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 26 SEPTEMBER 2020

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000ms12)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 00:30 Dear Life by Rachel Clarke (m000mrzh)
Episode 5

As a specialist in palliative medicine, Dr Rachel Clarke strives to forge human connections at times of crisis. Her tender and uplifting memoir reveals how love and kindness can be found in the darkest of places.

After her father is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Dr Clarke finds strength, kindness and joy in human connection even as she faces a sorrow too large to grasp.

Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Read by Rachel Clarke
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000ms14)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000ms16)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000ms18)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000ms1b)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000ms1d)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


SAT 05:45 Four Thought (m000mr46)
Craftivism: Gentle Protest

Sarah Corbett explains the power of 'craftivism', a form of activism which uses craft to create gentle protest. Activists craft objects which communicate respectful messages calling for social change. She explains how words embroidered on a handkerchief, for example, can be just as effective as louder forms of protest.

Presenter: Olly Mann
Producer: Sheila Cook


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000my0q)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m000mqp6)
Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy, on Dartmoor

Barry Farrimond, who plays Ed Grundy in The Archers, takes Clare Balding for an adventurous hike across Dartmoor. As they navigate the granite boulders of Wistman's Wood and scramble cross the West Dart River, Barry discusses the challenges of recording The Archers during lockdown, the knot he invented a few years ago (the Farrimond Friction Hitch) and Open Up Music, an organisation he co-founded to ensure that orchestras are accessible to young disabled musicians; this led to the establishment of the National Open Youth Orchestra, the world's first disabled-led national youth ensemble.

Barry and Clare began their walk at Two Bridges, in the car park for Wistman's Wood: grid reference SX609750.

Producer: Karen Gregor


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000my0v)
Farming Today This Week

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside


SAT 06:57 Weather (m000my0z)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m000my13)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000my17)
Cressida Cowell and Rob Halford from Judas Priest

Richard Coles and Marverine Cole are joined by writer and illustrator Cressida Cowell, whose How to Train Your Dragon series has sold 11 million books worldwide in 38 languages and is a major DreamWorks Animation film franchise, she’s also written the Wizard of Once series, the Emily Brown books and is the current Children’s laureate.

Rob Halford is lead singer of Grammy Award winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He struggled with his identity and drug and alcohol addiction. He's now sober and out!

Jessi Gutch was diagnosed with incurable cancer in February 2019, aged 26. Plans this year to work through her “bucket list” were replaced by shielding in her second floor flat. However, she still managed to explore some of these themes in a short film and she got married. She joins us.

Suzanne Bonnar grew up the only black child in a tiny Scottish town. She didn’t know her American father, but she felt connected to him via the US Naval servicemen who were stationed nearby. When the US military permanently withdrew from Loch Hope, she set about trying to find her dad. The story of their reunion was captured by a documentary crew. 25 years later Suzanne feels she has only just recovered from the experience.

Lexicographer Susie Dent chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Calypso by John Denver and Me, Myself, I, by Joan Armatrading, and your thank you.

Producer: Corinna Jones


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000my1c)
Home Economics: Episode 13

Jay Rayner hosts the culinary panel show. Dr Annie Gray, Tim Hayward, Rachel McCormack and Jeremy Pang join in from their kitchens to answer questions sent in from the audience via email and social media.

The panel is joined by a virtual audience to kick off the Kitchen Cabinet's 30th series and - together with drinks expert Alice Lascelles - they raise a glass and chat celebratory drinks and birthday cake, before finishing the show with a comforting plate of bangers and mash.

Producer: Laurence Bassett
Assistant Producer: Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000my1h)
Anne McElvoy of the Economist presents Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster.
The editor is Marie Jessel


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000my1m)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000my1s)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000my1x)
This week the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, revealed new measures to help stop mass job cuts in these economically uncertain times. This latest plan - the Job Support Scheme - was spurred on by the ending of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (or furlough). From November, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages. But there are concerns that it does nothing to assist the millions who have already missed out on government help.

We also discuss whether it's worth buying a warranty on a second-hand car. One man spent £400 but was told it did not cover a £2000 repair.

As businesses struggle in the Covid-19 era are they exploiting young workers by getting them to do job trials but refusing to pay them?

And in the podcast the one subject that has dominated emails to moneybox@bbc.co.uk in recent months... how to get your money back for a cancelled flight, holiday, wedding, concert, football ticket, you name it. We reveal the answer.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researcher: Darin Graham
Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Emma Rippon


SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000ms0k)
Series 103

Episode 4

A satirical review of the week's news with Andy Zaltzman and guests including Francis Wheen, Neil Delamere, Lucy Porter and Fern Brady.

Andy Zaltzman looks at the latest COVID-19 advice ("this is not a repeat, I repeat, this is not a repeat") and investigates dodgy bank dealings and even dodgier Welsh broadband.

Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Suchandrika Chakrabarti, Charlie Dinkin, Alice Fraser and Mike Shephard.

Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production


SAT 12:57 Weather (m000my21)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m000my25)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000ms0p)
Joanna Cherry MP, Alexander Downer, Lisa Nandy MP, Helen Whately MP

Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with a panel including the SNP's Home Affairs and Justice Spokesperson at Westminster Joanna Cherry MP, the Chair of Policy Exchange and former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, the Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy MP and the Health and Social Care Minister Helen Whately MP.

Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio director: Maire Devine


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000my29)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 One to One (m000mt0k)
Diversity Outdoors - Mya-Rose Craig talks to Rhiane Fatinikun

In the first of two programmes exploring how we can increase diversity outdoors in the rural landscape, 18 year old Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl talks to Rhiane Fatinikun about Black Girls Hike which she founded about a year ago to enable black women to benefit from the comradery of other black women and enjoy the tranquillity of rural areas. Mya-Rose Craig is a very keen birdwatcher having seen over half the world’s birds in her global travels. But what she doesn’t see as a British Bangladeshi are many people like herself in the forests, fens, mountains and other rural landscapes in the UK. In recent years she has run Nature Camps to actively encourage Black and Visible Minority ethnic people outdoors. The two women share their experiences and views about how we can remove the barriers, challenge stereotypes and reinforce the message that the outdoors is for everyone. Producer Sarah Blunt.


SAT 15:00 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b07b302r)
Season 2 - Sex

Episode 8: Lust

Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistle blower, Emile Zola.

Season 2. Sex. Episode 8. Lust

A story of quenchless desire dramatised by Lavinia Murray.

Octave Mouret runs The Ladies Paradise – the greatest shop in Paris. But no matter its success, he’s never satisfied.

Glenda Jackson stars as Dide the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon- Macquarts.

Cast:

Dide … Glenda Jackson
Octave … Jack Lowden
Bourdouncle ...Christopher Bisson
Baudu/Haussmann ... David Fleeshman
Mrs Desforges … Shobna Gulati
Clara … Zoe Iqbal
Denise … Katie West

Directed by Kirsty Williams


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000my2f)
The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, Mary McAleese, Known Donations, Chutney

The 2020 Woman’s Hour Power List is ‘Our Planet’ - the search is on for 30 women based in the UK who are making a significant positive contribution to the environment. Emma Howard Boyd, the chair of the Environment Agency, and Flo Headlam, a horticulturalist and garden designer are two of the judges.

Mary McAleese was twice president of Ireland, studied canon law when her term ended and, to the surprise of many, as she has a deep personal faith, spoke out against misogyny in the global Catholic Church. Her autobiography is called ‘Here’s the Story : A Memoir.’

There’s been a rise in websites and Facebook groups offering Known Donation, where a person seeking to conceive uses a sperm or egg donation from someone they know, or got to know before the treatment. We hear from Sarah Norcross, Director of the Progress Educational Trust; Erika Tranfield, the mother of a donor-conceived child from a known donor; and Natasha Fox, a donor-conceived adult who does not know the identity of her biological father.

Emily Hunt was filmed when she was asleep in a hotel room. A man was convicted of voyeurism, but it took her several years to secure that conviction and she decided to waive her right to anonymity to fight her case. But what do you gain and what do you lose if you do give up your anonymity? Jenni hears from Emily and Leona O’Callaghan who did the same: she waived her right to anonymity when the man who abused her as a child was on trial and then convicted. She also hears from “Rebecca” who doesn’t want to waive her anonymity. She’s pressing the CPS to prosecute a man who she says attacked and raped her.

When actor Shobna Gulati’s mum was diagnosed with dementia in 2017, she was already spending the majority of her time caring for her. Her mother has since died, and she’s written a memoir about her family and her mum’s illness called Remember Me? Discovering my mother as she lost her memory.

It is chutney and pickle season and a great opportunity to use up your remaining fruit and veg. Food historian Lizzie Collingham explains the history behind the relishes.

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Dianne McGregor


SAT 17:00 PM (m000my2k)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000my2p)
Nick Robinson talks politics and personal roots with the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000my2t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SAT 17:57 Weather (m000my2y)
The latest weather forecast.


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000my32)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000my37)
Adrian Lester, Mary-Ann Ochota, Alice Levine, Nina Sosanya, Colorama, Loony, Nikki Bedi, Clive Anderson

Clive Anderson and Nikki Bedi are joined by Adrian Lester, Mary-Ann Ochota, Alice Levine and Nina Sosanya for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Colorama and Loony.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m000my20)
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines.


SAT 19:15 My Dream Dinner Party (m000m575)
Alison Steadman's Dream Dinner Party

Actor Alison Steadman hosts a dinner party with a twist - all her guests are from beyond the grave, long time heroes brought back to life by the wonders of the radio archive.

Alison is joined by Beatles legend John Lennon, actress and comedian Beryl Reid, novelist Anita Brookner, Hollywood great James Stewart and singer and lyricist Charles Aznavour. As Alison's french onion soup simmers gently, the guests begin to relax into an evening of shared secrets: from the joy of the unexpected to the pain of genius, and from the seduction of music to the trauma of Vietnam.

There's laughter, flirtation and a nostalgic trip back to Strawberry Fields

Presented by Alison Steadman
Produced by Sarah Peters and Peregrine Andrews
Researcher: Edgar Maddicott
BBC Archivist: Tariq Hussein
Executive Producer: Iain Chambers

A Tuning Fork and Open Audio production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 19:45 The Californian Century (m000fwcc)
A Twist of Fate

Stanley Tucci continues his history of California with the story of Silicon Valley's troubled founder, William Shockley.

Shockley was the man who first brought silicon to Silicon Valley in the 1950s. He was an undoubted genius. But he was also a hideous boss and an irredeemable racist.

California wants to dazzle you with its endless sunshine and visions of the future – but that’s just a mirage. Stanley Tucci plays a hard-boiled screenwriter uncovering the full, sordid truth. He knows exactly where all the bodies are buried.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000my3f)
The Day Brexit Hit Boiling Point

MPs weren’t even supposed to be in Westminster.

But when the Supreme Court ruled Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful, suddenly they were thrown back into the bear pit.

Then, Brexit was in limbo, Boris Johnson could not get the election he sought and opposition MPs were passing laws against the government’s wishes.

And the court’s ruling tipped MPs over the edge.

Parliament was labelled ‘dead as dead can be’, the prime minister was called a tin-pot dictator and MPs spoke of fears to their safety because of Boris Johnson’s language.

Carolyn Quinn looks back, one year on, at the vicious and vitriolic parliamentary exchanges of 25 September 2019 during one of the most bitter periods in British political history.

We speak to former cabinet ministers and key players from the day and then Speaker John Bercow on their reflections and insight from behind the scenes.

Producer: Laurence Sleator


SAT 21:00 Tracks (p06rtwdq)
Series 3: Chimera

Chimera: Episode Seven

Part 7 of the conspiracy thriller. Written by Timothy X Atack, starring Hattie Morahan and Jonathan Forbes.

When Helen and Freddy discover a bunker which holds the secret of ‘Patient Zero’, they must form an unlikely alliance to get inside.

A gripping thriller, chart topping podcast and winner of Best Sound (BBC Audio Drama Awards) and Best Fiction (British Podcast Awards), now Tracks is back with another 9 part headphone filling thrill-ride.

Helen…. Hattie Morahan
Freddy….. Jonathan Forbes
Astrid…. Lea Mornar
Angelo…. Francois Pandolfo
Martinsen…. Simon Armstrong

Lead writer…. Matthew Broughton
Directed by James Robinson
A BBC Cymru Wales Production


SAT 21:45 Poem Stories (b05xcvb8)
Hidden by David Harsent

An original short story by the poet David Harsent. Read by Pippa Haywood.

A new series in which poets adapt their own poems into short stories. 'Hidden' springs from David Harsent's poem sequence 'A Dream Book', from his collection 'Fire Songs', which won the 2014 TS Eliot Prize for Best Poetry Collection.

David Harsent has published twelve volumes of poetry, most recently Salt (2017), Fire Songs (2014) and Night (2011), which won the Griffin International Poetry Prize, all from Faber & Faber. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Roehampton and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written by David Harsent
Read by Pippa Haywood
Produced by Mair Bosworth


SAT 22:00 News (m000my3p)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Spark (m000mr6m)
Kiran Gill and Excluded Pupils

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.

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

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

In this episode, innovative young educationalist Kiran Gill tells Helen about her radical ideas for improving the life chances of excluded school pupils - from drawing on neuroscientific research on childhood trauma to reconnecting Pupil Referral Units with mainstream schools. Helen asks her to explain how and why she set up her organisation, The Difference, to put her ideas into action - and how it's working out.

Producer: Phil Tinline


SAT 23:00 Brain of Britain (m000msvp)
Semi-final 1, 2020

(13/17)
The first four of the most successful players so far in the 2020 tournament return, as the competition intensifies in the first semi-final. Three of the outright heat winners are joined by one of the top-scoring runners-up across the series.

Russell Davies asks the questions, which range across the usual spread of history, literature, popular culture, politics, science and geography. There are some unpredictable music choices to test the contestants' knowledge - and another pair of questions for the panel from a listener hoping to Beat the Brains.

Today's winner takes the first of the places in the 2020 Final.

