SATURDAY 06 DECEMBER 2025
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002n0sj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee (m000n6qg)
5. On Leopoldstadt
Attention turns movingly to Leopoldstadt his most recent play, where he reflects on his family and the Holocaust.
Since 1964, he's been writing for the theatre, big screen, TV and radio. His plays are among the most studied of the last century.
Among the giants of British theatre - in Hermione Lee's evocative and immersive biography, we come to know the man and his work.
Concluded by Alex Jennings.
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Producer: Elizabeth Allard
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2020.
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n0sl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n0sn)
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 (m002n0sq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n0ss)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n0sv)
All the Lost Things
Good morning. I must confess mornings are a nightmare for me unless I pack my bag the night before. If I don’t, it’s game over. Rather than getting ready, if I haven’t packed everything, ready to go by the door, I will spend ages fixated on finding that missing lip-balm or looking for that one specific top because I absolutely hate the feeling of losing something and not being able to find it. It would be comical if I wasn’t late as often as I am.
Maybe it’s because the things that really haunt me aren’t lost things but lost moments, missed opportunities, lost friendships over the years. And the thing is, I wouldn’t even begin to know how to find those, or even how to repair them, take better care of them and not lose them again.
I heard this phrase “anticipatory grief will be the death of me,” and I thought same girl same. I spend so much time bracing for loss — especially the thought of losing my parents or loved ones hoping that if I think about it enough it won’t shock me or hurt me as much as I am afraid it will.
Once when I couldn’t find my phone in my bag (it was in my jacket pocket), my friend said since I was a Christian I should ask Saint Anthony to sort it out and help me find my phone.
Although I am not Catholic, in the face of all the lost things, past present and future; I have found myself thinking a lot about that moment and my friend and Saint Anthony. So if you still can’t find your car keys this morning you now know which saint to have a little word with.
Anyway, Heavenly father, may all the lost things find their way back to me, all the love all the time all the moments that seem so heart achingly gone and irredeemable. Father God surprise me with gladness in the unfamiliar desert of grief over something lost. Amen
SAT 05:45 New Storytellers (m002hbkl)
In Living Memory
'In Living Memory' is a deeply intimate and sensitive story that follows Shadé Joseph as she sends a voice message to her eldest brother, who died 17 years before she was born. She has the quiet belief that he is somewhere out there, listening. For what felt like a lifetime, Shadé sensed him knocking on the door of her heart, but fear held her back from answering, uncertain of the pain it might awaken in her family. Then, on one seemingly ordinary day in November 2024, she found the courage to let him in. What unfolds is a tender reflection on how his absence became a legacy that shaped the lives of every child in the family who came after him.
New Storytellers presents the work of new student audio producers, and this series features the winners of the Charles Parker Prize 2025 for the Best Student Radio Feature. These awards are presented every year in memory of the pioneering radio producer Charles Parker who produced the famous series of Radio Ballads with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. The series is introduced by Charles’ daughter, Sara Parker, an award-winning radio producer in her own right.
Shadé Joseph is a student at UCL East studying an MA in Audio Storytelling for Radio and Podcast. The judges said of her Gold Charles Parker Prize winning feature, “I found this programme extremely moving,” commented one judge. “The narrator’s script was honest, vulnerable, at times playful... A small idea with a lot of heart!... overall, a wonderful piece of radio.”
Producer: Shadé Joseph
A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002n7rh)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SAT 06:07 This Natural Life (m002mz61)
Emma Pinchbeck
Emma Pinchbeck is the Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Change Committee - the independent body which advises the government on emissions targets and the impacts of climate change. She grew up in the Cotswolds, where Martha Kearney meets her to hear about her love of the Gloucestershire countryside. Emma talks about her childhood in the Stroud valleys, where her family roots go back twelve generations and where she is now bringing up her own children. She explains how deeply-rooted her connection to the natural world is - influencing everything from her choice of college as a teenager to her decision to give up a job in finance and work instead in the environmental sector.
Producer: Emma Campbell
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002n7rr)
06/12/25 Farming Today This Week: rural traditions supply chain adjudicator, drought, bluetongue, swine fever, winter jobs
Rural traditions, from morris dancing to dry stone walling and tartan weaving, could be internationally protected by UNESCO. The government has launched its search for examples of living heritage to go onto an inventory.
With dairy companies continuing to cut the prices they pay farmers for milk, the man appointed to ensure fairness and transparency in the UK agricultural supply chain says he'll be watching out for any breaches in the coming months. Richard Thompson is the first in the new adjudicator role, looking first at the dairy supply chain. His report says some farmers are still afraid to speak out in case of reprisals.
The UK has temporarily banned all imports of pig products from Spain after an outbreak of African swine fever in wild boars there. It's Spain's first case since 1994. The disease is spread by ticks and can be devastating to commercial herds. The National Pig Association here says it's vital our government puts adequate controls at borders to keep the disease out.
The first cases of bluetongue disease In Northern Ireland have been confirmed. Two cows on a farm in County Down have the disease with a further 44 in the same herd suspected of having it. A 20km control zone has been implemented around Bangor in County Down. There have been more than 200 cases in England and Wales since July this year, though none in Scotland so far.
This year's summer drought has cost arable farmers in England an estimated £828 million. The think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit says crops were hit by a very hot spring and summer as well as the resulting lack of water.
All week we've been looking at winter jobs, including hedge laying and tidying sheds.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002n7s1)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002n7sb)
Today (Saturday)
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002n7sl)
Chris McCausland, Shipwrecks, Obstacle Racing, and the Inheritance Tracks of Jacinda Ardern
Chris McCausland joins Adrian for extraordinary stories from remarkable people.
SAT 10:00 Curious Cases (m002n7mf)
Series 24
Tortoise Tomfoolery
Tortoises have traditionally been the poster child for slowness. These ancient, armoured reptiles are solitary, territorial and all-too-often dismissed as dull.
In fact, tortoises have distinct personalities. They have changeable moods, can learn simple tasks, remember certain useful information for years and even recognise familiar people.
But can they play?
Hot on the trail of tortoise tomfoolery, Hannah and Dara explore the stereotype-smashing studies that show there's far more to these creatures than previously thought; and find out that these complex behaviours might apply not only to the turtle clan, but potentially other reptiles as well...
To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk
Contributors:
- Anna Wilkinson, Professor of Animal Cognition at the University of Lincoln
- Unnar Karl Aevarsson, Herpetologist at ZSL London Zoo
- Gordon Burghardt, Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee
Producer: Lucy Taylor
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002n7mk)
Series 50
Haringey
Jay Rayner and the panel are answering questions from an audience of keen home cooks at the Cypriot Community Centre in Haringey, North London.
Joining Jay to share their own tips and recipes are chefs, cooks and food writers Hasan Semay, Georgina Hayden, Tim Anderson and Melek Erdal. Shining a light on Cypriot cooking, Jay and the panel discuss the many uses of halloumi and the unique flavour of sheftalia kebabs. The panellists also offer their best recipes involving cranberries, and how to achieve a smoky kebab flavour without a barbecue, and reveal the biggest fails of their culinary careers.
Produced by Dulcie Whadcock
Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002n7t2)
The Daily Telegraph's political editor, Ben Riley-Smith, analyses the latest developments at Westminster.
Following further fallout from Rachel Reeves' Budget, and accusations that she misled the public about the state of the public finances, Ben speaks to two members of the Treasury select committee who have been investigating the issue: Labour MP, Yuan Yang, and Conservative MP, Dame Harriet Baldwin.
After the Prime Minister signalled that the government would make a fresh attempt to reform the welfare system, Ben is joined by the Labour chair of the Work and Pensions select committee, Debbie Abrahams, and the former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who introduced Universal Credit.
Former Labour Home Secretary, Jack Straw, and former Conservative Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, debate the government's proposals to reduce the number of jury trials.
And the state of Anglo-German relations was in focus this week following a state visit by the German President. To discuss this Ben brings together two German-born British politicians: Former Labour MP, Baroness Gisela Stuart, and Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath.
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002n7tc)
Israel's ultra-Orthodox conscription bill
Kate Adie introduces stories from Israel, Honduras, Turkey and Lebanon, Georgia and Russia.
Israel is facing an impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army, and the issue is threatening to undermine Israel's government and split the country. Lucy Williamson reports from the city of Bnei Brak.
Donald Trump surprised many in his own Republican party this week when he signed a pardon releasing the former president of Honduras from a West Virginia prison. Juan Orlando Hernández was serving 45 years for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Will Grant gauges the reaction in Tegucigalpa - and pays a visit to the former president's wife.
Pope Leo chose Turkey and Lebanon as the destinations for his first overseas trip as Pontiff, stopping off in the Turkish city of Iznik – scene of the First Council of Nicaea seventeen hundred years ago, which shaped Christian beliefs for centuries. Aleem Maqbool has been travelling with the Pope.
It’s been a year since demonstrators took to the streets of Tbilisi to protest the Georgian government's suspension of accession talks with the European Union. Rayhan Demytrie reports from the capital Tblisi, where demonstrators continue to voice their objections every day.
It’s nearly four years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and despite heavy losses to his own country, President Putin seems convinced now is not the moment to stop. Despite punitive laws which discourage people from speaking out, discreet conversations reveal a strong desire among Russian citizens to end the war. Ben Tavener reveals the insights he has gleaned while out walking his dog.
Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002n7tl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002n7tw)
Energy Costs for Families and Salary Sacrifice Pensions
New research suggests there are 6 million children across the UK living in fuel poverty, according to the charity National Energy Action. It defines fuel poverty as when a household has to spend at least 10% of its income to keep their home warm. It says the impact on children of living in a home which parents and carers struggle to keep warm can be significant. We'll hear more about what it would like to see change and discuss how the government and suppliers already help those struggling with bills.
Of all the Budget measures perhaps the most misunderstood is the plan to restrict what is called salary sacrifice - giving up some of your pay so your employer can use that money to boost your pension. It won't actually happen until April 2029 but many Money Box listeners have been getting touch with questions. We'll take a look at those.
How to keep Christmas costs low, as a debt charity finds thousands of people used its website for help on Christmas Day.
And how tax relief for people who are asked to work from home is changing.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson
(First broadcast on Radio 4 at
12pm Saturday 6th December 2025)
SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m002n0s0)
Series 3
Parties, polycules, and pardoning
This week, The Naked Week team look at Your Party, join a polycule, and bestow some Christmas pardons.
From host Andrew Hunter Murray and The Skewer's Jon Holmes, Radio 4’s newest Friday night comedy The Naked Week returns with a blend of the silly and serious. From satirical stunts to studio set pieces via guest correspondents and investigative journalism, it's a bold, audacious take not only on the week’s news, but also the way it’s packaged and presented.
Host: Andrew Hunter Murray
Guests: Rosie Holt, Leanne Yau
The Naked Week Carol Singers: Fiona Mundy, Holly Alderson, Kayley Williams, Molly Punshon
Investigations Team: Cat Neilan, Cormac Kehoe, Freya Shaw
Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
Jason Hazeley
James Kettle
Additional Material:
Karl Minns
Joe Topping
Cooper Mawhinny Sweryt
David Riffkin
WH Auden
Live Sound: Jerry Peal
Post Production: Tony Churnside
Clip Assistant: David Riffkin
Production Assistant: Molly Punshon
Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Producer and Director: Jon Holmes
Executive Producer: Phil Abrams.
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 12:57 Weather (m002n7v7)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m002n7vk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002n0s6)
Baroness Chakrabarti, Christopher Hope, Graham Stuart MP, Gillian Tett
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Northfield School & Sports College in Billingham, Teesside with the Labour peer and civil liberties campaigner Baroness Chakrabarti; GB News political editor Christopher Hope; Conservative MP and former government minister Graham Stuart; and Gillian Tett, columnist and editorial board member at the Financial Times, and provost of King's College, Cambridge.
Producer: Paul Martin
Assistant producer: Lowri Morgan
Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Owain Williams
Editor: Glyn Tansley
SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002n7vv)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002n0s2)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe
30th Nov - 5th December
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer.... David Troughton
Chris Carter.... Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter.... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Ian Craig.... Stephen Kennedy
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell
Ed Grundy.... Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy.... Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Joy Horville.... Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd.... Michael Lumsden
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Hannah Riley.... Helen Longworth
SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m000xk9t)
Ready Player Marx
“Corruption reigns here, Sonic, I’m sure of it.”
Nell Barlow and Hollie Edwin star in a satirical and emotional drama by Sean Grundy and Cara Jennings about the battles, firings and dirty tactics a group of video game workers face trying to unionise in the £50 billion gaming industry. Inspired by real events.
“Go, SuperMario, Go… Solidarity is built from struggle.”
Video game workers Laura in the UK and Rachel in the US are close to breakdowns with their 100-hour weeks, making violent game content, dealing with industry racism and sexism. They want to start a union to protect themselves and start secret meetings inside virtual gaming worlds where they attract a group of like-minded protestors. But all is not what it seems when the mysterious Marx-XXX appears on the scene. And in the real world they see just how nasty the industry can get when bosses want to bring them down.
“Remember Lara Croft… Revolution is the locomotive of history.”
It’s a story of love, betrayal, socialism and dark secrets when two young people fight for their rights and take on capitalism as they journey through online gameworlds - a bank heist in AutoPimp, undersea adventures in Noctopus, laser battles in Astrattack, beach fun in VolleyUppy, shoot and score in Glasshouse, and fighting demon dragons in Spangenhelm. The couple bring to life the fun of gameworlds and celebrate gaming having a positive role in the world.
“You know, PacMan, real power is in the workplace”
Ready Player Marx is written by Sean Grundy and Cara Jennings, who previously created How to Burn a Million Quid and have been Sony and Tinniswood award nominated.
Cast:
Laura - Nell Barlow
Rachel - Hollie Edwin
Eva - Jennifer English
Steve - Matt Addis
Gary - Paul Panting
Benedict - Jonathan Aris
Mum - Elizabeth Carling
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7w2)
Jacinda Ardern, Women leaving teaching, Friendships with exes
When Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017 at the age of 37, she was the youngest female head of government in the world. She also made history as only the second elected leader to give birth while in office. She resigned in 2023 after more than five years in post saying she no longer had enough in the tank and, since then, has engaged in global work focused on empathy in leadership and the prevention of online extremism. As a new documentary film, Prime Minister, is out in cinemas now, Jacinda talks to Kylie Pentelow.
The government has just unveiled its new HIV Action Plan with the stated goal of tackling stigma and to end transmissions in England by 2030. Public Health Minister Ashley Dalton discusses the policy along with Ellie Harrison, who was diagnosed HIV positive when she was 21.
Are friendships with exes a bad idea or a sign of growing up? Journalist Olivia Petter and comedian Rosie Wilby join Nuala McGovern to explore how relationships with ex-partners evolve after a breakup, and why staying in touch can look different in straight and LGBTQ+ communities.
Columnist Sarah Vine started losing her hair as a teenager and was eventually diagnosed with female pattern baldness, a hormonal condition. But now she has decided, after 15 years of wearing wigs, to reveal her own hair on the front cover of a national newspaper. She speaks about her decision to bare all.
We examine new data that reveals the number of teachers leaving the profession after becoming parents. We explore why, and what’s being done about it. Emma Shepherd is the founder of the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project and Branwen Jeffries is the BBC's Education Editor.
Do you like everything to be perfect for dinner party hosting – the spotless house, the elaborate menu, the Instagram-worthy table setting? But what if the secret to a great dinner party isn’t perfection, but scruffy hosting – a trend that is apparently transforming the way we gather together and makes stress-free dinner parties more attainable - perhaps a one-pot dinner, mismatched cutlery, toys under the table or children running around screaming. Helen Thorn, Comedian, Podcaster and one half of Scummy Mummies tells Nuala why she embraces this type of hosting.
Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Dianne McGregor
SAT 17:00 PM (m002n7wb)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m002mz5q)
Toast - Skype
Why did Skype fall out of favour in a world of global video calls?
The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates with the entrepreneur, Sam White, alongside him.
Sam never knows what's coming so, at the end of every episode of Toast, she gives her off-the-cuff and authentic professional opinions on why a brand disappeared based on what she has just heard and her own business knowhow.
In this episode, we learn how Skype worked by using Voice Over Internet Protocol to send audio and video data over the internet. It connected users through a centralized, cloud-based service which allowed free voice and video calls between Skype users.
It really changed the game when it came to keeping in touch with friends and family around the world. It helped grandparents meet their grandchildren for the first time without leaving the house and gave us a way of cutting our phone bills.
Sean interviews:
- Peter Raeburn - an award-winning composer who worked with Skype’s founders to create the iconic sounds that became the familiar sound track to Skype which, at its peak, was used by over 300 million people worldwide.
- Andrew Sinclair - a General Manager for Skype for Business who offers his insight into what happened after Skype was sold by Ebay, and snapped up by tech giant, Microsoft.
-Sam Shead - a journalist who witnessed how Skype changed the world of communication, soaring and then sinking and has taken an in depth look at the names behind the brand, so what did he uncover?
Produced by Linda Walker.
Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk
Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002n7wk)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002n7wt)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7x1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002n7x8)
Neil Morrissey, Omid Djalili, Elizabeth Day, Clive Anderson, Ania Magliano
Making lemonade from the lemons of life our is the theme to this week's Loose Ends. The comedian Omid Djalili was so incensed by having his shows cancelled after 9/11 due to his Middle Eastern heritage that he devised a stand up tour called Namaste so he could let off steam as well as make us laugh. Elizabeth Day's How to Fail podcast is, ironically, a massive success but she says her latest novel - a darkly humorous political satire - draws on her own feelings of being an outsider. Neil Morrissey had an ill-starred childhood but managed to head straight for the limelight in Men Behaving Badly, Line of Duty and is now playing Jacob Marley who brings redemption to Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. And comedian Ania Magliano admits to smarting at losing Taskmaster by a whisker but she's back on stage soon with her new show.
And a performance from Dracapella, a comedy retelling of the Dracula story, in song.
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002n7v9)
Zak Brown
Stephen Smith profiles the former racing driver and marketing guru who's turned around McLaren's fortunes and led them to Formula 1 glory. Born in California in 1971, friends and colleagues paint a picture of a fiercely competitive man with ‘noble intentions’.
After dropping out of high school Zak Brown’s life changed after meeting former F1 world champion Mario Andretti when he was 15. He traded watches he’d won on the Wheel of Fortune game show to buy a go-kart.
Brown won races as a driver but never really hit the big time. He then set up the world’s most successful motorsports marketing company before being lured to the F1 grid by McLaren in 2016. The team were in dire straits and in serious need of a cash injection. In less than 10 years, Brown has completely turned around the team’s fortunes and led them to back-to-back constructors’ championships. But will his refusal to favour one of his two drivers cost both of them the drivers’ championship?
Contributors:
Mackenzie Astin - childhood friend
Mario Andretti - former F1 champion
Will Buxton - former F1 commentator, journalist, broadcaster
Ben Hunt - motorsport journalist and author of Forever Forward
Lawrence Baretto - F1 commentator
Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producers: Mhairi Mackenzie, Ben Crighton
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound: James Beard
Archive:
The Bottom LIne, BBC
5LIve
Wheel of Fortune - CBS
Sky Sport
SAT 19:15 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002kjvf)
Series 34
Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson
Robin Ince and Brian Cox get all fired up, overcome their natural repulsion and come together for this stellar episode on nuclear fusion. They’re joined by plasma physicist Yasmin Andrew, fusion scientist Howard Wilson and comedian Ria Lina to uncover the secrets of star-making here on our planet.
Together the panel discovers how the sun fuses atoms to release energy and why misbehaving, jiggling plasma makes this tricky to recreate on Earth. They explore the competing technological approaches — from giant magnets to the world’s biggest lasers — and find out that the hottest place in the solar system is, in fact, in Oxfordshire. Finally, they ask whether fusion could really provide an unlimited source of clean energy, or whether the technology will forever be “just 20 years away”.
Producer: Melanie Brown
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production
SAT 20:00 From Our Own Correspondent (m002n7xk)
From Our Own Correspondent at 70
Anna Foster and some of the BBC’s best-known foreign correspondents are joined by an audience of Radio 4 listeners to celebrate 70 years of ‘From Our Own Correspondent’.
Since the first episode was broadcast on 25th September 1955, FOOC – as it’s affectionately known – has reported from almost every country in the world.
Anna’s guests for the event, recorded in the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London, are Kate Adie, the presenter of FOOC and a former BBC Chief News Correspondent, Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s International Editor, Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, and Steve Rosenberg, the BBC’s Russia Editor.
They discuss what the job of a foreign correspondent is these days when anyone can get on a plane, take a mobile phone and broadcast to the world. They reflect on how to report on a more hostile world.
Together, they offer insights into the world of the foreign correspondent - including the time Jeremy Bowen once told the Mujahideen in Afghanistan that he was Lyse Doucet - and Steve Rosenberg takes to the piano to explain why his hopes for Russia rest with a newspaper vendor in Moscow.
Producers: Adele Armstrong, Serena Tarling and Polly Hope.
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002n0jc)
The Jury: Moral Innovation or Historic Relic?
The jury trial has been around for almost 1,000 years. Magna Carta, in 1215, enshrined the principle that “No free man shall be... imprisoned… except by the lawful judgement of his peers.” That could be about to change, under the proposal by the Justice Secretary, David Lammy, to restrict jury trials to the most serious cases. The aim is to deal with an unprecedented backlog in the courts. Britain, thus far, has been in the minority: most countries around the world rely on judges – not juries – to evaluate the evidence, assess guilt, and deliver justice.
Those in favour of juries see them as a moral institution, putting justice in the hands of randomly-selected ordinary people, rather than those of the state or a legal elite, and so reducing the chance of a biased or blinkered verdict. Opponents argue that juries can be obstacles to justice, not immune to prejudiced decisions, and lacking the expertise to weigh up the evidence in complex cases.
While some see the jury system as a redundant relic of the past, others believe the deliberative democratic principle it embodies should be extended to other areas of public life in innovative ways. Should we, as some suggest, replace the House of Lords with a second chamber full of randomly-selected representative voters? Those in favour of citizen juries in politics, as well as in the governance of public institutions, believe they can provide greater democratic legitimacy and lead to better decisions, through a combination of lived experience and expert guidance. Those against citizen juries say they undermine a fundamental democratic principle: one person, one vote.
Chair: Michael Buerk
Panel: Matthew Taylor, Inaya Folarin-Iman, Tim Stanley and Mona Siddiqui
Witnesses: Sir Simon Jenkins, Fiona Rutherford, Anna Coote and Tom Simpson
Producer: Dan Tierney.
SAT 22:00 News (m002n7xr)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002n0r7)
The Food Books of 2025
Leyla Kazim takes a look at the best food books and writing from 2025, and chats to food writer Ruby Tandoh about her new book looking at why we eat the way we eat now.
We hear picks from the rest of The Food Programme presenters - Sheila Dillon, Dan Saladino and Jaega Wise; books to get you cooking and books to get you thinking.
Tom Tivnan from The Bookseller discusses the latest bestsellers, and Carla Lalli - cookbook author and former Bon Appétit food director - helps bust some common myths and even lies we see in about recipe books and in online recipes.
Food Books for 2025:
* Serving the Public: The Good Food Revolution in Schools, Hospitals and Prisons by Professor Kevin Morgan
* Give It a Grow: Simple Projects to Nurture Food, Flowers and Wildlife in Any Outdoor Space by Martha Swales
* Food Fight: From Plunder and Profit to People and Planet by Stuart Gillespie
* Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from My Palestine by Sami Tamimi
* Naturally Vegan: Delicious Recipes from Around the World That Just Happen to Be Plant-based by Julius Fiedler
* WINE: Everything You Need to Know by Olly Smith
* Winter Wellness: Nourishing Recipes to Keep You Healthy When It’s Cold by Rachel de Thample
* Abundance: Eating and Living with the Seasons by Mark Diacono
* Kapusta: Vegetable-Forward Recipes from Eastern Europe by Alissa Timoshkina
* Indian Kitchens: Treasured Recipes from India’s Diverse Food Culture by Roopa Gulati
* All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now by Ruby Tandoh
* Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria by Ozoz Sokoh
Presented by Leyla Kazim
Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.
SAT 23:00 Time Of The Week (m00212rs)
Series 1
3. Perfume, the Menopause, Gen Z
Chloe Slack balances hosting the programme with looking after her niece. Today's topics include perfume, private members’ clubs and Stonehenge.
Sian Clifford stars as self-important journalist Chloe Slack in this comedy series parodying women’s current affairs and talk shows, surrounded by an ensemble cast of character comedians.
Chloe Slack - Sian Clifford
Ensemble cast:
Ada Player
Alice Cockayne
Aruhan Galieva
Em Prendergast
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Mofé Akàndé
Sara Segovia
Created by Lorna Rose Treen and Jonathan Oldfield
Writing team:
Alice Cockayne
Catherine Brinkworth
Jodie Mitchell
Jonathan Oldfield
Lorna Rose Treen
Priya Hall
Will Hughes
Script Editor - Catherine Brinkworth
Photographer - Will Hearle
Production Coordinator - Katie Sayer
Producer - Ben Walker
A DLT Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zj9)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity
6 – From Hot Air Balloons to The Shipping Forecast
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from hot air balloons to the Shipping Forecast in the most entertaining way possible, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.
Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.
Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Angela Barnes
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4
SUNDAY 07 DECEMBER 2025
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002n7xw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002mz14)
Alexander McCall Smith
International bestseller Sir Alexander McCall Smith joines James Crawford to discuss The Private Side of Friendship, and shares the literary works that influenced it.
After the acclaim of his his The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Sandy has written over a hundred books, selling tens of millions of copies in English alone – not to mention the 46 other languages in which his work has appeared. In his latest novel, he is taking readers to a city he knows very well, as six young Edinburgh students embark on a flatshare, and navigate new friendships, against the backdrop of the social unrest of the 1980s miners’ strikes.
For his three influences Sandy chose: The More Loving One by W.H. Auden (1957), Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships by Robin Dunbar (2021), and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011).
Including an extract from the audiobook of Friends by Robin Dunbar, published by Hachette.
Producer: Caitlin Sneddon
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This is a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n7xz)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n7y4)
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 (m002n7y9)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n7yj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002n7yg)
The church of St Luke in Hodnet, Shropshire
Bells on Sunday comes from the church of St Luke in Hodnet, Shropshire. The 14th century tower is unusual in that it is octagonal for its full height. By 1769 it held six bells all cast by Thomas Rudhall of Gloucester. In 1947 these were augmented to eight bells with two trebles cast by the John Taylor foundry of Loughborough. The tenor bell weighs twelve hundredweight and is tuned to F. We hear them ringing April Day Doubles on the original six heaviest bells.
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002n10v)
In Touch Goes Shopping
In Touch pays a visit to two East Midlands highstreets to visit shops that have a direct connection to visual impairment. The first one, Seeing Solutions in Nottingham, focuses on specialist technology, provides some training and other technology services. The second store, a pre-loved clothing boutique in Castle Donnington called Wanted Wardrobe, is run by 'The Blind Stylist' Tilly Dowler.
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 (m002n7qn)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m002n10g)
René Girard: The Catholic thinker influencing Silicon Valley
René Girard was a French intellectual working at Stanford University in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s who came up with some compelling theories about human behaviour and the origin of religion. A decade after his death, he is also being quoted by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs such as Peter Thiel and Vice-President JD Vance.
Why is Girard having such a moment? What is it about his theories of mimetic desire and scapegoating that resonate right now? And is there a key Christian message being missed out by his new devotees? Rev Giles Fraser has a Girard 101. He's in a discussion with his Girard's friend and biographer Cynthia Haven, theologian Michael Kirwan SJ from Trinity College Dublin and philosopher Dr Alexander Douglas, author of 'Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self'
Thanks to Sam Sorich, director of 'Things Hidden: the life and legacy of René Girard' and Professor Robert Pogue Harrison for use of Stanford Radio archive.
Presenter: Giles Fraser
Studio Manager; Mark Ward
Asst Producer: Charlie Filmer-Court
Producer: Catherine Murray
Editor Tim Pemberton
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002n7qv)
Larry's Ranch: Conservation and Change in South Dakota
Anna Jones meets Midwest cattleman Larry Stomprud on his three-generation ranch in South Dakota, USA. They drive onto the prairie in scorching heat, hazy with smoke drifting south from Canada's wildfires, to locate Larry's herd of Black Angus cattle and explore the plants and wildlife that also call this ranch home, including an abundance of native prairie grasses and fragrant silver sage. They discuss the changes that have taken place since Larry's grandfather staked his claim on this land as a homesteader in 1909, from changing cattle breeds to the use of hormone implants - and why Larry took an economic decision to stop using them. He talks about hunting antelope, watching sharp-tailed grouse dance on their leks and remote life under the big skies of South Dakota - and how his stewardship of the ranch led to being awarded the 2025 South Dakota Leopold Conservation Award.
Produced and presented by Anna Jones.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m002n7r1)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002n7r6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002n7rg)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002n7rs)
The 2025 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
The Reverend Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, makes the 2025 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal for the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week.
Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0754 for 7 days.
To Give:
- Call 0800 082 82 84 calls are free from landlines and mobiles
- donate online via the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal website www.bbc.co.uk/R4christmasappeal
- write a cheque to "St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal"
- address your envelope, ‘Freepost St Martin’s Christmas Appeal’
Registered Charity Number: 1110406. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
SUN 07:57 Weather (m002n7s3)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002n7sf)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002n7sr)
Advent Authors: Dylan Thomas
Father Matthew Roche-Saunders, a Catholic priest working across Wales and Herefordshire in Youth Mission, leads a service from Swansea to mark the second Sunday in Advent. Continuing the theme of Advent Authors, he also reflects on the visions provided by the prophet Isaiah and Swansea's (and possibly Wales's) best loved poet, Dylan Thomas. Father Matthew talks to some of the students of Bishop Vaughan Comprehensive School in Swansea, and visits the birthplace of Dylan Thomas to reflect on the poet's nostalgic vision of Christmas in A Child's Christmas in Wales, and to contrast that with the reality of the blitzed town around him.
The hymns include:
Lo He comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)
Let All Mortal Flesh
Light of the World, sung by the choir of Bishop Vaughan Catholic School
On Jordan's Bank
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Playout: Nun Lob mein Seele (Praetorius)
SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct74qx)
The Howard Hughes literary hoax
In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.
Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film producer, record-breaking aviator and business tycoon, who’d built a $2 billion fortune to become one of the richest people in the world.
But for years he’d been living as a recluse, reportedly so terrified of catching a disease that he had almost no contact with the outside world.
That's why the publishers, McGraw Hill, were delighted when Clifford Irving, an American author, persuaded the billionaire to talk. They paid him a $750,000 advance.
But Irving had faked the entire manuscript, and after his scam was discovered, he was sentenced to jail. Jane Wilkinson has been through the BBC archives to find out how it happened.
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: Howard Hughes, 1947. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)
SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002n7t4)
Paul Farley on the Starling
In the season where starlings gather to murmurate in our winter skies, poet Paul Farley is admiring this dazzling bird up close. Every spring a pair of starlings used to nest in a hollow wall in the house where Paul grew up, and he never got tired of studying its dark iridescent plumage. Laying in bed at night Paul would hear the starlings' impressive mimicry, and remembers the sound of a radio being tuned and even human voices, imagining that these intelligent birds have been curiously studying us.
Presented by Paul Farley and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.
This programme features a recording by Oliver Swift from Xeno-Canto (XC710439 - Common Starling)
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002n7tg)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 09:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m002n7pc)
Making a Difference
Hugh Dennis reports on how donations to the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal with St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity have helped people experiencing, or who are at risk of, homelessness. Like Gary from North Shielfs, who is now settled into a flat in time to spend Christmas with his children. Mensah - not his real name - who last year spent time sleeping rough in the capital, and Devon in Oxford who, thanks to the stability a home has brought, is thriving at work.
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:
- Call 0800 082 8284 (Freephone) to donate to the BBC Radio 4 Christmas Appeal
- 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 ‘St Martin-in-the-Fields’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘St Martin-in-the-Fields’.
- This link will take you to the Christmas Appeal online donation page on the St Martin-in-the-Fields website:
Registered Charity Number: 1110406. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002n7nq)
Margaret Atwood, writer
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer. She has published more than sixty books spanning novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, children’s literature, and graphic novels, and has been called “one of the sharpest and most imaginative novelists writing in English”. She is one of only four writers to have won the Booker Prize twice: for The Blind Assassin in 2000 and for her 2019 follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments.
Margaret was born in Ottawa in November 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the second of three children to Carl Atwood, an entomologist. During her early life, she would spend the warmer months in the remote forests of northern Quebec and Ontario where her father tracked insect infestations, and the winters in the city (first Ottawa, later Toronto). She didn’t attend school for a full year until the age of twelve.
Her childhood scribblings – a “novel” about an ant called Annie, a volume of rhyming poems about cats, and a play about a giant – turned into a more serious ambition to become a writer when Margaret was sixteen.
After studying English at the University of Toronto, where she began publishing poems in the college magazine, her first novel, The Edible Woman, came out in 1969, following five collections of poetry.
Her most famous work, The Handmaid’s Tale, was published in 1985 and depicted a dystopian vision of the United States as a patriarchal and totalitarian place called Gilead. Although it was written during the Reagan era, it has become eerily relevant again in the wake of the election of Donald Trump.
Margaret lost her life partner, the writer Graeme Gibson, in 2019. She lives in Toronto.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002n7ty)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe
30th Nov - 5th December
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer.... David Troughton
Chris Carter.... Wilf Scolding
Neil Carter.... Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Ian Craig.... Stephen Kennedy
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell
Ed Grundy.... Barry Farrimond
Eddie Grundy.... Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy.... Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Brad Horrobin.... Taylor Uttley
Joy Horville.... Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd.... Michael Lumsden
Adam Macy.... Andrew Wincott
Hannah Riley.... Helen Longworth
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002n7v9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002n06p)
Series 84
4. Hospital Radio Songbook
The godfather of all panel shows returns to the Hull New Theatre. On the panel are Rory Bremner, Tony Hawks, Lucy Porter and Henning Wehn with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair.
Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 12:57 Weather (m002n7vn)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002n7vy)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 Currently (m002n7mh)
Are You Ready?
We face an increasing range of threats as a nation – from climate change to pandemics and artificial intelligence – and yet, emergency preparedness is seen as a thing of the past that belonged to an era of civil defence and nuclear war.
But as the frequency and severity of extreme events begins to test the ability of emergency services and the government, what is the role of individuals in responding to and recovering from disasters?
Emergency planner and disaster recovery expert Lucy Easthope assesses the state of national resilience today, and by exploring the history of preparedness – from the Second World War to the modern prepper movement – she asks what lessons can be learned.
She finds out how we can break down the mental and practical barriers to resilience, as well as the challenges of creating a culture of preparedness when the threads that connect us as a society are frayed, but she discovers how vital it is that we start regaining these tools, skills and knowledge before the next disaster.
Presenter: Lucy Easthope
Producer: Patrick Bernard
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002n0rp)
Waltham Forest: Coriander, Sow-By-Date and Perennials
How do you grow coriander successfully from seed? Do seeds have a sow-by-date? And will your treasured perennials thrive in the challenging Scottish climate?
Kathy Clugston hosts from the beautiful St Mary’s Church in Walthamstow, where a lively audience puts their gardening dilemmas to an expert panel. Joining Kathy are renowned garden designer and botanist James Wong, horticulturalist Matthew Biggs, and allotment enthusiast Frances Tophill, ready to share their knowledge and practical advice.
Later in the programme, Anne Swithinbank offers her essential tips on preparing your garden to withstand the winter months ahead.
Producer: Matthew Smith
Junior Producer: Rahnee Prescod
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 One to One (m001hp2t)
Critics and the Criticised: Luke Jones meets Sarah Crompton
What's it really like wielding the little notebook of doom or glory? Sarah Crompton, theatre critic for What's On Stage and dance critic for The Observer, tells all to broadcaster Luke Jones, who once dipped his toe into that world himself. They talk warm white wine, the imagined audience, vomiting and the most unforgiveable critical gaffe of all.
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
SUN 15:00 The Princess Bride (m001320k)
The Dramatisation: Part 2
“This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it”. When Goldman discovers The Princess Bride by S Morgenstern is not the swashbuckling fantasy his father read him as a child, but is in fact a patchy and extensive historical satire, he sets out to create the “Good Parts” version…
A tale of true love and high adventure featuring a fighting giant that loves to rhyme, a swordsman on the ultimate quest for revenge, a pirate in love with a princess, a princess in love with a farm boy and a prince in love with war.
First a novel, then a film, now an audio experience:
The Best Bits of the Good Parts Version by Stephen Keyworth.
A two-part dramatisation of swashbuckling adventure plus five bitesize backstories which can be enjoyed as stand-alone stories or to enhance your experience of the drama.
The Dramatisation: Part 2
With Westley captured and Buttercup on the cusp of marrying the dastardly Prince Humperdinck, there are only two people in the world who can save the day – Inigo and Fezzik. But one of them is lost and the other is drunk.
Cast:
Buttercup … Ruby Barker
Fezzik … Tyler Collins
Inigo… Emun Elliott
Count Rugen … Robin Laing
Goldman Snr / Arch Dean / Max …Crawford Logan
Westley … Lorn Macdonald
Prince Humperdinck / William Goldman…Grant O’Rourke
Hellin / Valerie …Rosalind Sydney
Sound recording: Joanne Willott
Sound design: Fraser Jackson
Directed by Kirsty Williams
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002n7w8)
Jo Nesbø
Presenter James Crawford speaks to bestselling crime writer and Norwegian novelist Jo Nesbø about his book, Wolf Hour - a standalone thriller set in Minneapolis, where a dysfunctional detective, Bob Oz, investigates the attempted murder of a crooked gun dealer. The three books that inspired Jo while writing Wolf Hour were: Hunger by Knut Hamsun (1890), The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (1952), and American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis (1991).
Producers: Rachael O’Neill & Hayley Jarvis
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 16:30 Punt & Dennis: Route Masters (m0023zjc)
Series 1: From Beer to Eternity
7 – From the Sargasso Sea to the Trombone
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are on a mission to get from everyone’s favourite ocean gyre, the Sargasso Sea, to the trombone in the most entertaining way possible, in a warm and witty podcast that celebrates new and half-remembered trivia as they try to find unlikely links between random places, people and things.
Across the series, they’ll be joined by guests including Ken Cheng, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Isy Suttie and Marcus Brigstocke, on a scenic route which takes in Shampoo, The Gruffalo, Watford Gap Services and Yoghurt.
Written and hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
With Kae Kurd
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
Recorded at Maple St Creative
Mixed by Jonathan Last
A Listen production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct744t)
Ravi and George
Following the Beatles' final concert tour, George Harrison travelled to India in 1967 to learn sitar under the renowned musician Ravi Shankar.
Fleeing Beatlemania he travelled in disguise to Mumbai and then to Srinagar in Kashmir.
Listening to BBC archive and using excerpts from a Martin Scorsese documentary, we hear one of the world's most famous guitarists challenge himself to learn a new instrument.
The moment influenced George’s spirituality and his burgeoning solo musical career, as well as the Beatles'. It also propelled Ravi Shankar further into the limelight.
The musicians remained lifelong friends. Ravi says they last saw each other on 28 November 2001, the day before George died.
Produced and presented by Surya Elango.
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: George Harrison and Ravi Shankar in 1975. Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 Three Ages of Child (m002krl7)
Episode 3: Adolescense
Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatrician looking for answers. She’s worried about the patients whose problems can’t be fixed with a prescription – babies who are not thriving because their parents can’t afford to heat their home or children who are obese because they don’t have access to outdoor space. Children in the UK face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe. Dr Singh wants to find solutions.
In a three-part series, she travels across England through the three ages of childhood: the early years, the primary school years and adolescence. She meets people in the community, from health workers to teachers, on a quest to discover what’s going wrong and what it will take to turn things around.
In the final episode, Guddi looks at mental health in adolescence. She finds out about a project in North Devon that’s been created by young people themselves to support neurodivergent children at school. She travels to Cambridge to learn about plans for a new children’s hospital that will integrate mental and physical health. She talks to Professor Sir Michael Marmot about his ground breaking work on health inequalities and she asks Stephen Morgan MP, Minister for Early Education, about the government’s plans for addressing the challenges to the health of our children.
Presenter: Guddi Singh Producer:
Jo Glanville Editor: Kirsten Lass
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
Production Executive: Lisa Lipman
Sound Engineers: Dan King and Jon Calver
Photography of Guddi Singh courtesy of Anad Singh
Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002n7wn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m002n7ww)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7x3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002n7xc)
Nick Ahad
This week, we reflect on the life and legacy of the playwright Tom Stoppard, strip back the layers of metafiction behind William Goldman's The Princess Bride, and howl at the moon with an episode of Start the Week that's truly out there. Plus as the holiday season kicks off, prepare to wassail across the country with Radio 3, as well as revisit some Christmas greats with the queen of festive pop herself, Mariah Carey.
Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinators: Caoilfhinn McFadden and Caroline Peddle
A BBC Audio Northern Ireland production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002n7m7)
Azra has a crisis on her hands, and Lily is faced with an arduous task.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002n7xn)
Art Class
The value of art 'has become mysterious', to quote the critic John Berger. Artists, commentators and voices from the BBC Sound Archive consider Berger's question: 'where does this value come from?'
Including extracts from:
The Moral Maze, Radio 4
Private Passions, Radio 3 (featuring Keir Starmer)
Favourite Things, BBC TV (featuring Margaret Thatcher)
Coronation Street, Granada Television
Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 (featuring Maria Balshaw)
Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Sounds (featuring Stewart Lee)
Harry & Paul, Tiger Aspect Productions
Yes Minister, BBC TV
Lord Keynes, Home Service, The Arts Council: Its Policy and Hopes
With readings by the poet Dorothy Spencer and the writer Carl Cattermole, including statistics from the Campaign for the Arts/University of Warwick, the Panic! Survey and an Industria inquiry based on Artist Leaks.
Produced by Alan Hall
Archive Producer: Phoebe McIndoe
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m002n7pc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002mz63)
Swear Words and Hearing Loss on Radio 4
What can you say on the radio these days? For some listeners, instances of swear words and racialised language do not belong on Radio 4. Andrea Catherwood sits down with "king of the bleep" Roger Mahony, the Head of Editorial Standards for Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra and On Demand Speech, to discuss listeners' concerns and ask how the decision to give certain words the green light gets made.
And listeners were entranced by a recent Illuminated documentary presented by poet Paul Farley about hearing loss and hearing aids. We put your points to the documentary's producer Geoff Bird.
Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002n0rt)
Sir Tom Stoppard, Pam Hogg, Yanxin He, Jack Shepherd
Matthew Bannister has a star-studded cast on this week’s Last Word:
Sir David Hare pays tribute to his friend and fellow playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.
Boy George recalls the flamboyant fashion designer Pam Hogg.
Sir Mark Rylance gives an insight into the many talents of the actor, director and writer Jack Shepherd.
We also remember Yanxin He, one of the last surviving speakers in a village that spoke a secret language that helped women to share their suffering in a patriarchal society.
Interviewee: Sir David Hare
Interviewee: Boy George
Interviewee: Dr Tessa Hartmann
Interviewee: Yehong Wei
Interviewee: Sir Mark Rylance
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley
Archive used:
Tom Stoppard, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 12/01/1985; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Hamlet), Official Promo, Director: Tom Stoppard; MGM Studios, 1990; Tom Stoppard interview, BBC One 29/05/1977; Shakespeare In Love, Official Trailer, MiraMax pictures 1998, Directed: John Madden; Pam Hogg interview, Icons of Style, BBC Scotland, 16/03/2025; Pam Hogg interview, BBC Radio 2, 26/09/2012; Pam Hogg music track: Honeyland, pamhogg.com/music; He Yanxin, interview, Hidden Letters Official Trailer, Fish+Bear Pictures, Director: Violet Du Feng; Nushu: The secret Chinese language, BBC Culture, Video by Harriet Constable; Co-produced by Fiona Macdonald; 16/11/2022; Acting with...Jack Shepherd , BBC Two, 15/04/1996; In Lambeth, BBC Two, 04/07/1993; Written and Directed by Jack Shepherd; Play For Today: Through The Night, BBC One, 04/09/1977; Wycliff, ITV Official Trailer, IMDB; Season 1, Episode 1: The Four Jacks; Director: Ferdinand Fairfax;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002n7tw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002n7rs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002n7tc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002n7y0)
Is the UK ready for war?
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m000x6tr)
Shakespeare's Sonnets
To celebrate Melvyn Bragg’s 27 years presenting In Our Time, some well-known fans of the programme have chosen their favourite episodes. Historian and broadcaster Simon Schama has selected the episode on Shakespeare’s Sonnets and recorded an introduction to it. (This introduction will be available on BBC Sounds and the In Our Time webpage shortly after the broadcast and will be longer than the one broadcast on Radio 4). In 1609 Thomas Thorpe published a collection of poems entitled Shakespeare’s Sonnets, “never before imprinted”. Yet, while some of Shakespeare's other poems and many of his plays were often reprinted in his lifetime, the Sonnets were not a publishing success. They had to make their own way, outside the main canon of Shakespeare’s work: wonderful, troubling, patchy, inspiring and baffling, and they have appealed in different ways to different times. Most are addressed to a man, something often overlooked and occasionally concealed; one early and notorious edition even changed some of the pronouns.
With:
Hannah Crawforth
Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at King’s College London
Don Paterson
Poet and Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews
And
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Stephen Booth, Shakespeare's Sonnets (first published 1978; Yale University Press, 2000)
Hannah Crawforth and Elizabeth Scott-Baumann (eds.), On Shakespeare’s Sonnets: A Poets’ Celebration (Arden, 2016)
Hannah Crawforth, Elizabeth Scott-Baumann and Clare Whitehead (eds.), Shakespeare’s Sonnets: The State of Play (Arden, 2018)
Katherine Duncan-Jones, Shakespeare's Sonnets (The Arden Shakespeare, 1997)
Patricia Fumerton, ‘”Secret” Arts: Elizabethan Miniatures and Sonnets’ (Representations 15, summer 1986, University of California Press)
Kim Hall, Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England (Cornell University Press, 1995), especially chapter 2, ‘Fair Texts/Dark Ladies: Renaissance Lyric and the Poetics of Color’
John Kerrigan, The Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint (Penguin Classics, 1986)
Jane Kingsley-Smith, The Afterlife of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Don Paterson, Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets (Faber, 2010)
Oscar Wilde (ed. John Sloan), The Complete Short Stories (Oxford World’s Classics), especially ‘The Portrait of Master W.H.’
This episode was first broadcast in June 2021.
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the people, ideas, events and discoveries that have shaped our world
In Our Time is a BBC Studios production
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002n0rr)
Evening Routine by Natasha Kaeda
Rumour has it the Northern Lights will be seen over Haverfordwest tonight. But how do we experience wonder in a digital age?
Short story by Natasha Kaeda, read by Sara Gregory.
Producer: Fay Lomas
Studio Manager: Catherine Robinson
Production Co-ordinators: Eleri McAuliffe and Lindsay Rees.
MONDAY 08 DECEMBER 2025
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002n7y7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 00:15 Wokewash (m001w7lb)
Mind Your Business
In the final episode of the series, writer and satirist Heydon Prowse takes a tongue-in-cheek look at corporations and mental health. It’s one of the most talked about issues of our times, but when big business says it cares about our mental wellbeing, does it really mean it?
From emotionally-accepting fast food to kindness clothing, brands nowadays are keen to trumpet their strong support for the mental health of their staff and customers, even building meditation pods in the middle of delivery warehouses. Speaking to experts, corporate consultants, campaigners and more, Heydon puts big business on the couch and asks the multinationals to open up about it all.
He’ll also examine the fast growing wellness industry. Whether it’s a meditation app or a listening-session start up, companies are promising to improve our mental health and profiting while they do it. How do we tell a cynical cash in from an attempt to change things for the better?
If you need support with mental health, details are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
Contributors:
Dr Mara Einstein, Queens College CUNY and author of Compassion, Inc.
Kati Morton Therapist, Mental Health Speaker and Youtuber
Dr Ashley Frawley, Researcher, University of Kent and author of The Semiotics of Happiness
Geoff Norcott, Comedian, Political Commentator and author of The British Bloke, Decoded
Priya Anand, Bloomberg News
Producer: Sam Peach
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002n7yg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n7yn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n7yv)
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 (m002n7yz)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002n7z3)
Alicia McCarthy reports from Westminster as peers debate the age at which someone could ask for an assisted death in England and Wales.
MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n7z7)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n7zb)
Shared Vulnerability
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury.
Good morning. I was out for dinner the other evening and one by one round the table my colleagues (turned friends) were each sharing one thing they were proud of since we had all last gathered like this. It was almost my turn I knew exactly what I wanted to share but it felt so vulnerable a real inside peak into my life, hopes and dreams outside of work.
I could feel my heart beating faster and faster it was my turn next.
“Well”, I started, “I’ve been putting it off, but I’ve finally done it, I’ve started the whole fertility process and medical paperwork needed to be seen by a fertility specialist.” The floor might as well have disappeared beneath me; all I could feel was the weight of that moment.
I’m 34 years old and I just didn’t think this would be my story. But that evening as we said our goodbyes, one colleague quietly told me how glad he was that I shared. Him and his spouse were in the same situation too. There are actually no words that can convey how seen and grateful I felt.
The thing is I’ve read so many brave stories online from women sharing their fertility journeys, but there was something different about hearing “me too” from someone sitting across the table. A real person. A friend. That shared vulnerability reminded me I wasn’t alone.
There are countless stories of hope and heartache being lived out quietly this morning. I hope you find the courage to share—and receive the miracle gift of hearing those tried and true, most comforting words: me too
Lord, in our dreams, and in our longing, would we feel less alone in our unanswered prayers. Thank you that in all that is unknown, your word unwaveringly says you are good and you are for us.
Amen.
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002n7zg)
The Governments of the UK need to do more to support native farm animal breeds. That's the view of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust which says that while there have been many warm words about the importance of rare and native breeds, clarification is needed on what the post-Brexit support schemes will offer. And the Trust says government funding should be given to the national gene bank.
The sprout harvest in Scotland is in full swing, with hundreds of tonnes being cut for Christmas. Has it been a good sprout year?
A new project in Northern Ireland is using vets to help farmers look after their health. The ‘Nip It In The Bud’ campaign was launched at a veterinary conference.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
MON 05:57 Weather (m002n7zn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m002n7lk)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002n7lm)
Histories, emotions and identity
Three prize-winning authors in today's discussion programme hosted by Tom Sutcliffe:
The German Peasants’ War of 1524–1525 was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. Tens of thousands of peasants rose up to demand a new, more egalitarian order—only to be crushed in a brutal counterattack that left up to 100,000 dead. The historian Lyndal Roper argues that this rebellion was far from chaotic: it was a coherent mass movement inspired by the radical ideals of the Protestant Reformation. Her book Summer of Fire and Blood is the winner of the 2025 Cundill History Prize.
The neurologist Masud Husain explores the human mind through the stories of seven patients. In asking what it is that makes us who we are, he explores how our identity can shift when we lose just a single cognitive ability. He examines the stories a man who ran out of words, a woman who stopped caring what others thought, and another who, losing her memory, believed she was having an affair with her own husband. His account of the science of identity, Our Brains, Our Selves, won the Royal Society's 2025 Trivedi Science Book Prize.
The historian Hannah Durkin explores the stories of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade. Based on her original research she uses first hand accounts to tell the stories of the enslaved in their own words. Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade is the winner of the 2025 Wolfson History Prize.
Producer: Ruth Watts
MON 09:45 Wild Bond (m001d5gx)
The Femme Fatale
The name's Bond. James Bond. Everyone's favourite spy has been serving up the guns, the glamour, the girls and the gadgets on the silver screen for 60 years, and we're celebrating... In a slightly unusual way. Emily Knight is taking the iconic characters from the Bond world and re-casting them, from the animal kingdom. Which of our animal cousins would make the best 007? Who do we cast as the Bond Girl? In nature, who comes equipped with the best gadgets? Who are villains, bent on world domination, and who are the henchmen, just following orders?
In this episode, it's the Bond Girl. And not just any Bond Girl... the Femme Fatale. In the Bond world, sex and death are almost inextricably linked, and seduction often comes at a price. So too in the natural world, where feminine wiles are often used as a precursor for violence, trickery, or death. Emily meets a female spider, a mantis, some fireflies and a katydid who are all far 'deadlier than the male'.
With Bond expert Ian Kinane from the University of Roehampton, and biologist Dr Jennifer Verdolin.
Presented and Produced in Bristol by Emily Knight.
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7lq)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 Housing Britain (m002n7ls)
Build Baby Build
Part one of a new series from Vicky Spratt of the I newspaper exploring the state of housing in Britain. 'Build baby build' is a driving mission for Keir Starmer's Labour government- with a target of 1.5 million new homes in England.
But can they do it? Experts line up to tell us they can't. To explore what's getting in the way, we travel to Derbyshire, the Midlands and Home Counties, getting inside the often fractious debate about new housing, delving into the complexities of the planning system, and the 'nimbyism' phenomenon. We hear why successive governments' failure to build social and affordable housing is partly to blame for slow progress.
And as ministers embark on a plan for 12 new towns in England, what lessons can they learn from one that's being built right now? We visit Houlton in Warwickshire, a thriving new community - complete with relocated newts - on the site of an old radio transmission site.
Producer: Leela Padmanabhan
MON 11:45 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7lw)
Ring
Stretching from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at the Sycamore Gap, journalist Peter Ross takes up the long human story as he visits the ancient places of the British Isles. From stones to shrines, through ritual and commemoration, what are we seeking when we connect with the past?
“Just look. Just feel. And it will speak to you.”
On the shortest day of the year, Ross joins a festival of hope and renewal at an iconic prehistoric structure.
Read by Andy Clark
Written by Peter Ross
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
MON 12:00 News Summary (m002n7lz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002n7m1)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m002n7m3)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m002n7m5)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
MON 13:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fv7y)
Episode 1: Daydreaming
The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.
As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.
But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.
In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?
In this first episode, Rebecca describes learning to daydream. She explains how her preoccupation with the strangeness of human experience began in the daydreams of the Brethren meeting room, enriched by the strange poetry of the Bible.
Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Sound Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
Author photo credit :Sarah Weal
MON 14:00 The Archers (m002n7m7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? (m002n7m9)
Series 3
Episode 3 – Go West
Selina gets every star’s dream – her own quirky British travelogue show. As she tours Britain on her motorbike, however, she’s soon joined by Florence, who for once fails to ruin everything – at first, anyway.
Meanwhile Mrs Ragnarrok is exploding with the need to know who the father of Lucy’s baby is, while Jonathan continues to appear in his daughter’s life like a methylated spirit.
The first series of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen? won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy and the second series won the British Comedy Guide Award for Best Radio Sitcom for the second year in a row.
“Thank you, Mr Quantick – this is nigh on perfect” Radio Times
Written by David Quantick
Florence - Dawn French
Selina - Jennifer Saunders
Mrs Ragnarrok – Rebecca Front
Lucy – Georgia Tennant
All the men - Alistair McGowan
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:45 Faith, Hope and Glory (m000s188)
Series 1: Eps 1-8
2. Hope
New series charting the emergence of modern Britain. Today, Hope has made a painful decision for the sake of her baby.
Hope ..... Danielle Vitalis
Writer ..... Roy Williams
Director ..... Mary Peate
Producer ..... Jessica Dromgoole
MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002n7mc)
Gwyneth Lewis and Annabel Abbs
This week's books are:
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner chosen by the Welsh poet and writer Gwyneth Lewis
The LIving Mountain by Nan Shepherd picked by author Annabel Abbs
Emma by Jane Austen chosen by Harriett Gilbert ahead of the writer's 250th birthday in December 2025
Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Maggie Ayre
Photo credit: Edward Brown
MON 15:30 Curious Cases (m002n7mf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Saturday]
MON 16:00 Currently (m002n7mh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002n7mk)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m002n7mm)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7mp)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 18:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (m002n7mr)
Series 84
5. Joe Lycett makes his debut
The godfather of all panel shows comes to us from London's Royal Festival Hall. On the panel are Joe Lycett, Pippa Evans, Richard Coles and Tony Hawks with Jack Dee in the umpire’s chair.
Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano.
Producer: Jon Naismith
A Random production for BBC Radio 4
MON 19:00 The Archers (m002n7mt)
The Maliks have a dilemma on their hands, and Ben's nursing skills are put to the test.
MON 19:15 Front Row (m002n7mw)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.
MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m002mz65)
Are the old robbing the young?
In her budget the Chancellor increased the state pension by 4.8 % in line with the government's triple lock formula. It was good news for pensioners but is it good news for the young? A constant background to spending and economic decisions for well over a decade now has been an argument about generational injustice. That the young are getting poorer. David Aaronovitch and guests look at the facts and ask whether the old are robbing the young and if so what should be done about it?
Guests:
Bobby Duffy, Professor of Public Policy at King’s College, London
Sophie Hale, Principal Economist, Resolution Foundation
Xiaowei Xu, Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Jane Falkingham Professor of Demography, Southampton University
Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Cordelia Hemming, Kirsteen Knight
Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineer: James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txn)
A 'functional' cure for HIV?
Almost 40 years ago, the first treatment was approved for HIV, but it came with a warning: “This is not a cure.” On the week of World AIDS Day, Kate Bishop, principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, tells us how science may now have finally found a “functional” cure for the virus that causes AIDS.
How are tree rings, volcanoes, trade routes and Europe’s deadly Black Death pandemic connected? Professor Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge explains how matching tree ring data with historical records shows that Italian city-states importing grain accidentally introduced the Black Death to Europe.
Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss her favourite new scientific discoveries.
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: Tom Whipple
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, and Hannah Fisher
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002n7lm)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 Wild Bond (m001d5gx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n7my)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (m002n7n0)
Episode 6
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix , translated by Helen Stevenson, is inspired by the actual events surrounding the deaths of 27 migrants who drowned in the English Channel in the early hours of the 24th November 2021. As the sea overwhelmed the dinghy they had set out in, the migrants’ telephone calls for help and the French call operator’s responses and frequently off the cuff, callous asides, were recorded, and later published by the French media.
The author takes these events as the starting point for a work of fiction. The narrative is voiced in the words of the French naval coastguard - it was her job , she is at pains to tell the police investigator, to assess the calls for help and allocate the rescue centre’s limited resources according to the most urgent need. But as her increasingly defensive arguments begin to unravel, we witness a mind where intrusive images of drowning figures crowd in. Accused of being a monster for her lack of empathy, the accusation is thrown back at us – where is our humanity and what did we do to save the drowning souls ?
This is a story which puts all of us in the spotlight – complicit in looking the other way, implicated in readily blaming others, and guilty for not wanting to think too much about where responsibility lies for the deaths of those who felt their limbs grow cold and leaden as the black of night gave way to grey dawn.
In an interview with Dua Lipa for her global book club, Service95, Vincent Delecroix observed that "imagination is the first moral faculty". In this work of fiction, he asks us to deploy our own imaginations as fully as we can, before we venture to make any kind of moral judgement.
Producer Jill Waters says, "I have rarely if ever finished a recording session so fired up by the energy of a challenging text brought viscerally to life. Small Boat is a gripping portrait of a woman struggling to deflect guilt, deny responsibility and maintain that these deaths - this journey - was not her idea. But every so often her argument collapses in on itself and we glimpse an internal chasm of doubt and fear. Lydia Wilson gives a superb performance, moving between demotic bluster and brittle sarcasm with devastating moments of guileless indifference, whilst all the time shame gnaws at her soul.
Small Boat was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 . It was originally published in 2023 in French by Gallimard as "Naufrage".
Read by Lydia Wilson and Tommy Sim’aan (episodes 5 and 6)
Written by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson
Abridged and directed by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:00 Limelight (m001smnb)
Spores: Series 1
4. Rot
A psychological horror story set in rural Wales amid the mysterious world of mycelium.
When social worker Cassie discovers mould in the flat of a vulnerable service user she puts it down to poor quality housing. But then she discovers it in her own house and begins to fear for the safety of her family.
For partner Morgan and young son Bryn, it’s not the mould that troubles them but Cassie’s mental health. As the fungus continues to grow and spread, Cassie resorts to more extreme measures to combat it. But why will no one listen to her when she warns of danger? When Ola proves an uncertain ally, Cassie is forced to turn back to Hywel for help.
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was condemned to speak the truth yet never be believed. A story of trust and what happens when we lose it. And of a hidden threat attacking the very thing that makes us powerful.
Written and created by Marietta Kirkbride
Cassie …… Kate O’Flynn
Ola …… Aggy K. Adams
Interviewer ….. Laurel Lefkow
Hywel ….. Lloyd Meredith
Morgan…… Owain Gwynn
Bryn …… Macsen Ovens
Health Professional ….. Kezrena James
Theo …… Richard Corgan
Young Helen …… Lily Anne Lefkow
Other voices played by the cast
Production Manager: Anna de Wolff Evans
Production Assistant: Teresa Milewski
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Title Music: Ioana Selaru & Melo-Zed
Sound Design: Jon Nicholls
Directed and Produced by Nicolas Jackson
An Afonica production for BBC Radio 4
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n7n2)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 09 DECEMBER 2025
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002n7n4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7lw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n7n6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n7n8)
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 (m002n7nb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002n7nd)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n7ng)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n7nj)
Family Matters
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury
Good morning. A fun fact about me is that my brother was my very first answered prayer. It's such a special memory for me. And this year, I got to go to his wedding and celebrate this huge moment in his life, and it made me think of that very first time I'd dared to hope and pray for something when I was just four years old.
It's coming to that time of year where when we start to think about seeing friends and family over the holidays, trying to slot everyone in. As much as I wanted a big family, my growing extended family is actually made up of a lot of fractured relationships, messy misunderstandings. Maybe you relate a little or a lot. Maybe this festive season highlights your lack of family more than anything.
The reality is being human is hard. No one tests you quite like that family member that knows just what to say to get on your last nerve. And there's no jealousy, quite like that sneaky feeling of inferiority that creeps in all of a sudden when you meet up with your friend for that long overdue catchup and comparison steals all the joy out of the moment.
However, you're approaching the coming holiday period, I am encouraged by the following Bible verse in Psalm 68, verse 6 “God puts the lonely in families.” I love that I get to see this verse come to life in the reality of my church. In my life, time and time again, the church is a place where I've come to and found friendship and belonging. It's not always perfect, mind you, but then again, who's family ever is?
Despite its imperfections, today, I'm grateful for family in all its many forms, for friends who feel like family, for the church that is the family of God. Thank you, Lord, for all these people in my life, these signs of your grace. May my relationship with them be a mirror of my relationship with you.
Amen.
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002n7nl)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 06:00 Today (m002n7r7)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 The Reith Lectures (m002n7rf)
Rutger Bregman - Moral Revolution
3. A conspiracy of decency
Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's 2025 Reith Lectures, called "Moral Revolution", explore the moral decay and un-seriousness of today's elites. He argues that small, committed groups can spark moral revolutions, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and long-term vision.
In this third of four lectures, Bregman argues for a new "realist utopia," calling for people to join what he labels" a conspiracy of decency." He says that in the face of rapid technological change, we need to promote ideas like Universal Basic Income, fairer taxation and responsible tech regulation.
The Reith Lectures are presented by Anita Anand who chairs a Q & A. The programme was recorded in front of an audience in Edinburgh.
The series is produced by Jim Frank. The Editor is Clare Fordham.
The programmes are mixed by Neil Churchill.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7rq)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m002n0s4)
Emma Rawicz and Keelan Carew enjoy the vibes
Pianist Keelan Carew and saxophonist Emma Rawicz join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add five more tracks, taking us from an unforgettable Nat King Cole classic to a sunken cathedral, a famous submarine, and the Austrian Alps.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Unforgettable by Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole
Señor Mouse by Gary Burton and Chick Corea
La Cathédrale Engloutie by Debussy
Stingray by Barry Gray
The Lonely Goatherd by Julie Andrews
Other music in this episode
Particles of Change by Emma Rawicz
Ya Taali’een el-Jabal by Kronos Quartet ft Rim Banna
Unforgettable by Nat King Cole
Memories of You by Louis Armstrong
Under the Sea (from The Little Mermaid) by Samuel E Wright
Theme from Thunderbirds by Barry Gray
TUE 11:45 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7s2)
Chalk
Stretching from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at the Sycamore Gap, journalist Peter Ross takes up the long human story as he visits the ancient places of the British Isles. From stones to shrines, through ritual and commemoration, what are we seeking when we connect with the past?
“The horse is magical… our ancestors are around us.”
Ross joins a party of volunteers keeping the Uffington White Horse sharp and defined, a job carried out by locals for centuries.
Read by Andy Clark
Written by Peter Ross
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002n7sh)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002n7st)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002n7t3)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002n7tf)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
TUE 13:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvkd)
Episode 2: The Attic
The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.
As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.
But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.
In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?
In this second episode, Rebecca explores some of the mysteries that confound and fascinate modern scientists by way of a Kashmiri mathematician, Charles Darwin, the spooky world of quantum physics and the beautiful strangeness of slime mould.
Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Sound Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
Author photo credit :Sarah Weal
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002n7mt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m001hx4z)
50 Berkeley Square
London’s most haunted house prepares to give up its secrets in Sami Ibrahim’s ghost story about sweet revenge.
Inspired by the urban myths surrounding this notorious location, the story twists and turns, starting out in the realms of the supernatural before morphing into something entirely more intriguing.
Martha ….. Gwyneth Keyworth
Peter ….. John Heffernan
Robert Warboys ….. Tom Kiteley
James Mallord ….. Hughie O’Donnell
Sarah ….. Chloë Sommer
Uppingham ….. Roger Ringrose
Directed by Gemma Jenkins
Re-imagined by Sami, 50 Berkeley Square is based on his short drama of the same name which premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2020.
TUE 15:00 History's Heroes (m002n7tv)
History's Toughest Heroes
William Marshal: The Greatest Medieval Knight
At the age of 70, does England’s greatest knight still have what it takes to save the realm from invasion?
In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.
The young Sir William Marshal was handsome, charming, captain of the England Tourney team a sporting hero and right-hand man to many a king of England including Henry the Young King, Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and Bad King John. He was a brilliant rider and very good at jousting. He was even famed for having a ‘large crotch’. But towards the end of his life, in his 70s, when he might have wanted to wind down, the realm was in trouble facing the threat of a French invasion. William Marshal was called upon to fight the ultimate battle and save the day in the Battle of Lincoln.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
TUE 15:30 Beyond Belief (m002n7v3)
Nigeria and Religious Persecution
The security of Christians in Nigeria has gained global attention after an intervention by President Trump, who last month ordered the military to prepare for action to tackle Islamist militant groups, accusing the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christians.
The threat came as claims of a genocide against Nigeria's Christians was circulating recently in some right-wing US circles.
The Nigerian Presidency has rejected these claims describing them as "a gross misrepresentation of reality" saying "terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology - Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike".
Giles Fraser explores the complex nature of the insecurity and the all-pervasive role of religion in this secular state with a panel of experts :
Olaronke Alo, BBC reporter
Charles Ekpo, Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Resolution, Arthur Jarvis University, Nigeria
Dr Kabir Adamu, Security Analyst
John Pontifex. Aid to the Church in Need
Presenter: Giles Fraser
Producer: Catherine Murray
Asst Producer: Charlie Filmer-Court
Production Co-ordinator: Ned Stone
Studio Mix: Kelly Young
Editor: Chloe Walker
TUE 16:00 The Poetry Detective (m002n7vf)
Vanessa Kisuule unearths poems that offer us insight into the issues that ail us most.
This week it's Doomscrolling. We all lament it, yet very few of us can pull ourselves away. So, the question is not if it’s bad for us (we know it is), but what are we searching for on these ceaseless quests? What is happening to us while we scroll? And how might poetry offer not just a potential antidote, but a whole new language to help us get beyond simply chastising ourselves?
Can poetry make us sharper, wiser, and better equipped to change the status quo? Can it help us not just feel better, but do better?
With poetry from Vincent Toro, Franny Choi, Arji Manuelpillai, Caroline Bird and Christina Hutchins. With help from Chris McCabe at the National Poetry Library,
Produced by Ellie Richold in Bristol.
TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002n7vt)
Can You Be ‘Addicted to Dopamine’?
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken untangle the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.
In this episode, they’re diving into dopamine – one of the most talked-about chemicals in modern wellness culture. But what is dopamine, really? What role does it play in pleasure, motivation, learning, and movement? And how accurate are ideas like “dopamine hits”, “dopamine detoxes”, or being “addicted to dopamine”?
Chris and Xand speak to Masud Husain, Professor of Neurology & Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, to cut through the myths and find out what dopamine does, what it doesn’t do, and why understanding it properly might change the way we think about our behaviour and our brains.
If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Professor Masud Husain
Producer: Maia Miller-Lewis
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Researcher: Grace Revill
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Social Media: Leon Gower
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby
At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 17:00 PM (m002n7w3)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7wc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 18:30 One Person Found This Helpful (m002n7wl)
Series 3
4. Bacon Drink or Cheesy Boat?
Frank Skinner and guests Ahir Shah, Louise Young, Freya Parker and Pierre Novellie find out the right way to get frightened by lions, the wrong way to clean a delicious crevice, and what to do if your arms don’t reach the kitchen.
This is the panel game based on what we all sit down and do at least once a day – shop online and leave a review, as an all-star panel celebrate the good, the bad and the baffling.
Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. And our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own. So if you’re the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as “Very steep and too high”, this show salutes you!
Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer & Peter Tellouche
Devised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002n7sj)
Ed struggles to do the right thing, and Leonard steps in to help.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002n7wz)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.
TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002n7qw)
News-making original journalism investigating stories at home and abroad.
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002n7xb)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m002n7xh)
The struggle of Israel's peace movement
Two years ago a group of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists stood almost alone in Israel in calling for a ceasefire, as Israel launched a massive offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023. Emily Wither returns to hear how the lives of these activists have changed. She explores whether their message of peace and coexistence is breaking through at a time when societal divisions are deeper than ever.
The group Standing Together, known for their matching purple t-shirts, is a group of Jewish Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel (referred to by the state as Israeli Arabs, the country’s largest minority making up over 20% of the population).
It is unusual in either Israel or Palestine to find a mixed group working together for a shared cause and advocating for coexistence. Standing Together has received criticism from both sides of the conflict; with many Israelis calling them traitors and some Palestinian groups calling for a boycott of the movement. Despite all this the group say the only way to achieve a lasting peace is for the communities to work together.
Reporter: Emily Wither
Producer: Alex Last
Sound Mix: Tony Churnside
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
TUE 21:30 Illuminated (m002n7xn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:15 on Sunday]
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n7zv)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (m002n800)
Episode 7
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix , translated by Helen Stevenson, is inspired by the actual events surrounding the deaths of 27 migrants who drowned in the English Channel in the early hours of the 24th November 2021. As the sea overwhelmed the dinghy they had set out in, the migrants’ telephone calls for help and the French call operator’s responses and frequently off the cuff, callous asides, were recorded, and later published by the French media.
The author takes these events as the starting point for a work of fiction. The narrative is voiced in the words of the French naval coastguard - it was her job , she is at pains to tell the police investigator, to assess the calls for help and allocate the rescue centre’s limited resources according to the most urgent need. But as her increasingly defensive arguments begin to unravel, we witness a mind where intrusive images of drowning figures crowd in. Accused of being a monster for her lack of empathy, the accusation is thrown back at us – where is our humanity and what did we do to save the drowning souls ?
This is a story which puts all of us in the spotlight – complicit in looking the other way, implicated in readily blaming others, and guilty for not wanting to think too much about where responsibility lies for the deaths of those who felt their limbs grow cold and leaden as the black of night gave way to grey dawn.
In an interview with Dua Lipa for her global book club, Service95, Vincent Delecroix observed that "imagination is the first moral faculty". In this work of fiction, he asks us to deploy our own imaginations as fully as we can, before we venture to make any kind of moral judgement.
Producer Jill Waters says, "I have rarely if ever finished a recording session so fired up by the energy of a challenging text brought viscerally to life. Small Boat is a gripping portrait of a woman struggling to deflect guilt, deny responsibility and maintain that these deaths - this journey - was not her idea. But every so often her argument collapses in on itself and we glimpse an internal chasm of doubt and fear. Lydia Wilson gives a superb performance, moving between demotic bluster and brittle sarcasm with devastating moments of guileless indifference, whilst all the time shame gnaws at her soul.
Small Boat was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 . It was originally published in 2023 in French by Gallimard as "Naufrage".
Read by Lydia Wilson and Tommy Sim’aan (episodes 5 and 6)
Written by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson
Abridged and directed by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
TUE 23:00 Uncanny (m002n805)
Series 5
Episode 7
Danny Robins returns for more spine-chilling tales from listeners.
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n809)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER 2025
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002n80g)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7s2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n80q)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n80v)
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 (m002n80z)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002n813)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n816)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n818)
My Sister
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury
Good morning. My sister is legally blind and her guide dog isn't trained to go on the escalators. Whenever I meet someone new, I often ask this kind of, go-to conversational question, ‘if you could be prime minister for a day, what three things would you do?’ Guaranteed one of my answers is always the same or a variation on the same theme. I'd initiate a full country renovation of the transport system so that stairs, not escalators, were easily accessible and visible. My little sister's blindness is a quiet truth I carry, like the way a mother carries her heart outside of her body, the very second her baby is born. Often, I feel suspended between two worlds. My one life in which I'm a British citizen living in Nottingham and so happily married, it's nauseating. And then this other world; in that life, I feel responsible for helping my single mother who's trying to make a better life for herself and her children. In that life, I'm a big sister and my heart beats outside of my body. And I wonder if people will be kind to her, treat her with care. I wonder constantly if they know how truly special and important she is to me, and how powerless I feel knowing she lives at the mercy of the kindness of strangers. As I was thinking about all this, though, it dawned on me that all of life is this tight rope between deep pain and indescribable joy. So much of a 365-day year is made up of exactly that, isn't it? What's that trite saying? Without rain, there'd be no rainbows?
God who opened the eyes of the blind, open my eyes today to all the wonderful things I have in my life, amid difficult circumstances, grant me the small miracle today of perspective. Help me appreciate the rainbow, despite all the rain. Amen.
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002n81b)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 06:00 Today (m002n7qh)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Currently (m002mz1k)
Four Months in Gaza
A raw and intimate perspective on the terror, anger, and hope of living through war.
As bombs hit ever closer to her home in central Gaza, Hanya Aljamal spots her elderly neighbour tending to his garden. “He's been raking the earth,” she says, “prepping the soil for new seeds. Given everything that's already happening, it's quite interesting seeing him do that right now. I mean, if grandpa thinks it's a good time to put seeds in, then I don't know, maybe there's hope.”
In audio diaries sent from her balcony over four months, Hanya sees impromptu volleyball matches, flying shrapnel, and a hastily constructed tent village as Israel expands its military action. But after she questions whether she will live to see the end of the conflict, a fragile peace is finally agreed and Hanya’s personal situation changes dramatically.
Producer/presenter: Simon Maybin
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
WED 09:30 Shadow World (m002mr56)
Anatomy of a Cancellation
5. The Rewrite
A sensitivity reader Helen Gould speaks publicly for the first time, revealing the emotional and professional complexities of revising a book already in print.
Katie Razzall interrogates the role of sensitivity readers, and asks: who gets to decide what’s acceptable in literature—and what happens when those boundaries shift?
In Shadow World: Anatomy of a Cancellation, the BBC’s Culture Editor Katie Razzall revisits a story that rocked the UK’s publishing industry in 2021. It led to what some saw as the unjustified cancellation of a prize-winning writer and teacher - but to others, was a long overdue reckoning for the world of publishing. It grew into a culture war about race, class, and who has the right to say what.
Anatomy of a Cancellation explores a range of different perspectives to consider how people now view one of the most controversial literary rows in recent memory.
Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producer: Charlotte McDonald
Additional production: Octavia Woodward
Production co-ordinators: Sophie Hill and Katie Morrison
Sound design and mix: James Beard
Story editing: Meara Sharma
Series producer: Matt Willis
Senior news editor: Clare Fordham
Commissioning executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
It was a BBC Long Form Audio production for Radio 4.
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7qq)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002n7qw)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002n7px)
8th to 14th December
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
This week: 8th to 14th December
12th December 1963 - Jomo Kenyatta leads Kenya to independence
13th December 2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured by US forces near his hometown of Tikrit
9th December 1952 - The Great Smog of London finally clears
Presented by Jane Steel and Ron Brown
WED 11:45 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7r2)
Grave
Stretching from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at the Sycamore Gap, journalist Peter Ross takes up the long human story as he visits the ancient places of the British Isles. From stones to shrines, through ritual and commemoration, what are we seeking when we connect with the past?
“This isn’t a bronze sword or a stone axe. This is a human being.”
Ross carefully explores some of the ritual, beliefs and creativity around Ireland’s eerie bog bodies.
Read by Andy Clark
Written by Peter Ross
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
WED 12:00 News Summary (m002n7r8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002n7rj)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m002n7rt)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m002n7s6)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
WED 13:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fvgq)
Episode 3: Apparitions
The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.
As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.
But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.
In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?
In this third episode, Rebecca explores apparitions, sleep paralysis and hallucinations through a conversation with Oliver Sacks. She asks, if hallucinations are so common, occurring in states of meditation, fasting, grief, waking from sleep, childbirth and so on, why are we quick to dismiss them? By doing so, might we lose opportunities for shared wonder?
Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Sound Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
Author photo credit :Sarah Weal
WED 14:00 The Archers (m002n7sj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Trust (m002n7ss)
Series 6 – 2. Alligators
Jonathan Hall's comedy drama about a Salford secondary school starring Julie Hesmondhalgh.
Yvette is convinced that, wherever possible, kids should stay in school. But transfer pupil Logan is testing those limits. Exclusion is not an easy decision, and Logan's keyboard-warrior father complicates the process. As tensions rise, a late-night confrontation uncovers a pivotal truth.
YVETTE.....Julie Hesmondhalgh
CAROL / QUEENIE.....Susan Twist
TIM.....Ashley Margolis
SIR KEN.....Jonathan Keeble
LOGAN.....Ellis Hollins
MR SHAW.....William Ash
Writer - Jonathan Hall
Director - Pippa Day
Technical Producer - Sharon Hughes
Additional Technical Production - Kelly Young
Production Co-ordinator - Victoria Moseley
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4
WED 15:00 Money Box (m002n7t0)
The latest news from the world of personal finance
WED 15:30 Child (m002n7td)
Series 2
6. Awe
India Rakusen explores the awe-inspiring world of awe. Discover how narratives and storytelling, as well as the awesome natural world, have the power to inspire the feeling in all of us - and find out what happens when we let it into our lives.
From an increased sense of optimism and connection to prosocial tendencies and reduced anxiety and depression, join India as she reveals what we can learn from the little people in our lives who reach for awe instinctively. And let her take you on a journey that features a Maori storyteller, an expert on childhood amnesia, and a doctor trying to get the youngest in society out in nature.
Presented by: India Rakusen
Producer: Charlotte Evans-Young
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive producer: Alex Hollands
Commissioning Exec: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and Eska Mtungwazi
Sound Design by Charlie Brandon-King
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002n7tn)
Who's in the news for all the wrong reasons? With David Yelland and Simon Lewis.
WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002n7v0)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m002n7vb)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7vq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 18:30 Unite (m001n1zg)
Series 2
The Ukrainian
Imogen finds neighbour Tamsin banging on about her volunteering at the local school so irritating that she rashly announces that they have decided to take in a Ukrainian refugee.
While Ashley is splashing on the cologne to welcome Georgiy into the house, Gideon is doing his best to win over Rebecca's judgemental brother Daniel.
Tony gives Georgiy a tour of the house which results in some uncomfortable questioning of his choice of Russian literature. Georgiy has rather more luck when he meets neighbour Tamsin, taking an instant shine to her - and her drinks cabinet. Nigel's decision to take Georgiy to the local organ museum merely cements his wife's burgeoning infatuation with the dashing Ukrainian.
Daniel's attempt to humiliate Gideon by challenging him to a rap battle spectacularly backfires as Gideon unleashes his latent lyricism.
Back at the house a knock at the door exposes Georgiy's troubled past.
It's a welcome return for the critically-acclaimed sitcom. When Tony (Mark Steel), a working class, left wing South Londoner, falls in love and marries Imogen (Claire Skinner), an upper middle class property developer, their sons - Croydon chancer Ashley (Elliot Steel) and supercilious Eton and Oxford-educated Gideon (Ivo Graham) - are forced to live under the same roof and behave like the brothers neither of them ever wanted.
Cast:
Tony - Mark Steel
Imogen - Claire Skinner
Ashley - Elliot Steel
Gideon - Ivo Graham
Rebecca - Ayesha Antoine
Nigel - Simon Greenall
Tamsin - Susannah Fielding
Georgiy - Dan March
Daniel - Kaine Lawrence
Policeman - Ian Pearce
Written by Barry Castagnola and Ian Pearce
(additional material from the cast)
Executive Producer- Mario Stylianides
Producer/Director- Barry Castagnola
Sound Recordist and Editor- Jerry Peal
Broadcast Assistant - Sarah Tombling
Assistant Producer - George O'Regan
Production Assistant - David Litchfield
A Golden Path and Rustle Up production for BBC Radio 4
WED 19:00 The Archers (m002n7vr)
Paul fears for a friend, and Alan makes an unexpected offer.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m002n7yl)
96-year-old actress June Squibb on her lead role in Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m002n7yt)
Live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.
WED 21:00 The Reith Lectures (m002n7rf)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n7z4)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix (m002n7z9)
Episode 8
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix , translated by Helen Stevenson, is inspired by the actual events surrounding the deaths of 27 migrants who drowned in the English Channel in the early hours of the 24th November 2021. As the sea overwhelmed the dinghy they had set out in, the migrants’ telephone calls for help and the French call operator’s responses and frequently off the cuff, callous asides, were recorded, and later published by the French media.
The author takes these events as the starting point for a work of fiction. The narrative is voiced in the words of the French naval coastguard - it was her job , she is at pains to tell the police investigator, to assess the calls for help and allocate the rescue centre’s limited resources according to the most urgent need. But as her increasingly defensive arguments begin to unravel, we witness a mind where intrusive images of drowning figures crowd in. Accused of being a monster for her lack of empathy, the accusation is thrown back at us – where is our humanity and what did we do to save the drowning souls ?
This is a story which puts all of us in the spotlight – complicit in looking the other way, implicated in readily blaming others, and guilty for not wanting to think too much about where responsibility lies for the deaths of those who felt their limbs grow cold and leaden as the black of night gave way to grey dawn.
In an interview with Dua Lipa for her global book club, Service95, Vincent Delecroix observed that "imagination is the first moral faculty". In this work of fiction, he asks us to deploy our own imaginations as fully as we can, before we venture to make any kind of moral judgement.
Producer Jill Waters says, "I have rarely if ever finished a recording session so fired up by the energy of a challenging text brought viscerally to life. Small Boat is a gripping portrait of a woman struggling to deflect guilt, deny responsibility and maintain that these deaths - this journey - was not her idea. But every so often her argument collapses in on itself and we glimpse an internal chasm of doubt and fear. Lydia Wilson gives a superb performance, moving between demotic bluster and brittle sarcasm with devastating moments of guileless indifference, whilst all the time shame gnaws at her soul.
Small Boat was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 . It was originally published in 2023 in French by Gallimard as "Naufrage".
Read by Lydia Wilson and Tommy Sim’aan (episodes 5 and 6)
Written by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson
Abridged and directed by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:00 Tom & Lauren Are Going OOT (m002n7zj)
Series 2
5. Hen Do, Hen Don't
Lauren is busy trying to find the right excuse to miss the corporate retreat. The idea of log throwing and climbing trees to encourage employee bonding is not how she wants to spend the weekend. Tom encourages her to go anyway, telling her it would be good for her career to take part in the activities.
Meanwhile Tom gets ready for his first ever hen do. Lauren has to explain to him that hen do's are far more complicated that stag do's. Once he discovers the WhatsApp group he has muted, Tom is horrified to find his outfit doesn't fit the theme, and that all activities are compulsory...
Cast:
Tom Machell as Tom
Lauren Pattison as Lauren
Julian Clary as Neil
Writers: Tom Machell & Lauren Pattison
Director: Katharine Armitage
Recording Engineer: Philip Quinton
Sound Design: Philip Quinton
Theme Music: Scrannabis
Producers: Maria Caruana Galizia & Zahra Zomorrodian
A Candle & Bell production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 No-Platformed (m0018gs7)
Series 1
The Hub
Russ, Stuart, and Clara battle a parcel conglomerate and The Railway Children meet an untimely end. Comedy that drives a train through conventional sitcom-land via a platform crowded with silly jokes.
Three members of staff, one dysfunctional railway station, zero passengers. From the team behind the multi award-winning The Skewer and the also-multi-award-winning podcast Cold Case Crime Cuts.
Series stars:
Geoff McGivern (Ghosts / Peep Show / Hitchhiker's Guide .. .oh, hundreds of things)
Tim Downie (Toast of London / Upstart Crow / Good Omens)
Alexandra Mardell (Coronation Street)
With
Olivia Williams (Ten Percent, The Crown, The Father, The Sixth Sense)
Rufus Jones (Paddington / Stan and Ollie / Ch4’s Home)
Tracy Ann Oberman (EastEnders / Toast of London / Friday Night Dinner)
Hugh Dennis (Fleabag / Outnumbered / Mock The Week / The Now Show)
Featuring
Jake Yapp
Naomi McDonald
Yoriko Kotani
Written by Gareth Ceredig
Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes
An unusual production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n7zq)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER 2025
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002n7zy)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7r2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n806)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n80f)
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 (m002n80l)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002n80r)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n80w)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n810)
Surprises and Confessions
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury
Good morning.
This year, my husband finally finished his GP training. It's been a long 15-year journey. To celebrate this huge milestone, I ordered some cakes. I secretly messaged his family to come and visit and surprise him. It took every fibre of my being to keep this secret. I don't know if you've ever had to keep a secret or experienced that same feeling, like the knowledge was eating you alive (for better or worse).
Well, in the aftermath of my successful surprise dinner, I thought a lot about that feeling, that like eruption of relief and joy when finally, it was all out. It got me thinking about this passage in the book of James, which says, “confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.” Not because I have any answers or have experienced a miraculous healing myself, but because it made me think of all the times, I randomly turn to my husband and I say:
Can I tell you something awful? Can I just say this thing and get it off my chest? Can I tell you something without you judging me?
I've confessed so many frivolous, vulnerable, funny, random, and serious things to him. In this moment now, I realise how incredibly lovely it is to have a person who can accept all of you. Someone to confess the ugliest things to and yet still be considered lovable.
In lieu of a physical person, I'm grateful too for the nearness of God, his quiet kindness and listening ear. Remind me today, oh God, that you are not too holy and unapproachable, but rather so deeply curious about all my confessions. Today I choose to confess all the silly and profound musings of my mind. May my every good and errant thought wander into your kind presence today.
Amen.
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002n814)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 06:00 Today (m002n7rv)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (b08p5lbp)
Emily Dickinson
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Emily Dickinson, arguably the most startling and original poet in America in the C19th. According to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, her correspondent and mentor, writing 15 years after her death, "Few events in American literary history have been more curious than the sudden rise of Emily Dickinson into a posthumous fame only more accentuated by the utterly recluse character of her life and by her aversion to even a literary publicity." That was in 1891 and, as more of Dickinson's poems were published, and more of her remaining letters, the more the interest in her and appreciation of her grew. With her distinctive voice, her abundance, and her exploration of her private world, she is now seen by many as one of the great lyric poets.
With
Fiona Green
Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College
Linda Freedman
Lecturer in English and American Literature at University College London
and
Paraic Finnerty
Reader in English and American Literature at the University of Portsmouth
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m002n7s9)
Armando Iannucci and guests decode the utterly baffling world of political language.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7sk)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 The Infinite Monkey Cage (m002kjvg)
Series 34
Head in the Clouds - Owain Wyn Evans, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Amanda Maycock
Robin Ince and Brian Cox look up to the heavens as they try to ‘de-mistify’ the foggy science of clouds. They’re joined by Cloud Appreciation Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney, climate scientist Amanda Maycock, and former weather presenter and drummer Owain Wyn Evans, for a whirlwind tour of our too often-overlooked aerial realm.
The panel explores how clouds form, why they take such extraordinary shapes, and how satellites and weather balloons help us keep track of them. They discover why low clouds cool the planet but high clouds warm it and why a cloud that weighs as much as a jumbo jet manages to stay up in the sky. From the physics of a crisp packet balancing on a cumulonimbus to the shimmering beauty of noctilucent clouds, tune in for this cirrus-ly fascinating episode.
THU 11:45 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7t1)
North
Stretching from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at the Sycamore Gap, journalist Peter Ross takes up the long human story as he visits the ancient places of the British Isles. From stones to shrines, through ritual and commemoration, what are we seeking when we connect with the past?
“What are we doing tomorrow? Viking stuff!”
Ross witnesses one of the famous fire festivals of the Shetland archipelago.
Read by Andy Clark
Written by Peter Ross
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
THU 12:00 News Summary (m002n7tb)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 Scam Secrets (m002n7tm)
The WhatsApp Takeover
WhatsApp is part of our daily lives – and criminals know how to weaponise that trust.
In this episode, Shari Vahl and the team hear how a devastatingly simple trick handed the keys for a Scam Secrets listener's WhatsApp account to a scammer. Along with expert linguist Dr Elisabeth Carter and former criminal Alex Wood, Shari finds out what the hacker did next - and how an old friend was tricked into handing over money.
As ever, there will be red flags waving to show you what to watch out for - and essential tips from our guest expert to keep your account secure.
PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002n7tx)
Toast - C&A's UK Stores
The fashion chain C&A continues to thrive elsewhere so why did it shut all its UK stores?
The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates how they ended up toast, in the company of resident business expert and entrepreneur, Sam White.
C&A used to be one of the biggest fashion retailers on the UK's high streets until a shock decision in 2000 led to the stores' sudden closure.
To help explain what happened, Sean and Sam delve into the BBC archives and hear from expert guests including Donna Bevan - fashion historian, lecturer and course leader at the School of Creative Industries at Southampton Solent University and Stephen McDermott who worked at C&A for 35 years.
Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
If you have a good idea for an interesting Toast topic then tell us about it - email toast@bbc.co.uk
THU 12:57 Weather (m002n7v6)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002n7vg)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
THU 13:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fwq1)
Episode 4: The Owl
The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.
As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.
But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.
In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?
In this fourth episode, Rebecca explores some of the mysteries of our experience of dying and of grief, drawing on the time she spent with her parents as they died. She looks for common experience in Joan Didion’s memoir A Year of Magical Thinking, which has been called a ‘monument to grief’.
Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Sound Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
Author photo credit :Sarah Weal
THU 14:00 The Archers (m002n7vr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002n7w1)
Odds On
Dark new comedy about grief, friendship and musical theatre from Liv Fowler, a new writer shortlisted for the Best Debut Audo drama Imison Award in 2024. Her latest audio drama reflects on how we feel guilt and grief when loved ones leave us too soon, playing with the stoical trope ‘if you don’t laugh, you cry’.
It’s Maddie’s funeral. She got hit by the 453 after thinking she could get across Old Kent Road in a traffic cone, like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2. Her bezzies, Josie and George are in shock. They were convinced she’d get across with ease. They are avoiding Maddie’s family at the wake. See, Maddie’s Mum, Rita, isn’t aware that Maddie was with Josie and George that night. She also doesn’t know that Maddie lost a bet to them which is how she ended up being a corpse. Riddled with guilt, they didn’t think they’d have to answer so many questions!
Writer:
Liv Fowler is a writer from and based in South London. Her first radio commission, Happy Hour for BBC Radio 4, was shortlisted for the prestigious Imison Award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2024. Liv has recently finished participating in SOHO Theatre’s Stand Up Lab, alongside writing a show with Boundless Theatre and The Customs House about the experiences of young people in South Tyneside. Outside of playwriting, Liv also organises and hosts a comedic poetry night called Rhymes & Stitches - aiming to make sure art and joy are financially accessible to all, while breaking the stigma spoken word holds.
Cast:
Josie ….. Erin Riley
George …. Emika Sesay
Rita ….. Sarah Finigan
Producer ; Jelena Budimir
Sound Designer ; Jon Nicholls
Original music ; Sebastian Walsh and Euan Hill.
Illustration ; Danny Atkinson
Production Manager ; Darren Spruce
Executive Producer ; Polly Thomas
Written by Liv Fowler
A Thomas Carter Projects production for BBC Radio 4
THU 15:00 This Natural Life (m002n7w9)
Jane Anderson
Martha Kearney meets Jane Anderson, one of the UK's leading physicians in HIV medicine, to learn about the living library of plants at Chelsea Physic Garden. Since childhood, Jane has always been a huge lover of plants and their many remarkable uses - for food, for medicine, for health and wellbeing. As they walk around the medicinal plant beds, she speaks about human health and planetary health, and how they are both completely interconnected.
Producer: Becky Ripley
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002n7rs)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Feedback (m002n7wm)
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience
THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m002n7wv)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txp)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m002n7x6)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7xf)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 18:30 Rum Punch (m002n7xp)
Series 1
3. Unfriendly Competition
Marley hears Lydia’s boyfriend is running a marathon, so inevitably he signs up for the same race. Meanwhile, Delroy gets inventive in the kitchen after a new restaurant opens in the area.
Created by Travis Jay, Rum Punch is an award-winning sitcom that follows a multigenerational family as they juggle pursuit of their individual ambitions with their responsibilities to the family business - a Caribbean restaurant in the heart of Lewisham.
Rum Punch cast:
Charlie - Ninia Benjamin
Nicholas - Aaron Fontaine
Des - Kevin Garry (KG Tha Comedian)
Taylor - Kyrah Gray
Lydia - Letitia Hector
Marley - Travis Jay
Angie - Angie Le Mar
Delroy - Eddie Nestor
Writer – Travis Jay
Additional Material – Danielle Vitalis
Script Editor – Atlanta Green
Sound Engineer – David Thomas
Editor – David Thomas
Production Assistant – Sahar Malaika Rajabali, Eunice Oshiguwa, Jessica Fatoye
Producers – Daisy Knight and Jules Lom
Executive Producers – Richard Allen-Turner and Jon Thoday
An Avalon Television Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 19:00 The Archers (m002n7p7)
There's an emergency at the surgery, and Josh faces disappointment.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m002n7xv)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.
THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002n7tn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002n7v0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:15 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002n7x8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m002n7s9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n7y5)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (m002n7yc)
Episode 1
Heart Lamp - by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi - is a collection of 12 stories originally written in Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka in southwestern India. The collection chronicles the lives of women living in the patriarchal, largely Muslim communities of the region.
In this story, split into two episodes, the protagonist Mehrun returns unexpectedly to her family home. She is hoping for the support of her parents and brothers against her philandering husband.
The author and translator were jointly awarded the International Booker Prize and £50,000. The collection is published in the UK by And Other Stories.
Receiving the award, Mushtaq said, “In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds.”
Listen to Banu Mushtaq being interviewed on BBC World Service’s Outlook : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6xcd
Abridged by Jill Waters
Read by Deepti Gupta
Translated by Deepa Bhasthi
Produced by The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002n7ym)
Conversations about tomorrow, from Today.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n7yw)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER 2025
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002n7z2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7t1)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002n7zh)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002n7zp)
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 (m002n7zw)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002n801)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002n808)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002n80h)
Glorious Monotony
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Ennette C Lainchbury
Good morning.
These December mornings can be so bleak. My goodness. My Tuesday,
5am commute into work has turned on me from a glorious morning sunrise, mindful moment to this deeply dark dead of night expedition into work. These are the days of the year I find it hardest to find meaning in my work. The job I usually love begins to feel more like an obligation or the necessary evil that pays my bills and upcoming Christmas presents.
And yet Paul in Colossians has the audacity to say, “do everything as if you were doing it for the Lord.” Everything. Everything? Surely not the emails I've been putting off, Lord! Surely not this 5 a.m. commute, Lord! Surely not.
But here's the thing. Work was part of God's original design. woven into the beauty of creation in Genesis, which forces me to face my own discontentment, the monotony of my days and the relentless repetition. I imagine when God made the world, he didn't think to himself, hmm, what's the bare minimum amount of flowers that I can get away with making? But if I'm honest, that's all too often a thought that creeps into my mind when I think about work.
And it's in these moments that I have to try to remember all the ordinary and everyday places God met people: whilst they were minding sheep, fetching water by well, and one of my favourites whilst napping on a rock. Even in my dreary Tuesday morning, God is present with me. I am just all too often unaware.
So as we face this new day of work ahead of us, Lord, would you bless it afresh? Remind me again that this commute and indeed this whole day of work is more than a means to an end, but rather holy ground, ripe with the possibility of experiencing your goodness and nearness.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002n80n)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 06:00 Today (m002n7nn)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m002n7nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002n7ns)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002n7nv)
Going Cold Turkey: Alternative Christmas Dinners
Annie Gray always rejects turkey and the trimmings at Christmas. She believes they are a construct of a bygone era and will often eat pizza on the big day instead.
She explores alternative dinners from Christmases past, present and future. She visits Bath to discover what would have been eaten over Christmas in the Regency period and bakes traditional mince pies - made with minced meat. She'll look at how Christmas is celebrated differently around the world and will discuss Christmas dinners to come with a food futurologist.
Presented by Dr Annie Gray
Produced in Bristol by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio
FRI 11:45 Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross (m002n7nx)
Scion
Stretching from midwinter at Stonehenge to midsummer at the Sycamore Gap, journalist Peter Ross takes up the long human story as he visits the ancient places of the British Isles. From stones to shrines, through ritual and commemoration, what are we seeking when we connect with the past?
“This was a kind of shrine.”
Ross ends his tour of the ancient monuments of the British Isles at Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, in a place where absence is felt keenly.
Read by Andy Clark
Written by Peter Ross
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Peter Ross is an Orwell journalism fellow whose writing has appeared in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and US. He won the non-fiction prize at Scotland's National Book Awards with A Tomb With A View: The Stories & Glories of Graveyards, and his next book, Steeple Chasing, was a Sunday Times bestseller.
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002n7nz)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m002n7p1)
City Transport: Faster, Cheaper, Greener
How we get around town has never been more political, with controversies over low traffic neighbourhoods and 15 minute cities and rows about congestion charging and public transport breaking out all over the country. Tom and Helen are in search of the kind of consensus that makes things faster, cheaper and smoother for all of us. What works and what’s been a complete flop? Should we all stop moaning and get on our bikes? Who is the reshaping of traffic flows working - and not working - for? And could Milton Keynes have all the answers?
Presenters: Tom Heap and Helen Czerski
Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Assistant Producer: Toby Field
Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University.
FRI 12:57 Weather (m002n7p3)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m002n7p5)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
FRI 13:45 Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott (m002fwjv)
Episode 5: The Flickering
The award-winning writer Rebecca Stott grew up in the closed and secretive Christian fundamentalist cult of the Exclusive Brethren. Books, even children’s books, cinema, music were all banned. Imagination, the ministering brothers preached, was a corrupting force.
As a child who had to sit still through eleven hours of church meetings a week during which the brothers preached impenetrable biblical exegesis, Rebecca learned to daydream. That strange childhood, she says, gave her the ability to imagine extraordinary things. And, as an adult, she’s found that she’s comfortable sitting with the inexplicable - she remains fascinated by the mysterious things that flicker at the edges of our vision.
But these tend to be things our society prefers to shut down. We love to close a good mystery. We don’t like not knowing. We are impatient to find rational explanations for everything that happens. And yet there is still so much we don’t know.
In this series of original essays, Rebecca explores how closely beautiful strangeness is woven into the ordinary and the everyday. She asks, in our push to rationalise everything, as well as our fear of being mocked or accused of indulging in magical thinking, are we losing opportunities for shared wonder?
In the final episode, Rebecca explores some of the uncanny aspects of writing fiction by way of a meteor shower, and by enlisting the insights of Noel Gallagher, George Saunders, Stephen King and the spirit of the late Hilary Mantel.
Rebecca Stott, author of the memoir In the Days of Rain which won the Costa Biography Award in 2017, has 14 books to her name. These include the novels Ghostwalk, The Coral Thief, and most recently Dark Earth, as well as the creative non-fiction works Darwin’s Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists and Darwin and the Barnacle. She is a historian and broadcaster (BBC Radio 4, A Point of View) and taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years including as a professor at the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Written and presented by Rebecca Stott
Producer: Kirsten Lass
Editor: Sara Davies
Sound Engineer: Jon Calver
Image by Maia Miller-Lewis
A Loftus Media Production for BBC Radio 4
Author photo credit :Sarah Weal
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002n7p7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002n141)
Murder on Mars
Episode 5
Mars, 2048. The first settlers, a mix of international workers and the super-rich. And the first unexplained death.
When a body turns up in the corridor between a scrappy warehouse and a half-built luxury hotel, no-nonsense Harbourmaster Rita Siddiqui finds herself in charge. With Earth temporarily out of contact and no official law enforcement on Mars, she ropes in Vice Captain Jaz Hickson, a wide-eyed young pilot who’s only just landed.
But murder's not their only problem. Atmospheric tests have triggered a dangerous storm. Paranoia grows as the power fails. Lights, gravity, oxygen: everything is at risk.
Rita and Jaz must navigate a growing list of suspects, a dwindling supply of patience, and a killer who’s not finished yet.
Because even 140 million miles from Earth, people still have secrets. And someone’s willing to kill to keep them.
With the hub evacuated, Rita and Jaz are alone. Can they find the murderer in time?
Written by Tim Foley
CAST
RITA SIDDIQUI ..... NISHA NAYAR
JAZ HICKSON ..... LUKE NEWBERRY
WARD ..... STEFFAN RHODRI
NILS ..... DAVID MENKIN
GRACE ….. ELIZABETH AYODELE
MAX ..... SIDHANT ANAND
Sound: Sharon Hughes, Keith Graham and Neva Missirian
Production Co-ordinator: Luke MacGregor
Director: Anne Isger
Casting Manager: Alex Curran
A BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 New Storytellers (m002h9w3)
Life in Numbers
Living with a chronic condition feels like living with a full-time job and no days off. Musician Sarah Warren knows this well and offers a creative, unfiltered insight into living a life where numbers are vital to survival. With a medical history comparable to that of someone three times her age, Sarah’s story is a stark reminder that you can never tell what someone else has to cope with every day of the year.
Diabetes affects around 5.8 million people in the UK, so Sarah’s journey with Type One diabetes is not an uncommon story. This feature is a personal, witty and creative take on the lessons she has learnt, and how medical advances and digital monitoring have evolved since she was first diagnosed 14 years ago. Diabetes used to be something that Sarah tried to keep from others now it’s something she wants to share proudly. Think of this as your permission to stare.
‘Life in Numbers’ gives you access to a world through sounds you’ve never heard before. You can’t see it, but you can listen.
New Storytellers presents the work of new audio producers and this series features the winners of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Audio Feature 2025.
Sarah Warren worked on her feature while at Transmission Roundhouse, based in London, who run audio production training courses. The Judges praised Sarah Warren’s feature as “a good personal, informative account of living with diabetes… a very easy listen and the personality really shines through … with great illustrative sound design.”
Producer: Sarah Warren
A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002n7p9)
Horticultural programme featuring a group of gardening experts.
FRI 15:45 Radio 4 Christmas Appeal (m002n7pc)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 on Sunday]
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002n7pf)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Illuminated (m002l23l)
The Findhorn Garden
This is a story about a community on the north east coast of Scotland that talked to plants with miraculous results.
Established in 1962, the Findhorn community gained international recognition for 40lb cabbages, 8-foot delphiniums, and roses that bloomed in snow.
With seemingly no gardening experience, community founders Peter and Eileen Caddy and their friend Dorothy Maclean transformed the barren sand dunes surrounding the 30-foot caravan they were living in, into a modern-day garden of Eden.
The public wanted to know how this was possible. What was the source of this horticultural miracle?
People flocked to Findhorn from around the world to witness this incredible transformation first-hand.
An extraordinary story began to emerge. Peter, Eileen and Dorothy - along with Scottish writer and supernatural enthusiast Robert Ogilvie Crombie (ROC) - attributed their success to one thing: collaboration with the ‘intelligence of nature’.
They claimed they had pierced the veil of the nature spirit realm, and were regularly receiving guidance from fairies, floral spirits and angelic forms Dorothy called 'Devas' - the ‘architects’ of the natural world. Moreover, they had been called upon by these entities to transform the Findhorn Garden into a centre of spiritual light.
What started with a single family in a caravan quickly grew into a thriving international village of hundreds of people united by shared social, spiritual and ecological values.
Inspired by the media's enduring fascination with Findhorn's supernatural origins, sound designer Jonathan Webb travels to Findhorn in search of transmissions from the nature spirit realm.
Trawling through the archives, in conversation with community elders, and in pursuit of sonic traces of higher elemental worlds, Jonathan brings into focus the echoes and reverberations of Findhorn’s strange and magical past.
Produced, Edited & Sound Designed by Jonathan Webb
Executive Producer: Carys Wall
A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
Additional field recordings by Brenda Hutchinson.
With grateful thanks to Jonathan Caddy, Judy McAllister and Karl Jay-Lewin, whose kindness and generosity made this programme possible.
Thank you to the Findhorn Foundation for providing access and permission to use recordings from the Findhorn Foundation archive.
The Findhorn Garden includes excerpts from ‘The River’ by Lark Batteau and ‘Love One Another’ by David Spangler and Milenko Matanovic, performing as The New Troubadours (Findhorn community band, 1970-1973)
Jonathan Webb makes no claim to authorship or ownership over any of the quotations or repurposed recordings used in the production of this work, and for practical and artistic reasons it has not been possible to reference and cite them individually. Jonathan Webb’s authorship is in the overall conception, arrangement, treatment and presentation of this audio artwork in its context.
FRI 17:00 PM (m002n7ph)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002n7pk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 18:30 Dead Ringers (m002n7pm)
Christmas Specials 2025
Episode 1
Midway through a national tour celebrating 25 years of mischievous mimicry the Dead Ringers team are back on Radio 4 for two Christmas specials. Expect merrily ding-donging politicians and celebrities as Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis Macleod, Duncan Wisbey, Jess Robinson and Kieran Hodgson brighten up the bleak mid-winter with a sharp, topical take on the season of goodwill.
Producer: Jon Holmes
A BBC Studios Production.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002n7pq)
Writer: Keri Davies
Director: Rosemary Watts
Editor: Jeremy Howe
7th Dec - 12th Dec
Ben Archer.... Ben Norris
Josh Archer.... Angus Imrie
Leonard Berry.... Paul Copley
Alan Franks.... John Telfer
Ed Grundy.... Barry Farrimond
Lawrence Harrington.... Rupert Vansittart
Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley
Akram Malik.... Asif Khan
Azra Malik.... Yasmin Wilde
Zainab Malik.... Priyasasha Kumari
Lily Pargetter.... Katie Redford
Lottie Summers.... Bonnie Baddoo
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m002n7ps)
Katy Richardson and Ben Gernon head to Mongolia
Conductor Ben Gernon and Music Director Katy Richardson join Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe as they add another five tracks, taking us from the Mongolian landscape to a sunrise in Lesbos, a famous TV theme, and some seriously wronged wives.
Producer: Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Wolf Totem by The HU
Daybreak (Lever du jour) by Maurice Ravel
Stranger Things Theme by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein
Madeline by Lily Allen
Ex-Wives from SIX: The Musical
Other music in this episode:
Music for 18 Musicians by Philip Glass
Creep by Radiohead
The Lonely Goatherd by Julie Andrews
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002n7pv)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities.
FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002n7px)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:40 on Wednesday]
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m002n7pz)
Idleness
Is idleness ever a virtue? In a world that seems to privilege utility and productivity above all else, Matthew Sweet considers whether we can rethink the importance of doing nothing. His guests are:
Tom Hodgkinson, editor of The Idler and author of books including Idle Thoughts: Letters on Good Living, How to Live Like a Stoic: A Handbook for Happiness
Polly Dickson, a literary scholar at the University of Durham, who’s researching the art of doodling
Gavin Francis, doctor and author of many books including The Bridge Between Worlds and coming in Feb 2026 The Unfragile Mind, Making Sense of Mental Health
Producer: Luke Mulhall
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002n7q1)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (m002n7q3)
Episode 2
Heart Lamp - by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi - is a collection of 12 stories originally written in Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka in southwestern India. The collection chronicles the lives of women living in the patriarchal, largely Muslim communities of the region.
In this story, split into two episodes, the protagonist Mehrun returns unexpectedly to her family home. She is hoping for the support of her parents and brothers against her philandering husband.
The author and translator were jointly awarded the International Booker Prize and £50,000. The collection is published in the UK by And Other Stories.
Receiving the award, Mushtaq said, “In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds.”
Listen to Banu Mushtaq being interviewed on BBC World Service’s Outlook : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6xcd
Abridged by Jill Waters
Read by Deepti Gupta
Translated by Deepa Bhasthi
Produced by The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4
FRI 23:00 Americast (w3ct8byv)
Join Americast for insights and analysis on what's happening inside Trump's White House.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002n7q7)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament