SATURDAY 23 MAY 2020

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000j9l8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 The See-Through House (m000j9lb)
Leaving

Shelley Klein's book reflects on her father, the acclaimed textile designer Bernat Klein and the modernist house he commissioned in the 1950s. Today, Shelley considers his creative legacy.

High Sunderland, in the Scottish Borders, is the modernist house commissioned by the textile designer Bernat Klein and, together with his wife Peggy, is where he raised his daughter Shelley and her brother and sister. Bernat Klein made a major contribution to 1960s and 70s style, with the major fashion houses, such as Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, using his fabrics. Over time, Shelley's father and the house he commissioned from the architect Peter Womersley became inseparable. In her book The See-Through House, Shelley Klein reflects on her return home to look after her father, who was then in his eighties, and considers the influences behind his creative output and her relationship with him.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j9ld)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j9lg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j9lj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j9ln)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany.


SAT 05:45 Legacy of War (m000j94c)
Episode 2

Sean Bean presents a series exploring the ways in which wartime experiences have filtered down through the generations. This is a powerful story of opportunity and sacrifice during the Second World War leaving a legacy of dedication and love.

Betty Pachl's father, Barclay Patoir came to the UK in 1943 from British Guyana in South America, now known as Guyana. After so many lives had been lost at Dunkirk there was a shortage of engineers and Barclay answered an advert posted by the British Government in The West Indies Times saying "Your Mother Country Needs You'.

When Barclay arrived in Liverpool he was sent to install engines into Halifax bombers at the Avro factory in Speke. It was there that he met Trudy. Their love survived; painful sacrifices, war and prejudice.

Max and Betty discuss the legacy of their union and Barclay's determination to use the opportunity the Second World War gave him to make the best life he could for Trudy and their family. The family motto that if you start something you see it through to the end, endures to this day. Max is now a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and
very proud of Barclay. He also acknowledges the sacrifices Barclay made; never again reuniting with his mother or sisters.

It is with great sadness that shortly after recording with Betty and Max both Barclay and Trudy passed away within hours of each other. Their family wanted this episode to broadcast in memory of their love, life and legacy.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000jg07)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m000j8rd)
Joyful Highlights Part 2: Health and Happiness

In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks. This week she explores the theme of Health and Happiness to discover how walking can provide a real boost to both our physical and mental health.

The featured programmes include The Diamond Ramblers, a group who discuss their achievements with weight loss; the positive and uplifting Forget Me Not dementia group; and Dr. Kate Harding who persuades Clare to walk in silence, always a challenge, however this was an encounter that proved very meaningful for Clare and it's a walk she's never forgotten.

Please scroll down to the 'Related Links' box to access the full programmes included in this edition. Many, many more are available on BBC Sounds.

Walking for Spiritual Renewal
Mental Health Walking Group
Black Men's Walking for Health Group (now Walk4Health)
The Diamond Ramblers
Up to the Labyrinth on St. Catherine's Hill
'Forget Me Not' Dementia Group

Producer: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000jg09)
Farming Today This Week

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000jg0c)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000jg0f)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000jg0h)
Kirstie Allsopp and Paul O'Grady

Richard Coles and Shaun Keaveny are joined by Kirstie Allsopp - she has been in our living rooms, stepping into other people’s living rooms, and generally exploring their houses, for 20 years via TV's Location, Location, Location. She’s also embraced the nation’s obsession with crafts with programmes such as Kirstie's Homemade Home, Kirstie's Homemade Christmas, and most recently Keep Crafting and Carry on. She joins us.
We also have Paul O’Grady, first known to us as Lily Savage, comedian from Birkenhead, dog lover, small holding owner, national treasure.
and Esther Safran Foer, the daughter of a holocaust survivor who returned to Ukraine to meet the family who saved her father's life.
and Kelly Smith, MBE, who holds the record for being the top scorer for England women with 46 goals in 117 appearances. She fought against prejudice but went on to play for England, Arsenal and in the US and since her retirement in 2017, has been a commentator and pundit on both the women’s and men’s games.
There are the Inheritance tracks of Radio 4 favourite John Humphries - he chooses Mary's Boy Child performed by Harry Belafonte and Take the A Train performed by Duke Ellington, and your "thank you"!

Producer: Corinna Jones
Editor: Eleanor Garland


SAT 10:30 Rewinder (m000jg0k)
Johnners, Hot Tubs and the A to Z of Veg

Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and self-confessed 'proud radio nerd', rummages through the BBC's vast archives of audio, video and documents, using current stories and listener suggestions as a springboard into the vaults.

The cancellation of reality dating show Love Island prompts Greg to rediscover a BBC equivalent - Living in the Past from 1978 in which six couples and three children lived in an Iron Age settlement for a year, equipped only with the tools, crops and livestock that would have been available in Britain in c 200 BC. With mud everywhere, rats on the menu and cramped living conditions, it's no surprise that emotions occasionally ran high.

In Mental Health Awareness Week Greg looks at how the BBC reported on mental illness in the days when it was very much a taboo subject for open discussion. He watches The Hurt Mind, a groundbreaking series from 1957 in which reporter Christopher Mayhew went behind the closed doors of a hospital and spoke to its staff and patients. The programme, which was highly praised at the time, shows how enlightened staff and a culture of openness about mental health, addressed some of the hidden issues faced by a post war generation. Greg also finds an astonishing interview with the singer and songwriter Ian Dury from 1981 in which the Blockheads frontman talks about his experience of depression.

Like many people Greg has found solace in his garden during the pandemic and, taking his microphone outdoors, he listens to birdsong and looks back at some of the BBC's early gardening programmes. Before Alan Titchmarsh there was CH Middleton - known to his audience as Mr Middleton - whose radio programme In Your Garden attracted an audience of millions. Mr Middleton's vegetable alphabet was a regular slot on his programme - something Greg thinks might appeal to listeners today. Writer Vita Sackville-West was also a regular gardening broadcaster and Greg finds a delightful talk she presented on the Home Service in 1950. Called Walking Through Leaves, it's a meditation on life's small pleasures which she and her family rank in terms of their 'Through Leaveness'.

A listener sets Greg on the hunt for archive featuring Eric Idle and, to his joy, the search leads him to find one of his favourite combinations - Test Match Special and a Python. Eric is conversation with the legendary cricket commentator and guffawer Brian Johnston and they discuss Eric's cricket musical Behind the Crease. Let's just say much laughter ensues.

Producer: Paula McGinley


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000jg0m)
Anushka Asthana of the Guardian presents Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster. She looks at the ramifications of the covid-19 pandemic for the residents of care homes, the level of carbon emissions and action to tackle homelessness. And she talks to Labour 's former deputy leader Tom Watson about his mission to improve the underlying health of the nation.

Producer: Leala Padmanabhan


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000jg0p)
Covid-19 surges in Brazil

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 has surged in Brazil. And yet there are many Brazilians who fail to observe social distancing or to wear masks. Some people blame President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the crisis. He has criticised state governors for imposing quarantines. And as Katy Watson reports from Sao Paulo, the pandemic is turning into a political issue as much as a health one.
It's been Ramadan in the Muslim world, and this year mosques around the world have been shut under lockdown. Not so in Pakistan, where, as Secunder Kermani has found, the politicians chose not to oppose the clerics who wanted to keep them open for prayer. Policemen stood by powerlessly as the faithful flocked in.
Fancy returning to the theatre or ballet? You're not alone. Performers too, have been longing to get back to the stage. That's not possible yet, but in Germany they can now rehearse in studios again rather than their kitchens. Jenny Hill went to watch the Dortmund ballet dust off their tutus and stretch their muscly limbs again.
In Lebanon and Syria, it's the season when the jasmine blossoms. The sweet smell is even more powerful this year, as it doesn't need to compete with traffic pollution as much, thanks to lockdown. The jasmine's scent also evokes memories of the past, for some, says Lizzie Porter in Beirut.
In Belgium, lockdown has been eased. Many shops have reopened, as have schools, at least in part. Even hairdressers are welcoming customers again. Our correspondent Kevin Connolly has made a tentative return to consumerism - you won't believe what his first purchase was.
Presenter: Kate Adie
Producer: Arlene Gregorius


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000jg0r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000jfpx)
Festival goers refund woes

Festival goers are trying to get their money back from the organisers of Afro Nation but are being told that Portuguese law means they’re not entitled to a refund – what can they do? Lenders are cutting credit card limits and that could affect your credit rating……but not in the way you might think. Former pensions minister Steve Webb tells us that tens of thousands of older married women pensioners are being paid up to £80 a week too little - how do you go about seeing if you're missing out and how can you claim if you are? Mortgage repayment holidays have helped ease the finances of millions of struggling home owners during coronavirus but how much will the delay in paying cost in the long run?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Producer: Ben Carter
Reporters: Felicity Hannah and Kafui Okpattah
Editor: Emma Rippon


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000j9kt)
Series 102

Episode 6

Angela Barnes hosts series 102, leading a panel of regular News Quiz comics and journalists in rounding up the news stories of the week. Joining Angela this week is Helen Lewis, Darren Harriott, Daniel Finkelstein and Jess Fostekew.

Produced by Suzy Grant

A BBC Studios Audio Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000jg0t)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m000jg0w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000j9ky)
Mary Bousted, Jim McMahon MP, Baroness Morgan, Gavin St Pier

Chris Mason presents political debate from London Broadcasting House with Mary Bousted the joint General-Secretary of The National Education Union, Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon MP , Conservative Peer Baroness Morgan and Gavin St Pier the Chief Minister of Guernsey.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000jg0y)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 15:00 Saturday Drama (b04pr06y)
The Havana Quartet, by Leonardo Padura

Havana Gold

by Leonardo Padura
dramatised by Joy Wilkinson

Lieutenant Conde goes on a trip through his childhood Havana haunts when a young female schoolteacher at his old school is murdered. And could it be that Conde has finally met the woman of his dreams? Dramatisation of the second novel in the Havana Quartet series.

Cast:
Mario Conde ..... Zubin Varla
Rangel ..... David Westhead
Manolo ..... Lanre Malaolu
Josefina ..... Lorna Gayle
Skinny ..... Ben Crowe
Karina ..... Tanya Franks
Caridad ..... Elaine Claxton
Andres ..... Ian Conningham
Dagmar ..... Jane Slavin
Pedro/ Rabbit ..... Monty d'Inverno
Lando ..... Sam Dale
Lazaro ..... Shaun Mason
Red ..... Jude Akuwudike
Jose Luis ..... Paul Heath
Headteacher ..... Michael Bertenshaw

directed by Mary Peate

Leonardo Padura's series, published in English as the Havana Quartet, is set over the course of 1989.

Leonardo Padura is a novelist and journalist who was born in 1955 in Havana where he still lives. He has published a number of short-story collections and literary essays but he is best known internationally for the Havana Quartet series, all featuring Inspector Mario Conde.

In 1998, Padura won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers and in; 2012, he was awarded the National Prize for Literature, Cuba's national literary award.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000jg10)
Laura Wright, Extended Maternity Leave, Baroness Doreen Lawrence

The soprano Laura Wright tells us about her new single released with The Choir of Royal Holloway, University of London to mark Mental Health Awareness week.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence discusses why the Labour Party are conducting its own enquiry into why people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are more than four times more likely to die as a result of Covid-19 than their white counterparts.

Two twenty-somethingsJackie Adedeji and Erin Bradshaw tell us how life has changed for them since the pandemic began.

The author Glennon Doyle tells us about her book untamed which explains why we should all listen to and trust the voice deep inside us.

Should maternity leave be extended because of the lockdown? The parents of a 6 month old have had more than 200 thousand signatures to a petition asking the government to extend it by three months. We hear from James one of the parents who started the petition and from Cheryl Adams the Executive director of the Institute of Health Visiting on the difficulties faced by new parents at this time.

Professor Marion Turner an expert on medieval England tells us why The Plague led to increased wages, greater employment, more migration to towns and, ultimately, to greater independence for women.

What makes someone want to go to see the same musical at the theatre time and time again? We hear from documentary maker Mark Dooley about his film, Repeat Attenders – which follows some of musical theatre’s superfans – including Gudrun Mangel a huge fan of Starlight Express.

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
Editor: Lucinda Montefiore


SAT 17:00 PM (m000jg12)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000h7cc)
Nick Robinson gets beneath the surface in a personal and political interview


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000jg14)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000jg16)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jg18)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000jfyg)
Sally Phillips, Felicity Cloake, Babou Ceesay, Steve Earle, Rioghnach Connolly and Ellis Davies, Nikki Bedi, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Nikki Bedi are joined by Sally Phillips, Felicity Cloake and Babou Ceesay for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Steve Earle and Rioghnach Connolly and Ellis Davies.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000jfpf)
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Mark Coles profiles Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was the first African to be elected Director-General of the World Health Organisation. Three years on, he finds himself at the centre of a political storm. Some say he has been too soft on China - where the coronavirus began. Others accuse the WHO of being too slow to declare a global public health emergency and US President, Donald Trump, has threatened to withdraw funding. Now one of the most recognisable faces in the world due to the pandemic yet little is known about Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Producer: Jim Frank
Researcher: Vivien Jones
Editor: Penny Murphy


SAT 19:15 The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed (p089r5lz)
Jackie Kay

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, he scratches away at his reworking of the comic medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale.

Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, music, art, sheds, sherry, owls, nightingales and to throw light on some of the poem's internal themes. Jackie Kay who first shared a stage with Simon 30 years ago on The New Generation poetry tour reminisces about those first readings as well a sharing their current experiences of holding the highest positions in poetry - Jackie as the Scottish Macca and Simon as the Poet Laureate. The conversation ranges far and wide as these two friends look back on their writing lives.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000jg1d)
So Bad It's Good?

Steve Punt shares the joy of the films, songs and books that are so bad they're good, with guests Grace Dent, Robin Ince and Laura Snapes.

Steve and panellists analyse why bad culture can be so enjoyable. Among their delights, the films of Michael Winner, the songs of Rick Astley and the poetry of Danielle Steele.

