SATURDAY 12 APRIL 2025

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m0029rs3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Scramble for Rare Earths (m001cf5r)
5. The Great New Game

Misha Glenny explores the world of rare earth metals. In this final episode he hears how Russia's interest in Ukraine might be partially motivated by its huge mineral deposits.

Guests:

Rob Muggah is a co-founder of SecDev, a Canadian data, science and open intelligence company focused on mitigating risks and strengthening resilience.
Dr Samuel Ramani teaches politics and international relations at Oxford University and is the author of two upcoming books on Wagner’s activities.
Dr Julie Klinger, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware and author of Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes

Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Sound engineer: James Beard
Production coordinator: Janet Staples


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029rs5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029rs7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:30 News Summary (m0029rs9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029rsc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029rsf)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


SAT 05:45 Lent Talks (m0029qbc)
The Creed: That there is one Church

2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed – the core profession of the Christian faith, which is spoken in churches across the world. This year’s Lent Talks offer personal insights of faith on six key lines from the Creed.

In this episode, priest and anti-poverty campaigner, Fr Alex Frost reflects on the line: “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”

Producer: Dan Tierney


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m0029ygj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m0029qhz)
Shifting Sands of Sefton

The Sefton coastline stretches for around twenty miles between Liverpool and Southport. It has one of the largest sand dune systems in the country, but is also one of the fastest-eroding shorelines, shifting back by around four metres ever year. In this programme, Martha Kearney visits Sefton to explore the ways in which this ever-changing landscape has been shaped by both human activity and the elements. She walks along Blitz Beach, where rubble was dumped from buildings destroyed when Bootle and Liverpool were bombed during World War II, and finds out how this has affected erosion over the decades since then. She learns about the treacherous sands of Crosby, where the famous Antony Gormley sculptures on the beach have proved a huge tourist attraction, but where an RNLI lifeguard explains how it is all too easy for unwary visitors to get stuck in the quicksand and mud. A few miles further up the coast at Formby, she finds out how work is going on to restore degraded sand dunes and goes out looking for sand lizards with one of the National Trust rangers. She asks what the future holds for this coastline, with its diverse wildlife habitats and fascinating history.

Producer: Emma Campbell
Assistant producer: Jo Peacey


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m0029ygl)
Salmon farming has long been plagued by questions over its environmental impact and welfare concerns for farmed fish and the wild fish that live nearby. Charlotte Smith asks if those concerns might be reduced if the industry moves into deeper, wilder waters.

There's also a look at illegal meat imports and the resources that the Port of Dover has to police the arrival of suspect foods on British shores.

Producer: Rebecca Rooney


SAT 06:57 Weather (m0029ygn)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m0029ygq)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m0029ygs)
Tim Rice, Sareeta Domingo, Alan Toyne, Penelope Wilton

Oscar award winning lyricist Sir Tim Rice, the man behind some of the world's most beloved musicals. From Evita to The Lion King, he's currently on tour bringing his own life stories and hit-filled career to a stage near you.

Novelist Sareeta Domingo joins Saturday Live, she faced her own life altering plot-twist, when she was diagnosed with cancer. It proved to be more than a chapter to endure, it became a catalyst to re-examine who she is.

And Alan Toyne joins the programme, a former zookeeper and now writer with a gorilla-sized love for primates. He discusses his passion for understanding them and what it is like to live with one.

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Huw Stephens
Producer: Lowri Morgan


SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m0029ygv)
Series 23

Liar, Liar

For any of you who have ever told a porkie pie, don't worry, this week we hear why we all do it... and discover that deception is actually good for social bonding. From the red squirrels who cry wolf to scare off the competition, to kids who look you in the eye as they tell bare faced lies, this is a behaviour that occurs across all species. And one man who's particularly good at it is Traitors contestant Paul Gorton who reveals he felt absolutely no guilt about his tv trickery. But it seems that while we're masters at telling tall stories, we're terrible at detecting them, because we've all been focusing on completely the wrong cues.

Contributors:

Paul Gorton
Professor Richard Wiseman
Professor Sophie van der Zee

Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

A BBC Studios Audio Production


SAT 10:30 Soul Music (m0029ygx)
Ae Fond Kiss by Robert Burns

Burns began a correspondence with Agnes McElhose, also known as Clarinda and Nancy, a married woman he was besotted with. When she left Scotland to reunite with her husband he wrote Ae Fond Kiss as a heartfelt farewell. It was later set to music and is one of his most famous 'songs' along with Auld Lang Syne and My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose.

Karen Matheson the singer with Capercaillie talks about its meaning to her and how performing it at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 was a very special moment.

Joan Donaldson from Michigan grew up with Scottish music and has called her latest historical novel Ae Fond Kiss. She says she channelled her grief into the characters as a way of dealing with a devastating loss.

Sir Geoff Palmer discovered the song when he arrived in Edinburgh in the 1960s. He has traced Burns' and the song's connection to his home country of Jamaica and feels proud of the links he discovered.

For film maker Karen Guthrie from Ayrshire - Burns' birthplace - coping with and caring for her estranged parents meant long drives home through the countryside he inhabited. It was a journey of rediscovering Scotland's national poet and relating her family's story to Ae Fond Kiss.

Musician Seonaid Aitken plays both versions of the song on the violin and explains how the music conveys the feelings of longing after an unresolved love affair.

Producer: Maggie Ayre


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002bk90)
Vicki Young presents coverage of an emergency Commons sitting to discuss the future of British Steel

Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0029ygz)
Trump, Tariffs and the Rust Belt

Kate Adie introduces stories from the USA, Myanmar, Afghanistan, The Dominican Republic, and the Greek island of Syros.

President Trump’s decision to impose huge tariffs across the world drew ire from Wall Street financiers this week - and even members of his own Republican party. But what do his supporters in small-town America think? Mike Wendling travelled to Delta, Ohio, in America's rust belt, where locals have other things on their mind.

In Myanmar the military junta has restricted foreign rescue teams’ access to areas damaged by the recent earthquake - not to mention international media. After entering the country undercover, Yogita Limaye reports from the city of Mandalay, close to the earthquake’s epicentre.

Since returning to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have steadily increased restrictions on the country’s citizens and the introduction of a huge CCTV network in the capital Kabul has alarmed human rights groups. The Taliban says it is to combat crime, but Mahjooba Nowrouzi says there is unease over what else might be under surveillance.

The Dominican Republic announced three days of national mourning this week, after the roof of a popular nightclub collapsed, killing more than two hundred people. Will Grant visited the scene in the capital Santo Domingo, where an investigation is now under way as to what caused the collapse.

The battle for dominance in the electric car market is in full swing, but the EV evolution has been a long time in the making, as Sara Wheeler discovered when she stumbled across one of the world’s first mass-produced models on the Greek island of Syros.

Series producer: Serena Tarling
Production Coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m0029yh1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m0029yh3)
Tariffs, Pensions and Credit Card Debt

The stock markets have been on somewhat of a roller coaster since US president Trump announced global trade tariffs. Listeners emailed Money Box to tell us about the impact of the fall out in their pensions and investments. The advice from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association which speaks for pension companies is 'if you still have many years until you retire, you have plenty of time to recover short-term price falls'. But, what happens if you're retiring right now and you've seen your pension plummet?

Also on the programme, the amount we owe on our credit cards is at record levels, topping £73 billion. But is increased borrowing an indication of consumer confidence or personal crisis?

And do you know you state pension age? Research suggests many of close to retirement don't.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner
Output Producer: Craig Henderson
Editor: Sarah Rogers

(This episode was first broadcast on Saturday the 12th of April on BBC Radio 4)


SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m0029rrl)
Series 2

Tariffs, Theme Parks, and Twister

The Naked Week team are back to place satirical news-tariffs on current events with a mix of correspondents, guests and, occasionally, live animals.

This week we mourn the death of globalisation, take a tour of Keir's new theme park, and play a game of BBC Balance Local Elections Naked Week Joke Twister.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Sarah Dempster
Jason Hazeley.

Investigations Team:
Cat Neilan
Louis Mian
Freya Shaw
Matt Brown

Guests: Freya Parker and Alicia Fitzgerald.

Production Team: Laura Grimshaw, Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, Katie Sayer, Phoebe Butler.

Executive Producer: Philip Abrams
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m0029yh5)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m0029yh7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m0029rrs)
Pippa Heylings MP, Paul Johnson, Stephen Kinnock MP, David Reed MP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Hatherleigh Community Centre in Devon, with the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for energy and net zero, Pippa Heylings MP; Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies; minister for care Stephen Kinnock MP; and the Conservative MP for Exmouth and Exeter East, David Reed.

Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Caitlin Gazeley


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m0029yh9)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m0029rrn)
Elizabeth’s delighted to see Joy back serving in the Shop. Joy admits she needed time away because of everything going on with Rochelle. Elizabeth sympathises, then suggests a distraction. Later, Joy thanks Elizabeth for inviting her to the planning meeting at the Village Hall for the VE Day celebrations. Elizabeth’s happy because Joy came up with most of the ideas, including a beacon on Lakey Hill.
At The Bull, Freddie talks positively to David and Ben about his Academy Trust initiative. He’s hoping to get them to contract Casey Meats and local suppliers to provide school dinners, although he’s still waiting for their response. David then launches into a tirade about how tough things are for farmers, especially the proposed Inheritance Tax changes. A lively debate ensues, with Brian taking David’s side and Freddie tacitly agreeing. Ben and Jolene take the opposite point of view, arguing against farmers being treated differently on taxation. David’s upset Ben doesn’t agree with him, with Freddie suggesting Ben’s arguing against his own self-interest, but Jolene’s counter-argument is equally robust. Later, Brian suggests Ben might change his tune one day, before Ben calls David and they agree to disagree – there are no easy answers.
Back at Lower Loxley awkward Freddie tells Elizabeth he thinks Vince might have a thing for Rochelle. Elizabeth laughs this off, before confiding a little of what Joy’s told her about Rochelle’s troubled upbringing. Vince wants to give Rochelle a chance and Freddie concedes she might just be desperate to prove herself. In which case he agrees that Rochelle deserves a chance.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m0029yhc)
The Film

The Film by Martin Jameson
April 1945. A Ministry of Information army film crew enters Bergen-Belsen to record the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust that many were already refusing to believe. But faced with all this footage, the head of the unit - Sidney Bernstein, is overwhelmed. He needs to get a film out there as soon as possible, but how to do justice to such suffering? So he summons his friend Alfred Hitchcock from Hollywood. And Bernstein - who later establishes Granada Television - determines that together they can create an irrefutable cinematic testimony.

Sidney Bernstein.........................................Henry Goodman
Alfred Hitchcock.........................................Jeremy Swift
Richard Crossman......................................Geoffrey Streatfeild
Mrs Haig........................................................Fenella Woolgar
Secretary.......................................................Hamilton Berstock

Production Co-ordinator - Vicky Moseley
Sound Design - Sharon Hughes
Technical Producer - Peter Ringrose
Studio Manager - Alison Craig
Producer/ Director - Gary Brown

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.

With grateful thanks to documentary film maker Jane Wells, daughter of Sidney Bernstein, who generously helped with the research for this drama.


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m0029yhf)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Doctor Who's Varada Sethu, The first UK womb transplant, Grief and music, Cardiac surgeon Dr Indu Deglurka

Varada Sethu joined Woman's Hour to talk about stepping into the iconic role of the Doctor Who companion. She tells Datshiane Navanagayam how she went from a guest star to landing the role of Belinda Chandra, why this character feels like her most personal yet, and what it means to her to bring cultural authenticity to the Tardis. With a background in science, classical dance, and Star Wars fandom, Varada brings a fresh energy to the Whoniverse.

Grace Davidson was a teenager when she was diagnosed with a rare condition that meant she did not have a uterus. But, following a transplant using her sister's donated womb, she gave birth earlier this year to baby Amy. Nuala McGovern speaks to Isabel Quiroga, the surgeon who led the transplant team at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, and to Lydia Brain, who is currently on the waiting list for a womb transplant.

Emily MacGregor is a music historian and trombonist. After the sudden death of her father, a jazz guitarist, she found she wasn’t able to bear the sound of music. The very thing that once connected them became a source of pain and silence. In her new book, While the Music Lasts, she explains how she reconnected with her father through the pieces left on his music stand, from tangos to Handel, Cádiz to Coltrane. She joined Nuala to talk about how she learnt to navigate grief and how she discovered the joy of music again.

BBC2’s Saving Lives in Cardiff is back on our screens from tonight. Based in the largest hospital in Wales, University Hospital in Cardiff, the series highlights the weight of difficult, sometimes life and death decisions surgeons make about who to prioritise next. The first episode follows Dr Indu Deglurkar, a cardiac surgeon, one of only 19 women in this role in the UK. She tells Nuala about the pressures and joys of her job.

Have you been watching The White Lotus? The season three finale aired this week and one of the key themes that's had fans talking has been female friendship. It's left us wondering - is three a crowd? In the show the dynamic plays out between a trio of friends Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie, played by Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon, who alternate between loving and loathing one another. So can friendships between three people work? TV critic Rachael Sigee and relationships writer at the Independent Olivia Petter joined Nuala McGovern.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor: Sarah Jane Griffiths


SAT 17:00 PM (m0029yhh)
Parliament passes emergency bill on British Steel

On a historic Saturday sitting, Parliament passes an emergency bill on British Steel. We hear reaction from MPs, and we speak to the Business Secretary who was in charge last time British Steel saw a major crisis.
Also: Iran is in talks with the US over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme; and as travel declines between the US and Europe, we hear from Americans in Paris.


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m0029qhh)
Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners appeal to anyone with a sweet tooth looking to cut down on their sugar intake. They’re not only for use in our cups of tea or coffee, but they’re also in fizzy drinks, low calorie products, sweets and baked goods. But are they really a better alternative?

Greg is joined by a leading scientist from the World Health Organisation, as well as a Professor of Gastroenterology who has researched the impact of sweeteners to “spill the tea” on this topic. Can using them as an alternative help us reduce our blood sugar? Are all kinds of sweetener safe? And what about their effects on us long term?

The information in this episode was correct at the time of recording.

As ever we’re looking for YOUR suggestions. If you’ve seen and advert, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk OR send a voice not to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.

PRODUCERS: KATE HOLDSWORTH AND GREG FOOT
RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0029yhk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m0029yhm)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029yhp)
Parliament approves bill to help save British Steel's Scunthorpe plant


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m0029yhr)
Karen Dunbar, Mollie Hughes, Rosco McClelland, Kirsty MacLaren, NATI., Lewis McLaughlin

Stuart Maconie will be joined by comedian Karen Dunbar, star of sketch comedy show Chewin’ The Fat, ahead of her nationwide tour.

Restless Natives: The Musical is the new stage adaptation of the Scottish cult classic. Actor Kirsty MacLaren stars in the show which brings some of Big Country's greatest hits to life.

Rosco McClelland celebrates his recent win, having taken home the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

World-record breaking adventurer Mollie Hughes became the youngest woman to climb both sides of Mount Everest, and the youngest woman to ski solo to the South Pole. Her latest book is called Breathe.

With music from NATI. and Lewis McLaughlin.

Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Caitlin Sneddon


SAT 19:00 Profile (m0029yht)
Lesley Manville

Stephen Smith profiles the actor Lesley Manville, winner of a second Olivier theatre award. From growing up in Hove to her long-time collaboration with film-maker Mike Leigh, Manville has a reputation as the complete professional. With contributions from Mike Leigh, Director Rob Icke, Actor Tim McCullan, former teacher Julia Clarey, Observer critic Susannah Clapp and friend Rebecca Blond.

Presenter: Stephen Smith
Production Team: Bob Howard, Chloe Scannapieco, Devian Maside
Editor: Max Deveson
Sound Engineer: Gareth Jones
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m0029qh9)
Maggie O'Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell is the author of nine novels. Her debut, After You’d Gone, was published 25 years ago this year and won the Betty Trask Prize in 2001. Her 2010 book The Hand That First Held Mine won the Costa Novel Award; and Hamnet, her hugely acclaimed and bestselling story of the death of Shakespeare’s son, won the 2020 Women’s Prize for fiction. Maggie O’Farrell has also written a memoir; I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death.

Maggie tells John Wilson about some of her creative influences including the Finnish writer Tove Jansson, whose book Moominland Midwinter she first read at the age of eight when she was ill in bed, suffering from encephalitis. The poet Michael Donaghy gave Maggie valuable writing advice when she attended his poetry workshops at City University and inspired her with his recitations of poetry from memory. Maggie also reveals how seeing a David Hockney photomontages called The Scrabble Game hugely influenced the way she constructs narrative and time-frame in her novels.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m0029yhw)
Kenneth Williams: Said the Actor to the Bishop

Kenneth Williams’s Christian faith was a significant part of his life and impacted him deeply. He was a complex but deeply thoughtful character and he grappled with how Christianity fitted with his career and sexuality. At the height of his fame in the 1970s he was asked to record excerpts from the Bible. Those recordings haven’t been broadcast until now.

Williams was a master storyteller, on Jackanory he had the audience beguiled, and he brings that artistry to the telling of Bible stories such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

The recordings were the creation of James Jones, who went on to become the Bishop of Liverpool, and to mark the start of Easter he presents a special Archive on 4 showcasing Williams’s Bible readings and exploring the faith of the man who would be approaching his 100th birthday.

Bishop James discovers how much Williams contemplated his faith personally and with others. He meets Williams’s friend Mark Oakley, a student at the time of their friendship and now Dean of Southwark, to learn more about the role of God in the last couple of years of the Carry On star’s life. And, by talking to those who knew Williams well, Gyles Brandreth, and who have written about him, Wes Butters, Bishop James explores the longing for affirmation at the root of his many friendships and his faith.

