SATURDAY 14 JUNE 2025
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002dcb8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick (m002dc8y)
Episode 5 - Homecoming
In Barbara Demick's new book about China's one-child policy, twin girls who grew up worlds apart are reunited. Family relationships are reset, though the after-effects continue to reverberate. Debora Weston reads.
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is the new book by the award-winning journalist Barbara Demick. Here she tells the extraordinary story of separated twins, their lives in China and the USA, and her own role in reuniting them.
In 2000, a Chinese woman gave birth to twin girls in a hideaway in a remote Chinese village to avoid coming to the notice of the officials who enforced the one child policy. She and her husband already had two daughters and knew there would be hefty fines to pay for the two new additions to their family, but they could not have imagined what would happen next.
Barbara Demick is the author of Eating the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town, and the multi-award winning Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. It was during her time working as the Los Angeles Times Bureau Chief in China that she uncovered the tale of the separated twins. In Daughters of the Bamboo Grove not only does she reveal the story of the what happened to the girls, she also explores the heart-breaking consequences of China's one-child policy and the country's international adoption programme.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dcbb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dcbd)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SAT 05:30 News Summary (m002dcbg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dcbj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dcbl)
Give Freely, Give Often
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Dr Stephen Wigley.
Good morning.
Today is World Blood Donor Day and this year’s theme is ‘Give freely, give often’. The Day itself has been around since 2004 and is a reminder of the urgent need for blood donors and donations to support the hospital operations on which so many people depend. And being a blood donor has been a part of my story since I gave my first pint as a student in early 1980’s. Since then, I have given some 70 pints in a variety of settings from the Royal British Legion, to Sports centres, to a Hall in my own Church, and most recently, at a local Rugby Club. I have attended sessions with different people of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds. And I was surprised to learn that although I have a very common blood type, O positive, there is a strong demand for it. That it is value is precisely because it is so common, and can be mixed with other rarer blood types.
It's been a good thing to do, for it strikes me that giving blood is something of a secular sacrament. As a Christian, I’m reminded that this is a theme which goes to the heart of what Jesus did when he shared the Last Supper with his disciples, breaking bread and sharing wine as a life-giving symbol of what he would do as he shed his blood on the Cross.
Now, there’s no sharing of bread and wine in a blood donor session, though we’re all offered a drink and a biscuit at the end; but we will be sharing in a precious enterprise which can sustain and restore life.
Loving Lord, in Jesus’ willingness to shed his blood on the cross we see the depth of your love for us; today we give thanks for all who support and sustain the various Blood services, so that their blood donations may offer new life to others.
Amen.
SAT 05:45 Child (p0hhrsqf)
Series 1
23. Crawling
Seeing a baby make its first moves is a magical time. It marks the beginning of their independence. And it’s something that is often tracked using developmental milestones - but are they actually more problematic than they are useful?
India Rakusen speaks to Professor Karen Adolph who shares her problems with milestones and discusses the cultural expectations of early development. She also hears from Dr Vanessa Cavallera from the World Health Organisation about the work they’re doing to update their 2006 milestone graph and the future of infant development.
Presented by India Rakusen
Producer: Georgia Arundell
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive Producer: Suzy Grant
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and ESKA
Mix and Mastering by Charlie Brandon-King
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002dkhq)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m002d8v7)
Camino Inglés with Jannine and Sally
Clare is walking on the Camino Inglés today with Jannine Stoodley who is pushing her mother, Sally, in an off-road wheelchair. This entire series of Ramblings is themed around the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage trails that stretch across western Europe and converge on the world famous Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, in northern Spain.
The Camino Inglés, or the English Way, is one of these trails. It has two starting points, either at Ferrol which is 119km, or A Coruña which is 75km from Santiago de Compostela. Because the distance required for a Compostela certificate is 100km, the Ferrol route is most popular.
Jannine and Sally are taking the path from A Coruña, and hope to finish their adventure at the Cathedral on Sally’s 85th birthday. Sally suffered a debilitating stroke in 2023, and had been admitted to a hospice for end of life care. But, incredibly, Sally rallied and recovered saying “I’m not ready to die yet” and was eventually able to return home. However she could no longer walk for long distances, which had always a passion, so Jannine found a robust wheelchair that Sally could be pushed in, and set off to walk the Camino.
They have already completed the Reading to Southampton route in England, which is an officially recognised section of the Camino; it’s a 68mile/109km path so when they complete the A Coruña, they will have surpassed the 100km needed to gain the coveted ‘Compostela’ completion certificate.
Clare met Jannine and Sally outside Restaurante Mar de Esteiro (What3Words: ///sweeter.jazz.lazing) which is around 11km out of Santiago de Compostela. They walked together on an often challenging route - especially when pushing a very heavy wheelchair across uneven terrain and up steep hills - for approx 10km.
Jannine and Sally let us know that they successfully completed the final stretch of their walk the following day, reaching the Cathedral on Sally's birthday. They are keen to make the kind of off-road wheelchairs that Sally uses available to others through Adversity to Adventure, see the 'related links' section on the Ramblings webpage.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002dkhs)
Farming Today This Week - 14/06/2025
Livestock moving into Wales from England will have to be tested for the disease bluetongue from the first of July, after the Welsh Government decided not to join England in a nationwide restriction zone. Wales and Scotland have no cases of bluetongue so far this year and hope testing and vaccination will keep it out. But livestock organisations say it'll cause chaos at the borders with huge delays and financial losses for farmers.
This week the Chancellor unveiled her spending review, which resulted in relief among some farmers, who'd feared big cuts in budgets for environmental projects. In the event, while there is a cut, it's not as big as many had feared - £2.7b will go to sustainable farming and nature recovery in England; there's also investment in flood defences. Defra though is facing cuts to its own budget of 2.7%, which some worry will land on arms length organisations like Natural England and the Environment Agency.
All this week we've followed the journey of a loaf of bread from seed to milling into flour. We find out what challenges seed breeders and farmers face in producing the perfect grain of wheat.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002dkhv)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002dkhx)
Today (Saturday)
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002dkhz)
Kwame Kwei-Armah, George Egg, Mohammad Belal, Fearne Cotton
Actor, director and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah on the big decisions he’s faced from changing his name to the Herculean task of writing a super-hero musical.
Mohammed Belal... Who became England's first paralysed surgeon after a cycling accident. He faced years of rehabilitation to return to work.
George Egg who mixes comedy and cooking and says good nosh doesn’t have to be posh and how cooking helped him after the death of his father.
Inheritance Tracks are picked by DJ-turned-novelist Fearne Cotton...
Presenters: Kiri Pritchard-MCLean and Jon Kay
Producer: Catherine Powell
SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m002c71f)
Series 23
Clowns in Spacetime
Can you slow down time by hurtling through space at breakneck speed? Could listener Saskia’s friend - currently one year older - end up the same age as her if he went fast enough? It sounds bananas, but it’s all part of Einstein’s mind-warping theory of relativity.
With expert copilots Professor Sean Carroll and Dr. Katie Clough, Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain embark on a cosmic roller coaster through space and time. They uncover why GPS satellites - whizzing around Earth at 14,000 km/h - need to account for time bending, why penthouse dwellers age faster than those on the ground floor, and, most importantly, why clowns on trains might just hold the key to understanding modern physics.
Contributors:
Katy Clough - Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London
Sean Carroll - Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University
Peter Buist - Manager of the Galileo Reference Centre
Richard Dyer - PhD student at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Ilan Goodman
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Audio Production
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002dkj1)
Series 48
Newport
Jay Rayner and the panel are in Newport, Wales offering their best culinary advice. Joining Jay are Angela Gray, Jocky Petrie, Jordan Bourke and food historian Dr Annie Gray.
The panellists share their favourite recipes involving figs and their fuss-free ways to spice up a home-cooked meal, and attempt to cure one audience member of his aversion to fishcakes.
We also hear from local chef Sergio Cinotti of Gem42 and Gemelli restaurants about how Roman flavours have influenced his cooking - be it libum bread or garum sauce.
Producer: Matt Smith
Junior Producer: Dulcie Whadcock
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002dkj3)
Pippa Crerar of The Guardian assesses the latest developments at Westminster.
Pippa takes a closer look at Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Spending Review with the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Conservative MP John Glen and Labour’s Dame Siobhain McDonagh, who sits on the Treasury Select Committee.
How to prepare for an ageing society is the subject of an inquiry by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and Pippa discusses this with Labour peer, Stewart Wood, who chairs the committee and Daily Telegraph columnist Annabel Denham.
Pippa interviews the Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, John Bird about the scrapping of the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act which will decriminalise rough sleeping in England and Wales.
And, following the government's u-turn on winter fuel this week, David Gauke who was a Treasury minister at the time of what became known as the omnishambles budget under George Osborne and former BBC presenter Carolyn Quinn discuss famous political u-turns.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002dkj5)
LA protests and Donald Trump's immigration crackdown
Kate Adie presents stories from the US, DRC, Hungary, Nigeria and Italy.
There's been a heavy crackdown in Los Angeles after more than a week of protests over US immigration raids. Federal police had been targeting undocumented migrants in workplaces across the city. In a marked escalation, President Trump deployed the National Guard and the Marines, which drew sharp criticism from California's governor, Gavin Newsom. John Sudworth followed the story.
Hugh Kinsella Cunningham visits a mental health clinic in South Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo, where he hears from psychotherapists how they are helping people deal with trauma. Earlier this year, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group took control of Goma and Bukavu, in the latest chapter of a conflict that has blighted the lives of civilians for decades.
Ellie House has visited Hungary's east where a vast Chinese-owned lithium-ion battery plan is under construction. She hears how China's forays into the European EV market are being welcomed by PM Victor Orban, but with trepidation by some locals.
In Nigeria, a small town in Ogun state transforms into a vibrant cultural festival each year, drawing business leaders, traditional rulers and visitors from the diaspora. It celebrates the cultural identity of the Yoruba people. Nkechi Ogbonna went to watch the festivities which had a political undertone.
And finally, Alice Gioia has been in Italy's north, to the town of Pavia, where the Pavese dialect is fast dying out. Across Italy, 90 per cent of the population using these dialects are over seventy. She reflects on what the loss of the Pavese dialect will mean for her.
Series producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Penny Murphy
Production coordinators: Sophie Hill & Gemma Ashman
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002dkj7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002dkj9)
Bailiffs and Premium Bonds
We'll discuss proposals to reform the bailiff industry, hearing from a man whose small parking fine ballooned into a debt of more than £400 once bailiffs got involved. Paul Lewis interviews the minister responsible for the planned changes: will they be fair on both creditors and debtors and will they bring rogue bailiffs into line?
Also, the Chancellor's changes to the Winter Fuel Payment have been broadly welcomed by Britain's pensioners, but how easy will it be for them to manage the payment when it comes to filling in their tax returns? With the help of a personal tax expert, we try to answer your questions.
And what are Premium Bonds and what are your chances of winning a prize? We've got the definitive guide with Sir David Spiegelhalter, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Eimear Devlin
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editors: Jess Quayle and Rob Cave
(First broadcast
12pm Saturday 14th June 2025)
SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (m002dc9n)
Series 26
Episode 1. Greta, Trump and Eau de Farage
The Dead Ringers team are back to train their vocal firepower on the week’s news with an armoury of impressive impressions.
This week: Greta Thunberg floats her boat at Rachel Reeves, Trump and Elon couple up on Love Island, and Gary Lineker tries something new.
Cast: Jan Ravens, Jon Culshaw, Jess Robinson, Kieran Hodgson and Duncan Wisbey.
The episode was written by: Nev Fountain and Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Edward Tew, Tom Coles, Rob Darke, Sophie Dickson, Toussaint Douglas, Jon Holmes, Nicky Roberts, Jennifer Walker, Phoebe Butler, David Whitehead, Rachel E. Thorn, and Davina Bentley.
Created by Bill Dare
Producer: Jon Holmes
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
SAT 12:57 Weather (m002dkjc)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m002dkjf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002dc9w)
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, Torsten Bell MP, Baroness Fox, Darren Millar MS
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from The College, Merthyr Tydfil, with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth MS; Torsten Bell MP, a minister in the Treasury and the Department for Work & Pensions; unaffiliated peer and former Brexit Party MEP Baroness Fox of Buckley; and Darren Millar MS, the leader of the Welsh Conservative group in the Senedd.
Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Nick Ford
SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002dkjh)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002dc9r)
Helen asks Tom if he can look after the boys next Friday – Dane’s asked her to go to a comedy club with him. Tom promises to ask Natasha. Helen says she’ll ask their parents instead – it’s a perfect opportunity for her to tell them about Dane. Later she comments to Tom that her parents didn’t seem to want to know about Dane. Tom reckons this might be down to him. He’d made a comment to their mum and dad about helicopter parenting and they’re obviously trying not to overstep the mark. Helen says lightly there might be a middle way.
Kirsty updates Phoebe on progress with the beavers, which are due to arrive in the autumn. Justin joins them as Kirsty explains that they’ll no longer need an enclosure for the release. Justin hopes the installation of one will keep local farmers onside. He goes on to extoll the benefits of the scheme before realising he’s doing what Lilian calls ‘Justinsplaining’. Admiring the call of a yellowhammer, he declares he owes a lot to inspirational Peggy. Phoebe’s speechless. Amused Kirsty acknowledges the sea change in Justin’s attitude. She admits to feeling a lot more settled these days, both at Willow Farm and with her job. Justin’s brought a real entrepreneurial spirit to the rewilding project. Phoebe could never have imagined he’d become so hands on, and also speak in praise of Peggy, who was always a bit suspicious of him. Kirsty agrees it’s quite a turnaround; she can’t help wondering what he’s going to pull out of the bag next.
SAT 15:00 Secrets and Lies (m002dkjk)
Mona Best and The Beatles
Before The Beatles were icons, they were just a bunch of teenagers playing in the basement of Mona’s large house in Liverpool. But without Mona and the work she did on their behalf, there might never have been a musical phenomenon called The Beatles.
This drama is based on the untold story of Mona Best and her unique role in the band’s early years, and of her scandalous relationship with their teenage roadie Neil Aspinall.
Pete Best and Neil Aspinall were best friends. Mona was 38 when she gave birth to 19-year-old Neil's child. Three weeks after the baby was born, Pete was sacked by the band, leaving Neil to make an impossible choice.
Mona Best ….. Jodie McNee
Neil Aspinall ….. Sam Denia
Pete Best ….. Alex Farrell
Rory Best ….. Lott Lee
Jennifer ….. Chloe English
Brian Epstein ….. James Mace
Johnny ….. Shaun Mason
Grimes ….. Raymond Waring
Beryl ….. Clare Corbett
News and Television Announcers ….. Tom Turner
Paul ….. James Bibby
Other parts played by members of the cast.
Pete’s drumming performed by Antonio Feola.
Jazz guitar performed by Adonis Garcia Garcia with additional guitar by Peter Twomey and Carl Prekopp.
Live band performances by Dr Orange, produced by Jon Withnall and recorded at Jon Withnall Studios in Ormskirk.
Written by Norman Hull and Stewart Richards.
Sound Recordist: Alisdair McGregor
Sound Design: Lucinda Mason Brown and David Chilton
Production Runner: Natasha Biggs
Production Manager: Eleanor Mein
Director and Script Associate: Carl Prekopp
Producers: Lucinda Mason Brown and Stewart Richards
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas
An Essential production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002dkjm)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Julianne Moore, Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Yael van der Wouden, ultrarunner Stephanie Case
Julianne Moore has won countless awards and nominations for films like Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, The Hours, as well as winning an Oscar for her performance in the film Still Alice. Her latest role sees her play Kate in the upcoming film Echo Valley alongside Sydney Sweeney, who plays her daughter Claire. Julianne tells Nuala McGovern about her character who's coming to terms with a personal tragedy while running her farm and training horses, when her daughter shows up, hysterical and covered in someone else’s blood, flipping Kate’s world upside down.
Next week not one but two amendments are being brought before MPs, both of which could mean, if passed, that women will no longer be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy in England and Wales. It comes amid concern more women are being investigated by police on suspicion of illegally ending a pregnancy. Anita Rani is joined by the BBC's Health Correspondent Nick Triggle and Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, one of those who is tabling an amendment
In 2015, 22-year-old Alice Figueiredo took her own life whilst being treated at Goodmayes Hospital, east London. Over the course of her 5 month stay at the mental health unit she attempted suicide on 18 separate occasions. Following a seven-month trial at the Old Bailey, a jury found that not enough was done by the North East London Foundation NHS Trust, or ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, to prevent Alice from killing herself. Alice’s mum, Jane Figueiredo, has spent the last decade fighting to get the case to court. She discusses the impact it has had on her family.
Canadian born human rights lawyer, Stephanie Case, went viral online when she finished first place in the women’s section of the Snowdonia ultra-trail 100km race despite giving birth six months ago and breastfeeding her daughter at aid stations. Stephanie tells Nuala McGovern about her first race as a mother and first competition in three years and why she chose to continue to do the things she loves after becoming a mum.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden is set in the Netherlands in 1960 and tells the story of Isabel and Eva, two women who are both struggling to find their place in a society that isn’t yet modern but does not want to reflect on the horrors of the Second World War. Yael joins Anita to discuss her critically acclaimed debut novel which has been shortlisted for the Booker and is this years Women’s Prize for Fiction winner.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed
SAT 17:00 PM (m002dkjp)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002dkjr)
The Mel Stride One
The Shadow Chancellor sets out his vision for a more "thoughtful" politics and faces up to the challenge of winning the argument before the next general election.
Sir Mel Stride reveals what he admires about his opposite number, Rachel Reeves, and why a world war two commander is one of his political heroes.
He also has a warning about what the British economy would look like under Nigel Farage.
Producer: Daniel Kraemer
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002dkjt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002dkjw)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dkjy)
Israel and Iran warn of more strikes to come
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country will strike 'every site and every target of the ayatollah regime' in Iran, as both countries continue to fire missiles at each other with no sign of any let up. Also: Sir Keir Starmer announces a fully national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs. And a Democratic politician in Minnesota has been killed and another wounded in what officials say were 'targeted killings'.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002dkk0)
Ore Oduba, Amy Macdonald, Kim Blythe, Tom Newlands, Rose Room
Ore Oduba switched broadcasting for the stage after his 2016 Strictly win. His latest production is the adaptation of Peter James’ Picture You Dead book which is on tour across the country.
Tom Newlands' debut novel Only Here, Only set in a fictional Fife town has received many plaudits in the UK and beyond. It's coming out in paperback later in June.
Comedian Kim Blythe continues to go from strength to strength, from online skits to stand-up. Her show Cowboy will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
Amy Macdonald has answered her fans' calls for new music with her upcoming album Is This What You've Been Waiting For?. She shares a track.
Plus music from jazz quartet Rose Room ahead of their performance at the Glasgow Jazz Festival.
Presenter: Clive Anderson
Producer: Caitlin Sneddon
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002dkk2)
Liz Carr
Actress and disability campaigner, Liz Carr, is probably best known for her role as forensic examiner, Clarissa Mullery, in the TV crime drama, Silent Witness. She’s also done comedy, theatre and even written a musical, about what she calls ‘assisted suicide’. Last year she fronted the award-winning BBC TV documentary, Better Off Dead, making the case against assisted dying.
Born and raised in Merseyside, Liz Carr became seriously ill when she was seven and has used a wheelchair since she was eleven. Whilst studying law at Nottingham University, she got involved in politics, disabled rights and activism. As her public profile grew she became a powerful voice in the debates over assisted dying.
As the assisted dying bill returns to the Commons this week, with MPs debating and voting on a series of contentious amendments, Mark Coles speaks to Liz’s friends and colleagues about her acting, comedy and campaigning.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Sally Abrahams and Nik Sindle
Production co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Sound: Neil Churchill
Editor: Nick Holland
Credits:
Silent Witness: ‘Covenant part 2’ (2017) BBC/Cipango Productions Audiovisuelles/Dir. David Drury
Better Off Dead (2024); Burning Bright Productions/ BBC/Dir. James Routh
Hardtalk – Stephen Sackur interviews Liz Carr
Abnormally Funny People, 2005, Edinburgh Fringe show
Dirty Dancing (1987) Great American Films Limited Partnership/Vestron Pictures/Dir. Emile Ardolino
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002d8t8)
Jenny Saville
Painter Jenny Saville, renowned for her large-scale portraits of fleshy, naked women, made her name soon after leaving art school when her graduation exhibition work was bought by collector Charles Saatchi. In 1997, her work was also part of the landmark Royal Academy show Sensation, alongside now iconic pieces by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and others. Since then, the main focus of her work - which has been shown in museums and galleries all around the world - has remained the female form. In 2018, a Jenny Saville painting called Propped sold at auction for £9.5m, at the time a world record for a work by a living female artist. A retrospective exhibition of over 50 of her paintings and drawings is being held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Jenny Saville tells John Wilson how her childhood interest in painting was nurtured by her uncle, an art teacher, who took her to museums to understand the work of great artists. She says she was hugely inspired by seeing a Lucien Freud exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1987, and that his large-scale nude portraits influenced her early style. Jenny recalls how a year spent at the University of Cincinnati, as part of her Glasgow School of Art degree course, also had an impact on her understanding of art history from a feminist perspective and refocused the theme of her painting. She describes how she made the monumental paintings of female nude figures, some with liposuction surgery markings on the bodies, which were shown at the Saatchi Gallery and at the Royal Academy Sensation exhibition. Jenny Saville also reflects on the later influence on her work of the Dutch-American abstract painter Willem de Kooning, and of her children with whom she paints at home.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002dkk4)
Here We Go! The Art of the Football Chant
Sociologist, musician and Millwall fan Les Back is obsessed with the symphony of the spontaneous folk song of football chants. He’s on a tour of British clubs to chart the rise (and fall) of these chants and discover why they’re an important barometer of social change.
