SATURDAY 12 JULY 2025

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002flmz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 The Secret Painter by Joe Tucker (m002fllp)
Episode Five

To Joe Tucker, Eric was just his loving and funny uncle, a beloved yet unconventional figure throughout Joe’s life.

A shambolically dressed man who lived with his mother for almost 80 years in Warrington, he had an almost compulsive need to charm strangers with working men’s club comedy routines, and appeared to exist only for daily trips to the bookie in the high street, and to the local pub. But behind closed doors, he had amassed over 500 of his own remarkable paintings - mostly depicting working-class social life in the industrial North West.

Tucker received no formal art education and left school at 14, working variously as a boxer, a steelworker, a gravedigger and a building labourer.

His family had always known he had painting as a hobby, but it was only right at the end of his life, that they realised the true extent of his creative output.

His work came to public attention following his death in 2018, when the family organised a two-day exhibition in his ex-council house.

His paintings of street scenes and busy pubs and clubs were described by art critic Ruth Millington as having an ‘authenticity and a sophisticated innocence’, their discovery marking ‘a significant contribution to modern British art’.

Episode Five
Eric’s family organise an exhibition of his paintings in his old house. It’s astonishingly well-attended, and the event is covered by local, and then by national, media. Critics describe his work as ‘a remarkable, important find’.

Read by Paul Ready
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fln1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fln3)
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 (m002fln5)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fln7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fln9)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


SAT 05:45 Child (p0hhrv7g)
Series 1

27. Birthday Cake

We get inside the mind of a one year old with Professor of psychology and baby expert Alison Gopnik. What can babies teach us, and how are they influencing their future. We also take a moment think about the village we need to survive that first year and beyond. It’s a cliche, but we know it’s true. The community around a child is one of the most fundamental factors for its development.

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.
Mix and Mastering by Olga Reed.

A Listen Production for BBC Radio 4.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002fv9t)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 This Natural Life (m002fljd)
Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church rose to global fame at just eleven years old, renowned for the extraordinary purity of her singing voice. From growing up in what she describes as a working-class household in Cardiff, her career took her to the world’s grandest stages, performing for audiences which included the Pope and the U.S. President, and releasing best-selling albums. But that early fame also came with its own set of challenges, some of which, she explains, she is still "not quite grateful for, yet... but what teaching!"

Today, Charlotte’s preferred concert hall is something entirely different: the vast and spectacular landscape of the Cambrian Mountains in mid-Wales. Here, she has established a rural retreat. Tucked away in the Nant Caethon Valley and framed by two waterfalls, it’s a place of healing – for herself and for those she welcomes.

Charlotte serves as a guide to Martha Kearney, sharing why this place holds such deep meaning for her. She speaks about her efforts to restore and protect the Celtic rainforest she now calls herself a guardian of. Together, they reflect on Charlotte’s journey – from a child star with little connection to nature, to someone now deeply immersed in the natural world.

Producer: Eliza Lomas


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002fv9w)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002fv9y)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002fvb0)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002fvb2)
Bettany Hughes, Jay McGuinness, Dave Fishwick, Ade Adepitan

Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002fv8j)
Empress Matilda: civil war in medieval England

Greg Jenner is joined in twelfth-century England by Dr Gabrielle Storey and comedian Cariad Lloyd to learn all about Empress Matilda and the medieval civil war known as the Anarchy. A granddaughter of William the Conqueror, Matilda was born into England’s new Norman royal family. As a young girl she was used as a dynastic pawn by her father and sent to Germany to marry the Holy Roman Emperor. Here she was crowned empress and trained to rule. When her younger brother died, followed by her husband, Matilda returned to England to take her place as her father’s heir. But after her father’s death she was beaten to the throne by her cousin Stephen, and so began the medieval civil war known as the Anarchy. Although Matilda ultimately lost, her son, Henry, was made Stephen’s heir, and he went on to rule with support and advice from his royal mother. So who was the real winner? This episode traces Matilda’s dramatic life from daughter of a king to empress of Germany to queen-in-waiting of England. Along the way, we ask whether medieval sexism prevented her from taking the throne, and look at the ways a woman could rule in twelfth-century Europe.

If you’re a fan of fearsome queens, violent family feuds and medieval royal drama, you’ll love our episode on Empress Matilda.

If you want more medieval queens with Dr Gabrielle Storey, check out our episode on Eleanor of Aquitaine. For more from Cariad Lloyd, listen to our episodes on Agrippina the Younger, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the Arts and Crafts Movement. And for more English royal feuds, there’s our episode on the Causes of the British Civil Wars.

You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Clara Chamberlain
Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars


SAT 10:30 Rewinder (m002fv8l)
Greg James digs into the BBC's archives, using current stories as a portal to the past.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002fvb4)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002fv5l)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002fvb6)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002fv5j)
The latest news from the world of personal finance


SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (m002flmd)
Series 26

Episode 5

Satirical impressions from the team headed up by Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens.


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002fvb8)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002fvbb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002flml)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002fvbd)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002flmg)
Writer: Naylah Ahmed
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Amber Gordon…. Charlotte Jordan
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
Will Grundy…. Philip Molloy
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Annabelle Schrivener…. Julia Hills


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m000mlbc)
Half of a Yellow Sun

Episode 2

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's remarkable novel set during the Nigeria-Biafra War of the late 1960s, dramatised by Janice Okoh.

With the continued bombing of Biafra and the danger coming ever closer, Olanna, Odenigbo, Ugwu, and Baby are forced to flee again. They move forward with courage even when living conditions get progressively worse and food and money run out. An unexpected visit from Kainene brings some hope for their future.

A powerful, compassionate depiction of the human tragedy of those caught up in Biafra's impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic and the chilling violence and trauma that followed.

NARRATOR..... Ben Onwukwe
OLANNA..... Susan Wokoma
ODENIGBO..... Adetomiwa Edun
MRS MUOKELU/ EBERECHI..... Adeyinka Akinrinade
UGWU.....Valentine Olukoga
RICHARD.....Blake Ritson
KAINENE.....Nikki Amuka-Bird
MADU.....Okezie Morro

Directed by Nadia Molinari
Sound Design by Sharon Hughes


SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002fvbg)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week


SAT 17:00 PM (m002fvbj)
Full coverage of the day's news


SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002fvbl)
Nick Robinson talks to people who shape our political thinking about what shaped theirs.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002fvbn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002fvbq)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fvbs)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002fvbv)
Tim Key, Lucy Porter, Shabaz Ali, Billy Nomates, Bruno Berle

This week Stuart is joined by comedian and poet Tim Key who takes us to LA Baby in his new book, Lucy Porter who is learning to let go in her new stand up show, and Shabaz Ali: the Tik Tok sensation with his takedowns of the super-rich. There's music from Billy Nomates, performing from her new album Metalhorse and Brazilian composer, poet and multi-instrumentalist Bruno Berle.

Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Jessica Treen


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002fv4n)
An insight into the character of an influential person making the news headlines


SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002flhv)
Series 33

201st Birthday Bonanza - Mel Giedroyc, Deborah Meaden and Nish Kumar

Get ready for a landmark episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage as we celebrate our 201st show! Brian Cox and Robin Ince invite a lively panel of celebrity guests to pose their burning scientific questions to a top-tier team of scientists.
Mel Giedroyc is tunnelling into the world of engineering, asking how we build and operate trains under some of the world’s busiest cities? Mel has found a new best friend in, Isabel Coman, Director of Engineering at Transport for London, who is here to guide her through the particulars of subterranean transport systems.
Deborah Meaden, entrepreneur and investor, is delving into the emotional lives of animals - do our furry, feathered, and scaly companions have feelings like grief in the way we do? Helping her to sniff out the science of animal emotions is Dr Liz Paul, a comparative psychologist from the University of Bristol.
Comedian Nish Kumar wants to know - are we totally screwed when it comes to climate change, or is there still hope? Helping him unpack tipping points, rising temperatures, and how we might turn the tide is climate scientist Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading.

Series Producer: Melanie Brown
Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

BBC Studios Audio Production


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002fvbx)
Into the Ether

What happens to a documentary medium which evaporates into the air? In this Archive on 4, we explore how our memory for radio documentaries might shape the sound of their future.

Unearthing audio treasures from the radiophonic past and fragments of lost features, this documentary explores the creative invitations of radio’s past and asks whether the imaginative possibilities of the medium might change if we chose to remember it differently.

Original music by Phil Smith

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002fj9q)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.


SAT 22:00 News (m002fvbz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002fllm)
What's Really in Our Food?

Dan Saladino takes a look at the latest science that's revealing the hidden complexity of the food we eat.

In one of the projects Dan visits, called the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, thousands of previously unknown chemical compounds are being identified in fruits and vegetables, many of which could have health benefits.

The research is also making it possible to see how one cultivar, whether it's a variety of apple or a grain of wheat, compares against another. The Initiative is also exploring the impact different farming systems have on the quality of our food. Will delving deeper into the 'dark matter' of food make it possible to produce food that's better for both us and the planet?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SAT 23:00 Kat Sadler's Screen Time (m002ftfb)
Series 2

2. Detox

Huge influencer Kat is taking a break from her phone, and tells you how you can do it too.

Sure, her phone is locked in a perspex prison that can't be opened by any force, but that's just a coincidence! With her trusty sidekick Alex Macqueen, they tackle the great outdoors. Kat explains how to cleanse your mind, body and soul by ditching your phone and Alex is trying to get his Duke of Edinburgh bronze award.

Also, Kat's given her PR team in her head the day off, even though they seem very keen to tell her something. Is she running from something in her online life?

Cast

Kat Sadler - Kat
Alex MacQueen - Alex
Abbie Weinstock - Abbie
Al Roberts - Toby
Lizzie Davidson - Various
Jason Forbes - Various

Written by Kat Sadler and Cameron Loxdale

Production Coordinator - Caroline Barlow
Executive Producer - Pete Strauss
Sound Design - Rich Evans
Recorded by Neil Goody at Premises Studios

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.


