SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2025

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002m1pb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Everest Obsession (m001y2x7)
5. The future of climbing Everest

Is a global obsession with Everest creating unnecessary risk for the people who work there? On 18 April 2014, an avalanche killed 16 sherpas on the mountain. They were picking their way through the dangerous Khumbu Icefall carrying heavy equipment for climbing companies. The tragedy shone a spotlight on the commercial side of the mountain, where hundreds attempt the summit each year, supported by sherpas.
Rebecca Stephens became the first British woman to reach the summit in 1993.
We hear what draws people to climb Everest now and different ideas about adventure from guests including Sir Chris Bonington, as well as concerns about climate change and overcrowding.
This was first broadcast in 2024.

Presenter: Rebecca Stephens MBE
Producer: Laura Jones
Production Assistance in Kathmandu: Pradeep Bashyal
Sound design: Craig Boardman
Editor: Clare Fordham
Production Coordinators: Gemma Ashman and Ellie Dover
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002m1pd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002m1pg)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:30 News Summary (m002m1pj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002m1pl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002m1pn)
Taste and See!

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Swarzy Shire

Growing up, I’ve always been around food and when my family throw a party, it’s always in the kitchen! My Mum is from Guyana and my Dad is from Mauritius so my home is full of flavour, laughter, and music - but not much faith. My parents aren’t Christians and don’t believe in Jesus, but I had a life changing moment at 14 years old… after being caught shoplifting.

The shopkeeper was furious when he found empty hangers in the changing room and immediately called the police. I panicked and, in desperation, I prayed for the first time: “God, if You’re real, please help me. Get me out of this mess, and I’ll follow You for the rest of my days.” To my surprise, the shopkeeper put down the phone, opened the door, and let me go.

I’d never experienced such mercy like that before. That same week, a friend from school invited me to her youth church. Someone handed me an Oreo milkshake before leading my upstairs where their testimony night was happening. I listened to other young people shared how Jesus met them in their mess with mercy and grace. And that night, I met Him too.

Psalm 34:8 is one of my favourite verses from the bible: “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” Looking back on my life, both food and faith have helped me experience God’s goodness. That’s why I love reading how Jesus often shared meals with people - from wedding feasts to breakfast by the sea - moments where His kindness and care were revealed in the most ordinary, human ways.

I pray there would be moments this week, that we might taste and see the goodness of God in our own lives and find that His love is sweeter than life itself…and Oreo milkshakes too. Amen.


SAT 05:45 In the Loop (m001nvp8)
3. A Strange Loop

…a circle has no beginning and no end. It represents rebirth and regeneration, continuity and infinity. From wedding rings to stone circles, in poetry, music and the trajectories of the planets themselves, circles and loops are embedded in our imaginations.

Poet Paul Farley goes walking in circles in five very different ‘loopy’ locations. He visits a stone circle, a roundabout and a rollercoaster to ask why human beings find rings and circles so symbolic, significant and satisfying.

The earliest civilisations were drawn to the idea of closing a circle and creating a loop; in human relationships we’d all rather be within the circle of trust; and in arts and music our eyes, ears and minds are inexorably drawn towards loops and repetitions.

As he puts himself in the loop – sometimes at the centre and sometimes on the circumference – Paul has circular conversations with mathematicians and physicists, composers and poets. Each one propels him into a new loop of enquiry. And that’s because a circle has no beginning and no end…
.
Today Paul is on location in a location that doesn’t exist. At the top of a building a procession of monks climb a staircase while another line of monks comes down. Yet the top of the staircase somehow – impossibly - loops back round to the bottom. M.C. Escher’s print Ascending and Descending is an example of a ‘strange loop’, a loop which ascends through different levels yet still comes back to its starting point. Paul explores strange loops in art, maths and music with Mark Veldhuysen from the Escher Foundation and mathematicians Marcus du Sautoy and Eugenia Cheng.

Producer: Jeremy Grange


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002m8zb)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m002m0f9)
India in the Cotswolds with Corinne Fowler and Raj Pal

Clare is walking in the Cotswolds with author Corinne Fowler and historian Raj Pal, whose family has roots in both Britain and India.

Corinne is leading the way, recreating and extending the “Indian Walk in the Cotswolds” walk she originally took with Raj for a chapter in her book Our Island Stories: Ten Walks through Rural Britain and its Hidden History of Empire. As they ramble, they reflect on how the British countryside is deeply connected to colonial history.

Beginning on the Heart of England Way at Bourton on the Hill, they pass Sezincote House, a Neo-Mughal estate built in 1805 by a former East India Company officer, take in the Church of St James in Longborough, before circling back to the Horse and Groom pub in Bourton.

Map: OS Explorer OL45 The Cotswolds - Burford, Chipping Camden, Cirencester, Stow on the Wold
Grid Ref: SP 173 325 Near the Horse & Groom pub, Bourton on the Hill

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer for BBC Studios: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002m8zg)
15/11/25 EFRA questions, report on farming in Wales, drought, potato harvest, mushrooms, truffles, cider

Eight weeks after taking up her post as DEFRA Secretary of State, Emma Reynolds has faced her first barrage of questions from the cross-party group of MPs at the EFRA select committee. MPs quizzed her about farming profitability, fishing policy, water pollution, border controls and illegal meat. They asked about environmental payments too and she acknowledged that mistakes had been made and lessons learned when the Sustainable Farming Incentive was suddenly suspended earlier this year.

A report by the House of Commons’ Welsh Affairs Committee is calling for the Government's inheritance tax on farmers to be halted, because it says the tax will have a detrimental impact on Welsh farming.

The Environment Agency's warned that unless we see some serious rain, England will be in drought next year. We find out how this year's lack of water has affected the potato harvest.

Mushroom growers face many challenges: rising energy costs; sourcing the staff to pick them; and finding alternatives to peat for growing the crop. We visit a family farm in Northern Ireland that's become one of the UK's biggest producers of organic mushrooms.

Truffle cultivation isn't usually associated with Scotland but milder, wetter summers are providing new opportunities, according to one professor who's developing new methods of cultivating truffles.

This year's apple harvest has been a bumper one, but with a small orchard on a small landmass, the family producing cider on Guernsey have had to find a creative way to supplement their crop.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002m8zl)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002m8zq)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002m8zv)
Paul and Hollie Cook, Baking, Extreme Cleaning, and the Inheritance Tracks of Richard E Grant

On a wet and windy Saturday Live, Hollie Cook joins us to discuss a career that has seen her music streamed millions of times online, as well what it's like to be raised by a Sex Pistol - her dad, Paul Cook is with us too, still drumming up a storm half a century after it all started.

The almost indecently talented Jasmine Mitchell - completing a degree in medicine while finding time to win Bake Off by a country mile.

Extreme cleaner Ben Giles started out cleaning windows, and moved into cleaning crime scenes and all manner of unspeakable things.

Also today we talk to the award-winning TikToker championing the humble bus and we have the Inheritance Tracks of Barbra Streisand obsessive…Richard E Grant.

Presenter: Adrian Chiles
Producer: Ben Mitchell
Assistant Producer: Lowri Morgan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m002m8zz)
Series 24

Mysteries from the Final Frontier

Space: the final frontier, a deep dark realm full of questions and mysteries - many of which science can't yet satisfactorily answer.
But that won't stop the Curious Cases team!

In a special edition recorded in front of an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in London, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain team up with a panel of guests who know their way around the universe: presenters from the world's longest running science TV show, The Sky At Night.

With the intergalactic expertise of George Dransfield, Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Hannah and Dara tackle a slew of space-related questions put forward by the listeners - exploring topics ranging from the sound of stars and the shape of the universe, to the search for alien life.

To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

SPACE AUDIO CLIPS:

- Maggie's Choice: In 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe descended to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Microphones aboard Huygens recorded the sounds of descent and landing, then The Planetary Society and scientists at the University of California helped ESA process the audio.
CREDIT: European Space Agency (Huygens probe) / HASI-PWA Team (instrument and data) / The Planetary Society (processing)

- George's Choice: The black hole at the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster has been associated with sound for years, since astronomers discovered that pressure waves sent out by the black hole caused ripples in the cluster's hot gas that could be translated into a note. This new sonification was released for NASA's Black Hole Week in 2022.
CREDIT: NASA

- Chris's Choice: In 2023, the Planck space telescope picked up echoes left by soundwaves that travelled through the early Universe. This primordial hum was then translated into frequencies we can hear.
CREDIT: NASA

Producer: Lucy Taylor
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002m902)
Series 50

Hastings

Jay Rayner and the panel are in Hastings in front of a live audience who are in need of answers to their kitchen conundrums. Joining Jay to offer their best advice are chefs, cooks and food writers Melissa Thompson, Sophie Wright and Shelina Permalloo, alongside resident food historian Dr Annie Gray.

Jay welcomes local fishmonger, Sonny Elliot from Rock-A-Nor Fisheries to give a flavour of the local fish while the panel suggest uses for a bottle of advocaat and tackle one of the trickiest of questions… is life too short to peel a pineapple?

Also, with the Battle of Hastings serving as inspiration, they turn their taste buds to Normandy, and in particular, the delicious cream produced in the region.

