SATURDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2017

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (b09295kc)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b092g97b)
How Not to Be a Boy, Episode 5

In Robert Webb's funny and moving memoir the boy becomes a man. General expectations of masculinity and role models from his past catch-up with Robert and there's a reckoning.

Written and read by Robert Webb
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b09295kf)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b09295kh)

SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b09295kk)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (b09295km)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092gky2)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


SAT 05:45 iPM (b092gky4)
I'll never know what happened to my son

A mother on the conversation she wished she'd had.

iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (b09295kp)

The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (b092g72v)
The Brecks - East Anglia's Secret

Helen Mark visits East Anglia's best kept secret, the Brecks around Thetford - a combination of sandy heathland, England's largest lowland forest and some highly productive farms.

Scraped clean by the last ice age, the poor sandy soil meant the Brecklands that straddle Norfolk and Suffolk were marginal land, sandy and unproductive. Rabbits were a major industry, reared on vast warrens for meat and fur, their dung collected for fertiliser. Fields were snatched from the heathland for a season, then left fallow to recover. Visiting the large farm operation at Elveden Estate, Helen hears how the use of fertilisers and irrigation has allowed the land to become extremely productive for high value crops like onions, carrots and potatoes.

Thetford Forest was planted with conifers after the First World War to create England's largest lowland forest, squeezing out much of the original heathland, home to rare plants and birds, such as the stone curlew. At Weeting Reserve, run by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Helen is shown one of these distinctive birds, also known as goggle-eyed plovers.

The Brecks is also home to Grimes Graves, a prehistoric flint mine, that provided the highest quality stone implements before the invention of metal. Will Lord, who brings the Brecks' Stone Age past alive for visitors, knaps a great lump of flint into a very sharp hand axe for Helen. To her cost, she finds out just how sharp it is.

Producer: Mark Smalley.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (b09295kr)
Farming Today This Week: Rural Churches

This programme investigates the current situation with rural churches. According to Church of England statistics, rural churches are more likely to be listed than urban ones, and three quarters of all its Grade 1 listed church buildings are in rural areas. Often their congregations are tiny, but their maintenance costs are huge. Many are now struggling to survive, and some have had to close their doors - or look for a new use. In this programme, David Gregory-Kumar explores some of the different routes rural churches have taken to find new roles in their communities, and survive for generations to come.

Presented by David Gregory-Kumar and produced by Emma Campbell.


SAT 06:57 Weather (b09295kt)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (b092hqqc)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (b09295kw)
Stephen McGann

Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by Stephen McGann, who plays Dr. Turner in BBC TV series Call the Midwife. He reveals why he has combined his passion for genealogy, with his academic interest in the social dimensions of medicine, to write a personal history of his family. Sarah Walker's father wrote the Countryman's Diary column in a couple of local newspapers until his death earlier this year. Sarah describes how she is now carrying on the tradition by writing her own column, using his archive.
Grace Savage is two-time UK Female beatbox champion, two-time UK Team Beatbox Champion - she explains how to beat box, record loops and why she used an ironing board in her act. The DJ Jo Whiley is an avid gardener. Anna Bailey visits her in Northamptonshire to discover the natural sounds she enjoys away from music.
Despite training for the priesthood, A.N. Wilson left to concentrate on his writing, including biographies of famous figures from Jesus to Tolstoy, and most recently Charles Darwin. He talks about his particular interest in the Victorians and his family background in the potteries.
With Inheritance Tracks from Brendan Gleeson: he chooses Teddy Bears' Picnic and Sweet Thames Flow Softly by Planxty sung by Christy Moore.

Flesh and Blood by Stephen McGann is out now.
Jo Whiley is presenting Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park on 10 September.
Grace Savage has a UK tour starting in Birmingham on the 29 September, ending in London with Soundcrash at the Arch Space on 11 October.
Charles Darwin, Victorian Mythmaker by A.N. Wilson, is published on 7 September.

Producer: Louise Corley
Editor: John Goudie.


SAT 10:30 Punt PI (b092hscp)
Series 10, Lost Nukes

Steve Punt returns as Radio 4's very own private detective.

In this tenth anniversary edition, Steve's called in to investigate the unlikely disappearance of American and Russian nuclear weapons - with assistance from best-selling thriller writer Frederick Forsyth.

At first, Steve's sceptical - surely no nuclear power could actually lose possession of weapons capable of causing Armageddon. But as his investigation gathers pace, the story starts to becomes rather disturbing.

From an H-bomb lost over Savannah, Georgia to a cache of so-called 'suitcase nukes' which rumours suggest could still be stashed in modern day Moldova, Punt weighs up the evidence - with a little detour via Dorking...

Producer: Laurence Grissell.


SAT 11:00 The Forum (b092hsdv)
Machiavelli - Master of Power

Over five hundred years ago, dismissed diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli produced his most famous work, 'The Prince'. Written on the fringes of the Italian city of Florence, the book has long been read as a priceless guide to power and what holding it truly involves. But who was the man behind the work? Why did he claim that a leader must be prepared to act immorally? And why did the name of this one-time political insider become a byword for cunning and sinister strategy?

Rajan Datar explores the life and impact of Machiavelli's 'The Prince', with writer and scholar Erica Benner, historian Professor Quentin Skinner and journalist David Ignatius.

Image: Circa 1499, Niccolò Machiavelli (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (b09295ky)

Reports from writers and journalists around the world. Presented by Kate Adie.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (b09295l0)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (b092hsw5)

The latest news from the world of personal finance.


SAT 12:30 The Museum of Curiosity (b092gkkl)
Series 11, Episode 6

This week, the Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and his curator, the brilliant Romesh Ranganathan welcome:

The Australian writer of Puberty Blues, newspaper columnist, Simpsons writer, charity ambassador and formerly obsessive teen fan of Spike Milligan, Kathy Lette.

Author and adventurer, podcaster and editor, member of Team UK in the European Miniature Golf Championships and the man who has read all the books you should have, Andy Miller.

and

Comedian, actor, author, presenter, film director, documentary maker, social media guru, atheist, activist, businessman, charity patron, voice-over artist, panel show host, sitcom writer, movie star and ambassador for Norwich City FC, Stephen Fry.

This week, the Museum's Guest Committee offer as exhibits the mysterious thing that drives women to be mothers, a receptacle for honey that contains nothing more than a broken balloon and ... a bunch of grapes.

The show was researched by Anne Miller of QI and Mike Turner.

The production coordinator was Tamara Shilham.

The producers were Richard Turner and James Harkin.

It was a BBC Studios production.


SAT 12:57 Weather (b09295l2)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 13:00 News (b09295l4)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (b092gkkq)
Minette Batters, Billy Bragg, Lisa Nandy MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from the Mariners' Hall in Beer, Devon, with the Deputy President of the National Farmers' Union Minette Batters, the singer and activist Billy Bragg, the Labour MP Lisa Nandy and the Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (b09295l6)

Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:30 Drama (b074vrpd)
All That Fall

A playful, mysterious journey of words and sounds - one of Samuel Beckett's most naturalistic plays, inspired by memories of his native Foxrock in Ireland.

All That Fall is a play about faltering journeys - an old woman sets out to greet her husband at the station on his birthday, only for events to take a deeply unsettling turn...

Tony Award-winner Bríd Brennan leads the cast as the unforgettable Maddy Rooney - crotchety and funny, self pitying and self-important, and defiant in her small, strained act of love. Beckett described his radio plays as "coming out of the dark".

Internationally acclaimed director Max Stafford-Clark takes the listener on a rare radiophonic journey. This production was created for the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival and is now brought to Radio 4.

Written by Samuel Becket

Sound Design by Dyfan Jones
Directed by Max Stafford-Clark

An Out of Joint Theatre production and produced for radio by Catherine Bailey.
A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 15:30 Opening Night (b092hvlg)

Geeta Pendse reports from the city of Joe Orton, Sue Townsend, Richard III ...and of course the Foxes football team... to discover what's new in theatre there. And what the richly multicultural city is doing to reflect its diversity on stage.

Geeta sneaks a peek at rehearsals for the new spectacular production by Leicester Curve theatre of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's hit musical, Sunset Boulevard, starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond - before it takes off for a national tour.

Also, from the city's Attenborough Arts Centre, newly endowed with a huge grant from the Arts Council for performing arts, Director Michaela Butter talks about the joys (and challenges) of creating new work and breaking fresh ground -while putting the essential 'bums on seats'.

New playwright Hannah Torrance is on hand too, as is Asian theatre powerhouse Samir Bhamra from Phizzical Productions, and Suba Das, from Curve.

Producer: Simon Elmes.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (b09295l8)
Princess Diana and her impact on black women

We reflect on the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. What impact did she have on black women here and in America? Chaedria LaBouvier a culture and politics writer and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff from the online magazine Gal Dem look back at Diana's influence.

Kezia Dugdale stood down as the leader of the Scottish Labour after two years this week. Why has she left and why now? Julian Rampen from the New Statesman and Joyce McMillan from The Scotsman discuss.

The actor and comedian Robert Webb talks about his memoir 'How Not to be a Boy'. He tells us what masculinity means to him now as he grew up with rules like don't cry, love sport and play rough.

In our final part of our 'Life After..' series we hear from three women, Natalie, Kirsty and Lizzie, who reveal what life is like after the death of a partner.

Is it anti-feminist to have female feuds in the music and film industry? Or is it simply part of the business? Laura Snapes a lifestyle journalist for the Guardian and Bolu Babalola a social media blogger and commentator discuss.

Men are less likely to survive a heart attack if it happens during sex, because their partners are too embarrassed to call for help. What should you do if it happens to your partner? Dr Mike Knapton the Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation and Emily McGrath a Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation discuss what action you should take.

As the BBC Proms celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Stax Records UK Tour of 1967, we hear from Deanie Parker who worked at Stax from the 1960s about how it became a major factor in the creation of Southern and Memphis soul music.

Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Jane Thurlow.


SAT 17:00 PM (b09295lb)
Saturday PM

Full coverage of the day's news.


SAT 17:30 iPM (b092gky4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:45 today]


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b09295ld)

The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (b09295lg)

The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b09295lj)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (b09295ll)
Marcus Brigstocke, Keith Allen, Stephen Woolley, Jenny Sealey, Decosta Boyce, Marika Hackman, Nikki Bedi

Nikki Bedi is joined by Marcus Brigstocke, Keith Allen, Stephen Woolley and Jenny Sealey for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Marika Hackman and Decosta Boyce.

Producer: Sukey Firth.


SAT 19:00 Profile (b092hw9v)
Michelle O'Neill

Series of profiles of people who are currently making headlines.


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (b09295ln)
Kate Grenville, God's Own Country, Folkestone Triennial, Yerma NT Live, Mitchell and Webb

A review of the week's cultural highlights.


SAT 20:00 The Archive Hour (b00x2xfp)
I'm in Charge

The London Palladium has always occupied a unique place in Bruce Forsyth's heart: "No theatre on this earth has ever superseded the Palladium in my affections; it's just so special . . . as intimate as a family's front room."

It was one night at the Palladium back in 1958 when Bruce Forsyth's career changed forever - a celebrated appearance with the late comedian Dickie Henderson led to Bruce being offered the highly sought after job of compere of the weekly TV variety show, 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. Together, the show and its new presenter, turned out to be a sensation - the highlight of the week for Britain's viewing millions and the topic of conversation in factories, offices, schools and shop floors on Monday mornings.

On the eve of the Theatre's 100th birthday - the Palladium first opened its doors to the public on Boxing Day 1919 - Bruce takes Paul Jackson on a tour of the theatre that every star of their day aspired to performing in. If you made the Palladium, you had it made. From Ella Sheilds and Dan Leno to the golden era of American stars like Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye who had the crowds queuing round the block; from George V & George VI, to Pinky & Perky and Morcambe & Wise, the London Palladium has played host to them all.

Producer: Paul Kobrak.


SAT 21:00 Drama (b088k0lq)
Reading Europe - Italy: The Story of a New Name, Episode 1

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, Elena Ferrante, the continuing story of Lila and Lena, two bright young girls who have grown up in the tough, rough streets of post war Naples.

Striving to make a better life for themselves, they work hard at school but Lila is stopped in her tracks when forced to give up her education and work for the family shoe making business. It's not long before their worlds are pushed apart and Lila ends up marrying a local businessman and son of the murdered local loan shark Don Achille.

Written by Elena Ferrante
Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Producer: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (b09295lq)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.


SAT 22:15 The Fix (b092fwxd)
Series 1, Reducing Reoffending

'The Fix' brings together twelve of the country's bright young minds and gives them just one day to solve an intractable problem. This week we have asked our teams to come up with ways to stop criminals re-offending when they leave prison. The day is introduced by Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA and the teams will be led through the day by Cat Drew, Director at design consultancy Uscreates. Can the teams do enough to impress our judges, Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund and David Willetts, former minister and Executive Chairman of the Resolution Foundation, or will they fall short?

Team One:

Thomas Wastling - recent winner of the RSA Student Design Awards.

Oliver Sweet - runs an ethnographic research department at Ipsos MORI.

Miriam Redi - social dynamics research scientist Bell Labs Cambridge.

Naho Matsuda - artist and designer.

Team Two:

Gemma Hitchens - account director at Signal Noise, which specialises in making sense of an increasingly complex world through data visualisation and analysis.

Laurence Grinyer - service designer at Parliament.

Thibault Guenat - marketing at Uscreates

Team Three:

Sarah Douglas - Co-director of The Liminal Space, a creative engagement consultancy.

Vasant Chari - project lead at the Policy Lab. Policy Lab is bringing new policy techniques to departments across the civil service.

Bola Adegbulu - co-founder and CEO of Predina Technologies. The company models how vehicles interact with their environments to quantify risk.

Zahra Davidson - designer with a background spanning service design, social innovation and visual communication.


SAT 23:00 Counterpoint (b092cpb9)
Series 31, Heat 9, 2017

(9/13)
The last three of this year's Counterpoint hopefuls join Paul Gambaccini for the always-eclectic music quiz. There's just one place left in the 2017 semi-finals. As always, the questions cover all the bases - from Baroque music to early New Orleans jazz, TV and film themes, 20th century classical and pop music from the 50s to the present day.

The competitors will also be faced with a choice of specialist musical topics on which to answer their own individual questions, with no chance to prepare.

Producer: Paul Bajoria.


SAT 23:30 In Search of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' (b0929s0c)

Joe Moshenska travels in John Milton's footsteps, 350 years after the publication of Paradise Lost, to understand how the real people and places he encountered helped to shape his poetic imagination and inspired the divine universe of his poem.

Writing Paradise Lost, the epic poem that tells the story of the fall of humankind, was an out-of-body experience for Milton. Although he was a blind, beleaguered old man by the time he composed the poem, he didn't see this as an obstacle - every night his muse would visit him while he slept and deposit the next parcel of verse in his mind.

Milton's imagination took him out into the farthest reaches of the universe, but also back into his own past, returning compulsively to his youthful travels through France and on to Italy, where he had met the great astronomer, Galileo Galilei.

Joe begins his journey at the cottage in Chalfont St Giles, where Milton found his muse and wrote large parts of the poem towards the end of his life. He then visits the Wren Library of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, which contains an early attempt to write Paradise Lost as a drama. This incredible manuscript gives Joe a glimpse of Milton as a young and uncertain poet, struggling to find his voice and vocation. Finally, Joe travels to Florence where Milton met Galileo, by then blind and under house arrest, who became Milton's exemplar for speaking truth to power, and was the only contemporary to be named in Paradise Lost - perhaps because Milton realised how closely he came to resemble the astronomer in old age.

Joe's journey reflects how Milton's poem thrums with an extraordinary cacophony of different traditions - biblical, historical and mythic, drawn from his wide imagination and travels.

Readings by Deirdre Mullins
Produced by Melissa FitzGerald

A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.



SUNDAY 03 SEPTEMBER 2017

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (b092jvr2)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


SUN 00:30 Short Works (b092ggjf)
Series 1, Joseph

In JOSEPH, a specially commissioned story by David Szalay, two men leave the train and take up position by the waterside - in a foreign place. One of them depends on the other for instruction, until the day he goes missing..

Reader Nyasha Hatendi

Producer Duncan Minshull.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jvr4)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jvr6)

SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jvr8)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (b092jvrb)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (b092k22l)
Wells Cathedral, Somerset

This week's Bells on Sunday comes from The Cathedral Church of St. Andrew, Wells in Somerset. The South West tower contains a peal of ten bells from three different founders, Mears & Stainbank, Abel Rudhall and the 9th and tenor bells are by John Taylor cast in 1877. With the tenor weighing just over fifty six hundredweight, they are the heaviest ringing peal of ten in the world. We hear them now ringing Stedman Caters.


SUN 05:45 Profile (b092hw9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (b092jvrd)

The latest national and international news.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b092jvrg)
There's No Place Like Home

Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand examines our relationship with the shifting notion of home and the importance of home to her Jewish faith and other religious traditions.

Shoshana reveals that she's always been fascinated by precisely what it is that we call home and how our homes inform our identities. She discusses the use within the Jewish home of the Mizrach - a piece of art that hangs on a wall allowing the inhabitants to orient themselves towards Jerusalem. She explains that this orientation to a spiritual home is a kind of internal map, "a way of positioning ourselves so that we feel rooted wherever we may be".

Exploring the concept of "returning home" in a musical sense, in which a composer skilfully resolves a chord sequence in a way that sounds uniquely satisfying and conclusive, Shoshana draws upon the music of Chopin and Schumann. These pieces sit along musical celebrations of the home from Crosby, Stills and Nash, bluesman Blind Willie McTell and Simon and Garfunkel.

Shoshana describes the centrality of the home to the Jews, whose rituals are mostly performed at home rather than at the synagogue, before concluding that, for her, home is ultimately defined by the people she holds dear rather than any one fixed location.

Presenter: Shoshana Boyd Gelfand
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (b092k22n)
Future Food: Rathlin Kelp

Dan Saladino discovers an innovative seaweed business based on Rathlin, a small island off the coast of Northern Ireland.

This is the first in a special series of three programmes, profiling the finalists in the 'Future Food' category in the 2017 BBC Food and Farming Awards.

Producer: Rich Ward.


SUN 06:57 Weather (b092jvrj)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (b092jvrl)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (b092jvrn)
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Religion and fostering, Qaraqosh Christians

Cardinal Vincent Nichols speaks to Edward Stourton about his new book: 'Hope in Action: Working Together for a Better Future', which tackles what he sees as the biggest social, political and religious challenges facing the world today.

Following the row about the reporting of a fostering case involving Muslim carers this week, Kevin Bocquet explores the issues surrounding religious fostering and adoption.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell reports on the rebuilding of the Christian town of Qaraqosh after the defeat of IS.

Father David Bergeron from the Catholic Charismatic Centre in Houston explains the impact of the floods on the lives of his community in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Pope Francis travels to Colombia to promote reconciliation following a peace deal last November which brought 52 years of civil war to an end.

The controversial Indian guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of rape last week, claimed to have 60 million devotees. Rahul Tandon profiles his life and the influence of guru culture in India.

Mike Wooldridge has travelled to South Africa with a group of singers from St Martin in the Fields Church in London to explore how music is continuing to break down old barriers.

Producers: Dan Tierney and Rosie Dawson
Series producer: Amanda Hancox

Photo: Jewan Abdi.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (b092k22q)
Teach a Man to Fish

Anna Ford makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Teach a Man to Fish.

Registered Charity Number 1112699
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 'Teach a Man to Fish'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'Teach a Man to Fish'.


SUN 07:57 Weather (b092jvrq)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (b092jvrs)

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (b092k22s)
Reinventing Eden

Sunday Worship visits the garden of Lambeth Palace, home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, during their summer opening to the public. The service is led by the Revd Isabelle Hamley, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Producer Andrew Earis.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (b092gkks)
The Religion of Rights

"European society", says Sir Roger Scruton, "is rapidly jettisoning its Christian heritage and has found nothing to put in its place save the religion of human rights".

But, he argues, this new "religion" delivers one-sided solutions since rights favour the person who can claim them - whatever the moral reasons for opposing them.

He says Europe needs to rediscover its Christian roots.

Producer: Adele Armstrong.


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b092clll)
Amy Liptrot on the Arctic Tern

Orcadian author and conservationist Amy Liptrot laments of the disappearance of breeding Arctic terns from her family farm for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Producer Mark Ward.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (b092jvrv)

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 (b092jvrx)

Contemporary drama in a rural setting. Oliver is unable to say no, and Lilian tries to explain herself.


SUN 11:15 The Reunion (b092k22v)
Solidarity

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Solidarity movement in the 1980s who overcame years of political persecution to bring about the end of communist rule in Poland.

The strike that shook the Kremlin began just after dawn on the 14 August 1980. About 17,000 workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, to protest, among other things, a rise in the price of food. Their leader, Lech Walesa, had narrowly avoided arrest by secret police that morning, and had managed to scale the wall of the shipyard gate to join the workers. Within days, most of the country was affected by factory shutdowns.

Seventeen days later, the Communist authorities signed the Gdansk Agreement with Walesa. In its wake, workers' representatives formed the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union, Solidarity - the first independent trade union in the Soviet Bloc. In the months that followed, 10 million people in Poland joined Solidarity. But the regime tried to block, delay or otherwise cheat on all the main points of the agreement, repeatedly driving Solidarity into confrontation. Sometimes Poland seemed close to civil war.

In December 1981, the Polish regime, under pressure from Moscow, launched a military crack-down. Tanks moved into cities, and thousands of Solidarity members were dragged from their beds and arrested. Martial law was declared and Solidarity was banned. For the next seven years the movement went underground.

Finally in early 1989, the Polish government agreed to talks with Solidarity that paved the way for the first free elections ever in the communist bloc.

Joining Sue to look back on that turbulent decade are Lech Walesa, Solidarity's former spokesman Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Ewa Kulik who ran the underground movement in Warsaw, former Polish Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and the film maker Jacek Petrycki.

Producer: Emily Williams
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:00 News Summary (b092jvrz)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Just a Minute (b092ct0c)
Series 79, 28/08/2017

Nicholas Parsons challenges Paul Merton, Paul Sinha, Janey Godley and Mark Watson in a special edition of the popular panel show - recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
A BBC Studios Production.


SUN 12:32 Food Programme (b092k22x)
Feast Like A Georgian: A Food Guide to The Caucuses.

Dan Saladino travels to a Georgia. considered to be an undiscovered food gem. Food writer Carla Capalbo, author of Tasting Georgia, guides Dan through a supra, a traditional feast.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SUN 12:57 Weather (b092jvs1)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (b092jvs3)

Global news and analysis.


SUN 13:30 The Pigeon Whistles (b08ynyk5)

The sound of music flying through the air, carried on the tails of pigeons.

"I knew it was a noise maker, but it was the only thing in the museum that I had no idea what it might sound like. Because it works in a way no other instrument does. No other instrument physically moves around you in space, flying overhead, and that seemed like magic".

Inspired by the Chinese pigeon whistles in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, Nathaniel Robin Mann decided he wanted to revive the ancient art of pigeon whistling, a tradition possibly thuosands of years old, in which tiny flutes are attached to pigeons in flight. His experience with birds, however, was limited and he needed a bird expert.
"None of the pigeon racers wanted to get involved in a music project. Then someone said, 'Well, there's this guy in Nottingham who has a loft made of an old hutch that he straps to the back of his scooter. They call him Pigeon Pete.'"

Enter Pete Petravicius, Nottinghamshire ex-miner and steeplejack. A life-long passion for pigeons makes him the perfect trainer to teach the birds how to fly with their unusual musical attachments.

We follow Nathan and Pigeon Pete as their friendship, and their understanding of the pigeon whistles grow. From the gloomth of the Pitt Rivers Museum, to the creation of a modern day 3D-printed whistle for Pete's pigeons.

Finally, we hear a pigeon's flight described in sound across the sky, creating a haunting, undulating chord cloud, accompanied by Nathan's hypnotic voice, singing songs he has discovered about pigeon culture.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall

About the presenters:

Nathaniel Mann is a composer, singer and performer. As Sound & Music's Embedded Composer in Residence at the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford Contemporary Music, he discovered the world of Pigeon Whistles, and started to explore their potential, supported by PRSF, a foundation helping new musicians make new work.
His eclectic projects chart diverse worlds of sound and culture, from bronze foundries and popcorn, to donkeys and Trafalgar Square - each has found a voice through Mann's work.

Pete Petravicius is unique in that he is the only man in the UK who trains his birds to return to a mobile pigeon loft. The birds can thus travel across the country, flying in formation and returning to their small motor home/coop. He's also an ex-miner and terrific raconteur who loves his Birmingham Rollers.

The Pigeons are cared for in strict accordance to guidelines and regulations laid out by the DEFRA & the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA). The use of Pigeon Whistles has been deemed as not causing stress or harm to the birds by independent animal welfare advisors and Pigeon Fancing experts.

3D Pigeon Whistles modeled and printed by Joe Banner at Printrite, Nottinghamshire.

About the music :

The Pigeon Bell
Words/Music: Mann - after poems by Mei Yaochen (1002-1060) & Zhang Xian (990-1078) - as translated by Wang Shixiang

The Pigeon
Words: Trad. Music: Mann
Adapted from 19th Century Broadside Ballad "The Pigeon" Found in Bodleian Library's collections Shelfmark: Harding B 21(14)

The Pigeon Chase
After 'Uke Uke' - Fox Chase - as sung by Dee Hicks of the Cumberland Plateau
Words: Mann / Music: Trad.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b092gbbn)
Lerwick

Peter Gibbs presents the horticultural panel show from Lerwick, Shetland. Matthew Wilson, Matt Biggs and Anne Swithinbank answer this week's questions.

The panellists discuss Shetland's interesting gardening conditions with local audience members. They offer advice on helping trees to grow and what to add to a large-leafed border, and they suggest exotic plants that might cope on Shetland. They also have fun discussing their favourite common names for plants.

And Matt Biggs visits Rosa Stepanova to discover how she has transformed her local Shetland environment to yield some beautiful trees.

Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (b092k2gg)
Omnibus - Perspectives on Disability

Fi Glover introduces conversations between a couple who are both disabled, a mother with a severely disabled daughter and her friend, and the children of parents with MS 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 Midnight's Children (b092ksvx)
Omnibus, All India Radio

A new dramatization of Salman Rushdie's dazzling novel of love, history and magic. Young Saleem discovers he has the power of telepathy. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon.

Sound design by Peter Ringrose
Produced and directed by Tracey Neale and Emma Harding

CAST

Saleem.....Nikesh Patel
Mumtaz.....Anneika Rose,
Ahmed.....Narinder Samra
Mary..... Chetna Pandya
Young Saleem.....Zain Syed
Young Jamila.....Misha Shah
Sonny.....Ahren Chadha
Evie Burns.....Kerry Gooderson
Pia.....Preeya Kalidas.
Hanif.....Ashley Kumar
Homi Cattrack.....Kulvinder Ghir
Commander Sabarmati.....Ace Bhatti
Lila Sabarmati.....Maya Sondhi
Aadam.....Anil Goutam
Naseem.....Meera Syal
the Teacher.....Selva Rasalingam
Young Shiva.....Nael Ameen
Young Parvati.....Nikita Mehta
Midnight's Children.....Shiven Shankar and Shreya Shah.

All other parts were played by Abhin Galeya, Silas Carson, Emilio Doorgasingh and Deeivya Meir.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (b092kt49)
Patrick McCabe - The Butcher Boy

Patrick McCabe discusses The Butcher Boy with James Naughtie. Recorded with an audience at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.

Inspired by comics and small-town life, Patrick McCabe was propelled into the literary limelight by his novel The Butcher Boy in 1992. It was shortlisted for the Booker prize and it has since become a modern classic.

Set in an unnamed town in the border counties of Ireland, The Butcher Boy is is a precisely crafted, often lyrical and darkly humorous story about 11 year old Francie Brady and his descent into paranoia. Francie switches from boyhood mischief to an adolescent obsession with a school friend's mother which ends in horror.

Patrick McCabe says it is a universal story and not particular to Ireland, and discloses his belief that it would be hard to find a publisher if he was writing it today.

Presenter : James Naughtie
Interviewed guest : Patrick McCabe
Producer : Dymphna Flynn

October's Bookclub choice : Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg (1992).


SUN 16:30 The Echoing Nightingale: The Survival of John Keats (b092l5dj)

Biographer Richard Holmes explores unconsummated love, passion, poetry and talented lives cut short as he discovers how John Keats' life and poetry continues to resonate in literature, music, film and science - nearly 200 years after his death at the age of 25.

Keats doubted his own immortality as a poet. He even suggested his own epitaph, "here lies one whose name was writ in water'"

"'If I should die, I have left no immortal work behind me - nothing to make my friends proud of my memory - but I have lov'd the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember'd."

But as Keats' actual life fades away from us through time, the "plaintive anthem" of his whole story - his youth, his love, his letters, his poetry - the echo of his famous nightingale, only deepens and spreads.

Richard talks to director Jane Campion about how she fell in love with Keats by reading his searingly painful and passionate letters to Fanny Brawne, which led to her making the film Bright Star. And he talks to geneticist Steve Jones, a lifelong fan of Keats, about the complexity of the scientific response to Keats' work.

He visits Keats House, the setting for Keats and Fanny's love affair, and a place of pilgrimage for fans today. He also goes to Guys Hospital, where Keats trained as an apothecary, to talk to medical students inspired by his legacy.

And Olivier Award-winning actor Luke Treadaway reads Keats' wonderful meditation on nature and immortality, Ode to a Nightingale:

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:-Do I wake or sleep?

Produced by Jane Greenwood
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:00 Disrupted Development (b092fhwm)

Lesley Curwen explores the impact of the digital disruption - automation, artificial intelligence, robotics - in developing economies that have yet to experience its full force.

The idea that robots could be responsible for doing the work that people undertake today is well rehearsed insofar as it relates to the economies of developed countries. The rise of the robots is a well established narrative. But what might happen if that same scenario were to happen in developing economies?

Projections by researchers suggest that many jobs could be automated. What would be the consequences for those countries where large numbers of young people will be entering the workforce in coming years?

Lesley talks to experts in robotics, automation, economics and development, and hears from those involved in the digital economy in countries such as Tunisia, Kenya and India, asking how sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing could be impacted - and whether the numbers of jobs that experts say could be automated will be off-set by the creation of new forms of employment in the digital economy.

Producer: Philip Reevell
A Manchester Digital Media production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 17:40 Profile (b092hw9v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (b092jvs5)

The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (b092jvs7)

The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jvs9)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (b092jvsc)
Jim Al-Khalili

Jim Al-Khalili chooses his BBC Radio highlights.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (b092l5dl)

Contemporary drama in a rural setting.


SUN 19:15 Dave Podmore (b07kp5gj)
Dave Podmore's Big Bake Off Bash

England's sleaziest cricketer Dave Podmore says there's more to cricket than stuffing yourself with cakes and sandwiches half-way through the game - but he can't remember what.

Pod's at rock bottom, crying into his cold beans, until he thinks there could be "some light at the end of the doldrum" when he hits on a plan to create the best cricket tea that ever graced a Cath Kidston tablecloth or clogged an English artery, and to do it on the biggest stage of all - The Great British Bake Off.

Logging every glorious calorie along the way is Andy Hamer of Radio One County's ever popular Triglyceride Watch.

It's oven gloves off as Pod battles through the rounds, but will his unorthodox kebab cake rise to the occasion? Let's see how the public votes.

A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Hiding Out (b092l7zn)
Series 1, Episode 12

As part of their final Media Degree assessment at NUC in Northern Ireland, three final year university students - Natalie Driver, JJ Collins and Vic Grant - decide to make a podcast about a cold case which happened in Colecastle fourteen years ago. On Saturday April 26th 2003, Toby Ellis was minding his four month old nephew, Derek Ellis. He nipped into his local newsagents and left the pram outside on the street. He claimed he left the child for no longer than two minutes. During this time, the baby was abducted and six days later the infant's body was discovered buried in a nearby wooded area, Mountfort. Cause of death, a blow to the head. No one was ever charged with the murder and the case has remained on-going.

The first episode of Hiding Out is a podcast hosted by one of the students, Natalie; she reveals she is currently in hiding fearing for her safety. Having published their first podcast on The Murder at Colecastle, her fellow student Vic had received a call from someone who had heard the podcast claiming they had new evidence about the day the child was abducted. Vic and JJ met with the source. That was 3 days ago and no one has seen or heard from either Vic or JJ since... The only contact Natalie has received is a text sent from her classmate JJ's phone which reads "We're watching you. Stop this now." Natalie knows their disappearance is clearly linked to digging into the murder of Derek Ellis. If she finds them, she may finally find the truth of what happened in Colecastle. Natalie's nightly podcasts of 'Hiding Out' are attracting more and more interest - #whereisnatalie and #findvicandjj are rife with speculation. Are these three students actually in danger? Or - as their media lecturer believes - is this all an elaborate media hoax?

Gerard Stembridge ..... Writer
Gemma McMullan ..... Series Producer & Director.


SUN 20:00 More or Less (b092ggjk)
Grenfell Tower's Death Toll

Grenfell Tower's death toll

In the early hours of June 14th a fire engulfed Grenfell Tower, a residential tower block in West London. A large number of people died and in the aftermath residents, the wider public, politicians and celebrities all expressed frustration that a tragedy like this one was able to happen in 21st Century Britain.
Some people were also sceptical at the numbers of fatalities being reported by the police - and then the media. Were the police being too conservative in their estimates?
A local resident emailed the programme asking us to look into the numbers. Tim Harford talks to Commander Stuart Cundy, who oversaw the Met police operation following the fire; to ask him why it is has been so hard to establish the death toll.

Houston - we have a problem

Hurricane Harvey has caused devastation in Texas and neighbouring states. Commentators have speculated that this will be one of the costliest storms in history. We explore why this might be - could the US Government's flood insurance programme be inadvertently contributing to the problem by supporting the buildings in flood plains?

How many sexual partners do we have?

Recently on the Today programme John Humphreys said: "Thirty years ago a man would have had eight sexual partners and women three, now those averages are 12 for men and eight for women" This sparked a discussion on Twitter among our listeners. How can the number of average partners of men and women be so different? We speak to Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of Risk at the University of Cambridge.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (b092ggjh)
Dick Gregory, Jeannie Rousseau, Wayne Lotter, Sean O'Callaghan, John Abercrombie

Matthew Bannister on

Dick Gregory, the African American comedian and civil rights activist who was also a dietician to stars like John Lennon and Mohammed Ali.

Jeannie Rousseau who spied on the Nazis' secret weapons programme.

Wayne Lotter, the South African elephant conservationist who has been shot dead in Tanzania.

Sean O'Callaghan, the leading IRA member who turned informer. He helped to stop a bomb attack which would have killed the Prince and Princess of Wales.

And the jazz guitarist John Abercrombie.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (b092hsw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:26 Radio 4 Appeal (b092k22q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (b092g8gb)
Fish to Share

Many British fishermen rejoiced after the UK vote to leave the European Union. They hoped it would mean fewer EU boats fishing in UK waters. Business reporter and sailor Lesley Curwen visits ports and harbours at both ends of Britain to talk to fishermen about their hopes and fears, and hears from a group of European fishermen who argue a hard Brexit would destroy thousands of their jobs.

Producer: Smita Patel.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (b092jvsf)

Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.


SUN 23:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b092gh2m)
Series 5, Facing the Dark

True stories told live in in the USA: George Dawes Green introduces tales about facing the physical and spiritual darkness.

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 (b092gkks)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:48 today]



MONDAY 04 SEPTEMBER 2017

MON 00:00 Midnight News (b092jvxs)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


MON 00:17 A Good Read (b06z2pmt)
Vanessa Feltz and David Hepworth

Broadcaster Vanessa Feltz and David Hepworth, the man behind magazines including Smash Hits, Q and Heat debate their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Vanessa champions an unusual tale from Dodie Smith, A Tale of Two Families. The book David loves is a novel of scheming and ambition from Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country. Harriett has chosen Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black, which is perhaps the least prized of her novels, but, Harriett insists, the best. Not everybody agrees.
Producer Sally Heaven.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (b092k22l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jvxv)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jvxx)

MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jvxz)

The latest shipping forecast.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (b092jvy1)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092ly3s)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (b092jvy3)

Tim Lamyman has smashed the world record for a pea harvest, recording almost six and a half tonnes per hectare. He's previously held the record for Winter wheat and oilseed rape. David Gregory-Kumar asks him how he's achieved this feat and what lessons can be learned for ensuring profitability of crops.

Lucy Taylor meets the hounds hoping for a future hunting truffles, and Marion Dean who patiently trains the dogs (and their owners) to uncover these hard-to-find underground fungi.

Our craft skills week begins with an interview with Greta Bertram from the Heritage Crafts Association about why basket-weaving, dry-stone walling or coracle construction are still important and relevant, and why arrow-making has found a new market in historic re-enactments.

Producer: Toby Field.


MON 05:56 Weather (b092jvy5)

The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092ly3v)
Samuel West on the Nightingale

Actor Samuel West describes gathering with his family at dusk to listen for Nightingales. Its song may be a cultural touchstone but it is far less harmonious a sound than poets may lead us to believe.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Picture: Ian Redman.


MON 06:00 Today (b092jvy7)

News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b08cr6wf)
Series 9, Let's Get Physical

Roman carvings, graffiti, inky handwriting and printing - handmade physical text always offers extra clues about who created it and why. So, is digital text robbing English of a personality which enhances the experience of writing and reading?

Stephen Fry's inquiry starts and ends with an exchange of handwritten letters between himself and Grayson Perry, who uses lots of text in his work. What will Grayson make of Stephen's handwriting and vice versa? Especially as Stephen's letter quotes WH Auden, claiming we like our own handwriting in the same way we "like the smell of our own farts."

Although graphology - the divining of personality through handwriting - is a pseudo-science, handwriting inevitably feels more personal than electronic text. With the help of Sherlock Holmes and a modern forensic document examiner, Stephen delves deeper into what our handwriting says about us. Philip Hensher, author of The Missing Ink, helps uncover the mysteries of our writing, and Professor Mary Beard weighs in with a forensic examination of some Roman physical text - not, as you might assume, from a grand memorial, but from the walls of a Pompeian brothel.

We also visit the first industrial scale printing press in Europe, now housed in the Museum Plantin Moretus in Antwerp. Stephen learns how, in the late 16th century, industrial scale multiplication of human effort in a still intensely physical environment changed the nature of language and who is in charge of it. All the while, he concentrates on physical ingredients - why ink caused a stink and why much of what was written at the time was literally (yes, literally) not worth the paper it was printed on. Paper was expensive, and much of it was recycled, rather than kept for posterity.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 09:30 Oliver Burkeman Is Busy (b07v0lq5)
It's not busyness but bandwidth

Oliver Burkeman asks if our problem with busyness is not that we do not have the time but rather we literally do not have the head space.


MON 09:45 Book of the Week (b092lz2g)
Every Third Thought, Episode 1

How do we approach and accept death?

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke - the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, he has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change - his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought. The question is no longer "who am I?" - but "how long have I got?" and "what happens next?"

With the words of Robert's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends' ageing, he confronts an existential question - in a world where we have learned to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying"? Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom.

Witty, lucid and provocative, this is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the end-game, and begin to recognise, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal.

Episode 1:
Robert has a sudden and unexpected fall in the street, resulting in a head injury.

Written by Robert McCrum
Abridged by Barry Johnston
Read by Nicky Henson
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (b092jvy9)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


MON 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b092lzbh)
The Inheritors, Bombshell

Francois Chédid is the falafel king. Who knew there was so much money in Lebanese food? Or that his three delightful grown-up children would be sent into such a spin when he tries to share his good fortune? Comic drama by Claudine Toutoungi.

Jasmine ..... Montserrat Lombard
Francois ..... Kulvinder Ghir
Nadia ..... Katie Lyons
Frank ..... Samuel James
Diane ..... Sanchia McCormack

Directed by Toby Swift

Claudine Toutoungi writes for stage, TV and radio. Previous work for BBC Radio 4 includes 'Deliverers' and 'Slipping' which starred Andrew Scott and Charlotte Riley and was a finalist for the Best Single Original Drama in the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Her poetry collection 'Smoothie' is published this year.


MON 11:00 It's Obscene! (b084bmf5)

Matthew Syed of the Times explores the vexed role of money at the pinnacle of contemporary sport and challenges the popular notion that leading sportsman pay is obscene.

It's obscene, Syed argues, that many of the top jobs in this country are based on privilege rather than merit. It's obscene that much of the world's population are born into hardship. But saying it's obscene for a football player to be earning a lot of money, working in the most fiercely meritocratic environment imaginable? That's just prejudice, he says, and it deserves to be challenged.

Pointing out that entry costs to a career in football are almost non-existent and the opportunities broad, Syed will visit players and managers such as Claudio Ranieri and Joey Barton to make the case that the joy of sport is in its transparency, and that football more than any other sector holds a torch up to the covert networks, cosy alliances and hidden hand-ups that characterise other industries.

Alongside fellow journalist Alyson Rudd and tennis player Janko Tipsarevic, Syed aims to take an axe to one of the holiest totems of consensual opinion.

Producer: Sean Glynn
A Resonance production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 11:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (b092lzbk)
Series 7, Wizardy Lizardy Gubbins

The hit series returns for a seventh series with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave. Written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli.

Set in a Scots-Asian corner shop, the award winning Fags, Mags & Bags sees a return of all the shop regular characters, and some guest appearances along the way, from the likes of Sean Biggerstaff, Mina Anwar, Greg McHugh and Simon Greenall.

In this episode, local psychic and futurologist Keith Futures (Greg McHugh) finds it hard to find a buyer for his Kimodo Dragon. Meanwhile, Mrs Birkett mourns the passing of her beloved cat, Biscuits.

Join the staff of Fags, Mags and Bags in their tireless quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation. Ramesh Mahju has built it up over the course of over 30 years and is a firmly entrenched, friendly presence in the local area. He is joined by his shop sidekick, Dave.

Then of course there are Ramesh's sons Sanjay and Alok, both surly and not particularly keen on the old school approach to shopkeeping, but natural successors to the business. Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom onto them - whether they like it or not!

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


MON 12:00 News Summary (b092jvyc)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 Home Front (b08yfztl)
4 September 1917 - Maisie Harris

On this day in 1917, pacifist Edmund Morel was sent to Pentonville prison for six months, and in Folkestone, Maisie Harris is fearful about the war coming home.

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.


MON 12:15 You and Yours (b092jvyf)
ATMs, Instagram Advertising and University Funding

News and discussion of consumer affairs.


MON 12:57 Weather (b092jvyh)

The latest weather forecast.


MON 13:00 World at One (b092jvyk)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


MON 13:45 Streets Apart: A History of Social Housing (b092m0md)
Series 1, Streets in the Sky

Lynsey Hanley explores the era of council housing that was defined by high rise living.

In 1957, a gigantic, futuristic new council block started to appear on the hillside above Sheffield train station. Four years later it was finished and residents from the old slums that used to dot the area started to move in. The building's name was Park Hill and it would become a vessel for everything people hate - and love - about late 20th century council housing in Britain.

The architects of the building were two young Cambridge graduates called Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith. They took their inspiration from a fashionable French architect who went by the name Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier had grand ideas about space, light and order but he also thought modernist buildings needed to try and recreate the street patterns of old back to back houses - but 50 feet up in the air. This idea was known as 'streets in the sky' and it would come to dominate the thinking around estate architecture for a generation.

In this episode, Lynsey explores the trend of building upwards.

Park Hill was just the beginning of an era that saw our city skylines dotted with tower blocks and high rise buildings. All that came to an end with the collapse of Ronan Point in 1968, but it is a period that still dominates our thinking about estates. Grenfell Tower was designed and conceived of at this time.

Lynsey visits Park Hill to find out what it was like to live in this radical new building. She also meets the residents who live there now and asks whether a recent regeneration has changed the social fabric of the building beyond recognition.

Presenter: Lynsey Hanley
Producer: Sara Parker and Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 14:00 The Archers (b092l5dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (b092m2zw)
Grand Designs of the Third Kind

Grand Designs of the Third Kind

Wheelchair user Hal suspects all is not what it seems during renovations on his new home, an old, crumbling observatory. The project manager Mr Hobbs, who has a strange turn of phrase and eccentric dress sense, seems to have grand designs of his own for the house.

Written by Toby Hadoke
Directed by Charlotte Riches.


MON 15:00 Counterpoint (b092m2zy)
Series 31, Semi-Final 1, 2017

(10/13)
Paul Gambaccini asks the questions in the first of this year's semi-finals. Competitors who won their respective heats now play off for a place in the 2017 Final. To get there they'll have to show a strong command of a range of musical topics, from Beatles cover versions to British baritones - and as always there are plenty of musical extracts to identify, both familiar and surprising.
Today's semi-finalists are from Oxfordshire, Kent and Merseyside.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.


MON 15:30 Food Programme (b092k22x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Printing a Nation (b08ljx97)
Series 1, Knowledge

Dr. Anindita Ghosh from the University of Manchester explores the impact of the printing press on India and argues that print, much more than railways as is commonly understood, gave birth to the Indian nation that was born in 1947.

In her first programme, Anindita explores the 'Renaissance' that came about through the medium of print in India. She travels to Kolkata, formerly the capital of the British Raj, to explore the tremendous explosion of printed material in nineteenth century Bengal, following the setting up of the first presses by missionaries in India.

The colonial government needed English speaking Indians to work its administrative apparatus and a proliferation of English printed material followed. But this was not a passive process. Indians in turn participated in the intellectual revolution to form their own thoughts on society. The search for a putative 'Indian' identity that followed, known today as the Bengal Renaissance, was very much shaped through an exchange of ideas via printed texts.

A sea of Indian-run presses, printing in local languages, furthered the cacophonous print revolution and, by the end of the nineteenth century, more titles were produced in India than in France during the Age of Enlightenment. By carrying the printed word to more popular levels of readership and extending the networks of the reading community, Anindita argues, these were connections that were to prove vital for the formation of the nation in 20th century India.

With Professor Swapan Chakravorty (Presidency University, Kolkata), Professor Rosinka Chaudhuri (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta), Graham Shaw (British Library) and Professor Partha Mitter (University of Sussex).

Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (b092m4s2)
William Blake's Jerusalem

Will Ernie Rea and guests sing William Blake's "Jerusalem" at Last Night of the Proms? In Beyond Belief this week Ernie discusses how the poem of a fiery non-conformist has become the beloved anthem of such disparate groups of people - from union-jack-waving Promenaders to the English Defence League and the Women's Institute. Billy Bragg tells Ernie why he would like "Jerusalem" to be England's National Anthem. Ernie is also joined by the novelist Catherine Fox, poet Malcolm Guite and historian William Whyte.

Producer, Rosie Dawson.


MON 17:00 PM (b092jvym)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jvyp)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (b092m4s4)
Series 79, 04/09/2017

Nicholas Parsons challenges Sue Perkins, Gyles Brandreth, Andy Hamilton and Paul Merton to speak on the topics on the cards without deviation, hesitation or repetition.

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.

Produced by Victoria Lloyd.


MON 19:00 The Archers (b092m4s6)

Grey Gables staff learn their fate, and Phoebe has to face her fear.


MON 19:15 Front Row (b092jvyr)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


MON 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b092lzbh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 Vitriolic (b092m4s8)

This summer's spate of acid attacks have caused concern for both the public and authorities. The seemingly random selection of victims by perpetrators, and the suspected use of acid by criminal gangs, seems to be a new twist in a story which has previously seen acid used in more targeted crimes against a specific person.

And the ease with which perpetrators seem to be throwing acid is breeding a fear of what some have called an epidemic.

But while acid attacks may capture public attention for their shocking effect, they remain far from the norm. And they are not easily categorised or reduced to a simple narrative.

Journalist Ayshea Buksh explores the complexity of acid attacks and the wide range of motivations behind the use of acid as a weapon. From hate crime and domestic violence to a fight that escalates, a mugging or a gang-related attack, the weapon may be the same but the reasoning can be wildly different - posing some tough questions for those trying to prevent or sentence acid attackers.

What is always the same is the outcome. It's a crime that can take just seconds to commit, but acid attacks can have a life-long impact on survivors - not just physically, but mentally.

Some survivors speaking to Ayshea are just going through their first surgery after the physical impact of the attack, while others are now living their lives at a distance from their attack but with a constant physical reminder.

For some survivors, the question 'why?' can play constantly on their minds, while others try not to ask it as they attempt to move on with their lives.

Presenter: Ayshea Buksh
Producers: Ayshea Buksh and Katherine Godfrey
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (b092fywb)
Abdi in America

A young Somali refugee struggles to live the American dream in the USA's whitest state, during the rise of Donald Trump. Is the dream still possible?

In December 2014, in 'Abdi and the Golden Ticket,' the BBC's Leo Hornak followed Somali refugee Abdi Nor Iftin as he battled to make it to America through the US green card lottery.

Since then, Abdi been trying to make a new life for himself in the US state of Maine, striving to become a 'real American'. He hopes to get educated and start a career, but the pressures of supporting a family in Mogadishu make this seem ever more difficult. And then there is the plan to have his brother Hassan join him.

The state of Maine remains almost entirely white, and amid growing public fear of Muslims and immigration, Abdi's American dream runs into obstacles that he never expected. Using personal conversations and audio diaries recorded over three years, 'Abdi in America' documents the highs and lows of one man's struggle to become American.

Producer - Michael Gallagher.


MON 21:00 Natural Histories (b092f8wt)
Louse

They infest our bodies and our clothes, are amongst our closet neighbours, have been made famous by Robert Burns and yet they are only a few millimetres in size. Brett Westwood explores our relationship with the louse; a creature that has lived alongside since our earliest evolution. Whether it's the head, clothes or crab lice these ancient creatures both repel and fascinate us. Producer Sarah Blunt.


MON 21:30 Quirke's Cast and Crew (b08twh04)
Series 1, Gaffer & Best Boy

Film presenter Antonia Quirke speaks to key crew members working on the film and drama series that are defining modern entertainment.

In this first episode Antonia wades through mud in Yorkshire on the stunning period set of Gunpowder a new star-studded, forthcoming BBC television drama starring Kit Harington as she links up with the dedicated crew responsible for all things electrical whatever the weather.

She also meets with the renowned gaffer John 'Biggles' Higgins whose film credits include Gravity and Skyfall, and travels to Warner Brothers Studios in Watford to join a Best Boy to discuss his role as he works on the latest JJ Abrams production.

Throughout, Antonia watches the cast and crews in action, grabbing them in the moments between filming, revealing their various and sometimes entirely surprising contribution to productions, exploring the latest equipment and challenges. Along the way she gathers fascinating and often very moving stories of life behind the scenes. These aren't just the tales of the great actors of our times, but of the people who made those actors and actresses great, content instead to be the stars behind the camera.

Producer: Stephen Garner.


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (b092jvyt)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


MON 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b092m4wn)
Crime Down Under: The Dry, Episode 1

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra. It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems that Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and then committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral he wants to get away again as soon as possible. He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared twenty years earlier. But as he's unwillingly drawn into the investigation into the Hadler deaths, the past keeps getting in the way. Questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, and Falk must face what's hidden in his own past to help him solve the secrets of the present.

1/10: Aaron Falk's return to his hometown forces him to confront an old secret.

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia. Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. She won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015, and The Dry is her first novel. It was named the Australian Book Industry Association's Book of the Year, and the Australian Independent Bookseller 2017 Indie Book of the Year.

Read by Richard Goulding

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.


MON 23:00 Tales From the Stave (b08pdzxs)
Series 15, Respighi's Roman Trilogy

Amongst the welter of manuscripts by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Donizetti, the Ricordi Archive in Milan has several musical treasures outside the Operatic repertoire. In today's 'Tales from the Stave' the Archive's Director Pierluigi Ledda hosts Frances Fyfield and a team including musicologist Nigel Simeone and the young Italian Conductor Francesco Cilluffo as they explore the manuscript of Ottorino Respighi's Roman Trilogy. The three Symphonic Poems, The Pines, The Fountains and The Festivals of Rome are by far Respighi's most famous works. Written in the early decades of the 20th century they are full of thrilling Orchestral colours and a smattering of the very latest technology, including what may well be the first use of a Gramophone record.
They describe three quintessentially Roman scenes and events, capturing and celebrating the city's ancient heritage in a brilliant 20th century light.
The careful, neat hand of the manuscripts tells of the Respighi's influences which range from the Northern Europeans like Rimsky-Korsakov and Richard Strauss to the early Italian composers he also sought to celebrate throughout his life.

Producer: Tom Alban.


MON 23:30 Hiraeth (b083m307)

Poet Mab Jones explores the concept of 'Hiraeth' in the poetry of Wales and further afield

Hiraeth, a central theme of Welsh language poetry and song, is a feeling of something lost, a long time ago, whether national identity or a once-important language.
It has deep roots - some link it to the loss of self-determination in 1282. It has no equivalent in English, often translating as 'homesickness', but incorporating an aspect of impossibility: the pining for a home, a person, even a national history that may never have actually existed. To feel hiraeth is to experience a deep sense of incompleteness. Longing and absence has infused Welsh songs and poetry for centuries, so perhaps in the national temperament there's a perpetual tension between staying and leaving, a yearning for something better, a grief for something left behind. But there are equivalents in other languages - in Portuguese, 'saudade' is an impossible longing for the unattainable, so there are occurrences of the sentiment across a wide cultural spectrum.

But if the English don't have a word for it, does that mean they don't feel it, or that they don't need it? For some, like Mab's former Professor at Swansea, M Wynn Thomas, 'hiraeth' can function as a default nostalgia button, and a dangerous tendency to believe things were better in the past. It's an experience characteristic of the powerless, the dispossessed; it's the signature tune of loss, but is this hopeless and persistent longing holding this small nation back?

Mab Jones is a poet and performer both humorous and deeply serious. She stands outside the Welsh language tradition, claims she doesn't feel hiraeth (not for Wales anyway - possibly for Japan), and for Radio 4 questions and pokes at the concept, visiting the National Eisteddfod for the first time in an attempt to put her finger on exactly what it is. Exploring the concept through poetry that expresses it, from the poets Menna Elfyn and Ifor ap Glyn she hears poems and songs that deal with aspects of Welsh history that might explain the continued existence of the word in Welsh - forced removals from much loved homes through industrialisation and military eviction. And she talks to writers who live between two worlds and struggle with a sense of belonging: Pamela Petro, an American writer who fell in love with the landscape of Wales in her twenties, and Eric Charles Ngalle, a Cameroonian poet and refugee, who made a life in Wales while unable to turn his mind to his original home, and the trauma that made him leave his family aged 17.



TUESDAY 05 SEPTEMBER 2017

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (b092jw0q)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


TUE 00:30 Book of the Week (b092lz2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jw0s)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jw0v)

TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jw0x)

The latest shipping forecast.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (b092jw0z)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092m9bs)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (b092jw11)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092m9bv)
Sam West on the Grey Heron

Actor Samuel West recalls how his birdwatching companion unpicked a riddle-like line in Hamlet but told him just late enough that he'd finished playing the part.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Picture: Richard Blackburn.


TUE 06:00 Today (b092jw13)

News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b08dmr0d)
Series 9, The Story of Oh!

Stephen Fry with a story of sounds . From the involuntary sounds people make - Oh! Ah! Mmmm, Ooops - to some of our favourite onomatopoeia - Bang!, crash, Kapow! and tinkle.

Ummm!, Phht and Yipee! are, strictly speaking, interjections not words. But, if Oh! is an involuntary noise humans make rather than a word, isn't that also a kind of onomatopoeia? According to linguist Richard Ogden, reader in phonetics and linguistics at the University of York, interjections like Oh! and onomatopoeia like Kapow! are linked on a sliding scale.

Stephen tries to look at this practically by talking to comedian Spencer Jones who communicates on stage almost entirely using an extraordinary repertoire of crazy noises and interjections. He explains why these sounds create intimacy and warm humour.

But our story of Oh! is also about language imitating non human sound and the beauty of onomatopoeia - words like cuckoo, tinkle and plop. Stephen talks to graphic novelist and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons about the specialised lexicon of onomatopoeia in comic book and graphic art work, and about the odd games graphic artists play when they're developing new fillings for speech bubbles.

But how does our story of Oh! translate into other languages? Why is foreign onomatopoeia different to English onomatopoeia if both are mimicking the same sound? We hear from Professor Catherine Laing and from illustrator James Chapman about onomatopoeia in Korean, Spanish and Japanese. It's one of the most remarkable features of comparing foreign languages to our own - we're hearing exactly the same sound but producing wildly different interpretations of the words to represent those sounds.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 09:30 The Ideas That Make Us (b08mbgxm)
Series 5, Memory

We must look back before we can look forward. Bettany Hughes finds out why at an archaeological dig, a memorised musical performance, and a centre for neuropsychological research.

With archaeologist Michael Cosmopoulos, classicist Paul Cartledge, conductor of the Aurora Orchestra Nick Collon, and neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.


TUE 09:45 Book of the Week (b093js04)
Every Third Thought, Episode 2

How do we approach and accept death?

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke - the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, he has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change - his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought. The question is no longer "who am I?" - but "how long have I got?" and "what happens next?"

With the words of Robert's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends' ageing, he confronts an existential question - in a world where we have learned to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying"? Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom.

Witty, lucid and provocative, this is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the end-game, and begin to recognise, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal.

Episode 2:
Robert reflects on how his attitude to life changed after suffering a stroke at a young age.

Written by Robert McCrum
Abridged by Barry Johnston
Read by Nicky Henson
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (b092jw15)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


TUE 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b092m9bx)
The Inheritors, Fallout

Can Jasmine persuade her dad to rethink his latest scheme and put family first?

Directed by Toby Swift.


TUE 11:00 Natural Histories (b092m9bz)
Snail

Snails have earned a terrible reputation among gardeners and growers as voracious pests - and yet these slow-moving molluscs have inspired both artists and writers, been made famous by a magic roundabout and provided us with food and sustenance for millennia. We have used snails to predict the true course of love, cure warts and smooth out our wrinkles (with varying degrees of success). As Brett Westwood discovers our relationship with them is multi-faceted and complex and so rather than evict them from your garden perhaps we should show them a little more respect. Producer Sarah Blunt.


TUE 11:30 The Landscapes of Don McCullin (b092m9j6)

Sir Don McCullin, photographer and 'sky stalker', on the landscape round his house.

McCullin's best known as a star photojournalist of the 1960's and 1970's, but he's also been photographing the Somerset fields for more than three decades. In this special programme he tells Mariella Frostrup why. "I was ready for the English landscape - it became my psychiatrist's chair. Having spent the last sixty years covering wars and tragedies, watching people being murdered and starving to death, I needed to save myself."

A revealing and intimate programme recorded entirely on location, featuring the sites he adores and rare access to his darkroom to discuss that burnt and brooding technique. The Tate is planning an exhibition of his landscapes next year. "There has to be a connection between the terrible imagery he has witnessed and these landscapes now, expunged of humanity - it's almost like they're an act of revenge." Mariella Frostrup

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (b092jw17)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 Home Front (b08yg0kd)
5 September 1917 - Howard Argent

On this day in 1917, headlines were dominated by news of the air raids on Chatham and Dover, and in Folkestone, Dr Argent is treating traumatised soldiers.

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.


TUE 12:15 You and Yours (b092jw19)
Call You and Yours

Consumer phone-in.


TUE 12:57 Weather (b092jw1c)

The latest weather forecast.


TUE 13:00 World at One (b092jw1f)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


TUE 13:45 Streets Apart: A History of Social Housing (b092m9vr)
Series 1, Dreams And Dystopia

Lynsey Hanley looks at how councils built on the edges of cities to meet housing needs.

Thamesmead in South-east London has been described as "frightening" and "dystopian", a "concrete jungle" set apart from the rest of the city. But that is not how many residents found it when they first moved in. It was a safe and secure place with spacious flats furnished with the latest mod-cons. Much of Thamesmead's reputation stems from the fact it was used by Stanley Kubrick as the setting for his controversial film A Clockwork Orange. But despite arguments over its architecture, it does represent a significant moment in the history of estate building - the era of building outwards.

After the collapse of Ronan Point, planners and local councils had decided building upwards wasn't practical anymore so they started to create estates on the outskirts of big cities, meant to act as small dormitory towns for places like London. But as Lynsey finds out, this drive to house people often led to physical isolation, with transport links shoddy and irregular, and social isolation as estates became places other people saw as dangerous.

Lynsey visits Thamesmead and Gleadless Valley in Sheffield. There she meets residents and tries to understand what estates mean to the people who live on them. She explores how estates came to be seen in such unfavourable terms and talks to the architect Douglas Murphy about Thamesmead. It's a place where the mix of urban and rural, concrete tower blocks and lakes populated with swans, makes perfect sense and no sense at all.

Presenter: Lynsey Hanley
Producer: Sara Parker and Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 14:00 The Archers (b092m4s6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b092mbgk)
The Red

Rufus Jones and David Calder star in Marcus Brigstocke's first drama for radio.

Benedict has been sober for 25 years. On the day of his father's funeral, he learns he has left him an unsettling final request. Benedict's father loved wine. He collected it and found sharing it with his friends and family an act of love and joy. But his son is an alcoholic. We witness how this has affected both their lives and their relationship in this drama based on Marcus Brigstocke's own experience of recovery.

The play was recorded on location in a 400 year old wine cellar.

Rufus Jones is best known as a comedy actor with starring roles in television comedies including W1A, Hunderby and Camping.

David Calder has had many leading parts on stage including the National Theatre and RSC, and television.

Marcus Brigstocke is best known as a stand-up comedian and has been a regular performer and writer on BBC Radio 4 programmes including The Now Show, I've Never Seen Star Wars, The Brig Report and Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off.

The Red is the third of four plays from Pier Productions in which comedians write a first play for radio.

Written by Marcus Brigstocke
Produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (b092mbhc)
Series 13, Machines

A disembodied voice, digital ghosts and the contraptions we build that alter our humanity - Josie Long presents new short documentaries about machines.

We hear from the voice of Siri in the UK about losing control of what you say. Also - the story of a digital version of yourself outliving you and our relationship to the tools we build and the scars they leave.

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (b092mbhf)
Tourist Tide

Can beautiful places welcome mass tourism without environmental destruction? Tom Heap reports.

There's been a summer of discontent in some of Europe's most popular tourist destinations. In Venice and Barcelona there have been a series of protests over their inundation by visitors. In the capital of the Basque country, San Sebastian, 'tourists go home' graffiti has appeared.

Dubrovnik is capping the number of visitors allowed in the old city. Even the Isle of Skye told people not to come unless they had accommodation already booked.

So how can the most popular places find a way to continue attracting visitors and their cash without destroying the beauty that was so appealing in the first place? Tom travels to Orkney which has become the most popular cruise destination in the UK and to Amsterdam which is trialling innovative ways to spread its millions of visitors beyond the Rijksmuseum, the coffee shops and the Red Light District.

Producer: Sarah Swadling.


TUE 16:00 Jarvis and Matthew (b092mbm0)
Grey Hairs and Bus Passes

Over the course of three programmes, close friends Martin Jarvis and Christopher Matthew have journeyed back into their separate and interwoven lives - to their school days in south London and Surrey, to their first forays into work in advertising and in the theatre and to their middle years in film & television and in print. Now in a new and final episode, they set out to complete their journey and attempt to tie up their very many loose ends... and get to grips with the looming spectre of retirement.

Ten years on from when their pensions should have kicked in (even longer in Christopher's case) they compare notes on how much they've slowed down since... and ask themselves: why do they go on and can they keep it up?

Producer: Paul Kobrak.


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (b092mbm2)
Series 43, Helen Sharman on Elsie Widdowson

How many people realise the impact Elsie Widdowson had on the way we view nutrition? She was a food scientist who devoted her life to improving the diets of adults and children in Britain and abroad.

Matthew Parris hears why Helen Sharman, the first Briton to go into space, thinks Widdowson deserves her nomination.

They are joined by Elsie's friend and biographer Margaret Ashwell, President for the Association for Nutrition.

You can download the podcast to hear an extended version of the broadcast programme

Producer: Maggie Ayre.


TUE 17:00 PM (b092jw1h)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jw1k)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 Shush! (b06fntmg)
Series 1, New Romantics

A wandering poet, a bottle of Calpol and some Roman bathing techniques cause trouble for Snoo and Alice. And just what is Dr Cadogan's unexpected skill?

Meet Alice, a former child prodigy who won a place at Oxford aged 9 but, because Daddy went too, she never needed to have any friends. She's scared of everything - everything that is, except libraries and Snoo, a slightly confused individual, with a have-a-go attitude to life, marriage, haircuts and reality. Snoo loves books, and fully intends to read one one day.

And forever popping into the library is Dr. Cadogan, celebrity doctor to the stars and a man with his finger in every pie. Charming, indiscreet and quite possibly wanted by Interpol, if you want a discrete nip and tuck and then photos of it accidentally left on the photocopier, Dr Cadogan is your man.

Their happy life is interrupted by the arrival of Simon Nielson, a man with a mission, a mission to close down inefficient libraries. Fortunately, he hates his mission. What he really wants to do is once, just once, get even with his inexhaustible supply of high-achieving brothers.

Written by Rebecca Front and Morwenna Banks
Based on an idea developed with Armando Iannucci

Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (b092njnz)

Lilian lends an ear, and Caroline is remembered.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (b092jw1m)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


TUE 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b092m9bx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 Macquarie: The Tale of the River Bank (b0931hl5)

In March, Thames Water was ordered to pay a record £20-million fine for repeatedly leaking sewage into the River Thames. When the leaks happened, Thames Water's owners were investors from around the world, many of their funds concealed offshore, with ultimate control resting with Macquarie Bank. Macquarie is an Australian investment bank with a reputation for hiring the brightest graduates and turning them into millionaires. The "Millionaire Factory" specialises in turning unexciting infrastructure companies like Thames Water into highly profitable operations.

So how profitable was Thames Water when its equipment repeatedly failed? Reporter Michael Robinson attempts to find out and discovers that even the regulator Ofwat has limited information about the companies it is asked to keep in check on behalf of consumers. Thames was loaded with debt minimising its tax bill while dividends were diverted to companies offshore. Some leading authorities in the utility field tell Robinson that monopoly providers of vital services like water, should be forced to be more transparent.

The sewage incidents between 2012 and 2014 caused long-term pollution in the Thames and some tributaries, revolting riverside users and wiping out the season for a commercial cray fisherman. 1.9 billion litres of sewage were released and the Environmental Agency which prosecuted the case, said it was the biggest freshwater pollution case it had ever undertaken.

"This is a shocking and disgraceful state of affairs," said Judge Francis Sheridan, who delivered the sentence at Aylesbury Crown Court. "It should not be cheaper to offend than to take appropriate precautions."

"I have to make the fine sufficiently large that [Thames Water] get the message," he said. Describing the breaches as "wicked" and noting the companies "continual failure to report incidents" and "history of non-compliance", he said: "One has to get the message across to the shareholders that the environment is to be treasured and protected, and not poisoned."

Thames Water has subsequently been sold to new owners. Macquarie has since been involved in a consortium which has bought part of the UK's gas distribution arm of the National Grid.

Presenter:Michael Robinson
Producer:Matt Bardo
Producer:Andrew Smith.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (b092jw1p)

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.


TUE 21:00 In Sickness and in Social Care (b092njr6)
Series 1, 05/09/2017

As the National Health Service and social services struggle to meet the needs of today's ageing population, Dr Kevin Fong reflects back on his own medical career to explore why this is now such a challenge and what's being done to address it.

In this opening programme, Kevin reveals how professionals, working on the front line in health and social care, try to address the complex needs of older people, whether it's discharging them from hospital or trying to support them in the community.

Many older people are not only frail but have multiple illnesses, and many have memory problems. So they often need a combination of 'health' and 'social' care, funded partly by the NHS, which is free for all, and by social services, which is means-tested. Working out who should pay for what aspect of the care & equipment a person needs, to ensure they are safe and well supported is a daily challenge for those working on the front line in hospitals and in the community.

Hospitals are overwhelmed with the old and frail, many of whom no longer need medical treatment. The care arrangements can be so complex for some that discharge is delayed, by not just days but weeks or months.

As resources become more stretched, this question of who pays for what is becoming all the more critical.

Producer: Beth Eastwood.


TUE 21:30 Quirke's Cast and Crew (b08vxv2t)
Series 1, Visual Effects

Film critic Antonia Quirke speaks to key crew members working on the film and drama series that are defining modern entertainment

In this second episode Antonia makes a royal visit to the set of The Crown, the esteemed Netflix biographical drama television series to discover how thirty flag waving people are transformed into thirty thousand. She also visits an Oscar-winning UK visual effects team as they put the finishing touches to the upcoming American science fiction thriller film Annihilation, starring Natalie Portman, and speaks with the film's Director Alex Garland.

Exploring the marriage of visual effects and performance she also meets with actor-director Andy Serkis to discuss the use of motion capture technology he pioneered as a performer on the Lord of the Rings films and King Kong.

Throughout, Antonia watches the cast and crews in action, grabbing them in the moments between filming and creating, revealing their various and sometimes entirely surprising contribution to productions, exploring the latest equipment and challenges. Along the way she gathers fascinating and often very moving stories of life behind the scenes. These aren't just the tales of the great actors of our times, but of the people who made those actors and actresses great, content instead to be the stars behind the camera.

Producer: Stephen Garner.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (b092jw1r)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


TUE 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b092nk37)
Crime Down Under: The Dry, Episode 2

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra. It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems that Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and then committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral he wants to get away again as soon as possible. He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared twenty years earlier. But as he's unwillingly drawn into the investigation into the Hadler deaths, the past keeps getting in the way. Questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, and Falk must face what's hidden in his own past to help him solve the secrets of the present.

2/10: Falk begins to doubt the official explanation of the deaths

Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. She won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015, and The Dry is her first novel. It was named the Australian Book Industry Association's Book of the Year, and the Australian Independent Bookseller 2017 Indie Book of the Year.

Read by Richard Goulding

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.


TUE 23:00 Lobby Land (b092nrns)

As parliament returns from its summer recess, in Westminster the halls are alive with the sound of gossip, but young political editor Sam Peakes is struggling to stay afloat. Having drawn the short straw at work, she's being tailed around by Lawrence the office intern, and she needs a story - fast.

Starring Gemma Whelan as Sam. With Charlie Higson, Cariad Lloyd, Ryan Sampson, Nick Mohammed and Lewis Macleod.

Written by Chris Davies, Alistair Griggs and Jon Harvey
Produced by Jon Harvey
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (b092nyb4)

Sean Curran reports from Westminster.



WEDNESDAY 06 SEPTEMBER 2017

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b092jw3g)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b093js04)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jw3j)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jw3l)

WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jw3n)

The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b092jw3q)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092p0hw)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b092jw3s)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092p0hy)
Samuel West on the Collared Dove

Actor Samuel West laments how the beautiful collared dove is saddled with a morose call that sounds like the chant of a bored football fan echoing down own our streets.

Producer: Tom Bonnett.


WED 06:00 Today (b092jw3v)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b08fdhrx)
Series 9, English Upside Down

Comedian Adam Hills - who studied linguistics at university - helps Stephen Fry uncover the history of Australian English, from its beginnings in the early 1700s to the present day. In 1911, Winston Churchill said it "represents the most brutal maltreatment which has ever been inflicted upon the language that is the mother tongue of the great English nations."

Yet the interest felt in Britain in 1770, when Doctor Johnson described a kangaroo to dinner guests for the first time, has never left us. Perhaps because Australian English has been so well documented, from the first exchanges of languages with Aboriginals, explained by Professor Jakelin Troy of Sydney University from the Ngarigu clan of New South Wales.

Stephen learns from Dr Bruce Moore, editor of the Australian Oxford Dictionary, how a convict called James Hardy Vaux helped track the language called Flash among transported criminals. The aim was to make it understandable by government officials. Vaux, a thrice-deported bigamist and petty thief was the first to notice how Australian English might have an entertainment factor. He wrote, "I trust the vocabulary will afford you some amusement from its novelty; and that from the correctness of its definitions, you may occasionally find it useful in your magisterial capacity."

Australian English does seem to have a talent to intrigue and amuse. We learn, for example, where the original Sheila comes from, and examine the school reports of one of Australia's favourite Sheilas, Dame Edna Everage.

Adam Hills agrees that Australian English is entertainingly blunt, which sometimes means words that are totally acceptable in Australia are regarded as taboo in Britain.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 09:30 All in a Chord (b088974y)
Terry Riley: In C

Ivan Hewett examines the chord of C major as found in Terry Riley's In C to test the idea that harmony is a reflection of history. He's joined by musicologist Pwyll ap Sion and pianist Joanna MacGregor.

Music is never created in isolation - it's conceived in relation to what's going on around a composer in terms of personal and historical events, new technologies, new ideas and artistic endeavours in other fields. In this series, Ivan Hewett is looking at five very different chords which amply demonstrate the concept that harmony is a reflection of history.

Each programme is a bite size portion of rich musical and historical investigation - and each chord has had far reaching influence on other music and is emblematic of its era.

In 1964, the Californian composer Terry Riley wrote a piece which changed the face of classical music - and it was entirely based on the chord of C major. The piece is called In C and its composition is said to mark the beginning of the Minimalist movement in music. After the complexity of the other chords in this series, this final episode explores how In C reflects the era in which it was written and, in particular, how employing the seemingly simple chord of C major was so appropriate for its time.

Ivan Hewett is a writer on music for the Daily Telegraph, broadcaster on BBC Radio 3, and teacher at the Royal College of Music.

Producer: Rosie Boulton
A Monty Funk production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b093js7n)
Every Third Thought, Episode 3

How do we approach and accept death?

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke - the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, he has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change - his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought. The question is no longer "who am I?" - but "how long have I got?" and "what happens next?"

With the words of Robert's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends' ageing, he confronts an existential question - in a world where we have learned to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying"? Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom.

Witty, lucid and provocative, this is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the end-game, and begin to recognise, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal.

Episode 3:
Robert meets a neurosurgeon and visits the writer Clive James, who is staring death in the face.

Written by Robert McCrum
Abridged by Barry Johnston
Read by Nicky Henson
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b092jw3x)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


WED 10:41 15 Minute Drama (b092p3ny)
The Inheritors, Home Economics

The Chédids are united in their quest to thwart their father's plan to divert his fortune into Lebanese business. So how come Jasmine seems to have swapped sides? By Claudine Toutoungi.

Directed by Toby Swift.


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (b092p3p0)
Connor and Piper - I Don't Have A Sellotape Dispenser

Friends share their fears as they prepare to start university. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


WED 11:00 Vitriolic (b092m4s8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Relativity (b092p790)
Series 1, Episode 1

Richard Herring's brand new comedy about four generations of a family. Starring Alison Steadman, Phil Davies and Richard Herring.

Relativity is a witty and loving portrait of family life, with affectionate observation of inter generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind, that will resonate with anyone who has ever argued with their dad about how to pronounce crisp brand names.

Episode 1:
Ian brings home new girlfriend Chloe. His mum Margaret desperately hopes she is the one, dad Ken can't wait to try out his shampoo joke - again, while sister Jane, brother in law Pete and their three teen children try to get to the bottom of just what the attractive, intelligent, witty 30-something Chloe sees in serial dater and under employed 40-plus actor, Ian.

Written by Richard Herring and produced by Polly Thomas.
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Broadcast Assistants: Bella Lamplough Shields, Bryony Jarvis Taylor
Producer: Polly Thomas
Executive Producers: Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:00 News Summary (b092jw3z)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 Home Front (b08yg15y)
6 September 1917 - Alice Macknade

On this day in 1917, thousands lined the streets in Gillingham for the funeral of 98 naval personnel killed in the Chatham air raid, and in Folkestone, Alice Macknade steels herself for her husband's return.

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.


WED 12:15 You and Yours (b092jw41)

Consumer affairs programme.


WED 12:57 Weather (b092jw43)

The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b092jw45)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


WED 13:45 Streets Apart: A History of Social Housing (b092p792)
Series 1, Right To Buy

Lynsey Hanley explores how the right to buy changed council housing forever.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister defeating Labour in a resounding victory. Her early years were tough but she did enact one policy that helped transform how the state provided housing to the British people - the right to buy. Implemented by her young Minister for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, the policy gave council tenants the right to buy their own homes at prices that were much lower than the market rate.

In this episode, Lynsey investigates the history behind the policy. According to the writer and journalist Andy Beckett, the idea that tenants could buy their own council homes goes right back to the very earliest days of social housing. The Labour Party had been arguing among themselves for years about whether to implement some form of right to buy, but it was natural territory for the Tories and Mrs Thatcher with ideas about individualism at the forefront of their thinking. Just like the Victorian ideologues of old, Margaret Thatcher thought empowering a "respectable working class" would help end poor Britons' dependency on the state.

Lynsey also examines the effect of right to buy. Because the Conservative Party was so keen on this idea of the "property owning democracy", they prevented councils from building to replace the houses bought through the scheme. The ideal was that everyone would, eventually, own their own home. But this had unintended consequences and led to a massive reduction in social housing stock. Did that lay the foundations for the crisis in housing we see today?

Presenter: Lynsey Hanley
Producer: Sara Parker and Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b092njnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Afternoon Drama (b01sd5gs)
The Interrogation - Series 2, Simon

by Roy Williams

3/3 The Story of Simon. A sixth-former is attacked on his way to school, and hospitalised. When Max and Sean start to investigate, they hardly expect to uncover a love story

Music by David Pickvance
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.


WED 15:00 Money Box (b092pdw6)
The Death of Retirement, The Death of Retirement - Live

Final live edition of the series that explores what retirement might look like in the future.


WED 15:30 In Sickness and in Social Care (b092njr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Is One Career Enough? (b08g4h8f)

When Sarfraz Manzoor was a child growing up in the eighties, his father wanted him to be a doctor. Medicine did not appeal at all and he ended up working in the media. But since then he has read the work of writers such as Atul Gawande and Henry Marsh, who both work in medicine and have used their specialism to create profound and powerful narratives. If Sarfraz had known it might be possible to be both a doctor and a writer and have a portfolio career, he might have heeded his father's advice.

So what is a portfolio career and in a fast-changing economy can any of us trust that one career is enough? In conversation with portfolio career enthusiasts and sceptics, Sarfraz finds out how and why increasing numbers of us are preparing to branch out, gain new skills and either switch career or develop a portfolio of occupations. Sarfraz explores whether the trend is a response to our desire for more fulfilling careers or symptomatic of increasing insecurity and the end of the job for life. He speaks to generalists like Emilie Wapnick, who has coined the term 'multipotentialite' to describe her diversity of skills, and to specialists such as watchmaker Roger Smith, who have immersed themselves in one thing and do it very well.

Sarfaz looks at the implications for our brains of juggling competing concerns and discovers whether his brain is still plastic enough to learn new skills. Embracing the idea that he could possibly handle a portfolio career as a lawyer and a journalist, he challenges himself to give it a go, discovering in the process whether it is possible - and necessary - for us all to diversify our skills later in life.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (b092jw47)

Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.


WED 17:00 PM (b092jw49)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jw4c)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Ankle Tag (b092pdwn)
Series 1, Episode 3

The bath has sprung a leak. Gruff wants to book an ethical plumber, much to Bob's disgust. His mate Terry would do it for clubcard vouchers. Meanwhile Alice and Bob have both developed an unhealthy affection for ape-based reality show Monkey World.

Written by Gareth Gwynn and Benjamin Partridge
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b092pdwr)

Lexi learns more about Ambridge, and Adam takes control.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b092jw4f)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b092p3ny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:41 today]


WED 20:00 The Fix (b092pdww)
Series 1, Drinking Less

Our three teams have just one day to come up with ideas to help people cut down the amount they drink. Will they impress our judges? Matthew Taylor from the RSA and Cat Drew of design agency Uscreates, lead the teams through a day of policy design. The government and health authorities have tried for years to get people to drink less but the numbers binge drinking or drinking more than the recommended amount is still high. Can our teams of bright young minds find some innovative solutions to present to Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund and former cabinet minister and Executive Chairman of the Resolution Foundation, David Willetts.


WED 20:45 David Baddiel Tries to Understand (b092pjrw)
Series 3, The Kardashians

In the first episode of a new series, David Baddiel tries to understand the Kardashians.

David starts by unpicking the Kardashian family tree, explores how they became ubiquitous, and asks what it is about Kim Kardashian in particular which inspires such devoted support. But can he explain what he has learned to John from Northern Ireland, who started him on this investigation?

Producer: Giles Edwards.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (b092mbhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Quirke's Cast and Crew (b08wn9m8)
Series 1, Camera Operator and Grip

In this third episode Antonia heads to Dudley and encounters a gang of smooth operators on the set of the latest series of Peaky Blinders and puts some key roles into the frame. She journeys through the latest Star Wars films with an industry-renowned grip that also discusses his close-up work on Daniel Craig's most iconic Bond moments, and catches a team excitedly preparing camera equipment for the final series of Game of Thrones.

Throughout, Antonia watches the cast and crews in action, grabbing them in the moments between filming and creating, revealing their various and sometimes entirely surprising contribution to productions, exploring the latest equipment and challenges. Along the way she gathers fascinating and often very moving stories of life behind the scenes. These aren't just the tales of the great actors of our times, but of the people who made those actors and actresses great, content instead to be the stars behind the camera.

Producer: Stephen Garner.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b092jw4h)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b092pgx0)
Crime Down Under: The Dry, Episode 3

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra. It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems that Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and then committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral he wants to get away again as soon as possible. He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared twenty years earlier. But as he's unwillingly drawn into the investigation into the Hadler deaths, the past keeps getting in the way. Questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, and Falk must face what's hidden in his own past to help him solve the secrets of the present.

3/10: Old enmities flare up as Falk digs deeper into the Hadler deaths

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia
Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. She won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015, and The Dry is her first novel. It was named the Australian Book Industry Association's Book of the Year, and the Australian Independent Bookseller 2017 Indie Book of the Year.

Read by Richard Goulding

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.


WED 23:00 The John Moloney Show (b092pgx2)
The Phone Call

John Moloney shares far too much information about his thoughts on life with the person on the other end of the phone at the utility centre. How hard can it be to change your electricity supplier? Well, it turns out that it's harder than it looks.

Written and performed by John Moloney
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:15 Before They Were Famous (b05w3x5n)
Series 3, Episode 2

Ian Leslie presents the show which brings to light the often surprising first literary attempts of the world's best known writers.

In this episode we get a valuable insight into the origins of Henry Longfellow's poetic success - in the guise of a letter of complaint to a boiler repair company.

We also hear the troubled, adolescent Mary Shelley craft disturbing notes to accompany floral tributes, marvel at the deliciously spooky auction catalogue copy written by M.R. James, and hear a slightly disturbing Christmas cracker joke by Fredrik Ibsen.

Producer: Claire Broughton
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b092pjn8)

Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.



THURSDAY 07 SEPTEMBER 2017

THU 00:00 Midnight News (b092jw78)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


THU 00:30 Book of the Week (b093js7n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jw7b)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jw7d)

THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jw7g)

The latest shipping forecast.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (b092jw7j)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092pmdr)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (b092jw7n)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092pmdt)
Samuel West on the Capercaille

Actor Sam West describes how the turkey-like capercaillie makes unfathomably strange sounds reminiscent of a rolling snooker ball followed by a champagne cork being unscrewed for Tweet of the Day.

Producer: Tom Bonnett.


THU 06:00 Today (b092jw7q)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 Fry's English Delight (b08g3rb9)
Series 9, That Way Madness Lies

Stephen Fry openly uses his own experience of mental ill health to consider the ever-changing way in which what's commonly called madness is talked and written about. With the help of comedienne and former psychiatric nurse Jo Brand, the controversial comedienne Maria Bamford and the writer Jon Ronson.

What we mean by "mad" changes constantly. Outmoded diagnoses - moron, hysteric, schizophrenic - turn into insults. But our dissociation of madness seems to downgrade its seriousness. As Dr Oliver Double from the University of Kent describes, today we use its terminology to describe everything from being mildly annoyed to being creatively exhilarated or intoxicated. A rave in the 1990s was "mental". A recent sit-com was "hysterical". The creative endeavors of an artist are "totally bonkers". Comedians channel madness, real and metaphorical. Even an innocent game of Krazy golf borrows from the looney lexicon.

Jess Thom is a writer and comedian and the founder of Tourettes Heroes. She talks about what language means for someone with tourettes syndrome and why she wants people to feel free to laugh at what she describes as her "crazy language generating machine" - the propensity to suddenly shout out bizarre words and phrases.

Nowadays, we're all too ready to use what we think are modern technical terms - bipolar, sociopathic, narcissistic, obsessive compulsive, on the spectrum - revealing much about the hyper self-conscious, self-examining era in which we live. The new pseudo-clinical lexicon has permeated informal discourses far beyond the realms of psychiatry.

It's enough to drive you mad. Metaphorically, of course.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 09:30 The Ideas That Make Us (b08md6w9)
Series 5, Gaia

How do we feel today about the ancient goddess Gaia? Bettany Hughes visits a giant female earthwork, a modern sky garden and a 98 year old philosopher to assess the relationship.

With Matt Fitch Wildlife Trust manager of the Northumberlandia land sculpture, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy Angie Hobbs, moral philosopher Mary Midgely and politician, author and environmental campaigner Stanley Johnson.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.


THU 09:45 Book of the Week (b093jskq)
Every Third Thought, Episode 4

How do we approach and accept death?

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke - the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, he has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change - his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought. The question is no longer "who am I?" - but "how long have I got?" and "what happens next?"

With the words of Robert's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends' ageing, he confronts an existential question - in a world where we have learned to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying"? Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom.

Witty, lucid and provocative, this is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the end-game, and begin to recognise, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal.

Episode 4:
Robert tries to come to terms with the impending decline of his close friends, as well as his own.

Written by Robert McCrum
Abridged by Barry Johnston
Read by Nicky Henson
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (b092jw7s)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


THU 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b092pmdw)
The Inheritors, Yoga Nut

By Claudine Toutoungi. Nadia goes on the warpath when she suspects her father has been snared by a glamorous yoga enthusiast.

Directed by Toby Swift.


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (b092pmdy)
Bulgaria

Reports from around the world.


THU 11:30 The Arts of Life (b092pp65)

The broadcaster Roger Hill goes to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and the North East of England, to see what art can do for people and communities facing some of life's toughest challenges. Roger revisits some of the ideas he explored 25 years ago when he was asked to produce a report on what he called The Arts of Life - the way in which art, in its widest sense, can enrich and inspire people who are really up against it. A quarter of a century on he sets out to see how the Arts of Life are working now. He travels to a homeless centre in Manchester, an HIV support group in Liverpool, a community project for young people in Birmingham and the town of Easington in the North East of England, which has spent the last decades dealing with the loss of its coal mine.

Producer: Nicola Swords.


THU 12:00 News Summary (b092jw7x)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Home Front (b08yg16k)
7 September 1917 - Isabel Graham

On this day in 1917, Prime Minister Alexandre Ribot and the entire French cabinet resigned over widespread Army mutinies, and in Folkestone, a traumatised soldier has the Grahams in disarray.

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.


THU 12:15 You and Yours (b092jw7z)

Consumer affairs programme.


THU 12:57 Weather (b092jw81)

The latest weather forecast.


THU 13:00 World at One (b092jw83)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


THU 13:45 Streets Apart: A History of Social Housing (b092pp67)
Series 1, Council Estate Of Mind

Lynsey Hanley explores how council housing has become diminished in the 21st century.

In the decades after Margaret Thatcher's right to buy policy, council housing went through a crisis in this country. As housing stock was sold off and money for new building was rationed, social housing came to be seen as undesirable and council tenants as a new "underclass".

In this episode, Lynsey explores the effect that had on the people who lived on council estates. She investigates a cultural process that turned council estates, in the public imagination, from places of safety and stability into places of chaos and danger. She talks to the sociologist Lisa Mackenzie, who spent 20 years researching and writing about the estate she lived on in Nottingham, about the gap in understanding between estate residents and the rest of the public.

Lynsey also looks at the issue of migration. There is a perception in some media that many of the problems on estates are down to mass migration. Lynsey hears from migrants at a hostel in East London who tell a very different story. Social housing in 2017 is now so scarce, it's only available to the most desperate and vulnerable.

Presenter: Lynsey Hanley
Producer: Sara Parker and Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b092pdwr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b092pzx1)
Snake

Written by Moya O'Shea
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale

Moya O'Shea's quirky play is set in Australia. It explores the psyche of the Aussie. Aussies can be aspirational and highly competitive and Moya has taken these national characteristics and wrapped them up in a story of revenge and moral dilemma.

Snake is an apt description for Greg Prince, a successful and egotistical businessman who owns a nationwide chain of discount stores. He loves to see his competitors fail and he's highly ambitious. He's deciding who to promote to the post of Managing Director for his company, a top job that pays top dollar, and has invited the four main contenders to his sumptuous country property situated in the Alpine region of Victoria, a lush, rugged, mountainous and beautiful landscape. He is taking them bush walking to test their mettle and see who should get the top job. Greg wants to revel in the discomfort of his prospective Managing Directors forced to spend time together. He's hoping they'll tear each other apart, whoever is left standing being the winner. Greg believes he is in total control as always but he's in for a shock when he realises he can't control either the wildlife or the bonds formed on the hike across the Bush. He underestimates both wildlife and his employees at his peril.


THU 15:00 Open Country (b092r47z)
Tughall Mill, Northumberland

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain.


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (b092k22q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Bookclub (b092kt49)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (b092r483)

Looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (b092jw89)

Adam Rutherford explores the science that is changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (b092jw8c)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jw8f)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Women Talking About Cars (b092r4rs)
Series 2, Sheila Hancock

The first in the new series of the off-beat light-hearted interview show. Victoria Coren Mitchell meets actress and writer Sheila Hancock for a programme that uses the cars Sheila has known to take us on a trip through her remarkable life from the first stirrings of her theatrical ambitions through to the day John Thaw fell for her and why the number of seats in a Morgan sports car is important, and thence to the enduring lure of a Jaguar and how the trick of getting older is actually to speed up...
With contributions from our studio audience and tongue in cheek readings from Morwenna Banks.
Produced by Gareth Edwards

A BBC Studios Comedy Production.


THU 19:00 The Archers (b092r72g)

Roy has to break things up, and Johnny wants to spread his wings.


THU 19:15 Front Row (b092jw8h)

Arts news, interviews and reviews.


THU 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b092pmdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (b092r72j)

Series looking at important issues in the news. Presented by David Aaronovitch.


THU 20:30 In Business (b092r72l)
Forecasting: How to Map the Future

Why do so many economic and business forecasts fail to correctly map the future? Adam Shaw asks why so many recessions take us by surprise and why the failure of certain forecasts should be a cause of celebration, not despair. He examines the role of complexity and groupthink and how technological advance can scupper the best laid forecasts. Do we, as consumers, invest too much faith in forecasts? And is there anything forecasters can do to ensure their pronouncements are more reliable?
Producer: Rosamund Jones.


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (b092jw89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 Quirke's Cast and Crew (b08x8y1b)
Series 1, Stuntwoman

Film presenter Antonia Quirke speaks to key crew members working on the film and drama series that are defining modern entertainment.

In this episode Antonia meets a trio of fearless women that perform life-threatening stunts for the camera, as they break through windows, run through fires, hang from planes, crash cars and jump off buildings often in bikinis and tight clothing.

On three closed and top-secret film sets Antonia observes a dangerous stunt being performed, she meets one co-ordinator as she choreographs a traumatic battle scene and watches another stuntwoman, who doubled for Kate Winslet on Titanic, supervise a dramatic fall.

Determined and skilled, the women in this programme explain the skills both physical and mental required and disclose the social obstacles they have had to overcome and we discover their work is very much at the heart of what makes a film dramatic.

Producer: Stephen Garner.


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (b092jw8m)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


THU 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b092r77w)
Crime Down Under: The Dry, Episode 4

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra. It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems that Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and then committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral he wants to get away again as soon as possible. He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared twenty years earlier. But as he's unwillingly drawn into the investigation into the Hadler deaths, the past keeps getting in the way. Questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, and Falk must face what's hidden in his own past to help him solve the secrets of the present.

4/10: Falk rekindles an old friendship with Gretchen

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. She won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015, and The Dry is her first novel. It was named the Australian Book Industry Association's Book of the Year, and the Australian Independent Bookseller 2017 Indie Book of the Year.

Read by Richard Goulding

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.


THU 23:00 Bunk Bed (b092r7zv)
Series 4, Episode 3

The critically acclaimed show featuring playwright Patrick Marber and publisher and broadcaster Peter Curran as they talk in-depth nonsense late at night in a Bunk Bed.

The lights are off, and a cultural crime committed against Sir Kingsley Amis by Curran is debated - alongside the merits of a miniature German Schnauzer dog versus those of Marber's impressive tortoise, Tony, for the title Mankind's Best Friend.

A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:15 Elvis McGonagall Takes a Look on the Bright Side (b041yjp2)
Series 1, A Dog's Dinner

Stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary, comedian and broadcaster Elvis McGonagall (aka poet and performer Richard Smith) is determined to do something about his bitter, dyspeptic and bloody minded view of contemporary life. There are good things out there, if he could only be bothered to find them.

From his home in the Graceland Park near Dundee, the Scottish punk poet goes in search of the brighter side of life. With the help of his dog,Trouble, his friend, Susan Morrison, and his own private narrator, Clarke Peters, Elvis does his very best to accentuate the positive - he really does. Recorded almost entirely on location, in a caravan on a truly glamorous industrial estate somewhere in Scotland.

In the first episode, A Dog's Dinner, Elvis finds out what's so good about haute cuisine and celebrity chefs.

As Elvis, poet Richard Smith is the 2006 World Poetry Slam Champion, the compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 ("Saturday Live", the "Today Programme", "Arthur Smith's Balham Bash", "Last Word", "Off The Page" and others as well as writing and presenting the popular arts features "Doggerel Bard" on the art of satiric poetry and "Beacons and Blue Remembered Hills" on the extraordinary resonance of A.E. Housman's 'Shropshire Lad')

Written by Elvis MacGonagall, with Richard Smith, Helen Braunholtz-Smith and Frank Stirling.

Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (b092r7zx)

Sean Curran reports from Westminster.



FRIDAY 08 SEPTEMBER 2017

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (b092jwbd)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


FRI 00:30 Book of the Week (b093jskq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b092jwbg)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b092jwbj)

FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b092jwbl)

The latest shipping forecast.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (b092jwbn)

The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b092r9ht)

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster, Sarah Joseph.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (b092jwbq)

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b092r9hw)
Samuel West on the red-eyed vireo

Actor Samuel West remembers one of his proudest moments as a birdwatcher was spotting a rarely seen Red Eyed Vireo on the Isles of Scilly and pulling in crowds of twitchers from all over the island to see it.

Producer: Tom Bonnett.


FRI 06:00 Today (b092jwbs)

Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (b092k22v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Book of the Week (b093jsrn)
Every Third Thought, Episode 5

How do we approach and accept death?

In 1995, at the age of 42, Robert McCrum suffered a dramatic and near-fatal stroke - the subject of his acclaimed memoir My Year Off. Ever since that life-changing event, he has lived in the shadow of death, unavoidably aware of his own mortality. And now, 21 years on, he is noticing a change - his friends are joining him there. Death has become his contemporaries' every third thought. The question is no longer "who am I?" - but "how long have I got?" and "what happens next?"

With the words of Robert's favourite authors as travel companions, Every Third Thought takes us on a journey through a year and towards death itself. As he acknowledges his own and his friends' ageing, he confronts an existential question - in a world where we have learned to live well at all costs, can we make peace with what Freud calls "the necessity of dying"? Searching for answers leads him to others for advice and wisdom.

Witty, lucid and provocative, this is an enthralling exploration of what it means to approach the end-game, and begin to recognise, perhaps reluctantly, that we are not immortal.

Episode 5:
Despite thoughts of decline and death, Robert finds new hope through a new love.

Written by Robert McCrum
Abridged by Barry Johnston
Read by Nicky Henson
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (b092jwbv)

Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.


FRI 10:45 15 Minute Drama (b092r9hy)
The Inheritors, Crunch Time

By Claudine Toutoungi. The Chédids gather to remember their mum's passing. And to celebrate the end to Dad's mad scheme to give away the Chedid fortune. So all will be well. That's the plan anyway.

Directed by Toby Swift.


FRI 11:00 PowerPointless (b092r9j0)

According to Microsoft, over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are given around the world every day. It's become the single most ubiquitous tool for presenting ideas yet it's also the software many of us love to hate - vilified for simplifying the complex and complicating the simple.

30 years on from the commercial launch of this revolution in communication, Ian Sansom asks, 'What's the real point of PowerPoint?' as he embarks on what surely must be a radio first - a PowerPoint presentation for the radio.

How do I move this on to the next slide? There we are. Thanks.

With little more than a set of bullet points, some fun pictures and an Auto-Content Wizard to hand, Ian ventures forth to assess the true impact of this revolution in the way we communicate with one another. He speaks with the software's pioneers, meets some of its most notable detractors and looks at the ways in which PowerPoint has managed to spill out from the corporate boardroom into so many unexpected areas of culture. Between carefully selected slides and as he learns to become a 'rock-star of the PowerPoint presentation' himself, Ian asks if PowerPoint has empowered the individual - or if our boardrooms, lecture halls and even our spiritual affairs are to be forever condemned to the fate known as 'Death By PowerPoint.'

What do I do now? Press escape? No, I want to bring it back to the start. F6 I think. Where's the remote thingy..?

Producer: Conor Garrett.


FRI 11:30 The Cold Swedish Winter (b092r9j2)
Series 3, Autumn: Wedding

Edinburgh Comedy award winner Adam Riches stars as the bemused and culturally challenged comedian abroad - recorded in Sweden with a cast of the country's most popular comedy actors, and written by Danny Robins.

Geoff Scott and Linda Andersson have settled together in the Northern Swedish town of Yxsjö to be near Linda's family. Three years after his arrival, Geoff finds the culture shock still shocking. Many things have happened - Geoff has come face to face with a moose, a bear and his in-laws naked. There has been a new addition to the family, a marriage proposal and a hot air balloon race. In this third series, Geoff's new challenges include a renewed struggle with the language, Swedish citizenship, the impact of Brexit and the vagaries of benefit system.

In this third episode, Linda (Sissela Benn in The Office) and Geoff make the final preparations for their wedding. There's lots to be done - the choice of best men and who's allowed to kiss the groom, preys on Geoff's mind. Then there's the questionable assistance of the juggling Danish Kurd, Soran (Farshad Kolghi from The Killing), accident prone Ian (Danny Robins) and the Gothic brother-in-law Anders (stand-up comedian Fredrik Andersson) as they prepare Geoff's Svensexa (or stag do).

Will Geoff survive the celebrations? Will he understand a word of his own marriage ceremony? And will his parents in law (comedians Thomas Oredsson and Anna-Lena Bergelin) stop laughing at him?

Written by Danny Robins
Directed by Frank Stirling

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (b092jwbx)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Home Front (b08yg176)
8 September 1917 - Alec Poole

On this day in 1917, France took 800 German prisoners in a renewed offensive at Verdun, and in Folkestone, Reverend Poole is liberated by events.

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.


FRI 12:15 You and Yours (b092jwbz)

Consumer news and issues.


FRI 12:57 Weather (b092jwc1)

The latest weather forecast.


FRI 13:00 World at One (b092jwc3)

Analysis of news and current affairs.


FRI 13:45 Streets Apart: A History of Social Housing (b092r9j4)
Series 1, After Grenfell

In the final episode of the series, Lynsey returns to Grenfell Tower two months on and suggests how we could build a new future for council housing in this country.

Throughout the series, Lynsey has tracked the decline of council housing while also trying to put paid to the myths of our postwar housing story. Now she looks at how New Labour and the governments after them tried to transform estates through one controversial method - regeneration.

Lynsey goes back to her home estate of Chelmsley Wood and finds places that have changed out of all recognition. She asks a local councillor what this means for long term residents of the estates. She then visits Liverpool where she meets a group of tenants who were told their estate was going to be knocked down in the 1980s. They took control of the process, worrying they would be moved away from the city and into the suburbs. This is a model example of resident driven regeneration, but usually it doesn't happen like that.

Lynsey explores how, in many cases, residents are ignored by local authorities and housing associations. Often regeneration can mean moving tenants off estates and replacing them with wealthier "customers" in affordable housing and market sale homes. Lynsey asks what this means for housing in Britain. How is it that council tenants are not listened to by those in power? Is it this mindset by that leads to an event like Grenfell Tower?

But Lynsey will also suggest now is the moment to revive the dream of council housing. She asks why we put so much emphasis on health and education, while believing that housing is beyond the reach of the state. She suggests that what we need isn't poor housing for poor people, but a national housing service that serves everyone just like our NHS and schools.

Presenter: Lynsey Hanley
Producer: Sara Parker and Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b092r72g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b092rbbt)
The Lesson

'The Lesson' is an explosive drama looking at the long-term fallout of a relationship between a teacher and his eighteen year-old pupil, and the young woman who tried to destroy it.

James is doing the publicity rounds for his latest novel. His wife, heavily pregnant Alice, is desperate for him not to name the woman upon whom the central character is based. Cara, the woman in question, is vindictive, powerful and dangerous - as she was as a schoolgirl when she set out to destroy their lives a decade ago. Cara has subsequently built her journalist career on those very same qualities.

Though they haven't had contact for a decade, Alice and Cara were once inseparable friends. The friendship soured when Alice and James became close and Cara became jealous of their relationship. Alice and James weren't going to take their relationship further until Alice had left school. However before that could happen Cara made an accusation against James. Although nothing was proven James resigned and his teaching career was over.

James has written the novel from Cara's point of view in an attempt to understand the deep-seated envy and hostility that so clearly drove her actions. He's changed the central character's name to Lizzie but to Cara it is obvious where James got the inspiration for the novel. Now Cara is publishing an article about the truth of their shared history and wants to give James and Alice the right to reply.

The Lesson
by
Virginia Gilbert

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (b092r9j6)

Horticultural panel programme.


FRI 15:45 Short Works (b092rbbw)
Series 1, Swim

A man returns to the lakeside cabin that belonged to his late parents. Abandoned for decades, it was the scene of his brother's death as a young boy. An atmospheric short story by Emma Flint, author of the acclaimed debut novel 'Little Deaths'.

Reader: Simon Donaldson

Writer: Emma Flint

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (b092rbby)

Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.


FRI 16:30 More or Less (b092rbc0)

Investigating the numbers in the news.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (b092rbc2)
Lesley and Elle - It's All Because of Stephen Fry

One is anxious about room mates borrowing her pans, the other worries about an empty nest. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.


FRI 17:00 PM (b092jwc5)

Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b092jwc7)

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (b092rbc4)
Series 94, 08/09/2017

Satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Miles Jupp.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (b092rck8)

Ian can't hold in his excitement, and Robert has got the solution.


FRI 19:15 Front Row (b092jwc9)

News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.


FRI 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b092r9hy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (b092rckb)
Joanna Cherry MP

Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Aylesbury High School in Buckinghamshire with a panel including the Scottish National Party MP Joanna Cherry.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (b092rckd)

A reflection on a topical issue.


FRI 21:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b08yg67h)
4-8 September 1917

The sixth omnibus of Season 11, Broken and Mad, set in the week, in 1917, when the entire French cabinet resigned over widespread army mutinies.

Cast
Maisie Harris ..... Cassie Layton
Howard Argent ..... Gunnar Cauthery
Alice Macknade ..... Claire-Louise Cordwell
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Alec Poole ..... Tom Stuart
Ulysses Pilchard ..... Khalid Abdalla
Phyllis Marshall ..... Christine Absalom
Esme Macknade ..... Katie Angelou
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Juliet Cavendish ..... Lizzie Bourne
Howard Argent ..... Gunnar Cauthery
Alice Macknade ..... Claire-Louise Cordwell
Bill Macknade ..... Ben Crowe
Mrs Edkins ..... Rachel Davies
Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David
Silas Morrow ..... Shaun Dooley
Oscar Hendrickx ..... Pierre Elliott
Hilary Pearce ..... Craige Els
Chester Matthews ..... Samuel James
Victor Lumley ..... Joel MacCormack
Lily Mott ..... Sanchia McCormack
Ralph Winwood ..... Nicholas Murchie
Eric Morton ..... Paul Rainbow
Hugh Cavendish ..... Guy Raunchey
Johnnie Marshall ..... Paul Ready
Pippa ..... Susie Riddell
Marieke Argent ..... Olivia Ross
Alec Poole ..... Tom Stuart
Edna Harris ..... Lara J West
Charles Summer ..... Rufus Wright
Connie Marshall ..... Darcey Brown
Grace Cavendish ..... Grace Doherty

Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole

Story led by Katie Hims
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (b092jwcc)

In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.


FRI 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b092rckg)
Crime Down Under: The Dry, Episode 5

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra. It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems that Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and then committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral he wants to get away again as soon as possible. He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared twenty years earlier. But as he's unwillingly drawn into the investigation into the Hadler deaths, the past keeps getting in the way. Questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, and Falk must face what's hidden in his own past to help him solve the secrets of the present.

5/10: Falk is not the only one who has kept a secret for twenty years.

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia
Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. She lives in Melbourne and currently writes for the Herald Sun. She won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2015, and The Dry is her first novel. It was named the Australian Book Industry Association's Book of the Year, and the Australian Independent Bookseller 2017 Indie Book of the Year.

Read by Richard Goulding

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (b092mbm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (b092rckj)

Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (b092rckl)
David and Siobhan - Long Distance Love

When one of you lives in Scotland and the other in the south of England, life together is never just routine. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

Producer: Marya Burgess.