SAT 23:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002fjgv)
Programme 9 - The Midlands v The North of England

(9/12)

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 ninth contest features the second meeting of The North of England and The Midlands.

You can follow the questions in each edition on the Round Britain Quiz webpages. Each week's questions will be posted on the day of transmission.

Teams:
Frankie Fanko and Stephen Maddock
Jenny Ryan and Stuart Maconie

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, Paul Bajoria and public contributors.

SUNDAY 13 JULY 2025

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002fvc1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m002fjgs)
Tom Holland

Presented by James Naughtie, Bookclub speaks to the award-winning writer, historian, and podcaster, Tom Holland, about his book Rubicon, which looks at the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic. Originally published in 2003, the book won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for non-fiction, and it unravels the myths and realities of ancient Rome as it charts the final decades of the Republic, placing us back in a pre-Christian era, and setting in context the convulsion that began in January of 49 BC when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river in northern Italy en route to Rome and civil war, all in search of power.

The episode was recorded at the Topping Bookshop in Edinburgh.

Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fvc3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fvc5)
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 (m002fvc7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fvc9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002fv5s)
St Mary’s Church in Prescot, Merseyside

Bells on Sunday comes from St Mary’s Church in Prescot, Merseyside. The circular shape of the churchyard suggests that a church was on the site before the Norman Conquest, and parts of the existing fabric date from the 14th century. There are eight bells originally cast by the Mears foundry of Whitechapel in 1845. However, in 2011 the sixth bell cracked and was replaced with a similarly aged redundant bell. The tenor bell weighs thirteen and a quarter hundredweight and is tuned to the note of E. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Major.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002fjp9)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002fv3r)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m002fjnx)
Learning Disabilities

Laurie Taylor talks to Simon Jarrett, Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, about the social history of people with learning disabilities, from 1700 to the present days. Using evidence from civil and criminal court-rooms, joke books, slang dictionaries, novels, art and caricature, he explores the explosive intermingling of ideas about intelligence and race, while bringing into sharp focus the lives of people often seen as the most marginalised in society. They’re joined by Magdalena Mikulak, a Research Fellow in Health at Lancaster University who has researched the way the term ‘behaviours that challenge others’ which are attributed to 20% of those with learning disabilities, can stigmatise and exclude people from society,

Producer: Jayne Egerton


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002fv3t)
Halal in Harmony

Muhsen Hassanin and his family believe the countryside and nature have a special place in the religion of Islam. So, despite having no experience of farming, in 2015 they moved from London to Pontypool in South Wales to set up Harmony Farm. Ten years on, they now rear halal meat, grow vegetables, and welcome visitors of all faiths and none to the farm.

In this programme, Mariclare Carey-Jones finds out about the ethos on the farm, which Muhsen describes as “people care, earth care, fair share and return of surplus” - an approach linked to the family’s Muslim faith. He says “every plant you plant, you’re creating justice and balance, and Harmony Farm is born out of that understanding”. Alongside farming the animals, Muhsen is also a halal slaughter man.

As well as exploring the farm and its practices with Muhsen, Mariclare also meets Muhsen’s wife Elif, who talks about the impact the move has had on them as a family. “The first year was really difficult” she says, “but now I absolutely love it! I’m really fortunate that I get to see all of the seasons, things coming into existence and non-existence, and it just reminds me there’s a bigger picture to all of this”.

Plus, there’s a surprise in store, when Mariclare meets Muhsen and Elif’s son Abdel Malik and his reptile friends!

Presented and produced by Mariclare Carey-Jones


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002fv3w)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002fv3y)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002fv40)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002fv42)
CHASE Africa

Singer Joss Stone makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of CHASE Africa. The charity supports fifty 'backpack nurses' in Kenya and Uganda who travel to patients in remote areas who may otherwise struggle to get medical care.

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

Registered Charity Number: 1082958. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.chaseafrica.org.uk
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Katy Takatsuki


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002fv45)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002fv48)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002fv4b)
On the Sea in Ships

Canon Simon Doogan and Father Martin Magill take to the water Bangor, Co Down as the monk St Columbanus did in 591 when he left his monastery in Bangor in to go to Europe where he established monastic foundations in France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. They reflect on his journey and on another sea voyage, that of St Paul who was shipwrecked on his way to Rome.

Acts 27.9-12; 21-26; 27-32; 33-38; 39-44

Lead us heavenly Father, lead us
High is the heaven, deep is the sea (Liam Lawton)
We Have an Anchor
The White Dove (David Lennon)
Faithful one, so unchanging (Brian Doerkson)

Producers; David Walker & Bert Tosh


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct7466)
The Gratitude Train: France thanks America

In 1949, the Gratitude Train arrived in the United States, made up of 49 wagons filled with thousands of gifts from France.

The convoy was a thank-you to American families who’d sent food and supplies across the Atlantic, via a ‘friendship train’ in the aftermath of World War Two.

It was the idea of a French railworker called Andre Picard. In the same spirit as the friendship train, he asked families across France to make donations.

The response was 52,000 gifts that filled 49 rail wagons or ‘boxcars’, one for each US state, and to be distributed to American families. Some donations were valuable; a carriage used by King Louis XV. Others were handmade; a knitted scarf or a child’s painting.

June Cutchins tells Jane Wilkinson about the treasure her family received from the Florida boxcar.

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: Gratitude train boxcar unloaded in New York, 1949. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002fv4d)
Anna Hill on the Yellowhammer

For broadcaster and Farming Today presenter Anna Hill, the yellowhammer is a bird closely associated with the British rural landscape.

As a child walking through Dorset’s country lanes, she would see flocks of golden yellowhammer swooping along the hedgerows. Since then, their numbers in the UK have dramatically declined and they’re now on the red list for conservation, though you can still see them in lowland arable areas.

Members of the bunting family with bright yellow plumage, yellowhammers have a typical lifespan of around three years. Their high-pitched song can be easily recognised; best remembered as, “a little bit of bread and no cheeeese!”

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Jo Peacey. A BBC Audio Bristol production.


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002fv4g)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002fv4j)
Lauren Laverne invites her castaway guests to share the soundtrack of their lives.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002fv4l)
Writer: Naylah Ahmed
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Jolene Archer…. Buffy Davies
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Amber Gordon…. Charlotte Jordan
Clarrie Grundy…. Heather Bell
Ed Grundy…. Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
Will Grundy…. Philip Molloy
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Annabelle Schrivener…. Julia Hills


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002fv4n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002fl0f)
Series 83

1. I Hear With My Little Ear

Radio 4's multi award-winning ‘antidote to panel games’ promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family.

The series begins at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester where Rory Bremner and Gary Delaney are pitched against Tony Hawks and Pippa Evans, with Jack Dee in the role of reluctant chairman.

Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.

Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002fv4q)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002fv4s)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002fv4v)
Out for Delivery

When a parcel delivery goes awry, Polly Weston does what every angry person in 2025 does... she searches the internet for similarly angry people to bask in the shared experience of being annoyed. Naturally, she finds countless groups on social media devoted to people complaining. There are posts from people furious about the delivery which never turned up at the designated time; or the parcel strewn on a doorstep, or with a photo in a mysterious unknown location; or, most annoying of all, the message to say "sorry we missed you" when they were absolutely, undeniably, incontrovertibly in the house and poised by the door waiting for the parcel at the time... But hidden in amongst the social media fist waving, she notices surprising posts from another group of people - delivery drivers themselves. On these groups, the delivery drivers explain the reasons why customers have the experiences they do, and the reasons why things go wrong. A single phone call to one delivery driver who she tracks down is more enlightening than any AI customer service chatbot could hope to be, and it sparks weeks of recordings with many people who have worked across all the different courier companies over the past ten years.

As the proposed merger between EVRi and DHL hits the headlines, this is the story of the multi-drop parcel courier industry and its recent history, as told by the drivers.

In 2013, 1.7 billion parcels were processed annually in the UK, in 2023, it was 4 billion, and it's projected to climb to 5.6 billion by 2028. How does an industry deliver that kind of growth? What does it mean for the people doing the work? And how exactly do you deliver to 270 locations in a single shift?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston in Bristol
Editor: Chris Ledgard


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002flm2)
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m001rql0)
The Mahabharata - Episode 2

Originally composed about 2000 years ago, the Mahabharata is one of the world’s greatest pieces of storytelling, as well as a foundational Hindu text. Woven through its central account of a great dynastic family conflict and bloody war is the story of the gods and their relationship to humankind, as well as spiritual, philosophical and practical instruction about how to live one’s life in the best possible way.

In the second of two episodes about the Mahabharata, John asks why and how this 2000 year-old epic still resonates so strongly, what makes it such rich territory for modern re-tellings, and looks at some of its universal themes.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised on BBC Radio 4. From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters.

Credits:
Mahabharata, A Modern Retelling by Carole Satyamurti (W.W.Norton & Co. 2015)
The Mahabharata, abridged and translated by John D. Smith (Penguin Classics 2009)

Contributors:
Dr Arti Dhand, Department of Religious Studies, University of Toronto
https://www.themahabharatapodcast.com
Jatinder Verma, founder of Tara Arts, theatre director and Director of Mahabharata Now, BBC Radio 4

Readers:
Nadir Khan: Mumbai-based actor and director, producer of Mahabharata Now, BBC Radio 4
Shernaz Patel, Mumbai-based film and theatre actor, Gita in Mahabharata Now, BBC Radio 4

Producers: Sara Davies & Tolly Robinson
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Sound Engineer and designer: Sean Kerwin

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.


SUN 15:00 Mahabharata Now (m002fv4x)
Episode 9: Dance of Death

The Gods, the law, capitalism and politics jostle for power in this bold adaptation of the ancient Indian poem Mahabharata. Dramatised as a gripping family epic set in 21st century Mumbai, this series is powered by the tensions and rivalries of a turbulent business empire.

In the final episode, political ambition, personal tragedy and spiritual reckoning collide in a sweeping narrative of loss, transformation, and legacy.

Yash continues to pursue a political career, but his humble appearance and idealism clash with the establishment. News of Padma’s crash forces him to choose family over politics.

Meanwhile, a disillusioned Shaks confronts his identity and the illusion of control he once clung to. Guided by the mischievous Gopi - in the form of the robot bartender GP200 - he tosses a coin to decide his fate.

While Padma and Nyra set about establishing their Foundation, Yash, having now also learned the identity of Shaks’ father, embarks on a spiritual journey across India to discover his true purpose and make peace with his past.

Taking yet another form - that of a dog, Moksha - Gopi accompanies Yash on a dreamlike journey towards redemption and enlightenment. Moksha forces him to confront unresolved emotions which culminates in a final divine test to achieve sublimation of desire - save himself or sacrifice his own happiness to save millions from impending mortal danger. The epic story’s extraordinary conclusion hangs on his decision.

Episode 9: Dance of Death
Written by Ayeesha Menon, Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle

Dhruv …………….......…. Neil Bhoopalam
Yash ……………….......... Tavish Bhattacharyya
Padma …………….......... Ira Dubey
Gita ………………........…. Shernaz Patel
Shaks ………................. Vivek Madan
Nyra……………........……. Abir Abrar
Karthik……………………… Sukant Goel

CC Banerjee……………… Harssh Singh
Minister Kalra…………… Suchitra Pillai
Malti………………………….Meghan Burman
GP200………......……….. Bhavnisha Parmar
GOPI…………........……… Prerna Chawla

Other roles played by Devika Shahani Punjabi, Abhay Kaul, Omkar Kulkarni, Garima Yajnik, Zeus Paranjape and members of the cast.

Sound Supervisor (Mumbai) …....…….... Ayush Ahuja
Sound Engineer (Mumbai) …….....….….. Ashyar Bulsara
Sound Design and Post Production.…… Wilfredo Acosta
SFX Editor……………………………………….... Maiken Hansen
Original Music.………………….........…….... Imran Ahmad
Title music vocalist (all Episodes).…….. Murali Menon
Additional vocalist (Episode 9).…………. Sohini Alam
Producer..……………………………..........….. Helen Quigley and Andrew Mark Sewell
Producer (Mumbai) ……………..…....……. Nadir Khan
Executive Producer.……………......………. Andrew Mark Sewell
Director.………………………………............. Jatinder Verma

A B7 Media production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002fv4z)
Colm Tóibín

James Crawford will be joined by Colm Tóibín, talking about his best-selling novel Long Island, and the three other books that inspired his writing. He’s joined in the conversation by Northern Irish writer, Jan Carson.


SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m002fv51)
Programme 10 - The South of England vs Scotland

(10/12)

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 tenth contest features the second meeting of The South of England vs Scotland.

You can follow the questions in each edition on the Round Britain Quiz webpages. Each week's questions will be posted on the day before the Sunday transmission.

Teams:
Paul Sinha and Marcus Berkman
Alan McCredie and Val McDermid

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.


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5yl8)
'I wrote Schindler's List'

In 1980, Australian author Thomas Keneally stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while buying a briefcase in Beverly Hills, in the USA.

The owner of the shop, a Polish Jew called Leopold Pfefferberg, told Thomas that a Nazi party member had saved him, his wife and many others from the Holocaust, by employing them in his enamel factory.

Thomas tells Rachel Naylor why Oskar was such a compelling subject, full of contradictions, and why he believes his book has lasting appeal.

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: Thomas Keneally at his home in Bilgola Beach, Australia, in 1981. Credit: Martin James Brannan/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)


SUN 17:10 Behind the Crime (m0029xr7)
Mickey

Mickey was born in the early 1950s and his earliest memories from primary school involve crime. His father taught him how to fight, and opportunities to make enough money to go to the cinema presented themselves to him. As he entered adulthood, the trouble escalated.
Across four decades, Mickey was in and out of prison. Then a chance meeting with the filmmaker Guy Richie, and a further encounter with the screenwriter Tony Jordan, led Mickey into the world of storytelling and the big screen.
Dr Sally Tilt and Dr Kerensa Hocken are forensic psychologists who work in prisons. Their job is to help people who have committed crimes to understand the harm they’ve caused, identify why it happened and work out how to make changes to prevent further harm after they’ve been released.
In Behind the Crime, they take the time to understand the life of someone whose crimes have led to harm and prison.
Through this extended interview, we get to the heart of his behaviour and discover that there are two Mickeys.

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

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


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002fv54)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002fv56)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fv58)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002fv5b)
Jaega Wise

A selection of highlights from the past week on BBC radio


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002fv5d)
Justin stirs the pot, and security is tightened at the Bull.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002fv5g)
All Under One Magnetosphere

Electromagnetic waves fill the universe, radiating from solar storms and bursts of lightning, but also from our electronic devices and infrastructures. Using simple, DIY tools, a community of audio enthusiasts translates these waves into sound, uncovering hidden sonic worlds.

Five dedicated ‘natural radio’ enthusiasts venture beyond the electromagnetic pollution of the city, tuning into the Earth’s natural static to reveal a rich, textured soundscape, rarely heard.

Stephen McGreevy, a cult figure within this practice, shares stories of his recordings during the geomagnetic storm of 1989. Hannah Kemp-Welch travels to northern Norway in search of the electromagnetic waves of the aurora borealis, struggling to escape the omnipresent hum of the mains power grid. Alyssa Moxley captures the crackles of shooting stars in southern France. Matt Parker ventures into the National Radio Quiet Zone in Virginia, USA. And Anonea experiments with antennas from a remote location in northern Spain.

This audio feature encourages listeners to contemplate the vast, often invisible role electromagnetism plays in our daily lives. It invites us to look up at the sky and imagine radio waves bouncing off layers of the atmosphere, connecting us all under one magnetosphere.

Produced by Hannah Kemp-Welch and Oliver Sanders
Research & Development: Hannah Kemp-Welch
Editing & Sound Design: Oliver Sanders
Executive Producer: Lucia Scazzocchio
Special thanks to Anonea, Alyssa Moxley, Dan Tapper, Francesca Thakorlal, Matt Parker, Rob Stammes, Rebekah Breding, Ruth Stewart, Sébastien Robert and Stephen P. McGreevy.
A Social Broadcasts production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001xvhl)
Get Fit with HIIT

There’s no question that exercise is important for our health, but many of us find it difficult to fit into our busy schedules. In this episode, Michael Mosley explores how high-intensity interval training, HIIT for short, might be the most time-efficient way to get fitter. It can also boost your cognitive performance, help you live longer, and improve your quality of life. Martin Gibala, Professor of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, reveals all about the beneficial impact of HIIT on your cardiorespiratory system, your ability to control your blood sugar levels, and your risk of chronic diseases. Meanwhile, busy mum and NHS worker Suzanne finds HIIT a great way to incorporate a workout into her hectic routine.

Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002fljg)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002flm6)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002fv5j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002fv42)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002fv5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002fv5n)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.


SUN 23:00 Artworks (m002flhl)
New York 1925

1. Winter

In 1925 New York became the biggest, most populous city in the world, overtaking London, and was the launchpad for an extraordinary range of writing, music, culture and politics which still resonate 100 years later - from the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the launch of The New Yorker, to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance and the first success for the composer Richard Rodgers.

This is the story of that momentous year, season by season, told over four episodes, with contributors including novelist Jay McInerney, the academic Margo Jefferson and the editor of the New Yorker David Remnick. The series is presented by the saxophonist and broadcaster Soweto Kinch, with an original sound track played by the composer and clarinettist Giacomo Smith and his band.

Episode 1: Winter

At the start of the year a new kind of celebrity politician, Senator Jimmy Walker, had set his sights on becoming mayor of New York. He was a fast-drinking, fast-talking dandy. We follow his fortunes throughout the series, culminating in the election in November.

In February 1925 the New Yorker magazine was launched, and in March a special edition of the sociological magazine, Survey Graphic, was devoted entirely to Harlem. Whilst the New Yorker flopped, the special Survey Graphic was a runaway success.

In the winter months we also find out how F Scott Fitzgerald was preparing for the publication of The Great Gatsby in April, and how aspiring composer Richard Rodgers was struggling to create a hit song.

Presenter Soweto Kinch
Producer Katy Hickman
Band: Giacomo Smith clarinet; Laura Judd trumpet; Daniel Higham trombone; Alexander Boulton banjo; Joe Webb piano; Corrie Dick drums; Soweto Kinch saxophone


SUN 23:30 The History Podcast (m0024bfy)
The Lucan Obsession

1. The Double Mystery

One winter's night, 50 years ago, a crime took place that obsessed the nation.

Lord Lucan is said to have killed the family nanny, attacked his wife and vanished.

Newspapers ran wild with lurid detail and it became a story hardwired into British culture.

Why did this case capture the British imagination, and spark one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th Century?

Historian Alex von Tunzelmann unpacks the story of our obsession, taking us into a dizzying world of high stakes gambling and exclusive London clubs, powerboat racing and pet tigers. It’s also a dark realm of bankruptcy, gaslighting and stalking, and at its heart, a story with a violent and very tragic death.

Across the series she investigates the two mysteries at the centre of this story: was Lord Lucan the murder, and where on earth did he go?

Told and retold, the facts of the Lucan story have got lost. Alex finds herself in a hall of mirrors where truth and lies distort themselves into new myths and new mysteries. Was the truth obscured by booze and backhanders, class deference and journalist spin?

As she tries to get to the bottom of this case, she meets eyewitnesses from the '70s, people caught up in the crime, and those who just can’t let it go. She unearths long forgotten tapes and letters, piecing together fragments of a legend to discover why the Lucan myth still holds such power.