To explore the gift Kenneth Williams had for storytelling, author and Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce dissects the techniques used to narrate these Biblical chronicles. And Bishop James meets Anna Home and Jeremy Swan, who recognised Williams’s storytelling credentials and invited him to be on Jackanory. They reflect on the compelling way he could enthral an audience with any narrative.

The Bible stories, read by Kenneth Williams, weave throughout the programme to highlight the message and teachings of Jesus - and how his own human story illustrates them so poignantly.

With thanks to Scripture Union and Jennifer Robertson.

Presenter: Bishop James Jones
Production Co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Editor: Richard McIlroy

Producer: Alexa Good


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m0029q5q)
Is free trade a moral good?

President Trump has imposed tariffs on all America’s trade; China has hit back; other nations, including our own, are working out how to cope with what Sir Keir Starmer has called a “new world” governed by “deals and alliances” rather than rules. In this crisis, we have turned to the economists, who argue about percentages. But shouldn't we be asking – what is the moral thing to do?

Trump’s ‘MAGA’ project always said it wanted tariff barriers to revive US industry and rebalance world trade; the American voters chose that strong medicine; now they – and the rest of the world – must swallow it. The first question is not whether it will work; time will tell. The first question is: given the consequences for the whole world, does Trump have a moral right to exercise that mandate?

The second question is the one that confronts Britain, and all the other nations that have been reliant (perhaps too reliant) on trade and co-operation with America. It is not about numbers but about morality. The three most influential economic philosophers in history – Adam Smith, Karl Marx and J.M.Keynes – reached different conclusions about it.

Is free trade a moral good?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Producers: Peter Everett and Dan Tierney
Editor: Tim Pemberton

Panel:
Anne McElvoy
Ash Sarkar
Matthew Taylor
James Orr

Witnesses:
Mariana Mazzucato
Hamish McRae
Maxwell Marlow
Sir Dieter Helm


SAT 22:00 News (m0029yhy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m0029rqq)
Darina Allen: A Life Through Food

Dan Saladino finds out how a family farm in west Cork became one of the world's most influential cookery schools. Featuring Darina and Rachel Allen, Rory O'Connell and JR Ryall.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SAT 23:00 Call Jonathan Pie (m0029sw3)
Series 2

3. Arise Sir Roger

The first four episodes of Call Jonathan Pie series 2 are now available on BBC Sounds, subscribe to be alerted when new episodes in the series are released.

Roger has secret reasons for desperately trying to rein Pie in as he gives Britain’s most famous family a right royal kicking.


 Call Jonathan Pie is written and performed by Tom Walker.
With additional material from Nick Revell and Daniel Abelson
Jules ….. Lucy Pearman
Sam ….. Aqib Khan
Roger ….. Nick Revell.

The callers; Laura Shavin, Daniel Abelson, Ed Kear, Sarah Gabriel , Willow Bennison and Adam Byron.

Producers Alison Vernon-Smith and Julian Mayers
A Yada-Yada Audio Production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Profile (m0028jhd)
Friedrich Merz

He’s the former corporate lawyer, who has a pilot's licence and loves music, but has never before been a government minister.

Friedrich Merz was born in the west German town of Brilon in 1955 into a prominent conservative, Catholic family. He joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) while still at school, before going on to study law.

Merz then worked as a lawyer and judge for a few years, but he always had his eye on politics.

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1989, and his journey to the top has been a winding one.

Sidelined by Angela Merkel before she became chancellor, he quit parliament entirely to pursue a lucrative series of corporate jobs and was written off as yesterday's man.

But with the CDU topping the ballot in Germany's elections earlier this year, he is now on the brink of clinching the job he has coveted for so long.

In a programme originally broadcast last month in the aftermath of Merz's election victory, when the prospect of a CDU coalition with the far-right AFD - now off the cards - was still a possibility, and Donald Trump's fiery meeting with President Zelensky was fresh in everyone's memory, Stephen Smith set out to find out how Merz bounced back.

Production Team

Producers: Arlene Gregorius, Caroline Bayley, Chloe Scannapieco
Editor: Ben Mundy
Sound: Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele, Sabine Schereck, Janet Staples

Audio of Friedrich Merz at the Munich Security Conference by Bayerischer Rundfunk
Audio of swearing-in ceremony of Angela Merkel, 2005, by ZDF
Audio of French President Macron at the White House courtesy of the White House


SAT 23:45 Today in Parliament (m002bk92)
Sean Curran and the team report as MPs and peers meet for a rare Saturday sitting to rush through a new law ministers hope will enable them to save British Steel's Scunthorpe plant.

SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2025

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m0029yj0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m0029q9w)
Michel Faber

This month BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, speaks to the writer Michel Faber about his debut novel, Under the Skin. Published in the year 2000 by Canongate it went on to be shortlisted for the Whitbread Award that same year. The book follows the female protagonist of Isserley who roves the A9 in the Scottish Highlands looking to pick up hitchhikers (preferably ones with big muscles). In 2013 the book was made into a film, shot in Glasgow, and directed by Jonathan Glazer. It starred Scarlett Johansson as Isserley.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029yj2)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029yj4)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:30 News Summary (m0029yj6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029yj8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m0029yjb)
All Saints Church in Laxfield, Suffolk

Bells on Sunday comes from All Saints Church in Laxfield, Suffolk. The church tower of All Saints first had its oak bell frame installed in the 15th century. Designed to hold five bells it extended to hold six. By the end of the 20th century the bells fell silent due to excessive frame movement. In 2020 a restoration project was undertaken and new steel frame was installed along with a new ring of eight bells. The two surviving original 15th century bells were retained in the old frame for use as Clock and Service bells. The Tenor weighs seventeen hundredweight and is tuned to the note of F Sharp. We hear them ringing Plain Bob Triples


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m0029rwc)
Dr Fred Reid

In Touch dedicates this programme to the late Dr Fred Reid. His long career in academia and wider achievements make him one of the great blind all-rounders, having contributed to national campaigns that made a real difference to the lives of many blind and partially sighted people. He was also a historian, author, sportsman and lecturer at the University of Warwick. Fred tells his own story, in a revisit to a dedicated programme from 2018, along with people who worked with him over the years and knew him well.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m0029ynp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m0029rvw)
Faithful Food

We hear from the volunteers serving an average of 1,500 meals a day at the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow and explore the significance of langar in the Sikh and wider community.

Mona Siddiqui and the panel explore the role food plays in religion. Do all religious traditions have the imperative to feed the hungry? Is food the route to the soul? And, is sharing food the best way for religions to communicate beliefs?

Mona is joined by:

Chef Romy Gill, a prominent figure in the culinary world, known for her expertise in Indian cuisine. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire 2016 for services to the hospitality industry. Romy grew up in a Sikh Punjabi family and the tradition of sewa is close to her heart

Norman Wirzba, is Professor of Theology and Ecology at Duke University Divinity School. His work focuses on religion, ecology and agrarianism. Norman is the author of Way of Love, Food and Faith.

Moshe Basson, the executive Chef and owner of The Eucalyptus restaurant in Jerusalem and Author of The Eucalyptus Cookbook. He specialises in Levantine, Arab, and Jewish cuisine, and is known for his use of biblical ingredients.

Producer: Alexa Good
Assistant Producer: Linda Walker
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m0029ynr)
Apples All Over

Over a series of fields stretching out beneath the Mendip Hills, a brand new orchard is taking shape. Robin Markwell meets Martin and Eleanor Thatcher, fourth and fifth-generation cider makers, at their family farm in Somerset to see the planting taking place. The apples from these trees will eventually be used to make cider, but the saplings have some years of growing ahead of them first. Farm Manager, Chris Muntz Torres, explains to Robin why the quality of the soil is so important in giving these trees the best start in life, and why growing apples is a long-term endeavour.

Robin also visits another, more established orchard at the farm, which is home to hundreds of different varieties of apple trees saved from Long Ashton Research Station when it closed down. Whilst there, he hears about how the orchard is helping to inform the future of cider production.

Presented by Robin Markwell and produced by Jo Peacey.


SUN 06:57 Weather (m0029ynt)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m0029ynw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m0029yny)
Kenneth Williams; Misogyny in schools; Israel-Gaza

Archive on 4 is available on BBC Sounds featuring previously unheard tapes of Kenneth Williams reading Bible stories. They were recorded by a young James Jones, now the retired Bishop of Liverpool when he was a young producer working for a Christian charity, charged with getting new recordings that would bring new audiences to Christianity. The tapes explore Williams's talent in bringing these well-known stories to life and 'open a window into his soul', exploring his own relationship with faith through the people who knew him. Edward Stourton discusses Kenneth Williams' faith with Mark Oakley who is the dean of Southwark Cathedral, and James Jones, the former bishop of Liverpool.


Also on the programme; the founder of the first secure school for young offenders with a faith ethos, says the spiritual health of teenagers needs addressing. Steve Chalke says schools in his Oasis group use an holistic approach to address bad behaviour. According to a new Teacher Tapp survey commissioned by the BBC, more than a third of secondary school teachers say they’ve seen misogynistic behaviour from a pupil in their school in the last week. But while Steve Chalke argues that a faith ethos in a school can help, are some religious beliefs part of the problem?

As Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, six UN aid agencies have this week appealed for a ceasefire and the resumption of urgently needed aid deliveries. We hear from Muslim Aid, which has worked with aid workers in the strip for the last 19 years. Meanwhile Jewish people around the world are celebrating the start of Passover – but in Israel some of the hostages who’ve been released say it’s hard to celebrate this festival of freedom when 59 hostages are still in captivity. The President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews gives us the view from the British Jewish diaspora.


Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Amanda Hancox
Studio Managers: Sam Smith & Nat Stokes
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m0029yp0)
Farm Africa

Farmer Baroness Minette Batters, ambassador for Farm Africa, presents this week’s Radio 4 appeal on behalf of the charity. Farm Africa teaches farmers in countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia about environmentally friendly, climate-resilient ways to farm, and who then share their expertise with others.

To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Farm Africa’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Farm Africa’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4

Registered Charity Number: 326901. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.farmafrica.org/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Katy Takatsuki


SUN 07:57 Weather (m0029yp2)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m0029yp4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m0029yp6)
Palm Sunday

To mark the start of Holy Week, we join Life Church Bradford for a service reflecting on the events of Palm Sunday.
Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem as King to shouts of Hosanna, just days before crowds would shout for his crucifixion. Pastor Jock James preaches on the account shared in Matthew 21:1-11 and asks ‘who is this Jesus?’
The music includes modern worship songs like Hillsong's Hosanna and King of Kings, Graham Kendrick's The Servant King as well as Life Church's own music including 'One People' led by Philippa Hanna. And members of the church will share more about their community as Bradford is the City of Culture 2025.
Producer: Miriam Williamson


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct5yl3)
The handover of the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a short cut between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and plays a huge role in global shipping.

The United States had rights to the land surrounding it, known as the canal zone, and also controlled the waterway itself.

In 1977, responding to years of Panamanian protest, US President Jimmy Carter and Panama's General Omar Torrijos signed two new treaties, giving full control to Panama.

The handover ceremony took place in December 1999.

Alberto Aleman Zubieta was an administrator of the canal. Twenty-five years on, he tells Gill Kearsley the story of the handover.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Panama handover ceremony. Credit: Pedro Ugarte/AFP via Getty Images)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m0029yp8)
Kate Bradbury on the Swift

For garden writer and nature author Kate Bradbury spring is a special time. As April merges into May Kate listens intently to the skies above her Brighton home, eagerly awaiting the first shrill call of a swift overhead. Their arrival means summer is following. Recently swift numbers have declined in the UK but Kate has installed 'swift bricks' into her home and now swifts nest each year alongside her. Across Brighton as new homes are being constructed, they too have 'swift bricks' installed, increasing the number of prospective nesting sites across the town.

Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol
Studio Engineer : Ilse Lademann


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m0029ypb)
Gordon Brown on the world economic crisis

Gordon Brown tells BH that the full effects of the world's economic shock are yet to be felt. He says immediate multinational cooperation is needed.


SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m001yhf8)
The Passion of Port Talbot

Michael Sheen was a Hollywood star when the newly formed National Theatre of Wales approached him to produce a show in his hometown of Port Talbot. Inspired by the Passion plays he watched as a kid, he suggested they create a modern version of the Biblical stories.

Port Talbot was famous for its steel and chemical plants, but in 2011, local people were struggling with looming job cuts and still recovering from the 2007 crash. Sheen wanted to bring a new sense of pride to the town. Months of planning and rehearsals resulted in a three-day Easter weekend spectacle that took over the town and captured the imagination of the world.

Joining Kirsty Wark to recall that miraculous weekend is Sheen who played “The Teacher”, a modern-day incarnation of Jesus, and took the part so seriously that he slept on a mountain on the eve of Good Friday. “We had no idea how many people would come or if it would be pouring with rain.” But the weather was glorious and people came in their thousands.

Port Talbot actress Di Botcher played Sheen’s mother and described the warm feeling of being in The Passion as like “a crazy holiday romance – with God”.

Sarah Hemsley-Cole masterminded the show's logistics, which featured an actor in a suicide vest, a crucifixion on a roundabout, and a cast of 1,000 locals. During the production, she also met her wife, the leader of the local circus school.

The National Theatre of Wales partnered with landscape theatre experts Wildworks. Founder member Mydd Pharo recalls standing up to his waist in a rising tide, waiting for Sheen to arrive for the baptism scene. His colleague Mercedes Kemp led the hunt for local people’s memories which informed the resulting narrative. And Michael’s school drama teacher Ken Tucker, who played the Mayor in The Passion, also joins us.

Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m0029ypg)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Julie Beckett
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer…. Ben Norris
David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Miranda Elliott…. Lucy Fleming
Mick Fadmoor…. Martin Barrass
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Rochelle Horville…. Rosie Stancliffe
Elizabeth Pargetter…. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence


SUN 12:15 Profile (m0029yht)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 One Person Found This Helpful (m0029rlv)
Series 2

6. The Slippery Dancefloor

Frank Skinner and guests Phil Wang, Marjolein Robertson, Simon Evans and Dee Allum discover the latest views on the Epic of Gilgamesh and which part of the tiger not to eat.

This is the panel game based on what we all sit down and do at least once a day – shop online and leave a review, as an all-star panel celebrate the good, the bad and the baffling.

Everyone has an online life and, when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. Our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own. So if you’re the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as “Very steep and too high”, this show salutes you!

Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Rajiv Karia, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer and Peter Tellouche

Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m0029ypj)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m0029ypl)
A look at the week's big stories and preview of the week to come.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m0029ypn)
Laila Soueif: A Mother's Life

Since last September, 68-year-old Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike. Laila is the mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, a British national imprisoned in Egypt for the best part of 12 years. He is one of Egypt's highest profile pro-democracy political prisoners who was due to have been released in late 2024.

The refusal of the Egyptian authorities to free this peaceful activist triggered Laila's act of maternal determination.

Presented by Michael Segalov
Produced by Michael Segalov and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
(photo: Misan Harriman)


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m0029rr8)
West Yorkshire: Unorthodox Advice, Edible Essentials and Sodden Patches

What unorthodox advice have you heard as a gardener? What fruit and veg can I grow in a sodden patch? If you could take one bag of seeds to a desert island, what would it be?

Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners’ Question Time team return to Bradford, West Yorkshire, to unearth the answers to your gardening dilemmas. Kathy is joined by garden designers Marcus Chilton-Jones, Matthew Pottage and Juliet Sargeant.

Later in the programme, we dig into the first edition of our brand-new Edible Essentials series. Ecological home grower and community gardener Poppy Okotcha shares her go-to spring checklist for growing delicious, sustainable crops.

Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Comics, War and Ordinary Miracles (b07vkljn)
Creative non-fiction by two writers, Adnan Mahmutovic and Lucy Durneen, exploring their very different lives in 1992 and their connection through the Bosnian War.

After meeting at a short-fiction conference, Adnan Mahmutovic and Lucy Durneen began talking to one another about Adnan’s childhood love of comics and his efforts to preserve them during the Bosnian War. At that time, Lucy was going through adolescence in the UK but her father was flying reconnaissance missions over Bosnia.

This piece - specially commissioned for Radio 4 - draws on their experiences, which they first explored in connected essays in World Literature Today in 2015.

Adnan Mahmutovic came to Sweden from Bosnia as a war refugee in the 1990s. He lectures at Stockholm University in literature and creative writing and has published a novel, Thinner Than a Hair, and a short-story collection, How to Fare Well and Stay Fair.

Lucy Durneen lectures in English and creative writing at Plymouth University and is assistant editor of Short Fiction. She has recently completed her first collection of short stories.

Writers: Adnan Mahmutovic and Lucy Durneen
Readers: Adnan Mahmutovic and Lucy Durneen
Producer: Jeremy Osborne

A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 London Belongs to Me (m0029ypq)
Episode 2

London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins.
Dramatised by Mike Harris.
Episode 2
War has been declared. But the big news in 10 Dulcimer Street, South London is that Percy Boone has been has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Lily. He claims it was an accident and with the court case coming up, the lodging house is buzzing with support for him. After all - he's one of our own.

Connie..........................................................Dorothy Atkinson
Josser & Squales......................................Jonathan Keeble
Mrs Josser & Mrs Van Byl.....................Susan Brown
Percy & Bill..................................................James Cooney
Mrs Vizzard.................................................Liza Sadovy
Puddy & Ted...............................................Samuel James
Doris..............................................................Shreya Lallu
Lily & Cynthia.............................................Andi Bickers
Barks & Wassel..........................................David Hounslow
Connie's kids...............................................Miriam Mitic & Lily Mitic

Production Co-ordinator - Vicky Moseley
Studio Manager - Alison Craig
Sound Design - Keith Graham
Producer/Director - Gary Brown

BBC Studios Audio Production.

"One of the great city novels: a sprawling celebration of the comedy, the savagery, the eccentricity and the quiet heroism at the heart of ordinary London lfe" - Sarah Waters.