Producer: Laurence Grissell


SAT 21:00 Pilgrim, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (b03kv26x)
Series 5

Parsons Mount

By Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Episode 4: Parsons Mount

Pilgrim's quest for the Radiant Boy froces him to travel to the one place he has been forbidden to go

William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Hecht ..... James Fleet
Millie ..... Amaka Okafor
Chloe ..... Lizzy Watts
Carlton ..... John Norton
Stringer ..... Joel MacCormack
Sound ..... Colin Guthrie

Directed by Marc Beeby


SAT 21:45 Rabbit Redux (b09h3rck)
Episode 7

John Updike's masterful Rabbit quintet established Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom as the quintessential American White middle class male. The first book Rabbit, Run was published in 1960 to critical acclaim. Rabbit Redux is the second in the series, published in 1971 and charting the end of the sixties - featuring, among other things, the first American moon landing and the Vietnam War.

Despite its very strong language, sex, and reflection of racist attitudes of the time, Time Magazine said of the book and its author, "Updike owns a rare verbal genius, a gifted intelligence and a sense of tragedy made bearable by wit. A masterpiece."

It's extraordinary how many of its themes reverberate down to the present day.

Abridged by Eileen Horne
Read by Toby Jones
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 22:00 News (m000jg1g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 Grounded with Louis Theroux (m000j95g)
3. Helena Bonham Carter

Louis is using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he’s been longing to talk to – a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.

In this episode, he speaks to actor Helena Bonham Carter, who is in lockdown in London. They discuss going to the same school, handling criticism and working with your significant other.


SAT 23:00 My Generation (m000j79b)
Programme 1, 2020

Stuart Maconie's My Generation quiz focuses on the events and culture of different decades within living memory. Three contestants of varying ages each answer questions on their own particular chosen decade - which could be the one they grew up in, or one they know plenty about for some other reason. They then also have to answer questions on a randomly chosen decade, perhaps further from their comfort zone. Stuart hopes to find out just how much the generations know about one another's heroes, heroines and heritage.

There'll be plenty of news clips, TV themes, extracts from pop songs and familiar voices from different decades. The questions cover popular culture, sport, politics and world events, technological innovations and social history. Whatever your age, you may find yourself surprised at some of the things you know that the contestants don't.

You can apply to take part yourself by emailing mygeneration@bbc.co.uk

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m000j7qp)
Series 6

Helen of Troy

Natalie Haynes tells stories of the most beautiful woman in the world, who hatched from an egg and was the daughter of Zeus: Helen of Troy. Men fought over her from an early age, but was she really to blame for all those wars on epic scale?

Helen's face may have launched a thousand ships but it didn't make her happy: being kidnapped repeatedly does not make for contented relationships. How have her life and beauty been exploited by writers and artists across the centuries, to justify their own world-views?

In this locked down, more intimate version of her show, Natalie offers escape to a different realm: the mythological. As fresh and funny as ever, Natalie brings us new insights into feathery sex as well as gossipy erudition from a couple of thousand years of culture, with the help of Professor Edith Hall.



SUNDAY 24 MAY 2020

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000jg1j)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 The Way I See It (m0009d6q)
Steven Pinker and Picasso

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.

Today's edition features Harvard professor Steven Pinker. As an experimental psychologist, Steven has written extensively about violence - and for his choice from the gallery's collection he has selected two of Pablo Picasso’s most gruesome depictions of man's inhumanity, Charnel House and Guernica, now housed in Madrid.

Producer: Tom Alban

"The Way I See It" is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Main Image: Pablo Picasso, The Charnel House, 1944-45. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 6' 6 5/8" x 8' 2 1/2" (199.8 x 250.1 cm). Mrs. Sam A. Lewisohn Bequest (by exchange), and Mrs. Marya Bernard Fund in memory of her husband Dr. Bernard Bernard, and anonymous funds, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 93.1971. © 2019 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000j9kk)
Senior Moment, by Peter Bradshaw

Ivor finds himself in a lavatory he knows not where, or why, apart from the obvious.
Increasingly anxious to remember not only his middle name, which is, he insists, on the tip of his tongue, he is also agitated about not recognising a series of people who address him in a friendly and familiar manner. And then there's this grand house and its elegant lawns, and that woman, dressed in white, who's the spit of his late wife. What IS going on?
Senior Moment takes a playful and poignant look at the vulnerabilities of middle age and the fear we all have of the ravages that getting older can bring with it.

Senior Moment was written by Peter Bradshaw
Read by Michael Maloney
Produced by Karen Holden


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jg1l)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jg1n)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000jg1q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000jfq5)
St Mary’s Church, Bentley in Hampshire.

Currently there is no ringing taking place across UK towers, a situation not encountered since the Second World War. This morning’s recording comes from St Mary’s Church, Bentley in Hampshire. The tower contains a peal of six bells. Two were cast by Samuel Knight in 1703 and four lighter bells were cast by Gillet and Johnson of Croydon in 1912. The Tenor weighs twelve and three quarter hundredweight and is tuned to E. We hear them ringing Double Oxford Bob Minor.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m000jfpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News (m000jfn4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b0bfx4v0)
The End of the Beginning

After being present at the death of a friend, journalist Abdul-Rehman Malik has been thinking about what - if anything - comes next. In many faith traditions, death is just the end of the beginning and is the doorway to the eternal. It is the soul that carries us forward.

From the visions of an itinerant Baptist preacher and the reflections of James Baldwin, Abdul-Rehman looks to the urgency of understanding something of the mystery of death while we are alive. The world's most enduring mythologies and beliefs describe a supernatural drama and kind of unseen theatre. Whether it's Virgil writing about crossing the River Styx, or the Prophet Muhammad explaining how the angels surround the soul after death, Abdul-Rehman takes us into this grey area between life and life everlasting.

Richard Thompson captures the comedy of what purgatory might look like, and theologian Dave Tomlinson offers a reinterpretation of the Christian narrative which has resonance with some enigmatic words from Einstein.

Abdul-Rehman seeks solace in the belief that his friend's soul is somewhere full of "life", dancing with the angels nourished by a truer reality. His eternity is just beginning.

Presenter: Abdul-Rehman Malik
Producer: Jonathan Mayo
A TBI production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000jfn6)
Creative in a Crisis

Farmers are well used to getting creative in a crisis. Caz Graham checks in on some of our favourite farmers and growers to see how they're responding to the lockdown.

Selina Cairns from Errington Cheese in Lanarkshire explains how most of their raw sheep and goats’ milk cheese is usually sold to specialist cheesemongers and restaurateurs. With the hospitality industry on hold and gallons of spring milk to use, they’ve set up an online shop to sell direct to the public.

But there are no quick fix solutions for farmers who’ve diversified into tourism as we hear from Duncan McConchie. His family have farmed on the Galloway coast near Gatehouse of Fleet for more than a hundred years, they welcomed some of Scotland’s first campers and caravaners to enjoy the views from their beach back before the Second World War. Movement restrictions means the campsite, their luxury lodges, large wedding venue and outdoor activity centre are all closed.

Meanwhile, just south of Kendal, it’s all change at Growing Well, a mental health charity and training centre based on an organic vegetable farm. Most of the cultivation is done by people living with and recovering from poor mental health but coronavirus restrictions mean they’re not able to attend. So who will do all the planting and harvesting to ensure the farm and charity have a viable future?


SUN 06:57 Weather (m000jfn8)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000jfnb)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000jfnd)
80th Anniversary of Dunkirk; Forgiveness and Will Hajj Happen?

Dom Gervase Hobson-Matthews was a monk who trained and taught at the Benedictine run Downside Abbey. During WW2 he served as a chaplain to the 1st Artillery Division. He kept a diary that chronicled his experience helping troops to withdraw from the beaches of Dunkirk where he was killed in June 1940. Days before his death, he rejected an opportunity to return home. To mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Dunkirk the Abbey’s Director of Heritage Dr Simon Johnson tells us about Dom Gervase’s courage and martyrdom through archive and extracts from Dom Gervase’s diary.

The screenwriter and novelist Frank Cottrell-Boyce has written a new book for a bible study series called “How the Bible Can Help Us Understand Forgiveness”. He discusses the subject with Marina Cantacuzino, founder of the Forgiveness Project, which collates powerful stories of forgiveness from around the world.

The Saudi authorities have yet to officially cancel this year’s Hajj. Whilst the Muslim world has been celebrating Ramadan, they have not had to make this difficult decision but after Eid everyone will be asking if the Great Mosque in Mecca can re-open at the end of July for the most important pilgrimage in Islam. Emily discusses the problem with Dr Carool Kersten, Reader in the Study of Islam & the Muslim World at King’s College London.

Producers
Carmel Lonergan
Catherine Earlam

Editor
Christine Morgan


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000jfng)
Womankind Worldwide

Actor Nikki Amuka-Bird makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Womankind Worldwide.

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 ‘Womankind Worldwide’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Womankind Worldwide’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4

Registered Charity Number: 2404121

Main image credit: Pip


SUN 07:57 Weather (m000jfnj)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000jfnl)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000jfnn)
Living well while waiting

Catherine Fox and the Bishop of Sheffield Pete Wilcox reflect on living well during this time of waiting. For people yearning for things to be 'normal' again it seems like there'll be a long time to wait. Many people's plans for the summer, including weddings and ordinations have been cancelled, so what can we do to stay positive in this period of continued hoping and uncertainty? The Miraculous Catch of Fish (John 21:1-7) leads them to suggest that old plans and hopes can be transformed by Jesus. After Jesus' resurrection the disciples had gone back to what they knew, fishing, but they didn't catch anything, until the risen Lord appeared and they caught more fish than they could cope with. Producer: Miriam Williamson

Music:
Before the throne of God - Lou Fellingham
Be Thou My Vision - Wallingford Parish Choir
I was Glad - Choir Of King's College, Cambridge
There is a Balm in Gilead - Paul Robeson
We Are Waiting - All Sons & Daughters
King of Glory (instrumental) - Rivers & Robots
Hallelujah Anyhow - Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000j9l0)
In Praise of Cleaning

"Others may thrill to the serendipity of bacon-and-eggs," writes Will Self, "but it's the determinism of dustpan-and-brush that I exalt".
Dusting, wiping, vacuuming and sweeping in lockdown, Will ponders the Great British Wipe-Up.

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b09013nj)
Frank Gardner on the Great Northern Diver

In the first of five Tweet of the Days this week, the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner recalls listening to great northern divers on television programme by Ludwig Koch, as a boy.

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

Producer: Tom Bonnett.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000jfnq)
News with Paddy O'Connell including how performance venues can operate post lockdown. We hear how Kathmandu looks now the pollution has cleared and Sima Kotecha gets closer to her mother by cooking the recipes from her childhood. Reviewing the Sunday news coverage - broadcaster Janet Ellis, columnist Sathnam Sanghera and DJ Edward Adoo.


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000jfns)
The Ambridge Calendar

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the third week when we take a look at five different occasions that mark unmissable dates in The Ambridge Calendar.

The omnibus features:

Brian and Siobhan take to the floor for The New Year’s Eve Ball at Lower Loxley; originally broadcast on Monday 31st December 2001

Skulduggery at The Flower & Produce Show; originally broadcast on Sunday 7th September 2008

A hit and run on the night of The Hunt Ball at Grey Gables; originally broadcast on Sunday 29th October 2017

Peggy reaches breaking point on Bonfire night; originally broadcast on Wednesday 5th of November 2008.

At The Annual Christmas Lights Switch on, bitterness, betrayal and romance collide on the village green; originally broadcast on Friday 5th December 2014

David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Phil Archer ..... Norman Painting
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Will Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Emma Grundy ..... Felicity Jones
Tim Hathaway ..... Jay Villiers
Siobhan Donovan ..... Caroline Lennon
Nigel Pargetter ..... Graham Seed
Elizabeth Pargetter..... Alison Dowling
Clarrie Grundy ..... Rosalind Adams
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Alice Aldridge ..... Hollie Chapman
Justin Elliott ..... Simon Williams
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Matt Crawford ..... Kim Durham
Nic Grundy ..... Becky Wright
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Kenton Archer ..... Richard Atlee
Peggy Woolley ..... June Spencer
Jack Woolley ..... Arnold Peters
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Charlie Thomas ..... Felix Scott
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Ed Grundy ..... Barry Farrimond
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan

Writers, Carole Simpson Solazzo, Caroline Harrington, Gillian Richmond, Mary Cutler
Directors, Marina Caldarone, Julie Beckett


SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000jfnv)
Charles Hazlewood, conductor

Charles Hazlewood is a conductor and the founder of Paraorchestra, the world's first professional ensemble of disabled musicians.

Once described as the Heston Blumenthal of orchestral music, Charles has spent his career challenging Britain’s musical palate, exploding boundaries and expanding our ideas about what an orchestra can be - and do.

His repertoire encompasses Beethoven, Bruckner and Barry White, and his critically-acclaimed projects include more than 100 world premieres and the first orchestral headline performance at Glastonbury. Paraorchestra, the ensemble he established in 2011, reached a global audience at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympics. He also co-founded an opera company in South Africa, and its production of Carmen, with a mainly black cast, won international acclaim.

He studied music at Keble College, Oxford and was the Organ Scholar there. He won the EBU conductor's competition in 1995 and has had an international career as a conductor.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor


SUN 11:45 Encounters with Victoria (m00051pt)
Episode 6: The Dresser

Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, continues her 10 part exploration of Queen Victoria's reign through significant encounters 6: The Dresser- Frieda Arnold 1854

Queen Victoria found her personal staff - the ‘invisible people’ who kept her household running - through recommendations from her German relatives, and this is how Frieda Arnold, from Karlsruhe, entered her service. When Frieda arrived at Windsor Castle in 1854, Victoria would have found her new dresser quiet and efficient, and wouldn’t have suspected that she was sending detailed reports back to Germany revealing exactly what it was like to live at Windsor Castle. Frieda spent years in the closest of daily contact with the Queen whose clothes she cared for, garments including the beautiful dressing gown with mauve bows featured in this episode. The Queen’s wardrobe, sumptuous in quality but un-showy in style, formed a big part of her middle-of-the-road appeal. Women like Frieda, who saw the queen both in and out of her clothes, grew very intimate with her, and became almost her friends.

