SATURDAY 30 AUGUST 2025
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002hmrv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Blood Lands (m000712l)
Common Purpose
The final episode of Blood Lands - a true story told in five parts which takes us to the heart of modern South Africa.
A group of white men are on trial accused of murdering two black South Africans, but as a long and explosive trial comes to an end, could muddled medical evidence see them walk free? Blood Lands is a murder investigation, a political drama, a courtroom thriller, and a profound exploration of the enduring racial tensions threatening the "rainbow nation". Over the course of three years, correspondent Andrew Harding has followed every twist of the police’s hunt for the killers, the betrayals that opened the door to an dramatic trial, and the fortunes of all those involved – from the dead men’s families to the handful of men controversially selected for prosecution. When a whole community is on trial, who pays the price?
Presenter, Andrew Harding
Producer, Becky Lipscombe
Editor, Bridget Harney
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002hmrx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002hmrz)
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 (m002hms1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002hms3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002hms5)
The Disappeared
Good morning. I think nearly everyone listening today is very aware of missing someone from their lives - grieving for someone who, for whatever reason, is no longer there.
Today is International Day of the Disappeared. It recognises the hundreds of thousands of people that have vanished during conflicts or times of repression in at least 85 countries around the world. The families and friends of the victims, experience slow mental anguish, not knowing whether their loved one is still alive and, if so, where he or she is being held, under what conditions, and in what state of health. We can think of the ‘disappeared’ in current war zones. But many in other countries have disappeared because of their religious or political beliefs or for speaking up for others who have been denied justice. Those are known as enforced disappearances.
But not all disappearances are enforced. Many appear to be voluntary. I read that in the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Some will reappear, many won’t. For each family the story is often framed with phrases like ‘living nightmare’, ‘dreadful agony’ and ‘painful loss’. Living without answers and coping with uncertainty takes its toll over time. There is a sense of helplessness and a grief that is unresolved. The Psalmist writes: Morning, noon and night I cry out in my distress and the Lord hears my voice.
God of comfort, protect and sustain all those who have been disappeared. Release those who are unjustly imprisoned. Give hope and peace to families and victims. Comfort those who bear the pain of someone who is missing. In your mercy, hear their cry of distress and give them peace. Amen.
SAT 05:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m00230wc)
17. The Golden Spike
At a conference in Mexico, one scientist’s outburst launches a global quest.
Hannah Fry follows a group of researchers on the hunt for a ‘golden spike’: the boundary, marking a shift into a dramatic new geological period dominated, not by volcanoes and asteroids, but the influence of humans.
From plastics and concrete to nuclear fallout, the data they uncover reveals a planet profoundly changed. But can these scientists persuade their colleagues - and the world?
Producer: Ilan Goodman
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002hsvm)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m002hkxt)
Exploring the Lakes by wheelchair
Caz Graham tries out Miles without Stiles, a scheme which helps disabled people access the Lake District. She joins a group of people in a fleet of mobility vehicles on a route from Sizergh Castle near Kendal, and visits the Keswick to Threlkeld path which was rebuilt after Storm Desmond but attracted controversy when it was surfaced with tarmac.
Will Clark explains how the scheme helps him continue to enjoy the countryside after a mountain biking accident left him paralysed from the neck down. He explores the lakes and fells using a power chair which he operates with his chin.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002hsvp)
Farming Today This Week: EU border checks; impact of pig and poultry farms; pollinators; off-grid farms connected
Changes to the costs, paperwork and bureaucracy that are hampering agri-food exports from Great Britain to the European Union won’t be in place until 2027. Nick Thomas–Symonds, the Minister for EU Relations, has been setting out his priorities for the future of the UK-EU relationship in a speech in front of industry representatives and journalists. We speak to trade expert David Henig and hear how food exporters are 'disappointed' that barriers to trade won't be removed sooner.
The pig and poultry industry is damaging our rivers and countryside, according to a report commissioned by the Wildlife Trusts. The UK produces almost one million tonnes of pig meat and two million tonnes of poultry meat per year and the Trusts have been examining the broader environmental risks from farming pigs and poultry. They’ve been looking into the wider implications on land use, water quality, and biodiversity and highlight the scale of intensive production, the use of land for producing feed and the waste - or muck - that comes from the farms.
Pollinators play an essential part in crop production and we've been looking at them all week. One fruit farm in Herefordshire imports bees from the Netherlands to pollinate fruit in polytunnels. We also speak to the insect charity Buglife.
An update on a tiny community which was considered too remote to be connected to the national grid. People living in the Upper Coquet Valley in Northumberland used to be reliant on generators. For 50 years they've campaigned to be connected to the mains - and now they are!
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002hsvr)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002hsvt)
Today (Saturday)
SAT 09:00 What's Up Docs? (m002hkpy)
Is our noisy world killing us?
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken cut through the noise around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.
This week, Chris and Xand speak to Professor Charlotte Clark, Environmental Epidemiologist at City St George’s, University of London. She explains how being exposed to transport noise over long periods of our life can have disastrous consequences for our cardiovascular systems, brains and minds. But how big a problem is this? And is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from the effects of noise?
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 Charlotte Clark
Producers: William Hornbrook and Jo Rowntree
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Assistant Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
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
SAT 09:30 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m002hkp7)
Series 11
Hestia
The overlooked Olympian who was the resolutely unmarried goddess of the hearth and home. In fact, Zeus awarded her a glorious gift for remaining unmarried, a tradition Natalie very much feels should be continued. In Hestia's Roman form of Vesta her Vestal Virgins guarded the sacred flame in her temple.
Edith Hall thinks she's like Nigella, a domestic goddess, which may explain why references to her are hard to find, but that her importance both to men and women at the time cannot be overestimated.
'Rockstar mythologist' Natalie Haynes is the best-selling author of 'Divine Might', 'Stone Blind', and 'A Thousand Ships' as well as a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greek and Rome.
Edith Hall is Professor of Classics at Durham University, specialising in ancient Greek literature. She has written over thirty books and is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Producer...Beth O'Dea
SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002hsvw)
Hannibal of Carthage: fearsome enemy of ancient Rome
Greg Jenner is joined in ancient North Africa by classicist Professor Josephine Quinn and comedian Darren Harriott to learn about Hannibal of Carthage and his war with Rome. Located in modern-day Tunisia, Carthage was once a Mediterranean superpower that rivalled Rome. In 218 BCE, the Second Punic War began between the two powers, with the Carthaginian army led by a man named Hannibal Barca. Famously, Hannibal took his forces – including a contingent of war elephants – over the Alps and into Italy, finally marching on Rome itself. But eventually the Carthaginians were beaten back, and Hannibal ended his days in exile. In this episode we explore his epic life, from his childhood in Spain, to his tactical brilliance as a general, to his post-war career as a reformist politician.
If you’re a fan of ancient Rome, genius generals and new developments in classical history, you’ll love our episode on Hannibal of Carthage.
If you want more from Darren Harriott, check out our episode on Victorian Bodybuilding. Or for more plucky generals, listen to our episodes on Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar or Robert Bruce.
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: Emma Bentley
Written by: Emma Bentley, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002hsvy)
Series 49
Chipping Campden
Jay Rayner and a panel of chefs, cooks and food writers are in Chipping Campden answering questions from an audience of eager home cooks. Joining Jay are materials expert, Dr Zoe Laughlin, chefs Tim Hayward and Angela Gray, and resident food historian Dr Annie Gray.
The panel offer their favourite salad dressing recipes and their most unconventional uses of bacon, and discuss the strangest thing they’ve ever eaten. Warning - it’s weirder than you think!
Situated in Chipping Campden, the home of Robert Welch, we hear from Company Archivist, Charlotte Booth about the history of their iconic designs. Annie also answers the intriguing question, which came first, the knife or the fork?
Producers: Dulcie Whadcock and Matt Smith
Senior Executive Producer: Ollie Wilson
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002hkyl)
YouTube, Insta and TikTok: A Guide to Growing Your Social Media Following (Jordan Schwarzenberger - part one)
With audiences increasingly turning to echo-chambers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for their entertainment and away from traditional mass-media, is there anything that can bring communities together again?
Jordan Schwarzenberger manages Sidemen, Europe’s most popular YouTube collective – and recently went viral with a thesis over what he described as “the death of monoculture”.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and member of Downing Street’s Small Business Council tells Amol why he thinks Gen Z are withdrawing into micro-communities.
But he has some radical suggestions for how to survive and thrive in an era where unique social content can count for far more than being part of an established media brand.
GET IN TOUCH
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan
Amol is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today podcast. If you enjoy this (and you've read this far so hopefully you do), then we think you’ll also like another podcast from Today. It’s called Political Thinking with Nick Robinson and you can listen to Nick’s interviews here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p04z203l
This episode of Radical with Amol Rajan was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Phil Bull. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002hsw0)
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002hsw2)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002hsw4)
Firefighter Wins and Winter Fuel Scams
Hundreds of former retained firefighters have come forward to claim millions of pounds in missing pension payments after Money Box covered the story earlier this summer. We'd reported how their union, the Fire and Rescue Service Association, had warned thousands of its members risked missing out on the payments very often worth tens of thousands of pounds for each individual.
Scammers have been sending texts pretending to be from the government to try and trick pensioners into applying for the Winter Fuel Payment. That's a payment that can be worth up to £300 off energy bills over the colder months. It's prompted the Department for Work and Pensions to issue a warning, telling people to beware of the texts, which ask people to click on link which could be used to steal money from victims.
How are the rumors about changes to stamp duty affecting the housing market?
And a reminder that if you’re the parent or carer of a 16-19 year old you’ve got until Sunday to renew your child benefit claim.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporter: Dan Whitworth
Researchers: Catherine Lund and Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at
12pm Saturday 30th August 2025)
SAT 12:30 Too Long; Didn't Read (m002hmrb)
Series 2
Computer says no
Is AI taking over? And if so, how should we treat our new robot overlords? Catherine Bohart investigates, with the help of Olga Koch, Professor Kate Devlin, and our regular roving correspondent Sunil Patel.
Written by Catherine Bohart, with Madeleine Brettingham, Rose Johnson and Pravanya Pillay
Producer: Alison Vernon Smith
Executive Producers: Lyndsay Fenner & Victoria Lloyd
Sound Design: David Thomas
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Sayer
A Mighty Bunny production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:57 Weather (m002hsw6)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m002hsw8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002hmrj)
Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, Russell Findlay MSP, Kirsty McNeill MP, Alison Thewliss
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Woodside Hall in Glasgow with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives Russell Findlay MSP, Scotland Minister Kirsty McNeill MP and former SNP MP Alison Thewliss
Producer: Robin Markwell
Lead Broadcast Engineer: Gavin Murchie
SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002hswb)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002hmrd)
Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Dave Payne
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Henry Archer.... Blayke Darby
Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer.... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin.... Madeleine Leslay
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari
Freddie Pargetter.... Toby Laurence
Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Robert Snell.... Michael Bertenshaw
Lawrence.... Rupert Vansittart
SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m0018109)
The Limits to Growth
Drama inspired by the work of Donella Meadows, lead author of the seminal 1972 report on Earth's capacity to support human economic expansion. The report's authors were Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens. Drama by Sarah Woods, starring Samantha Dakin and Ben Cura.
Dana (Donella) Meadows.....Samantha Dakin
Dennis Meadows.....Ben Cura
Jorgen Randers/ Jay.....David Menkin
Bill.....Robin Liew Harper
Carol/Susi.....Ashleigh Haddad
Aurelio Peccei....Vincenso Nicoli
Production co-ordinator....Eleri McAuliffe
Sound design....Catherine Robinson
Directed by Emma Harding
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002hswd)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week
SAT 17:00 PM (m002hswg)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m002hkxh)
Dough - The Future of Cars
Will your car be driving you by 2050?
Greg Foot, host of the BBC Radio 4 show Sliced Bread, now brings you Dough.
Each episode explores future wonder products that might rise to success and redefine our lives.
Experts and entrepreneurs discuss the trends shaping what today's everyday technology may look like tomorrow, before a leading futurist offers their predictions on what life might be like within five, ten and fifty years.
The series kicks off with a look at the future of cars.
Will new battery technology transform the range and price of electric cars?
Why are fully autonomous vehicles still not yet allowed on the UK's public roads?
Which self-driving vehicles are we most likely to see first? Will we really let our cars do the driving for us anyway?
Could vehicles communicating with streetlights make journeys quicker for select motorists?