Norman Collins (1907-1982) was a leading broadcasting executive. In a distinguished career he was head of the BBC Light Service and was instrumental in commissioning 'Woman's Hour' and 'Dick Barton'. He also helped establish ITV and was a director of ITN. He wrote sixteen novels and two plays.


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m0029yps)
Andrew O'Hagan

Three-times Booker nominated Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan tells us about his novel, Caledonian Road, and reveals three other works that inspired its creation.

This state-of-the-nation novel follows 60 characters over the course of a chaotic, post-pandemic year, focussing on protagonist Campbell Flynn as his life slowly unravels before his eyes.

Andrew O’Hagan’s chosen influences were The Princess Casamassima by Henry James; The Idea of Order at Key West by Wallace Stevens; and J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

The supporting contributor is contemporary novelist Katie Ward.

Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 16:30 Nature Table (m000fpns)
Series 1

Episode 3

Comedian, broadcaster and writer Sue Perkins celebrates the natural world and all its funny eccentricities.

Taking the simple format of a ‘Show & Tell’, each episode Sue is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history.

Each of the natural history guests brings an item linked to the wild world to share with the audience, be it an amazing fact or funny personal anecdote. Each item is a springboard for an enlightening and funny discussion, alongside fun games and challenges revealing more astonishing facts.

We also hear from some of the London Zoo audience, a mix of London Zoo staff and members of the public, as they bring us their own natural history ‘show and tells’ for Sue and the guests to discuss.

Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet’s wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.

In this episode, Sue welcomes:

* Naturalist and BBC Wildlife correspondent Nick Baker
* Ethnobotanist James Wong
* Comedian Lucy Porter.

Written by Catherine Brinkworth, Kat Sadler and Jon Hunter

Producer: Simon Nicholls

A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2020.


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5yqf)
The Ken Burns Effect

In 2002, filmmaker Ken Burns received an intriguing proposition from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. He wanted Burns’ signature filming style to be inserted into the video editing software of every Macintosh computer. He would call it ‘the Ken Burns effect.’

Burns first shot to fame in 1981, when his documentary Brooklyn Bridge was nominated for an Academy Award.

He is perhaps best known for his 1990 documentary series The Civil War, which was watched by more than 40 million Americans when it debuted on PBS, becoming one of the most watched documentaries of all time.

In the time since, Burns has covered a whole array of subjects about American history, including baseball, country music and the Vietnam war.

He tells Matt Pintus about his future plans, including a series about the life of Martin Luther King.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Ken Burns. Credit: Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 Writing the Universe (m00207vm)
In the beginning

From Shakespeare to Milton, writers have long been preoccupied with the birth of the universe, but there's still so much uncertainty about how the cosmos came into being. The phrase 'the big bang' is now part of our everyday language, but the astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the expression in frustration at the idea the universe burst into being and remained adamant throughout his career that it could never have happened.

So has the idea of a big bang ultimately proved unhelpful in explaining how the universe was formed? Philosopher and theoretical physicist Sean Carroll explains that not even scientists can agree what the term means, and says it's still not clear whether the big bang was even the kind of giant explosion many of us imagine.

For cosmologist Carlos Frenk, Dali's melting clocks are the best way of describing a time before time existed, and he explains how art and science are intimately intertwined, while the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli relies on metaphor to explain concepts that are often mind-bending in their complexity.

With contributions from fellow Infinite Monkey Cage presenter Brian Cox; physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll; astrophysicist Katie Mack; cosmologist Carlos Frenk, and theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli.

Producer: Marijke Peters

Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

Soundscape Designer: Jane Watkins

BBC Studios Audio Production


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m0029ypw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m0029ypy)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029yq0)
2 missiles hit the city of Sumy, as people celebrate Palm Sunday. Bangladesh issues arrest warrant for Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who denies any wrongdoing.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m0029yq2)
Deb Grant

This week, Deb's putting on a pair of headphones to discover the best BBC audio, and part of that is finding out how the accessory we've become so accustomed to is having a detrimental effect on our social skills. You'll need a pair of headphones for this; a new Radio 3 series breaks down the crafted surround soundscapes of the radical Stockhausen, with the help of Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore. Writer Maggie O’Farrell muses on the Moomintrolls with John Wilson, and Kirsty Wark manages to bring the band together once more to chat about Roddy Doyle's The Commitments.

Presenter: Deb Grant
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Peddle

A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m0029yq4)
Freddie comes across Rochelle seemingly disorientated at work. He offers to escort her to the canteen, which she’s struggled to find. Over lunch Freddie shares the story of how he came to be working at the abattoir. Rochelle wonders if perhaps she might train in boning. Freddie acknowledges her enthusiasm, and she admits she wants to get decent money coming in so she can move out of her mum’s. Freddie advises giving further training a month or so – she’s still very new. Later Rochelle impresses with her improvement at cricket nets. It’s clear to Freddie she’s keen to do well, both at cricket and her work. She won’t be in packing for long.
Jazzer announces he's on Sunday dinner duty. He intends to serve nachos. Jolene reckons Bert won’t be impressed with that. Jolene delivers the bad news that the Edgeley Morris side have cancelled a big booking at the Bull. They all have a bug. A half empty pub on Easter Sunday isn’t a good look; Kenton and Jolene acknowledge they’ll need to drum up some trade. They explore and dismiss a range of options before Kenton has a brainwave. He disappears and returns with ankle bells and sticks – they can offer a Morris dancing experience. Jolene’s sceptical. If it goes wrong, they’ll get a mauling on social media. Kenton hints that she has the expertise to be in charge of the event, which she hotly denies. She’ll be too busy anyway. They’ll need to get someone who knows what they’re talking about.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m0029yq6)
The Big Ask

How many questions have you asked today? How many were rhetorical, “boomer-asking”, passive/aggressive or just boringly functional?

Did you know that our appetites for question-asking peak at the age of five, then steadily diminish? That kids ask an average of 40,000 questions between the ages of 2 and 5, while adults ask fewer than ten questions a day? Why are we asking fewer, meaningful questions? In an age where antisocial behaviour has become normal — where it’s entirely acceptable to spend most of the time looking down at our phones, or ranting on social media — shouldn’t we be asking what we’re losing in the process?

Can journalist Ian Wylie, who uses the five Ws daily, reignite our curiosity and appetite for asking questions? And can he discover better questions that unlock bigger stories and deeper conversations? What will he learn from professional question-askers, including barrister Melanie Simpson, detective Steve Hibbit, philosopher Lani Watson and priest Leanne Roberts? Is artificial intelligence likely to discourage us from asking deep, open-ended questions? Or could it force us to ask clearer, sharper, more precise questions?

Can Ian create his documentary entirely from questions? Or will he slip up?

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Lent Talks (m0029yq8)
The Creed: That there is life beyond death

2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed – the core profession of the Christian faith, which is spoken in churches across the world. This year’s Lent Talks offer personal insights of faith on six key lines from the Creed.

In this episode, Bishop Graham Kings reflects on the final line: “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

Producer: Dan Tierney.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m0029qj3)
Radio 4's 5.30 News Briefing. A Point of View. Add to Playlist

It was announced months ago that the 5.30am News Briefing would be removed from Radio 4's early morning schedule due to budget constraints, but the changes didn't come into place until the beginning of last week. For some of those who include Radio 4 within their morning routines, the change has been a rude awakening. We hear your reactions to the replacement in this week's episode of Feedback.

Since 2021, Add to Playlist has been taking listeners on a voyage of musical discovery through a never ending playlist, added to by the presenters and guests - and it might be the only place on Radio 4 where you can hear Tchaikovsky and Eminem in quick succession. Andrea Catherwood puts your comments about the most recent series to presenters Jeffrey Boakye, Anna Phoebe, and editor Tim Prosser.

And we've had a number of different questions in the inbox this week that just need a simple answer from the BBC. We've got answers for you.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m0029rrd)
Lord Kalms, Melissa Llewelyn-Davies, Rex Cowan, Wilma Finlay

Matthew Bannister on

Lord Kalms, who turned his family’s camera shop into the multi-million-pound Dixons electronics chain.

Melissa Llewelyn-Davies, the anthropologist who made an acclaimed TV series about Kenya’s Masai tribe before turning her camera on the UK.

Rex Cowan, the lawyer who changed career to become one of the world’s most successful shipwreck hunters.

Wilma Finlay, who worked with her husband David to introduce what they saw as more ethical animal husbandry on their farm in the Scottish borders.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

**In this episode a guest mistakenly refers to the town of Forres being in Aberdeenshire. Forres is located in Moray

Archive: On Your Farm, “The Ethical Dairy”, BBC Radio 4, Interviewer Caz Graham, 03/02/2019; Escape to the Country, Series 21, Dumfries & Galloway, BBC One, Presenter Sonali Shah, 25/05/2021; Children Calling Home, BBC, 25/12/1942; Escape to Fulfilment, Rex Cowan: Wreck Hunter, BBC, 02/09/1971; BBC News, 10/04/1972; Retail Week Legends, 28/07/2016; Desert Island Discs, Sir Stanley Kalms, BBC Radio 4, 01/07/2001; Dixons Advert, ITV, late 1970s; BBC News, 22/11/1986; London Plus – Broadwater Farm Riot, BBC News Archive; Nurses: The Team on B6, BBC; Diary of a Maasai Village, BBC; Scenes from the Farm, Documentary, Broadwater Farm Estate, London, UK, 1988


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m0029yh3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m0029yp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m0029ygz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m0029yqb)
Ben Wright and guests discuss the latest developments on tariffs and trade, and the local elections campaign.

Ben Wright's guests are the Labour MP Joe Powell, Conservative Shadow Culture Minister Saqib Bhatti, and Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart. Following the emergency recall of Parliament to approve government legislation to take control of British Steel, they discuss whether the company will inevitably have to be taken into public ownership, to secure its future. Lara Spirit - editor of The Times Red Box - provides additional context and analysis. The programme also includes an interview with Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons Business and Trade Select Committee, who says the government needs to develop an industrial strategy focused on economic security.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m0029qh3)
The Battle of Clontarf

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the best known events and figures in Irish history. In 1014 Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, defeated the Hiberno-Norse forces of Sigtrygg Silkbeard and allies near their Dublin stronghold, with Brian losing his life on the day of battle. Soon chroniclers in Ireland and abroad were recording and retelling the events, raising the status of Brian Boru as one who sacrificed himself for Ireland, Christ-like, a connection reinforced by the battle taking place on Good Friday. While some of the facts are contested, the Battle of Clontarf became a powerful symbol of what a united Ireland could achieve by force against invaders.

With

Seán Duffy
Professor of Medieval Irish and Insular History at Trinity College Dublin

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh
Professor of Celtic and Medieval Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge

And

Alex Woolf
Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Howard B. Clarke, Sheila Dooley and Ruth Johnson, Dublin and the Viking World (O'Brien Press Ltd, 2018)

Howard B. Clarke and Ruth Johnson (ed.), The Vikings in Ireland and Beyond: Before and After Clontarf (Four Courts Press, 2015)

Clare Downham, ‘The Battle of Clontarf in Irish History and Legend’ (History Ireland 13, No. 5, 2005)

Seán Duffy, Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf (Gill & Macmillan, 2014)

Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Dublin XVI: Proceedings of Clontarf 1014–2014: National Conference Marking the Millennium of the Battle of Clontarf (Four Courts Press, 2017)

Colmán Etchingham, ‘North Wales, Ireland and the Isles: The Insular Viking Zone’ (Peritia 15, 2001)

Colmán Etchingham, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, Norse-Gaelic Contacts in a Viking World (Brepols N.V., 2019)

David Griffiths, Vikings of the Irish Sea (The History Press, 2nd ed., 2025)

James Henthorn Todd (ed. and trans.), Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, or, the Invasions of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen (first published 1867; Cambridge University Press, 2012)

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Brian Boru: Ireland's greatest king? (The History Press, 2006)

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, ‘Tales of Three Gormlaiths in Medieval Irish Literature’ (Ériu 52, 2002)

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, ‘Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib: Some Dating Consierations’ (Peritia 9, 1995)

Brendan Smith, The Cambridge History of Ireland, vol. 1, 600–1550 (Cambridge University Press, 2018), especially ‘The Scandinavian Intervention’ by Alex Woolf

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m0029rrb)
The Inventor's Redress by Richard Smyth

In Richard Smyth’s new short work, a disgruntled Victorian inventor pursues his former business partner, only to unearth three shocking discoveries.
Reader James Anthony Pearson
Producer Bethany Woodhead
Richard Smyth is a Yorkshire-based author and critic.
A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 14 APRIL 2025

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m0029yqd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m0029rwf)
Unidentified Flying Drones in Denmark

When mysterious orb-like lights were recorded in the sky above Koge, a small port town in Denmark, the UFO scene took notice. But it wasn't just believers who wanted to know what these unidentified flying objects were.

Danish police and the Danish security services describe the objects as large drones - similar to the ones seen on the USA's East Coast before Christmas. But no-one can say who is flying them, or why. Could it be the Russians?

Lucy Proctor meets the people involved in Denmark's unique UFO scene and tries to find out what these drone sightings mean.

Produced and presented by Lucy Proctor.
Mixed by James Beard.
Edited by Penny Murphy.
Production support by Gemma Ashman.


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m0029yjb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029yqg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029yqj)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:00 News Summary (m0029yql)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Last Word (m0029rrd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Sunday]


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029yqn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029yqq)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m0029yqs)
14/04/25 - vertical farm, red beetle, spring cows

The company behind one of the UK's biggest vertical farms has closed. The Jones Food Company which ran indoor farms in Scunthrope and Gloucestershire called in the recievers after failing to find new investors. 61 people have been made redundant. The search is on for a new backer. Vertical farms grow crops - mainly herbs and salad leaves - inside on shelving, using special lights to create a warm humid atmosphere which reduces growing time in comparison with conventionally grown crops.

Researchers at St Andrews University are looking at ways to prevent the growing problem of a beetle that burrows into stored grains and destroys them. The red flour beetle uses its tail to move into the grains, and researchers say if they can find a way to paralyse the tail, it would replace costly pesticide use.

Spring has sprung and this week we're looking at what's happening on the farm this season. Today we're on a farm in Worcestershire as the farmer lets his cows out to grass after the long winter.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.


MON 05:57 Weather (m0029yqv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m0029zcr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m0029zct)
Impunity and fighting for justice

The lawyer Philippe Sands weaves together a story of historical crimes, impunity and the law in his latest book, 38 Londres Street. He uncovers the links between a Nazi hiding in plain sight in Patagonia and the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and the failed attempts to bring either to justice.

Kenneth Roth has led Human Rights Watch for the last three decades, overseeing investigations into violence and oppression in countries all over the world. In Righting Wrongs he tells the stories of the wins and the losses, and the ongoing fight to uncover, and prosecute, abuses.

The BBC’s former Syria correspondent Lina Sinjab was forced into exile more than a decade ago after threats from President Bashar al-Assad’s government. She could only watch as death and destruction ripped through her country, and those in power appeared to act with impunity. She looks at how Syria is faring since the fall of al-Assad’s brutal regime.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m0029zcw)
Provisions for preemies

Founder of Emily's Star charity, Katie Mainwaring, tells Rachel Burden how having a premature baby inspired her to help families whose children have complex needs, after her own baby girl died from a rare genetic condition.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029zcy)
Extremism in schools, Julie Bindel, The Great Gatsby

Hundreds of children were caught up in riots with well over 100 arrested and a number charged last summer after the murder of three children in Southport. Since then far right extremism and racism in schools has intensified - an everyday experience in primary and secondary schools, according to the teachers union, the NASUWT. The top priority at their annual conference next week is a motion on behaviour and school safety with the agenda citing problems caused by the Southport riots. Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT joins Nuala McGovern.

Frances Mayli McCann stars as Daisy Buchanan in a new musical of The Great Gatsby. The show comes to London following a hit run on Broadway. We speak to Frances and the show’s writer Kait Kerrigan about placing women at the centre of this classic story, celebrating its centenary year.

Julie Bindel’s new book, Lesbians: Where are we now? is described as part-memoir, part frontline reportage and part cultural commentary. In it she examines what defines lesbian culture, love, friendship and happiness today and asks why - in her view - lesbians so often seem to face particular hostility? The journalist, feminist campaigner and author is in the Woman’s Hour studio.

Today marks 11 years since over 270 girls were abducted from their school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria by Boko Haram. The tragedy sparked international outrage - you might remember the campaign hashtag #bringbackourgirls - and today, global leaders and advocates including UN representatives are gathering in London to mark the anniversary with a photo exhibition and panel discussions. We hear from Dr Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode - lawyer and activist from the Murtala Muhammed Foundation.

The Herring Girls were the predominantly Scottish, working-class women who laboured in the UK’s once thriving fishing industry. An itinerant workforce, they went from port to port, following the fishing fleet and working gruelling hours, gutting and packing fish for export in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Artist and farm labourer Joanne Coates has spent six months researching the life and work of this community on the east coast of Scotland. Using art, photography and performance she wants to reclaim their history and reconnect local people with their Herring Girl heritage.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Kirsty Starkey


MON 11:00 Behind the Crime (m0029zd0)
Richard

*Richard grew up with a strong sense that he had to work extra hard to achieve what his peers were achieving, following his dyslexia diagnosis at school.
This drive grew and grew as he entered adulthood, with a powerful inner critical voice constantly nagging whenever he felt he was failing.
A career in the armed forces was followed by a successful period in the police. But at the same time, his personal life was spiralling out of control. Then Richard took a series of disastrous decisions that led to harm, upset and imprisonment.

Dr Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons. Their job is to help people in prison understand the harm they’ve caused, identify why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.
In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and prison.
Through this extended interview with Richard, we follow the threads from early childhood through to the events that tore his life apart – and that of those around him.

*Richard is not his real name.

If you’ve been a victim of crime details of organisations offering information and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Editor: Clare Fordham
Behind the Crime is a co-production between BBC Long Form Audio and the Prison Radio Association.