He starts at The Den, his home club of Millwall in south-east London where he meets with former player Tony Witter (’94-’98). He and Tony discuss recordings they made during the 90s to see what’s changed in terms of the relationship between players and fans.
Les travels from London to Glasgow to speak to fans, players and musicians from Norwich City, Dulwich Hamlet, AFC Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Rangers, Celtic and Hibernian. He wants to know what their club chants tell us about their hyper-local identity and whether the folk musician Martin Carthy is right. Are chants “the one surviving embodiment of an organic living folk tradition"?
With thanks to Andy Lawn, Ceylon Andi Hickman, Charlotte Robson, Dan Hancox, Davie and Joan, Louis Abbott, Martin Carthy and Tony Witter. Also to David Taylor, Mark Burman and Jonny Hurst.
Image: Dulwich Hamlet Pepper Army taken by Liam Asman.
Presented by Professor Les Back
Produced by Alexandra Quinn with Freya Hellier
Sound Mix by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Jane Long
A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002db9t)
Is having children a moral duty?
There’s been a fair amount of focus on the concept of pronatalism recently and debate over whether it is left or right wing for governments to introduce policies that encourage women to have more babies. Others argue that the matter is too big to be consumed by the culture wars.
This week, the United Nations Population Fund issued its strongest statement yet on fertility decline, warning that hundreds of millions of people are not able to have the number of children they want, citing the prohibitive cost of parenthood and the lack of a suitable partner as some of the reasons affecting birth rates across the world.
For a country in the developed world to increase or maintain its population, it needs a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman on average. Last year in the UK, it fell to 1.4. Like many developed nations, women are having fewer babies, which poses economic problems as countries face the impact of both aging and declining populations, and a smaller workforce in relation to the number of pensioners.
Why are people in richer nations choosing to have fewer babies? Has parenthood had a bad press? Is it too expensive to have kids or do people just wait too long to tick off life goals before they realise their fertility window has closed?
And is it manipulative for governments to encourage women to have more children? For some, a low birth rate is the sign of a civilised society where women have reproductive autonomy. Is there a moral duty to have children?
PRESENTER Michael Buerk
PANELLISTS Ash Sarkar, Giles Fraser, Mona Siddiqui, James Orr
GUESTS Caroline Farrow, Prof Anna Rotrich, Prof Lisa Schipper, Sarah Ditum
PRODUCER Catherine Murray
ASSISTANT PRODUCER Peter Everett
EDITOR Tim Pemberton
SAT 22:00 News (m002dkk6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002dc8w)
Professor Michael Crawford: A Life through Food
In this episode of 'A Life Through Food', Sheila Dillon meets one of the most provocative scientific minds of the last half-century: Professor Michael Crawford. Now in his 90s, Crawford’s pioneering research into the brain and nutrition has reshaped how we understand the essential role of food—especially Omega-3 fatty acids—in human development and health.
Long before Omega-3 became a buzzword on supermarket shelves, Crawford was uncovering its vital connection to brain function. His work, often at odds with mainstream science, has led to over 300 peer-reviewed papers and three books challenging conventional theories of human evolution and nutrition.
The programme also features chef and broadcaster Rick Stein, who reflects on Crawford’s influence and the importance of sustainable seafood. And we hear from Dr Anneli Löfstedt, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, who is building on Crawford’s legacy by exploring the links between nutrition, sustainability, and the future of food systems.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.
SAT 23:00 The Matt Forde Focus Group (m002db9p)
4. Political Empathy
Can political discussion be funny? Er - yes!
Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his focus group in front of a live theatre audience with guests Sir Ed Davey, Helen Lewis, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
Written and performed by Matt Forde
Additional writing from Karl Minns, Jason Hazeley and Richard Garvin
Producer: Richard Garvin
Co Producers: Daisy Knight and Jules Lom
Broadcast Assistant: Jenny Recaldin
Sound Design and Editing: David Thomas
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002d88c)
Programme 5 - Northern Ireland v The North
(5/12)
Teams from all over the UK will face Kirsty Lang's cryptic questions across the series, with Kirsty offering support and the odd hint where it might be needed.
This fifth contest features Northern Ireland and the North of England.
Teams:
Paddy Duffy and Freya McClements - Northern Ireland
Stuart Maconie and Jenny Ryan - The North of England
Questions in today's edition:
Q1 What’s served up when Edwards, Cronenberg, Kramer, and Zeffirelli all share a menu? And why would Berlin round off the day.
Q2 (from Phil Ware) Why would a 14th Century ocean-going sailing ship be relevant to an Ace musician lamenting the duration of an affair, a tempting crush, and a Mechanic singing about filial regret?
Q3 (from Tanja Timmer) Music: What’s the common motivation behind all of these songs, and who is the odd one out?
Q4 The form of this question is quite unusual, but deliberate. And it’s a place we’re asking you to identify. So where would you recite this ditty?
A Rambler who's losing her mane,
Used a bung to keep fresh her champagne,
Her Kitten did croon,
‘It’s a long way’ to this tune,
And her Crystal flute sang Herman’s name.
Q5 (from Mark Wolton) How does Logan's run lead us to this sequence…
The world’s highest-paid model
The second biggest fighter in UFC history (according to Floyd Mayweather)
The third God of the Hindu triad
The fourth child of Al Pacino?
Q6 Music: Listen to these four songs and tell me what links them in a constructive way?
Q7 Your mission, is to decrypt this musical cypher. Intel suggests this sequence reveals the location of two stolen nuclear missiles. Failure is not an option.
Extract half of a Turkish hit covered by Holly Valance, and half a Chris Brown song featuring T-Pain.
Mix with half a 1966 Cher classic, and half of a Jessie J / Ariana Grande / Nicki Minaj collaboration.
Then combine to form a song that was not sung by Dionne Warwick or Shirley Bassey because it didn’t have the right title
Instead, it was replaced by a new song performed by Tom Jones, who famously fainted after holding the final note.
What’s the final song title, and what does it have to do with nuclear weapons?
Q8 Follow the clues and find the hidden word that will lead you to a star sign
A march for hunger and justice sets your course.
Your journey leads to a prestigious seat of learning.
A submarine town lies ahead, its depths hiding more than just secrets.
Songs of the Canaries fill the air at a famous stadium.
An actress playing Rosemary with a telling name points to your desires.
What’s your sign?
Host: Kirsty Lang
Recorded by: Phil Booth
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Carl Cooper
Questions set by:
Lucy Porter, Alan Poulton, and public contributors.
SUNDAY 15 JUNE 2025
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002dkk8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002d889)
Andrew Miller
Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, speaks to the writer Andrew Miller about his novel, The Land In Winter, and explores its connections to three other literary works. Recorded in front of an audience at the Hay-on-Wye books festival, the supporting contributor for this episode is the writer Joanne Harris. Andrew's new novel centres on two married couples recently relocated to the farmlands of the West Country as the record-breaking British winter, known as The Big Freeze of 1963, takes hold. For his three influencing texts Andrew chose: The Light Years by James Salter (1975); Gerald's Party by Robert Coover (1986); and Daddy's Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer (1958).
Producer: Dom Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dkkb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dkkd)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
SUN 05:30 News Summary (m002dkkg)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dkkj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002dkkl)
St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Bells on Sunday comes from St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. There are twelve bells which were cast in 1914 by the Taylor’s of Loughborough foundry and were their first harmonically tuned complete peal of twelve. The tenor bell weighs thirty nine and a half hundredweight and is in the note of C. We hear them ringing Stedman Cinques.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002dbtl)
Funding for Specialist Education
New College Worcester, who are a residential school and provider of specialist education for visually impaired children, has launched a campaign seeking wider government support for the provision of specialist education. The campaign takes a broad approach, asking government for greater support across both mainstream and specialist education settings. The College Principal, Rachel Perks, provides details of their campaign, along with some other signatories and parents.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Jack Thomason
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 (m002dkyt)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m002dbt4)
Objects and Stories
Seth Rockman, Associate Professor of History at Brown University, talks to Laurie Taylor about his study into the stories of the plantation goods which reveal how the American national economy was once organised by slavery. He tracks the shoes made by Massachusetts farm women that found their way to the feet of a Mississippi slave and the entrepreneurs that envisioned fortunes to be made from “planter’s hoes”. Also, Lea David, Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology, University College Dublin, describes the emotional force of everyday items found at the sites of atrocities, from a shoe to a broken watch and victims’ garments. Personal property recovered from places of death including concentration camps, mass graves, and prisons have become staples of memorial museums. How do these objects take on such power, and what are the benefits and pitfalls of deploying them for political purposes?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002dkyw)
150 Not Out – The Robinsons of Strickley
James Robinson is the fifth generation of his family to farm at Strickley, near Kendal, in Cumbria, which he runs in tandem with his Dad, Henry, and older son, Robert, who’s shaping up to be the sixth. Not only have the family been in residence since 1875, but their herd of pedigree dairy shorthorns also boasts a 150-year lineage.
James is currently England chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network and is incredibly passionate about his family’s role as custodians of the landscape, planting hedges, re-wiggling becks, creating ponds and revelling in the wildlife thriving alongside the cows on their farm.
The Robinsons are about to start the next chapter of their Strickley story, by processing their own milk and selling it direct to local people, harking back to James’ great-great-grandparents, who would make their milk into prize-winning butter and sell it at Kendal Market.
In this programme, Helen Millican spends a day on the farm with James, Henry, Robert and Arthur Robinson, turning calves out, repairing fences and rebuilding dry stone walls, as they mark 150 years of the Robinsons and their cows at Strickley.
Presented and produced by Helen Millican
SUN 06:57 Weather (m002dkyy)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002dkz0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002dkz2)
UK Hindu community reaction to Air India plane crash; Zen Buddhist master; Israel-Iran strikes
The horrific plane crash in Gujarat sent shockwaves through the UK’s Hindu community — many of whom have close ties to that region of India. The day after the tragedy, Emily Buchanan visited the vast Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, North West London, to speak with Tarun Patel, a spokesperson for the temple, and Tilak Parek, a scholar of religion and anthropology.
We also hear from the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, on the latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict.
And it’s not every day that a kung fu master becomes a modern-day influencer. But with the publication of his book Shaolin Spirit: The Way to Self-Mastery in English, Shi Heng Yi — founder of the Shaolin Temple Europe — is reaching new audiences. His TED Talks have inspired millions to explore martial arts as well as daily practices for mind and body.
Presenter: Emily Buchanan
Producers: Katy Davis & Rosie Dawson
Studio Managers: Simon Kelsey, George Willis & Joe Stickler
Editor: Rajeev Gupta
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002dkz4)
upReach
Beneficiary Nuh Cooper makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of upReach. The charity's coaching programme helps undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds access top graduate jobs.
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 ‘upReach’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘upReach’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
Registered Charity Number: 1158896. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://upreach.org.uk/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m002dkz6)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002dkz8)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002dkzb)
God in Three Persons
A service from St George's Hanover Square London on Trinity Sunday, to mark the 300th anniversary of the consecration of the church. The service is led by Anne Barnes, and the preacher is the Rector, the Reverend Roderick Leece. Director of Music: Richard Gowers; Assistant Organist: Nicholas Morris; Producer: Ben Collingwood.
SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct5yqx)
Mary Fisher's 'A Whisper of Aids' speech
When Mary Fisher was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 she did not represent the typical stereotype of someone HIV-positive. She was white, heterosexual and contracted the disease in marriage. She used her platform at the Republican National Convention in Texas in 1992 to try and change people's treatment of those carrying the Aids virus.
The speech was broadcast live to millions of people via the major US TV outlets. She argued that she did not want her sons, aged four and two, to face stigma from the "whisper of Aids" once she had died.
It is ranked as one of the most important speeches in the US in the 20th Century. Mary Fisher recalls the moment she delivered the speech to Josephine McDermott.
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: Mary Fisher delivers her speech in 1992. Credit: AP)
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002dkzd)
Tolga Aktas on the Wood Pigeon
For conservation biologist Tolga Aktas, a walk through the city is an opportunity to observe different species of pigeon. His favourite is the wood pigeon, which is the UK’s most widespread and common pigeon. Walking through London’s parks and squares, Tolga spots the differences between wood pigeons and feral pigeons by the colours of their neck patches. Now he’s moved to the Gloucestershire countryside, the cooing call of a wood pigeon is one of the sounds that evokes the feeling of home and childhood nostalgia.
Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio Production in Bristol
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002dkzg)
The UK sends jets to the Middle East as Israel and Iran exchange air strikes
Paddy O'Connell and Lyse Doucet present this week’s Broadcasting House as the conflict between Israel and Iran ramps up. Cabinet minister Darren Jones discusses the UK's role, as well as the announcement of national inquiry into grooming gangs. Plus, the hyperglot who speaks more than 15 languages, and the BH press review with Alice Bunn of UK Space, George Parker of the Financial Times, and writer and broadcaster Maria McErlane.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002dkzj)
Lord Alf Dubs, politician and campaigner
Lord Alf Dubs is a Labour peer and former MP. He came to the UK from Prague in 1939 on one of the Kindertransport trains organised by Sir Nicholas Winton which rescued mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.
Alf was born in Prague in 1932. His father was from a Jewish background and was brought up in what was then Northern Bohemia while his mother came from Austria. His father left Prague for London as soon as the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939. In June, when he was six-years-old, Alf was put on a Kindertransport train, arriving at Liverpool Street station two days later where he was met by his father. His mother eventually joined them in London the day before war broke out.
Alf studied Politics and Economics at the London School of Economics and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Battersea South in May 1979. He lost his seat in 1987 and the following year he was appointed director of the Refugee Council, becoming the first refugee to head up the charity.
In March 2016 Alf tabled an amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act (known as the Dubs Amendment) which asked the Government to accept 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children into the UK. The amendment passed but the Government closed the scheme the following year after accepting 480 children.
In 2016 Alf received the Humanist of the Year award by Humanists UK of which he is also a patron. In 2021 his Czech citizenship was restored making him the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.
DISC ONE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet
DISC TWO: Smetana: Má Vlast, JB
1:112: 2. Vltava. Performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek
DISC THREE: She's Leaving Home - The Beatles
DISC FOUR: Bandiera Rossa - Canzoniere del Lame
DISC FIVE: Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D Major, K. 412: I. Allegro. Performed by Barry Tuckwell (French horn), Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner
DISC SIX: Danny Boy - Daniel O'Donnell
DISC SEVEN: Take This Waltz - Leonard Cohen
DISC EIGHT: Ode to Joy. Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt
BOOK CHOICE: Germinal by Émile Zola
LUXURY ITEM: Walking boots
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002dkzl)
Writer: Keri Davies
Director: Kim Greengrass
Editor: Jeremy Howe
David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Henry Archer…. Blayke Darby
Pip Archer…. Daisy Badger
Tom Archer…. William Troughton
Tony Archer…. David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Justin Elliott…. Simon Williams
Alan Franks…. John Telfer
Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables
Kate Madikane…. Perdita Avery
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Stella Pryor…. Lucy Speed
Crispin…. Hugh Dennis
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002dkk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 It's a Fair Cop (m002d9sf)
Series 9
3. Suspicious Death
In this week’s case Alfie must secure the crime scene when the discovery of a dead body leaves him with a mystery to solve.
Join Alfie and his audience of sworn-in deputies as they attempt to piece together what might have happened.
Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Sam Holmes
A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
SUN 12:57 Weather (m002dkzn)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002dkzq)
What does the Israel-Iran conflict mean for the global economy?
We get the latest on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, and analyse what the ripple effects might be on the global economy with a leading economist, Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff. Plus, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on why he sees the violence as an "existential moment" for both Tel Aviv and Tehran.
SUN 13:30 Currently (m002dkzs)
Ireland's Pot of Gold
As the UK Treasury grapples with a massive financial ‘black hole’, its once impoverished neighbour, the Irish Republic, is grappling with the dilemma of how to spend a bounty of €14bn.
It’s a 'pot of gold' which the Irish government didn’t expect – and surprisingly didn't want - but was eventually forced to accept by a European Court ruling that the mighty US corporation, Apple, had underpaid taxes on its extensive Irish-based operations. Added to a mighty windfall from other companies, taking advantage of its low corporate tax policies, Ireland is now one of the richest countries in the European Union.
Dublin's River Liffey waterfront, once a depressed, neglected area, has been transformed into 'Silicon Docks’, a gleaming hub of high rise offices, housing American tech giants including Google, Meta, Airbnb and Docusign.
While other western economies haved struggled and stagnated Ireland has attracted new, dynamic American firms. It's estimated that 700 multinational tech and pharmaceutical companies have bases across Ireland, employing more than 150,000 people. Politically, the country may be tied to Europe but economically it straddles both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite these riches, Ireland has a severe housing crisis, a crumbling health system, weak transport and energy infrastructures and a myriad of other demands on the public purse. While the politicians argue over how the money should best be spent there are growing concerns that Donald Trump's arrival in The White House, could bring these lucrative tax benefits to an end.
For a country so dependent on global trade and the American multi-nationals in particular, it's a moment of serious economic jeopardy, as the BBC's Ireland correspondent, Chris Page, reports.
Presenter: Chris Page, BBC Ireland Correspondent
Producers: Kathleen Carragher and John Deering
Sound Engineer: Kris McConnachie
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002dc9b)
Perton Staffs: Used Compost, Angry Peonies and Ant-tics
What's the best way to revive a dying bonsai tree? Do Peonies hate being moved? I am inundated with ants – how do I get rid of them?
Kathy Clugston hosts BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, joined by a panel of esteemed plant and gardening experts in Perton, Staffordshire. Sharing their horticultural wisdom are the passionate plantsman Matthew Biggs, head gardener Marcus Chilton-Jones, and renowned plantswoman Christine Walkden.
Later in the programme, Matthew Biggs has a chat with David Austen Jr to explore his father’s remarkable legacy in rose breeding at their prestigious nursery. He also gets an exclusive glimpse at some of their latest, most exquisite varieties.
Senior Producer: Daniel Cocker
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
Plant List
Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.
Q – What colour would you paint a garden fence to best show off and compliment the plants in it? (01’32”)
Q – Why have my Peonies stopped blooming? Is it because I’ve moved them? (05’03”)
Q – Which plants would the panel recommend covering a roof of five feet by 10 feet with a depth of two and a half inches? (08’07”)
Matthew Biggs –
Thymus vulgaris, common thyme
Thymus serpyllum 'Russetings', creeping thyme 'Russetings'
Campanula, bellflower
Campanula portenschlagiana, wall bellflower
Christine Walkden
Sempervivum, houseleek
Hylotelephium, sedum
Mentha requienii, corsican mint
Marcus Chilton Jones –
Puschkinia
Allium schoenoprasum, chives
Ajuga repens, bugle
Q – What are the panel's thoughts on reusing compost that's been used in pots for summer annuals? (10’53”)
Feature – Matt Biggs speaks with David Austen Jr about his father’s legacy in breeding unique roses (15’01)
Q – I wondered what was the best way to revive a dying bonsai tree? (19’26”)
Q – How hard should I cut back our Ceanothus? (23’59”)
Q – What can the panel recommend that's low maintenance and won't prickle anyone that I could plant in a two foot wide plot? (28’10”)
Christine Walkden –
Cyclamen hederifolium, ivy-leaved cyclamen
Ajugas
Lamiums
Heucheras
Thalamus
Aquilegia
Veronica, gentian speedwell
Matthew Biggs –
Hedera (ivy)
Marcus Chilton-Jones –
Lonicera, honeysuckle
Dryopteris, wood fern
Nettles
Q – I am inundated with ants – how do I get rid of them? (33’49”)
Q – How do I stop bugs from getting into my plums? (37’25”)
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002dkzv)
King Lear - Episode Two
John Yorke looks at King Lear, the brutal tragedy that some claim is Shakespeare’s greatest achievement.
When Lear, the 80 year old king of ancient Britain, decides that the time has come to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, he unwittingly sets in motion a catastrophic chain of events that will tear apart both his family and his realm. He banishes his faithful youngest daughter, Cordelia, while his two elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, who declared their undying love for their father, bar their doors to him. Driven mad by fury, Lear wanders a barren heath in the midst of a storm with only his Fool for company.
In this second of two episodes, John looks at the loyal but provocative character of the Fool. He also discovers that, since the 17th century, critics including Samuel Johnson have struggled with the play’s remorseless cruelty and the bleakness of its ending.
John has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for R4.
Contributors:
Sir Richard Eyre, directed an award-winning production of King Lear, starring Ian Holm, at the National Theatre in 1997 and another production for BBC television, with Anthony Hopkins in the lead role, in 2018.
Dr Genevieve von Lob, clinical psychologist who specialises in family therapy.
Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Tutorial Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford. She is the author of books including This Is Shakespeare: How to Read the World’s Greatest Playwright.
Excerpt taken from the BBC Radio 3/Renaissance Theatre Company production of King Lear, directed by Glyn Dearman and first broadcast on Radio 3 on 10th April 1994.
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Music: Torquil MacLeod
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Coordinator: Nina Semple
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002dkzx)
King Lear: Part 2
As he approaches his 89th birthday, Richard Wilson plays King Lear for the first time in his life. Richard will be the oldest-ever British actor to take on the role.
This is Shakespeare's powerful meditation on power, greed and the advancement of old age.
King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between his daughters Goneril and Regan, who flatter him with promises of love and devotion. The King's third daughter, Cordelia, is offered a third of his kingdom also, but refuses to parrot her sisters oleaginous attention. She instead offers the rightful duty and respect of a daughter. Lear is furious and subsequently disowns her.
