SATURDAY 06 MARCH 2010

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b00r2fjr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b00r2jf9)
Patti Smith - Just Kids

Episode 5

Patti Smith reads from her new memoir of her life in New York in the late 1960s and 1970s.

In 1986, Patti is living with her husband and son in Detroit when she hears bad news about Robert Mapplethorpe.

Abridged by Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r2g3r)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r2g3t)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service. BBC Radio 4 resumes at 5.20am.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r2g3w)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b00r2g3y)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r2g40)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b00r2g42)
The news programme that starts with its listeners. A weekly companion to the nightly PM, the expertise of the Radio 4 audience shapes the programme. Presented by Jennifer Tracey and Eddie Mair.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b00r2g44)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SAT 06:04 Weather (b00r2lh8)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (b00r323j)
Series 14

Shropshire - Shrewsbury

Clare Balding meets members of the Shropshire Bereavement Walking Group for a therapeutic ramble.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b00r323l)
Farming Today This Week

UK farmers last year exported 14 billion pounds of food. Farming Today finds out where it all went. Charlotte Smith meets some of the farmers contributing to this vast market and hears from a beef farmer on how his exports have recovered since the BSE ban was lifted.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b00r323n)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b00r323q)
With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b00r323s)
Real life stories in which listeners talk about the issues that matter to them. Richard Coles is joined by writer Dreda Say Mitchell. With poetry from Luke Wright.


SAT 10:00 Excess Baggage (b00r323v)
To investigate the influence of the solar system on our planet the particle physicist Prof Brian Cox visits some of earth's most alien environments. He flies to the top of the atmosphere, dives to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, ascends the world's tallest mountain and descends into a cave soaked in sulphuric acid; he witnesses a total solar eclipse and the aurora borealis. Brian tells Sandi Toksvig how, as the dunes of the Namib desert are rather like those of Mars, we can get an idea of what other planets are like by going to particular places on our own.

Chief executive of Oxfam Dame Barbara Stocking has travelled to dozens of countries. She talks to Sandi about her recent visit to Chad, a vast, dry country in Africa with a permanent humanitarian crisis of its own, strained by refugees from neighbouring conflicts. She explains lack of water is at the heart of the trouble and how the role of women in organising wells offers some hope.

There have been Jews in India for over 2,000 years; Sandi meets artist and writer Esther David from one Indian Jewish community to hear why they came to be there and how the two cultures have become intertwined. Esther also looks at the Jews who are leaving India and the Israelis who are travelling in the other direction to discover a different kind of Judaism.


SAT 10:30 And the Academy Award Goes To... (b00r32b3)
Series 3

Unforgiven

Paul Gambaccini tells the story behind Clint Eastwood's 1992 film Unforgiven. Starring Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Eastwood himself as both actor and director, Gambaccini reflects on Eastwood's extraordinary Hollywood career, from the epitome of the lonesome cowboy to respected Hollywood director.

When the screenplay of Unforgiven landed on his desk, Clint Eastwood optioned it, then sat on it for two decades, developing his directoral skills, gathering a team of experts around him at Malpaso Productions, and waiting until he himself was the right age to take the leading role.

Film editor Joel Cox, cinematographer Jack N Green, actor Jaimz Woolvett and screenwriter David Webb Peoples tell of the experience of working with a legend as director and star, and biographer Richard Schickle and critics David Thomson and Kenneth Turan ruminate on how Clint Eastwood, the eternal cowboy, became a Best Picture director.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (b00r32b5)
A look behind the scenes at Westminster with Steve Richards of The Independent.

As the gap in the polls closes between Labour and the Conservatives and the general election approaches, there is nervousness in the Conservative camp. How does the present situation compare with the run-up to past elections?

Lord Fowler, closely involved in the elections of the 1980s and early 90s, talks to John Campbell, a biographer of Margaret Thatcher.

The proposed leaders' debates during the election campaign are going to be fraught with rules and regulations which many feel will sanitise the debates. Sir Menzies Campbell talks about the value of this innovation, given his experience of televised debates between ministers and opposition spokesmen in the election of 2001.

Also in the programme, Ian Aitken and Bill Keegan remember their regular lunches with Michael Foot over many years, and Alex Barker, the Financial Times's 'Chilcot Watcher', assesses Gordon Brown's performance before the Iraq inquiry.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b00r32b7)
Kate Adie introduces BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the headlines.


SAT 12:00 Money Box (b00r32b9)
Paul Lewis with the latest news from the world of personal finance.


SAT 12:30 The Now Show (b00r2fh8)
Series 30

Episode 1

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical review of the week's news, with help from Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and Marcus Brigstocke.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b00r32bc)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b00r32bf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b00r2fhb)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate from the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel, London. The panellists are the former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, shadow business secretary Ken Clarke, senior politics editor at the New Statesman Mehdi Hasan and Liberal Democrat spokesman on communities and local government Julia Goldsworthy.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b00r32bh)
Jonathan Dimbleby takes listeners' calls and emails in response to this week's edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Saturday Drama (b00r32vt)
Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast

By Matthew Broughton. In 1967, Vincent Price came to the UK to make the horror movie Witchfinder General. It was the best performance of his career, and the worst few months of his life. This play takes a light-hearted look behind the scenes of the making of this classic British film.

Other parts played by Simon Ludders and Lynne Seymour

Produced and directed by Sam Hoyle.


SAT 15:30 Soul Music (b00r0smn)
Series 9

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.

When Mendelssohn wrote his Violin Concerto in 1844 he could hardly have imagined how famous and well loved it would become. In this programme, people tell how it has played an important part in their lives.

Violinist Daniel Hope tells how he got caught practising this concerto secretly locked in the bathroom at school. Harry Atterbury remembers hearing the Mendelssohn for the first time on the night before a Second world War air raid which turned his life upside down. Composer Stephen Pratt describes discovering that his father had played this concerto to cheer fellow soldiers in the jungle in Burma, and explains how this inspired him to write his own violin concerto.

To find out more about Stephen Pratt's Violin Concerto, go to:

http://www.liverpoolphil.com./1132/rlpo-recordings/stephen-pratt-lovebytes.html

The recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto featured in this programme was by violinist Maxim Vengerov with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur. Teldec 4509-90875-2.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b00r32vw)
Weekend Woman's Hour

With Jane Garvey. Pauline Prescott talks about life with John, and the son she gave up for adoption; Helena Bonham Carter on playing the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland; three's a crowd - the impact of a close friendship or partnership on a marriage; one woman's campaign to bring to justice those responsible for her mother's murder; choice in childbirth - who carries the risk?; music from Carly Simon, performing in the studio.


SAT 17:00 PM (b00r32vy)
Saturday PM

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


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (b00r2cmc)
Evan Davis asks his panel of top business guests whether the pace of business life has sped up. They also discuss the power of advertising; is it true that the more you spend the more you get?

Evan is joined by the chief executive of WPP Sir Martin Sorrell, chairman of Interbrand Rita Clifton and managing partner of private equity firm ISIS Wol Kolade.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00r32w0)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b00r32w2)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r32w4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b00r32w6)
Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.

Clive is joined by businesswoman Hilary Devey and American crime writer George Pelecanos.

Gideon Coe talks to hidden camera prankster Olivia Lee.

With comedy from Phil Nichol and music from Tunng and Laura Marling.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b00r32w8)
Tidjane Thiam

Mary Ann Sieghart profiles Tidjane Thiam, the Ivory Coast-born chief executive of Prudential.

He is the first black person to head a FTSE 100 company and describes himself as 'African, francophone and 6ft 4ins'. Others describe him as 'the most interesting man in insurance'. This week he brokered a deal which could make his company the biggest insurer in South East Asia.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b00r32wb)
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by novelist Deborah Moggach, historian Dominic Sandbrook and musician Pat Kane to review the cultural highlights of the week.

Film director Tim Burton's reworking of Lewis Carroll's classic tale Alice in Wonderland has a 19-year-old Alice returning to the magical world of her childhood adventures. She reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's (Helena Bonham Carter) reign of terror with the help of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). It also features the voices of Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Barbara Windsor and Matt Lucas.

At the theatre we are promised a 'truly terrifying experience' in Ghost Stories, from Andy Nyman and one of The League of Gentlemen's masters of the macabre Jeremy Dyson. It takes the form of a lecture by an academic specialist in supernatural folklore; as he lectures on the human fascination with the uncanny, three of his case histories play out on the stage behind.

Tim Pears's latest novel, Landed, tells the tragic story of Owen, brought up in the Anglo-Welsh borders by an affectionate but alcoholic and feckless mother. His sense of self is rooted in his long, vivid visits to his grandparents' small farm in the hills. There he is deeply impressed by his grandfather's primitive, cruel relationship with his animals and the land. As an adult he moves to an English city and builds a new life, working as a gardener. He meets Mel, and they have children. But then a tragic accident devastates Owen's life and starts him on a journey of self-discovery.

Artist Richard Hamilton was one of those to popularise the Pop Art movement and, from his 60s Swinging London series to Tony Blair as a cowboy, he has been ahead of the curve ever since. His latest exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery is Modern Moral Matters, which looks at the ways in which the media represents modern society. Much of the work on show focuses on his obsession with global politics and the manipulation of the media. Themes such as riots, terrorist acts and war are all included in the artworks, with a focus on how they are fed to the masses through television, newspapers and the internet.

In a three-part documentary series, Inside John Lewis, BBC2 looks at the department store's 150-year history and how it is dealing with the current recession. The young Victorian orphan-turned-entrepreneur John Lewis began his career in 1864 when he set up a draper's shop in Oxford Street. Sixty-five years on his son, John Spedan Lewis, turned it into the huge co-operative it is today: the John Lewis Partnership. The series explores whether a business model developed in the 1920s can really survive the commercial turmoil of the 21st century.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b00r32wd)
Hate Against Hope

Alan Dein hears how London's East End Bangladeshi community forged new alliances to oppose racism in the 1970s and 80s.

The East End had been a centre of racial struggle and opposition since the 1930s, when Oswald Mosely's Blackshirts had paraded through the then largely Jewish streets around Brick Lane. By the 1970s a new wave of predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants faced racism again from the National Front and its sympathisers.

As provocation and attacks increased, this community made new alliances with local anti-fascist activists, culminating in large-scale movements such as Rock Against Racism. Once again Brick Lane and the streets beyond became a battleground.


SAT 21:00 Classic Serial (b00qzd3b)
Plantagenet: Series 1

John, By the Grace of God

Series of plays by Mike Walker, inspired by Holinshed's Chronicles, chronicling the early years of the Plantagenet dynasty.

The fourth son of Henry II never expected to succeed to the English throne. When he does, he reveals a talent for making enemies.

Queen Eleanor ...... Jane Lapotaire
King Richard ...... Ed Stoppard
King John ...... Neil Stuke
William Marshall ...... Stephen Hogan
Prince Arthur ...... Ryan Watson
Queen Isabelle ...... Emerald O'Hanrahan
King Philip ...... John Biggins
Saladin ...... Raad Rawi
El-Adel ...... Khalid Laith
Doctor/Langton ...... Ewan Hooper
Girard ...... Joseph Cohen-Cole
De Roche ...... Bruce Alexander
Fitzwalter ...... Piers Wehner
Will Marshall ...... Rhys Jennings
Prince Henry ...... Bertie Gilbert

Directed by Jeremy Mortimer.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b00r32wg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (b00r0ymn)
Michael Buerk chairs a debate on the moral questions behind the week's news. Claire Fox, Matthew Taylor, Melanie Philips and Clifford Longley cross-examine witnesses.


SAT 23:00 Quote... Unquote (b00r0qh9)
Nigel Rees chairs the popular quiz involving the exchange of quotations and anecdotes.

With Ken Bruce, Valerie Grove, Ben Goldacre and Kwame Kwei-Armah.

The reader is Peter Jefferson.


SAT 23:30 Poetry Please (b00qzdw1)
Roger McGough introduces requests for poems including An Overworked Elocutionist by Carolyn Wells, in which a confused boy struggles to master a maelstrom of famous first lines. The readers are Kate Littlewood, Jon Strickland, Bonnie Hurren and Zahra Barri.



SUNDAY 07 MARCH 2010

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b00r33lh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Lent Talks (b00r0yq3)
Andreas Whittam Smith

Series of six talks by eminent thinkers exploring how faith and religion interact with a variety of aspects in society.

Financial journalist Andreas Whittam Smith explores the temptations of the financial world.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r33lk)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r33lm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r33lp)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b00r33lr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b00r33lt)
The sound of bells from Worcester Cathedral.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b00r32w8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b00r33lw)
The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b00r33ly)
The Judas Kiss

Mark Tully explores the conflict between loyalty and betrayal. What circumstances force us to choose between loyalty and betrayal, and what determines our final choice?

The readers are Janice Acquah, Frank Stirling and David Westhead.

A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b00r33m0)
The remote mountains of Wales are a long way from Sydney Opera House, but singer Simon Keenlyside is equally at home in both places. He splits his time between a glittering career on the opera stage and his remarkable ecology project in Carmarthenshire. He has planted more than 10,000 trees, hundreds of thousands of wildflowers, and has seen barn owls, house martins and merlins return to his secluded farm.

Alex James pays him a visit and goes bird watching among the giant seqouoia and wildflower meadows. Alex also made the journey from rock musician to farmer, and discovers that Simon sees music and the natural world as the same thing.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b00r33m2)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b00r33m4)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b00r33m7)
Edward Stourton 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 (b00r33m9)
Arthur Rank Centre

Pam Rhodes appeals on behalf of Arthur Rank Centre.

Donations to Arthur Rank Centre should be sent to FREEPOST BBC Radio 4 Appeal, please mark the back of your envelope Arthur Rank Centre. Credit cards: Freephone 0800 404 8144. If you are a UK tax payer, please provide Arthur Rank Centre with your full name and address so they can claim the Gift Aid on your donation. The online and phone donation facilities are not currently available to listeners without a UK postcode.

Registered Charity Number: 1104300.


SUN 07:58 Weather (b00r33mc)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b00r33mf)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b00r33mh)
People on the Edge of His Pain - Judas Iscariot

A third service in a series for Lent from St Molua's Church, Belfast, led by Canon David Humphries.

Preacher: Very Rev Dr John Dunlop.

Director of Music: Robert Thompson.


SUN 08:50 A Point of View (b00r2fhd)
In the last of her talks, Lisa Jardine reflects on the valuable example of the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, who bridged the so-called divide between the arts and the sciences.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b00r33mk)
This week on BH, as voting in the Iraqi parliamentary elections get underway, Hugh Sykes is at a polling station in Anbar province.

In the week that Jon Venables was recalled to prison on suspicion of an 'extremely serious' offence, we ask somebody who also committed a grievous crime as a child- has it shaped who he is? And a consultant psychiatrist and a member of the public from Bootle join us to discuss whether redemption and rehabilitation are possible in Venables' case.

Was this Wednesday's Prime Minister Questions a particularly bad example of Commons' heckling? One of those who took part in the barracking, Conservative MP Andrew Robothan, joins us to defend himself. And we can finally solve the mystery of the first two editions of "just A Minute"- they were a bit closer to home than we thought.

The papers were reviewed by comedian Chris Neill, ex-rugby union international Brian Moore and " British Battleaxe" Christine Hamilton.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b00r33mm)
The week's events in Ambridge.


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b00r33mq)
Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Kirsty Young's castaway is space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

She has, she says, a special relationship with the moon, one that started when she first saw The Clangers as a small child. As a teenager she made her own telescope so she could study the moon more closely. Now she makes highly technical optical equipment for satellites, but says she still harbours desires to go into space - her dream job is building a telescope on the moon. She says: 'From the age of three, I wanted to get into space and I still do. It's been the driving force of my life really, that desire to get out there one day.'

Record: As by Stevie Wonder
Book: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Luxury: A telescope.


SUN 12:00 Just a Minute (b00r0qw3)
Series 56

Episode 9

Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game, recorded at the University of Derby. Panellists Tony Hawks, Justin Moorhouse, Josie Lawrence and Dave Gorman speak on subjects including the people you find in a student bar and the art of studying.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (b00qyvf8)
Marmalade

Marmalade is a uniquely British food, spread thick on the morning toast. But marmalade has been a declining market for many years, eaten primarily by the over-45s, and suffering under the relentless expansion of cereals, and sweeter spreads. Simon Parkes explores moves to restore toast's most noble partner to its rightful place at the breakfast table, from the domestic to the industrial.

The annual Marmalade Festival at Dalemain House in Cumbria was founded by Jane Hassel McCosh to celebrate domestic and artisan marmalade production. Judy Merry meets participants and judges, including baker Dan Lepard. Some of the winning marmalades are available at Fortnum and Mason in London, including Wild and Fruitful Lemon and Lavender.

Premier Foods is the largest marmalade manufacturer in the UK, accounting for 60 per cent of sales. They recently announced their new push to boost marmalade sales: a tie-up between Paddington Bear and a new squeezy marmalade for children, Robertson's Golden Smooth Sweet Orange Marmalade (available later in the year). Simon Parkes visits their Cambridge site to talk to general manager for spreads David Atkinson and technical manager David Smith. Robin MacArthur from market researchers IRI discusses the latest marmalade sales figures.

In the studio Simon is joined by food historian Ivan Day to discuss the history of marmalade, Clare Simpson, senior consultant with the branding agency Dragon Rouge, to assess its image problem, and food columnist and Tom Parker Bowles, author of Full English: A Journey Through the British and their Food.

They taste Robertson's Golden Smooth, Robertson's Golden Shred, Frank Cooper's Oxford Original Thick Cut, Wild & Fruitful Lemon and Lavender.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b00r33sg)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b00r33sj)
A look at events around the world with Shaun Ley.


SUN 13:30 Portraying the Poor (b00r33sl)
In Film and TV

The second of two programmes about the image of poverty and of the working class that's been created by writers.

From 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' to 'Coronation Street' and from 'On The Buses' to 'Big Brother', British film and TV has had plenty to say about the working class. But precious little of it has been written, less of it directed and virtually none of it commissioned by people who have themselves grown up among the poor.

Paul Mason asks how the picture has changed over the decades - and whether we're now any closer to seeing real lives on screen than we were in the days of the Ealing comedies or the 'kitchen sink' dramas.

Interviewees include film director Ken Loach, whose career spans more than half a century from 'Cathy Come Home' (1966) to 'Looking For Eric' (2009); Donna Franceschild, California-born playwright whose 2003 TV series 'The Key' was the story of three generations of working-class Glasgow women; Anthony Wonke, director of the BAFTA-winning documentary series 'The Tower: A Tale Of Two Cities' (BBC TV 2007); John Jewell of Cardiff University who has studied the representation of class in comedy, and TV reality-show presenter Trisha Goddard..

Producer: Peter Everett

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00r2dpd)
Eric Robson chairs the popular horticultural forum.

Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Biggs answer questions posed by the gardeners of Selly Park Garden Club in Birmingham.

Matthew Wilson meets renowned garden designer Beth Chatto as part of our Gardener's Gardener series.

Includes gardening weather forecast.


SUN 14:45 Snowdrop Mania (b00r33y5)
Last year a single snowdrop bulb was auctioned for more than £150. But even that figure is a small price to pay for the growing band of snowdrop collectors who are caught up in the contemporary equivalent of 17th-century Holland's tulip mania. Kerry ten Kate looks into the passions, the jealousies and the murky underworld of snowdrop mania with the enthusiasts who have a big obsession with a small plant.

Producer: Gwenan Pennant Jones.


SUN 15:00 Classic Serial (b00r33y7)
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men

Dramatisation by Donna Franceschild of John Steinbeck's seminal 1937 novel about migrant workers in 1930s California whose dream of one day owning a place of their own is tragically destroyed.

George ...... David Tennant
Lennie ...... Liam Brennan
Carlson/Crooks ...... Jude Akuwudike
Lennie ...... Liam Brennan
Candy ...... Christopher Fairbank
Curley's Wife ...... Melody Grove
Slim ...... Neil McKinven
Curley's ...... Richard Madden
George ...... David Tennant

Directed by Kirsty Williams.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b00r341s)
Douglas Coupland

James Naughtie and readers talk to Canadian author Douglas Coupland about his cult novel Generation X.

First published in 1991, it became a worldwide bestseller and defined a generation. Set during a time of yuppies and youth unemployment, the characters in Generation X are all in their late 20s, highly educated but with no ambition - they work in bars, and tell each other stories. This is the novel that made 'McJob' a popular term; and looking back at the novel Douglas speaks movingly of his own struggle as he set out to be a writer.


SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (b00r341v)
Roger McGough introduces listeners' requests.


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (b00r0vxg)
Computing calamities

As ministers decide whether a 12-billion-pound NHS computer project in England offers value for money, Gerry Northam asks if some major IT projects could be scrapped by a new government looking for big spending cuts.


SUN 17:40 Profile (b00r32w8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b00r341x)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b00r341z)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r3421)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b00r3423)
Jenni Murray introduces her selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio.

Ballad of the Miners' Strike - Radio 2
La Princesse de Cleves - Radio 3
When I Grow Up - Radio 4
The Write Stuff - Radio 4
Book of the Week: Just Kids - Radio 4
And The Winner Is... - Radio 2
Beyond Black - Radio 4
Afternoon Play: Shakespeare's Vortigern and Rowena - Radio 4
The Ballet Russes in England - Radio 4
PM - Radio 4
Generation Gap - Radio 4
Sarah Millican's Support Group - Radio 4
Trespass - Radio 4
Portraying the Poor - Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b00r343l)
Helen's researching internet sites on healthy pregnancy. She's thinking of taking up meditation classes to avoid becoming stressed. Pat's worried that Helen's missing out on the romance of a normal conception but when she reflects on her own pregnancies she realises it wasn't always romantic. Tom hadn't been planned and Tony was worried that another baby would put paid to his plans to expand the dairy herd!

Hayley and Phoebe are putting up balloons for Abbie's party. The dress that Kate bought Phoebe doesn't fit. Vicky quizzes Kate about life in Africa. She feels like she's been subjected to the Spanish Inquisition. Roy agrees that Vicky can be a bit full on but she makes Mike happy. Phoebe's annoyed that Kate doesn't remember some of the things she told her about school. Kate realises she's upset her. She can't help but compare herself to Hayley, who's so good with Phoebe and Sipho has taken an instant liking to her. Kate's disappointed that she can't even get Phoebe's dress size right.

Hayley remarks to Roy that Kate can't just expect to come back and pick up where she left off. She's got a lot of catching up to do.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


SUN 19:15 Americana (b00r343n)
Host Matt Frei talks to Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile for her view of the week's top news.

The FBI is ready to close more than 100 murder cases committed during the Civil Rights era. Matt talks to special agent Cynthia Deitle about her efforts to close the cold cases, even as some argue not enough has been done to solve them.

Americana hears from visionary musician Yo-Yo Ma. The award-winning cellist explains what's distinctly American about music from the melting pot.

In San Francisco, California the hottest thing on the block just might be curry. Matt Frei visits local food cart operators to learn more about the trendiest mobile foods and the crowds they draw.


SUN 19:45 A Guide to Woodland Birds (b00c4mf9)
The Big Stuff

Brett Westwood, Stephen Moss and Chris Watson identify the sounds of jays, tawny owls, sparrowhawks and other larger woodland birds.

Producer Sarah Blunt.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2008.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (b00r2dp8)
Roger Bolton airs listeners' views on BBC radio programmes and policy.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b00r2fh4)
Matthew Bannister presents the obituary series. Marking the lives of Michael Foot, Rose Gray, Bert Bushnell, and Winston Churchill, grandson of the great wartime leader.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b00r32b9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b00r33m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (b00r3r5h)
Tea Party Politics

Tea party politics is sweeping across America. Not genteel chat over cucumber sandwiches but a right wing protest movement against big government and high taxes, now widely regarded as the most vibrant political force in the United States. Author and journalist Gary Younge investigates the tea party movement. He finds out what sparked this grass roots insurgency, who the supporters are and assesses the potential impact of the tea party movement.

Gary is invited to a tea party rally in Little Rock Arkansas where he meets supporters who are angry with the political establishment particularly the Republican party. "If the Republican Party does not pay attention to the tea party folks, they're not going to win the next election", one delegate told Gary. "We have to change the Republican Party and get more conservative, instead of the direction they've been trying to go over the last few years, which is leaning towards the middle". The impetus for the launch of the tea party movement a year ago was the recent financial crisis and frustration at the bank bail-outs while ordinary people were losing their jobs, homes and savings. David Frum, a former speech writer for George W Bush tells Gary that the frustration with the Republican Party began much earlier.

Over the last year the tea party movement has made its presence known with huge protests across the country. If 2009 was the year tea part activists got angry, 2010 is the year they get political. Now supporters have their eye on the mid-term elections later this year. Gary meets Rand Paul, an eye surgeon who is standing in the Senate elections. A few months ago he was a rank outsider. Today, after some intense campaigning and the endorsement of Sarah Palin he is the front runner. In several other campaigns the tea party movement is making an impact. Ring wing pollster Frank Luntz warns supporters not to jeopardise their chances of success by getting too angry and stubborn. Publisher and commentator Andrew Neil, who has long had a foot on either side of the Atlantic, tells Gary that there's a popular strand to American history and American politics which doesn't exist in the UK and which allows a phenomena like the tea party movement to merge: "I think it's the size of America and the diversity of America", Neil says, "that allows for grass root movements to grow up and become independent of New York or Washington".

Contributors:

Andrew Neil, Publisher and Commentator
Frank Luntz, Right wing pollster
David Frum, Author, journalist and former speech writer for George W Bush
Rand Paul, candidate for Senate in Kentucky, USA.


SUN 21:58 Weather (b00r348s)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b00r348v)
Reports from behind the scenes at Westminster. Including It Happened Here.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (b00r2fh6)
Leonardo DiCaprio tells Francine Stock about the details of his working relationship with Martin Scorsese.

Neil Brand tells us the score about composer Miklos Rozsa.

Andrew Collins traces the family tree of Fantastic Mr Fox.

Mia Hansen Love discusses the state of the French film industry and why it led one producer to commit suicide.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b00r33ly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 08 MARCH 2010

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b00r3rn1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b00r0ymj)
Fetching water, cleaning knives, shovelling out a privy, setting fires - how did servants make sense of the tough menial duties in the 18th-century home? During that time they made up the largest occupational group in the British state, and the historian Caroline Steedman argues that servants' resentments and personal philosophies had a huge impact on the development of the English character and the British nation state. Laurie Taylor discusses a neglected corner of social history with Caroline Steedman and Amanda Vickery.

Laurie also hears about the working class at Britain's elite universities; Diane Reay tells him about her research into state-educated working-class children studying at Oxbridge.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b00r33lt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rqv)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r3rtt)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rs6)
The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b00r3s52)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r3ss2)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b00r3txj)
Charlotte Smith hears much of Scotland's bird life is dying in the cold. Birds such as the wren, treecreepers and goldcrests may struggle to return, unless the summer is good. And as dairy farmers receive a 26 million pound EU handout, some describe it as a drop in the ocean after years of low prices, but Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick says the way it will be shared out is fair.


MON 05:57 Weather (b00r4tf6)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 06:00 Today (b00r3vcr)
With John Humphrys and Evan Davis. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (b00r4tf8)
Andrew Marr discusses films, soundtracks and the idea of LA with composer John Adams, as he prepares for the UK premiere of City Noir, which brings the grime and glamour of 1940s films to orchestral life. Science writer Philip Ball talks about how our relationship with music proves that we're human and why and how music affects us. The filmmaker Julien Temple talks about his latest documentary, Requiem for Detroit, a moving elegy for the death of a city. And filmmaker Sangeeta Datta talks about the long history and exciting present of British-Asian cinema.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b00r3ykb)
Max Hastings - Did You Really Shoot the Television?

Episode 1

Max Hastings recalls the marriage of his Fleet Street parents, roving reporter Mac and glamorous editor Anne.

He came into this world as 'the elephant'. Was everyone prepared?

With additional readings by Nigel Hastings as Mac and Joanna Monro as Anne.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00r3yx0)
Helen Skelton; Personality disorders and crime

Helen Skelton on kayaking down the Amazon River. Plus, travel insurance for women with breast cancer. And can you be 'wicked' if you have a personality disorder?


MON 10:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdk)
6. Alison's Good Action

Alison's disgusting spirit guide, Morris, seems to have disappeared, much to Alison's delight, leaving her to enjoy her new house unmolested. Colette decides that it's time for her to take a more proactive role in the business, but reading palms doesn't seem to be her forte, and an unexpected encounter with her ex, Gavin, leaves her rattled.

When a homeless young man takes up residence in the new garden shed, Alison sees an opportunity finally to perform a good action and lay the evil ghosts of her past to rest. But Colette has other ideas.

Hilary Mantel's blackly comic novel about a professional medium with a troubled past

Alison ...... Alison Steadman
Colette ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Gavin ...... Mark Meadows
Mart ...... Malcolm Hamilton

Dramatised by Caroline Harrington.

Director: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


MON 11:00 A Good School (b00r5dlk)
As Anne McElvoy trawls schools looking for the right place for her own children, she's been confronted by an underlying question: what is a good school and how does the intellectual history of that aspiration influence political argument and educational choices today?

Anne speaks to leading politicians at the heart of the debate about education at secondary level. She hears from Michael Gove, the shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families, who has made it clear that he wants a return to more traditional educational techniques.

His critics argue that teenagers who have not already 'learned to learn' gain little from being forced to sit through subject-based lessons they dislike and aren't able to absorb. In further new interviews for the programme, the secretary of state for children, schools and families Ed Balls challenges Gove's vision of the good school, as does the Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams, herself a former education secretary.

Other contributors include Pete Hyman, a former aide to Tony Blair, who now teaches at an inner-London comprehensive, sociologist Professor Frank Furedi and Chis Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools.


MON 11:30 Sneakiepeeks (b00pckm1)
Trust

The bungling surveillance team undertakes a top-secret category G surveillance operation.

It's a job so secret even the boss doesn't know about it.

Comedy by Harry Venning and Neil Brand about a team of inept, backstabbing surveillance operatives.

Sharla ...... Nina Conti
Bill ...... Richard Lumsden
Mark ...... Daniel Kaluuya
Mrs A ...... Kate Layden
Mr A ...... Ewan Hooper
Justine ...... Tessa Nicholson
David ...... Ewan Bailey
Delphine ...... Kate Layden

Producer: Katie Tyrrell

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.


MON 12:00 You and Yours (b00r3z10)
Morrisons will stop selling one of its biofuels on its petrol forecourts. They blame the government for removing the subsidy on biofuel.

The fund for those affected by the floods in Cockermouth, Cumbria has closed. Why it has been so successful and what can other appeals learn from it?

The growing thirst for homebrew. With improved kits for sale and plenty of advice on the web, more people are enjoying wine at one pound a bottle and beer made in their garage.


MON 12:57 Weather (b00r3z4x)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b00r3zlw)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


MON 13:30 Quote... Unquote (b00r5dlm)
Nigel Rees chairs the popular quiz involving the exchange of quotations and anecdotes.

With David Nobbs, Justin Webb, Marcel Berlins and Naomi Gryn.

The reader is Peter Jefferson.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b00r343l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b00r5dm6)
Unglued

By Nicholas Meiklejohn. Jonathan and Laura are celebrating their 30th anniversary with family and friends, but there is a shock in store when they announce to the guests that they are getting divorced. Is it possible to have a happy divorce?

Laura ...... Tamara Kennedy
Jonathan ...... Andy Gray
Caroline ...... Carol Ann Crawford
Zack/Bill/Band Singer/Taxi Driver ...... John Kielty
Eve/Alice/Diane ...... Corinne Harris

Produced and directed by David Ian Neville.


MON 15:00 Archive on 4 (b00r32wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Saturday]


MON 15:45 A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping (b00r401p)
Episode 1

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world. They sit in boardrooms, audit schools, make government policy and pull the plug on failing companies. And most of us have our performance measured. The history of accounting and book-keeping is largely the history of civilisation.

Jolyon asks how this came about and traces the religious roots of some accounting practices.


MON 16:00 The Food Programme (b00qyvf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b00r5fk2)
Ernie Rea and guests examine how Biblical attitudes to childlessness persist in society today.


MON 17:00 PM (b00r407w)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r41d6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b00r5fk4)
Series 56

Episode 10

Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game with Graham Norton, Liza Tarbuck, Paul Merton and Sue Perkins. From March 2010.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b00r3zmb)
Elizabeth and Nigel spot Pip and Jude waiting for a table at the gastropub in Loxley Barratt and decide to join them. Elizabeth thinks that Jude seems nice but Pip thinks it's a pity that her parents don't seem to think so. Elizabeth explains that most parents don't like their daughters going out with older men. Phil wasn't too happy when she first started dating Nigel, who is eight years older than her. Pip's surprised to learn that Nigel had dated Shula first.

Later Elizabeth remarks to Nigel that if David's not careful he'll end up driving Pip away.

Kate's really impressed with the way Jennifer has embraced looking after Ruairi. She shows her the manual she's written for new volunteers at the orphanage. Jennifer's proud of the work she's doing there. Kate would like to do more but Jennifer advises her to make the most of bringing up the children while she can. Tthey grow up so quickly. Jennifer shares her concerns over Lilian especially now that Matt's half brother has turned up with the news that Matt's mother has died. She doesn't realise that Lilian's still planning to go to the funeral.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b00r4pdg)
Jason Solomons reviews Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a detective in a sinister asylum.

Adam Mars-Jones discusses the new novel by Ian McEwan - Solar - which is about global warming.

Actor Don Warrington, best known for playing Philip in Rising Damp, makes his directorial debut with Rum and Coca-Cola by Mustapha Matura.

Producer Eddie Kramer on his partnership with Jimi Hendrix.


MON 19:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 Document (b00r5fk6)
Mike Thomson presents the series using documentary evidence to throw new light on past events.

In May 1964 prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home declared in the House of Commons that British policy in the North Yemen Civil War was one of non-intervention. But with the security of British interests in Aden and South Arabia under threat, rumours spread of London's covert involvement in the war. Mike unravels the extent of Britain's underhand engagement in the region, told through high-level secret Whitehall documents, private papers and eyewitness accounts. As Yemen returns once more to the news headlines, Mike looks back at Britain's policy in the 1960s that went on to have far-reaching consequences for the Yemen of today.


MON 20:30 Analysis (b00r5g6x)
Why Do Men and Women Vote Differently?

The 2010 election campaign has started and politicians seem to be pitching harder than ever for the female vote. Party leaders are falling over each other to webchat with women on Mumsnet: David Cameron has already made three appearances and Gordon Brown recently went on, too. Brown's Mumsnet webchat resulted in headlines like: 'Biscuitgate: After 24 Hours of Dithering Gordon Brown finally confesses his favourite dunk'.

But does it really influence women's votes whether top politicians know about the most environmentally-friendly nappies or whether they can name their favourite biscuits? Women make up more than half of the electorate in the UK. But just like men, they're not a homogenous group. Women are just as affected by their class, locality, individual beliefs, age, ethnicity, jobs, social and marital status etc.. as men are when it comes to their voting behaviour.

Yet there is a difference in how women and men vote. This difference seems to be more pronounced in the US and other European countries like Sweden. But the UK is not immune to it, either. So there is a gender gap which manifests itself when women or men enter the polling booth.

Professor Alison Wolf, of King's College, London, explores the reasons for this gender gap. She asks whether there are particular women's issues that politicians need to hit in order to attract the female vote. Are women MPs more likely to attract women voters? And is true that women respond to the touchy-feely side of politicians more than men or is that just a cliche?


MON 21:00 Costing the Earth (b00r5xfk)
Fusion Future

For 50 years nuclear fusion has been touted as the safe, cheap, limitless fuel of the future. In 2010 the future may finally arrive.

The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the United States is expected this year to fire a laser which will demonstrate, for the first time, more energy coming out of a fusion reaction than has been put in. For many scientists it will be the public proof that all their work has been worthwhile, that the future really does belong to fusion energy.

Tom Heap meets the world's top fusion scientists and, from a safe distance, witnesses a fusion reaction taking place.

He asks what the enormous recent advances in fusion research really mean. Can we expect a fusion power station to be boiling our kettle in 10, 20 or 100 years? Is there enough fuel available to move from experimentation to real-world energy production? How safe is the whole process? It may produce much less radioactive waste than conventional nuclear power stations, but the fuel used is the raw material for hydrogen bombs.

Does the future belong to fusion?


MON 21:30 Start the Week (b00r4tf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:58 Weather (b00r4snm)
The latest weather forecast.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b00r4syf)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.

Jack Straw says he will keep information about Jon Venables a secret. Do victims' families like James Bulger's have the right to know more?

The Conservatives unveil new plans for inventing our way out of recession. Is the Institute of Directors impressed?

Forty years on: the first of a series of extracts from The World Tonight archives.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00r4syh)
Trespass

Episode 6

Sara Kestelman reads from the new and disturbing novel by Rose Tremain. Set in the Cevennes, an untamed area of southern France where traditions and secrets run deep, it is the story of two very different sets of siblings.

Veronica's life of robust contentment is about to be shattered for ever. Up at the Mas Lunel, Aramon is struggling to remember recent events.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.


MON 23:00 Rory Bremner's International Satirists (b00r5xfm)
Hans Teeuwen - Holland

Rory Bremner engages topical comics, satirists and comedians from different countries about their cultures and how they relate to ours - if at all.

Mad bad and dangerous to know, Hans Teeuwen is an absurdist comic performer who takes great risks on stage and has been likened to Bill Hicks and Andy Kaufman. But after the murder of his close friend Theo van Gogh he decided to start performing his Dutch 'cabaretier' show in English, to wide acclaim.

Rory and Hans explore the world of performance and topical and absurdist comedy, exchanging views and impressions while discussing the risks facing Dutch comics today.

The programme features media academic Liesbet van Zoonen of Loughborough University and Rotterdam University.

A Curtains for Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00r4t7g)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.



TUESDAY 09 MARCH 2010

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b00r3rkg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b00r3ykb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rn3)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r3rs8)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rqx)
The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b00r3rtw)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r3sbj)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b00r3ts8)
The UK produces 16 times as many chickens as it did 50 years ago. Anna Hill visits Norfolk to see one of the country's largest chicken producers. She's told welfare on intensive systems can be better than free range.

Plus, proposals from a Welsh government think-tank for the Welsh dairy herd to be kept indoors, to help meet greenhouse gas emissions targets.


TUE 06:00 Today (b00r3v50)
With John Humphrys and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.


TUE 09:00 The Long View (b00r0rdj)
The Commemoration of the Fallen.

Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present.

As the small Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett becomes the focus of the nation's commemoration of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, Jonathan journeys to Towton in Yorkshire, scene of the bloodiest battle on British soil, and of the 'repatriation' of the fallen to consecrated ground by Richard III 23 years later. With Dr Carl Watkins, Andrew Boardman and Andrew Meek, Jonathan discovers the reasons behind this unprecedented act of commemoration, and traces the changing culture of such acts, through the wars of the 20th century to the present 'Highway for Heroes' in Wootton Bassett.


TUE 09:30 When I Grow Up (b00r5yzr)
Episode 4

Forty years ago 14,000 youngsters across Britain were asked to write about where they saw themselves in the future - their jobs, family lives, belongings, living environments and leisure pursuits. Those essays have now been followed up by the Nuffield Foundation as a way of finding out how far ambition at an early age shapes what happens in later life.

This is the first time that media access has been granted to those who have taken part in their research. As well as evidence of ambition the essays offer lovely detail about how the eleven year olds imagined life would be at 25, with one writing: "my husband would have just won £200 so we decided to go to the moon for our holiday while we had not got any children."

The series covers the following five areas: jobs, family lives, living environments, leisure pursuits and belongings that they imagined owning when first studied. The findings suggest that children who are ambitious go on to enjoy greater success than those with lower aspirations. Once background and ability were accounted for, children did better if they set themselves lofty goals.

It reveals that, even if a child is economically disadvantaged or less able, having high ambitions at around the time they leave primary school means that they are significantly more likely to have a professional job, though not necessarily the one that they predicted.

Producer: Sue Mitchell
(repeat).


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b00r3yk2)
Max Hastings - Did You Really Shoot the Television?

Episode 2

Max Hastings recalls the marriage of his Fleet Street parents, roving reporter Mac and glamorous editor Anne.

Mac is made a star contributor of Eagle magazine and his gifts for delusion soar.

With additional readings by Nigel Hastings as Mac and Joanna Monro as Anne.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00r3ypk)
Lynda Bellingham on adoption; Job share MPs

Lynda Bellingham on being adopted. Plus, over-sharing on social media sites. And should MPs be allowed to job share?


TUE 10:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdm)
7. The Fiends Are On Their Way

Alison is increasingly troubled by a sense of foreboding, which becomes stronger on the return of her horrible spirit guide Morris. Her young friend Mart, banished by Colette from the garden shed but working with a group of labourers over the road, tells her he's seen a white van full of boxes arrive looking for her.

The news brings back terrible memories to Alison, who fears that the events of her childhood - and the evil men who were part of them - are getting closer all the time. Meanwhile, her assistant Colette is more interested in getting their accounts sorted out.

Hilary Mantel's blackly comic novel about a professional medium with a troubled past.

Alison ...... Alison Steadman
Colette ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Morris ...... Bill Wallis
Mandy ...... Adrienne O'Sullivan
Mart ...... Malcolm Hamilton

Dramatised by Caroline Harrington.

Director: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


TUE 11:00 The Alps (b00r5zsl)
Episode 1

The Alps form a vast mountain barrier stretching from Vienna to Nice, dividing German north from Latin south. Misha Glenny tackles our shared European history in a totally unexpected way, exploring the impact of the Alps on our culture, our economy and the formation of eight European states.

In this first programme, Misha focuses on the mountain passes, and why controlling these cracks in the Alps was the key to moving from north to south.


TUE 11:30 Belfast: Re-imagining the City (b00r6027)
When artist Bill Drummond discovered Belfast wasn't twinned with anywhere he made a sign and put it up under the city's welcome notice. It said 'Belfast: Twinned with Your Wildest Dreams'. In this programme, Bill shares his vision of the city: his memories of glamorous 1930s cinemas with glittering curtains, of spontaneous creative happenings and a landscape where the smell of the mountain heather seeps down to the city centre. With a range of urban guides, Bill offers a tour of Belfast unlike any you've heard before.


TUE 12:00 You and Yours (b00r3yx2)
Should our MPs be more accountable?

With Parliament still reeling from the fallout of the expenses scandal and the election looming, is now a good time to redefine the relationship between our MPs and their constituents? What would you like to see happen to make our MPs more accountable?

The government has promised a form of proportional representation - after the next election. The Conservatives are toying with giving constituents the power to 'recall' MPs if they are not up to the job. And the Liberal Democrats are sticking to their long-held support of proportional representation.

Meanwhile political activists are turning to the internet to improve accountability. The Democracy Club wants to quiz Parliamentary candidates on local issues and track winning candidates' actions and voting record in Parliament. Is it a good idea, or do we tamper with the current system at our peril?


TUE 12:57 Weather (b00r3z12)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b00r3z4z)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


TUE 13:30 Soul Music (b00r6029)
Series 9

Dido's Lament

Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.

Dido's Lament is a popular name for a famous aria, 'When I am laid in earth', from the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, with the libretto by Nahum Tate. Mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly talks about why she finds the piece, sung by the likes of Janet Baker and Emma Kirkby, so extraordinary, and the skill it takes to perform it. Composer and cellist Philip Shepperd's musical life was transformed when he was part of the rock singer Jeff Buckley's performance of the piece at the 1995 Meltdown Festival.

Contributors:
Alison Moyet
Sarah Connolly
Jeremy summerly
Graham Jones
Sheryl Sarnet
Nicholas Witchell
Philip Sheppard

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b00r3zmb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b00r6534)
Say What You Want to Hear - The Endgame

By Tim Wright. Dotcom entrepreneurs Erik and Mike set up Say What You Want to Hear, a website for people to voice these secret thoughts. This play follows their adventures as they pursue love, fortune, football and film stars across Europe.

Erik ...... Stephen Tompkinson
Mike ...... Ewan Bailey
Scarlett ...... Keely Beresford
Jeannie ...... Alison Pettit
Jurgen ...... Bruce Alexander
Sylvie ...... Rachel Atkins

Directed by David Hunter.


TUE 15:00 Home Planet (b00r657s)
Many of the world's living creatures are threatened with extinction - the great apes, tigers, blue fin tuna to name just a few. The last thing any conservationist would suggest is that we should teach children how to capture, kill and preserve these magnificent creatures. But there is one area of conservation that needs people to do just that, and unless they do then the chances of understanding and preserving thousands - if not millions - of species is jeopardised. Discover why conserving some species involves killing a few of them.

There's also the question of whether lead from spent WWII ammunition is affecting human health today, and why some earth worms curl up in a ball rather than run away and hide. Also, if one of the defining features of an insect is that it has six legs, how come there are some with only four?

Join Richard Daniel and his guests entomologist Richard Jones, soil scientist Dr Chris Collins of Reading University and Professor Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London.

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00r658y)
Rhys Davies Award Winners

Getting Up by Sian Preece

4 Extra Debut. When a young graffiti artist falls into a cave, a surprising discovery reveals the power of art through time. Read by Gareth David-Lloyd.


TUE 15:45 A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping (b00r96r0)
Episode 2

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world.

He goes back 5,000 years, to ancient Mesopotamia, to examine controversial theories about how accountants invented writing. The first written records do not record great stories or noble thoughts but show whether or not people had paid their bills to the state authorities. Accounting started off as the exercise of political power.


TUE 16:00 Law in Action (b00r6611)
Bribery Law Reform

Outdated, inadequate and piecemeal are just some of the criticisms levelled at the UK's current anti-bribery legislation. Clive Coleman and guests weigh up whether or not the Bribery Bill and proposed reforms are robust enough to achieve their aims. Penalties, plea bargains and the enforcement role of the Serious Fraud Office are examined in the light of recent cases, such as the BAE Systems settlement.

Interviewees include former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith and Monty Raphael, special counsel at Peters and Peters law firm.


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (b00r6613)
Julia Blackburn and Ritula Shah

Sue MacGregor talks to writer Julia Blackburn and BBC The World Tonight presenter Ritula Shah about their favourite books by Kate Clanchy, Michael Ondaatje and Simon Gray.

Antigona and Me by Kate Clanchy
Publisher. Picador

Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Publisher. Picador

Coda by Simon Gray
Publisher. Granta

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


TUE 17:00 PM (b00r407f)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r418s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b00r66c1)
Series 3

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Marcus Brigstocke invites his guest Sanjeev Baskar to try five things he really ought to have done by now, including reading PG Wodehouse.

Whether the experiences are banal or profound, the show is about embracing the new and getting out of our comfort zones.

The title comes from the fact that the show's producer and creator Bill Dare had never seen the film Star Wars.

Producer: Bill Dare

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b00r3zly)
Paul's pleased to see Lilian at the funeral. There aren't many mourners there as his mother didn't have many friends. He introduces Lilian to his children as a family friend. Lilian thinks they might have got the impression that she and Paul were an item. Lilian admits to Paul she didn't tell Matt that she'd be at the funeral. He's got enough on his plate with the confiscation hearing next week. Matt's worried they'll take everything.

Tony's less than enthusiastic to hear that Helen's had another clinic appointment. Pat wishes he'd be more supportive. He thinks Helen's living in a dream world. She's never coped well with stress and babies are very demanding.

Helen catches the tail end of the argument but she refuses to let Tony's negativity get to her. Helen's had to go through some vigorous tests. The clinic think her body mass index is a little low and have advised her to put on half a stone. A few years ago Helen would have freaked out at the idea but not any more.

Tony confides in Tom about Helen. He's so pleased that Tom and Brenda are doing things the right way, marrying first before starting a family.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b00r4pd6)
Film critic Antonia Quirke reviews Green Zone, starring Matt Damon as a rogue US Army officer hunting for covert intelligence before the outbreak of war in an unstable region.

Pete Waterman on his search for the UK's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Six acts will perform live on BBC One and compete for the public's vote.

Richard Briers on his career as a comic actor, from hit sitcoms The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles, to his latest role on stage in Dion Boucicault's London Assurance.


TUE 19:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (b00r66v2)
Pensions crisis

Five years ago the government promised to provide a safety net for when pension funds went bust, but this new scheme is already more than a billion pounds in deficit. Fran Abrams investigates allegations that some companies are simply dumping their obligations and leaving the Pensions Protection Fund - and in some cases the taxpayer - to pick up the bill.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b00r66v4)
Listener Tom Walker voices his concern about an article written by RNIB Chair Kevin Carey, in which he states that until we have a perfect world, without prejudice, in some situations blind people will take longer to perform some tasks than their sighted peers; particularly visually-impaired people using access technology or blind people reading Braille, who are not able to scan a document as they have to read it in a linear way.

Tom said that he can read printed material more quickly than his sighted colleagues when he uses his screen-reading software and he thinks that making generalisations is fraught with danger and that disabled people should be 'talked up' by people such as Carey.

Carey responded by saying it's not helpful to say that blind people can do things they can't and that his article did offer some solutions to the problems he pointed out, but that wasn't the bit that people chose to focus their attentions. As chair of the RNIB, he said that we have to be honest on the way they formulate their policies, based on the evidence they've got.

Michael Whappels has been looking for a job for two years, and talked about his experience of trying to find work.


TUE 21:00 Am I Normal? (b00r60gp)
Series 7

Ageing

Am I normal for my age? Vivienne Parry examines our perceptions and the realities of what happens to us as we get older. She unpicks the differences between ageing and disease and asks if there is such a thing as normal ageing.

It happens to us all; nothing can hold back the tide of time. The natural process of ageing not only affects our appearance and how our bodies respond to general wear and tear, but also how we succumb to and are affected by illness. Yet it seems, no one ages in the same way. Middle age for some of us doesn't end until we're well into our 70s, whereas some people feel old before their time.

The programme asks what will happen to us when we age normally? And indeed is there such a thing as a normal ageing process? Genes, lifestyle choices, environment and even social class all play a part.

So what was normal 20 or 30 years ago is not normal now. The average age of the world's population is increasing at an unprecedented rate. It's been estimated that the number of people worldwide who are 65 and older now will double by 2040 (from seven to fourteen per cent).

How we are ageing is changing too. We are living longer and dying quicker. Professor of geriatric medicine Raymond Tallis says that, 'Despite the fact that we're living longer, the period of chronic illness or disability before death is shrinking.' Advances in modern medicine have postponed many diseases of old age to such an extent that we live longer, healthier lives before succumbing when we are really old and frail and therefore die relatively quickly.

But not everyone is still running marathons at 75 or constantly feels 15 years younger than their actual age. And the phrase 'you're only as old as you feel' can be pretty depressing to some people. So what is normal for a certain age? How can we measure it? And does it really matter?


TUE 21:30 The Long View (b00r0rdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 21:58 Weather (b00r4slp)
The latest weather forecast.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b00r4snp)
News from a global perspective with Robin Lustig.

Irish priest abuse scandal: are authorities pursuing alleged abusers? An exclusive report.

The former head of MI5 says US misled allies over torture.

The US condemns Israeli plans for new settlements in East Jerusalem.

Investigations urged into violence in Nigeria.

Is Japan shifting allegiance to China?

Will Romania welcome a US missile shield?


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00r4syk)
Trespass

Episode 7

Sara Kestelman reads from the new and disturbing novel by Rose Tremain. Set in the Cevennes, an untamed area of southern France where traditions and secrets run deep, it is the story of two very different sets of siblings.

Kitty sets out to prove her own theory about Anthony's disappearance. At the Mas Lunel, Aramon makes a shocking and surprising discovery.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.


TUE 23:00 An Open Letter to Richard Branson (b00r673j)
2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Tom Wrigglesworth recounts his tale of taking on the jobsworths. Tom describes his confrontation with a vile train manager and finds the time to mull over other important issues including trainspotters, big beige granny bags and the length of time it takes to eat a pistachio nut.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00r4t2t)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.



WEDNESDAY 10 MARCH 2010

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00r3rkj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00r3yk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rn5)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r3rsb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rqz)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00r3rty)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r3sbl)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00r3tsb)
Farmers face subsidy cuts if they fail to do their cattle paperwork. More than 2,500 farms failed to notify the authorities about births, deaths or animals leaving the farm.

After one of the coldest Scottish winters in decades, Farming Today finds out what's being done to ease the suffering of the Highlands' wild deer population.


WED 06:00 Today (b00r3v52)
With Evan Davis and Justin Webb. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b00r7kvp)
Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and guests including Simon Barnes.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00r3yk4)
Max Hastings - Did You Really Shoot the Television?

Episode 3

Max Hastings recalls the marriage of his Fleet Street parents, roving reporter Mac and glamorous editor Anne.

Mac leaves for Africa in the footsteps of his relation, Lewis: there's Stone Age Man to track down.

With additional readings by Nigel Hastings as Mac and Joanna Monro as Anne.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00r3ypm)
The burka in Britain; Zoe Margolis; Land Girls

Should Britain ban the burka? Plus, the secret life of blogger Zoe Margolis; and novelist Angela Huth on land girls.


WED 10:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdp)
8. Team Psychics

Alison is invited to take part with her fellow mediums in a Team Psychics show, but the event is disrupted when the elderly medium Mrs Etchells sees some unexpected figures in the back row of the audience.

The fiends from Alison's past are back, and they are intent on mischief. Their first victim is Mrs Etchells, who dies of a heart attack and brings Alison disturbing news from the other side.

Hilary Mantel's blackly comic novel about a professional medium with a troubled past.

Alison ...... Alison Steadman
Colette ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Silvana ...... Jacqueline Tong
Mrs Etchells ...... June Barrie

Dramatised by Caroline Harrington.

Director: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


WED 11:00 Mothers and Daughters (b00r7kyq)
The producers of Woman's Hour asked listeners to tell them about their experiences as mothers and daughters, and hundreds of women replied. From these responses, this programme for Mother's Day tells three exceptional stories of mothers and daughters lost and found. All of them went through through years in which their relationships had broken down completely; divorce, alcohol, religious differences all played their part. For years they lost each other; but then they found each other again. Now reconciled, they talk movingly about rediscovering their love.

A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 11:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b00r7kys)
Series 3

Bacon Punctuation

The hit Radio 4 series 'Fags, Mags & Bags' returns to the airwaves of Radio 4 with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave.

Written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli - 'Fags, Mags & Bags' has proved a hit with the Radio 4 audience with the show also collecting a Sony nomination and a Writers' Guild award in 2008. This series features guest appearances from Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor Who) and Ron Donachie (Titanic).

In this episode the future of the shop's much loved Wall of Crisps comes under threat after someone from the EU visits the shop. The wall is contravening European Crisp regulations by stocking corn and maize based snacks alongside potato based 'crisps' and has to be dismantled which causes outrage amongst the Lenzidens.

Cast:
Ramesh ...... Sanjeev Kohli
Dave ...... Donald Mcleary
Sanjay ...... Omar Raza
Alok ...... Susheel Kumar
Father Henderson ...... Gerard Kelly
Ted ...... Gavin Mitchell
Mutton Jeff ...... Sean Scanlan
Jeff Etc ...... Steven McNicoll
Hilly ...... Kate Brailsford
Mr Hepworth ...... Tom Urie

Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00r3yx4)
When is a village green not a village green? As more and more people apply for land to become greens, developers' plans are put on hold - sometimes for years.

Could your new car soon be fitted with tyre pressure monitors to help reduce the amount of petrol you use?

The first of three School Reports where pupils quiz the three main parties on policy - today David Laws, the Liberal Democrats' shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families, is interviewed by youngsters from Somerset.


WED 12:57 Weather (b00r3z14)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b00r3z51)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00r7l78)
Bob Geldof has called for the BBC's head of global news to be sacked, along with two other journalists, over a report on the misuse of aid to Ethiopia in the 1980s. One of those in his firing line, World Service current affairs editor Andrew Whitehead, explains why he stands by the report and one of the groups that distributed relief, Christian Aid, say why they are still so concerned.

After almost a week on the front pages, the tabloids have moved on from the Jon Venables story for now. Were they right to insist on the authorities revealing his new identity? And how well did the Ministry of Justice handle the media coverage? Former News of the World editor Phil Hall discusses this with Lorraine Davidson of The Times.

BBC3 has been under scrutiny since it avoided the axe in the BBC's strategy review, with calls for it to be closed instead of 6 Music. Steve Hewlett asks controller Danny Cohen if he can make the case for Snog, Marry, Avoid and Hotter Than My Daughter over 6 Music's Lauren Laverne.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b00r3zly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b00r7l7b)
Nick Warburton - Not Bobby

by Nick Warburton

Frank brings a pet rabbit home. Mum gives Bobby's hutch pride of place in the sitting room. But who finished that last clue in yesterday's crossword? It wasn't mum...

Director: Peter Kavanagh

STEREO.


WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00r7l7d)
Vincent Duggleby and a panel of guests answer calls on tax.

Guests:

Anita Monteith, tax faculty technical manager, ICAEW
Mike Warburton, tax director, Grant Thornton.


WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00r8hwh)
Rhys Davies Award Winners

Dammed, by Sarah Wishart

A young woman's grief forces her to view the world through the sudden sharp focus of heightened emotion. Read by Caryl Morgan.


WED 15:45 A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping (b00r96qp)
Episode 3

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world.

Jolyon hears how a corrupt Roman governor was tried in court using his own forged account books, and how the ancient Greeks inscribed the accounts of public expenditure on walls for all to see.


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00r7l7g)
Armies have always sought to guess the enemy's next move based on past experience. Such crystal gazing took on a fresh urgency during the Cold War as the new discipline of military futurology grappled with the threat of nuclear war. Since then, military futurists have taken their imaginings into more apocalyptic realms. Charged by Western policy makers with the task of 'thinking the unthinkable', they foresee future threats which owe as much to science fiction as to real life. They anticipate cities controlled by terrorists and drug cartels, dictators who've acquired the genetic secret of longevity, even the development of a 'magic bullet' which can't be countered. But do such grim predictions provide a justification for an endless global war against enemies that may never exist? Laurie Taylor discusses a new survey of military futurism with its author, Matthew Carr, and with the geographer Stephen Graham.

Also, from Richard Pryor to Lenny Henry - how humour can reinforce or subvert racial stereotypes. The sociologist Simon Weaver tells Laurie about his research into the nature and variety of anti-racist comedy.


WED 16:30 Am I Normal? (b00r60gp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 17:00 PM (b00r407h)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r418v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Party (b00r7l7j)
Series 1

Episode 1

A group of young idealists try to set up a brand new political party.

From the perils of electing a leader and choosing a party name through to the finer intricacies of Foreign and Environmental policy

Tom Basden’s sitcom satirises their ambitions, hypocrisy and naivety - based on his 2009 Edinburgh play which won a fringe first.

Simon ...... Tom Basden
Mel ...... Anna Crilly
Duncan ...... Tim Key
Jared ...... Johnny Sweet
Phoebe ...... Katy Wix

Producer: Julia McKenzie

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b00r3zm0)
Lynda's busy chasing up volunteers for the community shop. She's hoping to persuade some of them to participate in the graffiti clean-up too and there's still the talent show to organise.

Shula and Jill sort through Phil's clothes. There's a blazer that Phil bought the week he died, still with the tags on. Alan calls in to check if it's still ok to pitch his tent outside Glebe Cottage next week. Jill will be glad of the company. She's missing Phil so much. Alan tells her that lots of people are struggling to come to terms with the loss. He saw Bert at Phil's graveside on Sunday. Jill decides to give the blazer to Bert.

Brenda's feeling down, having been rejected for another job. She can't understand why Helen's feeling so broody. A kid will tie her down. Brenda is starting to think about looking for jobs in Birmingham. She wouldn't be able to commute if she had a baby to look after. Tom's worried he'd never get to see her. Roy thinks he should be grateful he's only got one woman to worry about. He's got Hayley, Kate and Phoebe!

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b00r4pd8)
Sarah Crompton reviews Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical Love Never Dies, a sequel to the hugely successful Phantom of the Opera which opened in 1986 and is now one of the longest-running musicals of all time.

Soprano Dame Emma Kirkby is widely thought of as a pioneer in the field of early music. She talks to Mark Lawson about her ground-breaking career ahead of her concert Arias for Mrs Arne, part of The London Handel Festival.

Based on the first of the bestselling novels in the Millennium series by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo tells the story of a journalist and a young female hacker who investigate a mysterious disappearance. Jeff Park reviews.

French author JMG Le Clézio was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008. Author of over 40 books, his works have been translated into 36 languages. Now his 1980 novel Desert, a reflection on colonization and its legacy, has been brought out in English. Jean-Marie Le Clézio talks to Mark Lawson about the book and the continuing relevance of the subject matter.


WED 19:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (b00r7lps)
This week the question for the Moral Maze is, 'why should we have a right to know the truth about Jon Venables's crimes?' If revealing the details would jeopardise any chance of a fair trial and also risk revealing his new identity, what is the justification other than to feed a desire for revenge? What should we do with Jon Venables? How should justice be done in his case and others like it, and how should it be seen to be done?

Witnesses:

Kelvin Mackenzie, former editor of the Sun

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform

Marie McCounrt, coordinator of SAMM Merseyside - Support After Murder and Manslaughter Merseyside.

Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph.


WED 20:45 Lent Talks (b00r7lpv)
Maajid Nawaz

Series of six talks by eminent thinkers exploring how faith and religion interact with a variety of aspects in society.

Maajid Nawaz, co-director of the Quilliam Foundation, reflects on pluralism in society.


WED 21:00 Geoengineering the Climate (b00r7lpx)
Mark Whitaker reports from Britain and the USA on the science of geoengineering and the political questions it raises. Putting giant parasols in space, injecting substances into the stratosphere, fertilising the oceans and brightening the clouds are all techniques to cool the earth, by reducing sunlight or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Until recently they were the stuff of science fiction but now they are being taken seriously on both sides of the Atlantic.

A Square Dog production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 21:30 Midweek (b00r7kvp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 21:58 Weather (b00r4slr)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00r4snr)
National and international news and analysis with Robin Lustig.

A case of incest compared to the Fritzl case, lasting over 30 years, has led to recommendations for changes in child protection procedures.

Somalia food aid was siphoned off, says a UN report.

SNP and Plaid Cymru protest to the BBC over leaders' debates.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00r4sym)
Trespass

Episode 8

Sara Kestelman reads from the new and disturbing novel by Rose Tremain. Set in the Cevennes, an untamed area of southern France where traditions and secrets run deep, it is the story of two very different sets of siblings.

Aramon makes another discovery but his memory is no clearer. And for Anthony, the inevitable finally arrives.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.


WED 23:00 Earls of the Court (b00r7lpz)
Crisis Management

Comedy drama series by Will Adamsdale and Stewart Wright about two Australians down on their luck in London.

Lloydie and Johnno need money fast to pay the rent, but will the contents of Lloydie's trusty backpack be enough to save the day?

Lloydie ...... Stewart Wright
Johnno ...... Will Adamsdale

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.


WED 23:15 Nick Mohammed in Quarters (b00grtmv)
Episode 1

Energetic sketch comedy by Nick Mohammed. With guests Anna Crilly and Colin Hoult.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00r4t2w)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Robert Orchard.



THURSDAY 11 MARCH 2010

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b00r3rkl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b00r3yk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rn7)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r3rsd)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rr1)
The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b00r3rv0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r3sbn)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b00r3tsd)
More government money is promised for Cumbrian farmers who were flooded last year. Farming Today reports how the harsh winter weather has hit the Scottish Forestry Industry, and Charlotte Smith visits a dairy farm to discover if farming is becoming more intensive.


THU 06:00 Today (b00r3v54)
With James Naughtie and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b00r7lr9)
Boudica

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and mythologisation of Boudica.On the eve of battle with the Roman Empire, an East Anglian leader roused her forces by declaring: 'It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom'. Her name was Boudica, warrior Queen of the Iceni.In 60AD, Boudica's husband Prasutagus died and Roman troops tried to incorporate his lands into their Empire. Soldiers publicly flogged Boudica and raped her daughters. In retaliation, she led an army of tribesmen and sacked Camulodunum, modern day Colchester, before marching on London. Such was the ferocity of Boudica's attack that she came close to driving the Roman Imperial power out of Britain before she was finally defeated.Boudica was largely forgotten in the Middle Ages, but her image reappeared during the rule of Elizabeth I as a striking symbol of female power and heroism, before being denigrated by Elizabeth's heir, James I. In Victorian Britain, Boudica once again emerged, this time as a symbol of British Imperial power. The challenger to the Roman Empire had been transformed into the icon of the British Empire and to this day her statue stands guard outside the Houses of Parliament.With Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in Folklore at Cardiff University; Richard Hingley, Professor of Roman Archaeology at Durham University; and Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Professor of Archaeology in the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b00r3yk6)
Max Hastings - Did You Really Shoot the Television?

Episode 4

Max Hastings recalls the marriage of his Fleet Street parents, roving reporter Mac and glamorous editor Anne.

At last, the story of the family's beleaguered TV set.

With additional readings by Nigel Hastings as Mac and Joanna Monro as Anne.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00r3ypp)
Mothers and Daughters

A special programme on the mother-daughter relationship. What do we think of the legacy of our mothers and what expectations do we have for our own daughters?


THU 10:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdr)
9. A Violent Death

Alison tries to get the truth about her childhood out of her mother, but Emmie won't give her a straight reply. It's not until the appalling Morris and his evil spirit friends have caused another shocking death that Alison begins to get some answers.

When Alison confronts Morris with the evil he's done, he counters by revealing the true extent of the vengeance that the young Alison took on her abusers. It's all too much for Colette, who announces she won't stay another day in the house.

Hilary Mantel's blackly comic novel about a professional medium with a troubled past.

Alison ...... Alison Steadman
Colette ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Morris ...... Bill Wallis
Emmie ...... Katharine Rogers

Dramatised by Caroline Harrington.

Director: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (b00r7lyc)
BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines. Introduced by Kate Adie.


THU 11:30 Capturing America: Mark Lawson's History of Modern American Literature (b00r7lyf)
Making Sex Safe

Mark Lawson tells the story of how American writing became the literary superpower of the 20th century, telling the nation's stories of money, power, sex, religion and war.

From the 1950s the phrase 'scandalous bestseller' began to appear on the covers of paperbacks such as Peyton Place by Grace Metalious, Couples by John Updike and Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. And in spite of a widespread belief that America had become unshockable, there continued to be bursts of controversy over works of literature dealing with sex, including Tony Kushner's Angels in America - subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes - Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story, Susanna Moore's In the Cut and Patricia Cornwell's introduction of the first lesbian character in a mainstream crime series. The programme also features Nicholson Baker's response to discovering - in the Starr Report - that his erotically explicit book Vox was one of the love gifts given by Monica Lewinsky to President Clinton.


THU 12:00 You and Yours (b00r3yx6)
How the national Fire Service College had failed to comply with fire safety laws when part of its own premises burnt down.

Why hotel owners in the UK are facing a new bill for having televisions with radio reception in their rooms.


THU 12:57 Weather (b00r3z16)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b00r3z53)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


THU 13:30 Costing the Earth (b00r5xfk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Monday]


THU 14:00 The Archers (b00r3zm0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b00r7mfs)
Final Demands

Point Counterpoint

Series of plays by Frederic Raphael reuniting the characters from his novel The Glittering Prizes, which followed the fortunes of scholarship boy Adam Morris and his contemporaries at Cambridge University in the early 1950s.

At a publisher's launch party, Adam runs into several old friends and a few enemies. Forty years on from their days at Cambridge, other paths are also crossing.

Adam Morris ...... Tom Conti
Barbara Morris ...... Barbara Kellermann
Rachel Morris ...... Flora Montgomery
Joyce Hadleigh ...... Angela Down
Dan Bradley ...... Malcolm Stoddard
Samuel Marcus Cohen ...... Alistair McGowan
Terry Slater ...... Stephen Mangan
Innes Maclean ...... Struan Rodger
Connie Simpson ...... Lorelei King
Jason Singer ...... Simon Greenall
Tamara Singer ...... Georgina Rich
Tom Morris ...... Rupert Degas
Alexi Morris ...... Gene Goodman
Juliana Morris ...... Raquel Cassidy
Jonty Logan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt

Produced by Jo Wheeler

Directed by Pete Atkin

An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 15:00 Ramblings (b00r323j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:07 on Saturday]


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b00r33m9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:55 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00r8hwk)
Rhys Davies Award Winners

Zeina by Craig Hawes

A young journalist dreams of forbidden love on the streets of Dubai. Read by Steffan Rhodri.


THU 15:45 A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping (b00r96qr)
Episode 4

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world.

How the emergence of double entry book-keeping in medieval Italy paved the way for the rise of capitalism. Some people claim that the new system, known as the 'Italian method', arose because of the need of medieval merchants to square their desire to make money with their need to save their eternal souls. Was double entry a way to fudge an outbreak of conscience?


THU 16:00 Bookclub (b00r341s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:30 Material World (b00r7mrr)
Science and the recession: can blue skies research help rebuild our economy, as the Royal Society suggests? Quentin Cooper hears from the author of the report, Martin Taylor of Manchester University, and from academic and entrepreneur David May of Bristol University's computer science department.

Also: we can do it, even educated rats can do it. Now smart oil drops can do it as well - navigate their way unaided round complex mazes. Quentin hears how it may lead to drugs that can home in on their targets.

And the big turn off. Researchers in Bristol have been finding out if turning off traffic lights can actually improve traffic flow, and if there are any untoward consequences.


THU 17:00 PM (b00r407k)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r418x)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Another Case of Milton Jones (b00r7n2p)
Series 4

Brilliant Mathematician

Milton Jones bestrides the globe as an expert in his field, with no ability whatsoever.

Milton is a mathematical whiz-kid who gets tied up in knots and rings trying to solve the equation of the mysteriously disappearing geniuses.

With Tom Goodman-Hill, Lucy Montgomery, Ben Willbond.

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b00r3zm2)
Lynda comes over to Kathy's to make arrangements for the talent contest. Peggy has found the head of a collared dove on the church porch. Something appears to be using the churchyard as a hunting ground.

Kenton's eager to get going with the discussions, as they have got a lot to get through. They agree on a name for the contest: Ambridge Has Got Talent. Lynda and Kenton will be on the judging panel, so they just need to find a third judge.

Ruth's not impressed when Josh tells her that Pip's gone to a party with Jude. He asks if he can go over to Jamie's to study for a science test. Ruth agrees as long as he's back by nine. But Josh and Jamie have other plans. Armed with spray cans, they find a secluded wall to graffiti. Ed discovers them. If the boys don't volunteer to help with the clean-up at the weekend, he threatens to tell David and Sid who the graffiti culprits are.

Josh arrives home to a very agitated Ruth. She's not been able to get hold of Pip. Josh tells her not to wait up for her, but that's exactly what Ruth intends to do.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b00r4pdb)
John Wilson is joined by writer and historian James Holland to review The Pacific, a new TV series from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the team behind Band of Brothers. Set in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, The Pacific is reportedly the most expensive TV series ever made.

Tom Morris updates Shakespeare for The Bristol Old Vic theatre in Juliet and Her Romeo. Adapting the original text of the play, Morris casts the lovers in their 80s, with their children trying to prevent their marriage. Sian Phillips, who plays Juliet, and Michael Byrne, who plays Romeo, discuss the performance.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Elgar's Violin Concerto performed by Fritz Kreisler at the Queen's Hall in London, Helen Wallace compares new recordings of the concerto, including one using Kreisler's violin.

Actor Phil Daniels, who starred in productions including Scum, Quadrophenia and Eastenders and was the voice on Blur's Parklife, discusses his varied career.


THU 19:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 Law in Action (b00r6611)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (b00r7n2r)
Evan Davis is joined by a panel of top executives from the travel industry to discuss how they go about making cuts in difficult times and dealing with nightmare customers.

Evan is joined by Mike Rutter, chief commercial officer of the airline Flybe, Nicola Shaw, managing director of the bus division of FirstGroup, and Michel Taride, president of Hertz International.


THU 21:00 Can't Connect, Won't Connect (b00lxh3p)
A so-called 'digital revolution' is promised to transform public and private life, but many millions are still not online in Britain, saying that they don't need or want to join this revolution. Chris Bowlby discovers who the digital 'refuseniks' are, and explores how far their resistance can go. And he asks the government's new digital inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox, what will happen if attitudes do not change.


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b00r7lr9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 21:58 Weather (b00r4slt)
The latest weather forecast.


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b00r4snt)
National and international news and analysis with Roger Hearing.

Four politicians appear in court on charges related to their expenses.

Afghanistan and Pakistan's leaders meet to discuss the Taliban.

We eavesdrop on a conversation between schoolchildren in Kabul and Bristol.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00r4syp)
Trespass

Episode 9

Sara Kestelman reads from the new and disturbing novel by Rose Tremain. Set in the Cevennes, an untamed area of southern France where traditions and secrets run deep, it is the story of two very different sets of siblings.

With the discovery of a body, can it be long before the murderer is unmasked?

Abridged by Sally Marmion.


THU 23:00 Sarah Millican's Support Group (b00r7nqc)
Series 1

4. 'My broken heart needs fixing'.

'My broken heart needs fixing but I've only got paper glue'

'Tonight is the night that two become one - I'm leaving you'.

Sarah Millican plays a life counsellor and modern-day agony aunt tackling the nation's problems head on, dishing out real advice for real people.

Assisted by her very own team of experts.

Sarah ...... Sarah Millican
Marion ...... Ruth Bratt
Terry ...... Simon Daye
Marie ...... Jo Neary
Kim ...... Katherine Parkinson
Colin ...... Martin Trenaman

Written by Sarah Millican.

Producer: Lianne Coop

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00r4t2y)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with David Wilby.



FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2010

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b00r3rkn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b00r3yk6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rn9)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00r3rsg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00r3rr3)
The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b00r3rv2)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00r3sbq)
Daily prayer and reflection with Rev Sharon Grenham-Toze.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b00r3tsg)
Charlotte Smith hears about the jailing of a man for selling imported battery eggs as British, free-range and organic.

And with continuing snow in Scotland, Farming Today hears how two farmers are having very different experiences, despite living 10 minutes apart.


FRI 06:00 Today (b00r3v56)
With James Naughtie and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day; Yesterday in Parliament.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b00r33mq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b00r3yk8)
Max Hastings - Did You Really Shoot the Television?

Episode 5

Max Hastings recalls the marriage of his Fleet Street parents, roving reporter Mac and glamorous editor Anne.

More trouble for Mac, and Anne's later 'business' with the small Picasso.

With additional readings by Nigel Hastings as Mac and Joanna Monro as Anne.