MON 11:45 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zd2)
Rasmina

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

In this first episode, he meets Rasmina, a nurse who is one of the youngest people in the world who can speak Seke - a language from five villages in highland Nepal, near Tibet. It has 700 speakers, and over 100 of them have moved to a single building in Brooklyn. Rasmina takes Ross on a guided tour of the apartment block where all her relatives live. They then travel together back to her grandmother’s village in Nepal, to record the fast-disappearing Seke language.

“One afternoon, Rasmina’s 82 year-old grandmother receives us in her orchard, in her rock-star shades and resplendent traditional robe. She stays here now even if, or perhaps because, everyone else is leaving. She waits for their return visits, and she weeps every time people leave…”

In the programme, we hear Rasmina herself, as well as Ross Perlin’s own field recordings of Seke from Nepal.

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m0029zd4)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m0029zd6)
Fake Companies, Pirate Books and Asda

The nightmare of fake companies being registered at innocent people's addresses is something we've reported on extensively at You and Yours. Now, Companies House is asking for ID from anyone who wants to set up a company. Will it crack the problem - or are criminals just going to get round the new system? We ask the people leading the change. Also - a father tells us he's desperate to get a wheelchair for his disabled daughter - but nothing's happening very fast. Some people are trying to avoid buying US products in protest at Donald Trump - they're not easy to avoid though - and we ask what the future holds for one of the big three supermarkets, Asda, as Aldi closes in on its market share.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


MON 12:57 Weather (m0029zd8)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m0029zdb)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 Beyond Lonely (m0029zdd)
A Lonely Life

Loneliness is something all of us will experience at some point in our lives. For some it's a transitory feeling, for others a more chronic condition. As a child Jason Arday was diagnosed with autism and global development delay. He learnt to speak aged eleven, and to read and write at eighteen. His rise through the ranks of academia has been meteoric and he became Professor of the Sociology of Education at Cambridge aged thirty-seven. But for him success has come at a cost. Jason is lonely. In this five part series he explores his own reasons for being lonely as well as hearing from others the reasons they experience it.
Contributors include therapist Rotimi Akinsete and Noreena Hertz, economist and author of The Lonely Century: A Call To Reconnect

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol
Presented by Professor Jason Arday


MON 14:00 The Archers (m0029yq4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m001wqk2)
Series 5

2. I Want to Break Free

Tension mounts as the internet goes down and Roger breaks a tooth.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return with the fifth series of Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy, as long-marrieds, passionate about life and each other.

This week, Joanna is tetchy because the internet is down and Roger is generally grumpy. ‘Is this all because you had to buy trousers in a bigger size?’ she enquires. A friend asks them to model her new clothes collection but Roger cracks a tooth before the photoshoot, which Joanna thinks he’s done deliberately. The ‘prop’ is a Harley Davidson motorbike, which gives Roger groin strain but brings Joanna fond memories of their 60s Harley ride. Keen to do it once more, she plans to book an Easy Rider trip but the internet has gone down again. Or has it?

Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington. It is produced and directed by Claire Jones. It is a BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

Wilfredo Acosta - sound engineer
Charlotte Sewter - studio assistant
Jon Calver - sound designer
Katie Baum - production coordinator

Conversations from a Long Marriage won the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Best Radio Comedy in 2020, was nominated for a Writers’ Guild Award in 2022 and a British Comedy Guide award in 2024.

‘Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam have had illustrious acting careers but can they ever have done anything better than Jan Etherington’s two hander? This is a work of supreme craftsmanship.’ RADIO TIMES
‘Peppered with nostalgic 60s hits and especially written for the pair, it’s an endearing portrait of exasperation, laced with hard won tolerance – and something like love.’ THE GUARDIAN
‘You’ve been listening at my window, Jan’. JOANNA LUMLEY
‘Sitcom is what marriage is really like – repetitive and ridiculous – and Jan’s words are some of the best ever written on the subject’. RICHARD CURTIS


MON 14:45 Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson (m001sv1b)
Episode 3

As ripples from the Great Depression reach a cosy English village, Barbara Buncle finds an inventive way to supplement her meagre income. Life in Silverstream will never be the same once her thinly fictionalised novel has laid bare the life, loves and eccentricities of her neighbours.

‘Disturber of the Peace’ is published and, in Silverstream at least, is about to live up to its title.

Read by Madeleine Worrall
Written by D.E. Stevenson
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

An EcoAudio certified production

Scottish author D.E. Stevenson was a prolific name in the light romantic fiction genre, topping best seller lists from the 1930s to the 1960s. MISS BUNCLE’S BOOK, her best-known publication, is a delight; funny, engaging and well worth rediscovering just over 50 years after the author’s death.


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m0029zdg)
Benny Hill

Biography show in which the guest picks someone they admire. Benny Hill is a thorny choice but playwright Jonathan Maitland is determined that - despite accusations of sexism and racism later in his career - Britain's most successful comedian deserves a second look. Benny was fired by Thames TV in 1989. "The show was past its sell-by date," was the official line. Critics had been questioning The Benny Hill Show for almost a decade, but in the 1950s and 1960s he was seen as a pioneer, particular for his work on TV. Joining the discussion is the comedian and writer Helen Lederer, bringing a little nuance to the show.
Contains archive of Ruth Jones, Barry Cryer, David Cameron and Benny himself.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde


MON 15:30 Curious Cases (m0029ygv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m0029ypn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Soul Music (m0029ygx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m0029zdj)
Is China a friend or foe?

After the government’s dispute with British Steel’s Chinese owners, we assess whether China is too closely involved in controlling key infrastructure. We hear from the Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse who was recently barred from entering Hong Kong, and from the China-Britain Business Council, who favour a pragmatic approach to relations with Beijing.

Plus, the actress Daryl Hannah speaks to us – about her husband, the legendary singer-songwriter Neil Young - and her new documentary about his return to touring.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029zdl)
15 people have been charged with offences linked to the timing of the last election.


MON 18:30 The Unbelievable Truth (m0029zdn)
Series 31

Episode 1

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.

Marcus Brigstocke, Holly Walsh, Lou Sanders, and Tony Hawks are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as the middle ages, geese, the human voice and children's tv.

The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith.

Producer: Jon Naismith

A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m0029zbd)
Pat and Emma agree that a hosepipe through Martyn Gibson’s letterbox isn’t an effective way to protest, but that further action is definitely needed. Neil points out the water company is aware of the problem in Ambridge and may need to prioritise. Emma’s aghast that her dad might not be on their side, but Neil is rescued by the arrival of Joy, keen to talk VE Day event plans. Emma and Pat continue their positive action talk. Pat tells Emma about someone effectively building a moat around their property. Tom overhears and advocates caution; interfering with a watercourse could be illegal. Mick brings the news that a well known water campaigner is at Grey Gables right now. Emma cant’ believe it’s Feargal Sharkey. She rushes away to catch the celebrity before he moves on.
Neil reports the history of the commemorative lighting of village beacons to Joy and Mick. Establishing their best location will be Brookfield’s Lakey Hill, they resolve to seek out David.
Feargal has some words of encouragement for Emma’s cause. He counsels persuasion rather than law breaking. Perhaps Emma can find someone on the inside who’s open to a bit of flattery and guilt tripping? This gives Emma food for thought. She thanks Feargal for his help, and as he leaves to do a spot of fishing, he confirms he’s happy for his name to be used as long as any plans Emma makes are legit. Emma is inspired.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m0029zdr)
Muriel's Wedding the Musical, Dr Who, Anthony Horowitz on Marble Hall Murders

Director and Screenwriter PJ Hogan, creator of the 1994 comedy Muriel's wedding, speaks to Samira Ahmed about the new musical adaptation of his film. With lead actors leaving, and ratings down, there are questions about the future of Doctor Who. Author John Higgs, and entertainment writer Caroline Frost, talk about the past, present and future of the world famous Time Lord. And Anthony Horowitz talks about turning 70, and the release of his new book, Marble Hall Murders.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Harry Graham


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m0029qj7)
What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about?

Rarely has it been so difficult to see the wood for the trees. The trees being Donald Trump’s new tariffs announced on what he called Liberation Day and which took effect this week, plus the immediate responses to them. And the wood being the economic strategy that lies behind it all.
​​
​​That strategy seems to evolve on a daily basis. Having vowed to ‘stay the course’ on tariffs earlier this week, yesterday saw Trump issue a change that ‘came from the heart’ - that change being a 90 day pause for everyone except China. It’s hard to keep up with the plot changes and in this programme we’re not going to try. Instead we’re going to step back and explore the origin’s of Trump’s love of tariffs, find out what history tells us about their effectiveness and we’ll ask whether Trump does actually have a grand plan.
​​
​​If he does, what is it and can it succeed?

Guests:

Douglas Irwin, professor of economics at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
Meredith Crowley, Professor of Economics the University of Cambridge
Duncan Weldon, economist and author of "Two Hundred Years of Muddling Through"
Mehreen Khan, economics editor of The Times

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight and Beth Ashmead Latham
Sound engineers: James Beard
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Editor: Richard Vadon


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m0029qjc)
How can science help us fight wildfires?

In the past few days, UK firefighters have been tackling wildfires across the UK. As global temperatures rise, fires are likely to increase in strength and number. We hear from Rory Hadden, Professor of Fire Science at the University of Edinburgh, and Aidan McGivern, meteorologist and weather presenter from the Met Office.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton has been behind the scenes at Cambridge’s Natural History Museum with Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology Jack Ashby.

Also, the woman who came third in the Brighton marathon in the middle of her hen weekend. We hear from Dr. Ann-Kathrin Stock, neuroscientist at Dresden University Clinics and member of the international Alcohol Hangover Research Group about the science behind hangovers and why it might not be such a good idea to run a marathon whilst hungover.

And science journalist Caroline Steel has been scouring the science journals.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Dan Welsh, Jonathan Blackwell
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m0029zct)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m0029zcw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m0029zdt)
UK government "confident" Scunthorpe steel furnace will keep running

Also in the programme, Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in a landmark trial that could see his social media giant Meta broken up. We hear from a senior figure in Marine Le Pen's National Rally about the impact of her embezzlement conviction on French politics. And as the British actress Aimee Lou Wood is mocked for the gap in her teeth, we look at the American obsession with the perfect smile.


MON 22:45 One Came Back by Rose McDonagh (m0029zdw)
Episode 1

Emily's school friend Nicky died 20 years ago - so how can he be in a crowd watching Edinburgh's New Year fireworks? Emily's investigations lead her into a labyrinth of grief, memory and obsession in this haunting gothic thriller from Rose McDonagh.

Read by Hannah Donaldson
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Rose McDonagh was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English Literature and History, has worked in community health for many years and lives in Midlothian with her husband, their baby, and two cats. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize and the Bristol Prize. Her first short story collection, The Dog Husband, was published in 2022 by Reflex Press. 'One Came Back' is her debut novel.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:00 Nuremberg (m000z1k2)
Welcome to the Ashcan

It’s May 1945 and Germany has just surrendered. The country is in chaos – five million former soldiers, foreign nationals and those liberated from the concentration camps, all trying to get home. And hiding somewhere are the top Nazis.

Seen through the eyes of a US Army Sergeant at the stripped-out hotel in Luxembourg where the prisoners are taken, they track down and arrest Kaltenbrunner (Himmler’s Deputy), Frank (Governor of Occupied Poland) and others. But former Reichsmarshall Goering didn’t have to be caught - he surrendered himself along with 16 monogrammed suitcases and a valet.

But word gets out where they are being held and Prison Commandant Andrus feels under attack from all sides - the Nazi Underground might attempt to release the prisoners, there might be an attempt to lynch them, but above all he has to stop the prisoners committing suicide. And when they’re transferred to the prison in Nuremberg, it’s no safer.

Cast:
Sergeant Monelli - ELLIOT COWAN
Colonel Burton Andrus - JOSEPH ALESSI
Herman Goering - NIGEL LINDSAY
Agent Matteson and other roles - CLIVE WOOD
General Patch and other roles - HARI DHILLON
Rudolf Hess and other roles - JOSEPH MYDELL
Ernst Kaltenbrunner and other roles - JONATHAN CULLEN
Gisela von Westarp and other roles - ROSIE SHEEHY
Robert Ley and other roles - JASPER BRITTON
Admiral Doenitz and other roles - NICHOLAS WOODESON
Winston Churchill and other roles - ANDREW WOODALL
Prison Doctor and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN
Intelligence Officer and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT
Evening Post Reporter and other roles - NATHAN WILEY

Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON

A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


MON 23:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002309d)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

Ghost Kitchen by Ross Raisin

Ashley Margolis reads Ghost Kitchen by Ross Raisin, which is the fifth story shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University. Here we are taken into the underbelly of the gig economy in an unnamed city.

Ross Raisin is the author of four novels: A Hunger, A Natural, Waterline and God’s Own Country (2008). He won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award in 2009, and in 2013 was named on Granta’s once a decade Best of Young British Novelists list. He has written short stories for various publications, including Granta, Prospect, the Sunday Times, Esquire, BBC Radio 3 and 4.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Rowan Routh
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

TUESDAY 15 APRIL 2025

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m0029zdy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029zf0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029zf2)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:00 News Summary (m0029zf4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:04 Currently (m0029ypn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029zf6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029zf8)
Unbound and Set Free

A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m0029zfb)
Foot and mouth personal meat import ban, gearing up for sheep shearing as overseas shearer visas granted

Travellers have been banned from bringing meat from all EU countries into the UK following Foot and Mouth disease in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The ban applies to meat from cattle, pigs, and sheep as well as dairy products. We hear from the British Veterinary Association about why cured meats or cheese bought home from holiday could present a very real disease risk. After lambing, shearing is next on sheep farmers' springtime to do lists. Skilled shearers from overseas will now be able to book their flights to the UK, after the Government approved this year's special visa concession at the eleventh hour. And we catch up with a Dorset shearer gearing up for the season.

Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling


TUE 06:00 Today (m0029z9w)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Payslip Britain (m0029yy6)
Making Ends Meet

Business correspondent Sean Farrington talks to people who have to hold down a second job so they can afford to live.

Presenter: Sean Farrington
Producer: Nick Holland and Ben Cooper
Editor: Sarah Wadeson
Sound: John Scott


TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m0029yy8)
Can you be addicted to sugar?

What's the science behind a sweet tooth? James Gallagher explores whether sugar really can be addicted and what happens in our bodies when we want it and when we eat it.

He's joined by Professor Susanne Dickson, who specialises in the neurobiology of appetite at the University of Gothenburg, and Professor James Brown from the School of Biosciences at Aston University.

With Easter coming up, James meets dental hygienist and researcher Dr Claire McCarthy from King's College London in the BBC loos to get some top tips on keeping our teeth clean and gets a few pointers on where he could do with brushing up on his technique.

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producers: Tom Bonnett and Hannah Robins
Assistant Producer: Anna Charalambou


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029z9y)
Baroness Theresa May, Roxy Longworth, Women's Rugby

The Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking has issued a "wake-up call" to the world to act on what they deem "one of the most pervasive human rights issues of our time." The report makes several recommendations specifically for women and girls who make up 54% of the estimated 50 million people trapped in slavery around the world. They are more frequently targeted for forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and domestic labour. Nearly one in four victims are children. To discuss the topic Nuala McGovern is joined by the former Prime Minister, Baroness Theresa May and Nasreen Sheikh, who is a survivor of modern slavery.

As the Six Nations passes the half way mark we speak to fans from each of the four nations to discuss their teams. We also look ahead to their hopes for the Women's Rugby World Cup, being held in England later this summer. Nuala is joined by Kate Buck, Betti Ginnelly, Charlotte Williams and Ailbhe O'Nolan.

As a teenager, Roxy Longworth was coerced into sending nude images online. After years of shame and struggling with her mental health, she is now 22 and leading the Behind Our Screens campaign about child safety online. Roxy and her mother Gay, co-authors of the memoir When You Lose It, join Nuala to talk about shame, recovery and bridging the generational gap.

And a look at the cultural history of the speculum from Dr Shema Tariq.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Corinna Jones


TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m0029rrq)
Doppelgangers

With the Robert Pattinson starring film Mickey 17 fresh out in the cinema, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode explore the world of doppelgangers and doubles on screen.

Ellen speaks to academic and doppelganger scholar Adam Golub about the difference between clones and doppelgangers and what the doppelganger tells us about life in 2025. Ellen then talks to an actress about what its like playing a clone.

Mark speaks to director Richard Ayoade about his 2013 film The Double. It stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska and is an adaptation of the classic Fyodor Dostoevsky novel from 1866. Mark and Richard discuss adapting such a classic novel, the distinct look of the film and the idea of Jung's 'shadow self' and its influence on doubles on screen.

Produced by Freya Hellier
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:45 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zb0)
Husniya

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

In this second episode, Ross meets Husniya, who comes from a remote high-mountain region of Tajikistan. Her language is Wakhi, and at times she’s been the only person in New York who can speak it. She keeps her language alive by talking to her mother on the phone. She takes Ross back to her home in the Pamir region of Tajikistan, where they discover that the language is part of a new drive towards Pamiri independence. We follow Husniya’s story from her first arrival in New York through her struggle to make a living, gain an education, find a career, and, finally, to become a US citizen.

“But it’s one thing to travel far, and something else to live with a permanent sense of disclocation. Husniya constantly carries a language and culture that no one around her can remotely understand.”

We hear Ross Perlin’s recordings of Husniya speaking Wakhi, and her friend Ganjina, a waitress, singing a beautiful lullaby which has become a hit back in Tajikistan.

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Reader: Adam Sims
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m0029zb2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m0029zb4)
Call You and Yours: Consumer Spending

We'd like to know what you are spending your money on at the moment?

Consumer spending is up a little. The sunny weather is part of it. But it's a polarised picture - in surveys some people are cutting back on essentials while others are booking holidays.

