SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER 2016

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b0848mv7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b084dkqc)
Mad Enchantment, Episode 5

The story of Claude Monet's later years and the famous paintings he produced at home in Giverny:

His cataracts are worsening, which leads to a disintegration of solid forms, but an intensity of vision. Should he visit a doctor in Paris? And what about his donation of paintings to the Orangerie after his death?

Reader Allan Corduner

Producer Duncan Minshull.

SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b0848mvg)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b0848mvm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b0848mvq)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b0848mvt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b084dt42)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

SAT 05:45 iPM (b084dt44)
The hitchhiker's guide to the UK

iPM's Manveen Rana finds out if it's still possible to hitchhike in the UK. Kevin Connolly reads Your News. iPM@bbc.co.uk.

SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b0848mw0)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SAT 06:04 Weather (b0848mw8)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 06:07 Open Country (b084d8cs)
Whitelee Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Eaglesham Moor, which extends over thirty square miles just south of Glasgow, has arguably been viewed by those living around it as a rather inhospitable landscape where only the very hardy would go. This dramatic high plateau has had many uses over the centuries, including farming and forestry, however the most recent change is the addition of Whitelee Windfarm, the biggest onshore wind farm in the UK. Helen Mark explores the land between the 215 turbines to discover the human history of the moor and the changes to this landscape before and after the wind farm. She sets out on the new walking and cycling trails that have transformed access to the moor to meet local residents, as well as a farmer who can trace his family history at Eaglesham Moor back over 500 years.

Much of the moor is made up of important peatland habitat which was damaged by afforestation before the wind farm was built. As a part of their contract at Whitelee, ScottishPower Renewables has been restoring previously forested areas back to bog habitat using an innovative technique. Helen goes to see this work in action and talks to the team about the challenges of building a renewable energy project on a carbon sink. Helen also visits the Whitelee Operations Centre to ask ScottishPower Renewables about some of the concerns about the construction of wind farms.

SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b0848mwp)
Farming Today This Week: Weather

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.

SAT 06:57 Weather (b0848mwv)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 07:00 Today (b084t5dw)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b0848mx3)
Anthony Horowitz

Crime writer Anthony Horowitz joins Richard and Aasmah in the studio to discuss his love of Tin Tin, Victorian fairgrounds and why villages are so well suited to murder mysteries.

After his return from the International Space Station Major Tim Peake reflects on what home really means to him and and tells us why it's always good to wiggle your toes on a spacewalk.

Comedian Dave Gorman who has flown around the world in the pursuit of comedy, reveals just what led him to get an unusual tattoo on his upper arm.

Rhinal Patel explains why she put her trust in the kindness of strangers to help her travel from Hong Kong to her home in Wales for free.

And we hear from Britain's biggest roller coaster enthusiast who has ridden on over 1700 rides.

Italian chef Antonio Carluccio shares his Inheritance Tracks. He picks Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights and Yesterday by the Beatles.

And we hear from the volunteers opening the mail for the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal at St Martin's in the Fields.

Producer: Steven Williams

Editor: Karen Dalziel.

SAT 10:30 The Woman Who Invented James Bond? (b084t5dy)
He is the most famous spy of all time, a double "O" agent licensed to kill for his country, who has thrilled readers since his debut in 1953. But could James Bond have been invented by another writer a full seven years before Ian Fleming introduced him to the world? Miles Jupp investigates the strange case of Bottome...Phyllis Bottome and asks if she is the woman who invented James Bond.

SAT 11:00 Week in Westminster (b084t5f0)
Jim Waterson of Buzzfeed looks behind the scenes at Westminster.
The Editor is Marie Jessel.

SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b0848mxj)
Vigilantes, Strongmen and Mannequins

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. Jill McGivering investigates the cow protection squads in northern India, some of which have been accused of extreme violence against Muslims. Colin Freeman gets a Blue Feeling moment in Gambia as he explores why so many young men are leaving the country. Turkmenistan has one of the world's most repressive governments, with the president promoting a personality cult and now he's encouraging a nationwide health kick. Abdujalil Abdurasulov asks if that means everybody has to jump to it. And Katie Razzall is in West Virginia, in the coal mining areas, where people voted in droves for Donald Trump. They're hoping he'll re-open the mines and bring jobs back to the area but will real life return to the bars and hotels?

SAT 12:00 News Summary (b0848mxr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 12:04 Money Box (b084t5f2)
Stamps, wine, coins and books - alternative investments

The latest news from the world of personal finance.

SAT 12:30 The Now Show (b084dqq6)
Series 49, Episode 6

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches.

SAT 12:57 Weather (b0848my1)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 13:00 News (b0848my4)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b084dsk3)
Sal Brinton, Nick Gibb MP, Clive Lewis MP, Rachael Waring

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Reepham High School and College in Norfolk with a panel including, the President of the Lib Dems Sal Brinton, the School Standards Minister Nick Gibb MP, Clive Lewis MP the Shadow Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and Norfolk businesswoman Rachael Waring.

SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b0848my6)
Any Answers Presented by Amol Rajan. After the Saturday broadcast of Any Questions? Lines open at 1230
Call 03700 100 444. Email any.answers@bbc.co.uk. Tweet,#BBCAQ. Follow us @bbcanyquestions.

SAT 14:30 Drama (b084t5fw)
James Bond: Thunderball

It's 1959. Blackmail. The western world is in jeopardy. Can James Bond prevent nuclear disaster?

Martin Jarvis directs an all-star cast as SPECTRE's pilot hijacks a Vindicator bomber carrying two atomic bombs. Once its cargo is delivered to the Bahamas, he is killed and the bombs are secreted on board the cruiser Disco Volante. The British Prime Minister receives a letter from criminal mastermind Ernst Blofeld - two major cities will be decimated unless a huge ransom is paid.

Operation Thunderball attempts to recover the nuclear weapons.

M assigns 007 to the Bahamas. He joins forces with CIA's Felix Leiter. Bond meets Domino - mistress of Blofeld's second-in-command, Largo and sister of the dead pilot - and recruits her to spy on Largo.

The ransom deadline nears. After an undersea battle Bond locates the bombs en route to the first target. Will nuclear disaster be averted?

Other parts played by members of the cast

Specially composed music by Mark Holden and Philip Smoot
Dramatised by Archie Scottney

Director: Martin Jarvis
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b0848my8)
Nativity casting, Jeanette Winterson and Mary Portas

As Christmas play season is in full swing we discuss the role of Mary in the Nativity story and what it means to play her. Samira Ahmed who was cast as Mary in 1971 and Amy Cooke-Hodgeson an Expressive Arts teacher at St Saviours school in West London, discuss.

The retail consultant and broadcaster Mary Portas and the author Jeanette Winterson discuss the complexities and joys of starting a new relationship with a woman in later life.

The Berlin-based Danish musician and singer Agnes Obel talks about her new album Citizen of Glass and performs her latest single, Stone.

We hear from two women who have escaped a forced marriage. Last year the government's Forced Marriage Unit gave advice and support to more than 1200 people who were at risk of being married against their will. Nisha and Ayesha tell us how they've rebuilt their lives after leaving home and family behind.

We hear from Lucie Stephen who is campaigning to make sure that asbestos is removed from all schools after her mum, a teacher for 30 years, died earlier this year from mesothelioma, a cancer associated with exposure to asbestos.

Why do some women lie about their age? We hear from the broadcaster Penny Smith who was forced to tell the truth about her age by Wikipedia getting it wrong, the journalist Jane Gordon who has never revealed her age and the writer Edwina Ings-Chambers who is honest about her age but understands why some people aren't.

Velvet is having a moment so we hear from the lifestyle blogger Sasha Wilkins on how to wear it and where to find it and from the fashion historian Amber Butchart about velvet's history and why it's been popular for centuries.

Presented by Jenni Murray
Produced by Rabeka Nurmahomed
Edited by Jane Thurlow.

SAT 17:00 PM (b0848myb)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.

SAT 17:30 iPM (b084dt44)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]

SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b0848myd)
The latest shipping forecast.

SAT 17:57 Weather (b0848myg)
The latest weather forecast.

SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b0848myj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b0848myl)
Peter Doherty, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Shobna Gulati, Jain, Clive Anderson, Nikki Bedi

Clive Anderson and Nikki Bedi are joined by Peter Doherty, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Shobna Gulati and Fisher Stevens for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Peter Doherty and Jain.

Producer: Sukey Firth.

SAT 19:00 Profile (b084tfrh)
Arron Banks

Skinny dipping with Nigel Farage, punching a business partner, and bankrolling Brexit - Edward Stourton tells the story of Arron Banks.

What next for the man who spent more than £7 million campaigning for Britain to leave the EU?

Producers: Ed Davey and Joe Kent.

SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b0848myn)
Once in a Lifetime, Birth of a Nation, Alice in Space, Mathematics at Science Museum, Walt Disney on BBC2

A revival of Once in a Lifetime, the 1930s comedy about the movie industry at the beginning of the talkies.
A new film with the title "Birth of a Nation" cannot escape the obvious associations with the 1915 DW Griffith silent film of the same name which portrayed The Ku Klux Klan in a heroic light. This production has been dogged by controversy for completely different reasons.
Alice In Space by Gillian Beer looks at Lewis Carroll's classic and resets it in the context of its time to shine a fresh reinvigorating light on the work
There's an exhibition about Mathematics at London's Science Museum, looking at how it shapes our world
BBC2 presents a two part series about Walt Disney - his life and legacy

Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Meg Rosoff, Jacqueline Springer and David Benedict. The producer is Oliver Jones.

SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b054gxpq)
A Brief History of Anger

American satirist Joe Queenan follows up his Brief Histories of Irony and Blame with A Brief History of Anger - spats, tantrums and explosions from the archive. Good anger, bad anger, creative anger, and the occasional childish moment caught on microphone. With contributions from Christopher Hitchens, Conrad Black, Russell Crowe, Joan Rivers, Joan Bakewell, and Johnny Cash. Plus new interviews with John Sergeant, Natalie Haynes and Matthew Parris, and a running commentary of anger from the presenter himself.

" My kids make me angry. My job makes me angry. The producer makes me angry. Then there's my wife, other people's wives, other drivers, airports, and worst of all my football team ... And then there are interviewers. Interviewers always make me angry."

The producer is Miles Warde.

SAT 21:00 Drama (b0848rl2)
Robert Louis Stevenson: Terror in the South Seas, The Beach of Falesa

The first of two dramatisations of Robert Louis Stevenson's gripping novellas set in Samoa and written while he lived there.

David Tennant stars as Wiltshire, a trader freshly arrived on a Samoan Island. He marries a native girl, only to find himself tabooed by the rest of the inhabitants.

At the height of his powers, Stevenson tackled the most pressing theme on the islands - the vicious effects of colonialism including slavery, racism, sexual exploitation and the conflict between traditional and modern values. The subjects are as vivid today as in 1894 and these compelling and violent stories feature some of the most driven, dangerous and obsessive characters in fiction. Joseph Conrad drew on these novellas for Heart of Darkness.

Dramatised for radio by Jane Rogers
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b0848mz3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.

SAT 22:15 We Need to Talk About Death (b084bpjt)
Ease My Pain

Joan Bakewell and her panel explore one of our greatest fears at the end of life - pain.

Pain comes in all shapes and sizes and the meaning we ascribe to it - our suffering - drastically shapes our experience of pain, and how we manage it.

Good symptom control at the end of life requires not only prescription of the right combination of medications, but also knowing when and how to take them. Many doctors are reluctant to prescribe opioids such as morphine until late in the course of disease, and often the doses are too weak. Furthermore, the health system often struggles to keep up with a patients changing symptoms as their disease progresses.

Joan explores what patients can do to better the situation. She dispels the myths about morphine & highlights the obstacles that most commonly hinder our chance of a so called 'good' death. She also discovers how religious belief can influence our experience of pain at the end of life.

Producer: Beth Eastwood

Some clips: Courtesy of Healthtalk.

SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (b08495h4)
Programme 6, 2016

(6/12)
It's the turn of the teams from the North of England and the Midlands to tackle the convoluted questions in the Round Britain Quiz retreat. Neither team has scored a victory in the series so far, so the contest will be keenly fought as they both try to improve their footing on the league table.

To do so, they'll need knowledge of the nomadic tribes of Eurasia, the settings of 1970s sitcoms and the geography of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico - or, at the very least, make an educated guess from the other clues available. Tom Sutcliffe provides the usual calm hints from the chair, warning them away from the more wayward red herrings when their deliberations lead them too far off the mark.

As always, there's a round of musical clues and a selection of listeners' ingenious question ideas for the teams to grapple with.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

SAT 23:30 The Echo Chamber (b0848s48)
Series 8, Matthew Hollis and Fiona Sampson

Stones - a new long poem from Matthew Hollis and new watery work from Fiona Sampson. Paul Farley is all ears. Producer: Tim Dee.


SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b084th98)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

SUN 00:30 Out There (b04l06m2)
Grown on This Beach

Stories from a new anthology celebrating the work of Scottish Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender writers.

Episode 3/ 3

Grown on this Beach

A touching and poetic story about a woman talking through her past relationships with her new found love.

Credits

Writer ..... Kerry Hudson
Reader ..... Meg Fraser
Producer ..... Kirsty Williams

A BBC Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084th9b)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084th9d)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084th9g)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b084th9j)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b084tjt3)
Sheffield Cathedral

This week's Bells on Sunday comes from Sheffield Cathedral. Formerly the parish church of St Peter, the tower had a ring of 4 bells as long ago as 1559. By 1745 it held eight, with the present ring of 12 being cast in 1970. Regarded as one of the finest products of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the sound has been improved by the use of a wooden-shafted clapper in the 34 hundredweight tenor. The method we hear now is Yorkshire Surprise Maximus, by the Sheffield Cathedral Company of Ringers.

SUN 05:45 Profile (b084tfrh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b084th9l)
The latest national and international news.

SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b084th9n)
Restoration and Transformation

Academic Sarah Goldingay examines the process of restoration. She discovers that restoring a broken or damaged item can have a transformative and spiritual impact on us.

To make do and mend is becoming a thing of the past as we slip into a cycle of consuming and quickly discarding our possessions. But Sarah argues the act of giving a damaged piece of clothing or a broken knick-knack a new lease of life by mending it is hugely rewarding. An intriguing example is the work of highly skilled audio restorer Andrew Rose, who digitally removes layers of noise ruining old and battered classical music records, revealing the beautiful music that was previously smothered in a fog of hiss.

The process of restoration can go beyond just returning a damaged object to its original state. It can inspire imagination and ingenuity. A broken or damaged thing can be a catalyst for creativity. Sarah takes us to Paraguay where we meet an internationally acclaimed youth orchestra who play instruments made out of rubbish. We also hear excerpts from William Basinski's stunning Disintegration Loops, a classic ambient album made from ruined recordings of old compositions that had begun to decay.

Sarah concludes that mending and restoring are both hugely therapeutic. By mending broken objects we can also often mend ourselves.

Presenter: Sarah Goldingay
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 06:35 The Living World (b084tjt5)
Red Squirrels

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter was inspired by the red squirrel, a species once so common across most of the British Isles. But in this programme from 2002 as Brett Westwood discovers one of the few remaining areas of mainland England to regularly see a red squirrel was in County Durham and Northumberland.

Out competed by the introduced grey squirrel and affected by a virus they carry, the native red squirrel is as Brett discovers being steadily pushed to the north and western extremes of the United Kingdom.

With Brett is squirrel biologist Jason Reynolds, as the programme begins at a less than usual habitat for this loveable mammal, the sitting room of a local resident who has squirrels coming to her bird feeders. A perfect bird's eye, (or is that squirrels eye) close up view is guaranteed.

Producer Andrew Dawes.

SUN 06:57 Weather (b084th9q)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b084th9s)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 07:10 Sunday (b084th9v)
Trafficked women refuge, Homeless Jesus, Singing carols for good health.

After a 2 year search the Canadian sculptor, Tim Schmalz, has finally found a UK home for his life size sculpture of Jesus sleeping on a park bench. The Rt Rev David
Walker, Bishop of Manchester tells Edward why he has backed the placing of the statue outside St Ann's Church in the city centre.

Singing Carols are good for your health say the British Lung Foundation. Matthew Hamilton, the Choral Director of the Halle Choir, sits at the piano, sings a few Carols and puts this theory to the test.

Rev Charlotte Bannister-Parker takes a personal look at the stigma and fear of violence suffered by gay Christians in South Africa. Rt Rev Bethlehem Nopece, Bishop of Port Elizabeth in South Africa responds.

An order to seize church property owned by the Council of Assemblies of God churches has been issued by the Iranian government. They say that this branch of the largest global Pentecostal denomination is funded by the CIA to infiltrate the Islamic world. Mansour Borji from Article 18 explains.

Sunday has been given exclusive access to Bakhita House, a support centre for trafficked women formed from a partnership between the Catholic Church and the Metropolitan Police. Kati Whitiker reports.

This week, Angela Merkel called for a ban on full-face veils and has said that Sharia law and "parallel societies" should not be allowed in Germany. She also vowed that she would not allow another huge influx of migrants. Why does Europe's matriarch and moral conscience appear to have turned on Germany's Muslim refugees? Dr Katharina Karcha, from the University of Cambridge, talks to Edward about Angela Merkel's speech.

Producers: Carmel Lonergan
David Cook

Series Producer: Amanda Hancox.

SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b084tjt7)
Bees for Development

The broadcaster and beekeeper Bill Turnbull makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Bees for Development.
Registered Charity Number 1078803
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope 'Bees for Development'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Bees for Development'.

SUN 07:57 Weather (b084th9x)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b084th9z)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b084thb1)
Hear the Song

"Hear the Song"
Singing is a common theme in the Bible and the Song the Angels sang to the shepherds on the hillside is our focus for the third Sunday of Advent. What is the 'Peace on earth' the angels' song proclaimed? Our service comes from the Chapel of Unity at Methodist College Belfast, with music from the Chapel Choir. The service is led by the Rev Dr Janet Unsworth and the preacher is Jonathan Rea.
Zephaniah 3.14-20
Luke 2.8-14
Luke 2.25-33

Producer: Etta Halliday.

SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b084dsk5)
Holes in Clothes

"I work hard so that my teenage daughter can have holes in all her clothes", writes Adam Gopnik.

He reflects on the greater significance of designer holes in jeans...and why it's a trend to be celebrated.

"I know what you are asking", Gopnik says. "How can you be rattling on about torn jeans...when our world, by your own account, may be coming to an end?" !

"Liberty large is what we fight for, but the little liberties of life - and the arbitrariness of fashion is one of life's most engaging little liberties - are part of the way we recognize that the larger liberty exists".

Producer: Adele Armstrong.

SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dx6vq)
Hawfinch

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Hawfinch. The Hawfinch is a large thickset finch with a massive bill. It uses this to crack open hawthorn and cherry stones as well as hornbeam seeds to get at the soft kernels inside. In doing so, it exerts a force of around 180 pounds per square inch.

SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b084thb3)
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.

SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (b084thb5)
David fights a losing battle, and Helen has a heavy heart.

SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (b084tjzt)
Davina McCall

Davina McCall is an English television presenter. She began her career on MTV before moving to Channel 4 with the cult hit Streetmate.

She was the presenter of Big Brother during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010 and enjoyed it so much that she planned her family around the transmission schedule. All three of her children were born in September.

Davina hosts a variety of prime time and popular programmes including ITV's Long Lost Family which seeks to reunite family members.

Her own childhood was complicated. Her French mother was an alcoholic and drug user, and Davina was largely brought up by her father and grandparents. After a difficult childhood, she moved to London with her father and step-mother, and during some wild teenage years, she became a drug user. She has been clean since she was 25.

Alongside her television presenting career, she has a large following with her fitness DVDs and healthy food cookbooks.

In 2014, she undertook a 500 mile triathlon for Sport Relief raising more than two million pounds.

Producer: Sarah Taylor.

SUN 12:00 News Summary (b084thb7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b08497d1)
Series 66, Episode 4

The antidote to panel games pays a return visit to the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton. Old-timers Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Susan Calman and Richard Osman with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.

SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b084tjzw)
The Future of Cheese

Dan Saladino finds out what the future holds for cheese, including the role of raw milk.

Presenter: Dan Saladino
Producer: Rich Ward.

SUN 12:57 Weather (b084thb9)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b084thbc)
Global news and analysis.

SUN 13:30 No Triumph, No Tragedy (b084tl0g)
Geri Jewell

Geri Jewell was the first disabled actor to take a lead role in a sitcom and she's gone on to challenge ideas about what is possible. She describes the pressures on her to go into a job suited to her disability and what made her rebel against such restricting expectations.

SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b084dqp3)
Fowlmere

Eric Robson and the panel are in Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire. Matt Biggs, Pippa Greenwood and Bob Flowerdew answer the horticultural questions from the audience.

Produced by Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b084tl0j)
Sunday Omnibus - A Male Perspective

Fi Glover with male conversations: from Swansea a reflection on Welsh football, from Sheffield a debate on identity and countryside access, from Leicester a meditation on Methodism - all in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

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

Producer: Marya Burgess.

SUN 15:00 Drama (b084tl7z)
Robert Louis Stevenson: Terror in the South Seas, The Ebb Tide

The second of two dramatisations of Robert Louis Stevenson's gripping novellas set in Samoa and written while he lived there. Starring David Tennant.

Three destitute men steal a schooner. They drink the cargo of champagne and try to steal a treasure trove of pearls from a local slave-owning trader.

At the height of his powers, Stevenson tackled the most pressing theme on the islands - the vicious effects of colonialism including slavery, racism, sexual exploitation and the conflict between traditional and modern values. The subjects are as vivid today as in 1894 and these compelling and violent stories feature some of the most driven, dangerous and obsessive characters in fiction. Joseph Conrad drew on these novellas for Heart of Darkness.

Dramatised for radio by Jane Rogers
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill

A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 16:00 Open Book (b084tlcd)
Henrietta Rose-Innes, Literary heroes, Shusaku Endo and silence

Award winning South African writer Henrietta Rose-Innes is being published in the UK for the first time. She talks to Mariella Frostrup about her novel Nineveh, the story of a pest controller who re-locates, rather than destroys, the creatures she's called to deal with. The book raises questions about home, belonging, and the uneasy relationship between nature and man in big cities.
Also on the programme, the fascinating Japanese novel behind Martin Scorsese's Silence about two seventeenth century Jesuit priests who travel to Japan in search of their mentor; Mariella asks if there are any literary heroes any more and Terry Waite chooses the Book I'd Never Lend.

SUN 16:30 The Echo Chamber (b084tlkb)
Series 8, Daisy Fried and Brenda Shaughnessy

A mix-tape of new poems from two American poets: Daisy Fried and Brenda Shaughnessy. Paul Farley presses play and record. Producer: Tim Dee.

SUN 17:00 Faith or Family (b084bmgs)
What happens when individuals try to leave Britain's Hasidic Jewish community? Strictly-orthodox Jews live by 19th-century traditions in a modern world. But there are some who struggle with this way of life. In this documentary, two people reveal what happened to them once they made the decision to leave - a decision that meant letting go of everything they knew. This is a story about sacrifice and tradition, and a clash between two worlds.
Produced and presented by Camila Ruz and Charlotte Pritchard.
Illustration by Laurène Boglio.

SUN 17:40 Profile (b084tfrh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]

SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b084thbf)
The latest shipping forecast.

SUN 17:57 Weather (b084thbh)
The latest weather forecast.

SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thbk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b084thbm)
Sheila McClennon

Sheila McClennon chooses her BBC Radio highlights.

SUN 19:00 The Archers (b084tlp8)
Peggy voices her concerns, and Johnny tries a new look.

SUN 19:15 John Shuttleworth's Lounge Music (b084tlr0)
Series 2, Episode 4

John Shuttleworth invites celebrated pop stars to his Sheffield home to perform one of their own songs and also, more importantly, one of his.

This week, John's guest is Mari Wilson.

Joan Chitty gets very excited about Mari's visit as she used to have a wonderful beehive and Joan would like Mari to give her the same look. John is not convinced this is a good idea as Joan has very short spiky hair and far too much hair lacquer would be required.

Anyway, there are more important things to be done. Mari needs to sing one of John's songs and John has to prepare for a medley of Mari's songs and get Top Tips on the Telephone from Tony Burrows who famously appeared on Top of The Pops three times in one show!

Written and Performed by Graham Fellows with special guests Mari Wilson and Toni Burrows
Produced by Dawn Ellis
A Chic Ken production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 19:45 Annika Stranded (b084tlr2)
Series 3, Vertigo

Four new cases land on the desk of Detective Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.

Annika's neuroses - and she has a few - are mostly hidden by a boisterous manner and a love of speedboats. As fictional Scandinavian detectives go, she's not as astute as Saga Norén or Sarah Lund, but may be better company.

Although Mikel, her long-suffering forensic photographer, might disagree.

Episode 4: Vertigo
Annika's holiday is interrupted when she sees someone pushed from the top of a rock face.

Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories have often featured on BBC Radio 4, including the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010) and the plays Life Coach (2010) and Stormchasers (2012). The first two series of Annika Stranded were broadcast in 2013 and 2014.

Writer: Nick Walker
Reader: Nicola Walker
Sound Design: Jon Calver
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

SUN 20:00 More or Less (b084dqpr)
How wrong were the Brexit forecasts?

Before the EU referendum a number of serious and weighty organisations published research on what they thought would be the economic consequences of a vote to Leave. Since then, they have come under criticism for being unduly pessimistic. We take a look at what was said before the referendum, and how the economy is looking now. In the run up to the vote Tim Harford spoke to Chris Giles of the Financial Times and Andrew Lilico of the consultancy, Europe Economics. We invited them back to discuss

Ed Balls
Did the former MP get more votes at a general election or performing on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing? We wanted badly to answer our listener’s question but we struggled to get to the truth.

Is modern life really killing our children?
Is modern life really killing our children?
Earlier in the year there were many headlines about cancer in children and young people having risen 40%. The Telegraph headlined their piece ‘Modern Life is Killing Our Children’ stating that air pollution, powerlines, pesticides and poor diets were possible causes of the rise. The piece was based on work by a charity Children with Cancer UK. But as we’ve discovered the numbers are deceptive and they’ve been dismissed as scaremongering. Is modern life killing our children? – no, more like it’s saving them.

The economics of dining couples
Imagine you’re out to dinner with a date. You’re looking at the menu thinking about what you will have. Now you may not immediately think that economics could play a part in explaining what happens next, but Megan McArdle has been thinking about just that. She’s the author of The Upside of Down and a columnist at Bloomberg View. She says that couples – and indeed she and her husband – go through four stages of how they choose their food.

How risky is the contraceptive pill?
Many of the potential side effects of the pill, such as blood clots, have been well documented since its release in the 1960s. And now, a study has claimed to have established a link between depression and the pill. But perhaps the main risk women face is poorly interpreted statistics.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald

Image: Tourists in Parliament Square, Westminster/Credit Getty

SUN 20:30 Last Word (b084dqpd)
John Glenn, Peter Vaughan, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, Greg Lake

Matthew Bannister on

John Glenn, the astronaut who was the first American to orbit the earth and later the oldest man ever to be sent into space.

The actor Peter Vaughan, best known for his roles in Porridge, Our Friends In the North and latterly Game of Thrones.

Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the autocratic chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu who was imprisoned for corruption, but re-elected afterwards.

And Greg Lake - the guitarist and singer who was part of the supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer and recorded a classic Christmas single.

Producer: Dianne McGregor.

SUN 21:00 Money Box (b084t5f2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]

SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b084tjt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]

SUN 21:30 In Business (b084ddfd)
Whatever Happened to Advertising?

Last year, the UK became the first place where spending on digital ads exceeded that spent on all other forms of advertising combined. In this new world, what are ad agencies doing to square up to the challenges they face?

Management Today's Matthew Gwyther presents.
The producer is Nina Robinson.

SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b084thbp)
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.

SUN 23:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b084nd1q)
Series 4, REM, Car Wrecks and the Circus

True stories told live in in the USA: Catherine Burns introduces stories that explore 'what went wrong'.

The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling based in the USA. Since 1997, it has celebrated both the raconteur and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theatres and clubs around New York City and later around the USA, the UK and other parts of the world.

The Moth has presented more than 15,000 stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded over 27 million times a year.

Featuring true stories told live on stage without scripts, from the humorous to the heart-breaking.

The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange.

SUN 23:50 A Point of View (b084dsk5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:48 today]


MONDAY 12 DECEMBER 2016

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b084thdh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (b084bp81)
Success and Luck - Cosmopolitanism and Private Education

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. Laurie Taylor talks to Robert H. Frank, Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management, about the role luck has to play in life's successes, or failures. Frank argues that chance is much more significant than people give it credit for. Lynsey Hanley, writer and Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, joins the discussion. Also, Claire Maxwell, Reader of Sociology of Education at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, talks about her co-authored paper looking at the attitudes of privately-educated young women towards the idea of cosmopolitanism. Did they feel like global citizens, or were their aspirations confined to the local and the national?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b084tjt3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]

MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084thdk)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084thdm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084thdp)
The latest shipping forecast.

MON 05:30 News Briefing (b084thdr)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085ks2p)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

MON 05:45 Farming Today (b084thdt)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.

MON 05:56 Weather (b084thdw)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.

MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04dw7p8)
Superb Lyrebird

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the superb lyrebird of eastern Australia. Superb lyrebirds are about the size of pheasants. During courtship, as the male struts and poses, he unleashes a remarkable range of sounds. Up to 80% of the lyrebird's display calls are usually of other wild birds. However, if kept in captivity, they can mimic a chainsaw, camera click, gunshot and a whole host of other man made sound. Research recently discovered that the lyrebird co-ordinates his dancing displays to particular sounds. But superb lyrebirds are promiscuous performers and it's quite likely that another male may have played the leading role while he dances and sings away.

MON 06:00 Today (b084thdy)
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

MON 09:00 Start the Week (b084w21f)
The Bolshoi and Culture Wars

Tom Sutcliffe talks to the academic Simon Morrison about the remarkable story of the Bolshoi ballet: a 250 year history that encompasses being the pride of Tsarist Russia to state control by Stalin to the scandal of acid attacks in the 21st century. Ismene Brown explores the different styles which set apart the Russian corps de ballet from its British counterpart. Art and politics are also at the forefront of Nigel Cliff's story of the Texan pianist Van Cliburn, who for a short time bridged the divide between the two superpowers during the Cold War, and the curator Edith Devaney explains how the CIA used Abstract Expressionism to promote the US.
Producer: Katy Hickman

Photo: The Bolshoi Ballet perform for Prince Charles & the Duchess of Cornwall on a royal tour of Bahrain on 11th November, 2016
Credit: Chris Jackson/ Getty Images.

MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b084w3lg)
This Long Pursuit, Episode 1

A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.

In this first episode he sets out his two rules of biography. Firstly, the importance of following in the footsteps of his subjects - where they grew up, where they worked, lived, travelled and died. And secondly, the habit of double entry notekeeping - separating the facts from the speculations.

The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider's account of a biographer at work, travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, remembering.

Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b084thf0)
'Muslims Like Us'; Italian Women and the Calabrian Mafia;

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b084wb5w)
Writing the Century: The Hanleys, Episode 1

Writing the Century: The Hanleys
Dramatised by Lizzie Nunnery.

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people.

From their rural cottage in Llanfechain, North Wales, the writer James Hanley and his wife Timmie, write almost weekly to their son Liam as he attends school, then National Service in Malta, before moving to London and becoming a journalist then a painter.

Originally from Liverpool, James is a grafter and full of hopes for his son. From an aristocratic background, brimming with wit and wisdom, Timmie balances the rigours of creative endeavour with a candid eye on the world and a will to negotiate Liam through the pitfalls of life.

Directed by Janine H. Jones
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

MON 11:00 The Untold (b084wmz7)
Every Second Counts

As you drive into Bridgwater, a sign reads "The home of Carnival". The town prides itself on being the oldest and biggest carnival in Europe, and it's the biggest event of the year. For hundreds of years they've held a carnival here. This is an industrial town - a town full of engineers and tradesmen - and this is their creative outlet.

Every November, thousands of people flock to see the show of carts come through the town centre. Enormous moving feats of electrical engineering, which are covered in lights and animatronics.

At the end of it, one cart will be crowned winner of the Ker Cup - the most prestigious prize at the carnival.

Alan Windsor, or Winds, is our guide. Born and bred in Bridgwater, Alan is captain of the Marketeers carnival club. All year round they fundraise and build towards the big night. They're known as the Bridesmaids - the club that always come second.

Across the industrial estate are their arch rivals - if you want to win, you have to beat the Gremlins. They've won 23 of the last 31 carnivals - and for those 31 years, the Marketeers have consistently been on their tails.

This year, the Marketeers are building something special: a 100ft space machine, covered in 250,000 LED lights - "nothing like this has ever been seen on the streets of Bridgwater before."

Could this year be the year that the Marketeers' luck changes and they beat the Gremlins to the Ker Cup?

This is a story of dedication, loyalty - and never giving up.

Producer: Polly Weston.

MON 11:30 Cooking in a Bedsitter (b084wmzb)
Coffee Chiffon

Beattie Edmondson and Nikesh Patel star in Sue Teddern's new comedy, set in a 1960s' bedsitter, inspired by Katharine Whitehorn's cookery classic. In this episode, Trisha is persuaded to cater for a double date.

Directed by Emma Harding.

MON 12:00 News Summary (b084thf2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 12:04 Home Front (b083l9p5)
12 December 1916 - Geoffrey Marshall

On this day in 1916, Germany offered peace terms to the Allies via neutral America, and in Tynemouth, Geoffrey Marshall builds a new alliance with a New York steel magnate.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

NOTES
Season 9 of Home Front (Foreign Bodies) opens shortly after the Somme, on the day a war-weary Germany made a peace offer to the Allies via neutral America - an offer treated with suspicion by Lloyd George's new Government, formed only the day before.

After two and a half years of war, and against a backdrop of the British Empire Union's "Intern Them All" rallies, anxieties about foreigners were beginning to simmer ever closer to the surface across Britain. There were real fears of a "hidden hand", networks of "Hunnish" sympathisers going up to the highest level of Government, with an agenda to destroy the country from within. Newspapers and politicians called for public lists of both naturalised and unnaturalised "aliens", whose patriotism was constantly questioned. In Tyneside, a crucible of foreign sailors, munitions factories and a tradition of dissent, paranoia about foreign bodies was most keenly felt.

Season 9 of Home Front is story-led by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (PILGRIM, MR RAINBOW) and written by Sarah Daniels (THE CAZALETS, EATING FOR ENGLAND), Katie Hims (MARTIN BECK, KING DAVID), Shaun McKenna (THE FORSYTES) and Claudine Toutoungi (SLIPPING).

SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A phrase is hidden in every episode in 2016. If you spot one, tweet it using #BBCHomeFront.

MON 12:15 You and Yours (b084thf4)
Consumer affairs programme.

MON 12:57 Weather (b084thf6)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 13:00 World at One (b084thf8)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

MON 13:45 Everything You Think About Sport Is Wrong (b084wwpz)
Feminism

Simon Barnes introduces a new series challenging conventional thinking about sport, and in this first episode he argues that sport is feminism in action.

"The truth of sport is that sport is always what it is," Simon argues, and from the end of the corseted tennis player to the 2012 Olympics, he explores how female athletes have repeatedly confounded attempts to turn sport into a place where men can be blokes and women are not only barred but happy to be barred.

Speaking to Nicole Cooke, one of Britain's greatest cyclists, about her life in sport, Simon argues that sport is feminism in action, because it can't help it.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

MON 14:00 The Archers (b084tlp8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]

MON 14:15 Drama (b084wzjj)
Stone, Damage

Detective series Stone created by Danny Brocklehurst with Hugo Speer as DCI Stone.

In Damage by Vivienne Harvey, following a series of suspicious deaths in the homeless community, DCI Stone decides the only way to the truth is to go undercover on the streets.

Directed by Nadia Molinari.

MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (b084wzjl)
Programme 7, 2016

(7/12)
Wales play Scotland in their second clash of the 2016 season, as Tom Sutcliffe provides another sheaf of mind-bendingly cryptic questions. The Scots, Val McDermid and Alan McCredie, will be hoping they can stop Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards of Wales who have won all of their matches in the series so far.

How good is their knowledge of international football, African politics, the geography of the Arctic regions, and unusual disasters from history? All of this will be tested by today's questions which will be available on the website as usual before the programme begins. Tom is on hand to provide clues and cautions whenever the teams are in danger of straying down too many blind alleys - but the clues will cost them points.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.

MON 15:30 Food Programme (b084tjzw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]

MON 16:00 The Headline Ballads (b084wzjn)
Whilst the Water Weeps Next to the Water

A series in which poets and storytellers respond to stories underneath the world news headlines.

In part 3 of The Headline Ballads: Whilst the Water Weeps Next to the Water, the writer and poet, Kamal Kaan, explores the impact of flooding on the lives of people in Bangladesh and the UK. His ballad begins with the story of his own parents move from Bangladesh to escape the poverty and the floods of their native homeland and is interwoven with personal testimonies from those who have experienced first hand the devastation caused by flooding. We hear from villagers in Northern Bangladesh whose homes and livelihoods are continually destroyed by floods; from one Cumbrian resident whose home has been inundated by flood water four times in the last ten years, and from the people of Carlisle who live in constant fear that global warming will bring a return of the floods that overwhelmed the city in December 2015.

Producer: Cecile Wright.

MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b084wzjq)
Cryonics and immortality

The recent case of a terminally ill 14 year old who won the right to have her body cryonically frozen after death in the hope that science would eventually find a way of restoring her to healthy life raises all kinds of ethical questions about the sustainability of prolonging life indefinitely.But it also highlights age-old philosophical and religious preoccupations with what comes after death and the human desire to live forever.

Ernie Rea discusses the quest for Immortality with Natalie Haynes, a Classicist writer and broadcaster; Douglas Davies, Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Durham, and David Voas, Professor of Social Science at University College, London.

Producer: Rosie Dawson.

MON 17:00 PM (b084thfb)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thfd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b084wzjs)
Series 66, Episode 5

The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to the Theatre Royal in Bath. Regulars Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Jeremy Hardy and Jo Brand, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell accompanies on the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.

MON 19:00 The Archers (b084wzjv)
Susan dresses to impress, and Pip makes an investment.

MON 19:15 Front Row (b084thfg)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b084wb5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

MON 20:00 Supply and Demand (b083r1zh)
Sushma Puri enters the world of the supply teacher to explore concerns that the current system is unfair to the teachers and is damaging the quality of children's education.

There are over 40,000 supply teachers working in UK schools each week. Many like the flexibility, but others are raising concerns that supply agency fees are too high and the current system is failing teachers, schools and children.

Sushma hears from supply teachers who have been thrown into problem classes where they've been threatened and intimidated - and claim that they have been unsupported by permanent staff. She examines how the turnover of supply teachers has impacted the quality of children's education and, through audio diaries, discovers the reality of everyday life as a supply teacher. Why is that children's behaviour deteriorates as soon as a supply teacher walks in through the door?

Sushma also hears from the organisers of a campaign to improve pay and conditions for supply teachers and visits a lobby group outside the offices of an agency in Coventry.

With schools across the UK spending over 900 million pounds a year on supply staff, the programme interviews heads who are unhappy, teachers who want an end to the agency system and entrepreneurs offering alternative models.

Presenter: Sushma Puri
Producer: Brian King
A Tigereye production for BBC Radio 4.

MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b084d7b6)
Cricket, Colour and Quotas in South Africa

Alex Capstick follows the stories of two young black cricketers in South Africa as they struggle to break through into the professional game. Since the end of apartheid sport has played a major role in easing racial tensions in South Africa, particularly in football and rugby. But across the piece black representation remains well below target in many sports at the national level. The South African sports minister is calling for quota systems to be more rigorously enforced. But critics argue that the government has not addressed the root cause of the problem which is chronic under investment in the townships where young black talent is found.

David Lockwood producing.

Image: Tebogo Faas (fifth from left) with team mates. BBC copyright.

