The BBC has announced that it has a sustainable plan for the future of the BBC Singers, in association with The VOCES8 Foundation.
The threat to reduce the staff of the three English orchestras by 20% has not been lifted, but it is being reconsidered.
See the BBC press release here.

Radio-Lists Home Now on R4 Contact

RADIO-LISTS: BBC RADIO 4
Unofficial Weekly Listings for BBC Radio 4 — supported by bbc.co.uk/programmes/



SATURDAY 09 MAY 2020

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000hwt7)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 Broken Greek, by Pete Paphides (m000hwtc)
Part Five

On holiday with his family, Pete writes a daring postcard home to one of his teachers; and later discovers the joy of Dexy’s Midnight Runners.

Broken Greek is written and read by Pete Paphides and produced by Nicola Holloway.


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000hwth)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000hwtm)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000hwtr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000hwtx)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


SAT 05:45 The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? (m000htw4)
Noise Cancelling Headphones

The promise of noise cancelling headphones is enticing. Whether it’s cutting out the background chatter to hear the radio, or drowning out the snoring coming from the room next door. But do they live up to the marketing hype?

Are they The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, or BS?

Greg Foot is joined by BBC 6 Music DJ Host Mary Anne Hobbs, who lends her professional ear to a pair of noise cancelling headphones. While acoustic engineer Professor Trevor Cox unpicks the science fact from the science fiction.

Presenter: Greg Foot
Producer: Beth Eastwood


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000j1nq)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m000hvt2)
Closed Country: Changing seasons

The signs of spring are everywhere, transforming our gardens and fields with splashes of colour and signs of new life. Unable to travel to explore new locations and landscapes as she normally would for Open Country, Helen Mark takes a walk around her own family farm on the edges of Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland, spotting the signs of seasonal change. She talks to wildlife experts and local farmers, finding out how the rhythm of the seasons affects their relationship with the land.

Produced by Emma Campbell.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000j1ns)
09/05/20 - Farming Today This Week

Just before the Coronavirus pandemic struck, the government had been preparing to launch its National Food Strategy, headed by Henry Dimbleby, owner of the Leon chain of restaurants. Its original purpose was to look at health, environment and food security. That last topic has been brought into sharp focus by the Covid19 pandemic - so are there lessons to be learnt?

Horse racing is cancelled because of lockdown. Although many people are missing the sport, what does it mean for the horses and the businesses? Sybil Ruscoe visits stables in the Cotswolds to meet the furloughed horses, a trainer and a jockey.

We visit a tiny farm in Devon where more than fifty varieties of vegetable are grown on less than an acre...and ask how big a part these tiny farms can play in our food system.

Researchers at Exeter University are investigating the attitudes of gamekeepers toward predators. Are they under pressure from shoot-owners to illegally kill birds of prey that eat game birds? We hear from one anonymous former gamekeeper who says yes.

And we share the sounds that make us happy - from breakfasting ducks to underwater insects...from nightingales to skylarks.

Presented by Sybil Ruscoe
Produced by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000j1nv)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000j1nx)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000j1nz)
Extraordinary stories, unusual people and a sideways look at the world.


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000j1p1)
Series 27

Home Economics: Episode Six

Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show. Jordan Bourke, Sophie Wright, Tim Anderson and Dr Annie Gray join in from their kitchens to answer questions sent in by email and social media.

This week, the panellists discuss the best way to use up some leftover UHT milk, how to make bread without strong bread flour, and uses for leftover bread.

Dr Annie Gray tells the history of the Bolognese sauce, and Sophie Wright teaches the panel how to make her Elvis Toast.

Producer: Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer: Jemima Rathbone

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Briefing Room (m000hvtj)
Coronavirus and the economy

What damage are the pandemic and lockdown doing to the economy and what could happen next? David Aaronovitch explores the economic impact of physical distancing on business, whether our fast expanding national debt is sustainable and the threat posed by declining consumer confidence on our economic recovery. Does history offer a guide as to how and when people should return to work and government support be turned off? And what will our economy look like when the lockdown is eased?
Contributors:
Faisal Islam, BBC Economics Editor
Kate Nicholls of UK Hospitality,
Professor Jeffrey Frankel, Harvard
Professor Jagjit Chadha of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Stephanie Flanders. Senior Executive Editor at Bloomberg and head of Bloomberg Economics
Producers: Luke Radcliff, Sally Abrahams and Rosamund Jones.
Editor: Jasper Corbett


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000j1p3)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000j1p5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000j133)
The latest news from the world of personal finance


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000hwsq)
Series 102

Episode 4

Angela Barnes hosts series 102, leading a panel of regular News Quiz comics and journalists in rounding up the news stories of the week. Joining Angela this week is Helen Lewis, Andy Parsons, Kerry Godliman and Simon Evans.

Produced by Suzy Grant

A BBC Studios Audio Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000j1p7)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m000j1p9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000hwsx)
Dr Michael McBride, Dame Esther Rantzen, Rachel Reeves MP, Andy Street.

Chris Mason presents political debate from Broadcasting House in London with the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland Dr Michael McBride, the founder of the Silverline help line Dame Esther Rantzen, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves MP and the Metro Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000j1pc)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 Drama (m000j1pf)
The Voyage of the St. Louis

Several months before the outbreak of the Second World War, an ocean liner, the St Louis, leaves Germany with over 900 Jewish refugees on-board, all hoping to escape persecution. The incredible true story of that journey is now brought to vivid life in Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Daniel Kehlmann’s play.

Based on the book The Voyage of the Damned by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

Schroeder . . . . . Philip Glenister
Schiendick . . . . . Paul Ritter
Berenson . . . . . Toby Jones
Bru . . . . . Alan Corduner
Benitez . . . . . Joseph Balderrama
Spanier . . . . . Philip Arditti
Pozner . . . . . Shai Matheson
Hoffman . . . . . John Dougall
Clasing . . . . . Roger Ringrose
Babette . . . . . Bettrys Jones
Jockl . . . . . Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Aber . . . . . Sargon Yelda
Elise . . . . . Rachel Essex
Charlotte . . . . . Elizabeth Counsell
Bergman . . . . . Hasan Dixon
Fischer . . . . . John Lightbody
Marianne . . . . . Rosie Boore
Renata . . . . . Amy-Jayne Leigh
Evelyne . . . . . Taya Tower

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko


SAT 16:15 Woman's Hour (m000j1ph)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week


SAT 17:00 PM (m000j1pk)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 The Inquiry (m000j1pm)
Why are so many ethnic minorities dying in the UK and US?

In news reports and newspapers, pictures of British healthcare workers who have lost their lives to Covid-19 sit side by side.

And if you look at those faces one thing stands out clearly. Of the 119 cases of NHS deaths more than two thirds are black or an ethnic minority - yet they only make up 20% of the workforce. Figures from the National Health Service in England show a disproportionate number of Covid-19 deaths are among these groups. And it’s not just in the UK.

In the United States on available data – it’s a similar story with African-Americans accounting for many more deaths in a community that make up 13% of the population.

So what’s going on?

Kavita Puri speaks with:
Dr Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester
Professor Kathy Rowan, Director of the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre
Dr Consuelo Wilkins, Vice President for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Prof John Watkins, Professor Epidemiology, Cardiff University/Public Health Wales


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000j1pp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000j1pr)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j1pt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000j1pw)
Christopher Eccleston, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Big Zuu, Richard Thompson, Vilray, Arthur Smith, Nikki Bedi

Nikki Bedi and Arthur Smith are joined by Christopher Eccleston, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Big Zuu for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Richard Thompson and Vilray.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000j12p)
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines


SAT 19:15 The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed (p0884kv9)
Antony Gormley

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, he scratches away at his reworking of the comic medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, music, art, sheds, sherry, owls, nightingales and to throw light on some of the poem's internal themes.

Sculptor Antony Gormley's visit begins with a walk around the garden where his eye is caught by some huge Yorkshire standing stones. Their conversation ranges from The Angel of the North, placing sculpture in the landscape and the sea to the skills of the shipyard and the relationship between art and engineering. From body shape to chemistry sets, potions and explosions to Antony's first work of art - two eyes, carved into a wall at his old school.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (b082szm7)
Being Bored: The Importance Of Doing Nothing

Is boredom under threat? There are more TV channels than we can count, Smartphones keep us engaged around the clock, and the constant white noise of social media coerces us to always 'interact'. In fact, there is so much to stimulate our everyday lives in this digital age that we need never be bored ever again. So do we still need to be bored? And what would we miss if we did eliminate boredom completely from our lives?

The happily bored Phill Jupitus takes a creative look at our attitude to this misunderstood emotion. He will examine what boredom is, and how it has influenced our leisure time, our workplaces, our creativity and our evolution. Phill will examine its impact on comedy, art, music, and television, taking us from punk to prison, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Sherlock Holmes, from Danish sex clubs to London's 'Boring Conference'.

This will be a lively look at the simple, very real and essential emotion of boredom, and a stout defence of the right to sometimes just sit down and do nothing.

Interviews include - the Reverend Richard Coles, the writer Natalie Haynes, the artist George Shaw, the comedy writer & producer Robert Popper, the psychologist Peter Toohey, the punk musician Gaye Black (formerly of The Adverts), the psychologist Sandi Mann, the BBC newsreader Simon McCoy, Dr Teresa Belton and the social media entrepreneur Jodie Cook.


SAT 21:00 Pilgrim, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz (b03jfc43)
Series 5

Gallowstone Hill

By Sebastian Baczkiewicz

Episode 2: Gallowstone Hill

In search of the Radiant Boy, Pilgrim comes to a village cursed with a dangerous collective madness

William Palmer ..... Paul Hilton
Cloudesly ..... Lee Ross
Bovey ..... Arthur Hughes
Nadia ..... Carys Eleri
Hart ..... Priyanga Burford
Mick ..... David Seddon
Jim ..... John Norton
Sound ..... Colin Guthrie

Directed by Marc Beeby


SAT 21:45 Rabbit Redux (b09gyjk9)
Episode 5

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

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

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

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


SAT 22:00 News (m000j1q0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 Grounded with Louis Theroux (m000hw0b)
1. Jon Ronson

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

Louis speaks to writer and documentary-maker Jon Ronson, who is grounded in upstate New York. They discuss their professional rivalry, inhabiting similar worlds and how Jon is handling the lockdown.

Produced by Paul Kobrak
A Mindhouse production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (m000hvb6)
Heat 5, 2020

(5/17)
In astronomy, what is a P.H.O? Which are the hills that make up Yorkshire's so-called Three Peaks? And which is the first event in the women's heptathlon? Russell Davies asks the questions of four more potential Brains of Britain, in a contest recorded before the restrictions on public gatherings.

Taking part are:
Jon Clatworthy, a risk assessor from Chichester
Nicki Cockburn, a student from Cardiff
William Dunbar, a journalist from London
Simon O'Brien, a digital editor, also from London.

A semi-final place awaits today's winner, and there'll also be a chance for a Brain of Britain listener to win a prize by outwitting the contestants with his or her own questions.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 The Miners' Way (m000htr0)
Irish poet Jane Clarke lives in Glenmalure, a remote and rugged valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. The valley marks the start of the Miners' Way, a long-distance path developed by a local community group, traversing three Wicklow valleys, Glenmalure, Glendalough and Glendasan, and taking in six old, disused mine sites.

The Miners' Way has inspired Jane to write a sequence of poems responding to this rich natural and cultural heritage.

As she walks the Miners' Way, Jane meets some of her neighbours - local historian Carmel O'Toole who shows her one of the old mining buildings, farmer Pat Dunne who tells her how sheep farming in the valleys has changed over the years, and mountain leader Charles O’Byrne who knows the area like the back of his hand.

She also visits Robbie Carter, one of the few people who can talk first-hand about working in these valleys in the mining industry, which came to an end in 1957. Now in his 80s, Robbie became a miner at the age of 16. He describes his life as a miner in the mid-20th century and the story of a fatal mining accident in January 1957 when a workmate died. Robbie was seriously injured and never worked in a mine again.

The poems in the programme by Jane Clarke include Birthing the Lamb from her 2019 collection When the Tree Falls. All other poems are new works inspired by the landscape, heritage and stories of the Miners’ Way.

Producer: Claire Cunningham
Executive Producer: Julien Clancy

A Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 4



SUNDAY 10 MAY 2020

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000j1q2)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 The Way I See It (m0009ddk)
Jason Moran and Piet Mondrian

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

Today's edition features jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran. He shares his view of Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie and feels moved to music by its straight lines and blocks of colour.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

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

Main Image: Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43. Oil on canvas, 50 x 50" (127 x 127 cm). Given anonymously. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 73.1943


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000hwsg)
Good For You

An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Caoilinn Hughes. As read by Fenella Woolgar.

Caoilinn Hughes is an Irish writer whose poetry collection 'Gathering Evidence' was awarded the Irish Times Shine/Strong Award and the Patrick Kavanagh Award. Her work has appeared in Tin House, POETRY, Granta, The Rumpus, Best British Poetry, Poetry Ireland, BBC Radio 3 and elsewhere. Her debut novel 'Orchid & The Wasp won the Collyer Bristow Prize. In September 2018 she won first and third prize in The Moth International Short Story Award. In 2019, she won an O. Henry Prize for her story ‘Prime’ which was also longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Prize.

Writer ..... Caoilinn Hughes
Reader ..... Fenella Woolgar

Produced by Celia DeWolff for BBC Northern Ireland


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j1q4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j1q6)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j1q8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000j139)
Westminster Abbey

Currently there is no ringing taking place across UK towers, a situation not encountered since the Second World War. Today’s bells were recorded at Westminster Abbey during the VE Anniversary celebrations in May 2015. There are ten bells with a thirty hundredweight tenor tuned to D. They can be heard ringing "Rounds" interspersed with the art of "Firing" when the bells are deliberately struck simultaneously- a traditional method of marking a celebration. It’s difficult to achieve well and is rarely practised. It’s heard in honour of the VE Day 75th anniversary on Friday 8th May.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m000j12p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News (m000j114)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b07hwtdj)
Grace

Award winning poet, Michael Symmons Roberts explores the deep meanings that lie behind the word 'grace' and how this and other words have lost some of their original power.

Roberts explains, “the poet Seamus Heaney once used the phrase ‘the big lightening, the emptying out’ to describe the thinning of our religious language, the loss of meaning in terms that once were common currency to describe theological ideas or mystical or spiritual experience”.

Roberts laments the fact that words like water and wood at one time conjured images of the baptism and crucifixion of Christ, but are now more sterile and impotent. But ‘grace’ is his central theme and, through the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and RS Thomas and the insights of the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he tries to restore some of the depth and wonder of a word which we have perhaps taken for granted.

Having a hit song using its most famous iteration has not helped. Roberts explains, “Amazing Grace is still one of our best known hymns…but in the course of more than two centuries of singing John Newton’s story of salvation and rescue, some lines have survived better than others in retaining their power to communicate a shared experience. Anyone today could connect with the line ‘I once was lost, but now am found’. But I suspect the same could not be said for ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, / And grace my fears reliev’d.”

The music in the programme includes Judy Collins, Elbow and Jeff Buckley’s famous song Grace.

Roberts concludes that it is the responsibility of all of us to restore the power of our language and generate new ways of talking about the human experience.

Presenter: Michael Symmons Roberts
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000j118)
Wade Dooley Does Things Differently

Iowa is a land where agriculture is done on an enormous scale. Vast prairies dominated by seemingly endless crops of corn and soybean. But that's not Wade Dooley's way - not anymore. Anna Jones meets a farmer trying to do things differently in America's grain belt.
Wade's family have farmed on the same spot in central Iowa since the 1860s, earning their family home the proud title of 'Century Farm'. But trapped in an unprofitable commodity cycle, with corn and soybean prices on the floor, Wade became increasingly depressed about the state of Iowan agriculture - and worried for the future of his own farm.
In a bold move that breaks with local tradition, Wade is turning his back on Iowa's 'king' crops and returning his land to a traditional, mixed farming system. He grows oats and rye grain to sell as cover crop seed to other farmers and is moving hundreds of acres into pasture for grazing cattle. Doffing his cap to Iowan culture, he's kept just 30 acres of corn and soybean; down from 900 acres in 2018 and 450 acres in 2019.
At the end of a long working day in the fields, Anna and Wade head to a local small-town bar where Wade opens up about being unmarried and child-free in the conservative Midwest, his battle with depression and his personal journey to 'reconstruct' his mental health.
Produced and presented by Anna Jones.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m000j11f)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000j11h)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000j11k)
Keeping fit South Asian style, Navajo Nation, Church post-lockdown

Award-winning fitness instructor Lavina Mehta is doing special exercise classes online for the elderly South Asian community in this country. She is joined every day by her 72-year-old mother-in-law Nishaben Mahendra Mehta who translates Lavina’s instructions into Gujarati and does all the exercises as well.

This week, President Trump announced that the Navajo Nation - which includes vast stretches of land in northern Arizona, New Mexico and Utah - will receive more than 600 million dollars of federal government aid. The reservation, which is home to about 175,000 people, has been one of the hardest-hit areas in the United States for its rate of Covid-19 infection. Joe Boland from the charity ‘Catholic Extension‘, which provides support for Native American tribes tells William about the problems they are facing.

Post pandemic many say that the Church of England will never be the same again. While their doors may be physically closed - spiritually – some believe that God is reaching into more homes than ever. Online services are booming and pulling in record numbers of participants. But when all of this is over and the doors to places of worship reopen will there still be a demand for congregations gathering via the web? William is joined by Rev Charlotte Bannister-Parker, Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford for Online Services and the author and academic Dr Bex Lewis who studies how we interact with the digital world.

Producers: Carmel Lonergan
Helen Lee

Series Producer: Amanda Hancox


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000j11m)
The Orchard Project

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

Registered Charity Number: 1139952


SUN 07:57 Weather (m000j11p)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000j11r)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000j11t)
What sort of victory?

Dr Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College Cambridge and former Archbishop of Canterbury, asks how our nation can rise to its present huge challenges as it seeks to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. The service is taking place as the country marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day and the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. VE commemorates victory on the battlefield after uncountable suffering and loss, but the 1945 Victory in Europe also marked the beginning of a social transformation, in health, education and housing. Recently we have seen another herculean national effort invoking the name of the nation's most famous nurse, who also forged her reputation and skills in a time of national crisis. What are we building today? What does the moment require of us, not just in solidarity now but in the years to come, in shaping a more compassionate world? The service will be lead by the Bishop of London and one time Chief Nursing Officer Dame Sarah Mullally, who will speak about the significance of Florence Nightingale for NHS workers today. Producer: Andrew Earis.


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000hwsz)
On Risk

AL Kennedy ponders why we're bad at assessing risks.

"We prioritize them according to emotion and information," she says, "but our emotions cloud our judgement and our information may be patchy, absent or misleading."

She argues that one risk though is incontrovertible - the risk to the planet - and we need to find a way to ensure its survival.

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0htz)
Hyacinth Macaw

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the hyacinth macaw of the Brazilian Pantanal. Raucous ear-piercing screeches are produced by one of the most beautiful parrots in the world, flying high over the marshy wetlands of the Pantanal. As their name suggests they are a rich cobalt blue, with sulphur-yellow eye rings with a massive bill and long elegant tail-feathers streaming behind them in flight, making them our longest parrot. Popular as captive caged birds, they are now endangered in the wild and legally protected in Brazil. They feed on palm nuts, including those of the acuri palm which are so hard that even the macaw's powerful bill can't break into them, until they've first passed through the digestive tracts of cattle.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000j11w)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000j11y)
Four Weddings and a Wake

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This omnibus from the first week looks at how four different couples tied the knot and how one much loved character left the series.

Ed Grundy..... Barry Farrimond
Neil Carter ..... Brian Hewlett
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Emma Grundy ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Clarrie Grundy ..... Heather Bell
Will Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Sid Perks ..... Alan Devereux
Adam Macy ..... Andrew Wincott
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Glen ..... Gerard Murphy
Kathy Perks ..... Hedli Niklaus
Kate Aldridge ..... Kellie Bright
Kenton Archer ..... Richard Atlee
Ian Craig ..... Stephen Kennedy
Debbie Aldridge ..... Tamsin Greig
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Roy Tucker ..... Ian Pepperell
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Helen Archer ..... Louiza Patikas
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer ..... Tom Graham
Susan Carter ..... Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ..... Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ..... Will Sanderson-Thwaite
Alf Grundy ..... David Hargreaves
Jim Lloyd ..... John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary ..... Ryan Kelly
Lilian Bellamy ..... Sunny Ormonde

Writers, Mary Cutler, Tim Stimpson, Joanna Toye, Nawal Gadalla, Gillian Richmond
Directors, Sean O'Connor, Julie Beckett, Rosemary Watts, Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe


SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000j120)
Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate

Simon Armitage was appointed Poet Laureate in 2019. His poems celebrate the everyday and the ordinary with wit and affection. But beyond the wood chip and washing lines he addresses the complexities and the profound feelings that underpin daily life.

Born in Huddersfield, Simon Armitage grew up in the village of Marsden in West Yorkshire. Marsden has informed and inspired much of his work and as a boy he would look out of his bedroom window at night to watch the comings and goings of village life.

He vividly remembers as a teenager discovering the work of fellow laureate Ted Hughes, recalling an almost electrical surge of excitement when he realised the power of words on a page. Hughes grew up in the next valley and Simon admits to thinking "If Ted Hughes can do it why can't I?"

He worked as a probation officer in Manchester for several years, writing poetry in the evenings and at weekends. His first collection Zoom! was published in 1989 and a few years later he left the probation service to write full time. Prolific and popular, he was named the Millennium poet and in 2015 was appointed Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. Three years later he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Today he lives not far from Marsden where, when he's not writing poems, plays and novels, he still looks out of his window and daydreams.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley


SUN 11:45 Desert Island Discs (m000j9r5)
Your Desert Island Discs: Launch

Lauren Laverne launches Radio 4's invitation for you to tell us about one piece of music that you have turned to in the recent weeks of lockdown, and the story behind your choice.

For more information about how to share your story, please visit the Desert Island Discs website.

Producer Paula McGinley


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000j123)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 47 Years Without A Clue: A Tribute to Tim Brooke-Taylor (m000hxzw)
A celebration of the late actor and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor, best known to Radio 4 listeners as a founder member of the self-styled “antidote to panel games”, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue. The programme features excerpts of his work as well as reminiscences from friends and colleagues. It’s written and introduced by Graeme Garden.

Producer...Jon Naismith
A BBC Studios Production.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000j127)
The Kitchen Front: How wartime food strategies influenced our eating ethos

Making do, digging for victory, the hedgerow harvest, the garden front: food and farming was front and centre during the Second World War, with hearty phrases like these encouraging the population to pull together and do their bit for the national diet.

Now, 75 years after Victory in Europe was declared, we’re hearing similar language in political speeches and across the media, as we “wage war” against coronavirus, in a country under lockdown.

The rhetoric might be extreme – but as Sheila Dillon discovers, there are lessons to be learnt from the wartime eating ethos; particularly in this current climate of store-cupboard cooking, making do and reducing food waste.

In fact, the war years marked a period when British diets and health actually improved. They also paved the way for agriculture’s Green Revolution, the expansion of processed and industrially produced edibles, and the drive towards cheap and plentiful food for all.

As the UK marks a VE Day anniversary like no other, Sheila Dillon hears how the food legacy of WWII has influenced our modern diets - and considers what lessons we could still learn from the wartime eating ethos.

Presented by Sheila Dillon; produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m000j12c)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000j12f)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000j12h)
Peering Into the Horizon

Fi Glover presents a new and extended weekly edition of the programme with voices past and present on the shared experience of being in lockdown.

In this week's programme, we hear from Ron and Wendy from Scarborough, both in their 70s, who had never met before, talking about what they would like the future to look like after restrictions are lifted; an aunt and nephew, both spending lockdown alone and separately, compare notes on their average day and the call of the sea; vicars Clare and Val on the joys of conducting online services; and strangers Jane and Tracy, passionate about working in mental health and supporting vulnerable children respectively, on the backwash of difficult childhoods.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Mohini Patel


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000hwsd)
GQT At Home: Episode Six

Kathy Clugston hosts the horticultural panel show with Matthew Pottage, Matt Biggs and Christine Walkden, all in their own homes answering questions sent in via email and social media by green-fingered listeners.

The panellists suggest palms and exotic plants to grow at home - in lieu of seeing them on holiday this year. They also explain pruning roses for beginners, advise on moving outdoor plants inside and give tips on gardening at night for key workers unable to get out in the garden during the day.

Aside from the questions, Matthew Wilson makes a mini herb garden with his children, and Pippa Greenwood is on hand for the Gardening Glossary - this week it's all about pests and diseases.

Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 The Way I See It (m0009bf5)
Neri Oxman and the Endless House

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

Today's edition features Professor Neri Oxman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She's a world expert in combining art and architecture with biology, computing, and materials engineering. Little wonder, perhaps, she chooses Frederick Kiesler’s design for a project called Endless House - an organic structure that was never built.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

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

Main Image: Frederick Kiesler, Endless House Project, 1950–1960. Ceramic, 20 x 11 1/2 x 6" (50.8 x 29.2 x 15.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York, MC 25


SUN 15:00 Electric Decade (b01gnjw9)
Uncle Fred in the Springtime

Episode 2

Dramatised by Archie Scottney

Charismatic Uncle Fred (Alfred Molina) is still at Blandings Castle masquerading as a 'brain doctor'. The Duke of Dunstable's lunatic pig-napping scheme continues. He calls in nephew Ricky. Money is involved, and maybe a chance for Ricky to marry Polly Pott. Lord Emsworth's prize-pig Empress of Blandings is purloined - and hidden.

Will all end happily? Will true love triumph? Even happiness for the Pig? Will our ageing hero, Uncle Fred, be able to leave for London, feeling that 'there are no limits to what I can accomplish - in the Springtime'? All-star cast directed by Martin Jarvis.

Cast:
Uncle Fred ..... Alfred Molina
Lady Constance ..... Patricia Hodge
The Duke of Dunstable ..... Christopher Neame
Rupert Baxter ..... Jared Harris
Ricky Gilpin ..... Rufus Sewell
Horace Davenport ..... Lloyd Owen
Mustard Pott ..... Julian Holloway
Polly Pott ..... Sophie Winkleman
Lord Emsworth ..... Martin Jarvis
P.G. Wodehouse ..... Ian Ogilvy
Lord Bosham ..... Simon Templeman
Pongo Twistleton ..... Matthew Wolf
Beach ..... Kenneth Danziger
Valerie Twistleton ..... Moira Quirk
Webster/Footmen ..... Darren Richardson
Singing Gardener ..... Mark Holden

Director: Martin Jarvis
Producers: Rosalind Ayres and Martin Jarvis

A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000j12k)
Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books, talking to authors and publishers and unearthing lost classics


SUN 16:30 Shuntaro Tanikawa: A Poet's Japan (m000j12m)
Shuntaro Tanikawa is Japan’s most widely read and acclaimed poet and has been called one of the world’s ‘active poetic volcanoes’. Now aged 88, he continues to be at the cutting edge of modern poetry in Japan, where he has remained ever since his first collection, Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude, was published in 1952.

In the book's prefatory poem, Tanikawa's mentor, Tatsuji Miyoshi, introduced him as a young man who 'has come from a distant land, unexpected … bearing the weight of being alone'. Today, he compares his age to tree rings: ‘No matter how old I grow, the younger me still exists in the centre ring.'

Over the years he has shifted his focus from the cosmos and the nature of being, to the pathos of everyday life, to his subconscious desire for silence. And his poetic voice remains as exhilarating as ever.

Tanikawa invites us into his world, and talks about his life and work in the company of his friend and translator since 1967, William Elliott, an American poet who has lived in Japan for more than 40 years, and his more recent translators Nishihara Katsumasa and Takako Lento.

Along the way, we peer into the soul of modern Japan and reflect on nearly 90 years of its history.

Readings from Shuntaro Tanikawa: New Selected Poems, published by Carcanet Press; The Art of Being Alone, published by Cornell East Asia Series. Featuring music by Kensaku Tanikawa, Toru Takemitsu and Ryuichi Sakamoto, with lyrics by Shuntaro Tanikawa.

Producer: Eve Streeter
A Greenpoint production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 17:00 Bellfield's Year (m000hxj2)
Following the fortunes of a primary school in a poor part of Birmingham as it reduces its teaching to four and half days a week in a battle to stay solvent.

