human waste. Some experts believe that millions of pounds could be saved if we could overcome fecophobia, a fear of human waste.

Each flush of the toilet chain sends upto 13 litres of purified drinking water racing down the u-bend into the vast, largely Victorian sewage system that comprises of 300,000km of sewers that serve 9,000 wastewater treatment plants that receive 10 billion litres of sewage every single day.

Each year millions of tonnes of wet sewage sludge are produced. In the future the potential of this waste could be unlocked by farmers fertilising their land with biosolids, a compost made from human waste, and the National Grid using the methane produced from anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge to heat homes.

Costing The Earth asks whether our sewers can cope with all the waste we flush away, and finds out how we can put our human waste to best use.


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00k3n07)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b00k3m82)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00k3m8d)
A special edition of The World Tonight focusing on Somalia. What should be done to prevent the spread of piracy and extremism? And can the world's first 'failed state' be turned around? With Ritula Shah.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00k3mdq)
The House of Special Purpose

Episode 6

David Warner reads John Boyne's haunting novel which travels to the heart of the Russian empire where young imperial family bodyguard Georgy Jachmenev is privy to the secrets of Tsar Nicholas and his circle.

Georgy and Anastasia steal out of the Winter Palace in disguise to see the White Nights, but are they being watched?


MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (b00jxhdb)
Michael Rosen takes another journey into the world of words, language and the way we speak.


MON 23:30 M Is for Maxwell Knight (b00h30nq)
Writer and historian Christopher Lee tells the story of the popular 1950s radio and television naturalist Maxwell Knight, who led a secret existence as an MI5 spy runner. He discovers what it was about this quietly spoken and gentle man that made him such a successful spymaster and inspired Ian Fleming to use him as a model for the character of M in his James Bond novels.



TUESDAY 05 MAY 2009

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2w34)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00k3fg7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2w4y)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2wzn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2x18)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00k2x43)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00k35rk)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00k35th)
Charlotte Smith asks why there will be less British chicken in the future.

Farmers say that the British chicken industry has doubled in the last 20 years, but we are also importing more. Now many farmers say that they face a crossroads as to whether to continue with a prospect of low returns for big investments. They say this will mean British chicken is more scarce but imports might not always be available to us.


TUE 06:00 Today (b00k3dth)
With John Humphrys and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 On the Ropes (b00k3x7h)
Marjorie Lambert

John Humphrys talks to successful people who have weathered storms in their careers. Marjorie Lambert talks about how her foster daughter shattered her life.

Marjorie took on difficult teenagers and tried to give them a better life, but when one foster child made accusations of sexual abuse and began a string of threatening phone calls, her life was sent into turmoil. It took a further 10 years to discover that vital and disturbing information about the girl's past had been withheld - information which would have stopped her fostering the girl in the first place.


TUE 09:30 Head to Head (b00k3x7k)
Series 1

Episode 3

Edward Stourton presents a series celebrating great debates, combining archive of rare discussions between key figures with analysis by a panel of experts.

Clive James' debate with Gore Vidal on how Christianity has affected mankind's ability to think and live freely. Professors AC Grayling and Alister McGrath unpick both standpoints.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00k3fq5)
From Harvey River

Episode 2

Dona Croll reads from Lorna Goodison's portrait of past generations of her unconventional family in Harvey River, Jamaica.

Lorna recalls the lives of her mother, Doris, and her four sisters, who dazzle the locals with their finery and genteel manners on their weekly trips into town. Life in Harvey River is good, until tragedy strikes when Doris' proud elder sister Cleodine finds herself marrying a man she doesn't love and their beloved brother Howard succumbs to the temptations of a pepper-eating redhead who looks like fire itself.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00k3fvr)
Michelle Pfeiffer; Kate Royal; Gay and lesbian adoption

Michelle Pfeiffer on love, youth and fading beauty. Plus, soprano Kate Royal on her career; and advice for lesbians and gay men wishing to adopt a child.


TUE 11:00 Nature (b00k3x7m)
Series 2

The Future of the Amazon

Paul Evans investigates the Amazon. It has always been an evocative and mysterious place, but over the last few years it has become better known for deforestation and concern about its future. Paul looks at what makes the Amazon so special, what is threatening it and how those threats are affecting the wildlife that we still know so little about.

Writers and explorers have always found the Amazon a place of inspiration and fascination. Hummingbirds, howler monkeys, vast rivers and mosquitoes are common images conjured up by the phrase 'the Amazon jungle', but that is fast disappearing. Future generations are more likely to think of soy bean plantations, cattle ranches and sugar cane rather than green frogs and towering trees.

60 per cent of the Amazon sits within Brazil, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and so the pressure to convert much of this vast natural ecosystem into beef and beans that are transported around the world is huge. Big money talks loudly, and the call of the howler monkey and the flutter of the butterflies wings are barely heard amidst the cries for growth and development.

Counterbalance that with the worldwide concern for climate change. 20 per cent of all greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere are caused by deforestation and so the world is putting pressure on countries like Brazil to protect the forests. It is a complicated picture of competing powers, but sitting in the middle is the rich and little studied wildlife of Amazonia.

Researchers at Oregon State University have found that hummingbirds are very wary about crossing areas of cleared forest, even though that area can be only a few metres across. This has serious implications for pollination of the plants and flowers of the forest because hummingbirds along with other flying insects and mammals are vitally important transporters of pollen. If we clear forest and do not leave large enough corridors for the animals to move through then the forest will become more and more inbred and depleted.

This is just one example of how we are deforesting the Amazon with little concern for the wildlife that lives there, and we do so at our peril.

The Amazon is rich in life, an important source of medicine, home to many thousands of indigenous people and crucial for the healthy functioning of our climate. Never before has the world been so interested in its future and never before has there been the opportunity to save or destroy it as there is today.


TUE 11:30 God and the Movies (b00h8n6n)
Journalist and vicar Richard Coles travels to Hollywood to explore how major film studios are trying to cash in on the success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ by placing Christian themes and values at the heart of major blockbusters.


TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00k3g1p)
Consumer news and issues with Julian Worricker. Where would you make cuts in public sector spending?


TUE 12:57 Weather (b00k3gg8)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b00k3gn2)
The government remains on course for a confrontation with Labour backbenchers after rejecting a proposal to turn Royal Mail into a not-for-profit company.

Thousands of people in Pakistan's Swat Valley are deserting their homes because of heavy clashes between security forces and the Taliban. Pakistan's High Commissioner comments on the situation.


TUE 13:30 The Music Group (b00k3xlb)
Series 3

Episode 4

Comedian, broadcaster and GP Dr Phil Hammond asks each of three guests to play the track of their choice for the delight or disdain of the others.