Producer: Dominic Tyerman
Assistant Producer: Dulcie Whadcock

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002m905)
The Guardian's political editor Pippa Crerar assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

Following a turbulent week for the government, with talk of plots to replace the Prime Minister and speculation over the budget, Pippa speaks to two Labour MPs, Chris Curtis and Rachael Maskell, about the mood on the Labour backbenches.

To discuss the challenges for BBC following the resignation of its director general, Pippa speaks to Conservative peer Tina Stowell, a former Head of Corporate Affairs at the BBC and Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport.

To discuss the state of the prison system, Pippa is joined by former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke who, earlier this year, carried out a review into sentencing for the government.

And, to give their take on a difficult week for the Prime Minister, Pippa is joined by the political editor of the News Statesman magazine Ailbhe Rea and Luke Tryl the Managing Director of the polling company More in Common.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002m907)
The shadow of Islamic State in Syria

Kate Adie introduces stories from Syria, the Philippines, Tanzania and Brazil.

During his visit to Washington this week, Syria’s interim president Ahmed Al Sharaa announced that Syria will join the coalition of 90 countries trying to eliminate the remnants of the Islamic State group. The threat of IS is increasing on Syrian soil, where 8,000 suspected IS fighters remain in jails, and 34,000 of their family members are held in camps. Orla Guerin reports on the new generation growing up in the camps.

Last week the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Fung-wong - the twenty first big tropical storm to hit the country this year. Jonathan Head reflects on how the country copes with its vulnerability to natural disasters - and the growing anger over misappropriation of millions of dollars designated for improving flood defences.

Tanzania recently experienced its worst post-election violence in decades. The newly elected president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, was inaugurated after the country’s electoral commission declared she had won 98 per cent of the vote. In her speech she insisted the election was free and fair - though critics accuse the government of eliminating any credible political competition. Victor Kenani has been following the story on Tanzania’s border with Kenya.

Global leaders met this week in the Brazilian city of Belem for the latest COP climate summit, though it was off to a rocky start when it was not entirely clear what new - and renewed - pledges would be up for discussion. Watching on was our Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt.

Producer: Serena Tarling
Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002m909)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002m90c)
Water Bills and Graduate Jobs

A record number of households across England and Wales are now getting social tariffs from water suppliers to help cut their bills. Two million households now get support according to a new report from the Consumer Council for Water, which is up by 22% on last year. It comes as nearly 3 million are now in debt to water companies, owing an average of £744. What's behind that rise?

If you're a recent graduate - or you know one - then you're probably already aware of how tough the jobs market can be right now. Several recent reports show finding work with a new degree has got harder in recent years. We'll look at what help there is for graduates.

New data shows that hundreds of thousands of former students are eligible for nearly £100 million pounds worth of refunds on their loans. How can you apply?

And how can banks do more to support people with learning disabilities?

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast on Radio 4 at 12pm, Saturday 15th November 2025)


SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m002m1ns)
Series 3

Trump, Traitors, and RIP Tim Davie

This week, The Naked Week fundraises for the BBC, welcomes a traitor, and necromances a potato.

From host Andrew Hunter Murray and The Skewer's Jon Holmes, Radio 4’s newest Friday night comedy The Naked Week returns with a blend of the silly and serious. From satirical stunts to studio set pieces via guest correspondents and investigative journalism, it's a bold, audacious take not only on the week’s news, but also the way it’s packaged and presented.

Host: Andrew Hunter Murray
Guests: Paul Gorton, Milo Edwards, and The BNC Players James Akka, Holly Skinner and Amy Small

Investigations Team: Cat Neilan, Cormac Kehoe, Freya Shaw

Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Jason Hazeley
James Kettle

Additional Material:
Sophie Dickson
Ali Panting
Darren Phillips
Cooper Mawhinny Sweryt
David Riffkin

Live Sound: Jerry Peal
Post Production: Tony Churnside
Clip Assistant: David Riffkin
Production Assistant: Molly Punshon

Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Producer and Director: Jon Holmes

Executive Producer: Phil Abrams.

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002m90f)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002m90h)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002m1nz)
Baroness Bennett, Kate Ferguson, David Simmonds MP, Baroness Smith

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from the Majestic Wine headquarters in Watford with the Green Party peer Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, the political editor at The Sun on Sunday Kate Ferguson, the Shadow Minister for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities David Simmonds MP and the Labour Party peer Baroness Smith of Malvern.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Andrew Lenton


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002m90k)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?

Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse G Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002m1nv)
Rex and Phoebe watch while the Adviser inspects the beaver enclosure. When Kate messages that she wants to join them Phoebe admits she’s finding it hard dealing with Kate, before the Adviser beckons Rex over. Later, Rex tells Phoebe and Kate that the underwater grilles need reinforcement before getting approval. It’ll put the release back several weeks, meaning Phoebe will miss it. Kate’s surprised by how upset Phoebe is, wondering if everything’s all right? Kate then gives grateful Phoebe a pep talk, saying she’ll be a better mother than Kate was. And best of all, Kate promises to stay with Phoebe and Brodie until the baby arrives. Phoebe covers that she’s over the moon.

Amber tells George about her mother’s privileged upbringing and how everyone comes up short in her estimation. Bill arrives for lunch, casually mentioning Amber’s mother can’t make it, before heading to the bar. Amber knew her mother would find something more important to do than making things right with her daughter. George tries to carry the conversation with Bill, who’s dismissive of Amber’s online activities, before following up with scathing remarks about Amber’s education and life choices. Amber responds by criticising her mother’s lack of ambition, pushing Bill to admit she still hasn’t come round to Amber being with George. George then insists he will look after Amber, no matter what. But when George disappears temporarily Bill is dismissive of him. After Bill goes Amber tries to disabuse George of the notion that the meeting went well, but George is convinced everything’s going to work out.


SAT 15:00 Secrets and Lies (m002mffm)
Shirley's Party

For 50 odd years Shirley has had to keep things to herself. At her husband Roy's insistence. Roy is a secretive man, and this has made Shirley's life quite tricky. Now Roy is dying and he wants that kept secret too.

But Shirley has started talking, to her neighbour. And likes how it feels. She finds herself telling him about Roy. Even about Michael, their son, who is in prison for manslaughter. And this new feeling, of being able to talk, leads her, recklessly, to decide to throw her first party. For Michael, the day he gets out of prison.

A play about a family emerging into the light, blinking, looking around and seeing possibilities. It's also a romance.

Cast
Shirley ….. Rachel Davies
Roy ….. Philip Jackson
Alan ….. Alan Williams
Michael ….. Ralph Ineson
Lindsey ….. Christine Bottomley
Zoe ….. Eden Ottman
Mia ….. Faye Weerasinghe

Written by Katie Hims
Sound by Pete Ringrose
Produced by Mary Peate
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
A Hooley Production for BBC Radio 4

Katie Hims is one of the country’s most celebrated radio dramatists. Notable plays and series include Lost Property, Black Eyed Girls, Home Front, 24, Kildare Road, Middlemarch and Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her most recent original play for radio, Waterloo Station, written for Ralph Ineson and Christine Bottomley, won the Writer’s Guild Best Audio Drama Award 2023.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002m90p)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Christine Flack, Women’s Football Stadiums, Pelvic Girdle Pain, Fatherhood, Eleanor of Castile

Caroline Flack was a Bafta-winning TV presenter, host of shows including Love Island and The X Factor. In February of 2020, she took her own life ahead of a court case in which she was charged with the assault of her then boyfriend, after weeks of press scrutiny. Her mother Christine Flack tells Clare McDonnell about spending the past five years uncovering documents from the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to try to find out more about the events around Caroline’s death and she also questions the role of the press. That journey is documented in a two-part documentary out on Disney+ called Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth.

This week, Women’s Super League Football officially unveil Design Guidelines for the Delivery of Elite Women’s Stadiums in England – a world first framework supporting clubs, local authorities, and architects in building or upgrading venues specifically for their women’s teams. They say the rapid growth of the women’s game has demonstrated that football venues, historically built and designed for male players and fans, need to be better equipped to cater towards the specific needs of female athletes and supporters. Hannah Buckley, Head of Infrastructure, Safety and Sustainability for WSL football and Suzy Wrack, women’s football correspondent for the Guardian discuss.

Pelvic Girdle Pain, also known as pubic symphysis dysfunction, affects an estimated one in five pregnant women. It is often mild but can sometimes be debilitating and it's been highlighted by a BBC news report that has come out today. It's not harmful to the baby, but it can affect simple things like the mother's mobility. Kylie Pentelow spoke to Victoria Roberton, who experienced Pelvic Girdle Pain during her first pregnancy - she is now coordinator at the Pelvic Partnership, and Dr Nighat Arif, a GP specialising in women's health.

As part of the Radio 4 Fatherhood season, Clare McDonnell and her guests discuss the role of fatherhood in men’s lives. Darren Harriott is a 37-year-old comedian and presenter of Father Figuring. Darren has now lived longer than his dad, who took his own life while in prison, and he is questioning would he be a good dad? What even makes a good dad? They were joined by Dr Robin Hadley who has written a book looking at why men, like himself, do not become fathers.

