5. The Good Death
Michael Ignatieff's reflections on consolation turn to Cicely Saunders, the hospice movement pioneer, who put compassion at the heart of her life's work. William Hope reads.
The historian, former politician and author has written a series of essays which look at how consolation has been portrayed in history, literature, philosophy and art. In each he looks at how figures from the past have consoled and been consoled when confronted by disaster and catastrophe. Here, we encounter, Job as he shakes his fist at the heavens, demanding justice for his suffering at the hand of God, and Cicero as his code of stoicism is challenged by personal tragedy. Then it is the turn of El Greco, and the solace to be found in depictions of Paradise, and Michel de Montaigne who finds comfort in the everyday and the ordinary. Lastly, an account of Cicely Saunders who was part of a mid-twentieth century movement to re-invent the hospice, an institution that has at its centre, compassion, respect and consolation for those approaching their last days.
Michael Ignatieff is a writer, historian and former politician. he has taught and some of the world's most prestigious universities and in 2022 is the President and Rector at Central European University in Vienna.
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
News came earlier this week that the long-running soap opera Neighbours may soon be ending after nearly four decades on our television screens. I’ve never really known a world without Neighbours existing. It began just two years after I was born. My dad often talks about how he and his fellow doctors used to gather round the TV during lunchtimes in the late 1980s to catch that day’s episode; while my sisters and I would arrive home from school every day to watch Neighbours at tea-time. Scott and Charlene, Madge and Harold, Mrs Mangel and Bouncer the dog became like extended members of our family, or residents of our street, despite living in a fictional town on the other side of the world.
What the show demonstrated, however, was genuine community. Friendship, feuds and affairs that demonstrated life in all its texture: the pain and the heartbreak, yet the joy and the celebration. In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic I was one of many who recognised I craved that same sense of local community; a group of people we could walk through those terrifying months with, at a time when our friends and family were not so close by and we were literally forbidden from seeing them. So the local street Whatsapp group was born and since then we’ve shared surplus food, gone on supermarket trips for each other, shared contact details of plumbers and electricians, celebrated birthdays and even started a book club. Planning will soon start for our street celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee later this year.
I’m so thankful for this community of people and grateful for good neighbours becoming good friends. This sense of community is symbolised in the three-in-one nature of God, who dwells in relationship: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God, who draws us into relationship, may we know your presence in our communities this day and every day.
When Danuta Maczka was 14 years old, she and hundreds of thousands of other Poles were sent to Siberia by invading Soviet troops.
But when the Nazis turned against the Soviet Union, the Polish exiles were set free and made their way to the Middle East to form an army under General Wladyslaw Anders.
By the end of World War Two Danuta was driving a three-ton truck at the Battle of Monte Cassino.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Walking in all weathers with nature writer Melissa Harrison.
Writer Melissa Harrison celebrates the joy of walking in every season of the year and in wet and dry weather. Given that we can count on it raining on many days of the year it's a good thing to learn to love being out in it. Melissa has written a book about rain and discovered that there are hundreds of different words and expressions for weather from around Britain. Clare and Melissa do a circular walk from Gidleigh on Darmoor to Scorhill and Shovel Down. Dartmoor is a place that holds a strong pull for Melissa dating back to childhood. She returns often to walk this wild country where stone circles and rocky tors dot the landscape.
Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.
Greg James, host of the Radio 1 Breakfast show and self-confessed 'proud radio nerd', uses his access-all-areas pass to the BBC Archives to track down audio gems, using listener requests, overlooked anniversaries and current stories as a springboard into the vast vaults of past programmes.
As Kenneth Branagh returns to our cinema screens as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, Greg gets caught up in his own mystery as he tracks down rare BBC appearances by Poirot's creator, the 'Queen of Crime' Agatha Christie.
The Superbowl sends him stateside as he gets to grips with American Football, fierce coaches and spectacular halftime shows, including an early interview with this year's headliner Kendrick Lamar.
A listener request sends Greg in search of 'The Nightingale of the Wireless' - the now largely-forgotten singing star Mavis Bennett. She was said to have 'the perfect microphone voice' - so much so that one major record company would regularly invite her into the studio just to test their latest technology. She made dozens of appearances in the early days of radio, but avoided TV after an unfortunate experience on her screen debut in 1939.
And in a Rewinder first, a special guest drops by with his own extraordinary archive.
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world
After 5-and-a-half series, 44 episodes and 714 days, The News Quiz welcomes a live studio audience once again.
Recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre, this week Andy Zaltzman was joined by Mark Steel, Athena Kugblenu, Hugo Rifkind and Jackie Weaver to look at NHS backlogs, the end of all COVID restrictions in England, a minor reshuffle and a major scientific breakthrough.
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from The Witham in Barnard Castle. On the panel: Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Baroness Chapman; Conservative Energy Minister Lord Callanan; Crossbench peer and Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Grey-Thompson; Food writer and broadcaster Tonia Buxton.
Simple and sublime seagrass meadows work naturally to absorb carbon. The leaves cause friction in the water and trap carbon from organic matter in the sediment. Yet industrial activity and pollution has damaged and reduced the extent of the meadows around the UK coast. With the marine environment improving, work is being done to restore patchy seabeds and create new ones, both in the UK and around the world. Take a dip with Tom Heap as he explores the wonders and potential of these plants on the sea floor.
Back in the studio Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London helps Tom calculate just how useful seagrass can be in the fight against climate change.
Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Professor Vincent Gauci from the University of Birmingham.
Experimental drama as writer Hannah Silva collaborates with a machine-learning algorithm to create an audio guide to love.
The algorithm produces poems and stories in response to the writer’s poems and stories. It answers the writer’s questions and it asks her questions.
What is love? Is it an emotion? Is it an action? How does it work? What do we feel? What do we do?
Hannah tells the algorithm that she wants to think about love because in the past she didn’t think about it, she just fell in it.
The algorithm and the writer explore the theme of love in all its forms - parental love, romantic love, friendship and loss of love. The algorithm’s often absurdist and poetic texts frame and comment on the writer’s personal story of love and loss as a queer single mum.
An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love was developed through OKRE Experimental Stories. The consultant was Dr James Carney. The script was written using texts generated by the GPT-J algorithm, a language prediction model trained and maintained by EleutherAI, a grassroots collective of researchers working to open source AI research.
Algorithm .…. Fiona Shaw
Writer ….. Yusra Warsama
Woman ….. Jane Slavin
Man ….. Neil Bell
Executive Producer ….. Sara Davies
Production Manager ….. Anna de Wolff Evans
Sound Design ….. Adam Woodhams
Director/Producer ….. Nicolas Jackson
Marian Keyes writes funny, clever novels about the tough stuff in life. Her new novel Again, Rachel revisits Rachel Walsh whose story of recovery from addiction was told in the 1997 novel Rachel's Holiday. Marian explains how her own experience of addiction and recovery shapes the stories she tells.
In the glamorous world of luxury property selling high-end homes can be a cut-throat business. Sophie Leigh and Chloe Cable from the reality show Mega Mansion Hunters discuss their uphill struggle to become successful women in the industry.
Donna McLean first heard about undercover cops having relationships with female activists in 2010 when Mark Kennedy, an undercover police officer who had spent years pretending to be an environmental campaigner, was unmasked. She didn’t realise until years later she was also a victim of the Spy Cops scandal. She has written a memoir Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and The Undercover Police.
A group of mothers in Massachusetts exorcise their pandemic frustrations by screaming in a group in the middle of a football field. Could the craze come to the UK? We speak to Professor Pragya Agarwal and Dr Rebecca Semmens-Wheeler
Last week’s Levelling Up white paper has promised a devolution deal to every part of England that wishes to have one by 2030. But what impact has devolution had on female political representation? We discuss with Jemima Olchawski, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society; Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire; and Jackie Weaver, Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils.
Brit-award winning singer-songwriter Kate Nash introduces her new song Imperfect, and shares her experience of learning to wrestle for Netflix series GLOW.
Prices are rising - but are we heading into an unprecedented economic period? So far, wages haven't yet followed. How different is what's going on now from the conventional boom and bust cycle? Evan Davis and guests discuss.
Greg James, Florence Odumosu, Labi Siffre, Giles Cooper, This is the Kit, Scottee, Clive Anderson
Clive Anderson and Scottee are joined by Greg James, Florence Odumosu, Labi Siffre and Giles Cooper for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from This is the Kit and Florence Odumosu.
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines
Paul Costelloe is a fashion designer who recently celebrated his 36th year showing at London Fashion Week, making him the event’s longest-standing designer.
Paul was born in Dublin where his father ran a successful company making raincoats. He studied at the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design and then moved to Paris where he started a fashion course at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture but felt out of his depth and soon dropped out.
He talked his way into a job with the eccentric French designer and performer Jacques Esterel, who designed Brigitte Bardot’s wedding dress, and then spent time in Milan and New York before returning to Ireland where he set up his own label.
In 1983 Paul started designing clothes for Diana, Princess of Wales – a collaboration that lasted until her death in 1997. He created a range of memorable outfits for the Princess of Wales including the tuxedo suit she wore to the Pavarotti in the Park concert at Hyde Park in 1991 where the Italian tenor serenaded her in front of 125,000 people during a torrential downpour.
DISC SEVEN: Di Capua, Capurro: O Sole Mio! performed by Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) and National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Giancarlo Chiaramello
Twelve years ago, Joel Love was at theological college, training to become a vicar. He was an openly gay man, but in accordance with the Church of England's regulations, he was not allowed to be involved in an active, same-sex relationship. During this time he kept an audio diary, reflecting on his faith and his sexuality.
A decade on, Joel reflects back on his experiences and hears from other members of the clergy who share their stories of faith, hope and love.
The return of General Qulan (Christopher Fulford) with an army from the provinces offers hope of stability to the city recovering from a recent coup. But with it has come Herod’s ambitious mother, Fatima (Tara Fitzgerald), a new player in the fight for power.
Meanwhile, the slave merchant Bavand (Peter Polycarpou) has found his way back to Tumanbay. With debts to pay, he turns to his one remaining asset, his daughter Matilla (Humera Syed).
Grand Master, Amalric........ Anton Lesser
Tumanbay is created by John Scott Dryden and Mike Walker and inspired by the Mamluk slave rulers of Egypt.
An argument between a couple living on the edge of poverty leads to the discovery of a duffel bag full of cash. Or does it? This original short story for Radio 4 revives the Northumberland myth of the Hedley Kow and asks if money really can solve everything. What’s the difference between need and desire? Appearances can be deceiving.
Dr. Jo Clement is a New Writing North: Northern Writers' Award-winner. She is the author of Moveable Type and with Damian Le Bas, a co-author of Outlandish. Both poetry books were published with support from Arts Council England and Durham Book Festival. Jo is the Managing Editor of Butcher's Dog poetry magazine and is currently editing the first Roma Women’s Poetry Anthology made possible with support from the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.
Levelling up - a brighter and fairer future is on the way according to the Government. But what is our moral responsibility to the future and how does it weigh against the needs of the present? Maybe the stars of technology, economics and politics really are now aligned to bring an end to post-code inequalities. Or is this another hotch-potch of plans that can’t be judged until a time so distant we’ll have forgotten why we dreamed them up in the first place. Are plans for the future destined to fail because we over-reach? Or do they fail because we don’t reach far enough, so preoccupied are we with the selfish here and now?
Meanwhile the UK is committed to the ambition of going carbon neutral by 2050, something that requires the sacrifice of higher energy bills today. Should we be prepared to be individually worse off, to put up with inconvenience and sacrifice our comfort for the benefit of our grandchildren? Does that remain true as gas prices rocket and new price rises are inevitable? And isn’t it true that if our forebears had made the sacrifices and adopted a forward looking energy plan 30 years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess at all. What is our moral responsibility towards the future? And does it outweigh our responsibilities to the present and the inheritance we have from the past? With author of End State, James Plunkett; Politics Professor Rosie Campbell; Journalist Ross Clark and Politics lecturer Dr Gareth Dale.