Series contributors:
Algy Cluff, Pierrette Goletto and Mandy Parks
Journalists: Bob Strange and James Fox
Author: Laura Thompson
Crime writer: Claire McGowan
Police: Geoff Lewry, Richard Swarbrick and Jackie Malton
UK Missing Persons Unit: Louise Newell

Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann
Series Producer: Sarah Bowen
Content Producer: Becca Bryers


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002flm4)
Snowbirds and Coyotes by KM Elkes

"The coyote finds his next prey at a flea market on Tucson Avenue. One of the snowbirds who escape the bone chill of northern winters, driving down in the caravan of bright white RVs that powder the Arizona desert like snow."

After the death of her husband, Betty takes to the road in an RV. She's always dreamed of spending time in the vast desert landscapes of Arizona. She'd hoped to come here with Ron, but it was not to be. When a young local offers to be her guide, she doubts his motives but allows him to circle closer. As he tries to reel her in, he realises that Betty may be playing a game of her own.

Bristol-based writer K.M. Elkes is the author of the short fiction collection 'All That Is Between Us'. His short stories and flash fiction have appeared in more than 50 literary anthologies and journals. His stories have won, or been placed, in international writing competitions including the BBC National Short Story Award, the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Royal Society of Literature VS Pritchett Prize and the Bridport Prize.

Read by Debora Weston
Produced by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio

MONDAY 14 JULY 2025

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002fv5q)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Intrigue (m0022l46)
Worse than Murder

7. The Grand Finale

More than half a century after Muriel McKay's abduction and murder, her body has never been found. This final episode explores the various theories about Muriel's fate - from a beach burial to a gruesome disposal on the farm. New information emerges, including a shocking claim from Arthur Hosein about Muriel's burial site.

The McKay family continues their desperate search for answers, while grappling with the media's relentless interest in the case. Jane MacSorley reflects on the role of the press in keeping Muriel's story alive and the ethical implications of true crime reporting.

Amid the speculation and theories, Muriel's children share poignant memories of their mother, bringing her to life beyond the tragic circumstances of her death.

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 (m002fv5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fv5v)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fv5x)
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 (m002fv5z)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002fv61)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fv63)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fv65)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002fv67)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


MON 05:57 Weather (m002fv69)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002fv7q)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Marianna in Conspiracyland (m002fmj8)
Marianna in Conspiracyland 2

3. Down the cancer conspiracy rabbit hole

What are cancer patients seeing on social media? The BBC’s social media investigations correspondent Marianna Spring goes down the cancer conspiracy rabbit hole to find out. She returns to the days Paloma spent in hospital after her cancer diagnosis to analyse the advice Paloma was being given by medical staff versus the advice she was receiving from alternative practioners and her Mum, Kate Shemirani. Marianna investigates Paloma’s mum’s platform as a conspiracy theory influencer and looks at the wider role some social media sites are playing in turbocharging accounts that promote health misinformation. Plus, she speaks to the Vice President of Royal College of Radiologists to understand how harmful content on social media is affecting patients.

Host: Marianna Spring
Producer: Anna Harris
Sound Engineer: Tony Churnside
Editor: Sam Bonham
Commissioning producer: Nathan Jones
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts

This was a BBC collaboration with Panorama.


MON 09:30 Fool's Gold (p0l0ks3n)
3. The Two Emperors

History is written by the winners – but in the ground beneath our feet, lie secrets someone has tried to bury. We travel back in time to 878AD, a world of warring Anglo Saxon kingdoms and Viking invasions. Historian Gareth Williams reveals how the coins found by George and Layton could rewrite the story of King Alfred’s reign and of Britain itself.

Narrator: Aimee-Ffion Edwards

Contributors: Dr Gareth Williams, Nigel Cleeton, Peter Reavill

Sound Design: Peregrine Andrews

Production Co-ordinator: Dan Marchini

Additional Research: Holly Morgan

Associate Producer: David James Smith

Producer: Aron Keller

Exec Producer: James Robinson

A BBC Studios Audio Production


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002fv7t)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


MON 11:00 State of Terror (m002fv7w)
Lone Wolves

State of Terror reveals the true story of how Britain was shaken by the 7/7 bombings twenty years ago, and how counter-terror policy has changed ever since to deal with new threats and shocking new methods adopted by the terrorists.
Presenter Dominic Casciani goes behind the scenes with those responsible for protecting us – from Prime Ministers to leaders of the UK’s security services, and those working with violent extremists to deradicalise them.
In this episode we reveal how one particular convicted terrorist was radicalised and what he did to plan a terror attack. And Dominic learns how some saw Government attempts to root out extremism as fuelling radicalisation rather than stopping it.

Presenter: Dominic Casciani
Producer: Jonathan Brunert


MON 11:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fv7y)
Episode 1: Daydreaming

The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.

As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.

But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.

In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?

In this first episode, Rebecca describes learning to daydream. She explains how her preoccupation with the strangeness of human experience began in the daydreams of the Brethren meeting room, enriched by the strange poetry of the Bible.

Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Studio Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis

A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Author photo credit :Sarah Weal


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002fv81)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002fv83)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


MON 12:57 Weather (m002fv85)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002fv87)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 Understand (m002fv89)
Derailed: The Story of HS2

1. The Railwayman

Kate meets Andrew McNaughton, the man who, in 2009, was given the task of sitting down with a blank piece of paper and designing a new high speed rail line. Ministers across the political aisle were aware of the desperate need for a capacity boost on the creaking West Coast Mainline; and looking for a jolt of optimism in the wake of the financial crash. It was the first new line north of London in over 70 years, and Andrew was venturing out into uncharted territory; he set out to design a futureproof, ambitious solution that would be the envy of the world.

Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002fv5d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Ed Reardon's Week (m002fv8d)
Series 16

3. 'Gen Ed'

Ed throws himself into his new role as Theatre Critic for ‘The Countrywoman’.

He assures his readers that he won’t hold back in the critique of what he sees as “the wayward vowel epidemic of recent times”. So it is that he finds himself grappling with the vagaries of Gen Z (or is that Gen Y or Gen Alpha?), and his new role lands him in a quandary between ambition and truth when he has to review a truly awful opera production directed by a dear old friend who was once described as ‘the most beautiful man in the world’.

Ed Reardon - Christopher Douglas
Eli - Lisa Coleman
Ping - Barunka O’Shaughnessy
Willow - Eve Ponsonby
Sir Peter - Robert Powell
Fifi - Nicola Sanderson
Simon - Joe Thomas

Written by Christopher Douglas

Produced by Dawn Ellis

Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum

Sound: Jon Calver & Alison McKenzie


MON 14:45 Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney (m001q0w2)
Episode 2

A new reading of the debut poetry collection by the Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Seamus Heaney, specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of his death.

As read by Bríd Brennan, Adrian Dunbar and Stephen Rea.

Music composed and performed by Neil Martin.

Seamus Heaney was a poet, translator, teacher and critic. During a career spanning fifty years, he became one of the most celebrated poets of his generation. While often rooted in the landscape of his homeland, Heaney’s poetry has a universal appeal that was to find a worldwide readership. During his lifetime he was the recipient of many honours, including the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, and his work has been translated into 27 languages. His legacy lives on, as readers continue to enjoy and engage with his poetry, prose, drama and translations.

Readers: Bríd Brennan, Adrian Dunbar and Stephen Rea.
Author: Seamus Heaney
Music: Neil Martin
Producer: Michael Shannon
Editor: Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production.


MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002fv8g)
Desiree Akhavan and Rosie Wilby

ALL FOURS by Miranda July, chosen by Desiree Akhavan
UNTRUE by Wednesday Martin, chosen by Rosie Wilby
DRAGON TALK by Fleur Adcock, chosen by Harriett Gilbert

Filmmaker and writer Desiree Akhavan joins comedian, writer and podcaster Rosie Wilby as they discuss favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Desiree's choice is All Fours by Miranda July, a novel about a perimenopausal woman's sexual awakening on an unusual road trip. By coincidence, Rosie Wilby chooses a non-fiction book which looks at research into women's sexuality, Untrue by Wednesday Martin. Harriett's choice is a volume of poetry by Fleur Adcock, dealing with matters of family and childhood.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
Join the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc
Photo credit Cecila Frugiuele


MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (m002fv8j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002fv4v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Rewinder (m002fv8l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002fv8n)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fv8q)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002fv8s)
Series 83

Episode 3

Jack Dee chairs the 83rd series of the long-running, self-styled antidote to panel games.


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002fv8v)
Akram bites off more than he can chew, and Susan fears for the future.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002fv8x)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m002fljj)
Combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m002fljl)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


MON 21:00 How Boarding Schools Shaped Britain (m0027t5m)
2. Codes

What did it mean to grow up in the type of boarding schools where codes of tradition, privilege, and resilience dictated life?

In the second of three programmes, Nicky Campbell hears from ex-boarders about the unspoken rules and survival mechanisms forged in these elite institutions - places that have shaped leaders, but left some with profound scars.

The structures and hierarchies were created to forge great men, but could also be extremely traumatic for some, and could empower abusers. Some men say being sent away at an early age left them in dangerous, violent hands, and has cast long shadows.


MON 21:45 Untaxing (m0029hm0)
2. The Beatles Clause

Harry Potter star, Rupert Grint, thought he’d found a way to cut his tax bill, until an obscure law tripped him up. That law? One created because of The Beatles.

But why were the Fab Four so desperate to avoid tax? And how did their money-saving scheme end with them losing control of their own music? A story of rock, rebellion, and the long arm of the taxman.

Producer: Tom Pooley
A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Radio 4


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002fv8z)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


MON 22:45 Private Angelo by Eric Linklater (m002fv91)
Hiya Toots

Italy, 1943. Angelo is overjoyed when the armistice is announced. Finally, he can return to his true love in Tuscany. But amidst the destruction of liberation, the cowardly private will find himself fighting not only for the Italian army but also the Germans, and finally the Allies in a witty and compassionate satire on the folly of war.