Sixty per cent of students in Bellfield Junior School in Northfield are on free school meals and many parents struggle to pay the bills.

Meanwhile Bellfield's headteacher has to raid his budget for unexpected costs like damaged windows in the classrooms and a buckling floor in the canteen.

Many support services which the local authority used to provide have now disappeared.

Nevertheless, the school is rated "good" by Ofsted and praised by parents.

Emma Jane Kirby hears about the difficult choices which are faced by many other primary schools.

Presenter: Emma Jane Kirby
Producer: Bob Howard


SUN 17:40 Profile (m000j12p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000j12r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m000j12t)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j12w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000j12y)
Chris Hawkins

The best of BBC Radio this week.


SUN 19:00 PM (m000jfkq)
PM Special

News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


SUN 20:00 The Archers (m000j3vy)
The Archers Revisited

Brookfield in Lockdown

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the second week when we take a look at five different events that affect the characters relationship to their homes and the land, in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

Brookfield is under lockdown due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth.

In 2001 there was a national outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. Brookfield farm had been badly hit by the disease in 1956 and David Archer is keen that the farm doesn’t suffer the same kind of tragic losses that it did when his grandfather, Dan, was in charge. David and Ruth make the difficult decision to seal off Brookfield for six weeks. Brookfield went into self-imposed isolation from 13th March until 27th April.

Living at Brookfield at the time were Jill and Phil, David and Ruth and 3 year old Josh. Pip stayed with Shula so she could continue going to school until the Easter holidays. Bert moved into the Bungalow so that he could join the farm without coming and going, and was separated from Freda for the longest time ever. Food supplies were left at the gate. Jill got used to the siege mentality and coped admirably. They even celebrated Phil’s birthday under lockdown. Ruth only left the farm to go for her hospital check-ups following her breast cancer. The family lived under huge stress that the disease might find its way onto the farm.

This programme was originally broadcast on 21st March 2001.


SUN 20:15 Just a Minute (b07bbd50)
Series 75

Episode 1

Nicholas Parsons and guests return for the 75th series of the panel show where participants must try to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition. No repetition? That's no small order after nearly 50 years.

Paul Merton, now the second most prolific player of the game after Kenneth Williams, will be joined by guests including series regulars Josie Lawrence, Sheila Hancock, Marcus Brigstocke and Gyles Brandreth. Comedian Alexei Sayle, and Broadcaster of the Year John Finnemore make their first appearances.

Episode one features Paul Merton, John Finnemore, Gyles Brandreth and Sheila Hancock talking about such diverse topics as Halley's Comet, Carbon Dating and Answering the Telephone.

Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.


SUN 20:45 Short Works (b0bk1vm8)
BBC National Short Story Award 2018

Dog In A Hole

Five commissioned short stories to celebrate this year's BBC National Short Story Award:

In Dog In A Hole by Amy Sackville, she takes him to the Prado to see the Goya pictures - ' black hats and black masses, witches and devil goats..' - where one particular image will stay in their minds for ever more.

Reader Miranda Raison

Producer Duncan Minshull


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000j133)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000j11m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 Last Word (m000hwsj)
Catherine Hamlin, Irrfan Khan, Denis Goldberg, Ann Sayer

Pictured: Catherine Hamlin

Matthew Bannister on

Catherine Hamlin the obstetrician who, with her husband, set about tackling the devastating effects of obstetric fistulae in the women of Ethiopia.

Irrfan Khan, the actor whose career brought stardom in both Indian and Hollywood films, like Jurassic World, Slumdog Millionaire and The Amazing Spiderman.

The South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg who stood trial alongside Nelson Mandela.

Anne Sayer, the long distance walker who was the first British woman to cover 100 miles in less than 24 hours.

Interviewed guest: Julia Langdon
Interviewed guest: Asjad Nazir
Interviewed guest: Sir Nicholas Stadlen
Interviewed guest: Julie Welch

Producer: Neil George

Archive clips from: The Oprah Winfrey Show, Syndication/Harpo Studios 2014; Asian Network's Big Debate, Asian Network 29/04/2020; The Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra, Sikhya Entertainment 2013; Jurassic World, directed by Colin Trevorrow, Universal Pictures 2015; Piku, directed by Shoojit Sircar, MSM Motion Pictures 2015; Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan, Celador Films/Film 4 2008; Pienaar’s Politics, 5 Live 24/01/2016.


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000j135)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000hvt4)
There Will Be Blood

With Antonia Quirke

This week's recommendation for a film to watch in lockdown is There Will Be Blood. Antonia hears from director Paul Thomas Anderson, stars Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano and composer Jonny Greenwood.

Neil Brand reveals the story behind the score for Flash Gordon and why one composer became seriously ill with the stress of the job.

Jon Naylor and Katie Hobbs tell us how they set up The Travelling Symphony Movie Club especially for the lockdown.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b07hwtdj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 11 MAY 2020

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000j137)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000459n)
Detective fiction - homicide and social media

Detecting the social – how the changing nature of crime stories illuminates shifts in society. Also, homicide confessions on social media. What does it mean when killers confess online? Laurie Taylor is joined by Mary Evans, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the LSE and Elizabeth Yardley, director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University.

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000j139)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j13c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j13f)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j13h)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j13k)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000j13m)
11/05/20 UK US trade talks, wildfires, farms adapting to coronavirus

Trade talks between the UK and US are getting underway this week, thrashing out what deal will be in place for imports and exports post-Brexit.
The BBC’s global trade correspondent, Dharshini David, gives us an update on the implications for agriculture.

Presented by Sybil Ruscoe and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


MON 05:56 Weather (m000j13p)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04t0m7p)
Red-throated Caracara

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the red-throated caracara from the Amazonian rainforest. The size of buzzards, red-throated Caracaras are black- and -white birds of prey that travel together when searching for paper wasp nests among the leaves. While some birds search for food, others act as sentinels on the lookout for predators. If a monkey or a spotted cat approaches, the sentinel will alert the flock and together they will mob the intruder with loud calls. They specialise in bee and wasp grubs, but seem impervious to stings and it was once thought that they may possess a special repellent which deters the adult insects. Latest research now shows that when they are disturbed by the caracaras, paper wasps keep away from their damaged nest to avoid further danger and so the birds simply take advantage of the wasp's absence.


MON 06:00 Today (m000j1xk)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000j1xm)
Art in an emergency

The writer Olivia Laing has long used art to make sense of the world. Over the last five years she has written a series of essays using art and artists to understand different political crises and emergencies around the globe. She tells Tom Sutcliffe how art can help to change the way people see the world, and how it can be a force for resistance and repair. In a new collection , Funny Weather, Laing presents her own idiosyncratic guide to staying sane during the current coronavirus pandemic.

The novelist James Meek set his last book, To Calais, In Ordinary Times, in 1348 as the Black Death swept into England from Northern Europe. In his medieval universe, aspects of society that had once appeared fixed and natural – faith, class and gender – are upended and challenged, as the plague destroys more than just lives. Meek looks to see if such cataclysmic moments of human history have any lessons for us today.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:30 Homeschool History (m000j1xp)
Charles Dickens

We all know he wrote the original Muppet Christmas Carol, but what else is there to know about Charles Dickens?

From a childhood working in the factories of Victorian London, to becoming a literary superstar with books such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, join Greg Jenner for a homeschool history lesson on one of the most iconic authors of all time.

You’ll be left wanting more (sir).

Presented by Greg Jenner
Produced by Ben Green
Script by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Emma Nagouse
Historical consultant: Dr Emily Bell

A Muddy Knees Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 09:45 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j1zd)
Episode 1

Susannah Harker reads from the story of how, within three generations, the illustrious family of poet Lord Byron disintegrated into adultery, debt, elopement, coercion and murder.

In the early 18th century. the Byron family seat, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling, empty ruin. Debt-ridden and friendless, the 5th Lord Byron – known to history as the Wicked Lord – lay on his deathbed, waited on by his one remaining servant and sharing his bed with a thriving population of crickets.

This was the home that a small, bewildered boy of ten from Aberdeen – whom the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer – would inherit in 1798. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become infamous for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety - from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea.

Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would influence his life and poetry for posterity.

The Fall of the House of Byron follows the fates of Lord Byron’s ancestors over three generations in a drama that begins in rural Nottinghamshire and plays out in the gentlemen’s clubs of Georgian London, amid tempests on far-flung seas, and in the glamour of pre-revolutionary France.

In this first episode, the future poet, ten-year-old George Lord Byron, arrives at Newstead Abbey to claim his inheritance and is immediately enraptured by the ruined building and scandalous stories of his ancestors.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
Read by Susannah Harker
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000j1xt)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


MON 10:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j1xw)
Episode 1

‘I gazed at him over my shoulder. My ear was burning, the weight of the pearl pulling at the lobe…’

Who is the young woman in Vermeer’s famous painting? And why are her eyes brimming with tears?

Tracy Chevalier’s much-loved novel vividly imagines the story behind the gaze of the unknown model in Vermeer’s painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. This dramatisation by Ayeesha Menon is the first for radio.

A fine cast includes Khalid Abdalla, Hattie Morahan, Tom Goodman-Hill and Eleanor Bron. Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as the passionate and artistically gifted young heroine.

Recorded on location at Keats House, in Hampstead.

Featuring 17th century Dutch harpsichord music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed by Tim Motz and recorded at Handel House in London especially for the drama.

Episode 1: When Griet, a 16-year-old from a poor family, is forced to become a servant in Vermeer’s household, her world is shattered. She crosses Delft to the grand house where the artist is creating his 1660s masterpieces in his attic studio.

Cast in order of appearance:
Tanneke ….. Laura Elphinstone
Griet ….. Libby Mai
Franciscus ….. Liam Howes
Agnes ….. Flora Froment
Griet’s Mother ….. Jane Whittenshaw
Catharina ….. Hattie Morahan
Vermeer ….. Khalid Abdalla
Griet’s Father ….. Rufus Wright
Cornelia ….. Mia Wilks
Maria Thins ….. Eleanor Bron
Pieter ….. Tom Glenister

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Chilton

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4


MON 11:00 The Spark (m000gsm8)
Helen Lewis meets the writers and thinkers who are breaking new ground.
From politics to economics, from tech to the study of how we live, things are changing fast. Old certainties have not been under such challenge for decades.
So each week, we give the whole programme over to a single in-depth, close-up interview with someone whose big idea is bidding to change our world.
Helen’s challenge is to make sense of their new idea, to find out more about the person behind it – and to test what it has to offer us against the failures of the past.
This week, Helen talks to entrepreneur, CEO, and writer Margaret Heffernan about just how often the prediction business gets it wrong. Governments, business and individuals are attracted to certainty, yet the reality is that we face an uncharted future. Planning for an outcome we expect – whether it’s a family holiday or ‘just in time’ food supply chains – can lead to disappointment or even disaster, as events so often take an unexpected course.
Instead, Heffernan argues, the best course of action is not to plan, but to be prepared: to build resilience for a range of possible outcomes. Helen Lewis asks how this works in practice, and how individuals, organisations and policy-makers can prepare for a future that is – try as we might – impossible to predict.
Producer: Eliane Glaser


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000j1pw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m000j1xz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000j1y1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 12:06 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j1y3)
Episode 6

Ann Petry’s powerful, ground breaking novel set in 1940s Harlem tells the story of a single mother’s determination to make a better life for her son. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Lutie Johnson lives with her eight year old son Bub in a few airless rooms at the top of a dark and grubby tenement building in Harlem. It’s the only place she can afford after leaving her cheating husband and quitting her job as a maid to a wealthy white family.

However, Lutie has faith in the American dream.

She believes that, if she works hard, studies hard and saves hard she can build a new life for herself and Bub, away from the violence and poverty that surrounds her. But as a young, single, black mother in 1944, her choices are limited - not only does she have to confront the racism of the white world that employs her, she’s also preyed upon by the men around her who find her good looks irresistible.

As she tries to keep her son safe and earn enough money to move away from the street that defines and traps them, Lutie finds herself faced with some brutal and painful decisions.

Ann Petry was one of America’s most distinguished writers. She lived in New York City, where she wrote short stories for young people, and worked as a journalist and editor for two Harlem newspapers. The Street was her first novel, published in 1946, and it was an immediate success, making Petry the first Black American novelist to sell over a million copies.

Reader: Adjoa Andoh
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:20 You and Yours (m000j1y5)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


MON 12:57 Weather (m000j1y7)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m000j1y9)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


MON 13:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j1yc)
Who is free from melancholy?

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience.

Writing from Oxford where he was a life-long scholar, librarian of Christ Church and a vicar, Burton drew on the writing of others and also his own experiences.

Writer Amy Liptrot, delves into this remarkable attempt at understanding the human condition to find out what we can learn and how far we have come in four centuries.

In this episode, Amy travels to the Bodleian Library where Burton discovered many of his sources. She meets Dr Katherine Murphy from Oxford’s Faculty of English and together they look at one of Burton’s own early editions of The Anatomy with his hand-scribbled notes.

Cell biologist Lewis Wolpert, whose own struggles with depression led him to write Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression, shares his experiences and what helped him to recover.

Professor David Clark, Chair of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, and one of the pioneers of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), reveals his vision for future treatments of mental health disorders.

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, David Clark offers I See a Darkness by Johnny Cash (original: Will Oldham).

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m000j3vy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Drama (m000j1yh)
Whose Baby?

Teenager Bilal discovers a secret that threatens his entire extended family. What should he do? Which of his three married brothers has fathered a child with a skinny white woman? And why does she keep following him with the kid in the buggy?

Bilal is only 15, the youngest of four boys who loves living in a big Asian family with all his sisters-in-laws and nephews and nieces around him. He’s preoccupied with his leading role in the school drama and especially preoccupied with Sarah, his co-star.

None of his family know anything about the drama - he’s working hard to keep it under wraps. The last thing he needs is another secret to worry about. And this one could blow the family apart.

Whose Baby? is a story about teenage anxiety, responsibility and inexperience. Bilal learns that the world is far more complicated that he could ever have imagined.

It’s also a story about family, love, grief and forgiveness, told with writer Ishy Din’s characteristic humour and warmth.