Eleanor of Castile was England’s Queen as wife of Edward I. When she died in Lincoln in 1290, heartbroken Edward brought her body back to London with a 200 mile funeral cortege, commissioning 12 elaborate crosses to be created at every place her body rested. Historian Alice Loxton retraced the walk last year on the anniversary of the procession, a mere 734 years later. She joined Kylie Pentelow to tell her why.

Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Annette Wells


SAT 17:00 PM (m002m90r)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002m90t)
'I'm preparing for government': Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth

Can Plaid Cymru replace Labour as the party of power in Wales next year? Rhun ap Iorwerth, the party's leader, thinks so.

Rhun ap Iorwerth joins Nick in the Political Thinking studio to talk about how his parents' passion for Welsh heritage and language formed the basis for his vision for the country.

They explore Welsh identity and the anti-monarchy spirit that inspired the name of his teenage band.

Also on the agenda: immigration, mispronunciations, and Robbie Williams.

Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Research: Chloe Desave
Editor: Leela Padmanabhan


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002m90w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002m90y)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002m910)
Donald Trump Says He Will Press Ahead With Legal Action Against BBC

Donald Trump has said he will speak to Sir Keir Starmer this weekend about his plans to sue the BBC for the way it edited footage of one of his speeches. The corporation has apologised, but is refusing to pay him compensation. Mr Trump insists he has an "obligation" to press ahead with legal action, saying he is seeking up to five billion dollars. In other news, a leading refugee charity has said the government's plan to allow people granted asylum to stay in the UK only temporarily will not deter small boat crossings. And Storm Claudia causes widespread flooding in Monmouth.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002m912)
John Lloyd, Valene Kane, Kit Green, Luvcat, Jessica Swale

What's a Kentucky? Comedy legend John Lloyd is here to reveal all, in honour of the 42nd anniversary of his cult dictionary 'The Meaning of Liff', co-written with the much missed Douglas Adams, Jessica Swale is the writer behind the new Paddington musical and she tells us about her emotional first meeting with the bear. Jessica Valene stars as a woman on the edge in a new drama series, Summerwater. There's music from cabaret star Kit Green with her new album 'Four Letter Words' and alternative pop singer-songwriter Luvcat will be performing from her debut album Vicious Delicious.

Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Jessica Treen


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002m914)
David Hockney

David Hockney is arguably Britain’s most loved living artist. He's known as a colourful character, not only because of his vibrant, colour rich paintings of Californian landscapes, glittering blue pools, and thick Yorkshire woodlands, but also his own carefully curated image from the 1960s- bright blond hair and oversized thick black round glasses.

He was born in Bradford in 1937, and knew by the age of 10 he wanted to be an artist. He studied at the Royal College of Art, and by his mid 20s he was key player in London’s bohemian pop-art scene. He then moved to LA in pursuit of sunshine and inspiration.

He delights in using new technology to create; from the polaroid, to the fax machine, and his iPad.

Now, more than 60 years into his career, aged 88, David Hockney is not slowing down.

His image has recently been depicted by drones in a light-show in the skies above Bradford, in a colourful tribute to the city’s most famous son.

Becky Milligan speaks to his muse, the textile designer Celia Birtwell, art historian Marco Livingstone, dancer and contemporary Wayne Sleep and art critic Waldemar Januszczak.

Production
Presenter: Becky Milligan
Producers: Ben Crighton, Mhairi MacKenzie and Marie Lennon
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Editor: Justine Lang
Sound Editor: Gareth Jones

Archive
BBC Imagine…Summer 2009: David Hockney – A Bigger Picture (Coluga Pictures)
BBC The Interview: David Hockney - A Life in Art (2025)
“Joie de Vivre” clip courtesy of Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (2011)


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002kjvb)
Series 34

Mind-reading computers – Phil Wang, Anne Vanhoestenberghe and Luke Bashford

For once, Brian Cox and Robin Ince are on the same wavelength – with thinking caps firmly on, they plug into the science of brain-computer interfaces. Helping them decode the tech are neuroscientist Luke Bashford, biomedical engineer Anne Vanhoestenberghe, and comedian Phil Wang.

Together the panel switches on to the possibilities of using implanted and wearable devices to restore movement, speech, sight… or even to decode thoughts themselves. From the ethics of cognitive enhancement to the future of mind-reading and immersive gaming, strap in for this electrifyingly thought-provoking episode.

Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m00100rd)
Nuremberg Remembered

The Nuremberg Military Tribunal began on 20th November 1945 and ran until 1st October 1946.

It was a dramatic, ground-breaking trial which aimed to bring evidence-based courtroom justice to some of the most high-ranking Nazi officials. In doing so it began the evolution of international criminal law.

The lead British prosecutor at Nuremberg was Sir Hartley Shawcross.

As a boy his son William listened to 78rpm recordings of his father's potent and poignant closing speech at the trial.

These recordings had a powerful effect on him.

In this programme William Shawcross revisits those recordings and explores the ways those brought together by the trial spoke about it to their children -- or in some cases never spoke about it at all.

Featuring Niklas Frank, Ellen Graebe, Hadas Kalderon and Thomas Wartenberg.

With grateful thanks to Katharine Campbell, Charles Gilbert, Dan Jones and Ali Paczensky.

Thanks to Sonia Paul and Sabine Schereck for recording assistance.


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002m0cq)
What should we expect from a father?

This year’s John Lewis Christmas advert puts an emotional focus on a father-son relationship. It shows a dad and his teenage boy struggling to put their feelings into words. It points to what many observe as a wider crisis in fatherhood. Numerous studies suggest that an involved father significantly improves a child's life chances. However, in the UK, a teenager is more likely to own a mobile phone than live with their dad, according to a 2025 report from the Centre for Social Justice.

The reasons are complex. Traditionalists cite changing gender roles leading to conflicting societal expectations on men and a confusion of male identity. Progressives suggest the pressure on dads to be strong for their family, both financially and emotionally, makes it difficult for them to demonstrate vulnerability, and that leads to guilt, stress and burnout. Youth workers report how the lack of a male role model at home can make space for other damaging influences - in the real world and online, in gangs and in the “manosphere” - pushing a very narrow definition of masculinity, and begetting more ill-equipped fathers.

What should be the role of a father, practically, emotionally and morally? How, if at all, should it be different from that of the mother? Do we expect too much or too little of fathers? Do children always need fathers in their lives? How should we address the ‘rinse-and-repeat’ cycle of absent fathers?

Chair: Julie Etchingham
Panel: Carmody Grey, Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy and James Orr.
Witnesses: Tony Rucinski, Genevieve Roberts, Anton Noble, Ed Davies.
Producer: Dan Tierney.


SAT 22:00 News (m002m917)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002m1mz)
Why Is Africa Feeding Us?

Dan Saladino and reporter Jack Thompson investigate the UK's growing dependence on two farms in northern Senegal based around a lake. In recent years they have become the source of most of the sweetcorn, radishes and beans sold by supermarkets.

Is this a good arrangement for the UK and the Senegalese or a risk to food security in both countries?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
Reporting from Senegal, Jack Thompson.


SAT 23:00 Mark Steel's in Town (m002m04b)
Series 14

6. Unst (Shetland part 2)

6/6 - Unst - 'The Island Above All Others'.

After performing in Lerwick earlier in the series, Mark’s Shetland adventure concludes in Unst, as far north as you can get.

There will also be extended versions of each episode available on BBC Sounds.

Written and performed by Mark Steel

Additional material by Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinators Caroline Barlow and Katie Baum
Sound Manager Jerry Peal
Producer Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios production for Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023ydg)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity

3 - From West Ham United to Madagascar

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission from West Ham United to Madagascar with the help of Isy Suttie, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find entertaining links between random places, people and things.

Could you make your way from The Starship Enterprise to the Air Fryer, armed only with A Level Economics and a Geography degree? Hugh Dennis is going to have to. While Steve Punt will have to pick his way across Africa, to find what links Machiavelli and Madagascar. Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.

Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Isy Suttie
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last

A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4

SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2025

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002m91c)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002m008)
Katherine Rundell

Award-winning author Katherine Rundell discusses The Poisoned King, the second instalment in her acclaimed children’s fantasy series, Impossible Creatures.

In this latest adventure, protagonist Christopher journeys back to the magical archipelago - a realm where dragons, unicorns, griffons, mermaids, and much more, all roam free. But this time, he’s faced with an urgent and mysterious threat.

Rundell shares the three literary inspirations behind her new novel: William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600), C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian (1951), and Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea (1968).

Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002m91f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002m91h)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:30 News Summary (m002m91k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002m91m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002m91p)
St Mary-Le-Bow on Cheapside in the City of London

Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary-Le-Bow on Cheapside in the City of London. This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the first broadcast of the sound of the Bow Bells by the BBC. A recording of those bells was used by the BBC’s World Service broadcast during the Second World War as a symbol of hope to the people of Europe. The current bells were cast by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel in 1956 replacing a set lost in the War. The Tenor bell weighs forty one and three-quarter hundredweight and is tuned to the note of C. We hear them ringing Stedman Cinques.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002m04l)
Uber Guide Dog Update, Bake Off Casting Call

App-based taxi company Uber have launched a new accessibility tool for assistance dog owners. The optional feature allows people to self-identify within the Uber app, which will inform drivers that they are traveling with their dog. The aim is to offer riders better support and to try to combat trip refusals. General Manager of Uber UK Andrew Brem tells In Touch how people can use the feature and how it will contribute to their combatting of refusals based on assistance dogs.