Angelo and his patron the Count – recently declared dead by the Germans – enjoy the delights of newly-liberated Rome.

Read by Carl Prekopp
Written by Eric Linklater
Abridged by Siân Preece
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Orcadian Eric Linklater was a leading author of the 1930s and 40s, who served with the Black Watch in Italy. His unflinching portrayal of the cruelty of war is leavened by his understanding of the motivations of ordinary people swept into conflict, as well as a strong optimism and a genuine love of Italy. ‘Private Angelo’ is part of Radio 4’s programming marking 80 years since VE Day.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.


MON 23:00 Whodunnits (m000zff3)
A Deadly Habit

Episode 2

by Jeremy Front
based on the novel by Simon Brett

Charles ..... Bill Nighy
Frances ..... Suzanne Burden
Maurice ..... Jon Glover
Brendan ..... Jonathan Kydd
Kit ..... Joseph Ayre
Kelly ..... Jane Slavin
Nina..... Marilyn Nnadebe
D.S. Dalby ..... Stewart Campbell

Directed by Sally Avens

Charles is playing a monk in a play in the West End when a cast member falls down stairs. A nasty accident or something more sinister? Charles can't help but be suspicious.


MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002fv94)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament

TUESDAY 15 JULY 2025

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002fv98)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fv7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fv9c)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fv9f)
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 (m002fv9h)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002fv9k)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament


TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fv9m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fv9p)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002fv9r)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


TUE 06:00 Today (m002fvk6)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Artworks (m002fvk8)
Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf

3. Gender

‘Orlando had become a woman - there is no denying it.’

A century on from the publication of Mrs Dalloway, Fiona Shaw explores what Virginia Woolf has to say to us today. With Clarissa Dalloway as our guide, we discover how Woolf captured and critiqued a modern world that was transforming around her, treated mental health as a human experience rather than a medical condition, and challenged gender norms in ways that seem light years ahead of even our present day discourse.

In this episode, Fiona Shaw speaks with authors, academics and artists inspired by Virginia Woolf, about the impact of Woolf’s ideas about gender, both on individuals and on culture.

Fiona hears from authors Naomi Alderman and Michelle de Kretser; Woolf biographer Alexandra Harris; drag king Holly James Johnston; Eleanor Black from the National Trust; filmmaker Sally Potter; philosopher Paul Preciado; Professor of Comparative Literature, Rachel Bowlby; and Professor of English, Mark Hussey.

Extracts read by Gwendoline Christie.

Produced by Ellie Richold for BBC Audio


TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m002fvhn)
Series that demystifies health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002fvkb)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m002flmj)
In the Mood for Love

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode celebrate 25 years of a modern masterpiece, In The Mood For Love, exploring its enduring legacy.

Mark speaks to film writer Tony Rayns, who worked closely with director Wong Kar-Wai from 1994 to 2008. Tony gives Mark the inside story on the production of In The Mood For Love as well as some insight into the enigmatic director's sometimes chaotic production style.

Ellen then speaks to Paul Vickery, film programmer at The Prince Charles Cinema which regularly hosts sold out screenings of In The Mood For Love. Ellen takes a trip to a screening of the film to get a sense of why it's developed such a devoted fanbase and finds out from Paul how it became one of the cult cinema's most beloved films.

Also, Mark talks to Oscar nominated cinematographer, Bradford Young, about when he first encountered the work of Wong Kar-Wai and why he thinks In The Mood For Love is so special.

Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvkd)
Episode 2: The Attic

The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.

As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.

But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.

In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?

In this second episode, Rebecca explores some of the mysteries that confound and fascinate modern scientists by way of a Kashmiri mathematician, Charles Darwin, the spooky world of quantum physics and the beautiful strangeness of slime mould.

Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Studio Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis

A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Author photo credit :Sarah Weal


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002fvkg)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002fvkj)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


TUE 12:57 Weather (m002fvkl)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m002fvkn)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


TUE 13:45 Understand (m002fvkq)
Derailed: The Story of HS2

2. Mutually assured exaggeration

As the designs for HS2 took shape, the new team behind it set out to prove its value to Ministers and MPs. But as Kate hears, long term flaws were being baked into the project, with an economic justification that centred on outdated assumptions. And, as the designers sought to make the justification, they adjusted the design - making it more expensive. The focus on speed was exciting - but it also distracted from the line’s real purpose. The initial vision was becoming more muddled by the minute.

Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002fv8v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0018ntw)
Bad Ark

New comedy drama from Matt Hartley.

Billionaire businessman Mr Green has taken his guests to the North Pole on his new superyacht, The Final Frontier. That's the moment when the last of the ice shelves calve, the wave hits and the great flood happens. With most of the passengers overboard and most of the world underwater, 4 fairly clueless survivors try to work out what to do next: the heiress, her bodyguard, a guy from the engine room and a washed up reality star. Is there really no one else left? How much caviar do they have on board? And what is going on with the seagull?

Cast:
Manny - Juan Wilken
Gary - Steffan Rhodri
Jasmine - Freya Mavor
Kika -Joanna Simpkins
Stevie G - Sion Pritchard
The Man - David Menkin

Tagalog translation: Sam Dapanas

Sound by Nigel Lewis
Produced by John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production


TUE 15:00 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m002fvks)
Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley - Series 2

50. Swindling Superpowers

In the final episode of season two of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley and her partner in crime, Professor Rosalind Crone, are joined by novelist and game designer Naomi Alderman, author of the award-winning book, The Power.

Together they explore one curious question - did our Lady Swindlers have superpowers?

From the strength and agility of Minnie Pheby, the Lady Burglar, to the psychic abilities of the Fox Sisters, these women used their talents to surprise, deceive and outwit the men around them. Whether they were slipping through windows, conducting séances, spiking drinks, or stealing museum masterpieces, each Lady Swindler flipped expectations on their head.

Lucy, Rosalind, and Naomi also take on big questions about women and power. Is crime a form of resistance? Do we romanticise female criminals? And what would a truly equal society actually look like?

Diving into the themes of The Power, they explore how stories and swindles expose the deeper gender dynamics of then and now. Featuring a lady burglar, spirit mediums, a hocusser, a drink-spiker, and a French art thief on the run, this finale asks what these women’s crimes reveal about the nature of power and women's lives.

Producer: Riham Moussa
Readers: Clare Corbett, Lauren Leko, Jonathan Keeble, and Alex Phelps
Historical Consultant: Rosalind Crone
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m002fvkv)
New research on how society works


TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002fvkx)
Rocking the Recorder

Susan Calman celebrates one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented music instruments of all time - the recorder.

For many people, the mere mention of this instrument triggers visceral memories of blasting out Hot Cross Buns in primary school music class - but in the right hands, the recorder isn’t squeaky and shrill, it’s a beautiful and incredibly versatile instrument.

Susan looks back fondly on those early years of recorder playing and leads the charge to champion this often maligned musical underdog. She opens our eyes (and ears) to the exciting world of recorder music - from experimental medieval, to baroque, and contemporary music. We hear from pop musicians, electronic producers and professional recorder players who are all using the recorder in fascinating ways. Together, they make the case for the recorder as an instrument that can really rock.

Producer: Victoria Ferran
Executive producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002fvkz)
Can caffeine boost my performance?

Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken untangle the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.

This week, Chris thinks he has a hack to optimise his caffeine intake, but Xand isn’t convinced. To find out if there is any evidence behind Chris’ theory, the Docs have a stimulating conversation with Andy Smith, Professor of Occupational and Health Psychology at Cardiff University, who has been studying the effects of caffeine for over 30 years.

They discuss what caffeine does to the brain, why some of us can handle more of it than others, and whether consuming it is a safe way to enhance both our cognitive and physical performance.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Professor Andy Smith
Producer: Jo Rowntree
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Assistant Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Assistant Producer and Researcher: William Hornbrook
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 (m002fvl1)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fvl3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 18:30 Room 101 with Paul Merton (m001y874)
Series 2

Daliso Chaponda

Paul Merton interviews a variety of guests from the world of comedy and entertainment to find out what they would send to Room 101 as well as the one item they cannot live without.

In this episode, Daliso Chaponda attempts to banish the scourge of ready meals and unsanitary handshakes, as well as people who think a double dip is acceptable.

Additional material John Irwin and Suki Webster
Produced by Richard Wilson
A Hat Trick production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002fvh3)
George has a confession to make, and Jazzer finds himself in sticky situation.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002fvl5)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002fvgl)
News-making original journalism investigating stories at home and abroad


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002fvl7)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted


TUE 21:00 Intrigue (m0028kz9)
Word of God

4. You've Got Mail

Federal investigators uncover a shadowy scheme to smuggle ancient clay tablets into America.

When customs officers in Memphis inspect a package labelled "tile samples" in January 2011, they discover something far more precious - delicate clay tablets covered in cuneiform, one of humanity's earliest forms of writing. Through exclusive interviews with former US prosecutor Karin Orenstein and special agent Brenton Easter, Lewis reveals how this discovery led to one of the largest antiquities investigations in recent history.

The episode reconstructs how Hobby Lobby President Steve Green attended a meeting in an apartment in the United Arab Emirates to view thousands of ancient artefacts, despite receiving explicit legal warnings about importing items from Iraq. When boxes of tablets start turning up at US customs addressed to Hobby Lobby stores labelled as craft supplies, investigators uncover an elaborate scheme of false declarations, undervalued items, and payments spread across multiple bank accounts.

As the investigation builds toward a landmark settlement requiring the return of around 3,800 artefacts and a $3 million payment, the episode exposes the complex world of international antiquities trafficking and raises questions about the responsibility of wealthy collectors to verify the origins of their acquisitions.

Presented by Ben Lewis
Produced by Clem Hitchcock
Executive producers: Philip Abrams and Jago Lee
Story editor: Andrew Dickson
Sound design by Richard Courtice
Original music by Max de Wardener
A TellTale production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes of Intrigue: Word of God are released weekly on Wednesdays, wherever you get your podcasts, but if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode a week early, first on BBC Sounds.


TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m002flj2)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002fvl9)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


TUE 22:45 Private Angelo by Eric Linklater (m002fvlc)
Tommaso

Italy, 1943. Angelo is overjoyed when the armistice is announced. Finally, he can return to his true love in Tuscany. But amidst the destruction of liberation, the cowardly private will find himself fighting not only for the Italian army but also the Germans, and finally the Allies in a witty and compassionate satire on the folly of war.

In Pontefiore, Angelo’s home town is close to the fighting and fiancée Lucretzia and her family have been forced into hiding.

Read by Carl Prekopp
Written by Eric Linklater
Abridged by Siân Preece
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Orcadian Eric Linklater was a leading author of the 1930s and 40s, who served with the Black Watch in Italy. His unflinching portrayal of the cruelty of war is leavened by his understanding of the motivations of ordinary people swept into conflict, as well as a strong optimism and a genuine love of Italy. ‘Private Angelo’ is part of Radio 4’s programming marking 80 years since VE Day.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 23:00 Havana Helmet Club (m002ddb5)
3. This Looks Real

A growing cluster of unexplained illnesses among US diplomats forces a response from the government. One CIA field agent refuses to let the issue be ignored, becoming both advocate and investigator. As more reports surface, the agency sends a medical expert to assess the situation on the ground.

What happens next sends shockwaves through the case. In a story filled with doubt, deflection, and delayed decisions, the line between investigator and victim suddenly begins to blur - raising new questions about the nature of the threat, and whether anyone is truly safe.

New episodes will be released weekly, wherever you get your podcasts, but if you are in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes a week early, first on BBC Sounds.

Havana Helmet Club is written and presented by Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey
Editor: Guy Crossman
Story editing: Mike Ollove Producer: Larry Ryan
Sound designer: Merijn Royaards
Additional mixing: Peregrine Andrews
Theme music: Tom Pintens, with additional music composed by Merijn Royaards
Fact checking: Stanley Masters. Additional reporting: Isobel Sutton, Pascale Hardey Stewart and Stanley Masters
Archive producers: Miriam Walsh and Helen Carr
Production executive: Kirstin Drybrugh
Editorial advisor: Jesse Baker
Commissioner: Dylan Haskins
Assistant commissioners: Sarah Green and Natasha Johansson

Havana Helmet Club is a Yarn production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002fvlg)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament

WEDNESDAY 16 JULY 2025

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002fvlj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fvll)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fvln)
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 (m002fvlq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002fvls)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament


WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fvlv)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fvlx)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002fvlz)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


WED 06:00 Today (m002fvg9)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Sideways (m002fvgc)
Chasing Peace: 1. Wired for War?

It’s December 2008. Wasim’s newborn daughter Yuna urgently needs care. He has no choice but to navigate the flames engulfing the streets of Gaza to find a doctor. In that harrowing moment, Wasim feels a profound injustice. This is not the future he wants for Yuna - or any other child. Despite the disheartening decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, on that day, Wasim still resolved to dedicate his life - to peace.

With conflicts and wars flaring across the globe, many of us struggle to believe that true, global peace is possible. If anything, it feels more elusive than ever. But if Wasim’s story shows us anything, it’s that even in difficult circumstances, we haven’t given up on the hope of peace.

In this first episode of Chasing Peace, a special three-part mini-series of Sideways, we explore whether humans are truly capable of peace, or if the dice were stacked against us from the very beginning.

With peace activist Wasim Al Masri, anthropologist Dr Douglas Fry, Professor of International Relations Oliver Richmond, and former Uganda peace negotiator Betty Bigombe.

Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Hannah Marshall
Sound Design and Mix: Daniel Kempson
Theme music by: Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4


WED 09:30 Shadow World (m002fvgf)
The Grave Robbers

2. Strangers in the Street

It should be impossible to steal a home, but this new narrative podcast from multi award winning investigative reporter Sue Mitchell (Intrigue: To Catch a Scorpion, Million Dollar Lover) reveals a gang operating in the UK to steal houses from people who die without a recent will.

The series hears from victims of the gang - and confronts its leaders, highlighting the shortfalls of a creaking system that leaves many others at risk. It also reveals the scale and depth of an ongoing scam which is denying rightful heirs significant windfalls - and depriving the UK Government of inheritance tax revenue.

This is an original investigation. A story never told before, leading across borders and into the dark underbelly of the UK. Over five episodes, Sue Mitchell reveals a network of companies that connect the gang members and finds evidence that as well as scamming people out of property, they are involved in illegal drugs, money laundering and the sale of UK work visas.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002fvgj)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002fvgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002fvgn)
July 14th - July 20th

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 vignettes of the events that have shaped the world and made us who we are today.

This week: July 14th - July 20th
- 16th of July 1969 - The Apollo 11 spacecraft launches in to space, and sets down on the moon four days later.
- 14th of July 1789 - the royal fortress prison Bastille was stormed by a crowd of angry Parisians, igniting the French Revolution.
- 19th of July 1545 - Henry VIII's leading warship the Mary Rose capsizes and sinks in the Solent.

Presented by Jane Steel and Caroline Nicholls.
Produced by Amanda Litherland and Chris Pearson


WED 11:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvgq)
Episode 3: Apparitions

The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.

As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.

But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.

In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?

In this third episode, Rebecca explores apparitions, sleep paralysis and hallucinations through a conversation with Oliver Sacks. She asks, if hallucinations are so common, occurring in states of meditation, fasting, grief, waking from sleep, childbirth and so on, why are we quick to dismiss them? By doing so, might we lose opportunities for shared wonder?

Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Studio Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis

A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Author photo credit :Sarah Weal


WED 12:00 News Summary (m002fvgs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002fvgv)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


WED 12:57 Weather (m002fvgx)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m002fvgz)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


WED 13:45 Understand (m002fvh1)
Derailed: The Story of HS2

3. That can’t be right

As specific plans for HS2 were announced, protestors quickly sprang into action, forming campaigning groups and arguing for the line to be fundamentally re-thought. They saw HS2 as an industrial eyesore rammed through the heart of some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside. Communities all along the proposed line were staring down the barrel of massive disruption, from the compulsory purchase of family homes and farms, to the ruination of local ecosystems. A movement was forming, and beginning to define the project in the public eye.

Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


WED 14:00 The Archers (m002fvh3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 Fault Lines: Money, Sex and Blood (m000ncnn)
Series 2: Sex

Me and You and You and Me

Fault Lines: Sex
Me and You and You and Me by James O'Neil.
Zak is a very successful entrepreneur. He has everything except that special someone to share his life with. Then he finds the woman of his dreams. But how is she such a perfect match?

Constance - GLENDA JACKSON
Zak - RUPERT HILL
Zoe - VERITY HENRY
Ali - DARREN KUPPAN
Steph - KATE COOGAN
Simon - DANNY HUGHES
Director/Producer Gary Brown


WED 15:00 Money Box (m002fvh5)
The latest news from the world of personal finance


WED 15:30 The Hidden History of the Corridor (b095tkgx)
Take a trip down the corridor with Dr Rachel Hurdley as she explores the history of this most ambiguous space.

As a sociologist, Rachel has long been fascinated by the power of corridors and their role as places which are neither entirely public nor private. The corridor is a relatively recent architectural innovation, arriving in Britain around the beginning of the 18th Century.

Rachel visits Castle Howard to walk what are thought to be the first corridors in England, discovers why the Victorians had a mania for corridors, finds out about the move towards open plan and asks whether corridors may now be due to return to our buildings. Along the way, she considers how corridors reflect the society of their time, hears why they’re a film maker’s dream and enters the world of diplomacy to find out why corridors can be the perfect place to make a deal.

Interviewees:
Jonathan Glancey, Architectural Writer and Historian
James Rothwell, Architectural Historian, The National Trust at Petworth House in West Sussex
Mark Jarzombek, Professor of Architectural History and Theory at MIT
Sir Christopher Meyer, Former Ambassador to Washington and Germany
Dr Chris Ridgway, Curator of Castle Howard in North Yorkshire
Sue Hayward, Curator at the National Trust’s Tyntesfield near Bristol
Pat Rowe, Guide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London
Karen Krizanovich, Film Expert
Darren Southgate, Architect of the Factory 2050 Building in Sheffield

Presenter: Rachel Hurdley
Producer: Louise Adamson
Executive Producer: Samir Shah

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4


WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002fvh7)
Who's in the news for all the wrong reasons? With David Yelland and Simon Lewis.


WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002fvh9)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.


WED 17:00 PM (m002fvhc)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fvhf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 18:30 Your Mum (m002fbf0)
4. Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Olga Koch

Kiri tells us about when her mum hid from the police in the Welsh mountains (with her newborn baby), tackled an entire rugby team to save her husband, and picked Kiri up from school with a smelly surprise in the boot of the car. Olga shares what happened to her family with the collapse of the Soviet Union, how her mum's life changed dramatically overnight, and what uniquely Russian punishments were used to keep her in check.

In this series, Laura Smyth sits down with some incredible guests to find out about their mums and explore the many faces of ‘motherhood’. Join her for a nostalgic, shameless, cathartic ride that asks what (if anything) our folks have taught us.

Producer: Sasha Bobak
Production Coordinator: Katie Baum
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.


WED 19:00 The Archers (m002fvhh)
Mick finds himself in the spotlight, and Azra proves to be correct.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m002fvhk)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


WED 20:00 AntiSocial (m002fllt)
News and discussion of consumer affairs


WED 20:45 Café Hope (m0026v8b)
Grub not garbage

Co-founder of REfUSE, Nikki Dravers, tells Rachel Burden how the social enterprise helps reduce food waste by running a 'pay-as-you-feel' cafe.