Taking part are
Brian Chesney, a retired librarian from Malvern
Michael Smith, who sells mares' milk and lives in Chiswick in London
Roy Smith, a retired management accountant from Warrington
Jon Stitcher, a paralegal from the Wirral.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SAT 23:30 Earth Bound (m000mrbk)
Barrow poet Kate Davis faces her chronic claustrophobia, and legacy of childhood polio to go pot holing, experiencing first-hand the subterranean world that’s fired her literary imagination.

In her poetry memory and reality are blurred, but one theme is clear to her, the ground is not to be trusted.

For Kate the earth can give way at any time and trip her up, and the porous limestone landscape of upland Britain, is as dangerous and fascinating as an army obstacle course.

Luckily, in theatre director Rachel Ashton - fell-runner and potholer - she’s a friend who vicariously lives out her poetic fantasies of slimy tunnels, and belaying down precipitate drops.

Kate’s poems ring out with the sound of Rachel’s potholing vocabulary - choke, sump and avon, are as familiar to her as the caving maps that she lends her.

Up until now its been an alien world as remote, and unreachable as the far side of the moon. But Rachel has a plan, to take Kate on her first assisted journey into a cave near Ingleton. It’s here that Wordsworth and Turner experienced the thrill of the sublime. . . . but will Kate overcome her fear of cold dark confined spaces, and sense for herself the weight of rock, words, and memories above her?

Produced by Andrew Carter.



SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2020

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000my3w)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 A British History in Weather (b07b2hyd)
Wind

Alexandra Harris tells the story of how the weather has written and painted itself into the cultural life of Britain.

Episode 3: The blasted country – a windy island.

"There was a proper gust, I remember, which sent dry leaves off across the pavement into shop doorways and blew back my hood. And something caught my eye as I looked up. Way above me in the grey sky, at the top of Chichester cathedral spire, there was a glint of light. It was the weathervane turning. It must just momentarily have caught the sun. And then there it was in distant silhouette again, with its big flat rooster tail. I'd never noticed it, and yet it had been up there all the time – up in the weather which goes on continuously, regardless of us, up there as well as down here in the street."

With music by Jon Nicholls.

A BBC Audio production, Made in Bristol


SUN 00:30 Short Works (m000ms09)
Post

An original short story for BBC Radio 4 by the Irish author Elaine Feeney. Read by Maggie Cronin.

Elaine Feeney is an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright. She has published three collections of poetry, Where’s Katie?, The Radio was Gospel, Rise, and a drama piece, WRoNGHEADED, commissioned by Liz Roche Company. She teaches at The National University of Ireland, Galway and St Jarlath’s College. Her work has been widely published and anthologised in Poetry Review, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and others. Her fiction debut 'As You Were' was featured in the Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020.

Reader: Maggie Cronin
Writer: Elaine Feeney
Producer: Michael Shannon

A BBC Northern Ireland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000my43)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000my49)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000my4h)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000my4p)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000my36)
The church of St Mary-le-Tower in Ipswich

Bells on Sunday comes from the church of St Mary-le-Tower in Ipswich. In 1552, there were just five bells and a Sanctus in 1553, but by 1865 they had been augmented to a full peal of twelve which were subsequently restored and recast by Taylors of Loughborough, including in a 35 hundredweight tenor tuned to the note D flat. We hear them ringing Cambridge Maximus.


SUN 05:45 Profile (m000my20)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 06:00 News (m000my02)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b014m6qx)
A Language That Speaks The Truth

Studs Terkel, the celebrated American broadcaster and oral historian, had, in his own words, a big mouth that regularly landed him in trouble. But he also passionately cared about politics, social justice, art and culture - and in particular, the way we use language to articulate our ideas about ourselves.

In this special edition of Something Understood, we hear Studs speaking shortly before his death in 2008 intertwined with readings from authors he knew and admired - among them, Bertrand Russell, Kathryn Simmonds and James Cameron - and music by those he held in highest esteem, including Mozart and Mahalia Jackson.

Readers: Emma Fielding and Jonathan Keeble
Produced by Eleanor McDowall & Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:35 Natural Histories (b082hg39)
Fly Agaric

Brett Westwood seeks out the magical mushroom fly agaric, with its red cap and white spots. Its story is entwined with Father Christmas, Alice in Wonderland and the founding of religion itself. The mushroom's hallucinogenic properties and its appearance in fairy tales make it the most evocative of all British fungi. Brett goes searching for a flay agaric into the woods with River Cottage forager John Wright and talks to pharmacologist Professor Richard Miller and Dr Patrick Harding author of The Christmas Book about its surprising importance in human culture. With readings from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Claire Skinner.

Original Producer Beth O'Dea

Archive Producer: Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol


SUN 06:57 Weather (m000my05)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000my07)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000my09)
Manchester Camerata ; Cardinal Vincent Nicholls and Baptism Error

Manchester Camerata will be running a series of online films called “Untold” from Thursday, commissioned and curated by the orchestra. The first film is “Caroline”. William talks to violinist Caroline Pether about her story of struggling with acceptance as a gay christian woman, set to music and prose by poet Jackie kay.

This Sunday is World Day of Migrants and Refugees and we hear from Cardinal Vincent Nichols who will highlight his concerns about the current situation.

When Catholic priest Father Matthew Hood looked at a video of his own baptism he realised he wasn’t a priest after all. He explains to William Crawley why the use of "I" instead of "we" made all the theological difference.

Producers
Carmel Lonergan
David Cook

Editor
Amanda Hancox


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000my0c)
InterAct Stroke Support

Actor Bill Paterson makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of InterAct Stroke Support.

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

Registered Charity Number: 1080046


SUN 07:57 Weather (m000my0f)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000my0h)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000my0k)
A new heaven and a new earth

Traditionally harvest is a time to celebrate and offer thanksgiving for God’s bounty in nature. Rachel Mann leads today’s service and reflects on what harvest might mean for those of us who, even in a covid-shaped world, live in a busy urbanised environment. After months of tiring but necessary restrictions on our lives, what do we have to be thankful for? What ‘harvest’ do those who live in urban settings have to offer to those who don’t? What might a new 'holy city' and 'new earth' look like for urban and country dweller alike? We'll hear from people deep in city life, such as Councillor Azra Ali, a Trustee of Burnage Food Bank who's seen generosity overflow in the past few months, and those from within the LGBT community who have faced intense pressures on their mental health during lockdown, but who have also found much to be thankful for in the bonds of solidarity and care found in virtual ways of connecting. Rev. Grace Thomas will share how she's been instrumental in helping congregations in south Manchester think about how they can cherish God’s creation and address the climate emergency. Reading: Revelation 21.1-5. Producer: Miriam Williamson.

Music:
We Plough the Fields and Scatter - Choir of King's School Canterbury
For the Beauty of the Earth - Beth Nielsen Chapman
When I Needed A Neighbour - Wells Cathedral Choir
Come Ye Thankful People Come - Leigh Nash
And I Saw a New A New Heaven (Bainton) - Choir of St Bride's Fleet Street
Creation Sings - Stuart Townend
How Great Thou Art - Aled Jones & Russell Watson


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000ms0r)
What's the Magic Number?

With widespread unease over the government 's handling of the pandemic, Tom Shakespeare proposes that ordinary citizens should be allowed a greater say in what rules we should be following.
"Then there would be no elites to blame," he says, "because the people making the decisions would be you and me, and our deliberations would be public."

Producer: Adele Armstrong


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkfz4)
Rock Dove

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Rock Dove. The birds that Woody Allen once described as "rats with wings" are for many the bane of urban life. Feral pigeons, as domesticated rock doves are known, live closely alongside us. But the same species has, over millennia, been cosseted by pigeon fanciers, used to deliver wartime messages and been housed in dovecotes.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000my0m)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000my0r)
Writers, Liz John & Nick Warburton
Director, Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Susan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Robert Snell.... Graham Blockey
Kirsty Miller.... Annabelle Dowler
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Gavin Moss ….. Gareth Pierce
Counsellor... Saffron Coomber


SUN 10:55 Tweet of the Day (m000my0w)
Tweet Take 5: Wren

The diminutive wren has a song which belies its size. Piercing through the landscape this bold audible proclamation is an often constant accompaniment to many a garden or whilst out a woodland walk. Although there is only one species of wren in Britain, on the isolated island of St Kilda off the Scottish coast can be found a distinctly different wren, evolved over centuries to cope with this isolated archipelago. In this extended version of Tweet of the Day we celebrate the wren, with wildlife cameraman John Aitcheson, comedian and birdwatcher Bill Oddie and composer and producer Joe Acheson.

Produced by Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol


SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000my10)
Yusuf Cat Stevens, musician

Yusuf Cat Stevens is a singer-songwriter who first enjoyed success more than 50 years ago.

He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in July 1948. His Greek Cypriot father and his Swedish mother ran a restaurant in the West End of London, and he helped out there from an early age. He also became interested in music, writing and singing his own songs, partly inspired by the success of The Beatles.

Under the name Cat Stevens, he was just 18 when he had his first hit, and soon found himself on tour with Engelbert Humperdinck and Jimi Hendrix. His career came to a sudden halt in 1969, when he contracted tuberculosis and was forced out of the limelight for a year of recuperation. It was also a time of reflection. He emerged a changed man in 1970 - a sensitive singer-songwriter whose albums, including Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat, sold millions of copies around the world.

While enjoying fame and success, he also thought more deeply about religious faith, an interest which increased after he nearly drowned while swimming in the Pacific. He became a Muslim in 1977, changed his name to Yusuf Islam and walked away from music. He soon became one of the UK's most high-profile Muslims, and was often asked to comment about aspects of Islam. For two decades, he didn’t touch his guitar, but in 2006 he made a comeback with an album entitled An Other Cup. He has released three more albums since then and has recently recorded a new version of perhaps his best-known work, Tea for the Tillerman.

Yusuf lives in Dubai with his wife Fawziah. They have four daughters and one son who has followed in his father's musical footsteps.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor


SUN 11:45 The Rise and Fall of the Antique (b0bdvj52)
The Heritage Industry

Travis Elborough charts the rise and fall of the antique, examining how, ultimately, the present always dictates which bits of yesteryear we deem worthy of collecting.
He traces the rise of the heritage industry which saw a decline in country house sales and a corresponding fall in the flow of antique goods for the trade. Meanwhile, the 1980s saw a rise in public interest in antiques, fuelled by television programmes and the publication of Miller’s Antiques Price Guide, empowering the collector and amateur dealer.
Producer: Sheila Cook


SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000my66)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 12:04 The Museum of Curiosity (m000mswk)
Series 15

Episode 3

Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and the Museum’s curator Alice Levine are joined by comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, Natural History Museum curator Miranda Lowe and doctor and author Dr Roopa Farooki.

This week, the Museum’s Guest Committee donate the centre of the universe, a jellyfish and a virtual patient.

In this series of The Museum of Curiosity, John and Alice are recording from various locations around their fictional Museum. This week they’re in the Museum’s staff canteen. Over the series they will also visit the Museum’s grand hall, the lost property office and get stuck in the Museum lift. This series was recorded remotely in June/July 2020.

The Museum’s exhibits were catalogued by Mike Shephard, Mike Turner and Emily Jupitus and Lydia Mizon of QI.

The Producer was Anne Miller.

The Exec Producer was Victoria Lloyd.

The Production Coordinator was Mabel Wright.

Edited by David Thomas.


SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000my18)
Wheat Revolutions

Dan Saladino tells the story of wheat from the domestication of wild grasses in the Neolithic Revolution through to the controversial Green Revolution of the 20th century.


SUN 12:57 Weather (m000my1d)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000my1j)
Global news and analysis, presented by Mark Mardell.


SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000my1n)
Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation as we emerge from lockdown and adjust to the 'new normal'.

This week's edition is devoted to just one conversation - between 16 year old Lloyd and Ariba who have never met. He lives in rural Wales and she lives in Peterborough. They share and compare notes on their very different life experiences. They reflect on life in lockdown, the areas they live in, school and GCSE results, their hobbies and political interests - which range from the BLM movement and the importance of tolerance, to gardening and environmental issues. And they discuss the need to talk openly about the such everyday matters such as the menstrual cycle.

Producer: Mohini Patel


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000ms07)
GQT at Home: Episode Twenty-Six

Kathy Clugston chairs the horticultural panel show. Chris Beardshaw, Anne Swithinbank and Matthew Pottage are on hand to answer questions from green-fingered listeners.

This week the panellists are joined by a virtual audience as they tackle questions on how to ripen tomatoes and the best plants to provide pollen late in the season, and help a listener struggling with their cacti.

Away from the questions, Peter Gibbs joins Matthew Pottage at RHS Wisley to discuss the box-hedge caterpillar and they suggest variations to replace the box hedge, and Chris Thorogood teaches us about a plant which looks like Darth Vader.

Producer - Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Living National Treasures (m000g3fx)
Episode 4

We have become divorced from physicality. Technology detaches us from touch and provenance. This, in part, has contributed to the boom in artisanal crafts. It's a call back to more tactile experiences. We're learning to craft, to forage, to paint, to build; gravitating towards skills which can replace some of the sensory connections from which we've disengaged. We want to literally get our hands dirty!

Living National Treasures seeks to represent this societal shift. This series is about celebrating existing ability and drawing attention to our own Living National Treasures.

Carrie Fertig is a glass flame worker who works in a big airy studio in an old lemonade factory in Leith, Edinburgh. Carrie is known for making huge flame glass structures and glass musical instruments that can be played. In all of her work she hopes to make people think and feel. She says the transparency of glass means we can always see what it holds and she uses her work to help people explore what emotions they are holding onto.

While the Living National Treasure tradition began in Japan - where they also commend buildings and monuments as 'National Treasures' - the celebratory trend has now been adopted by France, Thailand, South Korea and Romania. Living National Treasures are defined as people who possess a high degree of knowledge and skill in a culturally significant craft.

Living National Treasures is a combination of slow radio, artisanal craft and poignant personal stories. We get under the skin of practitioners, learning why they've chosen rare and unusual crafts.

