SATURDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2026

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002qv8h)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 Constable's Year by Susan Owens (m002qv74)
Episode 5: Winter

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of John Constable’s birth, Susan Owens offers a fresh look at how his life and work were shaped by his abiding love for his native Suffolk and the annual cycle of the natural world.

Today Constable is often considered to be a traditional artist, but he was a radical in his own time. Susan Owens describes how he rejected lazy, second-hand versions of nature; instead, he subjected the land, its people and its industry to intense scrutiny, and developed a new kind of painting to reflect the landscape and weather he saw with his farmer’s eye. He knew intimately the lanes, fields and millponds around his childhood home in East Bergholt in Suffolk, and he painted and understood the countryside as a place of labour as well as natural beauty.

Enriched with quotations from Constable’s funny, tender and acerbic letters, we follow him from his youth in the late 1700s, through the great love story of his marriage, to the final months of his life in 1837.

In this final episode we explore Constable’s growing fascination with the landscapes of winter as, towards the end of his life, he embarks on an ambitious project to publish his works as a sumptuous volume of prints.

Dr Susan Owens is an expert on British landscape art, and while Curator of Paintings at the V&A she was involved in the major exhibition Constable: The Making of a Master. Her latest book, The Story of Drawing: An Alternative History, was Apollo magazine’s Book of the Year in 2024.

Reader: Susannah Harker
Abridger and producer: Jane Greenwood
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Studio Production: Jon Calver
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002qv8k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002qv8m)
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 (m002qv8p)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002qv8r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002qv8t)
Follow the Light You Have

Good morning

Well, this week the same thing has happened as it always does in Cardiff at the start of February, my 7am walk with our dog has finally emerged out of the long winter darkness. Dawn was breaking as I slipped the leash around her neck, and I didn’t need the head torch to illuminate the latch on the garden gate. By the time we returned for breakfast, the sun was fully risen as indeed had my spirits for the coming day.

The coming of light is a common enough theme in many religions, an enduring metaphor for divine guidance and spiritual illumination. In the Christian scriptures Jesus even refers to himself as being ‘the light of the world’ promising that those who seek him out will find their way through the days of emotional darkness that almost inevitably envelop each of us at some time or other.

One exemplar of living in that light was the Scottish minister and founder of the Iona Community, the reverend George MacLeod. He was quite familiar with some personal times in the spiritual shadowlands but out of those experiences he would often encourage folk to, ‘give thanks for the light we have and pray for more light.’

I think that’s pretty good advice, not just for those of us who might be walking our dog across the threshold of a new day, but for any journey you and I may need to make today. If and when it feels like we cannot find our way through a moment of doubt or despair, let’s pause by giving thanks for the light we’ve already been given, and, as we take the next step forward, let’s pray for more light to come to our path.

Dear God of heaven’s light,
Shine upon our small corner of the earth today;
Brighten our hearts,
And Illuminate our minds,
That we might give thanks for all we already have
And perhaps become the very light that others need.
Amen


SAT 05:45 Materials of State (m002mn0f)
The Stone of Destiny

David Cannadine continues examining the origins, symbolism and contemporary significance of the objects and emblems that underpin the British constitution.

In this fifth episode, he’s looking at the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone - an ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy with a complex and contested history intertwined with both Scottish and British identity. The stone's earliest origins are shrouded in myth, but it was certainly used in the inauguration of Scottish kings at Scone Abbey from at least 1249. In 1296, King Edward I of England seized the stone as war booty. It was taken to Westminster Abbey and incorporated into a specially constructed Coronation Chair, which has been used in the coronation ceremonies of English, and later British, monarchs for over 700 years.

On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students, who supported an independent Scottish Parliament, removed the stone from Westminster Abbey to draw attention to their nationalist cause. The stone broke in two during the removal and was secretly repaired by stonemason Bertie Gray in Glasgow before being left at Arbroath Abbey and subsequently returned to Westminster. Gray was a keen Scottish nationalist and he kept fragments of the Stone during its repair to give out as relics. The historian Sally Foster has traced the whereabouts of many of these fragments which have travelled far and wide.

In 1996, the Conservative Prime Minister John Major announced the stone's return to Scotland, with the agreement stipulating that the stone must be returned to Westminster Abbey for any future coronation ceremony. The stone was brought to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. It is now on permanent display at the Perth Museum in Scotland, near its place of origin in Scone. It can rest more easily as a heritage object now Scotland has it's own Parliament, yet David argues it is still a highly charged 'material of state' with a complex and contested history.

Contributors in order of appearance:
Mark Hall, Collections Officer, Perth Museum, Scotland
Dr Fiona Watson, historian
Professor Sally Foster, Professor of Heritage in History at the University of Stirling

Presented by Professor Sir David Cannadine
Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
Series Researcher: Martin Spychal
Sound Mixing: Tony Churnside

The series has been made in association with the History of Parliament Trust

A Zinc Audio production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002r38n)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m002qths)
Terminal Hillness in the north Lakes

Clare joins Ian Teasdale in the north Lake District for a very personal walk. Ian and his wife, Catherine, are on a mission to climb all 214 Wainwright fells as part of their 'Terminal Hillness' project which they started following Ian's diagnosis of incurable bowel cancer. He wants to raise awareness of the lack of cancer support facilities in their region and he decided the best way to do this was by completing a full round of the Wainwrights. As they hike up Longlands, Ian shares memories connected to the landscape he grew up in. The forecast was grim before they set off, but the sun shone, and the only rain that fell created the most beautiful rainbow across the valley.

They started at Longlands, Grid Ref NY266358, and completed a 6 mile circuit with views of Skiddaw and the Northern Fells.

Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002r38q)
Farming Today This Week: electric shock collars, taking carbon out of agriculture, UK-EU reset, new entrants, Wagyu beef

Electronic Collars are to be banned under new rules for the RSPCA's Assured scheme for dairy cows. The collars are used instead of fencing, and make noise and then deliver a small electric shock to the cow if she goes outside the prescribed area. In April the RSPCA is also introducing other changes: a requirement for more access to pasture, a minimum of 120 days a year; changes to rules around transport of pregnant cows; and use of RSPCA Assured slaughter houses.

A new report published by the think tank The Resolution Foundation says the government's goal of 'net zero' across the UK, could force less proftable farms into debt, and lead to 3,500 farms losing money. It says progress to remove the carbon from farming has been slow and advises that policy makers should intervene to ensure costs are passed to the consumer.

MPs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee are calling on the Government to have a ‘national conversation’ on the new EU/UK agri-food trade agreement, so farmers don't end up disadvantaged.

All this week, we've been talking about starting out in farming. The cost of land and the price of renting makes it difficult for those who're not from a farming family. One young couple have realised their dream by leaving behind their city lives in York and moving hundreds of miles to Scotland, to a croft in the Western Isles.

We meet a farmer who has gone back to her family farming roots in Norfolk. After working variously as a PE teacher and journalist she now single handedly runs a herd of Wagyu beef cattle,

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002r38s)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002r38v)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day. NB: this programme has been edited after transmission.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002r38x)
Alexander Armstrong, Cold Cases, Small Prophets and the Inheritance Tracks of Riz Ahmed

Alexander Armstrong on life as a writer, Professor Patricia Wiltshire explains the role of a forensic botanist, Mackenzie Crook unveils the secrets behind his latest show.


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002r38z)
Hypatia of Alexandria: mathematician, martyr and feminist icon

Greg Jenner is joined in late antique Egypt by Professor Edith Hall and comedian Olga Koch to learn about the life of mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria. An important mathematical and astronomical thinker, Hypatia is best known today for her brutal death at the hands of Christian fundamentalists. Born to a well-respected mathematician named Theon in fourth-century Alexandria, Hypatia received an unusually advanced education for a woman, and eventually took over her father’s school. But with the city in which she lived riven by religious and political conflicts during the declining days of the Roman empire, she came to the attention of radical Christians – with fatal consequences. In this episode we explore Hypatia’s trailblazing life as a philosopher and mathematician, and her afterlife as a martyr for intellectual enquiry, and as a certified feminist icon.

If you’re a fan of trailblazing women from history, religious conflicts, and the twilight of the Roman empire, you’ll love our episode on Hypatia of Alexandria.

If you want more ancient philosophers with Professor Edith Hall, listen to our episodes on Pythagoras and Aristotle. And for more from Olga Koch, check out our episodes on Ivan the Terrible and Vital Electricity.

You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Adam Simcox
Written by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars


SAT 10:30 Rewinder (m002r391)
Wuthering Flights

Greg James explores the BBC Archives using overlooked anniversaries, the big stories of the week and your suggestions to guide him to extraordinary audio.

Marking 100 years since John Logie Baird first demonstrated his Televisor to the public, Greg finds an interview with first man ever to appear on a TV screen, William Taynton, who worked as Baird's assistant and survived being half-roasted to make history.

