SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2025
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002j64m)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (m002j62x)
Episode 5: A Declaration of Love
This is the first memoir by the acclaimed Indian writer and political activist Arundhati Roy, best-known for her Booker-prize-winning novel The God of Small Things. It is the account of a remarkable and difficult childhood which was dominated by Arundhati’s formidable mother, Mary Roy.
This was a time in South India when women had very proscribed roles, and Mary Roy challenged them profoundly:
‘In that conservative, stifling little South Indian town, where, in those days, women were only allowed the option of cloying virtue – or its affectation – my mother conducted herself with the edginess of a gangster.’
Mary Roy’s achievements are extraordinary - she founded a co-educational school which challenged sexist gender roles, and she brought a legal challenge which gave South Indian women equal inheritance rights with men. But at home, as Arundhati reveals, she’s cruel and bullying; she hits her children and belittles them constantly. At 18, Arundhati left home and didn’t see or speak to her mother for seven years. But when Mary Roy died in 2022, Arundhati was distraught, and even a ‘little ashamed’ at the intensity of her loss. In an attempt to make sense of their relationship, she began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me.
In this final episode, Arundhati describes her ‘brittle, tentative’ reunion with her mother after a seven-year absence from home. She becomes a published writer and wins the Booker Prize with her first novel, The God of Small Things:
‘The only person I called after the prize was announced was my mother. It would have been about
2am for her in Kottayam. She was up, watching the news on tv. “Well done, baby girl.” An incredible expression of love. I’d caught her on a good day.’
In September 2022, after a period of increasing frailty, Mrs Roy died.
‘I spun unanchored in space with no coordinates. I had constructed myself around her. I had grown into the peculiar shape that I am to accommodate her. I had never wanted to defeat her, never wanted to win. I had always wanted her to go out like a queen. And now that she had, I didn’t make sense to myself any more.’
Read by Shaheen Khan
Produced and abridged by Elizabeth Burke
Studio Production and Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Photo courtesy of Arundhati Roy
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002j64p)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002j64r)
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 (m002j64t)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002j64w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002j64y)
Young and Courageous
Good morning.
Today would have been the birthday of the author Roald Dahl, who was born in Cardiff in 1916. For decades, his stories have captured the imaginations of children around the world. Though in recent years both Dahl and his works have faced controversy, the enduring charm of his books remains undeniable. Many of us will be able to recall a time in life when we were impacted by his stories - whether through the pages of his novels or the adaptations on stage and screen. In my own home, I remember when my book-loving daughter took great delight in discovering the character of Matilda - a girl who also has a deep passion for reading.
Amid the fantastical worlds of friendly giants, magical chocolate factories, and giant peaches, one theme surfaces again and again: the courage and resilience of children. Dahl’s young heroes are brave and clever. They stand at the centre of the story, overcoming hardship and, at times, even guiding or challenging the adults around them.
The Bible reminds us that to God, every person has value - no matter their age. Jesus welcomed little children into His presence, showing both His love and their importance in the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul urged young Timothy, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,” encouraging him not to see youth as a weakness but as an opportunity to set an example through faith, conduct, and character. These words remind us that God delights to work through both the young and the old, calling each of us to make a difference in the world.
Lord, thank you for the children and young people in our lives. Open our eyes to their potential, and help us encourage them in faith and life. Strengthen the younger generation to be courageous and wise, shining your light wherever they go. Amen.
SAT 05:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m0022z9f)
19. A Different Kind of Justice
How does a small informal survey lead to shocking truths about the US justice system thirty years later?
Producer Lauren Armstrong Carter
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002jdp4)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SAT 06:07 Open Country (m002j751)
The Menai Strait
Martha Kearney visits the Menai Strait - the stretch of water which separates Ynys Môn or Anglesey from mainland Wales. She learns about its treacherous tides and hears about the history of its two bridges, both built in the 19th century to improve travel between London and Ireland. The Menai Suspension Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and will celebrate its 200th anniversary at the start of 2026. The newer Britannia Bridge had to be completely rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1970.
Martha meets an academic from Bangor University who explains how ocean physics make the waters of the Strait so dangerous. At low tide she braves the pouring rain to go rock-pooling with a wildlife expert, who explains why the Strait is such a special habitat for marine life. She also visits Church Island - a tiny island in the middle of the Strait which is home to an ancient church - and meets the people who look after it.
Producer: Emma Campbell
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002jdp6)
13/09/25: Farmland Birds, Wild Summit, Illegal Meat
Populations of birds which live on farmland have declined sharply since the 1970s, although there are signs the rate of decline is now slowing. We visit projects to improve habitats for Nightjars in Staffordshire and Corncrakes on the Isle of Lewis.
This week a Wild Summit bought together voices from all sides of the debate to discuss how to reverse the biodiversity crisis. Farming Today hears from conservationists and farmers, agreeing that current policies are 'fractured'.
The Commons' Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs committee has published a highly critical report claiming that illegal meat imports are increasing and that the authorities don't have adequate resources to tackle the problem.
And, is the appointment of a new Secretary of State for DEFRA a chance to reset the relationship between farmers and the Government?
Presenter: Caz Graham
Producer: Sarah Swadling
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002jdp8)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002jdpb)
Today (Saturday)
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002jdpd)
Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, Beekeeping, Basketball, and Dan Brown's Inheritance Tracks
Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have worked together for three decades on the likes of The League of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9. But, despite creating some of television's most twisted characters the pair are, as far as we can tell, relatively normal off-screen - Reece is a keen home-baker and Steve loves a good cryptic crossword.
Today John Amaechi is a psychologist and leadership consultant, but in a previous life he was an NBA star. But, John spent most of his childhood in Stockport feeling lonely, bullied for his height and weight, he hated sport. But a chance encounter with a basketball coach in the street that saw this 6'10" teenager stars align.
One of Molly Earl's earliest memories as a child is rescuing bees with her amateur beeping father. Today she rescues swarms of bees destined for extermination for a living and has given refuge to millions of bees creating 250 established hives around St Austell - where she turns their efforts into award-winning honey.
All that, plus the Inheritance Tracks of The Da Vinci Code author, Dan Brown.
Presenter: Adrian Chiles
Producer: Ben Mitchell
SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002jdpg)
Jane Austen: the life of a Regency literary icon
Greg Jenner is joined in Regency England by historian Dr Lucy Worsley and actor Sally Phillips to learn all about the life and works of literary legend Jane Austen on the 250th anniversary of her birth in December 1775. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Austen is one of England’s best-loved authors, and the creator of such indelible characters as Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Whether you have read one of her six books – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park – or seen one of the many adaptations, most of us have some experience with Austen. But her life story and how it influenced her writing is perhaps less well-known. This episode explores her early life as the daughter of a rural clergyman, takes a peek inside the books a teenage Jane was reading, and delves into her romantic and familial relationships to see what shaped Austen into the formidable literary talent she was. And it asks a key question: was Jane Austen, who wrote such wonderful women characters, a feminist?
If you’re a fan of iconic authors, Regency romances and women succeeding in a man’s world, you’ll love our episode on Jane Austen.
If you want more incredible women authors with Dr Lucy Worsley, check out our episode on Agatha Christie. For more from Sally Phillips, listen to our episode on Fairy Tales. And for more Regency romance, there’s our episode on Georgian Courtship.
You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.
Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Clara Chamberlain and Charlotte Emily Edgeshaw
Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands
Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002jdpj)
Series 49
Postbag
Jay Rayner and the panel are rifling through the TKC inbox for a postbag edition of The Kitchen Cabinet. Joining Jay are chefs, cooks and food writers Sophie Wright, Tim Anderson and Jeremy Pang and resident food historian, Dr Annie Gray.
The panel discuss which pasta they go for in the supermarket, beer recipes that don't involve a batter, and the question on all diner's minds - why do restaurants serve items in threes? They also explain the purpose of white pepper and attempt to convince a listener that eating on the bone is the way to go.
Producer: Dan Cocker
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002jdpl)
After a week of chaos and crisis for the Government following the dramatic sacking of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador, George Parker speaks to Labour peer, Margaret Hodge, and Labour backbencher, Clive Lewis, about the operation in Downing Street, the party's deputy leadership contest and the mood among MPs.
As the Assisted Dying Bill returns to Parliament this week, George is joined by Labour peer, Lord Falconer, who is sponsoring the Bill through the Lords, and Conservative peer, Mark Harper, an opponent of assisted dying.
Peers have recently been venting their anger about the new door to the House of Lords which hasn't been working properly. One of them is the Conservative, Robert Hayward, who tells George about his fears for the wider costs of the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster.
And the Prime Minister's biographer, Tom Baldwin, and Guardian columnist, Polly Toynbee, discuss why Peter Mandelson keeps getting - and losing - top jobs, and what it means for Sir Keir Starmer's government.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002jdpn)
Israel's ultimatum for Gaza City
Kate Adie introduces stories from Gaza, France, the Thailand-Cambodia border, Iraq and Slovenia.
Around a million Palestinians have been told to leave Gaza City ahead of a new Israeli offensive - though many are wary of leaving, saying there is nowhere to go. Lucy Williamson was granted rare access to Gaza by the Israeli army, and was taken to see its planned new aid distribution site.
Days after French PM, François Bayrou, was ousted from office after losing a confidence vote, street protests took place across France as people voiced anger over proposals to remove two national holidays and impose a pensions freeze. Andrew Harding watched events unfold in Paris.
Thailand also has a new prime minister – its third in just over a year - following a political crisis that ignited a short, sudden conflict with Cambodia. Our Southeast Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head has been looking into this catastrophic breakdown of relations.
Ten years ago, 71 migrants from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan died in the back of a refrigerator truck abandoned on a motorway lay-by near the Austrian border with Hungary. Nick Thorpe travelled to northern Iraq to meet relatives of some of those who died - and interviewed the smugglers convicted for their role in their deaths.
Slovenia has produced some of the best male cyclists in the world today - including Tadej Pogacar. Every year, the four-time Tour de France champ hosts a cycling festival in his home town of Komenda - and Guy De Launey went along for the ride.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Production Coordinator: Rosie Strawbridge
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002jdpq)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002jdps)
Mortgage Charter and Unclaimed Benefits
New figures reveal that more than a quarter of a million homeowners have temporarily reduced their mortgages payments, or extended their mortgage term, since lenders agreed to offer better support to customers in June 2023 through what was called the Mortgage Charter.
There's been a sharp rise in people taking their tax-free lump sum out of their pension over the past year. Since 2015 people over the age of 55 could take 25 per cent of their pension pots tax-free and then use the rest as they wished. These figures from the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority show tens of thousands more people made that choice - why?
Millions of people are missing out on tens of billions of pounds worth of help ranging from benefits to social tariffs from utility companies. That's according to the latest analysis Policy in Practice suggests. What type of benefits are people missing out on?
And the £100 limit on contactless card payments looks set to be scrapped. The regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, published plans this week to let banks set their own limit - or indeed have no limit at all.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast
12pm on Radio 4 on Saturday 13th September 2025)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m002j63s)
Series 118
2. Cards revealed and Reshuffle
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Daliso Chaponda, Susie McCabe, Geoff Norcott and Ash Sarkar to break down the week in news. Expect discussion on the Labour Deputy Leader Election, the return of the Mandelson, strikes on Qatar, Russian drones in Poland and telepathic Google searches.
Written by Andy Zaltzman.
With additional material by: Simon Alcock, Carwyn Blayney, Ruth Husko and Alex Kealy.
Producer: Rajiv Karia
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
SAT 12:57 Weather (m002jdpv)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m002jdpx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002j645)
Lord Deben, Miranda Green, Timandra Harkness, Luke Pollard MP
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Liskeard Public Hall in Cornwall, with the Conservative peer Lord Deben; Miranda Green of the Financial Times; writer and broadcaster Timandra Harkness; and the defence minister and Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Luke Pollard.
Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Nick Ford
SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002jdpz)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002j63x)
Amber acknowledges it upset her when Brad questioned her about getting her teeth done, but he’s right. She’s a fraud. The teeth are all part of a fake picture she portrays. Brad reckons she doesn’t have to pretend; she can just be who she is. Amber worries George might not like the real her once he’s released and sees her without make up. Brad assures her George is completely in love and a much better person for meeting her. This makes Amber cry again. She thanks Brad for helping her see things clearly. She’s going to ditch the veneers, they belong to the fake Amber. She can put the money she saves towards George’s party.
Tom guesses that the meeting Lily’s called is about the cricket payments and quizzes Freddie, who ducks the questions. When Lily arrives she comes clean to the room that paying players was her idea, not Lynda’s. Tom accuses her of treating the team like dirt. Lily protests she thought it would be a way of building a stronger team. Lynda chips in that whilst it was the wrong thing to do, Lily’s trying to apologise and put right that wrong. Tom maintains the team’s divided and has been lied to. Freddie promises Lynda he’ll keep an eye on Lily. Lily tells them she’s resigned as director of cricket. Later Lily admits to Freddie that all her mistakes are making her feel aimless. Freddie tries to point out the positives, just as Lily gets a message from Tom – the team are never playing for Ambridge again.
SAT 15:00 The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (m000v83t)
2. Claudia
Visiting Hugh Casthorpe has now become a patient in the sanatorium.
His rise in temperature may have something to do with the fact that he is utterly, hopelessly besotted with the lovely Madame Claudia.
She is married, she is ill, he's scared to speak to her and Hugh’s companions on the Magic Mountain, are far from happy with the infatuation.
Despite the obstacles - will love find a way?
Thomas Mann’s novel is a literary icon, a tragi-comedy, a masterpiece of deep thought, sly irony, sex, love and death.
Written from a translation by John E Woods
Dramatised by Robin Brooks
Narrator ..... Lucy Robinson
Hugh Casthorpe ..... Luke Thallon
James Simpson ..... Hugh Skinner
Doctor Crowmarsh ..... Sandy Grierson
Professor Jones ..... Richard Harrington
Claudia Civet ..... Genevieve Gaunt
Edie Robinson ..... Keziah Joseph
Marjorie ..... Georgina Strawson
Stour ........... Ed Jones
Nurse ......... Kate Paul
Producer: Fiona McAlpine
An Allegra production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002jdq1)
Weekend Woman’s Hour: Davina McCall, Papua New Guinea, Jung Chang, Fawning, Sophie Ellis Bextor
Davina McCall, one of TV’s most popular presenters has a new book out, Birthing, co-written with the midwife, Marley Henry. Davina joined Anita Rani to talk about her stellar career so far, including hosting Big Brother for 10 years, campaigning for better menopause care and building a fitness empire. What makes her tick? And what drives her forward to clear hurdles such as an usual childhood, drug addiction and most recently, brain surgery for a benign tumour that she nicknamed Jeffrey?
As the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia approaches later this month, we hear why the country is currently one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. Two-thirds of women in PNG have experienced some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, which is almost twice the global average. Nuala McGovern was joined by Tahina Booth, a former elite athlete and founder of Grass Skirt Project who is trying to break the cycle of gender-based violence through sport and Joku Hennah, a journalist and activist.
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, the epic family memoir that followed the lives of Jung, her mother and grandmother through China's 20th century, was banned in mainland China, but was a smash hit worldwide upon publication in 1991. Now Jung’s sequel, Fly, Wild Swans, brings her family’s story up to date and she joined Nuala to talk about its themes.
We’ve all heard of the fight or flight response in the face of danger, but there's also freeze, and then there's fawn, also known as people pleasing, or appeasing. Clinical psychologist Dr Ingrid Clayton has written about this in her new book, Fawning - Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves and How to Find our Way Back. Nuala spoke to Ingrid about her own experiences that made her want to help others overcome this form of trauma response and what fawning looks like in practice.
In 2023 Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor went viral on TikTok after Emerald Fennell used it in a key scene in the film, Saltburn. That resurgence, along with her popular Kitchen Discos that got lots of us through the Covid lockdown set the scene for her new album, Perimenopop, which is released tomorrow, a celebration of womanhood in middle age. Sophie joined Anita in the Woman's Hour studio.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor: Rebecca Myatt
SAT 17:00 PM (m002jdq3)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002jdq5)
'Build Baby Build': The new housing secretary, Steve Reed
Steve Reed was given the job of Housing Secretary as the result of crisis, after the resignation of his close friend Angela Rayner.
But he has been part of the inner circle preparing Keir Starmer's rise to power from the beginning, having recruited the man who ended up as the prime minister's Chief of Staff.
In this interview, he gives Nick a behind-the-scenes account of coming to power and the "whirlwind" of an emergency reshuffle.
They also discuss how to reconnect with the voters, putting up flags and who he'll have to fight to succeed in building the homes that Labour has promised
Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Researcher: Chloe Desave
Sound editing: Hal Haines
Editor: Giles Edwards
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002jdq7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002jdq9)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jdqc)
Thousands gather in central London for a rally organised by the far-right activist, Tommy Robinson
More than 100-thousand people have taken part in a march in central London organised by the far-right activist, Tommy Robinson.
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002jdqf)
Moira Buffini, Josh Jones, George Egg, Urielle Klein-Mekongo, Black Country, New Road
Stuart Maconie's guests in Salford include comedian Josh Jones on his new tour 'I Haven't Won The Lottery So here's Another Show'. We find out what happens if he wins the lottery mid-run. Actor and writer Moira Buffini has just won the YA Book Prize for her debut novel Songlight. George Egg is the Snack Hacker, brining us goodies from his kitchen and Urielle Klein-Mekongo is the author of a new musical, Black Power Desk. And there's music from Black Country, New Road from their critically acclaimed album Forever Howlong.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Jessica Treen
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002jdqh)
Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson has been sacked from his role as British Ambassador to the US over his association with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It is the third time he has been forced to leave government.
An instrumental part of Tony Blair’s landslide election victory in 1997, Mandelson was rewarded with a seat in the cabinet. But he was soon forced to resign as Business Secretary after failing to declare a six-figure loan from a fellow minister.
His second resignation came in 2001 after making his way back into the cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary. Mandelson was accused influencing the passport applications of the wealthy Hinduja brothers, although was later exonerated.
Mark Coles examines how despite these controversies, the man once dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" was able to keep getting himself into powerful positions.
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Ben Crighton, Alex Loftus and Adriana Urbano
Editor: Justine Lang
Sound Editor: Gareth Jones
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002j74j)
Alicia Vikander
Swedish-born Alicia Vikander won global acclaim in 2015 for playing Vera Britten in Testament Of Youth, and a humanoid robot in the thriller Ex-Machina. The following year she won an Academy Award for her supporting role with Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, along with a Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Since then her diverse range of screen roles have included playing a spy boss in the film Jason Bourne, computer game heroine Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, and Gloria Steinem in the biopic The Glorias. The daughter of acclaimed stage actor Maria Fahl, she tells John Wilson how she first performed on stage at the age of seven in a musical written by Benny and Bjorn of ABBA. She also appeared in Swedish television dramas and films as a child actor. In 2025 Alicia Vikander makes her return to the stage in a new version of Ibsen’s The Lady From The Sea at The Bridge in London, her first theatre role since she was a child.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002jdqk)
Nine Votes that Count
The US Supreme Court plays a central role in American political and judicial life and will help define Donald Trump’s presidency. Now, it's confronted by an activist President keen to use his executive powers to transform America.
Mark Damazer asks whether the Court’s nine Justices, with the conservatives a clear majority, will push back against the President. Critics fear that it will roll over and endorse his measures on everything from immigration, the definitions of citizenship, how universities should behave, the sacking of tens of thousands of government employees - and much more.
Using extensive archive recordings of Supreme Court justices, politicians and protestors - and with a contribution from a recently retired Supreme Court justice - Mark shows that the Court has time and again generated electrifying drama. Presidents from both sides have raged about its decisions. None more so than the great liberal, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in the 1930s was so furious with a conservative court that he devised a plan that convulsed the entire nation - to add extra judges who would support him. He lost.
Mark Damazer also looks at the liberal Warren court of the 50s and 60s – which saw the largest step forward for civil rights in American legal history and met with fierce resistance from those who thought it was trampling over the Constitution – and the rights of individual states. And he sees how the nominations process, once calm and orderly, has now become raucous, deeply ideological and corrosive.
With thanks to Oyez, a free law project by Justia and the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School, the Miller Center and the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002j5w6)
Is ‘net zero’ a moral pursuit?
The party conference season kicked off with claims and counter claims about the viability of Nigel Farage’s proposals for government. One issue that unites Reform and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives is scrapping the 2050 net zero target, echoing US President Donald Trump's pledge to "drill, baby, drill" and embark on new oil and gas exploration.
This is a turbulent time in international politics. The prospect of achieving a global consensus on climate action seems a forlorn hope. What’s more, critics of the UK net zero target argue that the costs will cause a decline in living standards for little overall benefit.
Forget economic arguments: what is the moral thing to do in the face of a warming planet, rising sea levels, more extreme weather, food and water insecurity, and human displacement?
Readers of Immanuel Kant might be tempted to invoke his ‘categorical imperative’, a moral rule that says you should act in a way that you would want to apply to everyone, regardless of your personal desires or the potential outcomes of your actions. In climate terms, it means pursuing net zero as a moral good in itself. Utilitarian ethics, however, says that the right action is the one producing the most happiness and the least unhappiness for the greatest number of people. Therefore, it could be argued that the detrimental consequences of pursuing net zero in the UK, combined with its questionable global benefit, make it immoral.
Is ‘net zero’ a moral pursuit?
Chair: Michael Buerk
Panellists: Matthew Taylor, Ella Whelan, Giles Fraser and Anne McElvoy.
Witnesses: Maurice Cousins, Alice Evatt, Tony Milligan and Sorin Baiasu.
Producer: Dan Tierney
SAT 22:00 News (m002jdqm)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002j62v)
Follow the Food: The Rise of Food Tourism
Sheila Dillon investigates the growing number of food tours and trails in the UK as consumers show more and more interest in the provenance of what is on their plate. She heads to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire – a town that boasts the title of Rural Capital Of Food - and joins a walking tour that spans pork pie producers, stilton sellers, a samosa wallah and a prizewinning brewery.
Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol
SAT 23:00 Icklewick FM (m002j89c)
Series 2
3. The Reunion
Icklewick FM are reporting live from Hogan High where the students are anxiously awaiting their A level results. Amy meets a newly qualified teacher on the edge and Chris is shaken when he runs into someone from his past. Meanwhile, Simon gets sent to the Head Master’s office and Mr Patel suffers from stage fright.
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
Lucy Beaumont
Rachel Fairburn
Paddy Young
Molly McGuinness
Sharon Wanjohi
Jin Hao Li
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 (m001gk81)
Series 3
Episode 6
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:
* Lead Keeper at ZSL London Zoo Jessica Jones
* Fungarium Curator at Kew Gardens Lee Davies
* Comedian Shaparak Khorsandi
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 14 SEPTEMBER 2025
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002jdqp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m002j5nb)
Paula Hawkins
Presented by James Naughtie, Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the writer Paula Hawkins about her debut thriller The Girl On The Train. The book was published by Doubleday in 2015 to great acclaim and has sold millions of copies. Told in the first-person the novel's protagonist is Rachel Watson, a 33-year-old divorcee with addiction issues. The book was made into film in 2016 directed by Tate Taylor and starring Emily Blunt as Rachel. This episode was recorded at the Edinburgh International Books Festival.
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jdqr)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jdqt)
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 (m002jdqw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jdqy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002jdr0)
The Church of Saints Mary and Gabriel in South Harting, West Sussex
Bells on Sunday comes from the Church of Saints Mary and Gabriel in South Harting, West Sussex. The large cruciform church is mostly early 14th century with some signs of earlier work. The tower houses a ring of six bells which were all cast by the Chapman and Mears foundry of London in 1782. The Tenor weighs twelve hundredweight and is tuned to the note of F sharp. We hear them ringing Norwich Surprise Minor.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002j6zp)
Guided Holidays
In Touch visits the Lake District and tags along to Ellie Bennet's holiday. Ellie booked a sighted guide through a free guiding service called Cambrian Visions. Cumbrian Visions provides visually impaired holiday makers with a guide to accompany them on their various activities. There is also a similar service happening in Devon, called The Cliffden Buddies, which came first. Julian Griffen, of The Cliffden Buddies and Lee Hodgson of Cumbrian Visions tell In Touch about their services and how it all got started.
For more information:
Cumbrian Visions
Founder and Coordinator: Lee Hodgson
Tel: 07976 669708
Email: hodgson@liverdogs.co.uk
Cliffden Buddies
Founder and Coordinator: Jules Griffen
Tel: 07500 206948
Email: cliffden.buddies@outlook.com
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002jghm)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vp5)
Freddie’s Second Verse
Freddie once signed to a major record label. He appeared in high-production music videos and looked set for fame. But the pressure and pace of that life left him feeling hollow. In one of the world’s busiest cities, he now follows a very different path - one built on silence, discipline, and spiritual growth.
Freddie reflects on his decision to leave the music industry behind and embrace Buddhism. He now works as a nail technician and shares how his beliefs shape his daily life. Alongside him is Carl, his partner, who offers moving insights into how their shared values deepen their relationship.
The episode captures striking contrasts: the buzz of the city versus the calm of local temples; a nail salon’s chatter against the resonance of monastery chanting. Through honest conversations and ambient recordings, we step into Freddie and Carl’s world, where Buddhist practice offers an anchor amid chaos.
Their story explores what it means to redefine success, maintain spiritual discipline in a hyperactive city, and find peace through faith. It also touches on themes of identity, mindfulness, and how love and belief can thrive under pressure.
Freddie’s journey is not one of retreat, but of radical reorientation - a decision to slow down in a world that keeps speeding up. This is a rare and intimate portrait of life shaped by stillness, purpose, and the search for something more lasting than applause.
Producer/Presenter: John Offord
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002jghp)
Oat Milk Farmers
We meet brother and sister Phil and Rebecca Rayner who grow oats on their Cambridgeshire farm to turn into oat milk and other products. They’re thriving after winning a David and Goliath trademark battle against a multi-million pound business. Oatly had claimed the name of the Rayners’ product – PureOaty – was too similar, but a judge ruled in their favour. Now they use their own and other local farmers’ oats to make gluten free products.
Produced and presented by Sally Challoner.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m002jghr)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002jght)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002jghw)
Charlie Kirk & Christian Nationalism; Muslim Generational Divide; Arvo Part
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is being seen as a dangerous moment between left and right in US politics. Sunday explores the Christian nationalist background to the story with Professor Gordon Lynch of Edinburgh University
Edward speaks to Bishop Mariann Budde, the woman who memorably asked President Trump to have mercy on marginalised groups in his inaugural prayer service in Washington.
Is there a generation gap in Britain's mosques? The head of the Muslim Council of Britain expresses his fears about the 'painful revolution' that could be on the cards if the divide between old and young isn't addressed. We're asking if there's a generation gap in your place of worship and what you've done to address it. Email sunday@bbc.co.uk
Pope Leo turns 70 today. Has he given a birthday present to devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass? He announced that Cardinal Burke will be celebrating such a service in St Peter's Basilica in October for the first time since Pope Francis placed restrictions on the form. Edward speaks to Vatican 2 expert Massimo Faggioli from Trinity College Dublin & Catholic commentator Melanie McDonagh.
PRESENTER: Edward Stourton
PRODUCERS: Catherine Murray & Katy Booth
EDITOR: Catherine Earlam
STUDIO MANAGERS: Chris Hardman & Patrick Shaw
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002jfcc)
Zimbabwe Educational Trust
Writer Africa Brooke makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Zimbabwe Educational Trust. The charity helps families in Zimbabwe get birth certificates for their children, enabling them to access healthcare, education and have more legal rights later in life.
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 'Zimbabwe Educational Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Zimbabwe Educational Trust'.
- 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: 327519. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://zimbabweeducationaltrust.org.uk/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m002jghy)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002jgj0)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002jgj2)
The Invitation of Heaven
This week’s Sunday Worship comes from the historic Mynyddbach Chapel in North Swansea, home to the Calon Lan Centre. The renowned Morriston Orpheus Choir marks its 90th anniversary with intimate performances that echo decades of Welsh choral tradition. The preacher is Heulwen Davies, Pastor at Century Church in Llanelli. The service is led my musician, songwriter and broadcaster Mal Pope.
Readings:
John 10:1-11 and Psalm 51:1-10
Music:
Amazing Grace - archive recording (taken from 'Morriston Orpheus Choir: 60 Years of Song')
Deus Salutis (Llef)
Y Tangnefeddwyr by Waldo Williams
Calon Lan
Benedictus by Robat Arwyn
Arglwydd Dyma Fi - Cerys Matthews (taken from 'Cockahoop')
The Playout:
'Aberystwyth' arranged by Alan Rees and played by Ieuan Jones.
Accompanist: Helen Roberts
Playout: Ieuan Jones
Music Director: Nathan Jones
Producer: Jonathan Thomas
SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct74q5)
President Clinton plays the sax in Prague
In January 1994, two presidents enjoyed a memorable night in the Czech Republic – ending with an impromptu jazz performance.
Five years after the fall of communism, the US president Bill Clinton visited Prague to share his hopes for a new transatlantic alliance.
Key to his vision was his friendship with the Czech president Vaclav Havel, a playwright who had been imprisoned for dissidence during the Cold War.
During the visit, Havel arranged a series of surprises for Clinton including a reunion with the family he had stayed with on a visit to Prague in 1970.
The final surprise took place at the city’s famous Reduta jazz club. Havel presented Clinton with a saxophone and the two friends performed together on stage – a moment which came to symbolise the new partnership between East and West.
Vicky Farncombe uses archive from the Vaclav Havel Center and the William J Clinton Presidential Library to relive the big night out.
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: Presidents perform at the Reduta jazz club. Credit: Office of the President of the Czech Republic)
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002jgj4)
Jo Wimpenny on the Moorhen
Standing on a lake edge and eager to spot some wildlife, zoologist and author Jo Wimpenny is disappointed to just find a moorhen. But then she stops herself - why does no one get excited about seeing these birds? From climbing trees to promiscuity and egg dumping, Jo finds out there is far more to moorhen life than its humble status suggests.
Presented by Jo Wimpenny and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol
This programme features recordings from Xeno-Canto by Simon Elliott (Common Moorhen - XC572582 and XC572900)
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002jgj6)
Pressure on Starmer over Mandelson appointment
Emily Maitlis tell us how Peter Mandelson’s interview this week evoked Prince Andrew on Newsnight; We hear from the men who arranged and sang the Proms’ orchestral version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody; And the government’s economic direction is criticised by businessman and Labour donor John Caudwell, who reviews the papers alongside Kate Adie and ITV’s Paul Brand.
SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m002jgj8)
Royal Ballet School
In 1926, a young dancer called Ninette De Valois set up a school in London that would become a unique breeding ground for ballet talent. It took generations of the most promising young dancers and moulded them into great performers. In 1955, what became the Royal Ballet School moved into White Lodge in Richmond Park, a grand, former hunting lodge of George II. At the age of 16, pupils were formally assessed, and, if selected, would go on to “upper school” in Baron’s Court, and, since 2003, in Covent Garden.
From here a lucky few could go on to carve out a career as professional dancers with the Royal Ballet Company. The school’s alumni is a decades long roll call of ballet’s greats - Margot Fonteyn, Darcey Bussell, Antoinette Sibley, Monica Mason, Lynn Seymour, and, for the boys, Anthony Dowell, David Wall, Adam Cooper and Wayne Sleep.
Joining Kirsty Wark are Dame Monica Mason who went to the Royal Ballet School at the age of 14 in 1957; Dame Darcey Bussell who was 13 when she joined the Royal Ballet School in 1982; Jonathan Gray who was, briefly, a pupil in the 1970s – he went on to edit Dancing Times; Iain Mackay, current Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet School and another former pupil from the 90s; and Vincent Hantam, a young black dancer sent from Cape Town to join the school in the early 70s.
Archive courtesy of Voices Of British Ballet
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Natalie Steed
Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002jgjb)
Writer: Nick Warburton
Director: Helen Aitken
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Ben Archer.... Ben Norris
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Tom Archer.... William Troughton
Ruairi Donovan.... Arthur Hughes
Amber Gorden.... Charlotte Jordan
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Azra Malik.... Yasmin Wilde
Freddie Pargetter.... Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter.... Katie Redford
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers.... Joanna Van Kampen
Lynda Snell.... Carole Boyd
Dane.... Stavros Demetraki
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002jdqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002j5r5)
Series 95
4. What's that wonderful smell?
Sue Perkins challenges Gyles Brandreth, Tony Hawks, Emma Sidi and Desiree Burch to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include Dame Maggie Smith, my favourite pizza topping and Wimbledon.
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 (m002jgjd)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002jgjg)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 Currently (m002j5n8)
Corn Belt People
Amid the crowds and bustle of the 2025 Iowa State Fair, Anna Jones takes the temperature of rural Iowans almost a year into Trump's second term. Anna finds out how the farming constituency - largely Trump supporting in 2024 - are feeling about global trade tariffs and promises to Make America Great Again. She explores their perceptions of America's position in the world - and how they feel the rest of the world views the rural Midwest.
Produced and presented by Anna Jones for BBC Audio Bristol
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002j63c)
Summer Garden Party: Potting Shed
What is this mysterious vegetable growing in my vegetable patch? Can you identify this mysterious plum? How can I make my cottage garden look full of life?
Kathy Clugston hosts a lively Potting Shed edition of Gardeners’ Question Time, recorded at the vibrant GQT Summer Garden Party held at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex.
Joining her is the show’s renowned panel of horticultural experts — Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden, James Wong, Bunny Guinness, Dr Chris Thorogood, Matthew Wilson, and Pippa Greenwood — ready to tackle gardening dilemmas from enthusiastic visitors.
From tackling vine weevils and dealing with contaminated soil, to coaxing supermarket-bought pear trees into fruiting, the panel shares practical advice, clever solutions, and plenty of gardening wisdom throughout the programme.
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali
A Somethin Else Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002jgjl)
The Cherry Orchard - Episode One
John Yorke looks at The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov’s final play and a landmark in 20th century theatre.
It’s 1903 and Liubov Andryeevna Ranyevskaya is returning to the family estate in southern Russia. As the head of this aristocratic household, she faces a crisis. The family is in serious financial difficulty and it seems inevitable that the estate will have to be sold to pay their debts. A local businessman, Lopakhin, offers a solution, but it would mean the loss of their beloved cherry orchard.
In this first of two episodes, the focus is on these two main protagonists, who embody the tensions between the old aristocracy and the emerging merchant class, and the student Trofimov whose revolutionary ideas point prophetically towards the path that Russia was soon to take.
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 R4.
Contributors:
Benedict Andrews, director of an acclaimed production of The Cherry Orchard at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 2024
Rosamund Bartlett, a cultural historian with expertise in Russian literature, music and art. Her books include Chekhov: Scenes from a Life and she has also translated and edited selections of his stories and letters.
Excerpt taken from the BBC Radio 3/Palimpsest production of The Cherry Orchard, directed by Toby Swift, with Neil Dudgeon as Lopakhin and Saffron Coomber as Dunyasha. It was first broadcast on Radio 3 on 18th November 2018.
Music: Torquil MacLeod
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002jgjn)
The Yafa Cherry Orchard
Part 1
Chekhov’s timeless masterpiece translates easily to Palestine in 1948 as an aristocratic family try to hang on to their estate during partition.
Madame Selma, (Ranevskaya in the original), arrives at her ancestral home in Yafa just as the British are withdrawing from Palestine and the state of Israel is being established. Armed Zionist militia, soon to become the IDF, are roaming the country and will surely turn their attention to Selma’s house and its beloved Cherry Orchard.
Hassan Abdulrazzak’s adaptation retains Chekhov’s story of a family struggling to cope with the change that threatens to sweep them away and is given an urgent resonance by setting the story against the seismic events of 1948, whose consequences echo down the years to this day.
The Yafa Cherry Orchard adapted by Hassan Abdulrazzak
Selma: Lara Sawalha
Gamal: Sami Abu Wardeh
Yousef: Philip Arditti
Tariq: Ammar Haj Ahmad
Said: Nayef Rashed
Alia: Sara Masry
Widad: Sarah Agha
Colonel Wilson: Joel Samuels
Khalid: Motaz Malhees
Dunya: Sofia Asir
Yassir :Joe Haddad
Salah: Zaydun Khalaf
Firas: Raad Rawi
Original Composition: Kareem Samara
Traditional music performed and arranged by Kareem Samara (Oud and percussion) and Gabriel Polley (Ney Baladi)
Consultant: Gardner Thompson
Production Assistant: Lucie Regan
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and directed by Boz Temple-Morris
A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002jgjr)
Ian McEwan
Booker prize winning author, Ian McEwan, speaks to Take Four Books, about his new novel, What We Can Know, and explores its connections to three other literary works. What We Can Know is set almost a hundred years in the future in a Britain much of which is now underwater, and it follows the character of Tom Metcalfe, a scholar of the University of South Downs, who is looking back at the literature of the early twenty-first century.
For his his three influences Ian chose: a poem called Marston Meadows: A corona for Prue by John Fuller, first published in the Times Literary Supplement in 2021; The Immortal Dinner by Penelope Hughes-Hallett from 2000; and Footsteps by Richard Holmes from 1985.
The supporting contributor for this episode is the writer Denise Mina, and it's recorded during the Edinburgh International Books Festival.
Presenter: James Crawford
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 16:30 The 3rd Degree (m002jgjt)
Series 15
1. University of Bristol
This episode coming from the University of Bristol, The 3rd Degree is a funny, upbeat and brainy quiz show.
The specialist subjects this week are Environmental Science, Drama, and History, so naturally we’ll be discussing Boron/Calcium pH proxy analysis, Noël Coward’s wartime satire and St Cuthbert’s A-level results. All this and the world’s hottest chili pepper to boot. If not to eat.
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the Highbrow & Lowbrow round cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three specialist subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures.
In this series, universities include Bristol, Queen Mary University of London, Kent, Worcester College Oxford, and Manchester Metropolitan University.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74jq)
9/11: The generosity of Gander
On 11 September, 2001, a small Canadian town called Gander became a haven for thousands of airline passengers and crew stranded after the 9/11 terror attacks.
The attacks on the World Trade Center had forced the closure of US airspace leaving many flights unable to land. Within hours, 38 planes with 7,000 passengers, had been diverted to Gander, effectively doubling the town's population. But what happened next showcased the extraordinary kindness and generosity of the Newfoundlanders.
For five days, local residents provided beds, food, medicine and clothing for those stranded during the crisis, and didn’t ask for a cent. They even put on music evenings, barbecues and canoe trips to keep their visitors entertained.
Beverley Bass, one of the plane captains, tells Jane Wilkinson about Gander’s extraordinary hospitality during one of the most traumatic events in modern history.
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 the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Passengers and crew at Gander airfield, 2001. Credit: Town of Gander)
SUN 17:10 En-Gulfed (m002gztm)
Tourism
Activist and satirist Heydon Prowse explores how Gulf countries have become some of the biggest tourism success stories ever, receiving almost 70m visitors in 2024.
From Saudi Arabia’s plans to build their own astonishing new buildings like Neom - a vast walled city in the desert, to Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, one of the most audacious engineering project the world has ever seen, Heydon asks what’s behind the drive to attract more tourists, and what it means for those who visit.
Written and presented by Heydon Prowse
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002jgjx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m002jgjz)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jgk1)
British Boxer Ricky Hatton dies
Former world champion boxer, Ricky Hatton, has been found dead at his home in Greater Manchester. The family of Jeffrey Epstein's victim Virginia Guiffre say Lord Mandelson should never have been appointed as the UK’s ambassador in Washington. Sir Keir Starmer has condemned assaults on the police at yesterday's Unite the Kingdom rally in London.
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002jgk3)
Robin Ince
This week, we’re asking – did the internet kill off counterculture? That’s what Stewart Lee is investigating on Radio 4. However, it did help spark a second-hand clothing revolution from Lithiuania worth 5 billion euros, and pin down the location of a hiker stranded in remote Norway. Plus we’re hearing a challenging account of motherhood in Arundhati Roy's latest written work, and the little joys of being a mother in the poetry of Holly McNish.
Presenter: Robin Ince
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinator: Caroline Peddle
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002jgk5)
Lily has been deputed to look after celebrity guest judge, Charlotte Smith, at the Flower & Produce Show at Grey Gables, while Paul is there for a wedding. Azra turns up with the cheesecake she’s entering, before Charlotte arrives with fellow judge, Fallon. Charlotte thinks she’d better avoid fraternising with contestant Azra, though. Azra and Ben assess various entries in the cake section, also admiring the giant vegetables on display, before people start entering the marquee.
Later, Lily finds Paul taking a break from the wedding reception, where he barely knows anyone. Lily’s suspicions are aroused when Paul offers to get her some food from the wedding – she knows they haven’t started serving yet. Ben then announces some of the wedding guests have helped themselves to entries for the Flower & Produce Show, assuming they were part of the wedding buffet. Disaster! Lily rushes off to shoo wedding guests away, then explains the mix-up to bemused Fallon, offering fulsome apologies to Charlotte. They decide to judge those entries that haven’t been eaten or purloined, but it’s too late for Azra’s cheesecake. Charlotte consoles Azra that her cheesecake should be considered the unofficial winner as it’s the only entry that’s been consumed entirely. Plans are made to rearrange the Show for next week, but Charlotte can’t make it and Azra doesn’t think she’ll bother entering again.
Stressed out Lily tells Ben and Paul about the rescheduling compromise. After owning up to the cricketing subterfuge Lily fears this fiasco might be the final nail in her coffin as far as locals are concerned.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002jf5j)
Where the Distance Shimmers
Forty years ago, Route 66, the highway that ran the 2448 miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, was formally decommissioned, usurped by a more modern, high-speed interstate. But the road has lived on in the collective imagination — a symbol of freedom, adventure, and new beginnings, of America's concept of itself.
In this meditation on the Mother Road, as John Steinbeck christened it, Laura Barton explores 66's shifting identity, from migratory route to America's Main Street.
With contributions from Angel (the "Angel of Route 66") and his daughter Clarissa Delgadillo in Seligman, Arizona; Mike Cowen who set up his own Historic Route 66 museum in Williams, Arizona; Leigh Anne Isbell of the Devil's Rope Museum in Texas and Candacy Taylor, who's written about Route 66 in relation to The Green Book.
Written and presented by Laura Barton
With extracts from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath read by Corey Johnson.
Location recording producer, Diane Hope
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001744m)
Take a Nap
Michael reveals how getting some shut-eye during the day could boost your memory and your heart health - and even help your productivity! Research reveals that a simple daily nap could slash your risk of heart attack by half, and have a noticeable impact on your brain, by helping improve your emotional control and boosting memory. In this episode, our volunteer Caroline catches some Zzzs in between work meetings, while nap expert Dr Sara Mednick delves into the different stages of sleep, telling Michael when to nap, and for how long, for the greatest benefit.
SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002j753)
Crash Bang Wallop: The Sound of Words
Michael Rosen is joined by linguist Dr Catherine Laing to discuss onomatopoeia and other words that sound like their meanings. Not just words for sounds like 'crash' and 'bang', or words for animal noises like 'woof' and 'quack', but also other words which perhaps hold something of their meaning within their form. Is there something rough about the word 'rough'? Does 'smooth' feel smooth? And how can we play with this in everyday speech and in poetry?
Produced by Becky Ripley, in partnership with the Open University.
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002j63h)
The Duchess of Kent, Giorgio Armani, Valerie Pearlman, Rick Davies
John Wilson on:
The Duchess of Kent, who stepped back from royal duties to teach music in primary schools.
Giorgio Armani whose suit designs help define the look of the 1980s and beyond.
Valerie Pearlman who made legal history by being the first judge in the UK finish a trial via fax machine and video link from her hospital bed.
Rick Davies, who sold millions of records in the 70s and 80 as one of the two singers in the band Supertramp.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Archive used:
The Royal Wedding: HRH Duke of Kent and Miss Katharine Worsley in York Minster, BBC, 08/06/1961; Real Story, BBC One, 15/03/2004; Royal Wedding, BBC Archives, 08/06/1961; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 21/12/1990; Ladies’ Singles, 1993 Wimbledon Championships, BBC Archives; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 21/12/1990; BBC Look North Hull, BBC, 06/09/2025; The Clothes Show, BBC; Rick Davies Interview, WLNG 92.1FM, “Lunch on the Deck”; Bark Out Loud Dogs Media, LLC – Supertramp Interview
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002jdps)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002jfcc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002jdpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002jgk7)
Ben Wright and guests preview President Trump's state visit
Ben Wright is joined by the Labour Chair of the Education Select Committee, Helen Hayes; former Cabinet minister Sir John Whittingdale; and Bronwen Maddox - director of the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House. They discuss the questions surrounding the appointment and sacking of Lord Mandelson as UK Ambassador to Washington, and the challenges and opportunities of President Trump's state visit to the UK. Rosa Prince - UK commentator for Bloomberg - brings additional insight and analysis. Ben also speaks to Professor Philip Cowley about some of the more surprising insights into politics from academic research papers.
SUN 23:00 Illuminated (m002h9np)
Into the West
The red-billed chough is the most dashing crow in the world. These rare, flamboyant, scarlet-legged, scarlet-billed denizens of Britain’s Celtic coasts are communal and comic, intelligent and daring. They’re also sublime aeronauts, riding the breeze as though they’re made of it.
For writer Horatio Clare, the chough is his totem. He’s loved the bird since he first encountered it in the 1980s during childhood holidays to Pembrokeshire. And more than forty years on from that joyous first encounter he still seeks them out. It’s his annual pilgrimage.
In this episode of Illuminated, we join Horatio on that pilgrimage as he tells the story of a bird with a beak and legs the colour of a saint’s blood… or perhaps a king’s blood; whose cry says its name and whose presence symbolises a nation’s identity. It’s the story of a bird which embodies myths… and creates new ones; a bird which fled into the West over two centuries ago and which is finally returning to a wider world.
Horatio begins his journey on Pen Llŷn, the westernmost spur of North Wales and one of the red-billed chough’s strongholds. His guide as he walks the sea cliffs is naturalist and folklorist Twm Elias. Twm lived alongside chough as he grew up on Llŷn and remembers a childhood visit to Caernarfon Castle, where his friend Dic John made a grab for the Castle’s ‘tame’ chough – and got a painful pecking in return.
Twm sees chough as a symbol of the wild coastal areas of north Wales. But it’s also wrapped up in ideas of Cornish identity too. Dr. Loveday Jenkin grew up on stories of King Arthur becoming a chough when he died. Yet, just as she heard those stories, the very last choughs were dying out in Cornwall.
But then, in 2001, thirty years after the last chough disappeared, three birds from Ireland made landfall in the far west of Cornwall. The following year two of them built a nest and the population grew from there. Hilary Mitchell from Cornwall Birds tells the story of how the avian symbol and spirit of the county returned.
The chough is associated now with the western Celtic coasts. But once upon a time it ranged right across the British Isles. And maybe it will again. Horatio heads in the opposite direction… east… to a place which hasn’t seen chough for at least two centuries, despite the bird being embedded in its iconography.
In Dover he meets Paul Hadaway from Kent Wildlife Trust to discover how a bird which was a symbol of the martyr and saint Thomas a Becket is once again flying in Kentish skies. And Jenny Luddington from the Trust explains how she’s drawn on an old tradition of hooden creatures – carved wooden animal heads on poles – to create a hooden chough and tell the story of the bird’s return to Kent.
Horatio Clare discovers that the chough’s story has come full circle as old myths rehatch and new ones take wing.
Presenter: Horatio Clare
Producer: Jeremy Grange
Editor: Chris Ledgard
A BBC Audio Wales production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 23:30 The History Podcast (m0024bgh)
The Lucan Obsession
10. The Final Act?
Alex trawls through Lord Lucan’s belongings from his speedily abandoned flat.
She finds incriminating books where he’s torn out pages on how to kill your wife, and is taken aback by photos that make her reconsider the story.
She draws together what makes this a compelling crime, and asks what would give it the perfect ending.
And in a remarkable interview with a former Met Police Detective, she discovers that we could perhaps get an answer to one of the two mysteries tomorrow.
Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann
Content Producer: Becca Bryers
Series Producer: Sarah Bowen
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002j63f)
Fairy Penguin by Rachel Trezise
Original short fiction by Rachel Trezise.
Keisha tries to survive a school trip to Bristol Zoo. She doesn't have the right hair, the right friends or the latest electronic pets.
Reader: Georgia Henshaw
Sound: Nigel Lewis
Producer: John Norton
A BBC Audio Wales Production
MONDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2025
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002jgk9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002j6zr)
Saving Gaza's Past
The history of Gaza dates back more than 5000 years. In antiquity, it was a key port on the Mediterranean coast. Assyrians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and the Ottomans have all left their mark on this small territory. This rich history is seen by Palestinians as central to their identity. Amid the death and destruction of the war, the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent Yolande Knell meets the Palestinians who’ve desperately tried to save what remains of Gaza’s past.
Reporter: Yolande Knell
Producer: Alex Last
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002jdr0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jgkc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jgkf)
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 (m002jgkh)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002jgkk)
Alicia McCarthy reports from Westminster as peers debate assisted dying
MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jgkm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jgkp)
The Search That Satisfies
Good morning.
It’s amazing to think how much technology has advanced within just a few decades. On this day in 1997, the domain name google.com was registered. What began as a simple search engine has grown into one of the most influential tools in modern life. It’s claimed that 9.5 million searches are made every minute. “To Google” has even become a verb, so common is our habit of turning to it whenever we need information. And now, with the rise of artificial intelligence, our ability to search, learn, and discover is expanding faster than ever before.
We live in a world that is constantly searching – looking for information, for connection, for meaning. Yet the deepest questions of life cannot truly be answered by a search engine. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? These aren’t questions of data but of the heart. And the Bible reminds us that the one who holds the answers is God Himself.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God speaks this promise: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. Jesus assures us that those who seek will find. Unlike an internet search, which can return countless results of varying accuracy, the search for God leads us directly to truth. In Him we discover love, forgiveness, guidance, and purpose.
Perhaps today, as we type questions into search boxes and scroll through results, we might be reminded of the greater search - the one for God Himself.
Lord, thank you that when we search for you, you promise to be found. Help us to seek you above all else, to know your love, and to live with the purpose you give. Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002jgkr)
15/09/25 Cheesemakers unhappy with US trade deal, less money for rural services, fishing industry fears ban on bottom trawling
British cheesemakers say they’ve got a raw deal on export tariffs to the US compared to their EU competitors.
The Government is consulting on extending a ban on bottom trawler fishing in marine protected areas. Conservationists argue the practice of dragging nets and chains along the sea floor is destroying habitats and species. But fishermen are warning that restricting where they can catch will cause financial hardship.
If you live in the countryside it is likely that your local authority gets 40% less funding per head than an urban one, you will pay 20% more council tax and it’s harder to find a dentist, a doctor, a bank or a bus; that's according to the Rural Services Network.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
MON 05:57 Weather (m002jgkt)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m002jgnn)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002jgnq)
Afghanistan and the DRC
Lyse Doucet tells the history of Afghanistan in recent decades through the story of the Inter-Continental hotel, which opened in the capital in 1969. The BBC’s international correspondent stayed there frequently from the late 1980s, and she details how the Soviet occupation, civil war, US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban have all left their mark on 'The Finest Hotel in Kabul', and the people who worked there.
There’s plenty of pink champagne and fine dining in Michela Wrong’s study of the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the charismatic dictator of Congo/ Zaire at the end of the 20th century. It’s 25 years since her biography, 'In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz', was published, and as the Democratic Republic of Congo appears to be on the brink of another civil war, she reflects on this latest cycle of violence.
There have been calls for international help in the DRC, but just how effective is military intervention in the long run? Ashleigh Percival-Borley served in Afghanistan in 2010 but had to watch from the sidelines as the US and UK abruptly pulled out a decade later, leaving a vacuum filled by the Taliban. Now, as a military historian and one of BBC Radio 4's researchers-in-residence, she’s interested in giving voice to women in war – not just as the victims, but as active participants.
The New Generation Thinkers scheme, which puts research on radio, is a partnership between BBC Radio 4 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez
MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002jgns)
Wellbeing in the waves
Ian Bennett, from the charity Wave Project, tells Rachel Burden how they make the ocean and surfing accessible to people of all physical abilities, and how surf therapy can improve people's confidence.
Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip, and celebrating the people making the world a better place.
We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.
You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Maeve Schaffer
Editor: Clare Fordham
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002jgnv)
Patricia Lockwood, SEND rally, Maternity review, Kathrine Switzer
Patricia Lockwood is a poet, memoirist and novelist whose work straddles the literary world and the wilds of the internet. Patricia first went viral with her traumatic poem Rape Joke, while her memoir Priestdaddy, about being the daughter of a Catholic priest, has been called a modern classic.
Patricia talks to Nuala McGovern about her new book, Will There Ever Be Another You, which explores the surreal disorientation of illness, memory and recovery in the wake of Covid.
The list of hospital trusts that will be looked at as part of a rapid review of maternity care in England have just been announced. This is part of an independent, national, investigation into harm to hundreds of babies, that might have been prevented with better maternity care. However some of the families, whose cases will be part of it, have expressed concerns about its scope. Nuala is joined by BBC Social Affairs Correspondent Michael Buchanan to find out more about this review.
Parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are heading to Westminster today. They are taking part in what they are calling a ‘Day of Action,' organised by parent support groups, which includes a rally at Parliament Square, MP drop-ins and a Parliamentary debate on SEND children’s rights.
18-year-old Katie Nellist, who has autism and struggled to attend school, will be giving a speech at the rally. Katie and her mother Ruth tell Nuala why they are taking part in this 'Day of Action'.
The BBC Eye documentary and podcast called Death in Dubai has identified a former London bus driver running a sex ring exploiting young vulnerable Ugandan women.
The programme has been told that hundreds of women are going to Dubai from Uganda, seeking their fortunes and ending up in sex work. Two of the women have died falling from tower blocks in Dubai. Nuala talks to the BBC Eye producer and reporter Runako Celina, who has spent two and a half years investigating this story.
Kathrine Switzer was the first female to officially run the Boston marathon back in 1967, at that time considered a men’s-only race. However a race official tried to stop her mid-event when they discovered she was a woman. She went on to complete the course and she’s dedicated her life to enabling women to participate in the sport. Now in her late 70s, she’s run 42 marathons and is the co-founder of 261 Fearless, that aims to empower women through running.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Andrea Kidd
MON 11:00 The Great Influencer Experiment (m002jgnx)
A Catch 22
Emily, Alun and Danyah throw themselves deeper into the experiment — but the excitement of creating soon collides with the realities of being online.
As their journey continues, the emotional toll of social media begins to show. The chase for attention proves relentless, online scrutiny is hard to endure, and the demand to appear authentic becomes its own performance.
Can they withstand the emotional strain that social media demands? How much will the pursuit of visibility end up costing them?
Presenter: Osman Iqbal
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Tony Churnside
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
MON 11:45 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jgnz)
Episode 1 - The Golden Years at the Inter-Con, Kabul
Lyse Doucet reads her vivid account of how Afghanistan has survived decades of conflict by telling the stories of the staff who kept the doors of Kabul's Inter-Continental Hotel open. Today, it's 1971 and the hotel boasts luxury, sophistication and breath-taking views across the Hindu Kush.
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an award winning journalist who has reported from many of the world's war zones. She has covered stories from Afghanistan since 1988 when she first checked into the Inter-Con, and from where she has witnessed the impact of unceasing conflict that has scarred this nation for half a century.
Her book is a history of Afghanistan told through the lives of the people who have worked at the Inter-Con, some since it opened in 1969. Despite enduring several coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, a US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise of the Taliban, the Inter-Con is still standing. In telling the stories of the hotel's housekeepers, chefs, managers and engineers Lyse shows how us how ordinary Afghans have managed to live through the destruction and disruption in their workplace and their country.
The music is Wa wa Leili - Leili, how wonderful! from the album Sweet Nomad Girl. Abdul Wahab Madadi (vocal), Veronica Doubleday (vocal and daireh) and John Baily (14-stringed dutar).
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Image by Paula Bronstein
MON 12:00 News Summary (m002jgp1)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002jgp3)
Parcel Delivery Problems, Sunday Trading, Air Conditioning
Evri is on track to become the UK's largest parcel service, but it also receives the most complaints, according to Ofcom. Some of those complaints are from residents that are refused service by certain Evri drivers, so what can you do if an Evri drivers refuses to deliver to you? We hear from one listener who hasn’t had an Evri parcel delivered for more than two years.
How much have Sunday trading rules shaped our idea of what a Sunday is? According to The Grocer magazine, the Treasury is considering changing Sunday trading laws as a way of providing a boost to large retailers that may be impacted by upcoming changes to business rates. Current rules stipulate that large stores can only open for 6 hours on a Sunday, but are these restrictions still needed?
Nearly 10 million UK adults are in their overdraft and owe an average of around £700, according to Totally Money. Complaints about them are also rising, with the Financial Ombudsman Service saying it has dealt with nearly 4000 in the last year – an increase from 2500 the year before. So, when is an overdraft a good option for you and when are they simply unaffordable? Sara Williams from Debt Camel explains what to look for and what rules lenders should follow.
Thousands more Citroen cars in the UK have been added to the recall list due to faults. There are currently more than 100,000 vehicles that should not be driven in any circumstance until their airbags are fixed, making it the largest recall of its type in UK history.
MON 12:57 Weather (m002jgp5)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m002jgp7)
Reform lures another Conservative MP
Shadow minister Danny Kruger defects, saying the Tories are 'over as a national party'. Plus, what motivated up to 150,000 people to join a Tommy Robinson rally? And Owen Cooper's drama teacher on his historic Emmy win.
MON 13:45 The History Podcast (m002jgp9)
The Fort
6. Call Sign: Ugly
For Apache helicopter pilots Tom O'Malley and Ed Macy - the mission has changed.
Their new objective is to prevent the stricken Lance Corporal Mathew Ford from becoming a prisoner of The Taliban. So they take the fight to them.
But Tom is growing increasingly frustrated. With fuel and ammunition limited - how long can they sustain their airborne protection of the fallen marine?
He devises a new plan. Only ever conceived as a last-dtich emergency escape plan for downed pilots, Tom wants to land, pick up four volunteers from HQ, and fly them into the battlezone on the side of their helicopters. They will rush to Mathew, secure him to the helicopter - and they will fly him out.
The volunteers have been chosen. Royal Marines Chris, Gary and Colin and Royal Engineer Dave are now tasked with what their commander Rob Magowan calls - the most dangerous mission these men would ever embark upon.
The Fort is told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces.
Produced by Kev Core
MON 14:00 The Archers (m002jgk5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Alone (m00094lp)
Series 2
A Cry For No Help
Mitch is desperate to have his wedding anniversary pass unnoticed to avoid any awkwardness in the house.
Unfortunately, Will lets the anniversary cat out of the bag.
So Mitch, who is endeavouring to find someone to hold on to his spare keys, encounters very strange reactions to this seemingly simple request.
Sitcom about five single, middle aged neighbours living in flats in a converted house in North London.
Mitch is a widower and part-time therapist, looking to put his life back together now that he is single and living with Will, his younger, more volatile and unhappily divorced half-brother.
Elsewhere in the building is schoolteacher Ellie who is shy, nervous and holds a secret candle for Mitch.
Overly honest, frustrated actress Louisa, and socially inept IT nerd Morris complete the line-up of mis-matched neighbours.
Written and created by Moray Hunter.
Mitch ...... Angus Deayton
Will ...... Pearce Quigley
Ellie ...... Abigail Cruttenden
Louisa ...... Kate Isitt
Morris ...... Bennett Arron
Producer: Gordon Kennedy
Based on an original idea developed in association with Dandy Productions
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2019.
MON 14:45 Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell (m0019kf2)
Episode 5
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 (m002jf4c)
Comedian Stewart Lee on Derek Bailey
"The area I mostly work in is generally known as free - the free music area. And free is one of those four letter words, like rock or jazz or punk maybe. It started out meaning something." Derek Bailey
Born in 1930 in Sheffield, Bailey worked as a session musician in dance bands and orchestras before turning his back on that world. Free improvisation was where he made his name, and he took inspiration from whatever he heard. Stewart Lee first heard him in the 1990s and spoke at his funeral in 2005.
"Are there any parallels between his approach and yours?"
"There probably are ... in that I've copied him."
Also contains the voices of Ian Greaves and Tim Fletcher, a brief clip of Mastermind, and a recording of Derek Bailey's collaborator in the Joseph Holbrooke Trio, Gavin Bryars. Stewart Lee is a comedian and writer, the presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde.
We regret that this description barely scrapes the surface of the wonder of this episode - the ideas, the music, the archive, the brief row.
MON 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002jgpc)
BBC National Short Story Award 2025
Rain: a history by Andrew Miller
Rain: a history is the first story in contention for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award. Toby Jones reads this tender and vivid story about a father who, along with his small rural community, is forced to confront a tragedy. The unseasonably warm and wet weather mirrors the unease which permeates everything.
The judges praised Miller’s ‘wonderful’, ‘precise’ and ‘elliptical’ writing which examines ‘the mystery of how we survive when our old structures of faith are eroded,’ and ends with a small, but hopeful act of connection.
Andrew Miller is the author of ten novels, including most recently The Land in Winter, which won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and is longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025. Andrew is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His novels have been awarded The James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the International IMPAC and the Costa Book of the Year amongst others.
The 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) shortlist was announced on Thursday 11 September 2025 live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious award celebrates its 20th anniversary. The shortlist, featuring multi-award winning writers and ‘astonishing’ new talent, was praised for its ‘intimate,’ ‘elegant’ and ’nuanced’ explorations of relationships, community and the specificities of place set against a world in crisis.
Selected by a panel of previous winners and returning judges from across the Award’s 20-year history, the five-strong shortlist are: Costa Book of the Year 2011 and Booker Prize 2025 longlisted author Andrew Miller; multi-award winning Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes, Desmond Elliott Prize winning novelist and short story specialist Edward Hogan; and new names, British-Lebanese author Emily Abdeni-Holman, and Colwill Brown whose debut novel was published this year.
Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and County Kildare, the stories explore ‘self-contained’ worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed inter-generational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story’s ‘unparalleled’ power to reflect ‘the times we are living through.’
For two decades this award has celebrated writers who are the UK’s finest exponents of the form. James Lasdun secured the inaugural Award in 2006 for ‘An Anxious Man’. In 2012 when the Award expanded internationally for one year, Miroslav Penkov was victorious for his story, ‘East of the West’. Last year, the Award was won by Ross Raisin for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry.
In its 20-year history, Sarah Hall, K J Orr, Naomi Wood, Jonathan Buckley, Julian Gough, Clare Wigfall, Cynan Jones, Lucy Caldwell, Ingrid Persaud, Saba Sams and David Constantine have also carried off the Award with shortlisted authors including Zadie Smith, Jackie Kay, William Trevor, Rose Tremain, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Naomi Alderman, Kamila Shamsie, K Patrick and Jacqueline Crooks.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by Di Speirs who has sat on every judging panel since the Award’s inception and is joined by the very first chair of judges, William Boyd as well as former winners and shortlisted writers Lucy Caldwell, Ross Raisin and Kamila Shamsie.
In a time when literary awards come and go, and can struggle for funding and airtime, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University continues to be a cause for joy
From 15th to 18th September four of the shortlisted stories can be heard at
3.30 each afternoon with the fifth story in contention for the award broadcasting on Friday, 19th September, at
11.30pm. The winner of the 20th BBC National Short Story Award will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 30th September 2025.
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
MON 16:00 Currently (m002j5n8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002jdpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m002jgpf)
Senior Tory MP defects to Reform UK
Longstanding Conservative MP Danny Kruger crosses the floor to Nigel Farage's party. Also today, energy secretary Ed Miliband talks to Evan about politics and nuclear power. Plus, trouble for Eurovision as Spain may follow other countries in withdrawing from the competition. And is a long, wordy apology more effective than a short, wordy one?
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jgph)
Sir Keir Starmer defends his handling of Lord Mandelson's sacking
The Prime Minister has spoken publicly for the first time since sacking the UK's ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson. Also: The shadow minister Danny Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK. And the British teenager, Owen Cooper, has become the youngest male actor ever to win an Emmy Award for his role in Netflix's acclaimed drama Adolescence.
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m002jgpk)
Series 95
5. Whoopsie-daisy
Sue Perkins challenges Lucy Porter, Paul Merton, Zoe Lyons and Stephen Mangan to speak for 60 seconds without repetition, deviation or hesitation. Subjects include give it 110%, Oasis tickets and I wish I didn’t know that about you.
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 (m002jf2y)
Justin’s confident he can override any dissent when the results of the feasibility study are discussed at this afternoon’s BL Board meeting, while Lilian joins Alice in looking forward to Martha’s first school Harvest Festival service on Thursday.
Before the meeting Brian assures Justin the fight isn’t over, no matter what the feasibility study says. Martyn tries to smooth things over but mentions a rumour that Justin could be looking to buy land elsewhere. Justin admits he’s considering his options, including selling his BL shares, if necessary. Later, Brian and Martyn discuss Justin’s shock announcement, agreeing it would be disastrous if he sold up. Neither of them could afford to buy the shares and fear the potential consequences of an outsider buying into BL. Later, Justin admits to Lilian he hadn’t planned on dropping his bombshell today. Lilian tells him he’ll be going to Martha’s Harvest Festival.
Ruairi has gone to The Nest for tea with Alice and Martha. He might have come back to Ambridge to help Brian, but he’s delighted to catch up with them too. They chat about Martha settling in well at school, to Alice’s great relief. They agree Alice is coping well with her alcohol addiction, but Ruairi wants to continue calling her every week. He’s less worried about her now than when she stayed with him in London though, remembering how he once found her unconscious. Alice is mortified by his recollection and Ruairi apologises for upsetting her. But Alice knows she wouldn’t be where she is now without her family’s support and hugs Ruairi.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m002jgpm)
Robert Plant and Alan Moore
Robert Plant on his journey from Led Zeppelin to his latest album of folk songs.
Creator of V for Vendetta and Watchmen, Alan Moore is probably the world's most acclaimed writer of comic books, a medium he now eschews. Moving into novels, he has explored his hometown Northampton in widely praised work like Jerusalem, but his latest - The Great When - is an otherworldly exploration of literary London, inspired by the psychogeography of Iain SInclair and horror writing of Arthur Machen.
From Seurat to Van Gogh, we mark a new exhibition at the National Gallery with a dive into the entrancing light and pontillist glow of the neo-impressionists. Co-curator Julien Domercq and art expert Anthea Callen are on to discuss.
With the National Short Story Awards approaching, we speak to shortlisted author Emily Abdeni-Holman about her entry, Yair.
MON 20:00 Rethink (m002j755)
Rethink: how can flying be less polluting?
Aviation has a problem: it's reliant on fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases when they're burned in a jet engine. Other industries are worse polluters, but in the next few decades, they are likely to decarbonise much faster than the airline sector.
Why? Because kerosene is a light enough fuel for planes to get off the ground, while producing enough thrust for them to do so. Also it enables airliners to carry passengers to the other side of the world.
International flight has only been around for less than 100 years, but research suggests that it's responsible for 4% of total global warming to date. It's not just that airliners pump out carbon dioxide, but they also emit nitrous oxides and soot. Even contrails, which are mostly water vapour, have a warming effect high up in the atmosphere.
Can efficiencies in jet engines, optimal routes and air traffic control lead to less fuel being used? What technologies are available to make flying cleaner? Is the pace of change fast enough to meet net zero by 2050?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:
David Lee, Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Centre for Aviation, Transport and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Dr Mark Bentall, Head of the Research and Technology Programme, Airbus
Dr Naomi Allen, Head of Research at the Royal Aeronautical Society,
Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester.
Duncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m002j757)
Could we have evidence of life on Mars?
News broke this week that rocks picked up by NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars may have found chemical signatures left by living organisms.
With the search for life on the red planet capturing our imaginations for decades, Victoria Gill is joined by science journalist Jonathan Amos to look at what we know about the history of life on Mars, and what could be different about this discovery.
As commemorations take place this week for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we hear about the project helping to protect birds in New York from the effects of a giant annual light display in memory of the victims of the tragedy.
Dr Andrew Farnsworth, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, tells us how they’re working with the organisers of the Tribute in Light memorial to help save the lives of a wide range of birds.
Victoria is joined by managing editor of the New Scientist, Penny Sarchet, to look through this week’s most exciting scientific discoveries.
And in our series profiling the six books shortlisted for this year’s Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize, we speak to neuroscientist and clinical neurologist Professor Masud Husain about his book Our Brains, Our Selves, and what his encounters with patients reveal about how our brains make up who we are.
Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Dan Welsh, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002jgnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002jgns)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002jgpp)
First sitting Conservative MP defects to Reform
The Conservative MP Danny Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK. Lord Soames, Winston Churchill's grandson, tells us that his former colleague's claim that the Conservatives are "over" is "absolute nonsense".
On the eve of President Trump's second state visit, we examine how free speech has become an area of tension between the UK and US governments.
And we look at the other big winner at last night's Emmys - medical drama The Pitt, which has been lauded by both critics and doctors alike.
MON 22:45 Mrs Robinson by Helen Cross (m002jgpr)
Episode 1: Temptation
At the height of a TB epidemic, Lydia Robinson lives on her remote North Yorkshire estate, with four children and a preacher husband. Mr Robinson has decreed that the family isolate themselves, in fear of the sickness.
Their only company? Gloomy Anne Brontë, governess to the children.
That is, until Anne’s dissolute brother, Branwell, arrives…
Mrs Robinson's name and story partly inspired the film, The Graduate.
Helen Cross’s five-part original fiction is read by Anne-Marie Duff.
Producers: Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth
MON 23:00 Tracking the Planet (m001x54d)
A Changing Climate
Our planet is alive. A dynamic, moving, pulsating organism. Air pressure rises and falls, ocean currents meander, and the climate continues, by tiny increments, to warm.
And at the same time, billions of animals are on the move.
All over the planet, animals are fitted with sophisticated tracking devices by teams of dedicated scientists, which tell us so much about what they’re up to. From rhinos in bulky satellite collars, to microscopic chips glued to the back of a bee, they record where the animals go, what they eat, and how and why they migrate across the globe.
But they record so much more than that too – modern trackers can also log local climatic conditions, windspeed, temperature, even some measures of the animal’s own health; heartbeat, or skin temperature. Every tagged animal is transformed into a tiny dynamic weather station, collecting data on climactic conditions and the health of ecosystems, which would be impossible to collect otherwise.
Diving Weddell seals bring back data on the melting speed of a deep water glacier. Roving Tiger Sharks uncover previously unknown sea-grass habitats. High-flying sea-birds on annual migration tell us about changing wind patterns across the tempestuous equator, and farm animals in the mountains of Italy, moving nervously in their fields, give a silent alert: an earthquake is on the way.
In this series, Emily Knight explores some of the stories that can be told about the animals that call this world home, and the much larger over-arching story too: How the changing conditions on this planet are transforming THEIR lives, changing their migration routes, re-positioning their food-stocks, bringing new diseases or challenging weather. We can track how they’re coping with it all, and how, sometimes, they’re not.
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002jgpt)
Susan Hulme reports as Shabana Mahmood makes her Commons debut as home secretary and MPs question the dropping of charges in a Chinese "spy" case.
TUESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2025
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002jgpw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jgnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jgpy)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jgq0)
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 (m002jgq2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002jgq4)
Sean Curran reports as MPs question the new Home Secretary about the demonstration at the weekend.
TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jgq6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jgq8)
Unexpected Seasons
Good morning.
September signals a change of season as we move from summer into autumn. The days grow cooler and the evenings darker. Yet this year, nature seemed to change faster than expected. In July, I was surprised to see ripened blackberries already hanging on the bushes, ready for picking. By August, leaves had already begun to turn and fall.
Experts at the University of Worcester have described this as a “false autumn.” After the unusually hot and dry summer, plants and trees began showing signs of stress, shedding their leaves not as a mark of seasonal change, but as a desperate response for survival. The Met Office even described it as nature’s “bid to survive.”
Life can sometimes feel like that. We may believe we’re in a season of warmth and ease, only to suddenly find ourselves facing unexpected hardship. Loss, disappointment, or pain can catch us by surprise, leaving us reeling, much like trees dropping their leaves out of season.
Jesus prepared His followers for this reality. In John
16:33, He says: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Trouble will come, but it does not have the final word. Christ’s victory assures us that even when the seasons of life shift without warning, we are not left without hope. His presence steadies us, His peace comforts us, and His power enables us to keep going. So, when difficulties strip away what feels safe or familiar, let’s cling to the one who has already overcome.
Lord, thank you that when hardships catch us by surprise, your presence is constant. Help us to take heart, to trust in your victory, and to walk with courage through every season. Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002jgqb)
16/09/25: US-UK dairy trade? Health services in rural areas.
As President Trump arrives for his State Visit, farmers and milk processors are warning that allowing US dairy producers access to our markets could potentially threaten the financial viability of the UK industry. The National Farmers Union's Dairy Board Chair says the US dairy industry has made no secret of its ambitions to break into the lucrative UK market and has exportable surplus to spare. The NFU and Dairy UK have written to the Prime Minister, demanding that food and animal welfare standards are a red line in future negotiations.
We continue our look at services in rural areas with a visit to a voluntary organisation connecting people to health and social care provision in the Highlands, as well as combatting loneliness. We hear from the Nuffield Trust about the extra cost challenges for health providers in rural areas.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling
TUE 06:00 Today (m002jf23)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m002jf25)
Sonia Gandhi on building model brains to tackle Parkinson’s disease
Many people will be familiar with Parkinson’s disease: the progressive brain disorder that causes symptoms including tremors and slower movement, leading on to serious cognitive problems. You might not know that it’s the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world. Today it affects around 11.8 million people and that’s forecast to double by 2030.
Dr Sonia Gandhi is one of the scientists working to change that trend. As Professor of Neurology at University College London and Assistant Research Director at the Francis Crick Institute, her work involves using stem cells to build models of the human brain, helping to drive the development of drugs and other therapies for Parkinson’s patients.
Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Sonia explains why this destructive condition is on the rise - and the promising routes they're studying to find new ways to tackle it.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios
For details of organisations that offer advice and support to anyone affected by Parkinson's Disease, please go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
TUE 09:30 Universities Challenged (m002jf27)
Free Speech Wars
Universities are in crisis. They're facing social and financial pressures that threaten to undermine the foundations they're built on, maybe even their very existence.
Sophia Smith Galer won Celebrity University Challenge last year as part of the Durham team. As the first in her family to go to university she's a big fan of higher education. But she's got some big questions.
In this second episode of Universities Challenged she explores how universities are handling free speech wars on campus. Interviews with students and academics reveal competing visions of tolerance as the principles of academic freedom clash with institutional policies and student activism. Are these highly publicised disputes undermining the credibility of universities as places of open inquiry and debate? How much damage are they causing the university sector as a whole? Does everyone get the chance to speak freely – and if not, what’s being done about it?
Presenter: Sophia Smith Galer
Producer: Lucy Burns & Claire Bates
Sound: Gareth Jones
Editor: Nick Holland
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002jf29)
Baroness Hale, Trump’s visit, Afro hair care
As Donald Trump arrives in the UK for his second state visit, we examine how women feel about the US President now and how the Epstein scandal might feature in discussions as Keir Starmer faces more pressure about how he handled Lord Mandelson’s resignation. Nuala McGovern speaks to Katy Balls from The Times, women’s campaigner Alix Valentine and Mischa Smith, the news and features editor for Marie Claire UK.
How well does the law serve women? That’s a question Nuala puts to Brenda Marjorie Hale, The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE a former judge who served as the first female President of the Supreme Court. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission, where she led the work on what became the 1989 Children Act. In 2019 she announced the Supreme Court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. She discusses her new book, With the Law on Our Side – How the law works for everyone and how we can make it work better.
Hairdresser Emiola Lanlehin is the co-founder of Crowned with Care which is an event providing free hairstyling and barbering services for looked after black and mixed heritage children and teenagers. Her mother nominated her in the volunteer category of the Make a Difference Award – saying it was ‘for her courage, faith, commitment and determination to find a way of serving an underserved community’. Many children in care, especially those with Afro-textured hair, struggle to access proper grooming and cultural hair care. Emiola explains how free hair care can help black and mixed heritage children feel valued and celebrated.
What are the issues that shape the lives of teenagers today? What are their concerns, pressures and influences?
For their ‘Teen25 Summit’, BBC5 Live in collaboration with BBC Bitesize have conducted a survey of over 2,000 13–18-year-olds, and the data reveals some worrying statistics for the mental health of teenage girls today. Reporter Kristian Johnson talks us through the figures. And Professor Sonia Livingstone from the LSE analyses and gives advice to parents.
TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m002j641)
Catrin Finch and Rhodri Marsden on absence and resilience
Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and musician and composer Rhodri Marsden join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks, with unexpected and surprising connections. The eclectic music choices range from an Americana classic knocked off in just 30 mins to the winner of this year's Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, via a reworking of a Bach organ sonata for piano.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Louie Louie by The Kingsmen
I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
Organ Sonata No.4 movt II (Andante) by Bach, played by Víkingur Ólafsson
My Dearest Dear by Ivor Novello – sung by Mary Ellis
WHO AM I by Berwyn
Other music in this episode:
P.I.M.P. by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band
Killing Me Softly With His Song by Fugees
El Loco Cha Cha by René Touzet
Louie Louie by Richard Berry
Fly Me To The Moon by Bart Howard, sung by Frank Sinatra
Someone Like You by Adele
Hotel California by The Eagles
It's a Sin by Pet Shop Boys
Organ Sonata No.4 movt II (Andante) by Bach, played by Robert Quinney
TUE 11:45 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jf2c)
Episode 2 - Amanullah's Ambition
Lyse Doucet reads her vivid account of how Afghanistan has survived decades of conflict by telling the stories of the staff who kept the doors of Kabul's Inter-Continental Hotel open. Today, we are introduced to nineteen-year-old Amanullah in the winter of 1981 where life at the hotel goes on in the shadow of a Soviet Invasion.
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an award winning journalist who has reported from many of the world's war zones. She has covered stories from Afghanistan since 1988 when she first checked into the Inter-Con, and from where she has witnessed the impact of unceasing conflict that has scarred this nation for half a century.
Her book is a history of Afghanistan told through the lives of the people who have worked at the Inter-Con, some since it opened in 1969. Despite enduring several coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, a US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise of the Taliban, the Inter-Con is still standing. In telling the stories of the hotel's housekeepers, chefs, managers and engineers Lyse shows how us how ordinary Afghans have managed to live through destruction and disruption in their workplace and their country.
The music is Wa wa Leili - Leili, how wonderful! from the album Sweet Nomad Girl. Abdul Wahab Madadi (vocal), Veronica Doubleday (vocal and daireh) and John Baily (14-stringed dutar).
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Image by Paula Bronstein
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002jf2g)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002jf2j)
Call You & Yours: What's the housing market like where you live - to rent and to buy?
We'd like to hear from you about housing.
Nationwide is reporting that house prices fell slightly last month. Hamptons says the same was true for rents in July. It's the first time that's happened in years.
Five years after the post-pandemic property boom, the UK housing market is undergoing a major reset - dubbed by some as “the five-year itch”. Following a surge in sales and prices in 2020–2021, driven by lifestyle changes, government incentives, and the race for space - stock levels are now at their highest since 2013, while demand has cooled. Asking prices are falling, especially in the countryside, where buyer interest has dropped sharply.
Prime outer London is holding steady amid a cooling market, with prices flat over the past year, unlike central London and rural areas where values have dropped.
What's the housing market like where you live - to rent and to buy?
Our phone lines open at
11am, and you can call 03700 100 444.
Or email youandyours@bbc.co.uk
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002jf2l)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002jf2p)
UN panel says Israel committed genocide
A UN-backed report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Israel has committed acts of genocide in Gaza. Plus, Jim Naughtie on President Trump's state visit, and remembering the architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw who designed the Eden Project.
TUE 13:45 The History Podcast (m002jf2t)
The Fort
7. In the Zone
Precariously positioned on the side of two Apache attack helicopters Dave, Chris, Colin and Gary are flying straight into danger.
Apaches are absolutely not supposed to land in the conflict zone, and as the helicopters take off, more helicopters provide crucial "top cover".
We meet Charlotte Madison, a woman with a unique place in UK military history.
A heavy bomber is tasked with creating a massive diversionary explosion for the crews of Ugly 50 and Ugly 51 - and the pilots and their passengers fly back to the Taliban stronghold under cover of a thick dust storm.
Charlotte Madison spoke to the BBC in 2010.
The Fort is told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces.
Produced by Kev Core
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002jf2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0018837)
Life Rights
by Nicholas Meiklejohn
A play about the reunion between two estranged friends - now in their early forties. One’s been stuck in the small Scottish town where they grew up, having grudgingly taken over his family’s moribund business, while the other found modest and fleeting success as an indie filmmaker.
When the filmmaker shows up with an unusual request it sparks contradictory memories of the past.
A play about the fragility of memory, ambition, familial expectations, and the frustrations of looming middle age.
Jack ..... Robert Jack
Danny ..... Sandy Grierson
Director Gaynor Macfarlane
TUE 15:00 History's Heroes (p0lhq0q7)
Saving Face with Harold Gillies
A young doctor, with a seemingly impossible task: rebuild the shattered faces of World War One soldiers.
Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history.
A BBC Studios Audio production.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
TUE 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002jf34)
BBC National Short Story Award 2025
Yair by Emily Abdeni-Holman
Emily Abdeni-Holman's lyrical story is up for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award. Centred around a young woman recently arrived in Jerusalem this understated story explores the relationship between people and place, power and vulnerability in a locale where history and belonging are so tangibly fraught. The reader is Isabelle Farah.
Emily Abdeni-Holman is a writer and critic. Her first book, Body Tectonic (Broken Sleep Books, 2024), on Lebanon’s socioeconomic crisis, is an experiment in exploring structural disaster through poetry.
The 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) shortlist was announced on Thursday 11 September 2025 live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious award celebrates its 20th anniversary. The shortlist, featuring multi-award winning writers and ‘astonishing’ new talent, was praised for its ‘intimate,’ ‘elegant’ and ’nuanced’ explorations of relationships, community and the specificities of place set against a world in crisis.
Selected by a panel of previous winners and returning judges from across the Award’s 20-year history, the five-strong shortlist are: Costa Book of the Year 2011 and Booker Prize 2025 longlisted author Andrew Miller; multi-award winning Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes, Desmond Elliott Prize winning novelist and short story specialist Edward Hogan; and new names, British-Lebanese author Emily Abdeni-Holman, and Colwill Brown whose debut novel was published this year.
Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and County Kildare, the stories explore ‘self-contained’ worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed inter-generational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story’s ‘unparalleled’ power to reflect ‘the times we are living through.’
For two decades this award has celebrated writers who are the UK’s finest exponents of the form. James Lasdun secured the inaugural Award in 2006 for ‘An Anxious Man’. In 2012 when the Award expanded internationally for one year, Miroslav Penkov was victorious for his story, ‘East of the West’. Last year, the Award was won by Ross Raisin for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry.
In its 20-year history, Sarah Hall, K J Orr, Naomi Wood, Jonathan Buckley, Julian Gough, Clare Wigfall, Cynan Jones, Lucy Caldwell, Ingrid Persaud, Saba Sams and David Constantine have also carried off the Award with shortlisted authors including Zadie Smith, Jackie Kay, William Trevor, Rose Tremain, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Naomi Alderman, Kamila Shamsie, K Patrick and Jacqueline Crooks.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by Di Speirs who has sat on every judging panel since the Award’s inception and is joined by the very first chair of judges, William Boyd as well as former winners and shortlisted writers Lucy Caldwell, Ross Raisin and Kamila Shamsie.
In a time when literary awards come and go, and can struggle for funding and airtime, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University continues to be a cause for joy
From 15th to 18th September four of the shortlisted stories can be heard at
3.30 each afternoon with the fifth story in contention for the award broadcasting on Saturday, 20th September, at
11.30pm. The winner of the 20th BBC National Short Story Award will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 30th September 2025.
Reader by Isabelle Farah
Produced by Justine Willett
Abridged by Emily Abdeni-Holman and Justine Willett
TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002jf3b)
Love’s Moment: RS Thomas and Mildred Eldridge
Known as one of Wales’ greatest 20th-century poets, RS Thomas is often characterised as a difficult, even cantankerous figure. 25 years since his death, fellow poet and friend Gwyneth Lewis uncovers a hidden, private side to his life and work - as she explores the tension and tenderness within his marriage to the painter Mildred Elsie Eldridge.
RS Thomas wrote dozens of poems to his first wife, from early reflections on their courtship to moving elegies following her death. Yet his marriage, like much of his life, was complex and unusual – defined as much by silence and distance as by affection.
When they met, Mildred Eldridge was the star - an established and award-winning painter - while RS Thomas was still finding his poetic voice. Gwyneth Lewis follows the journey of their life together and considers why their career trajectories diverged so sharply - his path as a poet ascended to ever greater heights, hers as an artist dwindled.
With access to Mildred Eldridge’s unpublished journals, we hear her voice in the marriage for the first time – a perspective largely absent until now. Gwyneth considers what this remarkable relationship tells us not only about art but, more importantly, about love.
Presenter: Gwyneth Lewis
Producer: Huw Meredydd
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
Mildred Eldridge's journal is narrated by Sharon Morgan
An Astud production for BBC Radio 4
Poems by RS Thomas included in the programme:
A Marriage - Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004)
Pilgrimages – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
The Way of It – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
He and She – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
Anniversary - Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004)
TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002jf3g)
How can you strengthen your back?
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken tackle the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.
On the agenda this week is back pain. It’s a condition that will affect around 80% of us at some point during our lives, with low back pain being the single leading cause of disability worldwide.
Joining Chris and Xand in the studio to discuss the science behind these statistics is Dr Mindy Cairns, Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and Associate Professor at the University of Hertfordshire. She explains what causes back pain, how it can be managed and treated, and what we can do to protect our backs.
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 Mindy Cairns
Producer: William Hornbrook
Executive Producers: Rami Tzabar and Jo Rowntree
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
TUE 17:00 PM (m002jf3l)
Robert Redford dies aged 89
Acting royalty Robert Redford dies aged 89. PM looks back at his career and his friend the film producer Lord David Puttnam pays tribute.
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jf3q)
Israel launches a major ground offensive on Gaza City
There's been international condemnation of Israel, after it announced that it had started its long-awaited major ground assault on Gaza City. Also: the Hollywood actor and director, Robert Redford, has died aged 89. And the state pension is set to go up next year by 4.7%.
TUE 18:30 Mark Steel's in Town (m001217m)
Series 11
Blyth, Northumberland
The famous Blyth Staithes (created for off-loading coal into ships) were the backdrop for one of the grimmest scenes in the Michael Caine classic Get Carter - the smoggy industrial view at the time described by the director as an "absolute vision of hell". Undaunted, comedian Mark Steel travels to this part of Northumberland and finds a fascinating industrial legacy, a posh pub, a very nice beach and prominent indications of its role in the first and second World Wars. Does a town blighted by so many closures show any evidence of green shoots? Mark presents his findings to a local audience at The Phoenix Theatre and as ever gets away with just the right amount of affection rudeness and we learn more about a very distinctive coastal town in the UK.
The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Written by and starring...Mark Steel
With additional material from Pete Sinclair
Production Coordinator...Beverly Tagg
Producer...Julia McKenzie
A BBC Studios Production.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002jf3v)
When Jazzer turns up with paddleboard, flippers and extra luggage, for his trip to the Lake District with Ed and Fallon, he’s forced to squeeze into the back of the car with everything next to him. Fallon will watch while the others swim, or paddle to commemorate their friend, Ash. Later, Ed and Jazzer reminisce about the high-jinks they got up to in their teens, before Fallon mentions Jazzer nearly dying from an overdose. Jazzer reckons Dross cleaning up their act was the making of them in the end. They mull over what getting older actually means, before Fallon decides she won’t let her fears get the better of her. She’s going to do the swim tomorrow too.
Lily apologises to Azra for what happened at the Flower & Produce Show, then asks if she’ll be a judge at the re-run next Sunday. Azra agrees, telling Lily not to be so hard on herself over what went wrong at the Show and the cricket furore. However, Lily feels life is passing her by, confessing that she doesn’t see Grey Gables as a long-term destination. She likes the people there, but communication between different departments is a big problem. Azra thinks it’s similar in hospitals, suggesting that if people could do a job-swap it would help them understand everybody’s roles, however it’s too impractical. Lily thinks a job-swap could work at Grey Gables though and will suggest it to Dane. But in the meantime, Azra suggests, Lily needs to think about what more she actually wants from her life.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002jf3z)
Robert Redford remembered, Mark Ronson and Picasso on stage
As news has broken of the death of Robert Redford aged 89, Front Row looks back over his astonishing career, from roles in iconic films such as All The President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to his environmental activism and his support for independent films through the Sundance Film Festival.
Mark Ronson talks about his new memoir, Night People, reflecting on his rise from DJ to superstar producer behind hits such as Uptown Funk and Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album.
Caoilinn Hughes talks to Tom about being shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award for her story Two Hands.
And we explore Picasso's fascination with theatre and performance via a new exhibition at Tate Modern called Theatre Picasso. Artist Wu Tsang and curator Natalia Sidlina are in the studio to discuss Picasso in a new light.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Tim Bano
TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002jf33)
A Prison Inspector Calls
In a broadcasting first, the BBC has followed a team from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons as it investigates conditions in a prison near Rugby in Warwickshire.
The result is a unique insight into the problems faced by the prison system.
This portrait of a prison on trial reveals how under-resourced prison staff are failing to stop copious amounts of drugs being brought in, and are struggling to provide a safe and productive environment in which prisoners can be prepared for release back into society.
His Majesty’s Prison Onley is a category C, medium security prison, housing 740 inmates. Its governor, Mark Allen, says Onley is among the top ten prisons for incursion of drugs via drones and admits many of his staff are too inexperienced to handle the inmates, resulting in frustration among prisoners, and violence.
In its last inspection three years ago, Onley was found to be struggling in various areas, and it doesn’t take the inspection team long to find out that things are, if anything, getting worse.
Inspectors meet prisoners who complain about everything from lack of laundry facilities to failure to provide meaningful work opportunities, or help with their offender behaviour.
One inspector has to intervene when she finds a prisoner ‘spiced up’ and in need of immediate help. Another prisoner is refusing to leave the relative safety of the segregation wing, because he’s being threatened with violence over his debts to drug dealers within the prison. Inspectors discover evidence that officers are too ready to resort to force to deal with difficult prisoners and failing to keep accurate records of their restraining methods.
Prison officers talk about the challenges of trying to deal with violence within the prison and of trying to prevent drugs coming in.
In a lighter moment, lead inspector Angus Jones visits the prison library and discovers a surprising inclusion among books the prisoners are not allowed to read.
The inspection ends with the team meeting to agree how to score Onley against their key criteria for a ‘healthy prison’ and then presenting their conclusions to the Governor.
Presenter: Rex Bloomstein
Producers: Brian King and Rex Bloomstein
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002jf43)
Bedtime Donations, Psychological Support
The Royal Society for Blind Children has launched a new campaign called Bedtime Donations, and its aim is to generate better provision of audiobooks for visually impaired children. The idea is that people can record themselves reading children's stories into an app, where it will be published and be accessible to visually impaired children. The Society's aim is to develop the largest free service of children's audiobooks.
The Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are calling for visually impaired people's experiences of how they received psychological support throughout their healthcare pathway. The Trust are aiming to improve provisions of psychological services that patients receive, following a diagnosis of an eye condition, and thereafter.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.
TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m002jf47)
Kenya: A Battle for Gen Z
Over the past year, Kenya has been rocked by anti-government protests. What started as a demonstration over proposed tax increases soon turned into a nationwide, youth-led protest over the state of the economy, alleged political corruption and police brutality. But it's come at a cost. Dozens of protestors have been killed in clashes with the police, and human rights groups say many activists have been abducted and tortured by agents of the states. Michael Kaloki meets the young Kenyans who are caught in a battle for change.
Presented by Michael Kaloki
Produced by Alex Last
Studio mix by Neil Churchill
Editor Penny Murphy
TUE 21:30 Great Lives (m002jf4c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
15:00 on Monday]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002jf4h)
Trump arrives in London for second UK state visit
US President Trump has landed in London for his second state visit to the UK. His arrival coincides with some good news for Keir Starmer as Microsoft announces a £22 billion investment in the UK. We speak to Jeremy Hunt, foreign secretary during Donald Trump’s last state visit, about preparing for the president’s public appearances.
Also on the programme: as new data shows continued weakness in the labour market, we'll hear from young people trying to find work; and Robert Redford has died at 89, we hear from the biographer who became his friend.
TUE 22:45 Mrs Robinson by Helen Cross (m002jf4m)
Episode 2: Heat
As Branwell brings some welcome change to life at Thorp Green, Lydia discovers new sides to herself. But she doesn’t know quite what to make of the charismatic, artistic Branwell.
Helen Cross’s five-part original fiction is read by Anne-Marie Duff. It explores the real story that partly inspired the film, The Graduate.
Producers: Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth
TUE 23:00 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (m0020xv4)
Series 10
Cleopatra
Natalie Haynes returns with a new series of sparkling stories from the ancient world which shed light on the world today.
Cleopatra was a brilliant politician, a ruthless leader and a massive brain-box, who spoke nine languages. The Queen of Egypt had charisma to burn, but she probably didn't look like Elizabeth Taylor. Her intelligence and magnetism were more than enough to attract the attentions of the world's most powerful men, and to keep her in power - in a notoriously lethal dynasty - for over twenty years.
Guests Jane Draycott and Llewelyn Morgan join Natalie to make sense of the Ptolemaic family naming system, to discover what it took to stay at the top for so long in dangerous times, and to find out just how besotted Mark Antony was with the Egyptian Queen. Cleopatra knew exactly how to make an impression: she entertained the war-weary Antony on a gold-covered luxury barge, fragrant with burning spices, decked out with fairy lights. She made him rub her feet at a banquet for losing a bet and he famously wandered out of an important lecture because Cleopatra was passing and he preferred to talk to her.
Rock star mythologist’ and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is obsessed with the ancient world. Here she explores key stories from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today. They might be biographical, topographical, mythological or epic, but they are always hilarious, magical and tragic, mystifying and revelatory. And they tell us more about ourselves now than seems possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.
Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002jf4t)
Sean Curran reports as MPs hold an emergency debate on the appointment and dismissal of Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the United States.
WEDNESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2025
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002jf4y)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jf2c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jf54)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jf58)
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 (m002jf5d)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002jf5h)
Alicia McCarthy reports from Westminster as opposition MPs demand answers from the Prime Minister over Lord Mandelson's sacking.
WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jf5m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jf5r)
Faith That Acts
Good morning.
On this day in 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery. Having personally broken free from the injustice that denied her freedom, she chose not to keep that freedom for herself but to use it for the good of others. At great personal risk, with extraordinary courage, and with unwavering faith, she went on to help many enslaved people find freedom through the Underground Railroad. Harriet’s deep trust in God sustained her. She once said, “I always told God, I'm going to hold steady on to you, and you've got to see me through.” And God did see her through - empowering her to bring hope, dignity, and justice to many others.
Harriet’s story reminds us that faith is not passive, it is lived out in action. Her courage was rooted in a steady grip on the God who calls His people to be instruments of hope and freedom.
That call remains for us today. Micah 6:8 tells us what God requires: “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. We may not face the same dangers Harriet did, but we live in a world still in need of justice and compassion. Whether it’s confronting modern-day slavery, caring for creation in the face of climate change, or advocating for those who are overlooked and marginalised, God empowers us to make a difference.
Like Harriet, we are called to hold steady to God - to rely on His strength instead of our own. When we do, we find the courage to act justly, the compassion to love mercy, and the humility to walk faithfully with our God.
Help us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you. Give us your heart for justice and the courage to serve others with love. Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002jf5v)
17/09/25: Rivers in National Parks, Rural Post Offices, Economics of Fishing.
A new report claims rivers in England and Wales' National Parks aren't protected adequately against sewage discharges and agricultural runoff. 'Rivers at Risk', published by Campaign for National Parks and the Rivers Trust says in some areas the sewage system isn't able to cope with an influx of holiday visitors. The report's timed to send a message to the Government ahead of forthcoming reforms to the water industry.
There's a week left to comment in the Government's consultation on the future of the Post Office. We hear about the gap left by the closure of the post office in one South Devon village.
The cost of running a fishing boat has risen, but so have profits. Anna Hill discusses the findings of Seafish's latest report on the economics of the UK fleet.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling
WED 06:00 Today (m002jf2q)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 More or Less (m002jf2v)
Is it true that out-of-work benefits have almost doubled?
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:
Nigel Farage says 6.5 million people are on out-of-work benefits – with some benefits up 80% since 2018. Are those numbers right?
Do French pensioners really earn more than their working-age compatriots?
How is it possible for one kilogram of fish food to produce one kilogram of salmon?
And do we really have five senses?
If you’ve seen a number you think we should take a look at, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Lizzy McNeill
Producer: Nicholas Barrett
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon
WED 09:30 Shadow World (m002hp7n)
The People vs McDonald's
6. Judge for Yourself
At the end of the longest trial in English history, the verdict is finally delivered - and Helen uncovers who her former partner John really was.
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
Development Producer: Christian Dametto
Story Consultant: Annie Brown
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini
Archive Research: Emma Betteridge
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 (m002jf2z)
Cryptic pregnancy, actor Karen Pittman, writer Nikita Gill, Agnes Wanjiru
To so many women the symptoms of pregnancy are instant, intense and unmistakeable; however some make it the full nine months without having any idea they’re even pregnant. This phenomenon is known as cryptic pregnancy, and the British Medical Journal suggests it’s more common than triplets. Nuala McGovern is joined by two women who have experienced this first-hand, plus Professor of Midwifery, Helen Cheyne to discuss.
Actor Karen Pittman earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as The Morning Show’s hardworking producer Mia Jordan, alongside co-stars including Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. As the newsroom drama returns to Apple TV+ for a fourth season, Karen joins Nuala to discuss the show’s themes, from truth and deepfakes, to women in the workplace. Karen also featured in the Netflix adaptation of Judy Blume’s teen romance Forever and is known to fans of Sex and the City spin off, And Just Like That, as Dr Nya Wallace.
Poet Nikita Gill tells Nuala about her latest book Hekate the Witch. She is the Greek goddess of magics, the crossroads, keys and necromancy. Nikita retells Hekate's story, from being an orphaned child brought up in the Underworld to becoming a powerful goddess seeking revenge for her family.
A Kenyan High Court has issued an arrest warrant for a British national, suspected of killing a 21-year-old Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, more than a decade ago. Agnes was found dead in 2012 in the grounds of a hotel near an army base, nearly three months after she had allegedly spent an evening socialising with British soldiers. Hannah Al-Othman, a journalist for the Guardian who originally broke the story at the Sunday Times, and the BBC's Akisa Wandera, senior East Africa journalist based in Nairobi speak to Nuala.
WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002jf33)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002jf37)
September 15th - September 21st
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
This week: 15th September to 21st September
- 16th September 1620. The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth to America
- 19th September 1960. Britain deploys it's first Traffic Wardens
- 21st September 1915. Cecil Chubb purchases Stonehenge
WED 11:45 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jf3c)
Episode 3 - Mohammad and the Mujahideen
Lyse Doucet reads her vivid account of how Afghanistan has survived decades of conflict by telling the stories of the staff who kept the doors of Kabul's Inter-Continental Hotel open. Today, it's 1991 and Mohammad takes up work as a waiter at the Inter-Con, and a year later he is on shift when the mujahideen arrive victorious at the hotel's lobby.
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an award winning journalist who has reported from many of the world's war zones. She has covered stories from Afghanistan since 1988 when she first checked into the Inter-Con, and from where she has witnessed the impact of unceasing conflict that has scarred this nation for half a century.
Her book is a history of Afghanistan told through the lives of the people who have worked at the Inter-Con, some since it opened in 1969. Despite enduring several coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, a US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise of the Taliban, the Inter-Con is still standing. In telling the stories of the hotel's housekeepers, chefs, managers and engineers Lyse shows how us how ordinary Afghans have managed to live through destruction and disruption in their workplace and their country.
The music is Wa wa Leili - Leili, how wonderful! from the album Sweet Nomad Girl. Abdul Wahab Madadi (vocal), Veronica Doubleday (vocal and daireh) and John Baily (14-stringed dutar).
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Image by Paula Bronstein
WED 12:00 News Summary (m002jf3h)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002jf3m)
TikTok raffles, Dieselgate ten years on, Pension awareness
Are you a TikTok user, have you noticed live raffles on there? There are growing concerns around unregulated raffles running on TikTok and the Gambling Commission has told us the "law is simple in this area. If you run an illegal lottery, you could face prosecution and, if convicted, a fine or imprisonment."
We will hear from one TikTok user that is highlighting these raffles, sharing how you can report them, and speaking with a gambling regulation lawyer who will explain the law around gambling license and how to spot legal and unregulated providers.
Back in 2015, Volkswagen admitted to using software - cheat devices - during official tests that made its diesel cars appear cleaner than they were. 10 years on we will hear how this changed the motor industry and impacted consumer confidence, with the ripples still being felt today.
And pensions. Do you understand them or are you just hoping things will turn out OK. Pension awareness is low, 43% working-age people (equivalent to 14.6 million) are under-saving for retirement, according to a recent report by the Department for Work and Pensions and more of us are opting out of workplace pension schemes.
We'll be talking with two people that wish they knew more, before speaking to an expert about how you can increase your understanding around pensions.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Dave James
WED 12:57 Weather (m002jf3r)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m002jf3w)
Major tech deal announced
Major US tech firms have pledged tens of billions of pounds worth of investment in the UK. We assess it’s significance with the woman who ran the UK government’s Office for AI. Plus, with news that there’s been 900 fewer injuries since Wales dropped its speed limit to 20mph, we speak to the minister who suffered bringing it in.
WED 13:45 The History Podcast (m002jf40)
The Fort
8. Bullet Magnet
The bomber has created an enormous dust storm at The Fort.
Disorientated and under enemy fire, the team rush headlong from the grounded Apaches which have now become sitting duck targets for the Taliban.
Tom, alone and effectively stuck inside his aircraft spots Taliban activity ahead.
But the objective is clear: Find the stricken Lance Corporal Mathew Ford.
But the men on the ground are confronted with the difficult reality of that task.
Produced by Kev Core
WED 14:00 The Archers (m002jf3v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002jf44)
Blue Envelopes
Nick Ahad's original comedy drama with songs.
Bradford born British Bangladeshi teenager and rapper Bilal 'Triple B' wants to make it big in the rap music industry but his family have other ideas. Pressure mounts on Bilal as his family push him to follow a more 'sensible' career path in law while his best friend Beatboxer Ben urges him to grab the opportunity of getting into music college. Unexpected family news sends Bilal to Bangladesh with his grandmother, where he discovers the surprising history of his own grandfather that will change everything.
A funny, heartfelt story about identity, dreams, intergenerational tension—and finding the courage to be seen and heard. Celebrating Bradford City of Culture and presented as part of BBC Contains Strong Language Festival.
Nick Ahad is a multiple award-winning writer and broadcaster working across TV, theatre and radio.
BILAL.....Faisal Alom
AMBREEN.....Mina Anwar
BIBI.....Rina Fatania
ABDUL, MUKHIT, AUDITIONER.....Kulvinder Ghir
SHOMSHUR, AUDITIONER.....Sagar Arya
BEN.....Rhys Inwood
Song Lyrics written by Nick Ahad
Music for the opening and closing songs composed by Arun Ghosh
Writer - Nick Ahad
Director - Nadia Molinari
Sound Design and Technical Production - Sharon Hughes
Additional Technical Production- Amy Brennan
Production Co-ordinator - Victoria Moseley and Ben Hollands
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4.
Nick Ahad will be in conversation as part of BBC Contains Strong Language festival at The Loading Bay in Bradford at
3.30 on Sunday September 21.
Tickets for this and other events are free from https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewbv9r
WED 15:00 Money Box (m002jf48)
Money Box Live: Navigating a Terminal Illness
This week on Money Box Live we're looking at a topic that's very difficult but very important. What happens to your finances when the worst happens? How do you plan for your financial future when you've been diagnosed with a life-limiting or terminal illness?
It's a question a group of MPs have been asking too. The All Party Parliamentary Group for Hospice and End of Life Care has found that people can face real hardship because they often have extra costs combined with a loss of earnings.
Felicity Hannah is joined by Jamie Thunder, senior policy manager for financial security at the end of life charity Marie Curie and Nina Sperring, partner at Price, Slater, Gawne solicitors. She's also a member of STEP, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners which specialises in estates and wills. We also hear from Nathaniel Dye, a music teacher who was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer at 36.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producers: James Graham and Helen Ledwick
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson
(First broadcast at
3pm Wednesday 17th September 2025)
WED 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002jf4d)
BBC National Short Story Award 2025
Two Hands by Caoilinn Hughes
Novelist and short story writer Caoilinn Hughes has been shortlisted for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award for Two Hands, a ‘funny’ and ‘accomplished’ story, inspired by the author’s experience of a camper van crash on a Spanish motorway with her partner. The story, written to create a new set of associations around this difficult experience, follows a couple as they take a driving lesson with an elderly instructor in a quest to regain confidence after a car accident in Italy. Their move back to Ireland has skewed the dynamics of their relationship, and the story artfully explores the complexities and tensions within a marriage, with humour and poignancy.
Caoilinn Hughes is an award-winning author and short story writer from Ireland. Her novels include The Wild Laughter (2020) which won the RSL’s Encore Award and most recently, The Alternatives (2024.) Her short stories have won the Irish Book Awards' Story of the Year, The Moth Short Story Prize, and an O. Henry Prize. She was recently Oscar Wilde Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin and a Cullman Center Fellow at New York Public Library. Caoilinn Hughes grew up in Galway and now lives in London.
The 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) shortlist was announced on Thursday 11 September 2025 live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious award celebrates its 20th anniversary. The shortlist, featuring multi-award winning writers and ‘astonishing’ new talent, was praised for its ‘intimate,’ ‘elegant’ and ’nuanced’ explorations of relationships, community and the specificities of place set against a world in crisis.
Selected by a panel of previous winners and returning judges from across the Award’s 20-year history, the five-strong shortlist are: Costa Book of the Year 2011 and Booker Prize 2025 longlisted author Andrew Miller; multi-award winning Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes, Desmond Elliott Prize winning novelist and short story specialist Edward Hogan; and new names, British-Lebanese author Emily Abdeni-Holman, and Colwill Brown whose debut novel was published this year.
Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and County Kildare, the stories explore ‘self-contained’ worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed inter-generational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story’s ‘unparalleled’ power to reflect ‘the times we are living through.’
For two decades this award has celebrated writers who are the UK’s finest exponents of the form. James Lasdun secured the inaugural Award in 2006 for ‘An Anxious Man’. In 2012 when the Award expanded internationally for one year, Miroslav Penkov was victorious for his story, ‘East of the West’. Last year, the Award was won by Ross Raisin for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry.
In its 20-year history, Sarah Hall, K J Orr, Naomi Wood, Jonathan Buckley, Julian Gough, Clare Wigfall, Cynan Jones, Lucy Caldwell, Ingrid Persaud, Saba Sams and David Constantine have also carried off the Award with shortlisted authors including Zadie Smith, Jackie Kay, William Trevor, Rose Tremain, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Naomi Alderman, Kamila Shamsie, K Patrick and Jacqueline Crooks.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by Di Speirs who has sat on every judging panel since the Award’s inception and is joined by the very first chair of judges, William Boyd as well as former winners and shortlisted writers Lucy Caldwell, Ross Raisin and Kamila Shamsie.
In a time when literary awards come and go, and can struggle for funding and airtime, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University continues to be a cause for joy
From 15th to 18th September four of the shortlisted stories can be heard at
3.30 each afternoon with the fifth story in contention for the award broadcasting on Friday, 19th September, at
11.30pm. The winner of the 20th BBC National Short Story Award will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 30th September 2025.
Produced by Michael Shannon
WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002jf4j)
Prince Harry's PR Comeback
It was only a few months ago that Prince Harry was being roundly criticised pretty much everywhere. An ill-judged and hot-headed BBC interview where he discussed the King's health did him few favours. And yet, this week, there has been a shift.
In this week's episode, David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss whether this is a genuine turning point for Harry's PR.
Also, in the extended edition on BBC Sounds, they'll explain why it might not all be over for the master of spin, Peter Mandelson. He may have been sacked and his reputation might be in ruins - but don't assume that means there aren't still plenty of people who'd like a quiet word with the 'Prince of Darkness' of PR.
And speaking of reputations being in the sewer, David and Simon will be talking about an actual one. The Tideway tunnel to be precise. What's surprising is that it's a £5bn infrastructure project that has come in pretty much on time and on budget - and yet, you probably haven't heard of it. Just why is it so much harder to get PR for good news compared to bad?
Producer: Duncan Middleton
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: Eve Streeter
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4
WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002jf4n)
Guto Harri, James O Brien, Isabel Oakeshott on the Unite the Kingdom rally and the Charlie Kirk Shooting, Tim Davie
Katie Razzall speaks to the Director General of the BBC Tim Davie at the Royal Television Society Festival. Ros Atkins discusses the language used by the media to discuss the Unite the Kingdom rally and the shooting of Charlie Kirk with studio guests Guto Harri, James O Brien and Isabel Oakeshott.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai
WED 17:00 PM (m002jf4s)
The President meets the King
Donald Trump joins King Charles and the Royal Family at Windsor for the first full day of the state visit. Plus Ben - of Ben & Jerry's ice cream – on difficult relations with its parent company.
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jf4x)
President Trump visits Windsor Castle
The King and other senior members of the Royal Family have been hosting Donald Trump at Windsor Castle. Also: The Israeli army says it’s struck more than a hundred and fifty targets in Gaza City since launching a new major ground offensive a day ago. And the widow of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, says she has evidence her husband was poisoned.
WED 18:30 Do Gooders (m002jf50)
Series 2
3. The Force
Clive initiates a DOGE-inspired efficiency drive at The Alzheimer’s Alliance, with a key policy of outsourcing events ideas to supporters. Unfortunately this backfires when the idea of a Star Wars film marathon is suggested - Clive’s idea of hell. Lauren picks up the ball and runs with it. Meanwhile Harriett reels after finding out her industry nemesis has received an OBE.
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 daily 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
Writer – Garrett Millerick
Additional Material – Andrea Hubert
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 (m002jf53)
Jim tells Alan how much he’s enjoyed engaging in religious debate with the Shop’s customers, now they’ve relocated to St Stephens. Alan gets a message asking him to be a judge at the Flower & Produce re-run, before Jim asks why Alan became a vicar. Alan hasn’t time to talk to Jim about it now but is happy to another time. Later, under questioning from Jim, Lilian admits she doesn’t believe in God but is happy for others to follow their own path, so long as they don’t hurt anyone.
On the Green, Alan tells Lilian how snowed under he is with work. He mentions several parishioners asking more theological questions of him than he’s used to, making him wonder if he’s doing a good job. Lilian assumes the speculative queries are down to Jim’s influence and Alan reckons he’s got enough on without this!
Preparing to go in the water Ed tells Fallon she can still change her mind, but Fallon’s determined to do the full challenge: fifty lengths of the marked-out course. Once they’re swimming though it’s Ed who struggles to keep up, after pushing himself too hard to begin with. When he has to stop Fallon whistles for assistance, before continuing on alone. After Fallon finishes Ed apologises for not being there for her, though she insists he was. Fallon then admits it was difficult at times, with so many difficult feelings filling her head. But she kept going and thinks Ash would be really pleased they all turned up for him – even Jazzer with his paddleboard and flippers!
WED 19:15 Front Row (m002jf57)
Review Show: Ian McEwan's new novel and Small Acts of Love at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre
In our weekly review show, Kirsty Wark is joined by writer and critic Hannah McGill and writer and journalist Alan Taylor to discuss What Can We Know, the latest novel from Booker Prize winning writer Ian McEwan, an epic story set in a largely underwater Britain a hundred years in the future which touches on themes including climate change and great poetry.
They also give their verdicts on Frances Poet's Small Acts of Love, a musical theatre production inspired by relationships formed across the Atlantic between victims of the Lockerbie disaster in December 1988. The production - a collaboration between the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland, and with songs by Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross, is the opening production in the newly refurbished 'Citz', a theatre which has played an important role in the city and also in the careers of the likes of Rupert Everett, Glenda Jackson and Miriam Margolyes, and which has just reopened after a major revamp.
They also review The Girlfriend, a new psychological thriller from Amazon Prime, which stars Robin Wright as a possessive mother whose life begins to unravel when her son brings home a new partner she suspects is not all she seems.
We also bring you the latest in our series of interviews with authors shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, Colwill Brown.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m002jf5c)
To know or not to know?
Graphic details of Charlie Kirk’s death have been almost unavoidable on social media in recent days. Similarly, shocking footage of an unprovoked knife attack on 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina last month, has been widely circulated. Add to that the videos coming out of Gaza, Ukraine or Sudan. Seeing such images changes us. We can’t unsee them. They shock us, anger us, frighten us, stir our empathy, shift our moral compass.
Do we have a moral duty to watch real-life violence order to gain a deeper understanding of a situation? For example, would George Floyd’s death have had the same imaginative power if it hadn’t been filmed? Or is the truth-seeking instinct sometimes misplaced, driven by morbid curiosity and voyeurism, risking desensitisation, compassion fatigue or, conversely, chronic anxiety and stress? Do such stark images give us a moral anchor in a storm of spin and misinformation, or are we in danger of missing important context and using the intimately personal moment of a human death as a weapon in a heated political arena? With social media moderators being cut and TV news channels under pressure to beat the competition for pictures, what does the choice to publish and consume ever more extreme content say about us, and the dignity of those whose lives and deaths we are a witness to?
When should we choose to see or not to see – to know or not to know?
Chair: Michael Buerk
Panel: Giles Fraser, Sonia Sodha, James Orr and Tim Stanley.
Witnesses: Paul Conroy, Hilda Burke, Jamie Whyte and Rik Peels.
Producer: Dan Tierney.
WED 21:00 The Life Scientific (m002jf25)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Illuminated (m002jf5j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:15 on Sunday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002jf5n)
Trump's state visit
At a lavish state banquet at Windsor Castle, day one of President Trump's second state visit ends with speeches celebrating the special relationship. The King also had pointed words on supporting Ukraine. We ask how good a friend the US is to the UK.
Also on the programme:
Still rock and rolling after all these years: the legendary DJ Pete Murray celebrates his 100th birthday.
WED 22:45 Mrs Robinson by Helen Cross (m002jf5s)
Episode 3: A Question
Lydia tries to uphold a respectable family home, as Branwell constantly tests that resolve. And Anne Brontë’s watchful eye is never far away.
Helen Cross’s five-part original fiction is read by Anne-Marie Duff. It tells the story of the character and relationship that partly inspired the film, The Graduate.
Producers: Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth
WED 23:00 Ria Lina Gets Forensic (m002jf5x)
Series 1
2. Microneedling
Former-forensic-scientist-turned-stand-up-comedian Ria Lina examines the gap between the science we’re sold by the wellness industry and the science that’s done in a lab – particularly when it comes to treatments that boast anti-aging effects.
This episode, she’s joined by comedian Geoff Norcott to see if Microneedling can make their faces look any younger.
Featuring Ria Lina and Geoff Norcott
Written by Ria Lina and Steve N Allen
Produced by Ben Walker
A DLT Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 The Skewer (m002jf60)
Series 14
Episode 2 - Back, Sack and Crack, and An American Idiot Abroad
The four-time Gold Comedy winner at the Radio Academy Awards returns as Jon Holmes remixes the news into the current affairs comedy concept album where world events meet popular culture in a satirical mash-up.
This week - Back, Sack and Crack, Nigel's House Party, and An American Idiot Abroad.
Producer: Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Short Works (m0010xv2)
Slow Burn by Laura-Blaise McDowell
When her parents' newly-divorced friend Stan moves in with them, a young woman has no choice but to leave the family home and find her own place.
Laura-Blaise McDowell's original short story read by Eimear Keating
Specially commissioned by BBC Radio 4.
Irish writer Laura-Blaise holds an MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, The Galway Review, HeadStuff, Honest Ulsterman and Still Worlds Turning, an anthology of new Irish writing from No Alibis Press.
In 2020, she received an honourable mention in the Cúirt New Irish Writing Award. In 2021, her story 'The Lobster Waltz' came second in the Costa Short Story Award.
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in October 2021.
WED 23:45 Today in Parliament (m002jf62)
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster as peers are divided over plans to ban Israelis from an elite British defence college over Gaza.
THURSDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2025
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002jf64)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jf3c)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jf66)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jf68)
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 (m002jf6b)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:04 More or Less (m002jf2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jf6d)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jf6g)
A Gratitude Habit
Good morning.
We’re well into September now, and for many of us, that means settling back into the familiar rhythms of daily life. The summer often disrupts those routines. Longer days, holidays, and a slower pace give us a break from the usual demands. As a family with school-aged children, summer for us means no school runs, no lunch orders to remember, and no uniforms to wash. But once September arrives, it can take time to find our rhythm again. Habits that were second nature only weeks ago suddenly feel harder to pick back up.
Most of us know the value of daily habits. They provide structure and often shape the way we experience each day. Whether it’s that first cup of coffee in the morning, a short walk, or reading before bed, small routines can have a surprisingly big impact.
One habit I try to keep no matter the season is the practice of gratitude. The Bible reminds us to “Give thanks in all circumstances”. Gratitude isn’t just something we feel in passing - it’s a posture of the heart and a habit we can choose to cultivate. When we pause to thank God, we shift our focus from what we lack to what we have. Gratitude reframes our perspective, softens our hearts, and helps us recognise God’s presence in both the ordinary and the extraordinary.
As the busyness of autumn sets in, having a daily habit of gratitude helps me to make sure I continue to thank God for His mercies, for His blessings, and even for the challenges that grow my faith.
God, help us to keep an attitude of gratitude in every season. Teach us to be intentional about giving thanks, so that our hearts stay soft and eyes stay open to your goodness. Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002jf6j)
18/09/25: Drought/downpour, rural crime gang jailed, bus services
The Environment Agency announced this week that drought is likely to extend into the autumn for some areas. But September is making up for August's lack of rain and, where there have been heavy downpours, farmers are starting to hope for a little respite. Charlotte Smith talks to two dairy farmers: one in the dry East of England the other in the (usually) damp West about the swing from heatwave to showers.
An organised crime gang has been jailed for machinery and vehicle thefts from farms, worth millions of pounds. Seven men were jailed for a total of twenty five years after pleading guilty at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Monday. We hear from the detective in charge of the investigation.
And we continue our look at rural services, with buses.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling
THU 06:00 Today (m002jfbg)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 Writing the Universe (m00207vm)
In the beginning
From Shakespeare to Milton, writers have long been preoccupied with the birth of the universe, but there's still so much uncertainty about how the cosmos came into being. The phrase 'the big bang' is now part of our everyday language, but the astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the expression in frustration at the idea the universe burst into being and remained adamant throughout his career that it could never have happened.
So has the idea of a big bang ultimately proved unhelpful in explaining how the universe was formed? Philosopher and theoretical physicist Sean Carroll explains that not even scientists can agree what the term means, and says it's still not clear whether the big bang was even the kind of giant explosion many of us imagine.
For cosmologist Carlos Frenk, Dali's melting clocks are the best way of describing a time before time existed, and he explains how art and science are intimately intertwined, while the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli relies on metaphor to explain concepts that are often mind-bending in their complexity.
With contributions from fellow Infinite Monkey Cage presenter Brian Cox; physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll; astrophysicist Katie Mack; cosmologist Carlos Frenk, and theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli.
Producer: Marijke Peters
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
Soundscape Designer: Jane Watkins
BBC Studios Audio Production
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m002jfbl)
Phase 2
In the first episode of the new series, Armando Iannucci and guest co-host, Ria Lina look at the use and abuse of political language.
The political summer is often called 'silly season', but with global conflict and rising tensions at home, Armando and Ria look at the language that defined recent months including Keir Starmer's "Phase 2" and the word "plastic".
Armando’s erstwhile partner in de-baffling political lexicon, Helen Lewis is away working in the United States in the Autumn and so her seat will be kept warm by a rotating cast of co-hosts.
Got a question for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk
Listen to Strong Message Here on Radio 4 at
9:45, and an extended version is available on BBC Sounds.
Recorded at The Sound Company
Production Coordinator: Caroline Barlow
Sound editing by Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002jfbn)
Nuclear energy, SEND reform, Anita on Celebrity Race Across the World
A group of cross-party MPs has called for root and branch transformation of the way mainstream education caters for children and young people with special educational needs and disablities, including new statutory minimum standards. One of the recommendations of the Education Select Committee is that individual care plans for children with special educational needs EHCPs should NOT be scrapped in England. The Government is expected to publish its plans on how to reform SEND provision in England this autumn. Joining Anita Rani to discuss the latest issues is the BBC's Education Reporter Kate McGough.
Sudanese women and girls are bearing the brunt of a civil war that is entering its third year. The relentless conflict has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for 6 million displaced women and girls. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence remain hugely under-reported, but evidence points to its systematic use as a weapon of war. Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’ Africa Correspondent talks to Anita Rani about the impact on women and also the role women play in providing support to the displaced.
BBC Celebrity Race Across the World will soon be back on our screens as four celebs pair up with a friend or family member and travel from a starting point anywhere in the world to another BUT with no phones or flights allowed and only the cost of the flight as money for the entire trip. Woman's Hour has the privilege of revealing one of the celebrity pairings: No other than BBC Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani and her father Balvinder Singh Nazran.
The US and UK are expected to sign a civil nuclear cooperation deal today as part of President Trump’s state visit to the UK. But some surveys suggest that there is less support from UK women for the power source than from men and only 22% of the current nuclear workforce are women. Anita talks to Julia Pyke, joint Managing Director at the new Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station and KP Parkhill, Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York who studies public attitudes to nuclear about whether nuclear power has a so-called women problem.
Last night the finale of TV drama The Summer I Turned Pretty hit our screens. It’s a coming-of-age tale, packed full of teen romance and at its centre, a juicy love triangle. According to the New York Times, its main audience is 25 to 54-year-old women, and it’s not the only teen drama that has caught the attention of this age group. So, what’s the draw? Journalists Edaein O'Connell and Hannah Betts join Anita to discuss the appeal.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m002jfbq)
Kerry James Marshall
American artist Kerry James Marshall is one of the world’s most important living painters. Marshall has been making his large-scale, vividly colourful evocations of African-American life for over 40 years. His figurative paintings are rich with symbolism, metaphor and visual references to both social history and his favourite artists from the past. A 1997 painting called Past Times, which evokes works by Seurat and Manet, sold at auction in 2018 for $21m, setting a world record for a work by a living African-American artist. In the autumn of 2025 a retrospective of his paintings opened at London's Royal Academy, his largest exhibition outside of the US.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
THU 11:45 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jfbs)
Episode 4 - Chef Abida
Lyse Doucet reads her vivid account of how Afghanistan has survived decades of conflict by telling the stories of the staff who kept the doors of Kabul's Inter-Continental Hotel open. Today, it's 2002 and with the Taliban ousted, women resume work and chef Abida is in the kitchen at the Inter-Con Kabul.
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an award winning journalist who has reported from many of the world's war zones. She has covered stories from Afghanistan since 1988 when she first checked into the Inter-Con, and from where she has witnessed the impact of unceasing conflict that has scarred this nation for half a century.
Her book is a history of Afghanistan told through the lives of the people who have worked at the Inter-Con, some since it opened in 1969. Despite enduring several coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, a US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise of the Taliban, the Inter-Con is still standing. In telling the stories of the hotel's housekeepers, chefs, managers and engineers Lyse shows how us how ordinary Afghans have managed to live through destruction and disruption in their workplace and their country.
The music is Wa wa Leili - Leili, how wonderful! from the album Sweet Nomad Girl. Abdul Wahab Madadi (vocal), Veronica Doubleday (vocal and daireh) and John Baily (14-stringed dutar).
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Image by Paula Bronstein
THU 12:00 News Summary (m002jfbv)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Scam Secrets (m002jfbx)
We're Coming For Your Furniture
Getting an unexpected phonecall can be unnerving. If it's from a bailiff saying he's coming to take your possessions and is 40 minutes away, it can be terrifying.
In this episode, Shari Vahl and the Scam Secrets team hear from two people who were subjected to this scarily plausible scam. Linguistics expert Dr Lis Carter and former fraudster Alex Wood pick apart the language used, and explain how the tactics are all designed to manufacture a 'fight or flight' response that plays into the hands of the criminals.
As ever, red flags will be waved - so you'll end up better informed about this sophisticated and manipulative scam.
And on this last episode in our first series of Scam Secrets, we'll even hear exactly what happened when a scammer tried similar tactics on Shari.
If there's a scam you want the Scam Secrets team to look at, you can get in touch: scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk
PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002jfbz)
Dough - The Future of Clothing
Could 'smart' clothing monitor our health?
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 examines the future of our clothing.
How can manufacturers dye clothes without using water?
Could 'smart' fabrics monitor weather conditions and provide extra warmth or cooling when we need it?
Will our body movements, instead of bulky batteries, provide the power for clothing to monitor our health?
Will synthetic material be completely replaced by natural fibres and those made from waste products?
Greg is joined by the futurist, Tracey Follows, and expert guests Dr Marie O'Mahony, programme leader for E-textiles and Wearable Technologies at the Winchester School of Art at the University of Southampton and Jenny Prendergast, Programme Leader for Fashion and Design Technology at Loughborough University.
This episode was produced by Jay Unger.
Dough is a BBC Audio North Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
THU 12:57 Weather (m002jfc1)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002jfc3)
Trump's state visit: the business end
The US President arrives at Chequers. What should Sir Keir Starmer say to him on Gaza, Palestinian statehood Ukraine and tariffs? We're live at Chequers and hear from former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace and Norwegian Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland.
THU 13:45 The History Podcast (m002jfc5)
The Fort
9. Warrior
Under pressure and under fire, the team are faced with the task of returning Lance Corporal Mathew Ford to base.
As exhaustion sets in and the clock ticks, Ed the pilot leaves the Apache to help with the recovery.
Back at the Zulu Company lines, Mathew's colleauges await his return.
The Fort is told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces.
Produced by Kev Core
THU 14:00 The Archers (m002jf53)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002jfc7)
High Cockalorum
Celebrating Bradford City of Culture and as part of BBC Contains Strong Language Festival, Bradford based writer Jeremy Dyson's original comedy drama set in West Yorkshire in 1978 is inspired by a true story.
High Cockalorum tells of a touching, funny and unlikely encounter between a Hollywood superstar and a humble lad from Leeds thrown together by circumstance.
A meditation on fame, success and what ultimately matters.
MARTY / JAMES MASON.....Mark Gatiss
HARVEY/ LIBRARIAN / DJ..... Reece Shearsmith
PETE/ PARKING ATTENDANT/ INTERVIEWER.....Steve Pemberton
RECEPTIONISTS/ JACKIE..... Monica Dolan
SHARON.....Goldie Crane.
Writer - Jeremy Dyson
Director -Nadia Molinari
Composer-Ian Masterson
Sound Designer - Sharon Hughes
Technical Producers - Andrew Garratt, Neva Missirian
Production Co-ordinators - Victoria Moseley, Ben Hollands.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
Jeremy Dyson and Mark Gatiss will be in conversation as part of BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in St George’s Hall in Bradford on Saturday September 20.
Tickets for this and other events are free from https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewbv9r
THU 15:00 Open Country (m002jfc9)
Fair Isle
Halfway between Orkney and Shetland, Fair Isle is one of Britain’s most isolated inhabited islands. It's famous for knitting and birds, and those still form the basis of the island's economy, as Martha Kearney discovers.
As an inviting rock in the North Atlantic it’s a magnet for migratory birds, with exhausted individuals blown off course regularly adding to a long list of unusual species recorded by the local bird observatory. Martha joins the island’s Head of Ornithology, Alex Penn, to ring some visitors and sit for a while with Britain’s friendliest colonies of puffin.
French knitwear designer, Marie Brahat introduces Martha to her flock of sheep and gives her a lesson in turning their wool into the unique designs of Fair Isle knitwear. School teacher Jonathan Pye is the newest arrival on the island, currently dealing with a school roll of just two pupils - brothers Luca and Anders.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002jfcc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 BBC National Short Story Award (m002jfcf)
BBC National Short Story Award 2025
Little Green Man by Edward Hogan
Edward Hogan's tender and humorous story Little Green Man is in contention for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award. Dorothy Atkinson reads this warm portrait of a heartbroken gardener forced into partnership with a summer temp as they tend to the green spaces of Derby.
Edward Hogan has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. From Derby, he is the author of five novels include Blackmoor (2008), which won the Desmond Elliot Prize and the highly-acclaimed The Electric (2020). His recent short stories have won the Dinesh Allirajah Prize, the Galley Beggar Press Prize, and have been published in the Best British Short Stories series. He works for the Open University as a Lecturer in Creative Writing.
The 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) shortlist was announced on Thursday 11 September 2025 live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, as the prestigious award celebrates its 20th anniversary. The shortlist, featuring multi-award winning writers and ‘astonishing’ new talent, was praised for its ‘intimate,’ ‘elegant’ and ’nuanced’ explorations of relationships, community and the specificities of place set against a world in crisis.
Selected by a panel of previous winners and returning judges from across the Award’s 20-year history, the five-strong shortlist are: Costa Book of the Year 2011 and Booker Prize 2025 longlisted author Andrew Miller; multi-award winning Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes, Desmond Elliott Prize winning novelist and short story specialist Edward Hogan; and new names, British-Lebanese author Emily Abdeni-Holman, and Colwill Brown whose debut novel was published this year.
Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and County Kildare, the stories explore ‘self-contained’ worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed inter-generational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story’s ‘unparalleled’ power to reflect ‘the times we are living through.’
For two decades this award has celebrated writers who are the UK’s finest exponents of the form. James Lasdun secured the inaugural Award in 2006 for ‘An Anxious Man’. In 2012 when the Award expanded internationally for one year, Miroslav Penkov was victorious for his story, ‘East of the West’. Last year, the Award was won by Ross Raisin for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry.
In its 20-year history, Sarah Hall, K J Orr, Naomi Wood, Jonathan Buckley, Julian Gough, Clare Wigfall, Cynan Jones, Lucy Caldwell, Ingrid Persaud, Saba Sams and David Constantine have also carried off the Award with shortlisted authors including Zadie Smith, Jackie Kay, William Trevor, Rose Tremain, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Naomi Alderman, Kamila Shamsie, K Patrick and Jacqueline Crooks.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by Di Speirs who has sat on every judging panel since the Award’s inception and is joined by the very first chair of judges, William Boyd as well as former winners and shortlisted writers Lucy Caldwell, Ross Raisin and Kamila Shamsie.
In a time when literary awards come and go, and can struggle for funding and airtime, the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University continues to be a cause for joy.
From 15th to 18th September four of the shortlisted stories can be heard at
3.30 each afternoon with the fifth story in contention for the award broadcasting on Friday, 19th September, at
11.30pm. The winner of the 20th BBC National Short Story Award will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Tuesday 30th September 2025.
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
THU 16:00 Rethink (m002jfch)
Rethink: should we stop flying?
Aviation is far more difficult to decarbonise than other sectors of the economy, because kerosene is the perfect fuel for planes. It produces enough power to enable planes to fly, yet it is light enough for them to get off the ground and cross the world.
Alternatives are thin on the ground; batteries are too heavy, clean hydrogen power is in its infancy, while Sustainable Aviation Fuel - or SAF - is expensive and in short supply. Although the Government has a "SAF-mandate", only 22% of all jet fuel supplied by 2040 will have to be sustainable.
New airliners are more fuel-efficient than ever before, and both routes and air-traffic control are being optimised. But if growth outpaces efficiencies, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise.
And passenger demand is back at pre-pandemic levels. In 2024 the UK was the third largest market in the world for flights.
In the absence of any immediate solution, should we fly less, if at all? How realistic and affordable are slower alternatives like the train? Could passengers be penalised for taking more than one return flight a year? And should the Government rather than individuals be taking responsibility for change?
Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Lisa Baxter
Contributors:
Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester.
Dr Roger Tyers, UK Aviation specialist at Transport & Environment
Yannick van den Berg, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam Law School
Tom Nevitt, project manager of Climate Perks
Duncan McCourt, Chief Executive, Sustainable Aviation
Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (m002jfck)
What’s the highest a human could possibly pole vault?
Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the sport’s world record again this week at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. It’s the 14th consecutive time he’s broken the record.
Professor of Sports Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, Steve Haake, joins Victoria Gill to discuss this monumental feat of athleticism, and to explain the role physics and engineering play in Duplantis’s unprecedented success.
The actor, comedian and scientist Nick Mohammed explains why he and his fellow judges selected ‘Ends of the Earth’ by Professor Neil Shubin as one of this year’s finalists in the Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize. We also hear from the book’s author about what it’s like doing science at the farthest reaches of the planet.
Neuroscientist Professor James Ainge from the University of St Andrews tells us how he has been mapping our internal mileage clock.
And the author and mathematician Dr Katie Steckles brings us the brand new maths and science shaping our world this week.
To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to The Open University.
Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Dan Welsh, Jonathan Blackwell and Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
THU 17:00 PM (m002jfcm)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jfcp)
President Trump and Sir Keir Starmer hail a "new era" for UK US relationship
President Trump has ended his second state visit to the UK, using a joint news conference with the Prime Minister to say the bond between the US and UK was unshakeable. They addressed a range of issues including Ukraine and Gaza. Also: Sir Keir Starmer highlighted the first return to France under the one in, one out deal. And the American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has been taken off air because of comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
THU 18:30 Stand-Up Specials (m002jfcr)
Glenn Moore's Almanac Series 2
Three Glenn & A Baby
Comedian Glenn Moore looks in his almanac at world events and what he was doing at the time. Lockdown March 2020: can father-to-be Glenn learn how to use a mask and change a nappy - and crucially, tell which is which?
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 (m002jfct)
Late arrivals Justin and Lilian have to squeeze in next to Alice and Brian at the Harvest Festival, with Justin sitting right next to Brian. Lilian warns them both that discussing BL is off-limits. But Brian can’t help himself and suggests that Justin takes the words of Alan’s sermon about farmers producing an abundance of food to heart. Justin rises to the bait and their discussion becomes heated. When Justin insists he’ll go ahead and sell his shares if he doesn’t get his way Brian explodes, before Alice and Lilian give them their marching orders. After the service Lilian tells them they should be ashamed. Alan agrees, their behaviour was unacceptable, nearly ruining the children’s performance. Justin gives a half-hearted apology, before Alan accuses them of caring very little about those around them. Later, Lilian drops in on Alice, who’s still furious at Martha’s big day almost being ruined. Alice fears the repercussions from gossiping parents at school. Lilian thinks Justin is a liability and Alice agrees, but it’s Brian she’s completely fed up with for jeopardising Martha’s progress at school.
After checking the ewes with Ben at Home Farm Ruairi goes for a drink with him at The Bull. Ruairi then spots Paul and remembers how awkward it was the last time they met. But Ben calls Paul over before making his excuses to leave Ruairi and Paul together. They establish that Ruairi’s come back to Ambridge for a bit to help Brian and that Paul is currently single, before heading off to get a taxi to a cocktail bar.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m002jfcw)
Front Row at the Contains Strong Language festival in Bradford
A special edition of Front Row live from the Contains Strong Language Festival, the BBC's annual celebration of poetry, performance and the spoken word.
With live music from Antony Szmierek.
Jeremy Dyson on his new Radio 4 drama High Cockalorum which spins a new tale out of a visit to Yorkshire made by Hollywood legend James Mason.
Poet Emma Conally-Barklem and Kristina Diprose, one of the writers for the Wandering Imaginations project at the Brontë Parsonage, discuss the Brontë sisters as a source of poetic and literary inspiration.
Edward Hogan on his shortlisted story, Little Green Man, for this year's BBC National Short Story Award.
Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu
THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002jf4j)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002jf4n)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:15 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002jdqf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m002jfbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002jfcy)
Trump returns to US as state visit ends
In a joint press conference with Keir Starmer President Trump said he had been let down by Vladimir Putin and advised the Prime Minister to use the military to curb irregular migration across the English Channel.
Also on the programme: we hear how on-air remarks about Charlie Kirk are costing some American broadcasters their jobs; and as Meta’s latest product launch is derailed by an embarrassing malfunction, we hear how tech events are becoming more risk averse.
THU 22:45 Mrs Robinson by Helen Cross (m002jfd0)
Episode 4: An Argument
Lydia has thrown caution to the Yorkshire winds. But will the affair that seems the height of freedom actually be a trap in itself? As Branwell’s frustration at his poetic failures grows, so does his reliance on opium. Anne has a plan of her own. And how can Lydia negotiate the opposing demands of brother and sister – who both want the impossible from her?
Helen Cross’s five-part original fiction is read by Anne-Marie Duff.
Producers: Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth.
THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002jfd2)
Life After Vogue: Why I Want To Reinvent Fashion Magazines (Edward Enninful)
Edward Enninful thinks fashion risks going backwards on diversity, which is why he’s launched a new media business, EE72, to promote inclusion in an anti-woke era.
The former editor of British Vogue talks to Amol about why the industry needs to appeal to all generations – from getting Gen Z on side by tackling fast fashion and affordability, to highlighting the full spectrum of beauty by focussing on ‘women of a certain age’ in the first issue of his quarterly magazine.
Amol asks him about the recent Sydney Sweeney jeans advert after the US fashion retailer American Eagle ran ads with her alongside the words: "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans".
Edward also explains why he left British Vogue and talks about his relationship with his former boss, Anna Wintour.
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 Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley and Grace Reeve. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davies and Sophie Millward. Technical production was by Mike Regaard. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
THU 23:30 Short Works (m00114tp)
Twenty-Five Years by Mona Dash
Annika, a widow, now has a well-organised life built mainly around her work in Central London. But a Facebook friend request sends her spiralling into the past.
Mona Dash's short story read by Vineeta Rishi.
Mona works and lives in London. She is the author of A Roll of the Dice: a story of loss, love and genetics (2019) which won an Eyelands International Book Award for memoir.
Her debut short story collection, Let Us Look Elsewhere, was published in June 2021. Twenty-Five Years is her first story for radio.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2021.
THU 23:45 Today in Parliament (m002jfd4)
Sean Curran reports as peers tackle the government about complicated rail fares.
FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2025
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002jfd6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jfbs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002jfd8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002jfdb)
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 (m002jfdd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:04 Rethink (m002jfch)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002jfdg)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002jfdj)
The Spirit Poured Out for All
Good morning.
On this day in 1893, New Zealand became the first country to grant national voting rights to all women. Until then, half the adult population was excluded from having a voice in such an important decision-making process. New Zealand became a trailblazer, and its bold move opened the way for many other nations to follow.
Moments like this remind us of the power of inclusion. To be recognised, valued, and given equal standing is not only a matter of justice - it also reflects God’s own heart. We see this clearly on the day of Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit was poured out, Peter stood before the crowd and quoted the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams”.
This was a radical declaration. In God’s kingdom, age, gender, or status don’t limit the Spirit’s work. Sons and daughters, young and old - all are invited to participate in God’s mission. The outpouring of the Spirit was not for a select few, but for all of God’s people.
Just as the suffragists of New Zealand opened the door for women’s voices to be heard in society, Pentecost reminds us that God has already opened the door wide in His kingdom. No one is overlooked. Every voice matters. Every life has purpose.
Thank You, Lord, that you love both your daughters and your sons, and that your call and care extend to women and men, young and old alike. Help us to honour the gifts of others and to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002jfdl)
19/09/25 Rural Housing Solutions, NI Rural Politics, Transforming Food Systems
The lack of affordable housing has long been a barrier to people living and working in rural areas. The Rural Services Network described it this year as a 'rural housing emergency'. All this week we've been looking at rural services, from buses to health, and today it's housing. We've reported before on some of the issues: planning, second homes and high prices for instance. Today we hear about some of the solutions.
It's party conference season; agriculture is important to Northern Ireland's economy and so will be discussed at its parties conferences, Sinn Fein's in April and the DUP's tomorrow.
A report out this week says our food system needs to change as it's responsible for too many emissions and too much ill health. The 5 year study which cost £47 million was funded by UK Research and Innovation and published this week in a Royal Society journal. What might a food system transformation mean for farming here in the UK?
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
FRI 06:00 Today (m002jhm2)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 The Reunion (m002jgj8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002jhm4)
Surgeons, Susie Dent, Model diversity, Nepal's Prime Minister
If your doctor or surgeon was convicted of rape you might expect them to be struck off. But that isn't always the case according to new research out today. The study by the Royal College of Surgeons looked at decisions by the medical practioners tribunal service, which rules on misconduct cases and decides on the sanctions. In a quarter of cases, they were more lenient than recommendations from the General Medical Council. They looked at 46 cases. In 11, the doctor was suspended instead of being struck off. Mei Nortley, a consultant vascular surgeon, is the lead author of the study and joins Anita Rani to explain more.
Are you a fan of words, their meanings and origins? The lexicographer Susie Dent, best known as the queen of Dictionary Corner on C4’s Countdown, has created a whole year’s worth of words, most of which you most probably never knew existed in a freshly published almanac. It is called Words for Life and each day you can read an entry, digest its meaning and maybe laugh at its sound. Susie gives Anita some examples and explains her interest in words.
There's been growing concern in the fashion industry about the increasing prominence of what industry experts say are very thin, European models becoming the beauty standard. While there has been a push for body positivity and diversity in the past, many - including Edward Enninful, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, are now questioning whether the rise in ultra-thin models signals a shift back to outdated ideals. To discuss, Anita speaks to Alex Fullerton who is a fashion writer, author and stylist.
73-year-old Sushila Karki has recently been sworn in as Nepal’s interim prime minister, the first woman to hold that office. This is after anti-corruption protests, when GenZ movement, as it’s been called, ousted the government, and more than 70 people were killed in the clashes with riot police. Normally the position is held by a member of parliament, but Sushila isn’t a politician, she was the country’s chief justice before her retirement. Anita is joined by Sanjaya Dhakal, a journalist with the BBC Nepali Service to find out why she was appointed and what difference people think she can make.
Edel Murphy, the CEO of University of Atypical, an organisation that develops and promotes the work of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists in Northern Ireland talks about the arts festival Bounce, which will be taking place in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry in early October, featuring many female performers and artists.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Corinna Jones
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002jhm6)
The Rise of Matcha
As sales of matcha continue to boom, Leyla Kazim traces the story of the powdered green tea from centuries-old Japanese tradition to global health trend phenomenon. We look behind the social media videos and headlines to find out more about the reported matcha shortage, how the matcha supply chain is reacting, and ask what might happen next.
Also in the programme Leyla learns about some of the misconceptions we have about matcha, including the issues around the term 'ceremonial grade'; we have a report from Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms in Japan about how tea farmers are coping with the sudden boom; and Leyla digs into the health claims about matcha with dietician and scientist at King's College London, Dr Emily Leeming.
Presented by Leyla Kazim and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.
FRI 11:45 The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet (m002jhm8)
Episode 5 - Sadeq and the Danger Hours
Lyse Doucet reads from her new book about Afghanistan, told through daily life at the Inter-Con Kabul. It's 2020 the Taliban can taste new victory, and anxiety stalks the hotel.
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an award winning journalist who has reported from many of the world's war zones. She has covered stories from Afghanistan since 1988 when she first checked into the Inter-Con, and from where she has witnessed the impact of unceasing conflict that has scarred this nation for half a century.
Her book is a history of Afghanistan told through the lives of the people who have worked at the Inter-Con, some since it opened in 1969. Despite enduring several coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, a US invasion, and the rise and fall and rise of the Taliban, the Inter-Con is still standing. In telling the stories of the hotel's housekeepers, chefs, managers and engineers Lyse shows how us how ordinary Afghans have managed to live through destruction and disruption in their workplace and their country.
The music is Wa wa Leili - Leili, how wonderful! from the album Sweet Nomad Girl. Abdul Wahab Madadi (vocal), Veronica Doubleday (vocal and daireh) and John Baily (14-stringed dutar).
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
Image by Paula Bronstein
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002jhmb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m002jhmd)
Great Migrations
New technology gives fresh insights into the great animal migrations. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski discuss the great spectacles of the bird, mammal and insect worlds and consider how they're changing in an era of climate change and habitat destruction.
They're joined by insect migration expert, Will Hawkes, David Barrie, author of Incredible Journeys and the leader of the ICARUS satellite monitoring project, Martin Wikelski from the University of Konstanz. Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent reports from the dangerous songbird migration route over Cyprus while ecologist and concept developer Mark van Heukelm reveals the secrets of the extraordinary fish doorbell and Martha Kearney visits Britain's migration hotspot, Fair Isle.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Assistant Producers: Toby Field and Georgia Christie
Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University
FRI 12:57 Weather (m002jhmg)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m002jhmj)
British couple detained in Afghanistan are released
A British couple who were detained for nearly eight months in Afghanistan are freed. Also on the programme, a new report says the chancellor is gambling on productivity. Are planned public sector savings realistic? We'll discuss rows over free speech in the US with Christiane Amanpour and as MI6 announce that they will use the dark web to attract new recruits, we'll ask a spy thriller writer if espionage is losing some of it's glamour.
FRI 13:45 The History Podcast (m002jhml)
The Fort
10. Mathew
A gruelling, emotional mission draws to a close.
In the aftermath of the operation and recovery at Jugroom Fort, the risks and rewards are analysed, but some costs are incalculable.
The Fort was told solely by current and former members of the Armed Forces, many speaking for the first time.
Produced by Kev Core
Edited by Sue Roberts
Sound by Sharon Hughes
Commissioning Executive Tracy Williams
Commissioned by Dan Clarke
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002jfct)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002hzhw)
Mothercover
Episode 4: Face Off
Things take a dangerous and unexpected turn for Gwen. It’s time for her to pick a side.
An Aberystwyth-set thriller, by BAFTA Cymru nominee Fflur Dafydd, with original music by Mercury Prize nominees Gwenno and Rhys Edwards.
CAST
Gwen…. Alexandra Roach
Liz…. Remy Beasley
Geraint…. Matthew Gravelle
Dean…. Alex Harries
Malcolm…. Gwydion Rhys
Original Music.... Gwenno and Rhys Edwards
Sound design.... Rhys Morris
Assistant Producer: Ryan Hooper
Production Co-ordinator.... Lindsay Rees and Eleri McAuliffe
Technology Consultant... Gareth Mitchell
Directed by Fay Lomas
Produced by Fay Lomas and John Norton, BBC Audio Drama Wales
FRI 14:45 Uncharted with Hannah Fry (m0023096)
20. The Confidence Trick
An ambitious portfolio manager stumbles upon a perfect graph. It outlines eye watering profits. But something doesn't quite add up - could this graph be accurate? Or does it hide a far more sinister truth?
Producer Lauren Armstrong Carter
Sound Designer: Jon Nicholls
Story Editor: John Yorke
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002jhmn)
Elmbridge: Friendly Fungi, Sticky Leaves and Stunted Sweet Peas
Why do indoor cyclamen develop sticky leaves? What’s the secret to growing taller sweet peas? And how can we make our gardens more fungi-friendly?
This week, Kathy Clugston and the Gardeners’ Question Time panel return to Claygate in Surrey, ready to tackle listeners’ gardening dilemmas. Joining Kathy are horticultural experts Bob Flowerdew, Juliet Sargeant, and Pippa Greenwood, bringing their deep knowledge and lively discussion to the table.
Later in the programme, Bunny Guinness shares seasonal tips and practical advice to help you make the most of your garden as autumn sets in.
Producer: Matt Smith
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m000hhtg)
The Prisoner by Heidi Amsinck
Anders already suspects that the historical boat tour of Copenhagen will be a mistake, but never in the way it turns out.
An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by writer Heidi Amsinck.
Read by Tim McInnerny.
Heidi Amsinck, a writer and journalist born in Copenhagen, has written numerous short stories for radio. A graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, Heidi lives in Surrey.
Her first collection of short stories, Last Train To Helsingør, was published in 2018.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2020.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002jhmq)
Robert Redford, Barbara Harvey, Rosa Roisinblit, Stuart Craig
Matthew Bannister on:
Robert Redford, the film star who believed his striking good looks could be a curse as well as a blessing.
Barbara Harvey, the mediaeval historian who revealed fascinating details of the lives of the monks of Westminster Abbey.
Rosa Roisinblit, one of Argentina’s Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo who finally tracked down the grandson who had been abducted at birth and given up for adoption.
And the Oscar winning film designer Stuart Craig who brought the Harry Potter world to life on the big screen. Director Chris Columbus pays tribute.
Interviewee: Chris Columbus
Interviewee: Michael Feeney Callan
Interviewee: Professor Joanna Innes
Interviewee: Professor John Blair
Interviewee: Amy Booth
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Archive used:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Trailer, 20th Century Studios Youtube Channel, uploaded 18/09/2015; Robert Redford interview, Parkinson, BBC Television, 1980; Barefoot in the Park film trailer, 1967, Paramount movies digital channel uploaded 10/10/2014; All the President's Men - Original Theatrical Trailer, Warner Brothers Rewind YouTube Channel uploaded 09/07/2014; Rosa Roisinblit interview, BBC Newsnight, 04/04/2013; Guillermo Pérez Roisinblit interview, 60 minutes, CBS News Television, 60mins Facebook channel uploaded 28/07/2025; Mother of plaza de mayo report, International Assignment, BBC Radio 4, 04/09/1981; Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Official Trailer, Harry Potter YouTube Channel, uploaded 24/09/2023; Stuart Craig interview, The One Show, 05/03/2012; Stuart Craig Interview, The Film Programme, BBC Radio 4, 09/11/2007;
FRI 16:30 More or Less (m002jf2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m002jhms)
Russia violates third Nato member's airspace
The military alliance says it intercepted three Russian fighters jets over Estonia, calling it "reckless behaviour". Plus, ways of combatting illegal migration, and why the nurses' union is boycotting the NHS pay body.
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002jhmv)
British couple released from Afghan prison.
An elderly British couple detained for eight months by the Taliban are released from prison in Afghanistan.
A total of three migrants who arrived on small boats have now been sent back to France.
A Scottish government minister resigns following allegations he grabbed and swore at an opposition MSP.
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m002jhmx)
Series 118
3. Crossing the Pond, Crossing the Floor
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Hugo Rifkind, Pierre Novellie, Sara Barron and Lucy Porter to break down the week in news. The panel unpack Trump's second state visit, the reserve banquet of seat fillers, foreign investment from the US, Ed Davey's Ancient Greek punishment, chimps drunk on fruit, and why Penny Mordaunt thinks it's no fun to be a Conservative anymore.
Written by Andy Zaltzman.
With additional material by: Cody Dahler, Ruth Husko, Sam Lake and Laura Major.
Producer: Rajiv Karia
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002jhmz)
Ruairi and Paul wake up in Paul’s bed, before Ruairi gets a call from Brian and panics – he should be at work. Brian has in fact come to see Alice and is outside in the Stables Yard. Alice is still angry with Brian, refusing to accept his apology. Ruairi then creeps out of the house, kissing Paul goodbye, only for Ben to interrupt and tell Ruairi he’s just missed Brian. Later, Ben finds Ruairi at Home Farm where they chat about Paul. Ben manages to squeeze a confession out of Ruairi that he really likes Paul, but he doesn’t know if Paul feels the same way.
Lilian finds Brian in the Eco Office, telling him she’s worried how upset Alice is. Brian needs to find a way to make it up with her. Brian insists he’s tried, then admits he’s struggling to run the farm without Stella. Lilian is convinced the stress is getting to him – and blaming Justin for his troubles isn’t the answer. For his own sake Brian needs to let Adam and Ruairi do more – they’re more than capable. Alice appears and tells Brian that Chris apologised to Martha’s teacher on behalf of the family, but apparently hardly any parents noticed anything was wrong. Martha’s friends haven’t said anything to her either. Brian’s relieved, until Lilian repeats the point she made earlier and Alice agrees that Brian should take a step back. Brian however still can’t see past his fight with Justin - and is determined to win the fight, even if it’s the last thing he does!
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m002jhn1)
Anne Dudley and Joe Stilgoe round off the series
Musician and songwriter Joe Stilgoe and Oscar-winning composer and arranger Anne Dudley join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe to add the final five tracks of the series, taking us from calypso to K-pop via Beethoven and Brubeck.
Add to Playlist returns on 14 November.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Calypso Queen by Calypso Rose
Concrete and Clay by Unit 4 + 2
Piano Concerto in G Major: III (Rondo) by Beethoven
Blue Rondo à la Turk by Dave Brubeck
Gangnam Style by Psy
Other music in this episode:
Disco Inferno by The Trammps
WHO AM I by Berwyn
Abatina by Calypso Rose
I Love to Love by Tina Charles
Rock the Boat by Hues Corporation
Concrete and Clay by Eddie Rambeau
Take Five by Dave Brubeck
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002jhn3)
Sarah Elliott, Nigel Huddleston MP, Alison McGovern MP, Calum Miller MP
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from King Edward VI College in Stourbridge, with Sarah Elliott, spokesperson for Republicans Overseas UK and director of the UK-US Special Relationship Unit at the Prosperity Institute; the shadow culture secretary Nigel Huddleston MP; local government minister Alison McGovern MP; and the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson, Calum Miller MP.
Producer: Paul Martin
Lead broadcast engineer: Tom Parnell
FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002jf37)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:40 on Wednesday]
FRI 21:00 The Verb (m002jhn5)
The Adverb
Testament presents poetry in performance from Daljit Nagra, Kate Fox, Andrew McMillan and Kirsty Taylor
The Adverb is recorded in front of a studio audience in St George's Hall, Bradford at the Contains Strong Language festival. Part of the Bradford 2025 City of Culture celebrations.
Testament is a writer, rapper, educator and world-record breaking beatboxer. Daljt Nagra won the Forward Poetry Prize for best single poem in 2004 for "Look We Have Coming to Dover!" Verb regular Kate Fox's recent books include 'Bigger on the Inside' and 'On Sycamore Gap'. Andrew McMillan won the Guardian First Book award for his debut collection Physical and Kirsty Taylor is a writer and educator inspired by her beloved hometown Bradford - she opened the City of Culture year in January performing to 20,000 people in City Park.
Presenter: Testament
Producer: Jessica Treen
Exec Producer: Susan Roberts
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002jhn7)
How will Nato respond to latest Russian airspace violation?
Nato aircraft have intercepted three Russian warplanes after they entered Estonia's airspace without permission. A top politician in Tallin gives us his reaction - and we ask how Nato should respond to this latest escalation.
Also on the programme:
A special report hearing from people who attended Saturday's rally organised by the far right activist Tommy Robinson.
And why this year's autumn leaves are set to be more spectacular than ever.
FRI 22:45 Mrs Robinson by Helen Cross (m002jhn9)
Episode 5: Experience
Lydia has to confront reality. Branwell refuses to. And Anne’s plan has unexpected consequences. Final episode of Helen Cross’s five-part original fiction, read by Anne-Marie Duff.
Producers: Fay Lomas and Mair Bosworth
FRI 23:00 Americast (w3ct7t5y)
Has Trump cancelled Jimmy Kimmel over Charlie Kirk?
Donald Trump has finished his state visit to the UK and it ended with a joint press conference with the British PM Keir Starmer. What did the two leaders say about Gaza and Ukraine, why was Epstein not really mentioned, and what does it tell us about the relationship between the two countries? Sarah - who was in the room with Trump and Starmer at Chequers - also reveals what Susie Wiles, the US president’s chief of staff, told her about Trump.
The other big topic discussed - and the story dominating US headlines - is the broadcaster ABC’s decision to take Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air after his comments on the killing of Charlie Kirk. Justin, Marianna and Sarah unpack what that means for late night talk shows and free speech in America.
HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Sarah Smith, North America Editor
• Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent
GET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
• Or use #Americast
This episode was made by Purvee Pattni, George Dabby, Alix Pickles and Rufus Gray. The technical producer was Mark Pickett. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm
Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
FRI 23:30 Short Works (m0012swr)
The Riots
An original short work for BBC Radio 4 by the Northern Irish writer Dawn Watson. As read by Aoibhéann McCann.
Dawn Watson published her debut poetry pamphlet 'The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher' in 2019. She has short stories in anthologies including 'Still Worlds Turning' and 'Belfast Stories'. Dawn has taught undergraduate Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre in Queen’s University since 2018. She is a former national tabloid sub editor and lives in Belfast.
Writer: Dawn Watson
Reader: Aoibhéann McCann
Producer: Michael Shannon
A BBC Northern Ireland production.
FRI 23:45 Today in Parliament (m002jy92)
Alicia McCarthy reports as peers decide whether to allow the assisted dying bill to continue its passage through Parliament.