Fancy yourself a keen baker? Love Productions, the company behind Channel 4's popular baking programme The Great British Bake Off, is calling for visually impaired amateur bakers to apply for the next series of the show. Molly Midlane, Casting Producer at Love Productions, describes how people can apply.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002m95n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vpd)
Finding My Sikh Faith Against the Odds

Harj Gahley is a Sikh who began gambling when he was 23.
What started as a ‘fun’ night out with friends at a casino soon spiralled out of control until it nearly cost him his life.

A decade-long secret addiction took him to the edge of personal and financial ruin, before his lies were eventually exposed by his heartbroken wife. His hidden truth highlights a cultural stigma, as Harj faces isolation when he first turns to his faith and community leaders for help and support.

Instead of compassion, Harj finds shame and judgement when he confesses to an elder about the depth of his problems. Determined to rebuild his life, he sets out to foster understanding and create lasting change within his faith.

His path to recovery provides an honest insight into the challenges of gambling within South Asian communities and the importance of breaking the silence. Harj now campaigns to raise awareness about the harm gambling can cause, and he supports others as they confront their own battles with addiction.

Through conversations with the BBC’s Rajeev Gupta, Harj takes us on an emotional journey to a turning point where family support helps him rediscover the meaning of his Sikh faith.

[Photo Credit: Matt O’Donoghue, Photo Description: Harj Gahley]

Presenter: Rajeev Gupta
Producer: Matt O’Donoghue
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002m95q)
BBC Food and Farming Awards Finalist: Harehope Farm

Charlotte Smith and Mali Harries, who plays Natasha in The Archers, visit farmer Hugh Wrangham at Harehope Farm in Northumberland. Hugh grows hemp which he sells as a health food product, as protein powder, hemp seed hearts and hemp seed oil.

Hugh has grass-fed sheep and cows and grows wheat, rye and barley, as well as oilseed rape and beans. He explains how he uses hemp as cover crop in rotation, to replace nutrients in the soil and capture carbon dioxide.

Produced by Caitlin Hobbs.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002m95s)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002m95v)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002m95x)
China's house church crackdown; Franco's Catholic legacy; 'Nunmania'

Across China, unregistered house churches are facing growing pressure from the authorities as the Chinese Communist Party tightens control over religious life. The Chinese Communist Party says citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief in accordance with the law. We've a report from the BBC's Correspondent in Hong Kong, Danny Vincent.

Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco died 50 years ago on the 20th of November. We explore the legacy of his system of National Catholicism and how a far right party is gaining popularity in the country today.

A religious theme is finding its way into the music charts thanks to the latest album from Rosalia. The Spanish singer herself appears on the cover in the guise of a nun - part of a phenomenon which has now been defined as "nunmania". Sister Gemma Simmonds from the Congregation of Jesus gives her thoughts on the trend.

PRESENTER: EDWARD STOURTON
PRODUCERS: KATY BOOTH & KATY DAVIS
STUDIO MANAGERS: AMY BRENNAN & BEN HOUGHTON
EDITOR: CATHERINE MURRAY


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002m95z)
Children in Need

The broadcaster Anita Rani makes the BBC Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity BBC Children in Need.

The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week.
Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0755 for 7 days.

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 ‘Children in Need’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Children in Need’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Please ensure you are donating to the correct charity by checking the name of the charity on the donate page.

Registered Charity Number: 802052 in England and Wales and SC039557 in Scotland. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/

Producer: Anna Bailey


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002m961)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002m963)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002m965)
Awe and Wonder at Jodrell Bank

Sir Bernard Lovell has been called the father of modern cosmology. He founded Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire and gives his name to the Lovell telescope; a huge white dish with a diameter of over 76 metres. This landmark in the Cheshire countryside and has been instrumental in the field of space exploration for decades and has inspired many to look to the stars.

Physicist Stephanie Bevan visits Jodrell Bank and reflects on the sense of awe and wonder she finds in scientific discovery and her Christian faith.

The Revd David Wilkinson is professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University and holds PhDs in astrophysics and systematic theology. He explores how both areas of study can help in discovering more about the universe and our place within it.

The Diocese of Manchester Choral Scholars have recorded music for the programme at the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and at St Peter's Church, Swettenham where Bernard Lovell played organ throughout his life.

Producer: Katharine Longworth


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct74q6)
Cleveland Balloonfest '86

In 1986, a world record attempt was launched by the city of Cleveland, in the US.

One and a half million balloons were blown up by volunteers ready to be released into the sky, with thousands of people watching.

It was meant to be a dazzling publicity stunt, but due to strong winds and a cold front, the balloons didn't float away as expected.

Colm Flynn speaks to Tom Holowatch, who was the project manager of BalloonFest '86, about how this became one of the most memorable days in the history of Cleveland, for all the right, and wrong reasons.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: BalloonFest. Credit: Getty Images)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002m967)
Amy-Jane Beer on the Carrion Crow

When nature writer Amy-Jane Beer moved to her current home, it seemed like the perfect rural dream. However, there then came an insistent knocking sound every morning - a pair of carrion crows would tap the windows, affronted by their reflections. Amy describes watching and learning to love these birds, which she sees as her quirky, idiosyncratic neighbours.

Presented by Amy-Jane Beer and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Featuring a recording by Martin Billard from Xeno-Canto (Carrion Crow - XC929595)


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002m969)
President Trump threatens to sue the BBC

With the President squaring up to the BBC, veteran Radio 4 broadcaster John Humphrys gives us his views about the crisis at the corporation. Also on the programme, we hear about tourists chasing pigs in the New Forest during pannage season. We have a briefing on briefing from Patrick Maguire, Chief Political Commentator at The Times. And the papers are reviewed by Ulrika Jonsson, Calum Leslie from Radio 1 and Anna Gross of the Financial Times.


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002m96c)
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Computer Scientist

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a computer scientist and the inventor of the World Wide Web.
He was born in 1955, a golden year for technology innovators. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were also born in the same year.
A curious child, he learned about electronics from his train set and spent his pocket money on transistors. His first significant connecting invention was building an intercom as a teenager for the family home before moving on to build his first computer.
His parents were both mathematicians and coders who met whilst building one of the first commercially available computers in the early nineteen fifties.
Sir Tim came up with the idea of the World Wide Web whilst working at CERN and insisted that the technology be released to the world without commercial reward so that it would be free for everyone to use.
He was knighted for his world changing invention and also appointed to the Order of Merit. In 2016 he was given the Turing Award.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee divides his time between the US, the UK and Canada with his wife Rosemary, who is also a technology entrepreneur.

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Desert Island Discs has cast many computer scientists away over the years including Dame Wendy Hall and Sir Demis Hassibis. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002m96f)
Writer: Jessica Mitic
Directors: Pip Swallow and Dave Payne
Ruth Archer….. Felicity Finch
Pip Archer….. Daisy Badger
Phoebe Aldridge…. Lucy Morris
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Susan Carter….. Charlotte Martin
Rex Fairbrother…. Nick Barber
Alan Franks….. John Telfer
Amber Gordon…. Olivia Bernstone
Will Grundy…. Philip Molloy
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Kate Madikane…. Perdita Avery
Leonard Berry….. Paul Copley
Bill…. Matthew Gravelle


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002m914)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002lzwl)
Series 84

1. Catchphrase

The godfather of all panel shows pays a visit to the Mayflower in Southampton. On the panel are Adrian Edmondson, Rachel Parris, Miles Jupp and Marcus Brigstocke, with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002m96h)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002m96k)
The Home Secretary says illegal immigration is 'tearing our country apart'

The Home Secretary trails sweeping reforms to Britain's asylum system. The changes will be modelled on Denmark, where asylum claims have fallen to a 40-year low. We hear from the architect of their approach, former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. We'll have a briefing on whether the policies could be effective here and discuss the politics behind the changes with leader of the Red Wall Caucus of Labour MPs.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002m2tm)
I Fought in Ukraine

Its thought over 2000 Brits have fought in the Ukraine war. May of them are seasoned soldiers, veterans of Afghanistan, Syria and Northern Ireland who are just taking on another call of duty. There are others who have never picked up a gun before but gave up their day jobs to join the fight against Russia

Nick Garnett meets the soldiers to find out why they have given up jobs, said a goodbye to families to go and fight for a country they don't belong to.

Nick will find out about the changing face of war in Ukraine how the trained soldiers have encountered a whole new way of combat such as drones


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002m1ng)
St Mary's Walthamstow

Kathy Clugston and an esteemed panel of gardening experts are in St Mary's Church in Walthamstow to answer the questions of a green fingered audience.

Joining Kathy on the panel are garden designers, botanists and alotmenteers James Wong, Matthew Biggs and Frances Tophill.