As a new raunchy take on Wuthering Heights hits cinemas starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Greg explores the many, many BBC adaptations of Emily Bronte's novel - as well as the feedback from listeners distracted by the wuthering weather.

After last week's look at kids' TV programme Why Don't You, Greg receives an email which leads to a lovely surprise for a Rewinder listener.

And fifty years on from the first commercial Concorde flight, there are big bangs and booms and bad tempered Brits. Plus a very flustered Terry Wogan.

Producer: Tim Bano

An EcoAudio Certified production


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002r393)
The Guardian's political editor Pippa Crerar assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

The Mandelson scandal dominated the week and Pippa discusses it with Labour MP Natalie Fleet, herself a survivor of grooming and a member of the Women and Equalities Committee and senior Conservative MP, Sir Bernard Jenkin.

To debate the government's EU reset, Pippa brought together Lord Peter Lilley, a former Conservative cabinet minister and long-term Eurosceptic. And the MP Anneliese Dodds, who is a former chair of the Labour party and was previously a member of the European parliament.

Labour MP Chris Curtis and Kate Ogden, a higher education expert from the Institute for Fiscal Studies talk about student loans.

And historian Sir Anthony Seldon and seasoned journalist and political biographer Anne Perkins discuss where the Mandelson scandal ranks in the long history of political scandals.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002r395)
Gaza: Rafah border crossing reopens

Kate Adie introduces stories from the Gaza-Egypt border, Cuba, Bangladesh, Ukraine and Slovenia.

The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt reopened this week after being mainly kept shut since Israel captured the Gazan side in 2024. It’s opening has brought relief to many Palestinians who see it as a lifeline to the world. However, there has been frustration over delays and the small number of people being allowed through each day. Yolande Knell has been following developments.

Outside Venezuela, nowhere was last month’s US military action in Caracas felt more keenly than in Cuba. Venezuela has helped prop up the Communist-run island for twenty-five years, with subsidised supplies of crude oil. Will Grant reports from Havana on the island's growing economic crisis.

Bangladesh goes to the polls next week in its first election since a student uprising forced the previous Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to flee for India. However, a new student-led political party is already in crisis. Azadeh Moshiri reports from Dhaka.

Ukraine continues to endure heavy Russian bombardment of its energy grid - in the capital more than a thousand buildings are still without power. But locals are finding innovative ways to keep warm amid freezing temperatures, as Abdujalil Abdurasulov discovered at a disco on a frozen river.

The Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina are officially underway and one of Europe’s smallest countries is hoping to fly higher than the rest. Guy De Launey met the Slovenian brother and sister who are favourites for ski-jumping gold.

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


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002r397)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002r399)
Credit Card Debt and Civil Service Pensions

Debt charity StepChange says its research suggests around 2.5mn people who have debt on a credit card have paid more in interest, fees and charges over the past 18 months than they have repaid off the debt itself. Its survey of 6,000 adults, done by the polling organisation YouGov, found 1 in 20 adults had this persistent credit card debt. Its calling on the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to improve the lending rules to stop debt building up and and ensure banks are intervening sooner to support customers in difficulty. The FCA says its rules mean that lenders should only provide credit to people who can afford to repay.

The government has started a hardship fund because thousands of newly retired civil servants have been kept waiting months for their pensions to be paid. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents many civil servants, has described the situation as "catastrophic" and is calling for urgent action to put things right. In a joint statement Capita and the Cabinet Office said they are "deeply sorry for the worry, frustration, and distress this has caused." Adding they both take this responsibility "very seriously and are urgently working together to put this right."

New figures show that banks are refunding more of the money stolen from customer accounts, following new rules which force them to do so.

And as the big lenders offer mortgages worth six times people’s salary, what does this mean for borrowers?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th February 2026)


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m002qv7w)
Series 119

5. The Prince of Darkness

Is there a way out for Keir Starmer after the Peter Mandelson scandal? Who fled ‘under the cover of darkness’ from their royal lodgings? What exactly is a humble address? And why are iguanas falling out of trees? Helping Andy answer some of the big questions of the week are Desiree Burch, Pierre Novellie, Daniel Finkelstein and Catherine Bohart.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Cody Dahler, Eve Delaney and Sarah Mills
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producers: Richard Morris and James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Giulia Lopes Mazzu
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002r39c)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002r39f)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002qv82)
Baroness Chapman, Laila Cunningham, Richard Holden MP, Caroline Lucas

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Highlands Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex with the International Development Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman, Reform UK's London Mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, the Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden MP and the former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Caroline Lucas,

Producer: Robin Markwell
Assistant producer: Jo Dwyer
Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Phil Zentner
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002r39h)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002qv7y)
Susan comes to see Clarrie with some early birthday treats and a proposition. Accompanying her on the school pick-up run, Susan asks whether she might be interested in taking back her old job at the dairy. They’re rushed off their feet at Bridge Farm and they need help. Clarrie admits she misses the place and working with Susan, but she enjoys her work at Underwoods Local and in the school. The people are lovely, both jobs are easier on her body, and she gets to pick up Poppy. Susan’s disappointed but glad to see Clarrie so content.

There’s a crisis at Meadow Farm. The cows are out and Esme’s struggling. George lends a capable hand and the animals are soon under control. Later George reassures Esme. He’s located the cause of the escape – there’s a broken gate on the winter housing. Esme’s grateful. When Josh finds George fixing the gate, he admits he must have knocked it yesterday when he was scraping the yard. He feels awful but George tells him to stop worrying, it’s all fine. Josh apologises to Esme, who thinks the work at Meadow Farm might be too much for him. He has his own business to keep running. She needs to stand on her own feet, and besides she has George helping now. When Josh declares he doesn’t trust George, Esme doesn’t share his scepticism. She believes George is genuine and that the job means a lot to him. She offers George the afternoon milking, and Josh has to reluctantly let go of the reins.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002r39k)
Transcendental Wild Oats

Louisa May Alcott (Louisa Harland - Hamnet) immortalised herself and her sisters in her book Little Women. In Transcendental Wild Oats, she tells the story of her parents, Abigail (Rebekah Staton) and Bronson (Alistair Petrie - Night Manager 2), and her father’s attempt to found a utopia on a farm in the New England wilderness, called Fruitlands.

Accompanied by a dour Englishman named Charles Lane (Mathew Baynton - Ghosts), and a small band of eccentrics, they believed Eden could be returned to Earth through veganism, celibacy and organic farming – which none of them knew how to do. What followed were six months of misadventure, with comedy gradually threatening to turn into tragedy.

This adaptation combines Louisa’s original short story with historical record, drawing on the letters and diaries of the people involved, to tell the full story of Fruitlands.

Dramatised by Edward Rowett
Original Story by Louisa May Alcott
Directed by Gordon Kennedy and Edward Rowett

Cast:
Louisa May Alcott and Louy Alcott - Louisa Harland
Bronson Alcott - Alistair Petrie
Abigail Alcott - Rebekah Staton
Charles Lane - Mathew Baynton

Christopher Godwin as Joseph Palmer
Tom Moores as Samuel Bower
Edward Rowett as Abraham Wood
Patricia Rodriguez as Ann Page
Jason Barnett as Ralph Waldo Emerson
Victoria Rigby as Anna Alcott

Production Manager - Sarah Tombling
Studio Engineer, Sound Design and Editing - Wilfredo Acosta
Produced by Gordon Kennedy
Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios, London

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002r39m)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Undercover Police Inquiry, Foster care expansion, AI boyfriends

The ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry started again this week. It is believed at least 50 women were duped into intimate relationships with undercover officers over decades. Alison, not her real name, spent five years living with a man she knew as Mark Cassidy, who was in fact a married undercover Police Officer whose real name was Mark Jenner. She joins Nuala McGovern along with BBC London journalist Ayshea Buksh, who has been following this inquiry.

The government has announced plans to relax fostering rules and create 10,000 new places for vulnerable children in England. Roxy and her mum Judy, from the BBC’s recent Traitors series, join Nuala to discuss. Roxy was fostered until the age of five before being adopted by Judy. They are also joined by Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive of The Fostering Network.

Paula Varjack talks to Anita about her show Nine Sixteenths. It examines the fallout from the infamous Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake ‘wardrobe malfunction’ incident at the 2004 Superbowl and the backlash that almost ruined Jackson’s career. The play questions what this says about the demographics of who controls the media, the scrutinising of black women in the public eye and asks if anything has changed.

We hear a lot about ‘mum guilt’, but what about the guilt that can come along with not becoming a mother? Writer Ellen C Scott is child-free by choice but has recently experienced guilt towards her parents because she won’t be providing them with grandchildren. She recently explored the topic for Stylist magazine and was surprised by how much it resonated with other women. Ellen and psychotherapist Professor Hannah Sherbersky discuss.