President Trump is affecting shopping habits and spending confidence.

So where are you in all of this? What you are spending your money on at the moment?

Let us know - email youandyours@bbc.co.uk, and leave a number so we can call you back. And after 11am on Tuesday October 22, you can call us on 03700 100 444.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: JAY UNGER


TUE 12:57 Weather (m0029zb6)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m0029zb8)
David Lammy: 'Don’t give up on Sudan'

The Foreign Secretary hosts a summit in London two years on from the beginning of what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Plus: we meet the Chelsea pensioners during their preparations for their debut garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.


TUE 13:45 Beyond Lonely (m0029zbb)
Young and Lonely in the Connected World

When he was a teenager Jason Arday spent hours alone practising snooker shots. His experience of autism meant he relished the focus and solitude of the snooker hall. But he now recognises that this has contributed to his sense of loneliness. This episode looks at his teenage experience of isolating himself from others and asks why the Gen Z generation of 16-24 year olds despite having technology at their fingertips feel more lonely and disconnected than any other age group. With contributions from academic and essayist on loneliness Amelia Worsley, author Noreena Hertz and Jameson and Lucy of the Luddite Club in New York.

Producer: Maggie Ayre
Presented by Professor Jason Arday of the University of Cambridge


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m0029zbd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0029zbg)
An Inspector Calls on Moscow

2025 sees the 80th anniversary of the first production of J B Priestley’s most popular play, An Inspector Calls. He wrote it at the height of his fame, during the last months of World War Two, as a call for post-war social change, and to help encourage a Labour victory in the 1945 General Election.

Considered a ‘dangerous leftie’ by the Conservative government, Priestley was thwarted in his efforts to premiere the play in Churchill’s Britain. Undaunted, he turned his attention to Stalin’s Russia.

It was not the first time Priestley had caused political discomfort. His outspoken views on the war were expressed via his popular Postscripts BBC radio broadcasts between 1940 and 1941, until prime minister Winston Churchill made it clear to Broadcasting House that "Mr Priestley’s war aims are not my war aims". Priestley was duly removed from the airwaves.

An Inspector Calls on Moscow explores the events leading up to the writing, and eventual staging in the USSR, of An Inspector Calls – where it received standing ovations and enthusiastic reviews.

Written by Mark Burgess

J B Priestley…….…..Rory Kinnear
Jane Priestley………Karen Ascoe
Archie Clark Kerr...Nigel Anthony
Harriman…………….Paul Hilton
Ogilvie………………..Richard Attlee
Hertford……………..Trevor Littledale
Daphne………….…..Samantha Hughes
Translator……….....Inna Metlina
Pilot……………………Olegs Ohotins

Producer/Director: David Blount

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:00 History's Heroes (m0028vd4)
History's Secret Heroes: Series 3

Leif Larsen and the Shetland Bus

A Norwegian sailor carries out more than fifty missions via a secret shipping route between Scotland and occupied Norway. Will the Nazis uncover it?

Helena Bonham Carter shines a light on extraordinary stories from World War Two. Join her for incredible tales of deception, acts of resistance and courage.

A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Producer: Lorna Reader
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts


TUE 15:30 Beyond Belief (m0029zbj)
Claiming Christianity

Giles Fraser meets the Revd Canon Fr Phil Harris, of the Anglican Church in North America, to discuss defending Britain’s Christian heritage.

Christianity has been deployed as a tool by those who have been labelled as far-right by their opponents, or by people supporting far-right views. Is right-wing appropriation of the faith a problem that needs solving and what issues does this claim to Christianity pose?

To explore Giles is joined by:

Dr Maria Power, Senior Research Fellow in Human Dignity at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford and a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, and Co editor of The Church, the Far Right, and the Claim to Christianity.

Dr. John Onwuchekwa, Sr. Director of Innovation at Redeemer City to City and former pastor of the Cornerstone Church in Atlanta which was part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Andrea Minichiello, Chief Executive of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre.

Beyond Belief is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4.


TUE 16:00 Artworks (m0029zbl)
Art that Conquered the World

The Scream

It's one of the most famous, reproduced and pastiched images of all time. Edvard Munch's The Scream is a celebrity, one of a small number of artworks known the world over. But how and why did The Scream hit the big time?

In this series, art historian Dr James Fox traces the twists of fate and happy accidents that pushed a handful of artworks to the forefront of global pop culture. The story of The Scream is an unlikely one - over the decades it has been an obscure, experimental artwork, a national treasure, a stolen masterpiece, an inflatable, an emoji , the most expensive painting in the world and a gift to cartoonists.

Both a profound expression of human suffering and an icon of kitsch, The Scream has somehow conquered the world.

In conversation with James are the art historian Noah Charney, designer Angela Guzman, mural-painter and businessman Robert Fishbone and The Times political cartoonist Morten Morland.

Producer: Julia Johnson
Executive Producer: Laurence Bassett
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m0029zbn)
Do I need testosterone?

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore every aspect of our health and wellbeing. In this episode they want to know about testosterone replacement therapy.

It’s been suggested to Xand that he needs some testosterone replacement therapy - but should he take it? Does testosterone really boost mood, sexual appetite and energy? When testosterone declines in men as they get older and when women go through the menopause, can increasing testosterone offer positive results?

Chris and Xand are joined by Dr Channa Jayasena, expert in reproductive endocrinology to find out.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on testosterone or anything else that caught your attention in this episode - you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp us on 08000 665123.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Dr Channa Jayasena, Imperial College London
Producer: Jo Rowntree
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Assistant Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Researchers: Lisa Lipman
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Social Media: Leon Gower
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby

At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 17:00 PM (m0029zbq)
PM visits the nuclear sites at Sizewell B.

PM takes a tour of the Sizewell B nuclear site and explores the proposed Sizewell C site, which may soon be given the green light for construction. We discuss who may benefit most from a potential trade deal between the US and the UK, and prominent Harvard professor Steven Pinker joins us live as the dispute between the university and President Trump escalates.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029zbs)
A warning women's bodies have become a battleground, after two years of war in Sudan.


TUE 18:30 Meet David Sedaris (m0029zbv)
Series 10

3. Goodyear

“A tyre? Sure, if it didn’t kill me. First thing I’d do is cut it into three hundred and sixty-five pieces, then divide each of those into pill-sized portions I’d eat throughout the day.” It was exactly what I would do. “I wonder what percentage of people would put it off to the last minute,” I said ...

This week's instalment from the Sedaris canon involves an introduction to David's old friend, Dawn and their trip to Colorado. "Dawn dresses like a Swiss person. That is to say, she looks at all times as if she is headed to the airport, where she will fly business class."

There's also a short essay on his aversion to AI 'assistants', like Siri and some extracts from his diaries.

Recorded at the Shaw Theatre, London.

Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m0029yxm)
Kenton drops off some wartime photos to Elizabeth for the Lower Loxley VE Day commemoration display. They find Chelsea admiring the pictures already assembled. Elizabeth’s intrigued by a picture in which Nigel’s granddad is with a chap identified only as ‘Reg D.’ She’s disappointed Lily won’t have time to do the research she was planning. When Chelsea offers to do it instead, Elizabeth’s delighted.
Kenton’s still looking for someone to lead his Easter Morris dancing experience. He asks Jazzer, who’s appalled at having to consider helping with such an English tradition. Kenton wins him round with a promise of a meal for five in return. Later both Chelsea and Jazzer descend on Brad, competing for his help with research. Closing down their bickering, he agrees to help them both.
Elizabeth wonders how Rochelle’s getting on at work. Freddie reports she’s doing well and Elizabeth notes Joy will be pleased. Freddie comments on their tricky relationship, but Elizabeth won’t be drawn on this and counsels Freddie to focus on work matters. On this topic Freddie’s had news from the police that animal rights activists are operating in the area. Vince has dismissed it as an irritating fact of life and suggested if Freddie’s worried he can do a security review. Later Freddie reports he’s found a tiny camera in the lairage. Vince is currently dealing with his mum who’s broken her hip. He’s understandably distracted, and has suggested it could just be a staff member planning a prank. But Freddie’s determined to get to the bottom of this serious breach of protocol.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m0029zbx)
Ryan Coogler on Sinners, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, Book Bans in the US

US director Ryan Coogler on his supernatural horror film, Sinners. Anne Sebba discusses her new book, The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, about the orchestra formed in 1943 among the female prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. And as a new report looking at so-called book banning in the United States is published, we talked to author Ellen Hopkins, American Libraries Association President Cindy Hohl and Neal McCluskey Director of libertarian thinktank, The Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Simon Richardson


TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m0029yx0)
What’s Happening to Your Vet Bills?

Pet ownership has rocketed since the covid pandemic, but so have vet prices. In fact, bills have increased by more than 60% in the last ten years. The Competition and Markets Authority is so concerned about the increases it has a launched an investigation into the industry and is due to reveal its findings this year. Datshiane Navanyagam investigates the pet industry and the corporate takeover of high street vets – talking to whistleblowers about how they feel they're being measured on the amount of money they bring in.

Reporter: Datshiane Navanayagam
Producers: Jim Booth and Tom Wall
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m0029zbz)
The Future of the RNIB

Over the past nine months, the RNIB, the UK's largest charity supporting blind and partially sighted people, has made some of their staff redundant and, more widely, has made changes to some of their services. They have also recently published their ambitious 10-year strategy, that aims to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted people. The charity's CEO Matt Stringer provides an update on the changes implemented and what the future of the organisation might look like.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m0029zc1)
Spain - can an algorithm predict murder?

Early on a Sunday morning in February in the Spanish seaside town of Benalmadena, Catalina, a 48-year-old mother of four, was killed at home – the building was set on fire. Her ex-partner was arrested and remains in custody. In January, Lina – as she was known to her family and friends – had reported her ex-partner to the police for ill-treatment and threatening behaviour. And by doing so, she became one of around 100,000 cases of gender-based violence active in Spain’s VioGen system.

VioGen is an algorithm used by the police – it’s a risk assessment tool. Based on a woman’s answers to a series of questions, it calculates the likelihood she will be attacked again so police resources can be allocated to protect those most in danger. The level of risk could be negligible, low, medium, high or extreme. Lina was recorded as being at ‘medium’ risk of a further attack by the man who was her ex-partner. Three weeks later, she was dead. VioGen’s critics are concerned about the number of women registered on the system who are then murdered by men who are former or current partners. Its champions claim that without VioGen there would be far more violence against women.

With AI in the ascendency, and governments increasingly turning to algorithms to make decisions affecting society, for Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly and Esperanza Escribano investigate the story of VioGen and domestic violence in Spain.

Presented and produced by Linda Pressly and Esperanza Escribano
Studio mix by Nigel Appleton
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Penny Murphy


TUE 21:30 Stakeknife (m002b1g7)
2. Sin É (Part 2)

Mark speaks to the brother of one of the first people interrogated by Stakeknife. We follow Seamus’ journey as he retraces his brothers steps in the days before he was murdered.

Credits

Reporter: Mark Horgan
Produced and written by: Mark Horgan and Ciarán Cassidy
Co-Producer: Paddy Fee
Editing and Sound Design: Ciarán Cassidy
Composer: Michael Fleming
Sound mixing: Ger McDonnell
Theme tune by Lankum
Artwork by Conor Merriman
Assistant Commissioners for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna and Sarah Green.
Commissioning Editor for BBC: Dylan Haskins

Stakeknife is a Second Captains & Little Wing production for BBC Sounds.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m0029zc4)
President Trump has escalated his fight with Harvard

President Trump has escalated his fight with Harvard

The university rejected his demand to overhaul its practices

Outrage after an ancient oak tree in north London is chopped down

Is Cate Blanchett really retiring ?

and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen


TUE 22:45 One Came Back by Rose McDonagh (m0029zc6)
Episode 2

Memories of her Highland childhood rise to the surface after a woman glimpses someone resembling a friend who died twenty years ago.
Emily's investigations lead her into a labyrinth of grief, memory and obsession in this haunting gothic thriller from Rose McDonagh.

Read by Hannah Donaldson
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Rose McDonagh was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English Literature and History, has worked in community health for many years and lives in Midlothian with her husband, their baby, and two cats. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize and the Bristol Prize. Her first short story collection, The Dog Husband, was published in 2022 by Reflex Press. 'One Came Back' is her debut novel.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:00 The Witch Farm (m001d6yr)
Episode 1: Heol Fanog

It’s 1989, rural Wales, a lonely old farmhouse in the shadow of the imposing Brecon Beacons mountains. Young, pregnant Liz Rich and her artist husband Bill rent an isolated farmhouse in the Welsh countryside, with Bill’s teenage son Laurence. They’re hoping for a fresh start, but the house holds dark secrets, and the family’s new life becomes a terrifying ordeal that will change them forever.

Their dream home has become a haunted nightmare - but what is real and what is in their minds?

Written and presented by Danny Robins, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist, Uncanny and West End hit 2:22 – A Ghost Story, The Witch Farm stars Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Alexandra Roach (No Offence), with original theme music by Mercury Prize-nominated Gwenno. This 8-part series interweaves a terrifying supernatural thriller set in the wild Welsh countryside with a fascinating modern-day investigation into the real-life mystery behind what has been called Britain’s most haunted house.

Cast:
Bill Rich ..... Joseph Fiennes
Liz Rich ..... Alexandra Roach
Wyn Thomas ..... Owen Teale
Lawrence Rich ..... Jonathan Case
Electrician ..... Delme Thomas

Written and presented by Danny Robins
Experts: Ciaran O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow
Sound design by Charlie Brandon-King and Richard Fox
Music by Evelyn Sykes
Theme Music by Gwenno
Researcher: Nancy Bottomley
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
Directed by Simon Barnard

Consultant was Mark Chadbourn, author of the book on the case, Testimony

A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m00230wk)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

The Barber of Erice by Will Boast

Acclaimed actor Mark Strong reads Will Boast’s shortlisted entry for this year’s BBC National Short Story. Here courage and friendship emerge from a clash of cultures in a Sicilian village.

Will Boast is the author of a story collection, Power a memoir, Epilogue (Liveright/Norton and Granta Books, 2015), and a novel, Daphne. His short fiction, reporting, and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and The American Scholar, among other publications. He's held fellowships from Stanford University, the University of Virginia, the American Academy in Rome, and the University of East Anglia, and he's taught at the University of Chicago, the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in Rome, and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Mark Strong, a household name for film and theatre goers and the small screen. Recent film credits include The Critic, Kingsman 2 and for stage A View From the Bridge, and forthcoming, Oedipus.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Rowan Routh
Produced by Elizabeth Allard

WEDNESDAY 16 APRIL 2025

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m0029zc9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zb0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029zcc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029zcf)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:00 News Summary (m0029zch)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:04 BBC Inside Science (m0029qjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029zck)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029zcm)
Real Listening

A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m0029zcp)
16/04/25 - India trade deal, Scottish ferries, digital sheep farming

There are warnings that a prospective trade deal with India must not undermine farmers here, through imports of cheaper food, produced to lower standards.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been meeting with delegates from India, and reports say a deal is getting nearer. The National Farmers Union says it recognises this could provide opportunities for UK farmers to export high quality goods to India, but cautioned that some imports from India, including government-subsidised sugar, must not be part of the deal.

The Scottish government has announced funding to improve ferry services to and from the Scottish Islands. The Scottish goverment-owned ferry company is currently running a restricted service, because of problems with its ageing fleet. The government will replace a ship, and also make improvements to the pier on South Uist. The promises were made at an emergency meeting with local people.

Hill farmers haven't always had to be early adopters of digital technology, but work at the experimental hill farm at Auchtertyre in Perthshire, run by Scotland’s Rural College, might be about to change that. Experts from across Europe joined a session at the farm to demonstrate how the latest digital sheep handling tools are working.

And we're on an arable farm in Norfolk where the dry conditions were starting to cause issues, before the rains came.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced in Bristol by Sally Challoner


WED 06:00 Today (m0029ywl)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Life Changing (m0029ywq)
The Piano Tuner's Tale

In 1977 Ed Stewart was a happy go lucky teenager from Worthing who had just started an engineering job. He wasn't really sure how his life and career were going to unfold but he had a girlfriend and a motorbike and life was good. When he dropped in on a friend's party not far from his home he couldn't have anticipated getting involved in a violent argument with an acquaintance who happened to be carrying a shotgun.

The impact of what happened turned Ed's life on its head. He had to learn to navigate the world in an entirely different way, and he ended up choosing a profession that has served him well for over forty years. He now tunes pianos for anyone from Jools Holland to hundreds of private clients in Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex.
But as he tells Sian, he didn't have just one but two Life Changing moments that lead him to be what he refers to as a 'glass-three-quarters-full' kind of bloke.

Producer: Tom Alban


WED 09:30 The History Podcast (m0029l9k)
Invisible Hands

4. The Big Bang

Thatcher and her capitalist dreamers' next big gamble was a radical shake-up of London’s financial sector. They called it Big Bang. Seemingly overnight, the stuffy old City of London was replaced by a fast-paced world of risk-takers, rule-breakers, and yuppies brandishing mobile phones the size of their head. It was a golden age of capitalism, where fortunes were made at lightning speed and the stakes were just as high.

Nick Leeson was a working-class kid from Watford who arrived at just the right time. By 1995 he was a superstar trader. He was a poster boy for Thatcher’s Britain. Poor kid gets rich. But then something happened that turned him from a hero to a criminal on the run.

Did the very thing that spurred on his success precipitate his downfall? And what did that mean for the Thatcherite revolution. This is a story of the boom and bust of the 80s.

David Dimbleby traces the history of an idea that spans his life. It started on a chicken farm in Sussex, gained traction in the shadows of post-war London and rose to heights of excess in the new champagne bars of the City. It's 2025 and this once radical idea now defines every aspect of life in Britain. An idea that transformed the economy, politics and, ultimately, society itself.

But how did it happen? Who are the little-known people behind it? What did they want? And - as Donald Trump threatens to overturn the global economic system - is the free market here to stay? Or are we entering a new era?

Presenter: David Dimbleby
Producer: Jo Barratt
Executive Producers and Story Editors: Joe Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina
Sound design: Peregrine Andrews
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Samizdat Audio production for BBC Radio 4


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029ywv)
Supreme Court definition of a woman, Disabled children and social care support, Parental infidelity

The UK Supreme Court rules that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. BBC correspondent Catriona Renton joins Nuala to discuss the ramifications of the ruling.

Parents of disabled children are being forced to spend thousands of pounds of their own money to plug funding gaps in the health and social care system, according to new research by the disability charity Sense. Nearly half of mums polled have had to give up work as they don't get enough support to care for their child, and many families are turning to loans, credit cards and even crowdfunding to plug the gaps. Nuala is joined by Harriet Edwards, Head of Policy at Sense, and mum-of-three Kimberley Hind.

The Irish writer Edna O'Brien died last year at the age of 93. The last person to be granted an interview with her was the documentary director Sinéad O’Shea. Her new film Blue Road weaves those final interviews with archive and readings from Edna’s own diaries to tell the story of her extraordinary life.

How does parental infidelity impact children, even years later when they become adults? Juliet Rosenfeld, a psychoanalyst and author of Affairs, and Tanith Carey, parenting expert and author of What's My Tween Thinking, join Nuala to discuss.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Dianne McGregor


WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m0029yx0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 11:40 This Week in History (m0029yx4)
April 14 - April 20

Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life

BBC Radio 4 explores the history books and archives to see what else has happened on this same week throughout history.
With short looks at the events that have shaped the world and made us who we are today.

This week. April 14th – April 20th
- 14th of April 1865. On a fateful night at Ford's Theatre, Abraham Lincoln became the first US President to be assassinated.
- 15th of April 1755 - They took nine years to finish, contained the definition of over 42 thousand words, and were published 270 years ago. Discover all about Samuel Johnson’s ‘A Dictionary of The English Language’
- 16th of April 1912. Harriet Quimby was a trailblazing aviator, a pioneering pilot, and on the 16th of April 1912 became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

Presented by Jane Steel and Ron Brown
Produced by Luke Doran


WED 11:45 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029yx6)
Boris

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

In this third episode, he spends time with Boris Sandler - writer, editor and film-maker, whose language is Yiddish. Boris grew up in Soviet Moldova and made a living as a professional violinist before coming to New York in 1991. The place where he first touched down in the city was a little street in the Bronx, Bainbridge Avenue.

“Here in the 1960s, while Jews and so many white New Yorkers were leaving the city in droves, three families decided to buy houses next to each other and raise their children together in Yiddish. They respected Jewish religious practice, but they were distinctly secular. They created a Yiddish world of their own.”

Although Yiddish was once a disappearing language, it is now growing fast, thanks to the Hassidic communities who regrouped in New York after the Holocaust. Half of New York speakers are now under the age of 18, and it has gone from one of the city’s oldest languages, demographically speaking, to one of the youngest. With Boris Sandler, Ross Perlin explores the dilemmas raised by the recent explosion of Yiddish.

We hear Boris talking, and an archive recording of a haunting Yiddish lullaby.

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Reader: Adam Sims
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


WED 12:00 News Summary (m0029yx9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 You and Yours (m0029yxc)
Doorstep Crime, Private Tutoring, Buy-to-let Parking

Anti-fraud awareness may increasingly focus on digital scams, but in-person methods are still on the rise. According to Action Fraud, doorstep crime increased by more than 11% last year. We hear how one man lost thousands of pounds to a rogue trader and find out some of the key things consumers can do to protect themselves.

The government has launched a consultation to ease regulations that prevent small businesses in the UK from offering packaged tourism deals. At the moment, it is prohibitively expensive for a B&B to team up with a pub and theatre for an inclusive special offer. Can this make the UK more competitively priced as a destination for international and domestic tourists?

How old were you when you bought your first property? According to new data from TSB, first time buyers are getting older. Yorkshire and Humber is now the only place in the country where the average first-time buyer is under the age of 30. So, what does this mean for the property market and are there any positives for prospective buyers on the horizon?

Many buy-to-let landlords are selling their properties due to a reduction in rental yields. However, there are some property types that are still proving to be lucrative investments, most notably garages and car parking spaces. We hear from two buy-to-let landlords that are renting out their spaces for a healthy profit and hear why this is a business that is likely to grow.

A recent study by the Sutton Trust think tank has found that more than one in five children have had private tuition. It is an industry on the rise and one that some parents are happy to pay upwards of thousand pounds a week for. We hear from parents and tutors about why this is happening.


WED 12:57 Weather (m0029yxf)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m0029yxh)
Supreme Court: legal definition of a woman based on biological sex

Judges rule say the "concept of sex is binary" - but that this shouldn't be seen as a victory for one side over another. Plus, Swedish TV viewers tuning into moose migrations.


WED 13:45 Beyond Lonely (m0029yxk)
Ever So Lonely

Jason Arday looks at loneliness in the workplace and how those of working age are experiencing increased feelings of isolation. The pandemic has changed the way we work and although it's meant greater flexibility to work alone from home it's also exacerbated loneliness in many people. For Jason lockdown meant burying himself in work writing research papers. While he freely admits this has made him very successful professionally, he also recognises that his 'unhealthy' habit of locking himself away to work has increased his feelings of loneliness. He seeks the thoughts and experiences of others who discuss navigating the world of work post pandemic. Contributors include therapist Rotimi Akinsete and Holly Cooke who set up a meetup group during the pandemic - The Lonely London Girls Club - that has burgeoned into a nationwide network of over 130,000 members.

Presented by Professor Jason Arday, University of Cambridge

Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol


WED 14:00 The Archers (m0029yxm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 The Interrogation (m000kx1z)
Series 8

Stephen

Stephen has been beaten up at school. The assailant is an excluded pupil, and Stephen is a teacher. But is that really why he's here?

Cast
Max ..... Kenneth Cranham
Sean ..... Alex Lanipekun
Stephen ..... Joel MacCormack

Writer, Roy Williams
Composer, David Pickvance
Producer, Mary Peate
Director, Jessica Dromgoole


WED 15:00 Money Box (m0029yxp)
Money Box Live: Social Housing

New analysis shows that some parts of England have waiting lists for social housing that exceed 100 years. Recently the government pledged £2 billion of new investment to build up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes. But will that be enough? Felicity Hannah is joined by Jasmine Basran of the housing charity Crisis, and Alastair Smyth of the National Housing Federation.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Neil Morrow and Sarah Rogers
Editor: Beatrice Pickup


WED 15:30 Flight of the Vulture (m0029yxr)
With their fearsome talons, acid poo and a penchant for rotting carcasses, the vulture has long been shouldered with associations of death, and dishonour. This taboo often puts them bottom of the list for conservation projects. Nevertheless, they are a keystone animal in every environment they live in. And in nearly every one, they're in trouble.

Conservationist Sacha Dench travels visits three different vulture species, each with an extraordinary story of persecution and survival.

In India, vulture populations collapsed by 99.9%, the sharpest decline of any animal ever recorded, in the 'Indian Vulture Crisis'. Debbie Pain and Chris Bowden describe the urgent international collaborative effort that brought them back from the very brink of extinction.

In South Africa, the White Backed Vulture has become collateral damage in the ongoing war between poachers and game-keepers. Sacha meets Kerri Wolter and Alistair Sinclair of Vulpro, the organisation that’s rescuing and rehabilitating these innocent bystanders.

Finally, in Guinea-Bissau, vultures are the victim of cultural practices which see their bodies as having magical properties. Sacha talks to Jose Tavares from the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and Andre Botha from the IUCN Vulture Group, who reveals the cultural practices which put the birds at risk.

Flight of the Vulture was presented by Sacha Dench, and produced by Emily Knight


WED 16:00 The Media Show (m0029yxt)
Reporting on the British Steel crisis, should we 'ditch' intellectual property law? and Saturday Night Live for Britain?

Katie Razzall talks to Katy Balls, Political Editor of the Spectator as she heads off for her new posting as Washington Editor for the Times and Sunday Times.
What's it like reporting on the industrial crisis which led to the recall of parliament at the weekend? Sky's Economics Editor Ed Conway describes his difficulties gaining
access to the Chinese owned British Steel factory in Scunthorpe, BBC North reporter Jo Makel has followed the story for years and former BBC political correspondent Nick Jones is a veteran of industrial reporting and author of "The Lost Tribe: Whatever Happened to Fleet Street's Industrial Correspondents?"
Intellectual property law in the age of artificial intelligence under threat: At the weekend Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, posted “delete all IP law” on the social media platform, now rebranded as X. Current owner Elon Musk swiftly responded to the tweet with: “I agree." Dr Hayleigh Bosher, Reader in Intellectual Property Law at Brunel University, takes us through Dorsey's argument and what it tells us about Big Tech's changing attitude towards copyright.
Amit Katwala, features editor at Wired, profiles Alexis Ohanian. The co-founder of Reddit is now a venture capitalist who has made headlines for acquiring the social media platform Digg, and joining Frank McCourt's 'People's Bid' for US TikTok.
And is the UK ready for Sky's Saturday Night Live, the hit American show which will soon be on our screens ? We talk to comedian Tamar Broadbent and Caroline Frost from the Radio Times about what we can expect from the remake.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai


WED 17:00 PM (m0029yxw)
Full coverage of the day's news


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029yxy)
The judge warns that the ruling should not be seen as victory for one side over another


WED 18:30 The Ultimate Choice (m001vcg7)
Series 2

Episode 3: Dad's Army v Spice Girls

Steph McGovern asks some seriously funny minds to offer definitive answers to the great questions of our age. Or not.

Welcome to the world's most devious game of Would You Rather? With guests Darren Harriott and Zoe Lyons.

Host: Steph McGovern
Guests: Darren Harriott and Zoe Lyons
Devised and written by Jon Harvey & Joseph Morpurgo
With additional material from Laura Major
Researcher: Leah Marks
Recorded and mixed by David Thomas
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Ed Morrish and Polly Thomas
Photo: Carolyn Mendelsohn

A Naked production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m0029yy0)
Natasha suggests Chelsea wears Kathy’s old Easter bunny costume to help business at the Tearoom. Chelsea declines. She reckons their current plans for Easter treats and a treasure hunt will be enough, but Natasha’s keen for something bigger. Chelsea suggests the goats could be an attraction. Natasha thinks this could work, if the kids arrive in time. Pat confirms kidding is imminent, and explains how you can tell. Natasha asks if there’s anything that would speed the process, but Pat advocates letting nature take its course.
Martyn reckons Brian’s bridge game is improving. He’s distracted with sadness at Pam’s infidelity; bridge was their thing. Brian sympathises. Has Martyn thought about dating? Martyn insists he’s not ready. He’s still in a state about the hosepipe incident. He tells Brian he thinks it was Pat and Emma who did it. Brian squashes this; he’s already spoken to Pat and believes it wasn’t her. He reckons Martyn’s spending too much time brooding. Emma arrives with a suggestion to resolve things peacefully. She lays out plans for a storm tank she claims Pat’s intending to build. If Martyn could persuade Borsetshire Water to build it instead, all the protesting, and the bad publicity, would stop. Martyn jibs at this, feeling threatened and accusing Emma of targeting honest people. Emma assures him all they want is the right not to get swamped in sewage. Brian thinks this is a fair point. He observes to Martyn that Pat and Emma are winning the PR battle, and you mess with those two at your peril.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m0029yy2)
Photographer Susan Meiselas, The Impact of Trump's Tariffs on Musical Instrument Manufacturers, Author Ewan Morrison.

American documentary photographer and President of the Magnum Foundation Susan Meiselas speaks about her fifty-year career, as she receives the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025, and as her work goes on display at Somerset House in London.

We hear how President Trump's economic tariffs are affecting specialist manufacturers of musical instruments here in the UK.

Author and screenwriter Ewan Morrison, whose previous books have explored cults and pandemics, talks about his latest novel For Emma, a concept thriller set in the world of artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces.

And In Holy Week Antoni Gaudi - nicknamed " god's architect" - has been confirmed by the Pope as on the path to sainthood even though his most famous work, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Basilica remains unfinished. Art historian and reverend Dr Aila Lepeen, who’s associate rector at St James Church in London’s Piccadilly, assesses cultural figures who’ve become saints.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m0029yy4)
What is the ethical purpose of the NHS?

The National Health Service is at a crossroads. Systemic pressures are lengthening hospital waiting times. Resources are finite. That’s why the government is coming up with a 10 year plan to make the NHS ‘fit for purpose’. But what is the ethical purpose of the NHS?

The ethical ambition has always been that everyone, regardless of their background, should have equal access to healthcare. It’s seen as a moral triumph of civilization and political suicide to meddle with it.

But when we look at the statistics about the effectiveness of care alongside other comparative countries – the cancer survival rates, premature deaths from cardiovascular disease, and the disparities of life-expectancy according to UK postcode – is it time to question this foundational principle? This is not simply a matter of which funding model works best. It is fundamentally ethical.

For example, rather than focussing on equality of access to healthcare, should the goal instead be the equality of health outcomes across society? In other words, should we prioritise care for the most disadvantaged patients? Or would doing so be addressing a symptom and not the cause of deeper intersecting inequalities?

Practically, it’s a question of who gets treated first. Philosophically, it’s a collision between competing notions of equality and fairness. Should we care more about equality of outcome – being equally healthy – or equality of access – treating everyone the same? What is the ethical purpose of the NHS?

Michael Buerk chairs a special debate at the Nuffield Trust Summit 2025.

Producer: Dan Tierney
Editor: Tim Pemberton

Panel:
Mona Siddiqui
Tim Stanley
Matthew Taylor
Inaya Folarin-Iman

Witnesses:
Kiran Patel
Sheena Asthana
Tony Milligan
Jamie Whyte


WED 21:00 Payslip Britain (m0029yy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Tuesday]


WED 21:30 Inside Health (m0029yy8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m0029yyb)
What's the impact of Supreme Court's gender ruling?

Judges at the UK Supreme Court have unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. We get reaction from a former Labour - now Independent - MP, a long-time critic of Sir Keir Starmer's stance on the issue. And we also speak to an organisation involved in the case, which opposes the ruling - and ask what it might mean in practice.

Also tonight:

A US judge has said the Trump administration could be in contempt of court for disregarding his order to halt the departure of deportation planes to El Salvador. We have the latest.

We speak to the parents who've won the right for the doctors involved in their daughter's end of life case to be named.

And are TikTokers driving a record rise in mountain rescue call-outs?


WED 22:45 One Came Back by Rose McDonagh (m0029yyd)
Episode 3

Memories of her Highland childhood rise to the surface after Emily glimpses someone resembling a friend who died twenty years ago. Meanwhile best friend Leti remains sceptical about Nicky's reappearance.

Read by Hannah Donaldson
Written by Rose McDonagh
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Rose McDonagh was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English Literature and History, has worked in community health for many years and lives in Midlothian with her husband, their baby, and two cats. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize and the Bristol Prize. Her first short story collection, The Dog Husband, was published in 2022 by Reflex Press. 'One Came Back' is her debut novel.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:00 DMs Are Open (m0029yyh)
Series 4

5. Enemies

Mortal enemies, the perfect office etiquette and how to fire someone when you’re an empath all feature in this week’s show, written by the next generation of comedy writers.

DMs are Open is back for a brand new series. Stevie Martin is your host and she’s brought together an incredible cast of comedy legends: Al Roberts, Charlotte Ritchie, Sunil Patel and Emily Lloyd-Saini.

Written by the public. This week it was written by:

Sean Fee
Billy Morton
Christina Riggs
Peter Tellouche
Henry Whaley

Script Edited by Catherine Brinkworth and Jade Gebbie.

Producer: Georgia Keating
Assistant Producer: Katie Baum
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Recorded by David Thomas
Sound Design by Charlie Brandon-King

Recorded at Up The Creek.

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio certified production.


WED 23:15 The Skewer (m0029yyk)
Series 13

Man of Steel and Art of the Deal

Jon Holmes remixes the news into a current affairs comedy concept album. News meets popular culture in a multi-award-winning mash up. This week: Charlie XCX is bumpin' that with Donald Trump, Minecraft Movie vs Russia, and Starmer: Man of Steel.

Producer: Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002305p)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

Pieces by Manish Chauhan

Rebekah Staton and Hasan Dixon read Pieces by Manish Chauhan, the next of five stories shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University.

Originally from Leicester, Manish Chauhan works as a finance lawyer. He is a graduate of Creative Writing from the University of Oxford, and courses run by Curtis Brown Creative and The Stinging Fly. His work has been longlisted for the Curtis Brown First Novel Award (2019) and shortlisted for the DGA First Novel Prize (2020), for the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize (2021/2022), the Exeter Short Story Award (2019) and The Evesham Festival of Words Prize (2020).

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Justine Willett

THURSDAY 17 APRIL 2025

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m0029yyn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029yx6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029yyq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029yys)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:00 News Summary (m0029yyv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:04 Flight of the Vulture (m0029yxr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:30 on Wednesday]


THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029yyx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029yyz)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m0029yz1)
170425 - food standards, farmers' mental health, spring lambing

With all the talk of trade deals, there is an equal amount of talk about the high standards of UK farming, which may be at risk. But what exactly are these standards and how do they compare to other countries? We ask an expert.

Farming charities are reporting a rise in demand for their services. They point to the changes in agricultural policies and payments, the general uncertainty around trade deals and the re-imposition of inheritance tax on farms - all of which they say are having an impact on farmers' mental health. A charity supporting farmers in Northern Ireland is now recruiting more counsellors to help with the demand.

All this week, we're celebrating spring - from dairy cows returning to the fields to arable farmers hoping for rain. Today we're out with a farming family who are gathering Herdwick sheep on the fells above Buttermere in Cumbria, as they come to lower ground to lamb.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Bristol by Sally Challoner.