Later, Matthew Pottage provides a list of thriving trees that are sweeping the streets of London.

Producer: Matthew Smith
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002m96m)
The Wind in the Willows

John Yorke takes a look at an enduring classic of children’s literature, The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Published in 1908, The Wind In The Willows is about nature – both human and animal. It is, on the face of it, a children’s book packed with beloved characters. But hidden beneath the bucolic adventures and Grahame’s beautiful evocation of the landscape, there is a desperate longing to escape the stresses of wide world into the peace and freedom of the natural world - a longing that ran through Kenneth Grahame’s life. His life was claustrophobic, the story – like the countryside - offers space to breathe.

Kenneth Grahame said of his own writing, “You must please remember that a theme, a thesis, is in most cases little more than a sort of clothes line on which one pegs a string of ideas, quotations, allusions and so on, one’s mental undergarments of all shapes and sizes, some possibly fairly new but most rather old and patched; and they dance and sway in the breeze and flap and flutter, or hang limp and lifeless; and some are ordinary enough, and some are of a private and intimate shape, and rather give the owner away, and show up his or her peculiarities.”

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless.  As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names.  He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.

Producer: Laura Grimshaw
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Reader: Toby Hadoke
Guests: Elisabeth Galvin and David Gooderson
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Programme Hub Co-ordinators: Nina Semple and Dawn Williams
Sound: Sean Kerwin
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002m96p)
The Wind in the Willows: A Weasel’s Tale

A new re-imagining of The Wind in the Willows told from the margins. Set in a timeless, Kenneth Grahame-inspired England, the drama looks up from weasel-height at class, home and who gets to belong when the Wild Wood is being carved up by developers. Narrated by Penelope Wilton, it blends the familiar riverbank world with the pressures of eviction, empty grand houses and power concentrated in a few determined hands.

Kit, a young weasel, is watching her family slide into precarity as the scrubland around their burrow is sold off and the criminal Chief Weasel tightens his grip. With her best friends - Portly the otter and Radar the bat - Kit’s world collides with Mole, Ratty, Badger and other classic characters, while a grand house standing empty becomes a magnet for grievance and opportunity. What follows is a fight not for glory but for a place to live: shifting alliances, contested territory and small acts of care that build a community where suspicion says it cannot exist. A story about who gets to stay, what makes a home, and how belonging is made on the riverbank.

Dramatist Tom Morton-Smith is a playwright and screenwriter best known for the RSC’s Oppenheimer and the multi-award-winning stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro.

Cast:

Narrator . . . . . Penelope Wilton
Kit . . . . . Claire Morgan
Portly . . . . . Harriet Carmichael
Radar . . . . . Kathryn Drysdale
Magpie, Chief, Ratty, Badger, Toad . . . . . Ed Gaughan
Ma-Weasel . . . . . Jasmine Hyde
Mole . . . . . Django Bevan
Otter . . . . . Clive Hayward

Written by Tom Morton-Smith

Production co-ordinator: Luke MacGregor
Casting Manager: Alex Curran
Technical producers: Keith Graham, Sam Dickinson
Sound designer: Sharon Hughes
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

A BBC Studios production


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002m96r)
Olga Ravn

Award-winning Danish author Olga Ravn speaks to Take Four Books about her new novel The Wax Child and together with presenter James Crawford they explore its connections to three other texts. The Wax Child, translated by Martin Aitken, takes readers to 17th century Denmark, fictionalising the true story of a group of women in the town of Aalborg who were put on trial for witchcraft.

For her three influences Olga chose: Ernesto Martino’s Magic – A Theory From The South from 1959; M. R. James’s Martin’s Close from More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary from 1911; and Janet Frame’s Faces In The Water, published in 1961.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zj5)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity

4 - From the Ring-Tailed Lemur to Watford Gap Services

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from the Ring Tailed Lemur to Watford Gap services in the most entertaining way possible with the help of Ken Cheng, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.

Could you make your way from The Starship Enterprise to the Air Fryer, armed only with A Level Economics and a Geography degree? Hugh Dennis is going to have to. While Steve Punt will have to pick his way across Africa, to find what links Machiavelli and Madagascar. Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.

Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Ken Cheng
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last

A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74k6)
The Spanish king reclaims his throne

In 1975, the death of General Francisco Franco was announced in Spain, bringing to an end 36 years of dictatorship.

Franco had already chosen his successor: Prince Juan Carlos, grandson of the last monarch, Alphonso XIII. This was the man who - Franco thought - would continue his authoritarian, anti-democratic and deeply conservative regime.

But Juan Carlos defied expectations. In the years that followed, he would lead Spain from a dictatorship to a democracy until, in 1977, the country held its first free elections for 41 years.

Jane Wilkinson tells the story using excerpts from the 1981 BBC and TVE documentary, Juan Carlos: King of Spain. This episode was made in collaboration with BBC Archives.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: King Juan Carlos on his proclamation day as king. Credit: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 The Verb (m002m96v)
Simon Armitage, Alistair McGowan, Joelle Taylor

Ian McMillan's guests include the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage with poetry from his latest collection 'New Cemetery', impressionist and poet Alistair McGowan and Joelle Taylor with her new book 'Maryville'.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage shares poems from his recent collection 'New Cemetery' - inspired by a cemetery that was being built near his house during lockdown. The poems incorporate a litany of moth species' names, meditations on writing, the dead as an audience for nature - and include responses to the death of Simon's father. Simon also contributes to our 'Neon Line' series - where we ask a poet to celebrate a remarkable line from any poem.

Alistair McGowan is an impressionist, a stand-up comedian, as well as a pianist and a poet. In his poems featured on this week's show we encounter a tussle between a sofa and a cat, a critique of using 'that' instead of 'who' or 'which', and a tender exploration of the names we give siblings. His poetry collection is called 'Not what we were expecting'.

Joelle Taylor brings us brand new poems from 'Maryville' - the story of a mythical bar in a snowglobe, a stage and a space for lesbian lives and relationships that might otherwise be forgotten. It's been described by Bernadine Evaristo as 'a consistently dazzling work of art'. Joelle won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry for 'C+nto & Othered Poems' and has since published her acclaimed novel, 'The Night Alphabet'.


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002m96x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002m96z)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002m971)
Home Secretary Pledges Asylum System Overhaul

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said a proposed tightening of asylum rules will help stop illegal immigration from 'tearing the country apart'. Plans that she'll set out in the Commons tomorrow include quadrupling to twenty years the length of time people granted asylum will have to wait before they can settle permanently in the UK. In other news, a clear-up is under way in Monmouth in south Wales after Storm Claudia caused severe flooding, devastating homes and businesses. And one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies has accused the President of putting her life in danger after he branded her a traitor.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002m973)
Scout Tzofiya Bolton

This week, Scout listens on the power of music and how it can be experienced in different ways with the help of Radio 3. The Verb is instead crossing the platform to catch the language of ‘train’ and coins a new word: “cistension” - and there’s also poetry to be found in the world as lived by those living with agoraphobia. Plus, World at One is celebrating its 60th - we hear some of the headlines that have left an impression on its hosts over the years.

Presenter: Scout Tzofiya Bolton
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinators: Caoilfhinn McFadden and Caroline Peddle

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002m975)
Tom gives Tony copious instructions about what needs doing while he and Natasha are away in Scotland on Peggy’s family holiday. At the Dower House Jakob is packing the people carriers with luggage, before Lilian heads to Bridge Farm, where she finds Tony complaining about Tom’s excessive notes. If Tom’s so worried about letting go, Lilian suggests, then he should stay and let Tony go to Scotland instead. As Peggy’s only son Tony should be going anyway, as specified in Peggy’s will. Tony isn’t sure, but Lilian insists she wants to spend some quality time with Tony while they still have the chance. To Tom’s horror Tony agrees to go, explaining it’s not just for Lilian, it’s what Peggy wanted.
Tom and Natasha quickly realise this means one of them will have to stay. Tom thinks it should be Natasha, but she points out she’s organised everything to cover her absence, whereas Tom hasn’t really sorted his side out – and she is not missing out on this holiday! Later, Tony apologises to Tom, before explaining what Tom needs to do for him with the Anguses tomorrow. When Tom complains he won’t have time Tony says then they’ll have to sort things out today.
Back at the Dower House Jakob’s frustrated by the delay - and Justin’s sulking. Lilian phones Tony, who tells them he’ll be another hour. If she wants him to come then they’ll just have to wait. Jakob is all for going without Tony, but Lilian takes an executive decision to delay their departure until tomorrow.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002m977)
Lost In Lullabies

From Rock-a-bye Baby to Brahms to AI…Has the lullaby become a lost art?

Matt Edmonds is trying to sing his child to sleep. It’s not working. As his baritone produces My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean for the 19th time and his toddler says 'Dada, stop!’, he drifts into a parallel reality. Could AI do bedtime for him? Surely it would be simpler? And he would be spared lying on the floor of his child’s bedroom.

What is a lullaby? What gives it its magic? The tune? The words? The rhythm? The very act of delivery? In this programme, we join Matt Edmonds - writer, musician and father - as he falls down a rabbit hole, chasing the lost art of the lullaby. In this dreamy, musical 'sleeper hit', Matt encounters people with stories that explore the power of the lullaby.