Readers: Michael Bertenshaw, Sarah Ovens, Sabine Schereck
Producer: Mark Burman


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000jfnx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b03j9m1h)
Series 60

Episode 3

The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by special guest Victoria Wood, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment.

This programme was originally broadcast in November 2013.

Producer - Jon Naismith.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000jfnz)
Last Orders: Does coronavirus spell boom or bust for Britain’s drinks sector?

Alcoholic drinks are not just big business in Britain - they are an essentially social business.

Whether it's hitting your local with colleagues after work, raising a reception toast to newly-weds or selecting a favourite bottle to accompany dinner at a special restaurant, those traditional opportunities to buy and sell alcohol have been all but wiped out under lockdown.

As Jaega Wise discovers, pubs, bars, restaurants and the drinks producers who supply them have been some of the hardest hit by virus control measures.

But at the same time, alcohol sales have soared in recent weeks: retailers have enjoyed a boom in online orders, as have the producers and venues who've been able to adapt and target this new, stay-at-home market.

So what does this mean for the British drinks sector in the longer term - and, once we're allowed to meet mates down the pub again, just how significantly will the UK's social landscape have changed?

Presented by Jaega Wise, produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m000jfp1)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000jfp3)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000jfp5)
Capturing the nation in conversation to build a unique picture of our lives today and preserve it for future generations.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000j9kh)
GQT At Home: Episode Eight

Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural panel show. He is joined from their own homes by James Wong, Anne Swithinbank and Chris Beardshaw.

This week, the panel takes a virtual wander around the Chelsea garden show, and answers questions on Chelsea favourite, Alliums, how to know if a potato is ready to be picked, and perennial suggestions for a sloping bank. The team also discusses memorable Chelsea plants from across the years.

Aside from the questions, Matt Biggs has a potted history of the Chelsea Flower Show and Peter Gibbs chats to RHS Director General, Sue Biggs about this year's show.

Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 The Way I See It (m0009k9s)
Steve Reich on Richard Serra’s Equal

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.

Today's edition features composer, and chief exponent of Minimalism, Steve Reich. As he stands in front of eight steel boxes stacked in pairs, each box weighing forty tons, he reflects on the effect Richard Serra's work, "Equal" has on our sense of space. But does it change the way he thinks about his own work?

Producer: Paul Kobrak

Main Image: Richard Serra, Equal, 2015. Forged weatherproof steel, 8 blocks, each block 60 x 66 x 72" (152.4 x 167.6 x 182.9 cm). Gift of Sidney and Harriet Janis (by exchange), Enid A. Haupt Fund, and Gift of William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. J. Hall (by exchange), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 504.2015.a-d


SUN 15:00 Electric Decade (m000jfp7)
Leave it to Psmith

2. Impostors at Blandings

Impoverished Psmith (Edward Bennett), a guest at Blandings Castle, is smitten by library cataloguist Eve Halliday (Susannah Fielding).

She believes him to be renowned poet Ralston McTodd. But Psmith has been secretly hired by Lord Emsworth’s son Freddie to steal his Aunt’s valuable necklace. Freddie plans to sell the jewels so he can finance himself as a bookie.

But further impostors become involved - Miss Peavey and Eddie Cootes. Lord Emsworth (Martin Jarvis) and butler Beach (Lloyd Owen) get drawn in. Who finally will purloin the necklace?

Cast:
Psmith ..… Edward Bennett
Eve Halliday ..… Susannah Fielding
Freddie ..… George Blagden
Constance ..… Patricia Hodge
Miss Peavey/Liz ..… Lisa Dillon
Baxter ..… Joe Bannister
Lord Emsworth ..… Martin Jarvis
Joe Keeble ..… Nigel Anthony
Beach ..… Lloyd Owen
Detective Simmons ..… Lucy Phelps
Eddie ..… Kieran Hodgson
Other parts: Daisy Hydon, Matthew Wolf, Darren Richardson

Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Directed by Rosalind Ayres and Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000jfp9)
Daniel Mason, Pride and Prejudice, Bob Geldof

Mariella Frostrup talks to psychiatrist-turned-author Daniel Mason about his highly anticipated short story collection, A Registry Of My Passage On Earth.

Continuing Open Book's series of introductions to classic school texts, Sarah Churchwell revisits Pride and Prejudice through the prism of first impressions.

And Bob Geldof makes the case for literary lyrics, with a new book of songs written during his time with the Boomtown Rats and as a solo artist.


SUN 16:30 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m000jfpc)
Series 6

Penthesilea, Amazon Warrior Queen

Natalie Haynes tells of Penthesilea, Amazon warrior queen, in charge of ‘a bunch of golden-shielded, silver-axed, man-loving, boy-killing women,’ with a natty line in ankle boots, and even trousers, a scandalous item of clothing at the time. These fighting women were respected as exceptional warriors and Penthesilea was given a hero's burial when she died in battle.

Unusually for women in antiquity, many Amazon's names are recorded (on vases) and they are excellent: 'She Who Lets the Dogs Out'; 'She Who Is Enthusiastic at Sex'; 'She Who Fights like a Man'. Although Amazons are regarded as mythological figures, there is strong evidence for the existence of nomadic fighting women from burial grounds in the Russian steppes.

In this locked down, more intimate version of her show, Natalie offers escape to a different realm: the mythological. As fresh and funny as ever, Natalie brings us new insights into the original girl gang, as well as gossipy erudition from a couple of thousand years of culture, with the help of Professor Edith Hall.


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000j81c)
Coronavirus: The care homes catastrophe

The awful impact of Covid-19 on the lives of care home residents and staff is now well understood. But many in the industry believe the authorities, both local and national, didn't recognise the threat of the virus on the most vulnerable elderly early enough and didn't react quickly enough to stop it spreading through their homes.
File on 4 hears from those who say opportunities to collect and share information were missed, that vital PPE supplies weren't secured quickly enough and that a policy of discharges of untested patients into care homes was ill thought-out and badly executed. The effect this has had on residential elderly care, they say, isn't just measured in the deaths of those who went too soon, but also in the threat the virus now poses to the survival of the whole private care industry.
With testimony from those at the front line at the very beginning of the crisis, File on 4 examines the fight to keep care home residents safe on the frontline and investigates the circumstances which led to care homes becoming one of the most significant crucibles for the virus.

Editor; Ciaran Tracey
Producers; Rob Cave and Helen Clifton
Reporter; Jane Deith


SUN 17:40 Profile (m000jfpf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000jfph)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m000jfpk)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jfpm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000jfpp)
Nick Baker

The best of BBC Radio this week.


SUN 19:00 15 Minute Drama (b007tyv7)
Q & A, by Vikas Swarup

5,000 Rupees

By Ayeesha Menon, from the novel by Vikas Swarup.

Street kid Ram Mohammad Thomas is a contestant on the hit Indian TV show Who Will Win a Billion. As he ponders over the first question, his thoughts drift back to his childhood in Delhi. A baby abandoned on the steps of a church, Thomas was brought up by a well-meaning priest, until he was abandoned yet again.

Thomas ...... Anand Tiwari
Prem Kumar ...... Sohrab Ardeshir
Father Francis ...... Henry Goodman
Young Thomas ...... Caran Arora
Father John ...... Rajit Kapur

Other parts played by Kenneth Desai, Ashley Cook and Vikrant Chaturvedi.

Directed by John Dryden.


SUN 19:15 Cabin Pressure (b00cdsj8)
Series 1

Boston

Sitcom about the pilots of a tiny charter airline for whom no job is too small, but many, many jobs are too difficult.

A routine flight to Boston is disrupted by a routine fire, a routine lawsuit and a routine corpse.

Carolyn Knapp-Shappey ...... Stephanie Cole
First Officer Douglas Richardson ...... Roger Allam
Capt Martin Crieff ...... Benedict Cumberbatch
Arthur Shappey ...... John Finnemore
ATC Fitton ...... Ewen MacIntosh
Hamilton Leeman ...... Kerry Shale
Paramedic ...... Matilda Ziegler

Written by John Finnemore.


SUN 19:45 Annika Stranded (m000jfpt)
Series 6

Staying and Going

She’s back. Five new cases to challenge the detective wit of Chief Inspector Annika Strandhed, queen of the Oslo Police boat patrol.

After an experiment as a family unit in Oslo, Tor has returned to the Reindeer Police in the north of Norway, leaving Annika and her son to pick up their old routines.

1/5. Staying And Going
Annika investigates a case involving a stone tiger, a flowering plant and an acupuncturist.

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

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

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000j949)
School re-opening, Germany’s Covid success and statistically savvy parrots

Risk expert David Spiegelhalter discusses whether re-opening some schools could be dangerous for children or their teachers. We ask what’s behind Germany’s success in containing the number of deaths from Covid-19. Many governments across the world are borrowing huge sums to prop up their economies during this difficult time, but with everyone in the same boat who are they borrowing from? Plus we revisit the UK’s testing figures yet again and meet some statistically savvy parrots.


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000j9km)
Lord Robert May of Oxford, Dr Judith Darmady OBE, Mark Barkan, Saroj Lal

Pictured: Lord Robert May of Oxford

Matthew Bannister on

Lord May, a former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government and President of the Royal Society. He developed the concept of the R value in tracking the spread of infectious diseases and laid down key principles for scientific advice to politicians.

Judith Darmady, the paediatrician who travelled to Romania to help thousands of children who had been abandoned in so-called orphanages.

Mark Barkan, the songwriter and record producer who wrote “Pretty Flamingo” which was a hit for Manfred Mann and many other artists. Singer Paul Jones pays tribute.

Saroj Lal, the Indian-born teacher who played a leading role in campaigning for racial equality in Scotland.

Interviewed guest: Lord John Krebs of Wytham
Interviewed guest: Jane Waldron
Interviewed guest: John Illman
Interviewed guest: Bridget Barkan
Interviewed guest: Paul Jones
Interviewed guest: Vineet Lal

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: Desert Island Discs: Lord Robert May, Radio 4, 05/06/2012; Ceausescu's Children, BBC News, 30/01/2010; Heaven and Hell, National Museum of Scotland, 2000; The Usual Suspects, Radio Scotland, 13/12/1996; I Believe, You Believe, BBC One Scotland, May 1984.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000jfpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000jfng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (m000jfpz)
Oil Shock 2020

The oil price has crashed - for a while some producers were even paying customers to take it away. It's like no oil shock the industry has ever seen before. Lesley Curwen sets out to discover what difference cheap oil will make to our lives. Which jobs are at risk? Will there be a knock-on effect on our household finances - utility bills and pensions for example? And as lockdowns slowly start to ease, could it change how much we rely on oil for good?

Contributors include:

Josephine Cumbo - Financial Times Pensions Correspondent
Keith Barnett - Oil worker
Felicity Hannah - Consumer Affairs journalist
Jonathan White - Business Development Director, Apollo
Dr Valentina Kretzschmar. - Vice President, Wood Mackenzie
Beth Evans - Global Head of News, S&P Global Platts
Michael Tholen - Sustainability Director, OGUK

Presenter: Lesley Curwen
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000jfq1)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000j8rg)
Agnes Varda

With Antonia Quirke.

This week The Film Programme recommends not just one lockdown movie, but a whole life-time's. The life and work of Agnes Varda, including masterpieces Cleo From 5 To 7, The Beaches Of Agnes and Faces, Places. We hear one of the last interviews Agnes gave in this country and from JR, her co-director on Faces, Places, who became her best friend, even though there was 50 years between them.

Neil Brand continues his series on rejected film scores, with the epic fail of Troy, the blockbuster that sacked its composer at the last minute.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b0bfx4v0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 25 MAY 2020

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000jfq3)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 The Spark (m000j789)
Stuart Russell and Controlling AI

Helen Lewis meets the writers and thinkers who are breaking new ground.

From politics to economics, from tech to the study of how we live, things are changing fast. Old certainties have not been under such challenge for decades.

So each week, we give the whole programme over to a single in-depth, close-up interview with someone whose big idea is bidding to change our world.
Helen’s challenge is to make sense of their new idea, to find out more about the person behind it – and to test what it has to offer us against the failures of the past.

In this episode, Helen talks to Stuart Russell, a pioneer of artificial intelligence, about how he has become increasingly worried that AI design is founded on flawed principles. And how, if we don’t rethink its fundamentals, the arrival of ‘Artificial General Intelligence’ could put humanity at terrible risk.

He explains how AI design creates in its products a single-minded drive to fulfil the objective we give it – but how, as the story of King Midas shows, that can go terribly wrong.

And Russell sets out three new principles which, if incorporated into AI from the very start of the design process, could ensure that humans stay in control. Otherwise, he says, we face losing all agency over our future, with potentially terrible consequences.

Producer: Phil Tinline


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000jfq5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jfq7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jfq9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:33 News Briefing (m000jfqf)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000jfqh)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

Time is passing strangely these days. Damien Echols once said that there’s no such thing as time. That it’s nothing but a useful trick; the past existing only in our memory, the future merely a figment of our imagination. That feels truer now than ever before. We’ve stopped the clocks. Closed the calendars. Given up marking the days as we slide into an eternal Sunday; slow and lazy and without anywhere to go.

Many of us feel a loss of purpose; a lack of ‘doing’ things; missing the achievements we are taught by society to measure our worth against. We miss being useful to others; our time weighs heavily on our hands.

I have never been particularly good at marking time. The years don’t stand out to me, only the memories and the places crystallise in my mind. I don’t remember how old I was, or what year it was, but I remember how we ate sandwiches of egg mayonnaise with grated carrot and ran through St Cuthbert’s Caves most days that summer.

It is the moments and the feelings that mark my life. Perhaps Echols was right, and what we should hold onto isn’t lost years, but the comfort of our memories and the promise of tomorrow.