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

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

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


WED 21:00 Walt Disney: A Life in Films (m001np6q)
3. Fantasia

Through the stories of ten of his greatest works, Mel Giedroyc examines the life of Walt Disney, a much mythologised genius. A man to whom storytelling was an escape from an oppressive father and a respite from periods of depression.

His name is truly iconic, but how much do we really know about this titan of the entertainment industry? Who was the real Walt and why did a man who moulded Western pop culture in his image end up on his deathbed, afraid that he’d be forgotten?

In this episode, Mel invites you to explore the surreal musical world of Walt Disney’s Fantasia, a film which saw Walt attempt to elevate his animations to the status of high art.

Fantasia was meant to be the movie that proved Walt’s remaining doubters wrong. Instead, the stress of bringing it into being would land him in hospital. It also plunged the Disney company into financial disarray once again, risking his studio’s future.

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4


WED 21:30 Inside Health (m002fvhn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002fvhq)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


WED 22:45 Private Angelo by Eric Linklater (m002fvhs)
The Ambush

Italy, 1943. Angelo is overjoyed when the armistice is announced. Finally, he can return to his true love in Tuscany. But amidst the destruction of liberation, the cowardly private will find himself fighting not only for the Italian army but also the Germans, and finally the Allies in a witty and compassionate satire on the folly of war.

With his pride severely dented by Lucretzia’s revelation, Angelo joins Force 69 for a typically daring raid.

Read by Carl Prekopp
Written by Eric Linklater
Abridged by Siân Preece
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Orcadian Eric Linklater was a leading author of the 1930s and 40s, who served with the Black Watch in Italy. His unflinching portrayal of the cruelty of war is leavened by his understanding of the motivations of ordinary people swept into conflict, as well as a strong optimism and a genuine love of Italy. ‘Private Angelo’ is part of Radio 4’s programming marking 80 years since VE Day.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 23:00 The Lively Life of Lindsey Santoro (m002fvhv)
Series 1

2. Blue Light Me to A&E

Today Lindsey discovers that her two-year-old has become a pub landlady. She helps her mum to close a vortex to the spirit world using some chicken crisps and spends the evening in A&E with a man’s severed thumb.

Welcome to the life of the most beautiful princess in all of Birmingham and its surrounding areas. This week Lindsey Santoro has started a diary. But she’s not 13 years old daydreaming about her latest crush and sleepover plans. She’s a 37-year-old no-nonsense Brummy whose days are more likely to involve thrush cream and a bargy with a bus driver. You are cordially invited to step into her world and learn lessons from her lively life.

Producer: Sasha Bobak
Production Coordinator: Katie Baum
Script Editor: Ruth Husko
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.


WED 23:15 Where to, Mate? (m001jt8y)
Series 2

"...I wouldn't know myself from the back..."

Series 2 episode 2 - "...I wouldn't know myself from the back..."

From filmmaker Jason Wingard and set and recorded on location in a car in Manchester, 'Where To, Mate?' is a semi-improvised comedy following our drivers Bernie Ben and Saj as we eavesdrop on their taxi journeys around the North West.

Bernie picks up a passenger with an unlikely profession.

Featuring local voices and character actors/comedians from the North.
Dialogue is improvised by the cast based on ideas by Jason Wingard and Carl Cooper.

Ben ..... Peter Slater
Bernie ..... Jo Enright
Saj ..... Abdullah Afzal
Hazel ..... Janice Connolly
Controller ..... Jason Wingard
Controller ..... Abdullah Afzal
Additional voices and material by the cast and crew.

Director: Jason Wingard
Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002fvhx)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament

THURSDAY 17 JULY 2025

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002fvhz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fvj1)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fvj3)
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 (m002fvj5)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002fvj7)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament


THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fvj9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fvjc)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002fvjf)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


THU 06:00 Today (m002fwpq)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 Artworks (m002fwps)
New York 1925

2. Spring

In 1925 New York became the biggest, most populous city in the world, overtaking London, and was the launchpad for an extraordinary range of writing, music, culture and politics which still resonate 100 years later - from the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the launch of The New Yorker, to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance and the first success for the composer Richard Rodgers.

This is the story of that momentous year, season by season, told over four episodes, with contributors including novelist Jay McInerney, the academic Margo Jefferson and the editor of the New Yorker David Remnick. The series is presented by the saxophonist and broadcaster Soweto Kinch, with an original sound track played by the composer and clarinettist Giacomo Smith and his band

Episode 2 Spring

In April F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was published, but the novel that is now considered a masterpiece, fell flat in 1925. The New Yorker magazine was also struggling and was nearly derailed by a bad night at the poker table. But there was better news for Richard Rodgers, who went on to compose Oklahoma and The Sound of Music. Rodgers, alongside the lyricist Larry Hart got their big break, with Manhattan.

In May 1925 a small branch library in Harlem opened a new division to cater to the tastes and aspirations of the neighbourhood’s predominantly black population. The library would become the focal point for the Harlem Renaissance.

And the celebrity politician, Jimmy Walker, was lined up against the current mayor of New York for the Democratic nomination.

Presenter Soweto Kinch
Producer Katy Hickman
Band Giacomo Smith clarinet; Laura Judd trumpet; Daniel Higham trombone; Alexander Boulton banjo; Joe Webb piano; Corrie Dick drums; Soweto Kinch saxophone


THU 09:30 Politically (m002fwpv)
Reflections: Series 3

Diane Abbott

Having served as a Labour MP since 1987, Diane Abbott is known in parliament as the 'Mother of the House'. In conversation with James Naughtie, the passionate left-winger reflects on political rebellion, her relationship with Jeremy Corbyn, her experience of sexism and racism and her political longevity.


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002fwpx)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


THU 11:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002fwpz)
Series 33

Should We Settle in Space? - Tim Peake, Kelly Weinersmith and Alan Davies

Brian Cox and Robin Ince blast off into a cosmic controversy as they ask, should humanity become an interplanetary species? At Harwell Campus, a space science innovation hub, they’re joined by astronaut Tim Peake, biologist and Royal Society prize winning author Kelly Weinersmith, and comedian Alan Davies to explore the science, ethics, and challenges of settling on Mars or on the Moon.
Are we bold pioneers venturing into the unknown, or just reckless tenants abandoning Earth in search of a new abode? Our panel discuss whether space settlement is inevitable in humanity’s near future and how pushing the boundaries of space exploration could make extra-terrestrial travel more accessible to the masses. From sourcing materials, to surviving radiation, and even growing potatoes from poo, they tackle what it really would take to live a life beyond Earth!

Series Producer: Melanie Brown
Assistant Producer: Olivia Jani
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem

BBC Studios Audio Production


THU 11:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fwq1)
Episode 4: The Owl

The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.

As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.

But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.

In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?

In this fourth episode, Rebecca explores some of the mysteries of our experience of dying and of grief, drawing on the time she spent with her parents as they died. She looks for common experience in Joan Didion’s memoir A Year of Magical Thinking, which has been called a ‘monument to grief’.

Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Studio Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis

A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Author photo credit :Sarah Weal


THU 12:00 News Summary (m002fwq3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 The Bottom Line (m002fwq5)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters.


THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002fwq7)
Greg Foot investigates the so-called wonder products making bold claims.


THU 12:57 Weather (m002fwq9)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m002fwqc)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


THU 13:45 Understand (m002fwqf)
Derailed: The Story of HS2

4. Well Done Geoffrey

To deal with the growing opposition, the government resolved to commit to HS2 by way of a hybrid bill, which would open up opportunities for local communities to object to the route. The original design became mired in hundreds of expensive mitigations, compromises and compensations. Cheaper above ground sections were replaced by costly tunnels. Cuttings and sound barriers began to line huge parts of the route. The project was progressing, but it would have to pay the piper before long.

Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


THU 14:00 The Archers (m002fvhh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002fwqh)
When I Fall

By Tom Wentworth. Falling is part of Aaron's life. When he falls between the tube train and the platform he thinks his life is over - but it's about to begin.

Commuter Noah reaches down and pulls him into the carriage. Their eyes meet. This is their love story told through seven (of many in a lifetime) falls.

Zak Ford-Williams is an actor with cerebral palsy, best known for his screen role as Lord Remington in the Netflix series Bridgerton, Harry Hardacre in The Hardacres, and for his lead roles on stage in The Tragedy of Richard III, and The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man.

The author, Tom Wentworth, is a disabled/queer writer. His credits include Battery (Film4), Ralph and Katie (BBC One) Little Bits of Ruined Beauty (Pentabus/Unlimited), Glass Town (The Egg, Bath), Criptales: The Real Deal (BBC Four) and Burke and Hare (Watermill, Newbury).

Cast
Aaron ..... Zak Ford-Williams
Noah ..... Sam Swann
Nancy ..... Joanna David
Becky ..... Rhiannon Neads
Sam ..... Hasan Dixon

Recorded by Paul Clark at Sonica
Sound Design by Pete Ringrose
Produced by Mary Peate
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

A Hooley production for BBC Radio 4


THU 15:00 This Natural Life (m002fwqk)
Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley's sculptures on Crosby beach are one his best-known works. In this programme, he shows Martha Kearney around the sculptures, and talks about his relationship with the natural world - especially the sea. The artwork in Merseyside consists of one hundred male figures cast in metal, and based on Antony's own body. As they are submerged with the rising and falling tides, their form evolves and changes, and they become rusty and encrusted with sealife. He describes one of them as "a participatory artwork made by me and a whole community of barnacles." As they stroll along the shore listening to the seabirds, Martha asks Antony about the inspiration he draws from the natural world, and what it means to him.

Producer: Emma Campbell


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002fv42)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Feedback (m002fwqm)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience


THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m002fwqp)
Combining original insights into major news stories with topical investigations.


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m002fwqr)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.


THU 17:00 PM (m002fwqt)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fwqw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 18:30 Ashley Blaker's Hyperfixations (m002fwqy)
3. Orthodox Judaism

"My first skullcap genuinely had a red Liver Bird knitted into it. And interestingly, having been worried about the reaction I might get walking around as a very visible Jew, it turned out I received far more abuse for supporting Liverpool than I ever did for being Jewish."

Ashley has never done anything by halves - so when his interest was piqued in traditional orthodox Judaism his (then undiagnosed) autism and ADHD meant he really dug in - making him, at the time, the UK's only strictly orthodox comedian, with all the complexities and regulations that carried with it.

His diagnosis went some considerable way to explain is his propensity for hyperfixation in special interests, which he now realises entirely shaped his past and which he uses to mine comedy for this new series.

It’s no exaggeration to say Ashley’s life has been driven by obsessions. He has variously been a schoolboy with a love of Star Wars and Doctor Who, a wannabe comedian who performed on the London comedy circuit at 16, a trivia nerd who appeared on University Challenge, a history PhD candidate at Cambridge, a BBC producer of hit comedy shows including Little Britain, a fanatical football fan who saw Liverpool play across England and Europe, a strictly Orthodox Jew who went to synagogue three times a day for over ten years, a father of six, and latterly, a heavily tattooed renegade in hiding from his former community.

In this series, Ashley takes a comedic look at each of his obsessions in turn, merging personal memoir with a delve into subjects which have yet to be covered in stand-up comedy shows. The result is a series which, while based on the broader topic of neurodiversity, covers it with the lightest of touches and is focused more on Ashley’s individual hyperfixations, lifting the lid on many of the different worlds he’s inhabited.

Written and performed by Ashley Blaker
co-starring Rosie Holt and Kieran Hodgson

Script Editor: Steve Hall
Recording engineers: Jerry Peal and Jon Calver
Producer: Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m002fwk7)
Susan makes an emotional gesture, and Oliver has a brainwave.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m002fwr0)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music


THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002fvh7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Wednesday]


THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002fvh9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:15 on Wednesday]


THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002fvbv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


THU 21:45 Sideways (m0025460)
Appetite for Distraction

2. Have We Always Been Distracted?

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

In this episode, Matthew looks into history to uncover different approaches to focus. He finds out where the idea of 'attention' came from, whether there has always been a fear that humanity's ability to focus was declining, and what the historical relationship of technology to distraction has been.

He hears from the historian of science D Graham Burnett. Burnett has explored different philosophies of attention across the ages and is an advocate for a change in behaviours regarding our attention today. Professor Nilli Lavie, of University College London's Attention Research Laboratory, provides an insight into modern scientific views of attention.

Matthew looks for answers in a community renowned for their ability to focus...monks. Historian Jamie Kreiner has uncovered how early Christian monks thought about distraction in her book 'The Wandering Mind'. Jamie reveals that there is more to connect the monks of the first millennia with our technological world today than we might think.

Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Sam Peach


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002fwr2)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


THU 22:45 Private Angelo by Eric Linklater (m002fwr4)
They always overdo things

Italy, 1943. Angelo is overjoyed when the armistice is announced. Finally, he can return to his true love in Tuscany. But amidst the destruction of liberation, the cowardly private will find himself fighting not only for the Italian army but also the Germans, and finally the Allies in a witty and compassionate satire on the folly of war.

With a little help from the Count’s American friends, Pontefiore celebrates the wedding of Angelo and Lucrezia with a feast.

Read by Carl Prekopp
Written by Eric Linklater
Abridged by Siân Preece
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Orcadian Eric Linklater was a leading author of the 1930s and 40s, who served with the Black Watch in Italy. His unflinching portrayal of the cruelty of war is leavened by his understanding of the motivations of ordinary people swept into conflict, as well as a strong optimism and a genuine love of Italy. ‘Private Angelo’ is part of Radio 4’s programming marking 80 years since VE Day.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002fwr6)
Conversations about tomorrow, from Today.


THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002fwr8)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament

FRIDAY 18 JULY 2025

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002fwrb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fwq1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002fwrd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002fwrg)
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 (m002fwrj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002fwrl)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament


FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002fwrn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002fwrq)
Radio 4's daily prayer and reflection


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002fwrs)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.


FRI 06:00 Today (m002fwjn)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m002fv4j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002fwjq)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.


FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002fwjs)
Investigating every aspect of the food we eat.


FRI 11:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fwjv)
Episode 5: The Flickering

The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.

As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.

But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.

In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?

In the final episode, Rebecca explores some of the uncanny aspects of writing fiction by way of a meteor shower, and by enlisting the insights of Noel Gallagher, George Saunders, Stephen King and the spirit of the late Hilary Mantel.

Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Studio Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis

A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4

Author photo credit :Sarah Weal


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002fwjx)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m002fwjz)
News and discussion of consumer affairs.


FRI 12:57 Weather (m002fwk1)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m002fwk3)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


FRI 13:45 Understand (m002fwk5)
Derailed: The Story of HS2

5. Worry About the Detail Later

As HS2 began the process of lining up land along its route for purchase, individuals within the team became deeply concerned. They feared that HS2 was wildly underestimating the eventual costs associated with acquiring the land, as well as the shortage of available specialists and the risks of unfairness to those forced to sell. And, they worried that HS2 was being too slow to reckon with the true price tag as it focused on getting political approval to move forward.

Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Robert Nicholson
Executive Producer: Will Yates
Sound Design and Mix: Arlie Adlington

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002fwk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002fc69)
Central Intelligence: Series 2

Episode 5

The story of the CIA, told from the inside out by long-serving CIA agent Eloise Page.

In Episode 2.5, it’s 1957 and the race to get the first satellite into space is on, and the CIA must find out where the Soviet launchpad is located. Eloise Page, rising up the ranks of the CIA, is sent to the Atsugi Air Base in Japan, the new HQ of the U-2, high-altitude spy-plane program.

Cast:
Eloise Page..........Kim Cattrall
Allen Dulles..........Ed Harris
Richard Helms..........Johnny Flynn
Frank Wisner..........Geoffrey Arend
Young Eloise Page..........Elena Delia
Richard Bissell..........Ian Porter
President Eisenhower..........Kerry Shale
John Foster Dulles..........Nathan Osgood
Addy Hawkins..........Carlyss Peer
Dmitri Skolbetsyn..........Branko Tomović
Mikhail..........Phillipe Bosher
Radar Operator/Lee Harvey Oswald..........Eric Sirakian
Elizabeth..........Laurel Lefkow

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 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m0022t7f)
11. Love Bytes

At thirty-one, mathematician Chris McKinlay is looking for love. But if it’s all a numbers game, his are not adding up. Could he be the problem? Or is something else getting in the way?

Producer: Lauren Armstrong Carter
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke


FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002fwk9)
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m002fwkc)
Stock Image

A photographer is blinded by the flash of Virginia Woolf's genius. A new story by David Baddiel about modernism, casual antisemitism, and the first ever celebrity selfie.

Read by Elliot Levey with Rebecca Front
Producer: David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002fwkf)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.


FRI 16:30 Sideways (m002fvgc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m002fwkh)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002fwkk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m002fwkm)
Series 26

Episode 6

Satirical impressions from the team headed up by Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens.


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002fwkp)
Writer Nick Warburton
Director: Helen Aitken and Kim Greengrass
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Justin Elliott…. Simon Williams
Mick Fadmoor…. Martin Barrass
Martyn Gibson…. Jon Glover
Amber Gorden…. Charlotte Jordan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Akram Malik…. Asif Khan
Azra Malik… Yasmin Wilde
Jazzer McCreary…. Ryan Kelly
Lynda Snell…. Carole Boyd
Oliver Sterling…. Michael Cochrane
Chaplain…. Jason Bartlett


FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m002fwkr)
Scotland

30 years after Mel Gibson's Braveheart cloaked Hollywood in fake tartan, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode take the high roads and the low roads to look for the real Scotland on screen.

Ellen talks with Tayside journalist Kayleigh Donaldson about the trouble with Braveheart, why veteran Scottish director Bill Forsyth's hyper local comedy dramas Local Hero, Gregory's Girl, and That Sinking Feeling have such international appeal, and why movies such as Ben Sharrock's Limbo tell a different kind of story about Scotland.

Comedian and writer Frankie Boyle tells Ellen why Gregory's Girl is one of Scotland's most beloved films, why Lynne Ramsay's New York City based thriller You Were Never Really Here starring Joaquin Phoenix as a violent mercenary feels so Scottish, and his reservations about Danny Boyle's Trainspotting.

Mark reconnects with legendary Scottish actor and star of Succession Brian Cox who has returned to Scotland to make his directorial debut Glenrothan. They discuss Brigadoon, Braveheart (which starred Brian Cox), cultural neglect, and the Powell & Pressburger classic movie set on the Isle of Mull, I Know Where I'm Going.

Producer: Freya Hellier
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002fwkt)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities


FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002fvgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:40 on Wednesday]


FRI 21:00 Politically (m002fwkw)
Postwar: Omnibus 1

David Runciman tells the story of the 1945 election and the dawn of a new age.


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002fwky)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective


FRI 22:45 Private Angelo by Eric Linklater (m002fwl0)
We are still Tuscany

Italy, 1943. Angelo is overjoyed when the armistice is announced. Finally, he can return to his true love in Tuscany. But amidst the destruction of liberation, the cowardly private will find himself fighting not only for the Italian army but also the Germans, and finally the Allies in a witty and compassionate satire on the folly of war.

Angelo’s long-awaited return to Pontefiore is marked by surprises all round.

Read by Carl Prekopp
Written by Eric Linklater
Abridged by Siân Preece
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Orcadian Eric Linklater was a leading author of the 1930s and 40s, who served with the Black Watch in Italy. His unflinching portrayal of the cruelty of war is leavened by his understanding of the motivations of ordinary people swept into conflict, as well as a strong optimism and a genuine love of Italy. ‘Private Angelo’ is part of Radio 4’s programming marking 80 years since VE Day.

A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 23:00 Americast (m002fwl2)
Join the Americast team for insights from across the US.


FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002fwl4)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament