SATURDAY 29 FEBRUARY 2020

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000fq5n)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Crying Book, by Heather Christle (m000fq5q)
Episode 5

Shedding tears is a universal human experience, but why and how do we cry?

American poet Heather Christle has lost a dear friend to suicide and must now reckon with her own depression. In this personal, lyrical book she faces her grief by researching the act of crying.

In her Ohio home, Heather assembles a “crybrary” in which she investigates the science and art of tears - from their chemical composition to their depiction in literature. She even mines the Internet for folklore and remedies.

Moving deftly between poetry and prose, she lays bare her own experience. She recalls crying in a car after being dumped, lying in tears on the bathroom floor after an argument with her husband, and her mother’s tears as she revisits traumatic family history.

The Crying Book is an honest, thought-provoking and surprising reflection on life, loss and mental illness.

In this final episode, Heather visits her friend’s grave and makes peace with her own family history of depression.

Abridged by Joanne Rowntree
Produced by Miranda Hinkley
Assistant Producer Alexandra Quinn
Read by Alexandra Metaxa, featuring Paterson Joseph, Alibe Parsons and Oliver Soden.
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fq5s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fq5v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fq5x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000fq5z)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fq61)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


SAT 05:45 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000fq63)
Series 15

A Cold Case Part 1

“I suppose a cold is called a cold because we catch it in the winter," writes Alison Evans from St Albans. "But why is it that we get more colds in winter than in the summer?”

This week's Cold Case is all about the common cold, a set of symptoms caused by hundreds of different strains of cold and flu viruses.

Adam uncovers the stinky history of infectious disease with medical historian Claire Jones.

Virologists Jonathan Ball and Wendy Barclay describe how spiky viruses lock on to our cells, but why many of the symptoms of a common cold are due to our own body's overreaction.

Plus, we delve into the science of sneezing with nose doctor Carl Philpott.

Presenters: Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry
Producer: Michelle Martin


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000fwhz)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m000fpbq)
Series 41

The Wilberforce Way with Inderjit Bhogal

Clare Balding walks with Sikh-turned-Methodist, Inderjit Bhogal, along part of the Wilberforce Way in East Yorkshire. Inderjit created this long distance walking route to honour Wilberforce who led the campaign against the slave trade. They start at Pocklington School, where Wilberforce studied, and ramble canal-side to Melbourne Ings. Inderjit Bhogal has an extraordinary personal story: Born in Kenya he and his family fled, via Tanzania, to Dudley in the West Midlands in the early 1960s. He couldn’t find anywhere to practice his Sikh faith so started attending his local Methodist chapel where he became an unusual sight, a Christian worshipper in a turban. He went on to become a leading figure in the Methodist church and was awarded an OBE in 2005. He discusses feeling fearful while walking alone in the countryside, because of the colour of his skin, despite having lived here for over 50 years.

Please scroll down to the 'Related Links' box for information about the guide book mentioned in the programme

Producer: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000fwj1)
How can UK farming reach Net Zero?

The environment and climate change have never been higher up the farming agenda. The National Farmers Union has set a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the whole of agriculture in England and Wales by 2040. That's in addition to the UK Government's target to reach Net Zero by 2050...and an ambition in Scotland to reach the goal by 2045.

So how realistic are those targets for farming, how much of a challenge will be be for farmers to meet them, and how is UK agriculture taking practical steps towards NET ZERO?

Caz Graham is joined in the studio by an expert panel to try and answer those questions:
-Martin Lines, UK Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network
-Professor Myles Allen, Leader of the Climate Research Programme at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute
-Edward Hanrahan, Chairman at Climate Care, which is a company that facilitates carbon offsetting

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000fwj3)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 07:00 Today (m000fwj5)
News and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000fwj7)
Joanna Trollope

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Joanna Trollope CBE, who has 22 novels to her name. A keen observer of our life and times, she is also the fifth-generation niece of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, has chaired awards, judged literature prizes and updated Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

We also have Jason Watkins, the BAFTA winning actor who played Harold Wilson in The Crown, also starred in Nativity!, W1A, Line of Duty, Being Human and now McDonald & Dodds, two feature length detective police dramas. He is also a patron for Child Bereavement UK, following the death of his 2 year old daughter from Sepsis.

At the age of 35, Saturday Live listener Raphaël Kopel wanted to play football, but never having played before he found he was shunned on the pitch and struggled to improve. So, he decided to learn how to play, and then trained as a coach for other people, like him, who never learned as a child. He joins us.

Claire Nelson never imagined one of those terrifying stranded-in-the-desert ordeals could happen to her. Then, hiking in Joshua Tree national park, she fell from a boulder and shattered her hip, finding herself immobile and alone in a sun-baked wilderness. She's in the studio.

We have the inheritance tracks of Radio 1 presenter Clara Amfo who chooses Run to the Sun by NERD and Everything is Everything by Lauren Hill, and your thank yous.

Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Eleanor Garland


SAT 10:30 The Patch (m000fwj9)
Torry, Aberdeen

The random postcode takes us to an extraordinary pet shop where something terrible has been happening to customers.

Torry is a deprived area of Aberdeen, known for addiction issues. It's also full of dog owners. In the local pet shop we discover Anna who says that a number of her customers have died recently from a fake prescription drug. We wait for her most regular customer, Stuart, to help us get to the bottom of it - but where is he?

Producer/presenter: Polly Weston
Exec producer: Jolyon Jenkins


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000b5h9)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000fwjc)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000fydh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000fwjh)
New hope for leaseholders

People who bought leasehold homes from developers were "misled". That is the damning verdict of a report by the Competition and Markets Authority. They say its findings support calls for a change in the law in this area and that they are ready to take this fight to the courts to force developers to change their ways bringing new hope to leaseholders.

Young savers in the government-backed pension scheme called NEST see their money grow more slowly than older people because their contributions are automatically put into a low risk, lower return fund.

And after years where hundreds of thousands of students have overpaid their student loans by hundreds of millions of pounds, the Student Loans Company is starting to trial a system to automatically refund customers who have over-paid on their student loan repayments.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Emma Rippon


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000fq52)
Series 101

Contagion, Chlorination, Prevarication, Mispronunciation and Aviation

Nish Kumar examines the week's news with comedians Angela Barnes, Andy Zaltzman, Catherine Bohart and Paul Sinha. This week they look at the WHO's advice on Coronavirus, the EU's stance on chlorinated chicken, the Labour leadership race, Trump's visit to India and the Court of Appeal's ruling on the third runway at Heathrow.

The show is produced by Sam Michell and it is a BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000fwjk)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m000fwjm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000fq58)
Kate Andrews, Frans Calje, Kevin Maguire, Faiza Shaheen

Chris Mason presents political debate from the University of Sunderland with a panel including the EO of PD Ports Frans Calje and the journalist Kevin Maguire.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000fwjp)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 Drama (b09k8v3t)
The Vital Spark: Intelligence

by Sarah Wooley

During the Second World War, the young Muriel Spark worked in the British 'Black Propaganda' Department of MI6. Her job was to produce what she called 'a tangled mixture of damaging lies, flattering and plausible truths'.

Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane


SAT 15:30 Leap (m000fp51)
What would you do with a day out of time?

The leap day, 29th February, is the result of an unsolved 3000 year-old problem. Conceived by the Egyptians, passed on to the Romans and reformed by Pope Gregory, it’s all too often a day that passes by without another thought.

This year, the artist Monster Chetwynd won’t let that happen. Known for her exuberant large-scale multi-person performances in fantastical environments, she delves deep into the leap year's ancient history and bizarre sexist customs to inspire a new radiophonic performance. True to Chetwynd-form, she brings together a group friends and collaborators in her Glasgow studio to reimagine everything she learns about the leap day into a wildly playful theatrical happening.

Monster Chetwynd was the first performance artist nominated for the Turner Prize in 2012. Her work includes a multi-person Cat Bus (2010), a Bertolt Brecht and Betty Boop-inspired children’s play Dogsy Ma Bone (2016), and giant luminous slugs slithering up the stairs and façade of Tate Britain (2018).

With contributions from Kristen Lippencott, former director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

Performance featuring Marc David, Bob Moyler, Jessica Ramm, Anna Danielewicz and Rabi.

Produced by Eliza Lomas
Mixed by Olga M Reed
Photo credit: Monster Chetwynd

A Boom Shakalaka production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000fwjr)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.


SAT 17:00 PM (m000fwjt)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news, plus the sports headlines.


SAT 17:30 The Bottom Line (m000fpc7)
The working week

Is our working week due for major reform? Will a move to a four day week - as proposed by the Labour Party in its recent General Election manifesto - ever happen? From shorter hours to more flexibility in the workplace, what will the modern world of work be like in ten years time? Evan Davis and guests discuss the latest trends.

Guests appearing on The Bottom Line

Kate Cooper, Head of Research, Policy & Standards, Institute of Leadership and Management
David Stone, CEO of MRL Recruitment
and Karen Jansen, Professor in Leadership Challenge at Henley Business School


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000fwjx)
The latest shipping forecast.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000fwjz)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fwk1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000fwbz)
Dawn French, Brian Cox, Chris Addison, Seth Lakeman, Cherise, Sara Cox, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by actors Dawn French, Brian Cox and Chris Addison for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Seth Lakeman. and Cherise


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000fwk4)
David Frost

The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator is hardly a household name and until very recently this former diplomat had no public profile at all.
Now David Frost has arguably one of the most challenging jobs in British politics. How has he made it to the top?

Presenter: Edward Stourton

Producers: Eleanor Biggs, Kate Lamble, Olga Smirnova, and Phoebe Keane


SAT 19:15 Saturday Review (m000fwk6)
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Women Beware Women, Christos Tsiolkas, Leon Spilliaert, Noughts and Crosses

The newest film by French director Céline Sciamma (Tomboy, Girlhood) is Portrait Of A Lady On Fire. An 18th century painter is commissioned to paint a bride-to-be's wedding portrait and falls in love with her subject
Women Beware Women is a play by Middleton just opened at The Globe Theatre in London. How do you navigate a society in which women are consciously and unconsciously commodified, coerced and controlled?
Australian author Christos Tsiolkas came to international attention with his best-selling novel The Slap. His latest - Damascus - retells the story of St Paul's conversion.
Leon Spilliaert was a Belgian painter in the early 20th century whose work often reflected his insomnia and seaside settings. A new exhibition at London's Royal Academy brings this lesser-known artist into the spotlight
Malorie Blackman's successful Noughts and Crosses novels have been adapted for TV and they're coming to BBC1 at the beginning of March

Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Sathnam Sanghera, Muriel Zhaga and Susan Jeffreys. The producer is Oliver Jones

Podcast Extra recommendations:
Sathnam - Jay-Z on Spotify
Susan - Choirs and singing by candlelight
Muriel - making Delia Smith's marmalade and rewatching Friends
Tom - A.N. Wilson's The Mind of the Apostl e

Main image © 2020 Curzon Artificial Eye


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000fwk8)
The Decade of Distrust

Major events in the first decade of this century raised fundamental doubts about public trust in rulers. Events like the Iraq War, the financial crisis and the MPs' expenses scandal disturbed people’s faith in elites to do the right thing. Meanwhile in the background big economic, technological and demographic forces were changing the relationship between the politicians and the public. This documentary shows how the 2000s laid the foundations for the political convulsions the UK would see a decade later.

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg uses archive and interviews to explore these themes. She talks to Gordon Brown and George Osborne about their competing accounts of those fractious weeks in 2008 when it felt like the UK financial system may entirely implode. Clare Short outlines why she felt misled by Tony Blair over Iraq. Rosa Prince explains what it was like as a Daily Telegraph journalist ringing up MPs before splashing their expenses on the front page.

Producer: Joey D'Urso


SAT 21:00 Drama (b008crlc)
Take-Away

If You Can't Stand the Heat...

Takeaway: If You Can't Stand the Heat...
By Tajinder Singh Hayer

A series of five linked comedy dramas. 'The Battered Devil' has always been an immigrant take-away. Spool back through decades and taste the lives of the families that serve their community's soul food. It is 1979 and Harpal can't wait to pack his parents off on holiday. Why? Because he wants to party, of course; and earn some dosh.

CAST
Surjit.....................................Kulvinder Ghir
Maninder.................................Shobna Gulati
Harpal....................................Sacha Dhawan
Des...............................................Reece Noi
Monique......................................Rhea Bailey
Paul..........................................Parvez Qadir

Directed and Produced by Gary Brown


SAT 21:45 Annika Stranded (m0006dpm)
Series 5

Whirlpools

Eight new cases to challenge the detective wit of Chief Inspector Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.

Annika is still coming to terms with the death of her friend and long-time, long-suffering forensic photographer Mikel. But life goes on, and so does police work on the Oslofjord. Annika must forge a new relationship with Mikel’s young replacement, Sigrid.

Episode 3: Whirlpools
Annika’s first attempt at speed dating leads to the reopening of an unsolved case from the 1980s.

Nick Walker is the author of two critically-acclaimed novels, Blackbox and Helloland. His plays and short stories have often featured on BBC Radio 4 - including the First King of Mars stories (2007 - 2010) and the plays Life Coach (2010) and Stormchasers (2012). The previous series of Annika Stranded were broadcast in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018.

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

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News and Weather (m000fwkc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:15 Moral Maze (m000fq8n)
Profiling, Safety and Trust

The boss of Ryanair has been criticised for saying that airport security checks should focus on Muslim men who are travelling alone, because they pose the biggest terror threat. The Muslim Council of Britain said Michael O'Leary's comments were "racist and discriminatory". Profiling is the practice of categorising people and predicting their behaviour on the basis of particular characteristics. We're profiled all the time by businesses and insurance companies with the help of computer algorithms. That same technology has been piloted by police and will now be used to identify low-level offenders who are deemed likely to go on to commit "high-harm" crimes, perhaps involving knives and guns. Is it right to target specific groups on the theory that they are statistically more likely to commit certain crimes? Civil liberty watchdogs argue that such ‘pre-crime’ profiling not only violates everyone’s civil rights, but fosters alienation and hostility in marginalised communities. Supporters of ‘data analytics’ believe that, on the contrary, it can eliminate all bias and human error from these judgments. There’s a wider debate about the balance between public safety and trust. Should we worry that these preventative measures are eroding our goodwill towards authority and each other? There are proposals to introduce airport-style security checks in ever more areas of our lives, from concert halls to places of worship. Security campaigners say it’s a necessary step towards making us all that little bit safer. Libertarians call it an over-reaction to a statistically-negligible threat. It is, they say, allowing the criminals to dictate how we live our lives. With Nick Aldworth, Tom Chivers, Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper and Tom McNeil.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000fpnd)
Programme 7, 2020

(7/12)
Tom Sutcliffe welcomes back the Welsh and the Scots for a re-match, after the Welsh won the first contest of the series. Myfanwy Alexander and David Edwards hope to repeat the feat for Wales, while the Scots Val McDermid and Alan McCredie will be trying to turn the tables. Cricket, science fiction, British folk music and the history of genetic research are just some of the topics of which a working knowledge could prove very useful, in answering today's cryptic and multi-layered questions.

As always, some more of the best question suggestions we've received from listeners in recent months will be used in today's programme. Tom will also have the solution to the knotty puzzle he left unanswered at the end of last week's quiz.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Alphabet (m000fnl9)
Poet Ailbhe Darcy delves into the poem 'alphabet' and what it means to her. It was published in 1981, by the Danish poet Inger Christensen. Written during the cold war, it's an account of living an ordinary life under the threat of nuclear devastation. The destructive force hanging over the poem is the atomic bomb, but the theme of ecological crisis is resonant today (and something Ailbhe explored in her own poem ‘Alphabet’, written in homage to Christensen, and published in her book 'Insistence').

Ailbhe looks at the remarkable form of Christensen's 'alphabet' - a kind of exploding poem which is organised both in alphabetical order and also according to the Fibonacci Series - and how that structure allowed both Christensen and Darcy to write at a time of crisis. She talks to translator Susanna Nied and the poets Marie Silkeberg, Joyelle McSweeney and Johannes Goransson about whether 'alphabet' weaves a spell of protection for all the things the poet loved, or catalogues them before they pass out of existence. Together they reveal a poem which through spirals and counter-spirals encapsulates both the beauty of the natural world and the potential for its extinction.

Produced by Megan Jones for BBC Cymru Wales



SUNDAY 01 MARCH 2020

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000fwkf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000fq4m)
Beatrice

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the author Nicole Flattery. Read by Beccy Henderson (Derry Girls, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.)

At a private club, 14 year old Beatrice attends a class for Female CEO's of the Future. She has been developing her own business since she was thirteen. However, outside the classroom, her parents are divorcing and people no longer get out of their cars.

Writer
Irish author Nicole Flattery's work has been published in the Stinging Fly, the White Review, the Dublin Review, the Irish Times, Winter Papers and the 2019 Faber anthology of New Irish Writing. She was awarded the Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year 2019 and the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize. Her debut short story collection ‘Show Them A Good Time’ was published in 2019. It was A New Statesman, Irish Times and Guardian Book of The Year.

Writer: Nicole Flattery
Reader: Beccy Henderson
Producer: Michael Shannon


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fwkh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fwkk)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fwkm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000fwkp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000fwkr)
St Michael’s and All Angels, Great Cumberton in Worcestershire

Bells on Sunday comes from St Michael’s and All Angels, Great Cumberton in Worcestershire. The first four bells were hung in 1687 and two more were added in 1869. The tenor weighs eight hundredweight and is tuned to the key of B flat. We hear them ringing a sliced quarter peal beginning with Plain Bob Doubles.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m000fwk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News Headlines (m000fyfx)
The latest national and international news headlines.


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b064x6vw)
Inside The Institution

Mark Tully discusses the impact and the power institutions have in our lives. From corporations, banks and armies to schools and hospitals, whatever we think of them, institutions are an enormous part of our lives. So how do they influence us and how should we live with them?

In conversation with Professor Simon Wessely, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a leading researcher into mental health in the military, Mark Tully investigates the positive power of institutions as well as the dangers of institutionalisation.

There’s music from Henry Priestland, the Buena Vista Social Club and the Band of the Grenadier Guards and readings ranging from Charlotte Bronte to screenwriter William Styron.

The readers are Polly Frame, Peter Marinker and Francis Cadder.

Producer: Frank StirlingA Unique Broadcasting Company production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000fyfz)
High Fashion Lambs

Verity Sharp joins a fashion conscious farmer for lambing time in mid Devon. Emily Pearse left her fashion design course age 17 to become a contract shepherd. She's also building up her own flock. Verity joins her on her day job, lambing on a farm near Crediton.

Producer by Beatrice Fenton


SUN 06:57 Weather (m000fyg1)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000fyg3)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000fyg5)
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000fw1g)
Legs4Africa

Comedian and TV presenter Alex Brooker makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Legs4Africa.

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 ‘Legs4Africa’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Legs4Africa’.

Registered Charity Number: 1158697


SUN 07:57 Weather (m000fyg7)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000fyg9)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000fygc)
Light and Energy

For St David’s Day, the Bishop of Bangor, Andrew John, leads a meditative reflection marking the centenary of the Church in Wales. Light and Energy is the theme of this service for the first Sunday of Lent during which Sunday Worship considers Christian responsibility for God’s creation.

Bishop Andrew journeys through the communities of the Church in Wales, looking at how God’s light is reflected through the diversity of voices, music and expressions of faith across its six dioceses. All six cathedral choirs are heard in hymns including Forty Days and Forty Nights, For The Healing Of The Nations, Christ Is The World’s True Light, and Lord Who In Thy Perfect Wisdom. Readings are from Genesis 1, Matthew 5, and Isaiah 49. The producer is Dominic Jewel.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000fq5b)
Recline-gate

To recline....or not to recline your aeroplane seat?

Adam Gopnik ponders the question of “recline-gate” in the aftermath of the recent American Airlines incident that went viral.

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03wphhd)
Blackbird (Spring)

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

Bill Oddie presents the blackbird. Blackbirds are thrushes and the brown female often has a few speckles on her throat to prove it. Velvety, black and shiny, the males sport an eye-ring as yellow as a spring daffodil and a bill glowing like a buttercup. Happily blackbirds aren't doing too badly. There's so many of them that their territories often overlap so that where one song leaves off, another song begins.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000fygf)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000fygh)
Writer, Keri Davies
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Helen Archer ….. Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Ian Craig ….. Stephen Kennedy
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Alistair Lloyd ….. Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Adam Macy ….. Andrew Wincott
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Oliver Sterling ….. Michael Cochrane
Roy Tucker ….. Ian Pepperell
Jakob Hakansson ….. Paul Venables
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Roman Trench ….. Ewan Bailey


SUN 11:15 Desert Island Discs (m000fx1k)
Dorothy Byrne, journalist

Dorothy Byrne, head of News & Current Affairs at Channel 4 shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would take with her if cast away to a desert island.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000fyhw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 Nature Table (m000fpns)
Series 1

Episode 3

Nature Table is comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins’ new comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.

Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history. Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts. We also hear from some of the London Zoo audience, a mix of London Zoo staff and members of the public, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in an fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

Episode 3

Recorded at London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests naturalist and BBC Wildlife correspondent Nick Baker, ethnobotanist James Wong and comedian Lucy Porter.

Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler & Jon Hunter

Researcher: Catherine Beazley

Music by Ben Mirin. Additional sounds were provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Produced by: Simon Nicholls

A BBC Studios Production


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000fwcm)
Lights, Camera, Reaction: Life after Great British Bake Off with David Atherton

What's it like becoming a celebrity overnight? Bake Off Winner David Atherton talks fame, food and post-GBBO freak outs with presenter Leyla Kazim and shares stories and gets some advice from Masterchef winner and Wahaca co-founder Thomasina Miers.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m000fygn)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000fygq)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 The Day of Two Suns (m000fpnh)
For fifty years, nuclear weapons were tested in the Pacific. It started with American tests in 1946, Britain joined in the 50s, and France didn’t finish until 1996. Some of the tests were one thousand times more powerful than the bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

For decades, the details were classified. But for generations, Pacific Islanders have been trying to push this story to global attention.

In this programme, James Nokise, a comedian and stage performer from New Zealand explores the role of Pacific wordsmiths, from song writers to poets, who have used their craft to protest against nuclear testing.

Featuring the poems:

No Ordinary Sun - written by Hone Tuwhare. Archival sound recordings from Tuwhare reading his poem in 1975 and 1986 courtesy of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, RNZ and Hone Tuwhare Trust.

Wave Song - written by Déwé Gorodé and translated by Raylene Ramsay and Deborah Walker.

Waka 83 - written and read by Robert Sullivan

Bad Coconuts - written and performed by Teresia Teaiwa (featuring H Doug Matsuoka and Richard Hamasaki)

Fishbone Hair, Monster, Anointed - written and performed by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

Produced by Claire Crofton
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000fq4k)
Worplesdon

Peter Gibbs and his panel of gardening experts are in Worplesdon, Surrey. Matthew Pottage, Pippa Greenwood and Matt Biggs answer the audience questions.

The panellists discuss the best way to revive soggy lawns, advise on the best time to prune an acer, and recommend flowering shrubs for an area which is dry in the summer but water-logged in the winter.

Pippa Greenwood meets Gerard Clover, Head of Plant Health at the RHS, to find out the latest on the olive tree killer Xylella fastidiosa.

Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 The Listening Project (m000fygs)
Sunday Edition: Eva and Gerry - Everyone dines with the devil

An engineer in the oil and gas business talks to an active member of Extinction Rebellion. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a 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. 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: Mohini Patel


SUN 15:00 The Pallisers (m000fygv)
Episode 5

The Pallisers. Dramatized by Sharon Oakes based on the novels by Anthony Trollope.
The continuing story of high life and low politics in Victorian England. Bruised by his term as Prime Minister, Plantagenet has retired from front line politics. Cora is pleased that they can spend more time with their grown up offspring Silverbridge and Mary. But can they guide their futures?
Lady Glencora.............................Jessica Raine
Plantagenet................................Tim McMullen
Mary..............................................Laura Christy
Silverbridge................................Will Kirk
Lady Mabel................................Anneika Rose
Marie Goesler..............................Melody Grove
Tregear..........................................Prasanna Puwanarajah
Isabel............................................Julianna Jennings
Mrs Boncasson.........................Jessica Turner
Mr Boncasson.............................Neil McCaul
Tifto..............................................Sam Dale
Popplecourt................................Greg Jones
Johnson.........................................Ikky Elyas
Director Emma Harding
Producer Gary Brown


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m000fw1j)
Marian Keyes - Rachel's Holiday

Marian Keyes talks about one of her most popular novels, Rachel's Holiday.

Rachel Walsh is an Irish woman in her late 20s living in New York, but whose life is disintegrating around her. She's lost her dead-end job; her boyfriend Luke has broken up with her; her best friend and flat-mate Brigit can't cope with her behaviour any longer – and the reason for all this, which Rachel just can't see, is that she's become addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Her 'holiday' is a trip into a rehab clinic in Dublin - the Cloisters - where she imagines she'll get away from it all, but discovers more about herself then she expected. Marian Keyes's book has been an international phenomenon - and maybe one reason, apart from its wit, is that it tells a story from the inside. As a recovering alcoholic herself, Marian understands Rachel's journey and how humour can help people survive.

Presented by James Naughtie and a group of invited readers ask the questions.

To take part in future Bookclubs apply at bookclub@bbc.co.uk

Presenter : James Naughtie
Producer : Dymphna Flynn

April's Bookclub Choice - Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (2014)


SUN 16:30 Conversations on a Bench (m000fygx)
Falmouth

Anna Scott-Brown hears more stories from the people who stop to sit beside her on benches around the country.

In this edition, she sits on a bench in Falmouth, Cornwall. Throughout the programme a specially commissioned work by the poet Penelope Shuttle draws on the voices of those passing by – and sometimes pausing on – the bench in Queen Mary Gardens on the seafront.

It is a counter-intuitive approach to the county that gets away from its picture-postcard image, reflecting the poverty and hardship experienced by many in a post-industrial county.

There are stories of love and death, poignantly brought together as Penelope remembers her late husband Peter on whose bench the conversations are taking place.

From the automata maker and his little cat that tells us ‘suddenly it is now’, to the exercise teacher from Washington DC, the swimming instructor who remembers losing her wellies in the park as a child, and the sustainable tourism gold award winner who is now sceptical about how much good tourism does for the country.

How long does it take to become Cornish? It seems the answer is three generations, while the county itself seems to draw out a special affection from old timers whose families go back generations and from newer arrivals.

Hidden lives are revealed and common threads recur as Anna’s gentle but insistent, and sometimes extremely direct, questions elicit poignant and profound responses from those sitting on the bench.

An Overtone production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000fp62)
Something in the Air?

In January 2020, a British Airways flight from Athens to London issued a "Mayday" emergency call when the pilot flying the plane became incapacitated during a "fume event". The airline industry does not reveal how often fume events happen, but according to some estimates they occur every day on airlines worldwide.. They are thought to be caused by air containing chemicals from engine oil passing into the cabin.

Pilots and cabin crew say that sudden fume events and long term low level exposure to toxic cabin air can make them seriously ill. In some cases they claim exposure to affected air has caused premature death.

The industry insists that serious leaks of toxic gas into cockpits and cabins are relatively very rare, given the number of flights each day. And that no causal link between toxic cabin air and health problems has yet been proven.

But the industry faces multiple court cases this year. On File on 4 one representative of the airline industry agrees to face questions on fume events, claims of a lack of transparency and claims that the health of hundreds of pilots, cabin crew and frequent fliers is being affected.

We reveal confidential airline and Coroners' reports in connection with fume events and so called "aerotoxicity". We hear about pilots and crew who say they've been poisoned by toxic cabin air. And from scientists about research being done on potential links between airline cabin contamination and neurological health.

Presenter: Mike Powell
Producer: Paul Waters
Editor: Andrew Smith


SUN 17:40 Profile (m000fwk4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000fygz)
The latest shipping forecast.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m000fyh1)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fyh3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000fyh5)
Farrah Jarral

The best of BBC Radio this week.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m000fwcf)
Lynda is left disappointed and Kirsty drops a bombshell


SUN 19:15 Reluctant Persuaders (m0000ngj)
Series 3

Episode 2: Happiest Place On Earth

The mood at Hardacre’s advertising agency is black. After losing the biggest account of their careers – the Cosmos X10 smartphone – the team have slid back down the greasy pole and find themselves once again serving only the smallest and least interesting clients around.

While Joe (Mathew Baynton), Amanda (Josie Lawrence), and Hardacre (Nigel Havers) continue to feel sorry for themselves, Teddy (Ramus Hardiker) is determined to lift their spirits. Appointing himself chief morale officer, he sets out to brighten the mood at the agency with a succession of increasingly ill-advised morale-boosting schemes.

What starts with an innocuous Hawaiian shirt day soon snowballs into a team-building and bonding exercise none of the staff will ever forget.

Cast:
Nigel Havers - Hardacre
Mathew Baynton - Joe
Josie Lawrence - Amanda
Rasmus Hardiker - Teddy
Olivia Nixon - Laura
Holly Morgan - WPC and Crystal

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Dangerous Visions (b07bzjss)
Dark Vignettes

Spine

The third of four specially-commissioned stories in the Dangerous Visions series.

Spine by Anita Sullivan
Set in the not-too-distant future. A mother and son must run the gauntlet of high-tech security, and severe travel-restrictions, to leave their homeland in search of a better life.

Writer: Anita Sullivan
Reader: Martina Laird
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000fq4r)
A senior BBC News executive discusses the extensive coverage given to the coronavirus Covid-19 as it continues its spread around the world.

The award-winning comedian Jon Holmes explains how he thinks the audience should listen to his new Radio 4 comedy series, The Skewer.

And two more listener reviewers give their thoughts on a long-running Radio 4 programme.

Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000fq4p)
Hosni Mubarak, Andrew Weatherall, Mary Higgins Clark, John Bevan

Matthew Bannister on

Andrew Weatherall, a hugely influential figure in the dance music scene of the 1990s, who revolutionised what a DJ could be and produced many hit albums and remixes. Radio 1's Annie Nightingale explains how he changed her life.

President Hosni Mubarak who ruled Egypt for thirty years before being ousted by mass protests.

The best selling mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark. Her fellow writers Harlan Coben and Alafair S. Burke pay tribute.

John Bevan, the record breaking deep sea diver who was a respected expert on the history of diving.

Producer: Neil George


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000fwjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000fw1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Analysis (m000fpnz)
It's Not Easy Being Green

If the future of politics must include tackling climate change, it holds that the future should be bright for the Greens. In parts of Europe, their influence is growing. In Germany the Green Party is enjoying unprecedented support. But in the UK there’s only ever been one Green MP and the party won just 2.7 per cent of the vote in last year's election. In this edition of Analysis, Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics and Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College London, goes in search of the Green vote. Who are they? If the Parliamentary path is blocked due to the voting system, how do they make an impact? And can they persuade more people not only to vote Green but also to become “Greener”?

Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Jasper Corbett


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000fyh8)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b0b6pn5k)
Series 7

Camouflage: Stories of Hidden Selves

True stories told live in in the USA: Sarah Austin Jenness introduces tales of secret identities and true selves.

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 (m000fq5b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:48 today]



MONDAY 02 MARCH 2020

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000fyhc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000fq88)
Citizenship

Citizenship - Carol Vincent, Professor of Sociology of Education, explores the way in which children are being taught about ‘fundamental British values’ such as democracy and tolerance. Does this government imposed requirement too easily result in a celebration of reductionist symbols and stereotypes of Britishness - 'tea and the Queen'? Also, David Bartram, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester, takes a critical look at a UK ‘citizenship process’ which subjects immigrants to a test designed to enhance their participation in British political and civic life. Does it work?

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000fwkr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fyhf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fyhh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fyhk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000fyhm)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fyhp)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000fyhr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:56 Weather (m000fyht)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03wpzmk)
Chiffchaff

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

Bill Oddie presents the chiffchaff. Chiffchaff are small olive warblers which sing their name as they flit around hunting for insects in woods, marshes and scrubby places. Chiffchaffs are increasing in the UK and the secret of their success is their ability to weather our winters. Many stay in the milder south and south-west of England where the insects are more active.


MON 06:00 Today (m000fwbl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000fwbn)
Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of the Man Booker prize. In a special edition of Start the Week with Andrew Marr, she discusses the final book in her Cromwell trilogy. The Mirror and The Light shows 16th-century England beset by rebellion at home, traitors abroad and Henry VIII still desperate for a male heir. In the centre sits Thomas Cromwell, a man who came from nowhere and has climbed to the very heights of power. His vision is an England of the future, but it is the past and the present mood of the King that will prove his downfall.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fwbq)
Before the Arab Spring

Azadeh Moaveni's acclaimed, insightful and considered account is about a cast of young women from Tunisia, Germany, the UK and the Middle East who joined ISIS. Nadia Albina is the reader.

Azadeh Moaveni's book is an intimate portrait of a handful of young women who made the shocking decision to join the Islamic State. Moaveni takes us into the inner world and daily lives of an unforgettable cast of girls and women. We encounter Nour from Tunis; Emma from Frankfurt; Asma who has just moved from Damascus to Raqqa with her family, and the Bethnal Green girls who made the headlines when they left their successful school careers and boarded a plane bound for Turkey.

The decisions each woman makes are discomforting, but as Azadeh Moaveni delves into their motivations, empathetic and unsettling complexities emerge.

Journalist, writer and academic, Azadeh Moaveni, has covered the Middle East for almost two decades. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. Together with the Nobel Peace Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, she wrote Iran Awakening. Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS is her latest book and was shortlisted for the Baille Gifford Prize for non-fiction.

Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000fwbs)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


MON 10:45 The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (m000fwbv)
The Leopard

Episode 1

By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. It is set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento: the unification of Italy.

An irresistible giant of a man whose hands are like paws and who makes the ground tremble when he rises to his feet, the Prince is clear-eyed, intelligent and languid, aptly represented by the leopard on his coat of arms. Don Fabrizio is about the business of preserving what remains of his family’s feudal power in a period of political turmoil. He realises their best hope lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

The Leopard is a gorgeous masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode One: The Prince and his family are assembling for dinner.

Reader, Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer, Mary Ward-Lowery


MON 11:00 Out of the Ordinary (m000fwbx)
Series 7

Lightning before death

Jolyon Jenkins investigates reports that people with severe dementia, or who haven't spoken for years, can sit up and have lucid conversations just before they die. Victorians called the phenomenom "lightning before death" and recently it's been described as "terminal lucidity". It seems incredible, but some in the medical community are taking it seriously.

Producer: Jolyon Jenkins


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000fwbz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m000fwc1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fwc3)
Episode 6

Colum McCann's epic new novel of friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam and Rami inhabit a world of conflict that colours every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognise the loss that connects them and attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

In Apeirogon - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides – Colum McCann creates an epic novel inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan who, after each losing a child, came together to promote peace.

Writer
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages.

Music
Original music composed and performed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, inspired by his and the authors time in the West Bank with the non-profit global exchange group Narrative 4.

Reader: Stanley Townsend
Writer: Colum McCann
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Producer: Michael Shannon


MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000fwc5)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


MON 12:57 Weather (m000fwc7)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m000fwc9)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


MON 13:45 The Californian Century (m000fwcc)
A Twist of Fate

Stanley Tucci continues his history of California with the story of Silicon Valley's troubled founder, William Shockley.

Shockley was the man who first brought silicon to Silicon Valley in the 1950s. He was an undoubted genius. But he was also a hideous boss and an irredeemable racist.

California wants to dazzle you with its endless sunshine and visions of the future – but that’s just a mirage. Stanley Tucci plays a hard-boiled screenwriter uncovering the full, sordid truth. He knows exactly where all the bodies are buried.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


MON 14:00 The Archers (m000fwcf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 This Thing of Darkness (m000fwch)
Part 2

Written by Lucia Haynes with monologues by Eileen Horne.

Dr Alex Bridges is an expert forensic psychiatrist, assessing and treating perpetrators of the most unthinkable crimes.
In this compelling psychological drama, Alex charts the impact of murder on the victim's family and explores the long shadow cast by homicide - via a therapy group for those who have committed murder.

Whilst continuing to assess David’s state of mind, Alex introduces us to another aspect of her working life: group therapy for murderers.

Cast:
Alex … Lolita Chakrabarti
Dougie … Simon Donaldson
Hannah … Jessica Hardwick
Kyle/Tyler … Reuben Joseph
David … Robin Laing
Laura… Shauna Macdonald
Frankie … Brian Vernel

Series created by Audrey Gillan, Lucia Haynes, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams.
Series consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead
Produced by Gaynor Macfarlane and Kirsty Williams
A BBC Scotland Production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane


MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000fwck)
Programme 8, 2020

(8/12)
Stephen Maddock and Elizabeth-Jane Burnett of the Midlands return to the Round Britain Quiz retreat, to see if they can exact sweet revenge on Adele Geras and Stuart Maconie of the North of England, who beat them the last time they met.

Tom Sutcliffe is on hand to ask the questions and to steer them in the right direction, deducting points when the hints get too heavy. Tom will also have the solution to the teaser question he left unanswered at the end of the previous edition.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000fwcm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 OK, Boomer! (m000fvtz)
In 2019, New Zealand MP Chlöe Swarbrick shut down a heckler in parliament with the response, "OK Boomer". The phrase has become a battle cry for younger generations, used to mock outdated attitudes or old-fashioned ways of thinking.

In the meantime, Millennials (the stand-in term for all young people) are often labelled as lazy, self-obsessed “snowflakes” destroying everything from free speech to fabric softener.

The gap between young and old has never seemed wider.

Millennials, born before the turn of the millennium, face economic anxiety with increasingly high living costs, precarious employment prospects, and the growing threat of climate crisis. Boomers, born in the post-war baby boom, are sick of being blamed for society’s problems. Generation X is somewhere in the middle, often forgotten, and Generation Z, raised on social media, is just coming to the fore.

Historian Rhys Jones is a millennial, but he has no interest in boomer-bashing. He wants to know if today’s generational animosity is a unique phenomenon, or a time-honoured tradition. He goes in search of other occasions in history where the generations have risen up against each other - from ancient Greece, rich with stories of sons killing their fathers, via the Victorian times when Darwinism drew a stark line between the generations, to the 1960s when young Boomers famously contested the norms of their predecessors.

The young and old have always been at odds, but what are the factors that turn generational strife into open conflict – and, sometimes, transformative social change? And what clues can the past provide about what might happen next?

Presented by Rhys Jones
Produced by Georgia Mills
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4


MON 16:30 The Digital Human (m000fwcp)
Series 19

Connections

For sometime now Aleks has felt uncomfortable with the way friendships are performed online. There's something about the unspoken expectation of a like for a like; the profile monitoring; the laugh out loudness of it all.

The online world – rich with the communities she once loved and learned from, connections forged, old schoolmates rediscovered – has become increasingly empty as a space to perform "friendship".

So is there a tension between what we feel friendship is, and the way we’re doing friendships online?

Aleks explores how technology is attempting to replicate the values we hold dear in our relationships.

Producer: Caitlin Smith


MON 17:00 PM (m000fwcr)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fwct)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 Nature Table (m000fwcw)
Series 1

Episode 4

Nature Table is comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins’ new comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all it’s funny eccentricities.

Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history. Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts. We also hear from some of the London Zoo audience, a mix of London Zoo staff and members of the public, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in an fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

Episode 4

Recorded at London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests zoologist and author Lucy Cooke, fly expert Dr. Erica McAlister and comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean.

Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler & Jon Hunter

Researcher: Catherine Beazley

Music by Ben Mirin. Additional sounds were provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Produced by: Simon Nicholls

A BBC Studios Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m000fvvh)
Johnny is on a mission and Shula has her feelings hurt


MON 19:15 Front Row (m000fwcy)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 19:45 The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (b04k9gj4)
Episode 1

Joe Armstrong, Hayley Atwell and Dougray Scott star in this adaptation of the powerful novel by Michel Faber (Under the Skin, Crimson Petal and the White).

Set in the near future, it tells the story of Peter, devoted husband and devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice.

Adapted for radio by Miranda Emmerson.

CAST
Narrator.....Dougray Scott
Peter.....Joe Armstrong
Beatrice.....Hayley Atwell
Grainger.....Kelly Burke
Oasan/ Tuska.....Mark Edel-Hunt
Jesus Lover Number One/ Severin.....Michael Bertenshaw
Jesus Lover Number Five/ BG.....Damian Lynch
Jesus Lover Number Four.....David Acton
USIC Psychologist.....Jane Slavin
USIC Doctor.....Elaine Claxton
Other parts played by members of the company

Directed by Emma Harding.


MON 20:00 Class Talk (m000fvyv)
Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn, has learned to code switch with the literary elite, but how can people stuck in poverty or middle class bubbles make meaningful connections?


MON 20:30 Analysis (m000fwd0)
China's Captured "Princess"

If you want to understand the global reach of a rising China, visit Vancouver. Canada has been sucked in to an intractable dispute between the US and China after the arrest on an American warrant of Meng Wanzhou, an executive with the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. Beijing’s furious response caught Canada off guard. Two Canadians have been detained in China – seemingly in response, precipitating an acute foreign policy crisis. Canadian journalist Neal Razzell examines what could be the first of many tests both for Canada and other nations, forced to choose between old allies like America and the new Asian economic giant.


MON 21:00 Peach Fuzz (m00047sv)
Mona Chalabi asks why female facial hair still seems to be a source of such shame.

Last year, when she sent a lighthearted tweet about hairy women, she was deluged with replies. Hundreds of women wrote to her to describe the physical and emotional pain they experienced about their body hair. But there was one area they really wanted to talk about - their facial hair.

And in this programme Mona will do just that – talk about female facial hair – including to some of the women who contacted her after her initial tweet. What can be dismissed as trivial is a source of deep anxiety for many women, but that’s what female facial hair is, argues Mona, a series of contradictions. It’s something that’s common yet considered abnormal, natural for one gender and apparently freakish for another. Removing it is recognized by many women - including Mona - as a stupid social norm and yet they strictly follow it. And as well as gender demarcations, this discussion touches on the intersections of race and age, too.

As she tries to unravel this question, Mona will examine her own complicated feelings about this subject - as she takes us to her laser hair removal appointment.

Producer: Giles Edwards


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000fwbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000fwd3)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fwc3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


MON 23:00 Night Vision (m000fwd5)
The Forest

In new after hours listening on Radio 4, the team that developed the award-winning Wireless Nights present three acoustically rich journeys through three long nights of the soul. Nights that left an indelible mark on the storyteller.

Time stretches out in the early hours. The space between sleep and wakefulness is alive with possibility. Fears and anxieties are projected in lurid hues, distorted, outsized. Dreams fade in and out. The real and the imaginary blur.

Over three programmes, we’ll enter that space with three artistic individuals: writer Zakiya McKenzie, sound designer Axel Kacoutié and actor Jonathan Forbes. Each have selected a Night Vision that has never left them.

In this episode, British-Jamaican nature writer Zakiya Mckenzie goes looking for her past in the darkness of the Forest of Dean. Occupied by one night from her youth spent in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, Zakiya takes her first trip into an English Forest at night...to discover what the murky history of the Dean can tell her about herself.

Producer Sam Peach


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000fwd7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



TUESDAY 03 MARCH 2020

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000fwd9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fwbq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fwdc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fwdf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fwdh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000fwdk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fwdm)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000fwdp)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03wq2nz)
Lapwing

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

Bill Oddie presents the lapwing. The lovely iridescent greens and purples of the lapwing: with its delicate crest and broad rounded wings that almost seem to twinkle in level flight, they are seen less often on our farmland today. At one time they were so common that their freckled eggs were harvested and sent off to the cities to pamper the palates of urban epicures.


TUE 06:00 Today (m000fvtj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000fvtl)
Matthew Cobb on how we detect smells

What maggots teach us about our sense of smell. Prof Matthew Cobb tells Jim Al-Khalli


TUE 09:30 One to One (m000fvtn)
Interview series. Broadcasters talk to the people whose stories interest them most.


TUE 09:45 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fvtq)
Making Choices

Azadeh Moaveni's acclaimed account is an intimate portrait of a handful of young women who made the shocking decision to join the Islamic State. In today's episode, the promise of the Arab Spring is fading for Nour who lives in Tunis; in Frankfurt Emma becomes romantically involved; and for Asma, in Syria, the drumbeats of war are beating.

Journalist, writer and academic, Azadeh Moaveni, has covered the Middle East for almost two decades. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. Together with the Nobel Peace Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, she wrote Iran Awakening. Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS is her latest book and was shortlisted for the Baille Gifford Prize for non-fiction.

Nadia Albina reads
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000fvtt)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


TUE 10:45 The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (m000fvtw)
The Leopard

Episode 2

By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

Set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento; the unification of Italy, 'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. The Prince realises his family's best hope of surviving Garibaldi's plans lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

Abridged in five parts across New Year's Day, The Leopard is a masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode Two: Tancredi visits.

Reader...Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery


TUE 11:00 OK, Boomer! (m000fvtz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Monday]


TUE 11:30 Art of Now (m000fvv1)
North Korea

One of the largest art studios in the world is to be found in a most unexpected location. 
Created in 1959 to produce art that revered the totalitarian regime, North Korea's Mansudae Art Studio now employs over 5000 staff, making it one of the biggest art-production sites in the world. 
The studio makes everything from small sketches to monumental statues and murals for public buildings. Its artists are said to be the only ones permitted to portray North Korea's ruling family. 
But propaganda is not its only aim: the studio is also driven by profit. In recent years, monuments and sculptures made by Mansudae artists, have popped up in Africa, Southeast Asia and even Germany. 
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000fvv3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fvv5)
Episode 7

Colum McCann's epic new novel of friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam and Rami inhabit a world of conflict that colours every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognise the loss that connects them and attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

In Apeirogon - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides – Colum McCann creates an epic novel inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan who, after each losing a child, came together to promote peace.

Writer
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages.

Music
Original music composed and performed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, inspired by his and the authors time in the West Bank with the non-profit global exchange group Narrative 4.

Reader: Stanley Townsend
Writer: Colum McCann
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Producer: Michael Shannon


TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000fvv7)
Call You and Yours

News and discussion of consumer affairs.


TUE 12:57 Weather (m000fvv9)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m000fvvc)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


TUE 13:45 The Californian Century (m000fvvf)
Acts of Resistance

Stanley Tucci tells the story of Kathleen Cleaver, a leading light in the short-lived but highly influential Black Panther Party which was founded in Oakland, California.

Kathleen Cleaver and the Panthers were sick of the compromises of the mainstream civil rights movement. Their militant approach influenced many other activists - including San Francisco's increasingly vocal LGBT community.

But for the US government, the Panthers became public enemy number one - and leading figures like Cleaver were forced to flee.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000fvvh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b09hs4k5)
The AntiSocial Network

A ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains. A secretive British lobbying firm is manipulating the outcome of elections in the city below. As the clock ticks, one of their team goes missing on the slopes. Did she fall? Was she pushed?

CAST:

Marcus ..... Orlando Seale
Kaveeta ..... Deeivya Meir
Niko ..... Adam Fitzgerald
Seth ..... Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Greg ..... Philip Bretherton
Kelly ..... Abbie Andrews
Elisa ..... Isabella Inchbald
Pablo ..... Clive Hayward

Written by Peter Jukes
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000fvvk)
Series 22

Tarot

Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound inspired by the tarot deck. From a reading with Madame Cinnamon in New Orleans to a card that helps two sisters understand each other.

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


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000fvvm)
Mark Ruffalo vs Chemical Pollution

When a frustrated farmer dumped a bag of VHS video tapes onto the desk of Cincinnati lawyer Rob Bilott it kick-started a legal process that would ultimately reveal that one of the world’s biggest chemical companies had poisoned thousands of people. The story of DuPont and their manufacture of the non-stick chemical family PFAS matters to the factory workers of Parkersburg, West Virginia but it also reveals the extent to which virtually all of us have been exposed to a chemical that for decades has lined our frying pans and takeaway food containers and guarded our sofas and carpets against stains.

Rob’s story of his two decade battle with DuPont has inspired 'Dark Waters', a Hollywood film starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. In the first of a new series Tom Heap meets Rob and Mark to discuss the impact on the environment and human health of a family of chemicals that can build up in our bodies and take tens of thousands of years to decay.

Producer: Alasdair Cross


TUE 16:00 Law in Action (m000fvvp)
Supporting evidence

Imagine what it must be like to be a child with autism. Your school won’t give you the support you need. But challenging that decision involves giving evidence at a tribunal where the lighting seems dazzling and the air-conditioning sounds deafening. Joshua Rozenberg reports from a tribunal in Glasgow designed by children for children. He visits a unique sensory room designed to put children with autism at their ease and help them speak for themselves.
Producer: Neil Koenig
Researcher: Diane Richardson


TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m000fvvr)
Neil Oliver & Neil Forsyth

Two Scottish Neils choose the books they love. Neil Oliver the TV archeologist from Coast, A History of Scotland & Rise of the Clans chooses a nature book The Glorious Life of the Oak by John Lewis-Stempel. As the title suggests, it's a loving tribute to the tree that is inextricably bound up with the history of the British isles. Neil Oliver says he likes to read nature writing these days as a way to escape the uncertainty and unrest of the world.
Neil Forsyth wrote BBC2's recent comedy drama Guilt as well as Bob Servant and Eric, Ernie & Me. His choice of book is Stuart A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters, the biography of a homeless drug addict from Cambridge. It's a book that stays with you, he says, and it's written with unflinching honesty.
Harriett chooses Indemnity Only, a female PI led crime fiction story set in Chicago. Its author Sara Paretsky has been described as the Raymond Chandler of the female private eye novel.
Have you read any of them? Let us know what you think of the books on instagram @agoodreadbbc

THE GLORIOUS LIFE OF THE OAK by JOHN LEWIS STEMPEL
STUART A LIFE BACKWARDS by ALEXANDER MASTERS
INDEMNITY ONLY by SARA PARETSKY

Producer: Maggie Ayre


TUE 17:00 PM (m000fvvt)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fvvw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b09wvpbp)
Hexagonal Phase

Episode 4

Simon Jones stars as Arthur Dent in a brand new full-cast series based on And Another Thing..., the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy.

Forty years on from the first ever radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and friends return to be thrown back into the Whole General Mish Mash, in a rattling adventure involving Viking Gods and Irish Confidence Tricksters, with our first glimpse of Eccentrica Gallumbits and a brief but memorable moment with The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal.

Starring John Lloyd as The Book, with Simon Jones as Arthur, Geoff McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Sandra Dickinson and Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Jim Broadbent as Marvin the Paranoid Android and Jane Horrocks as Fenchurch. The cast also includes Samantha Béart, Toby Longworth, Andy Secombe, Ed Byrne, Lenny Henry, Philip Pope, Mitch Benn, Jon Culshaw and Professor Stephen Hawking.

The series is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams.

Cast:
The Voice Of The Book......................................................John Lloyd
Arthur Dent..................................................................... Simon Jones
Ford Prefect.....................................................................Geoff McGivern
Zaphod Beeblebrox............................................................Mark Wing-Davey
Trillian/Tricia McMillan.........................................................Sandra Dickinson
Trillian............................................................................ Susan Sheridan
Random...........................................................................Samantha Béart
Jeltz/Wowbagger...............................................................Toby Longworth
Constant Mown..................................................................Andy Secombe
Left Brain/Thor.................................................................. Mitch Benn
Fenchurch........................................................................Jane Horrocks
Hillman Hunter.................................................................. Ed Byrne
Cthulu............................................................................ Jon Culshaw
Marvin............................................................................ Jim Broadbent
The Guide MkII................................................................Professor Stephen Hawking
The Consultant............................................................ Lenny Henry
Heimdall/Barzoo/Buckeye Brown/
Eccentrica /Gunner Vogon.....................................................Tom Alexander
Aseed Preflux/Sub-Etha Voice/HOG Door ..............................Philip Pope
Modgud/The Viking............................................................ Theo Maggs
Baldur ............................................................................ Phillipe Bosher
Announcer............................................................................John Marsh

Music by Philip Pope
Production research by Kevin Jon Davies
Written and directed by Dirk Maggs
Based on the novel And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, with additional material by Douglas Adams
Recorded at The Soundhouse Ltd by Gerry O'Riordan
Sound Design by Dirk Maggs

Produced by Dirk Maggs, Helen Chattwell and David Morley
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000fvvy)
Ed finds himself in an awkward situation and Kirsty struggles with her suspicions


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000fvw0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 19:45 The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (b04kbjhn)
Episode 2

Joe Armstrong, Hayley Atwell and Dougray Scott star in this adaptation of the powerful novel by Michel Faber (Under the Skin, Crimson Petal and the White).

Set in the near future, it tells the story of Peter, devoted husband and devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice.

In today's episode, Peter starts to explore the USIC base on Oasis, but is eager to meet his new flock - the planet's enigmatic native inhabitants. Back on Earth, the weather is doing strange things.

Adapted for radio by Miranda Emmerson

CAST
Narrator.....Dougray Scott
Peter.....Joe Armstrong
Beatrice.....Hayley Atwell
Grainger.....Kelly Burke
Oasan/ Tuska.....Mark Edel-Hunt
Jesus Lover Number One/ Severin.....Michael Bertenshaw
Jesus Lover Number Five/ BG.....Damian Lynch
Jesus Lover Number Four.....David Acton
USIC Psychologist.....Jane Slavin
USIC Doctor.....Elaine Claxton
Other parts played by members of the company

Directed by Emma Harding


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000fvw2)
Taking the Rap

When a video of one of the UK's biggest rap stars being attacked went viral, it marked the start of a series of events which left three young people dead. They died when tensions escalated between rival gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green in the North London borough of Haringey. File on 4 has been told the events that led to their deaths were triggered by an attack on one of a rapper called Headie One from the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham. Tensions were escalated via social media - violent tit for tat attacks filmed and posted on Instagram, Snapchat and You Tube. Livvy Haydock hears the stories of those at the heart of this feud and from those whose lives it has devastated.

Reporter: Livvy Haydock
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000fvw4)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000fvw6)
Chris van Tulleken demystifies health issues, separating fact from fiction and brings clarity to conflicting health advice, with the help of resident sceptic GP Margaret McCartney


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000fvtl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000fvw8)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fvv5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


TUE 23:00 Liam Williams: Ladhood (b097c99y)
Series 2

Episode 2

Comedian Liam Williams recounts his youthful misadventures in this autobiographical sitcom. Episode two finds Liam searching for hedonism, while torn between the laddish drinking societies and the artsy intelligentsia of Cambridge University.

Ladhood is written and performed by Liam Williams and starred:

Al Roberts
Emma Sidi
Freya Parker
Kieran Hodgson
Paul G Raymond

The Producer is Joe Nunnery
It is a BBC Studios Production.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000fvwb)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



WEDNESDAY 04 MARCH 2020

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000fvwd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fvtq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fvwg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fvwj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fvwl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000fvwn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fvwq)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000fvws)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03ws7gc)
Nuthatch

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

Bill Oddie presents the nuthatch. Nuthatches are the only UK birds that can climb down a tree as fast they can go up and you'll often see them descending a trunk or hanging beneath a branch. Nuthatches are unmistakable: blue-grey above, chestnut under the tail and with a black highwayman's mask.


WED 06:00 Today (m000fvyd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Only Artists (m000fvyg)
Series 10

04/03/2020

Two artists come together to talk about their creative work.


WED 09:30 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m000fvyj)
Series 15

A Cold Case Part 2

Two cold callers feature in this episode. Jennifer Langston from Ontario in Canada sent this message to curiouscases@bbc.co.uk:

"My husband has just taken up cold water swimming and he'll swim in temperatures as low as 6 degrees Celsius. I worry that it's too cold for him, but he claims that 'swimming in cold water is good for you', which drives me bonkers. Can you tell us if there is any scientific proof behind this?”

Adam takes a trip to his local lido and asks the locals why they get a kick out of a chilly winter dip. Meanwhile, Hannah calls the Antarctic to talk to meteorologist Richard Warren about the perils of a frozen beard.

Our second cold caller, Sarah Dudley, asks why women get cold feet in bed. Thermal physiologist Heather Massey is on hand with the answer.

But when it comes to the natural world, other animals are masters of sub-zero living. Frozen Planet producer Kathryn Jeffs, from the BBC's Natural History Unit, explains why polar bears are perfectly designed for the Arctic. And we discover why Paddington Bear is better suited to Peru.

Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
Producer: Michelle Martin


WED 09:45 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fvyl)
The Bethnal Green Girls

Azadeh Moaveni's intimate portrait explores the lives of four teenage girls from Bethnal Green. Vivacious and excelling at school, what drew them to make the shocking decision to join ISIS?

Azadeh Moaveni's acclaimed account was shortlisted for the Baille Gifford Prize for non-fiction. It tells the stories of a selection of young women who made the unsettling decision to sign up to the Islamic State.

Journalist, writer and academic Azadeh Moaveni covered the Middle East for almost two decades. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. Together with the Nobel Peace Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, she wrote Iran Awakening.

Read by Nadia Albina.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000fvyn)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


WED 10:41 The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (m000fvyq)
The Leopard

Episode 3

By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. It is set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento; the unification of Italy. An irresistible giant of a man whose hands are like paws and who makes the ground tremble when he rises to his feet, the Prince is clear-eyed, intelligent and languid, aptly represented by the leopard on his coat of arms.

Don Fabrizio is about the business of preserving what remains of his family’s feudal power in a period of political turmoil. He realises their best hope lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

The Leopard is a masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode 3: The family travel to their summer estate, Donnafugata.

Reader...Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery


WED 10:55 The Listening Project (m000fvys)
Capturing the nation in conversation, in partnership with the British Library.


WED 11:00 Class Talk (m000fvyv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar (m0008p3v)
Series 3

Rage and Resentment

Alexei considers the roots of his rage and resentment, explores the dangers of magical thinking and contemplates what the philosophies of Bertholt Brecht could offer Premier League football.

Written by Alexei Sayle
Performed by Alexei Sayle
Produced by Joe Nunnery
A BBC Studios Production.


WED 12:00 News Summary (m000fvyx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fvyz)
Episode 8

Colum McCann's epic new novel of friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam and Rami inhabit a world of conflict that colours every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognise the loss that connects them and attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

In Apeirogon - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides – Colum McCann creates an epic novel inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan who, after each losing a child, came together to promote peace.

Writer
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages.

Music
Original music composed and performed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, inspired by his and the authors time in the West Bank with the non-profit global exchange group Narrative 4.

Reader: Stanley Townsend
Writer: Colum McCann
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Producer: Michael Shannon


WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000fvz1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


WED 12:57 Weather (m000fvz3)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m000fvz5)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


WED 13:45 The Californian Century (m000fvz7)
San Francisco Burning

Stanley Tucci tells the story of Dianne Feinstein, trailblazing Californian politician who took over as mayor of San Francisco in 1978 after the murders of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone.

Feinstein was charged with the difficult task of healing San Francisco after the brutal slaying of two highly popular leaders - against the backdrop of the further horrors of the recent Jonestown Massacre.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


WED 14:00 The Archers (m000fvvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (m000fvz9)
Two Households

The Cassidys and the Sallises have always lived on adjoining farms in the Northern Irish countryside, near the border in South Down. During the Troubles the families were on different sides – Despite being neighbours, they were bitter enemies who rarely spoke, except to clash over politics and the boundaries of their farms. But after years of peace, and when Sean’s daughter Niamh and Ian’s son Michael fell in love, they put their differences behind them and even became friends. Both are now widowers as well, with Sean’s wife Mairead apparently killing herself in 1998, and Ian’s wife Kate dying of cancer several years ago.

On the night before the wedding, it’s also almost the Twelfth of July, a time when many people in Northern Ireland go on holiday to escape the inevitable violence that still flares up each year. With both families assembled at home, the two fathers have a few drinks and discuss their secret plan to give the newlyweds a plot of land carved out between the two farms, which they can build a house on. It’s a symbol that they’ve made peace, and are tearing down the fences that divide them. But that’s the thing about peace: it can be shattered so easily.

That night, the initial ground-breaking uncovers something shocking – the body of Sean’s wife Mairead, thought to have drowned herself at the nearby beach twenty years before, leaving him to bring up three children. Her body was never located, but having found a note and her clothes on the beach, the police and her family assumed it was suicide. Instead, Mairead has been shot in the head, paramilitary-style, and buried. This was a murder.

The revelation of Mairead’s murder throws the families into turmoil, destroying the peace they’ve arrived at. The past is unravelled in this compelling thriller by crime novelist Claire McGowan.

Sean ..... Dermot Crowley
Ian ..... Paul Hickey
Niamh ..... Amy Molloy
Michael ..... Fra Fee
Writer ..... Claire McGowan
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


WED 15:00 Money Box (m000fvzc)
The latest news from the world of personal finance plus advice for those trying to make the most of their money.


WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000fvw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000fvzf)
New research on how society works.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000fvzh)
The programme about a revolution in media with Amol Rajan, the BBC's Media Editor


WED 17:00 PM (m000fvzk)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fvzm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (m000fvzp)
Series 3

Episode One: Spring

Multi-award winning comedian and author Mark Watson continues his probably doomed quest to make sense of the human experience. He's aided by the sardonic musical brilliance of Flo and Joan, and by a different comedy friend in each programme. This week, it's Lou Sanders.

This new series examines the four seasons of the year and the seasons of a human life, as Mark - at the halfway point of his expected lifespan - considers what might come next. In this first programme, Mark and his guests discuss Spring - a time of new beginnings, lambs and other cliches.

As always, there's a huge number of jokes, some songs and an awful lot of other stuff crammed into each show as the much-loved comic and his team make their way through life at dizzying speed.

Produced by Lianne Coop
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m000fvzs)
Emma makes a big decision and Tom attempts to impress


WED 19:15 Front Row (m000fvzv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 19:45 The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (b04kf5zn)
Episode 3

Joe Armstrong, Hayley Atwell and Dougray Scott star in this adaptation of the powerful novel by Michel Faber (Under the Skin, Crimson Petal and the White).

Set in the near future, it tells the story of Peter, devoted husband and devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice.

In today's episode, USIC pharmacist Grainger drives Peter out to the nearest settlement for his first encounter with his new flock - the planet's enigmatic native inhabitants. But the letters from his wife Beatrice back on Earth tell of food shortages and natural disaster.

Adapted for radio by Miranda Emmerson

CAST
Narrator.....Dougray Scott
Peter.....Joe Armstrong
Beatrice.....Hayley Atwell
Grainger.....Kelly Burke
Oasan/ Tuska.....Mark Edel-Hunt
Jesus Lover Number One/ Severin.....Michael Bertenshaw
Jesus Lover Number Five/ BG.....Damian Lynch
Jesus Lover Number Four.....David Acton
USIC Psychologist.....Jane Slavin
USIC Doctor.....Elaine Claxton
Other parts played by members of the company

Directed by Emma Harding


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m000fvzx)
Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze


WED 20:45 Lent Talks (m000fvzz)
Rachel Mann - Trans Identity

Jesus’ 40-day struggle in the wilderness led to his discovery of who he was and what his mission would be. This year’s Lent Talks theme is identity – losing and gaining identity, struggling with identity, accepting and owning identity. Anglican priest Rachel Mann reflects on the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and on her own journey of identity as a trans woman.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000fvvm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Only Artists (m000fvyg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000fw01)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fvyz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


WED 23:00 Ken Cheng: Chinese Comedian (m000fw03)
Series 2

Free Speech

Stand-up series exploring British Chinese culture from BBC New Comedy Award finalist Ken Cheng.

Dave's Joke of the Fringe Winner, Cambridge mathematics dropout and professional poker player Ken Cheng returns with a brand new series in which he’ll explore free speech, social status, racism and money…

Producer: Adnan Ahmed

Ken Cheng - Chinese Comedian is a BBC Studios Production.


WED 23:15 Cracking Up (b08q71fz)
Series 1

Revision Express

Dylan has exams looming and, like many teenage boys, is finding the whole work/life balance tricky to negotiate. Spencer has problems of his own as his flat has been pumped full of raw sewage and he decides to kill two birds with one van. He parks a mobile home on the family drive emblazoned with a sign that reads Revision Express.

He proposes to aid Dylan's revision with a technique known as appetitive stimulus. Despite Tilly's observation that "I think he's already started...I'm sure that's why he spends so long in the bathroom", it turns out to be a system of rewards that Spencer covertly places in Dylan's wardrobe.

So basically - bribery.

Things start badly as Dylan's friend Jamal takes a picture of Spencer emerging proudly from the Revision Express in a peaked cap and uniform and uploads it to Instagram where it immediately goes viral and sprouts memes of Spencer as (among other things) a zookeeper and Hitler.

A Big Talk production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000g6kg)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament.



THURSDAY 05 MARCH 2020

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000fw05)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fvyl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fw07)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fw09)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fw0c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000fw0f)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fw0h)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000fw0k)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x458y)
Great Crested Grebe

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

Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe. In Spring, great crested grebes perform a high ritualized mating display. This includes head shaking and a spectacular performance during which both male and female birds gather bunches of waterweed and as they swim towards each other, before rising vertically in the water, chest to chest, and paddling furiously to keep themselves upright.


THU 06:00 Today (m000fw0m)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000fw0p)
Paul Dirac

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the theoretical physicist Dirac (1902-1984), whose achievements far exceed his general fame. To his peers, he was ranked with Einstein and, when he moved to America in his retirement, he was welcomed as if he were Shakespeare. Born in Bristol, he trained as an engineer before developing theories in his twenties that changed the understanding of quantum mechanics, bringing him a Nobel Prize in 1933 which he shared with Erwin Schrödinger. He continued to make deep contributions, bringing abstract maths to physics, beyond predicting anti-particles as he did in his Dirac Equation.

With

Graham Farmelo

Valerie Gibson

And

David Berman

Producer: Simon Tillotson


THU 09:45 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fw28)
New Realities

Azadeh Moaveni's acclaimed and considered account about the complexities that persuaded a cast of young women to join ISIS. Today, Moaveni explores their expectations and the realities of their new lives under the regime.

Journalist, writer and academic Azadeh Moaveni has covered the Middle East for almost two decades. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. Together with the Nobel Peace Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, she wrote Iran Awakening. Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS is her latest book and was shortlisted for the Baille Gifford Prize for non-fiction.

Nadia Albina reads
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000fw0t)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


THU 10:45 The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (m000fw0w)
The Leopard

Episode 4

By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. It is set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento; the unification of Italy. An irresistible giant of a man whose hands are like paws and who makes the ground tremble when he rises to his feet, the Prince is clear-eyed, intelligent and languid, aptly represented by the leopard on his coat of arms.

Don Fabrizio is about the business of preserving what remains of his family’s feudal power in a period of political turmoil. He realises their best hope lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

The Leopard is a masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode 4: The family have arrived at their summer estate, Donnafugata. Concetta has confessed her love of Tancredi to her father, but Don Fabrizio knows that Tancredi needs a wife with money.

Reader...Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000fw0y)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world


THU 11:30 Out Loud (m000bcmx)
Exploring Bradford’s emerging spoken-word counter culture, journalist, writer and artist Kirran Shah enters the intimate spaces where local people share their life stories.

She’s on a journey back to her home town, seeking to discover if there’s a way she can belong in Bradford. Her first few visits to some of these pop-up club nights are terrifying. Can she dare to take her turn at the open mic?

Smartphones are switched off, the lights are dimmed and the performances begin. Poetry, rap, song and stories - all are welcome, truthfulness is appreciated. People are applauded for courage, self-expression and for making real-life connections. It's the antithesis to online messaging.

Slowly and gradually, Kirran discovers a thriving, inclusive community that is a celebration of human connection. It’s very different from the Bradford she remembers.

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (m000fw2q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fw12)
Episode 9

Colum McCann's epic new novel of friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam and Rami inhabit a world of conflict that colours every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognise the loss that connects them and attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

In Apeirogon - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides – Colum McCann creates an epic novel inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan who, after each losing a child, came together to promote peace.

Writer
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages.

Music
Original music composed and performed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, inspired by his and the authors time in the West Bank with the non-profit global exchange group Narrative 4.

Reader: Stanley Townsend
Writer: Colum McCann
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Producer: Michael Shannon


THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000fw14)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


THU 12:57 Weather (m000fw16)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m000fw18)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


THU 13:45 The Californian Century (m000fw1b)
On Ice

Stanley Tucci tells the story of Ice-T, the original gangster rapper.

Ice T's controversial hit Cop Killer epitomised the turbulence of 1990s LA, consumed by the outrage of the Rodney King beating.

But Ice himself would go on to play a cop on TV - showing California's talent for absorbing dissidence into the mainstream.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


THU 14:00 The Archers (m000fvzs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b09jvmgd)
Game Over

Building a video game that works, where the player understands the goals and enjoys the experience is one thing, but Chelsea wants her new game to change the world. She's calling it Glacier and it will tell the story of an Alaskan village eroded by global warming.

Chelsea, in financial debt from her previous project, is thrilled when top Californian investor Harrison Reed decides to back the game. He has a reputation for great design and commercial success. He has also become infamous for not working with women.

Chelsea always starts with a feeling and builds the look and mood of the game from that. With Glacier, she wants the story to be about real characters with a real dilemma. She's determined to capture a sense of loss and grief in the medium of a game. But Harrison pushes for something fun and easy to sell and is determined to get press coverage about how socially responsible he has become.

To build Glacier, Chelsea has to navigate the boys' club of designers working with Harrison and choose which battles are even worth fighting. When she signs up to work with Harrison, she can't anticipate what it will be like.

Written by Emily Short, Game Over is her first play for radio. She's a leader in interactive storytelling and sought-after for a variety of projects in games, interactive stories, interactive film, and education.

Cast:
Chelsea.....Sarah Elmaleh (pictured above)
Lee.....Eden Marryshow
Harrison.....Ari Brand
Jared.....Michael Levi Harris
Gloria.....Fay Ann Lee
with
Emily Perkins
Pete McElligott.
Raphael Martin

Sound design by Louis Mitchell and Peregrine Andrews.
Music by Gene Pritsker

Directed by Judith Kampfner
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas

A Corporation For Independent Radio production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000fw1d)
Up to the labyrinth on St Catherine's Hill, Winchester

Clare Balding visits the ancient and mysterious labyrinth on top of St. Catherine's Hill in Winchester. Leading the walk is Brian Draper, who runs soulful retreats in nature.

Throughout this series of Ramblings Clare is exploring how walking affects our inner life. She is hiking with people of differing beliefs and none to discover how the simple act of being in the natural world can change how we feel. Today, she joins a retreat run by Brian Draper - you may recognise his voice from Thought For The Day on Radio 4 - who encourages the group to slow down and be a part of nature, and discusses the benefits this can have. Together they climb St. Catherine’s Hill to discover the meaning and purpose of labyrinths, a kind of spiritual maze-like path used for walking meditation.

Scroll down to the 'related links' box for more information.

Producer: Karen Gregor


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000fw1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Bookclub (m000fw1j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000fw1l)
The latest releases, the hottest stars and the leading directors, plus news and insights from the film world.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000fw1n)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m000fw1q)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fw1v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 The Break (b0b42v6l)
Series 2

The Mystery of Room 66

To win back Corinne's heart, Jeff takes her to an escape room. But no-one expects a puzzle set by Death himself. Philip Jackson, Alison Steadman and Mark Benton star.

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 19:00 The Archers (m000fw1x)
Philip springs a surprise and Lynda is at her wits end


THU 19:15 Front Row (m000fw1z)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 19:45 The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (b04kf8px)
Episode 4

Joe Armstrong, Hayley Atwell and Dougray Scott star in this adaptation of the extraordinary novel by Michel Faber (Under the Skin, Crimson Petal and the White).

Set in the near future, it tells the story of Peter, devoted husband and devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice.

In today's episode, Peter shows his Oasan congregation some photos of life on Earth. But as life on Earth becomes increasingly difficult, the distance between him and Beatrice grows ever vaster.

Adapted for radio by Miranda Emmerson

CAST
Narrator.....Dougray Scott
Peter.....Joe Armstrong
Beatrice.....Hayley Atwell
Grainger.....Kelly Burke
Oasan/ Tuska.....Mark Edel-Hunt
Jesus Lover Number One/ Severin.....Michael Bertenshaw
Jesus Lover Number Five/ BG.....Damian Lynch
Jesus Lover Number Four.....David Acton
USIC Psychologist.....Jane Slavin
USIC Doctor.....Elaine Claxton
Other parts played by members of the company

Directed by Emma Harding.


THU 20:00 Law in Action (m000fvvp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000fw21)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000fw1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000fw0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000fw24)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fw12)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


THU 23:00 The Allotment (b08h08rd)
A comedy written by and starring Esther Coles (BBC2's "Nurse").

Esther takes refuge from a troubled world on her allotment where she finds serenity among the vegetables and loses herself in her bee keeping. While daughter Molly uses the shed as a makeshift study for her exams love-sick Robert has come to ask Esther to take him on a tour of her bee hive, but the spell is broken when Geoff wades in in a make-shift bee-keeping outfit in search of his stolen pumpkin.
Welcome to a quirky, warm world where troubles get lost in the long grass and small things can bring contentment.

Esther - Esther Coles
Robert - Mark Benton
Geoff - Paul Whitehouse
Molly - Patricia Allison
Sally - Arabella Weir
Grandma Maggs - Jane Horrocks

Produced by Gareth Edwards
A BBC Studios Production


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000g6mq)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament.



FRIDAY 06 MARCH 2020

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000fw26)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fw28)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000fw2b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000fw2d)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000fw2g)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000fw2j)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000fw2l)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Rev'd Dr Rosa Hunt, co-principal of South Wales Baptist College.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000fw2n)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03x474w)
Rook

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

Bill Oddie presents the rook. High in the treetops buffeted by March winds, rooks are gathering twigs to build their untidy nests. The bustle of a rookery is one of the classic sounds of the UK countryside, especially in farming areas, where rooks are in their element, probing the pastures and ploughed fields with long pickaxe bills.


FRI 06:00 Today (m000fx1h)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000fx1k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Guest House for Young Widows (m000fx3j)
Fall Out

Azadeh Moaveni's acclaimed, considered and complex account about a cast of young women who made the shocking decision to join ISIS. Today, their choices exact a high price, and there are also unsettling consequences.

Journalist, writer and academic Azadeh Moaveni has covered the Middle East for almost two decades. She is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. Together with the Nobel Peace Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, she wrote Iran Awakening. Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS is her latest book and was shortlisted for the Baille Gifford Prize for non-fiction.

Nadia Albina reads.
Abridged by Penny Leicester
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000fx1p)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


FRI 10:45 The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (m000fx1r)
The Leopard

Episode 5

By Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun and read by Alex Jennings.

'The Leopard' draws us into world of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina. It is set in Sicily, during the Risorgimento; the unification of Italy. An irresistible giant of a man whose hands are like paws and who makes the ground tremble when he rises to his feet, the Prince is clear-eyed, intelligent and languid, aptly represented by the leopard on his coat of arms.

Don Fabrizio is about the business of preserving what remains of his family’s feudal power in a period of political turmoil. He realises their best hope lies in his charming and resourceful nephew, Tancredi, who knows that "everything must change so that everything can stay the same".

The Leopard is a masterpiece of European political fiction: beguiling, beautiful and subtle, evoking a centuries-old way of life on the cusp of change.

Episode 5: Concetta loves Tancredi, but her father, Don Fabrizio knows that Tancredi needs a wife with money.

Reader...Alex Jennings
Abridged by Sara Davies
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery


FRI 11:00 Forum Internum (m000fx1t)
Neuromania

What is freedom of thought and why might it need protecting in the digital age? It’s one of our foundational human rights, but the right to freedom of thought has never really been invoked in the courts as it was never believed vulnerable to attack – until now.

This three part explores the need to safeguard what lawyers are calling the forum internum (our own private, mental space) from the incursions of social media technology, new kinds of surveillance and manipulation through data-mining, advances in AI and neuroscience, the arrival of neurolaw and fMRI imaging in the courts, and the very real possibility of thought-crime.

Philosopher James Garvey takes up the thread in this second episode, looking at the rise of neuroscience and its influence across the culture, from sport and mental health to neuroarchitecture, neurolaw, and concerns about the growing practice of neuropolitics and the manipulation of whole populations.

Helena Kennedy QC will resume the argument in part 3, making the case for freedom of thought and asking whether the law can protect the forum internum from the speed and scale of new technologies and their misuse by corporations and the state. Are we entering a digital dark age for freedom of thought or will we create new spaces for it to flourish?

Series contributors include: authors Shoshana Zuboff and Peter Pomerantsev; psychoanalyst Adam Phillips; neuro-philosopher Patricia Churchland; human rights lawyers Susie Alegre and Philippe Sands; ethical advisor to Google Luciano Floridi; neuroscientists Mark Stokes and Tali Sharot, director of the Affective Brain Lab; Larry Farwell, the inventor of Brain Fingerprinting; digital philosopher Mark Andrejevic; Darren Schreiber, advisor on neuro-politics; legal scholar Gabriel Mendlow, the journalist Carole Cadwalladr; authors Dorian Lynskey and James Bridle and B.Troven, activist with the network CrimethInc.

Presenters: Helena Kennedy QC (parts 1 and 3) and James Garvey (part 2)
Producer: Simon Hollis

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 11:30 Teatime (m000fx1w)
Episode 3

Comedy by Katherine Jakeways about a chaotic but loving family. Starring Philip Glenister, Samantha Spiro, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Katie Redford and Steven Brandon.

In an attempt to prove to Donna - and to himself - that he’s got his life back on track, Joe (Glenister) starts a new business venture, working from home as a Wellness Coach. Two problems: one, he knows nothing about wellness. And two, the home he’s decided to work from is Vicky and Rav’s. Despite their misgivings, Vicky and Rav (Edwards and Puwanarajah), Donna (Spiro) and the rest of the family can’t help but be sucked in by Joe’s enthusiasm.

Meanwhile Lisa (Redford) is suffering from an acute bout of selective deafness, and Uncle Bob (Brandon) makes a spirited attempt at the world record for number of marshmallows in mouth. 44 to beat.

Teatime was produced by Sam Ward, and is a BBC Studios production.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000fy12)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fx20)
Episode 10

Colum McCann's epic new novel of friendship, love, loss, and belonging.

Bassam and Rami inhabit a world of conflict that colours every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after ten-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and thirteen-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognise the loss that connects them and attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

In Apeirogon - named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides – Colum McCann creates an epic novel inspired by the real experiences of Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan who, after each losing a child, came together to promote peace.

Writer
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages.

Music
Original music composed and performed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, inspired by his and the authors time in the West Bank with the non-profit global exchange group Narrative 4.

Reader: Stanley Townsend
Writer: Colum McCann
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Producer: Michael Shannon


FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000fx22)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


FRI 12:57 Weather (m000fx24)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m000fx26)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


FRI 13:45 The Californian Century (m000fx28)
Governor Jerry Brown

Stanley Tucci tells the story of Jerry Brown, California's longest serving governor.

Brown is a singular figure in Californian politics, having presided over California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019.

In a wide-ranging interview, Brown shares his thoughts on California's past and future.

A great source of inspiration is his great grandfather, who came over in the Gold Rush.

But Jerry Brown believes after a century of growth, California must now learn to embrace limits.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000fw1x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (m000fx2b)
A Fair Shot

Millionaire business-woman Maria Wild launches a new brand of centrist politics promising a fairer shot for voters and minority parties and is met with a curiously mixed response.

Maria is a celebrity entrepreneur, television personality and UN Goodwill Ambassador. For most of her life she has been the force behind a successful beauty brand that combines social enterprise and impressive profits. In recent years she has become a popular figure on television, heading up the judging panel on a hit TV show about entrepreneurship. She's the sort of person people want to see in politics — but who never survives for long. Recently appointed as leader of a fledgling centrist party in the UK, she has the perfect opportunity to set out her stall with a game-changing speech at the United Nations. But is she the real deal? Or a false dawn?

Tamara Travis is Maria’s new speechwriter. A former lobby journalist and Parliamentary adviser, she’s a rising star in the world of political speech writing. Tamara believes it's her life’s work to make Maria Wild into a figure who can galvanise the political system and re-invigorate the centre. The only difficulty is that Maria is - in Tamara’s eyes — more right-wing and old-fashioned than she seems.

This is an intense, entertaining and ambitious two-hander about a woman who might have been coming to the end of her career but recognises that she has a potential extraordinary second act in her grasp. The trouble is, she is horrified by some of the compromises she is being asked to make. The tensions between the two reach breaking point as they struggle to find a common language they can agree on for this speech — and events from the outside world keep encroaching on their agenda.

As the day of the speech approaches, they attempt to outwit each other and second-guess the demands of the moment. And then we hear the speech itself. Which changes everything.

Cast:
Maria ……………………..………………………………………. Barbara Flynn
Tamara ………………………………………………………… Viv Groskop
Nicola …………………………………………………………….. Jane Slavin
James ……..……………...……………………………………….. Gerrard McArthur

Written by Viv Groskop
Produced and directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000fx2d)
Spring Archive Edition

Peter Gibbs looks through the GQT archive for a spring edition of the show.

Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000fx2g)
All the Fire by Jacob Ross

Lilly is a new mother with a beautiful baby and burning soul - she just has to find it again. An original short story for Radio 4 about new life and a flame that won't go out.

Jacob Ross is a novelist, short story writer and creative writing tutor. He is also Associate Fiction Editor at Peepal Tree Press, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and winner of the inaugural 2017 Jhalak Prize for his second novel The Bone Readers. His latest, Black Rain Falling, is published in March 2020.

Writer: Jacob Ross
Reader: Jade Anouka
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000fx2j)
Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently.


FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000fx2l)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience.


FRI 16:55 The Listening Project (m000fx2n)
Sheila and Katy - My sister is buried in my grave

Mother and daughter leaving nothing unsaid in a joyful exchange about living and dying. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.


FRI 17:00 PM (m000fx2q)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000fx2v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The Now Show (m000fx2x)
Series 56

Episode 1

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

The Now Show team return with their unique take on the week's events. With special guests Lucy Porter, Darren Harriott and Rachel Parris.

Written by the cast, with additional material from Laura Major, Liam Bierne, Helena Langdon and Charlie Dinkin

Producer: Adnan Ahmed

A BBC Studios Production


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m000fx30)
Writer, Caroline Harrington
Director, Julie Beckett
Editor, Jeremy Howe

David Archer ….. Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ….. Felicity Finch
Pip Archer ….. Daisy Badger
Ben Archer ….. Ben Norris
Jolene Archer ….. Buffy Davis
Tony Archer ….. David Troughton
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Lilian Bellamy ….. Sunny Ormonde
Emma Grundy ….. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Ed Grundy ….. Barry Farrimond
Shula Hebden Lloyd ….. Judy Bennett
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Freddie Pargetter ….. Toby Laurence
Johnny Phillips ….. Tom Gibbons
Robert Snell ….. Graham Blockey
Lynda Snell ….. Carole Boyd
Oliver Sterling ….. Michael Cochrane
Roy Tucker ….. Ian Pepperell
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Gavin ….. Gareth Pierce


FRI 19:15 Front Row (m000fx32)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


FRI 19:45 The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber (b04kfgcr)
Episode 5

Joe Armstrong, Hayley Atwell and Dougray Scott star in this adaptation of the astonishing novel by Michel Faber (Under the Skin, Crimson Petal and the White).

Set in the near future, it tells the story of Peter, devoted husband and devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Beatrice. Peter has travelled to a far distant planet, called Oasis, where an enigmatic corporation called USIC have a base. He has been employed as Christian missionary to the native inhabitants - a gentle, peaceable community, who have welcomed Peter to their settlement and are eager to hear the teachings of the Bible, a book they call 'The Book of Strange New Things'.

In today's episode, Peter is called to preside over a funeral service of one of his colleagues on the USIC base. And for Bea, back on Earth, life grows increasingly complicated.

Adapted for radio by Miranda Emmerson.

CAST
Narrator.....Dougray Scott
Peter.....Joe Armstrong
Beatrice.....Hayley Atwell
Grainger.....Kelly Burke
Oasan/ Tuska.....Mark Edel-Hunt
Jesus Lover Number One/ Severin.....Michael Bertenshaw
Jesus Lover Number Five/ BG.....Damian Lynch
Jesus Lover Number Four.....David Acton
USIC Psychologist.....Jane Slavin
USIC Doctor.....Elaine Claxton
Other parts played by members of the company

Directed by Emma Harding.


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000fx34)
James Kirkup, Laura Parker, Theresa Villiers

Chris Mason presents political debate from the College of Richard Collyer in Horsham, West Sussex, with a panel including the head of the Social Market Foundation think tank James Kirkup and the national coordinator of Momentum Laura Parker and the Conservative MP Theresa Villiers.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000fx36)
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.


FRI 21:00 The Californian Century (m000fx38)
Omnibus 2/2. 1945 - 2020

Stanley Tucci tells the dramatic story of modern California from Hollywood to Silicon Valley.

California wants to dazzle you with its endless sunshine and visions of the future – but that’s just a mirage. Stanley Tucci plays a hard-boiled screenwriter uncovering the full, sordid truth. He knows exactly where all the bodies are buried.

His screenplays tell the stories of ten women and men who built California. It's a high risk, high reward state. A place where, if you make it, you're on top of the world. But if you don't, there's a long, long way to fall.

In this omnibus, the genius who first brought silicon to Silicon Valley, right before he became a passionate eugenicist - Silicon Valley's dirty little secret. Also - stories of the Black Panther Party, trailblazing politician Dianne Feinstein, gangster rapper Ice-T and California's longest serving governor Jerry Brown.

Stanley Tucci tells the real story of California, a story littered with dead bodies, disasters and duplicity.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000fx3b)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 Apeirogon, by Colum McCann (m000fx20)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


FRI 23:00 A Good Read (m000fvvr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000g9pg)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament.


FRI 23:55 The Listening Project (m000fx3d)
Kate and Stewart - My telegram from King Charles

Student and teacher, both in their 80s, on terminal illness and the joys of Tai Chi. Fi Glover presents another conversation in a series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.