The Quran reminds us of the deeper meaning of time well spent. “By the decline of time, truly mankind is in loss. Except for those who do good works and enjoin one another to truth and patience.”

As we wake up to an unusual Bank Holiday, lacking the customary family outings to the countryside or beach, and grandparents sitting alone at home, mourning the loss of a half-term week of joyous jaunts taking care of the grandkids, it feels as if time is redundant.

But it is still passing. And we will laugh and visit the beaches once more. Roam through the countryside and be with the grandparents. We will hold others in our embrace and dance again. Our tomorrows will come, God willing, and bring a wealth of memories and emotions in their wake.

Lord, help us to be grateful and cherish our time whatever it may bring.

Ameen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000jfqk)
25/05/20 Crofting

In this morning's programme Nancy Nicolson brings us a taste of the crofting way of life in the islands of Lewis and Harris in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.


MON 05:56 Weather (m000jfqm)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020xvlw)
Marsh Warbler

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Marsh Warbler. Marsh warblers are astonishing mimics and when you hear one singing you could be forgiven for thinking that there's a flock of different species in the bush.


MON 06:00 Today (m000jfy4)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000jfy6)
Classics and class

The classics have never been solely the preserve of the British intellectual elite, according to the classicist Edith Hall. In A People’s History of Classics, Hall and her co-writer Henry Stead examine the working class experience of classical culture from the Bill of Rights in 1689 to the outbreak of World War II. This history challenges assumptions about the elitism surrounding the study of ancient Greeks and Romans, and Hall hopes it will expand the debate around the future of classical education for all.

An understanding of the classics could also help people reinvigorate cynicism: from the jaded negativity of today, back to its initial idea of fearless speech. In his latest book, Ansgar Allen, returns to the Greek Cynics of the 4th century BCE, a small band of eccentrics who practised an improvised philosophy that challenged all social norms and scandalised their contemporaries. In the centuries that followed this exacting philosophy was hugely watered down. Today’s cynics, who lack social and political convictions, would be barely recognisable to their bold and shameless forefathers.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:30 Homeschool History (m000jfy8)
Florence Nightingale

Join Greg Jenner for a fun homeschool history lesson on the woman who changed the face of healthcare forever, Florence Nightingale.

Learn about how she forged her own path to become a nurse, the obstacles she had to overcome to care for troops overseas and how she continued to fight for healthcare reform in her pyjamas.

It’s time to meet the lady with the lamp.

Presented by Greg Jenner
Produced by Ben Green
Script by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Emma Nagouse
Historical consultant: Melissa Chatton from The Florence Nightingale Museum
A Muddy Knees Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 09:45 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jfyb)
Episode 1

Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. Beginning in spring, his diary takes us through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland.

These vivid and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling and urgent in their message. Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and trying to build friendships alongside a life of campaigning.

“I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/autism aged five … By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system.”

Written and read by Dara McAnulty
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000jfyd)
Having a baby in lockdown

We hear from you about what it’s like to be pregnant, give birth and look after a new baby in the Covid-19 lockdown.

Antenatal, labour and post-natal care has had to transform in the last two months, in order to combat the virus. Pregnant women are considered a vulnerable group to Covid and are recommended to self-isolate for their third trimester. Routine face-to-face appointments have been reduced and more is being done by phone. The way you give birth may have had to change, and partners can no longer stay on labour wards beyond the birth itself. And of course for new parents, family and friends haven’t been able to visit in person.

What has all this meant for you? As well as the challenges, have there been any unexpected upsides? Jane is joined by a midwife and obstetrician to hear your stories.


MON 10:45 A Run in the Park (m0009zmj)
Episode 1

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?

Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…

Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.

Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Des McAleer
Producer ..... Michael Shannon


MON 11:00 The Spark (m000jf7s)
Peter Macfadyen and rebuilding democracy

Helen Lewis meets the writers and thinkers who are breaking new ground.

From politics to economics, from tech to the study of how we live, things are changing fast. Old certainties have not been under such challenge for decades.

So each week, we give the whole programme over to a single in-depth, close-up interview with someone whose big idea is bidding to change our world.

Helen’s challenge is to make sense of their new idea, to find out more about the person behind it – and to test what it has to offer us against the failures of the past

In this episode, Helen talks to Peter Macfadyen, the sometime gardener, undertaker and former mayor of Frome in Somerset who, along with a group of independents, took over the town council and pioneered a new kind of local politics.

Doing away with formal rules and regulations, Independents for Frome opened up the council to a diverse range of community groups, creating a model for engagement and participation that is now being emulated around the country and beyond, thanks to Peter Macfadyen’s DIY guide: Flatpack Democracy. But, Helen asks, how does it work – and what are its limits?

Producer: Eliane Glaser


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000jfyg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m000jfyj)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000jj92)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 12:06 Just William Pursuing Happiness (m000jfyl)
William’s Treasure Trove

Fun, laughter and timeless comedy. Martin Jarvis performs five of Richmal Crompton's ever-popular 'Just William' Stories.
Martin has never broadcast these delightful tales before.

1. William’s Treasure Trove. (Starring the popular character, six-year-old Violet Elizabeth Bott!)
2. Jumble. (How William first met his dog, Jumble.)
3. William - The Outlaw. (William and his chums the Outlaws decide not to attend afternoon school, with surprising results!)
4. The Revenge. (William, now a scout, finds that ‘doin' deeds of kindness' isn’t always a good idea.)
5. William The Showman. (William puts on an ‘insect show’, with intriguing results)

Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production


MON 12:20 You and Yours (m000jfyn)
Romance fraud; TV sport; DIY dentistry

Police are warning that criminals are using a new sting as part of a common scam known as romance fraud. Thousands of pounds are stolen from people by persuading them to set up mobile phone contracts. We hear from one victim who set up seven mobile phones for a man she believed was in love with her.

After weeks with no sport on television, could we soon be offered a sporting bonanza, with a return of top-flight football? We guide you through where to find the best sport, and hear from fans about what they've been watching during the lockdown, to satisfy their hunger for sport.

And it's two months since dentists closed their doors to routine treatments, and there's still no sign of them returning any time soon. Dentists are calling on the Government to clarify when and how they might return to work. Meanwhile some patients who're in pain have been carrying out DIY dental care. We hear from one woman who lost part of a filling and cleaned out her cavity with a sterilised pin.

Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Craig Henderson


MON 12:57 Weather (m000jfyq)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m000jfys)
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 Great Post Office Trial (m000jfyv)
The Imaginary Heist

After the introduction of a new computer system in the early 2000s, the Post Office began using its data to accuse Sub Postmasters of falsifying accounts and stealing money. Many were fired and financially ruined; others were prosecuted and even put behind bars.

But many of the accused insisted that they had done nothing wrong and that they were being held accountable for computer errors they could not control.

After being contacted by a man who insisted that his pregnant wife had been jailed for a crime she didn’t commit, journalist Nick Wallis started investigating what some are already describing as the widest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history.

In this ten-part series, Nick gets right to the heart of the story, as he talks to those whose lives were ruined and follows the twists and turns of a David and Goliath courtroom battle as the Sub Postmasters tried to fight back. Could they have been victims of what they saw as institutionalised corporate cruelty from the Post Office?

Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 Tumanbay (m000jfyx)
Series 4

Palace of the Blind

Series 4 of this engrossing, historical fantasy from creators John Scott Dryden and Mike Walker.

Once the greatest city on earth, Tumanbay has fallen into the hands of two opposing warlords: the Grand Master Amalric (Anton Lesser), leader of a fearsome religious order of knights; and Fatima (Kirsty Bushell), ambitious wife of a provincial governor who exerts total control over the weakened young Sultana Manel (Aiysha Hart).

Manel’s uncle, the spymaster Gregor (Rufus Wright) has been banished to the furthest deserts, after having claimed to have seen the Sultana’s murdered lover, Alkin. Gregor is convinced Alkin’s return from the dead heralds the end for Tumanbay and he must do everything in his power to get back to save it.

Cast:
Manel................ Aiysha Hart
Gregor................ Rufus Wright
Cadali................ Matthew Marsh
Grand Master................ Anton Lesser
Mehmed................ Nadim Sawalha
Fatima................ Kirsty Bushell
Sarp................Joplin Sibtain
Olef................ Antony Bunsee
Alkin................ Nathalie Armin
Physician................ Vivek Madan
Knight................ Nadir Khan
Orderly............... Gerard McDermott

Original Music by Sacha Puttnam

Sound Design by Eloise Whitmore
Sound Recording by Laurence Farr

Produced by Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan and John Scott Dryden
Written and Directed by John Scott Dryden

A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:45 Two Thousand Years of Puzzling (b09ntd0m)
Series 1

To Entertain and Amaze

Chris Maslanka sets out on his journey to describe the long and endlessly satisfying human appetite for the setting and solving of puzzles. In five programmes he takes a series of narratives following the developments of the Maze, of riddles, of mathematical puzzles and the use of grids, as well as covering the period in the 19th century when a new middle class established enough leisure to make the business of puzzling exactly that, a business. In the process Chris solves some of the conundrums about the utilitarian nature of puzzling and why it is that puzzles travel so well and respond to the catalyst of mechanical invention.


MON 15:00 My Generation (m000jfz0)
Programme 2, 2020

(2/6)
Stuart Maconie's My Generation quiz focuses on the events and culture of different decades within living memory. Three contestants of varying ages each answer questions on their own particular chosen decade - which could be the one they grew up in, or one they know plenty about for some other reason. They then also get questions on a different decade in which they were significantly younger, or older, or perhaps not even born. Stuart hopes to find out just how much the generations know about one another's heroes, heroines and heritage.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000jfnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Tales from the Stave (m0009bmr)
The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan

In the second programme of the new series of Tales from the Stave Clemency Burton-Hill is back in the Morgan Library in New York to examine the manuscript and several bits of theatrical memorabilia that tell the story of the official debut of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.
The story of their decision to open in New York and so tackle the American copyright 'Pirates' in their own back yard is a familiar one, but with the help of singers and scholars including Dan Kravetz, the President of the New York G & S society and sopranos Helen Donaldson and Sarah Caldwell Smith, as well as G & S scholar Marc Shepherd, we get a sense of the rush towards the opening night on 31st December 1879 and the way familiar hits like 'Poor Wandering One' and 'The Modern Major General' first saw the light of day. And given that it's Gilbert and Sullivan there's space for a rousing finale and a chance to hear a chorus cut from the show at the last minute. It's a programme that provides vivid insights into the ingenuity and effort that go into making a hit show full of frivolity and joy.

Producer: Tom Alban


MON 16:30 The Digital Human (m000jfz3)
Series 20

Disrupted

We’ve heard a lot about “disruption” over the last few years - companies upending, institutions and entrepreneurs revolutionising some of the things that we thought always were and always should be. Technology has been the poster child of these rapid social and economic changes. But disruption existed before Silicon Valley co-opted the word - it was change, that accelerated something, unexpected. It was something that exposed the cracks in our expectations and changed things, sometimes forever.

Two big thinkers, James Burke and Pico Iyer join Aleks to explore whether the pandemic provides the opportunity to think about how we can restructure our lives and our societies. Whether it gives us the chance to embrace disruption, and to reflect on what new ways of being are available to us on the other side. Is what is important to each of us becoming clear... if we choose to listen to it?

Produced by Kate Bissell and Mark Rickards


MON 17:00 PM (m000jfz6)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jfz8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b01ks3v9)
Series 57

Episode 4

The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a return visit to the Grand Theatre in Swansea. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Rob Brydon with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell attempts piano accompaniment. Producer - Jon Naismith.


MON 19:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jfzc)
David reflects on life at Brookfield during lockdown and Josh considers his place in the family.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m000jfzf)
Kirsty Lang talks to American writer AM Homes

AM Homes won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 for her novel May We Be Forgiven, beating off stellar competition from Hilary Mantel, Kate Atkinson, Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith.

Kirsty Lang has been finding AM's darkly comic novels and short stories perfect reading for the lockdown. Her writing penetrates contemporary America, with characters who are pulled apart by accidents, trauma, jealousy, chance encounters and who must examine their lives in order to start over again. The stories are wickedly funny, relentless in their pace and often redemptive.

In this extended Front Row interview, AM talks to Kirsty about recovering from Covid-19, growing up in Washington DC and her fascination with Nixon; why she loves to write male protagonists, her lack of inhibition when writing sex scenes - and the challenges of satirising our strange times.

She also reads from and talks about her memoir, The Mistress's Daughter, which tells the story of how she was given up for adoption on the day she was born. Her birth parents were a twenty-two year old woman and an older married man. Thirty-one years later, her birth mother tracked her down.

Presenter : Kirsty Lang
Producer : Dymphna Flynn
Studio Manager: Nigel Dix

Harry Silver.....David Seddon
Narrator.....Darcey Halsey
Richard Novak.....Tony Pasqualini
Emergency Operator.....Adriana Sevan
Patty.....Lisa Pelikan

Main image above: A. M. Homes


MON 19:45 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by HP Lovecraft (m000jl2d)
Episode 1

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward

Award-winning writer/director Julian Simpson creates an HP Lovecraft-inspired universe through the prism of podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher.

The story begins with a missing-person investigation; Charles Dexter Ward has vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Two months later his psychiatrist Doctor Willett murders a woman in Highgate, England. Are the two events connected?

Episode One

Cast:

Kennedy Fisher.....................JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood.................BARNABY KAY
Charles Dexter Ward…………SAMUEL BARNETT
Doctor Willett………………….MARK BAZELEY
Claire Rushmore……………..MADELEINE POTTER
Sylvester Birtwhistle………….NATHAN OSGOOD

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling & Holly Slater

Music by Tim Elsenburg

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


MON 20:00 Meanwhile in Beijing (m000jf70)
The immediate implications of Covid-19 have dominated the media – and perhaps your attention - for months. But meanwhile, other stories are developing at speed, some intersecting with the virus crisis in unexpected ways.

In the first of a new series of documentaries, the historian Rana Mitter invites you to turn your attention away from the virus, and to look instead at how China is combining its tech and consumer product prowess to make the case for its one-party model of government - and the impact on that of Covid-19.

Speakers include: Daniel Bell, Sophia Gaston, Keyu Jin, Yu Jie, Zhang Weiwei

Producer: Phil Tinline


MON 20:30 Analysis (m000jfzh)
Identity Wars: lessons from the Dreyfus Affair and Brexit Britain

The episode "tore society apart, divided families, and split the country into two enemy camps, which then attacked each other …”
 
A description by some future historian looking back at Britain after Brexit? No - it is how the late French President Jacques Chirac described the so-called “Dreyfus Affair”, which shook France from top to bottom a century ago.
 
Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish army officer who was convicted on false charges of passing military secrets to the Germans. He spent several years in prison on Devil's Island, and was only released and exonerated after a long campaign led by eminent figures such Emile Zola.
 
Although the circumstances of the Dreyfus affair are very different to those surrounding Brexit, there are certain parallels – for example, the way that people came to identify themselves as either Dreyfusards or anti-Dreyfusards.
 
The Dreyfus affair and its aftermath convulsed France for decades, with French society split down the middle about whether Dreyfus was guilty or innocent.
 
How important are societal divides like these?  Should they be allowed to run their natural course - or should steps be taken to encourage “healing”, as Boris Johnson recently urged?
 
In this edition of Analysis, Professor Anand Menon, Director of the UK in a Changing Europe, looks back at the Dreyfus affair, and asks what lessons we can learn - and whether they can help us better understand what is happening in Britain as the country faces up to the reality of Brexit, and the coronavirus crisis.
 
Contributors:
Alastair Campbell, former Downing Street press secretary to Tony Blair
Ruth Harris, Professor of Modern European History, University of Oxford
Margaret MacMillan, emeritus Professor of International History, University of Oxford
Philippe Oriol, historian and author of “The False Friend of Captain Dreyfus”
Paula Surridge, Senior Lecturer in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at Bristol University
Nick Timothy, former joint chief of staff at 10 Downing Street
Anthony Wells, Head of Research, YouGov

Translation of extract from “J’Accuse…!” by Emile Zola, by Shelley Temchin and Jean-Max Guieu, Georgetown University.

Presenter: Professor Anand Menon
Producer: Neil Koenig
Editor: Jasper Corbett


MON 21:00 The Global Ventilator Race (m000j803)
The coronavirus outbreak revealed an international shortage of ventilators. Across the world, govenrments scrambled to acquire new ones, not just from traditional manufacturers, but from anyone who though they could design a simple yet functional device. As a result, hundreds of teams and individuals have risen to the challenge, including university students and hobbyists. Jolyon Jenkins set out to design and build a ventilator himself, drawing on the wealth of shared informationi and designs that have emerged in the last few weeks. He soon discovers that it's harder than it looks.

Much publicity has gone to organisations that have produced ventilators that are not up to standard. And as knowledge of the disease has progressed, it's become clear that coronavirus patients need very careful and specialised forms of ventilation if it's not to do more harm than good. So are non-specialists capable of producing machines that will actually benefit patients?

Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000jfy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000jfzk)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Amongst Women, by John McGahern (m000jfzm)
Episode 6

Michael Moran’s life was forever transformed by his days of glory in the War of Independence. Now, a farmer in the Irish countryside, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past. However, as he grows older, his wife and daughters must confront how their own lives have been irrevocably shaped by this complicated and contradictory man.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of ‘Amongst Women’, widely considered to be the author’s masterpiece. This intimate story of a family living on the Irish border, under the thumb of a former soldier turned tyrant in his own home, has never been more relevant.

The Author
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the West of Ireland. He was a graduate of University College, Dublin. He worked as a Primary School teacher and held various academic posts at universities in Britain, Ireland and America. In the opinion of the Observer, John McGahern was 'Ireland's greatest living novelist'. He was the author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland.

Writer ..... John McGahern
Abridger ..... John McGahern
Reader ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


MON 23:00 Forest 404 (p074lz8g)
Ep5: Last Days of the Slow World

Theia tells Pan the story of how the old world came to an end.

An environmental thriller starring Pearl Mackie, Tanya Moodie & Pippa Haywood. With theme music by Bonobo. Written by Timothy X Atack and directed by Becky Ripley.

Each episode comes with its own talk and soundscape. And you can take part in our interactive experiment to see how you respond to sounds of nature at: bbc.co.uk/forest

#Forest404


MON 23:30 Wireless Nights (m000jfzq)
Lockdown

From somewhere deep in lockdown, Jarvis trawls the Wireless Nights archive looking for relief from isolation.

From the darkness of Lundy Island to a snowbound white out, from a man sending radio signals to the moon to a castaway in the North Sea, Jarvis tunes into stories of isolation and endurance with fellow travellers as they make it through the long night.

Produced by Laurence Grissell and Neil McCarthy



TUESDAY 26 MAY 2020

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000jfzs)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jfyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jfzv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jfzx)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000jfzz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000jg03)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

This exact time last year, I was struggling. My days were long and empty. My to-do list was longer than my days, and the motivation that had previously propelled my life had fled me. Everything existed just out of reach, on the other side of an invisible barrier that I couldn’t penetrate or scale. The days were fuzzy and numb. Life seemed to be happening to everyone but me.

Nothing was wrong, but everything was out of place. My mind, once my greatest ally, had become my biggest enemy. I had quietly and gently slipped into a depression that I thought would never leave me. Mental health awareness week has just ended, and I hope a new wave of conversation, education and understanding has begun.

In the Quran lies the verse, “Verily, with every difficulty there is relief;” a hint at the cyclical nature of life. That with the help of others and with understanding and care, we can always start again. Eventually I did, stepping out of my depression and though I may experience it again, it will be with the hindsight that every hardship is followed by ease.

Our mental well-being can be shaken for no apparent reason or by life’s bigger trials and tribulations. The isolation of lockdown, the loss of a loved one, the lurking fear of what tomorrow may bring, the threat of deprivation or the constant pain of a chronic illness. All these and much more. We need to acknowledge that nurturing and caring for our hearts and minds is as important as protecting our physical health from the danger of a new virus.

This last week has been about creating space for one another and coming together. Lord may you always fill us with compassion and mercy, for ourselves and for others as we walk though dark days.

Ameen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000jg05)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b08xgdhg)
Nigel Bean on the Water Rail

Wildlife cameraman Nigel Bean relives the moment he discovered a water rail nest deep among a reedbed in west Wales, a nest that became the star of a BBC Springwatch series

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

Producer Tom Bonnett.


TUE 06:00 Today (m000jg8t)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000jg8w)
Liz Seward

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Liz Seward, Senior Space Strategist for Airbus Defence and Space. Liz's young interest in Science Fiction led to a career designing spacecraft and robots for exploring planets and the stars.


TUE 09:30 One to One (m000jg8y)
Veggie roots: Miles Chambers meets the inventor of the Vegeburger

Miles Chambers grew up in a veggie household in the 70s - the Vegeburger was a staple in his childhood. He meets the plant-based pioneer, Gregory Sams, who came up with the idea.

As Miles got older, he grew to love the melding of Caribbean flavours with the fats of meats. He looks back with guilt on the lifestyle he left behind - especially now plant-based diets are mainstream. He wants to talk to those who have played a role in the meat-free movement, about their lives and experiences - how the movement has changed over the years, and whether he should return to his plant-based roots.

Greg Sams founded Seed in Paddington - the first vegetarian restaurant in London, and a favourite spot for the likes of Mark Bolan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Later he founded the first organic food store, before inventing the Vegeburger - having never tasted a meat burger himself.

Greg explains that while he spent decades advocating a meat-free diet, one experience changed his view.


TUE 09:45 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jg90)
Episode 2

Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. Beginning in spring, his diary takes us through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland.

These vivid and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling and urgent in their message. Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and trying to build friendships alongside a life of campaigning.

“I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/autism aged five … By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system.”

Written and read by Dara McAnulty
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000jg92)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


TUE 10:45 A Run in the Park (m000b70z)
Episode 2

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?

Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…

Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.

Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Julia Dearden
Producer ..... Michael Shannon


TUE 11:00 From Our Home Correspondent (m000jg94)
In the latest programme, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers reflecting the range of life across the UK.

She begins and ends in Edinburgh. First, the BBC's Social Affairs Correspondent, Michael Buchanan, reveals how a renowned city centre doctor is using one public health emergency - Covid-19 - to tackle another - drug-related deaths among the homeless. Could a notoriously difficult medical and social problem prove amenable to new approaches?

Cabin fever is a literal risk for those living aboard narrow boats at the moment. And while self-sufficiency is a characteristic of those who live afloat, as Lois Pryce has been discovering among users on the Grand Union Canal, their ingenuity is being tested by the relatively prosaic requirements for water and fuel.

It's once again possible for those in England who are looking to move house to visit potential new homes in person. What, though, of those who are already part of a chain with buyers and sellers ready to go ahead? Lesley Curwen, a business reporter for more than three decades, finds herself in just that situation. Will she make her dream move to the West Country or will there be a last-minute hitch?

Foster carers become accustomed to all types of placements. Emily Unia's parents have decades of experience but even so it's been special for them to share the last several weeks with a young boy and his baby sister who arrived just days before lockdown. She reveals how they've all been coping.

And, back in the Scottish capital, Christopher Harding provides an amusing insight into the world of home schooling as his three children adjust to their new teachers and lessons. How do the ambitions of the new staff fare amid the realities of the schoolroom?

Producer Simon Coates


TUE 11:30 The Everywoman (m000h8gq)
Episode 1

Our literary and dramatic tradition is built on narrative traditions like the hero's journey, a quest often undertaken by an 'everyman' character. He's relatable, normal, even if he's put into unusual circumstances. But he's always a man. What happens when we assume the male story is the only one that matters?

Sarah Hall has been writing novels and short stories for 20 years, and her experiences have left her questioning whether a female character could stand in for the human universal. In these programmes she's going in search of the literary Everywoman.

Along the way Sarah traces the roots of the concept with Dinah Birch, and asks what the publishing industry can do to help us read a wide range of characters, speaking to publisher Ellah Wakatama. She shares her experiences of being both a reader and a writer with novelists Monique Roffey, Eimear McBride and Bernardine Evaristo, and asks Andrew Miller why men shouldn't be scared of writing female protagonists. We also hear from Bryony Kimmings on the theatre world, drop into the Book Hive Bookshop in Norwich and hear from Katherine Rundell on what's important to her when creating female characters for children's books.

Presenter: Sarah Hall
Producer: Jessica Treen


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000jg96)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000jj7j)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 12:06 Just William Pursuing Happiness (m000jg98)
Jumble

Fun, laughter and timeless comedy. Martin Jarvis performs five of Richmal Crompton's ever-popular 'Just William' Stories.
Martin has never broadcast these delightful tales before.

2. Jumble. (How William first met his dog, Jumble.)

Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production


TUE 12:20 You and Yours (m000jg9b)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


TUE 12:57 Weather (m000jg9d)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m000jg9g)
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 Great Post Office Trial (m000jg9j)
The Bloodiest Mind in Wales

After the introduction of a new computer system in the early 2000s, the Post Office began using its data to accuse Sub Postmasters of falsifying accounts and stealing money. Many were fired and financially ruined; others were prosecuted and even put behind bars.

In this ten-part series, journalist Nick Wallis, gets right to the heart of the story, as he talks to those whose lives were shattered and follows the twists and turns of a David and Goliath battle as the Sub Postmasters tried to fight back.

Today we meet the man who led that fight; the UK's Erin Brokovich, Alan Bates, founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance. A man who faced seemingly insurmountable odds in trying to take on a national institution but who refused to be cowed.

Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 14:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jfzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b09yh6mj)
The Deletion Committee

By Mark Lawson. The trustees of a famous wax works are facing a dilemma. Following pressure from social media activists and irate students, they are obliged to establish a deletion committee - charged with removing the effigies of waxed celebrities who have been named and shamed by the court of public opinion.

All the usual suspects are condemned to the flames but, when they start to include the likes of Germaine Greer because some commentators are offended by her views on the transgender community, the committee begins to question the efficacy of the selection process and whether it is carrying out a "guilty until proven more guilty" process, rather than a cool-headed reappraisal of the museum's best known exhibits.
The Deletion Committee by Mark Lawson
Following pressure from 'me-too' groups, a wax works museum decides to melt down many of its most celebrated exhibits.

Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio Production for Radio 4.


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000jg9l)
Dreaming

Josie Long presents short documentaries and adventures in sound about dreaming and the imagination. Dive into an astronaut's dreamscape, take an audio drawing lesson with Ebony Flowers and listen to Ursula Le Guin explore world-building.

Production Team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000jf8c)
Forests of the Future

Just a few months ago politicians across the spectrum were promising trees, glorious trees, in abundance. In an unlikely game of Top Trumps the numbers of trees promised reached into billions, ultimately settling at an ambitious promise of 30,000 hectares a year by 2025.

So, how are we going to reach this target over the next 5 years and is it even the right goal? Things have not begun well with thousands of saplings left to rot after they could not be planted due to coronavirus restrictions and campaigners condemning the government targets as ‘inadequate’. At the same time many experts urge caution as the current push for more trees could result in trees being planted on land which should be used for agriculture or on landscapes which are important carbon stores such as peatland.

Even if we can find the space we may not have the tree stocks or the skilled workforce to create sustainable woodlands. The current coronavirus crisis has highlighted just how vulnerable the UK nursery industry is without long term planning. We need a trained workforce to plant and care for trees as well as plans for the trees grown to be used sustainably.

However, there are other ways. Natural regeneration and nurturing existing woodlands could be a better way to capture carbon long term and improve biodiversity. What we plant and how will have a huge affect on how much carbon the tree absorbs depending on how long they will be left standing but landowners will want to see some return on land used for tree planting.

Peter Gibbs delves into the detail behind the mantra of ‘right tree, right place’ to find out what we should be planting, where we should plant and how to create a forest fit for the future.

Producer Helen Lennard


TUE 16:00 Law in Action (m000jg9n)
Deferred Prosecution Agreements: pragmatic but unprincipled?

Earlier this year, Airbus was ordered to pay nearly €1bn by a criminal court in London. The penalty, for failure to prevent bribery, was more than twice the fines paid by defendants in England and Wales for the whole of 2018. In addition, the global aerospace company was required to pay fines totalling €2.6bn in France and the United States. But Airbus has not been convicted of any crimes and nobody has gone to prison. Joshua Rozenberg Investigates deferred prosecution agreements.

Contributors:
Tim Bowden, partner, Dechert
Alex Brummer, City editor of the Daily Mail
Toby Duthie, co-founder, Forensic Risk Alliance
Duncan Hames, director of policy, Transparency International
Laura Haywood, case controller, Serious Fraud Office
Eric Russo, prosecutor, Parquet National Financier
Janette Rutterford, emeritus professor of finance and financial history, Open University Business School

Researcher: Diane Richardson
Producer: Neil Koenig


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000jg9q)
Sybille Bedford, author of Jigsaw and A Legacy

Sara Wheeler first read Sybille Bedford in her early twenties, and discovered a dazzling writer. The book she read was called A Visit to Don Otavio. It's set in Mexico, a country Bedford wanted to visit because of its 'long nasty history in the past and as little present history as possible.' Born Sybille von Schoenebeck in 1911 in Germany, she lived in Italy, France, California and London, and her book Jigsaw was nominated for the Booker prize. But by her own admission she never sold many books.
Sara Wheeler is the author of Terra Incognita - about her travels in Antarctica. Victoria Glendinning adds her thoughts and wit to the programme.
There are archive contributions from Hilary Spurling, Sue McGregor and Sybille Bedford too.
The presenter is Matthew Parris


TUE 17:00 PM (m000jg9s)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jg9v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 My Teenage Diary (m000jg9x)
Series 9

Jan Ravens

Rufus Hound picks the lock on the teenage diaries of the comedian and impressionist Jan Ravens, and finds out about teenage crushes, slow dances and new year's resolutions.

Other guests this series are Woman's Hour host Dame Jenni Murray, former Goodie Bill Oddie, comedian Shazia Mirza, podcaster Olly Mann and writer Julie Myerson.

Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jf7l)
Is it the cricket season in locked down Ambridge? Harrison struggles to strike the correct tone and Tracy launches her manifesto.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000jg9z)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 19:45 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by HP Lovecraft (m000jmf6)
Episode 2

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward

Award-winning writer/director Julian Simpson creates an HP Lovecraft-inspired universe through the prism of podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher.

The story begins with a missing-person investigation; Charles Dexter Ward has vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Two months later his psychiatrist Doctor Willett murders a woman in Highgate, England. Are the two events connected?

Episode Two
Kennedy gets a lead from an interview with George Shepley, the librarian from Charles Dexter Ward’s old school.

Cast:

Kennedy Fisher.....................JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood.................BARNABY KAY
Sylvester Birtwhistle…………NATHAN OSGOOD
George Shepley……………...ADAM GODLEY
Contact………………………..BEN CROWE
Doctor Willett…………………MARK BAZELEY
Charles Dexter Ward………..SAMUEL BARNETT
Barbara Sayers………………PENNY DOWNIE

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling & Holly Slater

Music by Tim Elsenburg

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000jgb1)
Game Changer: How the UK played on during coronavirus

From the Olympics to Euro 2020, the world’s biggest sporting events have fallen like dominoes because of coronavirus. But as the global pandemic was declared and most European countries closed their sports stadiums, the UK allowed events to carry on with hundreds of thousands of fans coming together to watch everything from Champions League football to the Cheltenham Gold Cup. File on 4 casts a forensic eye over the decisions that were made before the UK went into lockdown, speaks to those at the heart of these big events and asks whether allowing them to go ahead, enabled the virus to spread and put more lives at risk.

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000jgb3)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000jf7q)
Inside Health: The Virus

Episode 9

Claudia Hammond reports on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic.


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000jg8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000jgb5)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 Amongst Women, by John McGahern (m000jgb7)
Episode 7

Michael Moran’s life was forever transformed by his days of glory in the War of Independence. Now, a farmer in the Irish countryside, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past. However, as he grows older, his wife and daughters must confront how their own lives have been irrevocably shaped by this complicated and contradictory man.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of ‘Amongst Women’, widely considered to be the author’s masterpiece. This intimate story of a family living on the Irish border, under the thumb of a former soldier turned tyrant in his own home, has never been more relevant.

The Author
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the West of Ireland. He was a graduate of University College, Dublin. He worked as a Primary School teacher and held various academic posts at universities in Britain, Ireland and America. In the opinion of the Observer, John McGahern was 'Ireland's greatest living novelist'. He was the author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland.

Writer ..... John McGahern
Abridger ..... John McGahern
Reader ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


TUE 23:00 You'll Do (p08bdfxz)
Living Together with Nish Kumar and Amy Annette

Comedians Nish Kumar and Amy Annette join Catherine Bohart and Sarah Keyworth to chat about making a home together.

In the podcast that rejects romantic tropes, Nish and Amy talk about setting alarms, Nish's nesting habits and mutual rejections.

Produced by Kate Holland and Lyndsay Fenner.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:30 Wireless Nights (b01f68sh)
Series 1

Overnight Delivery

Jarvis Cocker prowls the dark, finding stories of the night people in a Prix Italia winning series.

Tonight, in an edition which won the Prix Italia for Extraordinary Originality and Innovation - a top European radio prize - the theme is Overnight Delivery. Jarvis boards the red-eye, taking a transatlantic flight of the imagination - peering down at the human dramas beneath as the world slowly rotates - accompanied by Jarvis' own musical selections.

As Jarvis reaches cruising altitude, he finds himself gripped by the compelling life and death stories of a shepherdess in the midst of a very difficult birth, a transplant nurse on late shift and a priest who performs the role of deliverance ministry - in layman's terms: exorcism.

But this dark night is not without light relief, as Jarvis muses on the trying experience of long haul air travel, revealing his own antidote to a fear of flying: Hugh Grant.

Producer: Laurence Grissell



WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2020

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000jgbb)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


WED 00:30 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jg90)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jgbd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jgbg)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000jgbj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000jgbn)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

A few months ago, I was on the last train home, the day smeared all over me, my shoulders beginning to fold. The carriage was full of tired faces, the week leaving us all a little broken, a little bruised. No one said anything. It was a quiet place, gliding away from the city in silence, in hidden glances.

I remember looking over and seeing a little girl with a flower crown on her head, chin tilted high and as she caught my eye, I mouthed; I love your crown. She mouthed, ‘thank you’, her shoulder straightening with happiness.

The entire exchange was only seconds long but it lights up at least 6 people around me. The man behind the small girl smiles at her, where once before his face was slumped into his chest. The woman opposite me catches my eye and we smile at one another. The couple next to me turn to each other and exchange a loving glance, dreaming of when they have their own children. Faces light up like the dawn. Full of hope. Possibility. A reminder.

The last few months have been full of moments like these. Shopping for a neighbour. Clapping at 8pm. A song on a balcony. A harp at the end of a road. We have been full of small acts of kindness lately, and I think perhaps this really is the answer to life. This tiny love. This small giving. The everyday reaching for one another.

They are not big gestures and no mountains have been moved. Just like me telling a small girl how much I love her flower crown, they are not remarkable or extraordinary. But they carry so much weight. Say so much. And we are changed because of it.

The Prophet Mohammed reminds us that God is kind, and he loves kindness in all matters. May we always show one another the kindness and gentleness that beautifies our everyday lives.

Ameen.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000jgbq)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020xvgf)
Reed Warbler

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Reed Warbler. Reed warblers are summer visitors from Africa, one of the few long-distance migrants that are faring well in northern Europe - possibly because we're creating more gravel pits and conservation reedbeds.


WED 06:00 Today (m000jf6p)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 More or Less (m000jf6r)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.


WED 09:30 Legacy of War (m000jf6t)
Episode 3

Sean Bean presents a series exploring the ways in which wartime experiences have filtered down through the generations.


WED 09:45 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jf8p)
Episode 3

Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. Beginning in spring, his diary takes us through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland.

These vivid and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling and urgent in their message. Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and trying to build friendships alongside a life of campaigning.

“I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/autism aged five … By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system.”

Written and read by Dara McAnulty
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000jf6y)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


WED 10:45 A Run in the Park (m000bdmd)
Episode 3

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?

Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…

Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.

Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Seamus O'Hara
Reader ..... Louise Parker
Producer ..... Michael Shannon


WED 11:00 Meanwhile in Beijing (m000jf70)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Michael Frayn's Magic Mobile (m000jf72)
Episode 3

Just sit back and enjoy Michael Frayn’s magical entertainment, directed by Martin Jarvis. Technical guidance from a star cast, including Susannah Fielding, Joanna Lumley, David Suchet, Rosalind Ayres, Adam Godley, Alfred Molina, George Blagden and Lisa Dillon.

Does your computer ever talk back at you? Or your sat-nav? What happens to the huge sums you pay to your gas company? Your chance to join a new How-to-Write course. Or to hear some commercial Brainwaves. Are you confused about cold calling? Any feelings about Quantum Entanglement?

Frayn reveals all. No keys or buttons to press.

Cast:
Joanna Lumley, Susannah Fielding, David Suchet, Adam Godley, Alfred Molina, George Blagden, Lisa Dillon, Anna-Louise Plowman, Moira Quirk, Rosalind Ayres, Nigel Anthony, Darren Richardson, Matthew Wolf

Writer: Michael Frayn
Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4


WED 12:00 News Summary (m000jg2f)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000jj7l)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 12:06 Just William Pursuing Happiness (m000jf76)
William - The Outlaw

Fun, laughter and timeless comedy. Martin Jarvis performs five of Richmal Crompton's ever-popular 'Just William' Stories.
Martin has never broadcast these delightful tales before.

3. William - The Outlaw. (William and his chums the Outlaws decide not to attend afternoon school, with surprising results!)

Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production


WED 12:20 You and Yours (m000jf79)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


WED 12:57 Weather (m000jf7c)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m000jf7f)
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 Great Post Office Trial (m000jf7h)
I Love My Post Office

The extraordinary story of what some say is the widest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history as Subpostmasters take on the Post Office.

After the introduction of a new computer system in the early 2000s, the Post Office began using its data to accuse Sub Postmasters of falsifying accounts and stealing money. Many were fired and financially ruined; others were prosecuted and even put behind bars.

In this ten-part series, journalist Nick Wallis gets right to the heart of the story, as he talks to those whose lives were shattered and follows the twists and turns of a David and Goliath battle as the Sub Postmasters tried to fight back.

Today we get inside the story of Sarah Burgess-Boyd, who was just one of hundreds of subpostmasters charged with theft. We hear first hand her contemporaneous testimony to her accusers. We also learn about the oldest recognised criminal investigations force in the world - the Post Office

Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


WED 14:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jf7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b09txfz6)
The Unforgiven

07/03/2018

Day Three of the race to save Boyd and suddenly, this cold case leaps back to life. The team desperately need Frankie Wharton's forensic analysis to try to find the kidnapper, and save a life.

Written by Barbara Machin
Directed by Allegra McIlroy

Sound Design ..... David Chilton
Crime Story Consultant ..... Brian Hook.


WED 15:00 Money Box (m000jf7n)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.


WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000jf7q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 The Spark (m000jf7s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Monday]


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000jf7v)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world


WED 17:00 PM (m000jf7x)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jf81)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Quanderhorn (m000jf83)
Quanderhorn 2

5. Am I Actually the Other Half of Gemma Emma Emma?

Thanks to unspeakable treachery among the team, the Martians capture Quanderhorn’s (James Fleet) weapon-melting ray and activate it, leaving the Earth defenceless to the Invasion Fleet.

Captured and chained, Brian (Ryan Sampson) Gemma (Cassie Layton) Jenkins (John Sessions) and Troy (Freddie Fox) find themselves the quarry in a brutal hunt.

The Professor and Diving Suit Dolores (Rachel Atkins) try to reason with Prime Minister-in-exile, Churchill (John Sessions. Again), but are thrown in prison, pending trial for treason.

The crew flee to London to hook up with the Resistance Movement, but can’t find it. They have no idea what to do, until a very unusual request song is played on the radio.

Starring
James Fleet as Professor Quanderhorn
Ryan Sampson as Brian Nylon
Cassie Layton as Dr Gemini Janussen
Freddie Fox as Troy Quanderhorn
Kevin Eldon as Guuuurk
John Sessions as Sergeant 'Jenkins' Jenkins and Churchill
Rachel Atkins as Delores

Created and Written by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall
Directed by Andrew Marshall

Studio Engineer and Editor: Alisdair McGregor
Production Manager: Sarah Tombling
Special Thanks to Edward Rowett
Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios
Produced by Rob Grant and Gordon Kennedy

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jf85)
Josh faces some tough decisions in locked down Brookfield and it’s the day of reckoning for Harrison.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m000jf87)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 19:45 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by HP Lovecraft (m000jm8c)
Episode 3

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward

Award-winning writer/director Julian Simpson creates an HP Lovecraft-inspired universe through the prism of podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher.

The story begins with a missing-person investigation; Charles Dexter Ward has vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Two months later his psychiatrist Doctor Willett murders a woman in Highgate, England. Are the two events connected?

Episode Three
Who is Joseph Curwen?

Cast:
Kennedy Fisher................JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood...........BARNABY KAY
George Shepley…………….ADAM GODLEY
Tyler Green…………………..ALEX LANIPEKUN
Alice…………………………. .. SAMANTHA DAKIN
Charles Dexter Ward………HARRY KAY
Doctor Willett…………………MARK BAZELEY

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling & Holly Slater

Music by Tim Elsenburg

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


WED 20:00 Grounded with Louis Theroux (m000jf89)
4. Lenny Henry

Louis is using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he’s been longing to talk to – a fascinating mix of the celebrated, the controversial and the mysterious.