Regan and Goneril subsequently break promises to host Lear and his entourage, so instead he opts to become homeless and destitute, and gradually loses his mind. Neither his followers or friends (Kent and the Fool) can persuade him to more reasonable actions. Meanwhile, Gloucester is duped by his infamous bastard son, Edmund.
Cast
King Lear Richard Wilson
Goneril Greta Scacchi
Regan Tamsin Greig
Cordelia Phoebe Loveday Raymond
Gloucester Toby Jones
Edmund David Tennant
Edgar Jos Vantyler
Kent Matthew Marsh
Fool Trevor Fox
Cornwall Joseph Kloska
Albany Will Harrison-Wallace
Oswald Akbar Kurtha
Burgundy/Doctor Adam Jessop
France/Herald. Robin Morrissey
Old Man Hugh Ross
Music played by Steven Isserlis and Irène Duval
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Brill Production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002dkzz)
Elif Shafak
Take Four Books, presented by James Crawford, speaks this week to the award-winning writer, Elif Shafak, about her new novel - There Are Rivers In The Sky - and explores its connections to three other literary works. The new book spans centuries and moves from London to Turkey to Iraq as it follows three characters all connected by a single drop of water that once fell as rain in the ancient "land between rivers" that was Mesopotamia. For her three influencing texts Elif chose: the ancient odyssey believed to be around four thousand years old, The Epic of Gilgamesh; Orlando by Virginia Woolf from 1928; and The Flow: Rivers, Water and Wildness by Amy-Jane Beer from 2023.
Recorded at the Hay-on-Wye Books Festival, the supporting contributor for this episode was the first ever national poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis, whose latest works include the memoir Nightshade Mother, and a new poetry collection entitled First Rain In Paradise.
Producer: Dom Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002dl01)
Programme 6 - Wales vs Scotland
(6/12)
Teams from all over the UK will face Kirsty Lang's cryptic questions across the series, with Kirsty offering support and the odd hint where it might be needed.
This sixth contest features Wales and Scotland.
Questions in today's edition:
Q1: (from Tim Riley) You’re looking for 5 words. Why might a hidden collection that includes facial hair, chocolate icing, Rhone grapes, and wet shredded paper all leave you in pain?
Q2: Why would Maurice Micklewhite, A Henry James Novel, and a Macauley Culkin film from 1991, all be welcome chez nous? And why would it be fun?
Q3: Music: I’d like you to tell me why you might find them all refreshing.
Q4: (from Michael Hipkins)
Here are some directions for a long road journey:
Head clockwise through lush greenery,
then take the rugged southern route.
Continue until the landscape turns golden.
Pass through a bright, white stretch,
Then as the sun blazes overhead,
your destination lies where light shimmers on the horizon.
Where are you?
Q5 Why are…
an inactive element used in welding, episodes in Ulysses, prohibition, racehorses, and 75% pure gold…
…all legal milestones
Q6 Music: Listen to these songs and tell me why they’d all land on their feet.
Q7 (from Alan Hay) Where would these lead you… A supernatural BBC sitcom, a present for Queen Mary, Hostis Publicus and a discontented wife
Q8 (from Stephen Murphy) Why might Wallace's ways of looking, Alfred's thunderbolt and Gerard's morning's minion - hold a seat in Geoffrey's parliament?
Teams:
Cariad Lloyd and Myfanwy Alexander - Wales
Val McDermid and Alan McCredie - Scotland
Host: Kirsty Lang
Recorded by: Phil Booth
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Carl Cooper
Questions set by:
Lucy Porter Paul Bajoria and public contributors.
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74mr)
Charleston church shooting
On 17 June 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a bible group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. As it was ending, the 21-year-old started shooting and killed nine people.
Polly Sheppard was one of the survivors. She called 911 whilst hiding from Roof. The shootings at the historic African-American church shocked a nation already too used to gun violence. President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at one of the victim’s funerals and spontaneously started singing Amazing Grace. Ten years on since that day, Polly now 80, tells her harrowing story to Uma Doraiswamy.
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: A memorial outside the Emanuel AME Church. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 The Verb (m002dl04)
Boo Hewerdine, Fiona Benson, Alison Binney, Yvonne Lyon, Eartoon
Ian McMillan welcomes poetry about fathers, songs celebrating the things that fall out of books, and a poetic investigation into the women who were labelled witches, with guests Alison Binney, Boo Hewerdine, Yvonne Lyon, and Fiona Benson. Ian also presents a new Eartoon (our cartoon for the ear ) which celebrates the quirks of phrasal Verbs written by Stagedoor Johnny (aka Richard Poynton).
Alison Binney explores what it means to have a parent with dementia in a new collection called 'The Opposite of Swedish Death Cleaning' (Seren). Alison is an English teacher and PGCE course tutor - her debut pamphlet is 'Other Women's Kitchens'.
Boo Hewerdine and Yvonne Lyons' new album is called 'Things that Fall out of Books' - they're performing their new songs in multiple venues across the UK in July and August - https://www.yvonnelyonmusic.com/events/
'Middenwitch' is Fiona Benson's new poetry collection and is a Poetry Book Society Summer Choice. Her poems illuminate the lives of the women who were the victims of superstitions about witches, and examines the societies who deal with fear of illness and other misfortunes by blaming outsiders.
Our Eartoon (a cartoon for the ear) this week delights in the seemingly arbitrary and confusing nature of phrasal Verbs. This is the latest episode in our series by Stagedoor Johnny 'Richard Poynton' in which he offers an origin myth for the English Language.
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002dl06)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m002dl08)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dl0b)
Trump urges Iran-Israel deal
Iranian state media says the country has launched a new wave of 'retaliatory missiles', while Israel says it has hit an airport in eastern Iran. Donald Trump urges both sides to end the fighting as the UK sends more fighter jets to the region. Also: the government plans new, larger sites to hold asylum seekers. And Liam Gallagher blasts Edinburgh City Council for suggesting Oasis fans might be overweight.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002dl0d)
Emma Clarke
This week, Emma is bringing us along on her radio listening journey, as she potters in the garden in the search of lugworms, cooks along with The Kitchen Cabinet team (with nary an aubergine in sight) and contemplates the environmental impact of a bulging email inbox - her continually emailing robot overlord producer is yet to twig onto it. Meanwhile, we hear discussions on solidarity and the size animals can grow to, and Radio 4's John Hammond sets sail for the Isle of Wight to send a Shipping Postcard.
Presenter: Emma Clarke
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinator: Caroline Peddle
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002dl0g)
Fallon feels bad to be leaving the busy Bull to spend time with Harrison. Jolene assures her they’ll be fine. She hints at knowledge of the birthday surprise Harrison has in store for Fallon. Later Jolene’s shocked to learn their new staff member can’t work while Fallon’s away. Kenton suggests asking Fallon to stay but Jolene won’t hear of it. Fallon and Harrison need the time together; absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder and she doesn’t want their relationship to go the wrong way.
Brian’s enjoys a pub lunch date with Miranda. As they get their drinks Miranda’s surprised to hear from Kenton that Brian was in the pub last night too. Brian hurriedly moves the conversation on. As he declares brightly that he’d love Miranda to join them on their family holiday, she wrongfoots him by announcing their relationship might have run its course. Brian’s shocked – he thought things were going marvellously. Miranda counters that unlike Jennifer she won’t put up with his shenanigans – he’d told her he was at home with a book last night and clearly he wasn’t. And Jolene saw him with a woman. Cornered, Brian confesses he’s been having secret bridge lessons with Martyn Gibson. When Miranda doesn’t believe him, he suggests she call Martyn. She does so immediately and Brian’s story checks out. Miranda apologises, but wants them to enter a bridge tournament. If they win, all will be well, but if there’s no improvement in Brian’s game, well… Brian quakes, and Miranda says he’d better hope Lady Luck’s on his side.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002dl0j)
Lost and Found
When a dog goes missing it can be devastating. It’s every dog owners worst nightmare. Social media is awash with posts about lost dogs, some of them scams, but many are genuine cries for help from distressed people who have lost an animal they love.
Between January 2023 and June 2024 almost 5000 dogs were reported missing in the UK.
In March 2025, Roger put a lead on his Jack Russell terrier Betty, as he attended to his boat at Buckden Marina in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. With his back turned for a few minutes, she disappeared.
In this episode of Illuminated, we join a group of volunteers with St Neots Animal Search and Rescue as they seek to reunite Betty and Roger using all the experience, teamwork and technology available.
Colin Butcher is a pet detective based in West Sussex who has been recovering missing and stolen pets for over 20 years. As Colin shares his expert tips for dog-owners, through field recordings from a tiny microphone attached to a dog-collar, listeners are invited to enter the world of our missing puppy.
Producer: Peter Shevlin
A Pod60 production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001z6pb)
Read a poem
Reading poetry can reduce stress and help give you words to express the things you're feeling. And reading a poem out loud has been shown to be a surprisingly simple way to activate your relaxation response and bring about a sense of calm. It’s all to do with the way it slows and controls your breathing rate, which in turn stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and can lead to many beneficial effects. Michael Mosley speaks to Dietrich von Bonin from the Swiss Association of Art Therapies, who says as little as 5 minutes of rhythmic poetry read aloud can be even more effective than slow-paced breathing at relaxing your body and mind. Our volunteer Colm dives into the world of Irish poetry and incorporates reading it aloud into his bedtime routine.
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.
SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002d8v9)
The Art of Listening
Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Dr Haru Yamada about how we listen in different ways across different cultures and social groups. It's the side of conversation that is not about talking, but which is equally - if not more - important to how we communicate. Haru is the author of 'Kiku: The Japonese Art of Good Listening', and she believes that listening is something we can all learn to do better in order to build stronger relationships with each other, and with the world around us.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley, in partnership with The Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002dc9g)
Brian Wilson, Frederick Forsyth, Uriah Rennie, Edmund White
Kirsty Lang on
Brian Wilson, the driving force behind The Beach Boys who were one of the most successful bands of the 1960s.
Fredrick Forsyth, the writer and former Mi6 agent who books included The Day of the Jackal and The Fourth Protocol.
Uriah Rennie who made history as the Premier League’s first black referee.
And the author Edmund White whose semi-autobiographical books A Boys Own Life and The Beautiful Room is Empty chronicled his experiences as a young gay man in America.
Interviewee: Charles Cumming
Interviewee: Ashley Hickson-Lovence
Interviewee: Colm Toibin
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
Brian Wilson interview, Today, BBC Radio 4, 2016; John Wilson interviews Brian Wilson , Front Row, BBC Radio 4, 21 Oct 2011; The Day of the Jackal, Film Promo, 1973; Freddie Forsyth interview, BBC Radio 4, Uriah Rennie interview, courtesy of Ashley Hickson-Lovence, recording date January 2019; Opening of Pride Park, Midland Today, BBC News, 13 August 1997; Sports report: Alan Shearer sent off, BBC News, 07/08/1999;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002dkj9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002dkz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002dkj5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002dl0l)
Conflict in the Middle East, grooming gangs and assisted dying
Ben Wright's guests are the Labour MP Rachel Blake, Shadow Justice minister Kieran Mullan and Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper. They discuss the conflict between Israel and Iran; the announcement of a national inquiry into grooming gangs; and the expected decisive Commons vote on the assisted dying Bill. Hugo Gye - political editor of the i newspaper - brings additional insight and analysis.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m002d8t2)
The Evolution of Lungs
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of lungs and of the first breaths, which can be traced back 400 million years to when animal life spread from rock pools and swamps onto land, as some fish found an evolutionary advantage in getting their oxygen from air rather than water. Breathing with lungs may have started with fish filling their mouths with air and forcing it down into sacs in their chests, like the buccal pumping that frogs do now, and slowly their swimming muscles adapted to work their lungs like bellows.
While lungs developed in different ways, there are astonishing continuities: for example, the distinct breathing system that helps tiny birds fly thousands of miles now is also the one that once allowed some dinosaurs to become huge; our hiccups are vestiges of the flight reaction in fish needing more oxygen; and we still breathe through our skins, just not enough to meet our needs.
With:
Steve Brusatte
Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh
Emily Rayfield
Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol
And
Jonathan Codd
Professor of Integrative Zoology at the University of Manchester
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Roger B. J. Benson, Richard J. Butler, Matthew T. Carrano and Patrick M. O'Connor, ‘Air-filled postcranial bones in theropod dinosaurs: physiological implications and the ‘reptile’–bird transition’ (Biological Reviews: Cambridge Philosophical Society, July 2011)
Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World (Mariner Books, 2018)
Jennifer A. Clack, Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods (2nd edition, Indiana University Press, 2012)
Camila Cupello et al, ‘Lung Evolution in vertebrates and the water-to-land transition’ (eLife, July 2022)
Andrew Davies and Carl Moore, The Respiratory System (Elsevier, 2010)
Kenneth Kardong, Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution (8th edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2018)
Ye Li et al, ‘Origin and stepwise evolution of vertebrate lungs’ (Nature Ecology & Evolution, Feb 2025)
P. Martin Sander and Marcus Clauss, ‘Sauropod Gigantism’ (Science, Oct 2008)
Goran Nilsson, Respiratory Physiology of Vertebrates: Life With and Without Oxygen (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Steven F. Perry et al, ‘What came first, the lung or the breath?’ (Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A: Molecular & Integrative Biology, May 2001)
Michael J. Stephen, Breath Taking: The Power, Fragility, and Future of Our Extraordinary Lungs (Grove/Atlantic, 2022)
Mathew J. Wedel, ‘The evolution of vertebral pneumaticity in sauropod dinosaurs’ (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Aug 2010)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002dc9d)
Knock Knock by Kirsty Logan
In Kirsty Logan’s new short work for Father's Day, Wilbur prepares to meet his dad for the very first time. But can he find the strength to face his fears?
Read by Jessica Hardwick
Producer Ellie Marsh
Kirsty Logan is an award winning novelist and short story writer. Her latest book, No & Other Love Stories, is a collection of dark love stories.
A BBC Audio Scotland Production for BBC Radio 4.
MONDAY 16 JUNE 2025
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002dl0n)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 00:15 Intrigue (m0021qs1)
Worse than Murder
3. The Waiting Game
Muriel McKay’s kidnapper – who calls himself M3 – has stopped calling, and the McKay family are desperate. They use Alick’s media contacts to keep the story at the forefront of the tabloid press, placing rumours designed to make the kidnappers panic, even getting in touch with a clairvoyant via a family friend.
But what the press don’t know is that Muriel McKay was kidnapped by mistake. M3’s real target, he says, was Rupert Murdoch’s wife.
Worse Than Murder - A tragic case of mistaken identity that shook Britain and launched a tabloid war.
One winter’s night in 1969, kidnappers targeting Rupert Murdoch’s wife abducted Muriel McKay by mistake. She was never seen again. Jane MacSorley investigates this shocking crime which baffled police and, more than 50 years on, remains unresolved.
Presented by Jane MacSorley with Simon Farquhar
Produced by Nadia Mehdi, with extra production from Paul Russell and Megan Oyinka
Sound design and mixing by Basil Oxtoby
Story editor: Andrew Dickson
Executive producers: Neil Cowling, Michaela Hallam, Jago Lee and Rami Tzabar
Development by Paul Russell
Voice acting by Red Frederick
Original music composed by Richard Atkinson for Mcasso
With special thanks to Simon Farquhar, author of 'A Desperate Business: The Murder of Muriel McKay'
A Fresh Air and Tell Tale production for BBC Radio 4
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002dkkl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dl0q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dl0s)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
MON 05:00 News Summary (m002dl0v)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002dl0x)
Susan Hulme reports as MPs debate plans to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. MPs investigate the rise in superbugs and peers ask why tech start-ups go overseas for the finance they need to grow.
MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dl0z)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dl11)
A Lesser-Known Saint
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Doctor Stephen Wigley.
Today is the Feast day of the seventh Century Welsh saint, St Curig of Llanbadarn. There are a number of famous Welsh saints but it’s fair to say that Curig is not one of them, and there is little definitively known about his life. One story is that he was a warrior with the Welsh prince Maelgwn Gwynedd who converted to Christianity, and when challenged caused Maelgwn and his men to go blind until he was given land and settled at Eisteddfa Gurig, Curig’s seat, just a few miles inland from Aberystwyth. This piqued my interest because we lived for a while in Aberystwyth and I used to drive past Eisteddfa Gurig, and the larger village of Llangurig when going to and from Aberystwyth.
We don’t know a lot about Curig, but we do know that his name and influence travelled across Wales. As well as the ancient Church at Llangurig, there are other churches which bear his name, at Capel Curig, north Snowdonia, and Porthkerry, south in the Vale of Glamorgan. We know that he was associated with healing miracles, and Gerald of Wales in his Journey through Wales , mentions a gilt covered staff with healing properties which once belonged to Curig; and more recently, there is a Welsh language school in Barry dedicated to him. So although we don’t know a huge amount about Curig, we do know that his influence travelled widely and left a mark on the landscape of Wales, that he was associated with healing miracles, and that he is remembered to this day as a patron of education. And maybe that’s not a bad record, even a source of encouragement to the rest of us, who know that being a lesser-known saint is perhaps something we can reasonably aspire to.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life and witness of St. Curig; we ask that his example may encourage us in finding our own calling among the lesser-known saints of your Kingdom.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002dl13)
16/06/25 Scottish abattoir closure, seaweed farm, rural crime
A Scottish abattoir has closed with the loss of 90 jobs. Scotbeef at Inverurie has been shut. The company says an operational review concluded it was necessary to protect the long-term future of the business amid industry challenges. Earlier this year the number of cattle in Scotland fell to its lowest for a decade and farming groups called for government support to rebuild the national herd, warning that some abattoirs might close because they'd become uneconomic.
All this week, we’ll be talking about seaweed. At the Holkham estate in north Norfolk, a trial funded by the WWF and the Co-op foundation has been trying to prove that the use of seaweed based biostimulant can reduce the need for artificial nitrogen fertiliser, without affecting yields. If successful it could present a way for farms to reduce costs, and minimise the negative side effects of overusing fertilisers.
The cost of rural crime has fallen. New figures from the insurers NFU Mutual show a 16.5% fall last year - the costs are put at £44 million in comparison with £53 million the year before. The biggest fall is in the theft of agricultural vehicles, and the number of animals killed or injured in dog attacks was also down, by a quarter, but livestock theft remained high.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
MON 05:57 Weather (m002dl15)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m002dmkf)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002dmkh)
The Idea of Genius
We think we know what a genius is: a tortured poet; rebellious scientist; monstrous artist; or a tech disruptor. You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius says Helen Lewis in her new book, The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers. From Leonardo da Vinci to Elon Musk, she asks if the modern idea of genius, as a class of special people, is distorting our view of the world.
With ten platinum albums Tupac Shakur was one of the stars of hip hop music when he was murdered at the age of 25. His music was very influential and his name is also associated with the legacy of Black Panther politics. In Words for My Comrades: A Political Biography of Tupac Shakur, Dean Van Nguyen argues that while much of the energy of the Black political movement was absorbed by the commercial music culture of the 1990s – Tupac’s contribution lives on today.
Gertrude Stein was considered a genius by some, a charlatan by others. She posed for Picasso’s portrait; hosted Matisse and Hemingway in Bohemian Paris; and she dazzled American crowds on her sell-out tour for her sensational Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, a version of the relationship with her partner. Francesca Wade’s new book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, explores the creation of the Stein myth.
Presenter: Adam Rutherford
Producer: Ruth Watts
MON 09:45 At Your Own Peril (m0027jxs)
Show Me The Bodies
The modern world is full of risks, from natural hazards such as flooding to the existential threat of nuclear war, artificial intelligence and climate change.
With the scientific and technological progress of the past few centuries, we’ve created new hazards that threaten our very survival and in this series, emergency planner and disaster recovery expert Lucy Easthope explores the history of risk to find out how it’s understood, perceived and managed, and to ask how we can become more resilient as individuals, as a society and as a planet.
Every few years, the government publishes the National Risk Register, a long list of the most serious short-term hazards that we face as a society.
But what happens when these acute risks are themselves the product of chronic risks? How do we deal with these long-term risks within the short-term cycle of politics? And why do we always wait until there is a disaster before we do anything?
As Lucy Easthope discovers, not acting is the same as acting - and when it comes to the prevention of a disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Grenfell Tower fire, the consequences of not acting can be catastrophic.
Presenter: Lucy Easthope
Producer: Patrick Bernard
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
Lucy Easthope is the co-founder of the After Disaster Network in the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at the University of Durham, Professor in Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath and the author of “When The Dust Settles”.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002dmkk)
Child sex abuse gangs, Older surrogacy, Ranking friends
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced a full national statutory inquiry into child sexual abuse perpetrated by gangs after previously dismissing calls for a public inquiry. This comes after he said he has read every single word of an independent report into child exploitation by Baroness Louise Casey and would accept her recommendation for a full investigation. Nuala McGovern discusses what’s been announced with BBC Special Correspondent Judith Moritz and Maggie Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 to publicly speak out against what she recognised as gross failures to safeguard victims of the scandal in Rochdale. She has recently had meetings with Baroness Casey and has taken a group of survivors to share their experiences with her.
The BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Board have selected six academics to be this year’s New Generation Thinkers on Radio 4 and Historical Criminologist Stephanie Brown will be joining Woman’s Hour. She talks to Nuala about her research into crime, punishment and policing and how society views women criminals.
Lily Allen recently admitted that she ranks her friends in a recent edition of the BBC podcast Miss Me? The singer joked: 'I create lists of people who I like in order of how much I like them… I send that list to my assistant and ask her to schedule the time for me to have FaceTimes with them.' But joking apart, is it simply human nature to make a distinction between close friends and acquaintances, and everyone in between? Columnist for the iPaper Rebecca Reid and cultural historian Tiffany Watt-Smith join Nuala to discuss.