Alongside Greg in the passenger seat is the futurist Tom Cheesewright and expert guests including:
-Phil Blythe CBE - a former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK's Department for Transport and Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems at Newcastle University
-Paul Shearing - Director of the Zero Institute at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Battery Technologies
-Paul Newman - Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Oxa, a UK-based company developing software for self-driving vehicles
Produced by Jon Douglas. Dough is a BBC Audio North Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002hswj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002hswl)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002hswn)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002hswq)
Mark Radcliffe, Andi Osho, Adele Parks, Amy Webber, The 7:45s
Stuart Maconie is joined by his 6Music weekend breakfast co-host Mark Radcliffe who's here to talk about his new book Et Tu, Cavapoo - all about Mark’s springtime sojourn to Rome alongside his dog Arlo. Andi Osho is taking on the role of Tedra in the RSC's production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Fat Ham and prolific novelist Adele Parks is with us to talk about the twists and turns of family dynamics in her new book A Beautiful Mess.
There'll be music from The
7:45s and from the musical comedian Amy Webber, fresh from her Edinburgh Fringe run.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002hsws)
Michele Dougherty
South African – born space physicist Michele Dougherty has been awarded the honorary title of Astronomer Royal. She becomes the first woman to hold the title in the 350 – year -old history of the role.
Although her all-girls school in Durban did not offer science as an option, her father sparked her love for planetary science when he built a telescope in the back garden of the family home. After qualifying as a mathematician and moving to Germany for a fellowship, Dougherty changed focus and joined teams working on two major space missions.
Dougherty played a big role in major discoveries in the solar system, including the revelation that jets of water vapour shoot out of one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, meaning it may be able to support life. She even managed to convince Nasa to turn a spacecraft around to take a closer look!
Mark Coles speaks to colleagues and friends who describe her as a supportive and strong team leader always happy to celebrate other people’s successes.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Ivana Davidovic and Emma Gibson
Editor: Nick Holland
Sound Editor: James Beard
PHOTO: Michele Dougherty/Imperial College London
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002hkx9)
Eric Idle
Comedian, writer, musician and actor Eric Idle talks to John Wilson about his creative influences. A founding member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, he wrote and performed across their four television series and films, including The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. As a songwriter, he was responsible for much of the Python’s musical comedy, including Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and The Galaxy Song.
He created the comedy series Rutland Weekend Television and the Beatles parody band The Rutles, which toured and released albums. In 2005, Eric Idle created the Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot, based on the film Monty Python and The Holy Grail which, for over 20 years, has run twice in London’s West End and on Broadway and has been staged in 14 countries around the world.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002hswv)
Freud v Klein: The Battle For Our Children's Minds
A century ago, the idea that children could suffer psychologically – or that their voices mattered – was barely even considered. It would take two fiercely intelligent and utterly compelling women to shift the dial.
In the early 20th century, Anna Freud and Melanie Klein emerged as prominent figures within the psychoanalytic community, each offering distinctive perspectives on children’s inner lives. Navigating grief, misogyny and a fraught personal rivalry, they built the entire field of child psychoanalysis from the ground up. And as bombs fell on a Blitzed London, their disagreements sparked a revolution that uprooted an entire professional and intellectual tradition.
Their perceived battlelines have shaped the contours of every debate in child psychology since. From parenting, to education, to therapy, and more. Professor Tanya Byron, clinical psychologist and child therapist, investigates how their shared story of creativity and contestation forever changed the way we understand and support children.
Featuring contributions from Carolyn Laubender, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex; Nick Midgley, Director of the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit at Anna Freud; Margaret Rustin, child psychotherapist and author of ‘Reading Klein’; Lydia Tischler, one of the first child psychotherapists to train with Anna Freud in the 1950s.
With special thanks to Joan Tewkesbury, the Carter-Jenkins Center, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Melanie Klein Trust and Anna Freud (formerly the Anna Freud Centre). Excerpts from ‘The Controversial Discussions’ read by Nicole Beutler.
Presented by Professor Tanya Byron
Produced by James Bonney and Olivia Humphreys
Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas
Mix: Mike Woolley
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002hktk)
What is the moral value of disgust?
The decision of OnlyFans and Instagram to ban the porn star Bonnie Blue, who engaged in sequential sex with more than a thousand men in 12 hours, indicates the strength of the backlash of disapproval to the stunt. The reaction of many people has been what the psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls 'moral bafflement', the idea that most of us instinctively condemn some behaviours without being able to say why they are wrong. Western morality says, “don’t hurt other people”, but Bonnie Blue arguably hurt nobody. This was understood to be safe sex between consenting adults (although the psychological or social impact is harder to determine). Others might form their judgments based on values within sacred texts, but religion is no longer the moral and cultural force it once was.
How much attention should we pay to our knee-jerk sense of right and wrong when judging the actions of other people? Evolutionary psychologists describe how the emotion of disgust was a survival mechanism against the spread of disease. Thus, ritual purity, enforced by religious edict, was vital for the moral and spiritual life of our ancestors. But does disgust still carry moral weight in a modern, secular, and technologically advanced society, or is it merely an evolutionary hangover?
Just because we think something is wrong, how do we know that it is? And do we have the right, as a society, to translate our instinctive disapproval into prohibition? What is the moral value of disgust?
Chair: Michal Buerk
Panellists: Ash Sarkar, Tim Stanley, Anne McElvoy and Matthew Taylor.
Witnesses: Stacey Clare, Julie Bindel, Jussi Suikkanen, John Haldane.
Producer: Dan Tierney
SAT 22:00 News (m002hswx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002hmqj)
Cooking From Landscape: Rethinking Scottish Food
Historian Polly Russell and chef Pam Brunton explore Scotland's landscapes to answer the question, 'what is modern Scottish food?'.
On a road trip through landscapes, old and new, they encounter deer stalkers, robot milking machines and a bean to bar chocolate maker.
Why is it we end up with a fixed view of what a nation's food culture looks and tastes like and how easy is it to create a change?
Produced by Dan Saladino.
SAT 23:00 Icklewick FM (m002hswz)
Series 2
1. The Comeback
We return to Icklewick one year after the explosive events of Mischief Night. With Amy’s whereabouts still unknown and the rest of the team scattered, Chris has been struggling to keep Icklewick FM on the air from his home studio.
Things are deffo looking bleak until he receives a mysterious call from Mainland Europe...
Icklewick FM is created and written by Chris Cantrill and Amy Gledhill, with additional material from the cast.
Starring:
Amy Gledhill
Chris Cantrill
Mark Silcox
Colin Hoult
Janice Connolly
Phil Ellis
Tom Lawrinson
Tom Burgess
Nicola Redman
Tai Campbell
Em Humble
James Carbutt
Series Artwork by Sam O'Leary
Music, sound design and additional material by Jack Lewis Evans.
Line Produced by Laura Shaw
Produced by Benjamin Sutton.
A Daddy’s Superyacht production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Nature Table (m001g924)
Series 3
Episode 4
Celebrating the natural world and all it's funny eccentricities.
Taking the simple format of a 'Show & Tell', in each episode Sue Perkins is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history.
Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet's wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.
Recorded at ZSL London Zoo.
In this episode, Sue welcomes:
* Zoologist Lucy Cooke
* Ethnobotanist James Wong
* Comedian Felicity Ward.
Written by Catherine Brinkworth, Jon Hunter, Jenny Laville and Nicky Roberts
Additional material by Kat Sadler.
Producer Simon Nicholls.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
SUNDAY 31 AUGUST 2025
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002hsx2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002hl0n)
Sarah Hall
Presented by James Crawford, Take Four Books, speaks to the writer Sarah Hall about her new novel, Helm, and explores its connections to three other literary works. This new novel has been twenty years in the making and features a wind called Helm as its principal character. A number of other narratives interweave and interact differently with Helm: a Neolithic tribe tries to placate it, a Dark Age wizard priest wants to banish it, a Victorian steam engineer attempts to capture Helm, and a farmer’s daughter simply loves Helm. The contemporary narrative follows a weather researcher who fears human pollution is killing Helm.
For her three influences Sarah chose: Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders which was published in 2017 and won the Booker prize that same year; Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber from 1979; and Margaret Baker’s Discovering the Folklore of Plants from 1969.
The supporting contributor for this episode is literary editor and founder of the independent publisher thi wurd - Alan McMunnigall.
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002hsx4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002hsx6)
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 (m002hsx8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002hsxb)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002hsxd)
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Bromley, Kent
Bells on Sunday comes from the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Bromley, Kent. Largely destroyed by bombing in 1941, the church was rebuilt in the 1950s. The new building incorporated the surviving medieval tower and much of the flint and fragments of the original stone building. There are eight bells cast by the Gillet and Johnston foundry of Croydon in 1950. The tenor bell weighs 16-and-a-half hundredweight and is tuned to the note of F. We hear them now ringing Double Norwich Court Bob Major.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002hkqh)
Casting Your Vote; Edinburgh Festival Fringe; JAWS Pricing
The ability for blind and visually impaired people to cast their vote privately and independently at elections is an issue we've followed closely on In Touch. We're joined by the head of guidance at the Electoral Commission, Charlene Hannon, who tells us about their research of the matter and how you can take part.
Our reporter, Ian Hamilton visited the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to meet some of the visually impaired artists taking part. Ian discovers what themes they're covering and learns about efforts to make the arts more accessible.
Listener input is an essential ingredient of In Touch, and this week's episode is no exception. In response to your reaction to last week's discussion about JAWS software pricing, we revisit the issue.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: David Baguley
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to
the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.’
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002htwq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vp2)
Escaping North Korea
North Korea is considered one of the most secretive countries in the world. It is officially an atheist state. The ruling party sees religion as a threat to its authority. Instead North Koreans are expected to show complete devotion to the ruling Kim family, who many view as godlike. There are believed to be a small number of Christians practicing in secret inside the hermit kingdom, but entire families can be sent to prison camps for practicing religion. Even owning a Bible can lead to detention or even death.
There are an estimated 33,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea. The exact number of North Korean Christians living in the south is unknown, but it is believed that a significant number of defectors now identify as Christians. BBC Correspondent Danny Vincent travels to the South Korean capital of Seoul to meet a family of defectors he first met a decade earlier while fleeing Northern China. They recall their defection from North Korea and their journey from devotion to a dictator, to belief in Christ.
Producer/presenter: Danny Vincent
Producer: Jen Kwon
Editor: Chloe Walker
(Photo: People pay tribute to the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hil. Credit: Kim Won Jin)
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002htwv)
Laggan's Communal Shearing
Sheep shearing was a communal activity in the Scottish Highlands for generations, with farming neighbours getting together to share the work every summer. The advent of professional shearers largely brought that tradition to an end, but in Laggan in Inverness-shire a few farmers continue to unite for the annual chore, and they attract helpers from far and wide. Nancy Nicolson joins the day to meet the shepherds and their enthusiastic assistants and hear how it has become a social as well as a working event.
Presented and produced by Nancy Nicolson.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m002htwx)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002htwz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002htx1)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002ht27)
Consortium for Street Children
Former war correspondent Martin Bell makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Consortium for Street Children. The charity trains street social workers in countries including Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week. Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0755 for 7 days.
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 ‘Consortium for Street Children’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Consortium for Street Children’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Please ensure you are donating to the correct charity by checking the name of the charity on the donate page.
Registered Charity Number: 1046579. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.streetchildren.org
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m002htx3)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002htx5)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002htx7)
Back to earth
Choral Eucharist from the 32nd Charles Wood Festival of Music & Summer School at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh
As the summer holidays draw to a close, the Most Rev John McDowell, Archbishop of Armagh, considers what it means to come back down to earth with a bump.
Celebrant: Archdeacon Doctor Peter Thompson
Stand up, and bless the Lord
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Peace I leave with you (Beach)
St Luke 14:1, 7-14
Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast
Ye holy angels bright
Setting: Darke in E
The Charles Wood Singers, directed by David Hill
Organist: Pascal Bachmann
SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct74pz)
Lonesome George: The celebrity tortoise
In 2012, Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species died.
George, from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, was a global symbol of conservation and brought to the attention of the world the reality of extinction.
James Gibbs, vice president of science and conservation at the Galapagos Conservancy knew George well. He looked after the tortoise in life, and in death. James says: "You know, moving Lonesome George across the islands by truck, people were asking, what's in the box? I said it's Lonesome George and people were crying and it was just very moving".
He tells Gill Kearsley how time ran out for Lonesome George and about the legacy he left.
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: Lonesome George. Credit: Getty Images)
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002htxb)
Anita Sethi on the Yellow Wagtail
A small but brightly coloured bird with yellow and green plumage, the yellow wagtail is known for the wagging motion of its tail - as its name suggests. A summer visitor to the UK, the yellow wagtail is found in a range of habitats including wet pastures, upland hay meadows and arable farmland, where it feeds on small insects.
Nature writer Anita Sethi tells the story of seeing a yellow wagtail in the Yorkshire Dale and hearing its bright call above the burbling of Hardraw Beck.
Presented by Anita Sethi and produced by Jo Peacey. A BBC Audio Bristol production.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002htxd)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m002htcj)
War Horse
Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse is the story of a relationship between a young boy from Devon and his beloved horse Joey - as they’re plunged into the horrors of World War One.