Cast:
Billy – Gurjeet Singh
Big Mam – Mina Anwar
Kaneeze/Iram – Perveen Hussain
Maz/Bash – George Bukhari
Raf/Mo – Sid Akbar Ali

Writer – Ishy Din
Director – Julia Ford
Executive Director – Jeremy Mortimer
Sound Designer – Eloise Whitmore

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m000j1yl)
Heat 6, 2020

(6/17)
Russell Davies is in the questionmaster's chair, with questions on topics as diverse as meteorology, Hindu gods, the books of the Bible and video games. Today's heat was recorded in London before the restrictions on public events.

Taking part are:
Phil Anderson, a chemist from Buntingford in Hertfordshire
George Ferzoco, a university lecturer from Bristol
Graham Holliday, a writer from Lower Seagry in Wiltshire
Dom Tait, a media and entertainment consultant from Guildford in Surrey.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000j127)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 Beyond Belief (m000j1yp)
Dieting

During the lockdown, with gyms shut and exercise outdoors restricted, social media is littered with anecdotes of people putting on weight or turning to diet plans. Most religious traditions have some kind of rules when it comes to what we eat. From Lent to Yom Kippur, from Karva Chauth, to Ramadan many religious followers observe days of abstinence. So why is the relationship between food, fasting and faith so meaningful for so many?

Dr Katie Edwards discusses faith, food and fasting with Dr Hannah Bacon, Associate Professor in Feminist Theology and Acting head of Theology and Religious studies at the University of Chester, Dr Hina Shahid, General Practitioner and Chairperson of the Muslim Doctors Association and Geeta Vara, Ayurvedic Practioner and author of Ayurveda: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Wellbeing

Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Series Producer: Amanda Hancox


MON 16:30 PM (m000j1yr)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j1yw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m000hvbk)
Another half-hour of quality desk-based entertainment for all the family comes to you once more from the London Palladium, where Jeremy Hardy joins show regulars Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and reluctant chairman, Humphrey Lyttelton. At the piano - Colin Sell.

Producer - Jon Naismith


MON 19:00 The Archers (m000j3s1)
The Archers Revisited

Brian Confesses to Jennifer

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the second week when we take a look at five different events that affect the characters’ relationship to their homes and the land, in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

When Brian Aldridge’s step-daughter, Debbie, confronted Brian over his affair with the much younger Siobhan Hathaway, he knew the game was up and that he had to confess to wife Jennifer.

Jennifer’s vision of her contented home life is shattered when she realises that Brian is the father of Siobhan’s baby. The episodes leading up to Brian's admission to Jennifer were heard by 4.75 million listeners.

This programme was originally broadcast on 15th December 2002.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m000j1z0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 19:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j1xw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 Happy Little Trees (m000j1z2)
"You absolutely have to have dark in order to have light." This sentiment from television art instructor Bob Ross is perhaps more resonant than ever at the present time.

Former army sergeant Bob Ross shot to fame in the 1980s and 90s with an instructional TV show called The Joy of Painting. It ran on the American Public Broadcast network until 1994, a year before Bob’s death. Twenty years later, his shows have found a new audience via YouTube, particularly among young people. His gentle manner presenting his real-time paint-along technique, peppered with advice about life itself, provides an alternative form of therapy - reducing anxiety, relieving stress and aiding sleep .

Presented by 25 year old Jack Taylor, himself no stranger to anxiety, and recorded before and during the lockdown, Happy Little Trees invites listeners into landscapes that, as Bob himself says, 'exist only in mind' before finding expression on canvas.

With contributions from art instructor Jayne Good (of Paint With Jayne), student medic Orkun Colak, Fern Oxley from Doncaster, Jack's friend Louis Judkins, Sarah Rodway-Swanson and Nick Farrer (Nightline Association).

With thanks to Bob Ross Inc.

Produced by Hannah Dean
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000hvsl)
Lithium: Argentina's 'White Gold' Rush

Are lithium-powered electric vehicles as ‘green’ as we think they are? With the advent of electric cars, manufacturers tell us we’re racing towards a clean-energy future. It’s lithium that powers these vehicles. Most of the world’s stocks of this lightest of metals are found in brine deep beneath salt flats, high in the Andes. In Argentina, in Jujuy - the province with the highest percentage of indigenous households in the country - massive projects are underway. But in a super-dry region, with water the most precious resource, and lithium extraction demanding huge quantities of it, there’s anxiety - and outright opposition.

Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly
Producer in Argentina: Gert De Saedeleer
Editor: Bridget Harney


MON 21:00 The NHS Front Line (m000hvl0)
Week 7 on the covid wards

Dr John Wright has been recording on the wards for BBC Radio 4 – starting on March 16th, the day the Prime Minister gave his first televised address about the danger of Covid-19. This is week seven of his diaries, recorded as the number of cases continues to increase and the pressures on the frontline team intensify.

These recordings with frontline NHS staff at all levels, take you behind the scenes on the wards as they plan for what is to come and then cope as the patients arrive. They let us share in the pressures, personal and professional, and in the decisions being made in the face of this unprecedented threat.

Professor John Wright is helping Bradford Royal Infirmary to get ready for Covid-19. He’s looked after patients all over the world – cholera and HIV in Southern Africa, Ebola in Sierra Leone. He thinks it’s important we should all know what we are facing.

Presented by Winifred Robinson
Produced by Sue Mitchell
Sound Production by Richard Hannaford


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000j1xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000j1z4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j1y3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:06 today]


MON 23:00 Forest 404 (p074lxj2)
Ep3: Into the Inner

Pan finds an illegal brain shop to uncover how the recordings have changed her.

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

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

#Forest404


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000j1z7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



TUESDAY 12 MAY 2020

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000j1z9)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j1zd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j1zj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j1zn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j1zs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j1zx)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000j201)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkwj9)
Shoebill

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the mysterious shoebill of Uganda. Reaching almost one and a quarter metres in height and looking like a hefty-looking blue-grey stork, ornithologists remain unsure which birds are their closest relatives. As its name suggests, the Shoebill's most outstanding feature, is its enormous clog-shaped bill. Up to 20cm long, half as wide and ending in a nail-like hook. They live in central and east African swamps where they feed on reptiles, fish, amphibians and even young crocodiles. Their bill is also useful in the baking heat of the African sun, when the adults scoop up beak-fulls of water and shower it over their chicks to help them keep cool.


TUE 06:00 Today (m000j21f)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000j21k)
Debbie Pain on conserving globally threatened bird species

Professor Debbie Pain has spent the last 30 years solving some of the most devastating threats to birdlife, saving many species from the brink of extinction. Her childhood passion for bird spotting drove her into conservation research with the RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. She’s led scientific groundwork all over the planet: from reversing a dramatic mysterious decline in Asian vultures in the Indian sub-continent through to daring helicopters journeys into remote foggy North-East Russia in a bid to locate and conserve eggs of a hugely charismatic and threatened bird - the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. And as she tells Jim, her career defining research into one of the great hidden threats to birdlife - the toxic effect of billions of spent lead shot used to catch game birds - is finally turning the tide on attitudes to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of wildfowl.

Producer Adrian Washbourne


TUE 09:30 Desert Island Discs (m000j9r5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Sunday]


TUE 09:45 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j23d)
Episode 2

Susannah Harker reads from the story of how, within three generations, the illustrious family of poet Lord Byron disintegrated into adultery, debt, elopement, coercion and murder.

In the early 18th century. the Byron family seat, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling, empty ruin. Debt-ridden and friendless, the 5th Lord Byron – known to history as the Wicked Lord – lay on his deathbed, waited on by his one remaining servant and sharing his bed with a thriving population of crickets.

This was the home that a small, bewildered boy of ten from Aberdeen – whom the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer – would inherit in 1798. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become infamous for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety - from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea.

Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would influence his life and poetry for posterity.

The Fall of the House of Byron follows the fates of Lord Byron’s ancestors over three generations in a drama that begins in rural Nottinghamshire and plays out in the gentlemen’s clubs of Georgian London, amid tempests on far-flung seas, and in the glamour of pre-revolutionary France.

In this second episode, we hear the story of the scandalous life of William, the Wicked Lord. Inheriting his title and estates at the age of 13, he frittered away the Byron fortune – and his wife’s fortune too - on art, gambling, women and a fleet of 25 ton model warships for the lake at Newstead. He finally cemented his place in history’s catalogue of villains by adding to the titles coward, adulterer and debtor, that of murderer.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
Read by Susannah Harker
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000j21r)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


TUE 10:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j21t)
Episode 2

Tracy Chevalier’s much-loved novel about the unknown model in Vermeer’s famous painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon.

Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as the passionate and artistically gifted young heroine.

Recorded on location at Keats House, in Hampstead.

Featuring 17th century Dutch harpsichord music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed by Tim Motz and recorded at Handel House in London especially for the drama.

Episode 2: Griet, an innocent girl from a poor family, is working as the lowest servant in the house of the painter, Vermeer, but his interest in her is growing.

Cast in order of appearance:
Griet ….. Libby Mai
Vermeer ….. Khalid Abdalla
Pieter ….. Tom Glenister
Tanneke ….. Laura Elphinstone
Maria Thins ….. Eleanor Bron
Catharina ….. Hattie Morahan
Van Ruijven ….. Tom Goodman-Hill
Griet’s Mother ….. Jane Whittenshaw
Griet’s Father ….. Rufus Wright
Maertge ….. Flora Froment
Cornelia ….. Mia Wilks
Van Leeuwenhoek ….. Ben Crowe

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Chilton

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:00 The Pebble In Your Pocket (m000j21w)
Why do people love pebbles? What is it about their appearance, texture, sounds, history and folklore that inspires us? BBC Radio 4 invites you on a lyrical pebble pilgrimage, shaped by the sounds of scrunching shingle and wild waves.

‘The beautifully shaped stone, washed up by the sea, is a symbol of continuity, a silent image of our desire for survival, peace and security.’ (Barbara Hepworth)

We hear how pebbles have influenced some of our greatest artists, possessing secrets of deep time, and woven into our history and our very being. What do pebbles tell us about the world, and about ourselves?

Across the British Isles, we meet a writer, a geologist, an archivist, a clothes designer, and a team of pebble dashers – people who work with and are captivated by pebbles. In Cambridge, we visit Kettle’s Yard gallery – created by the late art collector Jim Ede and known as the Louvre of the Pebble.

The programme includes pebble-inspired poetry and music, and soundscapes of pebbles recorded in a range of locations, from NE Scotland to SW England.

POETRY:
Stone Speech by Charles Tomlinson
Dover Beach (extract) by Matthew Arnold

MUSIC:
The Sea – Morcheeba
Pebble Dash – Gang Colours
Sunday Morning, from Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (Opus 33a), composed by Benjamin Britten.
Pebble Shore – Baltic Fleet
Gotta Pebble In My Shoe – Ella Fitzgerald
The Pebble and the Boulder – MJ Hibbett
Su-a Song – Jenna Reid

Extract from Barbara Hepworth, BBC TV, September 1961 – by kind permission of Sophie Bowness: ‘Barbara Hepworth © Bowness'

Producer: Steve Urquhart
Executive Producer: Emma Walker
A Rosa production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:30 Art of Now (m000j21y)
Black and Creative in Scotland

Writer Tomiwa Folorunso explores the experience of being a black female artist in Scotland.

Scotland is a country known across the world for its vibrant arts scene, world famous festivals and renowned institutions. What is it like to move through that world as a black woman, especially now that the coronavirus has thrown the Arts into uncertainty?

Expanding on a piece she wrote for the platform Black Ballad, Tomiwa speaks to women across the country who are making waves in different creative mediums. She discovers what challenges they have faced, how they approach working in a community in the arts and what their hopes are for a world beyond lockdown.

These include the visual artist Sekai Macheche, whose powerful photo series 'Invocation' depicts the artist as the goddess Kali. Other interviewees include the choreographer and performer Mele Broomes, Director of Creative Edinburgh Briana Pegado, actor and musician Patricia Panther and DJ/Rapper/Producer Nova Scotia The Truth.

Producer: Sam Peach


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000j2xy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000j222)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 12:06 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j224)
Episode 7

Ann Petry’s powerful, ground breaking novel set in 1940s Harlem tells the story of a single mother’s determination to make a better life for her son. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Lutie Johnson lives with her eight year old son Bub in a few airless rooms at the top of a dark and grubby tenement building in Harlem. It’s the only place she can afford after leaving her cheating husband and quitting her job as a maid to a wealthy white family.

However, Lutie has faith in the American dream.

She believes that, if she works hard, studies hard and saves hard she can build a new life for herself and Bub, away from the violence and poverty that surrounds her. But as a young, single, black mother in 1944, her choices are limited - not only does she have to confront the racism of the white world that employs her, she’s also preyed upon by the men around her who find her good looks irresistible.

As she tries to keep her son safe and earn enough money to move away from the street that defines and traps them, Lutie finds herself faced with some brutal and painful decisions.

Ann Petry was one of America’s most distinguished writers. She lived in New York City, where she wrote short stories for young people, and worked as a journalist and editor for two Harlem newspapers. The Street was her first novel, published in 1946, and it was an immediate success, making Petry the first Black American novelist to sell over a million copies.

Reader: Adjoa Andoh
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:20 You and Yours (m000j226)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


TUE 12:57 Weather (m000j228)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m000j22b)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


TUE 13:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j22d)
Hereditary disease

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience.

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot visits the place where Burton was buried in 1640 – Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. She meets Professor John Geddes, Head of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, and together they are shown a signed, first edition copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy in Christ Church old library.

They explore Burton’s view that melancholy is ‘an hereditary disease’. Are genetics involved in depression and other mental illnesses and how does that work? Amy is curious to know if her former struggle with alcoholism is connected with her dad’s bipolar disorder.

John Geddes reflects on how The Anatomy has inspired him throughout his life as a psychiatrist and researcher into mood disorders, since picking up a copy as a junior doctor in Sheffield.

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, Jonathan Flint offers John Dowland (English composer, 1563 – 1626).

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Contributors: Professor Jonathan Flint (University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA), Professor Nick Craddock (Cardiff University), Professor Frances Rice (Cardiff University), Dr Christopher Tilmouth (University of Cambridge)

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000j3s1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (b09xnl5l)
Holbein's Skull

By Martyn Wade

A deliciously funny play about art, relationships and sexuality. It just happens to have taken place in London a few hundred years ago. Hans Holbein, an up-and-coming artist, is about to begin work on his painting The Ambassadors.