Louis speaks to Sir Lenworth George Henry, better known as comedian, campaigner and actor Lenny Henry. Lenny discusses racism in the UK, his relationship with his mother and disco ‘snog tracks’.


WED 20:45 Legacy of War (m000jf6t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000jf8c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000jf7v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000jf8f)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 Amongst Women, by John McGahern (m000jf8h)
Episode 8

Michael Moran’s life was forever transformed by his days of glory in the War of Independence. Now, a farmer in the Irish countryside, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past. However, as he grows older, his wife and daughters must confront how their own lives have been irrevocably shaped by this complicated and contradictory man.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of ‘Amongst Women’, widely considered to be the author’s masterpiece. This intimate story of a family living on the Irish border, under the thumb of a former soldier turned tyrant in his own home, has never been more relevant.

The Author
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the West of Ireland. He was a graduate of University College, Dublin. He worked as a Primary School teacher and held various academic posts at universities in Britain, Ireland and America. In the opinion of the Observer, John McGahern was 'Ireland's greatest living novelist'. He was the author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland.

Writer ..... John McGahern
Abridger ..... John McGahern
Reader ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


WED 23:00 Where to, Mate? (m000jf8k)
“…oestrogen in the water…"

“…oestrogen in the water…"

Set and recorded on location in a car in Manchester, ‘Where To, Mate?’ is a semi-improvised comedy following our drivers as we eavesdrop on their taxi journeys around the North West.

This week we join our drivers on the night shift.

Ben is dealing with a conspiracy theorist. Bernie discusses her life before being a taxi driver, with Milton, and Rizwan is having the time of his life taking a couple of lively ladies home from a night on the town.

Jason Wingard is a writer, director and film maker from Manchester. He’s written and directed a number of award winning short films as well as the feature film ‘Eaten By Lions’ which recently had a cinema release.

The show features local voices and character actors /comedians from the North.

CAST

Ben ..... Peter Slater
Bernie ..... Jo Enright
Rizwan …. Irfan Nazir

Milton ..... Christopher J Hall
Conspiracy theorist …. Jeff Downs

Thelma …. Dylan Morris
Louise …. Elinor Coleman

Controller ..... Jason Wingard
Controller ..... Abdullah Afzal

Conversations improvised by the cast based on ideas by Jason Wingard and Carl Cooper.
With additional material and production support by Hannah Stevenson.

Additional voices and material by the cast and crew.

Production Co-ordinator, Mabel Wright
Directed by Jason Wingard
Produced by Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios Audio Production


WED 23:15 Six Degrees of John Sessions (b0b0v5xg)
Series 1

02/05/2018

Actor, writer, raconteur and impressionist John Sessions mixes showbiz stories, intriguing history, extraordinary impressions and fabulous one-liners - mall linked to and from him in this entertaining series.
John’s dazzling array of skills - storytelling, erudition, vocal re-creations and comedy - are all brought into play as he starts each episode with a story or fact related to himself, takes us all over the place by linking people, ending up back with himself.
Each show is a quick-witted, Peter Ustinov-style rollercoaster of storytelling: bizarre and brilliant, eccentric and effusive, autobiographical and alliterative, full of incredible impressions and droll digressions along the way.

Show 3: From Joan Collins to Prince Philip via Caine and Napoleon

Written and performed by John Sessions.
Producer: Liz Anstee, a CPL Production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 Wireless Nights (b01fjxc7)
Series 1

They only come out at night

Continuing his new series of nocturnal meditations, Jarvis Cocker prowls the nation's night.

This evening's theme is 'they only come out at night'. Jarvis slips between the shadows to find punks, poets, poker dens and an alcohol fuelled badger watch and eavesdrops on a series of nocturnal dreams and dramas.

His guide to the dark is poet, author and explorer of the night Al Alvarez. In this trip through the night Al points him towards a gambling club where players never see daylight and nerves begin to fray around the card table; to a feminist punk gig where other more exotic identities emerge under cover of darkness; and to an allotment in Hastings where a man's mind unwinds whilst drinking beer, feeling 'the wild' and entertaining notions of sabotage.

Jarvis is our roving eye and ear entering these nocturnal worlds to shine a light whilst contemplating what it is that we search for once night falls.

Producer: Neil McCarthy



THURSDAY 28 MAY 2020

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000jf8m)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


THU 00:30 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jf8p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jf8s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jf8v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000jf8x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000jf91)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

I’ve been thinking about love a lot recently. As the lockdown continues, I have, for once, been freed from the obligation of entertaining married couples with stories of terrible dates and men who couldn’t quite commit. For once, I am not expected to go on a string of dates, chat to strangers or sit next to the only other single person at the wedding in the hope you’ll hit it off, despite being fundamentally and absolutely unsuited to one another.

Instead, people ask me about what I have created during isolation. How have my daily walks been. Whether I’ve read anything great. What did I think about the latest series on Netflix? Have I tried any new recipes? We talk about family and friendships. We are finally having the conversations all single women have been longing to have.

Although I have been thinking about love, it has served as a conduit to consider the many types of love that exist. The unconditional love of a parent for their child; the playful love of squabbling siblings; the humane love of the philanthropist; the abiding companionship of a chosen friend; the respectful caring of a grandparent or elder.

From love stems all that is good and pure and altruistic in the human condition. It is an ever-expanding, multi-hued kaleidoscope of the very best in us; a reflection of the Divine. As the Prophet Muhammed said true faith is loving for each other what we love for ourselves.

I celebrated my birthday in lockdown and in all the days of the year I never felt more loved, and not a single one of the deliveries that knocked on my door were from a romantic partner.

May we always be showered in love, and Lord may we have the wisdom to see love how love exists all around us, not just in bunches of red roses.

Ameen.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000jf93)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09d3p60)
Gary Moore on the Stone Curlew

Braving dark countryside, sound recordist Gary Moore goes in search of the rarely-heard sound of the stone curlew and finds himself laying in wet grass swaying his mic in the air.

Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photograph: Andy Harris.


THU 06:00 Today (m000jgfl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b07vs3v1)
Zeno's Paradoxes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic philosopher from c490-430 BC whose paradoxes were described by Bertrand Russell as "immeasurably subtle and profound." The best known argue against motion, such as that of an arrow in flight which is at a series of different points but moving at none of them, or that of Achilles who, despite being the faster runner, will never catch up with a tortoise with a head start. Aristotle and Aquinas engaged with these, as did Russell, yet it is still debatable whether Zeno's Paradoxes have been resolved.

With

Marcus du Sautoy
Professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford

Barbara Sattler
Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews

and

James Warren
Reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson


THU 09:45 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jgfn)
Episode 4

Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. Beginning in spring, his diary takes us through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland.

These vivid and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling and urgent in their message. Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and trying to build friendships alongside a life of campaigning.

“I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/autism aged five … By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system.”

Written and read by Dara McAnulty
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000jgfq)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


THU 10:45 A Run in the Park (m000bl2g)
Episode 4

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?

Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…

Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.

Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Lara Sawalha
Producer ..... Michael Shannon


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000jgfs)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world


THU 11:30 Knight Fights Giant Snail (m000jgfv)
Walking fish, knights fighting snails, murderous rabbits, mischievous monkeys, The images in the margins of many medieval manuscripts, both holy and secular, can be saintly and beautiful - but also playful, crude, demonic and downright bizarre.

What are the beliefs, inventions and ideas which led the illuminators to produce such strange images in the margins of their books?

Dr Alixe Bovey explores the world of medieval marginalia.

Producer Jo Wheeler
A Freewheel production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (m000jgfx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000jj7n)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 12:06 Just William Pursuing Happiness (m000jgfz)
The Revenge

Fun, laughter and timeless comedy. Martin Jarvis performs five of Richmal Crompton's ever-popular 'Just William' Stories.
Martin has never broadcast these delightful tales before.

4. The Revenge. (William, now a proud Scout, finds that ‘doin' deeds of kindness' isn’t always a good idea.)

Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production


THU 12:20 You and Yours (m000jgg1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


THU 12:57 Weather (m000jgg3)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m000jgg5)
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 Great Post Office Trial (m000jgg7)
Navigating the Matrix

The extraordinary story of a decade-long battle with the Post Office, fought by their own Sub Postmasters. Some call it the widest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history.

After the introduction of a new computer system in the early 2000s, the Post Office began using its data to accuse Sub Postmasters of falsifying accounts and stealing money. Many were fired and financially ruined; others were prosecuted and even put behind bars.

In this ten-part series, journalist Nick Wallis gets right to the heart of the story, as he talks to those whose lives were shattered and follows the twists and turns of a David and Goliath battle as the Sub Postmasters tried to fight back.

Today we hear the part a helicopter crash played in the campaign for justice as the Sub Postmasters take their case to Westminster.

Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


THU 14:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jf85)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Rumpole (b00t9f0g)
Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle

When Rumpole and Hilda attend a concert performed by The Casterini Trio, Rumpole is surprised to be approached by Elizabeth Casterini - the trio's beautiful violinist. Rumpole falls for her charms. But then, the Trio's cellist, Tom Randall is murdered.

Elizabeth's husband Desmond was supposedly suspicious of Randall's feelings for Elizabeth. And, since he owned the gun that was found by the body, Desmond is arrested. Flattered by Elizabeth's seductive pleas, Rumpole agrees to defend Desmond at the Old Bailey. But there, Rumpole's admiration for Elizabeth rapidly begins to wane.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Rumpole in a story written by John Mortimer and adapted by Richard Stoneman.

Older Rumpole ..... Timothy West
Young Rumpole ..... Benedict Cumberbatch
Hilda/Dorothy Clapton ..... Cathy Sara
Elizabeth Casterini ..... Faye Castelow
Desmond Casterini/Henry ..... Adrian Scarborough
Bonny Bernard/Peter Matheson ..... Matthew Morgan
Claude Erskine-Brown/DS Straw ..... Nigel Anthony
Sam Ballard ..... Michael Cochrane
Oliver Oliphant/Barman ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Christopher Peek/Waiter/Usher/Alfred ..... Stephen Critchlow

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


THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000jggb)
Joyful Highlights Part 3: Landscape

In a joyful celebration of 20 years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating archives of Ramblings to share the best moments from her favourite walks.

This week's highlights showcase the diverse landscape that Clare has explored since the series began. From the Sands of Forvie in Aberdeenshire to the Wicklow Mountains in the Republic of Ireland via a moonlit night walk across the South Downs to the unique landscape of Alderney.

Please scroll down to the 'Related Links' box to click through to the programmes featured today.

Producer: Karen Gregor


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000jfng)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m000jfp9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000jggd)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000jggg)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world


THU 17:00 PM (m000jggj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jggl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Ankle Tag (m000jggn)
Series 3

Bob's Dad

The sitcom about a fraudster dad on parole returns. In the opening episode, Bob reconnects with a long lost family member and Gruff looks to atone for his sins.

Bob – Steve Speirs
Gruff – Elis James
Alice – Katy Wix
Harry – Owen Money
Anna – Sally Tatum
Nicholas - Tom Crowley

Written by Benjamin Partridge & Gareth Gwynn
Produced by Adnan Ahmed

A BBC Studios Production


THU 19:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jggr)
Writers, Adrian Flynn & Keri Davies
Director, Kim Greengrass
Editor, Jeremy Howe

David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer ..... Angus Imrie
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Tracy Horrobin ..... Susie Riddell


THU 19:15 Front Row (m000jggt)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 19:45 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by HP Lovecraft (m000jm8f)
Episode 4

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward

Award-winning writer/director Julian Simpson creates an HP Lovecraft-inspired universe through the prism of podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher.

The story begins with a missing-person investigation; Charles Dexter Ward has vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Two months later his psychiatrist Doctor Willett murders a woman in Highgate, England. Are the two events connected?

Episode Four
Kennedy interviews the arresting officer at the siege in Pawtuxet where Joseph Curwen died, back in 1980.

Cast:
Kennedy Fisher.....................JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood.................BARNABY KAY
Charles Dexter Ward…………SAMUEL BARNETT
Doctor Willett………………….MARK BAZELEY
George Shepley……………...ADAM GODLEY
Melissa………………………..PENNY DOWNIE
Ezra Weeden………………….ALUN ARMSTRONG

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling & Holly Slater

Music by Tim Elsenburg

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


THU 20:00 Law in Action (m000jg9n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]


THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m000jggw)
Economic lessons of 1945

Businesses mothballed or trying to get back on their feet. The government paying the wages of more than seven million employees. Working from home as the new norm. Could we have predicted the impact that Covid-19 would have? Not necessarily. But perhaps there are lessons to be taken from another era that experienced a huge shock - 1945, at the end of World War Two. Getting back to a peacetime economy from a war footing was a big leap for British businesses. Evan Davis and guests discuss whether that era highlights the do’s and don’ts of how to kick-start our present day economy.

Margaret MacMillan - Emeritus Professor of International History, University of Oxford
Catherine Schenk, Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Oxford
David Edgerton, Hans Rausing Professor of the History of Science and Technology and Professor of Modern British History, King’s College London.
Jim Tomlinson, Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow.

Producer: Lesley McAlpine


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000jggg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b07vs3v1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000jggy)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 Amongst Women, by John McGahern (m000jgh0)
Episode 9

Michael Moran’s life was forever transformed by his days of glory in the War of Independence. Now, a farmer in the Irish countryside, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past. However, as he grows older, his wife and daughters must confront how their own lives have been irrevocably shaped by this complicated and contradictory man.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of ‘Amongst Women’, widely considered to be the author’s masterpiece. This intimate story of a family living on the Irish border, under the thumb of a former soldier turned tyrant in his own home, has never been more relevant.

The Author
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the West of Ireland. He was a graduate of University College, Dublin. He worked as a Primary School teacher and held various academic posts at universities in Britain, Ireland and America. In the opinion of the Observer, John McGahern was 'Ireland's greatest living novelist'. He was the author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland.