During Lullaby Hour at a neonatal unit, Matt hears first-hand the impact live lullabies have on premature babies. He talks to Roxana Vilk, whose lullabies project gathers songs from all over the world, to see if she can help. And he meets his friends, musicians Johnny and Lillie Flynn, to hear what musical tricks they use to compose and sing lullabies.

Full of fresh wisdom, Matt returns to his child’s bedside, his baritone hoarse and sleep-deprived, to test if the ancient art of the lullaby still has legs.

This programme is richly designed with a soundscape woven from recordings of Matt’s own attempts at lullabies, the sounds of the locations he visits, and music from Matt, Mica Bernard, Bex Ashford and from Johnny and Lillie Flynn.

Presenter: Matt Edmonds
Producer: Jenny Dare
Executive Producers: Shannon Delwiche, Chris Jones and Guy Natanel

With special thanks to Dr Aniko Deierl and Irena Meza for their contributions

A Sound & Bones production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000zljp)
Exercise Less, More Often

It can be hard to fit a full workout into every day - but it turns out you really don’t need to! In this episode, Michael enlists the help of Marie Murphy, Professor of Exercise and Health at Ulster University, to explore why doing short bursts of exercise can actually be more beneficial than a hard gym session. A brisk 10-minute walk here, taking the stairs there, and it really does add up.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002m0fc)
BBC Resignations, Prince Andrew Coverage, and an Interview of the Year

Following resignations of the BBC’s Director General and the CEO of BBC News in light of accusations of institutional bias in the organisation, Andrea Catherwood puts listener comments about the integrity of the BBC and its coverage of the scandal to the former Radio 4 Controller Mark Damazer.

As the story on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor continues to play out, the Senior Royal Correspondent Daniela Relph shares how she navigates a story of this sensitivity and magnitude. We pose listeners’ responses, including a query over naming conventions.

And there's a moving conversation on 6 Music that’s been nominated for Feedback interview of the year by listener Bruce Shortland. He suggests a beautiful conversation between Chris Hawkins and the rapper Rosca Onya.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Assistant Producer: Jac Phillimore
Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002m1nl)
James Watson, Pauline Collins, Judith Vidal-Hall, Dugald Ross

Matthew Bannister on

James Watson who shared the Nobel Prize for identifying the structure of DNA, but was widely condemned later in life for his racist and sexist views.

Pauline Collins, the comic actor who triumphed in the role of Shirley Valentine on stage and screen. The play’s director Simon Callow pays tribute.

Judith Vidal-Hall, who edited the Index on Censorship magazine and campaigned for freedom of expression around the world

Dugald Ross, the crofter and palaeontologist from the Isle of Skye who discovered dinosaur footprints on the island as a schoolboy.

Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse G Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley

Archive:
Witness History: Discovering the Secrets of DNA, BBC World Service, 25/04/2025; Archive on 4: DNA 60 Years On, BBC Radio 4, 30/10/2016; Interview with James Watson and Francis Crick, The Medical Television Centre, UT Southwestern, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas, 16/05/1968; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 22/12/1989; Shirley Valentine, Paramount Pictures, 1989 (Producer: John Dark; Produced & directed by Lewis Gilbert; Written by Willy Russell); Upstairs Downstairs, ITV; Reporting Scotland 1830, BBC One Scotland, 11/06/2014; Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands: Northern Skye – A Land of Giants and Fairies, BBC Two, 26/04/2017; Out of Doors, BBC Radio Scotland, 07/08/2010; Newsnight, BBC Two, 20/02/2002; One Year On: 9/11, BBC One, 11/09/2002


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002m90c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002m95z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002m907)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002m979)
The government's Danish-inspired asylum changes

Ben Wright's guests are the Labour MP Joe Powell, Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden and the business journalist Patience Wheatcroft, now a crossbench peer. They discuss the government's changes to the asylum system, with further analysis from the Guardian's deputy political editor Jessica Elgot. Ben reports from Chatham where he finds disillusionment with the government and hears from the Labour leader of the local council. He also speaks to the BBC historican Jean Seaton about the latest crisis at the corporation, over President Trump's threatened legal challenge.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (b099v33p)
Feathered Dinosaurs

After 27 years, Melvyn Bragg has decided to step down from the In Our Time presenter’s chair. With over a thousand episodes to choose from, he has selected just six that capture the huge range and depth of the subjects he and his experts have tackled. In this sixth of his choices, we hear Melvyn Bragg and his guests in 2017 discussing new discoveries about dinosaurs.

Their topic is the development of theories about dinosaur feathers, following discoveries of fossils which show evidence of those feathers. All dinosaurs were originally thought to be related to lizards (the word 'dinosaur' was created from the Greek for 'terrible lizard') but that now appears false. In the last century, discoveries of fossils with feathers established that at least some dinosaurs were feathered and that some of those survived the great extinctions and evolved into the birds we see today. There are still many outstanding areas for study, such as what sorts of feathers they were, where on the body they were found, what their purpose was and which dinosaurs had them.

With

Mike Benton
Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol

Steve Brusatte
Reader and Chancellor's Fellow in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh

and

Maria McNamara
Senior Lecturer in Geology at University College, Cork

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002m1nj)
The Sounder by Jade Angeles Fitton

"Extinction had sounded so irrevocable, but watching them alive in their old habitat felt like a beginning, a window into a countryside that was less complacent, in which there was space for - this."

Ruby has returned home to Devon but is viewed by some in the rural community as an incomer. Tensions rise when she's tasked with culling a sounder of wild boar suspected of having been illegally released.

Writer Jade Angeles Fitton is a writer and journalist who lives in Devon. Her first book Hermit was published in 2023
Reader: Kirsty Cox
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre

MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2025

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002m97c)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Wokewash (m001vld9)
Pride Before a Fall?

Following on from the success of Green Inc and with the same bold, provocative and entirely un-switchoffable energy, writer, comedian and satirist Heydon Prowse turns his tongue-in-cheek attention corporate Wokewashing.

From a razor company talking about #MeToo to an LGBT sandwich and a burger chain tackling depression, writer and satirist Heydon Prowse unpacks how some of the world's biggest corporations are falling over themselves to appear socially conscious, progressive. And he lifts the lid on the advertising and PR companies who've woken up to just how much money they can make helping them.

In this first episode, Heydon investigates corporations’ approach to LGBTQ+ inclusivity. He’ll trace the history from brands’ first engagements with gay customers to the situation today, where Pride month sees the high street and social media festooned with corporate rainbow flags. Heydon will ask how many companies live up to this inclusive message in actions. This episode will also take a look at the backlash to brand engagement with LGBTQ+ issues that has been seen in the UK and the USA as the corporate world is drawn into the culture wars. It’s led to boycotts and hasty backpedalling, but what’s really going on, and why?

Contributors:
Peter Tatchell, Activist and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation
Prof Alison Taylor of New York University's Stern Business School and author of 'Higher Ground: How Businesses Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World.'
Rain Dove, Model and Actvist
Andrew Doyle, Comedian, GB News Presenter and author of The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World.

Producer: Sam Peach

Archive Credited To:

John Sloman (Youtube)
Dove US (Youtube)
raindovemodel (instagram)
dylanmulvaney (instagram)
Make Yourself At Home Podcast by Nines
Ben Shapiro (Youtube)
CNN
WKMG News
Kid Rock (X)


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002m91p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002m97f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002m97h)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.


MON 05:00 News Summary (m002m97k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002m97m)
Alicia McCarthy reports from Westminster as peers warn that they could run out of time to finish scrutinising the Assisted Dying bill.


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002m97p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002m97r)
The last supper club

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Swarzy Shire

Good Morning. Last month, I started The Last Supper Club - a supper club inspired by my love for Jesus and His love for sharing meals with his friends. A couple of weeks ago, I served up a big roast dinner: honey-glazed lamb, butter & rosemary veg, and roast potatoes carved into little wells ready for gravy to be poured in, spill over, and drench everything on the plate - the only way to do it!

That evening, we read John chapter 4, where Jesus meets a woman at the well. Unlike most people who came to draw water either early morning or late at night to escape the heat of the sun, this woman came at midday to escape the heat of people - her shame burning hotter than the sun itself. Yet Jesus, God in the flesh, was already there, waiting for her. He offered her living water, saying, “Whoever drinks of the water I give will never thirst again.”

After tasting this living water, I loved that she ran back to the same people she was avoiding, to tell them, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did!” And by the end of the chapter, many believe - first because of her words, then because they meet Jesus for themselves.

There’s something about truly tasting and seeing the goodness of Jesus - like a good roast dinner overflowing with gravy - that makes it impossible to stay quiet about His love! I pray that His goodness towards us would spill out of our lives as we share with others what we’ve tasted and seen of His grace. May many come to believe for themselves that He is indeed the Saviour of the world. Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002m97t)
17/11/25 Rise in wool price, getting out of dairy, fish farming

The price farmers get for wool is up, about 20% up from last year, but it still doesn't cover the cost of shearing the sheep.

We hear from a dairy farmer who is getting out: this year’s exceptionally hot summer and the resulting cost of feed for the animals has proved too much.

Farming fish rather than livestock is being seen by some as the answer to sustainable food security. China is the world's biggest farmed seafood producer, providing more than 60% of the world's farmed fish, and it's investing in bigger and more high tech fish farms.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:57 Weather (m002m97w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002md17)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002md19)
Digital Futures and Information Crises

How can we reclaim the internet? Tom Sutcliffe and guests discuss the digital age - its supporters and discontents.

Tech critic Cory Doctorow introduces his new book Enshittification, a blistering diagnosis of how online platforms have decayed — from innovation to exploitation — and what we can do to make it better for ordinary users.

Novelist and broadcaster Naomi Alderman draws on history in Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today, arguing that we’ve lived through information crises before, and that lessons from the invention of writing and the printing press can help us navigate today’s digital turbulence.

Journalist Oliver Moody, the author of Baltic: The Future of Europe, discusses Estonia’s radical embrace of digital governance, and what it reveals about the possibilities — and limits — of a truly connected state.

Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002md1c)
Dementia drop-ins

Co-founder of the Hardy Group, Sue Atherton, tells Rachel Burden how the charity supports people living with dementia and their carers. When Sue's husband Geoff was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, they wanted to start a support group for younger people living with the condition.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Maeve Schaffer
Editor: Clare Fordham


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002md1f)
Bouncing back after getting fired, Brain fog, Sheikh Hasina verdict

Former US magazine editors-in-chief Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill were both ‘let go’ from their respective jobs. They felt blindsided, devastated and temporarily lost their identities - until, united, they learnt how to make a comeback. They join Nuala McGovern to share their experiences as set out in their new book, All the Cool Girls Get Fired, about how they let go of the shame of ‘being fired’, a term they like to use, and how a career setback can become the best thing ever.

Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. She is currently living in exile in India, so was tried in her absence by a court in Dhaka. Hasina was Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister, who began her political career as a pro-democracy icon, but fled mass protests against her rule in August 2024. Today she - along with her former Interior Minister and Police Chief - was found guilty of allowing the use of lethal force against protesters and failing to prevent atrocities against them. The UN say that 1,400 protestors died. Hasina has called the court's decision biased and politically motivated. BBC correspondent Devina Gupta updates us on the story.

When BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman shared a post on social media about dealing with brain fog, she had no idea it would be viewed hundreds of thousands of times and resonate with so many women who are going through the menopause. Following a long day of reporting and feeling tired, along with the fear of not being able to remember key words, Zoe used notes on the BBC News At Ten for the first time ever. Zoe joins Nuala to explain why it was important to share her experience of perimenopause and brain fog. Dr Shema Tariq, menopause researcher at University College London, talks about what causes brain fog and how women can protect their brains from cognitive decline.

Nuala is joined by the Emmy award-winning American composer Laura Karpman. Her music can be heard on films such as American Fiction and The Marvels, to TV hits like Down Cemetery Road. Her opera, called Balls, is based on the iconic 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, and will be having its UK premiere later this week as part of the Philharmonic Orchestra’s 80th anniversary season.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Simon Richardson


MON 11:00 Behind the Crime (m0019r5b)
Chris

As a society, we send close to 100,000 people to prison each year. Criminal behaviour costs the country around £60 billion every year, according to Home Office research.

Is it possible to prevent crime by understanding the root causes of offending behaviour?

Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons.

Their role is to help people in prison to look at the harm they’ve caused to other people, understand why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.

In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and, in some cases, imprisonment.

In this opening episode they talk to Chris, who received a prison sentence for a reckless arson. He was released in 2017.

On the face of it, Chris was a drug abuser with a track record of violent offences and robberies. In this remarkable interview, he describes himself as a ‘one-man crime wave’.

The job of the forensic psychologists is to dig deep into Chris’s story, to understand the sequence of external influences that got Chris to the point where he was causing harm to himself, to others and to society as a whole.

Today, Chris has built a career for himself as a printer and a poet. He works for The Archer Project, a charity that supports homeless people in Sheffield.

For details of organisations that can provide help and support, visit bbc.co.uk/actionline


MON 11:45 The Punch (m000l2b6)
Nothing Was the Same Again

Aged 19, Jacob Dunne threw a single punch in a drunken brawl outside a pub in Nottingham. His victim, James Hodgkinson, died in hospital nine days later and Jacob was convicted of manslaughter.

Now 27, Jacob has a young family and has just completed a degree, but it was only after taking part in restorative justice that he began to turn his life around. Meeting face-to-face with James' parents had a profound impact on both Jacob and the Hodgkinsons, and the resulting relationship has changed Jacob’s life in unexpected ways.

With his heart set on a career helping others, Jacob wants to understand his own transformation from angry teenager to a responsible father and respected member of the community. He has travelled the country giving speeches and workshops to students, prisoners, prison officers, hospital staff, educators and young offenders. In February, he gave the keynote speech at a graduation ceremony for trainee prison officers.

In this five part series, he retraces the key moments in his life since he threw the punch. It isn’t a straightforward story of rehabilitation but a complicated, often painful journey. Recording himself at home during lockdown, Jacob makes contact with his former parole officer, a prison officer, mentors, and others who have benefited from similar face-to-face confrontations.

In this first episode, he revisits the worst night of his life, with the victim’s parents Joan and David.

Produced by Kim Normanton and Victoria Ferran
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002md1k)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002md1m)
AI Christmas Shopping, Porch Piracy, Tourist Scams

Christmas shopping is either a pleasure or a pain for some. But what if you could get A.I to do it for you?
Well fifteen percent of consumers say they will use AI chatbots (such as Chat GPT and Gemini) to search for deals. That's according to the business firm KPMG.
But if you did use A.I. to help you buy presents ...would you admit it to anyone? And what are retailers doing to adapt this rising trend...

A BBC investigation has discovered organised criminal gangs are buying legitimate haulage companies, picking up loads to be delivered to retailers we all buy from, before vanishing with the contents.
Last year thieves stole goods worth more than £110 million from lorries. Experts say we all pay the price for this.
We find out where these stolen goods are ending up...

Home deliveries make life easier—but there’s a growing problem lurking on your doorstep. Porch piracy, the theft of parcels from front doors, has surged recently this year. With Black Friday and the festive season approaching, November and December are peak months for these crimes. We hear from two people who’ve had their parcels stolen and find out how you can protect your deliveries....

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL

PRODUCER: JAY UNGER


MON 12:57 Weather (m002md1p)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002md1r)
Home Secretary to announce sweeping reforms to asylum process

Sweeping new reforms to asylum process to be introduced. Former Bangladesh PM sentenced to death in absentia. Flood defences overtopped in Wales.


MON 13:45 A Carnival of Animals (m002md1t)
Part 1: The Orangutan, The Hummingbird, The Swift, The Snake

In this omnibus edition, best-selling author Katherine Rundell introduces four remarkable creatures. First, the orangutan - so intelligent it can wash clothes and steal canoes just by watching us - yet now critically endangered. Next, the hummingbird, a jewel of the skies with ultraviolet vision and wings beating up to 80 times a second, threatened by habitat loss and past exploitation. Then the swift, a bird that spends almost its entire life in flight - even sleeping on the wing - now disappearing from British skies as nesting sites vanish. Finally, the snake: often feared, but in truth a creature of speed, ingenuity, and fragility, with many species in steep decline. Blending myth, science, and cultural history, Katherine Rundell celebrates the wonder of the animal world.

Written and Presented by Katherine Rundell
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan and Sophie Anton


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002m975)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Disordered (p0gtz45s)
Series 1

Episode 4 - Say It Out Loud

A comedy drama, written by Magnus Mackintosh, and starring Jamie Sives as Hector, an optimistic but struggling 42-year-old single father, with long-term mental health issues, who lives in Edinburgh with his unusually bright 10-year-old son William. He is aided by kindly friend and neighbour Susan and hindered by acerbic ex-partner Amanda.

In episode four, Say It Out Loud, Hector makes big steps as he is encouraged by his therapist to face his demons. He also has to face Susan and Amanda, who are both dealing with unexpected and unwanted revelations in their love lives. Thankfully neighbour Mrs Harrington is around to spread some unexpected merriment and William, his usual calm and wisdom.

The writer, Magnus Mackintosh, has personally struggled with mental health issues over 27 years. He openly discusses his own mental health issues on social media in the hope he can help others and raise awareness.

Cast
Hector- Jamie Sives
Susan- Rosalind Sydney
Amanda- Gail Watson
William- Raffi Phillips
Mrs Harrington- Barbara Rafferty
Receptionist- David Kay
Therapist- Stuart McQuarrie

Studio Engineer and Editor- Lee McPhail
Production Manager- Tayler Norris
Title Music- Just Breathe by Police Dog Hogan
Produced and Directed by Moray Hunter and Gordon Kennedy

Recorded at Castlesound Studios, Pencaitland, East Lothian

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:45 Scenes from a Childhood by Jon Fosse (m001vlkf)
Episode Four: Little Sister (Part One)

A selection of connected short stories by the celebrated Norwegian author Jon Fosse, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature - “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”. Minimalist and compelling, these pared-back vignettes take us from infancy to awkward adolescence, skirting the line between fiction and autobiography. Episodes one to three draw stories from the titular story sequence 'Scenes from a Childhood'; episodes four and five are taken from the story 'Little Sister'.

'the Beckett of the twenty-first century' - Le Monde

‘Fosse has been compared to Ibsen and to Beckett, and it is easy to see his work as Ibsen stripped down to its emotional essentials. But it is much more. For one thing, it has a fierce poetic simplicity.’ - New York Times

Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
Read by John Mackay
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery and Mair Bosworth
Mixed by Ilse Lademann


MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002md1w)
Richard Benson and Amy Sackville

THE YEARS by Annie Ernaux chosen by Richard Benson
THE CORNER THAT HELD THEM by Sylvia Townsend Warner chosen by Amy Sackville
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES by Ferdinand von Schirach chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Writer and former editor of the Face Richard Benson talks to fellow writer Amy Sackville and presenter Harriett Gilbert about favourite books.
Richard chooses The Years by Nobel Laureate Annie Ernaux, saying it brings back memories of his French penpal's bohemian mother. Amy's choice of The Corner that Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner, about convent life in the 1300s, isn't as dry as that might sound, and Harriett's pick is Coffee and Cigarettes by German criminal defence lawyer Ferdinand von Schirach.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
Join the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc


MON 15:30 Curious Cases (m002m8zz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002m2tm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002m902)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002md1y)
Government releases asylum plans

The home secretary says the reform of the system will 'unite a divided country'. We'll assess how far the shift in public opinion may have influenced this policy shift. Also, Lord Ken Clarke on what he wants to see from next week's Budget.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002md20)
Sweeping changes to the asylum system

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has set out what she's called her "moral mission" to heal divisions in the UK by overhauling immigration rules. Her plans include fast-tracking deportations, and making people who have been granted asylum wait longer before they can settle permanently. The Conservatives and Reform UK have said they are a step in the right direction; some Labour backbenchers have condemned the proposals as "dystopian" and "cruel".

Also: a death sentence for Bangladesh's exiled former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who has called the verdict "politically motivated".

And a new rugby union tournament has been launched which will pit the best of the northern and southern hemisphere nations against each other.


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002md22)
Series 84

2. Traffic Jam or Bedroom

The godfather of all panel shows returns to the Mayflower in Southampton. On the panel are Adrian Edmondson, Rachel Parris, Miles Jupp and Marcus Brigstocke, with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002mbmq)
Lilian’s upset that the other people-carrier, driven by Jakob, was left behind at the Services and has now broken down. Tony and Helen assume they’ll catch up later, while Kate and Ruairi are sleeping in the back. Then Justin phones, explaining they’re being towed to Blackpool before a replacement is found. The others: Alice, Natasha, Phoebe and Jakob, seem okay with this, he tells Lilian, though he’ll catch a train home. But as Lilian arrives at the spectacular castle she insists Justin’s got to come! Leonie greets Lilian et al with news that they’re staying in the stable block, not the castle - and James isn’t coming. Hazel’s not there yet either. Helen discovers they’ll be sleeping in bunk beds, while Tony points out they’ve got some of the wrong luggage, before going for a river walk with Helen. They meet Finlay, a local crofter, who lends Tony his fishing gear, while Helen is very taken with him and his dog, Dash.

Leonie tells Lilian that James never wanted to come, hinting that they live pretty separate lives. Finlay invites Helen and Tony to visit his croft later in the week, before going to round up his sheep. Helen then cooks a fish Tony caught, while Tony calls Justin for Lilian, who’s got no signal. Justin explains they’re still in Blackpool and making the most of what it has to offer. He doesn’t know how long they’ll be there, before ending the call, leaving Lilian in the dumps. Tony and Helen agree though, they’ve had the best afternoon in ages!


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002md24)
Actors Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Also, director Jon M Chu

Actors Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste discuss their production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.
Director Jon M Chu reveals the influence of watching The Wizard of Oz , as a boy growing up. And how he cast his very own Wicked: For Good.
Samira is joined by food writers Diana Henry and Nikkitha Bakshani - who also happens to be an award winning novelist - to talk about the art of great food writing.
And dynamic pricing in theatre - is it more (or less) fair for market forces to decide how high ticket prices can rise.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m002m0ff)
Why does the UK have a problem with productivity?

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has been widely trailing this month’s budget and the difficult decisions she’ll have to make in just under two weeks time. This is being taken as code for tax rises and a possible break in Labour’s manifesto pledge with a rise in income tax. She’s said one of the key reasons for this is that the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility or OBR, is likely to lower its UK productivity growth forecast for the coming years. So why is UK productivity a problem and what can be done to improve it?

Guests:
Chris Giles, Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
Helen Miller, Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Duncan Weldon, economist and author
Greg Thwaites, Research Director, Resolution Foundation.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Cordelia Hemming, Kirsteen Knight
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound engineers: Rod Farguhar and James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txk)
Could technology replace animal testing in science?

This week the UK government set out its vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances. Animal experiments in the UK peaked at 4.14 million in 2015 driven mainly by a big increase at the time in genetic modification experiments. By 2020, the number had fallen sharply to 2.88 million as alternative methods and technologies were developed. But since then that decline has plateaued.

Could we see the end of animals being used in science labs? Presenter Tom Whipple is joined by Dr. Chris Powell, Director of Cambridge BioPharma Consultants Ltd. and honorary visiting scientist at Cambridge University and Dr. Natalie Burden, head of New Approach Methodologies at the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).

And as world leaders gather for the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, we speak to glaciologist Dr. Matthias Huss. In the past decade, his data has shown that a quarter of Swiss ice has been lost, with hundreds of glaciers having disappeared entirely. But part of one of those glaciers remains in the freezer of his basement...

Also Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist, brings us her take on the new science that matters this week.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, Jonathan Blackwell
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002md19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002md1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002md26)
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood lays out asylum overhaul

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood laid out a string of reforms to the asylum system that would see refugee status become temporary, guaranteed housing support for asylum seekers end and new capped "safe and legal routes" into the UK created. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmood told MPs the current system is "out of control and unfair", and said: "If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred."

Also on the programme: as Syrians search for those who disappeared during the 13-year civil war, questions remain over missing American Austin Tice.

And an off-duty pilot who tried to cut off the engines of an Alaska Airlines passenger flight with more than 80 people on board, after having taken psychedelic mushrooms, has been sentenced.


MON 22:45 Virginia and Katherine by Alison MacLeod (m002md28)
Episode One

An original commission to mark the centenary of Mrs Dalloway, this is a story about the friendship and rivalry between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield, and includes letters by both writers.

In 1917, needing material for their newly-established Hogarth Press, Virginia and Leonard Woolf agree to publish a story from an emerging talent from New Zealand: Katherine Mansfield. Over the next six years - until Katherine’s death in 1923 - the two women enjoyed a complicated friendship which, despite moments of bitchiness or silence, was also the meeting of two original minds.

Episode 1
1917. For the first time, Virginia Woolf visits her new author - Katherine Mansfield - at her home in Chelsea.

Alison MacLeod’s most recent novel, Tenderness, was a New York Times ‘Best Book’ of the year and a ‘Best Paperback’ of the year for The Sunday Times. Her novel Unexploded was nominated for the Man-Booker Prize and adapted for BBC Radio 4. She is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester, a Writers' Award recipient of the British Library, and currently lectures on a part-time basis at Anglia Ruskin University, where she contributes to the Cambridge Writing Centre.

Writer: Alison MacLeod
Reader: Greta Scacchi
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

With thanks to the Society of Authors on behalf of the Estates of Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001slmj)
Spores: Series 1

1. Growth

A psychological horror story set in rural Wales amid the mysterious world of mycelium.

When social worker Cassie discovers mould in the flat of a vulnerable service user she puts it down to poor quality housing. But then she discovers it in her own house and begins to fear for the safety of her family.

For partner Morgan and young son Bryn, it’s not the mould that troubles them but Cassie’s mental health. As the fungus continues to grow and spread, Cassie resorts to more extreme measures to combat it. But why will no one listen to her when she warns of danger? The appearance of a mysterious Polish girl adds fuel to the friction within the family.

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was condemned to speak the truth yet never be believed. A story of trust and what happens when we lose it. And of a hidden threat attacking the very thing that makes us powerful.

Written and created by Marietta Kirkbride

Cassie …… Kate O’Flynn
Interviewer ….. Laurel Lefkow
Morgan ..... Owain Gwynn
Joyce ….. Kezrena James
Bryn …… Macsen Ovens
Huw …… Richard Corgan
Ola …… Aggy K. Adams

Other voices played by the cast

Production Manager: Anna de Wolff Evans
Production Assistant: Teresa Milewski
Executive Producer: Sara Davies

Title Music: Ioana Selaru & Melo-Zed
Sound Design: Jon Nicholls

Directed and Produced by Nicolas Jackson

An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002md2b)
Alicia McCarthy reports as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announces sweeping changes to asylum policy.