When the book was first published in 1982, it was, in the words of its author, a 'publishing non-event'. Reviews were unenthusiastic and the chair of the Whitbread Prize told him that, while it was a good story, 'children just weren’t interested in history'.
In the years that followed, the book sold modestly and, at one stage, almost went out of print. But in October 2007, a stage adaption of Morpurgo’s story opened at the National Theatre.
It featured vivid battle scenes and extraordinary life-sized horses controlled by puppeteers, and was described as 'the theatrical event of the decade' by the Sunday Times, with an emotional impact that left its audiences sobbing.
More than 8 million people worldwide have seen that production, and it's won more than 25 major awards.
The show, together with the 2011 film directed by Steven Spielberg, meant that Michael Morpurgo’s book went from selling just a few hundred copies a year, to global sales of over 35 million, with translations in 37 different languages.
The National Theatre’s production brought puppetry into the theatrical mainstream and forced us to re-evaluate how we remember the First World War.
Joining Kirsty Wark are the writer of the original story of War Horse Michael Morpurgo, Robert Emms who played lead character Albert, Thusitha Jayasundera who played Albert’s mother, Rae Smith who designed the show, and puppeteer Toby Olié who brought Joey the horse to life.
Also, Tom Morris and Marianne Elliot who were co-directors of the original National Theatre production, and theatre critic and journalist Libby Purves who was an early enthusiast for the show.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Karen Pirie
Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002htxg)
Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Dave Payne
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
Henry Archer.... Blayke Darby
Jolene Archer.... Buffy Davis
Kenton Archer.... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Chelsea Horrobin.... Madeleine Leslay
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari
Freddie Pargetter.... Toby Laurence
Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Robert Snell.... Michael Bertenshaw
Lawrence.... Rupert Vansittart
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002hsws)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002hkw9)
Series 95
2. Where's the live, laugh, love?
Sue Perkins challenges Tony Hawks, Desiree Burch, Gyles Brandreth and Emma Sidi to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include the perfect pair of pyjamas, checking one’s moles and getting the ‘ick’.
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Additional material by Eve Delaney
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m002htxj)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002htxl)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 Currently (m002htxn)
The Body Shop
The cost of a wholly intact corpse is expensive. As a result, MediTech companies and “body brokerages” in the US have a complicated and, in some instances, deeply unsettling relationship to the purchasing and selling of them for testing. From chopping bodies up, to illegally trafficking cadavers wholesale without the consent of the host or the family, some of these companies harbour secrets that are just beginning to surface.
Cherise Silvestri navigates a complicated and bloody series of personal accounts - from the hand of a father showing up in the back of a truck to the sale of one woman’s daughter. Speaking with marketeers inside the industry and data scientists seeking to put checks on it, what emerges is a complex moral portrait of the costs and advantages to freely selling human beings.
From ballistic sites to incinerators, student seminars to plastic surgeries, the transition from donation to de facto sales sparks huge controversies over how we can make sense of “consent” in this business. Advocates of the trade often point out the necessity of a ready supply of bodies in scientific research and development. How else, for example, would new doctors be able to train? However, with the lure of high profits and little red tape, the illegal trade grows and spreads. With only seven such companies being accredited, out of the hundreds operating across the USA, the market raises big questions about how we value and treat human beings - not only in life, but in death.
Speaking with industry insiders, scientists and the families affected by the global trade, this documentary addresses the impact on how we think about the economic, medical and fundamentally moral issues surrounding human life.
A 2 Degrees West production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002hmr0)
Claygate Surrey
How do I get rid of fungus gnats? Is it bad to fertilise plants when water is scarce? What direction is best for gardens?
Kathy Clugston chairs this week’s edition of Gardeners’ Question Time from Claygate in Surrey, where she’s joined by a panel of horticultural heavyweights including Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Juliet Sargeant.
Later in the programme, Christine Walkden delivers a no-nonsense guide to watering, sharing practical tips to help your plants flourish whatever the weather.
Producer: Matthew Smith
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002htxq)
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s ideas changed our understanding of the world perhaps more than those of any other British scholar. His famous voyage on HMS Beagle ended in 1836, and he had developed his findings into his theories on evolution and natural selection within six years. It was not, however, until 1859 that he shared these revolutionary ideas with the public in On The Origin of Species, a book far different to the one he had intended to write.
In this episode of Opening Lines, John Yorke examines what finally led Darwin to write this pioneering work of popular science, and the impact it had upon his contemporaries.
The programme features evolutionary biologist Dr Tori Herridge of the University of Sheffield.
John has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for Radio 4.
Clip of Andrew Marr from ‘Great Britons: Darwin’ BBC2 (2002)
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple
Producer: Geoff Bird
Reader: Paul Dodgson
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002htxs)
Origin
The evolution of Charles Darwin's world-changing study, On the Origin of Species. Darwin enlists the help of his children in experiments that clarify his own thinking on animal collaboration, variation and natural selection. A new drama by Sarah Woods, recorded on location in Darwin's former home, Down House, Kent, by kind permission of English Heritage.
Darwin....Robert Glenister
Emma.....Clare Corbett
Etty.....Madeleine Grey
Parslow/Hooker.....Clive Hayward
Lenny.....Bertie Cresswell
Horace.....Wilbur Connabeare
Production Co-ordinator.....Eleri Sydney McAuliffe
Sound Designer.....Nigel Lewis
Directed by Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002htxv)
Melissa Lucashenko
Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko joins Take Four Books from the Edinburgh International Book Festival to discuss her novel, Edenglassie.
The three books that inspired the creation of Edenglassie are: Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland (1904), The Bone People by Keri Hulme (1985), and The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008).
The supporting contributor for this episode is Rodge Glass, a lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, where he also teaches post-colonial literature.
Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 16:30 Nature Table (m001ghys)
Series 3
Episode 5
Celebrating the natural world and all it's funny eccentricities.
Taking the simple format of a 'Show & Tell', in each episode Sue Perkins is joined by celebrity guests from the worlds of comedy and natural history.
Nature Table has a simple clear brief: to positively celebrate and promote the importance of all our planet's wonderfully wild flora and fauna in a fun and easily grasped way... whilst at the same time having a giggle.
Recorded at The Eden Project.
In this episode, Sue welcomes:
* Wildlife Conservationist Jaclyn Pearson
* Lepidopterist Marcus Rhodes
* Comedian Edward Rowe
Written by Catherine Brinkworth, Jon Hunter, Jenny Laville and Nicky Roberts.
Additional material by Kat Sadler.
Producer Simon Nicholls.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74jg)
The 'Turbot War'
In 1995, an international row broke out between Canada and Spain over fishing quotas. It started with gunfire and ended with a deal.
The dispute began after Canada set up restrictions to protect fish stocks, including the turbot. A 320km (200 mile) controlled zone was placed around the country’s north Atlantic coast. Fishermen also had to stick to quotas.
But, according to Canada, some boats from the European Union were catching far more turbot than had been agreed.
As a warning, the coastguard chased off one Spanish trawler, shooting machine gunfire over the bow and arresting the crew.
But Spanish officials were furious and denied any wrongdoing. The Turbot War had begun.
Brian Tobin was Canada’s Minister for Fisheries and Oceans. He tells Jane Wilkinson about the part he played in the dispute.
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.
(Picture: Brian Tobin and a turbot. Credit: Jon Levy/AFP via Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 En-Gulfed (m002gfz1)
Sport
Footballers are currently asking us to visit a long 170km city in the Arabian desert, that hasn't even been built yet. But why?
Fresh from probing into the hilarious hypocrisies of 'greenwashing' and 'wokewashing', comedian and journalist Heydon Prowse turns his attention to the growing presence of the Gulf nations in the UK, and why Anglo-Gulf relations are just, well, weird.
Gulf investment in the UK runs into the hundreds of billions, and we're hungry for more. In this series, Heydon takes his trademark tongue in cheek approach to asking whether the UK has become 'En-Gulfed'.
The countries have been criticised for using their vast wealth to 'wash' their reputation and distract from things like human rights abuses and a less than enthusiastic approach to democracy.
In the first episode, he traces the history of Britain's relationship with the region, and finds how Britain was involved in shaping the states we know today, including how their vast energy profits are spent. He travels back into the archive to see how the BBC talked about the Gulf at the time, and learns how that relationship has developed over the decades.
He then looks into one of the most high profile ways that the Gulf has made its presence known, through funding sporting projects. Top flight football clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle United are now owned by Gulf investment funds and Saudi Arabia is now heavily involved in sports such as Golf and Boxing.
Heydon looks into some of the oddities and unbelievable happenings that have emerged since the Gulf money started pouring into sport, like the prestigious game of Power Slap becoming a regular fixture, or the plan to host the Asian Winter Games 2029 in 40 degree heat.
He asks if the UK is guilty of hypocrisy for accepting so much money from nations that have been criticised for their human rights records? Or is that too naive and unrealistic? Join Heydon as he tries to find out.
Contributors:
David Wearing, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, author of 'AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters to Britain.
James Barr, Historian and author of Lords of the Desert: Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East'
Shaista Aziz & Huda Jawad, from the Three Hijabis
Michael Skey, Loughborough University
Presenter: Heydon Prowse
Producer: sam Peach
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002htxy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m002hty0)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002hty2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002hty4)
Nikki Bedi
Nikki Bedi presents a selection of the best bits of audio across the BBC.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002hty6)
Lynda finds herself exposed and Tom attempts to negotiate.
SUN 19:15 Sci-Fi Blindness (m000qmnv)
From Victorian novels to Hollywood blockbusters, sci-fi regularly returns to the theme of blindness.
Peter White, who was heavily influenced as a child by one of the classics, sets out to explore the impact of these explorations of sight on blind and visually impaired people.
He believes a scene in The Day pf the Triffids by John Wyndham imbued him with a strange confidence - and he considers the power of science fiction to present an alternative reality for blind readers precisely at a time when lockdown and social distancing has seen visually impaired people marginalised.
He talks to technology producer Dave Williams about Star Trek The Next Generation's Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, Dr Sheri Wells-Jensen talks about Birdbox and world-building from a blind point of view in James L Cambias's A Darkling Sea. Professor Hannah Thompson of Royal Holloway University of London takes us back to 1910 to consider The Blue Peril - a novel which in some ways is more forward thinking in its depiction of blindness than Hollywood now.
And Doctor Who actor Ellie Wallwork gives us her take on why blindness is so fascinating to the creators of science fiction.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Kevin Core
SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m0016ppn)
Eat Beetroot
In this episode, Michael explores the extraordinary effects of beetroot on your body and brain – from helping lower blood pressure to keeping your brain healthy as you age. He speaks to Professor Andy Jones from the University of Exeter who has found that simply drinking a shot of beetroot juice can improve your endurance during intense exercise by 16%, and finds out why these bright red jewels can have such significant benefits on your heart, your muscles and your brain.
SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002hkxy)
Keeping My Family's Language Alive
Michael Rosen talks to Samantha Ellis, author of Chopping Onions on My Heart, about her efforts to keep alive the language of her parents: Judeo-Iraqi Arabic.
Samantha grew up in London hearing her parents speak the language they spoke in their homeland of Iraq. Now she's keen to try and speak it herself, and to share the poetic expressions of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic with her son.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven, in partnership with The Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002hmr4)
David Richardson, Doris Lockhart Saatchi, Dame Annette Brooke, Byron Rogers
John Wilson on:
Broadcaster David Richardson who was for over 60 years a leading voice in the farming community
Doris Lockhart Saatchi, the Art collector who along with her former husband Charles Saatchi transformed the UK art scene in the 80s and 90s
Dame Annette Brooke who for 14 years was the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole
Byron Rogers, the biographer and journalist who sought out and chronicled the lives of many eccentric characters
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive;
BBC News, BBC, 02/07/2014; BBC News, BBC, 12/05/2013; BBC News, BBC, 05/04/2008; BBC News, BBC, 14/09/2008; Late Again, BBC Two, 14/03/1992; BBC News Ten, BBC, 07/10/2008; On Your Farm: A New Dawn for British Farming?, BBC, 24/07/2016; The Food Programme, BBC, 04/06/1976; Farming Today, BBC, 21/08/2025; Farming, BBC, 21/08/1977; The Last Human Cannonball (Episode 5), BBC Radio 4 Extra, 28/11/2009; Sara’s People, BBC Radio Wales, 01/01/2004
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002hsw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002ht27)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002hsw0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002hty8)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 Artworks (m002hkx3)
What Happened to Counter-Culture?
4. Culture Clash
More than just a cultural trend – counter-culture became a social movement so powerful it shaped institutions, businesses, politics and the attitudes and aspirations of whole generations – including everything from haircuts to voting choices. In fact, it became so prevalent that it’s sometimes hard to remember how things have changed under its influence.
Comedian Stewart Lee presents a five-part series exploring the evolution and key ideas that have driven counter-culture from its beginnings with the Beats, folk and jazz in the 1950s, to its heights in the 1960s and 70s - including the hippies and the early tech-communalists, the new liberation movements and punk, to the 1980s and early 90s, where political power on both sides of the Atlantic pushed back against the values of the ‘permissive society’.
Talking to artists, musicians, writers, activists and historians, Stewart continues to the present day asking where we are now, in the digital age of social media silos and the so-called ‘culture wars’ – what’s happened to counter-culture? Was it co-opted, did it sell out? Or did its ideas of freedom and identity become so entrenched within mainstream culture it’s legacy has become unassailable? Or has it migrated politically to the Right? Throughout the series, the counter-culture is explored not only in terms of its history, extraordinary cultural output and key events – but also its deeper political and philosophical impact, it’s continued meaning for our own age.
In part 4, Culture Clash, the counter-culture generates opposition of its own - first in the courts and then from government. As the infamous Oz magazine trial puts the British underground press in the dock for ‘corrupting public morals’, the UK underground extends outside London to urban communities across the country, creating vibrant, alternative scenes in the 1970s and 80s, despite growing opposition from government.
Punk re-energises some of the same counter-cultural, DIY values as the hippie movement and joins with reggae, by now the music of Black British counter-culture, to form a powerful, multifaceted cultural challenge to mainstream politics and society.
But has the free individualism of the 1960s become hardened and monetised into a version of its own worst enemy - the economic self-centredness of the 1980s? This episode explores the pushback – a political ‘counter’ counter-culture - led by the Thatcher and Reagan governments respectively, explicitly opposing the ideas of the ‘permissive society’ and 1960s counter-culture in Britain and America. In the UK, following its success defeating the NUM, the Conservative government targets the alternative culture of ‘new age travellers’ culminating with the ‘Battle of the Beanfield’ in June 1985, one of the most violent police operations in British history.
Contributors include journalist and author John Harris, photographer Lisa Law, former Oz and IT journalist Jonathon Green, Geoffrey Robertson KC, musician Brian Eno, critic and author Paul Morley, historian Andy Beckett, founding member of Steel Pulse and director of the Black Music Research Unit Mykaell Riley, fashion designer and founding member of XR Clare Farrell, historian and journalist Simon Heffer, guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr, and photographer Alan Lodge.
Presenter: Stewart Lee
Producer: Simon Hollis
A Brook Lapping production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 23:30 The History Podcast (m0024bgc)
The Lucan Obsession
8. Speculation and Suspicion
The nation was spellbound by the inquest into Sandra Rivett’s death.
For the press the story was a dream. A tale of the aristocracy, gambling, debt and murder was a welcome relief in an era of shortages and strikes. They salivated over the grim details.
Alex von Tunzelmann hears how inquest became a trial, supercharging our obsession with this case.
And she wonders if we can take his guilt as fact when she hears a never before broadcast recording of an interview of Lady Lucan and an incriminating new story from a policeman.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Content Producer: Becca Bryers
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002hmr2)
Apis Mellifera by Philip Hensher, read by Mark Heap
Sally is driving through Pimlico with her dog Reggie in her tangerine Honda Civic when a bee flies into her car. The bee sets off a chain of events that will change her life.
A new short story written by Philip Hensher and read by Mark Heap.
Philip Hensher is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. A novelist and journalist, he's the editor of The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story and The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. He's also the author of two collections of short stories: The Bedroom of the Mister's Wife and Tales of Persuasion.
Produced by Beth O'Dea in Bristol for BBC Audio, Wales and West of England
MONDAY 01 SEPTEMBER 2025
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002htyb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002hkqn)
Suing 'Alligator Alcatraz': Immigration in the US
President Trump has called illegal immigration an “invasion” and what's followed is a huge rise in the arrest and detention of migrants. Some have ended up in ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ - an immigration detention centre that was speedily constructed in June, deep in the Florida swampland. It has become a focal point for debates around immigration. Outside its gates, some take proud selfies with the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ sign; others protest, following reports of poor conditions inside.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is now subject to a number of lawsuits. Immigration attorneys say they haven’t been granted proper access to clients inside; environmentalists claim the detention centre is harming the protected wetlands that surround it. Within the last few days, a judge has that ruled that much of the detention centre must be dismantled and no new migrants taken there. It’s a preliminary ruling - and the case will continue to be litigated. The government immediately filed an appeal.
Josephine Casserly follows immigration lawyer Mich Gonzalez as he attempts to meet his client inside the detention centre. She reports from Florida - America’s new frontline on immigration.
Produced by Ellie House
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002hsxd)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002htyd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002htyg)
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 (m002htyj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:04 Last Word (m002hmr4)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:30 on Sunday]
MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002htyl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002htyn)
The Need for Wisdom
Good morning. One summer, I enjoyed a wonderful holiday camping in France. I came back to work feeling refreshed but within a couple of weeks I was completely stressed. It was as if I had never had a holiday. A serious situation that had been rumbling in the background before I went away was now much worse. I hadn’t noticed it was taking a toll on my mental health and now my resilience was low. I was dreading going into the office. It didn’t feel like I had many options. I could have thrown the head up and resigned but I couldn’t afford to do that. I could have started applying for other jobs but that was going to take time. I could have had another go at working out a solution with colleagues, but it hadn’t made any difference last time. I was stuck and I didn’t know what to do.
I decided to talk to God about the situation. I began praying specifically and I asked others to pray too. It was amazing how the power of prayer changed the atmosphere. Praying about the situation also changed me. I was able to see things from a different perspective, and I grew in wisdom. I realised how much emotional energy I had wasted trying to work it all out by myself.
We don’t always see our need for God’s wisdom. In the Bible James encourages us to ask God for wisdom especially when we are going through trials. Almighty God, you are an infinite source of wisdom - give us courage to trust you with our difficult situations. Enlighten our minds with fresh perspective and change the atmosphere by the gentle power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002htyq)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:57 Weather (m002htys)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m002hxs1)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Rory Stewart: The Long History of... (m002gjg3)
Heroism
5. New Heroes
Rory Stewart explores ideas of what it means to be a hero from the ancient world to the present day. How have these ideas changed? Why do heroes matter? Who are the heroes we need today?
With the help of leading historians, psychologists, philosophers and theologians, he examines how heroism is continually questioned and re-invented in every age, and how these contrasting visions of the hero might speak to us in our own time. What does it mean for our moral life? How should we perceive and pursue human excellence?
In this episode, Rory explores ideas of the hero today.
Presenter: Rory Stewart
Producer and sound design: Dan Tierney
Editor: Tim Pemberton
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
MON 09:30 Building Soul: with Thomas Heatherwick (m002hxs4)
Series 2
Public Service Architecture
Joy, pride, comfort – these aren’t luxuries, they’re essentials. In this episode, Thomas Heatherwick explores the power of the public to reshape our cities.
From emotional attachment and grassroots campaigns to the influence of mass media, he shows how people – not just planners – can drive radical change in how we build.
Producer: Nadia Mehdi
A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Radio 4
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002hxs6)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 The History Podcast (m002gjdw)
The Second Map
3. The Battered Suitcase
As people back home partied in the streets, celebrating victory in Europe in May 1945, war wasn’t over for the many thousands of soldiers and civilians on the Asian front. For those in Japanese prison camps, or fighting in distant jungles, it wasn’t always over on the day Japan announced its unconditional surrender on August 15th.
Episode 3 of The Second Map traces the complex remembrance of the war on the Asian Front in Britain, India, and Japan, 80 years after it ended. We hear of the trauma of those who lived as prisoners and how they coped with life once back in Britain. And we learn how the horrors of war returned to veterans in their nightmares, and speak to descendants across Britain who are making new discoveries today about what their family members did in the war on the Asian Front.
Creator, Writer and Presenter: Kavita Puri
Series Producer: Ellie House
Script Editor: Ant Adeane
Sound Designer: James Beard
Series Editor: Matt Willis
Production Coordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele
Commissioners for Radio 4 and The World Service: Dan Clarke, Jon Zilkha
Original music: Felix Taylor
Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain
Voice actor: Bhasker Patel
With thanks to Dr Diya Gupta, Dr Vikki Hawkins, Dr Peter Johnston, Professor Rana Mitter and Tejpal Singh Ralmill.
MON 11:45 Life Chances (m000s80v)
Acton High
20 years ago, journalist Athar Ahmad walked through the gates of his secondary school in west London. The school was what everyone in the area described as a ‘rough’ school but its students all felt as though they faced many of the same challenges and went through many of the same experiences.
But three of Athar’s classmates wouldn’t make it to the age he is now.
In this raw and personal series, Athar asks why the lives of his classmates went down such different paths and why three of them ended up dead - murdered brutally and violently.
As Athar tries to make sense of what happened, he explores issues around multiculturalism, identity and life for communities in the UK, told through the prism of a school at the crossroads of modern Britain.
Presenter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Georgia Catt
MON 12:00 News Summary (m002hxs9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002hxsc)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m002hxsf)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m002hxsh)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
MON 13:45 Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes (m002hxsk)
Series 2
Lawyer Jokes
Ian Hislop is back to continue his quest for the earliest possible examples of standard British joke types. His subject today, and for no particular reason beyond a certain amount of legal experience accrued over the years, is a search for the oldest lawyer jokes.
It leads him, with the guidance of Oxford professor Laura Ashe, to a 14th-century poem about the state of the nation, Piers Plowman.
Written at around 1370 by the poem William Langland it includes a brutal side-swipe at lawyers who already have a reputation for doing absolutely nothing unless money is involved. Ian also speaks to a contemporary lawyer and collector of lawyer jokes, Tim Bishop who helps explain the enduring popularity of jokes at the expense of his own profession.
Producer: Tom Alban
MON 14:00 The Archers (m002hty6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Believe It! (m0017kfg)
Series 6
Party
This is the sixth series of Jon Canter's "radiography" of Richard Wilson - exploring elements of Richard's life that are very nearly true.
Expect visits from David Tennant, Sir Ian McKellen, Arabella Weir and Stephen Mangan to name but four.
Richard Wilson decides to hold the party to end all parties. But who will be invited? And will they come? And who's doing the canapés?
Written by Jon Canter
Starring
Richard Wilson
Sir Ian McKellen
Arabella Weir
Jos Vantyler
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:45 Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell (m0019k7j)
Episode 3
Evan S. Connell's Mrs Bridge is an extraordinary tragicomic portrayal of suburban life and one of the classic American novels of the 20th century.
Mrs Bridge, a conservative housewife in Missouri, has three children and a kindly lawyer husband. Her married life begins in the early 1930s – and soon after she and her young family move to a wealthy country club suburb of Kansas City. She spends her time shopping, going to bridge parties and bringing up her children to be pleasant, clean and have nice manners. The qualities that she values above all else. And yet she finds modern life increasingly baffling, her children aren't growing up into the people she expected, and sometimes she has the vague disquieting sensation that all is not well in her life.
In a series of comic, telling vignettes, Evan S. Connell illuminates the narrow morality, confusion, futility and even terror at the heart of a life of plenty.
First published in 1959 it was perhaps overshadowed by the critical attention paid to contemporaries like Philip Roth and John Updike - although Mrs Bridge was a finalist for the National Book Award in that year. Ten years later Connell published Mr Bridge which follows that same events largely from the point of view of Walter Bridge. In 1990, James Ivory directed the film Mr and Mrs Bridge based on both novels and starring Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward. Fans of the book today include the novelist David Nicholls and Tracey Thorne, author and singer.
Read by Fenella Woolgar
Written by Evan S Connell
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 15:00 Great Lives (m002htvw)
Benjamin Franklin
Matthew Parris heads to the house where Benjamin Franklin lived for almost 17 years to meet banker and philanthropist John Studzinski.
Franklin was born in Boston when it was still a part of the British empire, ran away to Philadelphia and lodged near Charing Cross at 36 Craven Street in London for over a decade. He was an agent for the Pennsylvania assembly, and also an ambassador to Paris where he helped persuade the French to join the breakaway American states in their war against the British. His nominator John Studzinski is chair of the board that runs the Benjamin Franklin House in London and says that he would have loved to have been the great man's apprentice. Joining the conversation is Professor Kathleen Burk who admires Franklin the enlightened writer but is less sure about his treatment of his wife. Kathleen Burk is author of Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.
The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde
MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (m002hsvw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Saturday]
MON 16:00 Currently (m002htxn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002hsvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m002hxsm)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002hxsp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m002hxsr)
Series 95
3. It's what Emily Brontë would have wanted
Sue Perkins challenges Paul Merton, Julian Clary, Paterson Joseph and Rachel Parris to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include my perfect first date, when I was staying at The White Lotus and I'm in a WhatsApp group with Sue Perkins.
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Additional material by Eve Delaney
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m002htv2)
Lawrence plays his trump card and Adam chooses a side.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m002hxst)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m002hky0)
UK Resilience 3: How prepared are we for the next pandemic?
Five years ago we in the UK were in the false lull between the first wave of covid and the second, between the first variant and the second, between the first peak of covid deaths and the second, higher peak. There wasn’t a vaccine and we didn’t know when we might get one. Now it’s a memory.
But another deadly pathogen might pop up in fifty years or it might be manifesting its early stages right now.
In the final part of our three-part mini-series looking at how the resilient the UK might be in dealing with potential future crises, we’re asking…..how prepared are we to deal with the next pandemic?
Guests:
Dame Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford;
Sir Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health, and Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford;
Malik Peiris, Emeritus Professor of Virology in the School of Public Health at The University of Hong Kong
Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Producers: Ben Carter, Kirsteen Knight, Sally Abrahams
Studio engineer: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m002hky2)
Does warm weather mean more rats in UK towns and cities?
Summer heatwaves and missed bin collections have created panic in the press that rat numbers in the UK are increasing. We ask Steve Belmain, Professor of Ecology at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich for the science.
This summer Wales became the first country in the UK to ban plastic in wet wipes, with the other nations pledging they will do the same. Over the past few weeks there’s been work to remove a giant mound of them, known as ‘Wet Wipe Island’ on the Thames in west London. Marnie Chesterton has been to find out how they got there and what damage they could be doing to the river’s ecosystem.
Professor Sadiah Quereshi, Chair in Modern British History at the University of Manchester explains why we should see the extinction of species as a modern, and often political phenomenon. Her book Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction is the second book we’re featuring from the shortlist for the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize.
And Lizzie Gibney, senior physics reporter at Nature brings us a round up of the news causing a stir in science circles this week.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
MON 21:00 The Patch (m002d06h)
Longframlington, Northumberland
One random postcode and a story you probably haven't heard before.
Today, producer Polly Weston is sent to a postcode in Northumberland. It's a very rural postcode, of just under ten square miles of countryside around the village of Longframlington, north of Morpeth. A recent planning application for the expansion of a falcon breeding facility leads her into the extraordinary world of falcon breeding, and the story of the thousands of birds being bred across the UK for the new sport of falcon racing in the Middle East.
Produced and Presented in Bristol by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Mixed by Caitlin Gazeley
MON 21:45 One to One (m001rycw)
Future Cities: Tori Herridge meets Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman
As a palaeontologist Tori Herridge spends her life poking at things from the past, but she has a secret obsession – the future. And she refuses to accept that it will be rubbish. In the first of three episodes exploring how future cities might work, she speaks to Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman, an urban anthropologist and founder of the Women Led Cities Initiative who is helping to redesign part of Philadelphia.
Can the cities of the future be fairer for everyone? Could the ancient city of Çatalhöyük inspire us to adapt to climate change? And when do we finally get our flying cars?
Presenter: Tori Herridge
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002hxsw)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (m002hxsy)
Episode One
Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love and resilience, this is a novel that explores coercive control in a relationship and one woman’s bid to start over.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.
This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.
The Author
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection ‘Wild Quiet’, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as ‘The Long Gaze Back’. Her debut novel ‘Nesting’ was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and was a Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller. Roisín lives near Dublin with her two children.
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 23:00 Limelight (p0fbjc55)
Who Killed Aldrich Kemp?
5. Bogata
The team is in a race against time for answers, but the route proves circuitous.
Chapter Five – the quest ends?
Cast:
Clara Page - Phoebe Fox
Aldrich Kemp – Ferdinand Kingsley
Mrs Boone – Nicola Walker
Sebastian Harcourt – Kyle Soller
Nakesha Kemp – Karla Crome
Aunt Lily – Susan Jameson
Forsaken McTeague and the Underwood Sisters – Jana Carpenter.
Sabine Seah – Rebecca Boey
Remington Schofield– Barnaby Kay
Miss Lotte Amutenya – Cherrelle Skeete
Mrs Bartholomew – Kate Isitt
Dr Hazlitt - Ben Crowe
Co Pilot – James Joyce.
Created and written by Julian Simpson
Recorded on location in Hove.
Music composed by Tim Elsenburg.
Sound Design: David Thomas
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Sarah Tombling
Executive Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002hxt0)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2025
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002hxt2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 Life Chances (m000s80v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002hxt4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002hxt6)
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 (m002hxt8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002hxtb)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002hxtd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002hxtg)
Gathering and Giving
Good morning. I’m a gatherer. It’s mostly free things – weathered sea glass, eye-catching stones, autumn leaves and blackberries. When I was moving house, I found a bag of pinecones saved for a rainy day of crafting. I was about to bin them but then I thought: “Surely someone would like these pinecones?” How can I pass them on? I wondered. There must be an App - and yes there is! It was such a simple way to share things. I uploaded a photo, and the bag of pinecones was launched into the online community!
A mum of a seven-year-old girl responded. Her daughter loved making bird feeders. She would dip the cones in fat and sell them at the school sale. My effort in gathering the pinecones had not gone to waste! I felt a spontaneous burst of joy in my heart. A little girl was going to use her love and skill to bless lots of people and birds this winter. I left the pinecones outside for collection. One morning the following week, there was a gift for me on the doorstep. It was one of the bird feeders – the gift label read “made with love for God’s birds”. It felt like a hug to me from God. I was unwell at the time and devoid of creative spirit so this both encouraged and inspired me. Jesus said in Matthew 6: Look at the birds of the air … are you not of more value than they?
Loving God, thank you that you see us this morning. Whatever we do today it has value in your eyes. Inspire us to bless others through small acts of encouragement. Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002hxtj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 06:00 Today (m002htth)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m002httk)
Series 11
The Aeneid
In a tour de force solo performance, Natalie takes on Virgil's great poem in 28 minutes.. and wins.
In 12 books of Latin verse we follow the hero, the Trojan Prince Aeneas, as he leads the survivors of Troy to found a new city in Italy. Along the way he battles vengeful Juno, tells of the Trojan Horse and the Fall of Troy, loves and leaves Dido in Carthage, enters Hades, eats some tables and then sees his ships turn into sea nymphs and swim away from attack. Then there is more fighting until our hero emerges triumphant.
The poet Virgil died before finishing it and ordered it to be burned, but luckily his orders were disregarded by Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, for whom The Aeneid was excellent propaganda.
'Rockstar mythologist' Natalie Haynes is the best-selling author of 'Divine Might', 'Stone Blind', and 'A Thousand Ships' as well as a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greek and Rome.
Producer...Beth O'Dea
TUE 09:30 The Long View (m002httm)
Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of presidential candidates who have stood trial.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002http)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m002hmrg)
Jess Gillam and Keelan Carew with music fit for a king
Saxophonist and Radio 3 broadcaster Jess Gillam and pianist Keelan Carew are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's studio guests as they add the next five tracks, taking us from an east London housing estate to Heaven, via a certain celebrated Norwegian hall of a Mountain King.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Ill Manors by Plan B
The Coronation scene from Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
King by Years & Years
In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg
Heaven by Emeli Sandé
Other music in this episode:
Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
Hùg air a’ Bhonaid Mhòir (Celebrate the Big Bonnet) by Julie Fowlis
Alles Neu by Peter Fox
Fourth movement of the Symphony No 7 (The 'Leningrad' Symphony) by Dmitry Shostakovich
In the Hall of the Mountain King by The Who
In the Hall of the Mountain King by ELO
Sonic the Hedgehog Theme
Inspector Gadget Theme
TUE 11:45 Life Chances (m000s9v8)
The Girl in Red and Blue
20 years ago, journalist Athar Ahmad walked through the gates of his secondary school in west London. The school was what everyone in the area described as a ‘rough’ school but its students all felt as though they faced many of the same challenges and went through many of the same experiences.
But three of Athar’s classmates wouldn’t make it to the age he is now.
In this raw and personal series, Athar asks why the lives of his classmates went down such different paths and why three of them ended up dead - murdered brutally and violently.
As Athar tries to make sense of what happened, he explores issues around multiculturalism, identity and life for communities in the UK, told through the prism of a school at the crossroads of modern Britain.
Many of the students at Acton High were the first generation in our families to be born in the UK.
In this second episode, Athar explores the lengths the school went to, to achieve a level of integration that didn't always exist outside its gates. As he revisits the story of Heshu Yones, whose death would become known as the first so-called honour killing in the UK, he looks at the parallel lives his classmates were living.
Presenter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Georgia Catt
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002httr)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002httt)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002httw)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002htty)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
TUE 13:45 Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes (m002htv0)
Series 2
Mother-in-Law Jokes
There was a time in the TV heyday of the 1970s when the mother-in-law joke was standard fare. It might be heard in the mouths of stand up comedians or even as part of the background of familiar sitcoms like the Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin. With the help of Durham University classicist professor Edith Hall, Ian traces this very particular, and many would say archaic, joke type back to the Roman poet Juvenal by way of his 17th-century English translator John Dryden. A comic rant about mothers-in-law is part of a more general rant in his sixth satire in which he is trying to dissuade a young man from marrying by telling him how terrible women are.
Ian traces its intermittent journey from erudite translation via music hall performers to the late 20th-century TV days. He also debates the possibility that it may have to become something very different to survive in a more enlightened entertainment world.
Producer: Tom Alban
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002htv2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002htv4)
Mr Cameron goes to Ukraine
A former PM, a Labour councillor, and a truck with a dodgy tyre. A road trip of triumph, regret, and an all-country CD. True story… or tall tale?
Inspired by the events of 2022 — and a Conservative British Prime Minister who thinks it’s a great idea to drive a truckload of Chippy Larder food bank supplies to the Ukraine border — this is a journey fuelled by delusion, goodwill, and midlife crisis.
His co-driver is young, female and a Labour councillor. His greatest fear is that everyone will blame him for Brexit. Hers is that he’ll put on a suit and tie and sing the national anthem. But his real nightmare, as they cross borders, cross swords and cross their fingers, may be that no one really recognises him at all.
David Cameron is itching for personal rediscovery. Forgotten in Brussels, despaired of by his wife, and no longer even the most famous old Etonian in politics, he has grabbed the chance to make a Red Cross delivery in an online-rental truck — a personal mission of mercy, image management, and country-and-western catharsis.
Shazia Mirza co-stars as the weary young Labour councillor stuck in the cab — armed with a timetable, common sense, and no patience for the “Call Me Dave” routine. As the miles and banana sandwiches pile up, so do the questions. Is this redemption? Reinvention? Or just a man with a country CD and a podcast mic in the glove compartment?
With Matt Forde as the former PM, alongside Shazia Mirza, Jemma Redgrave and Sheila Hancock, Mr Cameron Goes to Ukraine is a screwball comedy, a political odyssey, a midlife road movie — incorporating real-life testimony and a highly selective relationship with the truth.
“I’m not doing this for attention. That’s what the documentary crew is for.”
“You’re not a lorry driver, David. You’re a passenger in your own political afterlife.”
Neither quotation appears in the play, or in reality — but then again is no less true than anything else along the way.
Credits
Cast
Matt Forde David Cameron
Shazia Mirza Rizvana Poole
Jemma Redgrave Samantha Cameron
Shelia Hancock Mary Cameron
Pippa Hinchley Canteen lady, German Grandmother
Matt McGuirk British trucker, Polish Butcher
Joz Norris Truck delivery man, passport control
Wanda Starling German cashier, Marta
Adam Ganne German mechanic, Pavel
Written by Jonathan Banatvala and Stephen Dinsdale
Sound design David Thomas
Production Assistant Isobel Turner
Executive Producer Cherry Cookson
Director Jonathan Banatvala
Produced by Jonathan Banatvala and Melanie Nock
An International Arts Partnership production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:00 Extreme (m0027h5y)
Peak Danger
7. No Man Left Behind
As dawn breaks on a new day, it’s August 2nd 2008. There are nine climbers who are all either trapped, injured…or unaccounted for.
Dutch climber Wlico van Rooijen finds himself lost and alone on the mountain. He’s spent one night out in the Death Zone. Can he survive another?
The rest of the group is up against the clock as they mount a bold rescue mission. But as they battle for the survival of their fellow climbers, recent tragic history is about to repeat itself.
The results will be catastrophic.
Featuring climbers Wilco van Rooijen, Pasang Lama, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer and Kim Jae-Soo. Also featuring June Yoon as the voice of Kim Jae-Soo as well as the journalist and author Amanda Padoan.
Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.
Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
Producers: Leigh Meyer & Amalie Sortland
Editor: Josephine Wheeler
Production Manager: Joe Savage
Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander, with additional engineering from Daniel Kempson.
Original Music by Adam Foran, Theme music by Adam Foran and Silverhawk
Executive Producers: Max O’Brien & Craig Strachan
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
A Novel production for the BBC
TUE 15:30 Heart and Soul (w3ct5tgm)
The mosque for Bangladesh’s transgender women
In Bangladesh, hijras - once a revered community - have long lived on the margins. Also known as the third gender, hijras form a diverse group, including those born intersex - meaning their physical traits don’t fit neatly into ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories - and transgender individuals. Traditionally seen as spiritual figures with the power to bless or curse, they are now outcasts, denied homes, jobs, and opportunities. But in a quiet village in Mymensingh, a spiritual revolution is taking place.
Reporter Sahar Zand has gained rare access to this community, spending time with its leader, Tanu - a transgender woman and practising Muslim - who has built a sanctuary where hijras can reconnect with faith. At the heart of this transformation is a Quran study group, offering hijras the religious education they were long denied, and a newly built mosque - the first in Bangladesh to welcome them as equals, after they were expelled from others. With the help of an imam who risked everything to stand by them, they are reclaiming their right to Islam.
But as religious conservatism rises, so do the threats against them. Their village is no longer just a refuge; it is the frontline of a battle for acceptance. Can faith be the key to breaking barriers, or will they be forced back into the shadows?
[Photo Credit: Rashi studying the Quran photo by Sahar Zand]
Producer/presenter: Sahar Zand
Executive producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production coordinator: Mica Nepomucen
TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002htv7)
More than 230 years after its publication, we hear school-age readers grapple with Songs of Innocence, William Blake’s classic collection of poems and illustrations. Given that education, purity and childish imagination are fundamental to Blake's masterpiece, who better to digest and reimagine that seminal work today?
Presenter Raymond Antrobus is a British poet and educator who has won the Ted Hughes Award and Rathbones Folio Prize for his work. He was raised on the language of William Blake by his mother Rosemary, a keen member of The Blake Society.
Host: Raymond Antrobus
Producer: Talia Randall
Executive Producer: Jack Howson
Mix Engineer: Arlie Adlington
Sound Recordist: Alice Boyd
Interpreter: Pettra St Hilaire
With thanks to creative writing charity First Story, Heron Hall Academy in Enfield, and Laurence Ashcroft.
A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002htv9)
Is there a 'normal' menstrual cycle?
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken cut through the confusion around health and wellbeing.
In this episode, the Doctors turn their attention to the menstrual cycle. Menstrual health and periods are still surrounded by myths, misunderstandings and stigma. So what are we getting wrong? They're interested in understanding what the menstrual cycle is, the benefits it provides, the stigma that surrounds it, and the issues associated with menstrual products.
To find out, Chris and Xand sit down with Dr Chi Eziefula, Associate Professor in Global Health and Infection at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and an Honorary Consultant Physician. Her research focuses on menstruation and how it’s relevant to human rights and environmental sustainability, as well as to our health.
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: Dr Chi Eziefula
Producers: Maia Miller-Lewis and Jo Rowntree
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Researcher: Grace Revill
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Social Media: Leon Gower
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Ruth Rainey
At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 17:00 PM (m002htvc)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002htvf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 18:30 Room 101 with Paul Merton (m002htvh)
Series 3
Rachel Parris
Paul Merton asks Rachel Parris what she would put into Room 101.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002htvk)
Kate looks at the bigger picture and Lilian bolsters a friend.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002htvm)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002htvp)
Sex Offenders:The Long Way Back
Alison Holt, BBC social affairs editor, has been given exceptional access to the clients of a Nottingham charity that works to reintegrate men who have been convicted of sexual offences.
'John, Matt, Dan and Liam', not their real names, are determined to turn their lives around after prison sentences. We hear how they work towards this with the help of the staff and volunteers at the Safer Living Foundation, the only charity of its sort in the country. Always mindful of the victims of sexual crime, the principal aim is to prevent further offending and the creation of further harm.
There are hurdles to overcome - public abhorrence, plus grave difficulties with accommodation and work among them .
The Foundation also runs Aurora, an online advice scheme for people who have not offended but who are worried about their sexual thoughts.
Presenter: Alison Holt
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002htvr)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m002htvt)
Galicia’s wild horses in peril
Europe’s largest herd of wild horses, in north-west Spain, is under threat. Numbers have halved in the last fifty years. Now around ten thousand wild horses roam freely in the hills and mountains of Galicia. But they are facing a number of challenges, not least the loss of their habitat and the threat from their main predator, wolves. There are also legal demands imposed by the regional government which have placed added financial burdens on the local people who, in effect, “own” these horses. And yet Galicia’s wild horses have been an integral part of the local culture for centuries, particularly during annual festivals known as “rapas das bestas,” the shearing of the beasts. The horses are also known as engineers of the landscape, credited with boosting the local flora and fauna and with helping to control forest fires.
John Murphy travels to Galicia to hear what is happening to these extraordinary animals and why they are so important.
Producer and presenter: John Murphy
Co-producer and translator: Esperanza Escribano
Programme co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Programme Mix: Eloise Whitmore
Crossing Continents editor: Penny Murphy
TUE 21:30 Great Lives (m002htvw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:00 on Monday]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002htvy)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (m002htw0)
Episode Two
Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love and resilience, this is a novel that explores coercive control in a relationship and one woman’s bid to start over.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.
This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.
The Author
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection ‘Wild Quiet’, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as ‘The Long Gaze Back’. Her debut novel ‘Nesting’ was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and was a Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller. Roisín lives near Dublin with her two children.
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 23:00 Havana Helmet Club (m002ddbd)
10. The 7th Floor
Arriving into Washington in 2023, Adam plans to officially put his testimony on the US government record – if they will let him – then walk off into the sunset. The past seven years have taken a toll on Adam, progressively broken down by the fight. He is confused as to why his government seems to have turned against him. In his mind, this is his last stand.
But as with everything in the story of Havana Syndrome, nothing is straight forward – with the US government and the intelligence community keen to shut the door on the saga.
In this final episode of Havana Helmet Club, Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey try to pull all the pieces of the mystery together.
Credits
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: Ger McDonnell
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 (m002htw3)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 03 SEPTEMBER 2025
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002htw5)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 Life Chances (m000s9v8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002htw7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002htw9)
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 (m002htwc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002htwf)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002htwh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002htwk)
Doing Your Best
Good morning. One of the funniest job interviews I had was for an art agency in Tokyo. After a brief chat in the office with an American intern, I was told we were going out. Mr Mochusuki, the boss, led us on a short walk to an old-fashioned bar. It was small and dark with a rustic wooden bar counter and stools in front. We filed in like ducks in a row - Mr Mochusuki took the end stool nearest the wall, I was next, then the intern and the other Japanese staff. A tiny, very elderly, Japanese woman with wiry grey appeared, smiled and handed Mr Mochusuki a black folder with song lyrics. It turned out this was a karaoke bar, and I was now trapped in a surreal Japanese recruitment ritual!
One by one the staff chose songs and howled painfully into the microphone. I was struggling not to laugh – it was bizarre – but everyone was taking it very seriously. It was coming to my turn. What on earth was I going to sing? Mr Mochusuki suggested the Irish song Danny Boy. Inside I was cringing, but I did my best. In terms of the job, it was the wrong decision – I was meant to howl as painfully as I could. Only the boss was allowed to sing normally – he had to be the best!
We absorb the message ‘do your best’ from a young age The Apostle Paul said “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord…It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Lord Jesus, help us to consciously give all our hearts to whatever we do today and use our work to bless others for your glory. Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002htwm)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 06:00 Today (m002hv30)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Sideways (m002htdl)
78. Hide and Seek
In 2014, Lydia Laurenson moved to San Francisco. As she struggled to find her place and her people in a new city, one mysterious invitation changed everything. After a compelling - if slightly bizarre - induction, she was welcomed into a secretive and exclusive group called The Latitude. Their aim? To experience life more creatively.
There’s something undeniably powerful about being chosen. For centuries, secret societies have perfected a mix of mystery, camaraderie, and selectiveness. And that taps into something deeply human - the need to belong. From secret childhood clubs to private online groups, we’ve always created small, hidden worlds that feel like they’re just for us.
Today, we ask what it is about being on the inside of something hidden that makes us feel seen.
With writer Lydia Laurenson, Professor of History Rick Spence, and British author Tiffany Jenkins.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Hannah Marshall
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:30 Shadow World (m002hp7g)
The People vs McDonald's
4. A Proper Grilling
A few months into the trial, Helen and Dave get an unexpected communication from the McDonald's Board of Directors.
In 1986, members of environmental group, London Greenpeace, published a leaflet called ‘What’s wrong with McDonald’s?’ It claimed McDonald’s was exploiting workers, destroying rainforests, torturing animals, and promoting food that could make people sick, even cause cancer...
McDonald’s said the claims in the leaflet were untrue and defamatory and the company demanded an apology.
Helen Steel, a gardener, and a former postman named Dave Morris, refused.
Mark Steel takes us into the murky world of McDonald’s Corporation vs Steel & Morris – aka 'McLibel' - the longest-running trial in English history which would turn the spotlight on the way big business operates. As well as bringing issues like rainforest destruction and advertising to children into the mainstream, it would also be the moment our current Prime Minister first comes to prominence. If that isn’t enough, this story would ultimately have connections with a dark and shameful secret at the heart of the British state - something which Mark discovers he himself had been a victim of.
Shadow World: Gripping stories from the Shadows – BBC investigations from across the UK.
Presenter: Mark Steel
Producer: Conor Garrett
Executive Producer: Georgia Catt
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini
Sound Mix: Tim Heffer
Music Score: Phil Kieran
*Archive excerpts from director Franny Armstrong’s ‘McLibel,’ reproduced with the permission of Spanner Films
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002hv32)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002htvp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002htf0)
September 1st - September 7th
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
This week: 1st September to 7th September
- 1st September 1939. Operation Pied Piper begins, evacuating British children to the countryside
- 7th September 1936. The last captive Thylacine, commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger, dies in a zoo in Australia
- 3rd September 1967. Sweden begins driving on the right-hand side of the road
Presented by Jane Steel and Ron Brown.
Producers: Chris Pearson and Luke Doran.
WED 11:45 Life Chances (m000s7mp)
The Boy in the River
20 years ago, journalist Athar Ahmad walked through the gates of his secondary school in west London. The school was what everyone in the area described as a ‘rough’ school but its students all felt as though they faced many of the same challenges and went through many of the same experiences.
But three of Athar’s classmates wouldn’t make it to the age he is now.
In this raw and personal series, Athar asks why the lives of his classmates went down such different paths and why three of them ended up dead - murdered brutally and violently.
As Athar tries to make sense of what happened, he explores issues around multiculturalism, identity and life for communities in the UK, told through the prism of a school at the crossroads of modern Britain.
In this third episode, Athar looks at how the school tried to foster cohesion and opportunity for its pupils, but how it couldn't always stop the influence of a more dangerous and destructive identity waiting for students outside the gates.
Presenter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Georgia Catt
WED 12:00 News Summary (m002hv34)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002hv36)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m002hv38)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m002hv3b)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
WED 13:45 Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes (m002hv3d)
Series 2
Funny Foreigner Jokes
Not all joke varieties are good and healthy. Jokes about funny foreigners sail dangerously close to a wind that can take them into the territory of xenophobic punching down, especially when the teller of the joke is assuming a sense of superiority. But they have a history, a long history, and with the help of Professor Laura Ashe of Oxford University, Ian unearths an example from the 12th century. It's of a sideswipe at the Welsh, by way of an equal sideswipe at Cistercian monks. It might easily have been a joke about the French, another frequent target of early medieval humour, but it isn't. Nor is it entirely belittling, which as Ian discovers, is the ingredient that allows the funny foreigner joke to survive in some form to the present day. He also talks to Al Murray, aka the Pub Landlord, who often operates in this field and seeks to avoid the many attendant pitfalls.
Producer: Tom Alban
WED 14:00 The Archers (m002htvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001h41w)
Eat and Run
Every fortnight, Alice and Dean meet their divorced dad Stewart for Saturday lunch. With Stewart it’s always voucher deals. Forget dining at the twilight hour – Stewart only eats at the discount hour. But one day, Stewart forgets his wallet and they run off without paying. It’s an adventure. It brings them closer. And so begins a spree across Brighton’s restaurants as the family become serial “dine and dashers”.
But there was one thing they hadn’t counted on. Waitress Rebecca has one of their skipped bills taken out of her wages. Struggling to pay for food for her son, she vows to track down the perpetrators. Because after all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
ALICE.....Emma Sidi
DEAN.....Aaron Gelkoff
STEWART....Dustin Demri-Burns
REBECCA.....Sophie Wu
WILL....John King
CHARLIE.....Tom Kiteley
MANAGER....Chlöe Sommer
Written by Paolo Chianta
Sound design by Sharon Hughes
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Produced by Lorna Newman
A BBC Audio Drama North Production
WED 15:00 Money Box (m002hv3g)
The latest news from the world of personal finance
WED 15:30 The Drug Trial That Went Wrong (m002j3xk)
In March 2006, the pharmaceutical world was shaken by the catastrophic events of the TGN1412 clinical trial that took place at Northwick Park Hospital in London. Initially intended as a potential new treatment for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and certain types of leukaemia, the antibody TGN1412 triggered severe and life-threatening reactions among six of its eight trial participants.
It was an event which changed the way first-in-human clinical studies were regulated in the UK and around the world.
Now, as the Labour government targets life sciences as one of eight key sectors for economic growth, new regulations for running clinical trials are being rolled out across the country for the first time in twenty years. But what is the right balance between regulation and innovation; and how can an industry at the forefront of medical advancements attract patients to be the first to receive new treatments while guaranteeing their safety?
In this documentary, Dr Margaret McCartney, talks to one doctor who was at Northwick Park Hospital, then and now, about what we learned from that fateful event, and goes to a trial centre only miles away which is one of the few in the UK licensed to carry out early stage clinical research. Have we learned enough to keep today’s volunteers safe as new medical treatments evolve at speed?
WED 16:00 Human Intelligence (m0026v5c)
Teachers: Maimonides
Naomi Alderman explores one of the greatest minds of the medieval world and in the history of Jewish thought. His work, The Guide for the Perplexed, is among the most influential works of medieval philosophy. In his efforts to reconcile faith and reason, Maimonides was having parts of the Enlightenment in his head 600 years early.
Special thanks to Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies and the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought.
Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.
WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002ht2v)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m002hv3j)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002hv3l)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 18:30 Do Gooders (m002hv3n)
Series 2
Episode 1 - The Boxing
Lauren finds a new beau. Clive makes enemies with other charities at the pub. Achi can’t sleep. There’s only one place for all this to come to a head - a charity boxing match.
Garrett Millerick’s ensemble sitcom Do Gooders returns for another series. The show takes us back behind the curtain of fictional mid-level charity, The Alzheimers Alliance, as the fundraising events team continue their struggle for survival. Cue more office feuds, more workplace romances and more catastrophic fundraising blunders – all par for the course when trying to ‘do good’ on an industrial scale.
Cast
Gladys – Kathryn Drysdale
Lauren – Ania Magliano
Clive – Garrett Millerick
Harriett – Fay Ripley
Achi – Ahir Shah
Ken – Frank Skinner
Guest star
Darren – Red Richardson
Writer – Garrett Millerick
Additional Material – Katie Storey
Sound Engineer – David Thomas
Editor – David Thomas
Production Assistant – Jenny Recaldin
Producer – Jules Lom
Executive Producers – Richard Allen-Turner, Daisy Knight, Julien Matthews, Jon Thoday
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m002ht21)
Chelsea has reservations and sensitivities are high at Brookfield.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m002hv3r)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m002hv3t)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.
WED 21:00 Walt Disney: A Life in Films (p0fxbvg3)
10. The Jungle Book & EPCOT
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 final episode, Mel explores Walt’s final years. Despite chronic health problems, Walt was a whirlwind of activity. As he drew towards the end of his life he reflected on his legacy, “Fancy being remembered around the world for the invention of a mouse”, he once lamented. It turns out Walt had other ideas.
Not content with his domination of the entertainment industry, Walt decided he was going to take it upon himself to reimagine the modern American city. It would be the culmination of his entire life’s work.
The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow or EPCOT, was to be a truly utopian antidote to the trials and tribulations of modern urban living. Out of all his achievements, it was EPCOT Walt believed he would really be remembered for.
Alongside his audacious plans to revolutionise the city, Mel reveals that Walt also had time for one final film, his classic take on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
WED 21:30 The Long View (m002httm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002hv3w)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (m002hv3y)
Episode Three
Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love and resilience, this is a novel that explores coercive control in a relationship and one woman’s bid to start over.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.
This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.
The Author
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection ‘Wild Quiet’, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as ‘The Long Gaze Back’. Her debut novel ‘Nesting’ was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and was a Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller. Roisín lives near Dublin with her two children.
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 23:00 Stand-Up Specials (m002hdcx)
Stuart Mitchell's Cost of Dying
5. In a Better Place
Have you ever seen a Mexican wave at a funeral? Stuart looks at the emotional cost of death in his mission to tally the cost of dying.
When it seems like everything is getting more expensive; comedian, former banker and serial funeral-organiser Stuart Mitchell breaks down the true cost of dying. Using his own experience Stuart aims to find out if can we even afford to kick the bucket? You’ll learn so much about the hidden costs of dying, you may well decide not to bother doing it!
Written and Performed by Stuart Mitchell
Producer: Lauren Mackay
Sound: Andy Hay and Chris Currie
WED 23:15 Little Lifetimes by Jenny Eclair (m00168d9)
Series 7
Poor Rosemary
Written by Jenny Eclair
Read by Fenella Woolgar
Producer ..... Sally Avens
When Rosemary fails to catch a bouquet at her flatmate's wedding it seems she is destined to remain single for the rest of her life as her friends get on with the merry go round of marriage and children.
Fenella Woolgar is an award winning actress on stage and screen appearing most recently in 'Call The Midwife'.
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002hv40)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 04 SEPTEMBER 2025
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002hv42)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 Life Chances (m000s7mp)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002hv44)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002hv46)
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 (m002hv48)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002hv4b)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002hv4d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002hv4g)
Permission to Play
Good morning. I signed up to an art workshop with a local cancer charity when my dad was terminally ill. I was curious and nervous at the same time. I had done very little art since school days. I was welcomed by the art therapist, who threw open the door of the board room. There stretching from end to end on the table was every kind of art material you could imagine. Bright coloured pastels, paints and pencils, boxes with fabrics, wools and ribbons, weaving frames, newspapers and magazines for collages and a coffee station with chocolate. I gasped with a mix of surprise and awe. “Have you set this out just for me?” I said. “Yes” she replied: “welcome to the art space. Make yourself at home”. Sensing that I didn’t know where to start, she added: "choose a few colours and move them around the page – allow yourself to play”. The invitation had a profound impact on me – “allow yourself to play” – no agenda, no expectation, no outcome, no judgment – permission to play! It was both a moving and a healing experience. My creative spirit was re-awakened. Whatever you are doing today I suggest you make time for playfulness as part of your self-care? Jesus tells us to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child. Let’s honour the child that God esteems in us. In the words of a prayer by the American poet and pastor Maren Tirabassi: Let me not be too old to fly a kite or too grand or grounded in responsibility to swing high from an oak tree branch or build a castle in the sand that waves will wash away. Jesus, help me to be like a little child today. Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002hv4j)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 06:00 Today (m002ht19)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 Artworks (m002ht1c)
What Happened to Counter-Culture?
04/09/2025
Stewart Lee explores the story and ideas of counter-culture and its importance today.
THU 09:30 How to Play (m002ht1f)
Verdi's La Traviata with Opera Holland Park
The singers of Opera Holland Park and the City of London Sinfonia invite us to eavesdrop on rehearsals as they prepare to perform one of Verdi's most popular operas, La Traviata.
Opera is one of the most complex art forms, combining not just music but plot, dialogue and staging. From the initial rehearsals with a piano, through to the first encounter between singers and orchestra, we see how the many complex parts fit together to produce a thrilling theatrical spectacle. La Traviata's story of a "fallen woman", doomed to die, and required to sacrifice herself to protect the reputation of a bourgeois family, presents challenges for a 21st century audience - how does a director keep it fresh?
We hear from soprano Alison Langer, tenor Matteo Desole, baritone Michel de Souza, conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren and director Rodula Gaitanou.
Produced by Jolyon Jenkins for for BBC Audio Wales and West
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002ht1h)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m002ht1k)
Alison Balsom
Classical trumpeter Alison Balsom talks to John Wilson about the most significant influences and experiences that have inspired her career. Having recorded 17 studio albums since 2002, she has been named Gramophone Artist of the Year, won three Classical Brit Awards, along with an OBE for services to music. She has performed with leading conductors and orchestras around the world, including at the Last Night of the Proms.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
THU 11:45 Life Chances (m000s9rh)
The Boy in the Burqa
20 years ago, journalist Athar Ahmad walked through the gates of his secondary school in west London. The school was what everyone in the area described as a ‘rough’ school but its students all felt as though they faced many of the same challenges and went through many of the same experiences.
But three of Athar’s classmates wouldn’t make it to the age he is now.
In this raw and personal series, Athar asks why the lives of his classmates went down such different paths and why three of them ended up dead - murdered brutally and violently.
As Athar tries to make sense of what happened, he explores issues around multiculturalism, identity and life for communities in the UK, told through the prism of a school at the crossroads of modern Britain.
In this fourth episode, the story of Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed. How his parents, like that of so many pupils at Acton High, moved to the UK for a better life, but it was a life Mohammed would reject.
Presenter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Georgia Catt
THU 12:00 News Summary (m002ht1m)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Scam Secrets (m002ht1p)
Exposing the secret techniques criminals use to steal your money.
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002ht1r)
Dough - The Future of Home Parcel Delivery
Will delivery drones and robots make popping to the shops a thing of the past?
Greg Foot, host of the BBC Radio 4 show 'Sliced Bread', now brings you 'Dough'.
Each episode explores future wonder products that might rise to success and redefine our lives.
Experts and entrepreneurs discuss the trends shaping what today's everyday technology may look like tomorrow, before a leading futurist offers their predictions on what life might be like within five, ten and fifty years.
This episode looks at the future of home parcel delivery.
One of the UK's biggest parcel delivery companies, Evri, explains why its trial of a robot delivery 'dog' will not spell the end for human couriers.
A service already delivering coffee and groceries by drone in part of Dublin outlines its plans to take off in the UK.
And Greg hears how looking to the past may improve home deliveries in future by making more of our inland waterways and rail network.
Alongside Greg, delivering her expertise, is the futurist Tracey Follows and expert guests including:
-Craig Noonan, UK Director of Communications and Brand at Evri
-Alan Hicks, Chief Technology Officer at Manna Drone Delivery
-Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director of Policy at the trade association, Logistics UK
Produced by Jon Douglas. Dough is a BBC Audio North Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
THU 12:57 Weather (m002ht1t)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002ht1w)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
THU 13:45 Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes (m002ht1y)
Series 2
Avarice Jokes
In looking for the oldest refined examples of British comedy staples almost all roads lead to, even if they don't necessarily begin with, Geoffrey Chaucer. But when it comes to jokes about meanness, Chaucer produced one of the funniest and possibly the longest of all time. His most recent and celebrated biographer, Professor Marion Turner of Oxford University, guides Ian through the sharp satirical jabs and the broad crudeness of the Summoner's Tale, from his Canterbury Tales. Ian also talks to comedian Al Murray, aka the Pub Landlord, about why the meanness joke is such a sustaining comedy staple, and he follows it through to the modern era, avoiding the lazy national stereotypes while highlighting the Dickensian miser-in-chief Ebenezer Scrooge.
Producer: Tom Alban
THU 14:00 The Archers (m002ht21)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002ht23)
Home Sweet Home
‘Inflationship’. Noun. Neologism. To cohabit with a partner, or ex-partner, out of necessity in order to split housing costs and bills.
Aniyah and Kofi are done. After ten years their relationship has tanked. The only issue - they’re sharing a studio flat, can’t afford to move, and find themselves in an ‘inflationship’. But now the landlady is selling and the writing is on the shared wall for their living situation. Is it curtains for cohabitation, or could new voyeuristic game show ‘Home Sweet Home’ provide a lifeline?
A darkly comic take on the cost-of-living (and loving) crisis for Gen Z and Millennials.
By Sian Carter
Kofi ..... Tosin Cole
Aniyah ..... Simona Brown
Marcus ….. Ben Hardy
Loretta ….. Ramanique Ahluwalia
Game Show Host ….. Jonathan Forbes
Other voices are played by Amrita Acharia, Nicolas Jackson and the cast.
Image created by Maya Acharya
Sound design ..... Adam Woodhams
Executive producer ...... Nicolas Jackson
Director/Producer ..... Amrita Acharia
An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4
THU 15:00 Open Country (m002ht25)
Pingos and Pool Frogs
Martha Kearney discovers the Ice Age ponds in Norfolk, called pingos, which are being brought back to life, and provide a home for the Northern Pool Frog. It's the UK's rarest amphibian and had become extinct in this country, but it's now breeding there again and Martha is keen to see one. With 400 pingos, Thompson Common is the most important site for pond wildlife in the country and also holds a precious store of seeds.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust:
https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/ThompsonCommon
Find out more about The Pingo Trail Walk:
https://www.explorenorfolkuk.co.uk/pingo-trail.html
Producer: Beth O'Dea
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002ht27)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Word of Mouth (m002ht29)
How to Persuade a Courtroom
Michael Rosen talks to defence barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind about the language of a criminal court case. From the grandeur of the courtroom and stock phrases like "with respect to my learned friend" to the colloquial directness of talking to an accused defendant as they sit in their cell. How do barristers build persausive arguments – and how do they tear down the arguments of their opposition? Do some barristers hide bad arguments behind elaborate language? Do the best barristers expose it with the most naked, stripped back language? And how does a barrister decide how to deliver their words? The tone, the pace, the performance.
Produced in partnership with The Open University for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz
THU 16:00 Rethink (m002ht2c)
Rethink...the meaning of terrorism
What is terrorism?
Without doubt, it is a pejorative term; few people would ever want to be called a terrorist, and when the word terrorism is attached to a belief system, it delegitimises it in the eyes of the public.
It's an emotive word with severe consequences for any individual or group given the label. Virtually everybody agrees that being a terrorist is not a good thing and that the law must seriously punish them.
But there isn't an agreed international definition of what terrorism is.
The UK has a legal definition, but it differs from other western democracies. When does property damage become a terror offence? How do police officers decide the difference between support for a cause and membership of a proscribed organisation? Should individuals without an ideology who plan or commit mass murders be considered terrorists? Are UK anti-terror laws too broad, or too narrow? And can violence by states be counted as terrorism?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:
José Ángel Gascón, Professor of Argumentation in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Murcia
Jonathan Hall KC, UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation
Nick Aldworth, Threat, risk & security strategist, former Detective Chief Superintendent and National Coordinator in Counter Terrorism Policing.
Leonie Jackson, Assistant Professor and Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Northumbria University, and author of " What is Counterterrorism For?"
Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University Belfast, and author of Does Counter-Terrorism Work?
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m002ht2f)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m002ht2h)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002ht2k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 18:30 Stand-Up Specials (m002ht2m)
Glenn Moore's Almanac Series 2
Russian Spy
Comedian Glenn Moore looks in his almanac at world events and what he was doing at the time. In this episode, a deadly spy operation causes Glenn to suspect his completely innocent Russian flatmate who just happens to have a novelty cigarette lighter in the shape of a gun. And not a novelty gun in the shape of a cigarette lighter.
Perhaps best-known for his outrageously brilliant one-liners on Mock The Week , Glenn delivers a tale of comic mishaps and extraordinary scenes interwoven with a big event in history – and looks back through his almanac to find out other strange connections to the day as well.
Written by Glenn with additional material by Katie Storey (Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, The Last Leg) and produced and directed by David Tyler (Cabin Pressure, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, etc)
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m002ht2q)
Zainab fears the worst and opportunity knocks for Stella.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m002ht2s)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 20:00 Human Intelligence (m0026v5c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002ht2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:15 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002hswq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 One to One (m001s5fr)
Future Cities: Tori Herridge meets Gisela Detrell
As a palaeontologist Tori Herridge spends her life poking at things from the past, but she’s secretly obsessed with the future. In the second of three episodes exploring how future cities might work, she takes a leap from Earth to Mars. Space engineer Dr Gisela Detrell has a day job researching how to keep astronauts alive in space for longer, but she's also been working out how one million people could manage to make a home on Mars. Just how dangerous would it be? How could we eat, drink and have fun? And could designing a Martian city help us live better here on Earth?
Presenter: Tori Herridge
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002ht2x)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (m002ht2z)
Episode Four
Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love and resilience, this is a novel that explores coercive control in a relationship and one woman’s bid to start over.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.
This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.
The Author
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection ‘Wild Quiet’, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as ‘The Long Gaze Back’. Her debut novel ‘Nesting’ was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and was a Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller. Roisín lives near Dublin with her two children.
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002ht32)
Conversations about tomorrow, from Today.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002ht34)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 05 SEPTEMBER 2025
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002ht36)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 Life Chances (m000s9rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002ht38)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002ht3b)
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 (m002ht3d)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002ht3g)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002ht3j)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002ht3l)
Christmas Cake
Good morning. I taught business English in Tokyo for the summer of 1994. A group of four young women in their early twenties came every week. They worked together in admin and had very high expectations of being married before they reached the age of 24. They were shocked when they found out that I was 27 and unmarried. One woman blurted out “why you no married at 27 – is big problem for you?” I shared that, like them, I thought that I would be married but it didn’t work out, so I decided to go travelling instead. Another woman giggled and said: in Japan we have special name for you – we call you “Christmas cake” because you go off after the 25th. I laughed and said “well there is a whole lot more life to be lived before I go off”. Singleness has given me opportunities that I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise. Except I didn’t expect that I would still be single all these years later! Paul speaks positively of singleness as a ‘gift’ but for me there have been seasons of struggle when singleness is unwanted and something to be navigated.
But God understands – He loves each one of us as His beloved child. Perhaps this weekend you can have courage to make a phone call or arrange a meetup with a friend. If it seems like there are 1,000 steps to take you only need to take one and God will take 999. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit May He give you courage to reach out beyond the loneliness to connect with others this weekend.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002ht3n)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 06:00 Today (m002htcg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m002htcj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002htcl)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002htcn)
Manx Made
Jaega Wise visits the Isle of Man to discover how the island is creating a distinctive food culture - one that feeds locals, entices visitors and can be marketed on the mainland.
Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
FRI 11:45 Life Chances (m000sbfg)
Achieving for All
20 years ago, journalist Athar Ahmad walked through the gates of his secondary school in west London. The school was what everyone in the area described as a ‘rough’ school but its students all felt as though they faced many of the same challenges and went through many of the same experiences.
But three of Athar’s classmates wouldn’t make it to the age he is now.
In this raw and personal series, Athar asks why the lives of his classmates went down such different paths and why three of them ended up dead - murdered brutally and violently.
As Athar tries to make sense of what happened, he explores issues around multiculturalism, identity and life for communities in the UK, told through the prism of a school at the crossroads of modern Britain.
Presenter: Athar Ahmad
Producer: Georgia Catt
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002htcq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m002htcs)
Engineering the Planet
Efforts to reduce our carbon emissions are falling far short of what’s necessary to keep our temperature rise below 2 degrees centigrade. Is it time to seriously consider another option- using technology to cool the planet? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski explore the controversial field of geoengineering.
They're joined by Shaun Fitzgerald, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University, Peter Brannen, author of The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything and by Alex Davey, Deputy Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Assistant Producer: Toby Field
Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University
FRI 12:57 Weather (m002htcv)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m002htcx)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
FRI 13:45 Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes (m002htcz)
Series 2
Useless Men Jokes
In the past few years there has been a certain amount of reaction to jokes made about male inadequacy. Is it an example of feminist over-reach? Of the woke agenda inventing an unhelpful stereotype?
The answer provided by this last in the current series of Hislop's Oldest jokes is an unequivocal no. Ian traces the 'useless man' joke back to one of the most powerful dramatic traditions that ever existed in Britain, the mystery plays or mystery cycles. These retellings of Biblical stories didn't survive the Reformation, but they were popular the length and breadth of Britain, with a few surviving in manuscript form thanks to the censors.
Looking a the York Cycle in particular, with the guidance of Liverpool University's Professor Sarah Peverley, Ian finds feckless men in abundance. For starters, and perhaps rather surprisingly, there's Joseph the elderly husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, who is depicted as a hopeless potential cuckold figure. And then, a forerunner of black humour, there are the soldiers who are sent to crucify Jesus. Their blundering attitude and moaning about having sore backs and having to deal with shoddy carpentry are a vivid example of the juxtaposition of comedy and passion that isn't familiar today. Back in the 13th and 14th century there's no mistaking that the useless men are intended to portray to the audience that we are all part of a post-lapsarian world when set against the figure of the Messiah.
Meanwhile the feckless, bumbling bloke has gone on to deliver some of the most successful British comedic characters of all time, from Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to Mr Bean.
Producer: Tom Alban
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002ht2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002htd2)
Mothercover
Episode 2: The Sleepover
Liz is definitely up to something – but is just as inscrutable as ever. With the clock ticking and ongoing pressure from Owen, Gwen has to take a risk to find out what it is…
An Aberystwyth-set thriller, by Bafta-Cymru nominee Fflur Dafydd, with original music by Mercury Prize nominees Gwenno and Rhys Edwards.
Gwen.... Alexandra Roach
Liz.... Remy Beasley
Owen.... Sacha Dhawan
Geraint... Matthew Gravelle
Dean.... Alex Harries
Ioan.... Liam Donnelly
Theo.... Cai Roberts
Original Music.... Gwenno and Rhys Edwards
Sound design.... Rhys Morris
Production Co-ordinator.... Lindsay Rees and Eleri McAuliffe
Directed by Fay Lomas
Produced by Fay Lomas and John Norton
FRI 14:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m002305h)
18. The Night the Earth Shook
In a small Italian city nestled in the Apennine mountains, a series of low level tremors are setting nerves on edge. Is this just a passing phase, or a prelude to something far more devastating?
Producer: Ilan Goodman
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002htd6)
Eden Project
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m002htdb)
Kindnesses by David Constantine
An original short story for Radio 4 from David Constantine, winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award.
In a nameless town, two very different men, both struggling and lost from society, find solace in small acts of kindness...
Readers: Jason Barnett and Sam Dale
Writer: David Constantine is an acclaimed poet and writer, best known for his critically acclaimed collections of short stories, including Tea at the Midland. He is the winner of both the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award.
Producer: Justine Willett
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002htdg)
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 (m002htdl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m002htdp)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002htdr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m002hv77)
Series 118
Episode 1
Topical panel quiz show, taking its questions from the week's news stories.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002htdt)
WRITER: Katie Hims
DIRECTOR: Pip Swallow
EDITOR: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge.... Charles Collingwood
David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Tom Archer.... William Troughton
Lilian Bellamy.... Sunny Ormonde
Rex Fairbrother.... Nick Barber
Martyn Gibson.... Jon Glover
Amber Gordon.... Charlotte Jordan
Chelsea Horrobin.... Madeleine Leslay
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Kate Madikane.... Perdita Avery
Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Oliver Sterling.... Michael Cochrane
Lawrence.... Rupert Vansittart
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m002htdw)
Callum Au and Natalie Duncan and the beauty of brass
Trombonist, arranger and big band leader Callum Au, and composer, pianist and singer Natalie Duncan, are today's studio guests as they look for unexpected links that connect five disparate tracks. With Anna Phoebe and Jeffrey Boakye, they head from an early Adele classic to a reinterpretation of a Roberta Flack hit via a 15-minute reworking by Duke Ellington of one of his most celebrated works.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Chasing Pavements by Adele
Mood Indigo by Duke Ellington
Tuba mirum by Mozart
Back Together Again by Roberta Flack, ft Donny Hathaway
Killing Me Softly With His Song by Fugees
Other music in this episode:
Krupastrophe by Callum Au & Louis Dowdeswell
Heaven by Emeli Sandé
Sinfonia 'Infernali' from L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi
Killing Me Softly With His Song by Roberta Flack
Empty Chairs by Don McLean
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002htdy)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities
FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002htf0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:40 on Wednesday]
FRI 21:00 The Verb (m002htf2)
The Adverb at the Edinburgh Festivals
Recorded in front of an audience at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Ian McMillan hosts poets Liz Lochhead, Robert Crawford and Hannah Lavery at the city's annual arts festival.
Hannah Lavery is a writer and former Makar of Edinburgh whose work has been described as a “beautiful and shattering ritual of rage and mourning”. She performs her work 'Edinburgh Is A Story', commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival, along with 'My Work Is Loving The World' and 'Miss Has Started Using Sunbeds'.
Robert Crawford, author of books about writers as different as TS Eliot and Robert Burns, reads from his new collection 'Old World', a Scots version of Enheduanna, and brings us right to the heart of the city with 'Camera Obscura' and 'Mons Meg'.
Liz Lochhead, former Makar of Scotland, reads a selection of poems including 'Trouble Is Not My Middle Name', 'Coming To Poetry' and the wonderfully wicked 'Song For A Dirty Diva'.
Presenter: Ian McMillan
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002htf4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (m002htf6)
Episode Five
Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love and resilience, this is a novel that explores coercive control in a relationship and one woman’s bid to start over.
On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.
This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.
The Author
Roisín O’Donnell won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted for the same prize in 2022. She is the author of the story collection ‘Wild Quiet’, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in The Stinging Fly, The Tangerine, the Irish Times and many other places. Other stories have been selected for major anthologies such as ‘The Long Gaze Back’. Her debut novel ‘Nesting’ was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and was a Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller. Roisín lives near Dublin with her two children.
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Author: Roisín O’Donnell
Abridger: Rowan Routh
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland Production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 23:00 Americast (w3ct7t5w)
Join Americast for insights and analysis on what's happening inside Trump's White House.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002htfb)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament