WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 2010

WED 00:00 Midnight News (b00pnpn0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.


WED 00:30 Book of the Week (b00pnst5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (b00pnpsq)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (b00pnpy1)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (b00pnpv4)
The latest shipping forecast.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (b00pnqkz)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (b00pnqx5)
Daily prayer and reflection with Dr Michael Ford.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (b00pnr1g)
Anna Hill hears fears that sheep may be losing their inbred knowledge of how to cope in heavy snow, while scientists explain how the cold weather can be beneficial for agricultural pests. And the government's new food strategy is criticised as being long on rhetoric and short on detail.


WED 06:00 Today (b00pnrkb)
With James Naughtie and Sarah Montague. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather, Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Midweek (b00pr3fl)
Lively and diverse conversation with guests including Diana Moran, 'the Green Goddess'.


WED 09:45 Book of the Week (b00pnst7)
Must You Go?

Episode 3

Antonia Fraser reads from her diary of her life with Harold Pinter.

2001 was a year of fear and loss. For Fraser the first loss is her father's death, and her great fear comes with Pinter's cancer diagnosis. But there is happiness too, and the strength of love tested by adversity.

A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (b00pqbpd)
Women in the armed forces; Government and the family

Should female soldiers be allowed to take part in close combat? Plus, to what extent should the government regulate behaviour in society?


WED 11:00 At Any Cost (b00pr3vl)
It's now possible to preserve and nurture a baby born as early as the 23rd or 24th week of a normal 40 week pregnancy. The challenges facing the child are significant but the instinct of the majority of parents is to do anything they possibly can to preserve the life of their child. As medical science has produced ever more sophisticated incubators and ventilation systems, both the challenges and the hopes of parents have increased.

Joan McFaddon talks to parents who are going through or have gone through the often agonising process of watching a premature baby being nurtured through the first weeks of life. They talk about their emotions, the highs, the lows and the looming danger of losing hope. They also reveal the challenges of trying to enjoy all the parental bonding of a normal birth amidst breathing aparatus, feeding systems and monitoring equipment.

At the core of their situation is the uneasy relationship between what medical science can do and what is best for their child - a child they'd do anything to preserve in spite of all the challenges that might lie ahead.


WED 11:30 Agatha Christie (b00pr3vn)
Towards Zero

Episode 1

Towards Zero
By Agatha Christie
dramatised by Joy Wilkinson
Part One

Against her better judgment, Lady Tresselian permits dashing Nevile Strange and his wife to come to her house party at the same time as his ex-wife, and sure enough, as soon as everyone arrives, the tensions are evident.

Nevile............Hugh Bonneville
Lady Tresselian.......Marcia Warren
MacWhirter.........Tom Mannion
Audrey............Claire Rushbrook
Mary.............Julia Ford
Kay............Lizzy Watts
Latimer...........Joseph Kloska
Royde............Stephen Hogan
Treves...........David Hargreaves
Umpire/Butler........Philip Fox
Receptionist...........Annabelle Dowler
Porter............Benjamin Askew

Directed by Mary Peate.


WED 12:00 You and Yours (b00pqbsn)
Consumer news and issues with Winifred Robinson.


WED 12:57 Weather (b00pqbvq)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 13:00 World at One (b00pqbxp)
National and international news with Martha Kearney.


WED 13:30 The Media Show (b00pr4c0)
Is the BBC still committed to entertainment on television? Four years ago, the government called entertainment 'central to the BBC's mission'. This month, though, it's been revealed that entertainment is not on a list of the Director General's top priorities for the future. Steve asks Jana Bennett, who heads the BBC's TV channels, if there is a change and if Jonathan Ross's departure is a symptom of that change.

Media commentator Roy Greenslade gives his views on the future of The Independent newspaper, which is locked into takeover talks with Alexander Lebedev. If the takeover goes ahead, will The Indy become a free paper like Mr Lebedev's London Evening Standard?

An announcement is due about who will go through to the next round in the bid to run TV news in some of the ITV regions. Richard Hooper is heading the advisory panel working on the shortlist. Can this process guarantee that viewers will still get local news on ITV?

And, with Google announcing it may withdraw from China, we hear what Chinese internet users are saying.


WED 14:00 The Archers (b00pqc02)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b00pr4c2)
The Jonestown Letters

The compelling true story of two sisters, Annie and Carolyn Moore, who died at the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. It is told through the extraordinary actual letters that passed between the girls and their family back home. The letters are abridged by Sarah Daniels, and introduced by the surviving sister, Rebecca Moore. Every word you hear in the drama is the truth.

The Moores were a close and loving middle-class American family. The father, John, was a Methodist preacher and the mother, Barbara, was warm and caring. They had three daughters. Two of the daughters were strongly attracted early on by the utopian ideals of Jim Jones and his socially progressive, racially integrated church: the Peoples' Temple.

Carolyn, a serious young socialist, later became Jim Jones' lover and had a son by him. When Jones took his church out to the inhospitable jungles of Guyana to pioneer a new way of living, Carolyn was there as his most loyal lieutenant. She died in the final mass suicide.

Annie, her funny, likeable and outgoing younger sister, was dedicated to nursing, unusually passionate about social justice, yet ended up in charge of doling out the Kool-Aid at the end of Jonestown, and then shot herself.

How could this have happened?

Through this tense and compelling dramatised correspondence we uncover the truth of Jonestown as experienced by the families involved, as it unfolded. In hearing Carolyn and Annie's own words, we are forced to the realisation that Jonestown wasn't simply a 'cult', as it has been painted. That cliche obscures the unavoidable fact that those who joined weren't less intelligent or principled than the rest of us. In fact they could have been us.

Annie Moore ...... Greta Clough
Carolyn Moore ...... Jennifer Lee Jellicorse
John Moore ...... Nathan Osgood
Barbara Moore ...... Laura Brook.


WED 15:00 Money Box Live (b00pr4tk)
Vincent Duggleby and a panel of guests answer calls on general insurance.

Guests:

Malcolm Tarling, Association of British Insurers
Graeme Trudgill, British Insurance Brokers' Association
John Miles, gocompare.com.


WED 15:30 Afternoon Reading (b00pqj9g)
The Curiosities of the Egyptian Hall

The Great Mephisto!

A series of three specially commissioned stories inspired by London's Egyptian Hall - 'England's Home of Mystery & Many Illusions', which stood in Piccadilly for most of the 19th Century. The recordings were made in front of an invited audience at the Concert Artistes' Association in Covent Garden.

London's Egyptian Hall was originally built in 1812 to house collections of curiosities brought back from the most remote and mysterious parts of the globe - from the South Seas, North & South America and Africa. But it soon became the venue for extraordinary spectaculars, panoramas and pseudo scientific demonstrations - such as Britain's first ever films, illusions, magic and freak shows. By the end of the 19th Century, it had become known as 'England's Home of Mystery and Many Illusions', under the management of the renowned magician, Maskelyne. It became the centre of magic and spiritualism where new acts were demonstrated and charlatans exposed.

The Great Mephisto! written by Tony Lidington

A young illusionist from the Punjab takes revenge on his cruel master.

Read by Medhev Sharma
Introduced by Tony Lidington as Alfred, Custodian of the Hall.

Producer: David Blount
A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 15:45 The Call (b00ly7j9)
Series 1

The Abduction

Dominic Arkwright talks to people who have taken or made life-changing phone calls.

In March 1999, Martin Friend was on a gorilla trek in Uganda when he was taken hostage and killed by Hutu rebels on the run from neighbouring Rwanda. His parents, Ron and Pauline Friend, have built a school in the region in memory of him.


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (b00pr4wz)
Professor Jytte Klausen maintains that the crisis following the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark back in 2005 was stirred up by different sets of people all with something to gain from precipitating a crisis.

Her detailed analysis of the course of events claims to show that irresponsible newspaper publishers, vested interests in elections in Denmark and Egypt, and later Islamic extremists seeking to destabilise governments in Pakistan, Lebanon, Libya and Nigeria all played a part in orchestrating the upset.

Also, Laurie Taylor talks to Les Back and Mike Robinson, editor of The Framed World: Tourism, Tourists and Photography, about the hidden significance of holiday snaps. What are people hoping to achieve when they 'capture' a scene and what does the holiday pose tell us about modern mores?


WED 16:30 Case Notes (b00pqn2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 17:00 PM (b00pqc26)
Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Eddie Mair.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (b00pqc43)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Ayres on the Air (b00mbz1c)
Series 3

On Yer Bike

Pam Ayres returns with a new series packed with poetry, anecdotes and sketches.

Pam is joined by Geoffrey Whitehead and Felicity Montagu for poems about French cycling holidays, the up-side to riding a tandem, getting fit on gym bikes and how to banish the middle-age blues by getting kitted out with a motorbike and leathers.


WED 19:00 The Archers (b00pqc04)
There's a good turn out for the meeting, and Susan's thrilled by Lynda's support, especially when she learns she'll be offered a place on the committee without having to be voted in. Pat's surprised that Brian wants to be on the committee but in the end the final composition of the committee is agreed: Pat as chair, Kathy as secretary, Usha as legal advisor, Susan as retail expert and postmistress, Lynda as parish council member and fundraiser, David also representing the council, Richard as treasurer, and Oliver and Brian as business advisors.

Pat's convinced that Brian's got his own motives, and hopes he's not going to make trouble. Lynda's sure that once they get down to work they'll all get along fine.

Helen confides in Brenda about Annette's pregnancy. Brenda understands Annette's decision to have an abortion, even when Helen explains how strongly she feels about it, and how she could support them both. Brenda's surprised that Helen would want to take on such a huge commitment. She reminds her that it's still up to Annette, but Helen passionately feels this could be a really positive thing in her life, and she's got to make Annette see that too, before it's too late.

Episode written by Simon Frith.


WED 19:15 Front Row (b00mb139)
Writer William Trevor rarely gives interviews, usually preferring to let the words on the page speak for him. But in a special edition of Front Row with Mark Lawson, the author reflects on his long career as a novelist, short story writer and sculptor. Trevor's work has won him many awards and he has also successfully adapted several of short stories, including The Ballroom of Romance, for television and film.

In conversation with Mark Lawson he remembers Ireland, discusses the future of literature and reveals why preachers in a church near Daventry are indebted to him.


WED 19:45 15 Minute Drama (b00pqd57)
Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

Episode 8

Dramatisation by Ayeesha Menon of the novel by Vikas Swarup, author of Q and A, which was filmed as Slumdog Millionaire. Vicky Rai, notorious son of a prominent Indian politician, shoots dead a waitress at a trendy Delhi restaurant. At a lavish society party to celebrate his acquittal, he is himself murdered. Who did it?

Suspect number three is American Larry Page, who Vicky left for dead in a deserted building site. After being kidnapped by Kashmiri separatists he finds himself at Vicky's party with a gun.

Arun Advani, an investigative journalist ...... Rajit Kapur
Vicky Rai, a rich Delhi playboy ...... Zafar Karachiwala
Mamta Rai, a politician and Vicky's mother ...... Radhika Mital
Munna Mobile, a mobile phone thief ...... Anand Tiwari
Shabnam Saxena, a Bollywood actress ...... Shernaz Patel
Larry Page, an American tourist ...... Gary Richardson
Eketi, a tribesman ...... Rohit Malkani
Ashok Rajput, a welfare officer ...... Kenny Desai
Champi/Drunk girl in car ...... Radhika Apte
Reshma/Barkha Das ...... Anahita Uberoi
Ritu ...... Ira Dubey
Bilal/Inspector Brar ...... Ankur Vikal
Saira/Ruby Gill ...... Megha Burman
Pappu Pager ...... Jaimini Pathak
Chief Minister Pandey/Chief Melambe/Abu Khaled ...... Jayant Kripalani
Detective Gupta, private detective ...... Kenny Desai
Abu Technical/Tribesman ...... Pushan Kripalani
Abu Omar/Biddy/Driver ...... Nadir Khan
Jay Chaterjee/Judge Mishra ...... Sohrab Ardeshir
Gulabo/Mrs Gill/Reporter ...... Ayeesha Menon
Raman Johar/Bill Bakshi ...... Ashwin Mushran
Elizabeth Brookner ...... Karla Singh
Inspector Yardav ...... Ravi Khote
Sohrab ...... Caran Arora

Production team:

Line producer in India: Nadir Khan
Assistant director: Toral Shah
Photography: Ameet Mallapur
Script editor: Mike Walker
Sound: Ayush Ahuja
Additional editing: Steve Bond
Music: Sacha Putnam
Sound design: Nick Russell-Pavier

Produced and directed by John Dryden

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 20:00 Decision Time (b00pr52d)
How would a government, facing a huge deficit, cut middle-class benefits? Nick Robinson and a panel of politicians, civil servants and journalists examine how this controversial proposal would fare in Whitehall and Westminster.


WED 20:45 More Than A Game (b00pr52g)
Revolution, the Melbourne Olympics and Water Polo

Professor Anthony King reports on the brutally suppressed revolution against Soviet rule in Hungary; the Melbourne Olympics of 1956 and the most infamous water polo match in history. For a time in '56 it looked as though the popular uprising in Budapest against Soviet rule might succeed, but it wasn't long before the Soviet tanks rolled back in. But at the same time, the Hungarian team had been able to set out for the Olympics in Melbourne. It wasn't until they reached Darwin that they learned that the uprising had been put down. The water polo team were the reigning Olympic champions and determined to defend the title. In the semi-finals, they were drawn against the Soviet Union. The game turned into a bloodbath, it became known as the "blood in the water" match, but the Hungarians won and did eventually retain their Olympic title.


WED 21:00 Nature (b00pqj0v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Midweek (b00pr3fl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


WED 21:58 Weather (b00pqdgh)
The latest weather forecast.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (b00pqdhj)
National and international news and analysis with David Eades.

An earthquake in Haiti kills hundreds.

A new wave of migration from Ireland.

Roma children are 'segregated' in the Czech Republic.


WED 22:45 Book at Bedtime (b00pwmzj)
Rebecca Stott - The Coral Thief

Episode 3

Dan Stevens reads from Rebecca Stott's love story, set in Paris in 1815 in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

The beautiful thief, Lucienne Bernard, makes Daniel a promise. Meanwhile, the chief of the security police Henri Jagot shows renewed and unsettling interest in his affairs.

Abridged by Viv Beeby

Produced by Elizabeth Allard.


WED 23:00 Weird Tales (b00vknrq)
Series 2

Split the Atom

Hoarder of horror Lovecraft returns to share three more chilling tales.

By Lynn Ferguson. Frank Ivory is full of anger: burning, simmering, steaming anger. On his way home one night, after making his colleagues lives a misery, he meets Gwen, who is determined to tell him the story of the Morrigan, the Celtic goddess in charge of who should live and who should die.

Frank ......Derek Riddell
Gwen ......Rachel Ogilvy
Lovecraft ...... Stephen Hogan
Louise ...... Emma Stansfield
Bill ...... Rhys Jennings
Barbara/Delivery Woman ...... Tessa Nicholson
George ...... Ewan Hooper
William Perkins/Homeless Guy ...... Piers Wehner

Directed by Luke Fresle.


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (b00pqff6)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament with Sean Curran.