AI companions are becoming increasingly common, with one in three adults now using them for conversation, advice and support. Now recent research from Bangor University has shown that many teen AI companion users believe their bots can think or understand. That research prompted Nicola Bryan, a reporter for BBC Wales News to investigate and acquire an "AI boyfriend" of her own in the process. Nicola talks to Anita about what happened next.

The Puppini Sisters are celebrating 20 years of their antique pop, neo-burlesque swing music. Their new album The Birthday Party marks two decades since their debut, Betcha Bottom Dollar, spent almost a year on the Billboard chart in the US. It became the fastest-selling jazz album in UK chart history, with their fans including Robbie Williams and King Charles. They join Nuala to discuss their music.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Dianne McGregor


SAT 17:00 PM (m002r39p)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002r39r)
How to tell England’s story: James Graham, playwright

James Graham joined Nick in the political thinking studio in late January, ahead of a this year's TV adaptation of his play Dear England.

What did Gareth Southgate get right about national identity?

What advice does the playwright have for Keir Starmer on storytelling?

And why is it important that people continue to go to the theatre?

Senior Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Producer: Flora Murray
Sound: Ged Sudlow and Hal Haines
Editor: Giles Edwards


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002r39t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002r39w)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r39y)
Former PM Gordon Brown says Sir Keir Starmer is in a "serious" situation as he battles to keep his job

Gordon Brown says Sir Keir Starmer is in a "serious" situation as he battles to keep his job - but insisted the Prime Minister was the right man to "clean up the system". Sir Keir is facing scrutiny about his appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US - after files released by the US Department of Justice suggested the peer had close links with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Also: President Zelensky says Russia has used more than 400 drones and around 40 missiles in its latest attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. And: At the Winter Olympics in Italy, the first gold medal has been won by the Swiss skier, Franjo von Allmen, who was crowned champion of the men's downhill in Bormio.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002r3b0)
Beverley Knight, Keala Settle, Michaela Strachan, Ross Noble, Melvyn Hayes

Joining Clive this week are the actress and singer Keala Settle, who's starring in a newly re-imagined production of John Ransom Phillips' Mrs President.

Presenter Michaela Strachan is heading off across the country with her show Not Just A Wild Life, to celebrate 40 years of her career in television.

Comedian Ross Noble joins us mid-tour to delve into his Cranium of Curiosities.

Star of stage and screen Melvyn Hayes brings along his new autobiography It Ain't Half Late Mum.

And there's music from Beverley Knight, who's about to grace the stage in the West End premiere of Marie and Rosetta.

Presenter: Clive Anderson
Producer: Elizabeth Foster


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002r3b2)
Kirsty Coventry

As the 2026 Winter Olympics kick off in Italy, we look to the most powerful woman in sport - the International Olympics Committee President, Kirsty Coventry.

The most decorated African Olympian of all time, the 42-year-old mother-of-two made history as both the first African and the first woman to hold the title when she was elected last year.

Kirsty began swimming from an early age, in the family pool in Harare, Zimbabwe, where her mother gave swimming lessons to local children. Her talent was soon spotted, and she competed in her first Olympics in at just aged 16, going on to compete in four more.

With seven Olympic medals and several World Records under her belt, she decided to take on a role at the International Olympic Committee, quickly climbing the ranks.

Her reign is being closely watched by both her supporters and her detractors - from the decisions she makes around Russian and transgender athletes being allowed to compete, to the challenge global warming creates for running the competition. So, as the Winter Olympics begin, Mark Coles examines how she got here.

Production Team:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Keiligh Baker and Katie Solleveld
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Gemma Ashman
Sound: James Beard
Editor: Justine Lang

Archive:
Olympics.com
AFP
IOC
Dominican Convent Primary School Harere
Sporting Witness BBC World Service
Sky News


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002qth9)
Imogen Cooper

Dame Imogen Cooper is one of Britain’s most esteemed concert pianists. Having played since the age of five, she was mentored by the great Austrian born pianist Alfred Brendel before making her name internationally with interpretations of works by Schumann, Schubert and Mozart. She is renowned as a reflective, poetic sensitive performer in the concert hall and recording studio. She was made a CBE in 2007, became the first pianist to be awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2020 and, the following year, became Dame Imogen. She recently announced that, at the end of the year long international tour, she would be retiring from live performance in early 2027.

Producer: Edwina Pitman

Archive used:
Face The Music, BBC2, 12 November 1975
Schubert, Allegretto in C minor D915 played by Imogen Cooper at the Wigmore Hall on 18 January 2026


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002r3b4)
Landscape for a Good Infant

If we crouch down to the level of the infant, what might we learn about the evolution of the welfare state and its role in the lives of babies, young children, and the people who care for them? How have our attitudes towards it changed from its inception to the present day?

Dr Emily Baughan, historian of modern childhood and mother of two infants, explores how our ideas about infancy, motherhood, and the role of the state have shifted over the last six decades.

Today, formula milk is one of the most shoplifted items in the UK. But if you were born before 1976, your formula milk would have been provided by the state. Known as “national milk”, it is just one example of how the state has shaped different generations’ experiences of infancy. We already understand how the national curriculum and school dinners have produced a distinctly British experience of childhood for older children - but what about the under‑fives?

Drawing on a wealth of BBC archive from the 1960s to today, alongside her own research and personal reflections, Emily takes on this baby’s‑eye view of the state, discovering how it has helped shape generations. She hears how a baby born in 1980 would have spent their first hours in a Perspex crib in a hospital nursery, while a baby born in 2000 would have been delivered straight onto their mother’s chest, rarely leaving her side. A baby in 1985 might have attended one of 300,000 free community playgroups; by 2025, they would be unlikely to find any non‑profit play provision outside a church. Are we, as adults, the product of what the state deems important for infants?

Featuring interviews with Miriam Stoppard, Professor Carolyn Steedman (author of Landscape for a Good Woman), Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Meins (University of York) and Stella Creasy MP.

Producer: Eliza Lomas
Editor: Chris Ledgard


SAT 21:00 Artworks (m002fjn8)
Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf

2. Critiquing Society

‘They make life intolerable, men like that.’

A century on from the publication of Mrs Dalloway, Fiona Shaw explores what Virginia Woolf has to say to us today. With Clarissa Dalloway as our guide, we discover how Woolf captured and critiqued a modern world that was transforming around her, treated mental health as a human experience rather than a medical condition, and challenged gender norms in ways that seem light years ahead of even our present day discourse.

In this episode, Fiona Shaw speaks with authors, academics and artists inspired by Virginia Woolf, about how Woolf critiqued systems of power and privilege.

Fiona hears from authors Alison Light, Danell Jones, Michelle de Kretser, Michael Cunningham, and Mark Haddon; Senior Lecture in Modern Literature, Dr Clara Jones; Professor of English, Mark Hussey; and artist Kabe Wilson.

Extracts read by Gwendoline Christie.

Produced by Ellie Richold for BBC Audio


SAT 21:30 Artworks (m002ntsk)
The Poetry Detective

Overwintering

Vanessa Kisuule unearths the poems that speak to the big issues we are all wrestling with. This week, it's getting through winter.

"Overwintering" is a term usually reserved for plants and animals adapting in order to make it through the cold, darker months. But we humans are living beings too and perhaps we are also in need of some mulching around the roots, some bringing indoors, some hibernation.

And when life throws us a metaphorical winter, can we allow ourselves to just sit and watch through the window 'til the storm has passed? Perhaps poetry can help. Can it make us calmer, wiser, and more accepting of life's unplanned pauses?

With Katherine May, author of Wintering and the poets Lavinia Greenlaw, Megan Fernandes and Isabelle Baafi.

'Advent’ by Patrick Kavanagh is quoted from Collected Poems, edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane, 2004), by kind permission of the Trustees of the Estate of the late Katherine B. Kavanagh, through the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency.

Produced in Bristol by Ellie Richold


SAT 22:00 News (m002r3b6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002qv72)
The Future of Our Food

In a special edition Dan Saladino talks to the UK's biggest food producers and retailers to hear their visions for the future of food, health, sustainability and resilience.

Along with the DEFRA minister Dame Angela Eagle, some of the most influential figures in food and farming are gathering at the annual Sustainable Foods event held in London. On the agenda will be health and nutrition, food security, net zero and regenerative agriculture.

Will the ideas and strategies, outlined by the major supermarkets, food manufacturers and farming organisations result in significant changes to food in the UK?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SAT 23:00 Dan Does Dating (m002r3b8)
Series 1

4. Celeste

Think of the worst date you've been on, or heard about. Now imagine having to go through that every week. That's what happens to Dan Dickerson in Dan Does Dating, a new non-audience sitcom by Michael Beck. And his dates feel the same way.

This week, Dan compares the first date he's on with how the first dates of his partnered-up friends went - or, at least, how they told him they went...

Dan … Christopher Macarthur-Boyd
Celeste ... Tina Gray

Chris … Ray Bradshaw
Jack … Stephen Buchanan
Jamila … Nalini Chetty
Diane … Zara Gladman

Tattooist … Kougar Baatarkhuu
Angry Man ... Jonny Donahoe
Mum ... Lubna Kerr
Fiona ... Layla Kirk
Dad … Sanjeev Kohli
Sarah… Lisa Livingstone
Partygoer ... Eleanor Morton
Moviegoer … Sophie Wilkinson

Written by Michael Beck

Recorded and edited by Diane Jardine at Sonido Studios, Clydebank

Produced and directed by Ed Morrish

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Counterpoint (m002qzbk)
Series 39

Heat 5, 2026

Paul Gambaccini hosts radio's most challenging music quiz. Now in its 39th series, contestants from around the country have assembled to be tested on their knowledge of music from across the centuries, and across every genre.

This week, our three contestants pick from topics including ‘Pop into 1976', 'Seventies isco at the movies' and 'The Wayne Shorter Report'.

Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

SUNDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2026

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3bb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m002qrfy)
Sarah Bernstein

The Canadian writer Sarah Bernstein speaks to a Bookclub audience about her Booker-shortlisted 2023 novel, Study For Obedience. Published by Granta, the story follows an unnamed protagonist who is moved to a remote northern country to be a housekeeper for her brother, but as soon as she arrives a series of unfortunate events occur. The novel won the Giller prize in 2023.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3bd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3bg)
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 (m002r3bj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3bl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002r3bn)
All Saints church in Easton, Suffolk

Bells on Sunday comes from All Saints church in Easton, Suffolk. The church is Grade 1 listed and mostly medieval. The bell tower has a square flint base with a 15th century octagonal upper section. It holds six bells by five different founders, the oldest of which dates from the mid-15th century. The Tenor bell weighs twelve hundredweight and is tuned to the note of G. We hear them now ringing Plain Bob Doubles


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002qrlc)
Update on the Macular Society

Regular In Touch listeners will know that decisions to make organisational changes by management at The Macular Society have been met with strong opposition. The changes include a reduction in the number of regional managers, a move which some in the charity say will badly damage service provision. Indeed, feelings are running so high that a group called "Save Our Society, Save our Services" or SOS has been formed. Following a recent Annual General Meeting, SOS claimed they had been denied the opportunity to properly challenge management and that controversial decisions had been forced through.

Amid this acrimony, we were keen to give people from both sides of the argument the opportunity to explain their position. We're pleased to say that SOS members Tricia Sturgeon and Ron Barnett, and Cecilia Bufton, Chair of the Society's Board of Trustees agreed to join us to do just that.

Presenter: Peter White
Producers: Beth Hemmings and Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual 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 a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to
the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.’


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002r3f5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m002qrks)
The go-along research method

How does the environment we move through shape the way we see and experience the world?

Laurie Taylor talks to Alex Prior (London South Bank University) about his research inside Westminster, where he walked alongside MPs and staff to uncover how the corridors of power feel different depending on who you are and what your job is.
James Fletcher from the University of Bath worked on a project exploring what it’s like to navigate the bus and tram routes of central Manchester while living with dementia. He looked at how familiar streets and transport systems change when memory and mobility are shifting and the implications of this.

What is the value of research conducted in this way and what are the downsides?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002r3f7)
The One-Woman Wagyu Beef Farmer

Out on the ancient meadows just back from the North Norfolk coast graze some unusual, horned, beef animals. These velvety black, delicate-legged cattle are wagyu. Originally from Japan, they produce meat treasured for its marbled fat, which makes it tender and flavoursome.
These animals are being raised by a one-woman force of nature – Sarah Juggins. Sarah runs the North Norfolk Coastal Group of farmers, who are bringing about sustainable farming changes to hundreds of square kilometres of environmentally sensitive land. Previously a sports teacher and journalist, and now an author, Sarah tells Anna Hill about coming back to her family farming roots in Norfolk, where her father ran a mixed farm.
She cares for her own 36-strong herd of wagyu animals single-handed. After ten years her beef enterprise is only just making a profit but, as she tells Anna Hill, it’s given her so much more than an income. The animals have taught her to adjust her frenetic pace to match nature, be patient and mindful, and appreciate the interconnections between landscape and food production.
We join Sarah and Anna out in the field, and witness a race for the best hay bales, family squabbles, and calves playing hide and seek in the winter sun.

Presented and produced by Anna Hill.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002r3f9)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002r3fc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002r3ff)
Epstein Files; Michelangelo; Apocalypse Tropics

The Epstein files has raised big questions beyond politics, Sunday explores the moral dimension of the latest revelations.
Documents reveal that in 2017 the financier and convicted paedophile was sent fragments of a cloth used to cover the Kaaba - also known as the House of God - in the Great Mosque of Mecca. Edward Stourton discusses the revelation with Leicester imam Sheik Ibrahim Mogra.

A hammer price of 23 million dollars is quite a lot to pay for a small chalk drawing of a foot. Michelangelo sketch was part of a study for the magnificent Sistine Chapel fresco. Jarda Da-man, a specialist in Old Masters at Christies, describes it for the Sunday audience.

The BAFTA awards are a fortnight away and the documentary 'Apocalypse in the Tropics' is in the running. It is a story of religion and right-wing politics set in Brazil, and focuses on the rule of Jair Bolsonaro, who was the country's president from 2019 until 2023, before he was replaced by President Lula da Silva. Petra Costa directed the film and details the rise in evangelical Christianity against the setting of Brazilian politics.

Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Katy Booth
Studio Managers: Lynsey Akehurst & Phillip Halliwell
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002r3fh)
DeafKidz International

The Oscar-winning writer and actress Rachel Shenton makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity DeafKidz International.

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 ‘DeafKidz International’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘DeafKidz International’.
- 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: 1151219. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://deafkidzinternational.org
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Anna Bailey


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002r3fk)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002r3fm)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002r3fp)
Seats of wisdom

A service from Exeter Cathedral as part of the Northern European Cathedrals Conference. The music and readings reflect on the theme of ‘Cathedrals: Seats of Wisdom’, exploring these sacred spaces as places of Northern European identity and culture, wisdom and rootedness. The service includes a reading from Exeter Cathedral’s 10th century Exeter Book – a UNESCO World Memory object, widely regarded as the oldest surviving book in the English language. The preacher is the Bishop of Exeter, and hymns include Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation, and Now thank we all our God. Director of Music: Timothy Noon. Organist: Michael Stephens-Jones. Producer: Ben Collingwood.


SUN 08:48 Tweet of the Day (m002r3fr)
Polly Atkin on the Long-eared Owl

The non-fiction writer Polly Atkin is particularly fond of owls. Tawny owls surround her home in Grasmere in Cumbria, and she has observed the wintering of short-eared owls at the coast. One which remains elusive is the highly secretive long-eared owl, which Polly has never seen in the wild. Considered to be thinly but widely-spread in the UK, they are a scarce breeding species and very difficult to survey. Polly recalls stories from centuries ago of large colonies of long-eared owls resident in the Cumbrian woodland.

Polly Atkin is the author of The Company of Owls (Elliott & Thompson).

Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.


SUN 08:50 In Other News (m002r3ft)
Welcome to the programme which sidesteps the main news headlines and delves more deeply into what’s going right in the world.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002r3fw)
Can Keir Starmer survive?

Lord Blunkett is live to discuss to the Prime Minister's position after his worst week in the job. Plus: listeners spot a Radio 4 musical coincidence and we go on the hunt for joy in seemingly endless rain.


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002r3fy)
Tahra Zafar, costume and effects designer

Tahra Zafar is a costume and creature effects designer.

She designed the Paddington Bear puppet featured in the hit West End production Paddington: The Musical.

Born into a theatre family, she grew up with an Armenian American father who worked as a choreographer in the first West End production of West Side Story, and a mother who moved from a career as a ballerina to theatre work around the world. Her interest in making began early, helping her father with practical projects such as restoring their house, even learning to build walls and spending her spare time model making, with Airfix creations suspended from her bedroom ceiling.

After studying theatre design at Central Saint Martins, she began her career making theatre costumes. She spent some time at the Jim Henson creature workshop where she made some of the creatures for the first Harry Potter film including Hedwig the owl and Scabbers the rat.

After her daughter was born, Tahra worked on some of the characters for In the Night Garden with her daughter, a willing judge of what worked for toddlers.
In 2012, Tahra was in charge of 23,000 costumes for the London 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. This role included an audience with the late Queen to ensure the wig and dress were correct for Her Majesty’s stunt double when that iconic skydive was performed at the Olympic opening ceremony.

Tahra lives in London with her daughter.

DISC ONE: Thunderbirds (Main Theme) - The Barry Gray Orchestra
DISC TWO: Gee, Officer Krupke. Composed by Leonard Bernstein and performed by Leo Kharibian, Norman Furber and Vince Logan
DISC THREE: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (movement six) Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Berlin Philharmoniker, Wiener Singverein and conducted by Herbert von Karajan
DISC FOUR: Brazil – Geoff Muldaur
DISC FIVE: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
DISC SIX: Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
DISC SEVEN: Eclipse - Pink Floyd
DISC EIGHT: Take Five - Dave Brubeck

BOOK CHOICE: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Complete Books by Douglas Adams
LUXURY ITEM: A set of art materials and a storage box
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Eclipse - Pink Floyd

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor

Desert Island Discs has cast other costume designers away to the island over the years including Oscar winners Jenny Beavan and Sandy Powell. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002r3g0)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Jessica Bunch
Editor: Jeremy Howe

David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer.... Angus Imrie
Kenton Archer.... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Anne Marie Gordon.... Kate Ashfield
Bill Gordon.... Matthew Gravelle
Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Will Grundy.... Philip Molloy
Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley
Esme Mulligan.... Ellie Pawsey
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Hannah Riley.... Helen Longworth


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002r3b2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002qrx2)
Series 96

1. The best curry in Bradford

This week Just A Minute returns to the glorious city of Bradford, 24 years after we last recorded there way back in 2002. Comedian Chris Cantrill was born and bred in Bradford and is making his debut on the show. How will he get on when he plays with regulars Paul Merton, Lucy Porter and Zoe Lyons on subjects like singing in the shower, heartbreak hotel and Alan Bennett?

Host: Sue Perkins
Players: Paul Merton, Lucy Porter, Zoe Lyons, Chris Cantrill
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Additional material by Ruth Husko

An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002r3g2)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002r3g4)
US pushes Cuba to the brink

The Trump administration's oil blockade on Cuba could soon lead to a "humanitarian collapse" - according to the UN. We speak to a range of voices about US motives, including President Obama's former Cuba negotiator and a former adviser to Marco Rubio. Plus we hear from the Cuban Ambassador to the UK about how her government intends to respond.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002r3g6)
Trump and Greenland: How MAGA went Arctic

Why does President Trump really want to takeover Greenland?

The Arctic territory is rich in vital minerals and oil, and it hosts an important American military base as the race for dominance in the wider Arctic heats up between China, Russia and the USA.

While the issue has become suddenly urgent, it's a proposal that has been years in the making - and drill down beneath Trump's recent stated reason of 'security' and the reasons why he wants it as the 51st state are less clear.

A financier-turned-MAGA operative, the small print of the right-wing wish list Project 2025, and a penchant for big places on maps might better explain the recent diplomatic crisis, as the Make America Great Again project evolves into an idea to Make America Bigger.

The Coming Storm's Lucy Proctor delves into the backstory to Trump's insistence on acquiring Greenland.

Produced and presented by Lucy Proctor
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound engineer: Andy Fell


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002qv7k)
Kimpton

Peter Gibbs and the GQT team are in Kimpton, Hertfordshire.

He's joined by Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Juliet Sargeant.

With questions submitted from the local audience in Kimpton Memorial Hall, the panel take on a wide range of horticultural challenges, from alternatives to Valentine’s Day roses, to selecting shrubs for a north‑facing chalk‑clay garden and innovative ways of harvesting horseradish.

The panellists also advise our questioners on how to grow figs in containers, prune winter honeysuckle and propagate daphne, and they tell us how best to manage the surprise appearance of fairy rings in a lawn.

Alongside these questions, Marcus Chilton Jones, Curator at RHS Bridgewater shares the Do's and Don’ts of winter pruning.

Producer: Matthew Smith
Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002r3g8)
Gone with the Wind - Episode 1

In the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke explores Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.

It was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century, it has sold 30 million copies and counting, it won the Pulitzer Prize, and the 1939 film of the book remains among the highest grossing of all time.

Gone with the Wind is a coming-of-age story, a love triangle, and an epic wartime romance. And it is a rollicking read, a hugely entertaining book, but one with considerable problems for today’s readers – problems that John Yorke explores and analyses over three episodes.

In this first episode John considers how Margaret Mitchell tells this huge sweeping story and asks what made it such a phenomenal hit.

John is joined by the writer Rachel Joyce who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4, and Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells. Together they explore what makes the book such a captivating read and how it is driven by the central character, Scarlett O’Hara, one of the most compelling and infuriating heroines ever written.

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 Radio 4.

Contributors:
Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London
Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4
Readings by Samantha Dakin

Credits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage Books

Produced by Jane Greenwood
Executive Producer Sara Davies
Sound by Sean Kerwin
Researcher Henry Tydeman
Production hub coordinator Dawn Williams

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002r3gb)
Gone with the Wind: Episode 1

A new dramatisation of Margaret Mitchell’s famous and contested novel, set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War and the collapse of the old Southern order, and centred on the fiercely determined Scarlett O’Hara.

Part of The Story of America, a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States. This three-part drama revisits a foundational American story with fresh eyes.

Episode One
An iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation divided and a people forever changed.

Scarlett ..... Samantha Dakin
Rhett ..... Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
Ashley ..... Joseph May
Melanie ..... Rebekah Murrell
Prissy ..... Madeline Charlemagne
Sam ..... Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Aunt Pitty ..... Laurel Lefkow
Peter ..... David Webber
Dr Meade ...... Sam Dale
Pork ..... Richard Pepple
Frank Kennedy ..... Finlay Robertson
Ellen/Belle ..... Clare Corbett
The Tarleton Twins ..... Joe Jameson

And the Narrator and Mary ..... Clare Perkins

Directed by Tracey Neale

Story of America is a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States.

Set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning Gone with the Wind remains an iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. It was an instant best seller and has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide: the screen adaptation of 1939 became the world’s biggest box office selling film. As recently as 2014 it was voted the most popular book in America after the Bible and The New York Times describes it as ‘Beyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best.’

The famous story of the trials of feisty, once-spoiled Scarlett O’Hara as she struggles to adapt to the shattering of her world is both an epic adventure and one of literature’s greatest romances. It is about people who fight to the end for their dreams. But it is also about what happens when dreams die. How do you rebuild a life when your world is blasted into rubble? How do you bring lasting peace to a nation that is fundamentally conflicted? What does freedom mean and what does it look like when everything you knew is gone and everyone you loved is dead?

‘War is men’s business, not ladies,’ the young men of the novel tell themselves as they prepare for battle. And yet Gone with the Wind gives us a young heroine whose spirit and ability to survive outstrips the male world around her. It reminds us that the repercussions of civil war continue to be felt for generations: the past has consequences in the present. This is a major retelling of a story that remains at the heart of the American experience.

Dramatist:
Rachel Joyce is a best-selling author and award winning audio drama writer. Her first novel, The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has been adapted for both film and stage. Rachel adapted all of the Brontë canon for Radio 4. Her latest novel, The Homemade God, was published in February.

Producer and Director: Tracey Neale
Dramatist: Rachel Joyce
Script Consultant: Beverly Andrews
Sound Design: Keith Graham, Peter Ringrose, Sam Dickinson and Cole Colbert
Production Co-Ordinators: Luke MacGregor and Amy Woods


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002r3gd)
Bryan Washington

The American writer Bryan Washington speaks to Take Four Books about his new novel, Palaver, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. Palaver focuses on the tense relationship between protagonists “the son” and “the mother”. The son is an American who has lived in Tokyo for the best part of a decade, teaching English as a foreign language. Throughout this period, he’s been estranged from his Jamaican-American mother back home in Texas, until one day she arrives uninvited on his doorstep.

Bryan's three chosen influences in this episode are: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto from 1988; Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson from 2016; and Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park from 2021.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 Counterpoint (m002r3gg)
Series 39

Heat 6, 2026

Paul Gambaccini hosts radio's most challenging music quiz. Now in its 39th series, contestants from around the country have assembled to be tested on their knowledge of music from across the centuries, and across every genre.

This week, our three contestants pick from topics including ‘Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside', 'Berlin and music' and '70’s rock pioneers'.

Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5ydm)
Kawarau Bridge: The first bungee jumping site in New Zealand

On 12 November 1988, the world’s first commercial bungee jumping site was opened near Queenstown, New Zealand.

AJ Hackett and Henry Van Asch started out bungee jumping as a hobby with friends. They developed the bungee ropes and rigging system and found the perfect site – the historic Kawarau Suspension Bridge – which would give paying customers the chance to safely fall 43 metres.

It helped make Queenstown become the adventure tourism capital of the world. Josephine McDermott jumped from the bridge herself 20 years ago and finds out from AJ Hackett how it all came about.

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 football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: A jump from Kawarau Bridge. Credit: Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 The Verb (m002r3gk)
The Love Verb

Ian MacMillan has love in mind as he is joined by a swoon of poets all interested in the subject of love in lyric form.

Kim Moore’s poetry collections include The Art of Falling and All The Men I Never Married. She's chosen this week's Neon Line, The Verb's feature on lines that shine out from their poems, from a love poem that has long moved her. She also shares a new love poem from her forthcoming collection, The House of Broken Things,

Deborah Alma, poet, editor, and co-founder of The Poetry Pharmacy is a fan of love poetry anthologies She discusses the approach she took in her own love poetry anthology - Words For Love, and why she finds The Emma Press Anthology of Love edited by Rachel Piercey and Emma Wright, and Something New: Alternative Poems for Alternative Weddings edited by Caroline Bird and Rachel Long, such appealing collections.

In Rob Macaisa Colgate's debut poetry book, Hardly Creatures, he models his collection of poems on the experience of a fully accessible art gallery, inspired by his work in disability arts gallery in Toronto called Tangled. Hardly Creatures features a series of love poems which Rob calls Benches to reflect the fact that he sees them as places of rest in a collection often concerned with the practicalities, the pain, and the politics of disability.

Mark Connors, co-founder and editor of Yaffle Press, on the love song inspired poetry in their latest publication - Poems Inspired By the Best Songs of All Time.

Presented by Ian MacMillan
Produced by Ekene Akalawu


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002r3gm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002r3gp)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r3gt)
Morgan McSweeney quits as PM's chief of staff

Morgan McSweeney has resigned as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff and said he takes "full responsibilty" for having advised the Prime Minister to appoint Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US last year. In a statement, Mr McSweeney said the decision had been "wrong". Also: The BBC’s seen evidence that suggests Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor knowingly shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein when he was working as UK trade envoy. And: Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place across Britain, following days of non-stop rain in some areas


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002r3gw)
Martin Geissler

Two questions: are you feeling happy, and if so, are you from Bolton? The town was part of a 1930s study on emotion; Radio 4 investigates if there’s any happiness be found there these days. Gyles Brandreth has a minute to tell us what’s the matter with him, and we learn how Chaucerian fashion was a huge matter for medieval Britain - and not in a fashion forward way. Plus, Chris Packham meets the punk rockers on their way to pick up their pensions.

Presenter: Martin Geissler
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production coordinators: Caroline Peddle and Caoilfhinn McFadden


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002r3gy)
Preparing for Ben’s graduation celebration lunch, Ruth approaches a resistant David about a date at The Bull on Friday night for Valentine’s. He gives excuses that it’s an artificial, commercial occasion. He suggests an eat in meal-for-two from Underwoods. Ruth confides in Stella that she knows David’s trying to surprise her with a booking at The Bull on Saturday, but she wants to surprise him with a better table there on Friday.
Ben good naturedly winds Josh up, but Josh is still feeling raw about George at Meadow Farm and it’s awkward. As Ben moves on to chat to Stella about work, Josh accuses him of being holier than thou about his nursing work. Stella’s uncomfortable and leaves them to it. A heated discussion ensues with Josh accusing Pip of making assumptions about who will inherit the farm.
During a tense lunch, David and Ruth reveal their decision. Having done the figures, they’ve worked out that Brookfield will only be able to support one family. As Pip is the dairy expert, Brookfield will go to her, starting immediately with an initial part share, with Ruth and David holding the rest. Josh will keep his thirty acres at Hollowtree plus Glebe Cottage. Ben will receive Rickyard Cottage and the bungalow.
Josh appears stoic, stating that he’s not surprised. His parents remind him that he’s a brilliant entrepreneur with a great head for business, and this is the best thing for Brookfield. They assure him that he will do well and they will do all they can to support him.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002r3h0)
Functioning

If you ask many women in recovery from alcoholism what the term ‘functioning alcoholic’ means to them, they will laugh. In truth, a large percentage of women who end up in treatment had been, to the outside world, ‘functioning’. Holding down jobs, raising children, paying their rent or mortgage. However, internally, ‘functioning’ is about the last word they would use to describe their mental and emotional landscape as alcohol increasingly tightened its grip on their lives.

Here, two women share in raw and brutally honest detail their descent into alcohol dependency, which took place incrementally, behind closed doors, and, for the most part, under the radar as they continued to appear to live regular, ‘functional’ lives.

​​Functioning offers a rare insight into the experience of leading a completely dual existence - the secrecy, the agility and the alchemy required in maintaining a ‘functioning’ exterior, while your interior is coming apart; and a lesson in how much can go undetected when you are not what the world assumes of an alcoholic.

Sound design by Action Pyramid
Produced by Jodie Taylor
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000w3lh)
Stand on One Leg

In this episode, Michael is reborn as a one legged yogi to reveal why the one leg stance is one of the best things you can do for a longer and more active life. He speaks to Professor Dawn Skelton at Glasgow Caledonian University, to find out what happens to your balance as you get older, why our balance is getting worse with each generation, and how regularly making yourself wobble could help improve your body and your brain.


SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002qthv)
Vincentian Creole

Michael Rosen talks to linguist Teddy Mack about Vincy, a language rooted in English spoken on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, alongside standard English. But the English Teddy encountered when he moved to the UK proved to be very different (and far from standardised) and he's learned to switch throughout his life.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea, in partnership with the Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002qv7p)
Sir Nicholas White, Lord Wallace, Professor Deborah Cameron, Sly Dunbar

Matthew Bannister on

Sir Nicholas White, whose research on tropical diseases saved millions of lives.

Lord Wallace, the Liberal Democrat who served in the Scottish and Westminster parliaments and was Deputy to three First Ministers.

Professor Deborah Cameron who studied the use of language from a feminist perspective.

Sly Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who played on hundreds of hit records and teamed up with bass player Robbie Shakespeare to form “The Riddim Twins”.

Interviewee: Professor Nicholas Day
Interviewee: Lord McConnell
Interviewee: Professor Miriam Meyerhoff
Interviewee: Jazzie B
Interviewee: Kevin Le Gendre

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley

Archive used:

Nick White: Improving the treatment of infectious diseases, Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand, Tropical Medicine Oxford YouTube Channel, uploaded 08/03/2024; Professor Nick White: malaria, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) interview, University of Oxford YouTube channel, uploaded 26 Jan 2012; Nicholas White, “Malaria Defeating The Curse”, Horizon, BBC Two, 05/06/2005; Nick White, Fatal Latitudes, BBC Two, 23/02/1993; Jim Wallace, Scottish Devolution Referendum, Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland 1997; Coalition, Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland 14/05/1999; Jim Wallace, Acting first minister clip, FMQs, Scottish Parliament, 15/11/2001; Jim Wallace interview, Stark Talk, BBC Radio Scotland, 09/06/2000; Deborah Cameron interview, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 31/10/2025; Deborah Cameron interview, Speak Up, BBC Radio 4, 02/08/2024;


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002r399)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002r3fh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002r395)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002r3h3)
Reaction to Morgan McSweeney's resignation

Ben Wright's guests are the Labour MP Rachel Blake, Conservative Neil Shastri-Hurst and Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government. They discuss the turmoil in Government sparked by the Mandelson scandal and the resignation of Morgan McSweeney. Political journalists Ben Riley-Smith and Tom McTague bring additional expert analysis. And Ben interviews the campaigner on pornography and domestic abuse, Baroness Gabby Bertin.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m002qth3)
Henry IV Part 1

Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the most successful of Shakespeare's plays in his own time. Written with no Part 2 in mind as 'Henry the Fourth', the play explores ideas about who can be a legitimate ruler and why, and how anyone can rightly succeed to the throne. This was an especially pressing question for his Tudor audience as Elizabeth I had named no successor. Playwrights, banned from openly discussing the jeopardy her subjects faced, turned to these themes of power, legitimacy and succession in distant and recent history. When Shakespeare combined this relevance with the vivid characters of Falstaff, Hotspur and Hal and with the tensions between noble fathers and sons, he had a play that fascinated well into the Jacobean era and has been revived throughout the centuries.

With

Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Lucy Munro
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at Kings College London

And

Laurence Publicover
Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Hailey Bachrach, Staging Female Characters in Shakespeare’s English History Plays (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Warren Chernaik, The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power (Bodley Head, 2018)

Graham Holderness, Shakespeare: The Histories (Red Globe Press, 1999)

Jean Howard and Phyllis Rackin, Engendering a Nation: A Feminist Account of Shakespeare's English Histories (Routledge, 1997)

William Shakespeare (eds. Indira Ghose, Anna Pruitt and Emma Smith), Henry IV Part I: The New Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford University Press, 2024)

William Shakespeare (ed. Gordon McMullan), 1 Henry IV: A Norton Critical Edition, 3rd edition (Norton, 2003)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production

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 Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002qv7m)
The Bench by Isy Suttie

Clare has recently moved to Lyme Regis with her young son as her marriage has fallen apart. Isolated and lonely, she finds a moment of solace every morning on a seaside bench with a coffee, where she can watch the waves. One morning after forgetting her empty cup on the bench she finds a note admonishing her for doing so. She scribbles an angry reply, and thus enters into a stream of written correspondence with its sender, Daniel, who, over the weeks, reveals himself to be just as vulnerable as she is.

His letters form the highlight of her day until a difficult visit from her ex and an anonymous Valentine's package on her bench threaten to derail her fragile routine, and she has to dig deep to find the best way forward.

A story about courage and new beginnings.

Written and read by Isy Suttie
Produced by Alison Crawford

Isy is a writer, actress and comedian and a regular on BBC Radio 4, in programmes ranging from documentaries and sketch shows to her solo series Isy Suttie’s Love Letters, which won a Gold Sony Award. She has been nominated for three British Comedy Awards, and her TV acting credits include Dobby in Peep Show, Nat in Damned and Ali in Man Down, along with many appearances as herself in shows from Would I Lie To You? to Q.I. She plays Brid in CBBC’s High Hoops, and has published two books, a memoir called The Actual One and a novel, Jane Is Trying.

MONDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2026

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3h6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002qrlf)
India's sportswomen playing to be seen

How sport is giving some young women in India a way out of child marriage and allowing them to be seen.
Officially, the practice of child marriage is illegal in the country. But UNICEF estimates that over 200 million girls and women in India have been married before they turned 18. Take Munna as an example. Her mother was fifteen when she married and Munna herself was only 14 when she was told she would be a child bride. However, she fought back, using football as her weapon. She broke social norms and took up the sport, including wearing shorts on the pitch, and fended off various attempts to marry her off early. Now her rebellion has spread to her youngest sister, who has felt emboldened by her elder sister and has made it to the state football team.
Sport has also helped members of a marginalised community - the Siddis, who were originally brought to India from Africa mainly as slaves - to battle against discrimination. For Shahin her route was via judo.
Divya Arya reports on how sport is helping some young women to break free from the bonds of early marriage and to forge an identity for themselves.

Producer: John Murphy
Programme mix: James Beard
Programme co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002r3bn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3h8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3hb)
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 (m002r3hd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r3hg)
News from in and around Westminster with Sean Curran. Sean reports on the latest debate on the assisted dying bill, he's also been hearing from the author of a new book about the campaign for a second Brexit referendum and finding out about the playwright Sheridan's other career, as an MP


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3hj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r3hl)
Finding What's Been Lost

Good morning

It’s around this time in the morning that I can often hear our labrador begin to move downstairs, padding round the kitchen in anticipation of that first walk of the day.

This usually takes us to the nearby golf course. We wind our way through the rougher grass that grows beneath the trees that demarcate the fairways. These are the places golfers hope to avoid, their presence here bears testimony to a mis-directed swing, but because of that, this is also where the many lost balls can be found.

All of this reminds me of the stories Jesus told about things that had gone missing: a wayward sheep, a mislaid coin and even a lost and prodigal son. In every parable there is much lament over what or who cannot be found, and then the weeping gives way to great rejoicing when that which was lost is finally recovered.

Sometimes as I return a missing ball to the tee that lies closest to my house, I pause to reflect on what I may have lost sight of in my own life: what mis-hit hope or poorly swung ambition lies forgotten in the rough parts of my life, waiting to be recovered and put to use again. It’s not a bad reflection with which to begin a day but perhaps it’s not so good to linger there too long,

Because we are not destined to stay lost. And neither are the hopes for what we might yet become. So, as I return each recovered ball, I remember to give thanks for God, for the someone who might unexpectedly find what’s been lost in me and who will bring me back rejoicing to where I truly belong.

Dear God
who is forever searching out the good in us:
restore to us our greatest possibilities this morning
return us to our deepest purposes today
and help us to discover afresh
the lost treasures
that lie within one another
Amen


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002r3hn)
09/02/26 Farmer protests, Defra farm training, AI in agriculture

Over the past few weeks farmers have been protesting, at ports and around supermarket distribution centres. Why? They say it's a combination of things, from concerns about the impact of imported food to the prices supermarkets pay for UK produce, along with continuing anger over inheritance tax on farms. The Government has raised the threshold, now farmers can pass on a farm worth up to £2.5m without being affected but some say that not enough and they want the tax scrapped.

Civil servants will be spending time on farms. The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has agreed a 4 year contract with the Allerton Project to provide training to all its staff and 'deepen their understanding of modern British Agriculture".

Artificial intelligence is having an impact on many businesses around the world and farming is no exception, so this week we're looking at AI in agriculture. From monitoring the health of crops to measuring their uptake of water and improving animal welfare AI is already being used all around the country.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:57 Weather (m002r3hq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002r3jp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002r3jr)
Fun and games

Games are supposed to be fun — so what happens when the logic of games, points and competition escapes the playground and starts reshaping everyday life? The novelist and games-writer Naomi Alderman and her guests explore how the joy of play collides with the pressures of a gamified society.

Philosopher C Thi Nguyen introduces The Score, his examination of how ranking systems and numerical targets can both sharpen and warp our values, revealing how life becomes less playful when everything is reduced to points.

Journalist and critic Keza MacDonald discusses Super Nintendo, her cultural history of the iconic console, tracing how its games, aesthetics and innovations transformed the medium and helped define what play means for generations of players.

The Financial Times' commentator Stephen Bush examines the growing role of games and game like incentives in public life, exploring how the techniques of play — from reward structures to competitive framing — are reshaping political behaviour and communication.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002r3jt)
Community fitness

Hermen Dange, the founder of Made Running, tells Rachel Burden how the club is creating a community-driven environment, inclusive to everyone, no matter what their level of fitness. The club motto is 'no-one is left behind'.

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 easier. And the key here is in the trying. 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: Jill Collins
Sound Design: Cameron Ward
Editor: Clare Fordham


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r3jw)
Epstein files, Lindsey Vonn, Knife crime, Charles Dickens' women

At the end of January, the US government released new files from its investigation into the sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The latest drop of material consists of three million pages, and thousands of images and videos. But why has the focus of the coverage been on the political fallout, appearing to show exchanges with high-profile men? What does this say about society’s attitude to women more broadly? Some have already been voicing their concerns. Nuala McGovern is joined by Times journalist Helen Rumbelow and Penny East, Chief Executive at the Fawcett Society.

At 41, Lindsey Vonn was hoping to become the oldest athlete to win a downhill skiing medal. The American skier has dominated the sport winning 84 World Cup races along with her three Olympic Winter Games medals. Having already suffered an ACL injury ahead of the Games, but still determined to compete, during the downhill event yesterday she crashed just a few seconds into her race. She had to be airlifted off the course. To find out more, we speak to two-time Winter Olympic snowboarder and broadcaster Aimee Fuller.

Tonight BBC’s Panorama focuses on the murder of two teenage boys in South London, Daejaun Campbell and Kelyan Bokassa, killed in 2024 and 2025 - both victims of child criminal exploitation and groomed by local gangs. Nuala speaks to Jodian Taylor, Daejaun’s mother, and BBC’s Frankie McCamley, the documentary’s reporter.

A new exhibition at the Charles Dickens museum celebrates the women who influenced the great Victorian novelist's female characters, social commentary and campaigning to improve the lives of vulnerable women. But how does this sit alongside the other, darker narrative, that Dickens himself was a misogynist who mistreated his own wife? To sort the fact from the fiction, the exhibition curator Kirsty Parsons & the historian Professor Jenny Hartley are in the Woman's Hour studio.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Kirsty Starkey


MON 11:00 Understand (m002r3jy)
An American Journey

4. Life and Liberty

As James Naughtie concludes his series about the ideas tying America's birth 250 years ago to the United States today, he examines freedom, asking whose freedom, and what kind?

He begins in Gettysburg, attending a re-enactment on the battlefield made famous by an address from President Abraham Lincoln in which he asked whether the United States "could long endure". That question is being asked again now, as Americans experience profound disagreements over many of the ideas in this series - economic opportunity, justice, freedom; even what it means to be an American. As he hears, American history itself has become a battlefield. And so speaking to historians with different perspectives, and senior political leaders from both parties, James assesses how dangerous this moment is for United States.

Producer: Giles Edwards


MON 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r3k0)
Episode 1

The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.

Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.

In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.

This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.

Episode One
Sajid Javid’s father arrives in the UK in 1961, and works as a bus driver in Greater Manchester. Sajid’s mother feels isolated and alone, speaking no English, but works hard to keep house, and to bring up her five sons.

Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002r3k3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002r3k5)
When is a UK bank not a UK bank, lower-strength wines, and are cardigans cool again?

When is a UK bank not a UK bank? A listener tells us that she was caught out by a Facebook marketplace scam, but wasn't eligible for any fraud protection because she sent her money via bank transfer to a foreign bank account - which was using a UK sort code.

When the Sheffield-based law firm PM Law closed unexpectedly last week, hundreds of people were left in the middle of house purchases or re-mortgages, and are now in limbo. We find out what they do next - and if they'll be able to get into their new homes.

The actors Paul Mescal and Austin Butler are among those who have recently been spotted wearing a designer cardigan. We find out if an item known for being uncool is now.. cool again?

Plus can you get a lower-strength wine that actually tastes good? We hear from a vintner who thinks he's worked out how to reduce the alcohol level but keep the taste - and a wine writer who tells us what she thinks of his efforts.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: JAMES WICKHAM


MON 12:57 Weather (m002r3k7)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002r3k9)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r3kc)
1. The Wonder Stuff

This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.

Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.

Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.

Episode 1: The Wonder Stuff
Giles explains the origin of weight loss drugs and how they were developed. He speaks to Dr. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen who led research in the 1990’s that developed the molecule that made them possible, and among other contributors we also meet Giles’s own son Harry, who is taking them.

Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.

Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.

Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.

Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.

Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.

Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital

Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.

Dr Kamran Abbasi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal

Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.

Prof Frank Reimann
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.

Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.

Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.

A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002r3gy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Relativity (m001c000)
Series 4

Episode 3

Drawing on his own family, the fourth series of Richard Herring’s popular comedy drama has warm, lively characters and sharply observed family dynamics of inter generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind.

Amid the comedy, Richard broaches some more serious highs and lows of family life. In this series, set during the first year of lockdown. he draws on his own experience of testicular cancer at that time, as well as the comedic escapades of the four generations of the Snell family. Love, laughter and malapropisms abound.

Richard Herring is a comedian, writer, blogger and podcaster and the world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player.

Episode 3
Ian has a series of medical tests. He and Chloe have to face up to the possibility that he has cancer. Telling his dad Ken is both unexpectedly hilarious and moving.

Cast:
Ken ..... Phil Davis
Ian ..... Richard Herring
Chloe ..... Emily Berrington
Dr Harper ..... Fenella Woolgar
Technician ..... Harrison Knights
Doctor Kulkarni ..... Ahir Shah
Nurse Amani ..... Rani Fatania
Donny ..... Rafael Solomon

Writer Richard Herring
Director Polly Thomas
Sound Design Eloise Whitmore
Producer Daisy Knight
Executive Producers Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner

An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:45 Opening Lines (m002r3g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Sunday]


MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002r3kg)
Robin Ince and Philip Hensher

This week's books are:

Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy, chosen by comedian Robin Ince
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Esther Waters by George Moore, chosen by writer Philip Hensher

Producer Sally Heaven, BBC Audio Bristol


MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (m002r38z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002r3g6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Rewinder (m002r391)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002r3kj)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r3kl)
The Prime Minister faces calls to resign from the Scottish Labour leader

Sir Keir Starmer's entire cabinet has come out in a coordinated show of support for the Prime Minister after the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Anas Sarwar, publicly called for him to step down. Also: a statement on behalf of the King has said he stands ready to support the police if needed as they investigate his brother's relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And one of Scotland's last surviving D-Day veterans, Albert Lamond, has died at the age of 100.


MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m002r3kn)
Series 96

2. I’ve never seen anything like it!

Subjects this week include if I were invisible for one hour, double denim and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Now which of these might include everyone speaking French?

Host: Sue Perkins
Players: Paul Merton, Cariad Lloyd, Rachel Parris, Paterson Joseph
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Additional material by Ruth Husko

An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002r3kq)
Brian hears Josh’s Brookfield inheritance woes. He encourages Josh to be relieved to not be saddled with debt, and to build on his egg enterprise. Josh is put out that Pip will receive a farm worth millions – maybe he should look beyond Brookfield for his future?

Ruairi is planning to visit a large farm to learn about their diversity strategy. With extremes of weather, farming is volatile and grain prices are trending down. Disparaging Brian reminds him of his five decades of farming experience, which counts for a lot in planning. Later, the two discuss Josh’s situation – Brian thinks a mid-size operation such as Brookfield is a poisoned chalice. Ruairi is not afraid of taking on a farm and presses Brian on his succession plan. Brian retorts that Ruairi’s a long way, if at all, from filling his shoes.

Although Amber compliments Fallon on her coat in the shop, she is not sweetened and gives a barbed suggestion that Amber could help with Speedwatch, to make a stand for the victims of reckless drivers.

Fallon has a plan for Ruth’s Valentine surprise. David is to come to The Bull on Friday to help behind the bar, saying they are short staffed. The secret booking is back on!
George has heard that his accused attacker has pleaded not guilty, so the case will go to court. It raises doubt in his mind about their identity. Amber reassures him that he should not have to worry about it, the court will deal with it.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002r3ks)
Kristen Stewart on her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water

Hollywood star Kristen Stewart talks about her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, which is a searing portrait of childhood abuse and redemption that’s based on the life story of author Lidia Yuknavitch.

Seurat and the Sea is a new exhibition opening at London’s Courtauld Gallery.
It features 26 paintings and sketches - many of which haven’t been seen together since they were created - that show the pointillist painter’s love for depicting the coast of northern France.

Bad Bunny has made headlines in the last week for his outspoken political comments following his victory at the Grammys, as well as his historical performance at last weekend’s Super Bowl. Radio 1xtra’ s Fee Mak explains what it is about Bad Bunny’s music that makes him Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world.

Here There are Blueberries is a play inspired by the discovery of an album of snaps of workers relaxing and enjoying time off. But these are the staff of Auschwitz. Writer and director Moises Kaufman explains why and how he and co-writer Amanda Gronich created their extraordinary and timely drama.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Julian May


MON 20:00 How Did We Get Here? (m002jtxy)
Israel and the Palestinians

1: From Earliest Times to the Romans

In the first of ten programmes examining the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict, presenter Jonny Dymond is joined by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Professor in Ancient History at Cardiff University, and historian and author Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of ‘Jerusalem: The Biography’. They discuss the value of the Bible as a guide to history, the concept of a “promised land”, the archaeological record of the various peoples who lived in the region in ancient times, the coming of the Romans, and the Jewish revolts against them in the First and Second Centuries AD.

'How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians' is a BBC News Long Form Audio production.
The presenter is Jonny Dymond and the editor is Penny Murphy.
The Radio 4 commissioners are Hugh Levinson and Dan Clarke.
The studio engineers are Neil Churchill, James Beard, Rod Farquhar, Mike Regaard and David Crackles.


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txy)
Where do forever chemicals come from?

This week the UK Government decided it was worried enough about so called ‘forever chemicals’ to bring in it’s first ever plan to tackle them. Environment Minister Emma Hardy called PFAS "one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time". Stephanie Metzger, policy adviser at the Royal Society of Chemistry talks us through where all these chemicals have come from, and Lucy Hart, researcher at Lancaster university, brings us new science on their sources.

Technology journalist Gareth Mitchell is in the studio with his take on this week’s brand new discoveries.

And as future winter Olympians ready themselves atop Italy’s snow-covered peaks, Victoria Gill hears how the chemical make up of ski wax can make or break a gold medal winning run. She hears from Jostein Vinjerui, manager of the British cross-country team, and Pat Sharples, Head Coach for GB Snowsports.

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: Victoria Gill
Producer: Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Kate White and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002r3jr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002r3jt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r3kv)
Starmer says he will not quit

Sir Keir Starmer has told his MPs that he will not quit after the leader of his party in Scotland called on him to resign. We hear from two Labour backbenchers about the future of the party's leadership.

Also on the programme: Buckingham Palace has released a statement saying it is ready to support the police as they consider allegations against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
And we travel to a field in south-west London to kick off our series about how interacting with the natural world affects our mental health.


MON 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r3kx)
1: Run

An electrifying re-imagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize, by one of America's greatest contemporary authors.

Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.

Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.

Today: Life as a slave on the Watson farm is hell. But when Jim hears that he's to be sold off, and separated from his family, his only option is to run...

Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001g9lr)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall

Episode 4

By James Swallow
Dramatised by Paul Cornell

Episode 4

A thrilling landmark adaptation set in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell universe. Veteran Fourth Echelon agent Sam Fisher, and his daughter Sarah, attempt to infiltrate Brody Teague's T-Tech building in Lisbon. Will they be fast enough to disrupt his destructive global plans?

Recorded in 3D binaural audio; please listen on headphones for a more immersive experience.

Sam Fisher ..... Andonis Anthony
Sarah Fisher ..... Daisy Head
Anna Grímsdóttir ..... Rosalie Craig
Charlie Cole ..... Sacha Dhawan
Brody Teague ..... Will Poulter
Samir Patel ..... Nikesh Patel
Stone ..... Mihai Arsene
Eighteen ..... Olga Fedori
First Pilot /Guard.....David Hounslow
Second Pilot /Guard ..... Roger Ringrose

Sound design by Sharon Hughes
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Series Co-Produced by Nadia Molinari, Lorna Newman, Jessica Mitic

A BBC Audio Drama North Production


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r3l0)
Sean Curran reports on a day of fevered speculation at Westminster about the prime minister's future after key figures in Downing Street resign.