SATURDAY 15 MAY 2021
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m000vz9q)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 Other Minds: The Octopus And The Evolution Of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith (m000vz80)
Our Minds and Others
What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In Other Minds, the philosopher and scuba diver Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the startling evolutionary journey of the cephalopods. It all started for him when he began scuba diving near Sydney:
“I came across the octopuses by chance, by spending time in the water. I began following them around, and eventually started thinking about their lives. After all, the sea is the original home of the mind, at least in its first faint forms.”
Professor Godfrey-Smith explores what we know about the intelligence of cephalopods, including the tricks they play on the scientists who try to study them. He looks back 600 million years, to reveal the worm-like creature which was the last common ancestor connecting us with the octopus. He visits an extraordinary site off the coast of Australia, Octopolis, where the animals have developed a kind of city under the sea. And he meditates on why the octopus, with such high intelligence, lives for such a short time.
In this final episode, he asks us to imagine what it feels like to be an octopus, raising big questions about the nature of animal consciousness. What is the nature of their consciousness, and how does it challenge the usual way we think about the brain/body divide?
“In an octopus, it’s not clear where the brain itself begins and ends, and the nervous system runs all through the body. The octopus is suffused with nervousness; the body is not a separate thing that is controlled by the brain or nervous system.
“The usual philosophical debate is between those who see the brain as an all-powerful CEO and those who emphasise the intelligence stored in the body itself. Both views rely on a distinction between brain-based and body-based knowledge. The octopus lives outside both the usual pictures. It lives outside the brain/body divide.”
Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney.
Read by Tim McInnerny
Abridged and produced by Elizabeth Burke
Sound design by Chris Maclean
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000vz9s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000vz9v)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000vz9x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m000vz9z)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000vzb1)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
Today is Saturday – a good day for odd jobs, and I have a dilemma. Just about a year ago, part-way into what we affectionately refer to as Lockdown I, my son and I set ourselves a weekend activity. We had decided to decorate our front window in support of the beloved NHS. He printed all the letters for the message ‘thank you NHS’ out in outline on the computer. I then painted them blue, and he cut them out. We then stuck them on the window for all to see. Over the months, it has drawn many comments, and people often stopped to look. Inside the house, the morning sun projects the letters as shadows on the wall each day.
The trouble is, the letters are showing their age. Thirteen months of exposure to the daylight has made the paper brittle, and it is starting to curl at the edges. That bright, hand-painted blue is fading fast, and it won’t be long before they stop sticking to the glass. Not only that, but almost all the other rainbows and stickers have disappeared from the other houses up and down the road.
Hence, my dilemma. Should I take them down or leave them up? Realistically, it is unlikely that the morale of the NHS will be adversely affected by one front room window in Berkshire. Then again, to take them down feels like saying that I am no longer grateful.
It seems to me that short-term gratitude is easy, whereas we have more of a problem with the long term. ‘Bless the Lord, o my soul’ the psalmist says ‘and forget not all his benefits’. The truth is, we tend to forget if do not seek to remember.
Dear God, today I pray that you would make me truly grateful for your many blessings. Forgive my spiritual amnesia, I pray.
Amen.
SAT 05:45 Bodies (m000rmnd)
Episode 7: Leonardo - Drawing the body
The human body is the battleground where our most fundamental ideas about the way the world is come into sharp focus.
When we think and talk about the body, we are suddenly very aware of that pattern of thinking which frames concepts in opposition, divides the world up between dark and light, material and immaterial, technology and humanity, invisible and visible, mind and body, body and soul.
In this ten part series, academic and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts traces how human knowledge of anatomy has grown and changed over time, and how this changing understanding has in turn affected our understanding of who we are.
Episode 7: Leonardo - Drawing the body
Drawing and anatomy have always gone hand in hand. And perhaps the most beautiful anatomical drawings of them all are from the notebooks of the Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci. Professor Alice Roberts celebrates da Vinci's lifelong fascination with anatomy and the ground-breaking diagrams he made. His drawings were based on his first-hand experience of dissections. He claimed to have performed more than thirty by the time he died.
Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m000w484)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m000vyp1)
Rhiane Fatinikun of Black Girls Hike in the Peak District
Rhiane Fatinikun takes Clare on one of her favourite walks in the Peak District. Starting in Edale they take in Hollins Cross, Lose Hill and Mam Tor. Rhiane set up Black Girls Hike to provide a safe space for black women to explore the countryside. It’s been such a success that there are now three branches: in the North West, the West Midlands and London. As she tells Clare, it’s a way of building confidence and increasing diversity in the outdoors. It's an exhilarating and challenging walk, made more so by the changeable weather they had on the day... from bright sunshine to snow and strong, biting wind.
We started at the main car park in Edale, which is near the railway station (station grid ref: SK 123 853)
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m000w486)
15/05/21 - Farming Today This Week: Action Plan for Animal Welfare. ELMS trials, tackling rural loneliness
The Government's new "Action Plan for Animal Welfare" is wide ranging, but the headline promise is to recognise animal sentience in law. That recognition was added to EU law back in 1997 under the Amsterdam Treaty, but since Brexit, animal welfare campaign groups had been worried it could be lost here. The action plan also mentions the introduction of new laws to crack down on illegal hare coursing and plans to give police more powers to protect farm animals from dogs. There are also plans to 'improve animal welfare at slaughter' and 'examine the use of cages for poultry and farrowing crates for pigs'. Caz Graham hears from the NFU and the RSPCA.
The biggest change in farming for a generation is underway as we move away from the EU’s subsidy system. Each devolved administration will introduce it's own new system for supporting agriculture - in England it's a "public money for public goods" system, with the new Environmental Land Management Scheme - or ELMS - still being designed. We visit one of the DEFRA trials in Wiltshire where ecologists and farmers are working together to assess the worth of "environmentally sustainable actions".
Spring 2021 has been unusually dry as well as cold. It's meant grass hasn't been growing as fast and some farmers are already grazing their cattle on fields meant for next winter's silage. We visit a research station run by the seed company, Germinal, where they're developing new kinds of drought resistant forage.
And we hear about a scheme in North Yorkshire which is helping retired farmers struggling with loneliness and isolation by pairing them up with members of the Young Farmers for regular social chats.
Presented by Caz Graham
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
SAT 06:57 Weather (m000w488)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m000w48b)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m000w48d)
Russell Tovey
Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.
SAT 10:30 You're Dead To Me (p07n8nrg)
Boudica
Greg Jenner and his guests discuss the important questions surrounding Queen Boudica including: Is she a feminist icon? How do you pronounce her name? And was she really ginger?
Get ready to forget everything you thought you knew about Boudica and learn what it was really like when the Romans invaded.
Featuring comedian, author and actress Sara Pascoe, known for QI, Have I Got News For You, and W1A among many other shows, and historian Dr Emma Southon, specialist in Roman history and co-host of the History is Sexy podcast.
Script and Research: Greg Jenner
Producer: Dan Morelle
A Muddy Knees Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m000w48g)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m000w48j)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m000w4fy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m000w3mk)
Difficulties claiming Personal Independence Payment benefit
Many people on Disability Living Allowance fail the stricter criteria when they are transferred to Personal Independence Payment Benefit. We hear about some of the difficulties claiming the newer benefit from Daphne Hall, vice chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers and Dr Jim McCormick, Chair of the Disability and Carers Benefits Advisory Group.
More than 100,000 couples in the UK divorce each year — around 40% of marriages. It is over twenty years since divorcing couples could bring the value of pensions into the pot when they share their assets. But in only one out of every eight cases take pensions into account as part of the financial settlement. So why is pension sharing at divorce forgotten in so many cases? Paul Lewis speaks to Jo Edwards, Head of Family Law at Forsters.
Up to a quarter of a million people over the age of 70 get no state pension - but around half of them could. Former Pensions minister Steve Webb explains all.
It’s nearly three months since we first reported that people were suffering weeks of delays when they try to access their pension funds invested with Prudential. Since then those weeks of delays have turned into months… and still the problems continue. Dan Whitworth investigates.
Researcher: Anita Langary
Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Alex Lewis
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m000vz9b)
Series 105
Episode 5
Andy Zaltzman presents a look back at the week's headlines with Danny Finkelstein, Zoe Lyons, Catherine Bohart and Darren Harriott.
This week, the panel dissect the Queen's Speech, unpick the local election results, and enjoy a rare quickfire round.
Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Max Davis, Rajiv Karia and Hannah Platt.
Producer: Gwyn Rhys Davies
Production Coordinator: Cherlynn Andrew-Wilfred
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 12:57 Weather (m000w48n)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m000w48q)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m000vz9g)
Mims Davies MP, Stephen Kinnock MP, Dr Philippa Whitford MP, Niall Ferguson
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Broadcasting House in London. Today's panel: Conservative MP and Employment Minister Mims Davies, Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific Stephen Kinnock, SNP Spokesperson for Health and Social Care Dr Philippa Whitford MP, and historian and writer Niall Ferguson.
Producer: Emma Campbell
Studio direction: Kirsty Starkey
SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m000w48s)
Have your say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 One to One (m000mcy8)
Hair changes: Helen Mort & Niamh Kavanagh
How significant is our hair when it comes to projecting an image of ourselves and how we feel? In the second programme about body modification, poet Helen Mort talks to hair stylist Niamh Kavanagh about the role of hair in expressing our personality. Throughout her life Helen has changed the colour and style of her hair and also had her head shaved. She is fascinated by people’s responses to hair and what it says about them and us. Niamh has also experimented with her own hair as well as cutting and styling clients’ hair, which involves trust, empathy and skill. Producer Sarah Blunt
SAT 15:00 Drama (m0002g6f)
Opening Pandora's Box
How do you turn a celebrated silent film into an audio drama? Wedekind's controversial 19th Century Lulu plays formed the basis of the 1929 German movie, Pandora's Box. Its star, Louise Brooks, will forever be associated with her iconic performance as Lulu, the ultimate 'femme fatale'. 90 years on, writer Katie Hims wonders what on earth to do about Lulu.
The Writer/Lulu ..... Kate O’Flynn
Justin/Alwa ..... Joseph Ayre
Simone/Geschwitz ..... Ayesha Antoine
Kerry ..... Kerry Gooderson
Dr. Schön ..... Tony Turner
Schigolch ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Piani ..... Ronny Jhutti
The Kind-Faced Man ..... Christopher Harper
Rodrigo ..... Don Gilet
Dr. van Zarnikow ..... Sam Dale
Charlotte ..... Franchi Webb
Written by Katie Hims
Original Music by Neil Brand
Directed by Toby Swift
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m000w48v)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Mona Eltahawy; Scarlett Moffatt; Female astronauts
Egyptian-American writer and activist Mona Eltahawy believes women should start actively defying and disrupting the patriarchy now - with force if necessary. Mona explains why she wrote her new book ‘The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls’ with enough 'rage to fuel a rocket.'
Tech entrepreneur Tabitha Goldstaub who Chairs the UK's AI Council and Carly Kind the Director of the Ada Lovelace Institute discuss concerns that because Artificial Intelligence algorithms are created from the data we give it, biases in society will be replicated and even amplified by it in the future.
TV presenter Jan Leeming and dating expert Charly Lester share tips and advice on how to go about dating in your late 60’s.
Scarlett Moffatt, famous for Gogglebox and winning I'm A Celebrity has just become an ambassador for The Samaritans. She talks about how reality television has affected her mental health, and exchanges experiences with Montana Brown who appeared on Love Island.
The last time the European Space Agency recruited for their Class of 2009, only 16% of applications came from women. One of the women chosen, Samantha Cristoforetti, talks about the ESA's latest recruitment drive and what skills are needed to make it in space.
Iranian artist Mentrix talks about her new single and video 99 Names of God - a well-known Muslim chant, traditionally sung by men during Ramadan. Mentrix explains the ideas behind the accompanying video which has generated a lot of criticism, with some people describing it as offensive, disrespectful and sinful.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Paula McFarlane
Editor: Kirsty Starkey
SAT 17:00 PM (m000w48x)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m000w48z)
Nick Robinson talks to Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, in a personal and political interview.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000w491)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SAT 17:57 Weather (m000w493)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w495)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m000w497)
Mary Beard, Ian Smith, Rakie Ayola, Le Gateau Chocolat, Glenn Tilbrook, Morcheeba, Arthur Smith, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Arthur Smith are joined by Mary Beard, Ian Smith, Le Gateau Chocolat and Rakie Ayola for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Glenn Tilbrook and Morcheeba.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m000w3m3)
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines
SAT 19:15 My Teenage Diary (m000jg9x)
Series 9
Jan Ravens
Rufus Hound picks the lock on the teenage diaries of the comedian and impressionist Jan Ravens, and finds out about teenage crushes, slow dances and new year's resolutions.
Other guests this series are Woman's Hour host Dame Jenni Murray, former Goodie Bill Oddie, comedian Shazia Mirza, podcaster Olly Mann and writer Julie Myerson.
Producer: Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000vy1l)
Green Spaces
Michael explores the science behind the soothing power of nature, revealing how nature not only makes us feel good in the moment, but how it also has a more lasting effect on our stress levels and our mental health. Michael speaks to Professor Ming Kuo at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has been looking into the surprising ways nature could be having an effect on your immune system and mind. They discuss everything from mood boosting microbes in the soil, to the aromatic chemicals released by plants that could be enhancing your immune system.
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m000w499)
A Spy in Every Embassy
“The intelligence coup of the century.” The extraordinary story of the longest running and most successful secret intelligence operation of the 20th Century.
For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company, Swiss-based Crypto AG, to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was owned for over 20 Cold War years by the CIA in partnership with the BND, the German Intelligence Service. The machines that many customers bought had deliberately weakened security – a window through which the CIA and BND could read the diplomatic traffic between their embassies, their trade negotiators and their own spies.
The BND sold out its share in 1993 for a tidy profit while the CIA continued until the company was broken up in 2018.
Crypto AG’s own secret was only cracked last year in a combined investigation by German ZDF television, Swiss SRF and the Washington Post following the discovery of a secret history, Operation Rubicon, that had been assembled by some of the operatives who had been involved in the deception.
A Spy in Every Embassy is the story of the story, presented by German intelligence journalist Peter F Muller, who produced last year’s television programme for ZDF, and British journalist David Ridd.
It gives the chronology of the manoeuvrings, arguments, successes and deceptions of the partnership that remained secret for a quarter of a century. Its revelations offer a new perspective on some of the landmark events of those decades - the Falklands War, the US bombing of Libya from British airfields, the negotiations that lead to the Camp David Accords and the Iranian Hostage crisis, as well as the daily churn of intelligence information from around the world about both friends and opponents.
The programme considers the collateral damage of deception on a grand scale. Most employees of Crypto AG knew nothing of the built-in weaknesses of the machinery they were building or trying to sell to governments in some very dangerous parts of the world.
Produced by John Forsyth
Assistant Producer: Alexandra Quinn
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
Extracts read by Lanna Joffrey, Annette Kossow, Blanca Belenguer, Mike Christofferson and Thilo Buergel.
Archive by kind permission of ZDF Television, Crypto Museum, Harry S Truman Library, National Security Agency Archive and Bletchley Park podcast.
Image courtesy www.cryptomuseum.com
SAT 21:00 Tumanbay (b06wg7rk)
Series 1
The Purge
In the eighth episode of this epic saga inspired by the Mamluk slave-dynasty, the Sultan (Raad Rawi) is increasingly insecure and fearful for his life, so begins a purge of the Palace. Slave trader Ibn (Nabil Elouahabi), is reunited with the daughter he thought he had lost. And her slave companion finally comes face to face with Gregor (Rufus Wright), the man who stole his kingdom.
Tumanbay, the beating heart of a vast empire, is threatened by a rebellion in a far-off province and a mysterious force devouring the city from within. Gregor, Master of the Palace Guard, is charged by Sultan Al-Ghuri with the task of rooting out this insurgence and crushing it.
Cast:
Gregor....................Rufus Wright
Al-Ghuri...................Raad Rawi
Cadali.....................Matthew Marsh
Wolf........................Alexander Siddig
Ibn..........................Nabil Elouahabi
Maya's Envoy..........Nadir Khan
Madu.......................Danny Ashok
Daniel.....................Gareth Kennerley
Heaven...................Olivia Popica
Slave.......................Akin Gazi
General Qulan.........Christopher Fulford
Manel.......................Aiysha Hart
Frog.........................Deeivya Meir
Sarah.......................Nina Yndis
Frog's Mother...........Sirine Saba
Shamsi.....................Laure Stockley
Pesha.......................Sky Yang
Boy...........................Darwin Brokenbro
Hodah.......................Nathalie Armin
Music - Sacha Puttnam
Sound Design - Steve Bond, Jon Ouin
Editors - Ania Przygoda, James Morgan
Producers - Emma Hearn, Nadir Khan, John Dryden
Written and Directed by John Dryden
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:45 Drama (b086l4zb)
Reading Europe: Scandinavia
Denmark: The Buddhist
By Dorthe Nors. A spiritual awakening helps a man who fears he has lost control over events in his life. Things can only go well when The Universe is on your side.
Dorthe Nors' insight into the strange nuances of human interactions, especially those rooted in violence or sorrow, is keenly observed in her short story collection, Karate Chop. She is able both to build and to unmake a character, achieving the same complexity that other writers require entire novels to establish. What's more, her protagonists are familiar and unsettling, with characteristics that echo in our psyches and ask us to call into question all we assume about ourselves and others.
Karate Chop is the first of Nors' books to be translated to English.
Written by Dorthe Nors
Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken
Read by Aoife McMahon
Abridged by Jill Waters
Produced by Lizzie Davies
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 22:00 News (m000w49c)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Reunion (m000tvgf)
Finding Richard III
Kirsty Wark reunites the archaeologists, scientists, a religious leader and a distant relative involved in the remarkable search for, identification, and reburial of the last Plantagenet king.
Richard III was the last English king to die in battle and the first to have his genome sequenced. The discovery and identification of his remains is one of the greatest archaeological detective stories ever told.
After his death on Bosworth Battle Field in 1485, Richard's body was hastily buried in a Friary in Leicester. But over the years, rumours spread that his bones had been dug up and flung into a nearby river.
Others believed that his body could still be in its original burial place, now under a council car park. Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society wanted to know for sure.
The dig started on 25th August 2012 and, within hours, bones had been found. Dr Richard Buckley lead the University of Leicester's archaeological team and confesses that no-one really believed they would find him. But as osteologist Dr Jo Appleby uncovered more of the remains, she discovered he had a curved spine and serious head wounds.
More research was needed to be sure they had got their man. Professor Turi King, an expert in DNA, and Jo Appleby explain the painstaking process to identify the remains and to match the DNA with relative Michael Ibsen, and how they found out more about the way the King lived.
David Monteith, the Dean of Leicester, became embroiled in a legal battle over where the remains should be re-interred – York or Leicester – as some distant relatives of the King challenged how the University had looked after the remains.
As well as giving a DNA sample, Michael Ibsen was also a carpenter and reveals how he ended up making his first ever coffin – fit for a medieval king.
Historian and writer Thomas Penn explains the impact of this momentous discovery on our understanding of history and of the man himself.
Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000vxyz)
Programme 10, 2021
(10/12)
The North of England, Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras, could find themselves in strong contention for the overall series title if they can hold off the challenge from Northern Ireland (Freya McClements and Paddy Duffy) in today's contest. This is the last appearance by these pairs in the current series so both sides will be going all-out for another win. Tom Sutcliffe asks the questions, provides helpful hints where necessary as the panellists deliberate, and awards the points according to how much he has had to intervene.
As usual there are several questions inspired by Round Britain Quiz listeners' suggestions - and each team gets a question with musical clips to identify and connect.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
SAT 23:30 Behind the Scenes (m000jn94)
Michael Armitage
Michael Armitage is a Kenyan-born painter whose success has earned him exhibitions at Turner Contemporary, the Venice Biennale, MoMA in New York and, just before lockdown, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. His work brings together the events, social and sexual issues that prevail in East Africa with his deep interest in Western painting.
Armitage was trained at the Slade and Royal Academy and his figurative work pays tribute to masters from Titian to Manet. In the paintings, he is not afraid to confront the dark side of life - the violence of a flaying, beatings and exorcism, sexual and religious intolerance - but he sets these scenes in a wider context than one country, prompting a reflection on universal inhumanity.
In the programme, we hear about Michael's unbringing and his life shared between London and Nairobi. We also discover his use of bark cloth instead of canvas as his painting surface. The cloth is cut from the softened bark of Lubugo tree and is traditionally used as shrouds in burial. The paintings are enriched by the texture and imperfections and stitching of the bark cloth which is a constant reminder of the African-ness of the work.
The programme is presented by critic and author Charlotte Jansen.
Producer: Susan Marling.
A Just Radio production for Radio 4
SUNDAY 16 MAY 2021
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m000w49f)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:30 Empty Stages (m000vz90)
My Palace
A series of stories written about people finding themselves, for various reasons, in theatres that have been forced to close due to the Pandemic.
Tanika Gupta tells the story of a young refugee, having fled from his war torn homeland, finds safety from the rough streets of London, under the stage of a London theatre.
Read by Shervin Alenabi
Written by Tanika Gupta
Directed by Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w49h)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w49k)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w49m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m000w49p)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m000w3mr)
Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire.
Bells on Sunday comes from the medieval three-spired Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire. The Cathedral was badly damaged during the Civil War, but in 1688 new bells were cast by Henry Bagley of Ecton, the first complete ring of ten to be cast by a single founder. In 1947, the bells were re-cast by Taylors of Loughborough and hung in the original 1688 frame. The tenor weight thirty one and a half hundredweight and is tuned to D. We hear them ringing Stedman Caters.
SUN 05:45 Profile (m000w3m3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m000w3kn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b04570qs)
Spirituality without God
Mark Tully asks if we need God when seeking a spiritual approach to life, or whether the concept of a deity can sometimes get in the way.
Drawing from music with religious themes, including Mahler's Resurrection Symphony and John Rutter's Cantate Domino, he examines the power that the notion of God can imbue in work created by agnostics, atheists, and religious doubters. And in literature he considers Salman Rushdie's belief that art can replace God in the search for transcendence, and Iris Murdoch's view that the concepts of God and the afterlife are, in fact, anti-religious ideas.
The programme features an interview with Iris Murdoch's biographer, Peter Conradi, who discusses with Mark the role of spirituality without God, in tempering the excesses of materialism and atheism in our modern world.
The readers are Fiona Shaw and Brian Cox.
Producer: Adam Fowler
A Unique production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m000w3kq)
Spring bull sales
Caz Graham is at Borderway Livestock market in Carlisle, to see the return of live prime pedigree bull sales after 2020’s key spring sales were online-only because of lockdown. There’s excitement amongst sellers and buyers from all over the UK, with 120 limousin beef bulls up for sale in the flesh as well as on screen. But Covid may have changed livestock markets for good. Lockdown has accelerated advances in online selling, and in future this is likely to be an important part of the way big markets operate. Caz meets buyers, sellers and auctioneers - and asks how they feel about this new future. Could sales like this one be consigned to the history books, with everything done online? Or will they always have a part to play in livestock farming?
Produced and presented by Caz Graham
SUN 06:57 Weather (m000w3ks)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m000w3kv)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m000w3kx)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week.
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m000w3kz)
Refugee Action
Comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Refugee Action.
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 ‘Refugee Action’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Refugee Action’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 283660
Main image credit: Heathcliff O'Malley Photography
SUN 07:57 Weather (m000w3l1)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m000w3l3)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m000w3l5)
A Name Above All Names
In his letter to the Philippians, St Paul wrote, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” so describing Christ as humble in his humanity but glorified in his divinity.
In live worship from Lichfield Cathedral, Residentiary Canon and Assistant Bishop, The Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, reflects both on the crucified Jesus and the risen and ascended Christ. From one of the places of worship involved in the provision of the Covid vaccines she asks how we might live differently as a result of the pandemic and in the light of the Ascension of Christ.
The worship is led by the Canon Precentor, The Revd Canon Andrew Stead. Music comes from Lichfield Cathedral Choir, directed by Ben Lamb, with Ascensiontide hymns and anthems, featuring the BBC Young Chorister of the Year 2020, Highly Commended Award winner, Josie, to launch the 2021 competition.
Producer: Katharine Longworth
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m000vz9j)
Absence of Exultation
"The Venetian Republic," writes Adam Gopnik, "built one of the greatest and most beautiful churches in the world, Santa Maria della Salute, to celebrate the end of one of their plagues in 1630."
Adam examines why today - as we attempt to put the pandemic behind us - any sense of exaltation is notable by its absence.
Producer: Adele Armstrong
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b01s8vcs)
Nightingale Part 1
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the nightingale. (Part 1 of 2) A bird whose song of rich crescendos of pure whistles and breathless phrases is hailed as one of the most complex and beautiful in the bird world and quite different to its plain brown appearance.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m000w3l7)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m000w3l9)
Writers, Helen Aitken and Sarah Hehir
Director, Rosemary Watts
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Josh Archer … Angus Imrie
Brian Aldridge ... Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ... Angela Piper
Alice Carter ... Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ... Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter ... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter ... Charlotte Martin
Vince Casey ... Tony Turner
Ruairi Donovan ... Arthur Hughes
Rex Fairbrother … Nick Barber
Emma Grundy ... Emerald O’hanrahan
Joy Horville ... Jackie Lye
Kate Madikane … Perdita Avery
Elizabeth Pargetter ... Alison Dowling
Fallon Rogers ... Joanna Van Kampen
SUN 10:54 Tweet of the Day (m000w3lc)
Tweet Take 5 : Whitethroat
The whitethroat is a summer visitor to the British Isles, and its rather scratchy song is a common accompaniment to the countryside from mid April. Often more heard than seen these small birds played an important role in understanding bird migration as we'll hear in this extended version of Tweet of the Day featuring Kate Humble, environmentalist Tony Juniper, and wildlife artist Jane Smith.
Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio, Bristol
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m000w3lf)
Brian Greene
Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist, mathematician and writer, whose area of research is string theory. His books and broadcasts distil the complexities of science for a general audience, leading one critic to say appreciatively “he speaks maths, physics and human.”
Born in New York City, his father taught him the basics of arithmetic when he was a toddler and by the time he was five Brian was multiplying 30-digit numbers by 30-digit numbers - just for the pure joy of working things out by himself. At 11 Brian had exhausted everything his maths teacher could teach him but, thanks to his teacher’s resourcefulness, he managed to get extra tuition from a graduate student at Columbia University.
After graduating from Harvard in 1984, Brian won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University to study gravity and quantum mechanics. At Oxford he became captivated by the idea of string theory which was causing much excitement among the physics community at the time. String theory was seen as having the potential to answer life’s big questions about space, time and the universe.
Over the years Brian has been at the forefront of scientific discoveries including mirror symmetry and later proving that tears could happen in the fabric of space.
Brian is currently professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000w3lh)
Stand On One Leg
In this episode, Michael is reborn as a one legged yogi to reveal why the one leg stance is one the best thing you can do for a longer and more active life. He speaks to Professor Dawn Skelton at Glasgow Caledonian University, to find out what happens to your balance as you get older, why our balance is getting worse with each generation, and how regularly making yourself wobble could help improve your body and your brain.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m000w49x)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 Nature Table (m000vxzc)
Series 2
Episode 2
Nature Table is comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins’ new comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.
Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history. Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts. We also hear from some of the London Zoo, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.
Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in an fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.
Note: Series 2 was recorded in November 2020, during lockdown conditions, so this time round there is no studio audience. The host, panel and guest zookeepers recorded the series at ZSL London Zoo, socially distanced.
Episode 2
Recorded at London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests:
Lucy Cooke (Zoologist, writer, presenter), Lee Davies (Fungi curator, Kew Gardens) and actress and comedian Sally Phillips.
Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler & Jon Hunter
Researcher: Catherine Beazley
Music by Ben Mirin. Additional sounds were provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Produced by: Simon Nicholls
A BBC Studios Production
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m000w3lm)
Pure umami: should we learn to love MSG?
Monosodium Glutamate is probably one of the most contentious ingredients in modern food. Increasingly there have been calls to tackle the stigma attached to it especially as this has been linked to Chinese restaurants and people with East Asian heritage.
In this programme Leyla Kazim aims to demystify MSG. She looks into where it came from, what it is and how it became so demonised.
Professor Lisa Methven from the University of Reading explains the taste science behind how and why we like MSG. David Gott from the Food Standards Agency clarifies what the science says around the health issues associated with it. Historian of Science Dr Sarah Tracy tells Leyla about the complicated history of MSG. MiMi Aye and Huong Black from the MSG Pod talk about their experiences with MSG and coach Leyla on how to use it in food. Alison Cheung and Marina Lai’s families both own restaurants in London’s Chinatown, Plum Valley and Lotus Garden. They talk about how they want to confront the decades long stigma
Presented by Leyla Kazim
Produced by Sam Grist in Bristol
SUN 12:57 Weather (m000w3lp)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m000w3lr)
Jonny Dymond looks at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m000w3lt)
Hotels and Hugs
Fi Glover presents friends, relatives and strangers in conversation.
This week: as hotels open their doors in England, hostel owner Lee and B&B proprietor Catriona discuss how they've weathered the past year; Mel, a solo motherhood coach who chose to have a child using donor sperm, speaks to Demi, a donor conceived adult, about how a child's life is impacted by the decision to conceive in this way; amateur composer Chris and professional conductor Jonathan compare notes on their approaches to music; and introvert Carol and extrovert Alan consider how the pandemic has impacted their attitude towards socialising.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Ellie Bury
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000vz8y)
Oxford Botanic Garden: Postbag Edition
Peter Gibbs and the team are at the Oxford Botanic Garden answering questions from the GQT postbag. Matt Biggs, Pippa Greenwood, Dr Chris Thorogood and Head Gardener Mark Brent answer your questions on growing apricots, ruined potash, and why bees love the colour purple.
Producer - Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer - Millie Chu
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Thought Cages (m00017sx)
A Parliament by Lottery
Could we fix the disconnect between the public and its politicians – by selecting our MPs by lottery?
In today’s episode, ad guru and expert on human behaviour Rory Sutherland explores how a “House Of The People”, comprised of a random cross-section of the British public – might be better at truly reflecting the considered will of the British people.
Rory is joined by the Australian political economist and expert on innovation Nicholas Gruen, - who explains how the idea dates back to the Ancient Greeks – and the MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Philips, an elected parliamentarian who’s keener on the idea than you might expect…
Produced by Steven Rajam for BBC Wales
SUN 15:00 Hardy's Women (m000w3lw)
Two on a Tower
Part 1 - The Astronomer
During 2021 on Radio 4, Hardy’s Women takes a fresh look at the novels of Thomas Hardy, through the eyes of some of his female protagonists
Two On A Tower
Adapted by Anita Sullivan
Viviette Constantine is isolated, trapped in a small village in England in the 1880’s. Her husband Sir Blount Constantine is brutal, but thankfully he has been away hunting lions for several years. Out walking one day, she meets Swithin, a beautiful kind young astronomer who shows her the stars, and when her husband is reported dead, finally their love can take its natural course.
Hardy's scandalised his contemporary readers with this love story across age, class and legal barriers, setting "the emotional history of two infinitesimal lives against the stupendous background of the stellar universe."
Tragically the stars, and their society are not aligned.
CAST
Lady Viviette Constantine - Olivia Poulet
Swithin St Cleeve - Callum Scott Howells
Louis Glanville - Tommy Sim’aan
Tabitha Lark - Scarlett Courtney
Bishop Helmsdale and Mr Cecil - Tony Turner
Parson Torkingham - Keiron Self
Haymoss and Sir Blount - Marc Danbury
Mrs Martin and Mrs Poulter - Jane Slavin
Directed by John Norton
A BBC Cymru Wales production
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m000w3lz)
Hollie NcNish, Modern American Short Stories, Twins
Johny Pitts talks to poet Hollie McNish about her new book Slug and other things I've been told to hate. A collection of Hollie's poetry and prose continues her exploration of the human condition: from birth to death, parenthood, and the female body.
The short story has a long history of popular appeal in the United States in magazines and through higher education. A new collection, The Modern American Short Story, brings together stories from a transformative fifty-year period from the 1970s to the present day. Its editor, John Freeman, and author Junot Diaz talk to Johny about their passion for the form and its continued relevance to readers today. The Sunday Times Short Story nominee, Jonathan Gibbs, talks about the ongoing appeal of twins in fiction from Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors to this year's Women's Prize and Booker shortlistee, Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half.
Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Kirsten Locke
Production Co-Ordinator: Belinda Naylor
Book List – Sunday 16 May and Thursday 20 May
Slug…and other things I’ve been told to hate by Hollie McNish
Odes by Sharon Olds
The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story. Edited by John Freeman
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Redder Days by Sue Rainsford
The Two Body Problem by Ruby Cowling
Spring Journal by Jonathan Gibbs
SUN 16:30 The Medieval Feminist (m000w3m1)
Writer and comedian Carys Eleri reignites a centuries old creative beef, exploring the hilarious, erotic and whip-smart poetry of Gwerful Mechain.
If you went to school in Wales or like a bit of medieval poetry, you’ve probably heard of Dafydd ap Gwilym, who was regarded as one of the greatest Welsh bards of the Middle Ages but is probably best known for writing an Ode to the Penis. However, few know the name Gwerful Mechain, who just one century later penned a Poem to the Vagina. Carys Eleri wants to find out why.
Gwerful is the only female Welsh medieval poet whose work has survived - but until very recently her writing was suppressed by male scholars who disapproved of her enthusiastic tendency towards the indecent. Rude, risqué and fiercely feminist, Gwerful's poetry cuts through even in the 21st century.
Katie Gramich, who recently published the first complete translation of Gwerful’s surviving works, tells Carys about Gwerful’s talent for "dyfalu" - concocting ingeniously bizarre metaphors - and her habit of writing incendiary rebuttals to her male contemporaries.
To find out why sparring inspires creativity, Carys talks to rapper Nadia Rose about growing up on the battle rap scene. Never one to bite her tongue and no stranger to a poetic beef, Nadia tells Carys how diss tracks have birthed some of the most creatively cutting lyrics in rap.
Carys first stumbled upon Gwerful when her friend, historian Sara Huws, posted an ASMR video of her reading Poem to the Vagina on Instagram. Carys and Sara chat about rediscovering and relating to Gwerful today.
Throughout the programme, the poetic battles of Gwerful and her contemporaries break out of the dusty archives and are brought to life with shockingly rude dramatic readings by Alexandria Riley and Geraint Rhys Edwards.
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m000vwtm)
Britain's Ghost Companies
Tens of thousands of men and women in some of the poorest parts of the Philippines are being recruited to be directors of companies based in the UK. Companies which have no offices or full time staff, they don’t buy or sell anything, in fact they only exist on paper. But as Angus Crawford has discovered they form part of a complex web which may be costing Britain tens of millions of pounds in lost tax. A web designed by experts in order to shield firms from the full costs of employing their workers. His investigation reveals a trail which leads from a single mother in the Home Counties, via the backstreets of Manila, to workers at Covid testing stations across the UK.
Reporter: Angus Crawford
Producer: Anna Meisel
Editor: Gail Champion
SUN 17:40 Profile (m000w3m3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m000w3m5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m000w3m7)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w3m9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m000w3mc)
Elizabeth Alker
Presenter: Elizabeth Alker
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production support: Emmie Hume & Pete Liggins
Studio Manager: Sue Stonestreet
SUN 19:00 Book at Bedtime (b07zztsw)
Cookie Jar by Stephen King
Bottom of the Jar
Returning home after the Second World War, the unusual cookie jar continues to exert its influence on Rhett...
'I had sort of a peculiar childhood, because my mother was peculiar. Not outright crazy, but very, very peculiar. Stories were her way of staying sane... A way to cover that hole in reality the way you might cover a well with boards so no one would fall in. But her stories stopped working for her. Because the thing she was afraid of was in the house with her all along.'
From 'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams', Stephen King's story adapted in three parts. Read by Colin Stinton.
Music by Timothy X Atack
Abridged and Produced by Mair Bosworth
SUN 19:15 The Confessional (m000w3mf)
Series 1
The Confession of Marian Keyes
Actor, comedian and broadcaster Stephen Mangan presents a comedy chat show about shame and guilt.
Each week Stephen invites a different eminent guest into his virtual confessional box to make three 'confessions'. This is a cue for some remarkable storytelling, and surprising insights.
We’re used to hearing celebrity interviews where stars are persuaded to show off about their achievements and talk about their proudest moments. Stephen is not interested in that. He doesn’t want to know what his guests are proud of, he wants to know what they’re ashamed of. That’s surely the way to find out what really makes a person tick. Stephen and his guest reflect with empathy and humour on things like why we get embarrassed, where our shame thresholds should be, and the value of guilt.
This week the prolific novelist and writer Marian Keyes confesses, from her home in Dublin, details of a disservice she did that still haunts her 20 years after the event. She also tells tales of a lost glove and of Joan of Arc at a fancy dress ball.
Other guests in this series include Dr Phil Hammond, Cariad Lloyd, Joan Bakewell, Suzi Ruffell, Phil Wang and Alastair Campbell.
Written and presented by Stephen Mangan
With extra material by Nick Doody
Devised with Dave Anderson and produced by Frank Stirling
A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 The Things We Leave Behind (m000w3mh)
Episode 2
A five-part series specially written for Radio 4 by Mary Paulson-Ellis.
THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND tells the story of a life in five objects. Starting near the end of her life and moving backwards in time, the defining moments of Rosalind Goddard’s life are revealed through seemingly random accumulated items.
Part Two - THE BRACELET is read by Alexandra Mathie.
Producer - Gaynor Macfarlane
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m000vz94)
With listeners concerned about cuts to BBC radio drama and asking if it's still a priority for Radio 4, a former head of BBC Radio Drama tells Roger Bolton she shares those concerns.
And the Editor of The Reunion discusses the usually acclaimed programme and replies to criticism of an edition about Romanian orphanages, which one listener describes as, “flaunting of British superiority”.
And can you make a successful radio programme about cartoon music when you can’t see the cartoons? Two listeners give their views.
Presenter: Roger Bolton
Producer: Kate Dixon
Executive Producer: Samir Shah
A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m000vz92)
Olympia Dukakis (pictured), Eric McGraw MBE, Anthony Thwaite
Matthew Bannister on:
Olympia Dukakis, the Greek-American actor who won an Oscar for playing Cher’s mother in Moonstruck and became an LGBT icon after playing Anna Madrigal in Tales of the City. Its author Armistead Maupin pays tribute.
Eric McGraw who founded and edited a magazine for prisoners called “Inside Time”. Former inmate Noel “Razor” Smith explains how it changed the course of his life.
Anthony Thwaite, the poet, editor and critic who was a pivotal figure in British literary life. The former poet laureate Andrew Motion pays tribute.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Gregory Pappas
Interviewed guest: Armistead Maupin
Interviewed guest: Rachel Billington
Interviewed guest: Noel ‘Razor’ Smith
Interviewed guest: Ann Thwaite
Interviewed guest: Andrew Motion
Archive clips used: Hardtalk: BBC One, TX 19.
3.2001; In Living Memory: Strangeways riot: Radio 4, TX 20.
4.2005
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m000w3mk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m000w3kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Short Cuts (m0008hww)
Series 20
Family Ties
A family whose women are bound by activism, poetry between generations and forging new families in later life. Josie Long presents short documentaries about familial connections.
Radical Love
Featuring Ash Sarkar
Produced by Alia Cassam
A Beautiful Arrangement
Featuring Stefanie Clark and Jane Callahan-Moore
Produced by Bill Healy
Loose Lips
Featuring Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson and Fiona Goffe
Produced by Alan Hall
Production Team: Eleanor McDowall and Alia Cassam
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m000w3mm)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 The Film Programme (m000vyp3)
Cinema: The Comeback
With Antonia Quirke.
As cinemas are set to re-open on May 17th, Antonia Quirke visits The Uckfield Picture House that has been run by the same family for over six decades. She talks to its owner Kevin Markwick about a year that has seen his business shut for 70% of the time, and discovers why he is optimistic about the future.
Sound Of Metal director Darius Marder reveals the reasons why he distorted the hearing of his star Riz Ahmed with the help of a ear piece and an app.
Director Chloe Zhao discusses the influence of John Wayne on her Oscar winner Nomadland.
If you are going to your local cinema on May 17th, we'd like to hear about your experience. You can write or record your thoughts and email them to thefilmprogramme@bbc.co.uk
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b04570qs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 17 MAY 2021
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m000w3mp)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 Thinking Allowed (m000vx3k)
Blackface - Minstrelsy
BLACKFACE & MINSTRELSY - At its most basic level, 'blackface' is the application of any prosthetic to imitate the complexion of another race. In theory, it's a performance available to all, yet 'whiteface' is relatively unknown. Laurie Taylor talks to Ayanna Thompson, Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, about the painful history of ‘blackface’, an ancient European theatrical device that the Europeans brought with them to America. What connects it to Blackface minstrelsy, a specific comedic performance tradition rooted in slavery, and why does this racist practice endure today?
Also, Christine Grandy, Associate Professor in History at the University of Lincoln, discusses the origins of the British Black and White Minstrel Show, a prime time, BBC variety programme which lasted for 20 years, from 1958-1978. She uncovers a little known history in which broadcasters, the press, and audience members collectively argued that the show had nothing to do with race whilst the complaints and anger of Black people were dismissed. Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with the Open University.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m000w3mr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w3mt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w3mw)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w3my)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m000w3n0)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000w3n2)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
Today is the start of Dementia Action Week, and an opportunity to remember both those who live with its various forms, and those who care for them. The symbol of the forget-me-knot has been associated with dementia for a long time. It is worn by those who support dementia charities, and those who offer a dementia-friendly service of any kind. Its honest blue face and simple form are instantly recognisable.
Forget-me-knots are amongst the most resilient of flowers. You can cut them down, and they still come thriving back again. You can uproot them and plant them elsewhere, and they still seem to survive. They can make do with the poorest soil and brighten up the most ordinary patch of earth. They live up to their own name, making themselves hard to forget or ignore.
Interestingly, some of those involved in selecting the flower as an emblem had dementia themselves. They saw both the look and the name of the flower as positive things. Whenever we have one of these special weeks, its purpose is to ensure that people and causes which matter are not forgotten. Like the bright blue of a forget-me-knot catching your eye on a dull day, they are a reminder that there is more to see.
I am constantly reassured by the belief that God does not forget. In the farthest place or the darkest night, our voice can still be heard by him. People like Daniel in the lion’s den or Jonah in the whale would all attest to that truth. ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?’ the Psalmist asks. The answer is nowhere.
Dear God, we pray today for those who feel that they are lost, even in once familiar surroundings. Bring your comfort and peace, we pray.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m000w3n4)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m000w3n6)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03dx98q)
Little Auk
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Martin Hughes-Games presents the Little Auk. Little auks are black and white relatives of the puffin but only about half the size. They're one of the most numerous seabirds in the world, with around twelve million pairs of birds. In autumn and early winter we see them in the UK as they head south into the North Sea.
MON 06:00 Today (m000w4n8)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m000w4nb)
Daniel Kahneman on 'noisy' human judgement
The Nobel prize-winning economist and Professor of Psychology Daniel Kahneman focuses his latest research on the high cost of inconsistent decision making. In Noise, co-authored with Oliver Sibony and Cass R Sunstein, he looks at why humans can be so unreliable, and what can be done about it. He tells Andrew Marr that people working in the same job often make wildly different judgements, influenced by factors like their current mood, when they last ate, even the weather. He argues that ‘noise’ is distinct from bias and has been neglected by organisations and businesses.
Gillian Tett is Editor-at-Large for the Financial Times and is also focused on transforming the world of business. But whereas Kahneman uses the methods of psychology, Tett argues for anthropology. For over a century anthropologists have immersed themselves in unfamiliar cultures, studying the hidden rituals at play. In her book Anthro-Vision, Tett uses similar techniques to reveal the underlying structures and human behaviour in our modern world – from Amazon warehouses to Silicon Valley to City trading floors.
Ann Cairns is the Executive Vice Chair of Mastercard which has hundreds of offices worldwide. She explores how psychology and anthropology can help to manage the company’s fortunes and employees through times of flux and change. Cairns started out as a research scientist before developing an interest in offshore engineering, becoming the first woman qualified to work offshore in Britain. She moved into banking in the late 1980s and joined Mastercard in 2011.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w4pv)
Episode 1
Professor Hans Rosling was ‘the man in whose hands data sings’. He was dubbed ‘a true inspiration’ by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks, which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics. Passionately driven to dispel common myths about the so-called developing world, he used facts in a new way to share the surprisingly good news about global development.
In his memoir, completed just before he died, the data visionary looks back at the events that shaped his world view. From curiosity about his family history through to working as a doctor in Mozambique, he pinpoints the encounters that drove him to a life dedicated to fundamentally changing our view of the world.
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Written by Hans Rosling with Fanny Härgestam
Translated by Dr Anna Paterson
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000w4ng)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 The Untold (m000w4nj)
Hotel Quarantine
The hotel quarantine system caught many travellers by surprise when it was introduced in England earlier this year. Since then more countries have been added to the red list and last month many British travellers in Pakistan faced a desperate scramble to get back to England before hotel quarantine became mandatory: Mohammed didn't make it and had to raise the £1750 for his eleven day stay at a Heathrow hotel. In this programme he records his experiences.
Mohammed went to Pakistan following the death of his father, who worked from the age of fifteen in the Bradford textile mills. When he died suddenly of covid there was so much to sort out in Britain and in his birthplace, Pakistan. Mohammed travelled there in February - taking time off from the ambulance service and prepared for what the trip entailed. What he hadn’t anticipated was Pakistan going on the red list. His return flight was cancelled and there was chaos at airports as the change took effect.
His time in hotel quarantine is marked by a never ending stream of phone calls as he tries to access his right to leave the room for half an hour a day. Guests have to be accompanied by security guards any time they want to leave the room and with hundreds of others also in quarantine it is really hard to book a slot. His room opens up onto a hallway, so he can’t see directly out into the world and there are many problems as food arrives late, the wrong food is delivered and he finds that some of what he is served is still frozen.
Throughout this time he keeps his recorder running, documenting his stay and his feelings as things go wrong: first the food and restricted access to exercise, but later the loss of wifi and television channels and then a worrying incident as a maintenance man moves between rooms without protective equipment. Mohammed fears he could be infected by others in quarantine or by staff working with them. His day two and day eight covid tests arrive, but what will happen if he is found to have the virus and how could he cope emotionally if he has to be away from his family any longer?
Produced by Sue Mitchell
.
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m000w497)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m000w4w7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w4np)
Episode 1
A magical literary debut about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you. As read by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls).
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety.
The Author
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. Her short stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Southword. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. ‘Snowflake’ is her debut novel.
Author: Louise Nealon
Reader: Louisa Harland
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m000w4nr)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m000w4nt)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m000w4nw)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
MON 13:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w4ny)
One: Learn Your Song Well (1941-1964)
Marking his birthday on May 24th, Radio 4 broadcasts 'It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80'. Presented by Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa, and editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', this five part series looks at the songs and draws on the vast Bob Dylan Archive, exploring the life, work and influence of a great, and elusive artist.
It argues that Dylan is a remarkable storyteller, impossible to ascribe to any genre or movement, steadfastly developing skills that rightly earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Each episode focuses on a theme from a different period, encompassing his career.
• Learn Your Song Well (1941-1964)
• Bleeding Genius (1964-1966)
• Vanishing Acts (1966-1979)
• This Train (1979-1993)
• High Water Everywhere (1993-2021)
One: Learn Your Song Well (1941-1964)
In his Nobel acceptance speech, Dylan embeds himself in a tradition of performative storytelling extending from Homer. Odysseus is, Dylan says, “always being warned of things to come. Touching things he’s told not to." Latham looks at 'A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall', about a young man committing himself to experiencing the joys and terrors of the world, then wrestling a story from them. Sixty years later, that still drives his creative life.
Early on Dylan made up stories about himself. He became a political songwriter by mixing his fictional autobiography with folk and blues to create stories of liberation. 'Blowin' in the Wind', its source in an anti-slavery song, becomes an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Dylan finds these stories constrictive and with 'Restless Farewell,' dramatically, and angrily, announces his shift from political to personal liberation.
Producer Julian May
MON 14:00 GF Newman's The Corrupted (m000w4p0)
Series 6
Episode 5
It's now 2005 and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon discovered dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Lord Olinska, organised the killing.
In this final series, taking us to 2008, Joseph Olinska gets ever more involved in New Labour, while Brian Oldman becomes a vegan and studies law in jail in a bid to win justice for himself. Tony Wednesday continues to work behind the scenes for Sir Joseph at the same time as moving ever further up the ranks of the police force.
GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's the tale of a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th and 21st century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.
Whose fortunes will prosper? Who will get their just deserts?
Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His first wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending Lord Goodman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Joseph now helps New Labour with their finances, while continuing to invest heavily in Russia, the US and a pharmaceutical company specialising in cancer drugs.
The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.
Cast
Lord Olinska - Toby Jones
Brian - Joe Armstrong
Tony Wednesday - Alec Newman
Margaret - Flora Montgomery
Sonia Hope - Sarah Lambie
Catherine - Isabella Urbanowicz
Clive Bunter / Brad Thompson / Justice Deed - Matthew Marsh
Jack Braden - Jacob Fortune Lloyd
PO Rogers / Menachem Hyak / Robin Bleecher - Paul Kemp
John Quayle - David Ajao
EXO Avedlund - Nigel Pivaro
Mrs Jinks - Suzan Sylvester
FBI Agent Pyke - Will Meredith
Chuck Haley - Matt Rippy
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:45 The Why Factor (b08y0vdd)
Series 4
Childlessness
Smaller families are a growing feature on the West - and many women are now choosing not to have children. Mary-Ann Ochota considers why this change is happening - even though there is often great social pressure to procreate.
Presenter:Mary-Ann Ochota
Producer:Rose de Larrabeiti
Editor:Andrew Smith.
MON 15:00 Round Britain Quiz (m000w4p2)
Programme 11, 2021
(11/12)
For the final time this season David Edwards and Myfanwy Alexander of Wales meet Val McDermid and Alan McCredie of Scotland. Another win could make a crucial difference to either team's position on the 2021 league table. Tom Sutcliffe asks the programme's trademark cryptic questions, and awards and deducts points according to how much of a nudge he has to provide as they grapple towards the answers.
There are several questions based on ideas sent in by RBQ listeners, and Tom will also have the answer to the puzzle he left unanswered at the end of last week's quiz.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m000w3lm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 A Life in Music (m000vynj)
Early Life
When music journalist Jude Rogers lost her father aged five, she turned to songs for solace and structure. Music helped her redefine her identity as a teenager and connect with her young child as a parent after post-natal depression.
In four programmes, Jude speaks to musicians, neuroscientists, psychologists and music-lovers to discover how fundamental music is at each stage of our lives.
In episode 1, Early Life, Jude looks at how music shapes our lives from before we are even born, helping us form connections with the people around us, control our impulses and even become more empathetic.
We hear from Nigerian musician Femi Kuti, music psychologist Dr Samuel Mehr, developmental cognitive neuroscientist Dr Assal Habibi, music therapist and teacher Tiziana Pozzo and 7-year-old pianist Laasya and her father, Jithender.
Producer: Georgia Moodie
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 Beyond Belief (m000w4p5)
Scottish Independence
In the new Scottish Parliament, a majority of MSPs want independence for Scotland but recent opinion polls suggest that only half the population is in favour. In all the debates, the religious voice has been very muted. That may be because, religious observance in Scotland has plummeted. Over half of people surveyed recently, said that they had no religion. The rise of the independence movement has coincided with a decline in the social significance of religion. So, is nationalism filling the vacuum?
To discuss the religious dimensions in the Scottish independence debate, Ernie Rea is joined by the Rev Doug Gay, who is a minister of the Church of Scotland and lectures in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow; Peter Kearney is Spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland; the Very Rev Kevin Holdsworth is Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow and as such, a senior figure in the Scottish Episcopal Church; and the Rev Kathy Galloway is a Church of Scotland minister and former Leader of the Iona Community.
Producer: Helen Lee
MON 17:00 PM (m000w4p7)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w4pc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 Nature Table (m000w4pf)
Series 2
Episode 3
Nature Table is comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins’ new comedy ‘Show & Tell’ series celebrating the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.
Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history. Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts. We also hear from some of the London Zoo, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.
Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in an fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.
Note: Series 2 was recorded in November 2020, during lockdown conditions, so this time round there is no studio audience. The host, panel and guest zookeepers recorded the series at ZSL London Zoo, socially distanced.
Episode 3
Recorded at London Zoo, this week Sue Perkins is joined by special guests:
Lucy Cooke (Zoologist, writer, presenter), Dr. Karim Vahed (Entomologist) and comedian Felicity Ward.
Written by: Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler & Jon Hunter
Researcher: Catherine Beazley
Music by Ben Mirin. Additional sounds were provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Produced by: Simon Nicholls
A BBC Studios Production
MON 19:00 The Archers (m000w4ph)
Tensions rise at Berrow Farm and Susan makes a costly error.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m000w4pk)
Director Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad
Barry Jenkins, the director of the 2017 Oscar-winning film Moonlight, discusses his new 10-part TV adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad.
The drama series follows two young slaves as they escape their cotton plantation in Georgia and go in search of the fabled railway which they hope will transport them north in their quest for freedom.
The director discusses shooting the drama - which contains harrowing scenes of violence - on the site of former plantations in Georgia where slaves worked and died, and how the experience affected him as an African-American.
Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Jerome Weatherald
MON 19:45 A Big Disease with a Little Name (m000jvrd)
The Beginning
The coronavirus epidemic has shaken many of us out of a complacent view that if we get sick, doctors and nurses will know how to make us better again.
Living in a time where there is limited treatment – and no cure - is a new experience for many of us, but not all.
A Big Disease with a Little Name looks back to the recent past to a similar time, and the dawn of the HIV/AIDS crisis, which to date has affected 75 million people around the world, of which some 32 million have died.
The series explores the emergence of HIV/AIDS through the stories of those who were on the front line. Speaking to gay men, doctors, nurses, politicians and activists, the series explores the confusion around the causes of this new disease, the frightening pace with which it spread, the pace of the political response and the devastating influence of conspiracy theories and fake news.
In this first episode, Peter Staley recalls moving to New York in 1983, to take up a job on Wall Street, as he puts it with 'one foot, if not two thirds of my body in the closet'.
He recalls first hearing about a new 'gay cancer' and the response among young gay men like himself. Some dismissed it as a condition only affecting promiscuous older gay men and was unlikely to affect the hot young things occupying the buzzing gay bars around Christopher Street and the East Village.
But it wasn't long before most gay men living in New York knew someone who was sick, and when Peter was himself diagnosed HIV positive, he says the years of denial quickly evaporated.
"It slapped you in the face. The reality took over and made everybody learn about it."
At 24-years-old. Peter had to face up to the fact that, at best, he probably had two years to live.
Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
MON 20:00 Parallel Lives (m000w32l)
Burnley
In the second episode of Parallel Lives former Today Programme reporter Barnie Choudhury returns to the recordings he made in the aftermath of the 2001 racial violence in three northern towns.
The official report into what happened in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford revealed whole communities were living in complete segregation, brewing suspicion and hatred.
In Burnley, it proved to be fertile ground for the BNP which secured council seats in 2002.
Barnie returns to those febrile, angry recordings made at the time, to consider what the division of the start of the millennium can tell us about Britain now.
Barnie hears from people who worked to build bridges in the community, employing mediators from Northern Ireland to conduct meetings between BNP supporters and Asian residents.
He also hears how the period may have been an early indicator of dissatisfaction in traditional Labour heartlands - asking the then Home Secretary David Blunkett and Baron Khan of Burnley, who remembers the violence, a question informing online debate today: Should we engage with politicians deemed beyond the pale or pursue a policy of "no platform"?
Presented by Barnie Choudhury
Produced by Kevin Core
Assistant Producer Emb Hashmi
MON 20:30 Crossing Continents (m000vyng)
Saving the Vaquita
Jacques Cousteau called Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, ‘the aquarium of the world’. It is home to one of the most critically endangered species on earth. The vaquita is a small porpoise facing total extinction, whose numbers have dwindled to less than a dozen. In particular, the vaquita get caught in the nets used to catch totoaba. Casting nets for this large marine fish is illegal. But the totoaba’s swim bladder is believed to have potent medicinal properties in China, and sells for thousands of dollars in a trade controlled by Mexican organised crime. So efforts to save the vaquita have brought conflict to poor fishing communities in northern Baja California – people who often rely on an illicit income from totoaba. On New Year’s Eve, 2020 one fisherman was killed and another seriously injured in an altercation between local boats and an NGO ship patrolling to stop the sinking of illegal nets that kill the vaquita. Linda Pressly reports from the coast of Baja California on a dangerous clash of interests. Can the vaquita be saved?
Producer: Michael Gallagher
Producer in Mexico: Ulises Escamilla Haro
Editor, Bridget Harney
(Image: Illustration of a vaquita in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. Credit: Greenpeace/Marcelo Otero)
MON 21:00 Dare to Repair (m000vwqw)
Fixing the Future
Mark Miodownik, explores the environmental consequences of the throwaway society we have become and reveals that recycling electronic waste comes second to repairing broken electronics. He asks what we can learn from repair cultures around the world , he looks at manufacturers who are designing in repair-ability, and discovers the resources available to encourage and train the next generation of repairers.
Presenter - Mark Miodownik
Producer - Fiona Roberts
All three episodes of Dare to Repair can be found in BBC Radio 4’s Scientifically podcast. Just search for Scientifically on BBC Sounds or wherever else you get your podcasts.
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m000w4nb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m000w4pn)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w4np)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m000vwsh)
The Shipping Forecast: Internet Fandom
Gretchen McCulloch, Internet Linguist, author of Because Internet and the host of the Lingthusiasm podcast, talks to Michael Rosen about what it is to "ship" and how fandoms and other subcommunities online are changing the English language.
Clip from 'Mans Not Nice' Michael Rosen remix credited to MisterLucca
Produced by Ellie Richold for BBC Audio in Bristol
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000w4pq)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 18 MAY 2021
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m000w4ps)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w4pv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w4px)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w4pz)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w4q1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m000w4q3)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000w4q5)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
Thirty years ago today, Helen Sharman became the first British astronaut in space. She had been a research chemist, working on ice cream for a confectionery company when she heard an advert on the car radio for: astronauts- no experienced required. Selected from some 13,000 applicants, she underwent years of training and blasted off from Kazakhstan on May 18th 1991 to join the Mir space station. During her eight days in space, she conducted numerous experiments, and is now an enthusiastic advocate for science and exploration in many guises.
It was only whilst researching her story that I came across the translation of the word ‘astronaut’. It means, literally, ‘star sailor’. The phrase seems unexpectedly poetic for something involving so much technology and engineering. Oddly, space technology and poetry often seem to go hand in hand. When Perseverance landed on Mars recently, the Acting Director of NASA described it as personifying the human ideal of persevering toward the future. Maybe there is something about the stars and the planets which brings out the poet in all of us.
Looking up at those same stars King David wrote
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them?
What, indeed. Whether we contemplate the stars from afar or up close and personal like the star sailors – they inspire us.
Dear God, today we thank you for the skies above us and the stars which light them. Keep our sense of wonder today, we pray.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m000w4q7)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tp7c)
Barn Owl
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Barn Owl. Barn owls are mainly nocturnal hunters. They are ghostly creatures, with rounded wings and a large head which acts as a reflector funnelling the slightest sound from their prey towards their large ear openings.
TUE 06:00 Today (m000w4rp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m000w4rr)
Nira Chamberlain on how mathematics can solve real-world problems
When does a crowd of people become unsafe? How well will Aston Villa do next season? When is it cost-effective to replace a kitchen?
The answers may seem arbitrary but, to Nira Chamberlain, they lie in mathematics. You can use maths to model virtually anything.
Nira Chamberlain is President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and Principle Mathematical Modeller for the multinational engineering company SNC-Lavalin Atkins.
He specialises in complex engineering and industrial problems, creating mathematical models to describe a particular feature or process, and then running simulations to better understand it, and predict its behaviour.
Nira is one of just a handful of esteemed mathematicians featured in ‘Who’s Who’, Britain’s book of prominent people, and the first black mathematician.
Since 2018, he’s made the Black Power List, which celebrates the UK’s top 100 most influential people of African or African-Caribbean heritage, ranking higher than Stormzy and Lewis Hamilton when he was first listed. Proof, he says, that maths really is for everyone.
PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood
TUE 09:30 One to One (m000w4rt)
Learning A Skill: Kieran Yates speaks to Yewande Adesida
Journalist and writer Kieran Yates can't ride a bike, but she wants to. In this series she explores the stories behind getting to grips with learning something new. She talks to track cyclist Yewande Adesida, who learnt to cycle and track race in her twenties. Kieran hopes that hearing how Yewande learnt this skill as an adult will help her face her own fear and get on a bike.
Producer: Caitlin Hobbs
TUE 09:45 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w4tj)
Episode 2
Professor Hans Rosling was ‘the man in whose hands data sings’. He was dubbed ‘a true inspiration’ by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks, which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics. Passionately driven to dispel common myths about the so-called developing world, he used facts in a new way to share the surprisingly good news about global development.
In his memoir, completed just before he died, the data visionary looks back at the events that shaped his world view. From curiosity about his family history through to working as a doctor in Mozambique, he pinpoints the encounters that drove him to a life dedicated to fundamentally changing our view of the world.
As a young undergraduate, and the first in his family to go to university, Hans meets a figure who will change the course of his life.
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Written by Hans Rosling with Fanny Härgestam
Translated by Dr Anna Paterson
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000w4ry)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Do Not Resuscitate (m000w4s0)
Recalling the discovery of her father’s DNR notice in his medical notes six years ago, Yasmeen Khan investigates clinical resuscitation, talking to terminally ill patients and bereaved family members.
She discusses ethical issues surrounding the use of what is now called a DNAR notice or DNACPR – Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation – examining the recent controversy over the placing of DNAR notices on people with learning disabilities, specifically in relation to the Covid pandemic.
Yasmeen talks to representatives from Mencap, the Resuscitation Council UK, medical education and resuscitation expert Dr Linda Dykes, and Merry Varney, the lawyer responsible for representing the Tracey family in a landmark DNAR case. In this 2014 case, the Court of Appeal found that an NHS Trust had a legal duty to tell a patient with mental capacity that a DNACPR order had been placed on their medical records. Following the judgment, all NHS Trusts then had a legal duty to consult with and inform patients if such an order had been placed on their records.
Throughout the programme, Yasmeen discusses the events surrounding the death of her father with her best friend, Julie.
A Spools Out production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:30 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m000w4s2)
Series 7
Medusa
"Rock star classicist" and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is obsessed with the ancient world. In these series she explores (historical and mythological) lives from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today. They are hilarious and tragic, mystifying, revelatory. And they always tell us more about ourselves now than seems possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.
Today Natalie tells of Medusa, she of the snaky locks and stony glare. Medusa is truly terrifying, but she wasn't always a monster. She was once the most beautiful of the gorgon sisters, turned into this hideous version of herself by the goddess Athene, after being 'seduced' by Poseidon. Which may make her - literally - the original monstered victim.
Natalie is joined by Professor Edith Hall, who says that Medusa is not just a victim or a monster. She's a beloved sister and mother (to winged horse Pegasus and hero Chrysaor). Her lithifying gaze gives her something in common with Midas but there's a difference in how we are invited to view them: we fear her and pity him.
Illustrator Chris Riddell draws Medusa as he talks to Natalie, contemplating how she managed her serpentine hair (a hairdresser's nightmare, presumably) and whether some kind of super-sunglasses might help out with the problem of turning everything she looks at into stone.
Producer, Mary Ward-Lowery
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m000w4zs)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w4s7)
Episode 2
A magical literary debut about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you. As read by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls).
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety.
The Author
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. Her short stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Southword. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. ‘Snowflake’ is her debut novel.
Author: Louise Nealon
Reader: Louisa Harland
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m000w4s9)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m000w4sc)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m000w4sf)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
TUE 13:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w4sh)
Two: Bleeding Genius (1964-1966)
Two: Bleeding Genius (1964-1966)
In the week before the Nobel Prize-winner's birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', continues his series exploring the life, work and influence of one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
The second programme focuses on Dylan's explosive rise to fame, then his combative relationship with his stardom. This leads to the 'cool' persona of the mid-sixties, with Dylan rejuvenating rock by transforming the joyfulness of the Fab Four into the anger and alienation that still grounds the genre. Latham considers the infamous decision to 'go electric' at the Newport Folk Festival. Drawing on archives and bootlegs he reveals how Dylan built 'Like A Rolling Stone' on the page and in the studio, looking at the song’s musical structure, its poetic ambiguities and, especially, the line "how does it feel?” In this refrain Dylan realises stardom is a straitjacket; he yearns for a new kind of freedom. In the Dylan Archive there are thousands of fan letters from 1966 - still unopened.
The building anger, irony, and rejection of the kind of political storytelling that propelled his earlier songs are illustrated by the apocalyptic 'Highway 61 Revisited', his furious rewriting of 'A Hard Rain' into the agonised 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)'. Excerpts from combative press interviews and his 1966 masterpiece, 'Visions of Johanna' reveal a shattered interior world. There's the chaos, booing, and amphetamine-driven fury of the 1966 tour with Dylan and his band locked in a battle with their audience - then rumours of Bob Dylan’s death following his motorcycle accident in the Catskill mountains.
Producer: Julian May
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m000w4ph)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 GF Newman's The Corrupted (m000w4sk)
Series 6
Episode 6
It's now 2006 and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon discovered dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Lord Olinska, organised the killing.
In this final series, taking us to 2008, Joseph Olinska gets ever more involved in New Labour, while Brian Oldman becomes a vegan and studies law in jail in a bid to win justice for himself. Tony Wednesday continues to work behind the scenes for Sir Joseph at the same time as moving ever further up the ranks of the police force.
GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's the tale of a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th and 21st century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.
Whose fortunes will prosper? Who will get their just deserts?
Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His first wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending Lord Goodman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Joseph now helps New Labour with their finances, while continuing to invest heavily in Russia, the US and a pharmaceutical company specialising in cancer drugs.
The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.
Cast
Lord Olinska - Toby Jones
Brian - Joe Armstrong
Tony Wednesday - Alec Newman
Sonia Hope - Sarah Lambie
Catherine - Isabella Urbanowicz
Margaret - Flora Montgomery
Clive Bunter / Brad Thompson / Justice Deed - Matthew Marsh
PO Rogers / Paul Linthwaite - Paul Kemp
Julian Tyrwhitt - Jonathan Tafler
Jeremy Corbyn - Christopher Harper
EXO Avedlund - Nigel Pivaro
Professor King / Tim Listfield - Charles Davies
Mrs Jinks - Suzan Sylvester
FBI Agent Pyke - Will Meredith
Mr Kumar - Akbar Kurtha
Mr Justice Balardy - Christian Roadska
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m000w4sm)
Silence
A hush descends as Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about silence.
From an artwork that pulls sounds outside of the range of human hearing within it - vibrations in the soil, the sound of bats in Senegal caught on a supersonic microphone - to a story about the silence which lies between generations in a family.
Winter Forest, Bala, Ontario on 2nd December 2020
Recorded by Jess Shane
Originally featured on the Field Recordings podcast
The Inaudible Spectrum
Produced by Sami El-Enany
Mokadi
Written and read by Sarah Baylis
Four Thirty-Three with Aoife
Produced by Phil Smith
Curatorial Team: Alia Cassam and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Exec Producer: Zakia Sewell
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Costing the Earth (m000w33w)
"Greenfinger"
Government action on climate change is sluggish. Could rich individuals cut through red tape and fund measures to cool the planet from their own pockets? And should they be allowed?
Presenter/producer: Jolyon Jenkins
TUE 16:00 Girl Stuck in Basketball Hoop (m000w4sp)
When stand-up comedian Ian Smith read the headline "GIRL RESCUED" in his local paper, The Goole Times he assumed that it was just a regular incident of teenage horseplay at the local basketball courts. But when the article went on to say that this was the third time in as many months that a girl had to be prized from the rim of a basketball hoop in his home town, he wondered if something more sinister was going on.
This is the story of his investigation into what happened. It's not just a quest for the truth behind these "self-dunking" incidents but also a soul-searching examination of the lives of the teenagers of Goole and a probe into the psyche of people across the world who choose to squeeze themselves through small spaces.
Ian leaves no stone unturned as he asks the tough (and not so tough) questions to guests including his local MP, the education specialist Adele Bates author of "Miss I Don't Give a Sh*t", comedian Jessica Fostekew and the world famous contortionist, Captain Frodo.
Written and presented by Ian Smith with additional material by Alex Kealy
Production co-ordinator: Sarah Sharpe
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
TUE 16:30 Great Lives (m000w4sr)
Ben Miller on William Hazlitt
Actor, comedian and Author Ben Miller discusses the colourful, complicated and uncompromising life of William Hazlitt.
Born in 1778 William Hazlitt is considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, but for centuries, his life and works were lost in the shadows. He was an advocate of universal rights and civil liberties, and a fierce opponent of pomp and power. He railed against slavery, believed strongly in the power of the imagination, and said, 'The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves'.
But he wasn't without his own demons and fell out of public favour. Rumours of gambling, sex addiction and adultery challenged his reputation. In recent years scholars have debated his life and works and a renewed interest in his essays has emerged.
Ben Miller plays Lord Featherington in Bridgerton, and he wrote and starred in The Armstrong and Miller Show on Channel Four.
With expert contributions from Dr Uttara Nataragen, a founding organiser of The Hazlitt Society and editor of The Hazlitt Review.
Presented by Matthew Parris
Produced by Nicola Humphries for BBC Bristol
TUE 17:00 PM (m000w4st)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w4sy)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Alex Edelman's Peer Group (m000w4t0)
Series 4
America As It Is Now
When Alex Edelman first heard about the Coronavirus he was on tour in the UK. Coming back to the US and enduring lockdowns, the complete destruction of his livelihood and the tail-end of the Trump presidency, he talks about the ways he has changed, how America has changed with him and how he got caught up in a little election of his own.
Written by Alex Edelman and Max Davis.
With special thanks to
Adam Brace
Tasha Dhanraj
Rajiv Karia
Alfie Brown
Mike Birbiglia
and
Danny Jolles
Produced by Sam Michell
It is a BBC Studios Production
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m000w333)
Peggy begins to wonder if she has done the right thing and Helen comes to the rescue.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m000w4t2)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 19:45 A Big Disease with a Little Name (m000jvyg)
The Decimation of a Scene
When AIDS hit London’s gay scene in the early 1980s, many of those affected faced prejudice and fear, but the community soon rallied to raise awareness and care for dying patients.
Rupert Whitaker had come out at school at the age of 15, and became part of a new wave of young, gay men filling the buzzing gay club scene emerging around London's Soho.
But this boom in London's commercial gay scene also happened as a new disease emerged, which was initially affecting gay men - a disease originally known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency).
In 1982 Rupert's boyfriend, Terry Higgins, became one of the first people to die of an AIDS-related illness in the UK, and his death motivated his friends to set up the UK's first charity dedicated to AIDS awareness, The Terrence Higgins Trust.
In this programme, Rupert looks back at how the British gay community was initially affected by AIDS and how it responded.
Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m000w4t4)
The Cost of Long Covid
Latest figures show more than a million people in Britain are suffering from long Covid. For many the condition is completely debilitating. The extreme fatigue, breathing difficulties, brain-fog is forcing hundreds of thousands of previously fit, working people on to long term sick. File on 4 hears from the hero frontline workers who kept Britain going through the pandemic but now feel abandoned. Others reveal how they’ve felt pressurised to return to work even though they’re very ill. So who’s looking after them – and who, if anyone, is going to support them when their sick pay runs out?
Reporter: Paul Kenyon
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m000w4t6)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 All in the Mind (m000w339)
Programme exploring the limits and potential of the human mind. Producer: Deborah Cohen.
TUE 21:30 The Life Scientific (m000w4rr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m000w4t8)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w4s7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m000w4tb)
189. Born at 42, with Richard Osman
This week on Fortunately, Fi and Jane chat to presenter and writer Richard Osman. The Pointless and House of Games presenter joins them to discuss his novel The Thursday Murder Club. He also talks to them about perspectives on ageing, consoling quiz contestants and who might win a Garvey v Glover wrestling match. Prior to Richard's arrival there's reports from the vanguard of fashion and a new arrival on Fi's windowsill.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000w4td)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m000w4tg)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w4tj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w4tl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w4tn)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w4tq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m000w4ts)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000w4tv)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
I hesitate to ,make this confession, even at such an early hour of the day, but I have become a gardener. Over the past two years, gardening has become a source of solace and joy to me, both mentally and physically. To tend a patch of God’s good earth and bring the best out of it has been wonderful. I now find myself gravitating towards nurseries and garden centres, and last week felt like a child in a sweet shop at a plant stall on our local market. How times change!
I have developed something of a taste for unusual planters in the garden. I have an old chair, whose seat has been replaced with an Alpines garden, and an old copper fish kettle which holds a collection of houseleeks. My latest acquisition may well be the most unusual. It is an old ammunition case, still with bright yellow writing on the side describing its contents as two high explosive Howitzer rounds. Above those words now bob the smiley yellow and black striped flowers of sun-ray petunias. They seem to me to provide a delicious contrast between hard and soft, destruction and creation. These innocuous little flowers are redeeming the past of that old metal box.
As a relatively novice gardener, I continue to be amazed by the miracle of growth – where God turns brown seeds and green shoots into every colour under the sun. I play my part of course – providing shelter and nourishment, but the clever stuff is all down to him. Looking out at my old box made new just now, I am reminded of God’s ancient promise that ‘the deserts shall rejoice and flowers bloom in the wilderness’.
Dear God, make me more aware than ever today of the things which grow, and help me to cherish them wherever I can.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m000w4tx)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b09snn7p)
Helen Moncrieff on the Fulmar
Fulmars defend their nests by launching their stomach contents at an intruder. Now this may not seem like an appealing behaviour but as Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager with RSPB Scotland describes, it was a tactic she used to her advantage as a child and has felt protective of these cliff-nesting birds ever since.
Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.
Producer: Sarah Blunt
Photograph: Andrew Thompson.
WED 06:00 Today (m000w32d)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Life Changing (m000w33t)
The near-death experience that made me a musician
Tony Kofi is the fifth of seven brothers and was raised by his Ghanaian parents in Nottingham in the late 1960s.
At secondary school Tony was turned down for the music course he wanted to do, told he wasn’t focused enough, and directed to do woodwork instead. He stuck with woodwork as he was really good at it, and left school at the age of 16 to become a carpentry apprentice. A few months in, working on a house construction, he fell from the roof arch to the ground floor where he landed on his head. Tony says he experienced the fall in slow motion and he had clear visions of unknown faces and places and saw images of himself playing an instrument. During his recovery it was that image which kept coming back to him. Tony made the decision to quit his apprenticeship and announced his intention to become a musician. He bought a saxophone and taught himself how to play by ear, before earning a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the US.
Scroll forward many years, Tony is now a highly-acclaimed jazz saxophonist and credits the fall with turning his whole life around.
WED 09:30 Chinese Characters (b09z62h2)
Li Qingzhao: Patriotic Poet
Li Qingzhao, who lived (1084-1151) during the late Song dynasty, is recognised as one of China's greatest poets. She grew up within China's culture of highly regulated court bureaucracy. While her husband was a senior official, she became a brilliant and renowned poet But the Song dynasty was also a time of great political turmoil. In 1127, the dynasty fled its capital in the city of Kaifeng after an invasion. Li was forced to wander for years, trying to preserve as much as possible of her family's collection of books and precious artefacts. Eventually she settled down in the new capital of Hangzho and wrote a series of broadsides condemning the Song rulers for succumbing to the invaders. She established a reputation as a true patriot that has lasted to the present day in China.
Presenter: Rana Mitter
Producer: Ben Crighton
Researcher: Elizabeth Smith Rosser.
WED 09:45 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w346)
Episode 3
Professor Hans Rosling was ‘the man in whose hands data sings’. He was dubbed ‘a true inspiration’ by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks, which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics. Passionately driven to dispel common myths about the so-called developing world, he used facts in a new way to share the surprisingly good news about global development.
In his memoir, completed just before he died, the data visionary looks back at the events that shaped his world view. From curiosity about his family history through to working as a doctor in Mozambique, he pinpoints the encounters that drove him to a life dedicated to fundamentally changing our view of the world.
After years of medical training Hans has achieved his ambition of moving to Mozambique, where the problems he encounters will challenge everything he’s been taught.
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Written by Hans Rosling with Fanny Härgestam
Translated by Dr Anna Paterson
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000w32j)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 Parallel Lives (m000w32l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Mark Steel's in Town (b07x5vs3)
Series 7
Gibraltar
"I've done loads of these, but I've never done one where I couldn't get into my dressing room because of monkeys."
In the last episode of the series, Mark visits the British overseas territory of Gibraltar where he performs in the spectacular setting of St Michael's Cave, inside The Rock. He explores Gibraltar's relationship with Spain, visits a British phone box, has some British fish and chips and encounters some not so British monkeys.
Mark Steel's seventh series of the award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
A BBC Radio Comedy production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2016.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m000w567)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w32q)
Episode 3
A magical literary debut about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you. As read by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls).
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety.
The Author
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. Her short stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Southword. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. ‘Snowflake’ is her debut novel.
Author: Louise Nealon
Reader: Louisa Harland
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m000w32t)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m000w32w)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m000w32y)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
WED 13:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w330)
Three: Vanishing Acts (1966-1979)
Three: Vanishing Acts (1966-1979)
In the week before the Nobel Prize-winner's birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa and editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', continues his series exploring the life, work and influence of one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
The third episode covers the period from the motorcycle crash in 1966 through the long running Rolling Thunder Revue that ended a decade later. Latham focuses on Dylan’s growing ability to create characters in song, and traces a sense of crisis that comes to a head in 1979, leading to his religious conversion
He draws heavily on never-before-seen notebooks from the Bob Dylan Archive to look closely at Dylan's creative seclusion in Woodstock, and the Basement experiment - his decision to write in collaboration with others and away from the demands of both celebrity and politics. Dylan invents new kinds of songs, laden with mystery and truth that do not cohere around a fixed sense of self or message. Dylan becomes 'Jokerman' morphing into many different characters: a country gentleman, a gunslinger, a grizzled sailor, a wandering hobo, a caring father, an anxious lover, and a Biblical prophet.
A sense of crisis pervades his masterpiece 'Blood on the Tracks' and Latham looks closely at the development and constant revision of the painterly song 'Tangled Up in Blue', in which the characters Dylan has imagined begin to collapse into chaos. He looks, too, at the strange plastic mask Dylan wore for the Rolling Thunder Revue and the account of his sudden spiritual crisis when a woman threw a cross on stage in 1979
Producer: Julian May
WED 14:00 The Archers (m000w333)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 GF Newman's The Corrupted (m000w335)
Series 6
Episode 7
It's now 2007 and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon discovered dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Lord Olinska, organised the killing.
In this final series, taking us to 2008, Joseph Olinska gets ever more involved in New Labour, while Brian Oldman becomes a vegan and studies law in jail in a bid to win justice for himself. Tony Wednesday continues to work behind the scenes for Sir Joseph at the same time as moving ever further up the ranks of the police force.
GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's the tale of a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th and 21st century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.
Whose fortunes will prosper? Who will get their just deserts?
Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His first wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending Lord Goodman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Joseph now helps New Labour with their finances, while continuing to invest heavily in Russia, the US and a pharmaceutical company specialising in cancer drugs.
The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.
Cast
Lord Olinska - Toby Jones
Brian - Joe Armstrong
Tony Wednesday - Alec Newman
Sonia Hope - Sarah Lambie
Dr Jordan - Nigel Cooke
Margaret - Flora Montgomery
Catherine - Isabella Urbanowicz
DCS Redvers - Arty Froushan
PO Rogers / Menachem Hyak - Paul Kemp
EXO Avedlund - Nigel Pivaro
Mrs Jinks - Suzan Sylvester
FBI Agent Pyke - Will Meredith
DAC Henderson - NicholasMurchie
Mr Kumar - Akbar Kurtha
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
WED 15:00 Money Box (m000w337)
Paul Lewis and a panel of guests answer calls on personal finance. Producer: Emma Rippon
WED 15:30 All in the Mind (m000w339)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 Thinking Allowed (m000w33c)
Laurie Taylor explores the latest research into how society works.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m000w33f)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m000w33h)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w33m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Shush! (b08nq9wk)
Series 2
Dewey Decimal
When an International Librarians' Conference looms, Alice and Snoo have to resort to some rather unconventional methods to get hold of a passport - methods that include a thousand hummingbirds, some over-tight jeans and a hilarious anagram.
Meet Alice (Rebecca Front) - a former child prodigy who won a place at Oxford aged 9 but, because Daddy went too, she never needed to have any friends. She's scared of everything. Everything that is except libraries and Snoo (Morwenna Banks) - a slightly confused individual with a have-a-go attitude to life, marriage, haircuts and reality. Snoo loves books, and fully intends to read one one day.
And forever popping into the library is Dr Cadogan (Michael Fenton-Stevens) - celebrity doctor to the stars and a man with his finger in every pie. Charming, indiscreet and quite possibly wanted by Interpol, if you want a discrete nip and tuck and then photos of it accidentally left on the photocopier, Dr Cadogan is your man.
Their happy life is interrupted by the arrival of Simon Nielson (Ben Willbond), a man with a mission - a mission to close down inefficient libraries. Fortunately, he hates his mission. What he really wants to do is once - just once - get even with his inexhaustible supply of high-achieving brothers.
Written by Morwenna Banks and Rebecca Front
Based on an idea developed with Armando Iannucci
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m000w33p)
Jim finds himself caught in the crossfire and Kirsty offers a solution.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m000w33r)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 19:45 A Big Disease with a Little Name (m000jw0t)
Ward 5B
In the early 1980s, Alison Moed Paolercio was taking shifts at the San Francisco General Hospital, while studying for her nursing degree. It was there she first noticed young men in isolation units, as a result of a mystery illness they had developed.
What shocked Alison was the disdain her fellow nurses showed for these patients, who were at that time exclusively young, gay men.
"I had never really encountered that kind of prejudice among nurses before," she says. "I was angry. And it made me less afraid of taking care of them, perhaps."
What followed was the opening of the first dedicated AIDS ward in the world, where Alison was one of the first dozen nurses charged with taking care of patients suffering from this new and complex disease.
The staff on Ward 5B and the local community created an holistic approach to caring for AIDS patients, which would be known as The San Francisco Model, and which would be emulated around the world.
Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
WED 20:00 Life Changing (m000w33t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
WED 20:30 Art of Now (m000t6r7)
Dreaming of Damascus
When Mohamad Hafez first arrived in Connecticut from Syria, he missed his homeland so much he began constructing extraordinary miniature models of Damascus.
By day he would design glass and steel skyscrapers, by night he recreated the city he loved. The sculptures dripped with nostalgia and were cut through with half forgotten memories.
But as the conflict in Syria took hold ten years ago in 2011, Mohamad's work underwent a transformation. Gone were the pretty bird nests perched on door frames and clothes on washing lines. Now he creates work that is gritty, rusted, lived-in, and partially destroyed. It is this work that has made his name.
Mohamad's works have featured in exhibitions around the States, the Middle East and at the Saatchi Gallery in the UK. Now a respected sculptor, is he still dreaming of Damascus?
Presenter Mitra Kaboli travels to Connecticut to meet Mohamad and finds out about how the Syrian War changed his art, and life.
Producer: Caitlin Smith
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
WED 21:00 Costing the Earth (m000w33w)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:30 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m000w33f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m000w33y)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w32q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Jamie MacDonald: Life On The Blink (m000w340)
To The Stage
Jamie MacDonald is a Glaswegian stand-up comedian who found himself rapidly going blind in his teens. This series shows how Jamie used humour to turn denial into acceptance.
He managed to find the spotlight as the darkness descended and has turned some pretty dark experiences into hilarious stories and anecdotes. This week, he shares the story about his first few attempts at stand up comedy.
Produced by Julia Sutherland
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Domestic Science (b09tf719)
Series 2
07/03/2018
A heady combination of maths, science and comedy with Festival of The Spoken Nerd trio who are stand-up Mathematician Matt Parker, Physicist Steve Mould and Physicist-Musician Helen Arney. It's science that you can play along with at home as the team look at domestic phenomena that we relate to on a day to day basis. This week it is the bedroom.
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner.
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000w342)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 20 MAY 2021
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m000w344)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w346)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w349)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w34c)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w34f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m000w34h)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000w34k)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
Strange to say, but this is actually a perfectly normal time of day for me. I seem to be in the habit of waking each day at
5am, and even if I were not – my dog now has the same habit, so that’s that. There are so many things I love about the early morning. I love the daily drama of the transition from night to day in the skies above my head. I love the sound of the dawn chorus, and I love the sense of new possibilities. I believe it was Winnie the Pooh who thought that wondering what exciting was going to happen today and wondering what was for breakfast pretty much amount to the same thing. There’s a lot of wisdom in that old bear.
For these past few years, I have been sharing my breakfast with a remarkable group of people online. They call themselves the ‘Early risers’ club’, and most of them are healthcare professionals. Some are coming home from a night shift, some are heading out to a day shift, but all have one aim in attending the club – to encourage the others. Some days, I join in, but other days I let the messages of encouragement wash all around me like warm water through your toes on a beach. It really is a wonderful place to be.
People often complain about social media being a toxic place – but it is as toxic, or as healthy as you choose to make it. The apostle Paul writes whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Dear God, help me two dwell on the good and lovely things today, and to help others to do the same.
Amen
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m000w34m)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02ty8nj)
Red-necked Phalarope
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the red-necked phalarope.
Red-necked phalaropes are among our rarest waders, small and colourful with needle-like bills and they breed in very limited numbers on the edges of our islands. There are probably only around 20 pairs of these birds in summer in the Outer Hebrides or Shetlands.
THU 06:00 Today (m000w5hb)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m000w5hd)
Journey to the West
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great novels of China’s Ming era, and perhaps the most loved. Written in 1592, it draws on the celebrated travels of a real monk from China to India a thousand years before, and on a thousand years of retellings of that story, especially the addition of a monkey as companion who, in the novel, becomes supersimian. For most readers the monk, Tripitaka, is upstaged by this irrepressible Monkey with his extraordinary powers, accompanied by the fallen but recovering deities, Pigsy and Sandy.
The image above, from the caricature series Yoshitoshi ryakuga or Sketches by Yoshitoshi, is of Monkey creating an army by plucking out his fur and blowing it into the air, and each hair becomes a monkey-warrior.
With
Julia Lovell
Professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London
Chiung-yun Evelyn Liu
Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
And
Craig Clunas
Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Trinity College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w5hg)
Episode 4
Professor Hans Rosling was ‘the man in whose hands data sings’. He was dubbed ‘a true inspiration’ by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks, which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics. Passionately driven to dispel common myths about the so-called developing world, he used facts in a new way to share the surprisingly good news about global development.
In his memoir, completed just before he died, the data visionary looks back at the events that shaped his world view. From curiosity about his family history through to working as a doctor in Mozambique, he pinpoints the encounters that drove him to a life dedicated to fundamentally changing our view of the world.
Hans Rosling’s international reputation for treating mysterious epidemics brings an unexpected visitor to his door.
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Written by Hans Rosling with Fanny Härgestam
Translated by Dr Anna Paterson
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000w5hj)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m000w5hl)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.
THU 11:30 A Life in Music (m000w5hn)
Teenage life
When music journalist Jude Rogers lost her father aged five, she turned to songs for solace and structure. Music helped her redefine her identity as a teenager and connect with her young child as a parent after post-natal depression.
In this emotional and educational series, we explore how music impacts us at each stage of our lives. In four programmes, Jude speaks to musicians, neuroscientists, psychologists and music-lovers to discover why music means so much to us all.
In this second episode, Teenage life, Jude explores how music provides teenagers with agency, autonomy and emotional support. As they begin to form their identity, music makes teenagers feel more in control of their lives and even helps crucial parts of their brains to mature.
We hear from Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, music psychologist Associate Professor Suvi Saarikallio, neuroscientist Professor Elvira Brattico, and K-pop fan Ellelivia Degiorgio.
Producer: Georgia Moodie
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m000w5hq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w5hs)
Episode 4
A magical literary debut about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you. As read by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls).
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety.
The Author
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. Her short stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Southword. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. ‘Snowflake’ is her debut novel.
Author: Louise Nealon
Reader: Louisa Harland
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m000w5hv)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m000w5hx)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m000w5hz)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Sarah Montague.
THU 13:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w5j1)
Four: This Train (1979-1993)
Four: This Train (1979 -1993)
In the week before the Nobel Prize-winner's birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa and editor of 'The World of Bob Dylan', explores the life, work and influence of one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
The fourth episode spans the period from Bob Dylan's conversion to Christianity in 1979, after a woman threw a cross onstage, to the release in 1993 of 'World Gone Wrong', the album that revived his career.
Many consider Dylan's conversion as an act of hypocrisy, followed by years of wasted effort to recapture the alchemy of the 1960s. Latham radically contests that idea, suggesting that with 'Gotta Serve Somebody' the endless process of rejection and reinvention that defines Dylan's early career gives ways to studious self-examination as he places his faith first in a Christian god, and then in the musical history that he begins to excavate. Dylan explores gospel music, and his attempt to measure human folly (in 'Foot of Pride') against the hope for a redeemed world.
Dylan begins by confessing his faith, but ends this era by confessing to the fact that the music he makes is steeped in a history of racist violence and exploitation. Dylan then releases two albums of folk covers, addressing his debt to musical history. Looking closely at the songs, and drawing on the Bob Dylan Archive, Latham shows how he decided to serve rather than simply remake this complex musical tradition. Like his religious conversion, this comes as an epiphany, transforming the fading rock star into the archivist and alchemist of popular music who would later win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Producer: Julian May
THU 14:00 The Archers (m000w33p)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 GF Newman's The Corrupted (m000w5j3)
Series 6
Episode 8
The final episode of GF Newman's family crime saga. It's now 2008 and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit.
He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon discovered dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Lord Olinska, organised the killing.
In this final series, taking us to 2008, Joseph Olinska gets ever more involved in New Labour, while Brian Oldman becomes a vegan and studies law in jail in a bid to win justice for himself. Tony Wednesday continues to work behind the scenes for Sir Joseph at the same time as moving ever further up the ranks of the police force.
GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's the tale of a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th and 21st century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.
Whose fortunes will prosper? Who will get their just deserts?
Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His first wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending Lord Goodman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Joseph now helps New Labour with their finances, while continuing to invest heavily in Russia, the US and a pharmaceutical company specialising in cancer drugs.
The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.
Cast
Lord Olinska - Toby Jones
Brian - Joe Armstrong
Tony Wednesday - Alec Newman
Sonia Hope - Sarah Lambie
Catherine - Isabella Urbanowicz
Margaret - Flora Montgomery
Anatoly Popov / Clive Bunter / Justice Deed - Matthew Marsh
PO Rogers / Paul Linthwaite / Menachem Hyak / Robin Bleecher - Paul Kemp
Julian Tyrwhitt - Jonathan Tafler
DCS Redvers - Arty Froushan
EXO Avedlund - Nigel Pivaro
Mrs Jinks / Marcia Hoffman - Suzan Sylvester
FBI Agent Pyke - Will Meredith
Chuck Haley - Matt Rippy
Tim Listfield - Charles Davies
DAC Henderson - Nicholas Murchie
Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m000w5j5)
Screenwriter Kay Mellor at Harewood in Leeds
Kay Mellor is one of our most successful screenwriters. On today's ramble she takes Clare on her favourite route at Harewood House in her home city of Leeds. En route they discuss The Syndicate, Kay's hit drama series on BBC One and the iPlayer, which tells the story of a group of people who have won a huge amount of money on a lottery. Kay also discusses how walking helps her in the writing process, her desire to nurture more new writers, and how she started directing her own work.
The walk they do is on land which is free to enter, but there is a charge to enter the main house and grounds of Harewood. They met at Grid Reference: SE 325 431 by large iron gates.
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m000w3kz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m000w3lz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Film Programme (m000w5j7)
Film programme looking at the latest cinema releases, DVDs and films on TV.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m000w5j9)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m000w5jc)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w5jf)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (m000w5jh)
Series 9
Episode 3
The ninth series of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is very different to the previous eight. It's still written by John Finnemore, "one of our best sketch writers", (The Observer), and performed by him with "a great supporting cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan" (The Telegraph), and there are still sketches and songs. But, with no live studio audience this year, John has taken the opportunity to try something completely new
Every episode in this series of Souvenir Programme is made up of scenes from one person's life, played in reverse order. There's no narrative to the episode; it's still a sketch show, not a sitcom... but the sketches in each episode all happened to one person, played by one member of the cast, over the course of their lifetime.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme started in 2011 and quickly established itself as "One of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" (The Guardian), and "One of the funniest and most inventive new radio comedy shows of recent years" (The Daily Mail).
Written and performed by ... John Finnemore
Jerry ... Simon Kane
Ensemble ... Lawry Lewin
Ensemble ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Ensemble ... Carrie Quinlan
Original music composed by .... Susannah Pearse
Original music arranged by ... Susannah Pearse and Tim Sutton
Recorded and edited by ... Rich Evans at Syncbox Post
Production coordinator ... Beverly Tagg
Producer ... Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios Production
THU 19:00 The Archers (m000w5jk)
Writers, Liz John and Nick Warburton
Director, Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Helen Archer … Louiza Patikas
Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge … Angela Piper
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter … Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter … Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter … Charlotte Martin
Emma Grundy … Emerald O’hanrahan
Shula Hebden Lloyd … Judy Bennett
Jim Lloyd … John Rowe
Jazzer McCreary … Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller … Annabelle Dowler
Peggy Woolley … June Spencer
THU 19:15 Front Row (m000w5jm)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 19:45 A Big Disease with a Little Name (m000jxvh)
The Doctor
In 1979, as Jonathan Weber was finishing his studies in medicine, he was sure he was going to go into the infectious diseases field - a potentially bad career decision at the time, as it was thought the war was won on such diseases.
But he learned about a new pattern of infections affecting gay men in America, and it was suggested that he start looking for cases in the UK too.
In 1982, he began working with the first cohort of AIDS patients at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, where he led the treatment of some 400 patients.
This pioneering work was the first research into AIDS in the UK - work Professor Weber describes as very much a partnership with the patients who gave their time and blood to better understand this emerging epidemic.
Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
[Photo Credit: Jonathan Weber/Imperial College London]
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m000w5jp)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 20:30 The Untold (m000w4nj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Monday]
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m000w5j9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m000w5hd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m000w5js)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w5hs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 52 First Impressions with David Quantick (b079rbdf)
Series 2
Episode 2
Journalist and comedy writer David Quantick has met and interviewed hundreds of people. What were his first impressions, how have they changed and does it all matter?
This week, stories about Ronnie Barker, Mel Brooks and Lemmy, amongst others.
Written and presented by David Quantick
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000w5jv)
Today in Parliament
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 21 MAY 2021
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m000w5jx)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w5hg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m000w5jz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m000w5k1)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m000w5k3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m000w5k5)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m000w5k7)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Richard Littledale
Good morning.
Ministers’ meetings aren’t what they used to be. Instead of meeting in a church hall, snatching glimpses of other people’s noticeboards over our sandwiches, we join in from home on our various computers. We do to check in with each other, and to see how things are going in our different churches. On this particular occasion, instead of simply comparing notes about life and work, – we were asked to talk about whatever we had been reading recently.
Usually, the first one to jump in on such an open session, I held back. I felt a slight panic about what the answer to the question should be. What had I been reading? Could I remember anything about it? Would it measure up to the worthy tomes read by my colleagues? When somebody explained that they had been reading a history of Jerusalem, and somebody else an analysis of Protestant church history, the anxiety levels went up a little notch. Thankfully, I remembered not only the silly novel I had been reading, but also a book about theological and emotional recovery from the pandemic, so that was alright.
How quickly we feel intimidated, even in a group of supportive colleagues! Maybe we all feel the need to measure up. In reality, it is more about measuring up to God than to each other. That is the thing which really matters. Consider the ancient words of Micah the prophet:
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God
I think that is quite enough to be going on with, no matter what I am reading!
Dear God, today we ask that we might worry less about the things which don’t matter, and more about the things which do.
Amen
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m000w5k9)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b038qkcg)
Great Reed Warbler
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Brett Westwood presents the great reed warbler. As you'd expect from their name, Great Reed Warblers are a much larger version of the Common Reed Warbler and breed in Continental Europe where their very loud song echoes around reed-beds, it can be heard up to half a kilometre away. We can hear one or more singing Great Reed Warblers in the UK each spring.
FRI 06:00 Today (m000w5v7)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m000w3lf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling (m000w5wz)
Episode 5
Professor Hans Rosling was ‘the man in whose hands data sings’. He was dubbed ‘a true inspiration’ by Bill Gates and became a viral celebrity thanks to his popular TED talks, which broke down the statistics behind global health and economics. Passionately driven to dispel common myths about the so-called developing world, he used facts in a new way to share the surprisingly good news about global development.
In his memoir, completed just before he died, the data visionary looks back at the events that shaped his world view. From curiosity about his family history through to working as a doctor in Mozambique, he pinpoints the encounters that drove him to a life dedicated to fundamentally changing our view of the world.
Hans Rosling is travelling to Liberia, where his public health expertise is needed to fight a deadly outbreak of Ebola.
Read by Adrian Rawlins
Written by Hans Rosling with Fanny Härgestam
Translated by Dr Anna Paterson
Abridged by Anna Magnusson
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m000w5vf)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 Prison Break (m000w5vh)
Episode 5: If not this, then what?
Former 'prison wife' Josie Bevan confronts the failings of the prison system.
In this concluding episode, Josie returns to the attack at Fishmongers' Hall in November 2019, in which John Crilly, who previously served 13 years for manslaughter, was briefly hailed as a hero for tackling the terrorist with a fire extinguisher, while Dave Merritt shares more about what motivated his dead son Jack's work with prisoners.
Josie talks with Alex Chalk, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, about the balance of harm and healing on the scales of justice, Jacob Tas, the former CEO of Nacro, the national crime reduction charity, and Maureen Mansfield of Abolitionist Futures.
Josie's previous podcast series Prison Bag - one family's unflinching confrontation with the prison system - is available on BBC Sounds.
Produced by Rebecca Lloyd-Evans and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
--
FRI 11:30 It's a Fair Cop (m000w5vk)
Series 6
Vehicle Stop
Policeman turned stand-up Alfie Moore takes an audience through real-life crime scenarios. This week's topic is a vehicle stop - when do the police have a right to stop your car? Alfie recalls the real-life case of his encounter with an uncooperative driver in Scunthorpe.
Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script editor: Will Ing
Production co-ordinator: Beverly Tagg
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Studios Production
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m000w643)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w5vp)
Episode 5
A magical literary debut about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you've taken it with you. As read by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls).
Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.
This world is Debbie's normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve's eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy's drinking gets worse. Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety.
The Author
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, and then completed a master's degree in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2016. Her short stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Southword. She lives on her family farm in County Kildare. ‘Snowflake’ is her debut novel.
Author: Louise Nealon
Reader: Louisa Harland
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m000w5vr)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m000w5vt)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m000w5vw)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80 (m000w5vy)
Five: High Water Everywhere (1993-2021)
Five: High Water Everywhere (1993-2021)
Three days before the Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, Sean Latham, Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa, concludes his series about one of the most important and elusive artists of modern times.
In the final episode Sean Latham considers how stories are defined by their endings - a point Dylan makes in his Nobel speech when discussing Homer. Dylan invents a series of endings every bit as powerful as the beginnings around which he built his career in 1963. And, starting with 'Time Out of Mind', he reveals how Dylan fashions the roots music genre by becoming a musical historian, building on the past (including his own vast archive) to craft songs that are at once folk and pop, rock and poetry.
Latham examines different kinds of endings in Dylan's songs: the end of love, the end of the world (climate change), and the looming end of Dylan's own life as well. Latham concludes that over eighty years Dylan has learned his songs well and, at the end of his career, has learned to open a space for the future; his endings open the past, creating spaces for new stories and new voices that can build using the musical tools he has fashioned, as younger artists covering Dylan’s songs illustrate.
Producer: Julian May
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m000w5jk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Drama (m000w5w0)
Talawa Stories: Precious Little Thing
A humorous and heartfelt comedy that explores womanhood, class and how being let down by the system leads to heart-breaking choices.
Willow and Nicole's journeys collide in the dead of night when they unexpectedly meet in the garden of a London mansion. Both desiring something from inside No. 92, they join forces to break in. But once they do, and get caught by the Nanny Bian, it's soon revealed that they haven't been completely honest with each other.
Talawa Theatre Company and feral inc co-produced Running with Lions as part of Talawa’s 35th anniversary. Talawa Theatre Company is the UK’s outstanding Black theatre company.
Precious Little Thing was recorded in March 2021 during the national lockdown and in line with Covid safe measures. Jocelyn Jee Esien (Turn Up Charlie, Netflix), Jacoba Williams (The Snow Queen, Stephen Joseph Theatre) and Tuyen Do (The Great Wave, National Theatre) bring to life Roberta Livingston’s brand-new play.
CAST
Nicole - Jocelyn Jee Esien
Willow - Jacoba Williams
Bian - Tuyen Do
Written by Roberta Livingston
Produced by Ifrah Ismail
Directed by Anastasia Osei-Kuffour
Sound Design by Steve Bond
Sound Assistant: Makashe Ogbon
Assistant Producer: David Gilbert
Production Manager: Sarah Tombling
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas
Series Producer: Gill Parry
A Talawa Theatre / feral inc production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Chinese Characters (b09z62h2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Wednesday]
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m000w5w2)
GQT at Home
Peter Gibbs hosts the horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts - Bob Flowerdew, Matthew Pottage and Bunny Guinness - and a virtual audience of green-fingered listeners.
Producer - Jemima Rathbone
Assistant Producer - Millie Chu
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Empty Stages (m000w5w4)
Madison Chorus
When drama graduate and part-time usher Madison is laid off during the pandemic by the famous London theatre where she works, she joins a skeleton team of night cleaners – all of them young actors – on a temporary contract to check and clean the building overnight.
Working in rotation, each of them alone, they take turns to sweep and polish the empty stage, sometimes spontaneously performing to the vacant auditorium.
On Madison’s shift, she reflects on her difficult journey into acting and speculates about her uncertain future. Must she abandon her dreams and return to Yorkshire? Is she deluding herself she could ever succeed? Standing under the ghostlight – the lightbulb which illuminates an otherwise dark stage – Madison experiences a life-changing revelation.
Read by Lisa McGrillis
Written by Nicola Baldwin
Directed by Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m000w5w6)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant. Prod: Eleanor Garland (Beverley Purcell Apr-July)
FRI 16:30 Feedback (m000w5w8)
Radio 4's forum for comments, queries, criticisms and congratulations
FRI 17:00 PM (m000w5wb)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m000w5wg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m000w5wj)
Series 105
Episode 6
Andy Zaltzman presents a look back at the week's headlines
FRI 19:00 Front Row (m000w5wl)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
FRI 19:45 A Big Disease with a Little Name (m000jx4p)
Don't Die of Ignorance
In 1987 the British government launched its Don't Die of Ignorance campaign - a public health message which would define AIDS for a generation.
Behind the campaign was the then Secretary or State for Health and Social Services, Norman Fowler. In this episode he recalls the slow response to AIDS within Whitehall, and how he decided to take charge.
Through some careful political manoeuvring, he reveals how he side-stepped Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's concerns about explicit language, and that any mention of sex might encourage young people to take more risks,
He also reveals the prejudice of high-profile public figures, and how they motivated him to do something about the emerging epidemic.
Narrator: Chris Pavlo
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m000w5wn)
Pauline Black, Jess Phillips MP, Baroness Stuart
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from Coventry Cathedral with a panel which includes the lead singer of The Selecter Pauline Black, the Labour MP and shadow home office minister Jess Philliips and the non-affiliated peer and former chair of Vote Leave Baroness Stuart.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m000w5wq)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 Meeting Myself Coming Back (m000sq9c)
Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop, satirist and Editor of "Private Eye" magazine, meets his younger self in the sound archives in conversation with John Wilson
Ian Hislop has been called the most sued man in Britain, keeping lawyers busy with a steady stream of writs from those whose public and private failings have been exposed in the pages of Private Eye. He became the magazine’s youngest editor at the age of just 26 in 1986, and 35 years later is still in charge. He's also become well-known through his appearances as a team captain on the comedy quiz show "Have I Got News For You".
In this programme, where the guests don't know what they're going to hear, John takes Ian back through a variety of archives to trace how his life and career have developed. We hear the young Ian on stage in a school production of "Oliver" , get a glimpse of his early forays into standup comedy. hear how he planned to avoid libel writs as the new Editor of Private Eye and how that plan was scuppered with regular appearances in court and a record damages award against the magazine to Sonia Sutcliffe, the wife of the Yorkshire Ripper.
Ian and John also discuss his role on "Have I Got News For You", his thoughts on press freedom and regulation and his career as documentary-maker and dramatist.
Producer: Emma Kingsley
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m000w5ws)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Snowflake by Louise Nealon (m000w5vp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 Great Lives (m000w4sr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m000w5wv)
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)
52 First Impressions with David Quantick
23:00 THU (b079rbdf)
A Big Disease with a Little Name
19:45 MON (m000jvrd)
A Big Disease with a Little Name
19:45 TUE (m000jvyg)
A Big Disease with a Little Name
19:45 WED (m000jw0t)
A Big Disease with a Little Name
19:45 THU (m000jxvh)
A Big Disease with a Little Name
19:45 FRI (m000jx4p)
A Life in Music
16:00 MON (m000vynj)
A Life in Music
11:30 THU (m000w5hn)
A Point of View
08:48 SUN (m000vz9j)
A Point of View
20:50 FRI (m000w5wq)
Alex Edelman's Peer Group
18:30 TUE (m000w4t0)
All in the Mind
21:00 TUE (m000w339)
All in the Mind
15:30 WED (m000w339)
Any Answers?
14:00 SAT (m000w48s)
Any Questions?
13:10 SAT (m000vz9g)
Any Questions?
20:00 FRI (m000w5wn)
Archive on 4
20:00 SAT (m000w499)
Art of Now
20:30 WED (m000t6r7)
BBC Inside Science
16:30 THU (m000w5j9)
BBC Inside Science
21:00 THU (m000w5j9)
Behind the Scenes
23:30 SAT (m000jn94)
Bells on Sunday
05:43 SUN (m000w3mr)
Bells on Sunday
00:45 MON (m000w3mr)
Beyond Belief
16:30 MON (m000w4p5)
Bodies
05:45 SAT (m000rmnd)
Book at Bedtime
19:00 SUN (b07zztsw)
Broadcasting House
09:00 SUN (m000w3l7)
Chinese Characters
09:30 WED (b09z62h2)
Chinese Characters
14:45 FRI (b09z62h2)
Costing the Earth
15:30 TUE (m000w33w)
Costing the Earth
21:00 WED (m000w33w)
Crossing Continents
20:30 MON (m000vyng)
Dare to Repair
21:00 MON (m000vwqw)
Desert Island Discs
11:00 SUN (m000w3lf)
Desert Island Discs
09:00 FRI (m000w3lf)
Do Not Resuscitate
11:00 TUE (m000w4s0)
Domestic Science
23:15 WED (b09tf719)
Drama
15:00 SAT (m0002g6f)
Drama
21:45 SAT (b086l4zb)
Drama
14:15 FRI (m000w5w0)
Empty Stages
00:30 SUN (m000vz90)
Empty Stages
15:45 FRI (m000w5w4)
Farming Today
06:30 SAT (m000w486)
Farming Today
05:45 MON (m000w3n4)
Farming Today
05:45 TUE (m000w4q7)
Farming Today
05:45 WED (m000w4tx)
Farming Today
05:45 THU (m000w34m)
Farming Today
05:45 FRI (m000w5k9)
Feedback
20:00 SUN (m000vz94)
Feedback
16:30 FRI (m000w5w8)
File on 4
17:00 SUN (m000vwtm)
File on 4
20:00 TUE (m000w4t4)
Fortunately... with Fi and Jane
23:00 TUE (m000w4tb)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:30 SAT (m000w48j)
From Our Own Correspondent
11:00 THU (m000w5hl)
Front Row
19:15 MON (m000w4pk)
Front Row
19:15 TUE (m000w4t2)
Front Row
19:15 WED (m000w33r)
Front Row
19:15 THU (m000w5jm)
Front Row
19:00 FRI (m000w5wl)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
14:00 MON (m000w4p0)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
14:15 TUE (m000w4sk)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
14:15 WED (m000w335)
GF Newman's The Corrupted
14:15 THU (m000w5j3)
Gardeners' Question Time
14:00 SUN (m000vz8y)
Gardeners' Question Time
15:00 FRI (m000w5w2)
Girl Stuck in Basketball Hoop
16:00 TUE (m000w4sp)
Great Lives
16:30 TUE (m000w4sr)
Great Lives
23:00 FRI (m000w4sr)
Hardy's Women
15:00 SUN (m000w3lw)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
09:45 MON (m000w4pv)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
00:30 TUE (m000w4pv)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
09:45 TUE (m000w4tj)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
00:30 WED (m000w4tj)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
09:45 WED (m000w346)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
00:30 THU (m000w346)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
09:45 THU (m000w5hg)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
00:30 FRI (m000w5hg)
How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling
09:45 FRI (m000w5wz)
In Our Time
09:00 THU (m000w5hd)
In Our Time
21:30 THU (m000w5hd)
In Touch
20:40 TUE (m000w4t6)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
13:45 MON (m000w4ny)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
13:45 TUE (m000w4sh)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
13:45 WED (m000w330)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
13:45 THU (m000w5j1)
It Ain't Me You're Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80
13:45 FRI (m000w5vy)
It's a Fair Cop
11:30 FRI (m000w5vk)
Jamie MacDonald: Life On The Blink
23:00 WED (m000w340)
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
18:30 THU (m000w5jh)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
19:45 SAT (m000vy1l)
Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
11:45 SUN (m000w3lh)
Last Word
20:30 SUN (m000vz92)
Last Word
16:00 FRI (m000w5w6)
Life Changing
09:00 WED (m000w33t)
Life Changing
20:00 WED (m000w33t)
Loose Ends
18:15 SAT (m000w497)
Loose Ends
11:30 MON (m000w497)
Mark Steel's in Town
11:30 WED (b07x5vs3)
Meeting Myself Coming Back
21:00 FRI (m000sq9c)
Midnight News
00:00 SAT (m000vz9q)
Midnight News
00:00 SUN (m000w49f)
Midnight News
00:00 MON (m000w3mp)
Midnight News
00:00 TUE (m000w4ps)
Midnight News
00:00 WED (m000w4tg)
Midnight News
00:00 THU (m000w344)
Midnight News
00:00 FRI (m000w5jx)
Money Box
12:04 SAT (m000w3mk)
Money Box
21:00 SUN (m000w3mk)
Money Box
15:00 WED (m000w337)
My Teenage Diary
19:15 SAT (m000jg9x)
Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics
11:30 TUE (m000w4s2)
Nature Table
12:04 SUN (m000vxzc)
Nature Table
18:30 MON (m000w4pf)
News Briefing
05:30 SAT (m000vz9z)
News Briefing
05:30 SUN (m000w49p)
News Briefing
05:30 MON (m000w3n0)
News Briefing
05:30 TUE (m000w4q3)
News Briefing
05:30 WED (m000w4ts)
News Briefing
05:30 THU (m000w34h)
News Briefing
05:30 FRI (m000w5k5)
News Summary
12:00 SAT (m000w4fy)
News Summary
06:00 SUN (m000w3kn)
News Summary
12:00 SUN (m000w49x)
News Summary
12:00 MON (m000w4w7)
News Summary
12:00 TUE (m000w4zs)
News Summary
12:00 WED (m000w567)
News Summary
12:00 THU (m000w5hq)
News Summary
12:00 FRI (m000w643)
News and Papers
06:00 SAT (m000w484)
News and Papers
07:00 SUN (m000w3kv)
News and Papers
08:00 SUN (m000w3l3)
News and Weather
13:00 SAT (m000w48q)
News
22:00 SAT (m000w49c)
On Your Farm
06:35 SUN (m000w3kq)
One to One
14:45 SAT (m000mcy8)
One to One
09:30 TUE (m000w4rt)
Open Book
16:00 SUN (m000w3lz)
Open Book
15:30 THU (m000w3lz)
Other Minds: The Octopus And The Evolution Of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith
00:30 SAT (m000vz80)
PM
17:00 SAT (m000w48x)
PM
17:00 MON (m000w4p7)
PM
17:00 TUE (m000w4st)
PM
17:00 WED (m000w33h)
PM
17:00 THU (m000w5jc)
PM
17:00 FRI (m000w5wb)
Parallel Lives
20:00 MON (m000w32l)
Parallel Lives
11:00 WED (m000w32l)
Pick of the Week
18:15 SUN (m000w3mc)
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson
17:30 SAT (m000w48z)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 SAT (m000vzb1)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 MON (m000w3n2)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 TUE (m000w4q5)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 WED (m000w4tv)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 THU (m000w34k)
Prayer for the Day
05:43 FRI (m000w5k7)
Prison Break
11:00 FRI (m000w5vh)
Profile
19:00 SAT (m000w3m3)
Profile
05:45 SUN (m000w3m3)
Profile
17:40 SUN (m000w3m3)
Radio 4 Appeal
07:54 SUN (m000w3kz)
Radio 4 Appeal
21:25 SUN (m000w3kz)
Radio 4 Appeal
15:27 THU (m000w3kz)
Ramblings
06:07 SAT (m000vyp1)
Ramblings
15:00 THU (m000w5j5)
Round Britain Quiz
23:00 SAT (m000vxyz)
Round Britain Quiz
15:00 MON (m000w4p2)
Saturday Live
09:00 SAT (m000w48d)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SAT (m000vz9v)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 SUN (m000w49k)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 MON (m000w3mw)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 TUE (m000w4pz)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 WED (m000w4tn)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 THU (m000w34c)
Selection of BBC World Service Programmes
01:00 FRI (m000w5k1)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SAT (m000vz9s)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SAT (m000vz9x)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SAT (m000w491)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 SUN (m000w49h)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 SUN (m000w49m)
Shipping Forecast
17:54 SUN (m000w3m5)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 MON (m000w3mt)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 MON (m000w3my)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 TUE (m000w4px)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 TUE (m000w4q1)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 WED (m000w4tl)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 WED (m000w4tq)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 THU (m000w349)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 THU (m000w34f)
Shipping Forecast
00:48 FRI (m000w5jz)
Shipping Forecast
05:20 FRI (m000w5k3)
Short Cuts
21:30 SUN (m0008hww)
Short Cuts
15:00 TUE (m000w4sm)
Shush!
18:30 WED (b08nq9wk)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SAT (m000w495)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 SUN (m000w3m9)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 MON (m000w4pc)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 TUE (m000w4sy)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 WED (m000w33m)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 THU (m000w5jf)
Six O'Clock News
18:00 FRI (m000w5wg)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
12:04 MON (m000w4np)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
22:45 MON (m000w4np)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
12:04 TUE (m000w4s7)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
22:45 TUE (m000w4s7)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
12:04 WED (m000w32q)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
22:45 WED (m000w32q)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
12:04 THU (m000w5hs)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
22:45 THU (m000w5hs)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
12:04 FRI (m000w5vp)
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
22:45 FRI (m000w5vp)
Something Understood
06:05 SUN (b04570qs)
Something Understood
23:30 SUN (b04570qs)
Start the Week
09:00 MON (m000w4nb)
Start the Week
21:30 MON (m000w4nb)
Sunday Worship
08:10 SUN (m000w3l5)
Sunday
07:10 SUN (m000w3kx)
The Archers Omnibus
10:00 SUN (m000w3l9)
The Archers
19:00 MON (m000w4ph)
The Archers
14:00 TUE (m000w4ph)
The Archers
19:00 TUE (m000w333)
The Archers
14:00 WED (m000w333)
The Archers
19:00 WED (m000w33p)
The Archers
14:00 THU (m000w33p)
The Archers
19:00 THU (m000w5jk)
The Archers
14:00 FRI (m000w5jk)
The Briefing Room
20:00 THU (m000w5jp)
The Confessional
19:15 SUN (m000w3mf)
The Film Programme
23:00 SUN (m000vyp3)
The Film Programme
16:00 THU (m000w5j7)
The Food Programme
12:32 SUN (m000w3lm)
The Food Programme
15:30 MON (m000w3lm)
The Life Scientific
09:00 TUE (m000w4rr)
The Life Scientific
21:30 TUE (m000w4rr)
The Listening Project
13:30 SUN (m000w3lt)
The Media Show
16:30 WED (m000w33f)
The Media Show
21:30 WED (m000w33f)
The Medieval Feminist
16:30 SUN (m000w3m1)
The News Quiz
12:30 SAT (m000vz9b)
The News Quiz
18:30 FRI (m000w5wj)
The Reunion
22:15 SAT (m000tvgf)
The Things We Leave Behind
19:45 SUN (m000w3mh)
The Untold
11:00 MON (m000w4nj)
The Untold
20:30 THU (m000w4nj)
The Week in Westminster
11:00 SAT (m000w48g)
The Why Factor
14:45 MON (b08y0vdd)
The World This Weekend
13:00 SUN (m000w3lr)
The World Tonight
22:00 MON (m000w4pn)
The World Tonight
22:00 TUE (m000w4t8)
The World Tonight
22:00 WED (m000w33y)
The World Tonight
22:00 THU (m000w5js)
The World Tonight
22:00 FRI (m000w5ws)
Thinking Allowed
00:15 MON (m000vx3k)
Thinking Allowed
16:00 WED (m000w33c)
Thought Cages
14:45 SUN (m00017sx)
Today in Parliament
23:30 MON (m000w4pq)
Today in Parliament
23:30 TUE (m000w4td)
Today in Parliament
23:30 WED (m000w342)
Today in Parliament
23:30 THU (m000w5jv)
Today in Parliament
23:30 FRI (m000w5wv)
Today
07:00 SAT (m000w48b)
Today
06:00 MON (m000w4n8)
Today
06:00 TUE (m000w4rp)
Today
06:00 WED (m000w32d)
Today
06:00 THU (m000w5hb)
Today
06:00 FRI (m000w5v7)
Tumanbay
21:00 SAT (b06wg7rk)
Tweet of the Day
08:58 SUN (b01s8vcs)
Tweet of the Day
10:54 SUN (m000w3lc)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 MON (b03dx98q)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 TUE (b020tp7c)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 WED (b09snn7p)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 THU (b02ty8nj)
Tweet of the Day
05:58 FRI (b038qkcg)
Weather
06:57 SAT (m000w488)
Weather
12:57 SAT (m000w48n)
Weather
17:57 SAT (m000w493)
Weather
06:57 SUN (m000w3ks)
Weather
07:57 SUN (m000w3l1)
Weather
12:57 SUN (m000w3lp)
Weather
17:57 SUN (m000w3m7)
Weather
05:56 MON (m000w3n6)
Weather
12:57 MON (m000w4nt)
Weather
12:57 TUE (m000w4sc)
Weather
12:57 WED (m000w32w)
Weather
12:57 THU (m000w5hx)
Weather
12:57 FRI (m000w5vt)
Westminster Hour
22:00 SUN (m000w3mm)
Woman's Hour
16:00 SAT (m000w48v)
Woman's Hour
10:00 MON (m000w4ng)
Woman's Hour
10:00 TUE (m000w4ry)
Woman's Hour
10:00 WED (m000w32j)
Woman's Hour
10:00 THU (m000w5hj)
Woman's Hour
10:00 FRI (m000w5vf)
Word of Mouth
23:00 MON (m000vwsh)
World at One
13:00 MON (m000w4nw)
World at One
13:00 TUE (m000w4sf)
World at One
13:00 WED (m000w32y)
World at One
13:00 THU (m000w5hz)
World at One
13:00 FRI (m000w5vw)
You and Yours
12:18 MON (m000w4nr)
You and Yours
12:18 TUE (m000w4s9)
You and Yours
12:18 WED (m000w32t)
You and Yours
12:18 THU (m000w5hv)
You and Yours
12:18 FRI (m000w5vr)
You're Dead To Me
10:30 SAT (p07n8nrg)