Jean de Dinteville ..... Jack Farthing
Georges de Selve ..... Sam Alexander
Margery Horsman ..... Lauren Cornelius
Hans Holbein/King Henry VIII ..... Clive Hayward

Written by Martyn Wade
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale

Hans Holbein's painting, The Ambassadors, is one of the star attractions in London's National Gallery and the writer, Martyn Wade, has taken a peek behind the painting to find an imaginative solution to the enigma that surrounds it. There are two young men in the picture but there are so many other items portrayed - it seems overloaded with potential meaning. So let's go back to London a few hundred years ago.

Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve are the two Ambassadors. Hans Holbein is the up-and-coming artist on his second stint in London. Margery Horsman is a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn - who takes a shine to Jean and is always at the ready with a good idea.

Jean is in England to try and persuade King Henry that his actions regarding Anne Boleyn will jeopardise relations with France but by the time he arrives in London this is Diplomatic Mission Impossible. When Holbein agrees to paint Jean and Georges's picture he has an intriguing suggestion. But things don't quite go according to plan. How did the painting end up with so many eye catching artefacts? This fresh, sharp and witty drama zips along with its imaginative take as to why that might be.


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000j1p1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000j22g)
Flooding Britain

What's the best way to prevent flooding? Caz Graham finds out whether there might be environmental alternatives to building ever-higher flood defences. She talks to a campaign group in Kendal in Cumbria, where there are multi-million pound plans to build flood barriers through the town centre, and asks the Environment Agency whether there could be more imaginative alternatives. Is Natural Flood Management the answer? Caz talks to academics and experts to find out what new solutions there might be, and what other countries are doing.

Produced by Emma Campbell.
Photograph by Stuart Atkinson.


TUE 16:00 Great Lives (m000j22j)
Sally Phillips on Hollywood star Myrna Loy

When Sally Phillips first saw Myrna Loy, she burst into tears. It was in a film called The Best Years of Our Lives, about three veterans returning to their wives after World War Two. Myrna Loy was most famous for the Thin Man series, and she also played voluptuous baddies in flicks like The Mask of Fun Manchu. But it's not just her screen career that inspires Sally, a star herself for work in Smack the Pony and Bridget Jones. Myrna Loy was a hardworking and often fearless person, heavily involved with The Red Cross and UNESCO after the war. The author of Fast Talking Dames, Maria di Battista, joins the discussion from Princeton.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde


TUE 16:30 PM (m000j22l)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j22q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 My Teenage Diary (m000j22s)
Series 9

Jenni Murray

Rufus Hound returns for another series of honest, intimate and hilarious interviews, with famous guests reading from their genuine teenage diaries.

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

In episode two, Rufus talks to Jenni Murray about her years as a schoolgirl in Barnsley. Her diaries open with the bombshell that her mum and dad will be relocating to India, at which point the young Jenni moves in with her grandparents. Free of her mother's disciplinarian ways, she experiments with makeup and miniskirts, and sings Joan Baez songs at the local folk club. This diary is a true snapshot of life in 60s Britain, complete with a meeting with a Beatle!

Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000j3ry)
The Archers Revisited

The Grundys’ Eviction from Grange Farm

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the second week when we take a look at five different events that affect the characters’ relationship to their homes and the land, in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

The day of the Grundys’ eviction from Grange Farm has arrived.

The Grundys were tenant farmers at Grange farm but their landlords, Borchester Land, wanted them out and when they were no longer able to pay their rent BL took the opportunity to evict them. All the Grundys, except Will, had to move to a small council flat which hit the family very hard. Then Editor Vanessa Whitburn commented at the time about the storyline: "It's only realistic for a drama set in the countryside to reflect what's going on there properly. Even six months ago it was obvious that farming was going through its worst crisis since the 30s. And the most vulnerable, apart from hill farmers, are small-scale tenant farmers like the Grundys. This is what can happen to people like them."

This programme was originally broadcast on 26th April 2000.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000j22x)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 19:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j21t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000j22z)
Coronavirus - stories from behind the mask

They’re the intensive care staff we see on the TV news. In their protective equipment, we can’t see their expressions – even their own colleagues find it hard to recognise them under behind their masks. We can’t read their faces, but we can hear their thoughts - as they record a series of diaries as the weeks in the grip of the virus go by.
In these recordings for File on 4, doctors and nurses take off their masks and reveal their private emotions and professional fears. They talk from the heart, sharing how they feel about their patients, and how they feel for their families, unable to be with their loved ones. For the diarists, it’s a rare moment to stop and reflect, to mourn the losses and hold on to the glimmers of hope.

Reporter: Jane Deith
Producer: Paul Grant
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000j231)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000j233)
Inside Health: The Virus

Episode 7

Claudia Hammond reports on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic.


TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000j21k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000j235)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j224)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:06 today]


TUE 23:00 You'll Do (p088s3d2)
Ageing with Zoe Lyons and Sindy De Jong

Comedian Zoe Lyons and nurse Sindy De Jong join Catherine Bohart and Sarah Keyworth to discuss "Ageing".

In the relationship programme that goes beyond rom-com tropes, Zoe and Sindy talk about their fourteen years of marriage, falling in love and falling out of vans.

And why you should never storm off during an argument...

Producer: Kate Holland
Executive Producer: Lyndsay Fenner

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000j238)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2020

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000j23b)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


WED 00:30 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j23d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j23g)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j23j)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j23l)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j23n)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000j23q)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04hkym5)
Blue-Footed Booby

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Galapagos Islands blue-footed booby. Far off the Ecuador coastline the Galapagos Archipelago is home to a strange courtship dance and display of the male blue-footed booby and his large bright blue webbed feet. The intensity of the male's blue feet is viewed by the female as a sign of fitness and so he holds them up for inspection as he struts in front of her. She joins in, shadowing his actions. As the pair raise and lower their feet with exaggerated slow movements, they point their bills sky-wards while spreading their wings, raising their tails and calling.


WED 06:00 Today (m000j2r5)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 More or Less (m000j2r7)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.


WED 09:30 Legacy of War (m000j2r9)
Episode 1

How wartime experiences have informed the dynamics of families in subsequent generations.


WED 09:45 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j2rd)
Episode 3

Susannah Harker reads from the story of how, within three generations, the illustrious family of poet Lord Byron disintegrated into adultery, debt, elopement, coercion and murder.

In 1798, a small, bewildered boy of ten from Aberdeen – whom the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer – first laid eyes on Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, the Byron family seat he had just inherited. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become infamous for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would influence his life and poetry for posterity.

In this third episode,we hear the story of Lord Byron’s great aunt Isabella whose glittering life as Countess of Carlisle and chatelaine of Castle Howard disintegrated into adultery, elopement, scandal and debt.

A clever and attractive woman, at 21 Isabella married the fantastically wealthy 48 year-old Henry, Earl of Carlisle who was already a grandfather. Despite rumours of Isabella’s flirtations, it was a happy marriage, but after Henry’s death, Isabella’s turbulent love life and poor judgement led her into a life of spiralling debt and infamy in Britain, France and Italy.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
Read by Susannah Harker
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000j2rg)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


WED 10:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j2rj)
Episode 3

Tracy Chevalier’s much-loved novel about the unknown model in Vermeer’s famous painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon.

Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as the passionate and artistically gifted young heroine.

Recorded on location at Keats House, in Hampstead.

Featuring 17th century Dutch harpsichord music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed by Tim Motz and recorded at Handel House in London especially for the drama.

Episode 3: It’s 1665. A year has passed since Griet became a servant in the house of the painter Vermeer and his wife Catharina has given birth to a son, Franciscus. Now, Vermeer wants Griet to work in another capacity.

Cast in order of appearance:
Griet ….. Libby Mai
Catharina ….. Hattie Morahan
Tanneke ….. Laura Elphinstone
Vermeer ….. Khalid Abdalla
Griet’s Father ….. Rufus Wright
Pieter ….. Tom Glenister
Griet’s Mother ….. Jane Whittenshaw
Maria Thins ….. Eleanor Bron
Cornelia ….. Mia Wilks
Van Ruijven ….. Tom Goodman-Hill

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Chilton

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4


WED 11:00 Happy Little Trees (m000j1z2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Michael Frayn's Magic Mobile (m000j2rl)
Episode 1

Michael Frayn’s comic universe at the touch of a button. Directed by long-time Frayn-collaborator Martin Jarvis. A glittering cast includes David Suchet, Susannah Fielding, Joanna Lumley, Alfred Molina, Adam Godley, Jared Harris, Martin Jarvis and Roger Allam.

"The electronic device so simple even an adult can use it." Half-an-hour of brand new monologues and dialogues, brought to you by the makers of Matchbox Theatre and Pocket Playhouse.

Ever imagined God being interviewed on Desert Island Discs? Or worrying about his image? How does the pharmaceutical industry name its newest drugs? Could shopping for teabags become a political decision? Might Shakespeare be considered an adequate co-writer?

It's all here, and more, in Michael Frayn’s magical entertainment system. No passwords needed to enter.

CAST:
David Suchet, Susannah Fielding, Joanna Lumley, Alfred Molina, Jared Harris, Adam Godley, Martin Jarvis, Roger Allam, Nigel Anthony, Anna-Louise Plowman, Moira Quirk, Matthew Wolf

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


WED 12:00 News Summary (m000j2rp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000j2rr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 12:06 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j2rt)
Episode 8

Ann Petry’s powerful, ground breaking novel set in 1940s Harlem tells the story of a single mother’s determination to make a better life for her son. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Lutie Johnson lives with her eight year old son Bub in a few airless rooms at the top of a dark and grubby tenement building in Harlem. It’s the only place she can afford after leaving her cheating husband and quitting her job as a maid to a wealthy white family.

However, Lutie has faith in the American dream.

She believes that, if she works hard, studies hard and saves hard she can build a new life for herself and Bub, away from the violence and poverty that surrounds her. But as a young, single, black mother in 1944, her choices are limited - not only does she have to confront the racism of the white world that employs her, she’s also preyed upon by the men around her who find her good looks irresistible.

As she tries to keep her son safe and earn enough money to move away from the street that defines and traps them, Lutie finds herself faced with some brutal and painful decisions.

Ann Petry was one of America’s most distinguished writers. She lived in New York City, where she wrote short stories for young people, and worked as a journalist and editor for two Harlem newspapers. The Street was her first novel, published in 1946, and it was an immediate success, making Petry the first Black American novelist to sell over a million copies.

Reader: Adjoa Andoh
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


WED 12:20 You and Yours (m000j2rw)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


WED 12:57 Weather (m000j2ry)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m000j2s0)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


WED 13:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j2s2)
Inflamed brain

In 1621, the English scholar Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience: melancholy

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot looks at the latest research into the links between inflammation and depression, and finding connections with Burton’s identification of an ‘inflamed brain’ as a cause.

She meets Professor Edward Bullmore, Head of Psychiatry at Cambridge University, and author of The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression to find out how the immune system and responses to stress may be causes of some kinds of depression and how this could offer new treatment targets.

Amy’s explorations take her to Rydal Waters in The Lake District where she joins kindred spirit and wild swimming guide Suzanna Cruickshank for a bracing swim and where they share their experiences of cold water swimming and the benefits it has brought them both.

Swimming is a cure that Burton uncovers and adds to his Anatomy of Melancholy: ‘Cadan alone commends bathing in fresh rivers, and cold water, and adviseth all such as mean to live long to use it, for it agrees with all ages and complexion and is most profitable for hot temperatures.’

Is there any chance this could link with inflammation and our responses to stress?

Dr Mike Tipton, Director of Research in the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, shares the latest science behind the question.

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, Suzanna Cruickshank offers Status Quo, Pictures of Matchstick Men.

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4


WED 14:00 The Archers (m000j3ry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b09tcpff)
The Unforgiven

Episode 1

A gripping five-part crime thriller by Barbara Machin, the creator of BBC1's Waking The Dead, this radio prequel to the Emmy-winning, hit TV series welcomes back the original cast, Sue Johnston, Holly Aird, Claire Goose and Wil Johnson. THE UNFORGIVEN leaps back fifteen years, revealing how the iconic team got together before they became an official cold case unit - dragged together to save a disappeared DC Peter Boyd from definite disgrace, and possible prison.

It is 1984, a world without DNA, CCTV, mobiles, the internet and databases. Big trouble erupts as a serial killer-rapist launches a huge legal appeal against his conviction, claiming police corruption, and pointing the finger directly at young DC Peter Boyd - and implicating forensic scientist, Frankie Wharton. The clock ticks loudly, there are just five days to save their necks and to stop the notorious killer's acquittal. With Boyd forced to disappear, Grace, the criminal profiler, and cops Spencer and Mel, join Frankie to clear their names and save their skins. They all owe Boyd in different ways, and a heart-stopping case ensues as the unthinkable unfolds.

Written by Barbara Machin
Directed by Allegra McIlroy

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


WED 15:00 Money Box (m000j2s4)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.


WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000j233)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 The Media Show (m000j2s6)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world


WED 16:30 PM (m000j2s8)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j2sb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Quanderhorn (m000j2sd)
Quanderhorn 2

3. Wasp

Professor Quanderhorn (James Fleet) and his rag-tag crew – test pilot Brian Nylon (Ryan Sampson), clockwork-emotioned Dr Gemini Janussen (Cassie Layton), caddish Martian hostage Guuuurk (Kevin Eldon) and Quanderhorn’s part-insectoid son Troy (Freddie Fox), along with factotum Jenkins (John Sessions) – travel back to the laboratory three weeks before the bombs are due to fall and wipe out reality.

The Professor has a plan, but to pull it off, the crew have to avoid their previous selves, who are, of course, also still there. If they fail, they could unravel their own timelines.

On top of which, they’re desperate not to activate the annoying musical sheep. They must also evade the squirrilla, the gorirrel and, most of all, the deadly enraged Penguinelope!

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

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

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

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (b05410wn)
The Archers Revisited

Floods Hit Ambridge

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the second week when we take a look at five different events that affect the characters’ relationship to their homes and the land, in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

As residents of the village gather in St. Stephen’s on a March evening to listen to a talk, news arrives that the River Am has burst its banks and several houses are under water. Soon much of the village is under threat and rescue parties are organised to bring people trapped in their homes to safety, but as the waters rise Lynda is refusing to leave Ambridge Hall until she can find her dog Scruff.

This programme was originally broadcast on 3 March 2015.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m000j2sg)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 19:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j2rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


WED 20:00 Grounded with Louis Theroux (m000j2sj)
2. Boy George

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

In this episode, he speaks to singer and musician, George O’Dowd aka Boy George, who has chosen to lockdown in London rather than Australia. They discuss growing up in the 70s, losing his virginity and a surprise appearance in the A-Team.

A Mindhouse production for BBC Radio 4


WED 20:45 The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? (m000j2sl)
Kombucha

Does kombucha boost your immune system? It's the wonder drink becoming popular as an alternative to alcohol, but is kombucha, which some claim can improve your gut health, really all it’s cracked up to be?

To discuss the science behind these popular health trends, presenter Greg Foot is joined by Blur bassist turned cheese maker Alex James, Dr Bridgette Wilson, a research dietitian from King’s College London and Sophie Medlin, a lecturer and researcher in nutrition and dietetics, also from King’s College London.

Together they’ll explore the evidence and decide whether these products really are the best thing since sliced bread or just marketing BS.

This episode was first broadcast in February 2019.

Presenter: Greg Foot
Prodcuer: Marijke Peters


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000j22g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000j2s6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000j2sn)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j2rt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:06 today]


WED 23:00 Where to, Mate? (m000j2sq)
Episode 1

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

This week Bernie picks up Milton and they strike up a friendship; and Ben picks up a healer who tries to help him against his will.

Ben was the first driver to work at the firm and he’s seen it all. He likes 80s movies and arguing about nothing, but tries to help passengers out with their problems whenever he can.

Bernie has left her husband in Birmingham and escaped to Manchester to work as the only female driver at All Star Cars. She didn’t get out on her own much before she got this job, but she’s making up for it now.

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

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

CAST

Ben ..... Peter Slater
Bernie ..... Jo Enright
Milton ..... Christopher J Hall
The Healer ..... Lisa Moore
Saj ..... Abdullah Afzal
Controller ..... Jason Wingard
Controller ..... Abdullah Afzal

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

Additional voices and material by the cast and crew.

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

A BBC Studios Audio Production


WED 23:15 Six Degrees of John Sessions (b09z5ptj)
Series 1

18/04/2018

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

Show 1. From Dirk Bogarde to Maureen O’Hara via Matthau and Pudsey

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


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000j2st)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



THURSDAY 14 MAY 2020

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000j2sw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


THU 00:30 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j2rd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j2sy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j2t0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j2t2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j2t4)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000j2t6)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlpj8)
Plumbeous Antbird

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the Plumbeous antbird in a Bolivian rainforest. When army ants go on the march in the Bolivian rainforest, they attract a huge retinue of followers; often heard but rarely seen. These include Antbirds. The Plumbeous Antbird is a lead-coloured bird; the males have a patch of blue skin around their eyes, whilst the females are bright russet below. Like other antbirds they are supreme skulkers, hiding under curtains of dense foliage and only betraying themselves by their calls and song, a particularly fluty call. But you'd think that with a name like antbirds, their diet is easily diagnosed, but surprisingly antbirds rarely eat ants. Instead, most species shadow the columns of army ants which often change nest-sites or raid other ant colonies. As the ants march across the forest floor, they flush insects and other invertebrates which are quickly snapped by the attendant antbirds.


THU 06:00 Today (m000j1hr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (b0435jyv)
Photosynthesis

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis, the process by which green plants and many other organisms use sunlight to synthesise organic molecules. Photosynthesis arose very early in evolutionary history and has been a crucial driver of life on Earth. In addition to providing most of the food consumed by organisms on the planet, it is also responsible for maintaining atmospheric oxygen levels, and is thus almost certainly the most important chemical process ever discovered.

With:

Nick Lane
Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London

Sandra Knapp
Botanist at the Natural History Museum

John Allen
Professor of Biochemistry at Queen Mary, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris


THU 09:45 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j1ks)
Episode 4

Susannah Harker reads from the story of how, within three generations, the illustrious family of poet Lord Byron disintegrated into adultery, debt, elopement, coercion and murder.

In 1798 a small, bewildered boy of ten from Aberdeen – whom the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer – first laid eyes on Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, the Byron family seat he had just inherited. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become infamous for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would influence his life and poetry for posterity.

In this fourth episode, we hear of the adventurous life of the poet’s grandfather Admiral John Byron who survived shipwreck, fever, scurvy and military disaster to become one of the 18th century’s most celebrated naval officers.

Despite the weakness for the opposite sex which seemed to run in the Byron blood, John was by far the most illustrious of his generation and his name lives on around the world to this day - a testament to his voyages of discovery and military exploits.

Captain Cook paid tribute to his predecessor by naming Australia’s easternmost point Cape Byron, known now as Byron Bay. There is Byron Island, off the Chilean coast, Byron Bay in Newfoundland, Byron Heights in the Falkland Islands, and the former Byron’s Island in what is now the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
Read by Susannah Harker
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000j1j0)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


THU 10:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j1j2)
Episode 4

Tracy Chevalier’s much-loved novel about the unknown model in Vermeer’s famous painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon.

Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as the passionate and artistically gifted young heroine.

Recorded on location at Keats House, in Hampstead.

Featuring 17th century Dutch harpsichord music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed by Tim Motz and recorded at Handel House in London especially for the drama.

Episode 4: At the request of Vermeer’s wealthy manipulative patron, Van Ruijven, the young servant, Griet, is now sitting for a painting by Vermeer.

Cast in order of appearance:
Vermeer ….. Khalid Abdalla
Griet ….. Libby Mai
Pieter ….. Tom Glenister
Catharina ….. Hattie Morahan
Griet’s Mother ….. Jane Whittenshaw
Griet’s Father ….. Rufus Wright
Van Ruijven ….. Tom Goodman-Hill
Cornelia ….. Mia Wilks
Tanneke ….. Laura Elphinstone

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Chilton

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4


THU 11:00 Crossing Continents (m000j1j5)
Bulgaria's Children and the Norwegian Bogeyman

Thousands of Bulgarian parents pulled their children out of school in a mass panic last October, fearing they would be abducted by social workers. Many more are protesting against a draft law they say puts 70 per cent of children at similar risk. Are they right to be scared? Or have rumours and fake news spread hysteria about the power of the state? Suddenly, campaigns to defend the “traditional family” are gathering strength in Bulgaria – and across eastern Europe. What’s behind them? And why do they treat one Western country – Norway – as the ultimate source of evil? Tim Whewell investigates.


THU 11:30 Art of Now (m000j1j7)
Berlin’s Nightlife

DJ Emily Dust investigates where policy and parties meet, as clubs and politicians work together to try and save the scene.

Berlin's famed nightlife brought in over €1.5bn to the city's economy in 2018. Its clubbing scene is eclectic; every type of music, running over hours if not days and bringing millions of visitors each year. But today it is at a crossroads; rising rents and gentrification forcing many venues to relocate or close.

Their future could depend on more collaboration and unity with the state, but can counter-culture survive?

In the former factory that produced the concrete used to build The Berlin Wall, Emily meets Dimitri Hegemann, owner of iconic techno club Tresor, who has been a voice of counter-culture in the city for twenty-five years, and who now hopes to transport the best of Berlin's culture and creativity out into the provinces.

Jimmy Bamba, resident DJ at 80s Berlin hotspot the Dchungel Club, talks to his son Aziz - who uses the same venue for his parties - about how the scene has changed over their generations.

Georg Kössler is the Green Party representative for club culture in Berlin's Parliament. Emily learns the challenges he faces convincing his peers and how he finds ways to quantify the cultural as well as economic value of nightclubs.

And she speaks to Pamela Schobess, chair of the Berlin Club Commission, lobbying the state to grant clubs the same cultural status as opera houses.

Presenter: Emily Dust
Producer: Georgia Catt


THU 12:00 News Summary (m000j2fr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000j1jc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 12:06 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j1jf)
Episode 9

Ann Petry’s powerful, ground breaking novel set in 1940s Harlem tells the story of a single mother’s determination to make a better life for her son. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Lutie Johnson lives with her eight year old son Bub in a few airless rooms at the top of a dark and grubby tenement building in Harlem. It’s the only place she can afford after leaving her cheating husband and quitting her job as a maid to a wealthy white family.

However, Lutie has faith in the American dream.

She believes that, if she works hard, studies hard and saves hard she can build a new life for herself and Bub, away from the violence and poverty that surrounds her. But as a young, single, black mother in 1944, her choices are limited - not only does she have to confront the racism of the white world that employs her, she’s also preyed upon by the men around her who find her good looks irresistible.

As she tries to keep her son safe and earn enough money to move away from the street that defines and traps them, Lutie finds herself faced with some brutal and painful decisions.

Ann Petry was one of America’s most distinguished writers. She lived in New York City, where she wrote short stories for young people, and worked as a journalist and editor for two Harlem newspapers. The Street was her first novel, published in 1946, and it was an immediate success, making Petry the first Black American novelist to sell over a million copies.

Reader: Adjoa Andoh
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:20 You and Yours (m000j1jh)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


THU 12:57 Weather (m000j1jk)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m000j1jm)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


THU 13:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j1jp)
Terrors and affrights

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience.

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot explores what Burton described as ‘the horrible kind of melancholy...most usually caused from some imminent danger'. Remarkably, he describes in great detail the symptoms that we would now associate with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Amy visits the Manchester Resilience Hub, which was set up in the wake of the Manchester Arena attack, and meets Alex, a young survivor who shares her experiences and the therapies that have helped her recover.

Psychologists at the Hub, Clare Jones and Dr Alan Barrett, discuss the different approaches taken to normal mental health services by the Hub.

Professor Emily Holmes from Uppsala University in Sweden and specialist in trauma offers an insight into how PTSD can lead to melancholy, sadness and low mood.

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, Dr Alan Barrett offers Robbing Myself by Ted Hughes (from Birthday Letters) and Clare Jones offers Wires by Athlete.

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Contributors: Clare Jones and Dr Alan Barrett (Manchester Resilience Hub), Alex (Manchester Resilience Hub), Emily Holmes (Uppsala University, Sweden)

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4.


THU 14:00 The Archers (b05410wn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b09wvtv7)
Bread and Butter

Where are we really in our imaginations while we're sitting at our desks? Bristol composer Jennifer Bell's a-cappella songs about the human emotions and oddities at play in office life are interwoven with true stories of love and yearning from office workers around the country.
Producer Beth O'Dea
Bread and Butter is based on a song cycle composed and written by Jennifer Bell.
The singers are: Andy Marshall, Ellie Showering, Natalie Farr, Harry Humberstone, Katy Tucker, Mella Faye, Blythe Pepino and Jennifer Bell.
Interviewees include Lorraine Mariner, Susan Reuben and Bethany Moore.
Photo credit:
Image by Bryony Ball, from Bread and Butter (dir. Freya Billington).


THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000j1jv)
Joyful Highlights Part 1: Friends and Family

In a joyful celebration of twenty years spent walking on air, Clare Balding digs deep into the exhilarating and exhausting archives of Ramblings to share her favourite walks. This week the theme is Friends and Family as Clare finds the moments that best illustrate how walking is a fantastic way of drawing people together.

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

The Nidderdale Way: Gouthwaite to Bewerley
Going Wild in the West Country
An Aussie Walkabout... in Norfolk
Hopetoun with the Monday Walkers
Reigate, Surrey (Refugees)

Producer: Karen Gregor


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000j11m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m000j12k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000j1jx)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000j1jz)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m000j1k1)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j1k5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 Ankle Tag (m00013vn)
Series 2

The Falklands

Alice's mum has a new boyfriend, and Bob doesn't like him.

Bob – Steve Speirs
Gruff – Elis James
Alice – Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Jeffrey – Simon Greenall
Elaine – Felicity Montagu
Anthony – Mike Wozniak

Written by Benjamin Partridge & Gareth Gwynn
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production


THU 19:00 The Archers (b07v35vw)
The Archers Revisited

Helen Wins Custody of Her Boys

Three weeks of themed programmes from the last two decades reliving key moments from the characters’ lives and the events that make Ambridge unforgettable. This episode forms part of the second week when we take a look at five different events that affect the characters relationship to their homes and the land, in ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

It’s the day of the family court hearing where Helen is to discover whether she has won custody of her two boys, Henry and Jack.

Years of coercive control left Helen desperate to escape from her abusive husband, Rob Titchener. Fearing for her life and the safety of her son Henry and her unborn baby, Helen made plans to leave. Rob intercepted her and offered her an ultimatum. The only way he would ever let her go would be if she killed herself. Rob then threatened Henry which was the last straw for Helen: she took the knife Rob had placed in her hands and stabbed him. The storyline had ramifications far beyond Ambridge and sparked nationwide discussions around domestic abuse and coercive control. Helen was ultimately found ‘not guilty’ and at a separate family court hearing was able to win back custody of her two boys and bring them back home.

This programme was originally broadcast on 16th September 2016.

Helen Titchener ..... Louiza Patikas
Pat Archer ..... Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer ..... William Troughton
Tony Archer ..... David Troughton
Rob Titchener ..... Timothy Watson
Ursula Titchener ..... Carolyn Jones
Kirsty Miller ..... Annabelle Dowler
Judge Loomis ..... Nigel Anthony

Writer, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Director, Julie Beckett

Cast from earlier episodes this week:
Jill Archer ..... Patricia Greene
David Archer ..... Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer ..... Felicity Finch
Tony Archer ..... Colin Skipp
Brian Aldridge ..... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ..... Angela Piper
Debbie Aldridge ..... Tamsin Greig
Christine Barford ..... Lesley Saweard
Harrison Burns ..... James Cartwright
Alan Franks ..... John Telfer
Bert Fry ..... Eric Allan
Eddie Grundy ..... Trevor Harrison
Clarrie Grundy ..... Heather Bell
William Grundy ..... Philip Molloy
Joe Grundy ..... Edward Kelsey
Siobhan Hathaway ..... Caroline Lennon
Shula Hebden Lloyd ..... Judy Bennett
Alistair Lloyd ..... Michael Lumsden
Lynda Snell ..... Carole Boyd
Robert Snell ..... Graham Blockey
Carol Tregorran ..... Eleanor Bron

Writers in earlier episodes this week, Simon Frith, Mary Cutler, Joanna Toye and Tim Stimpson.
Directors in earlier episodes this week, Vanessa Whitburn and Sean O’Connor.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m000j1k9)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 19:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j1j2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000j1kc)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders examine big issues in the news.


THU 20:30 In Business (m000j1kf)
Adapt to Survive

2020 hasn't been good for British business - certainly not since Covid-19 showed up. The global pandemic and the lockdown imposed to try to fight it have affected individual livelihoods and those of many companies. John Murphy talks to some business owners from different sectors of the economy - a family-run pub, a fruit farm, a fabric and haberdashery shop and a multinational - to see what changes they've experienced and how they have had to adapt during the crisis. They explain what they think the future will hold and, indeed, whether they will survive.

Presenter: John Murphy

Producer: Lizzy McNeill

photo by: Victoria Connolly, MacCulloch and Wallis Ltd


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000j1jz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (b0435jyv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000j1kj)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j1jf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:06 today]


THU 23:00 Down the Line (m000j1kl)
Lockdown Special

The ground-breaking Radio 4 phone-in show presents a one-off special on the lockdown, hosted by the legendary Gary Bellamy and brought to you by the creators of The Fast Show.

Starring Rhys Thomas with Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Charlie Higson, Lucy Montgomery and Paul Whitehouse.
With special guests David Cummings, Harry Enfield, Robert Popper and Geoff Schumann.

Producers: Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse
A Down The Line production for BBC Radio 4


THU 23:30 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy (m0008bkk)
Series 2: 50 More Things...

Factory

The factory age began with a thunderclap, the climax to a tale of espionage, assassination, and vaulting ambition. Factories have absorbed our attention ever since, from the "dark Satanic mills" of William Blake's poem, to the conditions that obsessed Engels and Marx, through to the vast industrial parks of Shenzhen, where iconic consumer products are assembled. Tim Harford asks if factories have been a force for improving the conditions of ordinary workers? And what comes next for the factory in an increasingly service-driven age?

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon


THU 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000j1kn)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



FRIDAY 15 MAY 2020

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000j1kq)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 00:30 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j1ks)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000j1kw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000j1ky)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:33 Shipping Forecast (m000j1l0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000j1l2)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with the director of a Christian arts charity, Fiona Stewart


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000j1l4)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b04mlpll)
Bell Miner

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the bell miner of eastern Australia. The sound of a tiny hammer striking a musical anvil in a grove of gum trees signifies that bell miners are in search of sugar. More often heard than seen the bell miner is a smallish olive-green bird with a short yellow bill, with a small orange patch behind the eye. It belongs to a large family of birds known as honeyeaters because many have a sweet tooth and use their long bills to probe flowers for nectar. But the bell miner gets its sugar hit in other ways. Roving in sociable flocks, bell miners scour eucalyptus leaves for tiny bugs called psyllids who produce a protective waxy dome. Bell miners feed on these sweet tasting shelters. Some scientists suggest that Bell Miners actively farm these insects by avoiding over-exploiting of the psyllid colonies, allowing the insects numbers to recover before the birds' next visit. So dependent are they on these psyllids bugs that Bell Miners numbers can often fluctuate in association with any boom-and-bust changes in psyllid population.


FRI 06:00 Today (m000j2tm)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000j120)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Fall of the House of Byron (m000j2wd)
Episode 5

Susannah Harker reads from the story of how, within three generations, the illustrious family of the poet Lord Byron disintegrated into adultery, debt, elopement, coercion and murder.

In 1798 a small, bewildered boy of ten from Aberdeen – whom the world would later come to know as Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, soldier, and adventurer – first laid eyes on Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, the Byron family seat he had just inherited. His family, he would come to learn, had in recent decades become infamous for almost unfathomable levels of scandal and impropriety, from elopement, murder, and kidnapping to adultery, coercion, and thrilling near-death experiences at sea. Just as it had shocked the society of Georgian London, the outlandish and scandalous story of the Byrons – and the myths that began to rise around it – would influence his life and poetry for posterity.

In this final episode, we learn of the scandalous life of the poet’s father, mad Jack, who dragged the family name to a new low with his womanising, gambling, drinking and cruelty.

At 22, he returned from undistinguished service in the army to embrace the life of a rakish young London bachelor. And he was promptly swept up in an affair that would alter the course of his life.

The irresistible pull of his attraction to Amelia, Lady Carmarthen, could not be stifled by the inconvenient existence of her husband, or even her three infant children. Having worked his way through Amelia’s fortune and driven her to an early death, he looked for another wealthy bride. His next unfortunate victim was the young Scottish heiress Catherine Gordon who was to become the mother of the poet Lord Byron.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
Read by Susannah Harker
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000j2tt)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


FRI 10:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j2tw)
Episode 5

Tracy Chevalier’s much-loved novel about the unknown model in Vermeer’s famous painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon.

Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as the passionate and artistically gifted young heroine.

Recorded on location at Keats House, in Hampstead.

Featuring 17th century Dutch harpsichord music by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, performed by Tim Motz and recorded at Handel House in London especially for the drama.

Episode 5: Life carries on in the house of Vermeer – his wife Catharina is now six months pregnant and their jealous daughter Cornelia is ever watchful. Meanwhile, in the attic studio behind a closed door, the young servant Griet sits for the painter, wearing his wife’s earrings.

Cast in order of appearance:
Griet ….. Libby Mai
Vermeer ….. Khalid Abdalla
Cornelia ….. Mia Wilks
Pieter’s Father / Van Leeuwenhoek ….. Ben Crowe
Maria Thins ….. Eleanor Bron
Tanneke ….. Laura Elphinstone
Catharina ….. Hattie Morahan
Franciscus ….. Liam Howes
Griet’s Mother ….. Jane Whittenshaw
Adult Cornelia ….. Lissie Minnitt
Pawn Broker ….. Tom Goodman-Hill

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Chilton

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 11:00 Pandemic 1918 (m000j2ty)
Episode 1 - Origins, symptoms and spread

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

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

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

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

In Episode 1, he looks at the much debated origins of the H1N1 strain of flu. There are three theories - firstly it incubated in an army camp in the United States, secondly it originated from China, and thirdly (John's theory) that it probably began a couple of years earlier inside a military camp near the Western front in France. The real truth about the origin remains a conundrum to frustrated scientists.

John also looks at the symptoms, some of them remarkably similar to the ones we see today with coronavirus. Both diseases affect the respiratory system and lead to coughs and fevers but there are specifics which make them both unique. The H1N1 strain of the flu would turn people a strange purple colour, give them severe headaches and, in many cases, delirium. In 1918, a secondary disease like bacterial pneumonia could not be treated with antibiotics.

This particular strain of the flu tended to affect younger, fitter people. Around half of all those who died were in their 20s to 40s. Pregnant women died and so did their children. It's thought many elderly people had built up immunity from previous serious outbreaks of flu in the 1800s.

Through powerful testimony we hear how the spread of the disease was stark and affected the whole world in extremely quick time. Ships and trains became the incubators and it's believed the flu was first brought into Britain by soldiers returning to Scotland. It wasn't unusual for a soldier who had survived four years of bloody conflict to return from the front on a Monday and be dead by Thursday. Whole families were wiped out by the Spanish flu.

In every part of the world, the fear of death was palpable. Professor Howard Phillips, Professor of History (Capetown University, South Africa), tells the programme, 'It all happened at dramatic speed. One man wrote, "I wonder if humanity will survive". In that situation, hearing a sneeze would have been spine-chilling.'

And in a frightening reminder of how pandemics evolve, John explains how the killer flu came in three waves - firstly in the spring of 1918, then in the autumn of the same year and again in early 1919. Armistice celebrations at the end of the First World War helped to make the second wave even more deadly than the first.

Episode 2 will looks at how the authorities in the UK and around the world reacted to the flu in different ways and how misinformation played its part. Episode 3 examines the long term impact on people, communities and on general health.

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


FRI 11:30 Down the Line (m000j1kl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Thursday]


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000j3gv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:03 Shipping Forecast (m000j2v3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 12:06 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j2v5)
Episode 10

Ann Petry’s powerful, ground breaking novel set in 1940s Harlem tells the story of a single mother’s determination to make a better life for her son. Read by Adjoa Andoh.

Lutie Johnson lives with her eight year old son Bub in a few airless rooms at the top of a dark and grubby tenement building in Harlem. It’s the only place she can afford after leaving her cheating husband and quitting her job as a maid to a wealthy white family.

However, Lutie has faith in the American dream.

She believes that, if she works hard, studies hard and saves hard she can build a new life for herself and Bub, away from the violence and poverty that surrounds her. But as a young, single, black mother in 1944, her choices are limited - not only does she have to confront the racism of the white world that employs her, she’s also preyed upon by the men around her who find her good looks irresistible.

As she tries to keep her son safe and earn enough money to move away from the street that defines and traps them, Lutie finds herself faced with some brutal and painful decisions.

Ann Petry was one of America’s most distinguished writers. She lived in New York City, where she wrote short stories for young people, and worked as a journalist and editor for two Harlem newspapers. The Street was her first novel, published in 1946, and it was an immediate success, making Petry the first Black American novelist to sell over a million copies.

Reader: Adjoa Andoh
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:20 You and Yours (m000j2v7)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


FRI 12:57 Weather (m000j2v9)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m000j2vc)
Mon-Thurs: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Sarah Montague. Fri: Analysis of news and current affairs, presented by Mark Mardell.


FRI 13:45 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j2vf)
Poverty and want

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience: melancholy.

In this episode, writer Amy Liptrot examines the effect of poverty and inequality on our mental health. It is something that Burton identified as ‘the fountain of all other miseries, cares, woes, labours, and grievances'.

We hear from Sonny in central London who is at the sharp end of poverty today.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, shares his insights into how poverty and inequality can impact children’s mental and physical health, reflecting on images of families living in single rooms in London on display at The Foundling Museum.

Professor Kate Pickett, from the University of York and co-author of The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone's Well-Being, reveals how those at the top of society can also be negatively affected by inequality.

As Burton drew on the writing of others and made a patchwork of texts within his Anatomy of Melancholy, each episode ends with a modern-day contribution for a new and updated Anatomy of Melancholy.

In this episode, Kate Pickett offers Between the Wars by Billy Bragg.

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Contributors: Sonny, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor Kate Pickett

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4


FRI 14:00 The Archers (b07v35vw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (m000j3s4)
The Life Cycle of Ospreys

It's 400 years since ospreys have bred in the Peak District, and David takes his voluntary job of guarding the eggs very seriously. But, he's none too happy about the arrival of Louise, his clueless new volunteer, who's only there under duress…

David - Henry Goodman
Louise - Sally Messham

Written by Jane Wainwright
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000j2vh)
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000j2vk)
You, by Caleb Klaces

"I’m about to read you a list of five words. Please listen carefully. In a few minutes I’ll ask you which you remember." A son speaks to his father across the airwaves, and across the years, in this original short story for radio.

Caleb Klaces is the author of two poetry collections, and the novel Fatherhood (2019).

Produced by Mair Bosworth


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000j2vm)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.


FRI 16:30 PM (m000j2vp)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000j2vt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000j2vw)
Series 102

Episode 5

Angela Barnes hosts series 102, leading a panel of regular News Quiz comics and journalists in rounding up the news stories of the week. Joining Angela this week is Helen Lewis, Andy Zaltzman, and Andrew Maxell.

Produced by Suzy Grant

A BBC Studios Audio Production


FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000j2vy)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


FRI 19:45 Girl with a Pearl Earring (m000j2tw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000j2w0)
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from venues around the UK.


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000j2w2)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.


FRI 21:00 The New Anatomy of Melancholy (m000j2w4)
Episode 11

In 1621, Robert Burton published The Anatomy of Melancholy. It was the first attempt in the modern western world to understand and categorise causes, symptoms and treatments of that universal human experience.

Writing from Oxford where he was a life-long scholar, librarian of Christ Church and a vicar, Burton drew on the writing of others and also his own experiences.

Writer Amy Liptrot, delves into this remarkable attempt at understanding the human condition to find out what we can learn and how far we have come in four centuries.

Simon Russell Beale brings the voice of Robert Burton to life with extracts from The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Presenter: Amy Liptrot
Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series consultant: John Geddes

A Whistledown production for Radio 4


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000j2w6)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 The Street, by Ann Petry (m000j2v5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:06 today]


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000j22j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy (m0005hdb)
Series 2: 50 More Things...

Gyroscope

When the HMS Victory sank in 1744, with it went an inventor named John Serson and a device he’d dreamed up. He called it the “whirling speculum”, but we now know the basic idea as a gyroscope. Serson thought it could help sailors to navigate when they couldn’t see the horizon. Nowadays gyroscopes are tiny and, as Tim Harford describes, they are used to guide everything from submarines to satellites, from rovers on Mars to the phone in your pocket. They are also integral to drones – a technology that some believe could transform how we do our shopping. But for that, they’ll need to work in all weathers.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon


FRI 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000j2w8)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament




LIST OF THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMMES
(Note: the times link back to the details; the pids link to the BBC page, including iPlayer)

47 Years Without A Clue: A Tribute to Tim Brooke-Taylor 12:04 SUN (m000hxzw)

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy 23:30 THU (m0008bkk)

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy 23:30 FRI (m0005hdb)

A Point of View 08:48 SUN (m000hwsz)

A Point of View 20:50 FRI (m000j2w2)

Ankle Tag 18:30 THU (m00013vn)

Any Answers? 14:00 SAT (m000j1pc)

Any Questions? 13:10 SAT (m000hwsx)

Any Questions? 20:00 FRI (m000j2w0)

Archive on 4 20:00 SAT (b082szm7)

Art of Now 11:30 TUE (m000j21y)

Art of Now 11:30 THU (m000j1j7)

BBC Inside Science 16:30 THU (m000j1jz)

BBC Inside Science 21:00 THU (m000j1jz)

Bellfield's Year 17:00 SUN (m000hxj2)

Bells on Sunday 05:43 SUN (m000j139)

Bells on Sunday 00:45 MON (m000j139)

Beyond Belief 16:00 MON (m000j1yp)

Brain of Britain 23:00 SAT (m000hvb6)

Brain of Britain 15:00 MON (m000j1yl)

Broadcasting House 09:00 SUN (m000j11w)

Broken Greek, by Pete Paphides 00:30 SAT (m000hwtc)

Costing the Earth 15:30 TUE (m000j22g)

Costing the Earth 21:00 WED (m000j22g)

Crossing Continents 20:30 MON (m000hvsl)

Crossing Continents 11:00 THU (m000j1j5)

Desert Island Discs 11:00 SUN (m000j120)

Desert Island Discs 11:45 SUN (m000j9r5)

Desert Island Discs 09:30 TUE (m000j9r5)

Desert Island Discs 09:00 FRI (m000j120)

Down the Line 23:00 THU (m000j1kl)

Down the Line 11:30 FRI (m000j1kl)

Drama 14:45 SAT (m000j1pf)

Drama 14:15 MON (m000j1yh)

Drama 14:15 TUE (b09xnl5l)

Drama 14:15 WED (b09tcpff)

Drama 14:15 THU (b09wvtv7)

Drama 14:15 FRI (m000j3s4)

Electric Decade 15:00 SUN (b01gnjw9)

Fall of the House of Byron 09:45 MON (m000j1zd)

Fall of the House of Byron 00:30 TUE (m000j1zd)

Fall of the House of Byron 09:45 TUE (m000j23d)

Fall of the House of Byron 00:30 WED (m000j23d)

Fall of the House of Byron 09:45 WED (m000j2rd)

Fall of the House of Byron 00:30 THU (m000j2rd)

Fall of the House of Byron 09:45 THU (m000j1ks)

Fall of the House of Byron 00:30 FRI (m000j1ks)

Fall of the House of Byron 09:45 FRI (m000j2wd)

Farming Today 06:30 SAT (m000j1ns)

Farming Today 05:45 MON (m000j13m)

Farming Today 05:45 TUE (m000j201)

Farming Today 05:45 WED (m000j23q)

Farming Today 05:45 THU (m000j2t6)

Farming Today 05:45 FRI (m000j1l4)

File on 4 20:00 TUE (m000j22z)

Forest 404 23:00 MON (p074lxj2)

From Our Own Correspondent 11:30 SAT (m000j1p3)

Front Row 19:15 MON (m000j1z0)

Front Row 19:15 TUE (m000j22x)

Front Row 19:15 WED (m000j2sg)

Front Row 19:15 THU (m000j1k9)

Front Row 19:00 FRI (m000j2vy)

Gardeners' Question Time 14:00 SUN (m000hwsd)

Gardeners' Question Time 15:00 FRI (m000j2vh)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 10:45 MON (m000j1xw)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 19:45 MON (m000j1xw)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 10:45 TUE (m000j21t)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 19:45 TUE (m000j21t)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 10:45 WED (m000j2rj)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 19:45 WED (m000j2rj)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 10:45 THU (m000j1j2)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 19:45 THU (m000j1j2)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 10:45 FRI (m000j2tw)

Girl with a Pearl Earring 19:45 FRI (m000j2tw)

Great Lives 16:00 TUE (m000j22j)

Great Lives 23:00 FRI (m000j22j)

Grounded with Louis Theroux 22:15 SAT (m000hw0b)

Grounded with Louis Theroux 20:00 WED (m000j2sj)

Happy Little Trees 20:00 MON (m000j1z2)

Happy Little Trees 11:00 WED (m000j1z2)

Homeschool History 09:30 MON (m000j1xp)

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue 18:30 MON (m000hvbk)

In Business 20:30 THU (m000j1kf)

In Our Time 09:00 THU (b0435jyv)

In Our Time 21:30 THU (b0435jyv)

In Touch 20:40 TUE (m000j231)

Inside Health 21:00 TUE (m000j233)

Inside Health 15:30 WED (m000j233)

Just a Minute 20:15 SUN (b07bbd50)

Last Word 21:30 SUN (m000hwsj)

Last Word 16:00 FRI (m000j2vm)

Legacy of War 09:30 WED (m000j2r9)

Loose Ends 18:15 SAT (m000j1pw)

Loose Ends 11:30 MON (m000j1pw)

Michael Frayn's Magic Mobile 11:30 WED (m000j2rl)

Midnight News 00:00 SAT (m000hwt7)

Midnight News 00:00 SUN (m000j1q2)

Midnight News 00:00 MON (m000j137)

Midnight News 00:00 TUE (m000j1z9)

Midnight News 00:00 WED (m000j23b)

Midnight News 00:00 THU (m000j2sw)

Midnight News 00:00 FRI (m000j1kq)

Money Box 12:04 SAT (m000j133)

Money Box 21:00 SUN (m000j133)

Money Box 15:00 WED (m000j2s4)

More or Less 09:00 WED (m000j2r7)

My Teenage Diary 18:30 TUE (m000j22s)

News Summary 12:00 SAT (m000j1p5)

News Summary 12:00 SUN (m000j123)

News Summary 12:00 MON (m000j1xz)

News Summary 12:00 TUE (m000j2xy)

News Summary 12:00 WED (m000j2rp)

News Summary 12:00 THU (m000j2fr)

News Summary 12:00 FRI (m000j3gv)

News and Papers 06:00 SAT (m000j1nq)

News and Papers 07:00 SUN (m000j11h)

News and Papers 08:00 SUN (m000j11r)

News 13:00 SAT (m000j1p9)

News 22:00 SAT (m000j1q0)

News 06:00 SUN (m000j114)

On Your Farm 06:35 SUN (m000j118)

Open Book 16:00 SUN (m000j12k)

Open Book 15:30 THU (m000j12k)

Open Country 06:07 SAT (m000hvt2)

PM 17:00 SAT (m000j1pk)

PM 19:00 SUN (m000jfkq)

PM 16:30 MON (m000j1yr)

PM 16:30 TUE (m000j22l)

PM 16:30 WED (m000j2s8)

PM 17:00 THU (m000j1k1)

PM 16:30 FRI (m000j2vp)

Pandemic 1918 11:00 FRI (m000j2ty)

Pick of the Week 18:15 SUN (m000j12y)

Pilgrim, by Sebastian Baczkiewicz 21:00 SAT (b03jfc43)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 SAT (m000hwtx)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 MON (m000j13k)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 TUE (m000j1zx)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 WED (m000j23n)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 THU (m000j2t4)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 FRI (m000j1l2)

Profile 19:00 SAT (m000j12p)

Profile 05:45 SUN (m000j12p)

Profile 17:40 SUN (m000j12p)

Quanderhorn 18:30 WED (m000j2sd)

Rabbit Redux 21:45 SAT (b09gyjk9)

Radio 4 Appeal 07:54 SUN (m000j11m)

Radio 4 Appeal 21:25 SUN (m000j11m)

Radio 4 Appeal 15:27 THU (m000j11m)

Ramblings 15:00 THU (m000j1jv)

Saturday Live 09:00 SAT (m000j1nz)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SAT (m000hwtm)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SUN (m000j1q6)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 MON (m000j13f)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 TUE (m000j1zn)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 WED (m000j23j)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 THU (m000j2t0)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 FRI (m000j1ky)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SAT (m000hwth)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 SAT (m000hwtr)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SAT (m000j1pp)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SUN (m000j1q4)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 SUN (m000j1q8)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SUN (m000j12r)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 MON (m000j13c)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 MON (m000j13h)

Shipping Forecast 12:03 MON (m000j1y1)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 TUE (m000j1zj)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 TUE (m000j1zs)

Shipping Forecast 12:03 TUE (m000j222)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 WED (m000j23g)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 WED (m000j23l)

Shipping Forecast 12:03 WED (m000j2rr)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 THU (m000j2sy)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 THU (m000j2t2)

Shipping Forecast 12:03 THU (m000j1jc)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 FRI (m000j1kw)

Shipping Forecast 05:33 FRI (m000j1l0)

Shipping Forecast 12:03 FRI (m000j2v3)

Short Works 00:30 SUN (m000hwsg)

Short Works 20:45 SUN (b0bk1vm8)

Short Works 15:45 FRI (m000j2vk)

Shuntaro Tanikawa: A Poet's Japan 16:30 SUN (m000j12m)

Six Degrees of John Sessions 23:15 WED (b09z5ptj)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SAT (m000j1pt)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SUN (m000j12w)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 MON (m000j1yw)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 TUE (m000j22q)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 WED (m000j2sb)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 THU (m000j1k5)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 FRI (m000j2vt)

Something Understood 06:05 SUN (b07hwtdj)

Something Understood 23:30 SUN (b07hwtdj)

Start the Week 09:00 MON (m000j1xm)

Start the Week 21:30 MON (m000j1xm)

Sunday Worship 08:10 SUN (m000j11t)

Sunday 07:10 SUN (m000j11k)

The Archers Omnibus 10:00 SUN (m000j11y)

The Archers 20:00 SUN (m000j3vy)

The Archers 14:00 MON (m000j3vy)

The Archers 19:00 MON (m000j3s1)

The Archers 14:00 TUE (m000j3s1)

The Archers 19:00 TUE (m000j3ry)

The Archers 14:00 WED (m000j3ry)

The Archers 19:00 WED (b05410wn)

The Archers 14:00 THU (b05410wn)

The Archers 19:00 THU (b07v35vw)

The Archers 14:00 FRI (b07v35vw)

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? 05:45 SAT (m000htw4)

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? 20:45 WED (m000j2sl)

The Briefing Room 11:00 SAT (m000hvtj)

The Briefing Room 20:00 THU (m000j1kc)

The Film Programme 23:00 SUN (m000hvt4)

The Film Programme 16:00 THU (m000j1jx)

The Food Programme 12:32 SUN (m000j127)

The Food Programme 15:30 MON (m000j127)

The Inquiry 17:30 SAT (m000j1pm)

The Kitchen Cabinet 10:30 SAT (m000j1p1)

The Kitchen Cabinet 15:00 TUE (m000j1p1)

The Life Scientific 09:00 TUE (m000j21k)

The Life Scientific 21:30 TUE (m000j21k)

The Listening Project 13:30 SUN (m000j12h)

The Media Show 16:00 WED (m000j2s6)

The Media Show 21:30 WED (m000j2s6)

The Miners' Way 23:30 SAT (m000htr0)

The NHS Front Line 21:00 MON (m000hvl0)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 13:45 MON (m000j1yc)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 13:45 TUE (m000j22d)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 13:45 WED (m000j2s2)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 13:45 THU (m000j1jp)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 13:45 FRI (m000j2vf)

The New Anatomy of Melancholy 21:00 FRI (m000j2w4)

The News Quiz 12:30 SAT (m000hwsq)

The News Quiz 18:30 FRI (m000j2vw)

The Pebble In Your Pocket 11:00 TUE (m000j21w)

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed 19:15 SAT (p0884kv9)

The Spark 11:00 MON (m000gsm8)

The Street, by Ann Petry 12:06 MON (m000j1y3)

The Street, by Ann Petry 22:45 MON (m000j1y3)

The Street, by Ann Petry 12:06 TUE (m000j224)

The Street, by Ann Petry 22:45 TUE (m000j224)

The Street, by Ann Petry 12:06 WED (m000j2rt)

The Street, by Ann Petry 22:45 WED (m000j2rt)

The Street, by Ann Petry 12:06 THU (m000j1jf)

The Street, by Ann Petry 22:45 THU (m000j1jf)

The Street, by Ann Petry 12:06 FRI (m000j2v5)

The Street, by Ann Petry 22:45 FRI (m000j2v5)

The Way I See It 00:15 SUN (m0009ddk)

The Way I See It 14:45 SUN (m0009bf5)

The World This Weekend 13:00 SUN (m000j12f)

The World Tonight 22:00 MON (m000j1z4)

The World Tonight 22:00 TUE (m000j235)

The World Tonight 22:00 WED (m000j2sn)

The World Tonight 22:00 THU (m000j1kj)

The World Tonight 22:00 FRI (m000j2w6)

Thinking Allowed 00:15 MON (m000459n)

Today in Parliament 23:30 MON (m000j1z7)

Today in Parliament 23:30 TUE (m000j238)

Today in Parliament 23:30 WED (m000j2st)

Today in Parliament 23:45 THU (m000j1kn)

Today in Parliament 23:45 FRI (m000j2w8)

Today 07:00 SAT (m000j1nx)

Today 06:00 MON (m000j1xk)

Today 06:00 TUE (m000j21f)

Today 06:00 WED (m000j2r5)

Today 06:00 THU (m000j1hr)

Today 06:00 FRI (m000j2tm)

Tweet of the Day 08:58 SUN (b04t0htz)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 MON (b04t0m7p)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 TUE (b04hkwj9)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 WED (b04hkym5)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 THU (b04mlpj8)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 FRI (b04mlpll)

Weather 06:57 SAT (m000j1nv)

Weather 12:57 SAT (m000j1p7)

Weather 17:57 SAT (m000j1pr)

Weather 06:57 SUN (m000j11f)

Weather 07:57 SUN (m000j11p)

Weather 12:57 SUN (m000j12c)

Weather 17:57 SUN (m000j12t)

Weather 05:56 MON (m000j13p)

Weather 12:57 MON (m000j1y7)

Weather 12:57 TUE (m000j228)

Weather 12:57 WED (m000j2ry)

Weather 12:57 THU (m000j1jk)

Weather 12:57 FRI (m000j2v9)

Westminster Hour 22:00 SUN (m000j135)

Where to, Mate? 23:00 WED (m000j2sq)

Woman's Hour 16:15 SAT (m000j1ph)

Woman's Hour 10:00 MON (m000j1xt)

Woman's Hour 10:00 TUE (m000j21r)

Woman's Hour 10:00 WED (m000j2rg)

Woman's Hour 10:00 THU (m000j1j0)

Woman's Hour 10:00 FRI (m000j2tt)

World at One 13:00 MON (m000j1y9)

World at One 13:00 TUE (m000j22b)

World at One 13:00 WED (m000j2s0)

World at One 13:00 THU (m000j1jm)

World at One 13:00 FRI (m000j2vc)

You and Yours 12:20 MON (m000j1y5)

You and Yours 12:20 TUE (m000j226)

You and Yours 12:20 WED (m000j2rw)

You and Yours 12:20 THU (m000j1jh)

You and Yours 12:20 FRI (m000j2v7)

You'll Do 23:00 TUE (p088s3d2)