Writer ..... John McGahern
Abridger ..... John McGahern
Reader ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


THU 23:00 Welcome to Wherever You Are (b09h6k1g)
Series 1

Episode 2

Welcome To Wherever You Are is a stand-up show that refuses to be constrained by geography when it comes to booking guests; instead, it uses modern technology to connect a studio audience in the BBC Radio Theatre, London, with the best comedians in the world - no matter where they happen to be.

This week, host Andrew Maxwell checks in with Tats Nkonzo to hear how the Rainbow Nation is doing; finds out if Singapore has changed since he was last there with Sharul Channa; and gets up to speed with the Iceland/Denmark rivalry with Reykjavik's own Ari Eldjárn.

Andrew Maxwell is a multi-award-winning stand up and double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, familiar to Radio 4 audiences for his appearances on The News Quiz, The Now Show, and his own series Andrew Maxwell's Public Enemies. He's also appeared on Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, and Have I Got News For You.

Presented by Andrew Maxwell
Featuring Tats Nzonzo
Featuring Sharul Channa
Featuring Ari Eldjárn

Production co-ordinator Hayley Sterling
Producer Ed Morrish

Photo credit: Matt Stronge

A BBC Studios Production.


THU 23:30 Wireless Nights (b01ghc56)
Series 1

Night Manoeuvres

Jarvis Cocker continues his prowl through the dark in the last of his new series Wireless Nights.

This evening he invites you on a curb crawl around the seamy side of town as he explores the theme 'night manoeuvres'. Driving through London he weaves his way in and out of the lives of other night riders who are always on the move. He joins a private invstigator in Nottingham on a car chase and stake out on the trail of a man suspected to be having an affair; he finds a minicab driver lost in the Mersey fog between fares, haunted by an eerie bell; and is encircled by street skaters who spin around the neon-lit West End and dark car parks seeking thrills on wheels.

The ride might get a bit hairy at times, but he promises to drop you off safely at the end.

Produced by Neil McCarthy and Laurence Grissell



FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000jgh2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 00:30 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jgfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000jgh4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000jgh7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000jghc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000jghm)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with writer and broadcaster Salma El-Wardany

Good morning.

When I was young girl, I asked my granny if she ever went to church. We were walking along a ridge between two mountains, and she gestured to the valleys on our right, and the Cheviots to our left, and told me that the mountains were her church and she came to pray every day. Here, as close to the clouds as we could get, was where she felt closest to God.

As a Muslim, with a natural curiosity for other faiths, I have prayed in many places. Mosques and churches, synagogues and temples, in my bed at the end of my happiest days and on the floor when life has brought me to my knees. But I, like my grandmother, have found something in the mountains. A feeling some may call spirituality, others awe. A sense of purpose; a challenge; an inkling of the fragility of life, a sense of the eternal, the divine. A reminder that, on this earth, in these mountains, you are a guest, and all are welcome. (Hiking through the hills, I merrily wave and say hello to passing ramblers regardless of creed, age, gender or ethnicity. The only leveller? A good pair of boots.)

In the Quran the mountains are spoken of as being firmly fixed and as providing stability to the Earth. And even though we know that the tectonic plates move over eons, reconfiguring land masses and pushing up mountain ranges, within our limited lifespans the mountains loom ever present in our landscapes, and in our minds and our poetry become a metaphor of agelessness and greatness.

When Hilary and Tenzig reached the pinnacle of the world, Everest, their achievement was awe inspiring. We are reminded of our own, much smaller, summits and as the borders remain closed and the National Parks empty, we are filled with a yearning for the hills. Instead we are each climbing our own metaphorical Everest; sitting indoors, enduring isolation, separation and loneliness. But the mountains will endure, and when we emerge from lockdown they will still be there. They will still look and smell and feel the same. They will still stand majestic on our horizons; enticing us to ever greater effort; motivating us to aspire to greater goals.

Our Lord, grant us patience and perseverance in all life’s challenges and grant us an appreciation of the beauty and majesty of mountains.

Ameen.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000jghr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378y3z)
Barred Warbler

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

Michaela Strachan presents the barred warbler. With its glaring yellow eyes, banded chest and long white-tipped tail, the Barred Warbler is always an exciting find. Look out for them in late summer and autumn, when young Barred Warblers turn up here regularly as they migrate south.


FRI 06:00 Today (m000jhn5)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000jfnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty (m000jhpv)
Episode 5

Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. Beginning in spring, his diary takes us through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland.

These vivid and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling and urgent in their message. Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara’s intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and trying to build friendships alongside a life of campaigning.

“I was diagnosed with Asperger’s/autism aged five … By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system.”

Written and read by Dara McAnulty
Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000jhn9)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


FRI 10:45 A Run in the Park (m000bv3d)
Episode 5

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?

Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…

Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel ‘Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’.

Writer ..... David Park
Reader ..... Des McAleer
Producer ..... Michael Shannon


FRI 11:00 Pandemic 1918 (m000jhnc)
Episode 3 - The long term impact

As the coronavirus affects the whole world, leading virologist Professor John Oxford presents a three part series on the origin, spread and reaction to the Pandemic that devastated much of the planet just over 100 years ago.

The so-called Spanish flu of 1918/19 is estimated to have killed more than 50 million of the 500 million people it infected, including 228,000 in the UK. It was the planet's biggest single natural human catastrophe - a flu pandemic that killed more people than both world wars put together in a fraction of the time. And yet this huge moment in history remains largely under the radar.

Despite massive advances in health care and medical science, the parallels to today are stark. Professor John Oxford has warned of a similar kind of pandemic for years and has continually argued such a threat should be at the very heart of disaster planning for all governments.

In three programmes, he charts the story of how the 1918/19 flu pandemic affected the UK and the world.

In Episode 3, he looks at the long term impact of the flu on health, communities, the economy and governments.

Britain and much of the world was never the same again. Whole generations and communities were wiped out - 900,000 orphans were created in just 4 weeks in one part of Africa while some people never recovered from the long lasting impact of having the flu. Many remained desperately weak and died long before their time. Others developed Encephalitis Lethargica, which put 5 million people worldwide into a long term coma.

And the events of 1918/19 changed dramatically the way different countries saw health provision. New Zealand was quick off the mark with huge changes almost immediately, while the devastating experiences of 1918/19 in the UK would lead eventually to the development of the National Health Service.

The economy wasn't helped by the killer flu. The war, political uncertainty in Ireland and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution created a perfect storm. Many businesses around before the war would not return and unemployment and poverty was rife in the early 1920s.

But it did lead to some early change in Britain around general health and well being, with more focus on housing to deal with a huge overcrowding crisis, clean water supplies and access to other utilities.

The impact on mental health can't be underestimated. Depression was a huge fact of life for many in the post-flu period and we hear testimony about loved ones who were never quite themselves again - some never wanting to discuss the flu, others having a severe continual sense of fear and insecurity that nothing was safe and that, one day, more people might be taken from them.

As Covid-19 continues to spread and the world battles to bring this current pandemic to an end, John attempts to give some context to current events by concluding with what he thinks we can learn from the 1918/19 experience.

Produced by Ashley Byrne and Iain Mackness
A Made in Manchester production for Radio 4


FRI 11:30 A Charles Paris Mystery (m000jhnf)
A Doubtful Death

Episode 2

Comedy as the loveably louche actor once again finds himself playing detective.
Charles is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept theatre group when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing. In between rehearsals with puppeteers and mime artists Charles decides to find out what has happened to her.

By Jeremy Front from a story by Simon Brett.

Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Dan ..... Will Kirk
Vicky ..... Jessica Turner
Tomasz ..... Ian Conningham
Zoe ..... Laura Christy
Siriol ..... Sinead MacInnes
Pete ..... Neil McCaul
Tim ..... Greg Jones
Izzy ..... Lucy Reynolds
Canon Park/Director ..... Clive Hayward
Passenger ..... Adam Courting
Waitress/Sat Nav ..... Amy Bentley-Klein

Directed by Sally Avens


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000jhq7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000jj7q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 12:06 Just William Pursuing Happiness (m000jhnk)
William The Showman

Fun, laughter and timeless comedy. Martin Jarvis performs five of Richmal Crompton's ever-popular 'Just William' Stories.
Martin has never broadcast these delightful tales before.

5. William The Showman. (William puts on an ‘insect show’, with intriguing results.)

Director: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis & Ayres Production


FRI 12:20 You and Yours (m000jhnm)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


FRI 12:57 Weather (m000jhnp)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m000jhnr)
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 Great Post Office Trial (m000jhnt)
Follow the Money

The extraordinary story of a decade-long battle with the Post Office, fought by their own Sub Postmasters. Some call it the widest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history.

After the introduction of a new computer system in the early 2000s, the Post Office began using its data to accuse Sub Postmasters of falsifying accounts and stealing money. Many were fired and financially ruined; others were prosecuted and even put behind bars.

In this ten-part series, journalist Nick Wallis gets right to the heart of the story, as he talks to those whose lives were shattered and follows the twists and turns of a David and Goliath battle as the Sub Postmasters tried to fight back.

Today, the rollercoaster ride contnues as hopes of a settlement turns to despair at an apparent change of legal tactics by the Post Office and campaigners face the prospect of a long and seemingly unwinnable courtroom battle.

Presenter: Nick Wallis
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 14:00 The Archers Revisited (m000jggr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (m000jhnw)
Personal Shopper

A topical drama about how living in enforced isolation can lead to the forging of new relationships, and to the revitalisation of old ones.

It starts with a skinny slip of paper posted through Nina’s letter box:
Dear Neighbour. My name is Max. I am almost 15 years old and I live at number 76 of this road. My school has been shut and I am free to do shopping for anyone who needs it. Just ring me on the number below.

Nina’s first instinct is to bin the note. She’s not hugely bothered about the neighbours. The younger people who’ve moved onto the street in recent years are very different from her. They’re smarter, richer. They have well-spoken kids with names like Max.

But life is tricky in isolation. Nina’s husband Frank is ill. Maybe it’s the virus, maybe’s it’s just a bad cold, they can’t really tell.

Nina knows the rule is that she must stay indoors. And they don’t have anyone else. So Nina gives Max a call. The next day, he leaves a first bag of shopping outside her hall door.

Told through phone calls and an audio diary that Nina is updating daily, the drama follows the relationship that develops between Max and Nina through the first weeks of enforced isolation.

As the story unfolds, we come to realise that Nina is making the audio diary for a particular, special person.

CAST
Nina .......... Monica Dolan
Frank ........ Phil Davis
Max .......... Tom Glenister
Sarah ....... Jane Slavin

Written by Hugh Costello
Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000jhny)
GQT At Home: Episode Nine

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural panel show from her home. Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Pottage are on hand to answer questions from green-fingered listeners.

Producer: Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000jhp0)
Mumma's Boy

A woman grapples with new motherhood and apocalyptic weather in a new story by Kirstin Innes.
Read by Helen McAlpine

Kirstin Innes is a writer and journalist. Her new novel 'Scabby Queen' will be published later this year.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000jhp2)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.


FRI 16:30 More or Less (m000jf6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m000jhp4)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000jhp8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000jhpb)
Series 102

Episode 7

Angela Barnes hosts series 102, leading a panel of regular News Quiz comics and journalists in rounding up the news stories of the week. Joining Angela this week is Anand Menon and Zoe Lyons

Produced by Suzy Grant

A BBC Studios Audio Production


FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000jhpd)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


FRI 19:45 The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by HP Lovecraft (m000jkrm)
Episode 5

The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward

Award-winning writer/director Julian Simpson creates an HP Lovecraft-inspired universe through the prism of podcasters Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher.

The story begins with a missing-person investigation; Charles Dexter Ward has vanished from a secure psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. Two months later his psychiatrist Doctor Willett murders a woman in Highgate, England. Are the two events connected?

Episode Five
Has Heawood found a connection between the murder of Lucy Hawthorne and the disappearance of Charles Dexter Ward?

Cast:
Matthew Heawood…………...BARNABY KAY
Kennedy Fisher.....................JANA CARPENTER
Ezra Wheedon……………….ALUN ARMSTRONG

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

Sound Recordist and Designer: David Thomas
Production Coordinators: Sarah Tombling & Holly Slater

Music by Tim Elsenburg

A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000jhpg)
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from venues around the UK.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000jhpj)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.


FRI 21:00 The Great Post Office Trial (m000jhpl)
Episode 11

The extraordinary story of a campaign to uncover a massive scandal at the Post Office.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000jhpn)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 Amongst Women, by John McGahern (m000jhpq)
Episode 10

Michael Moran’s life was forever transformed by his days of glory in the War of Independence. Now, a farmer in the Irish countryside, Moran is still fighting - with his family, his friends, even himself - in a poignant struggle to come to terms with the past. However, as he grows older, his wife and daughters must confront how their own lives have been irrevocably shaped by this complicated and contradictory man.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of ‘Amongst Women’, widely considered to be the author’s masterpiece. This intimate story of a family living on the Irish border, under the thumb of a former soldier turned tyrant in his own home, has never been more relevant.

The Author
John McGahern was born in Dublin in 1934 and brought up in the West of Ireland. He was a graduate of University College, Dublin. He worked as a Primary School teacher and held various academic posts at universities in Britain, Ireland and America. In the opinion of the Observer, John McGahern was 'Ireland's greatest living novelist'. He was the author of six highly acclaimed novels and four collections of short stories, and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship, the American-Irish Award, the Prix Etrangère Ecureuil and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Produced by Celia de Wolff for BBC Northern Ireland.

Writer ..... John McGahern
Abridger ..... John McGahern
Reader ..... Lloyd Hutchinson
Producer ..... Celia de Wolff


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000jg9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Wireless Nights (b04lpyj1)
Series 3

Reaching for the Moon

Jarvis Cocker attempts to fly to the moon, with the aid of astronaut Chris Hadfield - famous for his rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity on the International Space Station.

En route he hears stories of those touched by the moon in its many manifestations.

Producer: Laurence Grissell