His guests are Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band member Neil Innes; Graham Linehan, writer of The IT Crowd, Black Books and Father Ted; and actress Felicity Finch, who plays Ruth Archer in The Archers.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00k3gv3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b0084zr7)
Solo Behind The Iron Curtain

Tracy Spottiswoode's thriller is based on real events in 1968.

Actor Robert Vaughn, famous at the time as TV spy Napoleon Solo, is making a movie in Prague with several other Hollywood stars. Filming stops abruptly, however, when Russian tanks roll into Czechoslovakia. Cast and crew find themselves trapped. The Man from UNCLE must find a way to escape, and quickly.

Robert Vaughn ...... Himself
Pepsi ...... Vesna Stanojevic
George Segal ...... Robert Glenister
Ben Gazzara ...... John Guerrasio
Bradford Dillman ...... Richard Laing
David Wolper ...... Garrick Hagon
Honzo ...... Robert Luckay
Sadovsky ...... Rad Lazar

Directed by Kate McAll.


TUE 15:00 Making History (b00k3xzy)
Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past. Could a leaf collection in Southport provide valuable historical research for climate researchers in the future?


TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00k3y00)
A Friend of the Family

Coming Round

High-flying go-getter Anton comes round from three days in a coma to find a total stranger standing by his bed wearing one of his shirts. He is further appalled to learn that this man claims to be married to Susan, Anton's own wife. And things get worse and worse before they begin to get better ...

Producer Christine Hall.


TUE 15:45 Sacrifices (b00k3jxt)
David

Families with a talented child talk about the sacrifices they make to help them fulfil their potential.

David wants to play tennis, but the travelling to tournaments every weekend takes its toll on the rest of the family and the financial pressures build up when he gets a place at a tennis academy to train full time.


TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (b00k3znq)
Michael Rosen takes another journey into the world of words, language and the way we speak.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b00k3zns)
Series 18

Frank Sinatra

Broadcaster Colin Murray chooses Francis Albert Sinatra in the biographical series in which Matthew Parris asks his guests to choose someone who's inspired their lives.

"Fiercely competitive", "aggressive", "utterly masculine" and "supremely talented". Just some of the words - Matthew Parris says - that might be used to describe one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century.

Colin calls Frank omnipresent. Enchanted by his songs he says: "It's not about the notes you hit for me, it's about the simplicity and the honesty. And for me he had it in bucket loads"

New York author and music critic Will Friedwald vividly describes the singer's life history, from his early years to the marriages and through his recording and screen career.

Featuring excerpts of many of Sinatra's greatest recordings.

Produced by Beth O'Dea

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.


TUE 17:00 PM (b00k3kkh)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k3kr9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


TUE 18:30 Heresy (b00k3zzb)
Series 6

Episode 4

Victoria Coren hosts the show that thinks the unthinkable. With journalists Euan Ferguson and Tanya Gold, and comedian David Mitchell. From May 2009.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00k3gqk)
Susan calls in on Mike and notes that he seems to be very keen on Vicky He can't stop talking about her.

Brenda's busy revising so can't offer to help Hayley and Roy with childcare next week while Caroline and Oliver are away. Hayley's confident everything will be ok. Brenda's not sure she'll be able to go travelling as she hoped, due to the cost, so she'll have to stay in Ambridge and watch Tom with Annette. Hayley insists there's nothing going on but Brenda's not convinced.

Pat arrives at the village shop with the ice-cream, and is surprised to see Annette working there. Annette's clearly delighted to be able to pay Helen rent now. Pat can't quite believe Susan's enthusiasm for Annette. When Pat bumps into Brenda outside the shop, she tells her of her concerns. It just confirms Brenda's suspicion that Annette's dug herself nicely into Ambridge and Tom.

Hayley tells Brenda to speak to Helen - she'll tell her the truth. And it's the anniversary of Greg's death on Thursday so Helen might appreciate hearing from her. Brenda feels awful for being so wrapped up with her own concerns and thanks Hayley for the tip-off. She'll give Helen a call.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00k3kvq)
In the current production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot at The Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart play Estragon and Vladimir, the bantering twosome awaiting the mysterious Godot. Mark Lawson met them backstage to ask about their interpretation of what has long been perceived as a difficult play, and how playing Beckett on the London stage differs from their celebrated film roles in The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and X-Men.

The poet Peter Porter discusses the final writings of the late John Updike who died earlier this year. His collection, Endpoint, contains poems which culminate in his confrontation with his final illness.

The writer Christopher Hampton and director Stephen Frears, who previously made Dangerous Liaisons, have joined forces once more in an adaptation of another French work, Cheri. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film.

And Lord Puttnam reveals the shortlist for the 2009 Art Fund Prize for the UK's best museum or gallery.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00k3ly8)
Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit

Episode 2

By Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.

Vera discovers she is not the only person living on her allotment, while Irene nurses her vagrant friend back to health.

Irene ...... Prunella Scales
Vera ...... Patricia Routledge
Howard Small ...... Christopher Kelham
Judith Brain ...... Francis Jeater.


TUE 20:00 The New Hindu Fundamentalists (b00k3zzd)
Navdip Dhariwal investigates the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in Britain. Hindutva - the belief that India should exclusively follow the laws and principles of the majority Hindu faith - has been evolving and developing on the sub-continent for many decades.

Navdip explores the history of the Hindu right wing in India and its power and influence within Hindu communities outside India. She asks why increasing numbers of Hindus are being drawn to the fundamentalist agenda, which some regard as anti-Muslim and anti-Christian.

Her investigation leads her to British Hindus who are giving seemingly charitable donations that are, in reality, ending up in the coffers of the Hindu right.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00k3zzg)
Peter White discusses audio versions of three history books with journalist Lee Kumutat and Vidar Hjardeng, head of diversity at ITV.

Lee's choice:
The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay.
Narrator: Humphrey Bower
Published by Bolinda Publishing
ISBN 1742142095 ISBN13 9781742142098
Length: 23 hours 30 min.
Set in 19th-century London

Vidar's choice:
Mary, Queen Of Scots by Antonia Fraser
Narrator: Patricia Hodge
Published by Orion Audiobooks
ISBN-10: 0753817683 ISBN-13: 9781409105305
Length: 6 hours 35 minutes
The fascinating story of Mary Queen of Scots and her part in the trouble and intrigues between France, England and Scotland

Peter's choice:
Thomas Hardy: The Time-torn Man by Claire Tomalin
Narrator: Jill Balcon and David Shaw-Parker
ISBN-13 9780141806877 Penguin Books Ltd
Length: 6 hours and 46 min
The extraordinary life of English novelist Thomas Hardy.


TUE 21:00 Case Notes (b00k3zzj)
Cerebral Palsy

Dr Mark Porter discusses the causes and treatments for cerebral palsy. One in 400 births are affected by cerebral palsy. Mark visits the Bobath Centre in London to find out how their joined-up approach to treatment can help.


TUE 21:30 On the Ropes (b00k3x7h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b00k3m6g)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00k3m84)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig. Is the Pakistani army reluctant to take on the Taleban? Has Belarus - dubbed Europe's last dictatorship - changed? Did Gaugin cut off Van Gogh's ear? Plus, a UN inquiry criticises Israeli army conduct in Gaza, and, 10 years on, we assess the record of Welsh devolution.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00k3mds)
The House of Special Purpose

Episode 7

David Warner reads John Boyne's haunting novel which travels to the heart of the Russian empire where young imperial family bodyguard Georgy Jachmenev is privy to the secrets of Tsar Nicholas and his circle.

Fear blights Georgy's mind as he recounts the dread that Rasputin would betray him, and the panic of almost losing his beloved wife, Zoya.


TUE 23:00 The Secret World (b011qdpd)
Series 1

Episode 4

From Steve Wright to Ken Dodd, Jon Culshaw explores the bizarre private lives of famous folk. From May 2009.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00k3mgj)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.



WEDNESDAY 06 MAY 2009

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2w36)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00k3fq5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2w50)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2wzq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2x1b)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00k2x45)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00k35rm)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00k35tk)
Some dairy farmers are facing yet another cut in the price they get for their milk. First Milk, the largest dairy farmer cooperative in the UK, has cut what it pays its farmers, by one pence per litre.

Anna Hill also reports on a 50 per cent rise in ticket sales for what will be the final Royal Show.


WED 06:00 Today (b00k3dtk)
Presented by John Humphrys and Sarah Montague.

Ministers are set to confirm that a voluntary scheme for controversial ID cards will launch in Manchester. Dr Edgar Whitley, of the London School of Economics, explains why he has been warning about the cost of the scheme for the past four years.

Dr Jonathan Smart demonstrates what a new mannequin designed to train medical students can do.

Shock-jock Michael Savage has reacted to his name being appearing on a list of people banned from entering the UK for fostering extremism or hatred by threatening to sue the UK.

Martin Patience and Zubeida Malik discuss the state of the Taleban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sports news with Garry Richardson.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls discusses how children at risk can be better protected by the state.

Author Chloe Hooper explains a dark past belonging to some Australian islands.

Thought for the Day with Oliver McTernan, director of the NGO Forward Thinking.

Correspondent Barbara Plett and US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker discuss the US pressure on Islamabad to counter the Taleban.

Home affairs correspondent Rory Maclean reports on how the pilot scheme for identity cards in Manchester will work. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling and former head of the Association of Chief Police Officers Chris Fox discuss whether the ID card scheme should be scrapped.

The Ministry of Defence is helping to launch a range of toys based on British soldiers, sailors and airmen. Former SAS soldier Andy McNab discusses the 10 inch-tall articulated dolls.

Journalists Peter Sands and Roy Greenslade discuss how regional newspapers can survive.

A play based around the murder of James Bulger - the toddler beaten to death by two boys 16 years ago - is opening in London. Reporter Jack Izzard attends the rehearsals to consider objections to the play from the charity Mothers Against Murder and Aggression. Author Blake Morrison discusses the background of the murder.

Synthetic biology - the idea of manipulating DNA and building novel organisms from scratch - is a vital area of research and more money is needed to reap the rewards of its findings, a report claims. Author of the report Professor Richard Kitney, of Imperial College, London, discusses why he believes this research is important.

Swine flu has filled a lot of column inches in the papers and a lot of minutes in the news programmes. It has even inspired some poetry. The poet responsible, Felix Dennis, explains why flu is a good subject for a poem.

Amos Oz is one of Israel's most celebrated living authors. He is renowned not just for his novels, but also for his searing critiques of Israeli government policy. Middle East correspondent Tim Franks talks to Mr Oz about why Israelis must have other proclivities beyond the conflict in the region.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b00k40l1)
KULJIT BHAMRA
Kuljit Bhamra is a composer, producer and virtuoso tabla player who is this year’s Artist in Residence at the Salisbury International Arts Festival which takes place from 22th May until 6th June. As a self taught composer he has worked on successful film scores such as Bend it Like Beckham and Bhaji on the Beach. He is also appearing at Raga Mela at London's Southbank on 6th May.

GARY CONLEY
Gary Conley is an ex miner and central figure in the piece of public art recently unveiled in St Helens. The vast sculpture, 'Dream' by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, is 20 metres high and is visible from Junction 7 of the M62. It is featured in The Big Art Project, a Channel 4 initiative supported by the Arts Council and the Arts Fund. The programmes following the project begin on 10th May at 7pm on Channel 4.

SISTER WENDY BECKETT
Sister Wendy Beckett became a nun at 16 and while she still lives in a Carmelite Monastery she is also an author and authority on art. Her latest book Encounters with God: In Quest of the Ancient Icons of Mary is published by Continuum.

ARABELLA DORMAN
Arabella Dorman is a portrait painter and only the second British woman war artist in history. She spent two weeks in Iraq, close to the battle lines, observing with an artists eye the way the Army lives, operates and works together on operations. An exhibition of her work – Frontlines: Images from Iraq takes place from 12th-30th May at Frost and Reed in St James’s, London SW1.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00k3fq7)
From Harvey River

Episode 3

Dona Croll reads from Lorna Goodison's portrait of past generations of her unconventional family in Harvey River, Jamaica.

A cricket match brings Lorna's mother and father, Doris and Marcus, together. After a chaste but whirlwind romance, the newlyweds return to Marcus' hometown, where the marriageable local women all turn out to judge the stranger he chose over them.

They are immediately won over by their beautiful and sophisticated rival, and life for the young couple and their children in those early years is good - until everything is changed by the outbreak of war in 1939.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00k3fvt)
Diana Quick; Secondary infertility; Marilyn French obituary

Actor Diana Quick on her family history. Plus, the heartache of secondary infertility; feminist writer Marilyn French's legacy; and the life of Mary Wollstonecraft.


WED 11:00 It's My Story (b00fm5s2)
Earfull - From Silence into Sound

Tim has made his living as an actor for more than 40 years. All this time he has been deaf. This programme follows him over more than a year as he has tests, consultations and finally a cochlea implant operation, and can hear again.

Tim tells his story of emerging from silence into sound, and interwoven with this is a performance of Earfull, his one-man play which chronicles his move from soldier to actor, and, as he loses his hearing, from sound to silence.

Tim, who is in his 70s, grew up in Blackpool, joined the army and just before he was posted overseas his girlfriend called to say she loved him. He could not make out what she said because his new rifle had damaged his hearing.

Later he did marry, had two children and with only six years to go to qualify for a pension, came back to London on leave. He went to a matinee of The Mousetrap. There cannot be many whose lives were changed by this pot-boiler, but Barlow's was. He realised that what he really wanted to be was not an army officer but an actor.

Despite his deafness (Olivier wrote that he too had hearing problems and Barlow should go for it anyway) he trained at the Old Vic in Bristol. It cost him - his wife left, taking the children, and he didn't get the army pension. But for 40 years now he has been an actor: working with Complicité, the RSC, Manchester Royal Exchange; he has made a living, so has been fairly successful.

But Tim's life is changing again. Over the past year or so he has been advised, assessed, tested and finally has had a cochlea implant, the insertion of an electro-magnet that directly stimulates his nerves to produce sound images.

Throughout the process, from the initial tests at St Thomas's Hospital to the final tuning up, recordings were made. As the drill goes through his skull to place the device the microphone is only inches away. And the moment when it was switched on is captured too, and for the first time after four decades Tim hears someone speaking to him.

At every stage Tim reflects on what is happening to him. He has been deaf for so long the prospect of hearing is daunting. Will it work? How will it affect his acting, and his life? Woven into this narrative is that of his play Earfull, a recorded live performance. The story is of falling into silence, but at the same time into acting, and the emergence from silence back into sound.

But the programme does not simply tell Tim Barlow's story. At first a cochlea implant gives the aural equivalent of a pixilated visual image. Voices sound, Tim says, like Darth Vader's, and this is worked on to make it clearer and more subtle. Radio recreates this process so, rather than having it described, the listener experiences what Tim hears.


WED 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (b00whw40)
Murder Unprompted

7 Premiere

Drama for the thespian sleuth, when the new star can't master the script - and some people want him dead. Stars Bill Nighy.


WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00k3g1r)
A company which promised to recover fraud losses has been shut down by the High Court. European Mediation Ltd offered hope of compensation through an EU fund to people who had lost money through fraud. But government investigators say the EU compensation fund never existed.

Beckie Williams is protesting at Marks & Spencer's policy to charge more for bigger bras.

A group of care home providers in England is planning a legal challenge over the fees that local councils are prepared to pay for care places.

Star of BBC 2's 'Dragon's Den' Duncan Bannatyne explains how we can be clever with our cash.

There is no obvious place for people to turn for emotional and practical support if they lose out through fraud. The National Fraud Strategic Authority wants to put that right.

And key to the continuing success of the Apple iPhone has been the extra pieces of software that you can add on yourself through the Apple App Store. It's a strategy that other smart-phone manufacturers are now following.


WED 12:57 Weather (b00k3ggb)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b00k3gn4)
The home secretary confirms that Manchester is to become the first city where people can sign up for an identity card. We speak to the chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, James Hall

And at Westminster, four ministerial aides tell the programme that they will vote against the part privatisation of Royal Mail unless there is a compromise. The postal affairs minister Pat McFadden responds.


WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00k40l5)
Steve Hewlett speaks to chief executive of Channel 4 Andy Duncan and Ben Fenton, chief media correspondent at the Financial Times, about Channel 4's results. He hears from Jon Gaunt about SunTalk Radio and asks Matt Wells, head of audio at the Guardian, and technologist and writer Becky Hogge how broadcasting should be regulated on the internet.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b00k3gqk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b00k49s3)
Fifteen

By Deborah Wain. Neglected and secretly pregnant, 15-year-old foster child Ellie looks for love in the wrong place until it finds her with a power she never expected.

Ellie ...... Jemima Foxtrot
Gavin ...... Neil Dudgeon
Sharon ...... Deborah McAndrew
Jeremy ...... Darragh Mortell

Directed by Nadia Molinari.


WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00k49s5)
Vincent Duggleby and guests answer calls on financial issues.


WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00k3yh5)
A Friend of the Family

Just One of the Girls

A Friend of the Family 2/3

Just One of the Girls

A new story for radio
by Chrissie Gittins

Read by Phyllida Nash

A tender story of friendship, grief and new shoes.

Producer Christine Hall

Milly's death deprives Dan of a wife and Rich of a valued friend. After all, not every man has a companion who'll help him choose a new dress.


WED 15:45 Sacrifices (b00k3jxx)
Cyril

Families with a talented child talk about the sacrifices they make to help them fulfil their potential.

Eight-year-old Cyril plays the piano, but his talent requires a big commitment from his family. They practise with him for at least two hours a day, before and after school, and take him once a week for a day at the Royal College of Music.


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00k49s7)
Architecture and Living - Class Endures

Can the tubular steel and smoked glass dreams of leading architects ever take account of the mess of life? Jeremy Till claims that architecture exists in a bubble and ignores the way people really live. He joins Laurie Taylor to discuss how architecture engages - or fails to engage - with the society for which it builds. They are joined by Ricky Burdett, Chief Architectural Advisor for the Olympic Development Authority, to critique a profession whose output we all have to live with.

Plus, Will Atkinson from Bristol University introduces his groundbreaking study into the life decisions made by the children of working class parents. He finds that despite claims that we live in a new society, class is remarkably durable.


WED 16:30 Case Notes (b00k3zzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 17:00 PM (b00k3kkk)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k3krc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


WED 18:30 Elvenquest (b00k49s9)
Series 1

Episode 2

Lord Darkness has kidnapped Amis and wants the sword. With a search underway, can Sam stop him?

More comic adventures set in lower Earth where fantasy writer Sam has been coerced into joining a band of intrepid heroes as they battle the dread forces of evil in search of the legendary sword of Asnagar!

Fantasy sitcom written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto.

Elf Lord, Vidar ...... Darren Boyd
Dean The Dwarf ...... Kevin Eldon
Amis, The Chosen One ...... Dave Lamb
Sam ...... Stephen Mangan
Lord Darkness ...... Alistair McGowan
Amazon Princess, Penthiselea ...... Sophie Winkleman

Producers: Anil Gupta & Paul Schlesinger

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2009.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b00k3gqm)
Tom's packing up for the move from Home Farm. Brian stops by to wish him luck for the future.

Over at Bridge Farm, Eddie arrives to try out his metal detector. Eddie tells Tom that work's thin on the ground. He's got nothing lined up after he's finished the patio at the Vicarage. Tom suggests asking Alan to mention his handiwork in his sermon. It would be cheaper than putting an ad in the parish magazine! Eddie asks after Helen, reminding Tom that tomorrow is the anniversary of Greg's death. Tom says he'll contact her. At least she's got Annette this year. They'll be able to remember Greg together.

It's the BL meeting and the attachment regarding the nominee for the new chairman seems to be missing from Matt's e-mail. He's not pleased to hear that Brian's been proposed and accuses the board of a stitch-up. There are no other nominees so Brian is elected and proceeds to chair the rest of the meeting. Matt feels betrayed by Brian, where's his family loyalty? Brian reasons that Matt's trouble trumps any family connections and there's really no more to say on the matter.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b00k3kvs)
A new Star Trek film 'prequel' charts the early days of James T Kirk and a young Spock. Critic Matt Thorne assesses whether it successfully breathes new life into the franchise.

As ITV announces that the Flagship arts programme The South Bank Show will come to an end in 2010, presenter Melvyn Bragg talks to Mark Lawson about the show he has hosted for over 30 years.

A new production of J B Priestley's Time and the Conways is showing at the National Theatre in London. The play focuses on family life just after the First World War, projecting the characters forward into their future and back again. Director Rupert Gould joins playwright David Edgar (who manipulates time in his play about Afghanistan, Black Tulips) and Jamie Lloyd (director of Richard Greenberg's timeshift play Three Days of Rain) to discuss the art of time travel in the theatre.

The actor Samantha Morton has directed her first film, The Unloved, for the Channel 4 season Britain's Forgotten Children. Based on her own experiences of being raised in care homes, Morton has teamed up with writer Tony Grisoni to follow a young girl, Lucy, to give a child's-eye view of living in care.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00k3lyb)
Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit

Episode 3

By Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.

Vera causes chaos when she attempts to rescue Irene from a sinister fate.

Irene ...... Prunella Scales
Vera ...... Patricia Routledge
Chris Thorogood ...... Stephen Hogan.


WED 20:00 Unreliable Evidence (b00k4bgq)
The Law and the Unborn

Clive Anderson presents the series analysing the legal issues of the day.

Developments in human reproductive technologies give rise to a range of legal and ethical controversies around fertilization, cloning, surrogacy and abortion. The new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act makes legal the creation of 'saviour siblings' and hybrid animal-human embryos for scientific research. Does the law provide enough protection for the unborn? Clive considers who decides what can be done to an embryo and when, in law, life begins.

An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 20:45 Petitioning the Modern Way (b00k4bl6)
Episode 2

Journalist and author Jon Ronson examines Number 10's e-petitioning system, which allows the public to submit petitions directly to the Prime Minister.

Jon wonders how this fits in with our notions of democracy.


WED 21:00 Nature (b00k3x7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Midweek (b00k40l1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 21:58 Weather (b00k3m6j)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00k3m86)
National and international news and analysis with Felicity Evans in London and Robin Lustig in Strasbourg. A look at President Obama's meeting with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, plus, after the Czech parliament ratifies the Lisbon Treaty, all eyes turn to Ireland. Including a feature on why Scotland Yard's 'Murder Museum' might be opened to the public.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00k3mdv)
The House of Special Purpose

Episode 8

David Warner reads John Boyne's haunting novel which travels to the heart of the Russian empire where young imperial family bodyguard Georgy Jachmenev is privy to the secrets of Tsar Nicholas and his circle.

When the Tsar renounces the throne and is captured, Georgy finds himself a fugitive.


WED 23:00 My Teenage Diary (b00k4bph)
Series 1

Jenny Eclair

Host Rufus Hound is joined by comedienne, novelist and star of Grumpy Old Women, Jenny Eclair. What advice would Jenny give now to her younger self? Tune in for a hilarious glance back into life as a teenager growing up in the 70s.

Producer: Victoria Payne
A talkbackTHAMES production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:15 Peacefully in their Sleeps (b007w0s1)
Sir Matthias Blaggard

Spoof obituary series by Chris Chantler and Howard Read.

Renowned broadcaster Roydon Postlethwaite impartially examines the disastrous career of the maverick MP who was so right wing that the Monday Club agreed to meet on a different day, just to avoid him.

Roydon Postlethwaite ...... Geoff McGivern
Sir Matthias Blaggard ...... Richard Briers
Chin Lau ...... Benedict Wong
Simone Hillsnaps ...... Nina Sosanya
Jim Pigg ...... Paul Putner
Translator ...... Richard Glover
Lionel Freeman ...... Robin Ince
Sir Redford Hopechest ...... Rupert Vansittart.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00k3mgn)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.



THURSDAY 07 MAY 2009

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2w38)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00k3fq7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2w52)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2wzs)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2x1d)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00k2x47)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00k35rp)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00k35tm)
Retailers have been accused of making chicken farming for meat in Britain unsustainable by taking too large a part of the price of a chicken. A report by Savills estimates the retailer takes 51 per cent, giving the farmer 25 per cent and the rest gong to the wholesaler. It claims the average farmer made sustained losses over the last five years, leaving them unable to update their sheds and become more efficient. The retailers have their say with Charlotte Smith.


THU 06:00 Today (b00k3dtm)
Presented by Edward Stourton and John Humphrys.

Ministers are to trim the number of DNA profiles on a national database by up to 850,000 after a court ruled that innocent people's details must be removed.

Science Sats taken by 11-year-olds in England are to be scrapped and replaced by teacher assessments and national sampling, the government has agreed.

Isabel Nisbet of Ofqual says that tried and tested processes will make sure swine flu doesn't affect exams.

Professor Jim Fraser describes how the DNA database works in Scotland and says that there is an argument to retain DNA data.

Mick Brookes, of the National Association of Head Teachers, says that the organisation will not drop its opposition to Sats in primary schools.

East Africa correspondent Karen Allen reports on the risk of vigilante violence in Kenya.

Lord Myners details the findings of the Global Competitiveness Group, set up to help banks and financial institutions through the economic crisis.

Andrew Hosken visits Sri Lanka to discover what conditions are like in refugee camps.

Thought for the day with the Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, from Alyth Gardens Synagogue.

Annette Smith, chief executive of the Association for Science Education, and scientist Robert Winston discuss the future of Sats for 11-year-olds.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker and Shami Chakrabarti, head of civil liberties organisation Liberty discuss if innocent people's DNA should be held.

The playwright John Graham Davies was given an idea for a play while getting his shoes mended as his cobbler told him a surprising tale from the Champions League final in 2005. The cobbler in question, Mark Radley, discusses the game: when Liverpool beat AC Milan on penalties.

The principles that govern a lottery are used to shape government policy far more often than you might think, a new book alleges. Author Gary Hicks and Anthony Barnett, editor of the Open Democracy website, discuss if the effect of policy is just a matter of luck.

The global economy has turned a corner and the worst of the financial crisis is over, Business Editor Robert Peston says. He explains that, though it will not be an easy year, financial institutions are showing signs of recovery.

Muslims in Britain are less well integrated into society than elsewhere in Europe and in the US, a report concludes. Home affairs editor Mark Easton visits France and East London to compare the difference in attitude. Dalia Mogahed, of the Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies, and Tariq Ramadan, professor of Muslim studies at Oxford University, discuss if one in five UK Muslims are 'suffering'.

The 1970s gets blamed for an awful lot - terrible clothes, terrible music and the collapse of the British economy - but was it actually a great decade? Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and journalist Andy Beckett discuss if the 1970s were really as bad as all that.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00k4fg7)
The Magna Carta

Melvyn Bragg and guests Nicholas Vincent, David Carpenter and Michael Clanchy discuss the Magna Carta, the oft-proclaimed foundation of English liberties.The Magna Carta has been cited ever since its issue in 1215 as a foundation stone of English liberties. It includes clauses of universal justice, some of which are still on the statute book, but also sorted out the fishing rights in the upper Thames. Whether Magna Carta is a genuine proclamation of universal liberty or a hotchpotch of baronial self-interest has been debated ever since. Melvyn and his guests examine the ideas contained within it, assess their legacy and find out what really happened all those years ago in a tent in Runnymede.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00k3fq9)
From Harvey River

Episode 4

Dona Croll reads from Lorna Goodison's portrait of past generations of her unconventional family in Harvey River, Jamaica.

After losing their business and home, Marcus and Doris make their way to Kingston Town. Surrounded by boxes of finery from her former existence, Doris prepares for the harsh realities of life in a small apartment. Working barefoot at her sewing machine, she reinvents herself as the matriarch Mama Goodie, supporting her nine children with her inexhaustible love and strength but always dreaming of the good times back in Harvey River.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00k3fvw)
Rosie Boycott on alcoholism; Novelist Helen Oyeyemi

Rosie Boycott on her battle with addiction. Plus, 25 year old Helen Oyeyemi on her third novel; and the first woman-only hotel in Saudi Arabia.


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b00kbyk0)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.


THU 11:30 The Keskidee (b00k4fv9)
Oral Historian Alan Dein pieces together the remarkable and pioneering story of the Keskidee, Britain's first arts centre for the black community. Founded in the early 1970's and tucked away in a church hall in the backstreets of Islington, London, it forged new ground for a generation of black British poets, actors, artists and directors.

Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson was the educational officer at the Keskidee and Bob Marley shot the music video for 'Is This Love?' there. It had its own drama company, artists in residence and was a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, as well as a creative nursery for home-grown talent. It also catered for the needs of local youth and gave a generation of black teenagers a space of their own. But this massively influential cultural centre also has a fascinating earlier history, when it served as a progressive mission hall with a musical pastor and a legendary silver band. Today the building has reverted to being a religious base, housing an African church and a devout and joyous congregation. Dein joins up the hidden history of Gifford Hall which has played host to three different communities, but which, curiously, have much in common.

Producer: Neil McCarthy

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.


THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00k3g1t)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.


THU 12:57 Weather (b00k3ggd)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b00k3gn6)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b00k3x25)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 14:00 The Archers (b00k3gqm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b00899ll)
Jennifer Howarth - A City Full of Swindlers

By Jenny Howarth.

Cassandra Austen narrates the shocking story of her aunt's arrest and imprisonment for stealing a piece of lace, a story which reveals Georgian Bath to be a far less decorous place than it appears in her sister Jane's novels.

Jane Leigh Perrot ...... Pamela Miles
James Leigh Perrot ...... Tim Pigott-Smith
Cassandra Austen ...... Lucy Black
Mr Bond ...... Robert Gwilym
Miss Gregory ...... Alison Reid
Mr Filby ...... Howard Coggins
Mr Gibbs ...... David Collins
Mrs Scadding ...... Heather Williams
Judge ...... Ross Harvey
Mayor ...... Tom Sherman

Directed by Sara Davies.


THU 15:02 Open Country (b00k2m7f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:07 on Saturday]


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00k2q8d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00k3yh7)
A Friend of the Family

Going to Ireland

A Friend of the Family 3/3

Going to Ireland

A new story for radio
Written and read by Frank Dunne

Marcia the cleaner is brilliant for her employer's writer's block but brings disaster in her wake.

Producer Christine Hall

He is a novelist with a brilliant future behind him and a bad case of writer's block. She is a cleaning lady with a dud marriage and a knack of getting to the heart of a problem. They share coffee and an occasional sherry. Then he comes up with the idea of showing her his boyhood home - which turns out to be a very bad plan indeed.


THU 15:45 Sacrifices (b00k3jy0)
Daniel

Families with a talented child talk about the sacrifices they make to help them fulfil their potential.

When Daniel Neilson wanted to ride horses as a small child, his parents did all they could to help him realise his dream. Now aged 19, Daniel is an Olympic hope for 2012.


THU 16:00 Bookclub (b00k2sdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:30 Material World (b00k4g52)
Quentin Cooper looks at the 'Two Cultures' divide, 50 years on from CP Snow's lecture. Snow's observations were borne out of his time in Whitehall, finding himself to possess a scientific literacy that was then, he claimed, a rare commodity in what he termed the 'corridors of power'. Sir David King was Tony Blair's Chief Scientific Adviser, while Professor John Marburger was Scientific Adviser to President George W Bush. Quentin hears to what extent things have changed and how much of Snow's argument rings true today.

Also, the European Space Agency plans to launch a joint mission, firing two separate space telescopes into space atop one rocket: the Planck Surveyor and the Herschel Space Observatory. They will sit in a gravitational equilibrium point betweent he earth and the sun - a much more stable place for a telescope than earth orbit - and gaze at the universe in microwave and infrared light. Hubble only sees in visible light, when most of the universe actually emits in these arguably less aesthetic wavelengths. Professor George Efstathiou and Dr Dave Clements discuss the scientific hopes of these next-generation observatories.


THU 17:00 PM (b00k3kkm)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k3krf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


THU 18:30 4 Stands Up (b00k4g55)
Series 3

Episode 6

Three gourmet stand-ups, served by Chris Addison. With Matt Kirshen, Tim Vine and Pippa Evans as twisted country singer Loretta Maine. From May 2009.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b00k3gqp)
It's the anniversary of Greg's death. Annette turns down Helen's offer to visit Greg's memorial tree, she'd rather just forget about it. Alone by the tree, tearful Helen promises Greg she'll do her best to look after Annette. Will comes by to pay his respects.

Furious Lilian storms round to see Jennifer, having heard about Brian's recent election to Chairman of Borchester Land. How could he do it? Lilian reminds Jennifer how Matt's supported them in the past, such as helping them secure the Estate arable contract. Jennifer tries to placate her. People had lost faith in BL, the board couldn't afford to be associated with Matt any longer. Lilian tells Jennifer she doesn't want to be associated with her. How could she betray her own sister?

Brenda and Helen meet in The Bull. Helen asks Brenda about her plans to go travelling. Mike's offered her money to help fund the trip and Brenda wonders whether it's just to get her out of the way now that Vicky's on the scene. Brenda tries to confide in Helen about something but Annette turns up. When Helen goes to the bar for the drinks, there's an uncomfortable atmosphere as Brenda and Annette struggle to make conversation.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b00k3kvv)
Arts news and reviews with Kirsty Lang.

Strictly Come Dancing judge and dance choreographer Arlene Phillips reviews the film documentary Sounds Like Teen Spirit, which follows four children competing in Europe's biggest songwriting contest for kids, The Junior Eurovision.

Kirsty Lang travels to the coast to meet the Brighton Festival's Guest Artistic Director Anish Kapoor and follow his sculpture trail around the town. She heads for the pier to learn about an unusual piece of theatre that takes place as a promenade performance, with the actors in Joe Orton's The Empingham Camp mingling with members of the public.

Michael Jackson's former publicist is starting proceedings to sue him for $44 million; Britain's first swine flu sufferers are taking on the services of publicist Max Clifford. Kirsty talks to former editor of Heat Magazine Mark Frith about the growing power of the publicist.

Gregory Burke's Black Watch, based on interviews with former soldiers who served in Iraq, is the most successful Scottish play of recent times. In March 2009, its London production won four Olivier awards. Burke's new play, Hoors, is a black comedy about a group of twenty-somethings waking up to the realities of recession. Crime writer Denise Mina reviews the opening at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.

A group of children will be presenting their remixed versions of well-known classical music pieces at Radio 1's Big Weekend festival in Swindon. The event will be one of the episodes of Clash - a forthcoming CBBC series which is the latest attempt to introduce a younger audience to classical music. For Front Row Geoff Bird explains why making such introductions can be a mixed pleasure.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00k3lyd)
Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit

Episode 4

By Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.

Vera fears that Irene has ended up in the hospital psychiatry ward.

Irene ...... Prunella Scales
Vera ...... Patricia Routledge.


THU 20:00 The Report (b00k4g57)
The Right to Protest

In the wake of controversy over police tactics at the G20 demonstrations, Simon Cox investigates how far the right to protest is being eroded in Britain.


THU 20:30 In Business (b00k8bhz)
Iceland Feels the Chill

The credit crunch has caused big problems to countries round the world, but in Iceland it has been disastrous. Peter Day finds out what it is like when a whole country goes bust, and what happens afterwards.


THU 21:00 The New Galileos (b00k4g9l)
The Large Binocular Telescope

The world's largest telescope is nearing completion on a mountain top in Arizona. With the combined power of its two giant mirrors, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) will image the Universe in greater detail than NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Andrew Luck-Baker talks to the astronomers who expect to see planets orbitting and being born around distant stars with the telescope. He also meets the technologists who designed and constructed the revolutionary observatory, and visits the spinning furnaces in which the 8.4 meter diameter mirrors were made.

The LBT is a trail blazer for astronomical technologies in the next generation of super-massive telescopes.
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00k4fg7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 21:58 Weather (b00k3m6l)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00k3m88)
The Pakistani army steps up the fight against the Taleban, the US Treasury reports on the health of American banks and the European Union reaches out to its east European neighbours. Plus a report from the Indian controlled Kashmir, have the French fallen out of love with the EU and is social mobility in Britain a myth?


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00k3mdx)
The House of Special Purpose

Episode 9

David Warner reads John Boyne's haunting novel which travels to the heart of the Russian empire where young imperial family bodyguard Georgy Jachmenev is privy to the secrets of Tsar Nicholas and his circle.

On the run, Georgy tracks the Imperial Royal Family - and Anastasia - to a house in Yekaterinburg.


THU 23:00 Down the Line (b0129bj8)
Series 3

String Theory and Popular Science Fiction

Gary Bellamy tries to raise the bar on his phone-in show with a chat about string theory. Stars Rhys Thomas. From January 2008.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00k3mgq)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.



FRIDAY 08 MAY 2009

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00k2w3b)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00k3fq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00k2w54)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00k2wzv)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00k2x1g)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00k2x49)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00k35rr)
Daily prayer and reflection with the Right Rev David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00k35tp)
Charlotte Smith asks whether UK poultry-rearing standards are better than the rest of the world's and whether it would matter if the UK imported more and produced less.

And what do you do if you see a swarm of bees? It is the swarming season and Farming Today gets hands on experience with dealing with 10,000 homeless bees.


FRI 06:00 Today (b00k3dtp)
With James Naughtie and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b00k2q8s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00k3fqc)
From Harvey River

Episode 5

Dona Croll reads from Lorna Goodison's portrait of past generations of her unconventional family in Harvey River, Jamaica.

Lorna looks back on her extraordinary childhood in Kingston as the daughter of Mama Goodie, whose bottomless cooking pot and endless words of wisdom sustain the locals. But times are changing in Jamaica, as the hypnotic chants and drums of the Rastafarians echo over the city and independence for the country finally arrives.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00k3fvy)
Congenital heart disease; Attitudes to housework

Congenital heart disease in children discussed. Plus, Berlusconi's women; the consequences of Felix Mendelssohn's mixed identity; and have our housework standards slipped?


FRI 11:00 Ladies of Leisure (b00k4gtg)
With its own bell-women and female management team the hotel aims to take advantage of a new rule allowing women in Saudi Arabia to stay in hotels without a male chaperon. For the women it's a chance to relax in a women-only setting and as they do so, Felicity explores their lives and experiences.

Some see Saudi Arabia's first women-only hotel is a sign or progress - a place where women can conduct business without interference in a male dominated society.

Until recently women couldn't check into any hotel unless accompanied by a male family member or with permission from a male guardian. But others say the new hotel simply reinforces gender segregation in a nation which doesn't even let women drive.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.


FRI 11:30 Chain Reaction (b00mdx7s)
Series 3

John Lloyd Interviews Phill Jupitus

Series in which public figures choose others to interview. The previous week's guest John Lloyd grabs the microphone to interview his guest Phill Jupitus, comedian, radio presenter and Never Mind the Buzzcocks team captain.


FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00k3g1w)
Consumer news and issues with Peter White.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b00k3ggg)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b00k3gn8)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.


FRI 13:30 More or Less (b00k4kkj)
Tim Harford presents the magazine which looks at numbers everywhere, in the news, in politics and in life.