Abridged by Penny Leicester.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00r3yps)
Civil Partnerships; Men's views on make up

Should civil partnership ceremonies be available to heterosexuals? Plus, what do men really think about women wearing lots of make up?


FRI 10:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdt)
10. Alison's Retribution

Alison knows that in order to banish the demons of her past she must face them and confront the painful truth about what happened in her childhood. With the help of Mrs McGibbet, yet another spirit from her past, Alison learns the worst.

Meanwhile, Colette goes back home to Gavin for a heart-to-heart. And Alison's appalling spirit guide Morris comes to a realisation...

Conclusion of Hilary Mantel's blackly comic novel about a professional medium with a troubled past.

Alison ...... Alison Steadman
Colette ...... Rosie Cavaliero
Morris ...... Bill Wallis
Emmie ...... Katharine Rogers
Aitkenside ...... Simon Armstrong
Gavin ...... Mark Meadows
Mrs McGibbet/Maureen ...... Sheila Hannon

Dramatised by Caroline Harrington.

Director: Sara Davies

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


FRI 11:00 Racing Ahead (b00r7ps3)
Horse racing is trying to revolutionise its public image, restore television audiences and attract a new generation of punters. But does anyone fancy its chances? Chris Ledgard investigates.

Twenty years ago, betting shops were dominated by horse racing. Now, bookmakers say, the sport accounts for less than half of their business. Racing faces a challenging future and has set up a group called Racing For Change to develop a new image.


FRI 11:30 People In Cars (b00r7rfr)
Sat Love

A businessman spices up his life with excursions to extramarital assignations.

But why is his new sat-nav directing him back home?

One of three comedies set in cars written by Simon Brett.

He ...... Bruce Alexander
She ...... Maureen Beattie

Director: Peter Kavanagh

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.


FRI 12:00 You and Yours (b00r3yx8)
Visually impaired Richard Lane is hoping to compile a book of recipes for other visually impaired people who fancy themselves as masters of cuisine. He'd like to create the perfect guide to tasty eating combining imagination and safety.

Why do rights to accessible hotel rooms, adapted transport or guide dog access vary across Europe? We hear from one specialist travel operator on the minefield of different legislation across member states.

What should church halls be used for? One Reverend in East Sussex believes they shouldn't host Tai Chi classes.

And, in the last of our three School Reports where pupils quiz the three main parties on policy, Ed Balls secretary of state for children, schools and families is quizzed by youngsters from Sheffield.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b00r3z18)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b00r3z55)
National and international news with Shaun Ley.


FRI 13:30 Feedback (b00r7rft)
Roger Bolton airs listeners' views on BBC radio programmes and policy.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b00r3zm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b00r7rfw)
Final Demands

...And A Happy New Year

Series of plays by Frederic Raphael reuniting the characters from his novel The Glittering Prizes, which followed the fortunes of scholarship boy Adam Morris and his contemporaries at Cambridge University in the early 1950s.

Adam and Barbara meet their daughter-in-law Juliana and grandson for the first time. Juliana's encounter with one of Adam's old associates is shocking, to put it mildly, and the result is the reappearance of some other faces from Adam's past.

Adam Morris ...... Tom Conti
Barbara Morris ...... Barbara Kellermann
Rachel Morris ...... Flora Montgomery
Joyce Hadleigh ...... Angela Down
Juliana Morris ...... Raquel Cassidy
Mike Clode ...... Mark Wing-Davey
Denis Porson ...... Nigel Havers
Samuel Marcus Cohen ...... Alistair McGowan
Bruno Laszlo ...... Simon Greenall
Jill Tabard ...... Annabel Leventon
Jonty Logan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt

Produced by Jo Wheeler

Directed by Pete Atkin

An Above the Title production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b00r7rfy)
Eric Robson chairs the popular horticultural forum.

Matthew Biggs, Pippa Greenwood and guest panellist Christine Walkden answer questions posed by the gardeners of Edenfield and District Horticultural Society in Lancashire.

Eric Robson explores the history of the lawnmover in its own dedicated museum.

Includes gardening weather forecast.


FRI 15:45 A Brief History of Double Entry Book-keeping (b00r96qt)
Episode 5

Jolyon Jenkins investigates how accountants shaped the modern world.

Jolyon examines accountancy fraud in the Middle Ages, brought about by the Black Death. He hears how 16th-century merchants didn't try to hide the evidence of their smuggling in their double entry books and how the Exchequer collected taxes by chopping sticks in half.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b00r7rg0)
Matthew Bannister marks the lives of Philip Langridge, Walter Plowright, Andree Peel, Sir Kenneth Dover, and Fred Wedlock.


FRI 16:30 The Film Programme (b00r7rg2)
Francine Stock enters the Green Zone with Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass, who has reunited with Matt Damon.

Danny Huston on Sean Connery, Michael Caine and his father John.

Andrew Lang goes behind the scenes of the Havana boxing academy in Sons Of Cuba.

Matthew Sweet picks another neglected British gem suggested by listeners.

Nigel Floyd waxes lyrical about Maurice Pialat, director of A Nos Amours and Under Satan's Sun.


FRI 17:00 PM (b00r407m)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn. Plus Weather.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00r418z)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b00r7rg4)
Series 30

Episode 2

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present a satirical review of the week's news, with help from Jon Holmes, Laura Shavin, Mitch Benn and special guest.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b00r3zm4)
Kate tells Adam she didn't expect Ruairi to become Jennifer's child in the way he has. Adam thinks Brian sometimes exploits Jennifer's kindness but he's keeping his eye on things to make sure she doesn't wear herself out. Kate's babysitting Ruairi later so that Brian can take Jennifer out for dinner. Adam remarks that some things never change. Trust Brian to turn a situation to his advantage.

Pip's overslept and David and Ruth are unhappy at how late she got in from the party. They think she should be in no later than eleven on a college night. Angry Pip feels like she's under house arrest.

Bert comes round to see to the broken tractor. He tells David about Jill giving him one of Phil's blazers. Both men are feeling Phil's loss.

Helen's really taken with Sipho. Kate thinks she's a natural with children. Kate doesn't feel like she knows Phoebe anymore. Helen's totally blunt with her. Since Kate made the decision to leave Phoebe with Roy, she's not been there to see Phoebe grow up. There are different ways of being a mother. Kate's just going to have to work out what's best for her and Phoebe.

Episode written by Mary Cutler.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b00r4pdd)
The newly-created National Theatre Of Wales promises to generate bold theatre in the English language but rooted in Wales. Its first production, A Good Night Out In The Valleys: Go As You Please, opened on 11th March at Blackwood Miner's Institute. Alan Harris wrote the play and he talks to Kirsty Lang about the challenge of establishing a new national theatre company.

Journalist Ann Leslie and Kirsty Lang review Blood And Oil, a new two-part TV drama by Guy Hibbert, about two women who get embroiled in a hostage negotiation in the Niger Delta.

First-time novelist Natasha Solomons is embarking on an attempt to break the world record for book events. She and Damian Horner, book industry consultant, discuss the best way for authors to promote their books.

Opera director David Alden, whose controversial conceptual productions revolutionised opera in the 1980s, on his new production of Katya Kabanova for ENO, and why Janacek is his favourite composer.


FRI 19:45 Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black (b00r4rdt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b00r7rg6)
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate from Oxford. The panel includes secretary of state for transport Lord Adonis, Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, Liberal Democrats' spokesman for children, schools and families David Laws and John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b00r7rg8)
Simon Schama reflects that when times are hard people seem to prefer tough leaders who knock heads together to mild-mannered conciliators.


FRI 21:00 A History of the World in 100 Objects (b00r7rlv)
After the Ice Age

Another chance to hear the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retell the history of human development using 100 selected objects from the Museum. This week he explores the profound changes that humans experienced at the end of the Ice Age. By this period, humanity is reconsidering its place in the world and turning its attention to food, power, worship, and human relationships.

But then, as now, one of the most important parts of human existence was finding enough food to survive. Taking a pestle from Papua New Guinea as an example, Neil asks why our ancestors decided to grow and cook new foods. The answer provides us with a telling insight into the way early humans settled on the land. Becoming farmers and eating food that was harder for other animals to digest made us a formidable force in the food chain. The impact on our environment of this shift to cookery and cultivation is still being felt. Neil is joined by Indian food writer Madhur Jaffrey, campaigner Sir Bob Geldof and archaeologist Professor Martin Jones.

Neil then goes on to investigate a palm-sized stone sculpture that was found near Bethlehem. It clearly shows a couple entwined in the act of love. The contemporary sculptor Marc Quinn responds to the stone as art and the archaeologist Dr Ian Hodder considers the Natufian society that produced it. What was human life and society actually like all those years ago? Possibly a lot more sophisticated than we imagine!

For his third item in the programme Neil selects four miniature clay cows made from Nile mud in Egypt 5,500 years ago, way before the time of the pyramids or the pharaohs. Why did the Egyptians start burying objects like this one with their dead? Neil goes in search life and death on the Nile and discovers how the domestication of cattle made the humble cow transformed human existence.

Neil then switches his focus to the world of the Mayan civilisation and a stone Maize God, discovered on the site of a major Mayan city in present day Honduras. This large statue is wearing a headdress in the shape of a giant corn cob. Maize was not only worshipped at that time but the Maya also believed that all their ancestors were descended from maize. Neil MacGregor reveals why maize, which is notoriously difficult to refine for human consumption, becomes so important to the emerging agriculture of the region. Neil is joined by the anthropologist Professor John Staller and the restaurateur Santiago Calva who explain the complexity of Mayan mythological belief and the ongoing power of maize in Central America today

And for his final item this week Neil moves to Japan and the story of a 7,000 year old clay pot which has managed to remain almost perfectly intact. Pots began in Japan around 17, 000 years ago and by the time this pot was made had achieved a remarkable sophistication. The archaeologists ProfessorTakeshi Doi and Simon Kaner describe the significance of agriculture to the Jomon and the way in which they made their pots and used decorations from the natural world around them. This particular pot is remarkable in that it was lined with gold leaf in perhaps the 18th century and used in that quintessentially Japanese ritual, the tea ceremony. This simple clay object makes a fascinating connection between the Japan of today and the emerging world of people in Japan at the end of the Ice Age

Producers: Anthony Denselow and Paul Kobrak


FRI 21:58 Weather (b00r4slw)
The latest weather forecast.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b00r4snw)
National and international news and analysis with Ritula Shah.

British Airways cabin crew announce strike dates.

A special report behind the scenes with the probation service in Sheffield.

The Catholic Church and celibacy.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00r4syr)
Trespass

Episode 10

Sara Kestelman reads from the new and disturbing novel by Rose Tremain. Set in the Cevennes, an untamed area of southern France where traditions and secrets run deep, it is the story of two very different sets of siblings.

A return to the place where they began; peace and reconciliation at last.

Abridged by Sally Marmion.


FRI 23:00 A Good Read (b00r6613)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00r4t30)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Mark D'Arcy.