Another trio of music lovers compete for a place in the semi-finals next month, each hoping the breadth of their musical knowledge will give them the edge. Will they be able to tell their Prokofiev from their Shostakovich? How well do they know their Rolling Stones and Deep Purple collections? Will they be tempted by specialist rounds on music associated with sci-fi, politics or football?
Paul Gambaccini asks the questions, in a contest recorded at the BBC's Salford studios with just a small socially-distanced audience of invited guests, to ensure Covid safety.
Neil Wright from the Wirral.
Growing up with a grandfather who wore gold sovereign rings and took her to the Appleby Horse Fair Jo Clement absorbed the Romany traditions he showed her. Her poetry addresses life for a marginalised people from the Traveller girls used for a fashion shoot to the gatherings and customs of Gypsy people. Jo is Editor of Butcher's Dog Poetry Magazine and her first collection of poems Outlandish is published this year by Bloodaxe.
Among her choices of poetry requests are John Clare's To The Snipe, Preface from Swims by Elizabeth Jane Burnett and Nightingales by fellow Romany poet David Morley.
SUNDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2022
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0014fs8)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:15 Athena's Cancel Culture (m000v2r3)
Episode 2
Over the last few years, if a celebrity has ever said or done anything remotely controversial, then they've probably been cancelled. Largely performed through social media, some describe it as necessary evil to help democratise the internet and reflect the expectancy of an artist’s audience, for others it’s just a chance to shut up gobby celebs!
Whatever your view, it certainly helps empower fans by diminishing celebrity cultural capital and helping keep their egos and opinions in check. It's a growing phenomenon that's left almost no one unscathed, from comedians and actors to musicians and TV hosts. It’s also happening to the not so famous - remember the bin cat lady?
With stand up and sketch comedy, Athena explores cancel culture and the world of offence in modern times. Over four episodes, Athena will help explain the phenomenon of cancel culture among celebrities, look at the history of offence, and offer up some cancel rules for guidance. Athena then puts all that cancel knowledge to the test on her own social media activity from 10 years ago. There’s just no escape from cancel culture justice, even for Athena!
Writer and Performer: Athena Kugblenu.
Support cast: James McNicholas and Jamie-Rose Monk
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:30 Short Works (m00146j0)
The Tallest Building in Wales
The cheapest meals on the menu are the red pepper soup or the kids' tagliatelle. But the best thing about the All Sky Cafe on the 35th floor is the waitress, Jeanette.
An original short story by Joe Dunthorne read by Craig Roberts.
Sound by Catherine Robinson
Produced by Emma Harding
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014fsb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014fsd)
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 (m0014fsg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m0014fsj)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0014fsl)
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Bells on Sunday comes from Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The Cathedral has a peal of twelve bells the oldest two of which were cast by John Bird around 1410. The Tenor was cast in 1589 by an unknown founder and weighs thirty one hundredweight. The bells are housed in a wooden structure known since 1873 as “The Meat Safe”. We hear them ringing Stedman Cinques
SUN 05:45 Profile (m0014fs2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0014fwk)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Something Understood (b011p10g)
Faith on the Frontline
The journalist Jo Fidgen examines how religious belief can be both diminished and strengthened during service on the frontline.
She talks with Padre Simon Rose of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment about his experiences in Afghanistan and with Brian Turner, the American poet who served in Iraq. And she also draws upon the writings of soldiers who saw action in the First World War, including the Padre Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, and Vietnam (the poet Yusef Komunyakaa).
With music by Bobby McFerrin, Sheryl Crow, Ivor Gurney and Penderecki.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0014fwn)
Growing Communities
Hampshire farmer Tim May has been on a ten year journey to regenerate the land and the finances of Kingsclere Estates. Sarah Swadling finds out why he believes farming needs to be about creating communities, from the tiniest soil organisms all the way to bringing new start-ups into the business. The farm was growing only arable commodities before Tim shifted to organic niche crops like heritage wheats and quinoa. It’s also now the home of a pasture-based dairy with a mobile milking parlour, as well as a pastured egg enterprise, a counselling practice and a green burial site. Tim tells Sarah that abundance is his watchword, exploring all the possibilities the farm might offer.
Produced and presented by Sarah Swadling
SUN 06:57 Weather (m0014fwq)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0014fws)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0014fwv)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0014fwx)
Read for Good
Hannah Beynon, whose teenage son William is being treated for cancer, makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Read for Good
To Give:
- UK Freephone 0800 404 8144
-You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- 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 ‘Read for Good’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Read for Good’.
Please note that Freephone and online donations for this charity close at
23.59 on the Saturday after the Appeal is first broadcast. However the Freepost option can be used at any time.
Registered charity number: 1130309
SUN 07:57 Weather (m0014fwz)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0014fx1)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0014fx3)
Racial Justice Is Everyone’s Business
In our society today people continue to experience exclusion, marginalisation and inequality because of their race. Today, across Britain and Ireland, churches of all denominations and traditions mark Racial Justice Sunday. This day aims to challenge us to shine the light of the Gospel on the inequalities that have allowed the division of the people of God along ethnic and racial lines.
The service is recorded in St Nicholas Church, Durham. It is led by the Vicar, the Rev Arun Arora, and includes reflections and prayers from members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. Music is provided by the church’s worship band, led by Sam Rankin, and the Durham University Gospel Choir. The producer is Andrew Earis.
SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m00146jj)
Selective Vision
Sara Wheeler reflects on the harm done by seeing the world only from our own point of view.
"At the heart of both day-to-day thoughtlessness and internecine slaughter lies a failure to see things through the eyes of another. If we all tried to see clearly rather than selectively - well, you know, I think the planet would get on quite a lot better."
Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (b03zrcqw)
Stone Curlew
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Kate Humble presents the stone curlew. Stone curlews belong to a family known as 'thick-knees' but their country name of 'goggle-eyed plover' suits them better. Their huge staring yellow eyes serve them well at night when they're most active. By day, they lie up on sparse grassland or heath where their streaky brown-and-white plumage camouflages them superbly.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0014fx5)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0014fx7)
Writer, Katie Hims
Directors, Kim Greengrass & Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Tom Archer ….. William Troughton
Natasha Archer ….. Mali Harries
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Chris Carter ….. Wilf Scolding
Amy Franks ….. Jennifer Daley
Mia Grundy ….. Molly Pipe
Jake Grundy ….. Rob Redwood
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Fallon Rogers ….. Joanna Van Kampen
Peggy Woolley ….. June Spencer
SUN 11:00 Desert Island Discs (m0014fx9)
Leslie Caron, actress
Leslie Caron is an award-winning actress and dancer who starred in some of the most memorable films of Hollywood’s golden age including An American in Paris and Gigi. Leslie was first cast away on Desert Island Discs in 1956 when she was 25, and her return, nearly 66 years later, marks the greatest gap between appearances in the programme's 80-year history.
She was born in Paris in 1931 and started ballet lessons at 11 to please her mother, a dancer herself who had performed on Broadway. Her early childhood was marred by the war and growing up in occupied Paris, but when she was 16 she joined Roland Petit’s Ballets des Champs-Elysées which opened up a new world of possibility. A year later she was spotted during a performance by a member of the audience - Gene Kelly. He lobbied MGM to cast her as his leading lady in An American in Paris, which launched her Hollywood career.
Leslie played the tile role in Gigi both on stage in London in a production directed by Peter Hall, who she married, and in the feature film directed by Vincente Minelli. The film won all nine of its nominations at the 1959 Academy Awards – a record at the time.
Leslie went on to star in the L-Shaped Room and later played roles in the films Chocolat and Damage. In 2006 she won an Emmy Award for her part in the television series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. More recently she was on our TV screens playing the Countess Mavrodaki in the drama series The Durrells.
She was awarded the Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur in 2013 and the JF Kennedy Gold Medal in the Arts two years later.
Leslie lives in London and describes herself as “almost retired.”
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:45 The Art and Science of Blending (m0004f22)
Tea
Blending is a distinctly human act: other creatures don’t experiment in this way. So in this series we’re looking at four blended products – whisky, tea, perfume and champagne – to find out why we blend things, and why some blends work when others don’t. What do we hope to gain? What do we fear losing? And is blending an art … or a science? Barry Smith, a philosopher, tries to answer these questions by consuming rare teas, fine whiskies and perfect champagnes … so that you don’t have to.
In this programme he uncovers the secrets to blending tea.
SUN 12:00 News Summary (m0014fxc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:04 The Unbelievable Truth (m00146ph)
Series 27
Episode 5
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Pippa Evans, Geoff Norcott, Fern Brady and Simon Evans are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as cars, Coca-Cola, donkeys and tomatoes.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:32 The Food Programme (m0014fxf)
Ainsley Harriott: A Life Through Food
Ainsley Harriott joins Jaega Wise to share his 'Life Through Food' from his kitchen in South London. Ainsley is one of the UK's most recognisable TV chefs; after training at Westminster College he worked at a number of London's hotels and restaurants - including The Long Room at Lords Cricket Ground where he became head chef. In the early 90s he got his first broadcasting gigs - on BBC Radio 5, and shortly afterwards "tv came knocking".
Over the past 25 years he has hosted countless programmes - including Can't Cook Won't Cook and Ready Steady Cook for a decade. He has presented series for US and South African television, been a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, and was awarded an MBE in 2020. His latest TV series, 'Ainsley's Good Mood Food' is all about cooking food to boost your mood.
In this interview, Ainsley takes us back to the early days of family dinner parties, a summer in France, and his journey to TV stardom. He also discusses what it's like to be the subject of many many memes and where he finds his seemingly perpetual energy. Jaega also speaks to school friend and the other half of Ainsley's 90s pop group The Calypso Twins, Paul Baross, and hears from Ainsley superfan, Radio 1 Breakfast DJ Greg James, who's obsession with Ainsley turned him into a viral sensation.
Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
SUN 12:57 Weather (m0014fxh)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0014fxk)
Radio 4’s look at the week’s big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 The Listening Project (m0014fxm)
The Power of Love
Fi Glover presents four conversations between stranger and friends.
This week: Bobby and Tasha share their passion for running and reflect on the difference between men and women runners when it comes to safety; Alexandra and Rachael discuss their feelings about being with partners who live and work away from home for months at a time; Dulcie, who made the decision to minimise the use of her smart phone, exchanges notes with Gemma Louise who couldn’t survive without hers; and Romina, who is disabled, and her partner Darren who is able-bodied, talk about how they met online and fell in love and their experience of online dating.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Mohini Patel
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m00146hy)
GQT at Home: Romantic Blooms and Pineapple Brooms
Peter Gibbs hosts the gardening Q&A with Pippa Greenwood, Chris Beardshaw and Matt Biggs answering questions sent in by listeners.
Love is in the air this week as our panellists share some romantic-sounding plant names. They also discuss the best course of action for an infestation of honey fungus, and give advice on creating a community garden.
Away from the questions, Pippa Greenwood speaks to the Horniman Museum’s Head of Horticulture, Errol Fernandes, about their plans to plant a micro forest, and Claire Ratinon delights us with her alltime favourite tree.
Producer - Hannah Newton
Assistant Producer - Aniya Das
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 The Seventh Test by Vikas Swarup (b044gmfg)
The Talent Show
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
6) The Talent Show
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
When Sapna's sister, Neha enters India's top musical talent show "Pop Star No 1", she attracts the attention of blind music producer, Raoji. But not in the way she would have hoped. Sapna must come to her rescue. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 15:00 Drama (m0014fxp)
Mahabharata Now (Part 1)
The Gods, the law, capitalism and politics jostle for power in this modern adaptation of the ancient Indian poem Mahabharata. Dramatised as a gripping family epic set in 21st century Mumbai, this series is powered by the tensions and rivalries of a turbulent business empire.
One of India’s biggest business empires is facing a crisis that threatens its very existence.
Fifty years ago, two brothers, Sanjay and Paras set up a small business that would eventually grow into Hasta Enterprises, a vast conglomerate encompassing everything from finance to hotels. When Paras died young from a heart attack, sole control of the empire passed to Sanjay, and for many years the money flowed in, power and influence accumulated. Recently however, Sanjay has started to show signs of ill health. Looking to the future, he prays to the Gods and decides to publish a will, setting out the future of Hasta Enterprises.
His choices plunge his family into chaos.
At stake is a vast business empire. The only thing rival factions can agree on is to let a game of dice decide the future.
Written by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle
Cast
Sanjay: Rajit Kapur
Dhruv: Neil Bhoopalam
Yash: Tavish Bhattacharyya
Kala: Anahita Uberoi
Gita: Shernaz Patel
Padma - Ira Dubey
Shaks: Vivek Madan
Karthik: Sukant Goel
Vihaan: Omkar Kulkarni
MC: Aseem Hattangady
Paramedic: Abir Abrar
Consultant: Shivani Tanksale
Gopi: Prerna Chawla
Other characters were played by Shivani Tanksale; Abir Abrar; Omkar Kulkarni and Aseem Hattangady.
Sound Supervisor (Mumbai): Ayush Ahuja
Sound Design and Post Production: Wilfredo Acosta
Original Music: Imran Ahmad
Producer (Mumbai): Nadir Khan
Producer: Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell
Executive Producer: Andrew Mark Sewell
Director: Jatinder Verma
A B7 Media production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Open Book (m0014fxr)
The ‘new boom’ of feminist Spanish-language literature.
This week Elizabeth Day is in discussion with author Pola Oloixarac, who’s new book ‘Mona’ is one of a wave of recently published Spanish-language novels breaking new ground.
The books openly break with literary tradition in Latin America, and for the first time see writers exploring under-discussed issues such as state censorship and control to shedding the victim narrative assocated with violence against women. Many of the novels are partly autobiographical, partly based on personal experiences, and discuss issues rarely uncovered in Spanish writing before now.
Providing context to this wave will be Valerie Miles, one of the founding editor of Granta en Espanol, one of the leading forums for developing new writers in Latin America and Spain. Valerie herself is an author, translator, and publisher, and has spent her life promoting Spanish and Latin American literature and bringing British and American voices to Spanish-language countries for the first time.
We have inserts from Elena Medel and Cristina Morales, writers who are also part of the wave exploring new literary frontiers. And a literary postcard from the Guadalajara Literary Festival written by Eduardo Rabasa, the editor of Sexto Pisco, an award-winning Mexican independent publisher which is breaking new writers.
SUN 16:30 Poetry Please (m0014fxt)
Matt Harvey
Matt Harvey chooses poems by Ivor Cutler, Alice Oswald, ee cummings and Johnny Fluffypunk about slugs, trees and hearts. Adrian Mitchell, Brian Patten and Adrienne Rich also feature.
Producer Sally Heaven
SUN 17:00 File on 4 (m00146x8)
Drink spiking
After an alarming rise in complaints of drink spiking last year, and reports of people being injected with syringes, Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to women who say they have been “spiked” and finds out what the police are doing to tackle it.
Reporter: Datshiane Navanayagam
Producer: Nicola Dowling
Editor: Nicola Addyman
SUN 17:40 Profile (m0014fs2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0014fxw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
SUN 17:57 Weather (m0014fxy)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014fy0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0014fy2)
Audrey Brown
This week, we are escaping boxes of books by reading in the sunshine with Isabel Allende. We escape destiny in a tropical homeland to embrace the austere beauty of Greenland - and we’re hearing why trying to escape the ravaging effects of trauma is not healthy.
Come join us as get stuck in the mud with corgis and learn how to scream at the top of our lungs.
Presenter: Audrey Brown
Producer: Emmie Hume
Production Coordinator: Elodie Chatelain
Studio Manager: Sue Stonestreet
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0014fy4)
There’s a shock for Rex, and Brian makes an unexpected offer.
SUN 19:15 Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn (m0014fy6)
The Bacon Sandwich Problem
Marian and Tara tackle listeners’ issues with the menopause, frisky dreams and a troubling bacon sandwich with trademark good humour.
Marian Keyes is a multi award-winning writer, with a total of over 30 million of her books sold to date in 33 languages. Her close friend Tara Flynn is an actress, comedian and writer. Together, these two friends have been through a lot, and now want to use their considerable life experience to help solve your biggest - and smallest - of problems.
From dilemmas about life, love and grief, to the perils of laundry or knowing what to say at a boring dinner, we’ll find out what Marian and Tara would recommend - which might not solve the problem exactly, but will make us all feel a bit better.
Recorded in Dublin with emails received from listeners around the world, the hosts invite you to pull up a chair at their virtual kitchen table as they read and digest their inbox.
Got a problem you want Marian and Tara to solve? Email: marianandtara@bbc.co.uk.
Producer: Steve Doherty.
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
SUN 19:45 Bright Lights, Dead City (m0014fy8)
Episode 6. Production
An American film crew descends on a Northern Irish city to make a lavish prestige drama series about the Troubles called ‘Dead City’, inspiring the locals to get involved in the production, only for filming to be halted by the mysterious disappearance of the lead actress.
The Writer
Séamas O'Reilly is a columnist for the Observer and has written about media and politics for the Irish Times, New Statesman, Guts, and VICE. His memoir 'Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?' was an Irish Times Number One Bestseller and was awarded the Dubray Biography of the Year Award at the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards.
Reader: Dearbháile McKinney
Writer: Séamas O'Reilly
Producer: Michael Shannon
Exec Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
SUN 20:00 More or Less (m0014rmb)
The prime minister in statistical bother
Boris Johnson has been ticked off for misleading Parliament on jobs and on crime.
He claimed that the number of people in employment has been rising - when it’s been falling. And he made a claim that crime has fallen - when it’s risen. We discuss the truth, and what Parliament can do to defend it.
Plus, we examine the rules around testosterone and trans women’s participation in elite sport, and the spirit of Donald Rumsfeld is with us as we try to navigate the largely unknown world of fungi.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m00146j2)
Bamber Gascoigne (pictured), Norma Waterson, Claire Tomlinson, Thich Nhat Hanh
Matthew Bannister on
Bamber Gascoigne, the broadcaster and author best known as the long serving host of the TV quiz show 'University Challenge'.
Norma Waterson, the revered singer who was part of the Waterson Carthy dynasty that played a leading role in the English folk revival. We have a personal tribute from her husband Martin Carthy and daughter Eliza Carthy.
Claire Tomlinson, who broke down barriers to become one of the UK’s best polo players.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese-born Buddhist monk known as the 'father of mindfulness'.
Producer: Neil George
Interviewed guest: Christina Gascoigne
Interviewed guest: Wasfi Kani
Interviewed guest: Martin Carthy
Interviewed guest: Eliza Carthy
Interviewed guest: Mark Tomlinson
Interviewed guest: Brother Phap Huu
Interviewed guest: Jeff Wilson
Archive clips used: BBC Radio 4, Desert Island Discs 01/11/1987; Granada TV, University Challenge 01/09/1987; BBC Two, The Young Ones - Bambi 08/05/1984; Granada TV, The Christians e03 The Birth of Europe 16/08/1977; BBC Radio 3, Music Matters 31/03/2018; BBC Radio 4, The King of Games 21/08/1984; BBC SOUND ARCHIVE, Hurlingham vs Scotland 02/09/1980; YouTube / Is Secret, Namo Avalokiteshvara Plum Village Chanting 13/08/2014; BBC Two, Arena: Stories My Country Told Me 14/07/1996.
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0014frb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0014fwx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 Analysis (m00146pp)
Why worry about future generations?
What do we owe future generations? Everyone who is alive, has rights. And governments have obligations to their citizens. But what about people who are not yet born? Should their interests be taken into account - even though they don’t yet exist? David Edmonds draws upon the thinking of the late philosopher Derek Parfit to address this vexing question, which has consequences for real-world policy now in areas such as climate change.
Presenter: David Edmonds
Producer: Nathan Gower
Editor: Hugh Levinson
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0014fyb)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 Lost Worlds (m0014fyd)
Escape the 21st century to eavesdrop on the 12th, as Paterson Joseph narrates a journey back to the lost world of Anglo-Norman England.
On the night of November 25th, 1120 William Adelin drowned in the English Channel - the teenage heir to the English throne, his body never recovered,
"Instead of wearing a crown of gold, his head was broken open by the rocks of the sea," Henry of Huntingdon lamented. "Instead of gaining the heights of kingly rule, he was buried in the bellies of fish at the bottom of the ocean."
In Lost Worlds, the focus is on the fish and not the boy, the world around Adelin rather than his world of courts and kings.
On the northern shore of the Channel, nobody yet knows that William is dead. As we track through a swathe of southern England, we listen in to the medieval world and its inhabitants.
In the estuaries of southern England, eel traps are being set. On the wooded uplands of the Chilterns, pigs are pannaged, bells toll and rain falls on winter-sown fields. And at the far end of the Ridgeway, a runaway bride is hiding in a hermit's cell.
Combining soundscape with recent historical research, our consultants are Professor Carl Watkins of the University of Cambridge, author of The Undiscovered Country and Dr Stephen Mileson of the University of Oxford, author with Stuart Brookes of Peasant Perceptions of Landscape.
With additional help from David Crowther of Swyncombe parish and from Dr Adam Chapman and Professor Catherine Clarke of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.
Written and produced by Julia Johnson
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 23:30 Something Understood (b011p10g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
06:05 today]
MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2022
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0014fyg)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
MON 00:15 The Backlog (m00146c5)
Episode 1 - Demand
After more than two years battling COVID-19, the NHS is struggling through its worst winter crisis in living memory and is facing a daunting task to clear the huge backlog exacerbated by the pandemic. Nearly six million people are on the NHS waiting list for routine treatment in England alone. As patients, often with worsening conditions, pour back into the NHS after putting off treatment, health secretary Sajid Javid warns waiting lists could top thirteen million.
So how exactly do we tackle the backlog? In this new three-part series, the Economist’s Health Policy Editor, Natasha Loder, assesses the scale of the problem and its impact on our health.
In this first episode, Natasha looks at the pressure created by the unprecedented demand on the different areas of the NHS from emergency services to GP surgeries by speaking to frontline workers, managers, policy experts, and patients.
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0014fsl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014fyj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014fyl)
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 (m0014fyn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
MON 05:30 News Briefing (m0014fyq)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014fys)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
Good morning,
Happy Valentine’s Day. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you can expect to be bombarded with gifts and cards today – the day we celebrate all things love. For weeks now, the shops have been adorned with red hearts, tempting shoppers to buy chocolates and roses for their loved ones to show how much they care. This celebration of love is wonderful.
I myself appreciate the excuse to show love to my husband. But this Valentine’s Day, I’m thinking about love as a greater concept than just the romantic love between my husband and me. In his 1960 book The Four Loves, CS Lewis explores different types of love from a Christian perspective. In his exploration of Eros – the romantic love celebrated on Valentine’s Day – we can get a glimpse of what it is to love as God loves us. But it doesn’t end at a love of one person. He writes that through Eros: “Spontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law (towards one person) by loving our neighbour as ourselves.
It is an image, a foretaste, of what we must become to all if Love Himself rules in us without a rival.” Loving our romantic partners – amazing as it is – is also an opportunity for us to understand and demonstrate what it is to profoundly love another human as much as we love ourselves. This sense of selfless love is an idea fundamental to the Christian story. We love God; God loved us first; and God asks us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Who is our neighbour? So the famous question goes in the story of the Good Samaritan. The one who shows mercy. This Valentine’s Day, may we show love to those around us, even those that might least expect it from us.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0014fyv)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:56 Weather (m0014fyx)
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
MON 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b03bkh4k)
Goldcrest
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Goldcrest. Goldcrests are, by a whisker, our smallest bird - roughly nine centimetres long and the weight of a ten pence coin. They migrate in October and November from Continental Europe and some people used to believe that because they arrived around the same time as wintering woodcock they'd travelled on the waders' backs and the tiny goldcrest became known as the 'woodcock pilot'.
MON 06:00 Today (m0014g9d)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0014g9g)
Stonehenge, and conserving the future
Stonehenge is one of Britain’s most iconic monuments: an ancient stone circle still shrouded in layers of speculation and folklore. A new exhibition at the British Museum looks at the human story behind the stones, and offers new insights into the beliefs, rituals and worldview of our Neolithic ancestors. The curator Neil Wilkin tells Adam Rutherford about one of the objects on show – the metal Nebra Sky Disc – which is the world’s oldest surviving map of the sky.
The palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday looks even further back in deep time to reveal the Earth as it used to exist. In his new book Otherlands: A World in the Making he uses the latest technology and fossil records to examine ancient landscapes – from the mammoth steppe in Ice Age Alaska to the lush rainforests of Eocene Antarctica, with its colonies of giant penguins. While these distinct ecosystems appeared stable for millions of years, their disappearance is a reminder of the both the fragility and tenacity of the natural world.
Change and survival are at the centre of the writer and ecologist, Rebecca Nesbit’s book, Tickets for the Ark. As the current rate of extinction starts to resemble the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, conservationists appear to be fighting a losing battle. Nesbit questions the motives behind what we fight to save, in an examination of what we should conserve and why.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014g9j)
1: Scotland
Stephen Campbell Moore reads Ben Rawlence's unflinching account of what the North's moving treeline will mean for humanity.
The trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. More than the Amazon rainforest, the northern boreal is truly the lung of the world. Covering one fifth of the globe and containing one third of all the trees on earth, it has been foundational to our climate for the last few million years. But now the northern forest is marching towards to the North Pole, turning the white Arctic green. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what this might mean for life on earth.
In Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Canada and Greenland, Rawlence discovers what the trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. At the treeline he sees the devastating and accelerating impact of climate change, but also some reasons for hope.
Today: Rawlence travels to Scotland in search of the pine forests of the Highlands.
Writer: Ben Rawlence is the author of City of Thorns and Radio Congo, and writes for publications including the Guardian, the London Review of Books and The New York Times.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Producer: Justine Willett
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0014g9l)
Imtiaz Dharker, Catherine Nicholson and Agnes Poirier, Clare Murphy, Dr Alison Smith
The award-winning poet Imtiaz Dharker has specially selected her favourite "Love Poems" together in a beautiful collection for the Folio Society. There are recent and ancient poems, poems that talk about the animal magnetism of love and others of more profound devotion, but they have all been arranged carefully to speak across centuries and cultures. Imtiaz also shares with Emma her writing tips for those who want to compose something for the person they love today.
A record number of women are standing in the French presidential elections in April across the breadth of the political landscape. It’s the first election since the global #metoo movement and commentators are considering whether this could have an impact on the outcome. We hear from Catherine Nicholson who is the European Affairs Editor at France 24 TV and Agnes Poirier UK Editor of L'Express.
At-home early abortions were introduced at the start of the pandemic to prevent the number of people visiting clinics, but the legislation is due to expire next month. We speak to Clare Murphy, boss of BPAS, about her fears for pregnant women if the government revokes the measures.
You may have been online searching for long-lost members of your family - trying to build that family tree. But now there's a chance to search pictures of relatives too. The National Portrait Gallery has teamed up with the website Ancestry to upload thousands of portraits of well-known and ordinary people it has in their collection. But the gallery has also announced a competition giving the public the chance to submit their own family photos to be selected and displayed. Dr Alison Smith from the National Portrait Gallery tells us how people can make their entries.
Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen
MON 11:00 A Recipe for Love (m0014g9n)
What makes us feel in love? And can we make ourselves feel it?
Biomedic Sophie Ward sets herself the deluded task of making a scientifically-accredited love potion, with the help of neuroscientists, evolutionary anthropologists, aphrodisiac historians, and a smell scientist who really likes pumpkin pie.
Ingredients: a neurochemical cocktail of oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and beta endorphin, a metaphorical "good egg", a splash of kindness, a cup of communication, five figs, an entire tiramisu, a punnet of stewed plums and a stick of liquorice.
Prescribed by the following doctors of various disciplines: Dr Anna Machin, Dr Helen Fisher, Dr Viren Swami, Dr Kate Lister and Dr Alan Hirsch.
Produced by Becky Ripley
MON 11:30 Loose Ends (m0014fs0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
MON 12:00 News Summary (m0014g9r)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 12:04 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014g9t)
Episode 6
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, sold more than 4m copies and was adapted for BBC television in 2015. In Piranesi, her long-awaited second novel, we are back in dreamlike, gothic territory. Piranesi was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.
Read by Samuel Anderson
Abridged by Sara Davies
Original music by Timothy X Atack
Produced in Bristol by Alison Crawford for BBC Audio
MON 12:18 You and Yours (m0014g9w)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m0014g9y)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m0014gb0)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
MON 13:45 Nazanin (m0014gb2)
Episode 1
What’s the key to bringing home Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British woman who has been held hostage in Iran for almost six years? And how closely linked is Nazanin’s release to a tank deal debt more than 40 years old?
In episode 1 of Nazanin, former Today programme editor, Ceri Thomas, explores the origins of the debt, the apparent corruption which surrounded the deal which created it, and its long, difficult legacy. It’s a story which begins in the freewheeling 1970s when the need to ‘grease the wheels’ of big arms deals seemed barely controversial, and when the Shah of Iran and a notorious middleman known around Whitehall as ‘Mr 1%’ were able to pocket millions in commissions paid by the UK. And it leads back to the fate of more than one hostage today.
Presenter: Ceri Thomas
Producer: Matt Russell
A Tortoise Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:00 The Archers (m0014fy4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Drama (m0014gb4)
Patterdale
Patterdale
by Paul Jones
New drama from the winner of the prestigious Alfred Bradley Bursary Award
As Tommy Whelan runs away from his foster family, through the streets of Liverpool, his mind is full of fractured moments, memories and fantasies. In a stream of consciousness we hear and see what he does, and get glimpses of his life and imagination and the people closest to him, and discover why he desperately needs to get back to his Nan.
Tommy - Oscar Tyndall
Sophie - Gillian Kearney
Nan - Eithne Browne
Grandad - Neil Caple
David/Football commentator - Liam Tobin
Thomas/Judge - Paul Duckworth
Policewoman/Julie - Keddy Sutton
Emily - Nancie Thomas
Cully - Harley Harrison
Smigger - Sonny Lackey
Sound by Sharon Hughes
Produced and directed by Pauline Harris
NB: With former winners such as Lee Hall and Peter Straughan, this prestigious bursary award celebrates new northern audio writing at its finest.
MON 15:00 Counterpoint (m0014gb6)
Series 35
Heat 8, 2022
(8/13)
Three competitors join Paul Gambaccini at MediaCityUK in Salford for another bout of the eclectic music quiz. They may be able to identify music by Bizet and Finzi but how good is their knowledge of the members, and songs, of the Monkees? To be in with chance of a place in the semi-finals they'll need to prove the breath of their musical expertise across more than one genre.
As always, the competitors will have to answer individual questions on an unseen musical theme or category, of which they've had no prior warning.
Competing today are:
Alex Nolan from Ynys Mon
Ian Sutherland from Coventry
Sarah Trevarthan from Manchester.
Producer: Paul Bajoria
Assistant Producer: Stephen Garner
MON 15:30 The Food Programme (m0014fxf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:32 on Sunday]
MON 16:00 Taxi Drivers (m001471h)
Episode 3
In this final episode, the artist Scottee broadens out his investigation into assistance and facilitation within art to consider other practices such as performance, opening up questions around accessibility and care.
Scottee also looks to the future and speaks to artists who, instead of working with craftspeople or studio assistants in the more traditional sense, are now enlisting the expertise and knowledge of those involved in the world of tech. What might this mean for the future of assistance and the art world more generally?
Contributors include Selina Thompson and Toni-Dee Paul, Simon Chislett of M3 Industries, Jess Thom (Artistic Director of Tourette's Hero), Artist Caretaker - Amelia Hawk, Mat Collishaw and Antoine Cardon and members of Prodigi.
Produced by Hannah Dean
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
MON 16:30 My Name Is... (m000zcdf)
My Name Is Natalie
Natalie has always struggled to get a decent haircut in high-street hairdressers. The reason? She has afro-textured hair.
New standards in hairdressing were announced in 2021 which mean trainee hairdressers will now learn how to cut and style afro-textured hair. Will these changes bring the choice that so many black women like Natalie have been asking for? And if so, could this be at the expense of black-owned hairdressers?
MON 17:00 PM (m0014gb9)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014gbc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m0014gbf)
Series 27
Episode 6
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
Richard Osman, Henning Wehn, Holly Walsh and Ria LIna are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as glasses, squirrels, Alexander the Great and China.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m0014g00)
Kate is on a mission and there’s bonding at The Bull.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m0014gbh)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 20:00 Chinese on Campus (m0014gbk)
The highest number of international students in the UK are from China, with Universities up and down country benefiting from the fees they bring in. But do the students get value for money, and what attracts them in the first place?
Ben Chu visits Glasgow to meet and talk to those who have travelled far from home to experience a very different life in Scotland. He finds out why they chose to come and whether they will be going back to China with a positive view of the UK.
Producers Leeanne Coyle and Mark Rickards
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
MON 20:30 Analysis (m0014gbm)
Tackling Inequality
Probing the results of a major study into our unequal society. Faisal Islam, BBC Economics Editor, talks to two leading experts on inequality, who have together been working for several years on a research project for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He asks Paul Johnson, IFS Director, and Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton what the findings reveal about the UK now, and how these issues can be addressed.
Producer: Xavier Zapata
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Jacqui Johnson
MON 21:00 The Coming Storm (p0bchrdr)
6. The Usual Suspects
QAnon and the plot to break reality...
Donald Trump’s fantasy about a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 election merges with the fantasy of QAnon, about a looming showdown against the deep state cabal of satanic paedophiles.
After the storming of the Capitol in Washington DC, major figures from the QAnon movement gather in Dallas, Texas. Gabriel Gatehouse gets inside their conference to try to figure out who is now controlling this parallel reality. And he confronts General Flynn who is calling for his ‘digital soldiers’ to take over the country from the bottom up.
Producer: Lucy Proctor
MON 21:30 Start the Week (m0014g9g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0014gbq)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014g9t)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
MON 23:00 Word of Mouth (m00146wt)
Dropping the Mic and Jumping the Shark: Where Do Modern Idioms Come From?
Some idioms feel like they've been with us forever. We're used to saying it's 'raining cats and dogs', that we feel like 'a fish out of water' or that someone has been 'pulling our leg'. But other idioms have emerged relatively recently, such as 'Groundhog Day', 'first world problems' or 'computer says no'; we might hear people say that a long-running TV show has finally 'jumped the shark' or that a politician has deployed the 'dead cat strategy'.
Just like new words, new idioms emerge in language all the time, and enter our vocabulary from TV, movies, sport, politics and the Internet. Michael Rosen talks to Gareth Carrol about the surprising origins of some of these modern idioms and why we pepper our speech with so much formulaic language.
Dr Gareth Carrol is Senior Lecturer in Psycholinguistics at the University of Birmingham and is the author of 'Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics: Modern Idioms and Where They Come From'.
Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio
MON 23:30 Limelight (m000xkyx)
The House That Vanished
The House That Vanished – Episode 1: The Vanishing
A compelling five-part mystery based on the true story of one man’s search for justice on a remote Irish island, blending documentary and drama.
Episode 1: The Vanishing.
When Neville Presho returns to Tory Island after many years overseas, he gets the shock of his life – his house has vanished. All that remains is a bathtub, lying upside down on the shore.
Neville first came to the remote Irish island in the 1970s and made a documentary about the islanders' traditional way of life, their culture and language. Neville felt warmly welcomed – now, he faces a wall of silence. Some talk mysteriously of a whirlwind and a strange glow in the night sky, others say Neville would be better off not asking. No one will tell him what happened, not even the island’s King.
Neville sets out on a search for justice, but his quest will come at great personal cost.
The House that Vanished features documentary interviews with key people involved in Neville’s astonishing story alongside dramatised scenes written by Jan Carson.
Presented by Siobhán McSweeney.
Cast:
Neville ... Tony Flynn
Fiona ... Fo Cullen
Mary Meehan ... Carol Moore
Patrick Doohan ... Seán T. Ó Meallaigh
Patsy Dan ... Mark Lambert
Father O’Neill ... Niall Cusack
Man 1 ... Lalor Roddy
Woman ... Megan Armitage
Man 2 ... Desmond Eastwood
Film Crew ... Michael Patrick
Written by Jan Carson
Produced by Conor McKay and Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production for Radio 4
TUESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2022
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0014gbs)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 00:30 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014g9j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014gbv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014gbx)
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 (m0014gbz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m0014gc1)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014gc3)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
Good morning,
Today marks seventy years since King George VI – the father of Queen Elizabeth the second – was laid to rest at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. The king, who had died nine days earlier, had spent 16 years on the throne; a period which included leading the country through the difficult years of the Second World War. More than 300,000 people paid homage to the king’s body as it lay in state for three days.
It was also the first time that many more were able to witness the funeral of a monarch thanks to being broadcast on television. Although it’s been seven decades since the passing of King George, in many ways the country is in a similar position to where we were in those post-war years; living in the shadow of a great trauma. I think back to those first few terrifying weeks of the pandemic, in which Queen Elizabeth gave a rare address to the nation, acknowledging the grief and trauma faced by so many and the promise that we would meet again, in the words of the wartime song made famous by Vera Lynn.
At times of collective mourning, it’s important to come together with signs of collective remembrance. We need memorials to our grief; places to stand in solidarity with each other and recognise in each other the pain we have all been through; acknowledging our fears and pain and collective trauma. This year, the seventieth anniversary of King George’s death also marks 70 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. In our mourning of what has come before, we can also find stories of hope, resilience and triumph. This is the rollercoaster of the human story. But thank God there’s someone watching over us, who never changes; who remains the same yesterday, today and forever.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0014gc5)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b01s89gk)
Song Thrush
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Song Thrush. The male's song in the dawn chorus includes a repertoire of over a hundred different phrases making it one of the richest songs of any British Bird.
TUE 06:00 Today (m0014fz8)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Room 5 (m0014fzc)
8. Helena
‘It’s like being trapped in a room with a terrifying creature.’
A few months after her son was born, Helena realises something is wrong. Her search for answers leads to a difficult decision.
In Room 5, Helena Merriman interviews people who - like her - were changed by a diagnosis.
Written, presented and produced by Helena Merriman
Composer: Jeremy Warmsley
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Production Co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Editor: Richard Knight
#Room5
End song: Miffed by Tom Rosenthal
If you have a story you’d like to share you can email: room5@bbc.co.uk
TUE 09:30 The Political Butterfly Effect (m0008244)
Did the Black Panthers change the NRA?
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was created to defend black communities in California from excessive force by the police. The Guardian’s Media Editor Jim Waterson examines whether their armed shadowing of police officers inadvertently went on to change the USA in an unexpected way.
Presenter: Jim Waterson
Producer: Robbie MacInnes
An SPG production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 09:45 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014g13)
2: Norway
Stephen Campbell Moore reads Ben Rawlence's unflinching account of what the North's moving treeline will mean for humanity.
The trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. More than the Amazon rainforest, the northern boreal is truly the lung of the world. Covering one fifth of the globe and containing one third of all the trees on earth, it has been foundational to our climate for the last few million years. But now the northern forest is marching towards to the North Pole, turning the white Arctic green. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what this might mean for life on earth.
In Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Canada and Greenland, Rawlence discovers what the trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. At the treeline he sees the devastating and accelerating impact of climate change, but also some reasons for hope.
Today: Rawlence travels to Norway's rugged coastline, in search of birch and the reindeer herders of the north.
Writer: Ben Rawlence
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Producer: Justine Willett
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0014fzh)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 The Coming Storm (p0bchs4q)
7. Welcome to the Future
QAnon and the plot to break reality...
The Q Shaman, the man with the furs and horns who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, is in jail. The movement he came to symbolise appears defeated. But in a small South Carolina seaside town, ‘establishment’ Republicans are fighting a losing battle for the soul of their party, after one of the bloggers who mainstreamed the QAnon conspiracy theory has been elected to a powerful local position.
Across America, people who believe Donald Trump’s parallel narrative about a stolen election are trying to take over the levers of democracy. Was this the plan all along?
Producer: Lucy Proctor
Presenter: Gabriel Gatehouse
TUE 11:30 Art Came in the Night (m000r3n8)
Kevin Harman is an Edinburgh artist best known for creating 'situations', such as borrowing all his neighbours’ doormats to create an installation, smashing the window of an art gallery and transforming rubbish in skips into sculptures. In this programme he explores what happens when public art and people clash and gets a sense of what it's like when 'art comes in the night'. Whilst working on his own installation in Govan, he ponders what success and failure really mean in the sometimes controversial world of public art.
Some public art is loved, some even defended from packs of roving art dealers, some is brushed off with indifference, or grumbling about wasted tax money. But when art comes out of the galleries and is splashed on the wall of someone's house or stuck outside on a shared stretch of grass the community can't help but be changed by its presence, and the art is at the mercy of those surrounding it.
Kevin meets architect Lee Ivett who, in 2017, embarked on a new project in Govan, a huge sculptural installation constructed from ropes taken from the former shipyards. Within 48 hours it had been burned to ashes by local teens. Although always intended as a temporary installation, community anger at large pots of money being given to artists erupted, stoked by articles in the press. But was this destruction simply vandalism or a sign that some important local needs weren't being met? Artist Nicola Atkinson has created public art all over the world, including recently in Dunfermline. She talks to Kevin about different ways she's found to engage with communities and cautions against the scandalisation of public art which can disempower artists and undermine the idea that art should be for everybody.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0014g7b)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:04 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014fzn)
Episode 7
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, sold more than 4m copies and was adapted for BBC television in 2015. In Piranesi, her long-awaited second novel, we are back in dreamlike, gothic territory. Piranesi was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.
Read by Samuel Anderson
Abridged by Sara Davies
Original music by Timothy X Atack
Produced in Bristol by Alison Crawford for BBC Audio
TUE 12:18 You and Yours (m0014fzq)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m0014fzs)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m0014fzv)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
TUE 13:45 Nazanin (m0014fzx)
Episode 2
A deal for the UK to sell tanks to Iran was cancelled after the Islamic revolution. The company behind it is owned entirely by the British government - International Military Services. Even today, it may hold the key to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
Presenter: Ceri Thomas
Producer: Matt Russell
A Tortoise Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0014g00)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 The Penny Dreadfuls (m00082z4)
Hadrian’s Beard
Emperor Hadrian was so eager to defend the outer reaches of the Roman Empire and repel attacks from the Barbarians, that he was determined to build a wall across Britain, sea to sea, just north of the great fort Vindolanda.
That physical legacy is still in part visible between Northumberland and Cumbria to this day.
This comedy play looks under the skin of the Emperor who broke with various traditions, not least growing a beard where all Roman leaders were previously clean-shaven; and his deep love of all things Grecian.
All does not go according to plan when he arrives and it seems that this brave 'soldier' is more troubled than first impressions suggest.
Written by David Reed
Emperor Hadrian ... Tony Gardner
Queen Bridget ... Mina Anwar
With The Penny Dreadfuls:
Humphrey Ker
David Reed
Thom Tuck
And Margaret Cabourn-Smith.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2019.
TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m0014g02)
The Horror!
The horror of renting, childhood pranks and being a woman online - Josie Long presents terrifying short documentaries and adventures in sound.
Fictional horror stories begin to creep into a writer's real life as she finds herself followed across the internet by an anonymous poster. Two young women discover their perfect new rental property marred by one small flaw - a man secretly living in their basement. And three brothers do battle in a home filled with tales of ghost stories and the sound of old horror movies.
Thump Thump Thump
Produced by Chris Attaway
A version of this story was first created for KCRW's 24 hour Radio Race
The Brothers and the Banshees
Produced by Geoff Bird
The Antagonist
Written and read by Nikita Gill
Voiceover work by Tony Warmsley
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 The Long View (m0014g04)
Cancel Culture
Cancel culture is not new or unique to the modern day. For as long as humans have had society, we’ve cancelled those who violated its unwritten rules and norms.
Jonathan Freedland explores what history can tell us about how today's cancel culture might play out. He looks for historical precursors, starting with the the story of Galileo, whose insistence in the early 17th Century that the Earth goes round the Sun and not vice versa, got him into deep trouble with the Catholic Church.
Contributors:
Paula Findlen, Professor of History at Stanford University in California
Terence Dooley , Professor of History at Maynooth University in County Kildare
Sir Antony Beevor, historian and author.
Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
TUE 16:00 Word of Mouth (m0014g06)
John McWhorter on Language
Michael Rosen is joined by John McWhorter, author and linguist at Columbia University, to talk about his life in language.
John H. McWhorter teaches linguistics, American Studies, and music history at Columbia University. He is a contributing editor at the Atlantic, columnist at the New York Times and host of Slate’s Lexicon Valley podcast. McWhorter is the author of twenty books often on the subject of language, including The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Talking Back Talking Black, Words On The Move and Woke Racism.
Producer: Eliza Lomas
TUE 16:30 A Good Read (m0014g08)
Gillian Burke and Dee Caffari
Gillian Burke and Dee Caffari discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Gillian picks 'Braiding Sweetgrass' by Robin Wall Kimmerer which explores the author's relationship with the natural world. Dee's choice is 'Turn the Ship Around' by L. David Marquet, which is a submarine Captain's account of how he changed the leadership style aboard the USS Santa Fe. Harriett's pick is 'O Caledonia' by Elspeth Barker, a darkly comic story of a perpetually misunderstood sixteen year old in Scotland.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field
TUE 17:00 PM (m0014g0b)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014g0g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 18:30 Please Use Other Door (m0014g0j)
Series 1
Episode 2
From Bill Dare (Dead Ringers, The Secret World). The second show includes a series of sketches in which someone is forced to watch Succession, a man applies for a business loan for a company whose aim is doing evil and a woman dates the Pied Piper.
Performed by: Gabby Best, Will Hartley, Chris Ryman, Rebecca Shorrocks, Witney White and Toby Williams
The series of four is written by; Kat Butterfield and Dan Audritt, Sophie Dickson, Laura Major, Rob Darke, Alex Nash and Sam South, Ed Amsden and Tom Coles, Cody Dahler, Toby Williams, Ed Tew, Anna Goodman, Imogen Andrews, Matt Harrison, Carwyn Blayney, Natasha Dhanraj, Alice Etches and Nathalie Antonia, Chris Ryman, Simon Alcock, Leigh Douglas, Chazz Redhead, Paul F Taylor, Jo Wiggins, Cameron Loxdale, Lewis Cook, Owen Petty, Tom Oxenham, Rebecca Heitlinger and Bill Dare.
Production Co-ordinators Beverly Tagg and Sarah Sharpe
Sound Design Rich Evans
Music composed by Bill Dare and produced by Iona C Vallance
Artwork Lucy Jagger
Produced and created by Bill Dare
BBC Studios Production
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0014g0l)
Jim lays out some ground rules and Jennifer has concerns.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0014g0n)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 20:00 File on 4 (m0014g0q)
A First Class Scandal
Two years ago File on 4 investigated how a computer system, called Horizon, was behind what has now become one of the biggest miscarriages of justice this country has ever seen. Hundreds of innocent postal workers wrongly accused of stealing money from their branches by the Post Office itself. Many faced financial ruin, some even went to prison.
Since that programme, dozens have had their convictions overturned, and the Post Office has pledged to provide ‘full, fair and final’ compensation to those affected, at the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds to the taxpayer. In this episode, Hayley Hassall revisits the victims she spoke to in 2020 who say they are still fighting for justice - and investigates what the Post Office really knew as this scandal unfolded, as it ruthlessly pursued and prosecuted its very own workers.
Reporter: Hayley Hassall
Producer: Mick Tucker
Editor: Maggie Latham
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0014g0s)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Inside Health (m0014g0v)
A weekly quest to demystify the health issues that perplex us.
TUE 21:30 Room 5 (m0014fzc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0014g0x)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014fzn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
TUE 23:00 Fortunately... with Fi and Jane (m0014g0z)
222. Coffee, Soap and Timekeeping with Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini
Fi and Jane chat to Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini, hosts of Comedians vs The News on the BBC World Service. The couple beam over from New York to offer their thoughts on making global audiences laugh, Jess' former career in The Hague and their non-lethal dog. Before Jess and Eman join, Jane reports back from a rare sojourn to a spa and Fi reveals her favourite bit of memorabilia.
Get in touch: fortunately.podcast@bbc.co.uk
TUE 23:30 Limelight (m000xltx)
The House That Vanished
The House That Vanished – Episode 2: The Real King of Tory
A compelling five-part mystery based on the true story of one man’s search for justice on a remote Irish island, blending documentary and drama.
Episode 2: The Real King of Tory
Neville sets off on a journey around Ireland in search of clues, but the shock of discovering his house has vanished begins to affect his health. Feeling like he’s trapped in a nightmare, Neville recalls the peace and tranquility he first found on Tory – and a film he made years before seems to offer a strange prophecy about what may have happened to his house.
The House that Vanished features documentary interviews with key people involved in Neville’s astonishing story alongside dramatised scenes written by Jan Carson.
Presented by Siobhán McSweeney
Cast:
Neville ... Tony Flynn
Fiona ... Fo Cullen
Patrick Doohan ... Seán T. Ó Meallaigh
Council worker ... Carol Moore
Guard ... Faolán Morgan
Sean ... Michael Patrick
Tourism Woman ... Megan Armitage
Engineer ... Desmond Eastwood
Written by Jan Carson
Produced by Conor McKay and Michael Shannon
Executive editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production for Radio 4
WEDNESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2022
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0014g11)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
WED 00:30 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014g13)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014g16)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014g18)
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 (m0014g1b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
WED 05:30 News Briefing (m0014g1d)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014g1g)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
Good morning,
On this day in 1968, Elvis Presley received a gold record for his version of How Great Thou Art. Often found at the top of lists of all-time favourite hymns, it’s been recorded more than 1,700 times by artists including gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, Dolly Parton, Cliff Richard and Carrie Underwood and continues to be sung by contemporary worship musicians, and sung in churches around the world week-in and week-out. The hymn takes its roots from a Swedish traditional melody and poem written by Carl Boberg in 1885, who was inspired when on returning home from church one day, he saw a thundercloud, lightning, strong winds and thunder and a rainbow appearing after the storm.
I’ve often had these moments of awe and wonder in creation that cause me to worship God. It’s in those moments that I have a profound sense of God’s magnitude and my smallness in comparison. US evangelist Billy Graham, whose famous crusades often included a rendition of the hymn, once said: “The reason I like How Great Thou Art is because it glorifies God. It turns Christians’ eyes toward God, rather than upon themselves. I use it as often as possible because it is such a God-honouring song.” There might be a tendency for us to feel insignificant because of our tiny-ness in relationship to creation, the universe and God.
But the beautiful thing about the Christian faith is that despite God’s grandness, God sees us – small as we are – as worthy of attention, care and love. So much so that God would become one of us to demonstrate that love. All-powerful God, thank you that you love us with a love that surpasses knowledge. At those times when we feel unworthy, may we feel the warmth of your face shining on us. In the name of Christ, I pray.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0014g1j)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b020tp91)
Manx Shearwater
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Manx Shearwater. Around 90% of the world's Manx Shearwaters breed around our coasts, most on remote islands such as Skomer, Skokholm and Rum. The steep-sided mountains of Rum hold the largest colony in the world, and the grassy mountainsides are riddled in places with their nest burrows.
WED 06:00 Today (m0014ghr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m0014ght)
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life
WED 09:30 Witness (b01pt8md)
Baby Fae and the baboon's heart
In 1984 doctors in California tried to save a baby girl's life by giving her a heart transplant. Unable to find an infant human donor, they used the heart of a baboon. Dr Leonard Bailey, who led the transplant team, and nurse Marie Hodgkins, talk about their attempts to save Baby Fae.
Photo: Baby Fae in the isolation unit listening to her mother's voice a few days after her operation. Courtesy of Loma Linda University Medical Center.
WED 09:45 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014ghw)
3: Siberia
Stephen Campbell Moore reads Ben Rawlence's unflinching account of what the North's moving treeline will mean for humanity.
The trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. More than the Amazon rainforest, the northern boreal is truly the lung of the world. Covering one fifth of the globe and containing one third of all the trees on earth, it has been foundational to our climate for the last few million years. But now the northern forest is marching towards to the North Pole, turning the white Arctic green. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what this might mean for life on earth.
In Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Canada and Greenland, Rawlence discovers what the trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. At the treeline he sees the devastating and accelerating impact of climate change, but also some reasons for hope.
Today: Rawlence makes a gruelling journey to the most northerly forest in the world in Siberia....
Writer: Ben Rawlence
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Producer: Justine Willett
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0014ghy)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 Chinese on Campus (m0014gbk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Monday]
WED 11:30 Angstrom (b09l0ds8)
Series 1
The Man Who Wasn't Dead
Matthew Holness stars as Knut Ångström, a brooding, alcoholic, maverick Swedish detective from the tough streets of Oslo, in a Scandinavian detective yarn adapted from the bestselling Ångström trilogy by Martin English (writing as Bjorgen Swedenssonsson).
Following the death of his wife, Ångström is posted to the Njalsland peninsula where he becomes embroiled in a labyrinthine murder (or possibly not-murder) case which bears an eerie similarity to the Askeladden killings - a case from his distant past.
In episode 1, a body goes missing from a crime scene. But was it ever even there in the first place?
A new comedy series by writers of the Ladybird Books for Grown Ups, Charlie Brooker's ...Wipe, That Mitchell and Webb Look and A Touch of Cloth.
Written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley
Cast: Matthew Holness, Nadia Kamil, Simon Kane, Morgana Robinson, David Reed, Freya Parker.
Production Co-ordinator: Tamara Shilham
Produced by Lyndsay Fenner
A BBC Studios production.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m0014gj0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 12:04 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gj2)
Episode 8
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, sold more than 4m copies and was adapted for BBC television in 2015. In Piranesi, her long-awaited second novel, we are back in dreamlike, gothic territory. Piranesi was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.
Read by Samuel Anderson
Abridged by Sara Davies
Includes original music by Timothy X Atack
Produced in Bristol by Alison Crawford for BBC Audio
WED 12:18 You and Yours (m0014gj4)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m0014gj6)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m0014gj8)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
WED 13:45 Nazanin (m0014gjb)
Episode 3
In early 2016, the United States secured the release of some of its citizens imprisoned in Iran. Months later, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken hostage, caught up in the backdraft of the US deal. Her fate and the decades-old issue of an unpaid debt finally collide.
Presenter: Ceri Thomas
Producer: Matt Russell
A Tortoise Media production for BBC Radio 4
WED 14:00 The Archers (m0014g0l)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama (m000lh6f)
Wild Swimming
Nell (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and Oscar (Joseph Tweedale) meet on a deserted beach in Dorset. It’s 1595. Or maybe it’s 1610. Oscar has returned from his first term at university and Nell is bored out her brains. They will meet here, on this same beach, again and again for the next 400 years. Stuff will change, as it does with time. They will try to keep up.
Wild Swimming is a battle of the sexes, an interrogation of privilege and a wilfully ignorant history of English Literature.
Written by Marek Horn, from an original concept by Marek Horn and Julia Head. Produced by multi award-winning director Becky Ripley.
WED 15:00 Money Box (m0014gjd)
The Cost of Dating
Adam Shaw, listeners and experts discuss the cost of dating.
email producer smita.patel@bbc.co.uk if you want to talk to us about your experiences of dating and money.
WED 15:30 Inside Health (m0014g0v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
21:00 on Tuesday]
WED 16:00 The Backlog (m0014gjg)
Episode 2 - Workforce
Is a severe staffing crisis the biggest barrier to tackling the backlog caused by the pandemic? A recent report suggests the NHS is short of nearly a hundred thousand workers and that existing staff were feeling under pressure and could quit unless the issue is resolved.
But has the pandemic only exacerbated an historic workforce crisis? And if so, what radical solutions are needed to plug the gap and help train and retain doctors, nurses and other frontline staff?
In this episode, presenter Natasha Loder assesses the scale of the workforce crisis by speaking to staff, managers, policy experts, and the patients who have been affected.
WED 16:30 The Media Show (m0014gjj)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m0014gjl)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014gjn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 18:30 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m000f06s)
Series 1
Lean on Me
Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a couple who have been married ‘for ever’. Children of the Sixties, they’re still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music and each other. Their warm and witty conversations dance around everyday chores and appointments as well as dealing with problems within long-held friendships, and tackling their own frustrations with each other. But underlying it all is their enduring love for each other and their desire to keep the passion alive.
Joanna’s nursing skills are found wanting after Roger’s knee op.
Written for Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, who’s been married for 35 years to Gavin Petrie, with whom she created many hit radio and TV series (Second Thoughts, Next of Kin, Faith in the Future, The Change). Conversations from a Long Marriage is her first solo narrative comedy series.
Produced by Claire Jones
A BBC Studios production
WED 19:00 The Archers (m0014gjq)
Peggy finds herself conflicted and Alice considers her future.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m0014gjs)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m0014gjv)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
WED 20:45 Witness (b01pt8md)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 today]
WED 21:00 Sketches: Stories of Art and People (m000lv74)
Lost and Found
The writer Anna Freeman presents a showcase of true stories about lives changed by art. This week, stories of art lost and found.
We hear stories of a mixtape washed up on a beach, reunited with the woman who made it in the most unlikely way; of a mural at risk of being lost forever; and of a Liverpool FC fan's decorated coat, presumed gone after he left it as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster.
Produced by Mair Bosworth and Maggie Ayre
WED 21:30 The Media Show (m0014gjj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0014gjx)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.
WED 22:45 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gj2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
WED 23:00 Bunk Bed (m0014gjz)
Series 9
Peter Curran and Patrick Marber, with special guest Jane Horrocks
Patrick Marber and Peter Curran are joined by Jane Horrocks on the pull-out bed.
Together, they ramble through the complex and hilarious world of self-generated pleasure, and the etiquette and ingredients for a good midnight feast.
A Foghorn Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The John Moloney Show (m0014gk1)
Series 5
Public Information
The Godfather of British stand-up, John Moloney, returns to the live stage to share experiences and musings on the home test that gentlemen of a certain age find themselves receiving in the post.
While not ready to leave the Sex Pistols, The Beatles or The Smiths behind, John is facing a new set of challenges as he matures into the next phase of his life, and ensuring that he does so healthily.
Written and performed by John Moloney
Produced by Richard Melvin
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Limelight (m000xm73)
The House That Vanished
The House That Vanished – Episode 3: Balor's Fort
A compelling five-part mystery based on the true story of one man’s search for justice on a remote Irish island, blending documentary and drama.
Episode 3: Balor's Fort
Neville tracks down a contractor who offers him new information about events leading up to the disappearance of his house, but Neville’s obsessive search for answers comes at a heavy price. Neville decides to forgive those he believes have wronged him, leading to a long, dark night of the soul at Balor’s Fort on Tory island.
The House that Vanished features documentary interviews with key people involved in Neville’s astonishing story alongside dramatised scenes written by Jan Carson.
Presented by Siobhán McSweeney
Cast:
Neville ... Tony Flynn
Fiona ... Fo Cullen
Patrick Doohan ... Seán T. Ó Meallaigh
John McGinty ... Seamus O’Hara
Doctor ... Ian Beattie
Written by Jan Carson
Produced by Conor McKay and Michael Shannon
Executive editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production for Radio 4
THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 2022
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0014gk3)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
THU 00:30 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014ghw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014gk5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014gk7)
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 (m0014gk9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
THU 05:30 News Briefing (m0014gkc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014gkf)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
Good morning,
On this day in 1936 – The Phantom, the world’s first superhero, made his debut appearance in a daily newspaper comic strip. Created by Lee Falk, The Phantom is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who is enjoyed to this day, having been published in 583 newspapers worldwide and at its peak been read by more than 100 million people daily. The Phantom, whose crime-fighting takes place in the fictional African country of Bangalla, is unique in that he doesn’t actually have any superpowers. Instead, he’s reliant on his strength, intelligence and the myth of his immortality to fight the baddies. So in fact, this superhero isn’t too dissimilar from us.
I’m reminded here of another fictional superhero from another fictional African nation – Wakanda. Black Panther was the first time I had ever seen a superhero who looked like he could be from my family. I remember a few years ago trekking along with my son, who was only a few months old, to a Baby Cinema screening of the film. I watched with tears in my eyes as I realised that my baby boy would not have to grow up in a world where superheroes did not look like him. The Phantom and Black Panther speak profoundly to me about the theological idea of incarnation.
The message foundational to the Christian story of God becoming like us; not some distant superpower, who calls us to the impossible. God through Jesus steps into our ordinariness and in so doing, in a sense, we all become superheroes – no matter who we are – because of God’s power within us. There’s nothing we could do to make God love us more. We don’t have to be extraordinary. God of love, thank you for stepping into our ordinariness. Thank you for your extraordinary love for us. May we know it this day and every day.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0014gkh)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b02tyfr0)
Kestrel
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the kestrel.
The kestrel is widely distributed throughout the UK and when hovering is our most recognisable bird of prey. Their chestnut back and wings, and habit of holding themselves stationary in mid-air are a unique combination;mall wonder that an old name for kestrels is windhover.
THU 06:00 Today (m0014gmj)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m0014gml)
Romeo and Juliet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Shakespeare's famous tragedy, written in the early 1590s after a series of histories and comedies. His audience already knew the story of the feuding Capulets and Montagues in Verona and the fate of the young lovers from their rival houses, but not how Shakespeare would tell it and, with his poetry and plotting, he created a work so powerful and timeless that his play has shaped the way we talk of love, especially young love, ever since.
The image above is of Mrs Patrick Campbell ('Mrs Pat') as Juliet and Johnson Forbes-Robinson as Romeo in a scene from the 1895 production at the Lyceum Theatre, London
With
Helen Hackett
Professor of English Literature at University College London
Paul Prescott
Professor of English and Theatre at the University of California Merced
And
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
THU 09:45 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014gp6)
4: Canada
Stephen Campbell Moore reads Ben Rawlence's unflinching account of what the North's moving treeline will mean for humanity.
The trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. More than the Amazon rainforest, the northern boreal is truly the lung of the world. Covering one fifth of the globe and containing one third of all the trees on earth, it has been foundational to our climate for the last few million years. But now the northern forest is marching towards to the North Pole, turning the white Arctic green. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what this might mean for life on earth.
In Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Canada and Greenland, Rawlence discovers what the trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. At the treeline he sees the devastating and accelerating impact of climate change, but also some reasons for hope.
Today: a canoe trip through the mountains of Canada into Thunder Lake, in search of poplar...
Writer: Ben Rawlence
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Producer: Justine Willett
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0014gmq)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m0014gms)
Insight, and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world
THU 11:30 The Canon Wars (m0014gmv)
Lindsay Johns looks back to the furious debate over the literary canon in America in the early 1990s, and asks what it can teach us about our own, contemporary, culture wars.
This is a subject about which Lindsay feels profound ambivalence. Devoted to expanding the canon, a couple of years back he presented a documentary on Radio 3 calling for Alex La Guma, his literary hero, to be ‘canonised’. But Lindsay also unashamedly loves many classical writers – the so-called ‘Dead White Men’ who he sees as the cultural patrimony of all mankind – and is worried that in our age of identity politics they are at risk of falling out of fashion, and out of the canon.
Lindsay begins this story in 1992, the year Harvard Professor and public intellectual Henry Louis Gates published a plea for a more diverse, what we’d now call ‘decolonised’, canon. Lindsay will show how this plea, and Gates’s literary activism, helped induct many African American authors into the canon.
Lindsay will speak to publishers, editors, literary activists and teachers. He’ll examine questions of power – why the canon matters and who gets to shape it; as well as universality – about whose stories speak to everyone. He’ll examine the shift in the politics and the philosophy of canon-building, and how the debate has moved from what should be added, to what should be removed. What surprises him is how much it is prosaic matters - like the length of a book, who holds the copyright and whether it is anthologised - which determines what is canonised.
But can Lindsay resolve the tensions between his very strongly held opinions on the canon, or at least feel comfortable with his ambivalence? And if so, could that point to a different way of thinking about our broader culture wars?
THU 12:00 News Summary (m0014gsw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 12:04 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gmz)
Episode 9
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, sold more than 4m copies and was adapted for BBC television in 2015. In Piranesi, her long-awaited second novel, we are back in dreamlike, gothic territory. Piranesi was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.
Read by Samuel Anderson
Abridged by Sara Davies
Original music by Timothy X Atack
Produced in Bristol by Alison Crawford for BBC Audio
THU 12:18 You and Yours (m0014gn1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
THU 12:57 Weather (m0014gn3)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m0014gn5)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
THU 13:45 Nazanin (m0014gn7)
Episode 4
Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, begins his public campaign to win her freedom. And the British government explores some creative solutions for paying off a debt it owes to Iran. Finally, in 2019 the UK and Iran head to the table to negotiate a deal for Nazanin’s release.
Presenter: Ceri Thomas
Producer: Matt Russell
A Tortoise Media production for BBC Radio 4
THU 14:00 The Archers (m0014gjq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama (m000jvyj)
The Jester of Astapovo
Nothing happens in Astapovo, an isolated little place in the vast Russian countryside. Until the day a very unwell Count Leo Tolstoy arrives at the little railway station with the Countess - and the hungry Russian press pack - on his trail. Rose Tremain's dramatisation of her own short story is based on real events.
Ivan ..... John Lightbody
Anna ..... Maggie Service
Countess Tolstoya ..... Barbara Flynn
Chertkov ..... Ewan Bailey
Dushan ..... Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Count Leo Tolstoy/Dmitri ..... Roger Ringrose
Sound ..... Caleb Knightley
Directed by Marc Beeby
Written by Rose Tremain
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m0014gn9)
To the World's End, north Wales
Clare hikes through the Eglwyseg Valley in north Wales with two very different characters: Guy Kennaway and Hussein Sharif. The two men became family when Guy’s son married Hussein’s sister. Guy wanted to get to know Hussein better and show him a different side of Britain, so he suggested they go on a long walk. A book followed, ‘Foot Notes’, which describes both the adventure they had attempting to hike forty miles and their developing understanding of each other’s lives and experiences.
Clare, Guy and Hussein walked for around three sodden, sleety miles through the Eglwyseg Valley to World's End at Grid Reference SJ229479
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0014fwx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Open Book (m0014fxr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Sunday]
THU 16:00 The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry (m0014gnc)
Series 19
The Mystery of the Teenage Brain
‘Why are teens prone to risky behaviour?’ asks Dr Mark Gallaway, ‘especially when with their friends?’ 13 year old Emma wonders why she’s chatty at school but antisocial when she gets home. And exasperated mum Michelle wants to know why her teens struggle to get out of bed in the morning.
Swirling hormones and growing bodies have a lot to answer for but, as Professor of Psychology from the University of Cambridge Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains, there’s also a profound transformation going on in the brain.
Hannah and Adam discover how the adolescent brain is maturing and rewiring at the cellular level and why evolution might have primed teens to prefer their peers over their parents. Frances Jensen, Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, tells us how all these brain changes can impact social relationships. And Dr Rachel Sharman, a sleep researcher from the University of Oxford, reports the surprising findings from her sleep study tracking 100 teenagers around the UK.
Producer: Ilan Goodman
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0014gng)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m0014gnj)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014gnn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 18:30 Cryering with Laughter: A Tribute to Barry Cryer (m0014j7t)
After the recent death of legendary comedian and writer Barry Cryer, this is a tribute to the much-loved and respected man. Jack Dee, host of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue (the R4 panel show that Barry was a key part of) will present this tribute packed full of warm recollections of a man whose passion for fun, comics and comedy was renowned. Writing for some of the all time comedy greats like Morecambe and Wise and Kenny Everett, “Baz” as he was known by many, was an encyclopaedic jokesmith and was well known for his regular calls to comics to compliment their work and share favourite gags. We’ll hear from many of them in this programme.
Producer Richard Morris.
A BBC Studios Production
THU 19:00 The Archers (m0014gnq)
Writer, Adrian Flynn
Directors, Kim Greengrass & Marina Caldarone
Editor, Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge ….. Charles Collingwood
Jennifer Aldridge ….. Angela Piper
Phoebe Aldridge ….. Lucy Morris
Alice Carter ….. Hollie Chapman
Neil Carter ….. Brian Hewlett
Rex Fairbrother ….. Nick Barber
Amy Franks ….. Jennifer Daley
Chelsea Horrobin ….. Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin ….. Susie Riddell
Jim Lloyd ….. John Rowe
Kate Madikane ….. Perdita Avery
Jazzer McCreary ….. Ryan Kelly
Kirsty Miller ….. Annabelle Dowler
Peggy Woolley ….. June Spencer
Roisin ….. Cherylee Houston
THU 19:15 Front Row (m0014gns)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0014gnv)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 20:30 The Bottom Line (m0014gnx)
Alcohol-free drinks
Like alcohol, but don't want to drink? For the "sober-curious" consumer there's a range of low-alcohol alternatives on the market from gins and spirits to beers and craft lagers. But are they as good as the real thing? What is the social purpose of these substitute drinks? And why do they tend to have similar prices to their alcoholic rivals - even though they are taxed at a far lower rate? Evan Davis and guests explore the expansion of the low-alcohol market, the rising demand for luxury alcohol alternative goods and asks - is this one trend that's here to stay?
GUESTS
Cristina Diezhandino, Chief Marketing Officer, Diageo
Spencer Matthews, Founder, Clean Co
Emily Neil. Chief Operating Officer, IWSR
Producer: Lucinda Borrell
Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Hugh Levinson
THU 21:00 BBC Inside Science (m0014gng)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 today]
THU 21:30 In Our Time (m0014gml)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0014gp0)
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gmz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
THU 23:00 Unsafe Space (m0014gp2)
Diversity of opinion, thought-provoking debate, and comedy from voices new to Radio 4.
Also featuring #OscarsSoWhite activist April Reign, and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy talking to comedian Simon Evans.
An Unusual production for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:30 Limelight (m000xmlg)
The House That Vanished
The House That Vanished – Episode 4: The Holy Clay
A compelling five-part mystery based on the true story of one man’s search for justice on a remote Irish island, blending documentary and drama.
Episode 4: The Holy Clay
It seems Neville can’t stay away from the island that haunts his every waking moment. A chance encounter on the ferry to Tory offers a new opportunity for justice and Neville finally finds a solicitor willing to listen to his story, but the strain of so many years spent searching for answers puts huge pressure on his marriage.
The House that Vanished features documentary interviews with key people involved in Neville’s astonishing story alongside dramatised scenes written by Jan Carson.
Presented by Siobhán McSweeney
Cast:
Neville ... Tony Flynn
Fiona ... Fo Cullen
Anton ... Ian Beattie
Gillespie ... Patrick Fitzsymons
Clerk ... Desmond Eastwood
Justice Murphy ... Mark Lambert
O’Dualachain ... Faolán Morgan
O’Tuaithail ... Michael Patrick
John McGinty ... Seamus O’Hara
Written by Jan Carson
Produced by Conor McKay and Michael Shannon
Executive editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production for Radio 4
FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2022
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0014gp4)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 00:30 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014gp6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0014gp8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0014gpb)
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 (m0014gpd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.
FRI 05:30 News Briefing (m0014gpg)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0014gpj)
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank
Good morning,
It’s such a privilege to get to see the world through the eyes of my four-year-old. The world for him is one big adventure, full of questions that need to be answered: what does that sign mean, mummy? How do you spell ‘koala’, mummy? What day is it today, mummy? The other day, on hearing the word ‘excitement’ on the television, he asked me what it meant. I tried to find the simplest way to express the word and settled on saying that feeling when you’re having fun.
The dictionary definition describes a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness. I realised that these are perfect descriptions to describe my little boy. And it also dawned on me that as an adult, I don’t often have those moments of delight in the world around me. The news headlines are overwhelming, the money worries and health concerns and ever-expanding to-do lists, squeeze out the sense of wonder that is so plain to see on my son’s face. I read recently that one of the key signs in the spiral of exhaustion is when we start to cut out leisure time, time to relax and to play – just like children.
In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples to become like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. There’s something profound here. Adulthood is preoccupied with all those things that take our attention away from beauty and awe in God. Perhaps there’s something we can all learn from child-like excitement. I hope that I can take the time out to play more, to find wonder and awe through my little boy’s eyes. God of wonder, help us today to find pockets of excitement and awe that draw us closer to you. In Jesus’s name.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0014gpl)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 05:58 Tweet of the Day (b0378tjf)
Oystercatcher
Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.
Michaela Strachen presents the oystercatcher. These black and white waders used to be called sea-pies because of their pied plumage, which contrasts sharply with their pink legs and long red bill. Oystercatchers don't often eat oysters. Instead they use their powerful bill to break into mussels on rocks or probe for cockles in the mud of estuaries.
FRI 06:00 Today (m0014gt2)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m0014fx9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:00 on Sunday]
FRI 09:45 Treeline by Ben Rawlence (m0014gvp)
5: Greenland
Stephen Campbell Moore reads Ben Rawlence's unflinching account of what the North's moving treeline will mean for humanity.
The trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. More than the Amazon rainforest, the northern boreal is truly the lung of the world. Covering one fifth of the globe and containing one third of all the trees on earth, it has been foundational to our climate for the last few million years. But now the northern forest is marching towards to the North Pole, turning the white Arctic green. And scientists are only just beginning to understand what this might mean for life on earth.
In Scotland, Scandinavia, Siberia, Canada and Greenland, Rawlence discovers what the trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet. At the treeline he sees the devastating and accelerating impact of climate change, but also some reasons for hope.
Today: Rawlence visits the sparse rowan forests of Greenland, and sees climate warming in action at a glacier...
Writer: Ben Rawlence
Abridger: Richard Hamilton
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Producer: Justine Willett
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0014gt6)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 Political Animals (m0014gt8)
Sex, Monkeys and the 'Coy Female' Myth
Zoologist Lucy Cooke is on a mission: to break down the 'sexist stereotype' she believes has permeated our understanding of the natural world...
In Political Animals, shesets out to prove that females of the species can be just as fiesty, ardent, manipulative, aggressive, varied, strategic and political as males - questioning some of the theories laid out by the 'father of evolution', Charles Darwin, and hearing from pioneering scientists moving evolutionary biology beyond a male-centric narrative.
For the opening episode, Lucy focuses on sex: uncovering stories of the female animals defying Darwin’s “coy” label, and using sexual strategies to further their own evolutionary influence.
This takes her on a journey from soliciting capuchin monkeys in the forests of Costa Rica, to studies of promiscuous fruit flies, to the northern jacana bird in Nicaragua, which relies on a harem of males to raise her chicks. Lucy also hears from scientists and specialists including Megan Mah, Joe Cain, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Patricia Gowaty, Robert Trivers and Salvador Mirales.
Featuring excerpts from ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ by Charles Darwin, read by Derek Frood.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.
FRI 11:30 Fags, Mags and Bags (m0014gtc)
Series 10
3. Full Five Pencil Belter
Fags, Mags & Bags returns in a landmark 10th series, with more shop based shenanigans and over the counter philosophy, courtesy of Ramesh Mahju and his trusty sidekick Dave.
Set in a Scots-Asian corner shop, and written by and starring Donald Mcleary and Sanjeev Kohli, the award winning Fags, Mags & Bags has proved a huge hit with the Radio 4 audience. This brand-new series sees a return of all the show’s regular characters, with some guest appearances along the way.
In this episode, Jemima Rocking-Horse, the new curator of the Lenzie House of Wax, is angry that Fags, Mags & Bags is taking their trade away.
Cast:
Ramesh: Sanjeev Kohli
Dave: Donald Mcleary
Sanjay: Omar Raza
Alok: Susheel Kumar
Malcolm: Mina Anwar
Bishop Briggs: Michael Redmond
Jemima Rocking-Horse: Julie Wilson-Nimmo
Hilly: Kate Brailsford
BA Robertson: Gavin Mitchell
Producer: Gus Beattie for Gusman Productions
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0014h27)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:04 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gth)
Episode 10
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims? Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, sold more than 4m copies and was adapted for BBC television in 2015. In Piranesi, her long-awaited second novel, we are back in dreamlike, gothic territory. Piranesi was shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2021.
Read by Samuel Anderson
Abridged by Sara Davies
Original music by Timothy X Atack
Produced in Bristol by Alison Crawford for BBC Audio
FRI 12:18 You and Yours (m0014gtk)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
FRI 12:57 Weather (m0014gtm)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m0014gtp)
Forty-five minutes of news, analysis and comment, with Jonny Dymond.
FRI 13:45 Nazanin (m0014gtr)
Episode 5
Negotiations between the UK and Iran to settle an old debt and allow Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to return to her family in the UK take a new turn. But the United States creates a fresh obstacle to her release.
Presenter: Ceri Thomas
Producer: Matt Russell
A Tortoise Media production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0014gnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m0014gtt)
Who is Aldrich Kemp?
Who is Aldrich Kemp? - Chapter One: Clara Page
With a stellar cast, headed by Phoebe Fox, alongside Nicola Walker, Tim McInnery, Ferdinand Kingsley and Kyle Soller, we are back in Julian Simpson's imagination - this time trying to find out just Who Is Aldrich Kemp? On a heightened and fun journey, which takes us to glamourous and sometimes improbable locations, we encounter Euro-villains and murderous housekeepers.
Chapter One: The washed-up body of a man presumed dead 7 years earlier marks the beginning of Clara Page's mission to find the elusive Aldrich Kemp.
Cast:
Clara Page .............................Phoebe Fox
Mister Bartholomew .........Tim McInnerny
Aldrich Kemp ...................... Ferdinand Kingsley
Mrs Boone..............................Nicola Walker
Sebastian Harcourt ............Kyle Soller
Nakesha Kemp ....................Karla Crome
Aunt Lily .................................Susan Jameson
Secretary ................................Louise Brealey
Howlett ..................................Ben Crowe
Tom .........................................James Joyce.
Created and written by Julian Simpson
Recorded on location in Hove, London and at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Music composed by Tim Elsenburg.
Sound Design: David Thomas
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Sarah Tombling
Executive Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 The Art and Science of Blending (m0004f48)
Perfume
Blending is a distinctly human act: other creatures don’t experiment in this way. So in this series we’re looking at four blended products – whisky, tea, perfume and champagne – to find out why we blend things, and why some blends work when others don’t. What do we hope to gain? What do we fear losing? And is blending an art … or a science? Barry Smith, a philosopher, tries to answer these questions by consuming rare teas, fine whiskies and perfect champagnes … so that you don’t have to.
In this programme, the link between music and blending perfume. Producer David Edmonds
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0014gtx)
Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens: Postbag Edition
Peter Gibbs and the panel are at Beth Chatto's Gardens answering your horticultural queries. Fielding questions this week are Christine Walkden, Bunny Guinness, and Matthew Wilson.
Producer - Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer - Bethany Hocken
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m0014gtz)
The Fern Case
A Snowdonia-set story of hidden depths, hidden desires, juxtaposing the mission of 19th century botanist, Wil Boots, with present-day teenager Rhun.
An original short story by Alys Conran read by Dewi Wykes.
Sound by Catherine Robinson
Produced by Emma Harding
A BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m0014gv1)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m0014ght)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m0014gv3)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0014gv7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m0014gv9)
Series 107
Episode 8
Andy Zaltzman presents a look back at the week's headlines.
FRI 19:00 Past Forward: A Century of Sound (m00139ck)
Kitty Hart-Moxon
Public historian Greg Jenner listens to an archive interview with the veteran Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon and then speaks to Kitty, now aged 95. They reflect on human brutality, human survival and the importance of preserving Holocaust memories. Greg also speaks to the historian Zoe Waxman about the challenges of remembering and representing the Holocaust as the event itself fades into history.
Marking the centenary of the BBC, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the BBC's vast archive over the past 100 years. Public historian Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and uses it as a starting point in a journey towards the present day. The archive captures a century of British life in a unique way - a history of ordinary people’s lives, as well as news of the great events. Greg uncovers connections through people, places and ideas that link the archive fragment to Britain in 2022, pulling in help from experts and those who remember the time – and sometimes the speakers themselves, decades later - along the way. What he discovers are stories, big and small, that reveal how the people we were have shaped the people we have become.
Producer: Eliane Glaser
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m0014gvc)
Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye present Radio 4's new weekly music programme.
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0014gvf)
Robert Buckland MP
Chris Mason presents political debate and discussion from St Michael the Archangel Church in Chagford with a panel which includes the Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Robert Buckland MP.
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Lead broadcast engineer: Jacques Sweeney
FRI 20:50 A Point of View (m0014gvh)
Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors.
FRI 21:00 The Reith Lectures (m00127t9)
Stuart Russell - Living With Artificial Intelligence
AI in warfare
Stuart Russell warns of the dangers of developing autonomous weapon systems - arguing for a system of global control. Weapons that locate, select, and engage human targets without human supervision are already available for use in warfare,. Some argue that AI will reduce collateral damage and civilian casualties. Others believe it could kill on a scale not seen since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Will future wars be fought entirely by machines, or will one side surrender only when its real losses, military or civilian, become unacceptable? Professor Russell will examine the motivation of major powers developing these types of weapons, the morality of creating algorithms that decide to kill humans, and possible ways forward for the international community as it struggles with these questions.
Stuart Russell is Professor of Computer Science and founder of the Centre for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley.
The lecture and question-and-answer session was recorded at Manchester University.
Presenter: Anita Anand
Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0014gvk)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (m0014gth)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 today]
FRI 23:00 A Good Read (m0014g08)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:30 on Tuesday]
FRI 23:30 Limelight (m000xmzn)
The House That Vanished
The House That Vanished - Episode 5: The Hand of God
A compelling five-part mystery based on the true story of one man’s search for justice on a remote Irish island, blending documentary and drama.
Episode 5: The Hand of God
Neville finally has his day in court facing the man he believes is responsible for the disappearance of his house, but as he waits to hear the outcome of his case Neville finds himself on the wrong side of the law.
The House that Vanished features documentary interviews with key people involved in Neville’s astonishing story alongside dramatised scenes written by Jan Carson.
Presented by Siobhán McSweeney.
Cast:
Neville Presho … Tony Flynn
Patrick Doohan … Seán T. Ó Meallaigh
Justice Murphy … Mark Lambert
Prosecution barrister … Faolán Morgan
Defence barrister … Michael Patrick
Psychiatrist … Patrick Fitzsymons
Garda officer ... Niall Cusack
Reporter ... Megan Armitage
Hotel owner .... Lalor Roddy
Written by Jan Carson
Produced by Conor McKay and Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production for Radio 4