Produced by Kate Bissell


SUN 15:00 Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola (b07bb1vt)
Season 2 - Sex

Episode 9: Flesh

Blood Sex and Money, an epic 24 hours of drama inspired by the works of literature’s greatest whistle blower, Emile Zola.

Season 2. Sex. Episode 9. Flesh.

Love and sex part company in the season finale dramatised by Lavinia Murray.

When Nana - Paris’ most famous courtesan returns to the city, she finds herself living in a derelict building with her oldest friend.

Glenda Jackson stars as Dide the matriarch to a family of wolves – the Rougon- Macquarts.

Cast:

Dide … Glenda Jackson
Nana…Holliday Grainger
Satin… Kate O’Flynn

Directed by Kirsty Williams


SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000my1r)
Martin Amis

Elizabeth Day talks to the British writer Martin Amis about his latest work Inside Story: A Novel. A largely autobiographical work, Inside Story includes lengthy examinations of the mentors and friends who helped define him – Christopher Hitchens, Saul Bellow and Philip Larkin - and muses on the importance of family including his father, Kingsley Amis. In the programme Martin Amis shares his thoughts on the important relationships in his life and how they have in turn shaped his writing.


SUN 16:30 Contains Strong Language Live (m000my1w)
Luke Wright discovers Barrow- in Furness through the eyes of the poets who’ve been inspired by this coastal industrial town.

Barrow propelled itself onto the map 150 years ago after the discovery of iron ore transformed Barrow-the-fishing-village, into a frontier town of the industrial revolution, earning it the title of The Chicago of the North.

Millom poet, Norman Nicholson wrote “Railways spool out their tangle of parallels....wagons stand abandoned beside broken down buffers and stonechat perch upon them, as if the red of their breasts were intended by nature for camouflage among rust” of this part of the world – so it’s no wonder that Barrow Island became the inspiration for Thomas the Tank Engine!

And William Wordsworth was no stranger to Furness Abbey – “a mouldering Pile” and “holy Scene” of The Prelude – and across the water to Piel Castle…
"And this huge Castle, standing here sublime, I love to see the look with which it braves, Cased in the unfeeling armour of old time, The lightning, the fierce wind, the trampling waves".

Speaking to Barrow Poets Kim Moore and Kate Davis, Luke explores Barrow through those who walk in Wordsworth’s footsteps – alongside Yorkshire poet Kate Fox, bringing her own experience and work to reflect on this coastal town.

Produced by Katharine Longsworth and Susan Roberts
A BBC Drama North Production


SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000mt1l)
Expecting alone: The isolation of pregnancy during Covid

Six months since Britain was instructed to ‘stay at home’, File on 4 examines the decisions that affect new mothers and their babies and asks if the potential for long term damage outweighs the risk of spreading the virus.

For pregnant women, many of the hospital restrictions implemented at the height of the pandemic remain. Many women must attend antenatal scans or go through early labour on their own, while their birth partners wait outside. Others have had to receive the worst possible news about their pregnancy alone.

Once the baby arrives, the landscape remains uncertain.

Health visitors are seen by many as a frontline defence against child health problems; a lifeline for new mums and their babies who are trained to spot early signs of illness, harm or neglect. Yet, the decision to redeploy many health visitors to the frontline during lockdown left countless families without the support they needed – a decision seen by some as ‘unnecessary’ and ‘dangerous’, one that could lead to a ‘second pandemic’ of child protection issues.

Now, professionals are reporting ‘an explosion’ in mental health problems amongst new mothers and their partners, while those suffering are struggling to get help.

Reporter: Alys Harte
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Gail Champion


SUN 17:40 Profile (m000my20)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000my24)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


SUN 17:57 Weather (m000my28)
The latest weather forecast.


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000my2d)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000my2j)
Cathy FitzGerald

This was the week the UN Secretary General decided the threats ranged against us were so bad, he invented a fifth horseman of the apocalypse to describe them. So as it gallops across the globe, there seems like no better time to seek comfort, solace, or at least mild distraction with the week’s highlights. There’ll be sad bits, we can’t lie – but the tender kind that remind you we’re all in this together. And in between, our bumper radio harvest includes pub singalongs, pyrotechnical opera arias, stone age get togethers, acid house raves, country hikes… and a deliciously ghostly hotel.

Presenter: Cathy FitzGerald
Producer: Stephen Garner
Production support: Sandra Hardial
Studio Manager: Jonathan Esp

Contact potw@bbc.co.uk

All of the programmes featured can be accessed from the related links column on this page


SUN 19:00 The Whisperer In Darkness (m000my2n)
Episode 9

An unexpected phone call turns Matthew Heawood’s attention to a mystery in the gloom of Rendlesham Forest. Folklore, paranormal, otherworldly? Up for debate, but fertile ground for a new investigative podcast, that’s for sure. One question still lingers, will our host be re-joined by his roaming researcher, Kennedy Fisher?

The duo’s last venture patched together frantic updates from Baghdad, as they pursued suspected occultists in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Very little hope lingered of solving the mystery, and maybe even less that Kennedy would return home safe. But for now, a new investigation calls.

Following the success of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, (Silver, British Podcast Awards) Radio 4 commissions a return to this HP Lovecraft-inspired universe. Once again, the podcast embraces Lovecraft’s crypt of horror, braving the Sci-Fi stylings of The Whisperer in Darkness.

Episode NIne
Kennedy thinks she has experienced a blackout, but an audio file which has mysteriously appeared on her recorder shows otherwise.

Cast:
Kennedy Fisher………….………………JANA CARPENTER
Matthew Heawood………………...…..BARNABY KAY
Albert Wilmarth…………………………MARK BAZELEY
Henry Akeley……………………………..DAVID CALDER
Parker..........................................PHOEBE FOX
Mystery woman……………..............NICOLA STEPHENSON
Male voice……................……………FERDINAND KINGSLEY

Producer: Karen Rose

Director/Writer: Julian Simpson

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

Music by Tim Elsenburg
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


SUN 19:15 Dot (b08r1ljg)
Series 2

Meat

by Ed Harris

Comic adventures with Dot and the gals from personnel who for this week at least are in control of the War Rooms kitchens. Their task is to prepare a delicious cut of veal to woo the American Ambassador. It's a shame Dot just ate it. How will they wriggle out of this one?

Producer/Director, Jessica Mitic.


SUN 19:45 The Hotel (m000my2s)
2: The Witch

Nicola Walker continues Daisy Johnson's deliciously unsettling ghost story series, with a feminist twist. Readers in the series include Maxine Peake, Juliet Stevenson and Sara Kestelman.

In today's story, 'The Witch', Fenland villagers tragically misread a woman's unusual powers of prediction...

Reader: Nicola Walker
Writer: Daisy Johnson
Producer: Justine Willett


SUN 20:00 More or Less (m000mr42)
Covid curve queried, false positives, and the Queen’s head

A scary government graph this week showed what would happen if coronavirus cases doubled every seven days. But is that what’s happening? There’s much confusion about how many Covid test results are false positives - we explain all. Plus, do coffee and pregnancy mix? And the Queen, Mao, and Gandhi go head to head: who is on the most stamps and coins?


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000ms0c)
Sir Harold Evans, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, Alan Minter, Helen Taylor-Thompson

Julian Worricker on:

The campaigning journalist and editor, Sir Harold Evans, voted the greatest of all time by his peers....

Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice, who served in that role for 27 years and became something of a judicial celebrity....

The charity worker Helen Taylor-Thompson, who co-founded Europe's first AIDS hospice at a time of great hostility towards those with the disease....

And the boxer, Alan Minter, who became the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

Presenter: Julian Worricker
Producer: Neil George


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000my1x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000my0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 In Business (m000mqpx)
Still in Business

For the final programme of the series, John Murphy returns to a selection of businesses that have come through this far. A fabric and haberdashery shop, a fruit farmer and a micro-pub. What’s their story of survival, what did they change and what of the future? The potential difficulties and pitfalls, are not over.

Presenter: John Murphy
Producer: Phoebe Keane
Series editor: Penny Murphy


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000my2x)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000mqpd)
Alejandro Jodorowsky

With Francine Stock.

Controversial cult film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky is almost as famous for a film he didn't make as he is for the films he did. The Chilean director pioneered a new type of cult movie with his psychedelic western El Topo, but it's his doomed attempt to make a version of Dune, starring Salvador Dali, that propelled him to legendary status. He tells the story of his life, from creating mimes for Marcel Marceau to working with The Beatles on The Holy Mountain.


SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b014m6qx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:05 today]



MONDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2020

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000my31)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000mr5v)
Bunkers

Bunkers: The bunker has become the extreme expression of our greatest fears: from pandemics to climate change and nuclear war. Laurie Taylor talks to Bradley Garrett, Assistant Professor in Human Geography at University College Dublin, about the global movement of 'prepping' for social and environmental collapse, or 'Doomsday'. They're joined by Diane Morgan, Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds and author of a study examining the symbolic meaning of the bunker and the way in which demilitarised bunkers have taken on a new cultural life.

Producer: Jayne Egerton


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000my36)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000my3d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000my3n)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000my3v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000my41)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000my47)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000my4f)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:56 Weather (m000my4m)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.


MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt9y)
Bobolink

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bobolink. You might never have heard of a Bobolink – but these birds do occur very rarely in the UK although their true home is in the grasslands of Canada and the northern states of the USA. They look like large finches but belong to the family of New World blackbirds. Because the breeding males have black and white plumage they are sometimes called 'skunk blackbirds'.

The sound archive recording of the bobolink featured in this programme was sourced from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.


MON 06:00 Today (m000my6p)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000my6r)
Faith in the modern world

The prize-winning writer Marilynne Robinson and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams discuss belief, community and self-knowledge with Andrew Marr.

The life and family of a Presbyterian minister in small-town Iowa is the focus in Marilynne Robinson’s quartet of Gilead novels. The latest, Jack, tells the story of the minister’s prodigal son and his romance with the daughter of a black preacher. Robinson’s work interrogates the complexities and paradoxes of American life, while exploring the power of our emotions and the wonders of a sacred world.

Rowan Williams was Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Since stepping down he has written widely on poetry and literature, from Auden to Dostoevsky. Earlier this year he wrote about the importance and influence of the rules of monastic life. In The Way of St Benedict, Williams explores the appeal and relevance of Benedict’s sixth-century Rule to present-day Christians and non-believers.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000my8g)
Episode 1

Anne-Marie Duff reads the incredible true story of Ursula Kuczynski: lover, mother, soldier, spy. From acclaimed historian, Ben MacIntyre.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma Harding

In a quiet English village in 1942, no one knows that their neighbour and mother-of-three, Mrs Burton, is really Ursula Kuczynski - a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia's Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. Nor do they know that 'Agent Sonya' is currently helping the Soviet Union to build the atom bomb.

Episode 1: In 1924, a young German Jewish woman is radicalised when a parade of Berlin Communists is met with brutal police violence.

Opening music: Kühle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? Solidaritätslied by Hanns Eisler from album Bye-Bye Berlin, performed by Quatuor Manfred, Harmonia Mundi
Closing music: Suite No 2 Op 2 Niemandsland i by Hanns Eisler from album Roaring Eisler, performed by H K Gruber and Modern Ensemble, RCA Red Seal


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000my6w)
The government's Early Years review, Andrea McLean, Celebrating 'alonement'.

The government is carrying out a review into how to improve health outcomes for babies and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Early Years development review will look at the critical first two and a half years of life which has a significant impact on the physical health, mental health and opportunity throughout life. We hear from the government's Early Years adviser Andrea Leadsom MP.

Live, learn and thrive – that’ what Andrea McLean wants us to be able to achieve with the help of her new book “This Girl is on Fire”. In it she shares her own experiences of overcoming toxic relationships, a breakdown and burnout to help us see that we can change ourselves and change our life.

There are many terms that are used to describe spending time alone, but most of them have negative connotations. Journalist Francesca Specter has coined the term “alonement” to describe celebrating the time you spend alone. She shares the inspiration behind the term, how it has helped her during lockdown, and how we can all learn the skills of solitude.

A new study led by researchers at UCL and York University, Canada, shows that skin to skin contact with a parent reduces how strongly a newborn baby’s brain responds to a painful medical jab. Dr Laura Jones explains.

Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Dianne McGregor


MON 10:45 Broken English (m000my6y)
Episode 1

Four years ago, Anna and John's marriage was floundering. To make matters worse, John began a disastrous affair with their couples counsellor, which he later regretted.

Now, to escape the past, they've started over in rural Southern France - a place they once visited on holiday, but don't know very well at all.

It's an act of folly, maybe, but necessary for their survival – or so it seemed at the time. But their dream of a new life in France is shattered when their 16-year-old son disappears and they find that they, and each of their house guests, are suspects in what the gendarmes have decided is a possible murder enquiry.

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

CAST:
ANNA ..... Rosie Cavaliero
JOHN ..... Ewan Bailey
JESS ..... Macy Nyman
DOROTHY ..... Linda Bassett
DUNCAN ..... Rufus Wright
JOE ..... Tom Glenister
LOU ..... Rebecca Saire
ROB ..... John McAndrew
MELANIE ..... ane Slavin
CHARLIE ..... Thomas Allam
CHRISTOPHER ..... Alfie Wickham

Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


MON 11:00 A Deadly Trade (m000ktxk)
The bodies of 39 Vietnamese men and women discovered in a lorry container in Essex highlighted the growing problem of illegal and dangerous journeys into the UK. With police and governments pledging to do more to uncover illegal smuggling operations Radio 4 speaks to refugees, lorry drivers and to some of the smugglers behind this deadly trade

Recent coverage from Greece has highlighted the pressures on borders as desperate people risk everything to cross from Turkey. Dangerous Trade starts by tracking a dinghy full of refugees landing on the island of Lesbos and heading for the now infamous Moria camp. It was constructed for 3,100 people but now has a population of more than 20,000 men, women and children.

On the camp refugees speak about their dreams of a new life and many hope to make it to the UK. Following the route of some of those that have, Sue Mitchell joins them in Dunkirk as they negotiate with smugglers and weigh up the risks of crossing the Chanel illegally by boat or stowing away in lorries bound for England.
Last year, whilst recording another documentary for Radio 4, Sue met a 14 year old girl who was single-handedly talking to smugglers and raising the money from relatives who had already reached the UK. She details what happens as she and her siblings make the dangerous journey and she reflects on her new life in Britain.

Those who make the crossing know they are lucky to have survived. The deaths in the Essex container lorry revealed the shocking risks – as do reports of others who have perished at sea and on land. For the lorry drivers who inadvertently end up smuggling refugees, there’s growing anger that more isn’t being done at the borders. Governments have promised to work together to tackle this growing problem, but solutions are still a long way off.

Producer/Reporter: Sue Mitchell


MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000my37)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


MON 12:00 News Summary (m000n04n)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000my75)
Episode 6

By Charlotte Hobson. Early in 1914, 22-year-old Gerty Freely travels to Russia to work as a governess, little-knowing the huge upheavals in the world and in her own life that lie ahead.

In London, 1974, Gerty begins a memoir for her daughter Sophy, looking back at that extraordinary time of war, revolution and civil war. Most of her memories are centred on a young inventor, Nikita Slavkin, who mysteriously disappeared in 1919 and was subsequently celebrated in Soviet culture as The Vanishing Futurist.

“No word has been heard from him since […] Yet the idea persists that one day he will reappear.”

Episode Six
To Gerty’s chagrin, Sonya begins to assist Slavkin in the building of the Socialisation Capsule. Meanwhile the whole commune waits anxiously for news of Pasha and Volodya.

Charlotte Hobson graduated from Edinburgh University with a first in Russian. Thereafter she travelled widely in the former Soviet Union, working as an interpreter in the Caucasus, a translator, and dabbling in civil rights. Her book, Black Earth City (2002) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002. The Vanishing Futurist was published in 2016 - her first novel. Charlotte lives in Cornwall with her family.

Writer: Charlotte Hobson
Reader: Barbara Flynn
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000my77)
Home Care; Slugs; Tackling Traffic Pollution

We examine the impact of the Government's decision to push back reforms to the adult social care system until next year. More than one and half million people in the UK aren't getting the care they need at home. Local councils have been warning for years that an ageing population and budget cuts mean they can no longer keep up with demand. The say the pandemic has made things even worse. The number of people now needing help with basic tasks like getting up, getting dressed and going to the toilet is much higher than it was. We hear the latest in one man's battle to secure the right level of care for his 92-year-old father with Alzheimer's disease. We also speak to James Bullion, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care and Colin Angel from the UK Home Care Association.

Our reporter, Melanie Abbott, looks at ways to better prevent slugs from wreaking havoc in the garden. From rampaging through flower beds and vegetable patches, she finds out why there's been an explosion of slugs this year and hears how sales of a product at one chemical company increased by a third this summer.

We investigate whether closing off some streets completely to traffic could reduce air pollution. It's all part of the government's active travel initiative. Ministers want to get more of us cycling or walking, especially as we may not feel safe using public transport at the moment. More than 200 low traffic neighbourhoods are being introduced in 54 council areas around the UK, but most are in London. We hear from people for and against the scheme. We also speak to Professor Rachel Aldred from the University of Westminster who has analysed the effect of similar schemes.

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes


MON 12:57 Weather (m000my79)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m000my7c)
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 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000my7f)
The Farm

When Timothy Mcveigh bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, he committed the worst act of domestic terrorism in US history.

The reasons he gave shocked people around the world. A hatred of the government that was so strong, so virulent, he hoped to start a revolution that would bring the government down.

But lots of people dislike the government. And because of this, some take off, find somewhere to live where they can get away from society. In America, it’s easy to find somewhere remote, then buy a plot of land, get off grid, ‘live free’.

We meet someone who did just that and joined a group who he believed shared his values. But slowly, over time and through the group’s isolation, he found himself arming for war and even plotting an act of domestic terrorism himself.

Leah Sottile investigates the story of The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord, and explores what can be learnt from the story of others who felt that same need for retaliation against the government that Mcveigh did.

Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt


MON 14:00 Drama (m000my7h)
Bones

Zosia Wand's intimate and compelling drama set in real time on the sands of Morecambe Bay.

A Polish mother and her teenage daughter fight over a shameful family secret on the perilous sands. Can they confront the truth before the tide cuts them off? A play about heritage, slippery memories and the secrets we keep to survive,

Bones explores how it feels to be a migrant and the emotional impact on the generations that follow.

MARIE.....Daniela Denby-Ashe
KATHERINE.....Miranda Dobson

Directed by Nadia Molinari

A BBC Audio Drama North production

Bones was originally developed through the Royal Court’s Writers Group (North).

The broadcast is accompanied by a specially commissioned film created by artist Hannah Fox and film maker Rich Berry - Reel Things for BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Cumbria which can be viewed on the website https://www.bbc.co.uk/containsstronglanguage where you can also find information about other programmes in the festival.
For further information about the making of the drama please go to www.zosiawand.com


MON 14:45 The Escaped Lyric (b081b2w3)
From teenage alienation to middle-aged loss and regret, lyrics from popular music can escape their song to become an anthem of our youth or a lifeline through loss and solitude. Nick Berkeley speaks to songwriters and musicians about how the words of a three minute pop song can come to have such impact on us all.

He dissects the craft of the song in a quest to understand the alchemy that converts seemingly simple words into thoughts of great impact and meaning. From Noel Coward to Kylie Minogue, seminal folk songs to outsider hip hop, there are words and phrases that the music fan can cling to, and remember, forever.

Contributors include: Hanif Kureishi, Brett Anderson, Cathy Dennis, Green Gartside, Benjamin Clementine, Christopher Ricks and Sid Griffin.

Programme Two: Family
Producer: Emma Jarvis
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 15:00 Brain of Britain (m000my7k)
Semi-final 2, 2020

(14/17)
Russell Davies welcomes another three of the 2020 heat winners, along with a particularly high-scoring runner-up from one of this year's contests. The winner today will take another of the places in the grand Final in October. The questions are challenging at this stage and the competition is fierce.

A listener also stands a chance of winning a prize by coming up with questions that might defeat the combined brainpower of the contestants, in the Beat The Brains interlude.

Producer: Paul Bajoria


MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000my18)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:32 on Sunday]


MON 16:00 I Was... (m000n45x)
Series 7

I Was Georgia O'Keefe's Five Year Companion

Andrew McGibbon talks to author Margaret Wood who, in 1977 took a job as companion, chef and caregiver to an elderly artist living in a remote New Mexico village south of Albuquerque.

The artist was Georgia O'Keeffe, whose paintings of enlarged, sensuous flowers, New York skyscrapers and the sublime, desert landscapes of New Mexico established her as the mother of American Modernism.

Georgia first visited New Mexico in 1916 and fell in love with the area. She later settled at the Ghost Ranch, north of Abiquiú where a significant number of works emerged, inspired by the colours, rocky outcroppings and otherworldly mountainous wilderness of her adopted state.

Margaret prepared meals according to O'Keeffe's recipes using fresh vegetables and fruit grown in Georgia’s garden and wild watercress found only near almost inaccessible mountain streams.

Written and Presented by Andrew McGibbon
Produced by Nick Romero

A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4


MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000my7n)
Hong Kong

In 1997 Britain handed sovereignty of Hong Kong to the Chinese and for the first few years, the Basic Law that came into effect at the handover meant that, the people of Hong Kong enjoyed religious freedom. But now religious freedom is under threat. Again this summer, pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest against a new National Security law and a number of Christian Churches have been involved in these demonstrations.

Joining Ernie Rea from their homes to discuss religion in Hong Kong are Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes who served as the Last Governor of Hong Kong; Professor Steve Tsang, the Director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London; and the Rev Dr Kim Kwong Chan, an Honorary Research Fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Producer: Helen Lee


MON 17:00 PM (m000my7q)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000my7v)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 18:30 The Museum of Curiosity (m000my7x)
Series 15

Episode 4

Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and the Museum’s latest curator Alice Levine are joined by comedian and The Last Leg host Josh Widdicombe, mathematician and pianist Dr Eugenia Cheng and editor and Have I Got News For You captain Ian Hislop.

This week, the Museum’s Guest Committee donate Bowerman’s Nose, the equals sign and print.

In this series of The Museum of Curiosity, John and Alice are recording from various locations around their fictional Museum - this week they get stuck inside the Museum lift. This series was recorded remotely in June/July 2020.

The Museum’s exhibits were catalogued by Mike Shephard, Mike Turner and Emily Jupitus and Lydia Mizon of QI.

The Producer was Anne Miller.

The Exec Producer was Victoria Lloyd.

The Production Coordinator was Mabel Wright.

Edited by David Thomas.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m000my7z)
Alice reaches out for support and Elizabeth finds herself having to say no.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m000my81)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 19:45 Broken English (m000my6y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


MON 20:00 Back To School (m000my83)
Back To School. New documentary from BBC Radio 4


MON 20:30 Analysis (m000my85)
Is the internet broken?

The internet is a cornerstone of our society. It is vital to our economy, to our global communications, and to many of our personal and professional lives. But have the processes that govern how the internet works kept pace with its rapid evolution?

James Ball, author of 'The System - Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us', examines whether the infrastructure of the internet is up to scratch. If it's not, then what does that mean for us?

Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Jasper Corbett


MON 21:00 Forum Internum (m000fx1t)
Neuromania

What is freedom of thought and why might it need protecting in the digital age? It’s one of our foundational human rights, but the right to freedom of thought has never really been invoked in the courts as it was never believed vulnerable to attack – until now.

This three part explores the need to safeguard what lawyers are calling the forum internum (our own private, mental space) from the incursions of social media technology, new kinds of surveillance and manipulation through data-mining, advances in AI and neuroscience, the arrival of neurolaw and fMRI imaging in the courts, and the very real possibility of thought-crime.

Philosopher James Garvey takes up the thread in this second episode, looking at the rise of neuroscience and its influence across the culture, from sport and mental health to neuroarchitecture, neurolaw, and concerns about the growing practice of neuropolitics and the manipulation of whole populations.

Helena Kennedy QC will resume the argument in part 3, making the case for freedom of thought and asking whether the law can protect the forum internum from the speed and scale of new technologies and their misuse by corporations and the state. Are we entering a digital dark age for freedom of thought or will we create new spaces for it to flourish?

Series contributors include: authors Shoshana Zuboff and Peter Pomerantsev; psychoanalyst Adam Phillips; neuro-philosopher Patricia Churchland; human rights lawyers Susie Alegre and Philippe Sands; ethical advisor to Google Luciano Floridi; neuroscientists Mark Stokes and Tali Sharot, director of the Affective Brain Lab; Larry Farwell, the inventor of Brain Fingerprinting; digital philosopher Mark Andrejevic; Darren Schreiber, advisor on neuro-politics; legal scholar Gabriel Mendlow, the journalist Carole Cadwalladr; authors Dorian Lynskey and James Bridle and B.Troven, activist with the network CrimethInc.

Presenters: Helena Kennedy QC (parts 1 and 3) and James Garvey (part 2)
Producer: Simon Hollis

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4


MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000my6r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000my88)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000my75)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


MON 23:00 Alex Edelman's Special Relationships (m0007prg)
Me and Us

Alex Edelman encourages his guests from both sides of the Atlantic to think laterally about a diverse collection of special relationships in this loose limbed series of chat shows, recorded in London and the USA.

This week, the knotty string between 'me' and 'us' is unravelled in Los Angeles by a diverse bunch of guests with a distinctly modern outlook. It takes in an American podcast host identifying with Coronation Street, an advertising executive whose client she says is planet earth, and a comedian whose level of American-ness alters as she tours the planet.

A Testbed production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000my8b)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2020

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000my8d)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 00:30 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000my8g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000my8k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000my8m)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000my8p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000my8r)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000my8t)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000my8w)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bktkx)
Mourning Dove

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Mourning Dove. On a November evening at the end of the last Millennium, Maire MacPhail looked through the window of her home on the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides to see an odd pigeon sitting on the garden fence. It looked tired, as well it might have done, for it turned out to be only the second mourning dove to occur naturally in the British Isles.

The sound archive recording of the mourning dove featured in this programme was sourced from :
Andrew Spencer, XC109033. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/109033.


TUE 06:00 Today (m000mzlv)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Rethink (m000mzm7)
Behaviour change

Has the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated how governments can change the behaviour of individuals? Or is the real lesson the way that citizens have started making radical decisions about their own health and lifestyles? Amol Rajan speaks to leading thinkers and policymakers about how our world should change post Covid-19. Is this a moment of opportunity for radical thinking, reshaping our politics, economies, societies and ecosystems?
Producer: Smita Patel


TUE 09:30 One to One (m000mzmc)
Diversity Outdoors - Mya-Rose Craig talks to Zakiya Mckenzie

18 year old Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl is a very keen birdwatcher having seen over half the world’s’ birds in her global travels. What she doesn’t see as a British Bangladeshi are many like herself in the forests, fens, mountains and other rural landscapes in the UK. In recent years she has run Nature Camps to actively encourage Black and Visible Minority ethnic people outdoors. In this, the second of two programmes, she shares her experiences and challenges with Zakiya Mckenzie: postgraduate student, writer in residence with the Forestry Commission in 2019 and Ambassador for Black and Green- a group which works to connect Bristol’s African and Caribbean communities with the city’s environmental sector. Producer Sarah Blunt


TUE 09:45 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000mzq8)
Episode 2

Anne-Marie Duff reads the incredible true story of Ursula Kuczynski: lover, mother, soldier, spy. From acclaimed historian, Ben MacIntyre.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma Harding

In a quiet Cotswold village in 1942, no one knows that their neighbour and mother-of-three, Mrs Burton, is really Ursula Kuczynski - a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia's Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. Nor do they know that 'Agent Sonya' is currently helping the Soviet Union to build the atom bomb.

Episode 2: In 1930s Shanghai, a young German Jewish woman, with a new baby, starts working as a spy for the Soviets, having been recruited by the charismatic Richard Sorge.

Opening music: Kühle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? Solidaritätslied by Hanns Eisler from album Bye-Bye Berlin, performed by Quatuor Manfred, Harmonia Mundi
Closing music: Suite No 2 Op 2 Niemandsland i by Hanns Eisler from album Roaring Eisler, performed by H K Gruber and Modern Ensemble, RCA Red Seal


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000mzmm)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


TUE 10:45 Broken English (m000mzmq)
Episode 2

Four years ago, Anna and John's marriage was floundering. To make matters worse, John began a disastrous affair with their couples counsellor, which he later regretted.

Now, to escape the past, they've started over in rural Southern France - a place they once visited on holiday, but don't know very well at all.

It's an act of folly, maybe, but necessary for their survival – or so it seemed at the time. But their dream of a new life in France is shattered when their 16 year old son disappears and they find that they, and each of their house guests, are suspects in what the gendarmes have decided is a possible murder enquiry.

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

CAST:
ANNA……. ………..……..…………………………………….Rosie Cavaliero
JOHN……..………………………………………………………Ewan Bailey
JESS..……………………..……………………………………… Macy Nyman
DOROTHY ……………………………………………………… Linda Bassett
DUNCAN …….…………..…………………………………… Rufus Wright
JOE…………………………....………………………………….Tom Glenister
LOU……….……………………………………………………….Rebecca Saire
ROB ………………………………………………………………. John McAndrew
MELANIE ………………………………………………………..Jane Slavin
CHARLIE ……………………………………………………….. Thomas Allam
CHRISTOPHER ………………………………………………. Alfie Wickham

Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:00 Long Covid (m000mzms)
After coming down with covid six months ago, Inside Science presenter Adam Rutherford is only now starting to feel back to his normal self. He didn’t go to hospital and, like many, thought he’d be back on his feet in a week or two. But his symptoms of fatigue and shortness of breath have taken months to subside.

One of the most striking aspects of the disease is the stark differences in people’s experiences. Why do some people recover quickly, while others battle with distressing and long-lasting symptoms? And why are those symptoms so varied and changing - from fatigue and muscle aches, to blood clots and kidney failure?

What are the underlying mechanisms that might explain what’s going on? What is it about the virus SARS-CoV-2, and the immune response it triggers, that might explain such widespread and long-lasting destruction in the body? Could there be several sub-types of the disease?

Adam explores the emerging science behind what’s come to be known as ‘long covid’ and the investigations underway to help those living with the symptoms.

PRESENTER: Adam Rutherford
PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood


TUE 11:30 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m000cn4b)
Series 5

Roman British Women: Claudia Severa.

Natalie Haynes tells the stories of the handful of Roman-British women whose traces stay with us: a fierce queen, a slave woman freed for love, the so-called 'Ivory Bangle Lady' and Claudia Severa, whose invitation to her friend to her birthday party some two thousand years ago is one of the greatest historical treasures of Roman Britain.

Wooden tablets, ivory (and jet) bangles and a romantic gravestone inscription from South Shields. Natalie is joined by guests Professor Llewelyn Morgan and archaeologist Dr Paul Roberts.

Stand up comedy, ancient details and a lot of fascinating gossip from a couple of thousand years ago.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000n0f7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000mzmx)
Episode 7

By Charlotte Hobson. Early in 1914, 22-year-old Gerty Freely travels to Russia to work as a governess, little-knowing the huge upheavals in the world and in her own life that lie ahead.

In London, 1974, Gerty begins a memoir for her daughter Sophy, looking back at that extraordinary time of war, revolution and civil war. Most of her memories are centred on a young inventor, Nikita Slavkin, who mysteriously disappeared in 1919 and was subsequently celebrated in Soviet culture as The Vanishing Futurist.

“No word has been heard from him since […] Yet the idea persists that one day he will reappear.”

Episode Seven
While the commune starts to fragment, Gerty’s life changes forever.

Charlotte Hobson graduated from Edinburgh University with a first in Russian. Thereafter she travelled widely in the former Soviet Union, working as an interpreter in the Caucasus, a translator, and dabbling in civil rights. Her book, Black Earth City (2002) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002. The Vanishing Futurist was published in 2016 - her first novel. Charlotte lives in Cornwall with her family.

Writer: Charlotte Hobson
Reader: Barbara Flynn
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000mzn0)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


TUE 12:57 Weather (m000mzn4)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m000mzn8)
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 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000mznd)
Elohim City

25 years on from the largest domestic terror incident in American history, journalist Leah Sottile investigates what made Timothy McVeigh the home-grown terrorist he was.

On the morning of the bombing, the FBI learnt that Timothy McVeigh made a phone call to a secretive Christian Identity compound remote in the remote hills outside Oklahoma City, a place called Elohim City. Journalist Leah Sottile investigates the story behind the call and the secretive community.

Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000my7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama (m000mznj)
Emergency

Emergency - written by poet Jacob Polley. Part of Contains Strong Language, the BBC's Poetry and Spoken word festival.

I’m not in normal weather. This isn’t a normal rain event… What’s it like to be caught up in an emergency?

In a play swirling with voices – voices called up from the near past and from ancient history, voices breaking in, voices capsizing one another – Jacob Polley explores the experience of a love-struck couple in Carlisle during the catastrophic Cumbrian flood event of 2005. Described at the time as a ‘once in 100-year event’, Cumbria was flooded again in 2015 and again in 2020, and in the play becomes a place representative of the consequences of the wider climate emergency.

It’s enough to make you giddy, isn’t it? Pitching between a mortal perspective and the perspective of, say, twenty generations; between a human scale of living rooms, streets and houses, and an elemental scale of airmasses drawn in thousand-mile swirls across the earth…

Through a 1200-year-old Old English riddle, which draws on texts from the even more ancient classical world, Polley gives voice to Storm itself, dramatizing the shock, awe and conflicting witnessings that have been fundamental to the human experience of catastrophe. ‘Emergency’ is a giddy, poetic and symphonic exploration of a specific event and place, and of the elemental powers of the natural world, conjured in a unique soundscape composed by the Dutch musicians, Strijbos and van Rijswijk.

STORM ................................Joe Dixon
HIM........................................James Cooney
HER .......................................Jeanette Percival
PLINY/LANDLORD............Simeon Truby
REPORT/Resident .............Emily Pithon

With specially composed music by world renowned sound artists Strijbos & Van Rijswijk.

Directed by Susan Roberts A BBC Audio Drama North Production


TUE 15:00 The Kitchen Cabinet (m000my1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000mznn)
The Great Leaky Loo Scandal

Do you know how much water you use? Despite campaigns to reduce our personal water usage from around 143 litres each per day to closer to 100, it's not improving.

Meanwhile Tom Heap has discovered that an innovation to a product we use every day, an innovation which promised to save water is actually making things worse. Billions of litres are being wasted every week – enough to supply the cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Belfast combined – welcome to the Great Leaky Loo Scandal.

We reveal how this is happening and what can be done. Tom gets a revealing look behind the scenes at a plumbing manufacturer where flushing systems are tested and the science of 'solids discharge' is analysed.

When water is being abstracted from rivers and being treated to meet our demands we ask if we need to take the resource more seriously.

Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock for BBC Audio in Bristol


TUE 16:00 No Triumph, No Tragedy (m000clck)
Sophie Morgan

Peter White, who has been blind since birth, interviews Sophie Morgan, the artist, media commentator and disability activist who became a wheelchair user in 2003 after a car accident.

Sophie was only eighteen when she was left paralysed in a car accident: at the time she had been on the brink of starting her law degree, but following her injuries she decided to study art and concentrate on her drawings and oil paintings. She uses her public profile to challenge attitudes to disability and created the Mannequal: a wheelchair for a mannequin to be used in high street clothing stores. Her aim was to change perceptions of disability in the fashion and retail industries and there have been shifts in attitudes since.

Challenging expectations about what is possible also played a part in Sophie’s decision to appear in the BBC documentary, Beyond Boundaries, with eleven people with disabilities trekking across the Nicaraguan jungle. She tells Peter that it was during that journey that she really confronted the extent of her injuries, coming face to face with her disability and paralysis:

“It was when I realised that no matter what attitude I have, if my environment isn’t accessible, then I am utterly disabled. I was so gutted that I became sick and had to come home early.”

Sophie has various coping strategies aimed at maximising what she can do instead of focusing on her limitations: “The hardest thing is not being able to be the full and whole person that I am in my mind and in the mind of others. But the greatest thing is seeing the world from a unique position. It means that every day I am grateful for what I have. That can be a rare thing.”

Producer: Sue Mitchell


TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000myxs)
Xuanzang, Chinese monk and traveller

It was an extraordinary journey, and a life that reads like a fairy tale. Xuanzang was born at the start of the seventh century in China. He studied as a monk and travelled for 16 years - first westwards, and then in a crescent back and down over the Himalayas to India . He returned a famous man, laden with Buddhists texts and artefacts. Historian Michael Wood has followed much of his route; he first discovered Xuanzang at university and became intrigued about his life. "I'm tempted to say this is one of the greatest lives in all the civilisations of the world," says Michael.

Joining him in discussion is Frances Wood and the presenter Matthew Parris.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde


TUE 17:00 PM (m000mzns)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000mzp2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 18:30 The Lenny Henry Show (m000mzp4)
Episode 6

Another dose of character-based sketch comedy from Lenny Henry, including more from Paul and his Brixton-based black studies bookshop.

Tyrone is still in Space desperately trying not to get killed, Glenroy Livingstone has more outrageous antics from his Jamaican game show Box Mi Down, and we meet new character Nick, a bouncer who can't get used to letting anyone in.

Also, Theophilus P Wildebeeste is back from retirement - but this time the P stands for "progressive".

Cast includes Lenny Henry, Gemma Arrowsmith, Vas Blackwood, George Fouracres and Cherrelle Skeete.

Written by Lenny Henry and Max Davis, with Tasha Dhanraj and Nathan Roberts.

Music by Lawrence Insula

Produced by Sam Michell

A Douglas Road and Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000mzp7)
Philip finds himself in hot water and Lilian makes amends.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000mzpc)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 19:45 Broken English (m000mzmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000mzph)
Fit for football

MPs and supporters are calling for an overhaul of the way English football is governed after a series of clubs were hit by financial problems. Bolton wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Charlton have all flirted with financial disaster while Bury FC were expelled from the Football League altogether after problems with creditors. File on 4 hears claims that the root of the problem is the Owners' and Directors' Test used to assess those who want to take control of football clubs

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Kate West
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000mzpm)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m000mzpr)
A weekly quest to demystify health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.


TUE 21:30 Rethink (m000mzm7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000mzpw)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000mzmx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


TUE 23:00 To Hull and Back (b07nrlr3)
Series 2

Is There Anyone Out There?

Sophie takes a shine to the new lodger; but the last thing Sheila wants is her daughter getting romantically involved with a UFO fanatic, or anyone else for that matter.

She does her best to get rid of this interloper.

Lucy Beaumont stars as the daughter trying to escape her overbearing mother played by Maureen Lipman in the second series of this warm-hearted sitcom set in Hull.

Sophie ...... Lucy Beaumont
Sheila ...... Maureen Lipman
Alan ...... Matt Sutton

Written by Lucy Beaumont.

"It's like a cross between a Victoria Wood Sketch and a Mike Leigh film". Radio Times

Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in August 2016.


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000mzq0)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



WEDNESDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2020

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000mzq4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


WED 00:30 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000mzq8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000mzqd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000mzqh)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000mzqk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000mzqm)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000mzqp)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000mzqr)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt1q)
Sooty Shearwater

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Sooty Shearwater. Sooty Shearwaters are rather scarce seabirds around our islands as they breed on islands off South America and the coasts of eastern Australia and New Zealand. After breeding, the shearwaters head north to feeding grounds in the North Pacific and North Atlantic undertaking one of the longest journeys of any migratory animal.


WED 06:00 Today (m000mzqt)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 More or Less (m000mywc)
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life.


WED 09:30 Four Thought (m000myyp)
Series of thought-provoking talks on topics that affect culture and society.


WED 09:45 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000mzsy)
Episode 3

Anne-Marie Duff reads the thrilling true story of Ursula Kuczynski, one of the Soviet Union's most significant spies. From acclaimed historian, Ben MacIntyre.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma Harding

Episode 3: In 1938, 'Agent Sonya' is posted to Switzerland, from where she plots an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.

Opening music: Kühle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? Solidaritätslied by Hanns Eisler from album Bye-Bye Berlin, performed by Quatuor Manfred, Harmonia Mundi
Closing music: Suite No 2 Op 2 Niemandsland i by Hanns Eisler from album Roaring Eisler, performed by H K Gruber and Modern Ensemble, RCA Red Seal


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000mzr0)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


WED 10:45 Broken English (m000mzr2)
Episode 3

Four years ago, Anna and John's marriage was floundering. To make matters worse, John began a disastrous affair with their couples counsellor, which he later regretted.

Now, to escape the past, they've started over in rural Southern France - a place they once visited on holiday, but don't know very well at all.

It's an act of folly, maybe, but necessary for their survival – or so it seemed at the time. But their dream of a new life in France is shattered when their 16 year old son disappears and they find that they, and each of their house guests, are suspects in what the gendarmes have decided is a possible murder enquiry.

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

CAST:
ANNA……. ………..……..…………………………………….Rosie Cavaliero
JOHN……..………………………………………………………Ewan Bailey
JESS..……………………..……………………………………… Macy Nyman
DOROTHY ……………………………………………………… Linda Bassett
DUNCAN …….…………..…………………………………… Rufus Wright
JOE…………………………....………………………………….Tom Glenister
LOU……….……………………………………………………….Rebecca Saire
ROB ………………………………………………………………. John McAndrew
MELANIE ………………………………………………………..Jane Slavin
CHARLIE ……………………………………………………….. Thomas Allam
CHRISTOPHER ………………………………………………. Alfie Wickham

Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


WED 11:00 Back to School (m000my83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Monday]


WED 11:30 Stand-Up Specials (m0004lbs)
Lucy Porter in the Family Way… Again

Radio 4 favourite Lucy Porter returns with another examination of domestic life, covering everything from the dramatic to the dreary.

Following up last year's In the Family Way, Lucy looks at the question of legacy - what do we receive from our parents, and what do we pass on to our children?

Lucy hasn’t entirely been a winner in the genetic lottery. She has inherited dodgy knees, terrible teeth and a small third nipple. Her collection of family heirlooms consists of glass clowns, porcelain horses and offensive jam lids. Lucy does, however, want to instil in her own kids some of the values her parents taught her, including patience, courage and charity.

Talented comedian and impressionist Luke Kempner is on hand again to help Lucy illustrate the points she wants to make. As always, he displays his range of comic voices, including an impressive impersonation of Lucy’s Welsh great-grandmother.

In The Family Way... Again is a kind of love letter from Lucy to her mum, and a tender reflection on the things our parents do that drive us mad - things we’ll inevitably end up doing ourselves.

Recorded live at Circus Stratford

Written by Lucy Porter
With Additional Material by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

Performed by Lucy Porter and Luke Kempner
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
Engineered and Edited by Jerry Peel
Production Managed by Sarah Tombling
Production Runner: Abbigayle Bircham

Produced by Gordon Kennedy
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4


WED 12:00 News Summary (m000n0h0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000mzr6)
Episode 8

By Charlotte Hobson. Early in 1914, 22-year-old Gerty Freely travels to Russia to work as a governess, little-knowing the huge upheavals in the world and in her own life that lie ahead.

In London, 1974, Gerty begins a memoir for her daughter Sophy, looking back at that extraordinary time of war, revolution and civil war. Most of her memories are centred on a young inventor, Nikita Slavkin, who mysteriously disappeared in 1919 and was subsequently celebrated in Soviet culture as The Vanishing Futurist.

“No word has been heard from him since […] Yet the idea persists that one day he will reappear.”

Episode Eight
Gerty unburdens herself on Pelyagin. And dramatic events bring the communal experiment to an end.

Charlotte Hobson graduated from Edinburgh University with a first in Russian. Thereafter she travelled widely in the former Soviet Union, working as an interpreter in the Caucasus, a translator, and dabbling in civil rights. Her book, Black Earth City (2002) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002. The Vanishing Futurist was published in 2016 - her first novel. Charlotte lives in Cornwall with her family.

Writer: Charlotte Hobson
Reader: Barbara Flynn
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000mzr8)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


WED 12:57 Weather (m000mzrd)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m000mzrh)
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 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000mzrm)
Kingman

On April 19th 1995, 26 year old Timothy McVeigh committed the largest act of domestic terrorism in American history.

In investigating the events that led up to the attack, journalist Leah Sottile learned that at the heart of McVeigh’s story were inherently American things: an Army boy. A love of guns. And a version of the great American road trip.

In the years leading up to the bombing, McVeigh drove across America; touring gun shows, visiting acquantances who would go on to be accomplices, even paying a trip to area 51.

But there was one place he spent longer than anywhere else, a town way out in the desert of Arizona.

Journalist Leah Sottile tells the story of Kingman Arizona, a place where the wild west cowboy myth persists.

Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt


WED 14:00 The Archers (m000mzp7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Drama (b07ffd8d)
Behind Closed Doors

Contact

The first in a series of three dramas following London barrister Rebecca Nyman.

Today’s drama is set in the Family Courts where Harry, a sperm donor, is trying to get a court order to allow him to see 'his' daughter. Barrister Rebecca Nyman is representing Beth - the mother - who is now in a lesbian relationship and would prefer Harry to keep his distance.

Harry offered to donate sperm so his lesbian friend and work colleague, Beth, could have a baby. After the birth Harry visited Beth and got to know baby Molly. For a time Beth was happy for Harry to visit but she never intended to have a relationship with him or for him to become involved with Molly as a father. Things went from bad to worse when Beth formed a relationship with Melanie and Harry felt he was completely excluded from seeing Molly. Now a judge has to decide whether Harry should have any contact rights.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SERIES 3:
Contact
by CLARA GLYNN

Barrister Rebecca Nyman …………………… CLARE CORBETT
Harry Venton ………………………..……… SAM ALEXANDER
Judge ………………………………………………… SEAN BAKER
Beth Sinclair …………………………….……… ROBIN WEAVER
Melanie Otway/Miss Haslow ……………… JOANNA McCALLUM

Producer/Director: David Ian Neville


WED 15:00 Money Box (m000mzrr)
Personal Insurance

Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance.


WED 15:30 Inside Health (m000mzpr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesday]


WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000mzrw)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.


WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000mzs0)
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world


WED 17:00 PM (m000mzs4)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000mzsd)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 18:30 Phil Ellis Is Trying (m000mzsh)
Series 3

Pondlife 2000

When he's accused of murdering a hipster, Phil is hauled before the Supreme Court of Parbold presided over by the ruthless Judge Shawshank (Jack Dee). Phil must find a way to counter the allegations of Parbold's best prosecutor (Sindhu Vee) and the witness statements of several of Parbold's residents, including Mick the Chinese herbalist and Ellie the florist. Otherwise, it looks like Phil might be facing a lengthy jail term. Polly could help his cause as foreman of the jusry, but as she's not been paid for months, she's got it in for Phil too. Luckily, the defendant has Johnny on his side. If only the court vending machine hadn't been so recently stocked full of Caramacs.

Cast includes:

Phil Ellis as Phil
Johnny Vegas as Johnny
Amy Gledhill as Polly
Katia Kvinge as Ellie the florist
Mick Ferry as Mick the Chinese herbalist
Jason Barnett as Keith the barman
Terry Mynott as Jarvis Cocker

And guest starring Sindhu Vee as the Prosecutor, and Jack Dee as Judge Shawshank.

It was produced by Sam Michell and is a BBC Studios Production


WED 19:00 The Archers (m000myw1)
Lynda has a shocking suggestion and Lilian inadvertently makes things worse


WED 19:15 Front Row (m000mzsk)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 19:45 Broken English (m000mzr2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


WED 20:00 The Spark (m000mzsm)
Chris Daw and the Abolition of Prisons

The interview series in which journalist 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.

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

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

In this episode, the barrister Chris Daw QC, author of Justice on Trial, tells Helen why he contends that we should abolish prisons as we currently understand them, and radically rethink our whole approach to punishment and rehabilitation. Drawing on over two decades as a criminal barrister, Daw argues that a radical rethink would help reduce rates of prison overcrowding and reoffending, and reverse what he sees as the UK's increasingly US-style approach to sentencing and incarceration. Helen challenges him to explain how this fully factors in public safety, justice as seen from the victim's and society's perspectives, and the need for deterrence.

Producer: Phil Tinline


WED 20:45 Four Thought (m000myyp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]


WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000mznn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000mzs0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000mzsp)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000mzr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


WED 23:00 The Damien Slash Mixtape (m000mzsr)
Series 3

Episode 3

Multi-character YouTube star Damien Slash is back for a third round of zeitgeisty sketches in this new fast-paced, one-man sketch comedy show. Meet the guy who does the photography for cigarette packets, Laurence the gamer and a Eurocrat who wants you to know exactly what he makes of your Brexit…

Written by and starring Damien Slash (aka Daniel Barker).
Additional Material from Tom Savage
Guest starring Natasia Demetriou
Produced by Benjamin Sutton
A BBC Studios production.


WED 23:15 Bunk Bed (m00045bn)
Series 6

Cate Blanchett

Everyone craves a place where their mind and body are not applied to a particular task. The nearest faraway place. Somewhere for drifting and lighting upon strange thoughts which don't have to be shooed into context, but which can be followed like balloons escaping onto the air. Late at night, in the dark and in a bunk bed, your tired mind can wander.

Tonight, Hollywood star Cate Blanchett joins Patrick Marber and Peter on Curran the spare mattress, in relaxed mode as they muse on their experiences of gallstones, vomiting, night walks and severe haircuts.

Produced by Peter Curran
A Foghorn production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000mzst)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



THURSDAY 01 OCTOBER 2020

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000mzsw)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


THU 00:30 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000mzsy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000mzt0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000mzt2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000mzt4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000mzt6)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000mzt8)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000mztb)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt3d)
Leach's Storm Petrel

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Leach's Storm-Petrel. Only the most far-flung islands around our coasts provide sanctuary for Leach's Storm-Petrels, one of the most difficult of our breeding birds to see. Chris Watson tells the story of a perilous 2am climb he made to record the sounds of Leach's Storm-Petrel's in their breeding burrows on cliff ledges on the Island of Hirta in the St Kilda group.


THU 06:00 Today (m000mytj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000mytn)
Macbeth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. When three witches prophesy that Macbeth will be king one day, he is not prepared to wait and almost the next day he murders King Duncan as he sleeps, a guest at Macbeth’s castle. From there we explore their brutal world where few boundaries are distinct – between safe and unsafe, friend and foe, real and unreal, man and beast – until Macbeth too is slaughtered.

The image above shows Nicol Williamson as Macbeth in a 1983 BBC TV adaptation.

With:

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

Kiernan Ryan
Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

And

David Schalkwyk,
Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of Global Shakespeare at Queen Mary, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson


THU 09:45 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000myts)
Episode 4

Anne-Marie Duff reads the incredible true story of Ursula Kuczynski aka 'Agent Sonya', one of the Soviet Union's most important spies. From acclaimed historian, Ben MacIntyre.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma Harding

Episode 4: 'Agent Sonya' nets the biggest fish of her espionage career.

Opening music: Kühle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? Solidaritätslied by Hanns Eisler from album Bye-Bye Berlin, performed by Quatuor Manfred, Harmonia Mundi
Closing music: Suite No 2 Op 2 Niemandsland i by Hanns Eisler from album Roaring Eisler, performed by H K Gruber and Modern Ensemble, RCA Red Seal


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000mytx)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


THU 10:45 Broken English (m000myv1)
Episode 4

Four years ago, Anna and John's marriage was floundering. To make matters worse, John began a disastrous affair with their couples counsellor, which he later regretted.

Now, to escape the past, they've started over in rural Southern France - a place they once visited on holiday, but don't know very well at all.

It's an act of folly, maybe, but necessary for their survival – or so it seemed at the time. But their dream of a new life in France is shattered when their 16 year old son disappears and they find that they, and each of their house guests, are suspects in what the gendarmes have decided is a possible murder enquiry.

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

CAST:
ANNA……. ………..……..…………………………………….Rosie Cavaliero
JOHN……..………………………………………………………Ewan Bailey
JESS..……………………..……………………………………… Macy Nyman
DOROTHY ……………………………………………………… Linda Bassett
DUNCAN …….…………..…………………………………… Rufus Wright
JOE…………………………....………………………………….Tom Glenister
LOU……….……………………………………………………….Rebecca Saire
ROB ………………………………………………………………. John McAndrew
MELANIE ………………………………………………………..Jane Slavin
CHARLIE ……………………………………………………….. Thomas Allam
CHRISTOPHER ………………………………………………. Alfie Wickham

Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000myv5)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world


THU 11:30 The Art of Survival (m000dybm)
Imagine for a moment having lost your home, becoming estranged from family, struggling with mental health or addiction issues, maybe falling foul of the law - and then consider what it would take to share your story in an art collaboration.

Among communities of homeless people, there are numerous projects that enhance the potentially redemptive qualities of art - in music-making, painting, poetry and drama.

And in Manchester, Norm, Toni, Fee, Jamie and Simon share their own stories in public installations, painted in sprawling white letters on cardboard. Their work has made an impact internationally. They have been homeless, now they are makers of art.

In this programme, they reflect on their practice - the politics of storytelling, the struggle to be heard unmediated and the courage required to face judgement.

Produced by Alia Cassam and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (m000myv9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000myvd)
Episode 9

By Charlotte Hobson. Early in 1914, 22-year-old Gerty Freely travels to Russia to work as a governess, little-knowing the huge upheavals in the world and in her own life that lie ahead.

In London, 1974, Gerty begins a memoir for her daughter Sophy, looking back at that extraordinary time of war, revolution and civil war. Most of her memories are centred on a young inventor, Nikita Slavkin, who mysteriously disappeared in 1919 and was subsequently celebrated in Soviet culture as The Vanishing Futurist.

“No word has been heard from him since […] Yet the idea persists that one day he will reappear.”

Episode Nine
Following Slavkin’s disappearance, Gerty and Pasha take drastic steps to try and find him.

Charlotte Hobson graduated from Edinburgh University with a first in Russian. Thereafter she travelled widely in the former Soviet Union, working as an interpreter in the Caucasus, a translator, and dabbling in civil rights. Her book, Black Earth City (2002) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002. The Vanishing Futurist was published in 2016 - her first novel. Charlotte lives in Cornwall with her family.

Writer: Charlotte Hobson
Reader: Barbara Flynn
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000myvj)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


THU 12:57 Weather (m000myvn)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m000myvs)
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 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000myvx)
Gathering Storm

When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City he thought he was firing the first shot in a revolution that would bring down the American Government. He expected that others in the anti-government movement would flock to his cause.

That didn’t happen.

Journalist Leah Sottile investigates the fallout of McVeigh's actions amongst America's extreme right in the decade after after the bombing.

Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt


THU 14:00 The Archers (m000myw1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama (b07ffxst)
Behind Closed Doors

Section

The second in a series of three dramas set inside legal hearings.
Today Barrister Rebecca Nyman is representing a client at a Mental Health Tribunal. Andrew has been in a High Security Mental Hospital for seven years, now he thinks he’s fit to be released. But will the Tribunal agree?

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SERIES 3:
Section
by CLARA GLYNN

Barrister Rebecca Nyman …………………… CLARE CORBETT
Andrew Caston ……………………….………………… JOE SIMS
Judge.………………………………………………… DAVID HOLT
Dr Ruckman…………………………………… KATHERINE IGOE
Dr Reynolds……………………………………… DAVID TIMSON
Wendy Caston ……………………………………… ADIE ALLEN
Charlotte Workman…………………………… KIRSTY OSWALD
Margosha Day……. ……………………… NICOLA FERGUSON

Producer/Director: David Ian Neville


THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000myw5)
Buckinghamshire with Professor David Wilson

David Wilson is a well known criminologist and former prison governor. Clare meets him in the village of Wicken on the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshire border near to where he lives for a walk to the nearby village of Leckhampstead. This is one of David's regular routes. He has been walking around 50 miles a week since lockdown began in March. He does it to keep his weight down and to help process the horrors he often faces in his work dealing with murderers and serial killers. Clare talks to him about a case in his hometown in Scotland which he has recently written a book about. In it he reexamines the brutal murder of a young woman in 1973. Many people in the town believed the wrong man was tried and convicted. With the help of his sisters, David revisits the case and tracks down the man he believes to be the real killer.

Producer: Maggie Ayre

The route starts on OS Landranger 152 Grid Ref SP 745394 Wicken to Leckhampstead


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000my0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Open Book (m000my1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]


THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000mywb)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000mywg)
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m000mywn)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000mywv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 18:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06whsx1)
Series 5

Episode 3

John Finnemore - writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts, regular guest on The Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth - returns for a fifth series of his multi-award-winning sketch show, joined as ever by a cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.

This week we look back at a career in accounting, hear of an over-rated experience and, we're sorry to say, Patsy Straightwoman returns with an interview sketch.

"One of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" - The Guardian
"The best sketch show in years, on television or radio" - The Radio Times
"The inventive sketch show ... continues to deliver the goods" - The Daily Mail
"Superior comedy" - The Observer

Written by and starring ... John Finnemore

Original music composed by ... Susannah Pearse
Original music performed by ... Susannah Pearse & Sally Stares

Producer: Ed Morrish

A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2016.


THU 19:00 The Archers (m000myvt)
Writers, Sarah Hehir & Keri Davies
Director, Peter Leslie Wild
Editor, Jeremy Howe

Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davis
Lilian Bellamy.... Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Jakob Hakansson... Paul Venables
Jazzer McCreary.... Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller.... Annabelle Dowler
Philip Moss ….. Andy Hockley
Gavin Moss ….. Gareth Pierce
Elizabeth Pargetter.... Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter... Toby Laurence
Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Counsellor... Saffron Coomber


THU 19:15 Front Row (m000myx0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 19:45 Broken English (m000myv1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000myx4)
David Aaronovitch and a panel of experts and insiders present in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.


THU 20:30 Anatomy of Guilt (m000m5md)
What is guilt - is it a legal verdict, a state of mind or a moral idea? Why do we feel guilty? And is there such a thing as collective guilt, by which a whole community or even country may be judged?

A criminal barrister but also grown up a Catholic, Helena Kennedy QC cross-examines the notion of guilt from a range of perspectives - legal, psychological and political.

Guilt is both a public judgement and a private emotion, both legal and psychological. It’s also highly political. Following recent Black Lives Matter insurgency across the UK the question of collective guilt - historical guilt - is animating debates around Britain’s colonial past and demands for reparations. The example of Germany and the trials at Nuremberg following the Second World War are a model of how law has confronted, and struggled with, ideas of collective guilt. Today there is strong moral disagreement around how far back in time shared responsibility for historic crimes should extend - ‘…the guilt remains, more deeply rooted, more securely lodged, than the oldest of old trees’ the Black American author James Baldwin wrote of slavery and its continuing impact, ‘..history is present in all that we do’.

Jewish guilt, Catholic guilt, guilt as a state of inner conflict. In psychoanalysis, it divides the self even as it creates a shared bond with others. On an everyday level most of us reflect on feelings of guilt - not keeping a promise, not telling the truth, failing in our obligations. Where do those feelings of moral guilt, indeed of conscience, come from? And has our understanding of guilt really changed over time?

With her own experience as a criminal barrister and hearing from a range of contributors, Helena takes the legal notion of guilt as a verdict and ventures outwards drawing on religious ideas, psychoanalytic insight, political grievance and the meaning of historic justice.

Contributors include the author Howard Jacobsen, psychoanalyst and writer Adam Phillips, curator Aliyah Hasinah, international lawyer Philippe Sands, legal scholar and barrister Conor Gearty, author Svenja O’Donnell, barrister Ulele Burnham, writer and journalist Rhik Samadder and moral philosopher Michael Sandel.

Producer: Simon Hollis

A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4


THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000mywg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 today]


THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000mytn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000myxb)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000myvd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


THU 23:00 The Skewer (m000myxg)
Series 2

Episode 3

Jon Holmes's extraordinary Skewer returns to twist itself into these extraordinary times.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000myxl)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament



FRIDAY 02 OCTOBER 2020

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000myxr)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 00:30 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000myts)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000myxw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000myy0)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000myy4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000myy8)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000myyc)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rabbi Warren Elf MBE


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000myyj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkt4n)
Cattle Egret

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Cattle Egret. Cattle egrets were originally birds of the African savannahs but they have become one of the most successful global colonisers of any bird species. In 2008 a pair of cattle egrets made ornithological history by breeding in the UK, on the Somerset Levels, for the first time.


FRI 06:00 Today (m000myt8)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000my10)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Sunday]


FRI 09:45 Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre (m000mywl)
Episode 5

Anne-Marie Duff reads the incredible true story of Ursula Kuczynski: lover, mother, soldier, spy. From acclaimed historian, Ben MacIntyre.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma Harding

Episode 5: In a quiet English village in 1942, no one knows that their neighbour and mother-of-three, Mrs Burton, is really Ursula Kuczynski - a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia's Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. Nor do they know that 'Agent Sonya' is currently helping the Soviet Union to build the atom bomb.

Opening music: Kühle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? Solidaritätslied by Hanns Eisler from album Bye-Bye Berlin, performed by Quatuor Manfred, Harmonia Mundi
Closing music: Suite No 2 Op 2 Niemandsland i by Hanns Eisler from album Roaring Eisler, performed by H K Gruber and Modern Ensemble, RCA Red Seal


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000myth)
The programme that offers a female perspective on the world


FRI 10:45 Broken English (m000mytm)
Episode 5

Four years ago, Anna and John's marriage was floundering. To make matters worse, John began a disastrous affair with their couples counsellor, which he later regretted.

Now, to escape the past, they've started over in rural Southern France - a place they once visited on holiday, but don't know very well at all.

It's an act of folly, maybe, but necessary for their survival – or so it seemed at the time. But their dream of a new life in France is shattered when their 16 year old son disappears and they find that they, and each of their house guests, are suspects in what the gendarmes have decided is a possible murder enquiry.

Written by Shelagh Stephenson

CAST:
ANNA……. ………..……..…………………………………….Rosie Cavaliero
JOHN……..………………………………………………………Ewan Bailey
JESS..……………………..……………………………………… Macy Nyman
DOROTHY ……………………………………………………… Linda Bassett
DUNCAN …….…………..…………………………………… Rufus Wright
JOE…………………………....………………………………….Tom Glenister
LOU……….……………………………………………………….Rebecca Saire
ROB ………………………………………………………………. John McAndrew
MELANIE ………………………………………………………..Jane Slavin
CHARLIE ……………………………………………………….. Thomas Allam
CHRISTOPHER ………………………………………………. Alfie Wickham

Produced and Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 11:00 The Austerity Audit (m000mytr)
Episode 4

Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, examines a decade of austerity to ask why it happened.


FRI 11:30 Believe It! (m000mytw)
Series 5

Autobiography

Richard Wilson returns with another series of not quite true revelations about his life. Jon Canter’s comedic writing is as sharp as ever as he delves into themes such as celebrity, brand awareness and death.

As usual Richard has many friends from whom he seeks advice. Starring Ian McKellen as Head of Gay, Peter Capaldi and David Tennant as the Two Doctors, and Antony Sher as The Man Addicted To Waitrose along with an excellent supporting cast.

It’s a mockumentary and spoof autobiography rolled into one.

CAST:
Richard Wilson
Sir Ian McKellen
John Hollingworth - Kenneth
Rebekah Staton - Camille
David Tennant
Peter Capaldi

Written by Jon Canter
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000myws)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000myv4)
Episode 10

By Charlotte Hobson. Early in 1914, 22-year-old Gerty Freely travels to Russia to work as a governess, little-knowing the huge upheavals in the world and in her own life that lie ahead.

In London, 1974, Gerty begins a memoir for her daughter Sophy, looking back at that extraordinary time of war, revolution and civil war. Most of her memories are centred on a young inventor, Nikita Slavkin, who mysteriously disappeared in 1919 and was subsequently celebrated in Soviet culture as The Vanishing Futurist.

“No word has been heard from him since […] Yet the idea persists that one day he will reappear.”

Episode Ten
Gerty and Pasha learn the truth about the mysterious Laboratoria 37.

Charlotte Hobson graduated from Edinburgh University with a first in Russian. Thereafter she travelled widely in the former Soviet Union, working as an interpreter in the Caucasus, a translator, and dabbling in civil rights. Her book, Black Earth City (2002) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002. The Vanishing Futurist was published in 2016 - her first novel. Charlotte lives in Cornwall with her family.

Writer: Charlotte Hobson
Reader: Barbara Flynn
Abridger: Jeremy Osborne
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000myv8)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


FRI 12:57 Weather (m000myvf)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m000myvk)
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 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000myvp)
The Oklahoma Standard

25 years on from the worst act of domestic terrorism in America's history, the FBI has said that 2019 was the deadliest year for domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Today, with America feeling more divided and dangerous than it has in a generation, journalist Leah Sottile asks whether lessons from the actions of Timothy McVeigh have been addressed.

Presenter: Leah Sottile
Producer: Georgia Catt


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000myvt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Drama (b07fg2qd)
Behind Closed Doors

Protection

The last in a series of three dramas set inside legal hearings.

Today’s drama is set at the Court of Protection. Mary has been in a Minimally Conscious State for over three years following a road accident. Barrister Rebecca Nyman is representing her husband who feels it is time to allow his wife to die.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SERIES 3:
Protection
by CLARA GLYNN

Barrister Rebecca Nyman ………………… CLARE CORBETT
Mr Buchar………………………………… VINCENT EBRAHIM
Justice Rainer …………..…………… ELIZABETH BENNETT
Gavin Howell ………………………..………… EWAN BAILEY
Emily Howell ………………………………… AMY SHINDLER
Dr Raplock/Mrs Forest.…………………… CLARE PERKINS
Professor Rushmore …….…………… BRIAN PROTHEROE
Megan Trantor……………………………… BETTRYS JONES

Producer/Director: David Ian Neville


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000myw0)
GQT at Home: Episode Twenty-Seven

The gardening panel show hosted by Kathy Clugston. Joining her on the panel this week are Chris Beardshaw, Anne Swithinbank and Matthew Pottage.

Producer - Darby Dorras
Assistant Producer - Rosie Merotra

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000myw4)
A Borderline Interest by Derek Owusu

Two people meet in a mental health support group and quickly grow close. But is one of them hiding something?

An original short story for Radio 4 about what we share, what we hide and how to understand someone's true feelings when you're not even sure of your own.

Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from north London. He discovered his passion for literature at the age of twenty-three while studying exercise science at university. Unable to afford a change of degree, Derek began reading voraciously and sneaking into English Literature lectures at the University of Manchester. Derek edited and contributed to Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space. That Reminds Me, his first solo work, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for new fiction in 2020.

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Produced by Mair Bosworth


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000myw7)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.


FRI 16:30 More or Less (m000mywc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m000mywj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000mywx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000myx1)
Series 103

Episode 5

A satirical review of the week's news


FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000myx5)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


FRI 19:45 Broken English (m000mytm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000myx9)
Vaughan Gething AM, Amanda Milling MP, Camilla Tominey

Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London with a panel including the Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething AM, the Chair of the Conservative Party Amanda Milling MP and associate editor of The Telegraph newspaper Camilla Tominey.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Studio Director: Maire Devine


FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000myxf)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.


FRI 21:00 Two Minutes Past Nine (m000myxk)
Omnibus 2/2

25 years on from the largest domestic terror incident in American history, journalist Leah Sottile investigates the legacy of the Oklahoma City Bombing.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000myxp)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson (m000myv4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 today]


FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000myxs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]


FRI 23:30 Things That Made the Modern Economy (m000blz0)
Series 2

Prohibition

Economists in the 1920s argued in favour of Prohibition, the short-lived attempt to ban sales of alcohol in the United States. They were worried about drunkenness affecting productivity. But economics didn’t yet have the idea of the “rational criminal”, which helps to explain why Prohibition was so widely flouted. Now debates are raging about whether cannabis should continue to be prohibited. Tim Harford reveals how a branch of economics called public choice theory has a surprising explanation for why alliances in favour of banning things can command such wide support.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editor: Richard Vadon


FRI 23:45 Today in Parliament (m000myxx)
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)

A British History in Weather 00:15 SUN (b07b2hyd)

A Deadly Trade 11:00 MON (m000ktxk)

A Point of View 08:48 SUN (m000ms0r)

A Point of View 20:50 FRI (m000myxf)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 09:45 MON (m000my8g)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 00:30 TUE (m000my8g)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 09:45 TUE (m000mzq8)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 00:30 WED (m000mzq8)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 09:45 WED (m000mzsy)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 00:30 THU (m000mzsy)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 09:45 THU (m000myts)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 00:30 FRI (m000myts)

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre 09:45 FRI (m000mywl)

Alex Edelman's Special Relationships 23:00 MON (m0007prg)

Analysis 20:30 MON (m000my85)

Anatomy of Guilt 20:30 THU (m000m5md)

Any Answers? 14:00 SAT (m000my29)

Any Questions? 13:10 SAT (m000ms0p)

Any Questions? 20:00 FRI (m000myx9)

Archive on 4 20:00 SAT (m000my3f)

BBC Inside Science 16:30 THU (m000mywg)

BBC Inside Science 21:00 THU (m000mywg)

Back To School 20:00 MON (m000my83)

Back to School 11:00 WED (m000my83)

Believe It! 11:30 FRI (m000mytw)

Bells on Sunday 05:43 SUN (m000my36)

Bells on Sunday 00:45 MON (m000my36)

Beyond Belief 16:30 MON (m000my7n)

Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola 15:00 SAT (b07b302r)

Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola 15:00 SUN (b07bb1vt)

Brain of Britain 23:00 SAT (m000msvp)

Brain of Britain 15:00 MON (m000my7k)

Broadcasting House 09:00 SUN (m000my0m)

Broken English 10:45 MON (m000my6y)

Broken English 19:45 MON (m000my6y)

Broken English 10:45 TUE (m000mzmq)

Broken English 19:45 TUE (m000mzmq)

Broken English 10:45 WED (m000mzr2)

Broken English 19:45 WED (m000mzr2)

Broken English 10:45 THU (m000myv1)

Broken English 19:45 THU (m000myv1)

Broken English 10:45 FRI (m000mytm)

Broken English 19:45 FRI (m000mytm)

Bunk Bed 23:15 WED (m00045bn)

Contains Strong Language Live 16:30 SUN (m000my1w)

Costing the Earth 15:30 TUE (m000mznn)

Costing the Earth 21:00 WED (m000mznn)

Dear Life by Rachel Clarke 00:30 SAT (m000mrzh)

Desert Island Discs 11:00 SUN (m000my10)

Desert Island Discs 09:00 FRI (m000my10)

Dot 19:15 SUN (b08r1ljg)

Drama 14:00 MON (m000my7h)

Drama 14:15 TUE (m000mznj)

Drama 14:15 WED (b07ffd8d)

Drama 14:15 THU (b07ffxst)

Drama 14:15 FRI (b07fg2qd)

Earth Bound 23:30 SAT (m000mrbk)

Farming Today 06:30 SAT (m000my0v)

Farming Today 05:45 MON (m000my4f)

Farming Today 05:45 TUE (m000my8w)

Farming Today 05:45 WED (m000mzqr)

Farming Today 05:45 THU (m000mztb)

Farming Today 05:45 FRI (m000myyj)

File on 4 17:00 SUN (m000mt1l)

File on 4 20:00 TUE (m000mzph)

Forum Internum 21:00 MON (m000fx1t)

Four Thought 05:45 SAT (m000mr46)

Four Thought 09:30 WED (m000myyp)

Four Thought 20:45 WED (m000myyp)

From Our Own Correspondent 11:30 SAT (m000my1m)

From Our Own Correspondent 11:00 THU (m000myv5)

Front Row 19:15 MON (m000my81)

Front Row 19:15 TUE (m000mzpc)

Front Row 19:15 WED (m000mzsk)

Front Row 19:15 THU (m000myx0)

Front Row 19:00 FRI (m000myx5)

Gardeners' Question Time 14:00 SUN (m000ms07)

Gardeners' Question Time 15:00 FRI (m000myw0)

Great Lives 16:30 TUE (m000myxs)

Great Lives 23:00 FRI (m000myxs)

I Was... 16:00 MON (m000n45x)

In Business 21:30 SUN (m000mqpx)

In Our Time 09:00 THU (m000mytn)

In Our Time 21:30 THU (m000mytn)

In Touch 20:40 TUE (m000mzpm)

Inside Health 21:00 TUE (m000mzpr)

Inside Health 15:30 WED (m000mzpr)

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme 18:30 THU (b06whsx1)

Last Word 20:30 SUN (m000ms0c)

Last Word 16:00 FRI (m000myw7)

Living National Treasures 14:45 SUN (m000g3fx)

Long Covid 11:00 TUE (m000mzms)

Loose Ends 18:15 SAT (m000my37)

Loose Ends 11:30 MON (m000my37)

Midnight News 00:00 SAT (m000ms12)

Midnight News 00:00 SUN (m000my3w)

Midnight News 00:00 MON (m000my31)

Midnight News 00:00 TUE (m000my8d)

Midnight News 00:00 WED (m000mzq4)

Midnight News 00:00 THU (m000mzsw)

Midnight News 00:00 FRI (m000myxr)

Money Box 12:04 SAT (m000my1x)

Money Box 21:00 SUN (m000my1x)

Money Box 15:00 WED (m000mzrr)

More or Less 20:00 SUN (m000mr42)

More or Less 09:00 WED (m000mywc)

More or Less 16:30 FRI (m000mywc)

My Dream Dinner Party 19:15 SAT (m000m575)

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics 11:30 TUE (m000cn4b)

Natural Histories 06:35 SUN (b082hg39)

News Briefing 05:30 SAT (m000ms1b)

News Briefing 05:30 SUN (m000my4p)

News Briefing 05:30 MON (m000my41)

News Briefing 05:30 TUE (m000my8r)

News Briefing 05:30 WED (m000mzqm)

News Briefing 05:30 THU (m000mzt6)

News Briefing 05:30 FRI (m000myy8)

News Summary 12:00 SAT (m000my1s)

News Summary 12:00 SUN (m000my66)

News Summary 12:00 MON (m000n04n)

News Summary 12:00 TUE (m000n0f7)

News Summary 12:00 WED (m000n0h0)

News Summary 12:00 THU (m000myv9)

News Summary 12:00 FRI (m000myws)

News and Papers 06:00 SAT (m000my0q)

News and Papers 07:00 SUN (m000my07)

News and Papers 08:00 SUN (m000my0h)

News 13:00 SAT (m000my25)

News 22:00 SAT (m000my3p)

News 06:00 SUN (m000my02)

No Triumph, No Tragedy 16:00 TUE (m000clck)

One to One 14:45 SAT (m000mt0k)

One to One 09:30 TUE (m000mzmc)

Open Book 16:00 SUN (m000my1r)

Open Book 15:30 THU (m000my1r)

PM 17:00 SAT (m000my2k)

PM 17:00 MON (m000my7q)

PM 17:00 TUE (m000mzns)

PM 17:00 WED (m000mzs4)

PM 17:00 THU (m000mywn)

PM 17:00 FRI (m000mywj)

Phil Ellis Is Trying 18:30 WED (m000mzsh)

Pick of the Week 18:15 SUN (m000my2j)

Poem Stories 21:45 SAT (b05xcvb8)

Political Thinking with Nick Robinson 17:30 SAT (m000my2p)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 SAT (m000ms1d)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 MON (m000my47)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 TUE (m000my8t)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 WED (m000mzqp)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 THU (m000mzt8)

Prayer for the Day 05:43 FRI (m000myyc)

Profile 19:00 SAT (m000my20)

Profile 05:45 SUN (m000my20)

Profile 17:40 SUN (m000my20)

Radio 4 Appeal 07:54 SUN (m000my0c)

Radio 4 Appeal 21:25 SUN (m000my0c)

Radio 4 Appeal 15:27 THU (m000my0c)

Ramblings 06:07 SAT (m000mqp6)

Ramblings 15:00 THU (m000myw5)

Rethink 09:00 TUE (m000mzm7)

Rethink 21:30 TUE (m000mzm7)

Saturday Live 09:00 SAT (m000my17)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SAT (m000ms16)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 SUN (m000my49)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 MON (m000my3n)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 TUE (m000my8m)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 WED (m000mzqh)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 THU (m000mzt2)

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes 01:00 FRI (m000myy0)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SAT (m000ms14)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 SAT (m000ms18)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SAT (m000my2t)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 SUN (m000my43)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 SUN (m000my4h)

Shipping Forecast 17:54 SUN (m000my24)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 MON (m000my3d)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 MON (m000my3v)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 TUE (m000my8k)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 TUE (m000my8p)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 WED (m000mzqd)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 WED (m000mzqk)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 THU (m000mzt0)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 THU (m000mzt4)

Shipping Forecast 00:48 FRI (m000myxw)

Shipping Forecast 05:20 FRI (m000myy4)

Short Works 00:30 SUN (m000ms09)

Short Works 15:45 FRI (m000myw4)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SAT (m000my32)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 SUN (m000my2d)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 MON (m000my7v)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 TUE (m000mzp2)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 WED (m000mzsd)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 THU (m000mywv)

Six O'Clock News 18:00 FRI (m000mywx)

Something Understood 06:05 SUN (b014m6qx)

Something Understood 23:30 SUN (b014m6qx)

Stand-Up Specials 11:30 WED (m0004lbs)

Start the Week 09:00 MON (m000my6r)

Start the Week 21:30 MON (m000my6r)

Sunday Worship 08:10 SUN (m000my0k)

Sunday 07:10 SUN (m000my09)

The Archers Omnibus 10:00 SUN (m000my0r)

The Archers 19:00 MON (m000my7z)

The Archers 14:00 TUE (m000my7z)

The Archers 19:00 TUE (m000mzp7)

The Archers 14:00 WED (m000mzp7)

The Archers 19:00 WED (m000myw1)

The Archers 14:00 THU (m000myw1)

The Archers 19:00 THU (m000myvt)

The Archers 14:00 FRI (m000myvt)

The Art of Survival 11:30 THU (m000dybm)

The Austerity Audit 11:00 FRI (m000mytr)

The Briefing Room 20:00 THU (m000myx4)

The Californian Century 19:45 SAT (m000fwcc)

The Damien Slash Mixtape 23:00 WED (m000mzsr)

The Escaped Lyric 14:45 MON (b081b2w3)

The Film Programme 23:00 SUN (m000mqpd)

The Film Programme 16:00 THU (m000mywb)

The Food Programme 12:32 SUN (m000my18)

The Food Programme 15:30 MON (m000my18)

The Hotel 19:45 SUN (m000my2s)

The Kitchen Cabinet 10:30 SAT (m000my1c)

The Kitchen Cabinet 15:00 TUE (m000my1c)

The Lenny Henry Show 18:30 TUE (m000mzp4)

The Listening Project 13:30 SUN (m000my1n)

The Media Show 16:30 WED (m000mzs0)

The Media Show 21:30 WED (m000mzs0)

The Museum of Curiosity 12:04 SUN (m000mswk)

The Museum of Curiosity 18:30 MON (m000my7x)

The News Quiz 12:30 SAT (m000ms0k)

The News Quiz 18:30 FRI (m000myx1)

The Rise and Fall of the Antique 11:45 SUN (b0bdvj52)

The Skewer 23:00 THU (m000myxg)

The Spark 22:15 SAT (m000mr6m)

The Spark 20:00 WED (m000mzsm)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 12:04 MON (m000my75)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 22:45 MON (m000my75)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 12:04 TUE (m000mzmx)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 22:45 TUE (m000mzmx)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 12:04 WED (m000mzr6)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 22:45 WED (m000mzr6)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 12:04 THU (m000myvd)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 22:45 THU (m000myvd)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 12:04 FRI (m000myv4)

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson 22:45 FRI (m000myv4)

The Week in Westminster 11:00 SAT (m000my1h)

The Whisperer In Darkness 19:00 SUN (m000my2n)

The World This Weekend 13:00 SUN (m000my1j)

The World Tonight 22:00 MON (m000my88)

The World Tonight 22:00 TUE (m000mzpw)

The World Tonight 22:00 WED (m000mzsp)

The World Tonight 22:00 THU (m000myxb)

The World Tonight 22:00 FRI (m000myxp)

Things That Made the Modern Economy 23:30 FRI (m000blz0)

Thinking Allowed 00:15 MON (m000mr5v)

Thinking Allowed 16:00 WED (m000mzrw)

To Hull and Back 23:00 TUE (b07nrlr3)

Today in Parliament 23:30 MON (m000my8b)

Today in Parliament 23:30 TUE (m000mzq0)

Today in Parliament 23:30 WED (m000mzst)

Today in Parliament 23:30 THU (m000myxl)

Today in Parliament 23:45 FRI (m000myxx)

Today 07:00 SAT (m000my13)

Today 06:00 MON (m000my6p)

Today 06:00 TUE (m000mzlv)

Today 06:00 WED (m000mzqt)

Today 06:00 THU (m000mytj)

Today 06:00 FRI (m000myt8)

Tracks 21:00 SAT (p06rtwdq)

Tweet of the Day 08:58 SUN (b03bkfz4)

Tweet of the Day 10:55 SUN (m000my0w)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 MON (b03bkt9y)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 TUE (b03bktkx)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 WED (b03bkt1q)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 THU (b03bkt3d)

Tweet of the Day 05:58 FRI (b03bkt4n)

Two Minutes Past Nine 13:45 MON (m000my7f)

Two Minutes Past Nine 13:45 TUE (m000mznd)

Two Minutes Past Nine 13:45 WED (m000mzrm)

Two Minutes Past Nine 13:45 THU (m000myvx)

Two Minutes Past Nine 13:45 FRI (m000myvp)

Two Minutes Past Nine 21:00 FRI (m000myxk)

Weather 06:57 SAT (m000my0z)

Weather 12:57 SAT (m000my21)

Weather 17:57 SAT (m000my2y)

Weather 06:57 SUN (m000my05)

Weather 07:57 SUN (m000my0f)

Weather 12:57 SUN (m000my1d)

Weather 17:57 SUN (m000my28)

Weather 05:56 MON (m000my4m)

Weather 12:57 MON (m000my79)

Weather 12:57 TUE (m000mzn4)

Weather 12:57 WED (m000mzrd)

Weather 12:57 THU (m000myvn)

Weather 12:57 FRI (m000myvf)

Westminster Hour 22:00 SUN (m000my2x)

Woman's Hour 16:00 SAT (m000my2f)

Woman's Hour 10:00 MON (m000my6w)

Woman's Hour 10:00 TUE (m000mzmm)

Woman's Hour 10:00 WED (m000mzr0)

Woman's Hour 10:00 THU (m000mytx)

Woman's Hour 10:00 FRI (m000myth)

World at One 13:00 MON (m000my7c)

World at One 13:00 TUE (m000mzn8)

World at One 13:00 WED (m000mzrh)

World at One 13:00 THU (m000myvs)

World at One 13:00 FRI (m000myvk)

You and Yours 12:18 MON (m000my77)

You and Yours 12:18 TUE (m000mzn0)

You and Yours 12:18 WED (m000mzr8)

You and Yours 12:18 THU (m000myvj)

You and Yours 12:18 FRI (m000myv8)