MON 21:00 The Listeners (b084bgrs)
Series 4, Episode 2

Jo Milne was born profoundly deaf and it wasn't until she was fitted with cochlea implants in her late 30's that she heard sounds for the first time in her life. Discovering a world where ice-makers in fridges are almost deafening, light switches are noisy and birds in her garden sing has been a revelation to Jo - but there have been challenges too. Whilst Jo has been adapting to a world of sound, sound recordist Gordon Hempton has spent many years trying to escape man-made noise in his quest for one square inch of silence, and we hear from a neurologist and his colleague who have been tuning in to the music 'between our ears' to discover what's happening inside our brains. Presenter Paul Evans, Producer Sarah Blunt.

MON 21:30 Start the Week (b084w21f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

MON 21:58 Weather (b084thfj)
The latest weather forecast.

MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b084thfl)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b084x0n8)
Babette's Feast, The Sisters' Lovers

Two Puritan spinsters have harboured their maid Babette since she fled revolutionary Paris 12 years ago. While the Frenchwoman cuts a mysterious figure in their small Norwegian village and her employers have secrets of their own, together they have created a haven for each other and the needy of the parish. When Babette unexpectedly comes into money, her only wish is to create a special meal in gratitude.

Sylvestra Le Touzel reads Karen Blixen's classic story.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

MON 23:00 The Male Room (b084x0nb)
The Angry Edition

Radio 4 presents The Male Room - late night discussion featuring the conversations men don't often have on air.
We know that men can talk, but what are the subjects they usually avoid ?
Tonight presenter Olly Mann and guests explore anger - repressed and explicit.
The producer is Miles Warde.

MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (b084x0nd)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.


TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b084thh6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b084w3lg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]

TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084thh8)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084thhb)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084thhd)
The latest shipping forecast.

TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b084thhg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085l5f2)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b084thhj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkwj9)
Shoebill

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the mysterious shoebill of Uganda. Reaching almost one and a quarter metres in height and looking like a hefty-looking blue-grey stork, ornithologists remain unsure which birds are their closest relatives. As its name suggests, the Shoebill's most outstanding feature, is its enormous clog-shaped bill. Up to 20cm long, half as wide and ending in a nail-like hook. They live in central and east African swamps where they feed on reptiles, fish, amphibians and even young crocodiles. Their bill is also useful in the baking heat of the African sun, when the adults scoop up beak-fulls of water and shower it over their chicks to help them keep cool.

TUE 06:00 Today (b085l5f6)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

TUE 09:00 The Global Philosopher (b084x2tp)
Do Those on Top Deserve Their Success?

Many people who find themselves on the wrong side of growing inequality feel the system is stacked against them. But who deserves to succeed? Should we reward talent and hard work? If so, what do we do about those left behind? Do they deserve their fate, too? And is talent, in fact, little more than luck? Using a pioneering digital facility at Harvard Business School, Professor Michael Sandel is joined by 60 people from nearly 40 different countries. Together they look for answers to these tough questions; questions which lie behind some of the biggest political stories of the moment.

Audience producer: Louise Coletta
Producer: David Edmonds
Editor: Richard Knight.

TUE 09:30 The Listening Project (b081tpvy)
Omnibus

Fi Glover with conversations about the benefits and disappointments that moving can bring, and the importance of self-belief, in the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

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

Producer: Marya Burgess.

TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b084x5km)
This Long Pursuit, Episode 2

A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.

In this second extract, Richard examines the often ignored lives of women in the early history of science. Frequently derided by the male establishment, their contribution was a crucial catalyst in the first discussion of the social role of science. Precisely because they were excluded from places like the Royal Society, women like Margaret Cavendish were able to see the life of science in a wider world.

The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief. He offers a unique insider's account of a biographer at work, travelling, teaching, researching, fantasising, forgetting, and even ballooning.

Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b084thhl)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b084x5kp)
Writing the Century: The Hanleys, Episode 2

Writing the Century: The Hanleys
Dramatised by Lizzie Nunnery.

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people.

From their rural cottage in Llanfechain, North Wales, the writer James Hanley and his wife Timmie, write almost weekly to their son Liam as he attends school, then National Service in Malta, before moving to London and becoming a journalist then a painter.

Timmie draws on her experience as a struggling artist as she tries to guide Liam into a lucrative career choice, while she seems to be affected more and more by frustrations with James' work.

Directed by Janine H. Jones
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

TUE 11:00 The Listeners (b084x5kr)
Series 4, Episode 3

"My job was to anticipate a slip of the tongue" says Ruth Ives, who for three and half years was a censor for the Transatlantic Telephone Link during the Second World War, and among the conversations which she listened to and monitored for any indiscretions were those between Churchill and Roosevelt. Ruth is one of three listeners we hear from in this programme, the others being a Relate Counsellor and a Voice Practitioner. Three very different professions perhaps, but what unites them is that they all listen to human speech and in different ways find meaning beyond the words. Not only has their work made each of them a better listener but as Ruth says "it made me judge character". Presenter Paul Evans, Producer Sarah Blunt.

TUE 11:30 Tales From the Stave (b084x5kt)
Series 14, Vivaldi's Gloria

Antonio Vivaldi's reputation in the early years of the 20th century rested on a limited amount of printed material, largely for the violin, some of it made popular by arrangements by Bach. That was all to change in the 1920's and 30's with the discovery of the composer's own archive which had been hidden from public view for over two hundred years.
Now housed in the National Library of Turin, this new discovery propelled Vivaldi into the front rank of Baroque composers and in this country one of his most popular and appealing pieces is the choral classic the Gloria. It's thought that it was composed to mark a Venetian victory against the Turks exactly three hundred years ago in 1716.
Frances Fyfield and her team, Nigel Simeone, the local scholar Corrado Rollin and the Soprano Francesca Lanza get the chance to explore the Vivaldi archive and find the Gloria bound in with a slew of other pieces. The Gloria itself with its high energy opening, its beautiful choral writing and the borrowings from other composers in the later movements underlines Vivaldi's ability to compose for the forces at his disposal in Venice's convent, orphanage and music school the Ospedale della Pietà.
It also allows for the celebration of Dr Alberto Gentili, the Turin archivist who fell foul of Mussolini's anti-Semitic laws before his discovery of the Vivaldi archive was first heard in a special concert in 1939 - reviewed enthusiastically by, amongst others, the American poet Ezra Pound.

Producer: Tom Alban.

TUE 12:00 News Summary (b084thhn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 12:04 Home Front (b083lb2k)
13 December 1916 - Marion Wardle

On this day in 1916, French President Briand dismissed Germany's peace offer, while in Tynemouth, Marion rekindles an old friendship, and builds a new one.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b084thhq)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.

TUE 12:57 Weather (b084thhs)
The latest weather forecast.

TUE 13:00 World at One (b084thhv)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

TUE 13:45 Everything You Think About Sport Is Wrong (b085gplp)
Beauty

Continuing his series challenging how we think about sport, Simon Barnes makes the case for beauty in sport.

Simon asks how an appreciation of beauty can translate into a love for football and how Roger Federer achieves art in the pursuit of victory on the tennis court. He explores the complex relationship between victory and beauty, and talks to Permi Jhooti, Britain's first Asian professional footballer, about her work as an artist depicting beauty in sport, and hears why she thinks sport offers her a unique ability to show the depth of her feeling.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

TUE 14:00 The Archers (b084wzjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]

TUE 14:15 Drama (b084x5kw)
One Night in Lillehammer

The war on terror makes a sudden, terrifying appearance in smalltown Norway.

The shooting of a Moroccan waiter is Lillehammer's first murder in years. Detective Inge Olsen relishes the challenge but quickly finds herself out of her depth. This isn't a random racist attack or the response of a jealous husband, it's the work of the most ruthlessly efficient state security organisation in the world.

Inspired by real events that took place in the wake of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, One Night in Lillehammer constructs an intense crime story set in the short, violent Norwegian summer of 1973.

Writer: Hugh Costello

Director: Alasdair Cross.

TUE 15:00 Life at LIPA (b084x5mw)
Come Together

It's the curtain call for Janice Long in this last of three programmes following students through their final year at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

Shannen and Rachael are studying Applied Theatre and Community Drama, training to help community groups create theatre, drama and art with a purpose. For their final projects they are tackling the controversial topics of Islamophobia and immigration, trying to build bridges between communities in Liverpool.

Mature student Lauren is a Theatre and Performance Design student with a successful career in costume design. Now she wants to learn how to do more than make the clothes for film and TV - she wants to build a world. In her final project, she's tackling the themes of life and death.

All three women are trying to build careers in tough environments, where competition is fierce, money is tight, jobs are scarce and, for Shannen and Rachael, people don't always want to hear what they are trying to say.

The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts was set up by Sir Paul McCartney and Brit School founder Mark Featherstone-Witty over 20 years ago. They wanted to equip students with the skills to navigate one of the toughest industries. For Sir Paul, it's vital to encourage artists who see the world "through another lens".

In this final part of the series, we meet three final year students battling passionately to do exactly that - and make a living from it.

Producer: David James
Series Producer: Rebecca Maxted

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 15:30 Shared Experience (b084x6m3)
Series 6, Don't Feed The Trolls

Three people who chose to defend themselves and others against abuse and bullying talk to Fi Glover about their experiences. They include Ashley who defended a woman wearing a hijab from racist abuse on the tube, Jayde who was 'trolled' over her appearance on a business networking site, and Victoria who faces regular abuse because of her facial disfigurement.

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

TUE 16:00 Freud for Our Times (b084x6m6)
Psychoanalysis is increasingly seen as the preserve of the time- and cash-rich minority, with other, cheaper forms of therapy now favoured by the NHS, but historian and psychoanalyst Daniel Pick argues that we can all still benefit from Freud's legacy - perhaps never more so than today.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and even Mindfulness may now seem to have replaced traditional psychoanalysis, but, in a highly-authored programme, Daniel Pick explores how endlessly adaptable Freud is, and how the language and culture pioneered by Freud are as useful today as ever.

Daniel Pick explores the challenges of adapting the traditional customs of psychoanalysis to our lives today and of where analysts should draw the line: does the word "cure" mean simply getting patients back to work, for example, and how long should we wait before speaking of someone as being cured?

He also looks at how Freud's writing can help us understand some of the most challenging and timely of issues - racism, Islamaphobia, radcialisation and wall-building.

Producer Beaty Rubens.

TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b084x6m8)
Series 41, Sir Ben Kingsley on Elie Wiesel

Biographical series presented by Matthew Parris. Sir Ben Kingsley tells Matthew Parris why holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel means so much to him.

TUE 17:00 PM (b084thhx)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thhz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

TUE 18:30 Clare in the Community (b084x76y)
Series 11, Joan Alone

Episode 5 - Joan Alone

Joan's birthday offers Clare a really good example of why it's so important to be aware of loneliness and isolation in the community. With added morris dancing.

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

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

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

Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Alexandra Smith

A BBC Studios production.

TUE 19:00 The Archers (b084x8s4)
Jennifer has an unexpected call, and Emma wants to treat the kids.

TUE 19:15 Front Row (b084thj1)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b084x5kp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

TUE 20:00 Paying for the Hostage (b084x8s6)
John McCarthy looks at how the techniques used for dealing with a hostage crisis have changed over time.

John was taken hostage in April 1986. Thirty years of his life have passed since that defining moment. He has spent a long time trying to understand both the political motivation for his kidnap and the terms of his release.

Where do the activities of the Hezbollah fighters who took him fit into the history of hostage taking for political ends? Why did the group think that hostage taking the right political move at that time? What methods did the UN use to negotiate a successful release for him and his fellow captives? Would different negotiation techniques be used today? Why was he not rescued earlier by a military force?

John sets out to understand the development of politically motivated hostage taking, and the impact that responses of world powers have had on the activities of the kidnappers. From the hijack of the airliners landed at Dawson's field in 1970, through the impact of the Munich Olympics, the Grand Mosque Seizure and the activities of John's captors in Lebanon, to the publically violent activities of so-called Islamic State today - how has the motivation and response to hostage taking changed and developed?

Negotiate or not? Military response or peaceful resolution? To pay or not to pay?

The programme includes interviews with those involved in hostage taking, analysis from some of the World's leading experts in negotiation, the experience of victims of kidnap and their families, and the views of key academics.

Presenter: John McCarthy
Producer: Kevin Dawson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

TUE 20:40 In Touch (b084thj3)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.

TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (b084x8s8)
Claudia Hammond presents a series that explores the limits and potential of the human mind.

TUE 21:30 The Global Philosopher (b084x2tp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b084thj5)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b084x8x8)
Babette's Feast, A Letter From Paris

Martine and Phillipa are astonished when a woman arrives on their doorstep carrying a letter of introduction from an old friend. Before long the new arrival has quietly transformed their lives.

Sylvestra Le Touzel reads Karen Blixen's classic story.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

TUE 23:00 Desolation Jests (b084xc8c)
Episode 1

David Jason stars alongside John Bird, Jan Ravens and Rory Bremner in David Renwick's dark and quirky new comedy sketch show that takes a not-altogether-factual look at the history of comedy....
What comedy sketches would you most want at your side to face the end of the world? This week interviewer J.P Doom interviews Frankie "Flesh Eater" Harris about a life at the top of the Most Wanted list, and discusses what sketch-based chuckles he would choose to lighten his heart if he found himself stranded in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The show includes clips from spurious comedy greats such as Mace and Dixon's "the Fiancée of Frankenstein" sketch; the ultimate Mastermind parody from Jenkin Spleen and Helena Handcart; and the fast-talking lunacy of the Klutz Brothers' classic "A Day at the Proctologists".

Cast:
David Jason
John Bird
Jan Ravens
Rory Bremner

Produced by Gareth Edwards

Production Coordinator: Sophie Richardson
It was a BBC Studios Production.

TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b084x8z2)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.


WEDNESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2016

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b084thkz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b084x5km)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]

WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084thl1)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084thl3)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084thl5)
The latest shipping forecast.

WED 05:30 News Briefing (b084thl7)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085lszk)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

WED 05:45 Farming Today (b084thl9)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Mark Smalley.

WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkwg9)
Brown Kiwi

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the New Zealand brown kiwi. A piercing wail can be heard in a forest at night. A brown kiwi is calling. Only found in New Zealand, kiwi are flightless birds and the brown kiwi, which is about the size of a domestic chicken, lays an egg weighing as much as a quarter of its own bodyweight - proportionally; the largest egg for its size of any bird. More mammal like than birds; their tiny eyes are of little use, but they have an excellent sense of smell, using their nostrils located unusually for birds near the end of the bill. Held in great affection, brown kiwi appear on coins, stamps and coats-of- arms as well as providing a nick-name for New Zealand's national rugby team.

WED 06:00 Today (b085nsyk)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

WED 09:00 Midweek (b084xd14)
Ken Follett

Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and guests.

WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b084zj6x)
This Long Pursuit, Episode 3

A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.

In this third extract, we hear how Richard Holmes contemplated the ways in which the art of biography can be taught. Through his students, he began to see the value that we can all derive from being immersed in "Another person, another time, another place."

The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief.

Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b084thlc)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

WED 11:00 Pussy Galore (b060q9jw)
Susan Calman finds out why our feline overlords rule cyberspace. In an age where celebrity cats star in films, host talk shows and have lucrative book deals, Susan tries to make her own fur babies into viral internet sensations.

She is inspired by speaking to celebrity cat Lil Bub - who has been viewed over 30 million times on youtube, and Will Braden, cat video maker and winner of the first ever "Golden Kitty", awarded by the Internet Cat Video Festival at the prestigious Walker Art Center. Author Tom Cox whose cats have twitter accounts tells Susan how to tweet like a cat and Jack Shepherd, beastmaster of news and entertainment website Buzzfeed explains why - on the internet - cats beats dogs. Fellow comedians Vikki Stone, Angela Barnes and Pippa Evans advise Susan on what she should film her cats doing - for maximum comedy value.

With all this expert guidance - will Susan be able to capture a moment of spontaneous hilarity to make her cats the next feline internet sensation?

Presenter: Susan Calman

Producer: Rachel Ross.

WED 11:30 The Stanley Baxter Playhouse (b084xgvn)
Series 8, The Boy Who Ran Away from the Circus

On a Glasgow rooftop, a former Circus trapeze artist and a sad and misunderstood young man become connected by circumstance and a shared experience of life, as each tells his story.

TV sitcom star Scott Hoatson joins Stanley Baxter in another story written especially for him by award winning TV writer Michael Chaplin.

The play was recorded on Stanley's 90th birthday earlier this year, marking 77 years of his work in broadcasting.

Directed by Marilyn Imrie
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 12:00 News Summary (b084thlf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 12:04 Home Front (b083lbby)
14 December 1916 - Lester Reed

On this day in 1916, Lord Devonport declared in his maiden speech as Food Controller that rationing might be necessary, while in Tynemouth, Lester Reed is delighted with his lot.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

WED 12:15 You and Yours (b084thlh)
Consumer affairs programme.

WED 12:57 Weather (b084thlk)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 13:00 World at One (b084thlm)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

WED 13:45 Everything You Think About Sport Is Wrong (b085gqjm)
Intellectuals

In the third episode of his series confronting common misconceptions about sport, Simon Barnes explains why he believes sport is for intellectuals.

From French philosopher goalkeepers to James Joyce's Ulysses, Simon argues that to rule out sport as not for intellectuals is to write off some very interesting people. He makes the case for dramatic narrative without authorial intention, and he discusses with former England cricketer Ed Smith the relationship between literary modernism, sport and intellectual life.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

WED 14:00 The Archers (b084x8s4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]

WED 14:15 Drama (b084xpdy)
Angela - 7 Days to Save Europe

Following the nominations for France's Presidential elections, Europe's political mainstream has been rocked by the rising popularity of Marine Le Pen's far right, Front National. Hugh Costello's play imagines a political pact forged between French Republicans and Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, aimed at limiting Le Pen's ascendency and preserving the European Union. But as with all pacts there is more politicking than there first appears. Whilst preservation of the Union is high on the agenda, it's the survival of Angela Merkel in Germany's forthcoming elections which is the real goal of our key player, Heike Menzel (Haydn Gwynne).

Writer ..... Hugh Costello
Producer ..... Eoin O'Callaghan.

WED 15:00 Money Box (b084thlp)
Money Box Live

Financial phone-in.

WED 15:30 All in the Mind (b084x8s8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]

WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b084xpqb)
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.

WED 16:30 The Media Show (b084thlr)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.

WED 17:00 PM (b084thlt)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thlw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

WED 18:30 Women Talking About Cars (b084xr59)
Sarah Millican

Victoria Coren Mitchell interviews some of the country's most remarkable women about their lives via the cars they have known. This week Sarah Millican reminisces about her Dad's long lost Granada and describes a traffic jam that lead to some desperate measures...
With car descriptions read by Josette Simon.

WED 19:00 The Archers (b084xr5c)
Pat gives Susan a warning, and Helen treads a delicate path.

WED 19:15 Front Row (b084thly)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b084xd2z)
Writing the Century: The Hanleys, Episode 3

Writing the Century: The Hanleys
Dramatised by Lizzie Nunnery.

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people.

From their rural cottage in Llanfechain, North Wales, the writer James Hanley and his wife Timmie, write almost weekly to their son Liam as he attends school, then National Service in Malta, before moving to London and becoming a journalist then a painter.

Recovering from her illness, Timmie yearns to be back in London. She and James both intervene when they sense Liam's love-life is getting in the way of his work, until they have to divert their attention to James' exciting new play.

Directed by Janine H. Jones
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

WED 20:00 We Need to Talk About Death (b084xr5f)
Death Itself

Joan Bakewell and her panel consider the final days and hours that surround death itself. It's a time that we tend to shy away from, which perhaps explains why so much fear and uncertainty surrounds this time.

Joan explores the reality of dying and asks what we should expect in the final days and hours. She demystifies the dying process itself and considers the physical changes that someone may go through as they die. She also discusses the choices open to us and the care and support that should be in place at the end of life.

And you'd be surprised what you can do for your loved one after death has occurred. Relatives can take on any of the tasks traditionally carried out by funeral directors. It's even possible to keep a loved one's body at home for a while so friends and family can visit and, if they die in hospital, transport their body back home yourself.

Producer: Beth Eastwood

Some clips: Courtesy of Healthtalk.

WED 20:45 Four Thought (b084xrd6)
Talks with a personal dimension.

WED 21:00 Science Stories (b084xrd8)
Series 4, The man who predicted deforestation and climate change 200 years ago

The man who predicted deforestation and harmful human induced climate change 200 years ago. When Alexander von Humboldt explored the South American rain forests he realised that nature was a 'web of life' and witnessed how human activities were catastrophically damaging the landscape. Historian Andrea Wulf argues that climbing Chimborazo, then believed to be the highest peak in the world, was Humboldt's equivalent to modern day satellite pictures showing the devastation of deforestation. Looking down he recognised the significance of what he saw, so why did it take so long for science to take such concerns seriously? Philip Ball discusses this question with Kathy Willis, Director of Science at Kew Gardens.

WED 21:30 Midweek (b0839tqn)
Ken Follett

Lively and diverse conversation with Libby Purves and guests.

WED 21:58 Weather (b084thm0)
The latest weather forecast.

WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b084thm2)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b084xrdb)
Babette's Feast, The Turtle

Babette's excitement grows as she makes detailed preparations for her special meal. Meanwhile Martine and Phillipa grow heavy hearted at the thought of Babette's inevitable return to France with her lottery windfall.

Sylvestra Le Touzel reads Karen Blixen's classic story.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

WED 23:00 Terry Alderton: More Crazy Now (b084xrdf)
Who's Dr Vet?

Terry Alderton flexes his comedy muscles with more craziness and nonsense. Street Kid, Victor, Ed and The Bear and, this week, some careless hunters, a nonsense song and of course a long and baffling list of animals from Dr Vet.

It's more Terry, more crazy and happening right now. No frogs, hat wearers or tall people were harmed in the making of this programme.

Written by and starring Terry Alderton
Featuring Johnny Spurling
Additional material from Johnny Spurling and Richard Melvin
Produced by Johnny Spurling and Sean Kerwin
Executive Producer: Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.

WED 23:15 Roger McGough's Other Half (b04xrnlz)
Episode 2

Roger McGough is joined by Helen Atkinson-Wood, Philip Jackson and Richie Webb in a hilarious and surreal new sketch show for BBC Radio 4. With sketches about Fandom, Fatherhood and 17th Century France, you'll hear his familiar voice in a whole new light. Expect merriment and melancholy in equal measures, and a whisker of witty wordplay too. Produced by Victoria Lloyd.

WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b084xrhf)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.


THURSDAY 15 DECEMBER 2016

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b084thnx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b084zj6x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]

THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084thnz)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084thp1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084thp3)
The latest shipping forecast.

THU 05:30 News Briefing (b084thp5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b085ys2f)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

THU 05:45 Farming Today (b084thp7)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.

THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkwnn)
Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Andean Cock-of-the-rock from Peru. Deep in a cloud forest a female awaits the display of her displaying males. Gathered in front of her several head-bobbing wing-waving males, these males are spectacularly dazzling; a vibrant orange head and body, with black wings and tails, yellow staring eyes, and ostentatious fan-shaped crests which can almost obscure their beaks. Male cock-of-the rocks gather at communal leks, and their performances include jumping between branches and bowing at each other whilst all the time calling loudly. Yet, for all the males' prancing and posturing, it is the female who's in control. Aware that the most dominant and fittest males will be nearest the centre of the lekking arena, it's here that she focuses her attention.

THU 06:00 Today (b08501x6)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

THU 09:00 In Our Time (b084zk6z)
The Gin Craze

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the craze for gin in Britain in the mid 18th Century and the attempts to control it. With the arrival of William of Orange, it became an act of loyalty to drink Protestant, Dutch gin rather than Catholic brandy, and changes in tariffs made everyday beer less affordable. Within a short time, production increased and large sections of the population that had rarely or never drunk spirits before were consuming two pints of gin a week. As Hogarth indicated in his print 'Beer Street and Gin Lane' (1751) in support of the Gin Act, the damage was severe, and addiction to gin was blamed for much of the crime in cities such as London.

With

Angela McShane

Judith Hawley

and

Emma Major.

THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b084zk73)
This Long Pursuit, Episode 4

A meditation on the art of biography from a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.

In episode 4, Richard looks at the way an account of somebody's death can be used to recast the whole of their preceding life. In particular, he considers the received narrative of Shelley's death by drowning which has "become one of the most powerful of all Romantic legends. And also perhaps the most misleading."

The diversity of Holmes's material is testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit - and also sometimes to his mischief.

Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b084thp9)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b084zk75)
Writing the Century: The Hanleys, Episode 4

Writing the Century: The Hanleys
Dramatised by Lizzie Nunnery.

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people.

From their rural cottage in Llanfechain, North Wales, the writer James Hanley and his wife Timmie, write almost weekly to their son Liam as he attends school, then National Service in Malta, before moving to London and becoming a journalist then a painter.

After the excitement of the play, Timmie and James settle back into Wales, until Timmie's dread fear looks like it might come true - and the pair must unite to save Liam from his terrible fate.

Directed by Janine H. Jones
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b084zk77)
India's Silent Terror

Less than three years after India's Hindu nationalist government came to office, the country is gripped by a rising tide of extremism - from a stifling of free speech to brutal attacks on religious minorities, all in the name of radical Hinduism. Jill McGivering meets the people subjected to the extremism and goes out with one of the notorious "cow protection" patrols - armed Hindu vigilante groups who spread terror and assault those rumoured to eat beef or kill the cows which for Hindus are sacred.

Caroline Finnigan producing.

THU 11:30 The Art of Australia (b084zk79)
Episode 3

In the final part of this three part series, Corin Throsby speaks to author Richard Flanagan - author of the prize-winning 'Narrow Road to the Deep North' - about the place of literature in Australian culture, which, he says, differs significantly to its place in European culture. Corin then goes on to explore the extent to which the grandeur and scale of the Australian landscape have an effect upon the work that's being done by the country's artists, writers and musicians - hearing from Baz Luhrmann that even those Australians who've never been near the outback are indelibly marked by its proximity. Corin visits the mining town of Coober Pedy, five hundred kilometres in any direction from the nearest town, to see for herself why so many film makers have been drawn to the landscape as a location and inspiration. She also talks with author Charlotte Wood about why the outback has so long featured as a dystopian setting in so much Australian culture.

THU 12:00 News Summary (b084thpc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 12:04 Home Front (b083lbc3)
15 December 1916 - Martha Lamb

On this day in 1916, the Women's Imperial Defence Council discussed fears of "the hidden hand", and at Marshall's factory, Martha Lamb is determined that the women's voices are heard.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

THU 12:15 You and Yours (b084thpf)
Consumer affairs programme.

THU 12:57 Weather (b084thph)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 13:00 World at One (b084thpk)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

THU 13:45 Everything You Think About Sport Is Wrong (b085gs4k)
The Novel

Simon Barnes continues his series challenging conventional thinking about sport, and argues that sport produces narratives worthy of a novel.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

THU 14:00 The Archers (b084xr5c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]

THU 14:15 Drama (b051w2zx)
How Did I Get Here?

by Jonathan Myerson

Rebecca looks after her kids, and her Dad. But Dad isn't how he used to be. Multi-infarct dementia has made him confused, and forgetful of people and his past.

Rebecca misses her Dad. She longs to talk to him, and to ask him questions.

But what if she could have him back? Just the way he always was?

Has she remembered him right?

Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.

THU 15:00 Open Country (b084zsy7)
Wordsworth's County Remade

The Lake District was known as 'Wordsworth's County'. Today the poets words are being used to rediscover his homelands with a new app designed to get visitors to explore the lesser known areas celebrated in Wordsworth's work. Helen Mark visits the Lakes one year after Storm Desmond devastated the area to discover how the community and landscape has recovered and how the land of one of our most celebrated poets is being reimagined for visitors of the future.

THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b084tjt7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]

THU 15:30 Open Book (b084tlcd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]

THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b085014n)
Rogue One

Francine Stock talks to Gareth Edwards, the director of the first Star Wars spin-off, Rogue One.

THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b084thpm)
Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.

THU 17:00 PM (b084thpp)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thpr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

THU 18:30 A Beginner's Guide to India (b085014q)
Women

India is the second most populous nation in the world (1.2 billion people), and British-Indian is the largest ethnic minority in the United Kingdom (1.4 million people). So after Radio 4 broadcast A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan last year, it feels only right to broadcast A Beginner's Guide To India as without India there wouldn't even be a Pakistan.

Our guide will be Aditi Mittal, a Mumbai-based comic who has already appeared on The Now Show and on The Asian Network's Big Comedy Night. Radio 4 has brought her to the UK to perform A Beginner's Guide To India because she, like all Indians, loves the British - the last time they got some, they kept them for 200 years.

Episode 1: Women.
Aditi Mittal looks at the options open to women in modern India; from sports stars to Bollywood actresses, from business leaders to politics, Aditi explores the gap between how India talks about and treats its women.

A Beginner's Guide To India will look at an undoubtedly significant and increasingly important country from a point of view that is rarely heard, performed by the most exciting stand-up comedian India has generated. As with A Beginner's Guide To Pakistan ("Stylishly cynical, brutally newsy, bitingly funny, this is political stand-up done with gusto", The Sunday Telegraph) it is informative, educational and entertaining, broadening the range of voices in Radio 4 comedy.

Written and performed by ... Aditi Mittal
The Voice of the Guide ... Ritula Shah
Produced by ... Ed Morrish

A BBC Studios Production.

THU 19:00 The Archers (b085014s)
Johnny prepares to strike a pose, while David is not in the Christmas spirit.

THU 19:15 Front Row (b084thpt)
Arts news, interviews and reviews.

THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b084zk75)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b085014v)
Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.

THU 20:30 In Business (b085014x)
Brexit and the Future of Farming

What will Brexit mean for the future of British farms? The EU has been subsidising agriculture - via the Common Agricultural Policy - for decades, and there is a tariff-free market for produce. Jonty Bloom looks at the challenges that lie ahead.

Producer, Ruth Alexander.

THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b084thpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]

THU 21:30 In Our Time (b084zk6z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]

THU 21:58 Weather (b084thpw)
The latest weather forecast.

THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b084thpy)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0850153)
Babette's Feast, General Loewenhielm's Speech

The members of Martine and Phillipa's church are joined by the sophisticated figure of General Loewenhielm as they meet for Babette's special meal, created to honour the Dean's memory.

Sylvestra Le Touzel reads Karen Blixen's classic story.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

THU 23:00 Wondermentalist Cabaret (b01rl8nx)
Series 2, Listening to More than Words

Recorded at Radio 4's 'More than Words' festival of listening in front of an audience at St George's, Bristol, Matt Harvey presents this comedy-infused, musically-enhanced, interactive poetry cabaret. The series begins, suitably enough, with this show on the theme of listening, exploring the spaces between words.

Joined by one man house band, Jerri Hart, and fellow poets Byron Vincent and Sally Jenkinson, Matt Harvey encourages the Bristol audience to surprise themselves with their own creativity, as they crowd-source and group-think a poem on the subject of ears: "as hearing fades, with hand I cup, they are what hold my glasses up".

Producer: Mark Smalley.

THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b08501x8)
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.


FRIDAY 16 DECEMBER 2016

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b084thrk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b084zk73)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]

FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b084thrm)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b084thrp)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b084thrr)
The latest shipping forecast.

FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b084thrt)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b0860686)
A short reflection and prayer with Andrea Rea.

FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b084thrw)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Presented by Charlotte Smith.

FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04kjgy6)
Pied Butcherbird

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the virtuoso songster the pied butcherbird of Australia. Australian parks, gardens resonate to the flute like calls of a medium sized black and white bird with stout blue-grey bills, and a black hood. They earned their name 'butcherbird' from their habit of storing prey by impaling it onto thorns or in a tree crevice before feeding on it with their hooked bill. They can sing for up to twenty minutes at a time, appearing to improvise as they perform a mellifluous, but unpredictable performance which they deliver as a solo or a duet with another butcherbird. Australian composer David Lumsdaine, described its call as..... "a virtuoso of composition and improvisation".

FRI 06:00 Today (b08503cw)
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (b084tjzt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]

FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b08503cy)
This Long Pursuit, Episode 5

A meditation on the art of biography by a master of the genre. Ranging widely over art, science and poetry, Richard Holmes confesses to a lifetime's obsession with his Romantic subjects - a pursuit and pilgrimage that takes him across three centuries, through much of Europe and into the lively company of many earlier biographers.

In the final episode, he charts how William Blake, who died "a forgotten man" in 1827, was resurrected. The versions of this poet and mystic philosopher that have been created since his death are testament to the enduring art and power of biography.

Richard Holmes was born in 1945 and is an award-wining British author best-known for his biographical studies of major figures of British and French Romanticism. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature and a Fellow of the British Academy. He was professor of Biographical Studies at the University of East Anglia (2001-2007) and has honorary doctorates from UEA, University of East London, University of Kingston and the Tavistock Institute. In 1992 he was awarded the OBE and, in 2014, the Biographers' Club Lifetime Services to Biography Prize. He lives in London and Norfolk with his wife, British novelist Rose Tremain.

Written by Richard Holmes
Read by Patrick Malahide
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b084thry)
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.

FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b08503d0)
Writing the Century: The Hanleys, Episode 5

Writing the Century: The Hanleys
Dramatised by Lizzie Nunnery.

The series which explores the 20th century through the diaries and correspondence of real people.

From their rural cottage in Llanfechain, North Wales, the writer James Hanley and his wife Timmie, write almost weekly to their son Liam as he attends school, then National Service in Malta, before moving to London and becoming a journalist then a painter.

James is finally persuaded to leave Llanfechain, but not for the bustle of London that Timmie so desires. The change of scene soon comes under fire from James when he can't write, but the situation is rapidly taken out of their hands.

Directed by Janine H. Jones
A BBC Cymru Wales Production.

FRI 11:00 The Kids Who Decide What All the Other Kids Talk About (b08503d2)
Journalist Paul Mason reports on a group of university dropouts who are using social media to influence young people on a huge scale.

In an old cotton mill in Manchester, the one-time students have created a new kind of business. They claim to be able to make any topic the number one trend on Twitter in under 30 minutes.

The CEO of this company - Social Chain - is Steve Bartlett. At 24 years old he's one of the oldest at the company. He appears to have cornered a new market, buying up social media accounts with enormous numbers of followers, and then using them as a means to advertise.

Most of these accounts were started by students in their bedrooms - doing it for the fun of it. But Steve realised their influence was enormous and went about persuading the owners of the accounts to join him in growing his business.

Unlike traditional advertising, the message comes through a secondary source. It's 'word-of-mouth marketing' - the Holy Grail for advertisers. Nothing has more impact on our shopping habits than a friend or someone we trust recommending a product to us.

Social Chain now owns over 400 of the most popular Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Collectively they have over 300 million followers. After just two years, the company now employs over a hundred young people in offices in Manchester, Berlin and New York. The average age of staff is just 22.

£1.25 billion went on marketing on social media alone in 2015. Paul Mason examines this new economy - the commodification of influence. He considers the ethics of this way of advertising and how it affects trust in the information we're given. Social Chain closely follows regulations laid down by the Advertising Standards Authority, but Mara Einstein, author of Black Ops Advertising, argues that just as the military has moved from face to face action to covert operations, so advertising has moved from being obvious to more hidden - in particular through social media.

Paul explores the concerns with some of the people who use social media more than any other - the so-called 'millennial generation'.

A PRA production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 11:30 Charles Paris Mystery (b08503d4)
The Cinderella Killer, Episode 3

by Jeremy Front
Based on Simon Brett's novel

Directed by Sally Avens

Just who could have shot the star of Cinderella dead? And are they the same person who is sending Charles threatening texts? There are certainly lots of suspects, a vengeful ex-wife, a stalker and a missing dancer.

FRI 12:00 News Summary (b084ths0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 12:04 Home Front (b083lbj0)
16 December 1916 - Edgar Bates

On this day in 1916, Newcastle papers condemned German use of "Belgian slavery", and at The Examiner, Edgar Bates' new reporter is not what he'd been expecting.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy.

FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b084ths2)
Consumer news and issues.

FRI 12:57 Weather (b084ths4)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 13:00 World at One (b084ths6)
Analysis of news and current affairs.

FRI 13:45 Everything You Think About Sport Is Wrong (b085gwll)
Nationalism

Simon Barnes concludes his series about sport by arguing that it is not about nationalism.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

FRI 14:00 The Archers (b085014s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]

FRI 14:15 Drama (b08504lg)
The Last Submarine Hunter

An original mystery drama featuring documentary interviews. In October 2014, reports of a suspected Russian submarine in the Swedish archipelago sparked an international hunt. Lucas Almquist disappeared at that time.

Now, two years later, Lucas's sister Lina sets out to find him, and discover the truth about the mystery submarines. Along the way, she meets a retired naval commander and an expert in Unidentified Submerged Objects.

With thanks to Janne Westerlund, Sven Kviman, Per Andersson, Clas Svahn, Freddie Petersson, Max Bergström, Marie Wennersten, Malcolm Dixelius, Magnus Lindman and Magnus Berg.

Sound Design by Steve Bond
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Produced and Directed by Joby Waldman
Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer

A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b08504lj)
South Yorkshire

Eric Robson and the horticultural panel are in South Yorkshire. Matthew Wilson, Bunny Guinness and Anne Swithinbank answer this week's gardening queries.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

FRI 15:45 Survivors (b08606t2)
Tamsin Greig reads Laura Barnett's story of blended families. Isabel makes a gesture of Christmas day diplomacy and discovers that whilst family history may be in the past, it is rarely truly over. A Christmas story specially commissioned for BBC Radio 4.

Laura Barnett is an author and journalist. Her first novel, The Versions of Us, was published in the UK in June 2015 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. As an arts journalist and theatre critic, she writes regularly for The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Telegraph and Time Out London. Her non-fiction book, Advice from the Players, is published by Nick Hern Books.

Reader: Tamsin Greig
Author: Laura Barnett
Producer: Simon Richardson.

FRI 16:00 Last Word (b08504ll)
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.

FRI 16:30 More or Less (b08504ln)
Tim Harford investigates the numbers in the news.

FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b08507ym)
Eluned and Neal - Becoming Invisible

Fi Glover with a conversation between a couple who express some trepidation at the prospect of turning 60, while acknowledging the benefits that come from a long-term partnership. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

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

Producer: Marya Burgess.

FRI 17:00 PM (b084ths8)
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.

FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b084thsb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

FRI 18:30 The Now Show (b08507yp)
Series 49, Episode 7

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by James Acaster, Sara Pascoe and Pippa Evans as they present the week via topical stand-up and sketches

Written by the cast with additional material from Gabby Hutchinson-Crouch, Gareth Gwynn, Robin Morgan and Catherine Bohart.

Producer: Adnan Ahmed

BBC Studios Production.

FRI 19:00 The Archers (b08507yr)
Helen puts on a brave face, and Ruth begs Pip to reconsider.

FRI 19:15 Front Row (b084thsd)
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.

FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b08503d0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]

FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b085086h)
Esther McVey, Polly Toynbee

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Askew Road Methodist and United Reformed Church in West London with a panel including Esther McVey and Polly Toynbee.

FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b085086l)
A reflection on a topical issue.

FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b083lby6)
12-16 December 1916

In the week in 1916 when Germany offered peace terms to the Allies via neutral America, there are new and rekindled alliances in Tynemouth.

Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.

FRI 21:58 Weather (b084thsg)
The latest weather forecast.

FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b084thsj)
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.

FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b0850b4c)
Babette's Feast, The Great Artist

As the exquisite food and wine are consumed, old fractures are healed and broken friendships mended. But the true cost of the feast will become clear when Babette reveals the truth about her past.

Sylvestra Le Touzel reads Karen Blixen's classic story.

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie.

FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b084x6m8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]

FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b0850b4f)
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.

FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b0850b4h)
Sian and Harry - Grieving Together and Apart

Fi Glover with a conversation between parents about how they deal with their son's death, finding the space they need as individuals while coming together in their common grief. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

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

Producer: Marya Burgess.