An Open University co production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00k3gqp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b00k4kkl)
Do's and Don'ts for the Mentally Interesting

By Louise Ramsden, based on Seaneen Molloy's blog The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive, her account of learning to live and love with bipolar disorder.

Facing life as a newly-diagnosed manic depressive, Seaneen fears that Rob has become more nurse than boyfriend, and begins to wonder if the only way to save a brilliant relationship is to leave it. The play charts her determination to cope with her illness and to live life independently.

Seaneen ...... Séainín Brennan
Rob ...... Joseph Kloska
Psychiatrist ...... Janice Acquah
CPN ...... Toni Midlane
Therapist/Shopkeeper ...... Philip Fox

Comments from the blog are read by members of the Radio Drama Company. Except for Seaneen and Rob, all the characters are fictional.

Directed by Fiona Kelcher.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00k4kkn)
Eric Robson chairs the popular horticultural forum.

Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and Chris Beardshaw are guests of Somerfords Garden Club and The Great Somerford Allotments Bicentenary Committee near Malmesbury.

In the first in a new series looking at how we can carry out sustainable gardening, the panel discover the benefits and reasons for growing native plants.

Including Gardening weather forecast.


FRI 15:45 Sacrifices (b00k3jy2)
Eleanor

Families with a talented child talk about the sacrifices they make to help them fulfil their potential.

Ellie Simmonds won two gold medals at the Paralympics in Beijing. Her parents talk about the big decisions they made to help her realise her dreams. When Swansea offered the best training opportunies for Ellie almost three years ago, her mum, Val, moved Ellie there and stays with her during the week while dad Steve stayed in Walsall.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00k4l28)
Matthew Bannister talks to Nicky Weller and Steve White about the life of music manager John Weller; Adrian Jackson on Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal; Arif Waqar on Ghazal singer Iqbal Bano; Anne Cole and Adrian Midgely on English toponymist Dr Margaret Gelling; Marianne Faithfull and Nicky Haslam on model and muse Maxime de la Falaise.


FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00k4l2b)
JJ Abrams boldly goes back to the future with the Star Trek prequel, starring Kirk and Spock as you've never seen them before.

Behind the scenes of Junior Eurovision with Sounds Like Teen Spirit.

When Jean-Luc met Mick and Keith - Godard and The Rolling Stones and the making of Sympathy For The Devil.

Henry Selick on the dark materials of his Neil Gaiman adaptation Coraline.


FRI 17:00 PM (b00k3kkp)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair. Plus Weather.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00k3krh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by Weather.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b00k4l2d)
Series 68

Episode 2

Sandi Toksvig chairs the topical comedy quiz. Panellists are Andy Hamilton, Francis Wheen, Sue Perkins and Jeremy Hardy.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00k3gqr)
Brian's struggling with the Borchester Land accounts. Matt's clearly not been keeping his eye on the ball. Will tells Brian about his plans for expanding the shoot. He's keen for the BL members to see it for themselves so they can appreciate the benefits. Brian thinks it's a great idea; it'll be good for them to get mud on their boots.

Mike tells Susan he's taking Vicky out for an expensive meal at a posh restaurant. Susan advises him to dress up. Mike wants to wear the tie Phoebe gave him but Susan suggests it might be a bit 'busy'. Later, she goes over to Willow Farm with a selection of Neil's ties to choose from and encourages Mike to go with the pink one!

Lilian's not answering the phone so Jennifer goes round. She tries to make Lilian see that Brian tried to protect Matt. Lilian doesn't think he made a very good job of it. Matt breaks up the argument; he thinks it best if Jennifer leaves. Matt tells Lilian she's wasting her breath. He doesn't care about BL, it's what Chalkman's told the SFO that's worrying him. Upset Lilian storms out. Whatever she says seems to be wrong.

Episode written by Joanna Toye.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00k3kvx)
Famous for the characters of the jilted cab driver Keith Barret and Uncle Bryn from Gavin and Stacey, Rob Brydon talks to Kirsty Lang about what it's like to perform stand-up just as himself.

Novelist Sarah Dunant reviews the stop-motion film Coraline, an adaptation from the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas of Neil Gaiman's tale about a young girl who finds a secret door to an alternate world.

Welsh National Poet Gillian Clarke discusses bilingual poetry, sheep and the advice she's given her friend, the new Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Kirsty visits Under Glass, a new production at Sadlers Wells in London by The Clod Ensemble, in which dancers perform in glass jars, test tubes and cabinets.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00k3lyg)
Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit

Episode 5

By Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.

Irene is horrified that her whole family are now living in Vera's compound.

Irene ...... Prunella Scales
Vera ...... Patricia Routledge
Michaela Thorogood ...... Caroline Guthrie.


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00k4l2g)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate in Edinburgh. Panellists are John Swinney MSP, cabinet secretary in the Scottish government, John McFall MP, Labour chairman of Westminster's Treasury select committee, Annabel Goldie MSP, leader of the Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament and Danny Alexander MP, chief of staff to the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00k4l2j)
Sheer Poetry

Clive James wonders what it says about the British attitude to poetry that we have the institution of the Poet Laureateship.


FRI 21:00 Friday Drama (b00k4l2l)
Tough Love

By Andrea Gibb

At first, parents Laura and Mark don't see the warning signs: the bottles not taken to the bottle bank, the missing bank card, the tumbling grades at school. Then the terrible realisation dawns - their son, Danny, is an addict. He's always been the golden boy - not like his big brother, Paul, who has been a thorn in their side. Paul is moody and uncommunicative. Danny, on the other hand, has always been sunny and easy. And now he's in trouble.

This is a mother's story and as Danny spirals into drugs counselling and failed rehab treatment, his mum has to make the hardest decision of her life.

Andrea Gibb is the award-winning screenwriter of Dear Frankie and Afterlife and is currently working on a feature film version of Swallows and Amazons for television, an original feature, ATLANTIC BRIDGE, an adaptation of Rose Tremain's MUSIC AND SILENCE for BBC.

Produced and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.


FRI 21:58 Weather (b00k3m6n)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00k3m8b)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah. Ministers defend expenses claims, Turkey and Armenia agree to an entente cordiale and a report on saving the world's oldest apple trees.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00k3mdz)
The House of Special Purpose

Episode 10

David Warner reads John Boyne's haunting novel which travels to the heart of the Russian empire where young imperial family bodyguard Georgy Jachmenev is privy to the secrets of Tsar Nicholas and his circle.

As he recalls the fate of the Russian Imperial Family, Georgy must face another loss, that of his beloved wife.


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b00k3zns)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00k3mgs)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Mark D'Arcy.