THU 06:00 Today (m0029zm9)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m0029zmc)
Typology

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore typology, a method of biblical interpretation that aims to meaningfully link people, places, and events in the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament, with the coming of Christ in the New Testament. Old Testament figures like Moses, Jonah, and King David were regarded by Christians as being ‘types’ or symbols of Jesus.

This way of thinking became hugely popular in medieval Europe, Renaissance England and Victorian Britain, as Christians sought to make sense of their Jewish inheritance - sometimes rejecting that inheritance with antisemitic fervour. It was a way of seeing human history as part of a divine plan, with ancient events prefiguring more modern ones, and it influenced debates about the relationship between metaphor and reality in the bible, in literature, and in art. It also influenced attitudes towards reality, time and history.

With

Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London

Harry Spillane, Munby Fellow in Bibliography at Cambridge and Research Fellow at Darwin College

And

Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe, Associate Professor in Patristics at Cambridge.

Producer: Eliane Glaser

Reading list:

A. C. Charity, Events and their Afterlife: The Dialectics of Christian Typology in the Bible and Dante (first published 1966; Cambridge University Press, 2010)

Margaret Christian, Spenserian Allegory and Elizabethan Biblical Exegesis: The Context for 'The Faerie Queene' (Manchester University Press, 2016)

Dagmar Eichberger and Shelley Perlove (eds.), Visual Typology in Early Modern Europe: Continuity and Expansion (Brepols, 2018)

Tibor Fabiny, The Lion and the Lamb: Figuralism and Fulfilment in the Bible, Art and Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 1992)

Tibor Fabiny, ‘Typology: Pros and Cons in Biblical Hermeneutics and Literary Criticism’ (Academia, 2018)

Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (first published 1982; Mariner Books, 2002)

Leonhard Goppelt (trans. Donald H. Madvig), Typos: The Typological Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New (William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1982)

Paul J. Korshin, Typologies in England, 1650-1820 (first published in 1983; Princeton University Press, 2014)

Judith Lieu, Image and Reality: The Jews in the World of the Christians in the Second Century (T & T Clark International, 1999)

Sara Lipton, Images of Intolerance: The Representation of Jews and Judaism in the Bible Moralisee (University of California Press, 1999)

Montague Rhodes James and Kenneth Harrison, A Guide to the Windows of King's College Chapel (first published in 1899; Cambridge University Press, 2010)

J. W. Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies (Oxford University Press, 2008)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production


THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m0029zmf)
Liberation Day (with Soumaya Keynes)

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, Helen and Armando are joined by economist and journalist for the Financial Times, Soumaya Keynes. They take a look back on Liberation Day - what exactly was America being liberated from? What was the response in China to the tariffs? and Soumaya wades into the murky waters of Truth Social.

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King
Production Coordinator - Katie Baum
Executive Producer - Richard Morris

Produced by Pete Strauss. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio Certified Production.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029zmh)
Supreme Court Judgement, Roblox, Novelist Stephanie Yeboah, Singer/songwriter Georgia Crandon.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. The decision came following a six-year legal case between the Scottish government and the women's rights group For Women Scotland, regarding equalities legislation. Kylie Pentelow is joined by legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg to discuss this decision.

Roblox is the UK’s most popular game platform for children aged eight to 12, but what are the risks? Kylie speaks to Hannah Estcourt, the Associate Director from Revealing Reality about their research into the risks facing young users, and BBC Senior Reporter Graham Fraser explains how the platform works and why some parents have concerns.

The Commonwealth, gold-medal-winning, hockey player Tess Howard has long campaigned for hockey players to be able to wear shorts, rather than the traditional skort. She's now officially been honoured with an MBE for her services to inclusive sportswear for women and girls.

Stephanie Yeboah is a writer, journalist, and body image advocate. She joins Kylie to discuss her debut romantic comedy novel, Chaotic Energy - a story full of heart, humour, and honesty, following a confident Black woman – Temz - navigating work, love, and social media mishaps.

Rising star of classic retro music Georgia Crandon joins Kylie to talk about her music, overcoming social anxiety in the music business, and she performs live in the studio.

Presented by Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Louise Corley


THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m0029zmm)
Simon Russell Beale

Actor Sir Simon Russell Beale is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He has played many leading roles at National Theatre and RSC, including Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear. He is currently starring in Titus Andronicus at the RSC. His awards include three Olivier Awards, two BAFTAs, and a Tony Award in 2022 for his leading role in The Lehman Trilogy, which had transferred from London. Simon Russell Beale was knighted in 2019 for services to drama.

Simon tells John Wilson about his childhood and his visits to his family in the boarding school holidays at their home in Penang and Singapore. Trained as a chorister from an early age, he reveals how J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion evokes the thrill of singing at his choir school. Simon very nearly embarked on a career in music before switching to drama and tells John about the significance of the Macbeth soliloquy that began a lifetime love of Shakespeare. He also reveals the central role that pubs play in the learning of his lines.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


THU 11:45 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zmr)
Irwin

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

In this fourth episode he meets Irwin, a chef in Midtown Manhattan, who is trying to unearth the roots of Mexican cooking through his native language Nahuatl.

Nahautl was spoken by the Aztecs, and it remains the most widely-spoken of Mexico’s 282 indigenous languages. Irwin came to New York as part of a major new migration in the 1990s, which would more than triple the Mexican-born population in the city.

The vast majority of Mexican restaurants, he says, "taste nothing like Mexican, lacking proper salsa, spices and chillies." As for the tortillas, because of citric acid they can keep for years in the fridge. "It’s like an immortal tortilla, that’s why they taste so bad." Like many Mexican immigrants, Irwin felt his health enter a downward spiral as his diet became more American.

Ross joins Irwin as he cooks authentic Mexican meals, and meets a group of other Nahuatl speakers who are joining together to promote indigenous languages.

We hear Ross Perlin’s recordings of Irwin speaking Nahautl, and reading his poem about the joy of chillies and chocolate.

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Reader: Adam Sims
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


THU 12:00 News Summary (m0029zmw)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 You and Yours (m0029zn0)
Gap Finders: Slime Party UK LTD founder Ruby Sheldon

In 2018 two of Ruby Sheldon's daughters, like many children, were crazy about slime and putty. It was a massive craze on social media, with people talking about it and trying to make it. However, Ruby's daughters attempts to make their own slime resulted in lots of mess and stains around the house.
Ruby did some research, brought the correct ingredients, watched all the videos, and then created her own slime putty. Ruby then started doing kids parties and workshops, that soon had her travelling around the country teaching people how to make sensory putty - until the Covid-19 lockdown.
After reinventing the company to become manufacturers, Slime Party UK have honed their sensory putty recipe and also released a new cloud putty, along the way selling over 1 million tubs of Putty Pals and move in to the international market.

PRESENTER: Winifred Robinson
PRODUCER: Dave James


THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m0029zn4)
Jet Lag Products

Are there products that can help you avoid or ease jet lag?

If you've travelled long-haul you'll know the feeling; your body feels completely out of sync with the new time zone, leaving you tired, disorientated and quite possibly a tad irritated!

So is there anything you can do? Listener Moira suffered the effects of jet lag on a recent work trip to India and with another one coming up to the USA, she's keen to know more about the products that claim to help. She's heard about apps that help you align your circadian rhythm with your new time zone, as well as supplements and even a mask that promises to better humidify the air on your flight! But do any of them work?

All our episodes start with YOUR suggestions. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807

PRODUCERS: SIMON HOBAN AND GREG FOOT
RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM
NOTES: The table on light exposure referred to in this programme from the scientific journal 'The Lancet' can be found here:

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Jet-lag%3A-trends-and-coping-strategies-Waterhouse-Reilly/d2ca570b8746a1ecfbd155da14c8291f85545db2/figure/3


THU 12:57 Weather (m0029zn8)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m0029znd)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


THU 13:45 Beyond Lonely (m0029zng)
All the Lonely People

Jason Arday credits his Mum Gifty for bringing him out of himself and encouraging him to socialise and learn from others. As his parents age he considers loneliness in later life and how he might take steps to overcome his own sense of it as he grows older.
In hearing from other people, including Amy Perrin founder of the loneliness charity The Marmalade Trust and 63-year-old Phil, he hopes to gain tools to guard against isolation.

Presenter Jason Arday is Professor of the Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Maggie Ayre


THU 14:00 The Archers (m0029yy0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001cq3y)
About a Dog

Huw Brentnall’s first radio drama is a black comedy set in rural Suffolk in the early noughties. Danny Mouser is always looking out for his wayward cousin, Lee. But one day when he hits a pheasant with his van he sets off a chain of unfortunate events which include a crate of deadly home brew, an assault on a police-officer and, worst of all, a small dog.

Danny may have to choose between being wingman to a free spirit, and being a good husband and father to Tracey and little Jade.

Recorded on location in Suffolk, the play was one of two commissions for new writing in East Anglia.

About a Dog was nominated for the Tinniswood Award 2024.

Cast
DANNY MOUSER ..... Felix Uff
TRACEY MOUSER ..... Henri Merriam
PC SCRIVEN ..... Rosie Walker
LEE FISK ..... Huw Brentnall
KAREN ..... Sally-Ann Burnett
PAULINE ALSOP ..... Charlotte Parry
GERRY ALSOP ..... Robin Brooks
COUNCILLOR ..... David Redgrave
POLICEMAN ..... Ben Elder
SERGEANT ..... Dean Parkin
JADE MOUSER ..... Francesca Parry

Sound Design by Matthew Valentine and Alisdair McGregor

Directed and Produced by Fiona McAlpine

All Allegra production for BBC Radio 4


THU 15:00 Open Country (m0029znj)
Time travel on Orkney

Rose Ferraby visits Orkney to discover the rich history of a stretch of coastline on the small Island of Rousay. She joins archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands as they travel through the rugged landscape and varied timescales of Rousay's coastline, from prehistory to clearances. They chart the legacy of ancient islanders and uncover stories hidden within the island's brochs, tombs, churches and farmsteads.

Producer: Ruth Sanderson


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m0029yp0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Feedback (m0029znl)
Radio 4's monthly 90-minute drama. Radio 3's new Breakfast presenter Tom McKinney. Update on BBC Sounds for listeners overseas.

After the news that Radio 3 was to cancel its drama commissions, Radio 4 has come forward with an alternative - a new monthly slot for a long-form 90 minute drama. Andrea speaks to Nicola Baldwin from The Writers' Guild of Great Britain about the new entry in BBC Radio's drama programming. We also hear about this development from Alison Hindell, Radio 4's Commissioning Editor for Drama and Fiction.

And continuing the theme of new additions to BBC Radio's schedules, Andrea talks to Tom McKinney, who has taken over from Petroc Trelawney on Radio 3's Breakfast programme. He's brought with him a whole aviary of bird calls to wake listeners up with the dawn chorus - but are they enjoying it?

Finally, there's an update on the future of BBC Sounds for overseas listeners.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m0029znn)
What cards does China hold?

President Trump’s fury with China shows no sign of abating. High tariffs - first imposed by the US but now on both sides - are giving way to a very real trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. China’s President Xi Jinping is refusing to blink - so far - and in the past week he's been on the road in South East Asia, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Where this goes now depends in large part on China's calculations about the capacity and determination of both sides to endure a trade war. So what cards does China hold ? And what are the implications for China's own economy and for the rest of us?

Guests:
Damien Ma, Economist, Kellogg School of Management, Chicago
Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School
Isabel Hilton, visiting Professor at the Lau China Institute, King's College, London
David Henig, Director of the UK Trade Policy Project

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Lucy Pawle
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Max Deveson


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m0029znq)
Answers to Your Science Questions

We’ve thrown open the airwaves to you. Marnie Chesterton puts your science questions to Penny Sarchet, Managing editor of New Scientist, Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London and Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh.

So, if you’ve ever wondered why planets are round… or what geese are saying to each other as they fly in groups through the sky, listen in for the latest science and some educated hypothesising.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Dan Welsh & Debbie Kilbride
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


THU 17:00 PM (m0029zns)
Full coverage of the day's news


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029znv)
Hospitals, schools, councils and sports clubs digest the implications of the ruling.


THU 18:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (m001jkwd)
Series 4

Wednesday's Child Is...

Multi-award winning comedian and author Mark Watson continues his probably doomed, but luckily funny quest to make sense of the human experience.

This series is about time - the days of the week, the stages of our existence - and the way we use it to make sense of things. We make our way through the working week, tonight considering 'hump day' - Wednesday. Wednesday's child, famously, is full of woe. Both Mark and Esther are in this category. Is the woe a real issue or merely a fairy tale? What is the bleakest joke ever told by a four-year-old? And what would Thomas Hardy make of this series?

Expect jokes, observations and interactions galore as Mark is aided, and sometimes obstructed, by the sardonic musical excellence of Flo & Joan. There's also a hand-picked comedy colleague each week - here, we welcome Esther Manito.

Producer: Lianne Coop

An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m0029zfz)
Brad and Chelsea are finding interesting material in their library research. Brad’s unearthed a wartime news film, and Chelsea’s come across the mysterious Reg but there’s still not enough clear information to decipher his full name, or his story. Elizabeth’s impressed – the lack of clarity makes it even more intriguing.
Rochelle catches up with Elizabeth at the Bull. She asks after Vince and his mum, and Elizabeth reports Iris is doing well after her operation. Elizabeth wonders how Rochelle’s liking her job. Rochelle’s positive, especially about Freddie. Rex joins them and talk turns to the VE Day event. Rochelle doesn’t believe in marking the occasion – there’s still always war somewhere in the world and it’s a terrible thing. The others take her point. Rochelle and Rex drink to victory at the cricket. Rex wonders how Rochelle squares working at the abattoir with her veganism. Rochelle maintains it’s just a job – after all Rex never queries where he’s taking his taxi passengers, does he? Good argument, concedes Rex. He suggests they could put their recent difficulties behind them, maybe just do something together and see where it goes. Rochelle agrees, but then gets a phone call and has to leave. It’s Saskia, who congratulates her on planting the camera in the lairage. But the camera’s stopped working, and they need footage from further inside the operation. Saskia arranges to give Rochelle another camera on Monday – a direct clash with the meeting Rochelle’s just arranged with Rex. Rochelle breaks the news to him, saying she’ll get back to him about another date.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m0029znx)
Review: Alex Garland's film Warfare, Audition by Katie Kitamura, Shanghai Dolls by Amy Ng on stage

Alex Garland's latest film Warfare, which is co-directed by US military veteran Ray Mendoza turns back the clock back nearly twenty years to reconstruct a real-life surveillance mission in Iraq. Film critic Tim Robey and journalist Zing Tsjeng give their verdict on the analysis of the theatre of war, which unfolds in real time.

They've also been to see Shanghai Dolls at London's Kiln Theatre - which spans six decades of Chinese history, focusing on the life of an actress who was to personify the terrifying face of the cultural revolution, Madame Mao.

Literary critic Boyd Tonkin reflects on the legacy of Nobel prize-winning Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa who has died at the age of 89.

Samira and her guests have also been reading Katie Kitamura's new book Audition, about an actress who agrees to have dinner with a young man who seems fixated on her, and includes a 'sliding doors' alternative reality.

And as the actress Cate Blanchett announces her intention to retire, Radio 4 listeners have a chance to hear her star in her first major radio drama The Fever, in which she plays a privileged woman who travels to a war-torn country and reflects on her comfortable life amidst the poverty of others.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Paula McGrath


THU 20:00 The Media Show (m0029yxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Wednesday]


THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m0029yhr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m0029zmf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m0029znz)
What will Europe have to trade for Trump deal?

It's the Italian Job at the White House this evening - as Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Meloni sits down with Donald Trump, the President says he's 100% sure that the US will reach a trade deal with the European Union. We're live in Washington DC - and ask what Europe might have to give in exchange for any deal.

Also on the programme:

Four people have died in a cable car accident, in a popular tourist spot near Naples. We have the latest.

Jane's been taking a look at Monty Don's first-ever Chelsea Flower Show garden - designed with a little help from his beloved dog Ned.

And is there anybody out there? Space scientists say they have the strongest evidence yet of life on another planet. We speak to two writers of science fiction.


THU 22:45 One Came Back by Rose McDonagh (m0029zp1)
Episode 4

Memories of her Highland childhood rise to the surface when a woman glimpses a stranger resembling a friend who died twenty years ago.
Emily is about to come face to face with Nicky's doppelganger.

Read by Hannah Donaldson
Written by Rose McDonagh
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Rose McDonagh was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English Literature and History, has worked in community health for many years and lives in Midlothian with her husband, their baby, and two cats. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize and the Bristol Prize. Her first short story collection, The Dog Husband, was published in 2022 by Reflex Press. 'One Came Back' is her debut novel.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:00 The Today Podcast (m0029zp3)
Is Trump on a collision course with China?

Tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten the global economy, but could it escalate into a more serious conflict?

Nick is joined by former spy Nigel Inkster, now a senior advisor on China and Cybersecurity at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, to discuss whether it risks becoming a new Cold War (2:25).

They also talk about what Chinese President Xi Jinping wants (8:31), his desire to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan (16:32) and whether the UK might have to choose between the US and China (28:47).

To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you hit subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time we release a new episode, and you won’t miss our extra bonus episodes either.

GET IN TOUCH:
* Send us a message or a voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346
* Email today@bbc.co.uk

The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.

This episode was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Izzy Rowley. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.


THU 23:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m0022z9p)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

Nice Dog by Vee Walker

Paterson Joseph reads Nice Dog by Vee Walker, which is one the of five stories shortlsited for this year's BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University.

Vee Walker’s novel, Major Tom’s War, was shortlisted for the inaugural Society for Army Historical Research (SAHR) Military Fiction Awards 2019 and her short story Cinder Toffee, won the Hugh Miller Writing Competition Fiction Prize in 2020. Her fictional young adult novella The Tale of Eppy Hogg, was shortlisted for The Kelpies Prize 2023. She has pursued a career in museums and heritage, working initially for the Imperial War Museum onboard HMS Belfast and then for the National Trust.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged and produced by Justine Willett

FRIDAY 18 APRIL 2025

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m0029zp5)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zmr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m0029zp7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m0029zp9)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:00 News Summary (m0029zpc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:04 The Briefing Room (m0029znn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Thursday]


FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m0029zpf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m0029zph)
A reflection and prayer to start the day with Dr Geraldine Smyth OP.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m0029zpk)
An Excess of Access?

Scotland brought in some of Europe's most liberal access laws in 2005, and access campaigners have urged the rest of Britain to follow suit. But, 20 years on, are Scotland's rules working properly? What do outdoor recreation advocates and land managers think is needed to make the laws work better? Richard Baynes visited some popular access sites to find out.

Produced and Presented by Richard Baynes


FRI 06:00 Today (m0029zfd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m001yhf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m0029zfg)
Meloni meets Trump, Eczema, Girl choristers, Singledom

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - the first woman to occupy that role - has faced one of her biggest international tests yet. She is the first European leader to go to Washington to meet President Trump since his recent announcement of new tariffs on the EU. So how did Meloni's meeting with Donald Trump go, and how is Giorgia Meloni being seen back home, particularly by Italian women? Kylie Pentelow is joined by Laura Gozzi, Senior News and Foreign Affairs Journalist at the BBC.

For the first time in its 900 year history, girls will be singing in the choir at St Paul’s Cathedral on Easter Sunday. We hear from some of the girl choristers, and Kylie speaks to Dr Katherine Hambridge, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Durham and Carris Jones, Vicar Choral and Girls' Voices Project Manager at St Paul's Cathedral about the significance of this moment.

Eczema is a complex long-term condition involving the immune system, genetics, skin barrier and the environment. 1 in 5 children and 1 in 10 adults have it. With NHS waiting times for dermatology appointments varying widely depending on location - many young women have taken to social media to talk about the condition, their own skin journeys and share photographs. Kylie is joined by two of them, Chloe Tatton and Katie Mackie, who both grew up with eczema; and Dr Tess McPherson, Consultant Dermatologist from the British Association of Dermatologists and the author of Skin Conditions in Young People.

In Emma Gannon's new novel Table for One, the main character Willow learns to embrace the benefits of her new-found singledom after years of being in a relationship - and that includes learning to do typical couple activities, like going out for dinner, alone. Emma joins Kylie to discuss this, alongside expert on all things self-care, psychologist Suzy Reading.

Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Rebecca Myatt


FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m0029zfj)
Is our cheese heritage ancient history?

Sheila Dillon hears the first exclusive readings from a Tudor ‘pamphlet of cheese’ that details the cheesemaking traditions of the 16th century, and reveals how cheese was seen as a nutrient-rich health food - from digestion aid to wound cleaner. Fast-forward to today, and Sheila visits Yorkshire cheesemongers Andy and Kathy Swinscoe to help recreate one of these historic recipes by hand in their dairy, as they discuss the significance of cheese history and how milk and cheese have a ’terroir’ just like wine.

While the Tudors believed cheese was inherently good for you, modern-day science is still exploring the evidence. Now, cheese scientists are producing ground-breaking research investigating links between cheese and the health of our hearts and gut microbiome. But making cheese today is a tough job, from complying with food safety rules to the challenges of setting up and maintaining a small business. Sheila speaks to renowned cheesemaker Martin Gott to hear the strange tale of how gave up his career in the UK to set up the first ever organic creamery in Oman. Are we losing our cheesemakers just at the point when we’re rediscovering more about its potential health benefits?

Sheila’s journey to find out how our cheese heritage faltered takes her to the Middle East, Japan and finally back to Yorkshire, where a new raw milk cheesemaker sparks hope for the future.

Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.


FRI 11:45 Language City by Ross Perlin (m0029zfl)
Karen

Half of all languages may disappear over the next century, and many of them have never been recorded. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York.

These programmes present a portrait of five remarkable speakers of little-known languages. Ross dives deep into their communities to discover how they are maintaining their language, and culture, against the odds.

This fifth episode presents a portrait of Karen, who grew up on the Munsee Reserve in Canada and moved to New York, where she became one of the last speakers of Lenape.

Lenape has now almost disappeared, but it was the original language of the land New York is built on, and was spoken there until the early 19th century. Native peoples who survived the initial impact of European settlement were almost all driven out and moved West, but gradually the Lenape diaspora is being knitted together again. Tribal enrolments are booming, and there are now over 25,000 members of the formally recognised Lenape tribes.

We hear Karen teaching Lenape, and the class struggling with a new and different way of plotting speech. Ross Perlin, who was in the class, admits, “It was a challenge. As in any language, many words are stories in themselves, ‘fossil poetry’ that at least seems to give a glimpse of how an ancestor might have seen things. So for instance the word for squirrel is ‘he who has sticky fingers’.”

Ross Perlin is a linguist who teaches at Columbia University in New York and co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance.

Reader: Adam Sims
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jo Rowntree

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m0029zfn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m0029zfq)
Two-tier justice

Lucy Connolly is a 42 year old woman from Northampton who is currently serving a custodial sentence for stirring up racial hatred after she posted on X on the day of the Southport attacks last year, calling for "mass deportations now" and referring to setting fire to asylum hotels.

Her case has caused controversy online, with some describing her as a "political prisoner" and claiming that the justice system is treating some people more harshly than others.

But to others, Lucy Connolly is being appropriately punished for an incendiary post at a time of high tensions.

Are heftier sentences meted out to some people more than others? Are some groups treated differently in the courts because of their ethnicity or political views?

Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Josephine Casserly, Simon Maybin and Beth Ashmead-Latham
Studio manager: Andy Mills
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Bridget Harney


FRI 12:57 Weather (m0029zfs)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m0029zfv)
Ukraine and the US take the first step towards striking a minerals deal

We hear reaction from Kyiv and explore whether businesses will invest without a ceasefire. Plus, we hear from the drone-maker who's changing the climb to Everest.


FRI 13:45 Beyond Lonely (m0029zfx)
Loneliness Is Not The Same As Being Alone

Jason Arday considers the concept of solitude as opposed to loneliness and wonders if we should consider embracing solitude more. In an increasingly hectic and connected world, many people are feeling more lonely than ever. But others are choosing to disconnect and enjoy the freedom of being alone. In this episode, Jason hears from Rachel Denton who is a religious hermit. After taking a vow with the Church's blessing twenty years ago, Rachel has lived simply and silently ever since. She shares her experiences of happiness, gratitude and fulfilment that could perhaps teach us all to find contentment in being alone from time to time. Meanwhile Jason is taking steps to feel less lonely by accepting invitations to social events. This is a start, he says, to changes he wants to make as a direct result of making this series.

Beyond Lonely is presented by Professor Jason Arday

Producer: Maggie Ayre


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m0029zfz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Limelight (m0029zg1)
Discretion

Episode 2

Travelling to the crash site courtesy of the Americans, Maria and Kathy meet up with Air Crash investigator Adam Cheney who's been sent from London for his expertise.

Alina Natsev from local security is there too, ostensibly managing the site but also managing a key witness who appears to have seen the crash when it happened. Adam shares his doubts with Maria on what the witness says he thinks he saw, versus what the scene seems to show. As Maria and Kathy choose to return to the Embassy by car, it seems the surprises of the day are not going to be limited to false information...

Maria...Sinead Keenan
Reid...Kevin McNally
Paul...Edward Hogg
Adam...Declan Rodgers
Kathy...Kiran Sonia Sawar
Nick Kim...Vincent Lai
Natsev...Avital Lvova

All other roles by John Albasiny, Alexander Ballinger, Anna Krippa, Eddie Toll and Ani Russo

Written by Chris Brandon
Produced by Claire Broughton
Direction, Sound Design and additional production by John Wakefield
The Executive Producer is Jed Mercurio

With thanks to Tanya Nedashkovskaya for her translations

A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 14:45 Short Works (m0029zg3)
Grave Matters by Giancarlo Gemin

It's her wedding anniversary and Miriam is visiting her husband's grave, but something is amiss.

New short fiction by Giancarlo Gemin, a Cardiffian author whose books for younger readers Sweet Pizza and Cow Girl, have both won the Tir Na n-Og award and been nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

Reader: Sue Roderick
Sound: Catherine Robinson
Producer: John Norton


FRI 15:00 Good Friday Meditation. And darkness came over the land (m0029zg5)
Biblical accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus tell of how darkness covered the earth for three hours. In this meditation for Good Friday the novelist and psychoanalyst Salley Vickers weaves together stories of personal darkness and loss with readings from the Gospels and the poetry of Donne, Herbert and Vaughan. Nick Thorley speaks of the resonances he finds between the events of Good Friday and his experience of gradually losing his sight; Ukrainian theologian Taras Djatlik speaks of the darkness of betrayal and war, and Dr Ruth Valerio finds echoes in the Gospel story and the painting of Rembrandt of her grief in the face of the climate crisis.
The readings are by Samuel West.

Producer. Rosie Dawson


FRI 15:30 Artworks (m00298tq)
I Am Sixteen Going on Sixty

One of Hollywood’s most iconic musicals, The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer was released in the UK sixty years ago this week. It won 5 Oscars. It made its child actors the most famous in the world but what are they doing now? Garry Richardson has tracked them down.

The cast members reveal what they have been doing since 1965. Nicholas Hammond who played Friedrich Von Trapp is still acting today, but the career paths of the others have been very different – from landscape gardening to geology.

Julie Andrews filmed Mary Poppins just before The Sound of Music and Angela Cartwright, who played nine-year-old Brigitta von Trapp, remembers how that became a talking point during breaks on set. Kym Karath was the youngest of the child stars and reflects on how instant fame led to unwanted attention from some of the public.

Little did they all know how much was riding on the film! Struggling financially, 20th Century Fox had gambled everything producing this story of the young governess whose courage led the Von Trapp family across the Alps.

Songwriter and lyricist Sir Richard Stilgoe, who is best known for The Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Starlight Express explores the art of songwriting explaining how Rodgers and Hammerstein worked together.

Presenter: Garry Richardson
Producer: Catrin Manel
Editor: Matt Willis


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m0029zg7)
Anne Scargill, Ronnie Appleton, Cecil Wright, Mario Vargas Llosa

Matthew Bannister on

Anne Scargill, who founded the Women Against Pit Closures group when her husband Arthur was leading the Miners Strike of the 1980s. The actor Maxine Peake pays tribute.

Ronnie Appleton who was Chief Crown Prosecutor for Northern Ireland during the height of the troubles.

Cecil Wright, the Jamaican born cricketer who made his mark playing alongside some of his countrymen in the Lancashire league.

Mario Vargas Llosa, the Nobel prize winning novelist who was a candidate for the Presidency of his native Peru.

Producer: Ed Prendeville

Archive:
BBC Manchester, Cecil Wright at 70, BBC; BBC News, Cecil Wright Retires at 85, BBC; Not by The Playbook, BBC World Service, 07/09/2019; MERIDIAN, BBC, 09/07/1985; Made in Latin America: 2 – The Heirs of Conquest, BBC Two, 07/11/1989; Mario Vargas Llosa, BBC Radio 4, 30/10/1993; Eye of the Storm with Emma Barnett, BBC Radio 5 Live, 26/07/2018; Video Diaries: Major, the Miners and Me, BBC Two, 04/09/1993; BBC News, BBC One, 16/05/1984; BBC News, BBC One, 09/04/1993; Inside Ulster: Murders – Army; Funerals – I.R.A., BBC, 19/03/1988; Witness History, BBC World Service, 27/01/2025; Inside Ulster: Murders – Civilians (Multiple); Personalities, BBC, 29/09/1989


FRI 16:30 Life Changing (m0029ywq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m0029zg9)
Full coverage of the day's news


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m0029zgc)
President Trump says he believes Ukraine and Russia are "enthusiastic" about peace, but warned both countries that they would be "fools" to delay the process.


FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m0029zgf)
Series 117

1. Space, Steel and Strikes

Andy Zaltzman is joined by Zoe Lyons, Mark Steel, Athena Kugblenu and Hugo Rifkind to unpack bin workers strikes in Birmingham, pop stars popping to the stars, talks of tariffs, steeling oneself in Scunthorpe, and how Toby took his carvery one step too far.

Written by Andy Zaltzman.

With additional material by: Mike Shephard, Christina Riggs, Eve Delaney and Ben Pope.
Producer: Rajiv Karia
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Production Coordinator: Beanna Olding
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m0029zgj)
Writer: Keri Davies
Director: Dave Payne
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Natasha Archer…. Mali Harries
Pat Archer…. Patricia Gallimore
Tom Archer…. William Troughton
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Rex Fairbrother…. Nick Barber
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin…. Madeleine Leslay
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Rochelle Horville…. Rosie Stancliffe
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Elizabeth Pargetter…. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence
Saskia…. Alison Belbin


FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m0029zgl)
Hotels

With the latest series of the much-discussed drama The White Lotus recently wrapped up, Screenshot asks why cinema and TV make so many return visits to hotels as a setting.

Whether sinister and scary like in The Shining or Psycho, fabulous but faded like The Grand Budapest Hotel, or comically chaotic like in Fawlty Towers, hotels offer a myriad of possible opportunities for drama. Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode check in to check out their rich history on screen.

Ellen talks to film critic Hannah Strong about the timeless appeal of screen stays from the 1932 classic Grand Hotel to The White Lotus - and about how directors Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola have made hotels the focus of some of their most famous films.

Ellen also speaks to Sean MacPherson, hotelier, cinephile and co-owner of the storied Hotel Chelsea in New York City, about the glamorous allure of historic hotels - and the impact of the movies on hotel design.

Mark speaks to writer and critic Anne Billson about the seedier - and scarier - side of hotels on screen, from the Coen Brothers' 1991 cult classic Barton Fink, to the 1990 Roald Dahl fantasy The Witches.

And Mark also talks to director Rodney Ascher, whose 2012 documentary Room 237 explored Stanley Kubrick's The Shining from the unusual points of view of a number of theorists - all of whom seem to have checked into the film's Overlook hotel and never been able to leave.

Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m0029zgn)
Sian Berry MP, Baroness Bousted, Mark Littlewood, Lord Willetts

Ben Wright presents political debate from Community Links in London, with Sian Berry MP, Green Party for Brighton Pavilion; Baroness Bousted, the Labour peer and former joint General Secretary of the National Education Union; Mark Littlewood, the Director of Popular Conservatism; and Lord Willetts the Conservative peer and President of think tank Resolution Foundation.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Lead broadcast engineer: Rob Dyball


FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m0029yx4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:40 on Wednesday]


FRI 21:00 Assume Nothing (m0029zgq)
Killer Dust - Omnibus Part 2

In this series, casually scanning old newspaper archives, Ophelia Byrne comes across an odd headline: “Hush hush process in Ballyclare firm.”

The newspaper was printed in 1967. “Strictly no photographs” was the order issued at the opening of the new factory.

“90 guests steered clear of a top-secret process.” All workers “will have to sign an oath of secrecy.”

What, she wonders, is this factory making?

Ophelia doesn’t know it when she starts out, but her subsequent investigation into this company, Turner and Newall, will take her from a small town in Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea to places like Rochdale, Leeds and London.

It will bring her to one million documents released for a transatlantic trial – papers which show cover-ups and even corporate espionage.

The product, of course, is asbestos. You may think you know the story – it’s a dangerous substance.

But Ophelia marries previous journalistic investigations to new documents which reveal what government agencies knew about its risks, and when.

She combs through company correspondence which the manufacturers claimed did not exist, and clearly never imagined would become public.

This is the story of Killer Dust, from mountains of the material in mines still operating in countries today, to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the terraced streets of the north of England.

It is the story too of the people who fought and died for the truth to expose the reckless pursuit of profit in the making of one of the most dangerous building materials on the planet.

Presenter/ Producer: Ophelia Byrne
Studio Engineer: Gary Bawden
Executive Editor: Andy Martin


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m0029zgs)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 One Came Back by Rose McDonagh (m0029zgv)
Episode 5

Memories of her Highland childhood rise to the surface when a woman glimpses a stranger resembling a friend who died twenty years ago.
In spite of Leti's doubts, Emily begins to rake over the events surrounding Nicky's death.

Read by Hannah Donaldson
Written by Rose McDonagh
Abridged by Clara Glynn
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Rose McDonagh was born and grew up in Edinburgh. She studied English Literature and History, has worked in community health for many years and lives in Midlothian with her husband, their baby, and two cats. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the London Magazine Short Story Competition, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize and the Bristol Prize. Her first short story collection, The Dog Husband, was published in 2022 by Reflex Press. 'One Came Back' is her debut novel.

A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 23:00 Americast (m0029zgx)
Join the Americast team for insights from across the US.


FRI 23:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m0022z3g)
BBC National Short Story Award 2024

Hamlet, a love story by Lucy Caldwell

Lisa Dwyer Hogg reads Hamlet, a love story by Lucy Caldwell. The first of the five shortlisted stories for the BBC National Short Story Award 2024.

Lucy Caldwell is the author of four novels, three collections of short stories, and several stage plays and radio dramas. Her latest novel, These Days, won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and her latest collection of short stories, Openings, was published by Faber in 2024. She won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2021.

The BBC National Short Story Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. The 2023 winner of the BBC National Short Story Award was Naomi Wood who won for ‘Comorbidities’, a story examining the difficulty of maintaining love and intimacy in a marriage, from her debut collection, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (Orion). The 2024 winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 1 October 2024.

All of the stories are available on BBC Sounds where you can also download the BBC National Short Story Award podcast which includes a Front Row interview with each of the five shortlisted writers.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Justine Willett