BBC journalist Sanchia Berg and fertility lawyer Beverley Addison joins Nuala to discuss the recent cases of older couples becoming parents via surrogacy.
Iris Mwanza started out as a corporate lawyer in both her native Zambia and then in the US. She’s also been Deputy Director in the Gender Equality Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But she’s gone back to her roots for her debut novel, The Lions’ Den. Set in Zambia in the early 1990s, it follows Grace Zulu, a rookie lawyer, whose first pro bono case is to help the 17-year-old Willbess Mulenga. It’s been alleged that Willbess, who prefers the name Bessy, had sex with another man and he’s been arrested for offences ‘against nature.’
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Emma Pearce
MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m002dmkm)
Hungary
The Butcher and the Poet
"Brussels is abusing its power," said Victor Orban, "just as Vienna once did." The date, March 15 2025 - this year - but the reference was to March 1848 when Hungary rose up against its Austrian overlords, a great moment for many Hungarians today. Misha Glenny and producer Miles Warde were in Budapest when Viktor Orban made his speech, looking for the source of that revolution, who turned out to be a poet, Sandor Petofi. So is Viktor Orban right to draw parallels between then and now, or is he using history as a political tool?
With contributions from Paul Lendvai, Andras Gero, Viktor Sebesteyen, Kamilla Marosi and Krisztina Rohaly, a school teacher in Budapest.
Further reading:
The Hungarians: A Thousands Years of Victory in Defeat by Paul Lendvai
Under The Frog and How to Rule the World by Tibor Fischer
Budapest: Between East and West by Victor Sebestyen
MON 11:45 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dmkp)
Born into a Storm
Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.
Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, ‘an invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death’. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child’s eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.
This first episode opens with Lana’s memory of the last words her mother said to her, as she left their apartment in Grozny on the 15th July 2009 – ‘Lana, where’s my perfume?’ Lana then circles back to tell the story of her birth and early childhood, living with her mother in Chechnya and begging her for stories about the first Russo-Chechen war.
‘Some of the most harrowing crimes committed by Russian troops – rapes, cleansing operations and secret torture prisons – would only be uncovered in the years that followed the war. My mother was to play a role in this, finding her true calling as a human rights activist.
Her memories of that time must have been deeply traumatic. But she never grew tired of telling me the story of our survival, and I never grew tired of hearing it. No matter how terrifying, every tale had a happy ending: Mum and me in our kitchen with our fluffy tabby cat next to us.’
Read by Ell Potter
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:00 News Summary (m002dmkr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002dmkt)
Over-tourism, Protests and Holidays
This programme takes a detailed look at the rising issue of over-tourism. It follows a day of protests across Europe against tourism as demonstrators chanted the words “your holidays, my misery”. We hear from Canary Islander Jaime Coello about what these protests are really about and Winifred Robinson talks to the Chief of Tourism Market Intelligence and Competitiveness at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Sandra Carvao and Lisa Minot Head of Travel at The Sun about the background to what's going on and how things could change.
The cruise industry is sometimes criticised for the impact it has when large number of tourists suddenly descend on a location, so Winifred asks Andy Harmer Managing Director for the UK and Ireland of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) what his industry is doing to mitigate the impact.
And we look at how over-tourism impacts communities - not only abroad - but also here in the UK, as we visit the village of Castleton in the Peak District and Bernard Donaghue from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions is on the programme to explain what's happening with tourism more generally across the UK.
PRESENTER - WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM
MON 12:57 Weather (m002dmkw)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m002dmky)
Government to announce national grooming gangs inquiry
A campaigner who works with victims tells us today's announcement is long overdue, and a former chief constable reacts. Plus, as G7 leaders meet to discuss Israel's war with Iran, former National Security Adviser Lord Darroch warns the world's on the cusp of an "extraordinarily dangerous" escalation.
MON 13:45 Politically (m002dml0)
Postwar
6. Appealing to Women
David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed.
The years that followed -- the postwar years -- would bring about bold and radical reform, the building of a new nation, a 'New Jerusalem'. The Britain of the National Health Service and the welfare state, of nationalised industry and the so-called 'postwar consensus' -- all were ushered into place with this election. This is the Britain that most have us have grown up in and which still shapes an idea of who we think we are.
After a war which dramatically changed the working lives of women, the 1945 election became, in some ways, the first modern election. Women represented a majority of the electorate and, as far as the party manifestos were concerned, did not form a separate constituency. Women campaigned alongside men on the airwaves and a record number of female MPs were elected.
Featuring historian Lucy Delap.
MON 14:00 The Archers (m002dl0g)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Conversations from a Long Marriage (m002d1v9)
Series 6
5. Stuck in the Middle with You
Joanna is furious when, after a long flight back from America, Roger insists on stopping at the car wash.
Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return as the loving, long-married couple, in the 6th series of Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy.
This week, we meet them at the petrol station, almost home, after the long flight back from Roger’s grandson’s wedding in America. They’ve had delays and traffic problems and they need to pick up the dog from Sally’s, as she’s off to a concert. But in spite of Joanna’s objections, Roger insists on driving into the car wash, insisting ‘It’ll only take a minute!’
Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington and produced by Claire Jones.
Wilfredo Acosta - Sound Engineer
Jon Calver - Sound Designer
Sarah Nicholls - Production Coordinator
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4
MON 14:45 Dance Move by Wendy Erskine (m001d5lc)
Episode 3 - Bildungsroman
In Dance Move, the new collection of stories from Wendy Erskine, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by the moment in their past that marked them. In these stories – as in real life – the funny, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand. Full of warmth, the familiar and the strange, they are about what it means to live in the world, how far you can end up from where you came from, and what it means to look back.
Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2022.
The Author
Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published by Repeater, Dostoyevsky Wannabe, Faber & Faber, Tangerine Press, No Alibis Press and Rough Trade Books. Sweet Home, her first collection of stories, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize. It was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award.
Reader: Roísín Gallagher
Author: Wendy Erskine
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
Executive Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production.
MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002dml2)
Josh Cohen and Nussaibah Younis
BIG SWISS by Jen Beagin, chosen by Nussaibah Younis
A HEART SO WHITE by Javier Marías, chosen by Josh Cohen
THE END OF EDDY by Edouard Louis, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Big Swiss is a 29-year-old gynecologist who has never had an orgasm. Greta Work is an audio transcriber for a sex therapist who is infatuated by one of his clients. After an encounter at the dog park, they strike up an affair. Nussaibah calls this one of the funniest books she's ever read. What do the others think? A Heart So White, by the Spanish author Javier Marias and recommended by Josh, has a shocking opening page. What unravels after is a harrowing tale of family secrets and their resonances through different generations. First published in 1992. Finally, The End of Eddy, Harriett's pick, was a sensation when it was first published in France in 2014. An autobiographical novel of a violent and mostly difficult childhood, it also can be read as a portrait of a poor, rural community in Northern France.
Josh Cohen is a psychoanalyst and writer, whose many books include Not Working: Why We Have to Stop; How to Live: What to Do and, most recently, All the Rage: Why Anger Drives the World.
Nussaibah Younis is an expert on contemporary Iraq who for several years advised the Iraqi government on de-radicalising women affiliated with ISIS. Nussaibah’s debut novel Fundamentally was shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Produced by Eliza Lomas, for BBC Audio Bristol.
MON 15:30 Curious Cases (m002c71f)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Saturday]
MON 16:00 Currently (m002dkzs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002dkj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m002dml4)
Grooming gangs review is published
The audit of child grooming gangs by Baroness Casey is published, the government announces a new inquiry. Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips explains the change of plan.
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dml6)
"A collective failure to address questions about the ethnicity of grooming gangs" - the verdict of Baroness Casey's report on group-based child sexual exploitation.
MON 18:30 It's a Fair Cop (m002dml8)
Series 9
4. Citizen's Arrest
In this week’s case Alfie asks if you saw someone being robbed in the street, would you step in to help?
Join Alfie and his audience of sworn-in deputies as they explore when it’s ok to make a citizen’s arrest. And when it’s best to leave well alone.
Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Sam Holmes
A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m002dmlb)
Pip and Stella plan a picnic. Preoccupied Stella starts to disclose what’s on her mind, but Pip’s distracted by a call from Rosie’s school – Rosie’s sworn at a child and upset her. Pip can’t believe it. Stella reckons Rosie could have picked up the word anywhere but Pip’s not convinced she said it at all. She calls Toby, who has Rosie this week. She reports Toby’s equally shocked and will talk to Rosie. Pip frets; she feels freaked out and sorry for Rosie. Stella suggests that it’s possible Rosie did do it, but Pip maintains she’s not a mean kid. Unsettled, she declares she’ll drive to Toby’s and speak to Rosie herself. The picnic will have to be another time.
Kate’s cooking Brian a belated Father’s Day meal. Talk turns to the topic of the big family holiday. Kate’s very excited at Phoebe’s baby news but someone needs to take the lead on the holiday coordination. She thinks if they get it right it could be the holiday of a lifetime. Brian doesn’t share her enthusiasm. Pinning Friday as a good meeting date Kate resolves to set up a family group chat to pool ideas. Jakob arrives and they all drink to the baby. Kate wonders what she might be known by when she becomes a grandmother. She suggests Jakob could be Mofar, a Swedish term for grandpa. Jakob doesn’t like it. Later, he tells Brian he’s not ready to be a grandfather. Brian allays his concerns with some wise words of experience. Jakob still hates the prospect of ‘Mofar.’
MON 19:15 Front Row (m002dmld)
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland on 28 Years Later
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland tell Tom Sutcliffe about their new film, 28 Years Later; a whole new take on the story which stars Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. It's the follow up to their post-apocalyptic fast-paced, gory zombie movies 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. The Rage virus escaped a medical research laboratory and - nearly three decades later - one group of survivors has learned how to exist among the infected.
Tom speaks with James Frey, once described as “America’s Most Notorious Author”, about Next To Heaven – his new novel brimming with sex, murder and millionaires.
Front Row is talking to all the finalists in this year's Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, and today we’re off to Belfast to hear from the Golden Thread Gallery. Founded the year after the Good Friday Agreement, the gallery seeks to promote the work of contemporary Northern Irish artists – as well as leading creators from across the world.
Radio 4 has announced today the names of 6 researchers who will be working with the network as part of scheme run with the Arts and Humanities Research Council called New Generation Thinkers … The aim is to put research on the radio. Several hundred academics across the UK applied and Drs Laura Minor and Sarah Smyth have been chosen to work with Front Row over the coming year.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
MON 20:00 Rethink (m002d8vc)
Rethink... productivity
The UK government has made growth its key mission. But solving the British productivity puzzle is not a new priority - it’s been on the agenda for successive governments.
Getting productivity up is crucial to sustain higher living standards. The more productive we are, the better off we'll be.
But the UK has experienced significantly slower productivity growth than comparable countries since the global financial crisis in 2008 and by some measures, Britain has been going through its worst period for productivity growth since the Napoleonic Era.
Britain’s productivity lags that of many of our major trading partners, including France, Germany and the USA and that’s despite British workers spending longer in the office. According to the ONS, the French can work four days and achieve roughly as much as the British do in five.
What are the factors behind the UK’s chronically weak productivity growth, what are other countries doing better?
How can we increase Britain’s productivity?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Farhana Haider
Contributors:
Margaret Heffernan, Professor of Practice in Management at the University of Bath, writer and former CEO.
Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Gareth Davies, Head of the National Audit Office.
Leslie Perlow, Professor of organisational behaviour at the Harvard Business School and founder of the Crafting Your Life special project.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m002d8vf)
What science is the UK government funding?
How do you plan for the scientific discoveries of the future? That’s the question Chancellor Rachel Reeves had to try to answer with this week’s Spending Review. She allocated more than 22 billion pounds a year by 2029/30 for research and development which was described as a boost for science. Robin Bisson, UK News Editor for news website Research Professional News, and Dr Alicia Greated, Executive Director at the charity Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK, explain where the money will go.
As the UN’s Ocean Conference continues in Nice, France, we get the latest developments from Science and Climate Correspondent Esme Stallard, before diving into a kelp forest in our own UK waters with reporter Graihagh Jackson. It’s hoped that encouraging the seaweed could help sequester carbon dioxide.
We hear about the dinosaur discovery that’s rewriting the evolutionary story of the Tyrannosaurus Rex with University of Calgary palaeontologists Professor Darla Zelenitsky and Jared Voris.
And journalist Caroline Steel is in the studio with her round up of science stories straight from the researcher’s labs.
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002dmkh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 The Shipping Postcards (m002dmlg)
Lundy
To mark the centenary of broadcasting of the Shipping Forecast, members of the Radio 4 Continuity team, the voices of the on-air forecast, leave the Radio 4 studio behind and travel the UK visiting some of the iconic areas we only know by their official descriptions on the daily forecast. Dogger, Irish Sea, Wight, Lundy and Forth. They meet the residents, sailors, fishermen, radio lovers and many others who live and work on the coastal areas – and who have a connection to the Shipping Forecast.
Episode 4 - Lundy
Charles Carroll visits the sea area of Lundy. He heads out with a lifeboat crew, meets an artist inspired by waves, and discovers why it’s important to listen to the shipping forecast if you are getting married at St David’s Cathedral.
Presenter - Charles Carroll
Producer - Sara Jane Hall
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002dmlj)
Iran launches new wave of missiles at Israel
For a fourth day running, Israel and Iran have struck targets inside each other's countries. As G7 leaders call for restraint, we ask what it would take for the US to become involved.
Also on the programme: A landmark report on child sexual abuse says the authorities "shied away from" the ethnicity of grooming gangs for fear of being branded racist. We speak to a journalist who has followed the scandal for 20 years. And as MI6 appoints its first ever female leader, we'll hear about the women of the secret service who blazed a trail for Blaise Metreweli.
MON 22:45 Albion by Anna Hope (m002dmll)
Episode 6
As a glorious burgeoning of new growth bursts into life across the thousand acres that Philip Brooke has left to his eldest daughter Frannie, his two younger children - Milo and Isa (Isabella) - return to the family home. It’s a stunning, golden hued eighteenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland in the heart of the Sussex Downs, built by their ancestor, Oliver Brooke seven generations before our present moment.
The house and estate are also home to ‘The Albion Project’ an ambitious plan conceived by Frannie and implemented alongside her father in his final decade. The rewilding project has catalysed an astonishing regeneration that has already brought back rare birds to the woodland, fish to a previously choked river, and mammals and plants to an estate sucked dry by the agri-business of pheasant shoots. Frannie is fond of saying that everything she does is about looking seven generations ahead: for the future of her seven-year-old daughter
Rowan, and the communities and families that will follow, alongside the bigger responsibility to the eco- system.
However, for Frannie’s younger brother Milo, the house and estate are also the intended home of his own project, ‘The Clearing’ – a radical treatment centre based on monitored use of psilocybin in luxurious treehouse lodges, administered by therapists and ‘ritual managers' (alongside top chefs and other spa retreat necessities).
Their younger sister, Isa, now 38 and a teacher in London, also had a troubled childhood and was damaged, as were her siblings, by having to witness the suffering caused to their mother by their father Philip’s open and continuous philandering. For an entire decade of her childhood he left and went to live with an art dealer/gallerist in New York. Unlike her siblings, Isa never reconciled with her father and the memories of her childhood at the house are dominated by her adolescent affair with the estate keeper’s son, Jack.
Philip’s cruel narcissism casts a shadow over them all, and his wife Grace is longing to move out of the big house and into the cottage where Frannie and Rowan lived. But unexpected news from New York, and the arrival of a stranger leave the entire family unmoored and in shock.
Anna Hope is the author of five novels, three of which (including Albion) are being developed for the screen. She studied at Oxford and trained at RADA.
Jonathan Coe describes Albion as ‘A superb novel deftly woven around themes of class, national identity and environmental collapse. In Albion Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today’
Albion by Anna Hope is read by the author
Abridged by Jill Waters and Anna Hope
Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company
MON 23:00 Whodunnits (m000jhnf)
A Charles Paris Mystery - A Doubtful Death
2. To Die, to Sleep
Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris in another case for the loveably louche actor cum amateur detective.
Charles is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept theatre group when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing.
In between rehearsals with puppeteers and mime artists Charles determines to find out what has happened to her.
Written by Jeremy Front
from the novel by Simon Brett
Charles .... Bill Nighy
Frances .... Suzanne Burden
Maurice .... Jon Glover
Dan .... Will Kirk
Vicky .... Jessica Turner
Tomasz .... Ian Conningham
Zoe .... Laura Christy
Siriol .... Sinead MacInnes
Pete .... Neil McCaul
Tim .... Greg Jones
Izzy .... Lucy Reynolds
Canon Park/Director .... Clive Hayward
Passenger .... Adam Courting
Waitress/Sat Nav .... Amy Bentley-Klein
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2020.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002dmln)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as the Home Secretary announces a national inquiry into grooming gangs following a review by Lady Casey.
TUESDAY 17 JUNE 2025
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002dmlq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dmkp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dmls)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dmlv)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
TUE 05:00 News Summary (m002dmlx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002dmlz)
Sean Curran reports as MPs question the government about its announcement that there will be a national inquiry into sex abuse gangs.
TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dmm1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dmm3)
What Makes a Country Great
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Doctor Stephen Wigley.
Good morning.
The Statue of Liberty is a striking landmark over-looking New York Harbour and one of the most iconic images of America. The classical figure is inspired by Roman goddess of Liberty, who is standing on a broken chain to symbolize both freedom and the end of slavery. It was intended as a gift to the United States from the people of France, and although it took a little while to raise the money for its creation, it finally arrived in New York Harbour, in some 350 pieces packed into 200 crates, on this day in 1885 before being put together, erected and then formally opened the following year in October 1886.
The Statue also overlooks Ellis Island, the Immigration station where between 1892 and 1924 over 12 million immigrants, mainly from Europe, got their first sight of New York and entered the United States.
Many of these immigrants were fleeing persecution and pogroms in Europe; others were looking for the opportunity to build a new life where they would be free to follow their own faith and conscience. So in time, the Statue became famous also for the sonnet ‘Colossus’ written by Emma Lazarus (herself a Sephardic Jew whose family emigrated to America from Portugal) which was subsequently inscribed on it; ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... send these the homeless tempest-tost to me.’ It’s a powerful reminder of that calling of America to be a beacon of hope for all those seeking a fresh start and freedom from persecution. And, at a time there is so much talk of walls and restrictions, that the greatness of the American dream is not just about restoring a glorious past but being open to a new and living future.
Merciful God, you show us in Jesus how your strength is revealed in weakness and your power in love; help us to value those dreams of freedom which draw people together into the life of your Kingdom.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002dmm5)
17/06/25 Agricultural jobs, organised livestock crime, seaweed science
Anna Hill finds out how new farming technology could mean more jobs, not fewer. A new report from The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture says the expansion of artificial intelligence apps collecting data and providing real-time advice will mean recruiting and training more people, to give farmers technical support.
In Northern Ireland, stealing farm animals is being linked to organised crime, and it seems the current high stock values are making them even more attractive to criminals.
As arable farmers wait for their crops to ripen in the fields, many are watching grain prices carefully. Grain isn't just a domestic commodity, but is traded worldwide...and aspects like exchange rates, and President Trump's new tariffs make a big difference to the price.
And we visit the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban, where scientists are embarking on a new five-year international research project looking at the economics of extracting various products from seaweed, as well as assessing the climate resilience of different species...and even training up new seaweed farmers.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons
TUE 06:00 Today (m002dnj2)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m002dmp1)
Kevin Fong on medical planning for Mars and Earth-based emergencies
There can't be many people in the world who've saved lives in hospital emergency rooms and also helped care for the wellbeing of astronauts in space – but Kevin Fong’s career has followed a singular path: from astrophysics and trauma medicine, to working with NASA, to becoming an Air Ambulance doctor.
Kevin is a consultant anaesthetist and professor of public engagement and innovation at University College London. He’s worked on the front line in hospitals, dealing with major incidents and helping shape policy; but he's also stayed true to his childhood passion for space, working on multiple projects with NASA and even going through the astronaut application process himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also become a well-known figure in science broadcasting through his various radio and TV shows.
Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Kevin admits it hasn't always been an easy path – but his passion for both space and medicine have got him through. And today, he's channelling his energies into ensuring we protect the NHS's most precious commodity: its staff.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
This programme was a BBC Studios Audio prouction for Radio 4.
TUE 09:30 All in the Mind (m002dmp3)
The Psychology of Curiosity at Cheltenham Science Festival
Is curiosity good for us, or should we learn a lesson from what curiosity did to the cat? And why does curiosity drive some people to explore the ends of the earth and beyond, while others just really aren’t very curious at all?
As a journalist and author, Claudia Hammond has turned curiosity into a profession. She invites a panel of people for whom curiosity is also at the centre of what they do to discuss the psychology of curiosity in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival. They are...
Tim Peake – astronaut, test pilot and author. His lifelong curiosity took him to live for six months on the International Space station. While he was there he famously ran the London Marathon on a treadmill and he was the first British astronaut to walk in space.
Gosia Goclowska - a lecturer in the department of psychology at the University of Bath. She researches some of the more unusual emotions we experience such as curiosity, awe and surprise.
And Matthias Gruber - an associate professor of psychology at the University of Cardiff. His research focuses on the neuroscience of curiosity and learning.
Producer: Lorna Stewart
Production Coordinator: Jana Holesworth
Sound Engineers: Gayl Gordon and Giles Aspen
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002dnj4)
Comedian Rosie Jones, Grooming gangs, Playing outside
We discuss the key recommendations of Baroness Louise Casey's report into child sexual exploitation and abuse, and ask what might change as a result? Nuala McGovern is joined by guests including BBC social affairs editor Alison Holt, social worker-turned-whistleblower Jayne Senior and documentary director Anna Hall, who has spent the past two decades covering the subject of grooming gangs.
Comedian, actor and writer Rosie Jones joins Nuala to discuss her first sitcom, Pushers, which she stars in and co-wrote. She plays Emily in the Channel 4 show, who has very little left to lose after having her disability benefits cut when she loses her job - she finds herself building an illegal drugs empire. Emily isn’t your average street-dealer though - she’s sharp, funny, highly educated and has cerebral palsy. What better disguise could there be for criminal activity than to be entirely written off by society?
Children are not playing outside enough, according to a new report by the Raising the Nation Play Commission, but instead are "sedentary, scrolling and alone". Nineteen commissioners, from doctors to campaigners, spent a year investigating play and childhood in England for the report. Among their recommendations are raising the digital age of consent to 16 and putting in place a statutory "play sufficiency duty" for local authorities. Joining Nuala to discuss this are Baroness Anne Longfield, executive chair of Centre for Young Lives and co-leader of the commission, and Debbie Watson, Professor of Child and Family Welfare at the University of Bristol.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Sarah Jane Griffiths
TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m002dc9t)
Ashley Henry and Amy Harman on Bowie and Beethoven
Jazz pianist Ashley Henry and bassoonist Amy Harman join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add five more tracks to the playlist, taking us from a Bowie dance classic to Marvin Gaye via an unexpected rare, live, performance by a jazz icon in a school in California, surprisingly recorded by the caretaker in 1968.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Modern Love by David Bowie
Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor by Beethoven
Epistrophy (Live) by Thelonious Monk
Apple by Charli XCX
I Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
Other music in this episode:
Take it Higher by Ashley Henry
The Magdalene Laundries by Joni Mitchell
Starman by David Bowie
Fame by David Bowie
Under Pressure by David Bowie
TUE 11:45 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dnj6)
Life Among the Ruins
Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.
Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, ‘an invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death’. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child’s eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.
This second episode opens in 1998, when Natalya and her four-year-old daughter are living in Grozny. Natalya is beginning her human rights work, recording interviews with survivors of an infamous secret Russian prison. Despite this grim work, she is determined to keep up appearances, and to make their life as normal as possible:
'“It doesn’t matter how little money you have, as long as you can disguise it,” Mum lectured me while applying glossy bungundy lipstick, most likely the only one she had. And no matter how dire our financial situation was, Mum made sure we always looked well put-together. Her secret was an old sewing machine; scraps of fabric bought at the market were transformed into sartorial miracles. All dressed up, we would head to the only remaining patisserie in Grozny for a glass of juice and a slice of cake, our sacred Sunday tradition.
“I could have bought a hunk of meat with that money,” Mum would tell me. “My friends scolded me for spending it on cake. But it was more important to me that you had a normal childhood.”'
Read by Ell Potter
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002dnj8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002dnjb)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002dnjd)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002dnjg)
President Trump warns Tehran residents to evacuate
Iran and Israel continue strikes as President Trump says "we're looking at better than a ceasefire." And the rise of documenting medical treatment. We hear from influencer filming themselves inside hospital.
TUE 13:45 Politically (m002dnjj)
Postwar
7. The Labour Manifesto
David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed.
The years that followed -- the postwar years -- would bring about bold and radical reform, the building of a new nation, a 'New Jerusalem'. The Britain of the National Health Service and the welfare state, of nationalised industry and the so-called 'postwar consensus' -- all were ushered into place with this election. This is the Britain that most have us have grown up in and which still shapes an idea of who we think we are.
Up to this point, manifestos had traditionally been the election address of the party leader. The Conservative leader in 1945 was the towering figure in the nation and it made sense to stick to that formula. In contrast, the Labour manifesto made no mention of the party leader Clement Attlee. It was a completely different kind of document. Largely the work of a young researcher named Michael Young, it moved far beyond the traditional election address towards offering a real prospectus for government. And, uniquely in modern British history, it was a best-seller.
Featuring historians David Kynaston and Robert Saunders.
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002dmlb)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002dnjl)
Fran and Joe
Summer Fate
Following on from World Book Date, Katie Redford picks up the story of Fran and Joe, two teachers who shared a kiss the night before the Nativity play in the first Fran and Joe Afternoon Drama, Christmas Wings. There is unfinished business between the two of them and the end of the Summer term is fast approaching but what will happen next. It's the Summer Fete and Fran and Joe are on the ice lolly stall, apt as there is a distinct chill in the air between the two.
Fran ..... Fiona Button
Joe ..... Nikesh Patel
Miss Pear ..... Joanna Monro
Amber ..... Lena Raymen
Directed by Tracey Neale
Christmas Wings, a drama set in the wings of a primary school Nativity play, told the story of two teachers, Fran and Joe, who have a heart to heart after exchanging a stolen kiss at the Christmas party the night before. It left the listeners rooting for Joe and Fran and they wanted to know what happened next.
We join Fran and Joe once more at another favourite annual event within the school calendar - the St Barnard's School Summer Fete. When we left them at the end of the second drama, World Book Date, they were still dressed as Princess Elsa from Frozen and The Toad of Toad Hall but their relationship had floundered through various bumps and misunderstandings but here they are three months later finding themselves together on the ice lolly stall with Miss Pear taking charge as the Head of Events. There are more warm, funny and poignant stories about love, loneliness and loss. Will Miss Pear leave school on time and will Fran and Joe kiss and make up?
The Writer:
Katie is a writer and actor from Nottingham. She is a BAFTA Rocliffe TV Comedy winner and writes for TV and Theatre. In addition to Christmas Wings and World Book Date her previous audio work was Yellow Lips for which she was nominated for the Richard Imison Best New Writer in the Audio Drama Awards.
The Cast:
Nikesh Patel, The Devil's Hour, Starstruck and The Critic.
Fiona Button, Trying, Out of her Mind and The Split.
Joanna Monro, Rosie in Mamma Mia (West End & International Tour) and the award winning audio drama series Home Front.
Production Team:
Producer & Director, Tracey Neale
Production Co-Ordinator, Ben Hollands
Technical Production, Keith Graham & Neva Missirian
TUE 15:00 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m002dnjn)
Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley - Series 2
46. Minnie Pheby - Lady Burglar
Lucy Worsley meets Minnie Pheby, a strong and agile young woman who defies all the gender stereotypes of Victorian society – not a homemaker, but a homebreaker. She’s the devil compared with the idealised ‘angel in the house’, sneaking into middle class homes in the dead of night. In West London as the Victorian era draws to a close, Minnie sleeps on a pillow of stolen dresses in a squat furnished with life’s little luxuries, all the proceeds of crime.
Lucy is joined by former Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Malton, famously the inspiration for Prime Suspect’s DCI Jane Tennison, who knows Minnie’s patch very well. She gives her expert insights on burglary, women in policing and what really makes a difference for repeat offenders like Minnie.
With historian Professor Rosalind Crone, Lucy and Jackie investigate Minnie’s past and discover if she ever hangs up her swag bag for good. Lucy and Ros test their mettle as undercover operatives in Shepherd’s Bush, staking out the house where Minnie was first arrested. Will Jackie be impressed by their efforts?
Together, the all-female team ask how common were lady burglars? How were they portrayed in the press? Why were the Victorians both appalled and fascinated by their physical capabilities and boldness?
Producer: Sarah Goodman
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble and Alex Phelps
Sound design: Chris Maclean
Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m002dnjq)
Death
Laurie Taylor talks to Molly Conisbee, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, about her ‘people’s’ history of mortality, beyond queens and aristocrats. From the plague pits to grave-robberies and wakes, she explores how cycles of dying, death and disposal have shaped our society. What did it mean to die well in the past, what does it mean now? Also, Chao Fang, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, talks about his study of the meaning of a good death in China & how it differs from western notions which centre the dying person’s wishes rather than family harmony.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
TUE 16:00 Poetry Please (m002dnjs)
Antony Szmierek
Antony Szmierek burst onto the music scene last year with his debut album Service Station At The End of The Universe - featuring poetry and lyrics - being a fixture on BBC 6 Music. His melancholic often existential lyrics set to club music have earned him a large fan base and sell out gigs up and down the country. His book of pop poetry and lyrics Roadmap is newly published by Faber Music. Antony's love for poetry stems from his schooldays but also from more recent years as an English teacher in his hometown of Manchester. Antony joins Roger to choose some of his favourite poetry from listeners' requests as well as some of his own personal favourites both old and contemporary.
Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol
TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002dnjv)
How to Avoid Boredom
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 find out whether we can conquer boredom. Why do we experience boredom? Do we experience it less than we used to? And how can we motivate ourselves to complete tasks we find boring? They speak to Dr Wijnand Van Tilburg, experimental social psychologist at the University of Essex, to find out.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Dr Wijnand Van Tilburg
Producer: Jo Rowntree
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Assistant Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Researcher: Grace Revill
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 (m002dnjy)
Israel-Iran war: Will the US join in?
President Trump escalates his rhetoric on Iran, and says "we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran". Plus, the latest from the Commons as MPs debate decriminalising abortion.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dnk2)
Trump says no plans to kill Iran's leader 'for now'
Donald Trump says he knows where Iran's leader is hiding but will not kill him 'for now'.
TUE 18:30 Unspeakable (m002dnk6)
Series 2
6. Touchy, touch-screens and touch-ups
This episode we hear Miles Jupp's word for the ubiquity of touch-screens, Michelle de Swarte's coinage for a Turkish makeover, and Ashley Storrie's creation for anger that spreads virally.
Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.
Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Michelle de Swarte, Miles Jupp and Ashley Storrie
Created by Joe Varley
Writers: Matt Crosby and Katie Storey
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun
A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002dmn8)
Jakob admits to Kate he was thrown by the idea of being a grandparent. It was the list of things Kate had planned for them to do with the baby that overwhelmed him – but it’s all good now thanks to a nice chat with Brian. They agree Brian’s a star. Jakob tells Kate he’s set up a bank account to show his commitment to their grandchild. Kate’s touched – until Jakob declares he won’t be coming on the family holiday. Later Kate tells Lilian how disappointed she is. She reminds her aunt about Friday’s holiday meeting and encourages her to read all the messages in the group chat.
Chaos reigns at the Bull and Lilian pitches in, offering to run to the shop to fill a gap in a missing wholesale order. Joy scoops up the list of items and she and Lilian set to work. Jim comes and can’t believe how much new stock there is on the shelves. How can they afford it? Joy explains Susan was worried about losing customers, assuring Jim the gamble’s paying off so far.
After the lunch rush Jolene and Kenton are relieved to have got through it all, and normal service is resumed. They’re thankful for the village shop. Sceptical Jim is won over as Lilian insists lunches at the Bull would have been cancelled today if it hadn’t been for the well stocked shop.
When there’s a late request for a cricket tea on Sunday, Joy steps up and offers to lend a hand. Lilian declares she’s saved the Bull yet again.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002dnkb)
The producers of RuPaul's Drag Race, plus pianist Alfred Brendel remembered
RuPaul's Drag Race producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato join Nick Ahad to talk about their career making making television and movies, ahead of being guests of honour at this year's Sheffield DocFest.
Radio 3 presenter Tom Service discusses the life and legacy of Alfred Brendel who was a celebrated author, poet and pianist.
Caroline Norbury, the CEO of Creative UK, Stephanie Sirr, the Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse, and Sienna Rodgers, the Deputy Editor of parliamentary magazine The House, discuss how the arts will be affected by the recent spending review.
The theme of this year's Liverpool Biennial is ‘bedrock’. The inspiration is the sandstone which spans the city region and is found in its distinctive architecture. 'Bedrock' is also a metaphor for the social foundations of Liverpool and the people, places and values that ground the city. From the cornucopia of work by 30 artists from all over the world, shown in galleries and venues all over the city, the art critic Laura Robertson chooses three highlights.
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
Presenter: Nick Ahad
TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002dmmn)
Adult Gaming Centres
High street gambling venues, known as adult gaming centres, promise a safe and sociable experience; the chance to have a chat, a coffee and a flutter, under the supervision of trained staff. And they’re proving to be popular, with an increasing number springing up across the country, some of which are open 24 hours a day.
But File on 4 Investigates hears concerns some venues are failing to protect people struggling with gambling addictions - with devastating consequences. AGC's are supposed to ensure staff are trained to spot problem gamblers and intervene. They also operate a self-exclusion scheme which allows problem gamblers to self-exclude from AGC's. Staff should intervene if they spot somebody who has self-exlcuded and should ask them to leave the premises. It's a sensible plan - but does it actually work?
Reporter: Alastair Fee
Producer: Ben Robinson
Researcher: Michael Gaughan
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002dnkf)
Pocklington Lodge
Pocklington Lodge is the last of the Thomas Pocklington Trust's housing complexes. The charity plans to sell the property, as a result of changes in their strategy and expertise over the years. In Touch visits Pocklington Lodge to hear from some of the residents, who fear what the sale of their complex could mean for the future of their homes. In Touch also visits Pocklington's headquarters to chat through reasons behind the decision with CEO, Charles Colquhoun.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Jack Thomason
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 The Law Show (m002db9f)
How can avoidable deaths be prevented?
The phrase “State related deaths” might mean little to the average person, but it's an umbrella term referring to a death in custody or a mental health setting. It also applies to situations when people have taken their own lives while in the armed forces or even to disasters like Grenfell or Hillsborough.
What all these have in common is that they are followed by inquests or public inquiries, where investigators or coroners try to work out what caused the deaths.
Public inquiries are set up to draw conclusions and release their findings, and coroners are required to write a "Prevention of Future Deaths" report when there are lessons to be learned.
Hundreds of these PFD reports are released in England and Wales each year - yet there is no system in place to ensure preventative changes are made.
In Scotland, the equivalent is a Fatal Accident Inquiry. It's held by a procurator fiscal - and not a coroner - in front of a sheriff, and has a wider remit than an inquest. It too, can flag up systemic failures that led to a death, and precautions that should be made in future.
So should the UK have a body that ensures these warnings are heeded?
Also on the programme:
The government has welcomed Law Commission reforms to Wills - which includes new protections against so-called "predatory marriages".
And the Supreme Court case which could change the rules for all divorces in England and Wales.
Presenter: Joelle Grogan
Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
Editor: Tara McDermott
Contributors:
Deborah Coles, Director of the charity Inquest
Kate Stone, barrister at Garden Court North chambers
Alexander Learmonth KC, barrister at New Square chambers
Tracey Moloney, Moloney Family solicitors
TUE 21:30 Stakeknife (m002dnkh)
10. Frank (Part 2)
Mark travels to where Freddie Scappaticci lived after he disappeared from Belfast. A news report we featured from 1987 inspires a man to get in touch with the podcast.
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 (m002dnkk)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Albion by Anna Hope (m002dnkm)
Episode 7
As a glorious burgeoning of new growth bursts into life across the thousand acres that Philip Brooke has left to his eldest daughter Frannie, his two younger children - Milo and Isa (Isabella) - return to the family home. It’s a stunning, golden hued eighteenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland in the heart of the Sussex Downs, built by their ancestor, Oliver Brooke seven generations before our present moment.
The house and estate are also home to ‘The Albion Project’ an ambitious plan conceived by Frannie and implemented alongside her father in his final decade. The rewilding project has catalysed an astonishing regeneration that has already brought back rare birds to the woodland, fish to a previously choked river, and mammals and plants to an estate sucked dry by the agri-business of pheasant shoots. Frannie is fond of saying that everything she does is about looking seven generations ahead: for the future of her seven-year-old daughter
Rowan, and the communities and families that will follow, alongside the bigger responsibility to the eco- system.
However, for Frannie’s younger brother Milo, the house and estate are also the intended home of his own project, ‘The Clearing’ – a radical treatment centre based on monitored use of psilocybin in luxurious treehouse lodges, administered by therapists and ‘ritual managers' (alongside top chefs and other spa retreat necessities).
Their younger sister, Isa, now 38 and a teacher in London, also had a troubled childhood and was damaged, as were her siblings, by having to witness the suffering caused to their mother by their father Philip’s open and continuous philandering. For an entire decade of her childhood he left and went to live with an art dealer/gallerist in New York. Unlike her siblings, Isa never reconciled with her father and the memories of her childhood at the house are dominated by her adolescent affair with the estate keeper’s son, Jack.
Philip’s cruel narcissism casts a shadow over them all, and his wife Grace is longing to move out of the big house and into the cottage where Frannie and Rowan lived. But unexpected news from New York, and the arrival of a stranger leave the entire family unmoored and in shock.
Anna Hope is the author of five novels, three of which (including Albion) are being developed for the screen. She studied at Oxford and trained at RADA.
Jonathan Coe describes Albion as ‘A superb novel deftly woven around themes of class, national identity and environmental collapse. In Albion Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today’
Albion by Anna Hope is read by the author
Abridged by Jill Waters and Anna Hope
Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company
TUE 23:00 Uncanny (m002dnkp)
Summer Specials
The Torrelaguna House Part 2
After his terrifying night in the Torrelaguna house, Andy's companions admit he’s not the only one to have experienced odd occurrences.
In Part 2 of the Uncanny Summer Special, Danny Robins unravels the unsettling past of the old house - drawing us into the fascinating, dark history of Spain’s Civil War past and family secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Written and presented by Danny Robins
Editing and sound design: Charlie Brandon-King
Music: Evelyn Sykes
Theme music by Lanterns on the Lake
Commissioning executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard
A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002dnkr)
Sean Curran reports as the Commons backs measures to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales and as MPs accuse property management firms of "milking" the system.
WEDNESDAY 18 JUNE 2025
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002dnkt)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dnj6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dnkw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dnky)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
WED 05:00 News Summary (m002dnl0)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002dnl2)
Susan Hulme reports as MPs vote to change the law on abortion to stop women in England and Wales being prosecuted for ending their pregnancy. Also, First Minister's Questions from the Welsh Parliament and BBC experts preview the day ahead in Westminster.
WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dnl4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dnl6)
Meeting Our Waterloo
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Stephen Wigley.
Good morning.
‘Oh yes, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender.’ It’s been a few weeks since this year’s Eurovision but to my mind there was nothing there to compare with Abba’s classic song from 1974. Nor am I alone, as Waterloo was voted the best song at the 50th anniversary Eurovision in Copenhagen in 2005. ‘At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender’ and indeed, 210 yrs ago today that’s exactly what took place. It was a close-run thing for Wellington and his allies but it was a final and decisive defeat for Napoleon and his armies, leading to his exile in a place from which he could never return, on the island of St. Helena.
Now the genius, or alternatively the cheek of the song, is to take the impact of an international event and translate that into a pop song for Eurovision. From Abba’s perspective, moving from the battlefield into the complexity of human relationships in which love and hate intertwine, falling in love changes everything; it leaves the protagonist with all their defences down so that the only option is to surrender.
From a broader perspective, it serves to remind us that things in our life and relationships don’t always work out as we hope or plan. Events happen, relationships blossom or break, and we have to learn to adjust. Indeed, adjusting to apparent disaster is a theme which runs right through the Christian story – what bigger disaster could there be than the Crucifixion? But as Abba remind us, there will come a time for many, perhaps each one of us, when we finally meet our Waterloo and discover there is a new and very different future ahead of us than we first thought.
Loving God, in the life of Jesus you show us how to cope with both triumph and disaster; help us to be inspired by his example, so that we can find and face up to our own Waterloo whenever it happens.
Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002dnl8)
18/06/25 Gulf States trade deal, subsidy phase out and seaweed fertiliser
The NFU has confirmed it sent a private letter to the Prime Minister, raising concerns over a prospective trade deal with the Gulf States. It said the deal could open the UK up to imports of low-welfare meat from the Gulf, and more importantly, many other countries around the world. Although meat from the Gulf States might come up to UK hygiene standards, some welfare groups are concerned about the conditions animals are kept in, and the intensive nature of production, especially poultry.
Annual payments farmers in England receive based on the amount of land they have will be capped at just £600 next year. New details have emerged after last week's Spending Review.
And there’s evidence that humans have been using seaweed as a fertiliser for thousands of years. When chemical fertilisers were developed a century ago, that use of seaweed largely died out, but for some, it's making a comeback.
Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons
WED 06:00 Today (m002dmmh)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m002dlhq)
Are 4% of young women in the UK on OnlyFans?
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and in life. This week:
We debunk a false claim that the hotel bill for immigrants is the size of the tax bill for Manchester.
An article in the Spectator claimed that 4% of women aged between 18 and 34 in the UK are OnlyFans creators. We track down the source and discover that it is not very good.
Do people in Scotland use much more water than people in Yorkshire? If so, why?
And we examine a popular claim that today’s working mothers spend more time with their children than your stereotypical 1950s housewife did.
Make sure you get in touch if you’ve seen a number you think Tim and the team should take a look at. The email is moreorless@bbc.co.uk
More or Less is produced in partnership with the Open University.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Josephine Casserly
Producers: Nicholas Barrett, Lizzy McNeill and David Verry
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 09:30 The History Podcast (m002cfqb)
Half-Life
7. The City Forgets
In Munich, Joe traces a very different side to his family history, events that were left out of his great-grandfather’s memoir.
Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne
Produced by Eleanor McDowall
Music by Jeremy Warmsley
Mixing engineer, Mike Woolley
Story consultant, Sarah Geis
Executive producer, Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002dmml)
Abortion vote, Crime writer Karin Slaughter, Co-sleeping with older children, Racing driver Abbi Pulling
In the biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in almost 60 years, MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion for women in England and Wales. This would mean a woman could not be prosecuted for ending her pregnancy after the 24 week limit, but medical professionals and others could still be held criminally liable if they assist. Nuala McGovern speaks to the BBC's political correspondent Alex Forsyth and Conservative MP Dr. Caroline Johnson, shadow minister for health and social care, who had put forward another amendment which would have required a pregnant woman to have an in person consultation with a doctor or appropriate medical professional before being prescribed medication to terminate her pregnancy, aimed at stopping so-called 'pills-by-post' abortions.
Crime writer Karin Slaughter has sold over 40 million copies and been called the ‘Queen of Crime.’ She's been writing for 25 years and has just published her 25th novel. Called We Are All Guilty Here, it's the story of two teenage girls who go missing and the start of a brand new series featuring police officer Emmy Clifton. Karin tells Nuala why she wanted create a new series and how she manages a book a year on top of all the TV adaptations on her work.
Do you co-sleep or bedshare with your school-aged children? A few years ago the Clueless actor Alicia Silverstone was criticised for saying she sleeps in the same bed with her 11-year-old and that she was 'just following nature.' It’s a divisive topic that provokes strong opinions and disagreement. So how common is it and what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so? Nuala is joined by Genevieve Roberts, parenting columnist with the I newspaper, who regularly sleeps in the same bed with her children, and Sarah Blunden, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Head of Paediatric Sleep Research at Central Queensland University.
One of the young women making waves in the male dominated sport of motor racing is 22-year-old Abbi Pulling. She’s considered as one of the most promising young drivers in world motorsport - she won the 2024 'F1 Academy' season, which has been set up to develop women and girls in the sport. She’s the first female driver to take a race victory in British F4 and is now racing in the GB3 category. Abbi told Nuala about the difficulties around funding for getting into racing and if women could make it into the top tier of Formula 1.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Andrea Kidd
WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002dmmn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002dlj5)
June 16th - June 22nd
Fascinating, surprising, and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
BBC Radio 4 explores the history books and archives to see what 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. June 16th - June 22nd
- 16th of June 1961. At Le Bourget Airport in Paris, the ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev dramatically defects, claiming asylum in the French capital city.
- 17th of June 1631. Arjumand Banu, the wife of the Emperor Shah Jahān, died after giving birth to her 14th child. The Taj Mahal was then built in her honour.
- 18th of June 1822. To commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory at Waterloo, a statue of Achilles was unveiled in his likeness. However, it caused a bit of a scandal amid polite London society.
Presented by Jane Steel and Ron Brown
Produced by Amanda Litherland and Luke Doran
WED 11:45 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dmmq)
A Pineapple
Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.
Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, ‘an invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death’. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child’s eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.
This third episode opens in the autumn of 1999, when Natalya and five-year old Lana have fled the war to Yekaterinburg in Russia, where her uncle and aunt live. But only a few weeks after they arrive, Natalya decides to leave her daughter behind and return to the war zone.
‘On the 21st of October 1999, sometime after six o’clock in the evening, Mum boarded a bus near the Central Post Office in Grozny, planning to visit a friend and return home before dark. Market day was coming to an end, and she was accompanied by women with heavy bags. Suddenly, as the last passengers boarded the bus, there was, in her words, “a terrible roar, and a huge brown cloud flew right at us.” She and the other passengers jumped off the bus and ran towards a nearby bombed-out building. The man who was one step ahead of her fell, dead.
By pure chance, my mother had witnessed one of the most despicable war crimes committed by the Russian army in Chechnya.’
Despite these horrors, Lana and her mother manage a birthday celebration with a fruit the young girl had never seen before: a pineapple.
Read by Ell Potter
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m002dmms)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002dmmv)
Chinese Cars, Small Bakeries, Blackmail Scams
Car prices for new cars in the UK have risen 67 percent in the last 10 years. According to the magazine Auto Express - the average list price of a new petrol car has risen from just over £27,000 to over £45,000. As consumers are looking for cheaper and more eco friendly alternatives, new entrants to the UK market from China are looking to provide these cheaper, greener cars, with sales rising fast. The BBC's international business correspondent Theo Leggett lays talks us through the change happening in the car market.
The building society Nationwide is warning that more than 1 in 4 students in the UK have fallen victim to scams - according to new research. They are particularly worried about the risk of sextortion and blackmail scams, after a quarter of students admit to having shared private information, and 17% sharing intimate images of themselves. Over the last year, the building society’s fraud team has seen a growing trend of blackmail scams with younger people targeted on social media platforms. We hear how one woman actually stopped her friend from falling for one...
And do you have enough money for a rainy day? Nearly one in four UK adults, around 12.5 million people, have no savings to fall back on in a crisis, that's according to debt charity Step Change. And four in five of those, have no rainy day savings and say they'd find it difficult to keep up with living costs. We hear from one man who, after his wife broke her leg and couldn't work for months, ended up in debt for over a decade.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Jay Unger and Dave James
WED 12:57 Weather (m002dmmx)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m002dmn0)
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei sends warning to the US
On the sixth day of strikes between Israel and Iran, Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warns a US strike would have serious irreparable consequences. We examine the scale of the damage and hear how close President Trump is to intervening. Our PMQs panel is Labour MP Steve Reed and Conservative MP Richard Fuller, and we hear from an 80 year old running enthusiast on her tips for Rod Stewart as he attempts to smash his 100m sprint time.
WED 13:45 Politically (m002dmn4)
Postwar
8. Healthcare for All
David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed.
The years that followed, the postwar years, would bring about bold and radical reform, the building of a new nation, a 'New Jerusalem'. The Britain of the National Health Service and the welfare state, of nationalised industry and the so-called 'postwar consensus' -- all were ushered into place with this election. This is the Britain that most have us have grown up in and which still shapes an idea of who we think we are.
The war changed many things, and access to healthcare was one of them. The Beveridge Report had proposed free healthcare for all in November 1942, and that vision informed the wartime coalition government’s White Paper of May 1944. Its title? ‘A national health service’. From that point on, the operative question was not whether there would be a future NHS, but what form it should take, its extent, and who should be in control.
Featuring historians Lucy Delap and David Kynaston.
With thanks to Joseph Foster.
WED 14:00 The Archers (m002dmn8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Fault Lines: Money, Sex and Blood (m000nbzl)
Series 2: Sex
Winter Jasmine
Inspired by Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart novels, this second season of dramas explores contemporary Britain through the lens of sex. With failing health, Constance is losing heart. Her carer Misha plots to lift her spirits by revamping her garden but the arrival of Kim has unexpected consequences for them both.
Cast:
Constance . . . . . Glenda Jackson
Misha . . . . . Mina Anwar
Kim . . . . . T'Nia Miller
Written by Kathrine Smith
Directed by Pauline Harris
WED 15:00 Money Box (m002dmnd)
Money Box Live: AI and Your Money
Three quarters of financial firms are already using Artificial Intelligence, according to the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, with more set to follow in future.
Last month a new inquiry by the Treasury Committee began looking into the potential impacts of AI in banking, pensions and other financial services.
So what does that all mean for your money? We speak to the experts about how it's being used, the rise of the chat bot and how to spot AI scams after one woman lost £10,000 to fraudsters.
Joining Felicity Hannah this week are Gbenga Ibikunle, Professor and Chair of Finance of Edinburgh University and Jana Mackintosh, Managing Director for Payments and Innovation at UK Finance.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers and Catherine Lund
Editor: Sarah Rogers
(This episode was first broadcast at
3pm on Radio 4 on the 18th of June 2025)
WED 15:30 The Artificial Human (m002dmng)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, AI?
Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask if espionage is about to be revolutionised by Ai. Around the globe intelligence agencies are getting excited about the potential of Ai. Not only in what we know its good at, crunching huge amounts of data looking for patterns but also in identifying and exploiting human weakness. Who might be turned to spy for you and how can they be manipulated. And when a spy is caught could an Ai in the interrogator’s ear help them spot telltale signs of lying by analysing micro-gestures, body temperature, perspiration?
Aleks speak with ex-CIA officer Peter Warmka about how his 30 years in the field is about to be replaced artificial intelligence without the need for an Aston Martin, dinner jacket or Walther PPK.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski & Kevin Fong
Producer: Peter McManus
Researcher: Juliet Conway
Sound: Neva Missirian and Murray Collier
WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002dmnj)
Is Bezos blind to Venetians?
Sure, who wouldn't want a wedding snap with Venice's Grand Canal in the background? But what if there were also dozens of banners showing your face on a rocket being blasted into space?
As Jeff Bezos and his multimillionaire guests prepare to descend on Venice for his Big Day, David and Simon look at how the lavish bash is set against a backdrop of protests against mass tourism across Europe. And why AirBnB is trying to mount a fight back.
Also, in the extended edition on BBC Sounds, it seems rumours of the demise of X might have been exaggerated. David and Simon discuss why it's still the go-to platform for having a PR argument.
And emerging from shadows, what does the announcement of the new head of M16 tell us as about the secret service's communications game?
Producer: Duncan Middleton
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: Eve Streeter
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4
WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002dmnl)
Reporting on the Israel Iran conflict, influencers on the radio, Reddit at 20, Grenfell Uncovered documentary
Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins on some of the week's biggest media stories: How are journalists reporting on the Israel Iran conflict in the UK and around the world? We talk to Shaina Oppenheimer from BBC Monitoring and Shashank Joshi Defence Editor at the Economist. The traditional pipeline of journalists moving into radio and television presentation is increasingly being replaced by the new social media influencers. Caroline Frost Columnist at the Radio Times and Sarah Carson Chief Culture Writer and Contributing Editor at the i paper discuss the trend and Laura Nestler from Reddit on how the platform, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, has become the fastest growing social media outlet in the UK.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai
WED 17:00 PM (m002dmnn)
Trump keeps world guessing on Iran strikes
We assess President Trump's options on taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Cabinet Minister Liz Kendall speaks to us about the government's position on the conflict, as well as about her newly published welfare reform bill. Plus, we hear how red squirrels are staging a comeback against their grey cousins.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dmnq)
Iran's Leader Insists Country Won't Surrender
US involvement in Iran hangs in the balance as fighting continues
WED 18:30 Henry Normal: A Normal... (m002dmns)
Humanity
Join Henry Normal as he uses his unique blend of comedy and poetry to investigate what it truly means to be human.
How are we different from other animals? Is there such a thing as a soul? Is it green or brown bin day today?
These are just some of the unanswered questions Henry will be leaving unanswered in this new show, recorded live at the Hay-on-Wye Festival. This is the latest episode in his acclaimed, occasional series where the celebrated writer tackles subjects so vast only radio can possibly contain them.
Written and performed by Henry Normal
Production Coordinator - Katie Baum
Produced by Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Henry Normal is a multi-award winning writer, producer and poet. Co-writer of TV classics including The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan’s Run and Paul Calf, and producer of, amongst many others, Oscar-nominated Philomena, Gavin and Stacey and Alan Partridge.
He’s published twelve collections of poetry, including his most recent An Alphabet of Storms, and co-wrote the memoir A Normal Family with Angela Pell – the everyday adventure of life with their autistic son.
Praise for previous episodes in this series:
"Shove up National Treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal" – Simon O'Hagan, Radio Times
-"It's a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down"
-"It's a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny"
-"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal's show"
WED 19:00 The Archers (m002dmnv)
At the bridge tournament Brian’s nervous that his relationship’s on the line if he doesn’t do well. Miranda assures him jauntily that if he’s been telling the truth about his lessons he has nothing to worry about. Martyn’s horrified that Brian’s playing at a serious tournament, but Brian says there’s a lot at stake.
Lilian and Miranda share a rare chat together. Miranda thinks it’s wonderful that the Bull is still in the family. Lilian admits it’s a nice connection with Peggy, and Miranda expresses her condolences. Lilian confesses her mum’s death has affected her deeply, and Miranda shares some of her own family history. Lilian declares Miranda a survivor; Miranda returns the compliment. Lilian thinks Miranda and Brian are a good fit.
Martyn spills the beans to Justin on the reason Brian’s here. Justin wants to know whether Brian’s really cheating on Miranda. Brian insists he isn’t. He’s sure Justin’s been no saint over the years – Miranda’s deep distrust of men may be down to him. Justin dismisses this as deflection. He feels Miranda’s pulling the wool over Brian’s eyes. Brian reckons Justin’s hiding something, and Martyn agrees. Justin insists he’s just happy. As play is about to start, Martyn reckons the only chance Brian has is if he cheats. Afterwards Miranda’s impressed with Brian’s performance. He tells Miranda he decided not to cheat in the game. She confesses she believed his story all along, so all is well. They admit they love one another, and Brian declares the evening has turned out better than he was expecting.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m002dmnx)
Mercury Prize-shortlisted pianist Fergus McCreadie plays live
On the opening night of the Glasgow Jazz Festival, Mercury Prize-shortlisted pianist Fergus McCreadie performs from his forthcoming album The Shieling live in the Front Row studio.
Writer and Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen talks about his debut novel Muckle Flugga – a story of love and family set on a remote Scottish island – and reads from the poem he has written for Independent Bookshop Week.
In the latest of our features on the institutions shortlisted for Museum of the Year, we speak to two of the team behind Perth Museum, a state-of-the art space created in the former City Hall, which opened last year and is home to the Stone of Destiny, an ancient symbol of monarchy and kingdom.
And Jamie Lloyd's production of Evita at the London Palladium has got people talking, as Rachel Zegler's showstopper moment is performed on the exterior balcony of the theatre and beamed into the auditorium. Variety's London critic David Benedict discusses the use of live streaming in the theatre.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m002dmnz)
Was Israel right to launch strikes on Iran?
Self-defence, as a justification for war, is much more difficult to argue if you strike the first blow. The Israelis say their devastating pre-emptive strike on Iran is a special, truly existential, case. A regime, long committed to their destruction was, according to Israel, within weeks of developing nuclear weapons, just one of which could effectively wipe out their state and most of its citizens.
How far does that justify the abandonment of diplomacy, the targeting of leaders, the collateral damage and death? And, by the way, why is it ok for some countries to have The Bomb- and not others?
Witnesses:
Sir Richard Dalton, Jake Wallis Simons, Prof Mary Kaldor, Prof Ali Ansari
Panellists:
Carmody Grey, Giles Fraser, Inaya Folarin-Iman , Mona Siddiqui
Presenter: Michael Buerk
Producer: Catherine Murray
Assistant Producer: Peter Everett
Editor: Tim Pemberton
WED 21:00 The Life Scientific (m002dmp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 All in the Mind (m002dmp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002dmp5)
Trump on Iran strikes: “I may do it, I may not do it”
President Donald Trump has struck an ambiguous tone when asked whether the US would join in Israel in launching strikes against Iran, telling reporters, "I may do it, I may not do it.” We hear from retired general David Petraeus about the President’s military options and ask whether the war could split Republican voters.
Also on the programme: The government is preparing for a rebellion over its welfare reforms. We hear from a Labour MP who's planning to oppose them. And the Irish food craze that's displacing the donor kebab as a night-time treat.
WED 22:45 Albion by Anna Hope (m002dmp7)
Episode 8
As a glorious burgeoning of new growth bursts into life across the thousand acres that Philip Brooke has left to his eldest daughter Frannie, his two younger children - Milo and Isa (Isabella) - return to the family home. It’s a stunning, golden hued eighteenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland in the heart of the Sussex Downs, built by their ancestor, Oliver Brooke seven generations before our present moment.
The house and estate are also home to ‘The Albion Project’ an ambitious plan conceived by Frannie and implemented alongside her father in his final decade. The rewilding project has catalysed an astonishing regeneration that has already brought back rare birds to the woodland, fish to a previously choked river, and mammals and plants to an estate sucked dry by the agri-business of pheasant shoots. Frannie is fond of saying that everything she does is about looking seven generations ahead: for the future of her seven-year-old daughter
Rowan, and the communities and families that will follow, alongside the bigger responsibility to the eco- system.
However, for Frannie’s younger brother Milo, the house and estate are also the intended home of his own project, ‘The Clearing’ – a radical treatment centre based on monitored use of psilocybin in luxurious treehouse lodges, administered by therapists and ‘ritual managers' (alongside top chefs and other spa retreat necessities).
Their younger sister, Isa, now 38 and a teacher in London, also had a troubled childhood and was damaged, as were her siblings, by having to witness the suffering caused to their mother by their father Philip’s open and continuous philandering. For an entire decade of her childhood he left and went to live with an art dealer/gallerist in New York. Unlike her siblings, Isa never reconciled with her father and the memories of her childhood at the house are dominated by her adolescent affair with the estate keeper’s son, Jack.
Philip’s cruel narcissism casts a shadow over them all, and his wife Grace is longing to move out of the big house and into the cottage where Frannie and Rowan lived. But unexpected news from New York, and the arrival of a stranger leave the entire family unmoored and in shock.
Anna Hope is the author of five novels, three of which (including Albion) are being developed for the screen. She studied at Oxford and trained at RADA.
Jonathan Coe describes Albion as ‘A superb novel deftly woven around themes of class, national identity and environmental collapse. In Albion Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today’
Albion by Anna Hope is read by the author
Abridged by Jill Waters and Anna Hope
Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company
WED 23:00 Michael Spicer: No Room (m002ddps)
Series 2
8. Cheated Britain on Watchdog on The One Show.
We investigate the case of a zookeeper scammed out of all his fiddler crabs, slather on a body cream that delivers an out of body experience, and take a tour of the Tate Modern with violent and thought-provoking exhibits for all the family.
Comedian Michael Spicer exposes the worst of modern life, politics and culture in this second series of his satirical sketch comedy. Michael is famous for his Room Next Door government advisor character whose withering take downs of politicians have amassed more than 100 million views and helped keep his audience sane in fractured times.
Writer, Performer and Co-Editor: Michael Spicer
Composer and Sound Designer: Augustin Bousfield
Producer: Matt Tiller
A Tillervision production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Welcome to the Neighbourhood with Jayde Adams (m0019z5m)
Thanyia Moore
Jayde Adams is joined by Thanyia Moore and they dissect a long-time crime in Beckenham, the tale of a hungry family in Cleethorpes and a gangster cat terrorising North London.
From biggest beefs to weirdest news, Jayde discovers a hotbed of (largely unintentional) hilarity with graffiti-daubed wheelie bins, stray cats, e-scooters and more.
Jayde and the production team would like to hear about what's riling up the neighbours around Britain. Are your groups kicking off? Listeners can submit screenshots of the funniest and freakiest posts and threads to welcometotheneighbourhood@bbc.co.uk.
Presenter: Jayde Adams
Producer: Cornelius Mendez
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002dmpb)
Susan Hulme reports on Deputy Prime Minister's Questions, as Andrea Rayner and Chris Philp go head to head.
THURSDAY 19 JUNE 2025
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002dmpd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dmmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dmpg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dmpj)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
THU 05:00 News Summary (m002dmpl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002dmpn)
Sean Curran reports on (Deputy) Prime Minister's Questions, and more. Also, more delays for HS2...
THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dmpq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dmps)
Making the Big Decisions
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Doctor Stephen Wigley.
Good morning.
Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday and Christians around the world will have been sharing in the worship of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But that simple statement reflects on the decision of the Council of Nicaea, which according to some sources formally opened on this day in 325, some 1700 years ago. There have been plenty of meetings of Church and political leaders in recent weeks to mark first the death of Pope Francis and then the election and installation of his successor Pope Leo. But the Council of Nicaea is perhaps the single most significant meeting of the Church in its long history.
It was called by Emperor Constantine to address a crucial issue of belief for the Church in terms of the so-called Arian controversy, the question as to whether Jesus was simply an extraordinary man of faith or whether he was fully the Son of God. This mattered to the Church and it mattered to the Emperor for, following his conversion, Christianity was now the official religion of the Roman Empire. The argument involved two forthright, not to say fiery protagonists, Arius and Athanasius, and the debates at the Council, attended by some 318 bishops and clergy from across the Christian world, included some political manoeuvring alongside the theological discussions. But the decision which the Council reached to affirm the full divinity of Christ was a crucial one, in that it has continued to shape the life and faith of the Church to this very day. So we celebrate it today in the words of Nicene Creed (in the form which was agreed at the subsequent Council of Constantinople) that Jesus Christ is ‘the only Son of God eternally begotten of the Father… true God of true God, begotten not made, of one Being the Father.’
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Son and for his willingness to fully embrace our humanity in order that we might be made fit for heaven.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002dmpv)
19/06/25 Farming in a heatwave, seaweed farms
Mud sunscreen for pigs: farmers tell us what they do for livestock and crops to combat a heatwave.
And seaweed farms, which aren't always popular with local residents.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
THU 06:00 Today (m002dpm4)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m002dpm8)
Barbour's 'Brus'
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Barbour's epic poem The Brus, or Bruce, which he wrote c1375. The Brus is the earliest surviving poem in Older Scots and the only source of many of the stories of King Robert I of Scotland (1274-1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce, and his victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314. In almost 14,000 lines of rhyming couplets, Barbour distilled the aspects of the Bruce’s history most relevant for his own time under Robert II (1316-1390), the Bruce's grandson and the first of the Stewart kings, when the mood was for a new war against England after decades of military disasters. Barbour’s battle scenes are meant to stir in the name of freedom, and the effect of the whole is to assert Scotland as the rightful equal of any power in Europe.
With
Rhiannon Purdie
Professor of English and Older Scots at the University of St Andrews
Steve Boardman
Professor of Medieval Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh
And
Michael Brown
Professor of Scottish History at the University of St Andrews
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
John Barbour (ed. A.A.M. Duncan), The Bruce (Canongate Classics, 2007)
G.W.S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 1988)
Stephen Boardman, The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III (Tuckwell Press, 1996)
Steve Boardman and Susan Foran (eds.), Barbour's Bruce and its Cultural Contexts: Politics, Chivalry and Literature in Late Medieval Scotland (D.S. Brewer, 2015)
Michael Brown, Disunited Kingdoms: Peoples and Politics in the British Isles, 1280-1460 (Routledge, 2013)
Michael Brown, The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 (Edinburgh University Press, 2004)
Thomas Owen Clancy and Murray Pittock, Ian Brown and Susan Manning (eds.), The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature, Vol. 1: From Columba to the Union (until 1707), (Edinburgh University Press 2006)
Robert Crawford, Scotland's Books: A History of Scottish Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Robert DeMaria Jr., Heesok Chang and Samantha Zacher (eds.), A Companion to British Literature: Vol 1, Medieval Literature, 700-1450 (John Wiley & Sons, 2014), especially 'Before the Makars: Older Scots literature under the early Stewart Kings' by Rhiannon Purdie
Colm McNamee, The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306-1328 (Tuckwell Press, 2001)
Michael Penman, Robert the Bruce, King of the Scots (Yale University Press, 2014)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m002dpmd)
Delivering for Ordinary People (with Marina Hyde)
Comedy writer Armando Iannucci decodes the utterly baffling world of political language.
This week, Helen Lewis is still away, so Journalist Marina Hyde steps in to join Armando. They discuss what an ordinary person might be, and examine if politicians use them as cover? Why is it always that things 'ordinary people' are saying 'on the doorstep' just so happen to be the exact things they wanted to do anyway?
We also look at delivery in politics. Do we believe politicians when they say they'll deliver? And do we reward them fairly when they do?
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 Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator - Sarah Nicholls
Executive Producer - Pete Strauss
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio Certified Production.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002dpmj)
Trisha Goddard, HIV prevention, Family favourites, Air pollution
Trisha Goddard rose to fame as a TV journalist. She was the first black TV presenter in Australia and is best known in the UK for her eponymous TV show which aired on ITV and Channel 5 in the late 90s and 2000s, earning her a reputation as the British Oprah. She joins Anita to talk about her career, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother and why she chose recently to go public with her diagnosis for stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.
Air pollution kills more than 500 people a week in the UK and costs more than 500 million pounds a week in ill health, according to a new report, "A breath of fresh air," by the Royal College of Physicians. The report highlights growing evidence about health issues linked to toxic air and calls it “a public health crisis”. Today, a group of doctors, nurses and campaigners are walking from Great Ormond Street Hospital to Downing Street with a letter calling on government ministers to commit to more ambitious air quality targets. Anita talks to two of them, Rosamund Kissi Debrah, whose daughter Ella became the first person in the UK to have air pollution cited on their death certificate and Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, co author of today's report.
Only 3.1% of PREP users in England are women. That's Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, a drug that reduces the risk of being infected with HIV. Many women don’t know that PREP exists, or don’t consider themselves at risk. Yet women accounted for 30% of new HIV diagnoses in England in 2023. Today, the Elton John AIDS Foundation is launching pilot programmes to increase women's access to PREP. Anita is joined by Dr Jenny Whetham, Consultant and Joint Clinical Lead, Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, Brighton and Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation
The clever one. The funny one. The beautiful one. But which one is The Favourite? Set over a single week, but examining the highs and lows that define a family over the decades, this book is a story of rivalries and long-held resentments, about loss and grief and blame – and love. Fran Littlewood – also author of New York Times bestseller Amazing Grace Adams talks to Anita about her new novel.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m002dpmn)
Steve Reich
Composer Steve Reich is one of the most influential musicians of modern times. In the 1960s he helped rewrite the rules of composition, using analogue tape machines to experiment with rhythm, repetition and syncopation. As the godfather of musical minimalism, his influence on Philip Glass, David Bowie, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, and many other composers, has been enormous. Countless dance music producers also owe a debt to pieces including It’s Gonna Rain, Drumming, Different Trains and Music for 18 Musicians. His music has been performed in concert halls all around the world, and his many awards include three Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, the Polar Prize for Music and the Premium Imperiale.
Steve Reich tells John Wilson how, at the age of 14, three very different recordings awoke his interest in music: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto, and a piece of bebop jazz featuring saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Kenny Clarke. Inspired to start a jazz quintet of his own, Reich began to study percussion before enrolling in a music history course at Cornell University. It was here he discovered the music of Pérotin, the 12th century French composer associated with the Notre Dame school of polyphony in Paris. His beautiful sustained harmonies had a profound influence on Reich's own compositions, including Four Organs (1970) and Music for 18 Musicians (1976).Steve Reich also explains the significance of two books on his music; Studies in African Music by A.M.Jones and Music in Bali by Colin McPhee, both of which led to a greater understanding of music from parts of the world where music is passed down aurally rather than through notation.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Additional recording: Laura Pellicer
THU 11:45 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dpms)
Anya
Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.
Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, ‘an invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death’. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child’s eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.
This fourth episode opens when Lana is seven, in April 2001, and the first phase of the second Chechen war seemed to be over. But the streets are still very dangerous, and one evening they narrowly survive being shot by laughing soldiers.
‘The next day I went to school as if nothing had happened. Our teacher did her best to disguise the sorry state of our classroom, which was missing both a door and glass in the windows. My classmates and I kept our coats on all day and puffed cold air from our lungs, pretending that we were smoking cigarettes…’
Her mother Natalya continues her human rights work, and their flat is filled with activists, lawyers and journalists. The most frequent guest is her mother’s close friend, the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, or 'Anya'. This episode focuses on Lana’s memories of Anya, and of the day – 7th October 2006 – when they learn of her assassination.
‘I didn’t realise back then that Anya’s murder would change the course of our lives.’
Read by Ell Potter
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m002dpmx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Bottom Line (m002dpn1)
Cyber Attacks: On The Front Line Of A Hack
Cyber criminals have seriously damaged some household names recently - M&S, Co-op, North Face, Harrods - but what really happens behind the scenes when a business is hacked?
Evan Davis speaks to the former head of information security at Royal Mail about the major attack it suffered in 2023 - from the initial alert and the eye-watering ransom demand, to the media leak and the long, slow rebuild.
Plus, how should you negotiate with hackers, how sophisticated have they become, and how do they choose their victims?
Evan is joined by:
Jon Staniforth, former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Royal Mail;
Lisa Forte, founder and partner, Red Goat.
Production team:
Producer: Simon Tulett
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Nathan Chamberlain and James Beard
Production co-ordinator: Sophie Hill and Janet Staples
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002dpn7)
Toast - FHM
FHM was the men's magazine that sold vastly more copies than any of its competitors but still ended up toast. So, why did its publishers stop printing it while other men's magazines survived?
The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, charts its highs and lows in the company of four of FHM's former editors.
Alongside them is the entrepreneur, Sam White, who has to use her business acumen to reach her own conclusions based upon what she has heard.
Featuring in the show are:
- Eric Musgrave - the original editor of 'For Him Magazine' as it was known when it launched in 1985
- Mike Soutar - the FHM editor who took sales to over half-a-million a month in the late 1990s
- Piers Hernu - FHM's editor-at-large who took to the airwaves to defend lads' mags against accusations of sexism
- Joe Barnes - who edited the magazine for four years until shortly before its print publication ceased
Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk
Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.
THU 12:57 Weather (m002dpnc)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002dpng)
Should the UK assist if the US decides to launch Iran strikes?
Emily Thornberry, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, gives her verdict. Plus, new guidance could allow the exploitation of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields.
THU 13:45 Politically (m002dpnj)
Postwar
9. Churchill's 'Gestapo' Broadcast
David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed.
The years that followed -- the postwar years -- would bring about bold and radical reform, the building of a new nation, a 'New Jerusalem'. The Britain of the National Health Service and the welfare state, of nationalised industry and the so-called 'postwar consensus' -- all were ushered into place with this election. This is the Britain that most have us have grown up in and which still shapes an idea of who we think we are.
Winston Churchill’s sometimes florid rhetoric was well suited to the microphone age and his wartime radio broadcasts became a new political art form. His deputy within the wartime coalition government, Clement Attlee, couldn’t hope to match him as a broadcaster – and, usually, he didn’t. Except in the case of their first election broadcasts of 1945 which, in the case of Churchill, might be remembered as his greatest gaffe.
Featuring historian Robert Saunders.
THU 14:00 The Archers (m002dmnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m000rcc3)
Islander
The two-hander female cast sing all the songs, perform a whole host of characters, while weaving, building and layering their voices to create all the sound effects into an expansive, ethereal soundscape for the ears and imagination.
Performed and sung by Kirsty Findlay and Bethany Tennick
Winner of Musical Theatre Review’s Best Musical Award – Edinburgh Fringe 2019
Conceived and directed for the stage by Amy Draper, with musical book by Stewart Melton and music and lyrics by Finn Anderson, for Helen Milne Productions.
Produced and Directed for BBC Audio Drama North by Pauline Harris
(Photography by Jassy Earl)
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m002dpnl)
Arriving in Santiago de Compostela with Sharon, Shirley and friends
On Clare’s last day of walking sections of the Camino, she arrives into Santiago de Compostela with a wonderful group of friends who have been following the Portuguese route, starting in Vigo.
The women became friends after meeting in their local gym, and discovered they were all working their way through challenging personal issues. They decided they wanted to do something for themselves to celebrate both fitness and friendship… and their Camino adventure began. The route they chose was from Vigo to Santiago which is entirely in Spain, but forms the last 104km/65 miles of the Camino Portugues Coastal.
This is the What3Words location for where Clare met the group: ///petitioning.spokes.snail
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002dkz4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Feedback (m002dpnn)
Feedback returns for a new series, just as the BBC has its hands full with covering an increasingly tense conflict between Israel and Iran. We hear your response to BBC Radio 4's reporting of events.
Last month, Sarah Montague interviewed Sebastian Gorka - President Trump's deputy assistant and senior director for counter-terrorism - on World At One. It provoked a flood of emails in our inbox. Andrea talks to Sarah about handling fiery interviews, and interviewees. Dr Alban Webb, historian and lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, gives his view on the BBC's approach to these kinds of interviews - which seem to be increasingly common.
And an episode of This Cultural Life, in which John Wilson spoke to pianist and campaigner James Rhodes, also moved a number of listeners to get in touch nominating it for Feedback's Interview of the Year.
Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest
Sound Editor: John Kayes
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
THU 16:00 Rethink (m002dpnq)
Rethink... the UK's relationship with China
President Trump promised "America First" on the campaign trail, and has delivered that in his second term, unleashing a trade war and causing global economic instability.
Although China and the USA have recently agreed a temporary truce in the trade war, the US President regards Beijing as an economic enemy. Perversely, Donald Trump's actions may push other countries into China’s embrace.
For some countries, like Russia, that's a natural fit. Others, like China’s neighbours South Korea and Japan, have agreed to talks about a free-trade agreement, while the EU says it is seeking to "engage constructively" with Beijing.
So where does that leave the UK? Of late, Labour ministers have been on a charm offensive, with the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary and the Energy Secretary all visiting China, as well as a recent trade delegation.
So should the UK be seeking closer ties with China? What are the risks, and is China even interested in us?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors:
Todd Hall, Director of the University of Oxford China Centre and Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University Of Oxford.
Yeling Tan, Professor of public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and also a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Wang Guan, senior news anchor with The China Media Group and also a founding fellow of the Taihe Institute think tank in Beijing.
Cindy Yu, contributing editor and a columnist at The Times, who also writes the Chinese Whispers substack.
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m002dpns)
Are trees the answer to solving climate change?
As a new warning is released by scientists that trying to offset our carbon emissions by planting trees alone won’t work, we investigate the role the Earth’s forests are playing in the fight against climate change.
Marnie Chesterton is joined by Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, to help answer our top five questions about trees and CO2.
We also speak to science writer and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer about his new book ‘Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe’, and what it tells us about what we’re breathing into our lungs each day.
After we reported on the plight of some of our UK wild bird species earlier this year, many listeners got in touch wanting to know more about one species in particular: house sparrows. To look at why their numbers have been declining so sharply, and what we might be able to do about it, we hear from Imperial College London’s Dr Julia Schroeder, who has been studying the birds for 15 years.
And Marnie is joined in the studio by Lizzie Gibney, Senior Reporter at Nature, to explore some of the fascinating research from around the world in this week’s science journals.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Dan Welsh and Jonathan Blackwell
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
THU 17:00 PM (m002dpnv)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dpnx)
President Trump is meeting security advisers to decide whether to attack Iran
Iran's foreign minister has confirmed he'll attend talks in Geneva with his counterparts from the UK, France and Germany tomorrow as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Iran and Israel intensify. Iranian missiles have continued to pound targets in Israel; a hospital in the south of the country was damaged. Also: Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence agency says at least 77 Palestinians have been killed in the deadliest wave of Israeli airstrikes in a week. Also: A Chinese student who drugged and raped ten women in London and China has been jailed for life.
THU 18:30 The Matt Forde Focus Group (m002dpnz)
Episode 5 - The politics of 'Stigma'
Can political discussion be funny? Er - yes!
Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his focus group in front of a live theatre audience with guests comedian Zoe Lyons, former Conservative and Change UK MP Anna Soubry and journalist Hugo Rifkind.
Reducing 'stigma' is considered a good thing - but what happens when we succeed?
Written and performed by Matt Forde
Additional writing from Karl Minns, Katie Storey and Richard Garvin
Producer: Richard Garvin
Co Producers: Daisy Knight and Jules Lom
Broadcast Assistant: Jenny Recaldin
Sound Design and Editing: David Thomas
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m002dlhc)
Alice is delighted to hear Brian’s relationship is becoming something significant. She likes Miranda and is glad her dad’s happy. Brian spots Alice is a bit pre-occupied and she discloses her concerns over Martha. Brian’s surprised to hear the nursery’s comments about her development. Alice confesses she lives with constant terror that she’s harmed Martha by drinking. Brian assures Alice she might never know what made Martha who she is, but she couldn’t love her more. She’s a lovely mum. In the moment they both admit to missing Jennifer.
Justin enthuses to impatient Stella about his plans for the rewilding of Borchester Land. She points out Home Farm stands to lose their contract if half of the BL estate is rewilded. Justin counters with the bigger picture, but Stella insists they need food a lot more than eco tourism. Justin insists his mind’s made up; he’s telling the board tomorrow. In that case Stella reckons she needs to tell Brian right now. Justin relents; he’ll hold off at the meeting until they’ve had a detailed chat next week. Stella and Pip finally get their picnic, and Pip wants to know what’s bothering Stella. But Stella doesn’t want to talk about it any more. She feels like she said the wrong thing implying Rosie might not have been innocent in the school incident. Pip accepts Rosie may have been partly culpable but she feels the school made too big a deal of it. Hopefully everything they were worried about is now sorted, asserts Stella. They agree that would be nice.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m002dpp1)
Review Show: Pixar's new film Elio
Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi talk to tom Sutcliffe about directing Pixar's latest film Elio, about a lonely boy who wants to make contact with aliens. The film is then reviewed by film producer and critic Jason Solomons and art critic and writer Hettie Judah.
Tom and guests also discuss a major retrospective of the work of painter Jenny Saville at London's National Portrait Gallery, and The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey.
Jenny Saville is also the guest on this week's edition of This Cultural Life.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet
THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002dmnj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002dmnl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:15 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002dkk0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m002dpmd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002dpp3)
Trump says he’ll decide whether to strike Iran within two weeks
US President Trump will make a decision on whether to join Israeli strikes against Iran in the next two weeks, according to the White House Press Secretary. Karoline Leavitt cites a “substantial chance of negotiations” over Iran’s nuclear programme. We speak to former US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and examine the legality of British involvement.
MPs are preparing to vote in the third reading of a Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, we speak to two on either side of the debate.
And as Britain’s milliners show off their creations at the Royal Ascot event, we ask whether the hat industry is in danger of losing its traditional skills.
THU 22:45 Albion by Anna Hope (m002dpp5)
Episode 9
As a glorious burgeoning of new growth bursts into life across the thousand acres that Philip Brooke has left to his eldest daughter Frannie, his two younger children - Milo and Isa (Isabella) - return to the family home. It’s a stunning, golden hued eighteenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland in the heart of the Sussex Downs, built by their ancestor, Oliver Brooke seven generations before our present moment.
The house and estate are also home to ‘The Albion Project’ an ambitious plan conceived by Frannie and implemented alongside her father in his final decade. The rewilding project has catalysed an astonishing regeneration that has already brought back rare birds to the woodland, fish to a previously choked river, and mammals and plants to an estate sucked dry by the agri-business of pheasant shoots. Frannie is fond of saying that everything she does is about looking seven generations ahead: for the future of her seven-year-old daughter
Rowan, and the communities and families that will follow, alongside the bigger responsibility to the eco- system.
However, for Frannie’s younger brother Milo, the house and estate are also the intended home of his own project, ‘The Clearing’ – a radical treatment centre based on monitored use of psilocybin in luxurious treehouse lodges, administered by therapists and ‘ritual managers' (alongside top chefs and other spa retreat necessities).
Their younger sister, Isa, now 38 and a teacher in London, also had a troubled childhood and was damaged, as were her siblings, by having to witness the suffering caused to their mother by their father Philip’s open and continuous philandering. For an entire decade of her childhood he left and went to live with an art dealer/gallerist in New York. Unlike her siblings, Isa never reconciled with her father and the memories of her childhood at the house are dominated by her adolescent affair with the estate keeper’s son, Jack.
Philip’s cruel narcissism casts a shadow over them all, and his wife Grace is longing to move out of the big house and into the cottage where Frannie and Rowan lived. But unexpected news from New York, and the arrival of a stranger leave the entire family unmoored and in shock.
Anna Hope is the author of five novels, three of which (including Albion) are being developed for the screen. She studied at Oxford and trained at RADA.
Jonathan Coe describes Albion as ‘A superb novel deftly woven around themes of class, national identity and environmental collapse. In Albion Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today’
Albion by Anna Hope is read by the author
Abridged by Jill Waters and Anna Hope
Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company
THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002dpp7)
The Future of War: How Should the West Respond to its Enemies?
Leading historian Professor Sir Niall Ferguson explains how patterns from the past can help us understand the future.
Amol and Sir Niall discuss the tensions in the Middle East and why he thinks Israel’s strikes on Iran are a victory for the West. They also explore the idea that we're in a new Cold War.
And Sir Niall explains why Britain needs a leader like Argentina’s Javier Milei rather than Donald Trump.
GET IN TOUCH
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Grace Reeve. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davies. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002dpp9)
Sean Curran reports on plans to fix crumbling schools, hospitals and prisons. Peers debate the lastest developments in the Middle East and a minister promises help for millions with energy bills.
FRIDAY 20 JUNE 2025
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002dppc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dpms)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002dppf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002dpph)
BBC Radio 4 presents a selection of news and current affairs, arts and science programmes from the BBC World Service.
FRI 05:00 News Summary (m002dppk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002dppm)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as the government unveils its ten-year strategy to rebuild the UK's infrastructure.
FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002dppp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002dppr)
A Symphony of Psalms
A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Stephen Wigley.
Good morning.
One of the great joys of living in Cardiff is the opportunity to listen to music of all types and settings, from rock stars selling out the Principality Stadium to Jazz groups and Indie bands playing smaller clubs, from students studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to classical music and opera with the Welsh National Opera or the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. And tonight we’re going to the last of this season’s Orchestral concerts at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay’s Millenium Centre.
The concert itself looks to be a real treat, with 2 pieces by Brahms (which I don’t know – but then one of the joys of attending a concert is to listen to pieces you’ve never heard before) followed by Stravinsky’s splendid Symphony of Psalms which is one of my favourites and will include also the BBC National Chorus of Wales. It’s a powerful piece written in 1930 shortly following Stravinsky’s decision to rejoin the Orthodox Church. The work itself is a setting of passages from 3 of the Psalms, Psalms 38, 39 and 150, and incorporates Stravinsky’s characteristic way of bringing together musical influences old and new as well as the influence of the Orthodox tradition, particularly in the modal passages reminiscent of traditional Gregorian Chant. For Stravinsky, the piece is a powerful articulation of his spiritual vision following his rejoining the Orthodox Church. For those of us listening to the concert, it’s an opportunity for a little while to be taken up into the music of heaven. For as Psalm 150 reminds us, there are no instruments which, whatever their normal role, cannot be used to sing the Lord’s praises and give glory to God. So ‘Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!’
Creator God, the Bible is full of visions of angels and heavenly choirs; we thank you for all those musicians and composers who have heard echoes of that music and found a way to share it with us.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002dppt)
20/06/25 Royal Highland Show: livestock numbers and climate change; digital cattle tags; agritourism.
Farming Today comes from the Royal Highland Show on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The Scottish rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon has said the Scottish government will not reduce livestock numbers, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee. She told farmers Scotland would reach its net-zero targets in other ways.
Robert Neill, vice president of NFU Scotland, explains how new high-frequency digital ear tags will make it easier to track cattle in Scotland.
Scotland has big ambitions for its agritourism sector. Next year, it will be hosting the first global agritourism conference. We speak to the farmer who is bringing the event to Aberdeen, Caroline Millar.
Thousands of animals compete in the show across four days, we catch up with the competition organiser in charge of all the logistics.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Rebecca Rooney
FRI 06:00 Today (m002dlgr)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m002dkzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002dlgt)
Natalie Fleet MP, a spike of botulism cases and Kethiwe Ngcobo on her mother Lauretta
Natalie Fleet is the Labour MP for Bolsover whose path into politics has been far from typical. From a very young age, teachers told her she was destined for university – something almost unheard of in her Nottingham mining town. But her future took a different turn, when at fifteen, she became pregnant by an older man. At the time she had thought they were in a relationship - but as she grew older, Natalie says she realised she had been a victim of grooming and statutory rape. She's now speaking out to give a voice to those she feels have been made to feel they should be silent, and joins Anita Rani in the studio.
Lauretta Ngcobo was an author, political exile and an activist during South Africa’s apartheid. Her political activism led to her fleeing the country and raising her children in the UK, along with her husband, AB Ngcobo, an anti-apartheid political leader and a founder of the PAC - Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, a South African political party. Kethiwe Ngcobo – one of Lauretta’s daughters – has now produced a documentary, And She Didn’t Die. The film, named based on one of Lauretta’s most well-known novels, And They Never Died, tells the story of Lauretta’s life – and Kethiwe’s own life too. Kethiwe joins Anita live in the studio to discuss it.
In recent weeks a number of botulism poisoning cases have emerged in the North East. This is a dangerous and potentially fatal reaction to the botulinum neurotoxin used in anti wrinkle injections. North East based BBC reporter Philippa Goymer has been investigating and joins Anita.
After years of being controlled and humiliated by him, in 2011 Sally Challen was jailed for 22 years for the murder of her husband, Richard. The sentence was reduced to 18 years but in June 2019 she walked out of the Old Bailey a free woman - the introduction of coercive control as a crime meaning her sentence was reduced to manslaughter. Her son David who campaigned relentlessly for her release has just published a new memoir documenting his experience as a child survivor of domestic abuse and how the family came to terms with their histories and new lives over the years that followed.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Corinna Jones
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002dlgw)
A Food Revolution in Eight (More) Ideas
Dan Saladino meets pioneering thinkers to hear about future food ideas ranging from edible protein sourced from chicken feathers to crops inoculated with fungi capable of tolerating a hotter climate.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino
FRI 11:45 Please Live by Lana Estemirova (m002dlgy)
And then I Receive a Call
Lana Estemirova grew up in Chechnya in the 1990s, the daughter of the human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, who was assassinated when Lana was only 15. This memoir is dedicated to her mother.
Lana tells the story of her childhood, and what happened to her after her mother died. There was a powerful bond between mother and daughter, ‘an invisible thread that could never be broken, not even by death’. Sometimes Lana is sent to live with relatives, but wherever possible Natalya brings her young daughter to live with her in Grozny - and so Lana is able to give us a vivid child’s eye view of what it is like to grow up in a warzone. There is terrifying danger, but also a lot of fun, and even deep happiness.
This final episode opens on 15th July 2009, when Lana is fifteen. Her mother Natalya is now an award-winning human rights journalist, intent on recording Russian war crimes and interviewing torture survivors. On that morning when Lana wakes, her mother has already left for work, but she doesn’t reply to her daughter’s texts. Time after time Lana tries to reach her.
‘I take a bus to the city centre, trying to get through to Mum every fifteen minutes. At the office, most of her colleagues are there, but Mum is nowhere to be seen. The clock is ticking:
3pm,
4pm, 5… Everyone reassures me, “Your mother will be fine”. Why tell me this? Someone suggests I stay with one of Mum’s colleagues for the night.
I scroll back through my endless texts. “Where are you?” “Why aren’t you answering?” “Call me back!!!”
With shaking fingers, I type “Please, live!”
Read by Ell Potter
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002dlh1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m002dlh3)
Metals and Minerals
The transition to an economy based on renewable energy and electric cars needs huge quantities of materials like copper and rare earth metals. Sourcing them can be a problem. Mining damages the surrounding landscape and many of the materials come from unstable regions with poor records on child labour and environmental regulation. Are there alternative materials or do we simply need to consume less? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski investigate.
Producer: Emma Campbell
Rare Earth is produced in collaboration with the Open University
FRI 12:57 Weather (m002dlh5)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m002dlh7)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
FRI 13:45 Politically (m002dlh9)
Postwar
10. India and Empire
David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed.
The years that followed -- the postwar years -- would bring about bold and radical reform, the building of a new nation, a 'New Jerusalem'. The Britain of the National Health Service and the welfare state, of nationalised industry and the so-called 'postwar consensus' -- all were ushered into place with this election. This is the Britain that most have us have grown up in and which still shapes an idea of who we think we are.
From different perspectives, both Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee had a long-standing involvement in the question of greater self-government for India. In different ways, for both men it was a defining element of their political lives. And both knew that the issue would have to be confronted when the war was over. And yet India, and questions of Empire more generally, were largely absent from the 1945 election.
Featuring historian Wendy Webster.
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002dlhc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002dlhf)
Central Intelligence: Series 2
Episode 1
The Cold War intensifies with US involvement in South Vietnam. It’s 1954. Colonel Ed Lansdale, former advertising executive and the CIA’s maverick agent in South-East Asia, a pioneer in clandestine operations and psychological warfare, is given the task of creating dissension in the North to stop the advance of the communists.
Return of the award-winning series about America’s Central Intelligence Agency - told from the inside out by long-serving CIA agent Eloise Page.
Starring Kim Cattrall, Ed Harris, Johnny Flynn, Stephen Kunken and Kelly Marie Tran.
In Episode 2.1 Jungles vampires, the CIA’s lone-wolf super-hero, psychological warfare…
Cast:
Eloise Page..........Kim Cattrall
Allen Dulles..........Ed Harris
Virginia Spence ..........Kelly Marie Tran
Richard Helms..........Johnny Flynn
Colonel Ed Lansdale..........Stephen Kunken
Frank Wisner..........Geoffrey Arend
Young Eloise Page..........Elena Delia
Prime Minister Diem..........Jon Jon Briones
General Mike O’Daniel..........Ian Porter
"Lightening" Joe Collins..........Rob Benedict
Pat Kelly & Madam Nhu..........Lourdes Faberes
Ngô Đình Nhu..........Yung
General Hinh..........Thaiger Nguyen
Lou Conein.......... Philip Desmeules
Steve Arundel......... Greg Lockett
All other parts played by the cast
Original music by Sacha Puttnam
Written by Greg Haddrick, who created the series with Jeremy Fox
Sound Designers & Editors: John Scott Dryden, Adam Woodhams, Martha Littlehailes & Andreina Gomez Casanova
Script Consultant: Misha Kawnel
Script Supervisor: Alex Lynch
Trails: Jack Soper
Sonica Studio Sound Engineers: Paul Clark & Paul Clark
Sonica Runner: Flynn Hallman
Marc Graue Sound Engineers, LA: Juan Martin del Campo & Tony Diaz
Director: John Scott Dryden
Producer & Casting Director: Emma Hearn
Executive Producers: Howard Stringer, Jeremy Fox, Greg Haddrick and John Scott Dryden
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Child (p0hhrsxf)
Series 1
24. Attachment
Attachment is an interesting word. It conjures up images of love, security, but also a specific focus and intensity that has encircled modern parenting. India Rakusen speaks to Child Psychotherapist Graham Music about attachment styles and people behind the theory.
We hear from Marvyn Harrison, founder of Dope Black Dads, about his experience of becoming a father and India talks to Dr Charlotte Faircloth about how attachment parenting and other intensive parenting methods are impacting parents today.
Presented by India Rakusen
Producer: Ellie Sans
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive Producer: Suzy Grant
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and Eska Mtungwazi
Mix and Mastering by Olga Reed
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002dlhj)
West Horsley
What causes onions to bolt? What do the team think about using crocs at the bottom of pots? How should I go about pruning my lilac tree?
Kathy Clugston and a panel of esteemed gardening experts visit West Horsley, Surrey, to tackle common horticultural challenges and share practical solutions. Joining her are pest and disease specialist Pippa Greenwood, botanist James Wong, and award-winning garden designer Juliet Sargeant.
Later in the programme, Bob Flowerdew wraps up our Edible Essentials series with a fool proof guide to feeding and watering your crops - ensuring a rich and rewarding harvest.
Producer: Matthew Smith
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Executive Producer: Carly Maile
Plant List
Questions and timecodes are below. Where applicable, plant names have been provided.
Q – My Ficus Ginseng has lost most of its leaves, what am I doing wrong? (01’35”)
Q – What do the team think about using crocs at the bottom of pots? (06’41”)
Q – Can the panel suggest shrubs that will flower late spring, early summer and thrive in chalky soil? (10’57”)
Juliet Sargeant –
Philadelphus, mock orange
Philadelphus 'Manteau d'Hermine' (d), mock orange 'Manteau d'Hermine'
Weigela All Summer Red ('Slingco 1'PBR) (All Summer Series), weigela [All Summer Red]
Weigela All Summer Peach ('Slingpink'PBR) (All Summer Series), weigela [All Summer Peach]
Ceanothus, californian lilac
Pippa Greenwood –
Magnolia stellata, star magnolia
Mahonia, oregon grape
Syringa pubescens subsp. patula 'Miss Kim', lilac 'Miss Kim'
Deutzia × rosea 'Carminea', deutzia 'Carminea'
James Wong –
Pittosporum tobira, japanese pittosporum
Wisteria
Feature – Bob Flowerdew’s Edible Essential guide to watering and feeding crops (16’56)
Q – What causes onions to bolt? (21’19”)
Q – Can the panel advise on what I can plant on a north facing one-and-a-half-meter border adjacent my mixed hedge? (25’37”)
Juliet Sargeant –
Euphorbia robbiae, mrs Robb's bonnet
Anemone hupehensis, japanese anemones
James Wong –
Digitalis, foxglove
Primula vulgaris (Pr/Prim), primrose
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, bluebell
Hakonechloa, japanese forest grass
Ferns
Lillies
Pippa Greenwood –
Hardy geraniums
Epimedium
Helleborus, hellebore
Q – How should I go about pruning my lilac tree? (31’48”)
Q – What plants would the panel take from your current gardens if you were moving to a much smaller garden with very poor soil and lots of builder’s rubble in it? (35’23”)
James Wong –
Tree ferns
Juliet Sargeant –
Iris germanica, bearded iris
Ficus carica (F), fig
Salvia 'Royal Bumble', sage 'Royal Bumble'
Salvia 'Hot Lips', sage 'Hot Lips'
Salvia, sage
Salvia 'Amistad'PBR, sage 'Amistad'
Erigeron karvinskianus, mexican fleabane
Pippa Greenwood –
Aubrieta
Eryngium, sea holly
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m002dlhl)
At the Rising of the Sun by Andrew Michael Hurley
Stephen Campbell Moore reads a new story for Radio 4 by the award-winning author of The Loney, and father of folk horror, Andrew Michael Hurley.
With his marriage falling apart on a volcanic Spanish island, a man turns in desperation to local legends. If logic cannot save his family, is it time to appeal to a higher power?
Reader: Stephen Campbell Moore
Writer: Andrew Michael Hurley is the award-winning author of three novels. His first, The Loney, won the 2015 Costa Book Award for First Novel, and the British Book Industry Award for best debut fiction. He recently wrote the folk horror series, Voices in the Valley, for Radio 4. Stephen King has called him the 'new master of menace'.
Producer: Justine Willett
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002dlhn)
Sir Geoff Palmer, Barbara Holdridge, Kim Woodburn, Sly Stone
John Wilson on
Sir Godfrey “Geoff” Palmer, the scientist whose discovery of a new brewing method revolutionized the industry and saved them millions of pounds
Barbara Holdridge, the entrepreneur who co-founded a new record label that paved the way for the audiobook industry
Kim Woodburn, the reality TV Star who made gained popular recognition through the TV show How Clean Is Your House?
Sly Stone the American genre-bending musician who fronted the band Sly and the Family Stone.
Interviewee:
Catherine Bisset
Catrina Rose
Matthew Rubery
Arlene Hirschkowitz
Producer: Ribika Moktan
Details of help and support with pregnancy related issues are available at BBC
Action Line. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1KhLYgXHRxyw67mkGRRXQ3R/information-and-support-pregnancy-related-issues
Archive used:
Scientific, BBC Radio 4, 04/08/2015; Sunday Morning with Cathy Macdonald; Writers and Company, CBC, 24/11/2002; Child's Christmas in Wales, read by Dylan Thomas, Caedmon Audio, 02/1952 https://soundcloud.com/harperaudiopresents/childschristmasinwales ; The Connor Phillips Show, BBC Radio Ulster, 26/04/2024; How Clean is Your House?, S1 E1, Channel Four Television Corporation, dir Simon Bisset, series producer Steph Harris, A Talkbalk production, 2003; I’m a Celebrity Get me out of here 2009, YouTube Upload, 12/02/2015; An excerpt from Sly on the air at KSOL, courtesy of Arlene Hirschkowitz
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m002dlhq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m002dlhs)
MPs narrowly back legalising assisted dying
MPs vote to back the legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales by 23 votes. We get reaction from Esther Rantzen's daughter and from the Bishop of London. As Israel and Iran exchange more barrages of missiles, we analyse the diplomatic talks being held in Switzerland to try and de-escalate the conflict. Plus, we hear from a marine archaeologist who's looking for the shipwrecks of the real pirates of the Caribbean.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002dlhv)
MPs pave the way for assisted dying to become legal in England and Wales
The bill allows terminally ill adults who are expected to die within six months to seek medical help to end their own lives. But it must first go to the Lords, where it will face further scrutiny. Also: reports say at least 400 people in Gaza have now been killed outside US-backed aid centres since they began operating last month. And protesters have broken into RAF Brize Norton.
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m002dlhx)
Series 26
Episode 2. De-escalation and nuclear proliferation
The Dead Ringers team are back to train their vocal firepower on the week’s news with an armoury of impressive impressions.
This week: Iran plays host to a surprising WMD Inspector, Laura Kuenssberg is de-escalated, and Ross Kemp on Grooming Gangs.
Cast: Jan Ravens, Jon Culshaw, Lewis Macleod, Jess Robinson, Duncan Wisbey and Kieran Hodgson.
The episode was written by: Nev Fountain and Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Tom Coles, Sophie Dickson, Toussaint Douglas, Rob Darke, Cody Dahler, Edward Tew Jon Holmes, Davina Bentley, Katie Sayer, Alice Bright and Chris Donovan
Created by Bill Dare
Producer: Jon Holmes
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002dlhz)
At the family holiday meeting there’s light tension between Kate and Jakob. She insists she’s made peace with his decision not to come on the holiday – and he’ll be jealous when they come up with somewhere brilliant. However it becomes clear the meeting isn’t going to happen as one by one attendees drop out. Kate thinks they’re all a nightmare. How can she organise everyone if they can’t even turn up to a meeting? Maybe Jakob had the right idea; what Kate would really like is to go to Scotland and visit Phoebe and the baby. She starts to look up places to go.
At the Borchester Land board meeting Stella sums up the ecology report, parts of which Brian acknowledges make pretty gloomy reading. Stella asserts that she knows BL should take action – and they’re already putting a lot of the right things in place that will make a difference. Justin ventures that these might not be enough, and raises his rewilding proposition. Afterwards Brian declares it will happen over his dead body. Martyn scoffs that Justin’s become a tree hugging beaver lover. Justin insists he has support on the board, naming Annabelle specifically. Brian’s appalled that Stella knew of Justin’s plans. She’s stabbed him in the back and he’s never been so disappointed. Stella can’t believe Justin revealed the plans, having said he wouldn’t. Justin insists he needed an element of surprise to make an impact. Stella retorts his duplicitousness has probably cost her her relationship with her boss, and possibly threatened her job.
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m002dlj1)
Anna Lapwood and Andrew Roachford celebrate the 100th episode
Star organist Anna Lapwood and singer/songwriter Andrew Roachford join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add tracks 496-500 in this 100th edition of the show! What better way to celebrate than a double dose of organ, and a trip to Mumbai, Hawaii and Cape Verde?
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Thunder and Blazes (Entry of the Gladiators) by Julius Fučík
Star Wars: Throne Room – End Titles by John Williams, arr Harald Feller
Jai Ho! by A R Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Petit Pays by Cesária Évora
Other music in this episode:
Top Hat, White Tie & Tails by Fred Astaire
Old Town Road by Lil Nas X
The Bells of Notre Dame, performed by Anna Lapwood
Only to be with You by Andrew Roachford
I Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
Entry of the Gladiators by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Thunder and Blazes - Sounds of the Circus
Afro Circus from Madagascar 3
Throne Room: End Titles by John Williams
Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean performed by Anna Lapwood
Jai Ho! (Hindi version) by A R Rahman
Believe by Cher
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg, sung by Judy Garland
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002dlj3)
Bronwen Maddox, Dr Peter Prinsley MP, Ash Sarkar, Nick Timothy MP
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from The Corn Hall in Diss in Norfolk with the Director and Chief Executive of the Chatham House think tank Bronwen Maddox, the Labour MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket Dr Peter Prinsley, the journalist and Contributing Editor of Novara Media Ash Sarkar and the Conservative MP for West Suffolk Nick Timothy.
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Rob Dyball
FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002dlj5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:40 on Wednesday]
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m002dlj7)
Language
Journalists Peter Hitchens and Oliver Kamm, radio presenter and comedian Ellis James, languages expert Ross Perlin, Diana Sutton director of The Bell Foundation and podcaster and academic Reetika Revathy Subramanian join Matthew Sweet for a conversation about how language unites and divides us.
Ross Perlin's book Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues was the winner of the British Academy Book prize and he is in London for the British Academy Summer showcase.
Reetika Revathy Subramanian has been chosen as one of six researchers in residence at BBC Radio 4 in the coming year on the New Generation Thinkers scheme run in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She is a Senior Research Associate, School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia and hosts the Climate Brides podcast. You can also find a recent episode of Free Thinking exploring peace which features another of the researchers in residence Ashleigh Percival-Borley, a former soldier who is now a military historian based at the University of Durham.
Producer: Debbie Kilbride
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002dlj9)
MPs back assisted dying bill, sending it to House of Lords
MPs have backed the legalisation of assisted dying by a majority of 23. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will now progress to the House of Lords where it'll face further scrutiny and amendments. We spoke to campaigners outside Parliament as the votes were cast and two members of the House of Lords who will now shape the Bill.
The BBC has charted the final days of Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza via voice notes from its director. The hospital was rendered out of service last month amid Israel's escalating offensive in the Gaza Strip.
And could the hot weather inspire a literary classic? We speak to an author on the prevalence of heatwaves in English literature.
FRI 22:45 Albion by Anna Hope (m002dljc)
Episode 10
As a glorious burgeoning of new growth bursts into life across the thousand acres that Philip Brooke has left to his eldest daughter Frannie, his two younger children - Milo and Isa (Isabella) - return to the family home. It’s a stunning, golden hued eighteenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland in the heart of the Sussex Downs, built by their ancestor, Oliver Brooke seven generations before our present moment.
The house and estate are also home to ‘The Albion Project’ an ambitious plan conceived by Frannie and implemented alongside her father in his final decade. The rewilding project has catalysed an astonishing regeneration that has already brought back rare birds to the woodland, fish to a previously choked river, and mammals and plants to an estate sucked dry by the agri-business of pheasant shoots. Frannie is fond of saying that everything she does is about looking seven generations ahead: for the future of her seven-year-old daughter
Rowan, and the communities and families that will follow, alongside the bigger responsibility to the eco- system.
However, for Frannie’s younger brother Milo, the house and estate are also the intended home of his own project, ‘The Clearing’ – a radical treatment centre based on monitored use of psilocybin in luxurious treehouse lodges, administered by therapists and ‘ritual managers' (alongside top chefs and other spa retreat necessities).
Their younger sister, Isa, now 38 and a teacher in London, also had a troubled childhood and was damaged, as were her siblings, by having to witness the suffering caused to their mother by their father Philip’s open and continuous philandering. For an entire decade of her childhood he left and went to live with an art dealer/gallerist in New York. Unlike her siblings, Isa never reconciled with her father and the memories of her childhood at the house are dominated by her adolescent affair with the estate keeper’s son, Jack.
Philip’s cruel narcissism casts a shadow over them all, and his wife Grace is longing to move out of the big house and into the cottage where Frannie and Rowan lived. But unexpected news from New York, and the arrival of a stranger leave the entire family unmoored and in shock.
Anna Hope is the author of five novels, three of which (including Albion) are being developed for the screen. She studied at Oxford and trained at RADA.
Jonathan Coe describes Albion as ‘A superb novel deftly woven around themes of class, national identity and environmental collapse. In Albion Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today’
Albion by Anna Hope is read by the author
Abridged by Jill Waters and Anna Hope
Produced by Jill Waters and The Waters Company
FRI 23:00 Americast (m002dljf)
Why Trump’s Iran decision is splitting the Republican party
As the world waits for Donald Trump’s decison on whether to join Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear sites, he is quickly losing support from his own party.
Donald Trump has generally enjoyed party unity since returning to office in January but now faces an open revolt over the possibility of US strikes against Iran.
Some of Trump’s biggest supporters, including the Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have publicly come out against the prospect of war with Iran. Why are some of his MAGA supporters against military involvement, and does it fit with the ‘America First’ agenda?
Sarah, Justin and Anthony discuss how the legacy of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan loom over the current situation with Iran, and whether Donald Trump even needs the support of his party to join the Israel-Iran conflict.
And Justin speaks to Elliott Abrams, who served as Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021, during Donald Trump’s first term. He was also an Assistant Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration. In 1992, Abrams was pardoned after he was convicted of misleading Congress about out the Iran-Contra affair, which involved the secret sale of arms to Iran.
HOSTS:
* Sarah Smith, North America Editor
* Justin Webb, Radio 4 Presenter
* Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GET IN TOUCH:
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* Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
* Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Julia Webster. The technical producer was Rohan Madison. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002dljh)
Alicia McCarthy reports as MPs decide whether to approve the legalisation of assisted dying.