SATURDAY 07 FEBRUARY 2026
SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002qv8h)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 00:30 Constable's Year by Susan Owens (m002qv74)
Episode 5: Winter
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of John Constable’s birth, Susan Owens offers a fresh look at how his life and work were shaped by his abiding love for his native Suffolk and the annual cycle of the natural world.
Today Constable is often considered to be a traditional artist, but he was a radical in his own time. Susan Owens describes how he rejected lazy, second-hand versions of nature; instead, he subjected the land, its people and its industry to intense scrutiny, and developed a new kind of painting to reflect the landscape and weather he saw with his farmer’s eye. He knew intimately the lanes, fields and millponds around his childhood home in East Bergholt in Suffolk, and he painted and understood the countryside as a place of labour as well as natural beauty.
Enriched with quotations from Constable’s funny, tender and acerbic letters, we follow him from his youth in the late 1700s, through the great love story of his marriage, to the final months of his life in 1837.
In this final episode we explore Constable’s growing fascination with the landscapes of winter as, towards the end of his life, he embarks on an ambitious project to publish his works as a sumptuous volume of prints.
Dr Susan Owens is an expert on British landscape art, and while Curator of Paintings at the V&A she was involved in the major exhibition Constable: The Making of a Master. Her latest book, The Story of Drawing: An Alternative History, was Apollo magazine’s Book of the Year in 2024.
Reader: Susannah Harker
Abridger and producer: Jane Greenwood
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Studio Production: Jon Calver
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002qv8k)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002qv8m)
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 (m002qv8p)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002qv8r)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002qv8t)
Follow the Light You Have
Good morning
Well, this week the same thing has happened as it always does in Cardiff at the start of February, my
7am walk with our dog has finally emerged out of the long winter darkness. Dawn was breaking as I slipped the leash around her neck, and I didn’t need the head torch to illuminate the latch on the garden gate. By the time we returned for breakfast, the sun was fully risen as indeed had my spirits for the coming day.
The coming of light is a common enough theme in many religions, an enduring metaphor for divine guidance and spiritual illumination. In the Christian scriptures Jesus even refers to himself as being ‘the light of the world’ promising that those who seek him out will find their way through the days of emotional darkness that almost inevitably envelop each of us at some time or other.
One exemplar of living in that light was the Scottish minister and founder of the Iona Community, the reverend George MacLeod. He was quite familiar with some personal times in the spiritual shadowlands but out of those experiences he would often encourage folk to, ‘give thanks for the light we have and pray for more light.’
I think that’s pretty good advice, not just for those of us who might be walking our dog across the threshold of a new day, but for any journey you and I may need to make today. If and when it feels like we cannot find our way through a moment of doubt or despair, let’s pause by giving thanks for the light we’ve already been given, and, as we take the next step forward, let’s pray for more light to come to our path.
Dear God of heaven’s light,
Shine upon our small corner of the earth today;
Brighten our hearts,
And Illuminate our minds,
That we might give thanks for all we already have
And perhaps become the very light that others need.
Amen
SAT 05:45 Materials of State (m002mn0f)
The Stone of Destiny
David Cannadine continues examining the origins, symbolism and contemporary significance of the objects and emblems that underpin the British constitution.
In this fifth episode, he’s looking at the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone - an ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy with a complex and contested history intertwined with both Scottish and British identity. The stone's earliest origins are shrouded in myth, but it was certainly used in the inauguration of Scottish kings at Scone Abbey from at least 1249. In 1296, King Edward I of England seized the stone as war booty. It was taken to Westminster Abbey and incorporated into a specially constructed Coronation Chair, which has been used in the coronation ceremonies of English, and later British, monarchs for over 700 years.
On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students, who supported an independent Scottish Parliament, removed the stone from Westminster Abbey to draw attention to their nationalist cause. The stone broke in two during the removal and was secretly repaired by stonemason Bertie Gray in Glasgow before being left at Arbroath Abbey and subsequently returned to Westminster. Gray was a keen Scottish nationalist and he kept fragments of the Stone during its repair to give out as relics. The historian Sally Foster has traced the whereabouts of many of these fragments which have travelled far and wide.
In 1996, the Conservative Prime Minister John Major announced the stone's return to Scotland, with the agreement stipulating that the stone must be returned to Westminster Abbey for any future coronation ceremony. The stone was brought to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. It is now on permanent display at the Perth Museum in Scotland, near its place of origin in Scone. It can rest more easily as a heritage object now Scotland has it's own Parliament, yet David argues it is still a highly charged 'material of state' with a complex and contested history.
Contributors in order of appearance:
Mark Hall, Collections Officer, Perth Museum, Scotland
Dr Fiona Watson, historian
Professor Sally Foster, Professor of Heritage in History at the University of Stirling
Presented by Professor Sir David Cannadine
Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
Series Researcher: Martin Spychal
Sound Mixing: Tony Churnside
The series has been made in association with the History of Parliament Trust
A Zinc Audio production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002r38n)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SAT 06:07 Ramblings (m002qths)
Terminal Hillness in the north Lakes
Clare joins Ian Teasdale in the north Lake District for a very personal walk. Ian and his wife, Catherine, are on a mission to climb all 214 Wainwright fells as part of their 'Terminal Hillness' project which they started following Ian's diagnosis of incurable bowel cancer. He wants to raise awareness of the lack of cancer support facilities in their region and he decided the best way to do this was by completing a full round of the Wainwrights. As they hike up Longlands, Ian shares memories connected to the landscape he grew up in. The forecast was grim before they set off, but the sun shone, and the only rain that fell created the most beautiful rainbow across the valley.
They started at Longlands, Grid Ref NY266358, and completed a 6 mile circuit with views of Skiddaw and the Northern Fells.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002r38q)
Farming Today This Week: electric shock collars, taking carbon out of agriculture, UK-EU reset, new entrants, Wagyu beef
Electronic Collars are to be banned under new rules for the RSPCA's Assured scheme for dairy cows. The collars are used instead of fencing, and make noise and then deliver a small electric shock to the cow if she goes outside the prescribed area. In April the RSPCA is also introducing other changes: a requirement for more access to pasture, a minimum of 120 days a year; changes to rules around transport of pregnant cows; and use of RSPCA Assured slaughter houses.
A new report published by the think tank The Resolution Foundation says the government's goal of 'net zero' across the UK, could force less proftable farms into debt, and lead to 3,500 farms losing money. It says progress to remove the carbon from farming has been slow and advises that policy makers should intervene to ensure costs are passed to the consumer.
MPs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee are calling on the Government to have a ‘national conversation’ on the new EU/UK agri-food trade agreement, so farmers don't end up disadvantaged.
All this week, we've been talking about starting out in farming. The cost of land and the price of renting makes it difficult for those who're not from a farming family. One young couple have realised their dream by leaving behind their city lives in York and moving hundreds of miles to Scotland, to a croft in the Western Isles.
We meet a farmer who has gone back to her family farming roots in Norfolk. After working variously as a PE teacher and journalist she now single handedly runs a herd of Wagyu beef cattle,
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
SAT 06:57 Weather (m002r38s)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 07:00 Today (m002r38v)
Today (Saturday)
SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002r38x)
Alexander Armstrong, Cold Cases, Small Prophets and the Inheritance Tracks of Riz Ahmed
Alexander Armstrong on life as a writer, Professor Patricia Wiltshire explains the role of a forensic botanist, Mackenzie Crook unveils the secrets behind his latest show.
SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (m002r38z)
Hypatia of Alexandria: mathematician, martyr and feminist icon
Greg Jenner is joined in late antique Egypt by Professor Edith Hall and comedian Olga Koch to learn about the life of mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria. An important mathematical and astronomical thinker, Hypatia is best known today for her brutal death at the hands of Christian fundamentalists. Born to a well-respected mathematician named Theon in fourth-century Alexandria, Hypatia received an unusually advanced education for a woman, and eventually took over her father’s school. But with the city in which she lived riven by religious and political conflicts during the declining days of the Roman empire, she came to the attention of radical Christians – with fatal consequences. In this episode we explore Hypatia’s trailblazing life as a philosopher and mathematician, and her afterlife as a martyr for intellectual enquiry, and as a certified feminist icon.
If you’re a fan of trailblazing women from history, religious conflicts, and the twilight of the Roman empire, you’ll love our episode on Hypatia of Alexandria.
If you want more ancient philosophers with Professor Edith Hall, listen to our episodes on Pythagoras and Aristotle. And for more from Olga Koch, check out our episodes on Ivan the Terrible and Vital Electricity.
You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past.
Hosted by: Greg Jenner
Research by: Adam Simcox
Written by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner
Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner
Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse
Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
SAT 10:30 Rewinder (m002r391)
Wuthering Flights
Greg James explores the BBC Archives using overlooked anniversaries, the big stories of the week and your suggestions to guide him to extraordinary audio.
Marking 100 years since John Logie Baird first demonstrated his Televisor to the public, Greg finds an interview with first man ever to appear on a TV screen, William Taynton, who worked as Baird's assistant and survived being half-roasted to make history.
As a new raunchy take on Wuthering Heights hits cinemas starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Greg explores the many, many BBC adaptations of Emily Bronte's novel - as well as the feedback from listeners distracted by the wuthering weather.
After last week's look at kids' TV programme Why Don't You, Greg receives an email which leads to a lovely surprise for a Rewinder listener.
And fifty years on from the first commercial Concorde flight, there are big bangs and booms and bad tempered Brits. Plus a very flustered Terry Wogan.
Producer: Tim Bano
An EcoAudio Certified production
SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002r393)
Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster
SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002r395)
Rafah border crossing reopens
Kate Adie introduces stories from the Gaza-Egypt border, Cuba, Bangladesh, Ukraine and Slovenia.
The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt reopened this week after being mainly kept shut since Israel captured the Gazan side in 2024. It’s opening has brought relief to many Palestinians who see it as a lifeline to the world. However, there has been frustration over delays and the small number of people being allowed through each day. Yolande Knell has been following developments.
Outside Venezuela, nowhere was last month’s US military action in Caracas felt more keenly than in Cuba. Venezuela has helped prop up the Communist-run island for twenty-five years, with subsidised supplies of crude oil. Will Grant reports from Havana on the island's growing economic crisis.
Bangladesh goes to the polls next week in its first election since a student uprising forced the previous Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to flee for India. However, a new student-led political party is already in crisis. Azadeh Moshiri reports from Dhaka.
Ukraine continues to endure heavy Russian bombardment of its energy grid - in the capital more than a thousand buildings are still without power. But locals are finding innovative ways to keep warm amid freezing temperatures, as Abdujalil Abdurasulov discovered at a disco on a frozen river.
The Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina are officially underway and one of Europe’s smallest countries is hoping to fly higher than the rest. Guy De Launey met the Slovenian brother and sister who are favourites for ski-jumping gold.
Producer: Serena Tarling
Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002r397)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002r399)
Credit Card Debt and Civil Service Pensions
Debt charity StepChange says its research suggests around 2.5mn people who have debt on a credit card have paid more in interest, fees and charges over the past 18 months than they have repaid off the debt itself. Its survey of 6,000 adults, done by the polling organisation YouGov, found 1 in 20 adults had this persistent credit card debt. Its calling on the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to improve the lending rules to stop debt building up and and ensure banks are intervening sooner to support customers in difficulty. The FCA says its rules mean that lenders should only provide credit to people who can afford to repay.
The government has started a hardship fund because thousands of newly retired civil servants have been kept waiting months for their pensions to be paid. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents many civil servants, has described the situation as "catastrophic" and is calling for urgent action to put things right. In a joint statement Capita and the Cabinet Office said they are "deeply sorry for the worry, frustration, and distress this has caused." Adding they both take this responsibility "very seriously and are urgently working together to put this right."
New figures show that banks are refunding more of the money stolen from customer accounts, following new rules which force them to do so.
And as the big lenders offer mortgages worth six times people’s salary, what does this mean for borrowers?
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson
(First broadcast
12pm Saturday 7th February 2026)
SAT 12:30 The News Quiz (m002qv7w)
Series 119
5. The Prince of Darkness
Is there a way out for Keir Starmer after the Peter Mandelson scandal? Who fled ‘under the cover of darkness’ from their royal lodgings? What exactly is a humble address? And why are iguanas falling out of trees? Helping Andy answer some of the big questions of the week are Desiree Burch, Pierre Novellie, Daniel Finkelstein and Catherine Bohart.
Written by Andy Zaltzman.
With additional material by: Cody Dahler, Eve Delaney and Sarah Mills
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producers: Richard Morris and James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Giulia Lopes Mazzu
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
SAT 12:57 Weather (m002r39c)
The latest weather forecast
SAT 13:00 News (m002r39f)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002qv82)
Baroness Chapman, Laila Cunningham, Richard Holden MP, Caroline Lucas
Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Highlands Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex with the International Development Minister Baroness Jenny Chapman, Reform UK's London Mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham, the Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden MP and the former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Caroline Lucas,
Producer: Robin Markwell
Assistant producer: Jo Dwyer
Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Phil Zentner
Editor: Glyn Tansley
SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002r39h)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?
SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002qv7y)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Jessica Bunch
Editor: Jeremy Howe
David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer.... Angus Imrie
Kenton Archer.... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Anne Marie Gordon.... Kate Ashfield
Bill Gordon.... Matthew Gravelle
Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Will Grundy.... Philip Molloy
Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley
Esme Mulligan.... Ellie Pawsey
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Hannah Riley.... Helen Longworth
SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002r39k)
Transcendental Wild Oats
Louisa May Alcott (Louisa Harland - Hamnet) immortalised herself and her sisters in her book Little Women. In Transcendental Wild Oats, she tells the story of her parents, Abigail (Rebekah Staton) and Bronson (Alistair Petrie - Night Manager 2), and her father’s attempt to found a utopia on a farm in the New England wilderness, called Fruitlands.
Accompanied by a dour Englishman named Charles Lane (Mathew Baynton - Ghosts), and a small band of eccentrics, they believed Eden could be returned to Earth through veganism, celibacy and organic farming – which none of them knew how to do. What followed were six months of misadventure, with comedy gradually threatening to turn into tragedy.
This adaptation combines Louisa’s original short story with historical record, drawing on the letters and diaries of the people involved, to tell the full story of Fruitlands.
Dramatised by Edward Rowett
Original Story by Louisa May Alcott
Directed by Gordon Kennedy and Edward Rowett
Cast:
Louisa May Alcott and Louy Alcott - Louisa Harland
Bronson Alcott - Alistair Petrie
Abigail Alcott - Rebekah Staton
Charles Lane - Mathew Baynton
Christopher Godwin as Joseph Palmer
Tom Moores as Samuel Bower
Edward Rowett as Abraham Wood
Patricia Rodriguez as Ann Page
Jason Barnett as Ralph Waldo Emerson
Victoria Rigby as Anna Alcott
Production Manager - Sarah Tombling
Studio Engineer, Sound Design and Editing - Wilfredo Acosta
Produced by Gordon Kennedy
Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios, London
An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 16:00 Woman's Hour (m002r39m)
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week
SAT 17:00 PM (m002r39p)
Full coverage of the day's news
SAT 17:30 Political Thinking with Nick Robinson (m002r39r)
How to tell England’s story: James Graham, playwright
James Graham joined Nick in the political thinking studio in late January, ahead of a this year's TV adaptation of his play Dear England.
What did Gareth Southgate get right about national identity?
What advice does the playwright have for Keir Starmer on storytelling?
And why is it important that people continue to go to the theatre?
Senior Producer: Daniel Kraemer
Producer: Flora Murray
Sound: Ged Sudlow and Hal Haines
Editor: Giles Edwards
SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002r39t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SAT 17:57 Weather (m002r39w)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r39y)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002r3b0)
Beverley Knight, Keala Settle, Michaela Strachan, Ross Noble, Melvyn Hayes
Joining Clive this week are the actress and singer Keala Settle, who's starring in a newly re-imagined production of John Ransom Phillips' Mrs President.
Presenter Michaela Strachan is heading off across the country with her show Not Just A Wild Life, to celebrate 40 years of her career in television.
Comedian Ross Noble joins us mid-tour to delve into his Cranium of Curiosities.
Star of stage and screen Melvyn Hayes brings along his new autobiography It Ain't Half Late Mum.
And there's music from Beverley Knight, who's about to grace the stage in the West End premiere of Marie and Rosetta.
Presenter: Clive Anderson
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
SAT 19:00 Profile (m002r3b2)
Kirsty Coventry
As the 2026 Winter Olympics kick off in Italy, we look to the most powerful woman in sport - the International Olympics Committee President, Kirsty Coventry.
The most decorated African Olympian of all time, the 42-year-old mother-of-two made history as both the first African and the first woman to hold the title when she was elected last year.
Kirsty began swimming from an early age, in the family pool in Harare, Zimbabwe, where her mother gave swimming lessons to local children. Her talent was soon spotted, and she competed in her first Olympics in at just aged 16, going on to compete in four more.
With seven Olympic medals and several World Records under her belt, she decided to take on a role at the International Olympic Committee, quickly climbing the ranks.
Her reign is being closely watched by both her supporters and her detractors - from the decisions she makes around Russian and transgender athletes being allowed to compete, to the challenge global warming creates for running the competition. So, as the Winter Olympics begin, Mark Coles examines how she got here.
Production Team:
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Keiligh Baker and Katie Solleveld
Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Gemma Ashman
Sound: James Beard
Editor: Justine Lang
Archive:
Olympics.com
AFP
IOC
Dominican Convent Primary School Harere
Sporting Witness BBC World Service
Sky News
SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m002qth9)
Imogen Cooper
Dame Imogen Cooper is one of Britain’s most esteemed concert pianists. Having played since the age of five, she was mentored by the great Austrian born pianist Alfred Brendel before making her name internationally with interpretations of works by Schumann, Schubert and Mozart. She is renowned as a reflective, poetic sensitive performer in the concert hall and recording studio. She was made a CBE in 2007, became the first pianist to be awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2020 and, the following year, became Dame Imogen. She recently announced that, at the end of the year long international tour, she would be retiring from live performance in early 2027.
Producer: Edwina Pitman
Archive used:
Face The Music, BBC2, 12 November 1975
Schubert, Allegretto in C minor D915 played by Imogen Cooper at the Wigmore Hall on 18 January 2026
SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002r3b4)
Landscape For A Good Infant
If we crouch down to the level of the infant, what might we learn about the evolution of the welfare state and its role in the lives of babies, young children, and the people who care for them? How have our attitudes towards it changed from its inception to the present day?
Dr Emily Baughan, historian of modern childhood and mother of two infants, explores how our ideas about infancy, motherhood, and the role of the state have shifted over the last six decades.
Today, formula milk is one of the most shoplifted items in the UK. But if you were born before 1976, your formula milk would have been provided by the state. Known as “national milk”, it is just one example of how the state has shaped different generations’ experiences of infancy. We already understand how the national curriculum and school dinners have produced a distinctly British experience of childhood for older children - but what about the under‑fives?
Drawing on a wealth of BBC archive from the 1960s to today, alongside her own research and personal reflections, Emily takes on this baby’s‑eye view of the state, discovering how it has helped shape generations. She hears how a baby born in 1980 would have spent their first hours in a Perspex crib in a hospital nursery, while a baby born in 2000 would have been delivered straight onto their mother’s chest, rarely leaving her side. A baby in 1985 might have attended one of 300,000 free community playgroups; by 2025, they would be unlikely to find any non‑profit play provision outside a church. Are we, as adults, the product of what the state deems important for infants?
Featuring interviews with Miriam Stoppard, Professor Carolyn Steedman (author of Landscape for a Good Woman) and Stella Creasy MP.
Producer: Eliza Lomas
Editor: Chris Ledgard
SAT 21:00 Artworks (m002fjn8)
Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf
2. Critiquing Society
‘They make life intolerable, men like that.’
A century on from the publication of Mrs Dalloway, Fiona Shaw explores what Virginia Woolf has to say to us today. With Clarissa Dalloway as our guide, we discover how Woolf captured and critiqued a modern world that was transforming around her, treated mental health as a human experience rather than a medical condition, and challenged gender norms in ways that seem light years ahead of even our present day discourse.
In this episode, Fiona Shaw speaks with authors, academics and artists inspired by Virginia Woolf, about how Woolf critiqued systems of power and privilege.
Fiona hears from authors Alison Light, Danell Jones, Michelle de Kretser, Michael Cunningham, and Mark Haddon; Senior Lecture in Modern Literature, Dr Clara Jones; Professor of English, Mark Hussey; and artist Kabe Wilson.
Extracts read by Gwendoline Christie.
Produced by Ellie Richold for BBC Audio
SAT 21:30 Artworks (m002ntsk)
The Poetry Detective
Overwintering
Vanessa Kisuule unearths the poems that speak to the big issues we are all wrestling with. This week, it's getting through winter.
"Overwintering" is a term usually reserved for plants and animals adapting in order to make it through the cold, darker months. But we humans are living beings too and perhaps we are also in need of some mulching around the roots, some bringing indoors, some hibernation.
And when life throws us a metaphorical winter, can we allow ourselves to just sit and watch through the window 'til the storm has passed? Perhaps poetry can help. Can it make us calmer, wiser, and more accepting of life's unplanned pauses?
With Katherine May, author of Wintering and the poets Lavinia Greenlaw, Megan Fernandes and Isabelle Baafi.
'Advent’ by Patrick Kavanagh is quoted from Collected Poems, edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane, 2004), by kind permission of the Trustees of the Estate of the late Katherine B. Kavanagh, through the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency.
Produced in Bristol by Ellie Richold
SAT 22:00 News (m002r3b6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002qv72)
The Future of Our Food
In a special edition Dan Saladino talks to the UK's biggest food producers and retailers to hear their visions for the future of food, health, sustainability and resilience.
Along with the DEFRA minister Dame Angela Eagle, some of the most influential figures in food and farming are gathering at the annual Sustainable Foods event held in London. On the agenda will be health and nutrition, food security, net zero and regenerative agriculture.
Will the ideas and strategies, outlined by the major supermarkets, food manufacturers and farming organisations result in significant changes to food in the UK?
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
SAT 23:00 Dan Does Dating (m002r3b8)
Series 1
4. Celeste
Think of the worst date you've been on, or heard about. Now imagine having to go through that every week. That's what happens to Dan Dickerson in Dan Does Dating, a new non-audience sitcom by Michael Beck. And his dates feel the same way.
This week, Dan compares the first date he's on with how the first dates of his partnered-up friends went - or, at least, how they told him they went...
Dan … Christopher Macarthur-Boyd
Celeste ... Tina Gray
Chris … Ray Bradshaw
Jack … Stephen Buchanan
Jamila … Nalini Chetty
Diane … Zara Gladman
Tattooist … Kougar Baatarkhuu
Angry Man ... Jonny Donahoe
Mum ... Lubna Kerr
Fiona ... Layla Kirt
Dad … Sanjeev Kohli
Sarah… Lisa Livingstone
Partygoer ... Eleanor Morton
Moviegoer … Sophie Wilkinson
Written by Michael Beck
Recorded and edited by Diane Jardine at Sonido Studios, Clydebank
Produced and directed by Ed Morrish
A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 23:30 Counterpoint (m002qzbk)
Series 39
Heat 5, 2026
Paul Gambaccini hosts radio's most challenging music quiz. Now in its 39th series, contestants from around the country have assembled to be tested on their knowledge of music from across the centuries, and across every genre.
This week, our three contestants pick from topics including ‘Pop into 1976', 'Seventies isco at the movies' and 'The Wayne Shorter Report'.
Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4
SUNDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2026
SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3bb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 00:15 Bookclub (m002qrfy)
Sarah Bernstein
The Canadian writer Sarah Bernstein speaks to a Bookclub audience about her Booker-shortlisted 2023 novel, Study For Obedience. Published by Granta, the story follows an unnamed protagonist who is moved to a remote northern country to be a housekeeper for her brother, but as soon as she arrives a series of unfortunate events occur. The novel won the Giller prize in 2023.
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3bd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3bg)
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 (m002r3bj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3bl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002r3bn)
All Saints church in Easton, Suffolk
Bells on Sunday comes from All Saints church in Easton, Suffolk. The church is Grade 1 listed and mostly medieval. The bell tower has a square flint base with a 15th century octagonal upper section. It holds six bells by five different founders, the oldest of which dates from the mid-15th century. The Tenor bell weighs twelve hundredweight and is tuned to the note of G. We hear them now ringing Plain Bob Doubles
SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002qrlc)
Update on the Macular Society
Regular In Touch listeners will know that decisions to make organisational changes by management at The Macular Society have been met with strong opposition. The changes include a reduction in the number of regional managers, a move which some in the charity say will badly damage service provision. Indeed, feelings are running so high that a group called "Save Our Society, Save our Services" or SOS has been formed. Following a recent Annual General Meeting, SOS claimed they had been denied the opportunity to properly challenge management and that controversial decisions had been forced through.
Amid this acrimony, we were keen to give people from both sides of the argument the opportunity to explain their position. We're pleased to say that SOS members Tricia Sturgeon and Ron Barnett, and Cecilia Bufton, Chair of the Society's Board of Trustees agreed to join us to do just that.
Presenter: Peter White
Producers: Beth Hemmings and Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to
the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.’
SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002r3f5)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 06:05 Thinking Allowed (m002qrks)
The go-along research method
How does the environment we move through shape the way we see and experience the world?
Laurie Taylor talks to Alex Prior (London South Bank University) about his research inside Westminster, where he walked alongside MPs and staff to uncover how the corridors of power feel different depending on who you are and what your job is.
James Fletcher from the University of Bath worked on a project exploring what it’s like to navigate the bus and tram routes of central Manchester while living with dementia. He looked at how familiar streets and transport systems change when memory and mobility are shifting and the implications of this.
What is the value of research conducted in this way and what are the downsides?
Producer: Natalia Fernandez
SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002r3f7)
The One-Woman Wagyu Beef Farmer
Out on the ancient meadows just back from the North Norfolk coast graze some unusual, horned, beef animals. These velvety black, delicate-legged cattle are wagyu. Originally from Japan, they produce meat treasured for its marbled fat, which makes it tender and flavoursome.
These animals are being raised by a one-woman force of nature – Sarah Juggins. Sarah runs the North Norfolk Coastal Group of farmers, who are bringing about sustainable farming changes to hundreds of square kilometres of environmentally sensitive land. Previously a sports teacher and journalist, and now an author, Sarah tells Anna Hill about coming back to her family farming roots in Norfolk, where her father ran a mixed farm.
She cares for her own 36-strong herd of wagyu animals single-handed. After ten years her beef enterprise is only just making a profit but, as she tells Anna Hill, it’s given her so much more than an income. The animals have taught her to adjust her frenetic pace to match nature, be patient and mindful, and appreciate the interconnections between landscape and food production.
We join Sarah and Anna out in the field, and witness a race for the best hay bales, family squabbles, and calves playing hide and seek in the winter sun.
Presented and produced by Anna Hill.
SUN 06:57 Weather (m002r3f9)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002r3fc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002r3ff)
A look at the ethical and religious issues of the week
SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002r3fh)
DeafKidz International
The Oscar-winning writer and actress Rachel Shenton makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity DeafKidz International.
The Radio 4 Appeal features a new charity every week.
Each appeal then runs on Radio 4 from Sunday 0755 for 7 days.
To Give:
- Freephone 0800 404 8144
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘DeafKidz International’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘DeafKidz International’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Please ensure you are donating to the correct charity by checking the name of the charity on the donate page.
Registered Charity Number: 1151219. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://deafkidzinternational.org
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites
Producer: Anna Bailey
SUN 07:57 Weather (m002r3fk)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002r3fm)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.
SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002r3fp)
Seats of wisdom
A service from Exeter Cathedral as part of the Northern European Cathedrals Conference. The music and readings reflect on the theme of ‘Cathedrals: Seats of Wisdom’, exploring these sacred spaces as places of Northern European identity and culture, wisdom and rootedness. The service includes a reading from Exeter Cathedral’s 10th century Exeter Book – a UNESCO World Memory object, widely regarded as the oldest surviving book in the English language. The preacher is the Bishop of Exeter, and hymns include Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation, and Now thank we all our God. Director of Music: Timothy Noon. Organist: Michael Stephens-Jones. Producer: Ben Collingwood.
SUN 08:48 Tweet of the Day (m002r3fr)
Polly Atkin on the Long-eared Owl
The non-fiction writer Polly Atkin is particularly fond of owls. Tawny owls surround her home in Grasmere in Cumbria, and she has observed the wintering of short-eared owls at the coast. One which remains elusive is the highly secretive long-eared owl, which Polly has never seen in the wild. Considered to be thinly but widely-spread in the UK, they are a scarce breeding species and very difficult to survey. Polly recalls stories from centuries ago of large colonies of long-eared owls resident in the Cumbrian woodland.
Polly Atkin is the author of The Company of Owls (Elliott & Thompson).
Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.
SUN 08:50 In Other News (m002r3ft)
Welcome to the programme which sidesteps the main news headlines and delves more deeply into what’s going right in the world.
SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002r3fw)
The Sunday morning news magazine programme. Presented by Paddy O'Connell
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002r3fy)
Tahra Zafar, costume and effects designer
Tahra Zafar is a costume and creature effects designer.
She designed the Paddington Bear puppet featured in the hit West End production Paddington: The Musical.
Born into a theatre family, she grew up with an Armenian American father who worked as a choreographer in the first West End production of West Side Story, and a mother who moved from a career as a ballerina to theatre work around the world. Her interest in making began early, helping her father with practical projects such as restoring their house, even learning to build walls and spending her spare time model making, with Airfix creations suspended from her bedroom ceiling.
After studying theatre design at Central Saint Martins, she began her career making theatre costumes. She spent some time at the Jim Henson creature workshop where she made some of the creatures for the first Harry Potter film including Hedwig the owl and Scabbers the rat.
After her daughter was born, Tahra worked on some of the characters for In the Night Garden with her daughter, a willing judge of what worked for toddlers.
In 2012, Tahra was in charge of 23,000 costumes for the London 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. This role included an audience with the late Queen to ensure the wig and dress were correct for Her Majesty’s stunt double when that iconic skydive was performed at the Olympic opening ceremony.
Tahra lives in London with her daughter.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
Desert Island Discs has cast other costume designers away to the island over the years including Oscar winners Jenny Beavan and Sandy Powell. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.
SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002r3g0)
Writer: Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Jessica Bunch
Editor: Jeremy Howe
David Archer.... Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer.... Angus Imrie
Kenton Archer.... Richard Attlee
Pat Archer.... Patricia Gallimore
Pip Archer.... Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer.... Felicity Finch
Susan Carter.... Charlotte Martin
Amber Gordon.... Olivia Bernstone
Anne Marie Gordon.... Kate Ashfield
Bill Gordon.... Matthew Gravelle
Clarrie Grundy.... Heather Bell
George Grundy.... Angus Stobie
Will Grundy.... Philip Molloy
Paul Mack.... Joshua Riley
Esme Mulligan.... Ellie Pawsey
Stella Pryor.... Lucy Speed
Hannah Riley.... Helen Longworth
SUN 12:15 Profile (m002r3b2)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Saturday]
SUN 12:30 Just a Minute (m002qrx2)
Series 96
1. The best curry in Bradford
This week Just A Minute returns to the glorious city of Bradford, 24 years after we last recorded there way back in 2002. Comedian Chris Cantrill was born and bred in Bradford and is making his debut on the show. How will he get on when he plays with regulars Paul Merton, Lucy Porter and Zoe Lyons on subjects like singing in the shower, heartbreak hotel and Alan Bennett?
Host: Sue Perkins
Players: Paul Merton, Lucy Porter, Zoe Lyons, Chris Cantrill
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Additional material by Ruth Husko
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
SUN 12:57 Weather (m002r3g2)
The latest weather forecast
SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002r3g4)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
SUN 13:30 Currently (m002r3g6)
Trump and Greenland: How MAGA went Arctic
Why does President Trump really want to takeover Greenland?
The Arctic territory is rich in vital minerals and oil, and it hosts an important American military base as the race for dominance in the wider Arctic heats up between China, Russia and the USA.
While the issue has become suddenly urgent, it's a proposal that has been years in the making - and drill down beneath Trump's recent stated reason of 'security' and the reasons why he wants it as the 51st state are less clear.
A financier-turned-MAGA operative, the small print of the right-wing wish list Project 2025, and a penchant for big places on maps might better explain the recent diplomatic crisis, as the Make America Great Again project evolves into an idea to Make America Bigger.
The Coming Storm's Lucy Proctor delves into the backstory to Trump's insistence on acquiring Greenland.
Produced and presented by Lucy Proctor
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound engineer: Andy Fell
SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002qv7k)
Kimpton
Peter Gibbs and the GQT team are in Kimpton, Hertfordshire.
He's joined by Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Juliet Sargeant.
With questions submitted from the local audience in Kimpton Memorial Hall, the panel take on a wide range of horticultural challenges, from alternatives to Valentine’s Day roses, to selecting shrubs for a north‑facing chalk‑clay garden and innovative ways of harvesting horseradish.
The panellists also advise our questioners on how to grow figs in containers, prune winter honeysuckle and propagate daphne, and they tell us how best to manage the surprise appearance of fairy rings in a lawn.
Alongside these questions, Marcus Chilton Jones, Curator at RHS Bridgewater shares the Do's and Don’ts of winter pruning.
Producer: Matthew Smith
Assistant Producer: William Norton
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002r3g8)
Gone with the Wind - Episode 1
In the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke explores Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.
It was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century, it has sold 30 million copies and counting, it won the Pulitzer Prize, and the 1939 film of the book remains among the highest grossing of all time.
Gone with the Wind is a coming-of-age story, a love triangle, and an epic wartime romance. And it is a rollicking read, a hugely entertaining book, but one with considerable problems for today’s readers – problems that John Yorke explores and analyses over three episodes.
In this first episode John considers how Margaret Mitchell tells this huge sweeping story and asks what made it such a phenomenal hit.
John is joined by the writer Rachel Joyce who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4, and Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells. Together they explore what makes the book such a captivating read and how it is driven by the central character, Scarlett O’Hara, one of the most compelling and infuriating heroines ever written.
John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4.
Contributors:
Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London
Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4
Readings by Samantha Dakin
Credits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage Books
Produced by Jane Greenwood
Executive Producer Sara Davies
Sound by Sean Kerwin
Researcher Henry Tydeman
Production hub coordinator Dawn Williams
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002r3gb)
Gone with the Wind: Episode 1
A new dramatisation of Margaret Mitchell’s famous and contested novel, set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War and the collapse of the old Southern order, and centred on the fiercely determined Scarlett O’Hara.
Part of The Story of America, a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States. This three-part drama revisits a foundational American story with fresh eyes.
Episode One
An iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation divided and a people forever changed.
Scarlett ..... Samantha Dakin
Rhett ..... Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
Ashley ..... Joseph May
Melanie ..... Rebekah Murrell
Prissy ..... Madeline Charlemagne
Sam ..... Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
Aunt Pitty ..... Laurel Lefkow
Peter ..... David Webber
Dr Meade ...... Sam Dale
Pork ..... Richard Pepple
Frank Kennedy ..... Finlay Robertson
Ellen/Belle ..... Clare Corbett
The Tarleton Twins ..... Joe Jameson
And the Narrator and Mary ..... Clare Perkins
Directed by Tracey Neale
Story of America is a major collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States.
Set against the epic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning Gone with the Wind remains an iconic and stunning tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. It was an instant best seller and has now sold more than 30 million copies worldwide: the screen adaptation of 1939 became the world’s biggest box office selling film. As recently as 2014 it was voted the most popular book in America after the Bible and The New York Times describes it as ‘Beyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best.’
The famous story of the trials of feisty, once-spoiled Scarlett O’Hara as she struggles to adapt to the shattering of her world is both an epic adventure and one of literature’s greatest romances. It is about people who fight to the end for their dreams. But it is also about what happens when dreams die. How do you rebuild a life when your world is blasted into rubble? How do you bring lasting peace to a nation that is fundamentally conflicted? What does freedom mean and what does it look like when everything you knew is gone and everyone you loved is dead?
‘War is men’s business, not ladies,’ the young men of the novel tell themselves as they prepare for battle. And yet Gone with the Wind gives us a young heroine whose spirit and ability to survive outstrips the male world around her. It reminds us that the repercussions of civil war continue to be felt for generations: the past has consequences in the present. This is a major retelling of a story that remains at the heart of the American experience.
Dramatist:
Rachel Joyce is a best-selling author and award winning audio drama writer. Her first novel, The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has been adapted for both film and stage. Rachel adapted all of the Brontë canon for Radio 4. Her latest novel, The Homemade God, was published in February.
Producer and Director: Tracey Neale
Dramatist: Rachel Joyce
Script Consultant: Beverly Andrews
Sound Design: Keith Graham, Peter Ringrose, Sam Dickinson and Cole Colbert
Production Co-Ordinators: Luke MacGregor and Amy Woods
SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002r3gd)
Bryan Washington
The American writer Bryan Washington speaks to Take Four Books about his new novel, Palaver, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. Palaver focuses on the tense relationship between protagonists “the son” and “the mother”. The son is an American who has lived in Tokyo for the best part of a decade, teaching English as a foreign language. Throughout this period, he’s been estranged from his Jamaican-American mother back home in Texas, until one day she arrives uninvited on his doorstep.
Bryan's three chosen influences in this episode are: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto from 1988; Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson from 2016; and Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park from 2021.
Producer: Dominic Howell
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.
SUN 16:30 Counterpoint (m002r3gg)
Series 39
Heat 6, 2026
Paul Gambaccini hosts radio's most challenging music quiz. Now in its 39th series, contestants from around the country have assembled to be tested on their knowledge of music from across the centuries, and across every genre.
This week, our three contestants pick from topics including ‘Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside', 'Berlin and music' and '70’s rock pioneers'.
Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4
SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct5ydm)
Kawarau Bridge: The first bungee jumping site in New Zealand
On 12 November 1988, the world’s first commercial bungee jumping site was opened near Queenstown, New Zealand.
AJ Hackett and Henry Van Asch started out bungee jumping as a hobby with friends. They developed the bungee ropes and rigging system and found the perfect site – the historic Kawarau Suspension Bridge – which would give paying customers the chance to safely fall 43 metres.
It helped make Queenstown become the adventure tourism capital of the world. Josephine McDermott jumped from the bridge herself 20 years ago and finds out from AJ Hackett how it all came about.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: A jump from Kawarau Bridge. Credit: Getty Images)
SUN 17:10 The Verb (m002r3gk)
The Love Verb
Ian MacMillan has love in mind as he is joined by a swoon of poets all interested in the subject of love in lyric form.
Kim Moore’s poetry collections include The Art of Falling and All The Men I Never Married. She's chosen this week's Neon Line, The Verb's feature on lines that shine out from their poems, from a love poem that has long moved her. She also shares a new love poem from her forthcoming collection, The House of Broken Things,
Deborah Alma, poet, editor, and co-founder of The Poetry Pharmacy is a fan of love poetry anthologies She discusses the approach she took in her own love poetry anthology - Words For Love, and why she finds The Emma Press Anthology of Love edited by Rachel Piercey and Emma Wright, and Something New: Alternative Poems for Alternative Weddings edited by Caroline Bird and Rachel Long, such appealing collections.
In Rob Macaisa Colgate's debut poetry book, Hardly Creatures, he models his collection of poems on the experience of a fully accessible art gallery, inspired by his work in disability arts gallery in Toronto called Tangled. Hardly Creatures features a series of love poems which Rob calls Benches to reflect the fact that he sees them as places of rest in a collection often concerned with the practicalities, the pain, and the politics of disability.
Mark Connors, co-founder and editor of Yaffle Press, on the love song inspired poetry in their latest publication - Poems Inspired By the Best Songs of All Time.
Presented by Ian MacMillan
Produced by Ekene Akalawu
SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002r3gm)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
SUN 17:57 Weather (m002r3gp)
The latest weather reports and forecast
SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r3gt)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002r3gw)
Martin Geissler
Two questions: are you feeling happy, and if so, are you from Bolton? The town was part of a 1930s study on emotion; Radio 4 investigates if there’s any happiness be found there these days. Gyles Brandreth has a minute to tell us what’s the matter with him, and we learn how Chaucerian fashion was a huge matter for medieval Britain - and not in a fashion forward way. Plus, Chris Packham meets the punk rockers on their way to pick up their pensions.
Presenter: Martin Geissler
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production coordinators: Caroline Peddle and Caoilfhinn McFadden
SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002r3gy)
There’s big news at Brookfield, and Ruth’s got Stella all confused.
SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002r3h0)
Functioning
If you ask many women in recovery from alcoholism what the term ‘functioning alcoholic’ means to them, they will laugh. In truth, a large percentage of women who end up in treatment had been, to the outside world, ‘functioning’. Holding down jobs, raising children, paying their rent or mortgage. However, internally, ‘functioning’ is about the last word they would use to describe their mental and emotional landscape as alcohol increasingly tightened its grip on their lives.
Here, two women share in raw and brutally honest detail their descent into alcohol dependency, which took place incrementally, behind closed doors, and, for the most part, under the radar as they continued to appear to live regular, ‘functional’ lives.
Functioning offers a rare insight into the experience of leading a completely dual existence - the secrecy, the agility and the alchemy required in maintaining a ‘functioning’ exterior, while your interior is coming apart; and a lesson in how much can go undetected when you are not what the world assumes of an alcoholic.
Produced by Jodie Taylor
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 19:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m000w3lh)
Stand on One Leg
In this episode, Michael is reborn as a one legged yogi to reveal why the one leg stance is one of the best things you can do for a longer and more active life. He speaks to Professor Dawn Skelton at Glasgow Caledonian University, to find out what happens to your balance as you get older, why our balance is getting worse with each generation, and how regularly making yourself wobble could help improve your body and your brain.
SUN 20:00 Word of Mouth (m002qthv)
Vincentian Creole
Michael Rosen talks to linguist Teddy Mack about Vincy, a language rooted in English spoken on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, alongside standard English. But the English Teddy encountered when he moved to the UK proved to be very different (and far from standardised) and he's learned to switch throughout his life.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea, in partnership with the Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz
SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002qv7p)
Sir Nicholas White, Lord Wallace, Professor Deborah Cameron, Sly Dunbar
Matthew Bannister on
Sir Nicholas White, whose research on tropical diseases saved millions of lives.
Lord Wallace, the Liberal Democrat who served in the Scottish and Westminster parliaments and was Deputy to three First Ministers.
Professor Deborah Cameron who studied the use of language from a feminist perspective.
Sly Dunbar, the Jamaican drummer who played on hundreds of hit records and teamed up with bass player Robbie Shakespeare to form “The Riddim Twins”.
Interviewee: Professor Nicholas Day
Interviewee: Lord McConnell
Interviewee: Professor Miriam Meyerhoff
Interviewee: Jazzie B
Interviewee: Kevin Le Gendre
Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley
Archive used:
Nick White: Improving the treatment of infectious diseases, Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand, Tropical Medicine Oxford YouTube Channel, uploaded 08/03/2024; Professor Nick White: malaria, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) interview, University of Oxford YouTube channel, uploaded 26 Jan 2012; Nicholas White, “Malaria Defeating The Curse”, Horizon, BBC Two, 05/06/2005; Nick White, Fatal Latitudes, BBC Two, 23/02/1993; Jim Wallace, Scottish Devolution Referendum, Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland 1997; Coalition, Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland 14/05/1999; Jim Wallace, Acting first minister clip, FMQs, Scottish Parliament, 15/11/2001; Jim Wallace interview, Stark Talk, BBC Radio Scotland, 09/06/2000; Deborah Cameron interview, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 31/10/2025; Deborah Cameron interview, Speak Up, BBC Radio 4, 02/08/2024;
SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002r399)
[Repeat of broadcast at
12:04 on Saturday]
SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002r3fh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 today]
SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002r395)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:30 on Saturday]
SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002r3h3)
Radio 4's Sunday night political discussion programme.
SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m002qth3)
Henry IV Part 1
Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the most successful of Shakespeare's plays in his own time. Written with no Part 2 in mind as 'Henry the Fourth', the play explores ideas about who can be a legitimate ruler and why, and how anyone can rightly succeed to the throne. This was an especially pressing question for his Tudor audience as Elizabeth I had named no successor. Playwrights, banned from openly discussing the jeopardy her subjects faced, turned to these themes of power, legitimacy and succession in distant and recent history. When Shakespeare combined this relevance with the vivid characters of Falstaff, Hotspur and Hal and with the tensions between noble fathers and sons, he had a play that fascinated well into the Jacobean era and has been revived throughout the centuries.
With
Emma Smith
Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford
Lucy Munro
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at Kings College London
And
Laurence Publicover
Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Bristol
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Hailey Bachrach, Staging Female Characters in Shakespeare’s English History Plays (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
Warren Chernaik, The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Stephen Greenblatt, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power (Bodley Head, 2018)
Graham Holderness, Shakespeare: The Histories (Red Globe Press, 1999)
Jean Howard and Phyllis Rackin, Engendering a Nation: A Feminist Account of Shakespeare's English Histories (Routledge, 1997)
William Shakespeare (eds. Indira Ghose, Anna Pruitt and Emma Smith), Henry IV Part I: The New Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford University Press, 2024)
William Shakespeare (ed. Gordon McMullan), 1 Henry IV: A Norton Critical Edition, 3rd edition (Norton, 2003)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
SUN 23:45 Short Works (m002qv7m)
The Bench by Isy Suttie
Clare has recently moved to Lyme Regis with her young son as her marriage has fallen apart. Isolated and lonely, she finds a moment of solace every morning on a seaside bench with a coffee, where she can watch the waves. One morning after forgetting her empty cup on the bench she finds a note admonishing her for doing so. She scribbles an angry reply, and thus enters into a stream of written correspondence with its sender, Daniel, who, over the weeks, reveals himself to be just as vulnerable as she is.
His letters form the highlight of her day until a difficult visit from her ex and an anonymous Valentine's package on her bench threaten to derail her fragile routine, and she has to dig deep to find the best way forward.
A story about courage and new beginnings.
Written and read by Isy Suttie
Produced by Alison Crawford
Isy is a writer, actress and comedian and a regular on BBC Radio 4, in programmes ranging from documentaries and sketch shows to her solo series Isy Suttie’s Love Letters, which won a Gold Sony Award. She has been nominated for three British Comedy Awards, and her TV acting credits include Dobby in Peep Show, Nat in Damned and Ali in Man Down, along with many appearances as herself in shows from Would I Lie To You? to Q.I. She plays Brid in CBBC’s High Hoops, and has published two books, a memoir called The Actual One and a novel, Jane Is Trying.
MONDAY 09 FEBRUARY 2026
MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3h6)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m002qrlf)
India's sportswomen playing to be seen
How sport is giving some young women in India a way out of child marriage and allowing them to be seen.
Officially, the practice of child marriage is illegal in the country. But UNICEF estimates that over 200 million girls and women in India have been married before they turned 18. Take Munna as an example. Her mother was fifteen when she married and Munna herself was only 14 when she was told she would be a child bride. However, she fought back, using football as her weapon. She broke social norms and took up the sport, including wearing shorts on the pitch, and fended off various attempts to marry her off early. Now her rebellion has spread to her youngest sister, who has felt emboldened by her elder sister and has made it to the state football team.
Sport has also helped members of a marginalised community - the Siddis, who were originally brought to India from Africa mainly as slaves - to battle against discrimination. For Shahin her route was via judo.
Divya Arya reports on how sport is helping some young women to break free from the bonds of early marriage and to forge an identity for themselves.
Producer: John Murphy
Programme mix: James Beard
Programme co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy
MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002r3bn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
05:43 on Sunday]
MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3h8)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3hb)
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 (m002r3hd)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r3hg)
News from in and around Westminster with Sean Curran. Sean reports on the latest debate on the assisted dying bill, he's also been hearing from the author of a new book about the campaign for a second Brexit referendum and finding out about the playwright Sheridan's other career, as an MP
MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3hj)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r3hl)
Finding What's Been Lost
Good morning
It’s around this time in the morning that I can often hear our labrador begin to move downstairs, padding round the kitchen in anticipation of that first walk of the day.
This usually takes us to the nearby golf course. We wind our way through the rougher grass that grows beneath the trees that demarcate the fairways. These are the places golfers hope to avoid, their presence here bears testimony to a mis-directed swing, but because of that, this is also where the many lost balls can be found.
All of this reminds me of the stories Jesus told about things that had gone missing: a wayward sheep, a mislaid coin and even a lost and prodigal son. In every parable there is much lament over what or who cannot be found, and then the weeping gives way to great rejoicing when that which was lost is finally recovered.
Sometimes as I return a missing ball to the tee that lies closest to my house, I pause to reflect on what I may have lost sight of in my own life: what mis-hit hope or poorly swung ambition lies forgotten in the rough parts of my life, waiting to be recovered and put to use again. It’s not a bad reflection with which to begin a day but perhaps it’s not so good to linger there too long,
Because we are not destined to stay lost. And neither are the hopes for what we might yet become. So, as I return each recovered ball, I remember to give thanks for God, for the someone who might unexpectedly find what’s been lost in me and who will bring me back rejoicing to where I truly belong.
Dear God
who is forever searching out the good in us:
restore to us our greatest possibilities this morning
return us to our deepest purposes today
and help us to discover afresh
the lost treasures
that lie within one another
Amen
MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002r3hn)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
MON 05:57 Weather (m002r3hq)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers
MON 06:00 Today (m002r3jp)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002r3jr)
Fun and games
Games are supposed to be fun — so what happens when the logic of games, points and competition escapes the playground and starts reshaping everyday life? The novelist and games-writer Naomi Alderman and her guests explore how the joy of play collides with the pressures of a gamified society.
Philosopher C Thi Nguyen introduces The Score, his examination of how ranking systems and numerical targets can both sharpen and warp our values, revealing how life becomes less playful when everything is reduced to points.
Journalist and critic Keza MacDonald discusses Super Nintendo, her cultural history of the iconic console, tracing how its games, aesthetics and innovations transformed the medium and helped define what play means for generations of players.
The Financial Times' commentator Stephen Bush examines the growing role of games and game like incentives in public life, exploring how the techniques of play — from reward structures to competitive framing — are reshaping political behaviour and communication.
Producer: Katy Hickman
MON 09:45 Café Hope (m002r3jt)
Community fitness
Hermen Dange, the founder of Made Running, tells Rachel Burden how the club is creating a community-driven environment, inclusive to everyone, no matter what their level of fitness. The club motto is 'no-one is left behind'.
Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they're doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip and celebrating the people making the world a better place.
We're all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community or it might be about trying to make one life a little easier. And the key here is in the trying. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it's always worth a go.
You can contact us on cafehope@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Jill Collins
Sound Design: Cameron Ward
Editor: Clare Fordham
MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r3jw)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
MON 11:00 Understand (m002r3jy)
An American Journey
Life and Liberty
As James Naughtie concludes his series about the ideas tying America's birth 250 years ago to the United States today, he examines freedom, asking whose freedom, and what kind?
He begins in Gettysburg, attending a re-enactment on the battlefield made famous by an address from President Abraham Lincoln in which he asked whether the United States "could long endure". That question is being asked again now, as Americans experience profound disagreements over many of the ideas in this series - economic opportunity, justice, freedom; even what it means to be an American. As he hears, American history itself has become a battlefield. And so speaking to historians with different perspectives, and senior political leaders from both parties, James assesses how dangerous this moment is for United States.
Producer: Giles Edwards
MON 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r3k0)
Episode 1
The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.
Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.
In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.
This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.
Episode One
Sajid Javid’s father arrives in the UK in 1961, and works as a bus driver in Greater Manchester. Sajid’s mother feels isolated and alone, speaking no English, but works hard to keep house, and to bring up her five sons.
Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
MON 12:00 News Summary (m002r3k3)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002r3k5)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
MON 12:57 Weather (m002r3k7)
The latest weather forecast
MON 13:00 World at One (m002r3k9)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
MON 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r3kc)
1. The Wonder Stuff
This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.
Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.
Episode 1: The Wonder Stuff
Giles explains the origin of weight loss drugs and how they were developed. He speaks to Dr. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen who led research in the 1990’s that developed the molecule that made them possible, and among other contributors we also meet Giles’s own son Harry, who is taking them.
Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.
Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.
Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.
Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.
Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.
Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital
Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.
Kamran Abassi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal
Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.
Professor Frank Ryman
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.
Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.
Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:00 The Archers (m002r3gy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Sunday]
MON 14:15 Relativity (m001c000)
Series 4
Episode 3
Drawing on his own family, the fourth series of Richard Herring’s popular comedy drama has warm, lively characters and sharply observed family dynamics of inter generational misunderstanding, sibling sparring and the ties that bind.
Amid the comedy, Richard broaches some more serious highs and lows of family life. In this series, set during the first year of lockdown. he draws on his own experience of testicular cancer at that time, as well as the comedic escapades of the four generations of the Snell family. Love, laughter and malapropisms abound.
Richard Herring is a comedian, writer, blogger and podcaster and the world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player.
Episode 3
Ian has a series of medical tests. He and Chloe have to face up to the possibility that he has cancer. Telling his dad Ken is both unexpectedly hilarious and moving.
Cast:
Ken ..... Phil Davis
Ian ..... Richard Herring
Chloe ..... Emily Berrington
Dr Harper ..... Fenella Woolgar
Technician ..... Harrison Knights
Doctor Kulkarni ..... Ahir Shah
Nurse Amani ..... Rani Fatania
Donny ..... Rafael Solomon
Writer Richard Herring
Director Polly Thomas
Sound Design Eloise Whitmore
Producer Daisy Knight
Executive Producers Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon Television production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:45 Opening Lines (m002r3g8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
14:45 on Sunday]
MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002r3kg)
Robin Ince and Philip Hensher
This week's books are:
Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy, chosen by comedian Robin Ince
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, chosen by Harriett Gilbert
Esther Waters by George Moore, chosen by writer Philip Hensher
Producer Sally Heaven, BBC Audio Bristol
MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (m002r38z)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Saturday]
MON 16:00 Currently (m002r3g6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
13:30 on Sunday]
MON 16:30 Rewinder (m002r391)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:30 on Saturday]
MON 17:00 PM (m002r3kj)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r3kl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
MON 18:30 Just a Minute (m002r3kn)
Series 96
2. I’ve never seen anything like it!
Subjects this week include if I were invisible for one hour, double denim and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Now which of these might include everyone speaking French?
Host: Sue Perkins
Players: Paul Merton, Cariad Lloyd, Rachel Parris, Paterson Joseph
Producer: Georgia Keating
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Production Coordinator: Sarah Nicholls
Sound Editor: Marc Willcox
Additional material by Ruth Husko
An EcoAudio certified production.
A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.
MON 19:00 The Archers (m002r3kq)
Fallon has a brainwave, and is George ducking out?
MON 19:15 Front Row (m002r3ks)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
MON 20:00 How Did We Get Here? (m002jtxy)
Israel and the Palestinians
Episode 1
Jonny Dymond and guests explore the complicated back-story of the Middle East conflict.
MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txy)
Where do forever chemicals come from?
This week the UK Government decided it was worried enough about so called ‘forever chemicals’ to bring in it’s first ever plan to tackle them. Environment Minister Emma Hardy called PFAS "one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time". Stephanie Metzger, policy adviser at the Royal Society of Chemistry talks us through where all these chemicals have come from, and Lucy Hart, researcher at Lancaster university, brings us new science on their sources.
Technology journalist Gareth Mitchell is in the studio with his take on this week’s brand new discoveries.
And as future winter Olympians ready themselves atop Italy’s snow-covered peaks, Victoria Gill hears how the chemical make up of ski wax can make or break a gold medal winning run. She hears from Jostein Vinjerui, manager of the British cross-country team, and Pat Sharples, Head Coach for GB Snowsports.
To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producer: Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Kate White and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002r3jr)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 today]
MON 21:45 Café Hope (m002r3jt)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r3kv)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
MON 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r3kx)
1: Run
An electrifying re-imagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize, by one of America's greatest contemporary authors.
Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.
Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.
Today: Life as a slave on the Watson farm is hell. But when Jim hears that he's to be sold off, and separated from his family, his only option is to run...
Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
MON 23:00 Limelight (m001g9lr)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall
Episode 4
By James Swallow
Dramatised by Paul Cornell
Episode 4
A thrilling landmark adaptation set in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell universe. Veteran Fourth Echelon agent Sam Fisher, and his daughter Sarah, attempt to infiltrate Brody Teague's T-Tech building in Lisbon. Will they be fast enough to disrupt his destructive global plans?
Recorded in 3D binaural audio; please listen on headphones for a more immersive experience.
Sam Fisher ..... Andonis Anthony
Sarah Fisher ..... Daisy Head
Anna Grímsdóttir ..... Rosalie Craig
Charlie Cole ..... Sacha Dhawan
Brody Teague ..... Will Poulter
Samir Patel ..... Nikesh Patel
Stone ..... Mihai Arsene
Eighteen ..... Olga Fedori
First Pilot /Guard.....David Hounslow
Second Pilot /Guard ..... Roger Ringrose
Sound design by Sharon Hughes
Directed by Nadia Molinari
Series Co-Produced by Nadia Molinari, Lorna Newman, Jessica Mitic
A BBC Audio Drama North Production
MON 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r3l0)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2026
TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3l2)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 00:30 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r3k0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Monday]
TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3l4)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3l6)
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 (m002r3l8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r3lb)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3ld)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r3lg)
Whispering Grass
Good morning,
This week I’ve noticed catkins growing on the alder trees that border our garden. There was no sign of them at all last week so it’s like they’ve met up secretly in the night and decided, it is Spring and time to then to flourish once again. Maybe that nocturnal gathering is not so very far from the truth.
In recent years I’ve been fascinated by the science behind what author Peter Wohlleben has called The Hidden Lives of Trees and what is popularly called the Wood Wide Web. This is the discovery that the ground beneath our feet is actually a complex matrix of roots, fungi and bacteria all helping to connect trees and plants to one another, allowing them to share nutrients, water, chemical signals and warning signs of approaching danger. It’s like the whole forest is conscious of their need to connect to one another, if they are to flourish.
We must be careful not to read too much into this phenomenon as a metaphor for human relationships and community well-being, but even so, maybe Jesus was onto something when he picked a similar image for human flourishing. ‘I am the vine’ he said, suggesting that each of us could be like branches, sharing in a matrix of spiritual and emotional encouragement. Staying rooted in God and connected to one another is exactly how we might grow in the important human experiences of love, joy and peace, patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It’s no wonder the Christian church names these virtues as the fruit of the Spirit.
If such positive characteristics are to ripen within us and then be shared between us, maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from the hidden lives of trees.
God of the vine and the branches
hold us together
in the woodlands of your love
and let today be the Springtime of our flourishing.
Amen
TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002r3lj)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
TUE 06:00 Today (m002r4r1)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
TUE 09:00 Intrigue (m002q872)
Ransom Man
4. The Zen Garden
Authorities think Julius Kivimäki could be responsible for the Vastaamo data breach and the leaking of patient records.
They want to bring him in for questioning, but he’s disappeared. Kivimäki is known to brag about his international lifestyle. He could be anywhere.
Jenny meets Pasi Vainio, the prosecutor who places Kivimäki on Europol’s Most Wanted List. Pasi takes Jenny through the evidence that he and his colleagues have painstakingly gathered, trying to figure out who is ransom_man.
What they find is shocking and surprising, and takes Jenny closer to home than she ever expected.
Through all of this, one man has stood by Kivimäki’s side - his lawyer, Peter Jaari. Jenny heads to Peter’s Helsinki office to see if he can provide any answers.
The search for Kivimäki leads to a confrontation that no one saw coming.
Written and presented by Jenny Kleeman.
Producer: Sam Peach.
Executive Producer: Georgia Catt.
Sound Design: Sam Peach
Original music composed, performed and produced by Echo Collective: Neil Leiter, Margaret Hermant and Fabien Leseure.
A BBC Studios Production
Commissioning Executive is Tracy Williams
Commissioner: Dan Clarke
TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m002r3nn)
Series that demystifies health issues, bringing clarity to conflicting advice.
TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r4r3)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m002qv80)
Yorkshire
As a new adaptation of Emily Bronte's Yorkshire-set novel Wuthering Heights hits cinemas, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at how the area known as God's Own Country has been depicted in film and television.
Mark speaks to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker about his love for the 1969 Ken Loach film Kes, and about why the city of Sheffield was the perfect setting for the post-apocalyptic TV drama Threads.
And Mark also speaks to Clio Barnard - the writer-director behind such acclaimed films as The Arbor, The Selfish Giant and Ali & Ava - about why she is repeatedly drawn to Yorkshire in her film-making.
Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Sally Wainwright, the prolific TV writer who has made her name with a series of insightful, essential television dramas set in Yorkshire, from At Home with the Braithwaites to Riot Women.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r4r5)
Episode 2
The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.
Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.
In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.
This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.
Episode Two
Sajid’s father moves the family from Rochdale to Bristol, to realise his dream of becoming a full-time businessman. At school, Sajid experiences racism first hand.
Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002r4r7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002r4r9)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
TUE 12:57 Weather (m002r4rc)
The latest weather forecast
TUE 13:00 World at One (m002r4rf)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
TUE 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r4rh)
2. The Approval
This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.
Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.
Episode 2: The Approval
In this episode Giles explains how a venomous lizard called a ‘Gila Monster’ helped to make weight loss drugs possible, takes us through the race between two huge pharmaceutical companies to get the drugs to market, and how the drugs were finally approved.
Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.
Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.
Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.
Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.
Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.
Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital
Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.
Kamran Abassi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal
Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.
Professor Frank Ryman
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.
Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.
Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002r3kq)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Monday]
TUE 14:15 This Thing of Darkness (m002r4rk)
Series 4
2. The Unsaid
by Frances Poet with monologues by Eileen Horne.
Part Two – The Unsaid
Dr Alex Bridges is an expert forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, assessing and treating perpetrators of serious crime.
Lindsay has agreed to take part in family therapy in the secure unit where Kathleen is being held. Unanswered questions and long-held resentments surface as Lindsay struggles to understand her mother's actions.
Dr Alex Bridges ….. Lolita Chakrabarti
Kathleen ….. Maureen Beattie
Lindsay ….. Helen Mackay
Daniel ….. Nicholas Karimi
Production Coordinators: Rosalind Gibson and Ellie Marsh
Sound recording : Andy Hay and Fraser Jackson
Sound Design: Fraser Jackson
Series Consultant: Dr Gwen Adshead
Series format created by Lucia Haynes, Audrey Gillan, Eileen Horne, Gaynor Macfarlane, Anita Vettesse and Kirsty Williams.
A BBC Audio Scotland Production produced by Kirsty Williams and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
TUE 15:00 Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley (m002pqrl)
Series 4
59. Kitty Newton - Killer Daughter
Lucy Worsley meets Kitty Newton, a daughter accused of killing her very own mother. With her team of all female detectives, Lucy uncovers long buried secrets in the Newton family - but could these truly be the motive for such a terrible crime?
Would a daughter really kill her very own mother? If so, why?
It is 1848, in the chill depths of winter. In the early hours of the morning a servant, Mary Corfield, stumbles upon a grisly discovery - the lifeless, charred body of an elderly lady, Ann Newton. At first sight the death looks suspicious, and the woman’s daughter, Kitty Newton, is arrested on the spot.
In this episode, historian Professor Rosalind Crone heads to the market town of Bridgnorth in Shropshire to visit the scene of the alleged crime. She also goes to Bridgnorth Town Hall where an inquest into the death of Ann Newton took place.
Back in the studio, Lucy is joined by crime writer Dorothy Koomson, author of The Ice Cream Girls and All My Lies are True. She’s known for her sharp insights into the tangled dynamics between mothers and daughters, vital skills to help examine this sinister case.
Together, Lucy, Ros and Dorothy piece together the clues and the possible means, motive and opportunity.
Was the fire that killed Ann Newton a terrible accident or was it set by her daughter?
Producer: Emily Hughes
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble, Ruth Sillers and Bill Hope
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 15:30 Thinking Allowed (m002r4rn)
Prison violence, sound and survival
The winner of the British Society of Criminology Book Award in 2025 was Kate Herrity. Her study looks at the way our different senses contribute to the experience of prison life and is called Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown. Her research looks at the way for many prisoners, listening becomes a vital survival practice.
Kate Gooch is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Bath. In her new book, 'Prison Violence - The Search for Recognition and Respect', she analyses the nature, causes and culture of prison victimisation in an English young offender institution for men aged 18-21 years old. Her research examines how hierarchies develop, how fear circulates, and how both staff and young men negotiate constantly shifting landscapes of threat, reputation and authority.
Laurie Taylor presents.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez
TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002r4rq)
Drama in Schools: An Unfolding Tragedy?
Drama has exited stage left from many school timetables in recent years. The number of pupils in England sitting Drama GCSE and A-Level has halved since 2010. So why does it matter and should we care? The actor Christopher Eccleston investigates the demise of drama and asks whether it can be rekindled in the wake of a government curriculum review that insisted it should be given equal status to humanities and language. Christopher shares his own personal experience of drama lessons at school which he says transformed his life. He drops in on drama classes at Towers School in Ashford in Kent to hear the experiences of pupils and speaks to theatre practitioners from the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and National Youth Theatre. He also speaks to STEM UK about the importance of striking a balance between learning about STEM subjects and the arts.
Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell
This programme features a short clip of Antigone performed at the National Theatre by Christopher Eccleston and Jodie Whittaker in 2012
TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002r4rs)
Why do we kiss?
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken try to get to the bottom of the ideas shaping our health and wellbeing.
In this Valentine’s Day-themed episode, they turn their attention to kissing. Why do humans kiss, how did it evolve, and does it offer any biological advantage? They also explore the meaning behind different types of kisses and whether kissing is truly universal among humans – and what it means if it isn’t.
To help them untangle the science behind one of our most intimate behaviours, they’re joined by Evolutionary Biologist, Dr Matilda Brindle.
If you want to get in touch, you can email us at whatsupdocs@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Dr Matilda Brindle
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: Ruth Rainey
At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 17:00 PM (m002r4rv)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r4rx)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
TUE 18:30 You Heard It Here First (m002r4rz)
Series 3
5. 'The Worst Anyone's Ever Done'
Chris McCausland asks Lou Sanders and John Tothill to take on Kerry Godliman and Pete Wicks. The teams must decipher waveform waffle by guessing what product is being advertised, what famous movie scenes kids are describing, and what year of sounds their time machine has landed in.
Producer: Sasha Bobak
Assistant Producer: Eve Delaney
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
A BBC Studios Production.
TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002r3mx)
Chelsea’s full of excitement, and Emma’s left wondering.
TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002r4s1)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002r3md)
News-making original journalism investigating stories at home and abroad
TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002r4s3)
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted
TUE 21:00 Illuminated (m002r3h0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:15 on Sunday]
TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m002qthh)
Dynamic Pricing: Who Profits?
Everyone wants to get the best price they can when they buy, whether that’s a product, a service or an experience. But the ‘best price’ can look different for different people, and at different times.
Surge pricing, tiered prices, off-peak discounts, time-of-use pricing- technology has enabled more industries to employ dynamic pricing to get the best prices for their products by altering them depending on a range of sophisticated considerations.
But this has made pricing less predictable and left customers feeling like the prices are often stacked against them; most notably after the Oasis reunion tour ticket sales in 2024.
Is dynamic pricing really as bad as we all think? Evan and guests look at the psychology behind consumer perceptions of dynamic pricing, and ask how different industries can utilise the pricing model to benefit themselves and their customers.
Guests:
Richard Howle, founder of RH Insights
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy for Business
Marco Bertini, Professor of Marketing at Esade Business School
Production team:
Presenter: Evan Davis
Producer: Mhairi MacKenzie
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Sound engineers: Daniel Fox and Steve Greenwood
Editor: Matt Willis
The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University
TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r4s5)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
TUE 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r4s7)
2: Bounty
Percival Everett's electrifying re-imagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize.
Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.
Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.
Today: When Jim learns that Huck has faked his own death, he knows blame will land on him. The must run...
Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
TUE 23:00 Artworks (m002jf3b)
Love’s Moment: RS Thomas and Mildred Eldridge
Known as one of Wales’ greatest 20th-century poets, RS Thomas is often characterised as a difficult, even cantankerous figure. 25 years since his death, fellow poet and friend Gwyneth Lewis uncovers a hidden, private side to his life and work - as she explores the tension and tenderness within his marriage to the painter Mildred Elsie Eldridge.
RS Thomas wrote dozens of poems to his first wife, from early reflections on their courtship to moving elegies following her death. Yet his marriage, like much of his life, was complex and unusual – defined as much by silence and distance as by affection.
When they met, Mildred Eldridge was the star - an established and award-winning painter - while RS Thomas was still finding his poetic voice. Gwyneth Lewis follows the journey of their life together and considers why their career trajectories diverged so sharply - his path as a poet ascended to ever greater heights, hers as an artist dwindled.
With access to Mildred Eldridge’s unpublished journals, we hear her voice in the marriage for the first time – a perspective largely absent until now. Gwyneth considers what this remarkable relationship tells us not only about art but, more importantly, about love.
Presenter: Gwyneth Lewis
Producer: Huw Meredydd
Executive Producer: Steven Rajam
Mildred Eldridge's journal is narrated by Sharon Morgan
An Astud production for BBC Radio 4
Poems by RS Thomas included in the programme:
A Marriage - Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004)
Pilgrimages – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
The Way of It – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
He and She – Collected Poems 1945-1990 (Orion Books, 1993)
Anniversary - Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004)
TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r4s9)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2026
WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002r4sc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 00:30 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r4r5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Tuesday]
WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r4sf)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r4sh)
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 (m002r4sk)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r4sm)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r4sp)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r4sr)
The Freedom of Forgiveness
Good morning,
On the day when, back in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa. It brought to an end, 27 years behind bars for resisting apartheid. When I was a child, I was mesmerised when adults remembered what they were doing, when the news broke of some such significant event. Now I have some memories of my own. I know where I watched the events of 9/11 and when Princess Diana died in Paris. But the memories are not all about disaster or death. I have very clear recollections of good news stories too: the Live Aid Concerts, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and I can remember so clearly, that day, when Mandela was finally set free.
Famously, as prisoner 46664 left his final prison cell, he reflected that if he did not also leave his bitterness and hatred behind, then, at least psychologically and spiritually he would remain incarcerated for life. There is perhaps nothing more difficult to do than to walk a long road to a freedom that requires us to forgive someone who has caused us harm or upset. Mandela knew well that forgiving does not mean forgetting or ignoring that the harm was done to us but it does mean, no longer allowing that harm to define who we can become. Maybe that's why, when Jesus was asked about how many times we should forgive someone, he told the disciples ‘not just seven times, but seventy times seven’. Keep doing it, in other words, because perhaps it's less about how often we are hurt and more about how often our anger and pain return, threatening to imprison us again.
If like Mandela, we can find our way to forgiveness, then maybe every day will have its own good news moments of personal release.
Forgiving God
Lead us today
on this long road to freedom
and seventy times seven
give us the grace to take another onward step.
Amen
WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002r4st)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
WED 06:00 Today (m002r3m6)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
WED 09:00 Sideways (m002r3m8)
80. Broody Men
Simon Burrell always imagined he’d be a dad one day. But as the years pass, it’s something he dismisses. Simon is gay, single and approaching 50. But then, an honest conversation with a friend resurfaces that deep, buried desire to parent a child. And Simon goes to extraordinary lengths to make it a reality.
Matthew Syed follows Simon’s unconventional journey to single fatherhood, explores why male ‘baby lust’ - the intense desire to be a parent - is often overlooked and how popular culture helps reinforce stereotypes that assume women yearn for a baby more than men.
With Simon Burrell; Dr Robin Hadley, a researcher in male childlessness and evolutionary anthropologist; and author of the book The Life of Dad, Dr Anna Machin.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Featuring archive from:
Finding Surrogacy: Real Life Gay Dads, produced and directed by Andrew Webb, for ITV Meridian Broadcasting, 2000
Father of the Bride Part II, directed by Charles Shyer, written by Nancy Meyers, produced by Touchstone Pictures - a film label of The Walt Disney Company, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution,1995
Bridget Jones’s Diary, directed by Sharon Maguire, written by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis, co-produced by Working Title Films, Universal Pictures and StudioCanal, distributed by Miramax Films and United International Pictures, 2001
Episode 29 Pancakes from the series Peppa Pig (Season 1), created, written and directed by Mark Baker and Neville Astley, produced by Astley Baker Davies / Hasbro Entertainment, original UK air date: 2 July 2004 (Channel 5)
WED 09:30 The History Bureau (m002qjrt)
Putin and the Apartment Bombs
4. The Poisoning
Two men challenging the FSB’s story flee to London seeking safety, only to end up dead.
Years after the apartment bombings shook Russia a press conference is held in London, led by exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Once a kingmaker who helped propel Putin to power, Berezovsky now claims the bombs were an inside job. And in the room sits another man, Alexander Litvinenko, whose own investigation into the bombings will set him on a perilous collision course with the Kremlin. As the danger moves across borders, one question lingers: how high is the price for speaking out? In this episode, Helena speaks to Jeremy Vine and Gordon Corera, two journalists who followed the story from the UK.
In Season 1 of The History Bureau, presenter Helena Merriman returns to one of the most contested - and consequential - stories in modern Russia. In September 1999, just weeks after Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, four bombs blew up four apartment buildings across Russia. The bombs exploded in the middle of the night, killing hundreds of people while they slept. In this season, Merriman returns to the story with the reporters who were there on the ground. What did they get right first time around? And, in the chaos and confusion of unfolding events, what did they miss?
Presenter: Helena Merriman
Series Producer: Sarah Shebbeare
Executive Editor: Annie Brown
WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r3mb)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002r3md)
[Repeat of broadcast at
20:00 on Tuesday]
WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002r3mg)
9th to 15th February
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
This week: 9th to 15th February
13th February 1258 - Five centuries of Abbasid rule ends when Baghdad falls to the Mongols.
11th February 1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years.
15th February 1971 - Britain converts to decimal currency.
Presented by Jane Steel and Ron Brown.
WED 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r3mj)
Episode 3
The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.
Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.
In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.
This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.
Episode Three
Sajid has fun setting up his own local radio station in his father’s clothes shop. But things take a darker turn, when he and his brother Basit find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
WED 12:00 News Summary (m002r3ml)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002r3mn)
News and discussion of consumer affairs
WED 12:57 Weather (m002r3mq)
The latest weather forecast
WED 13:00 World at One (m002r3ms)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
WED 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r3mv)
3. Going Global
This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.
Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.
Episode 3: Going Global
Once the news was out – that drugs initially designed to help people with diabetes could make people using them also lose weight sales skyrocketed. Giles explains the strategic decisions and media campaigns that rebranded a metabolic treatment for diabetes into a multi-billion-dollar cultural phenomenon.
Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.
Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.
Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.
Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.
Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.
Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital
Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.
Kamran Abassi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal
Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.
Professor Frank Ryman
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.
Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.
Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4
WED 14:00 The Archers (m002r3mx)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Tuesday]
WED 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002r3mz)
Rays of Darkness
Autobiographical drama from Gwyneth Lewis, the former National Poet of Wales, about how her experience of chronic migraine led her to seek the companionship of a long-dead writer, Margiad Evans. Evans' outstanding, but largely unknown memoirs, A Ray of Darkness (1952) and The Nightingale Silenced (1954) formed the first serious portrayal of epilepsy since Dostoevsky's The Idiot, and offer an invaluable insight into the condition.
This lyrical drama shows two writers, in different circumstances, making the best of their work, in the shadow of their respective illnesses.
G.....Eiry Thomas
Migraine.....Sharon Morgan
Margiad.....Clare Corbett
Leighton.....Richard Elfyn
Dr Golla.....Sam Dale
Doctor.....Sam Swann
Poems read by Gwyneth Lewis and published by Bloodaxe
Production Co-ordinator.....Eleri McAuliffe
Sound Designer.....Rhys Morris
Directed by Emma Harding for BBC Audio Drama Wales
WED 15:00 Money Box (m002r3n1)
The latest news from the world of personal finance
WED 15:30 The Artificial Human (m002r3n3)
AI's Bubble Trouble?
3. If the bubble bursts, where next for AI?
In the final instalment of our AI Bubble mini-series, Aleks and Kevin take a look at what it would mean if the AI bubble were to burst - not just for the industry, but for the future of AI itself.
They’re joined by Adrian Lepers, Head of Monetization Operations and Strategy at Hugging Face. Sitting right at the centre of the open-source AI ecosystem, Adrian shares how Hugging Face sees its role in the market and how the industry could evolve from here.
Also on the programme is Gary Marcus - cognitive scientist, psychologist, author, and one of the earliest voices warning that the AI boom could be heading for a crash. With the landscape shifting fast, Gary gives his take on what might come next and where he thinks the AI industry is headed.
Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong
Production Team: Peter McManus, Rachael O’Neill & Elizabeth Ann Duffy
Sound: Sarah Hockley
WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002r3n5)
Who's in the news for all the wrong reasons? With David Yelland and Simon Lewis.
WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002r3n7)
Social media, anti-social media, breaking news, faking news: this is the programme about a revolution in media.
WED 17:00 PM (m002r3n9)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r3nc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
WED 18:30 The Making of Colin Hoult (m002r3nf)
An audience show in which Colin explores how his bizarre family made him the man he is today. Now, as a 45 year-old dad, he wonders if it’s too late to do anything about it. Based on his hugely successful 2024 Edinburgh show, Colin weaves anecdotes and musings with all too real stories about his early life, featuring a recurring cast of characters: his perennially pessimistic mum, his not-quite-in-reality brothers and his long-suffering Dad who screams ‘why can’t we just be a normal family?’ Colin asks “is it a surprise my neurodiversity was missed?' But growing up in Nottingham we just had a simple phrase that covered everything - ‘he’s not right’. Colin paints a picture of a childhood full of secrets and lies, dominated by Mum’s terror of ending up in the local ‘madhouse’ whilst espousing paranoid conspiracies and pulling out the Ouija board on Christmas Day. Whilst inherently funny, the craziness is recounted with love and sympathy. A brilliant storyteller, Colin intercuts tales of that childhood life with stories about his own contemporary family and how one has been shaped by the other. What does he want to pass on and what does he absolutely not want to? How does he be the best dad he can when his basic understanding of the world is so scrambled? Each episode begins with Colin telling us how he’s, possibly inappropriately, reacted to something mundane that has just happened or been said to him. He’ll unpick the story across the episode tracing his reaction back to his upbringing with other themes, stories and observations along the way. Colin’s stand-up is intercut with childhood and contemporary scenes. Colin plays all his family members, neighbours, distant relatives, postmen, etc.
WED 19:00 The Archers (m002r3nh)
Jazzer’s got the bit between his teeth, and Lilian has a rude shock.
WED 19:15 Front Row (m002r3nk)
Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee on her new series
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
WED 20:00 AntiSocial (m002qv78)
The Nostalgia Divide
Peace talks for the culture wars. Nostalgia and the cringe factor. Adam Fleming explores why 2016 is big online, especially for Gen Z. Can you really be nostalgic for things you didn't really experience. With the help of others, Adam unpicks what nostalgia is and where it came from.
Presenter: Adam Fleming
Producers: Natasha Fernandes, Tom Gillett and John Murphy
Studio Manager: Andrew Mills
Editor: Penny Murphy
WED 20:45 Magic Consultants (m001lc4s)
From Here to Eternity?
Is there anything or anyone who can challenge the power of the consultants?
Adam Shaw continues his investigation into the consultancy industry.
Can they survive the challenges ahead – attract top talent, resist calls for regulation and even pressure from the Pope, trying to guide them to be more socially conscious.
In times of new crisis, government and business reach straight for consultants’ expertise; like death and taxes will they be with us forever?
With contributions from: Tamzen Isacsson, CEO of the Management Consultancies Association, Andrew Sturdy, Professor in Management at The University of Bristol, Dr Chris McKenna, Reader in Business History and Strategy at the Said Business School, Matthias Kipping, Professor of Policy at the Schulich School of Business, authors Rosie Collington and Eric Edstrom.
Producer: Sarah Bowen
Series researcher: Shiler Mahmoudi
WED 21:00 Intrigue (m002q872)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Tuesday]
WED 21:30 Inside Health (m002r3nn)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r3nq)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
WED 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r3ns)
3: Lynching
Rhashan Stone reads the winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize by one of America's greatest contemporary authors.
Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.
Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.
Today: After losing Huck on the river, Jim is helped by a group of slaves ... but at a great cost.
Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
WED 23:00 Doctors On Hold (m002r3nv)
Series 1
5. The Locum Smells Of Bacon
Mike and Peter are puzzled why the new locum doctor smells of smokey bacon, but Malika has bigger news.
Two GPs find grim humour in the struggle to treat their patients with few resources and mostly via the phone. Phil Hammond, Tony Gardner, Mina Anwar in a new sitcom in today's NHS.
Set in a typical GP surgery, struggling to cope with cuts, new NHS policy directives and an increasingly impatient set of patients, two disillusioned doctors battle with the stresses of their jobs and chaotic personal lives.
Doctors On Hold features a topical series of phone conversations between patients and various members of a GP team that reflects how much medicine is now dispensed over the phone in an overloaded and fragmented NHS, how frustrating it can sometimes be for patients and staff, and how funny and familiar it is for listeners.
Tony Gardner and Phil Hammond started their comedy careers on Radio 4 in the 90s, as junior doctors, with three series of Struck Off and Die. They won a Writers Guild Award for best radio comedy. They have since had very successful solo careers - Phil Hammond co-wrote five series of Radio 4's Polyoaks. He is Private Eye's medical correspondent 'MD'. Tony Gardner is an actor on stage and screen, whose recent credits include the hit show Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
Mina Anwar is well known to Radio 4 listeners from Fags, Mags and Bags.
Cast:
Tony Gardner as Dr Peter
Phil Hammond as Dr Mike
Mina Anwar as Malika Begum
Anna Crilly as Nelly and Sarah
Other parts are played by members of the cast
Written by Phil Hammond and Tony Gardner
Producer: David Morley
Sound Design and Music: Chris O'Shaughnessy
A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:15 Eleanor & Pals (m002r3nx)
There’ll be no journey, no trauma, and certainly no learning – Eleanor & Pals is simply a unique comedy show featuring top female character comedy talent from across the UK. This episode features the brilliant Zara Gladman and her 'Aileen' character.
As we lurched from one existential crisis to another during the Covid years, what we all collectively shouted for was top character comedy being performed against a blank white wall to help cheer us up… Thankfully, Eleanor Morton obliged with lots of silly voices and characters and, on occasion, a beard painted on her face with a Sharpie.
The results were staggering, with Eleanor chalking up hit after hit on social media, resulting in 3 million likes and 425,000 followers across all platforms.
It led to notable followers who shared her work online, including Michael McKean, Taika Waititi, Stewart Lee (not on socials but he recommended Eleanor in his newsletter. Old school!), Patton Oswalt, Dawn French, Jim Gaffigan, Jared Harris (retweeted Eleanor twice when she spoofed him), Chris O Dowd and Ben Stiller.
This worldwide fame and recognition led to Eleanor eventually being able to afford a scarf and a hat as props for future clips. With a wistful notion she might make money, Eleanor now takes these weird and wonderful characters to the live space and Radio 4.
Written and performed by Eleanor Morton and special guest Zara Gladman
Recorded at The Monkey Barrel in Edinburgh
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4
WED 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r3nz)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2026
THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002r3p1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 00:30 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r3mj)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Wednesday]
THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r3p3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r3p5)
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 (m002r3p7)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r3p9)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r3pc)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r3pf)
The Art of Who We Are
Good morning
When I wake up in the morning, it’s always good to see the reassuring presence of a favourite painting that hangs upon my bedroom wall. But on this day in 1994, the owners of a Norwegian Art Gallery were shocked to discover that their most precious artwork, Edvard Munch’s famous painting of ‘The Scream’ had been stolen. I’m not sure if it was taken for the resale value or if someone really wanted this visceral depiction of existential dread hanging above their bed.
The art we chose to buy, create, or in some way place around us, says a lot about what we appreciate, what brings us joy, and might tell others much about the kind of person that we are.
It might come as a surprise to think of the walls of heaven decorated with portraits of you and me, but the bible says that’s kind of what God does. In the New Testament letter to the church in Ephesus, the writer talks of us as God’s own masterpieces, unique and beautiful works of art, been created to do good works. The suggestion is that each one of us is distinctively imagined and crafted, with our own particular talents and gifts, longings and desires, and inimitable personality and relationships. But our purpose is not simply to hang beautifully in heaven’s gallery, there are good things for us to do today, blessings that maybe only we can bring.
And if in all our doing, we catch a glimpse of our portrait, don’t worry if today we look too much like Munch’s anxious ‘Scream.’ Because we’re only ever works in progress, and I think the artist often passes by, pallet and paint brush in their hand, to freshen up the artwork with deeper hues of joy and brushstrokes of renewed and greater purpose.
Dear God of infinite creativity
and bringer of endless beauty
work well the brushstrokes of your love within our lives
that we may bring joy to those we meet today.
Amen
THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002r3ph)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
THU 06:00 Today (m002r4tz)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
THU 09:00 In Our Time (m002r4v1)
The Code of Hammurabi
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the laws that Hammurabi (c1810 - c1750 BC), King of Babylon, had carved into a black basalt pillar in present day Iraq and which, since its rediscovery in 1901 in present day Iran, has affirmed Hammurabi's reputation as one of the first great lawmakers. Visitors to the Louvre in Paris can see it on display with almost 300 rules in cuneiform, covering anything from ‘an eye for an eye’ to how to handle murder, divorce, witchcraft, false accusations and more. The Code of Hammurabi, as it became known, made such an impression in Mesopotamia that it was copied and shared for a millennium after his death and, since its reemergence, Hammurabi and his Code have been commemorated in the US Capitol and the International Court of Justice.
With
Martin Worthington
Professor in Middle Eastern Studies at Trinity College Dublin
Frances Reynolds
Shillito Fellow and Associate Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at The Queen’s College
And
Selena Wisnom
Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester
Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
THU 09:45 Strong Message Here (m002r4v3)
Armando Iannucci and guests decode the utterly baffling world of political language.
THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r4v5)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m002r4v7)
Julian Barnes
Booker Prize-winning author and writer Julian Barnes talks to John Wilson about his career and formative cultural influences.
THU 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r4v9)
Episode 4
The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.
Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.
In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.
This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.
Episode Four
16-year-old Sajid is advised to leave school and become a TV repair man. But he is determined to take A-levels and go on to university.
Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
THU 12:00 News Summary (m002r4vc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
THU 12:04 The Bottom Line (m002r4vf)
Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with people at the top giving insight into what matters.
THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002r4vh)
Kitchen Knives and Sharpeners
Greg Foot investigates the so-called wonder products making bold claims.
THU 12:57 Weather (m002r4vk)
The latest weather forecast
THU 13:00 World at One (m002r4vm)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
THU 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r4vp)
4. Dampening the Noise
This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.
Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.
Episode 4: Dampening The Noise
In this episode Giles takes us to his lab, where we meet his colleague Professor Frank Ryman at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge, to find out what researchers like him are doing to try to discover what weight loss drugs are actually doing in the brains of people who are using them.
Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.
Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.
Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.
Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.
Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.
Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital
Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.
Kamran Abassi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal
Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.
Professor Frank Ryman
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.
Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.
Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4
THU 14:00 The Archers (m002r3nh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Wednesday]
THU 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002r4vr)
Good People
1. The Great Reset
Four young idealists - Sonia, Kieran, Indigo and Ayad - fall under the spell of charismatic thinker Faith Abbott at university and channel her ideas into a bold political experiment: Project Hope.
In 2020 they start to reinvent politics from the ground up. But nearly a decade on Britain stands divided, and the group has splintered. When Sonia discovers Faith has denounced Project Hope from beyond the grave, she is forced to revisit the group's remarkable beginnings. Was their experiment always doomed to fail?
Good People is a fictional story set against our very real political moment, examining the rise of populism, the perceived failure of politics-as-usual, and the deep divisions that run though our country and beyond.
This is the first episode in an ambitious six-part state of the nation drama from award-winning political writer Steve Waters.
CAST
Sonia ..... Natalie Simpson
Faith ..... Anastasia Hille
Kieran ..... Nicholas Armfield
Indigo ..... Alby Baldwin
Ayad ..... Ikky Kabir
Philip ..... Clive Hayward
Gabe ..... Django Bevan
Abbie ..... Iona Champain
Writer ..... Steve Waters
Sound ..... Andy Garratt, Keith Graham, Sam Dickinson
Casting Manager ..... Alex Curran
Script Development ..... Abigail Le Fleming
Production Co-ordinator ..... Kate Gray
Assistant Producer ..... Luke MacGregor
Director ..... Anne Isger
A BBC Studios Audio production
THU 15:00 Ramblings (m002r4vt)
Go Jauntly with Hana Sutch in London
Clare Balding heads to Brockley and Ladywell for a leafy London wander with Hana Sutch, co founder of the walking app Go Jauntly. Growing up in a family that didn’t walk for pleasure, Hana discovered the joy of rambling in her twenties, when a visit to her husband’s native Northumberland showed her the calming power of putting one foot in front of the other.
Later, as a new parent in the city, she struggled to find accessible green spaces - an experience that inspired her to create the app which helps walkers navigate routes easily, including by following images of landmarks.
As they wander, Hana discusses the challenges of building a start‑up as part of a small team of four, including hearing from big players in the field that she would never succeed.
Their route is a four‑mile urban circular starting in Ladywell. Avoiding main roads where possible, they head up and around Hilly Fields, down to Ladywell Fields and on to Blythe Hill before ending the walk, where they met, in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries. You can find out more at www.gojauntly.com The walk Hana and Clare took together will go live on the app when the programme is broadcast.
Presenter: Clare Balding
Producer: Karen Gregor
THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002r3fh)
[Repeat of broadcast at
07:54 on Sunday]
THU 15:30 Word of Mouth (m002r4vw)
Tourette Syndrome
Michael Rosen talks to Ione Georgakis from Tourette Action about about her personal and professional experience of Tourette Syndrome and vocal tics. How and why do tics happen, and what are some of the myths and misunderstandings around the syndrome?
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven, in partnership with the Open University.
Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz
THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m002r4vy)
David Aaronovitch presents in-depth explainers on big issues in the news.
THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8txz)
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
THU 17:00 PM (m002r4w1)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r4w3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
THU 18:30 Stand-Up Specials (m00236xn)
Randy Feltface
1. Earth
Randy Feltface is done with us ruining the earth beneath our feet whether we’re digging it up, setting fire to it, or tipping it into the sea - so with the help of an irritable duck, a fictional French coal-miner and a sexy earthworm he works out the best way to just get the whole destruction business over and done with.
This head-on charge into possibly the most important subject facing humanity comes to you via a show where you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn, you’ll laugh again between the learny bits and most of all, you’ll be able to say “I was there when Radio 4 decided to have show hosted by a puppet”
Randy Feltface has been seen on Netflix, ABC, NBC, and has a huge & devoted following across the globe (1m+ social media followers, 1.6m TikTok followers, 833k subscribers, 79m YouTube views). His hour-long specials are YouTube cult classics, his world tours are sold out sensations, and he's the only Radio 4 presenter to be entirely made of felt.
With Margaret Cabourn-Smith & William Hartley
Produced & directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
THU 19:00 The Archers (m002r4w6)
Accusations are flying, and George is hiding something from Will.
THU 19:15 Front Row (m002r4w8)
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music
THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002r3n5)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:00 on Wednesday]
THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002r3n7)
[Repeat of broadcast at
16:15 on Wednesday]
THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002r3b0)
[Repeat of broadcast at
18:15 on Saturday]
THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m002r4v3)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:45 today]
THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r4wb)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
THU 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r4wd)
4: Charlatans
Rhashan Stone reads the winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize by one of America's greatest contemporary authors.
Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.
Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.
Today: Jim and Huck's journey down the Mississippi comes to a dangerous pause when they're spotted by two white fraudsters with an eye on the prize....
Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002r4wg)
Conversations about tomorrow, from Today.
THU 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r4wj)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament
FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2026
FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002r4wl)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 00:30 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r4v9)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:45 on Thursday]
FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002r4wn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002r4wq)
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 (m002r4ws)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 05:04 Yesterday in Parliament (m002r4wv)
News, views and features on yesterday's stories in Parliament
FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002r4wx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping
FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002r4wz)
The Value of Love
Good morning
Tomorrow is St Valentine’s Day which means, whether it is true or not, people will be worrying that the cost of flowers, chocolates and tables at their favourite restaurant will be inflated for the next few days, before returning back to normal after the weekend. If such fluctuations really happen, then perhaps it is no more than supply and demand, but they might also serve as a reminder that when it comes to love, the best things in life might well be free.
That’s not to be unrealistically sentimental in the face of life’s realities, where most things do come with a price-tag and usually cost more than they did before. Nor is it to be insensitive to the anxieties of loneliness that Valentines Day can bring. But in the difficult economics of family budgets to suggest that all is well, just as long as we can sit with someone underneath the moon, can feel less than helpful.
I mean it’s all very well for Jesus to say, ‘just look at the flowers in the field; they don’t sow or reap or fill up their barns, and yet God takes care of them.’ But what if my credit card is maxed, and I haven’t bought a card.
To which Jesus might well reply, ‘Well we didn’t have St Valentine’s Day, when I was on the earth, but nonetheless, I had to pay my way’. Perhaps the secret to finding joy in life is not to let those anxieties define who we are and can become. We’re all more precious than anything that can be simply bought or sold. The things of lasting value, the things that really show our love, are our families and friendships and the chances that we have to help those who are struggling with the many different costs of life.
Dear God of love and life
Help us this day to value
The richness of who we are
And how we love
And show us how to share that
with those who need it most.
Amen.
FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002r4x1)
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
FRI 06:00 Today (m002r4xf)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m002r3fy)
[Repeat of broadcast at
10:00 on Sunday]
FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002r4xh)
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.
FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002r4xk)
Communal Dining
Sheila Dillon explores efforts being made to get people eating together more often - and asks what the benefits are, and why it’s not always easy.
Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan.
FRI 11:45 The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid (m002r4xm)
Episode 5
The shouted racist abuse ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid's home and primary school. Even as a five year-old boy, he had learned that 1970s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders.
Leaving behind the devastation of Partition, Sajid's father moved from Punjab to the UK in the '60s. The family held on to many of their Indo-Pakistani traditions, setting them apart and often leading to rejection by their new neighbours.
In this tender but powerful memoir, Sajid Javid shares his story of a childhood marked by poverty, racism and the tension produced by trying to conform to two cultures. These led to run-ins with the police, trouble at school and eventually the risk of estrangement from his family by defying their wish for his arranged marriage in favour of choosing the woman he loved. With each new trial, Sajid learned to dig his heels in further, speaking up for himself and stubbornly refusing to accept the limits that seemed imposed by his background.
This is a story of hope, determination and survival - a tribute to the parents who gave everything and the brothers who struggled alongside him - and an invitation to every 'outsider' to keep going and dream big.
Episode Five
Sajid is horrified to discover that his father has arranged for him to marry his cousin, leading to a terrible family argument.
Read by Sajid Javid
Abridged by Libby Spurrier
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002r4xp)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
FRI 12:04 AntiSocial (m002r4xr)
Peace talks for the culture wars. In an era of polarisation, propaganda, and pile-ons, Adam Fleming helps you work out what the arguments are really about.
FRI 12:57 Weather (m002r4xt)
The latest weather forecast
FRI 13:00 World at One (m002r4xw)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4
FRI 13:45 The Hunger Game (m002r4xy)
5. Food for Thought
This five-part series explores the weight loss drug revolution and the meteoric rise of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.
Presented by Professor Giles Yeo, who researches how these drugs affect the brain in Cambridge University, the series reveals the latest research, tells the story of the scientific breakthroughs that made Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drugs possible and describes the marketing strategy that turned them into household names.
Throughout each episode Giles meets researchers, doctors and journalists to discuss the ethical dilemmas of accessibility and affordability and explains what they do and how they work. He also reveals the unexpected impacts that the widespread use of these drugs is having on our health and society.
Episode 5: Food For Thought
In the final episode Giles looks into the future, there are now hundreds of pharmaceutical companies joining the weight loss drug ‘arms race’ and trials are underway to make them available in pill form. Very soon some of the original patents will run out, meaning that the high price they cost will likely fall.
Contributors:
Professor Giles Yeo
Giles Yeo is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology and programme leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in Cambridge, and his research currently focuses on the influence of genes on feeding behaviour and body-weight.
Harry Yeo
Harry Yeo is Giles Yeo’s son and is currently taking weight loss drugs.
Dr Luke McDonough
Luke is an associate professor at the London School of Economics Law School.
Aimee Donnellan
Aimee is a Reuters journalist and writes about pharmaceuticals, consumer goods groups, retail and insurance.
Dr Lotte Bjerre Knudsen
Lotte is Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor, and led the research group back in the early 1990s that first invented the molecule that made them possible.
Professor Barbara McGowan
Barbara is a professor of endocrinology and diabetes based at Guy’s and St. Thomas' Hospital
Dr Graham Easton
Graham is an academic GP with extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. He also takes weight loss drugs.
Kamran Abassi
Kamran is editor in chief of the British Medical Journal
Henry Dimbleby
Henry is a British businessman and cookery writer who is a co-founder of Leon Restaurants and the Sustainable Restaurant Association. He was appointed lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018.
Professor Frank Ryman
Frank works at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge alongside Giles Yeo researching how weight loss drugs affect the brain.
Cheri Ferguson
Cheri takes weight loss drugs after a lifetime of dieting; 28 days in Cheri noticed her need to vape completely changed.
Dr Tony Goldstone
Tony is a clinical associate professor and consultant endocrinologist at Imperial College London.
A Changing World production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002r4w6)
[Repeat of broadcast at
19:00 on Thursday]
FRI 14:15 Limelight (m002qvjw)
Wolf Valley
Episode 4
Asgaard’s founder Tor Martinsen’s death sends shockwaves through Wolf Valley but Lena is not convinced it was suicide. As she unravels Asgaard’s tangled finances and covert deals with Russian backers, the dark legacy of Valborg Academy overshadows it all.
Rose’s recovered GoPro deepens the mystery, revealing a final dive, a motor, and a violent impact. And when ten-year-old Oscar Vikstad vanishes into the forest on the eve of a storm, the investigation becomes a race against time.
The penultimate episode in a Nordic noir, where shocking crimes and long-simmering feuds threaten a remote mountain valley.
LENA - Amrita Acharia
AKSEL - David Menkin
MAGNUS - Eirik Knutsvik
PAUL - Raj Ghatak
INGRID - Eva Eklöf
HENRIK - Øystein Lode
EVA - Ingvild Lakou
ROSE - Stephanie MacGaraidh
SUSANNA - Ingrid Werner
ANNETTE - Sarah Whitehouse
VIDAR’S MUM - Eva Eklöf
SARA - Ronja Haugholt
LENA’S MUM - Ingvild Lakou
YOUNG LENA - Mackensie Sutherland
All other parts played by the cast
Written by Charlotte Melén
Composer - Marcus Aurelius Hjelmborg
Singer - Johanne Baadsgaard Lange
Sound Design - Louis Blatherwick, Steve Bond
Director - Charlotte Melén
Producer - Eleanor Mein
Assistant Producer - Chloe Sackur
Script Consultant - Lauren Shippen
Development Producer - Saskia Black
Executive Producers - Charlotte Melén, Celia de Wolff
An Almost Tangible production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:45 Life Without (m002r4y0)
Life Without the Moon
Full moon, half-moon, total eclipse. What happens when we look up and the moon is missing? In this episode of Life Without, our host Alan Davies imagines a world where the moon just ceases to exist, the Earth’s natural satellite gone.
What would happen to our tides and how would creatures who depend on moonlight to hunt survive? The loss of the Moon would also have a huge impact on our psyche and connection to the lunar calendar.
This episode features Sara Russell a Merit Researcher in Cosmic Mineralogy and Planetary Science and artist Luke Jerram who toured the world with his replica in Museum of the Moon.
An ITN production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002r4y3)
Tyne Valley
Kathy Clugston and the GQT team are in Tyne Valley, Newcastle.
Kathy's joined by Dr Chris Thorogood, Bethan Collerton and Matthew Wilson.
Producer: Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 15:45 Short Works (m002r4y5)
Hearts in Lattes
In writer Allan Radcliffe's alternative take on love and relationships, Maggie and Ellie meet on Valentine's Day in an attempt to build a relationship after being semi-estranged for years.
Allan Radcliffe is a multi-award winning Scottish author, arts journalist and editor, and is currently a freelance theatre critic and feature writer. His short stories have been published in anthologies including Out There, The Best Gay Short Stories and New Writing Scotland. After the resounding success of his debut novel 'The Old Haunts', his new novel, 'Blurred Faces', was published by Fairlight in November 2025.
'Hearts in Lattes' is read by Gabriel Quigley and produced by Bethany Woodhead. It is a BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002r4y7)
Matthew Bannister tells the life stories of people who have recently died, from the rich and famous to unsung but significant.
FRI 16:30 Sideways (m002r3m8)
[Repeat of broadcast at
09:00 on Wednesday]
FRI 17:00 PM (m002r4y9)
News and current affairs, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines
FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002r4yc)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4
FRI 18:30 The News Quiz (m002r4yf)
Series 119
Episode 6
Andy Zaltzman is joined by Alasdair Beckett-King, Rachel Fairburn, Stephen Bush and Mhairi Black to break down the week in news.
FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002r4yh)
Writer: Tim Stimpson
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe
Brian Aldridge … Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer … Ben Norris
David Archer … Timothy Bentinck
Josh Archer … Angus Imrie
Pip Archer … Daisy Badger
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Lilian Bellamy … Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Ruairi Donovan … Arthur Hughes
Amber Gordon … Olivia Bernstone
Emma Grundy … Emerald O'Hanrahan
George Grundy … Angus Stobie
Will Grundy … Philip Molloy
Chelsea Horrobin … Madeleine Leslay
Tracy Horrobin … Susie Riddell
Jazzer McCreary … Ryan Kelly
Stella Pryor … Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers … Joanna Van Kampen
FRI 19:15 Add to Playlist (m002r4yk)
Rick Wakeman and Aoife Ní Bhriain launch the new series
Irish classical and folk violinist Aoife Ní Bhriain and keyboard player Rick Wakeman are Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe's first guests as they begin a brand new series. Valentine's Day vibes are in the air so expect a bit of love as we embark on a new playlist, taking us from a sweet disco classic to a precocious pop/country megastar via Thor and Mozart.
Producer Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe
The five tracks in this week's playlist:
Love is in the Air by John Paul Young
Love’s Dream by Rick Wakeman ft Roger Daltrey
Thor: Ragnarok by Mark Mothersbaugh
Allegro moderato from Violin Concerto No 1 in B-flat Major by Mozart
The Outside by Taylor Swift
Other music in this episode:
Berghain by Rosalía ft Björk
Whip it by DEVO
Arena Fight by Mark Mothersbaugh
FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002r4ym)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities
FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002r3mg)
[Repeat of broadcast at
11:40 on Wednesday]
FRI 21:00 Free Thinking (m002r4yp)
Working Class Creativity
Matthew Sweet looks at new trends in TV comedy, plus how a boy from an impoverished neighbourhood in South London, Charlie Chaplin became one of the most significant figures in the development of cinema. With TV historian Laura Minor, art historian Jacqueline Riding, novelist Adelle Stripe, and historian Samuel Johnson-Schlee.
The paperback of Adelle Stripe's memoir Base Notes, and Jacqueline Riding's book Hard Street: Working Class Lives in Charlie Chaplin's London, are both published in February.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002r4yr)
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective
FRI 22:45 James by Percival Everett (m002r4yt)
5: Minstrels
Rhashan Stone reads the winner of 2025's Pulitzer Prize by one of America's greatest contemporary authors.
Mississippi, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs. Hiding on nearby Jackson Island he tries to formulate a plan. But when his friend Huck Finn arrives with the news that he's faked his own death to escape his violent father, Jim knows he will be blamed. As so begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive promise of the Free States and beyond.
Powerful, electrifying and brimming with the dark humour, this multi award-winning novel has already become a modern classic.
Today: After evading the two white con-men, Jim finds himself hired by a band of minstrals, who, improbably, want him to perform in black face...
Reader: Rhashan Stone
Writer: Percival Everett (born 1956) is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He is the Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Producer: Justine Willett
Abridger: Katrin Williams
FRI 23:00 Americast (w3ct8bz4)
Join Americast for insights and analysis on what's happening inside Trump's White House.
FRI 23:30 Today in Parliament (m002r4yx)
News, views and features on today's stories in Parliament