SATURDAY 28 MARCH 2026

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m002t2lv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 A History of Mystery by Cal Flyn (m002sngv)
Cosy Mysteries

Award-winning writer Cal Flyn explores the profound power of mystery and the provocation of the unknown.

As her tour around mystery draws to a close, award-winning writer Cal Flyn considers the crime genre and those fans so desperate to dispel mystery that they take the law into their own hands.

Written and read by Cal Flyn
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
A BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002t2lx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002t2lz)
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 (m002t2m1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002t2m3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002t2m5)
The smell of summer

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Good morning.
Holy Week is the most profound period in the Christian Calendar, and it begins this weekend. For some it can feel odd to devote so much time and attention to the tragedy of a week that concludes with a brutal execution, the Crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday.

But, of course, his end is only the beginning. There is something universally significant in the story. Death, loss and tragedy often usher in something deeper. What we hold on to in this time is not so much a ‘fingers crossed optimism’ that things will turn out alright in the end. There are things about this story that have echoes in our own human experience where happy endings are not inevitable.

The human experience of loss and tragedy often underwrites an extraordinary growth in wisdom, strength and depth of humanity. A minister I admired brought home an ancient Arabic proverb that he treasured; ‘February weather, with its sad cold blasts of wind, with the smell of summer in it’.

The mystery of Holy Week is that odd juxtaposition of a man broken and abandoned to suffering but at the same time constrained to go on loving. We call it Christ’s Passion. However reluctantly, he will not run away from suffering and pain, the winter of human experience which all of us go through. But he knows that winter can be the prelude to summer.

Christ of the scars and the tender heart, as we approach this Holy Week, help us to learn to trust that through embracing the deep pain and inexpressible joy of what it is to be human we might grow in grace, compassion and understanding. Amen.


SAT 05:45 Lent Talks (m002t13h)
Power and Wealth

A series of personal reflections on power inspired by the story of Jesus’ Passion.

Six essays tracing the hidden currents of power in everyday life: how it shapes us, how it works, how it wounds, and how it can be resisted, claimed, and reclaimed.

In this episode, Kristin Breuss – an Anglican vicar who previously worked in the banking industry in the City of London for two decades – explores power and wealth.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m002tbbt)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m002t2vq)
Restoring Wallasea's Wild Coast

Martha Kearney visits Wallasea Island in Essex, the largest manmade coastal nature reserve in Europe. It was created from the 3 million tonnes of London clay that were excavated in the digging out of the Elizabeth Line.
The RSPB project used soil from the Crossrail scheme to raise the land, and flood almost 170 hectares of arable land to create saltmarsh, mudflats and lagoons. This was to mitigate for land loss as sea levels rise and it’s the only place that has raised land in order to bring the sea back. It’s the largest complex of saline lagoons in the UK.
The project tells an unusually positive story about adapting to climate change and coastal erosion before it happens, for the benefit of nature. Martha goes to see the waders and waterbirds that now over-winter there.

Producer: Beth O'Dea


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m002tbbw)
28/03/26 Farming Today This Week: trail hunting; impact of Middle East war; shellfish; geese; Victorian farming; farmer choir.

The Government has opened a consultation on its proposals to ban trail hunting in England and Wales. Anti-hunt campaigners argue it’s a smokescreen for the continued illegal hunting of foxes. Country sports enthusiasts say trail hunting takes place within the law, and those who break it are prosecuted under existing legislation.

As war in the Middle East continues to disrupt global supplies of fuel and fertiliser, there are concerns about CO2 shortages. CO2 is a by-product of fertiliser manufacturing and is used in food production. The Ensus bioethanol plant in Teeside closed last year but it's to start production again, with £100 million from the government.

Seafood processors say they're concerned that imports of shellfish won't meet new regulations which recognise crustaceans like lobsters as sentient beings which can feel pain.

Farmers and crofters are calling for more help to control geese. Warmer winters mean more geese are staying in Scotland over the winter and farmers say they're ruining crops and soiling grazing. Some species can be shot, but others are protected. NFU Scotland is calling for urgent action to help reduce their numbers.

All week we've been taking a step back in time and looking at some of the pivotal moments in farming history. Victorian innovation and technology lead to big agricultural and social changes. As populations grew rapidly, farmers in the 19th century strove to advance the way they grew crops, bred more profitable animals and took advantage of new inventions.

A farmers' choir has reached the semi finals of ITV's Britain's Got Talent. The Hawkstone Farmers' Choir wants to raise awareness of mental health in farming communities.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


SAT 06:57 Weather (m002tbby)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m002tbc0)
Today (Saturday)


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m002tbc2)
Dilly Carter, Football, Swearing and the Inheritance Tracks Lisa Kudrow

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


SAT 10:00 You're Dead to Me (p0cshgzq)
The Terracotta Army

Greg Jenner is joined in Ancient China by Professor Julia Lovell and special guest Phil Wang as they take a closer look at The Terracotta Army.

In 1974 a family of farmers made arguably the greatest archaeological discovery of all time when they uncovered arrowheads and fragments of terracotta whilst digging a well. Join us as we examine one of the most astounding mausoleum sites in the world - one so large that much of it still remains to be explored.

Research by Jon Mason
Written by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner with Jon Mason
Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner
Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow
Project Management: Isla Matthews
Audio Producer: Abi Paterson

The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 10:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002tbc5)
Series 51

Bristol

Jay Rayner and the panel are in Bristol where they take on a fresh batch of questions from an audience of hungry home cooks.

Joining Jay are chefs, cooks and food writers, Angela Gray, James 'Jocky' Petrie, Sophie Wright and resident food historian Dr Annie Gray.

Together they share their secrets for perfectly fluffy omelettes, debate the age‑old question of whether puff pastry is better homemade or shop‑bought, and celebrate 'Something on a Stick' Day with their recommendations for stick‑based dishes for an Easter BBQ.

And amid the good‑natured chat, it turns out dough isn’t the only thing that gets cross, as the panel unleash their views on the worst hot cross bun “abominations” they’ve encountered lately.

Producer: Matt Smith
Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m002tbc7)
Joe Pike looks back at Westminster politics in the first months of 2026.

He is joined by FT political editor, George Parker, Guardian columnist, Gaby Hinsliff, and GB News political editor Chris Hope.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002tbc9)
Cuba's crisis deepens

Kate Adie introduces stories on Cuba's multiple crises from blackouts to food shortages, what it's like living under another war in Lebanon, how Persian new year festivities were muted this year, what China thinks about the war in the Middle East, and how an archaeological dig in Georgia led to a political purge.

More than ten million people were left in the dark this week in Cuba, as the third major blackout in a month hit the island. The US fuel blockade is taking its toll, but locals are now finding the courage to publicly criticise the communist government, finds Will Grant in Havana.

Lebanon was quickly drawn into another war following the US-Israel bombardment of Iran. For many Lebanese, much of their life has been spent living amid conflict or the aftermath of war. Carine Torbey reports from Beirut.

The Spring equinox marked the Persian new year festival of Nowruz, though celebrations were muted this year with the country at war, and emotions still raw from the thousands of protesters killed in January. Leila Molana Allen is British-Iranian and reflects on how Iranians inside the country - and in the diaspora - have been trying to draw strength from this ancient tradition.

China has so far kept its distance from the US-Israel war with Iran - a strategy designed, perhaps, with an eye on longer-term advantages over the United States. But it might not be quite so straight-forward says Laura Bicker in Beijing.

And in the Southern Caucasus, archaeologists are once again digging for fossils in Georgia following a political purge of the country's museum sector. William Dunbar went to see what new discoveries are being made.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Production Coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m002tbcc)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m002tbcf)
Petrol Price Rises and NS&I

The cost of filling up your car has risen every day over the past three weeks as the conflict continues in the Middle East. Diesel is now averaging £1.78 per litre - a price last seen on Christmas Day 2022, 10 months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Petrol is up 17p and has just tipped over £1.50 per litre. Those figures are UK averages from the RAC. What can you do to bring down the cost?

The boss of government-backed bank NS&I has been replaced after a lost funds scandal, affecting thousands and delaying bereaved families’ access to relatives’ money.

Bosses from Capita apologise again as MPs question them about the long delays facing retired civil servants awaiting pension payments.

And if you're a regular Money Box listener we'd hope you to know your ISA from your IHT, but do you know the difference between your gross and net salary? Or how to work out how much interest you'd pay on a loan? A group of financial firms and charities is calling for the introduction of an exam which measures how much young people know about basic financial products and services. How might it work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Bisi Adebayo and Luke Jarmyn
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast at 12pm on Radio 4 on 28th March 2026)


SAT 12:30 The Naked Week (m002t2lb)
Series 4

Who ya gonna call...? (Clue: It's Donald Trump)

The team tackle Trump's tirades, and very much give the BBC's incoming Director General a problematic in-tray.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week, a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
James Kettle
Jason Hazeley

Additional Material:
Karl Minns
Sophie Dickson
Darren Phillips
Joe Topping
Kevin Smith

Investigation team:
Cat Neilan
Becky Pinnington
Emily Channon

Guests: Cariad Lloyd, Simon Munday.

Production Team: Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, David Riffkin.

Production Coordinator: Molly Punshon
Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams

Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 12:57 Weather (m002tbch)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News (m002tbck)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m002t2lj)
Darren Grimes, Rachel Millward, Baroness Stowell, Anna Turley MP

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Ponteland High School near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with Reform UK board member Darren Grimes, who is deputy leader of Durham County Council; Green Party of England & Wales deputy leader Rachel Millward, who is also deputy leader of Wealden District Council; Conservative peer Baroness Stowell; and Labour Party chair and Cabinet Office minister, Anna Turley MP.

Producer: Paul Martin
Assistant producer: Lowri Morgan
Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Chris Weightman
Editor: Glyn Tansley


SAT 14:05 Any Answers? (m002tbcm)
Listeners respond to the issues raised in the preceding edition of Any Questions?


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m002t2ld)
Tracy asks Lilian if Justin’s decided about keeping the horsebox at the Dower House, before revealing the big part she played in him getting a much better offer for his BL shares. Lilian’s furious that Justin never mentioned this to her and has left Tracy hanging. Later at The Bull, Tracy listens as Helen tells Lilian she’s going to become Tracy’s neighbour. Tracy then tells Lilian she’s nervous at the prospect of living so close to her boss. Sympathetic Lilian tells Tracy she tore a strip off Justin, who’s now agreed to let the horsebox stay as long as they need it to.

Over drinks Tony brings up the Anguses. Having chatted to David Tony’s decided not to fight Helen and to let the Anguses go. He warns Helen not to forget that she and Tom need to farm with their hearts and for enjoyment, not just for profit.

Miranda tells Helen she’s exchanged contracts on Home Farm farmhouse. Helen then reveals she’s had her offer accepted for the house on the Green. Miranda buys wine to celebrate with Brian, but as they raise their glasses Brian tells Miranda he can’t move in with her. He isn’t trying to end their relationship, but Miranda threatens to if he doesn’t explain himself. Brian eventually tells her he doesn’t want to leave Ruairi, who’s very vulnerable right now. None of it makes sense to Miranda, who can’t not buy the house. She shouldn’t have trusted him. Brian wants to move in eventually - but in the meantime what will Miranda do with the house?


SAT 15:00 Spotlight (m002tbcp)
400 Strangers

400 Strangers, a powerful new drama, lays bare the human reality behind the headlines. When 400 asylum-seeking men are housed in two East Midlands hotels, fear and distrust ripple through a once close-knit community, pulling family and friends apart with tragic consequences.

With her husband Shep (Peter Caulfield) out of work, Marie (Dorothy Atkinson) is struggling to feed her family. As tensions rise and opinions harden, her stepson Beano (Tom McLoughlin) becomes increasingly drawn into the polarising rhetoric swirling online.

Meanwhile, confined to hotel rooms with little to occupy them and no power to change their circumstances, the asylum seekers find themselves trapped in limbo. Yusef (Mohamed Elsandel) strikes up an unexpected friendship with Sarah (Andrea Lowe), offering a fragile thread of connection across the divide - even as social media inflames an already fraught situation and both sides dig deeper into opposing views.

Led by a cast including Andrea Lowe, Dorothy Atkinson, Nina Wadia and Aisling Loftus, 400 Strangers is a searing, compassionate portrait of a community on the brink - and a timely exploration of how quickly economic pressures and fear can turn neighbour against neighbour.

SARAH - Andrea Lowe
MARIE - Dorothy Atkinson
BHAV - Nina Wadia
KEZ - Aisling Loftus
YUSEF - Mohamed Elsandel
BEANO - Tom McLoughlin
HARV - Rohan Singh
JAMIE - Jacob Partali
INDEPENDENT PATRIOT - Carl Prekopp
ROMAN - Tom Glenister
AMIR - Ahmad Sakhi
SHEP/TONY - Peter Caulfield
HOTEL OWNER/GEOFF - David Hounslow
MAN IN HIGH VIS/POLICE OFFICER - Finlay Paul
PHILIPPA - Christine Kavanagh
JAMAL - Basel Osman
ABDULLAH - Elham Ehsas

All other roles played by the cast.

Written by Katie Farr
Director - Celia de Wolff
Sound Design - David Thomas
Producers - Chloe Sackur, Charlotte Melén
Broadcast Assistant - Catherine Phillips
Executive Producer - Charlotte Melén

An Almost Tangible production for BBC Radio 4.

Contains public sector information from 10 Downing Street licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0


SAT 16:30 Woman's Hour (m002tbcr)
First female Archbishop of Canterbury, Elizabeth Moss and Kate Mara, Polyamory

Dame Sarah Mullally is installed as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church’s 1,400‑year history. What unique skills and priorities will she bring to the role, and what challenges lie ahead for her as she takes on one of the most influential positions in the Anglican Church? Kylie Pentelow explored the questions with Reverend Martine Oborne, chair of WATCH Women and the Church; and Professor Andrew Atherstone, author of a new biography of the Archbishop.

Emmy award-winner Elisabeth Moss, best known for Mad Men and The Handmaid’s Tale, and Kate Mara from House of Cards and The Martian joined Kylie in the Woman's Hour studio. Playing best friends – they discussed their new drama series, Imperfect Women.

Non-monogamous relationships appear to be having a pop culture moment, with polyamorous couples on our screens and open marriages profiled in numerous books on the topic, alternative relationships appear to be everywhere currently. Molly Roden-Winter, author of the memoir More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, and The Times journalist, Sarah Ditum joined Anita to discuss.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Dianne McGregor


SAT 17:00 PM (m002tbct)
The Houthis enter the war in the Middle East

Iran-backed group launch a missile attack towards Israel for the first time since war began. Also on PM, fears over a diesel shortage. Plus, Lady Mary Peters pays tribute to her friend Mary Rand after the Olympian dies aged 86.


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m002t2vd)
Dough - Food

What will the food of the future look like? Greg Foot finds out.

Greg Foot, host of BBC Radio 4’s Sliced Bread, returns with Dough — the series exploring the rise of future wonder products that could transform the way we live.

Each episode examines the emerging technologies and innovations poised to shape tomorrow’s world. Greg speaks with experts and entrepreneurs to uncover the trends influencing how today’s everyday essentials might evolve, before a leading futurist offers their predictions for life five, ten and fifty years from now.

This episode explores how our food choices could change as the climate becomes hotter and more volatile. Are we heading towards a menu built around ancient grains, 3D‑printed dishes and AI‑tailored nutrition plans? And where does lab‑grown meat sit — both in terms of public appetite and the rules needed to get it on our plates?

Alongside Greg, tucking in to a taste of the future, is futurist Tom Cheesewright, joined by expert guests including:

- Karina Zimerfeld, the Global Vice President of Research & Development at Mars Food & Nutrition
- Charles Banks, Partner & Managing Director of global trends agency The Food People
- Owen Ensor, Chief Executive of Meatly

This episode was produced by Linda Walker

Dough is a BBC Audio North Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002tbcw)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m002tbcy)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tbd0)
Houthis attack Israel one month into Middle East war

Attacks across the Middle East have continued, with three journalists reported dead in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon. Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has accused Russia of helping Iran attack the UK-US base on Diego Garcia. And: an 18 year old man is arrested after a historic mill building in Staffordshire is gutted by fire.


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m002tbd2)
Derren Brown, Maria Shehata, Alison Larkin, Peter's Field, Dilettante

Stuart Maconie is joined in Salford by master of mind control and psychological illusion Derren Brown who is currently touring his latest show 'Only Human'. Stand up Maria Shehata moved to the UK for love, but the course of true love did not run smoothly and the relationship ended soon after. She explores her decision in a new Radio 4 stand up special 'Maria Shehata is Wisdomless'. Alison Larkin turned her one woman show 'Grief … A Comedy into an unusual memoir that sees her guided by the presence of her late fiance. And there's music from the Peter's Field - a musical ode to the victims of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and a celebration of men and women who championed votes for working people, written by Sean Cooney who performs alongside Sam Carter and Eliza Carthy.

And there's more music from Francesca Pidgeon aka Dilettante

Presenter: Stuart Maconie
Producer: Jessica Treen


SAT 19:00 Profile (m002tbd4)
Dame Sarah Mullally

Dame Sarah Mullally has been installed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury this week. The former nurse from Woking is the first woman to occupy the role of de facto leader of the Church of England and leader of the global Anglican communion.

In contrast to her Eton and Oxford educated predecessor Justin Welby, Sarah Mullally attended her local comprehensive before studying nursing at South Bank Polytechnic. By the age of thirty seven she was appointed Chief nursing officer for the NHS, a meteoric rise that brought with it a six-figure Whitehall salary and meetings with the prime minister. But five years later she threw it in to become a junior priest earning less than twenty thousand pounds a year.

Her supporters see her as a safe pair of hands, a leader who will steady the ship after years of abuse scandals and bitter rows over sexuality and identity. But following her appointment some of the more conservative and evangelical Anglicans have said they will no longer recognise the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

So who is the new Archbishop and what will her tenure hold? Becky Milligan finds out.


SAT 19:15 The History Podcast (m002gjdw)
The Second Map

3. The Battered Suitcase

As people back home partied in the streets, celebrating victory in Europe in May 1945, war wasn’t over for the many thousands of soldiers and civilians on the Asian front. For those in Japanese prison camps, or fighting in distant jungles, it wasn’t always over on the day Japan announced its unconditional surrender on August 15th.

Episode 3 of The Second Map traces the complex remembrance of the war on the Asian Front in Britain, India, and Japan, 80 years after it ended. We hear of the trauma of those who lived as prisoners and how they coped with life once back in Britain. And we learn how the horrors of war returned to veterans in their nightmares, and speak to descendants across Britain who are making new discoveries today about what their family members did in the war on the Asian Front. 

Creator, Writer and Presenter: Kavita Puri
Series Producer: Ellie House
Script Editor: Ant Adeane
Sound Designer: James Beard
Series Editor: Matt Willis
Production Coordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele
Commissioners for Radio 4 and The World Service: Dan Clarke, Jon Zilkha

Original music: Felix Taylor
Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain
Voice actor: Bhasker Patel

With thanks to Dr Diya Gupta, Dr Vikki Hawkins, Dr Peter Johnston, Professor Rana Mitter and Tejpal Singh Ralmill.


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m002tbd6)
The Ghosts of Maida Vale

In 1934, the BBC bought a roller-skating rink in west London and turned it into a home for the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Walk around Maida Vale studios today and it still feels like a makeshift conversion - no architect in their right mind would design a building in which the main access route is a 120 metre corridor down which two people can barely pass. And yet, for 92 years, the world’s greatest musicians have been coming here to perform and record for the BBC.

From now on, they will do so for new owners.

In The Ghosts of Maida Vale, we hear rock and pop musicians and presenters, past and present, including Jarvis Cocker, Annie Nightingale, Squeeze, Beyoncé, John Peel, Adam Ant and The Beatles.

Writer and presenter Matthew Sweet, alongside like-minded artists, conjures the spirits and echoes of Maida Vale studios with reminiscences from the worlds of classical music, radio drama, wartime propaganda and the electronic music pioneers of the world famous BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Many of the recordings made here since the 1930s have been preserved on disc. In the 1960s the Beatles recorded 52 editions of their show Pop Goes The Beatles!, many from Maida Vale. These programmes capture the evolution of their style. In 1977 Bing Crosby made his last ever recording in Studio 3. Between 1967 and 2004, John Peel’s sessions laid down an immensity of work by artists including Led Zeppelin, The Slits, Fairport Convention and Nirvana.

The story of the BBC at Maida Vale has been told many times – this programme brings that story to a close.

Writer/presenter: Matthew Sweet
Producer: Debbie Kilbride
Editor: Sukey Firth
A Mighty Real production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Moral Maze (m002t1jj)
Is an Established Church Morally Defensible?

The Church of England marks a historic moment: the installation of its first female Archbishop of Canterbury. A symbol, many would say, of progress in an institution often accused of resisting it. And yet, even as she takes office, around 600 churches reportedly refuse to recognise the authority of ordained women. For them, this is not prejudice but principle. An adherence to theological conviction.

It comes amid fresh scrutiny about the Church’s place in national life - from Prince William signalling a more modern, personal relationship with it, to the Green Party reopening the question of disestablishment. The Church of England is not just a religious body. As the established church, it is entwined with the state. Its bishops sit in Parliament. Its role extends, at least in theory, to the whole nation. It claims to be “a church for everyone.” And yet it operates with exemptions from equality law, particularly in its approach to women’s leadership and same-sex relationships. Defenders argue that religious freedom must include the freedom to dissent from prevailing social norms. Critics counter that an institution with constitutional privilege cannot also claim the right to discriminate.

But there is a further tension. The Church speaks as a national institution at a time when fewer people identify with it at all. Attendance has declined steadily. Belief itself is becoming more marginal in a society that is increasingly secular. For many citizens, religion is not just optional but irrelevant.

So what does establishment mean in such a society? Should the Church be brought into line with equality law or separated from the state altogether? And more fundamentally: can an established church still claim moral authority in a nation that is steadily moving away from it?

Chair: William Crawley.
Panel: Carmody Grey, Tim Stanley, Mona Siddiqui and Anne McElvoy.
Witnesses: Andrew Copson, Bishop David Walker, Jonathan Chaplin and Rev Charlie Bączyk-Bell.
Producer: Dan Tierney
Assistant producer: Jay Unger
Editor: Tim Pemberton.


SAT 22:00 News (m002tbd8)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m002t2kh)
Consider the Eel: Part 2

Dan Saladino follows up the debate on if the eel should be off the menu.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.


SAT 23:00 The Matt Forde Focus Group (m002t2w2)
Series 2

The Politics of The Tribe

We like to think we vote with our heads. But what if we've always voted with our tribe? Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his Focus Group in front of a live theatre audience with a razor-sharp panel — former Conservative adviser Salma Shah, ex-SNP MP and broadcaster John Nicolson, and stand-up comedian Pierre Novellie — to ask whether tribal loyalty is the secret engine of political life. From parties haemorrhaging members to rivals, to the flag-wrapped contradictions of nationalist politics, to the question of whether multicultural Britain is importing conflicts it never signed up for, this is an episode about belonging, identity - and the ridiculous places both can lead

Written and performed by Matt Forde
Additional writing from Karl Minns, Ruth Husko and Richard Garvin
Producer: Richard Garvin
Co Producer: Daisy Knight
Broadcast Assistant: Ocean Holder
Sound Design: David Thomas
Editor Chris Maclean
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 23:30 Counterpoint (m002t130)
Series 39

Semi-final 3, 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, in the third semi-final of the series, our three contestants pick from topics including ‘Pop It In The Post', 'Jazz At The Movies' and 'The Music Case of Benjamin Britten'.

Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

If you are interested in taking part in a future series of Counterpoint, please email counterpoint@bbc.co.uk

SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2026

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m002tbdb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 00:15 Take Four Books (m002t12y)
Jan Carson

Northern Irish writer and multi‑award‑winning novelist Jan Carson talks to James Crawford about her new book and the three key influences that shaped it.

Her latest novel, Few and Far Between, transports readers to an alternative Northern Ireland, where the country’s great inland loch is partially drained in the 1960s, leaving behind a chain of islands that become a refuge for those seeking to escape political strife.

For her influences, Jan chose: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (1971); Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (2017); and Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (1951).

Producer: Rachael O'Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tbdd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 02:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tbdg)
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 (m002tbdj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tbdl)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m002tbdn)
The Church of Holy Cross, Woodchurch in Merseyside

Bells on Sunday comes from the Church of Holy Cross, Woodchurch in Merseyside. The fabric of the nave originates from the 12th century. However, the circular style graveyard suggests a pre-Norman date, possible Saxon or Romano-British. There are eight bells all of which were cast by the Whitechapel Foundry of London in 1971. The Tenor weighs three and three-quarter hundredweight and is tuned to the note of D. We hear them ringing Cambridge Surprise Major


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m002t1b1)
Technology Training in Northern Ireland

Jackie Brown of STRIVE Ability delivers technology training to visually impaired pupils across Northern Ireland. The training Jackie provides is supplementary to the tailored support pupils receive from Qualified Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (QTVIs) and classroom assistants. In Touch tags along with Jackie to visit two pupils in two schools as she delivers training on the technology that is making so much more possible for this generation.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m002td31)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vq5)
From American Pastor to Whirling Dervish

Former Christian Minister Craig Fentor was in the midst of a deep spiritual void when he first picked up a book of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi’s poetry in his local LA bookshop. The writings of Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic have long inspired people across faiths. And Rumi’s poetry on divine love and the soul’s journey toward God would captivate Craig, inspiring him to leave behind his Californian home, to begin a new life as a whirling dervish in Turkey.

The BBC’s Emily Wither travelled to meet Craig Fenter - now known as Ismail - in the Central Anatolian city of Konya. Konya is known as Rumi’s resting place and is now an important pilgrimage site for his followers. It is here where Ismail joined the Mevleni order, became a disciple of Rumi and converted to Islam.

Ismail is now working on a new English translation of Rumi’s most famous work, the Masnavi-yi Maʿnavi, 25,000 verses of rhymed couplets in Persian. Ismail believes it is his calling to work on a modern translation of Rumi’s greatest work, for which he has the blessing of Rumi’s 22nd generation direct descendants.

[Photo Description: Whirling dervish Ismail Fentor stands in front of the Mevlana Museum and tomb site of 13th century Persian poet and Islamic scholar, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi in Konya, Turkey. Photo Credit: Emily Wither]

Producer/presenter: Emily Wither
Series Producer: Rajeev Gupta
Editor: Chloe Walker
Production Coordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Music: Ismail C Fentor


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m002td33)
The Farmer and the Food Bank

The North West is the only region in England where the number of food bank parcels being given out is increasing, not falling. This is a societal issue that third generation livestock farmer Jim Webster knows all too well. Having taken his farm out of dairy production in the 1990s because of low prices, and lived on next to nothing for several years, he understands personally what it means to live in rural poverty. Alongside running his family farm, he also volunteers for a range of rural poverty charities and committees, advocates for farmers on low incomes, and is the current Chair of Barrow Food Bank. Marie Lennon spent the day with him.

Presented and produced by Marie Lennon


SUN 06:57 Weather (m002td35)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m002td37)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m002td39)
Bible Society 'Quiet Revival' report withdrawn over 'fraudlent' responses

Sunday guides you through the religious and ethical issues of the week, including the news that a report claiming the number of young people attending church in England and Wales had skyrocketed, has now been retracted. It comes after the underlying data was found to be flawed. The Bible Society's "Quiet Revival" report had been widely reported on since its publication last year and became an accepted part of discourse among many Christians.

Sir James MacMillan’s new 70-minute, 12-piece choral oratorio "Angels Unawares" has received it's world premiere in the Sistine Chapel. It's a moving piece about angelic encounters set to poetry by the late Robert Willis, the former Dean of Canterbury who died in 2024. William speaks to Sir James about the historic performance and his connection to faith.

And as Christians around the world prepare for Palm Sunday, worshippers in Jerusalem are facing an unprecedented disruption to Holy Week, we explore the latest.

PRESENTER: William Crawley
PRODUCERS: Bara'atu Ibrahim and Linda Walker
EDITOR: Chloe Walker


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m002tc09)
Amos Trust

The actress Maxine Peake makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity Amos Trust.

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 ‘Amos Trust’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Amos Trust’.
- You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Please ensure you are donating to the correct charity by checking the name of the charity on the donate page.

Registered Charity Number: 1164234. If you’d like to find out more about the charity’s work visit *https://www.amostrust.org/
*The BBC is not responsible for content on external websites

Producer: Anna Bailey


SUN 07:57 Weather (m002td3c)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m002td3f)
The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers.


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m002td3h)
A journey through Lent: Palms and Passion – the Fife Pilgrim Way

Sally Foster-Fulton and Gilbert Márkus visit inspiring points on what was one of the most important pilgrim routes in medieval Europe, leading through Fife towards the relics of St Andrew. Their starting point is the beautiful village of Culross. We also hear from Professor of Public Folklore at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Mairéad Nic Craith.
As Palm Sunday ushers in Holy Week: which road to take – how to travel – what to carry – what to allow to inform our steps?
Reading: Matthew 21: 1-11


SUN 08:48 Witness History (w3ct7470)
Breaking the sound barrier

On 14 October 1947, American Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Despite having two broken ribs, Chuck reached Mach 1.06 – a speed of more than 1,100km per hour.

He flew an orange, single-seated, rocket-powered Bell X-1, 13,000m above the Mojave Desert in California.

Produced and presented by Rachel Naylor, in collaboration with BBC Archives.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Captain Chuck Yeager standing next to the Bell X-1 at Muroc Army Air Force Base, California, in 1947. Credit: Underwood Archives/Getty Images)


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m002td3k)
Jack Baddams on the Siskin

For ornithologist and wildlife researcher for BBC's Springwatch, Jack Baddams, March is 'siskin season'. As a licenced bird ringer, he puts ID rings on wild birds so we can learn more about their lives. One of Jack's favourite bird encounters while ringing was during a bird ringing demonstration for the public. The crowd was fascinated by a female siskin with its delicate citrus green and yellow plumage, but then she became even more amazing when they discovered she was already wearing a ring of Swedish origin.

Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

This programme features audio from Xeno-Canto recorded by Simon Elliott (Eurasian Siskin - XC594919).


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m002td3m)
Iran war enters second month

Bombardment of Tehran marks a month since the US and Israel began the conflict in the region, as Iran strikes hit its Gulf neighbours. We'll ask where the conflict goes next. Plus: we're inside the clock tower that houses Big Ben as British Summer Time begins, and we meet the daughter of Mick Ronson - the guitarist who sprinkled stardust on Ziggy.


SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs (m002tbt1)
Si King, cook

Si King is a broadcaster and cook, best known as one half of the duo The Hairy Bikers.

Together with his onscreen cooking partner and real-life best friend Dave Myers, the pair travelled over 650,000 miles around the world on motor bikes filming their cooking exploits and they also wrote a number of bestselling cookbooks.

Si was born in a pit village near Gateshead, the youngest child of three. His father had served in the arctic convoys and had met his wife whilst on shore leave in Newcastle when she was singing with a big band.

Si’s father died when he was eight years old and Si and his mum, Stella, bonded by cooking together which led to his lifelong appreciation of food.

His love of motorcycles started early when his uncle introduced him to his garage full of broken motorbikes that he enjoyed tinkering around with. Si fell in love with motorbikes and as a teenager used to give him mum a lift back from the shops.

After leaving school, Si played drums in a band to earn a living, during which time he met his former wife, Jane. He became a father at 23 and soon began his television career as a runner on the children’s series Byker Grove. This opened the door to work in TV and film as a location manager, where he met make up artist Dave Myers on the set of a Catherine Cookson drama. After discovering they shared a passion for food and motorbikes, the pair developed the idea for a TV show that would see these two rather hairy motorcyclists travel around the world cooking for people.

After Dave’s death in 2024, Si was involved in two commemorative “Dave Days” in which many thousands of riders from the motorbike community showed their support for Dave and his family by travelling in convoy from London to Dave’s home town of Barrow in Furness.

Si King lives in the North East.

DISC ONE: Winter Song - Lindisfarne
DISC TWO: Boil the Breakfast Early - The Chieftains
DISC THREE: Anonymous: Liturgy of Saint Anthony - Ad Missam - Introitus: Os justi meditabitur - Coro Gregoriano De Lisboa
DISC FOUR: Stay With Me Till Dawn - Judie Tzuke
DISC FIVE: Set The Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright
DISC SIX: Still in Love with You (Live) - Thin Lizzy
DISC SEVEN: On The Wire - Troy Cassar-Daley
DISC EIGHT: Ask the Lonely - Journey

BOOK CHOICE: Combined works of William Dalrymple
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered fridge and rum
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ask the Lonely - Journey

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Desert Island Discs has cast other cooks away to the island over the years including Delia Smith, Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m002td3p)
Writers: Sarah Hehir, Katie Hims & Sarah McDonald Hughes
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge… Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer … Ben Norris
David Archer … Timothy Bentinck
Ruth Archer … Felicity Finch
Helen Archer … Louiza Patikas
Pat Archer … Patricia Gallimore
Tony Archer … David Troughton
Lilian Bellamy … Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter … Hollie Chapman
Justin Elliott … Simon Williams
Miranda Elliott … Lucy Fleming
Amber Gordon … Olivia Bernstone
Eddie Grundy … Trevor Harrison
Ed Grundy … Barry Farrimond
Emma Grundy … Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy … Angus Stobie
Tracy Horrobin … Susie Riddell
Esme Mulligan … Ellie Pawsey


SUN 12:15 Profile (m002tbd4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 Unspeakable (m002t1f3)
Series 3

2. Bursting with Lethargy

This episode we hear Alison Spittle's word for dodgy mediums, Sam Nicoresti's hatred for unpopular winners, and Mark Watson's word for when you've gotta go but you're too lazy to be bothered.

Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.

Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Sam Nicoresti, Alison Spittle and Mark Watson
Writers: Matt Crosby and Katie Storey
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun

A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 12:57 Weather (m002td3r)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m002td3t)
A looming global food crisis

Fertiliser and fuel shortages, caused by the war in Iran, are already impacting food production globally. We hear from farmers around the world, and explore how the effects could be felt here in the UK. Plus, the Chief Economist of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation tells us what the global impact of a prolonged war could be.


SUN 13:30 Currently (m002tbhk)
How Not to Kill a Politician

What is it that drives ordinary people to condone political violence, and some to commit it? As democracies increasingly exist in conditions where violence can flourish, Stanford University polarisation expert Alison Goldsworthy will scrutinise the latest research showing it is dogmatism, not just authoritarian tendencies that enable it. This means we are all susceptible - including, uncomfortably for ‘liberals’ who hold strongly to being open minded (like the ones who mused about the bullet going ‘just a few inches to the right’ after Trump's attempted assassination).

Leveraging insights from political, behavioural and neuro sciences Alison will track the journey of the biology, instincts, emotions and actions to explain how and why a social media feed can trigger the rewiring of a brain to chuckle at, then endorse violence. She'll explain why this creating this climate increases the likelihood that some people will commit violence. And she'll examine what we can do to prevent ourselves sliding into this vice-like grip.

Producer: Giles Edwards.


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m002t2l0)
Vale of Glamorgan

Kathy Clugston is joined in the Vale of Glamorgan by Bethan Collerton, Anne Swithinbank and Chris Beardshaw, where they tackle horticultural conundrums from a live audience. inspired by the region’s famously fertile landscape - from the mysteries of the old‑fashioned mangelwurzel, to advice for struggling houseplants, and recommendations on how to manage a towering six‑foot cactus.

The team also shares practical advice on reviving a neglected greenhouse, caring for a long‑loved pot‑bound rhododendron, and encouraging lemons and limes to ripen in coastal South Wales.

Later in the show, Pippa Greenwood offers timely spring guidance on staying ahead of slugs and other emerging pests, helping gardeners protect tender new growth as the season gets underway.

Producer: Rahnee Prescod

Assistant Producer: William Norton

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4

* If listening on BBC Sounds and you wish to view the plant list, please go to the Gardeners' Question Time website and open this week's episode page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f/episodes/guide


SUN 14:45 Opening Lines (m002tbhf)
Flight - Episode Two

Flight by Walter White, published in 1926, asks questions about race and identity when its central character chooses to ‘pass’ as a white woman. In this second episode about the book, John Yorke asks if this is why the book has largely been forgotten even though it was written by one of the most influential figures in 20th century America.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories 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. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.

Written and presented by John Yorke.

Contributors:
Kenneth Janken, Professsor of African American history at the University of North Carolina and author of White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. Naacp.
Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American studies at George Washington University and author of Crossing the Line; Racial Passing in TwentiethCentury U.S Literature and Culture. .

Reading by Eric Stroud
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 15:00 Drama on 4 (m002t3ct)
Flight: Part 2

A music-fuelled reimagining of Walter White’s seminal novel about the Black American experience in the opening decades of the 20th century.

Trying to leave her past behind her, Mimi moves to Harlem where she fully embraces life in the burgeoning city. When he past catches up with her, she makes the choice to step away from both her community and her racial heritage.

Adapted and directed by Adura Onashile as part of the Story of America collection.

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.

Warning: this programme contains strong and discriminatory language and behaviour.

Mimi … Harmony Rose-Bremner
Sophie…Natasha Cottriall
Francince …Lucianne McEvoy
Sylvia…Jessica Hardwick
Peter…Michael Guest
Mrs Bennet…Rosalind Sydney
Jimmy…Robert Jack

‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen’ was performed by James Emmanuel
With Geoff Angus on Piano

‘J’ai Deux Amours’
Vocalist: Gaïa Jeannot

House Band:
Trumpet: Charles Dearness
Double Bass: Ashwari Panesar
Piano: Isodore Smart Sammy
Guitar: Nathan Somevi

BBC Audio Scotland Production

Music Technical Producer: Fraser Jackson

Studio Production: Gav Murchie
Sound Editor: Joanne Willott

Production Co-ordinator: Bethany Woodhead
Producer: Kirsty Williams

Adapted and directed by Adura Onashile


SUN 16:00 Take Four Books (m002td3w)
Yann Martel

The much-loved Canadian writer and former Booker Prize winner, Yann Martel, speaks to Take Four Books this week about his new novel, and first for a decade - Son Of Nobody - and together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. The book follows a classical scholar, Harlow Donne, as he gets a chance to study at Oxford and uncovers a lost account of the Trojan war. The fictional Homeric poem unfolds across the top of the page, while Harlow's often heartfelt footnotes, addressed to his young daughter, Helen, run below.

Yann, who won the Booker in 2002 for his novel Life Of Pi, chose as his three influences: Stephen Mitchell's 2011 translation of The Iliad; Alice Oswald's Memorial, which is her translation of the Iliad's "atmosphere" and was also published in 2011; and Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, which was first staged in 1962.

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


SUN 16:30 Counterpoint (m002td3y)
Series 39

Final, 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, in the series final, our three finalists pick from topics including ‘Britpop and Trip-hop', 'What's cooking?' and 'BBC Children's TV Of The 20th Century'.

Producer: Tom Du Croz
Production coordinator: Jodie Charman

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

If you are interested in taking part in a future series of Counterpoint, please email counterpoint@bbc.co.uk


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct74r5)
Operation Mincemeat

In the early hours of 30 April, 1943, the most audacious hoax of World War Two has just got underway. Its code-name - Operation Mincemeat.

The body of a British naval officer, Major William Martin, has been washed up on a Spanish beach. The dead man is carrying top-secret papers revealing details of a planned Allied invasion, and it’s not long before they fall into enemy hands.

But the plans are false and Major Martin doesn’t exist.

In a daring mission, British naval intelligence has requisitioned a corpse and dressed him in uniform to plant fake information. It works.

But for decades, no-one knew the real name of the man who’d played the biggest part: Major William Martin.

Enter Roger Morgan, an amateur historian. He tells Jane Wilkinson how Operation Mincemeat unfolded and how he uncovered the major’s true identity.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: William Martin's ID card. Credit: National Archives, Kew)


SUN 17:10 Understand (m002qrwg)
An American Journey

3. Establishing Justice

James Naughtie continues his look at the ideas tying America's founding to the modern United States, asking how 'justice' has been understood by different generations of Americans.

In this third episode, James travels to Alabama in the American South, to understand how the Civil Rights movement sought to connect American reality with the promises in its founding documents. He hears from people in Texas on both sides of the debate about abortion, revealing how a movement built to oppose abortion rights brought millions of Christians into politics and dramatically shifted the politics of America's highest court. And in Midwestern Wisconsin, he hears how political division has come to the administration of justice itself.

Producer: Giles Edwards


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m002td41)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m002td43)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002td45)
Iran accuses US of plotting ground invasion

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he's ordered the military to expand its operation in southern Lebanon. Also: the British government is urging people to buy fuel as normal, despite the Middle East conflict. And: after 67 years, the final voyage across the Mersey for the Royal Iris ferry.


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m002td47)
Jason Mohammad

This week, we remember the late Dame Jenni Murray as we hear some of her greatest moments from the Woman’s Hour archives. Staying with archive, we re-imagine the medium of radio from its Golden Age. Plus, we’re heading to the movies - revisiting Rocky, the refreshment room of Brief Encounter and rolling the waves with Stephen Fry’s favourite cinematic score.

Presenter: Jason Mohammad
Producer: Anthony McKee
Production Coordinators: Caroline Peddle and Caoilfhinn McFadden


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m002tbhc)
Brian feels awful about how they left things and Miranda believes there is more going on with Ruairi than Brian has told her. If they want to stay together, she wants the truth: what is it that Brian isn’t telling her? Miranda makes to phone Ruairi, and Brian angrily stops her. As Miranda continues to challenge Brian on what he’s hiding, he can’t reveal the truth and tries to cover, leaving Miranda wondering what their relationship is. She concludes that without trust they have nothing.

At Grey Gables, Tom and Natasha reflect on what it’ll be like when Helen and the boys move out. They’ve had help with childcare and earned a decent nest-egg from the rent. Lynda chats about Palm Sunday and a new Easter scheme at St Stephen’s – the Easter Promises Tree, a sort of volunteering matchmaking service. As Tom challenges Lynda about Ambridge cricket, Natasha feels beholden to her with the Easter scheme and offers something at the Tearoom.

Checking their finances, Natasha realises that they aren’t doing as well as she thought. As they discuss Tony’s sale of the Anguses, Robert approaches and tries to clarify Tom’s earlier comments to Lynda, about the cricket, field access and Ed’s Texels. Tom admits he’s confused about it. Robert offers to help, asking Tom not to say anything to Lynda. Robert grills Lynda, encouraging her to support the new pub cricket team. Lynda feels that Oliver will need persuading to let them use the Country Park – and no one will be able to persuade him.


SUN 19:15 Illuminated (m002tbls)
Harrier Angels

John Betjeman wrote that it was 'worth cycling forty miles in a head wind to visit St Wendreda's church in March, Cambridgeshire, because of the 118 angels in the roof.

The wings of the C16th oak carvings are inspired by hen and marsh harriers. Once common locally - they are returning now. Nature writer Robert Macfarlane looks at the carvings, drawing connections between angels and harriers, what they say about of our feelings for the birds and angels.

Robert climbs to the ringing chamber to get close to the harrier angels with Ruth Clay, vicar of St Wendreda's, Edward Wilson-Lee, author of The Grammar of Angels, and Ajay Tegala, ranger at Wicken Fen. They discuss their meaning, in the C16th when they were carved, and today. The persecution and survival of the angel carvings corresponds to that of the birds. At Easter this is a resonant story.

During the Reformation iconoclasts destroyed 'idolatrous' church decorations, including carvings. Michael Rimmer, author of The Angel Roofs of East Anglia, tells of their destruction. At the same time the Tudor Vermin Acts led to a frenzy of killing of birds of prey such as harriers.

When Henry VIII's agents came to March to destroy the carvings, the people of March plied them with drink and food. They left with the church silver, but the harrier angels stayed intact.

In William Barsley’s workshop the wood carver speaks about the art of the carvers who were known as 'imaginators'.

Robert visits Wickham Fen with Ajay Tegala, where hen and marsh harriers are in recovery, to observe them in angelic flight.

And musician Martin Simpson has made a special recording of his song Skydancers, about harriers, their predicament, recovery, and our role in this.

Presenter: Robert Macfarlane
Producer: Julian May


SUN 19:45 Lent Talks (m002tbwm)
Power and Community

A series of personal reflections on power inspired by the story of Jesus’ Passion.

Six essays tracing the hidden currents of power in everyday life: how it shapes us, how it works, how it wounds, and how it can be resisted, claimed, and reclaimed.

In this episode, the theologian and author, Luke Bretherton, explores power and community.

Producer: Dan Tierney.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m002t2vs)
Woman's Hour, Liza Tarbuck and Desert Island Discs

In light of the death of Jenni Murray who presented Radio 4's Woman's Hour for 33 years, listeners reflect on the impact she made on their lives over the decades.

We also discuss controversy on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, with many listeners questioning the programme's choice of guests for a discussion on “the manosphere” last week.

Reflecting on another much loved BBC broadcaster, Radio Times journalist Simon O'Hagan talks about Radio 2 presenter Liza Tarbuck's decision to step back from the programme which she has presented for the past 14 years. We also hear what Liza means to her loyal Saturday evening listeners.

Kicking off this year's nominations for Feedback's Interview of the Year, we revisit an interview with Jessie Buckley on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. The actress spoke to Lauren Laverne just before she became the first Irish woman to win a leading actress Oscar for her starring role in Hamnet.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Assistant Producer: Jac Phillimore
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m002t2l4)
Dame Jenni Murray, Len Deighton, Lynda Hale, Jurgen Habermas

Matthew Bannister on

The Woman’s Hour presenter Dame Jenni Murray. Mark Steel joins us to recall her triumphant debut as a stand-up comedian.

Len Deighton who created “anti-James Bond” novels including The Ipcress File, Billion Dollar Brain and Horse Under Water.

Lynda Hale, the footballer who battled against sexism to play in the first official England women’s international in 1972.

Jurgen Habermas, the German philosopher who came up with the influential concept of “the public sphere”.

Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley

Archive:
Jurgen Habermas interview, YouTube Upload, Davidmeme, 1/02/2007; Jürgen Habermas Interview, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs (Georgetown University), 10/2011; Scotland v England, BBC News, 18/11/1972; South Today, BBC, 29/07/2025; South Today, BBC, 18/07/2022; Nationwide, BBC, 17/11/1972; Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 19/06/1976 The Lively Arts: Len Deighton, BBC Two, 18/12/1977; The Truth About Len Deighton, BBC Four, 01/08/2007; The Ipcress File, BBC Radio 4, 04/01/2015; Pebble Mill, BBC One, 13/05/1993; South Today, BBC (via TV Ark), 20/10/1983; Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 19/01/1987; Comic Relief, BBC, 09/03/2011 BBC News, BBC, 21/12/2006; Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 01/10/2020


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m002tbcf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m002tc09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m002tbc9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m002td49)
The political battle over North Sea oil drilling

Ben Wright's guests are the Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti, Conservative frontbencher Jesse Norman and Alex Wilson - who represents Reform UK on the Greater London Assembly. They discuss the impact of the Middle East war on the cost of living and whether drilling for more North Sea oil and gas would help ease economic pressures. They also look ahead to the May elections for local councils in England, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd. And they consider whether Prime Minister's Questions serves a worthwhile purpose.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m002t2v2)
Silicon

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the physics, biology and chemistry of the element silicon which is at the heart of some of the most useful and beautiful objects on the planet. While it is still being created throughout the universe, the silicon we have here was made billions of years ago in dying stars. In its compounds we have long used silicon for glass and, more recently, purified silicon has become the foundation of modern electronics. Perhaps less appreciated is the role silicon compounds play in the biology of life on Earth, on the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the cycling of elements between land, oceans and atmosphere that sustains us.

With

Kate Hendry
Oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey and Bye-Fellow of Queen’s College, University of Cambridge

Andrea Sella
Professor of Chemistry at University College London

And

Monica Grady
Professor Emerita in Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University

Produced by Martha Owen

Reading list:

Christina De La Rocha and Daniel J. Conley, Silica Stories (Springer, 2017)

Bernard Quéguiner, The Biogeochemical Cycle of Silicon in the Ocean (John Wiley & Sons, 2016)

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 (m002t2l2)
My Favourite Holobiont by Ever Dundas

In writer Ever Dundas’ new original story, Joe’s aunt gives a meaningful insight into their experiences with autism in a world built for neurotypicals.
Ever Dundas is a queer, disabled writer living in Edinburgh, predominantly writing literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With an academic background in Creative Writing, Psychology, and Sociology, Ever has had several short stories and dark fairy tales published, as well as two novels in recent years.
‘My Favourite Holobiont’ is read by Ashley Storrie and produced by Bethany Woodhead. It is a BBC Audio Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.

MONDAY 30 MARCH 2026

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m002td4c)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 00:15 Great Lives (m001zlz6)
Mary Portas on Anita Roddick

Dame Anita Roddick started The Body Shop in Brighton as a way to earn a living while her husband was travelling the Americas by horseback. Her idea for ethically-sourced beauty products which were initially sold in urine sample bottles soon flew. The first shop that she began with a £4,000 loan and painted green to disguise the damp on the walls then developed into a global empire which was eventually sold to L'Oreal for £652m in 2006.

Retail consultant and broadcaster Mary Portas has chosen Anita Roddick as her Great Life for her extraordinary creativity, her playfulness and her innovation. She is joined by Anita Roddick's daughter Sam who now works with the Roddick Foundation which distributes some of her fortune to charitable causes. They reflect on how Anita Roddick put principles ahead of profit. She championed cruelty-free beauty and drew inspiration from her international travels to bring exotic-sounding products to the High Street. She pioneered the introduction of creches at work and used her shop windows to promote the environmental campaigns she believed in, leading her to be dubbed the "Queen of Green". They discuss her legacy and ask whether there is still a place for The Body Shop today.

Archive includes Anita Roddick talking on the Nine O' Clock News on 16th April 1984 and from the BBC Life And Times television programme from 2000. It also features Peter Kyle MP talking about his time working for Anita Roddick on the Political Thinking Podcast from 2003.

Presenter: Matthew Parris
Producer: Robin Markwell for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m002tbdn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002td4f)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002td4h)
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 (m002td4k)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:04 Last Word (m002t2l4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Sunday]


MON 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002td4m)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002td4p)
Surrounded by kindness

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.
Good morning.
Not long ago I had a scary health problem. It was a skirmish with my own mortality for the first time in my life. And thanks to the skill of the NHS, I am fully fit again. But my recovery was also assisted by the kindness of family and friends. Even the concern and good wishes of people I hardly knew meant so much.

Years ago, I remember conducting the funeral of a woman, who, in her older years had become very isolated and alone, having lost most of her close friends. And her sister told me that she had died from ‘toxic loneliness’. Friendship and kindness can save our lives. Isolation and loneliness can devastate them.

It’s no surprise that at the most crucial moment in his life Jesus should turn to his friends. In this case Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus at Bethany. I have always enjoyed the stories of this family that appear in the Gospels. They are very human, recognisable and intimate.

During this most telling of weeks as Jesus seeks some companionship and comfort with a family he loved, Mary performs a compassionate ritual and anoints Jesus’s feet with perfumed oils. The air is filled with the aroma of her tender kindness. It is an astonishing act of love. There are times in our lives when we might be surprised by the kindness others are prepared to offer and it is good to accept it, for loneliness can do so much harm.

Jesus, our brother and friend. In our own moments of challenge and despair help us to reach out to friends but to know, even when we are alone, that your Spirit hovers over us with comfort and healing. Amen.


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m002td4r)
The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations is asking the Government for help with rising costs because of the conflict in the Middle East. The NFFO says it's difficult to pass on the hike in diesel prices to customers, because fish are sold at auction. It has written to the Minister for Food Security, Angela Eagle, pointing out that some European countries have already announced support packages to help with rising prices. By the end of last week, the average UK price of diesel for fishing boats had gone up by 75% since the beginning of March.

Every spring around the villages of Kempley and Dymock carpets of wild daffodils can still be seen in the fields and woodlands, thanks to carefully managed agricultural and forestry practices. Our reporter Bob Hockenhull has been to take a look.

Charlotte Smith finds out why this is a pretty good time to be a sheep farmer, according to the Chief Executive of the National Sheep Association.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling


MON 05:57 Weather (m002td4t)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m002tbgn)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m002tbgq)
Industrial action: from 1926 General Strike to today

What can past and present struggles over work and power tell us about the future of labour? Tom Sutcliffe and guests examine tensions between workers, employers and the state, from the upheavals of the early twentieth century to today’s shifting workplace.

Constitutional specialist David Torrance explores the economic, political and social forces that shaped the General Strike of 1926. His new book The Edge of Revolution explains how Britain came to the brink of constitutional crisis and what the confrontation reveals about national identity, political authority and collective action.

Professor Jane Holgate, a long time trade unionist and community organiser, reflects on the dynamics of solidarity. She is the co-author of Changemakers, a study of radical strategies for social movement organising, the evolving role of unions, and what effective action looks like in a fragmented modern economy.

The Financial Times journalist and editor of the Working It brand Isabel Berwick looks ahead to the future of work, assessing how technology, demographic change and shifting employee expectations are reshaping the workplace.

Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez


MON 09:45 Like and Subscribe: How YouTube Changed the World (m002b773)
Could AI Eat YouTube?

YouTube has reshaped the world, from fame to freedom. But now our trips down the rabbit hole have started to become distorted. Robots threaten to erase the human connection that fuelled it, and hours of videos on YouTube are now generated by AI. Could YouTube eat itself?

To close this five part series, Sophia Smith Galer dives into the rising AI-generated content on the platform, featuring insights from YouTube’s Managing Director in the UK and Ireland Alison Lomax about the company's AI vision. And futurist Sinead Bovell imagines YouTube’s future - will it even survive 20 years from now?

It's the story of Youtube, told through the content creators are here now.

Presented by Sophia Smith Galer
Producer: George McDonagh
Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas
Commissioning Editor: Tracy Williams
Artwork by Uptown Style
Mix and Mastering by Hannah Varrall

An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002tbgs)
Moon mission, Miscarriages, Romania's Eurovision entry

Christina Koch is ready to make history. She is one of the four astronauts of Artemis 2 which is set to head around the Moon in the next few days. During her career as a Nasa astronaut, she has spent more than 300 days aboard the International Space Station, and she was part of the first all-woman spacewalk with Jessica Meir. This mission will take her and her crewmates on a 10-day journey, further into space than any humans have ever gone. Joining Krupa Padhy to talk more about Christina and the importance of having women in space, is planetary and space scientist Professor Caroline Smith, Chair of the European Space Agency Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee and also Head of Collections at the Natural History Museum, and Natasha Carr, PhD researcher at the University of Leicester, who is researching planetary sciences and space instrumentation.

Millions of voters will head to the polls on Thursday 7 May for the biggest set of elections since the 2024 general election. Today a group of organisations, including the Electoral Commission, are calling for the elections to be free from abuse. The Commission’s most recent research, following the 2025 local elections, found that 61% of respondents experienced harassment or security threats during the campaign and previous research found that respondents who were women were twice as likely to report serious abuse and those from ethnic minorities were three times as likely. To discuss the impact of this, Krupa is joined by Niki Nixon, Director of Communications and External Affairs at the Electoral Commission, and Hannah Perkin, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Faversham Town Council in Kent.

According to the NHS, one in eight known pregnancies end in miscarriage. For some women, they will experience more than one miscarriage, and for those who have more than three, then this is known as 'recurrent miscarriage', which affects around one in 100 women. It is a hugely devastating experience for those going through it, and is one that is often underrepresented on screen. A new BBC drama, Babies, aims to bring this issue in to the light, as it follows a young couple on their journey to parenthood. Siobhán Cullen plays Lisa and she tells Krupa about playing the role. They are joined by Zoe Clark-Coates, CEO of the baby loss charity The Mariposa Trust.

The countdown to May's Eurovision song contest in Austria is on. As critics and fans analyse all 35 competing entries, it's Romania's song that is attracting a lot of attention. Choke Me is performed by Alexandra Căpitănescu and is facing criticism from sexual violence campaigners. The song repeats the phrase ‘choke me’ around 30 times in three minutes, raising concerns that it glamorises strangulation, a practice linked to brain injury and even death. Alexandra Căpitănescu has defended the track, saying the lyrics refer to the feeling of being overwhelmed by emotion and ‘being suffocated by self-doubt’. Krupa hears from Dr. Catherine White, Medical Director for the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, and Lisa-Jayne Lewis, Broadcaster and Commentator specialising in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Andrea Kidd


MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m002tbgv)
What are the Balkans?

June 28 1914 - a young Bosnian on a street corner in Sarajevo fired a shot that triggered World War One. Why is this region so unstable, and what lessons can we learn from that event. Misha Glenny was a famous reporter during the wars of the 1990s, well-placed to find answers in a region he's travelled for years. Is the violence the fault of the people who live here, or are there bigger, outside forces at work?

This is the latest from the team behind The Invention of ... series which has recently been to China, Russia, Turkey and Hungary. Much of it is recorded on location, and contributors include Vesna Goldsworthy, Maria Todorova and Tim Butcher, author of The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Bought the World to War.

Misha Glenny is the outgoing rector of the IWM in Vienna and presenter of In Our Time. His reporting from Yugoslavia won a Sony Gold in 1993.

The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde. This is series eighteen and other contributors include Hannah Lucinda-Smith, Ivan Krastev, James Heneage, Lea Ypi, Faruk Sehic and Dubravka Stojanovic. Locations include Sarajevo, Belgrade and Thessaloniki in northern Greece and the team occasionally pause for lunch.


MON 11:45 The Radio Universe (m002tbgx)
1. The birth of radio astronomy

How to explore space, without leaving earth.

Astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrifying voyage through the cosmos using one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in science - the radio wave. Emma reveals how these invisible messengers glide through space, bounce off planets, tunnel through clouds and slip past galactic dust, carrying secrets of the universe that no other kind of light can uncover.

A celebration of human ingenuity and cosmic curiosity, The Radio Universe reveals that the true frontier of space isn't 'out there' - it's humming quietly all around us, waiting to be heard.

Read by Jasmine Hyde
Produced and abridged by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m002tbh0)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m002tbh2)
Green Tech Surge; Student Gambling; "Daycapping"

Rising bills due to the war in Iran is generating increased demand for Low Carbon technology such as solar panels, heat pumps and EVs. We'll hear from business owners who are reporting an uptick in sales - plus we have advice for consumers on what to consider if they're considering adopting any green tech.

A new report reveals that students may be gambling less but they are spending significantly more when they do it. We hear from one former student who overcame a serious gambling addiction which developed while at university plus hear what more needs to change to raise awareness and tighten regulation of the industry.

And has Gen Z called time on late night drinking? Day time drinking is on the up as people turn their backs on late night socialising. We hear from young people in Manchester about how their habits are shifting and from those in the hospitality and drinks industry about how it can adapt to changing social habits.

PRESENTER - WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER - CATHERINE EARLAM


MON 12:57 Weather (m002tbh4)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m002tbh6)
News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4


MON 13:45 The Shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls (m002tbh8)
Episode 1

An infamous wall separated the residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford.

In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls.

Nearly seventy years after the walls fell, Radio 4 producer Polly Weston stumbles upon Cutteslowe. At the community centre on the old council estate side of the wall, a queue of people wait for a hot meal and their turn to do the weekly shop in the community larder. A woman is translating for all the Ukrainian refugees in the line. “We are a very small pocket of deprivation surrounded by immense wealth,” says Steph, the manager of the Community Centre. Oxford is one of the most unequal places in the country, and Cutteslowe, one of the most unequal in Oxford. St George’s flags fly on the Cutteslowe roundabout. At a time when people often talk about division in Britain today – what happened in the shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls?

Produced and Presented by Polly Weston in Bristol
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore
Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe
Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’

With thanks to Stephanie Jankovic and Cutteslowe Community Centre, Rev Tom Murray of Cutteslowe Connected Church, and everyone at the Cutteslowe Community Larder.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m002tbhc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 Prepper (m000xg03)
Series 2

Queen of the North

Preppers are a large and rapidly growing global community who have taken Armageddon readiness one step further than most. They’re actively skilling up, laying down supplies and readying themselves for ‘the end of the world’, in whatever form it comes. If people in south Manchester are prepping, it’s probably time to worry.

Sylvia Garrett, a cut-throat shop-managing baby boomer, and 27 year old Rachel Olende, self-obsessed and having a quarter-life crisis, continue their podcast for anyone interested in surviving the coming breakdown of society - Prepper.

This week on Prepper, the only podcast that Bear Grylls listens to in the bath, an in-depth examination of the dating scene post-apocalypse, the ups and downs of Faraday Cages - will a tin foil hat suffice? - and a peep inside Sylvia's "bag of pain". All this and Rachel's report into the menace of fly-tipping and its impact on the South Manchester lapwing community.

The first series of Prepper won the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Comedy 2020.

On this new series: "A comic book and kitchen sink drama" - The Radio Times; "A timely return for the sharply written comedy" - The Guardian; "As enjoyably unhinged as the first series" - Daily Mail.

In this series, while Sylvia continues to broadcast from her well-appointed double garage in south Manchester, Rachel is banished to a duvet-lined gazebo in the garden. It's secure against COVID but, sadly, not against the rain.

Cast:
Sylvia is played by Sue Johnston OBE
Rachel is played by Lydia West

Written by Caroline Moran
Technical Presentation: Jerry Peal
Producer: Steve Doherty

A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4


MON 14:45 Opening Lines (m002tbhf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Sunday]


MON 15:00 A Good Read (m002tbhh)
Patrick Grant and Mary-Ann Ochota

This time the community clothing entrepreneur and host of The Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant chooses his favourite book along with fellow guest anthropologist and broadcaster Mary-Ann Ochota.

The books are:

Parsnips Buttered by Joe Lycett
The Flow by Amy Jane Beer
Heatwave by Penelope Lively

Produced in Bristol by Maggie Ayre


MON 15:30 You're Dead to Me (p0cshgzq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Saturday]


MON 16:00 Currently (m002tbhk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 The Kitchen Cabinet (m002tbc5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m002tbhm)
How can government mitigate the fallout of war?

The Prime Minister tells energy and shipping bosses that it has to be a "joint effort". We'll hear what sort of support the affected sectors are asking for. Plus: Scott Mills is sacked by the BBC as Radio 2's breakfast show host.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tbhp)
Scott Mills is sacked from his Radio 2 breakfast show

The presenter of BBC Radio 2's breakfast show, Scott Mills, has been fired, following allegations about his personal conduct. Also: President Trump has insisted the US has made "great progress" in negotiations with what he called a "new and more reasonable" regime in Iran. And: millions of motorists who were mis-sold car loans have been told that they should receive compensation this year.


MON 18:30 Unspeakable (m002tbhr)
Series 3

3. Pains, Trains and Forgetfulness

This episode we hear Nish Kumar's word for people who forget movies, Harriet Kemsley's description for when an accident happens to you and nobody sees it, and Ivo Graham's word for the most horrible place to sit on a train.

Ever struggled to find the right word for a feeling or sensation? Unspeakable sees comedian Phil Wang and lexicographer Susie Dent invite celebrity guests to invent new linguistic creations, to solve those all too relatable moments when we're lost for words.

Hosts: Phil Wang and Susie Dent
Guests: Ivo Graham, Harriet Kemsley and Nish Kumar
Created by Joe Varley
Writers: Matt Crosby and James Farmer
Recorded by Jerry Peal
Producer: Jon Harvey
Executive Producers: Joe Varley and Akash Lockmun

A Brown Bred production for BBC Radio 4


MON 19:00 The Archers (m002tbht)
Pip calls at Carol Tregorran’s to do some gardening as part of the Easter Promises Tree scheme – but Carol wants to keep the garden as it is, wild and beautiful. She does offer Pip a bundle of garden tools and talks about her history, including being a market gardener. Eventually Carol relents and asks Pip to prune a bit of the garden, and round the back. They chat about Carol’s daughter Anna, who’s trying to get ‘help’ in at Glebe Cottage, cleaning and caring. Carol’s full or praise for Pip the farmer as she asks about her future, taking on the farm and dealing with her brothers. She encourages Pip to make the most of her life, with Stella too, adding a comment that stays with Pip as Stella arrives.

Henry’s focused on the job and unemotional as he oversees for the first time a lorry load of goats going off for slaughter. Pat praises Henry, and Tom chats with Henry about cricket and teases Tony for being sentimental over livestock. Tom apologies to Tony and admits he’s been like a coiled spring lately, waiting for Helen and the boys to move out. Tony admits that it’s hard letting go of the Anguses. As Tony explains that he needs time before contacting the auctioneers, horrified Tom knows that Helen has already called them. But he stops himself from letting on. Tom explains his worry to Pat, who says it’s fine – she’ll make sure Tony knows, insisting Tony understands that the Anguses have to go.


MON 19:15 Front Row (m002tbhw)
Lesley Manville, and what do astronauts listen to in space?

Lesley Manville, on appearing in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at London's National Theatre

Art In Space: As Nasa prepares to send people back to the Moon, former astronauts Helen Sharman and Cady Coleman talk us through the books & music they took with them into space.

Do classicists underestimate how difficult it is to read Homer's Odyssey? Ahead of Christopher Nolan's new adaption, we'll discuss with Mary Beard and Professor Emily Wilson about reading and translating one of the oldest surviving works of literature.

Should Russia be readmitted to The Venice Biennale? A public letter signed by dozens of MEPs is calling for EU funding to be suspended if Russia is allowed to participate

Presenter: Samira Ahmed


MON 20:00 How Did We Get Here? (m002rvnd)
Israel and the Palestinians

8: From the First Intifada to the Camp David Summit

The eighth of ten programmes exploring the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict begins five years after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, with the outbreak in 1987 of a Palestinian uprising or intifada, in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Presenter Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen, and Mark Tessler, Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, USA, discuss what caused it – and the consequences for Israel and the Palestinians.

They then trace the beginnings of a peace process that led eventually to the Oslo Accords of 1993 and the establishment of a Palestinian Authority in the occupied territories. Why did the “Oslo process” gradually unravel?

Jonny and his guests look at the pressures on the agreement, and examine the assassination in 1995 of one of its architects, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Camp David summit of 2000 was a final attempt to get the Oslo accords back on track. Why did it fail? And how did that failure contribute to the outbreak of a second intifada in 2000?

'How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians' is a BBC News Long Form Audio production.
The presenter is Jonny Dymond and the editor is Penny Murphy.
The Radio 4 commissioners are Hugh Levinson and Dan Clarke.
The studio engineers are Neil Churchill, James Beard, Rod Farquhar, Mike Regaard and David Crackles.


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8ty5)
The future of space travel

Are we, at last, getting the spacefaring future we were promised back in the 1960s? This week, NASA has been outlining ambitions for a base on the Moon and, perhaps more surprisingly, the development of a new class of spacecraft powered by nuclear electric propulsion. Dr Hannah Sargeant at the University of Leicester explains the potential of nuclear-powered space travel, how it could take us further into the solar system than ever before, and why it has taken decades for the technology to reach this point.

Meanwhile, a lorry carrying a very unusual cargo has been making careful laps around the campus of CERN in Switzerland. This week science reporter Caroline Steel has been enthralled by the controlled transportation of antimatter. With insights from Dr Harry Cliff at the University of Cambridge, explore why trapping and moving antimatter is such a milestone for physicists.

Plus, rising beaver populations in the UK and the science of brain preservation. Caroline Steel joins Tom for her pick of the week’s science news.

Presenter: Tom Whipple

Producer: Harrison Lewis and Katie Tomsett

Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Editor: Martin Smith


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m002tbgq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Like and Subscribe: How YouTube Changed the World (m002b773)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m002tbhz)
Trump threatens to destroy Iran's energy facilities if a deal not reached soon

Donald Trump threatens to "obliterate" Iran's power plants, oil wells and "possibly" water desalination plants if a deal is not reached "shortly". Meanwhile, some councils in the UK are trying to cushion the economic impacts of the war. We hear from North Norfolk District Council, which is setting aside £50,000 to help residents with spiralling heating oil costs.

Also on the programme: Keir Starmer threatens to axe proposed training posts if the BMA goes ahead with a six-day resident doctors’ strike.

And 50 years on from the gig at The 100 Club in London which put them on the map, The Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook reflects on the lasting legacy of punk music.


MON 22:45 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (m002tbj1)
Episode 1

Described by 2025 Booker judges as, "A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story."

The Lancashire coast, the early 1960s. On the day that we meet Thomas Flett as he goes about his daily drudgery, out of the rain-soaked mist the new world comes to him – Edgar Acheson, a Hollywood director, spies him out in the bay with his horse and cart and tracks him down as he returns home from a frustrating few hours shanking for shrimps.

The American wants Thomas’ skills and knowledge of the bay in the fictional town of Longferry which is a location he has scouted for his next film. Over the next 48 hours we become intensely involved in this collision of the two worlds.

Thomas has very few people in his life – both his father and grandfather are dead. The first disappeared to join the army around the time he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and his grandfather, Pop. Friendships at school were difficult as nothing confers outsider status more than being the child of a vanished father and a teenaged unmarried mother in the 1940s. So Acheson’s charismatic presence and warmly open manner strikes a chord with this lonely young man.

The narrative unfurls with the daily tides, which ebb and flow around the twice daily low water - early in the morning and again in the evening. It is the sea and the treacherous sinkpits in the sand of the wide shoreline that dominate Thomas’ life.

Benjamin Wood has crafted a quietly profound story of the margins, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist , and dreams flicker vividly at the edges of reality.

Read by Richard Fleeshman
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:00 Limelight (m001lrb4)
An Eye for a Killing

3. The Innocent and the Guilty

Welcome to hell. The true story of Scotland’s notorious serial killers, Burke and Hare.

In his prison cell, William Burke confesses to a journalist that he took part in 16 murders in the space of ten months.

Jamie Wilson, a young boy living by his wits on the streets of Edinburgh, is one of the victims murdered by Burke and Hare. Neither man is charged with his death – but Jamie’s relatives continue to seek justice.

In the witness box at the High Court, Hare’s wife, Margaret, also accuses Burke of killing Madgy Docherty - who had travelled from Ireland to Edinburgh in search of her son.

Powerful five-part drama-documentary series from BBC Radio 4 with bonus scenes on BBC Sounds.

Written and dramatised by Colin MacDonald.

Narrator ….. Jack Lowden
Burke ….. Gavin Mitchell
Galbraith ….. Andy Clark
Jamie ….. Kyle Gardiner
Bobbie ….. James Rottger
Margaret Hare ….. Lucianne McEvoy
Madgy Docherty ….. Maureen Carr
Robert Knox ….. Simon Donaldson
Sir William Rae ….. Stuart McQuarrie
Other parts played by the cast.

Producer/director: Bruce Young


MON 23:30 Currently (m002tf9x)
Power to The People: Rewiring Britain

Britain is turning electric, but the shift to renewable energy will require a major rewire. Business and Economy editor Douglas Fraser follows the journey of power generated on the north coast of Scotland to the socket in your living room, to discover the scale and the challenges of re-hauling the near century-old national grid.
From windfarms in Caithness, pylons in the Highlands and huge undersea cables transporting power from Aberdeenshire to North Yorkshire, Douglas looks at the environmental and financial impact of the planned changes to the country's energy infrastructure. He also asks if Britain can meet a future surge in demand for electricity to power electric cars, heat pumps and AI data centres, while achieving its ambitious net zero targets.

Presenter: Douglas Fraser
Producer: Hayley Jarvis
Executive Producer: Peter McManus

TUESDAY 31 MARCH 2026

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m002tbj4)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 The Radio Universe (m002tbgx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tbj6)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tbj8)
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 (m002tbjb)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:04 Currently (m002tbhk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


TUE 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tbjd)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tbjg)
Signs from nature

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.
Good morning.
I often lead groups on pilgrim journeys. There is so much nourishment to be gained from absorbing the cultural and spiritual narrative of places of resonance, and allowing the natural world to speak to us.

Not long ago I had two pilgrimages to undertake that would mean being away from home for several weeks. Just before I set off, I walked with my wife on the beach where we live in the north of Scotland, and lamented the prospect of being apart for so long. She reminded me of a poet who’d said that we should make spaces in our togetherness. The cedar and the oak beautify a landscape as they grow side by side, but neither will flourish if they overshadow one another. Just as she said this as we sat on the shore, two dolphins appeared only metres away. They swam by us side by side in perfect harmony, separate in their togetherness.

At this time, as we mark the week leading up to Jesus’s arrest in the Holy Week story, an awareness grows of an impending and painful separation. And then a mysterious voice is heard by his followers who have gathered to eat together. It is a kind of reassurance. It seems to me that nature speaks to the disciples, offering some kind of consolation. Grace in the face of a tragic parting.

Living Christ, your friends found reassurance when they heard the wind of the Spirit. And the natural world nods and beckons to us and her voice can calm our fears. May the voice of nature offer not so much escape from what’s ahead but a voice and presence that can steel us and enable us to believe that we might just be able to cope. Amen.


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m002tbjj)
31/03/26 Record livestock mart figures, lambing list, Ramblers report

Livestock markets in England and Wales have reported record breaking figures for 2025. The latest numbers from the Livestock Auctioneers Association show that turnover was up almost half a billion pounds, to just under 3 billion in total, a twenty percent rise, year on year. That’s despite a reduction in the number of both sheep and cattle in the UK. We ask the Livestock Auctioneers Association why turnover has risen so much.

All week we're looking at the sheep sector. Across the UK lambing is well underway, though some will have finished by now. With nearly 15 million breeding ewes, most having twins and some giving birth to triplets, it's an enormous task to get the lambs delivered safely. Many sheep farmers will recruit help in the form of family, vet students, and often those who just have an interest and want to learn. They'll often be matched up through the Lambing List - an online site set up by the National Sheep Association.

As the Easter holidays begin, many of us will be taking the chance to get out into the countryside. The charity The Ramblers, which campaigns for walkers and countryside access, says that may be easier said than done. They’ve just launched a new campaign called "access denied". They want an end, they say, to what they describe as years of neglect to Britain’s footpath network, resulting in thousands of miles of paths missing, blocked or un-usable.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


TUE 06:00 Today (m002tbk8)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 The Life Scientific (m002tbkb)
Washington Yotto Ochieng on the navigation tech that keeps our world moving

As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, Washington Yotto Ochieng once watched a plane cross the night sky and told his mother he wished he could travel on it. But he remembers her encouraging him to dream bigger...

Today, Washington is a Professor of Engineering at Imperial College London, and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry and academia, he has helped shape the movement of urban transport; how satellites guide us and locate us; and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so much of modern life.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Washington about his inspirational upbringing, how reliant we've become on technologies such as GPS, and his work encouraging the next generation of engineers in both the UK and Africa.

Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

A BBC Studios production


TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m002tbkd)
New treatment for menopausal hot flush

A new non-hormonal drug has been approved to treat menopausal hot flushes. It works by regulating the body's cooling signals and is now available on the NHS in England for those who cannot use hormone replacement therapy.

Before delving into the evidence with resident GP Dr Margaret McCartney, James finds out what it feels like to have a hot flush.

Also this week, James chats to Dr Manjula Meda, a microbiologist who is spearheading a radical new project. She has found that water systems in hospitals may be a breeding ground for antimicrobial resistance, and is tackling this by removing the sinks from wards. Is it effective and safe?

Finally, we all do it, but we don't like discussing it... Farting. James speaks to the University of Maryland's Professor Brantley Hall, who has developed a 'fart detector' that can measure emissions to get a better understanding of gut health. And James gets the chance to attach one to his pants for three days. For science, of course.

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Gerry Holt
Content editor: Ilan Goodman
Production coordinator: Stuart Laws
Inside Health was made by the BBC’s Audio Science Unit in collaboration with The Open University.


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002tbkg)
Violence against women in NI, Singer Rita Wilson, Fashion getting skinnier?

The music in this broadcast has been removed from this podcast for rights reasons.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said last week that it is "shameful" that Northern Ireland is the part of the UK where it is "most dangerous to be a woman". He described the scale of violence against women and girls in the area as a "source of enormous sadness" and "shame". Thirty women have been violently killed in Northern Ireland since 2020, two lost their lives just this month. They were 28-year-old Amy Doherty and 23-year-old Ellie Flanagan.
So what is being done about the violence, which is predominantly carried out by men? Krupa Padhy is joined by Allison Morris from the Belfast Telegraph, BBC journalist Jennifer O'Leary, who has made a documentary telling the story of domestic violence in Northern Ireland through the tale of a women's refuge, as well as Marie Brown, CEO of Foyle Women's Aid and Foyle Family Justice Centre.

Rita Wilson discusses her new album of deeply personal songs, Sound of a Woman. She's a film and TV actor, as well as a singer/songwriter, and was the producer behind blockbuster movies Mamma Mia! and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Rita also happens to be married to Tom Hanks. She joins Krupa to share her reflections on marriage, parenthood and illness.

The Society of Radiographers has said that the demand for ultrasound has increased, but there aren't enough people being trained to do the work. They say this is leading to pregnant women and cancer patients facing delays for vital ultrasound scans which could be 'dangerous for the patient.' Rachel Nolan, president elect of the Society of Radiographers, tells us what needs to change.

A recent Vogue Business size inclusivity report has documented a decline in the use of models with bigger bodies on the catwalk.
Of the almost 8,000 looks presented across over 180 shows and presentations for Autumn/Winter 2026, over 97% of the looks were what is called "straight-size" (that's a UK size 4-8), just over 2% were mid-size (a UK size 10 - 16), and only 0.3% were plus-size (a UK size 18). Last season, it was 0.9%. So plus-size representation has declined.
The report also cites the growing use of weight loss drugs (GLP-1s) as a key part of the change compared to recent years. So, what's happening in the fashion industry when it comes to body-size inclusivity, and are we seeing an impact on the clothing sizes available in the shops on our high streets? Elizabeth Paton, Fashion Editor of the Financial Times, and Gabriele Dirvanauskas, Deputy Editor at Drapers magazine, join Krupa in the studio.


TUE 11:00 Add to Playlist (m002t2lg)
Neil Brand and Matilda Lloyd celebrate the mambo

Pianist and silent film music specialist Neil Brand and trumpeter Matilda Lloyd join Jeffrey and Anna as they add five tracks to the playlist, in the last of the current series. From a celebrated American singer who died aged 27 we head to the most successful artist in the history of the Grammys, via a famous sacred Italian work, appropriate as Good Friday approaches.

Producer Jerome Weatherald
Presented with musical direction by Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe

The five tracks in this week's playlist:

Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin
Stabat Mater Dolorosa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Mambo Bacan by Sophia Loren
The Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini
Say My Name by Destiny’s Child

Other music in this episode:

Toccata by Giovanni Battista Martini, played by Matilda Lloyd
Peter Piper by Run-D.M.C.
My Adidas by Run-D.M.C.
Mambo No 5 by Pérez Prado
Que Rico Mambo by Pérez Prado
Bangers & Mash by Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers
Moon River by Henry Mancini, sung by Audrey Hepburn
Say My Name (Acapella) by Destiny's Child


TUE 11:45 The Radio Universe (m002tbkj)
2. Moving to Mars

How to explore space, without leaving earth.

Astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrifying voyage through the cosmos using one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in science: the radio wave. Chapman reveals how these invisible messengers glide through space, bounce off planets, tunnel through clouds and slip past galactic dust - carrying secrets of the universe that no other kind of light can uncover.

A celebration of human ingenuity and cosmic curiosity, The Radio Universe reveals that the true frontier of space isn't 'out there' - it's humming quietly all around us, waiting to be heard.

Episode Two: Moving to Mars

Read by Jasmine Hyde.
Produced and abridged by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m002tbkl)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m002tbkn)
Call You & Yours: Are you investing in green tech and is it lowering your bills?

On today's You & Yours we're looking at green technology at home and whether it can save us money on our energy bills.

Tell us: "Are you investing in green tech and is it lowering your bills?"

The war in the Middle East has prompted demand for solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and electric cars to try and mitigate the increasing costs of our energy bills. But this technology can cost thousands of pounds from the outset.

We'd love to hear from you if you've installed or bought any green tech and the difference it's made to what you're paying for your energy.

If you have any questions about what you should consider, and whether you can get any funding or grants, we'll have an expert panel on hand for advice.

You can call 03700 100 444 after 11am

Or email us at youandyours@bbc.co.uk

Guests:

Madeleine Gabriel, Director of Sustainability at Nesta, the sustainability charity, and Ian Rippon, Chief Executive of. MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) is the UK’s quality mark for small-scale renewable energy systems.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS


TUE 12:57 Weather (m002tbkq)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m002tbks)
King's state visit to the US to go ahead in April

Sir Ed Davey tells us that it's a "mistake" for the King's state visit to the US to go ahead in April. Also on the programme, the grooming gangs inquiry will examine the role of ethnicity, culture and religion in abuse. We hear from the review's chair and someone who was targeted when they were just 12-years-old. And, as the British Medical Association announce that it will now ballot senior doctors, we'll bring you the latest on the union's dispute with the government.


TUE 13:45 The Shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls (m002tbkv)
Episode 2

An infamous wall separated residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford.

In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls.

Finally they were demolished in March 1959... On the fifth birthday of a Cutteslowe resident called Steven Griffiths. “The teacher said today is a big day everyone, and I thought ‘I know, it’s my birthday’”. Steve’s life was shaped by what happened to his family in the months running up to the demolition of the walls. His life moved on, but the walls and the sense of division they represented cast a long shadow. At a time when people often talk about how divided Britain is becoming, Steve wants to know what happened to the estate which gave him his start. "The walls came down, let's keep them down, that's the message..."

Today, what happened to the house where Steve lived with his parents? Who lives there today?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore
Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe
Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m002tbht)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m002tbkx)
The Scrooge Identity

Hamburg, 1992. A pipe-bomb goes off in a department store at one in the morning, and a ransom note arrives shortly after, demanding a million marks and signed "Uncle Scrooge". The police are baffled. The press are delighted. And a nation starts rooting for the wrong side.

A cat-and-mouse thriller based on an extraordinary true story, about a lone eccentric who seems to be running his criminal campaign straight from the pages of a Donald Duck comic book, and the police team who realise the only way to catch him is to make him feel understood.

Warm, witty and surprisingly tender, it might just be unlike any true-crime story you've heard before. Based on real events with imagined scenes.

Narrator . . . . . Clare Corbett
Funke . . . . . Blake Harrison
Daleki . . . . . Ben Crowe
Brockmann . . . . . Amaka Okafor
Springborn . . . . . John Macmillan
Blashke . . . . . Sam Swann
Weber . . . . . Sam Dale

Writer: Simon Scardifield

Sound design: Sharon Hughes
Technical producers: Keith Graham & Jenni Burnett
Casting Manager: Alex Curran
Production co-ordinator: Luke MacGregor
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko


TUE 15:00 History's Heroes (p0lwz6sw)
Jessica Mitford Finds Her Voice

An aristocrat rebels against her family to become a civil rights activist.

Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history.

A BBC Studios production.

Producer: Lorna Reader
Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts


TUE 15:30 Heart and Soul (w3ct6vq9)
Leaving Isis: Is redemption possible?

In 2014, Tareena Shakil, then 24, made a decision that would change her life forever. She secretly left the UK, telling her family she was on holiday, and travelled with her young son to Syria to join the Islamic State group. Within months she found herself in the heart of the extremist stronghold, and later fled to Turkey before returning to the UK, where she was arrested and became one of the first British women to be convicted for membership of Isis and encouraging terrorism.

Shakil was sentenced to six years in prison but was released after serving half her term. In the years since, she has publicly expressed regret for her actions, accepted responsibility for lying about her journey when first questioned by police, and described her experience as a time when she “lost her way”.

Rajeev Gupta meets Tareena in Birmingham as she reflects on a path that took her from belief to extremism and the long, difficult process of finding her footing again. In candid conversation, she explores how identity, faith, family and the search for meaning intersected in the decisions she made, and what she believes now about forgiveness and moving forward.

Presenter: Rajeev Gupta
Producer: Matt O’Donoghue
Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Editor: Chloe Walker

(Photo: Tareena Shakil and the BBC's Rajeev Gupta. Credit: Matt O'Donoghue)


TUE 16:00 Artworks (m002tbl2)
Stoppard at Work

This documentary, part of the Celebrating Stoppard season, asks what it was like to be in a room with the playwright Tom Stoppard, who died in November 2025. What was he like to work with, rehearsing one of his plays or preparing a text for publication?

Actors, directors, producers and more share insights into the man at work, giving us a glimpse of how he navigated the great collaboration of production: in development, in rehearsal, in moments of doubt and disapproval.

Famously glamorous in public, generous and charming in private, Stoppard engaged fully with every stage of the process of bringing his work to audiences and readers: revising, debating, listening, sharing. It is the collegiate Stoppard that this programme investigates.

Presented by Emma Fielding with contributions from actors Bill Nighy, Adrian Scarborough and Toby Jones; Stoppard’s editor at Faber, Dinah Wood; dramaturg Jack Bradley; producer Sonia Friedman; and director and playwright Patrick Marber.

Sound design by Peter Ringrose

Producers: Jessica Dromgoole and Mary Peate

A Hooley production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 16:30 What's Up Docs? (m002tbl4)
Why do we feel happier when the sun’s out?

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

In this episode, Chris and Xand will shine a light on…light. They discuss why the sun can help lift our mood, and its effects on our sleep and general wellbeing. Joining them to discuss this is Professor Hester Parr, a professor of Human Geography with an interest in sunlight's effect on mental health and runs the research group Living with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

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

Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Professor Hester Parr
Producer: Claire Justin
Video Producer: Leon Gower
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby

At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 17:00 PM (m002tbl6)
Buckingham Palace confirms US state visit to go ahead

We hear from royal biographer Robert Hardman and veteran BBC presenter David Dimbleby as Buckingham Palace confirms that the state visit to the United States will go ahead. We also bring you the latest on the impact of the Iran war on global fuel access.

We speak to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, which is set to receive the largest donation in British university history, and we look ahead to the US Artemis II mission, paving the way for a return to the Moon.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tbl8)
President Trump launches another social media attack on allies of the US

President Trump has launched another social media attack on allies of the United States accusing them of not doing enough to assist with the conflict in Iran. Also: Buckingham Palace confirms details for the King's state visit to the United States in April. And the British Medical Association has said it will ballot senior doctors over strike action.


TUE 18:30 Zoe Lyons: Now What? (m002tblb)
When she hit 50, the comedian Zoe Lyons had something of a midlife crisis which resulted in her living alone with nothing but a sports car and a pull-up bar. Now 54, she's out the other side but can't help looking around at her life, her career, and the state of the world and thinking 'Now What?'

We all know that the best way to deal with any crisis is to have a cuppa and a good natter about it so now she's asking “Now What?” on Radio 4. In this episode Zoe explores careers and what it means to be a success in your chosen path.

Mixing interviews with stand-up comedy, Zoe seeks the advice of some of her comedy colleagues - some slightly older, some younger, some her age - including Helen Lederer, Jenny Eclair, Amelia Hamilton and Kerry Godliman. Can Zoe reconnect with her career motivation - or at least discover where it’s lurking? Or should she give it all up and just drive around in her lovely little campervan?

Presenter: Zoe Lyons
Producer: Laura Grimshaw
Live Sound: Jerry Peal
Post-Production Sound: Tony Churnside
Executive Producers: Jon Holmes and Carrie Rose

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m002tbld)
Lynda and Robert tick off their first Easter Promise job – the first of several, to Robert’s chagrin. Lynda’s keen to know if Robert has any requests for his birthday next week. As Lilian looks for Miranda, she gets chatting with Lynda about the cricket team. They’re clearly on different pages about the benefits of the Pub team.

Robert quizzes Oliver about the cricket ground, keen to sort out the red tape preventing the new team using it. Oliver had no idea of any issues - it’s fine to use. He agrees to tell Lynda - without mentioning Robert’s name. Oliver also says he’ll think about helping young people with reading as part of the Easter scheme.

Updated Lynda seethes to Robert, assuming the old cricket team has turned against her, making up rumours about her supposedly spreading ‘misinformation’. Lynda’s convinced someone’s meddling, and she’ll find out who.

Lilian crows to Miranda about Justin finding another investor for his BL shares, but notices Miranda seems flat. Lilian’s surprised to learn that Brian won’t move into the farmhouse with Miranda, who mentions Ruairi. Lilian keeps Miranda company on a ride, speculating that Brian’s actions could be to do with Jennifer and Brian’s association with the house. Miranda becomes emotional, but they’re distracted by Oliver having an issue on his horse, and go to help. Over a steadying drink, Oliver admits he feels past it. Lilian encourages Miranda to back her up in persuading Oliver otherwise, but downbeat Miranda agrees with Oliver’s comment about knowing when to give up on things we love.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m002tblg)
Robert MacFarlane on the revelations to be found underground

Writer Robert MacFarlane on the world underground as a new documentary, Underland, inspired by his award-winning book of the same name is released in cinemas.

Dancer and choreographer Meryl Tankard on creating a new work, Echoes of '78, which pairs the original dancers of a work created by German choreographer Pina Bausch with their younger selves.

Singer Hak Baker and journalist Ludovic Hunter-Tilney on the evolving nature of the protest song plus a live performance from Hak of his song Windrush Baby.

Translator and judge Sophie Hughes on the International Booker Prize shortlist 2026 which was announced today.
The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated by Izidora Angel
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin
On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan
The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King

Artist Glen Baxter remembered.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Ekene Akalawu


TUE 20:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002tblj)
Sunshine and Secrets: The hidden side of IVF

What happens when the sperm or egg donor you choose isn’t the one you get? Northern Cyprus is a sun-soaked haven for affordable IVF. But behind the glossy clinic websites, parents are discovering their chosen sperm or egg donors might not have been used. For File on 4 Investigates Anna Collinson follows parents searching for answers and children wondering where they have come from.

File on 4 Investigates Sunshine & Secrets: The hidden side of IVF

Producer: Jo Adnitt
Executive Producer: Rob Brown
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Tara McDermott

Details of organisations offering information and support with infertility are available on the Pregnancy related issues page at bbc.co.uk/actionline.


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m002tbll)
Payment Card Accessibility, Changes to the Motability Scheme

The UK's leading trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, UK Finance has just launched a new set of guidelines pertaining to the accessibility of payment cards. They claim that 80% of the financial industry across the UK are actioning the recommendations, which include the standardisation of larger text sizes, and notches to identify different types of cards. Adam Scarrott is UK Finance's Director of Payments and he tells In Touch more about why these guidelines were brought about and we discuss the ongoing issue of touch screen payment terminals.

The Motability Scheme enables disabled people to use certain benefits to lease a vehicle. But, the scheme is about to introduce some changes as a result of the government's Autumn budget. Nigel Fletcher is the Motability Foundation's CEO and he tells In Touch what these changes are, provides more detail about why they came about and when.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 The Law Show (m002t1hy)
How tough are the UK's asylum laws?

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s Restoring Order and Control policy is underway. It's based - in part - on measures carried out in Denmark which cut asylum claims there to a 40 year low.

From now on in the UK, people granted asylum - refugees - will face a review every two and a half years. If their country of origin is regarded as safe, they may be encouraged, or even forced, to go back.

There are lots of other changes. If someone is refused asylum, they’ll only be allowed a single appeal. If an asylum seeker breaks the law, works illegally or can financially support themselves, they’ll lose their benefits or accommodation.

Alongside the asylum reforms, there are also major changes to settlement in the UK, affecting both refugees and people on work and study visas. From now on, they will have to wait at least 10 years before they can obtain indefinite leave to remain, which means they can settle in the UK without restrictions.

You may be forgiven for thinking -"these are pretty big changes, I don’t recall there being a big debate in parliament or any votes?" And you’d be correct. This was all done through secondary legislation, meaning that it’s a change to existing rules.

But what are the possible legal battles for the government as it tries to introduce some of the toughest asylum laws in Europe?

Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles

Contributors:
Dr Peter Walsh, Senior Researcher and lead on asylum at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford
Catherine Barnard, Professor of European Law at the University of Cambridge
Baroness Levitt, Family Justice Minister


TUE 21:30 Evan Davis's Heat Pump Challenge (m002t2vb)
Episode 3: Heat Pumps, Your Questions Answered

In the final episode, Evan asks listeners to get in touch with their questions about heat pumps and we'll get answers from our expert panel.

We'll also be hearing from listeners who've already installed heat pumps and the lessons they've learned...are they saving money on their bills?

Our expert panel is Richard Fitton, Professor of Building Performance at the University of Salford and Emily Seymour the Climate and Sustainability Edtor at Which?

Over the course of the series we asked you what topics you wanted covering in this programme, and you answered in your droves. We've had dozens of emails to our inbox, asking us about finding trustworthy installers, noise and how heat pumps might work in flats.

We'll also be hearing positive heat pump stories but also a nightmare, and what went wrong during the installation.

If you have any questions for the panel you want answering about heat pumps, you can email evanschallenge@bbc.co.uk

PRESENTER: EVAN DAVIS
PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m002tbln)
Britain to send more troops and air defence systems to Gulf

More British troops and UK air defence systems will be deployed to the Middle East for defensive action against Iranian attacks. The deployment was announced on the same day that US President Donald Trump lashed out again at the UK and other countries, telling them to "go get your own oil" from the Strait of Hormuz. We look at a looming crisis in jet fuel supplies and what the rise price of gasoline in the US might mean for politics there.

Also on the programme: it's being called "the great internet crackdown" in Russia; the government wants to reduce use of Virtual Private Networks.

And the Metropolitan Police has told BBC News that the teenage boy at the centre of the Scott Mills sexual offences investigation was under the age of 16.


TUE 22:45 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (m002tblq)
Episode 2

Described by 2025 Booker judges as, "A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story."

The Lancashire coast, the early 1960s. On the day that we meet Thomas Flett as he goes about his daily drudgery, out of the rain-soaked mist the new world comes to him – Edgar Acheson, a Hollywood director, spies him out in the bay with his horse and cart and tracks him down as he returns home from a frustrating few hours shanking for shrimps.

The American wants Thomas’ skills and knowledge of the bay in the fictional town of Longferry which is a location he has scouted for his next film. Over the next 48 hours we become intensely involved in this collision of the two worlds.

Thomas has very few people in his life – both his father and grandfather are dead. The first disappeared to join the army around the time he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and his grandfather, Pop. Friendships at school were difficult as nothing confers outsider status more than being the child of a vanished father and a teenaged unmarried mother in the 1940s. So Acheson’s charismatic presence and warmly open manner strikes a chord with this lonely young man.

The narrative unfurls with the daily tides, which ebb and flow around the twice daily low water - early in the morning and again in the evening. It is the sea and the treacherous sinkpits in the sand of the wide shoreline that dominate Thomas’ life.

Benjamin Wood has crafted a quietly profound story of the margins, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist , and dreams flicker vividly at the edges of reality.

Read by Richard Fleeshman
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:00 Illuminated (m002tbls)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:15 on Sunday]


TUE 23:30 The Artificial Human (m002qj6b)
AI's Bubble Trouble?

1. Is the AI bubble about to burst?

Aleks and Kevin explore the biggest story in the Ai business. Markets are growing sceptical that the eye-watering sums being invested in Ai will show a return and comparisons with the dot-com crash are being widely made - so is the Ai bubble about to burst?

Over the next three episodes we'll explore the Ai business landscape, look at the evidence for a bubble and consider the consequences of a 'major correction' to the valuation of the big players.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong
Producer: Peter McManus
Research by Elizabeth Ann Duffy

WEDNESDAY 01 APRIL 2026

WED 00:00 Midnight News (m002tblv)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 00:30 The Radio Universe (m002tbkj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Tuesday]


WED 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tblx)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tblz)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


WED 05:00 News Summary (m002tbm1)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


WED 05:04 BBC Inside Science (w3ct8ty5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:30 on Monday]


WED 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tbm3)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


WED 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tbm5)
'It was night'

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Script:
Good morning.
Darkness can sweep over us, and it can take many forms. A sudden loss of confidence that seems to come from nowhere. A hurtful comment that can unsettle us and sap our morale. Darkness can also descend through an act of betrayal. Someone whom we thought we could trust turning against us. It is a feeling that can chill us to the very core as we discover just how fragile human relationships can be.

This week, Christians commemorate the ominous time when Jesus agonises over what lies ahead. He seeks comfort from his friends as they share a meal. The conversation turns deep, so deep they can scarcely comprehend. Then Judas leaves the room. Knowing what he is about to do, you can imagine how Jesus must have felt. A trusted friend was about to do the worst possible thing, destroy a friendship with betrayal. ‘It was night’, is how the moment is sparingly described in John’s Gospel.

Some of the most soulful and passionate music emerges out of betrayal, injustice and hardship. As a young singer, Emmylou Harris wrote to a mentor, Pete Seeger, to ask him how she could introduce that note of sadness and suffering to her own singing voice that she found so moving in others. Her mentor replied, ‘Don’t worry about suffering, it’ll come to you, one way or another’.

And, of course, darkness descends whether we anticipate it or not.

Christ who knew the sadness of betrayal, when darkness descends on us, we ask for the courage to bear it. In a world of fragile relationships, enable within us a deep resolve to nurture trust and integrity in our connection with others. Amen.


WED 05:45 Farming Today (m002tbm7)
01/04/26 Rural fuel poverty; emissions from sheep; Marine Protected Areas.

Fuel prices continue to dominate the headlines, the war in the Middle East has led to them shooting up in recent weeks, causing real concern to those in rural areas who aren’t connected to the gas mains and rely on oil for heating. The £50 million pounds-worth of emergency funds announced last month by the government to help vulnerable rural households are now being distributed by rural local authorities in England and through other mechanisms in the devolved nations. It’s all put a sharp focus on fuel poverty in rural areas. The Westminster Government has just published a new Statistical Digest of Rural England, which shows that the depth of fuel poverty in rural areas is almost twice that of in towns and cities.

We know livestock produce greenhouse gas emissions - but we also know that the volume, or amount, of gas is affected by what those cattle or sheep eat. A new DEFRA-funded study has investigated upland sheep grazing systems to see if some forages produce lower emissions. The project compared 120 ewes, some pure Swaledales and some crossbred with Texels, on three different grazing systems in Wensleydale.

1.3 million tonnes of fish were caught in the UK’s ‘Marine Protected Areas’, or MPAs, between 2020 and 2024. Greenpeace, who’ve calculated that figure from official sources, say it makes what should be havens of safety for marine life, little more than meaningless lines on a map. They argue that marine eco-systems are protected on “paper only” while industrial-scale fishing and boats with bottom trawling gear, that drags across the seabed, are still allowed in MPAs.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


WED 06:00 Today (m002tbnx)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


WED 09:00 Life Changing (m002tbnz)
The agony of losing my son in Nottingham attack

In the first programme of a new series of Life Changing, Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was killed in the 2023 Nottingham attack, talks with openness and candour about the very personal anguish at the heart of this very public story.

Barnaby, fellow student Grace O'Malley Kumar and school caretaker Ian Coates were all victims of killer Valdo Calocane, a man who was known to be violent and who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

In a break from campaigning for an inquiry into Barnaby’s death, Emma takes Dr Sian Williams inside the whirlwind that engulfed her and her family, the little gestures by members of the public in Nottingham that meant so much, and the gradual realisation that she did have the strength to challenge the system that had failed to keep her son safe.

Producer: Tom Alban


WED 09:30 Everything Is Fake (m002styh)
Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares

4. The Lance Armstrong Defence

In the early 2000s, a young man in New Jersey was writing thousands of fake university essays for paying students. Around the same time, financial analysts in New York were rating toxic debt as safe. And in Silicon Valley, a new business philosophy was taking hold: fake it till you make it.

Jamie Bartlett asks how so many people, in so many different worlds, arrived at the same conclusion at the same time. The answer, he thinks, has a name - The Lance Armstrong Defence. A quiet, creeping logic that says everyone else is doing it so why can't I?

Presenter: Jamie Bartlett
Series Producer: Tom Pooley
Sound Design: Rob Speight
Production Coordinator: Neena Abdullah
Original music: Coach Conrad
Editor: Craig Templeton Smith

A Tempo+Talker production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002tbp1)
Women in Iran, Miscarriage cradle, Zoom bombing

The week marks one month since the United States and Israel attacked Iran. We take a look at the impact the resulting war has had on the women and children of the country. Krupa Padhy is joined by BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet and Ghoncheh Habibiazad, Senior Reporter from BBC News Persian.

Recurrent miscarriage is when you experience more than two or three pregnancy losses, and it affects around one in 100 women. A device designed to offer more care and dignity during miscarriage, and that could aid greater understanding, is now being used in 28 hospitals across the UK. Engineer Laura Corcoran created a miscarriage collection cradle after she suffered the loss of her third pregnancy. She is calling for a wider roll-out of the device. Laura speaks to Krupa, along with Siobhan Quenby, Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Warwick.

A new exhibition at Kensington Palace is celebrating the 150th birthday of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh – the Punjabi princess and suffragette. The Last Princesses of Punjab exhibition explores her life and five other women who shaped her. Krupa talks to the curator Polly Putnam and journalist and Radio 4 presenter Anita Anand, author of Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary.

Another chance to hear our interview with Janet Willoner, known as the tree growing granny. Janet has grown more than 4,000 trees in her garden.  She forages for seeds, grows them, and they eventually grow in forests in her local area of North Yorkshire. 

Zoom bombing involves crashing into a meeting and taking it over - more often than not showing shocking content including pornography. Businesswoman Lou Robey was holding a meeting on International Women's Day when it was zoom bombed. Lou has put out a call for action for media platforms and the wider community to act. She and Gina Neff, Professor of Responsible AI at Queen Mary, University of London join Krupa to discuss.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Dianne McGregor


WED 11:00 File on 4 Investigates (m002tblj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 20:00 on Tuesday]


WED 11:40 This Week in History (m002tbp3)
March 30th to April 5th

Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.

1st April 2001 - Slobodan Milošević, the former president of The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, surrenders to police special forces.
4th April 1968 - The civil rights activist Martin Luther King is assassinated.
1st April 1748 - The ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii are discovered.


WED 11:45 The Radio Universe (m002tbp5)
3. Beyond the Pale Blue Dot

How to explore space, without leaving earth.

Astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrifying voyage through the cosmos using one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in science: the radio wave. Chapman reveals how these invisible messengers glide through space, bounce off planets, tunnel through clouds and slip past galactic dust - carrying secrets of the universe that no other kind of light can uncover.

A celebration of human ingenuity and cosmic curiosity, The Radio Universe reveals that the true frontier of space isn't 'out there' - it's humming quietly all around us, waiting to be heard.

Episode Three: Beyond the Pale Blue Dot
An exploration through radio eyes of Milky Way's hidden architecture, explosive past and humbling scale.

Read by Jasmine Hyde.
Produced and abridged by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:00 News Summary (m002tbp7)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


WED 12:04 You and Yours (m002tbp9)
Crypto Theft, Charity Giving and Shrinking Easter Eggs

People with crypto currency investments are being targeted by criminals. The methods are often very similar to the ways victims are convinced to transfer money out of regular bank accounts. We'll hear from an accountant who lost crypto worth £183,000 and find out how to try to trace stolen assets. Also on the programme - we'll ask the organisation that represents housing associations why shared ownership seems to be turning into a nightmare for so many buyers. And You and Yours listener Neil was so annoyed at the shape of his friend's Easter egg that he wrote to us - we'll find out what's going on with chocolate and shrinkflation.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


WED 12:57 Weather (m002tbpc)
The latest weather forecast


WED 13:00 World at One (m002tbpf)
UK to host talks on Strait of Hormuz

The UK will host a summit of international leaders to discuss how to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile President Trump has said he is considering leaving Nato. We explore the latest Iran war developments with Lord Ricketts, the UK's former Permanent Representative to NATO and later head of the foreign office and national security adviser. Plus, we hear from a former Lebanese minister on the scale of the Israeli military action inside his country.


WED 13:45 The Shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls (m002tbph)
Episode 3

An infamous wall separated residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford.

In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls.

Finally they were demolished in March 1959... On the fifth birthday of a Cutteslowe resident called Steven Griffiths. “The teacher said today is a big day everyone, and I thought ‘I know, it’s my birthday’”. Steve’s life was shaped by what happened to his family in the months running up to the demolition of the walls - when tragedy struck he had both sets of grandparents on the estate, and says his home was split between all three houses. Steve wants to know what happened to the houses and the estate which gave him his start. "The walls came down, let's keep them down, that's the message..."

Today, what happened to Steve's paternal Grandparents house? Who lives there today?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore
Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe
Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’


WED 14:00 The Archers (m002tbld)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Tuesday]


WED 14:15 The Citadel (m002tbpk)
Series 10

Episode 1

The tenth and final series of The Citadel by Mike Harris based on the book by A J Cronin.

It is 1934 and unsettling times around the world and in Great Britain. Denny and Manson are as busy as ever in their Welsh surgery but both have decisions to make. And will Denny finally admit to his love for his partner's wife, Christine.

Philip Denny ..... Matthew Gravelle
Andrew Manson ..... Richard Fleeshman
Christine Manson ..... Catrin Stewart
Joseph Hofman ..... Allan Corduner
Maurice Hofman ..... Joe Coen
Dafyd Jones/Eddie ..... Ifan Meredith

Directed by Tracey Neale

It is 1934 and things are going from bad to worse: the international order is breaking down, the economy is shot and the far right is rising. Tory MPs are wondering whether to jump ship and join them, and the government is sitting on a landslide majority but seems to have lost direction.

In their Welsh surgery, Denny and Manson are as busy as ever with inadequate funds to treat all their patients. They dream is the formation of a National Health Service but will it ever happen.

Christine, now a teacher, struggles with the arrival of the new Headmaster while her husband, Andrew is coping with his workload and travelling to London to attend BMA meetings where he argues for a public funded health service. Meanwhile a painful memory from the past returns to Denny when he goes in search for the son of a new patient.

Writer - Mike Harris
Producer & Director - Tracey Neale
Technical Team - Keith Graham and Sam Dickinson
Production Co-Ordinator - Ben Hollands

A BBC Studios Production


WED 15:00 Money Box (m002tbpn)
Money Box Live: Making Tax Digital Guide

Making Tax Digital for income tax is HMRC's biggest shake-up of self assessment for decades, but are you ready?

The new system will involve filing quarterly updates as well as a final return via third party software. This year it'll affect 860,000 sole traders and landlords with a turnover of £50,000. In the coming years the threshold will fall, bringing a total of nearly three million people into the new system.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Jonathan Athow, HMRC's director general for strategy and policy, to take listeners' questions about how it all works and what they need to do to prepare. We also hear from Emma Rawson, from the Association of Tax Technicians, a professional body for tax advisers.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producers: James Graham and Rob Cave
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Henry Jones

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 1st April 2026)


WED 15:30 Money, Influence and the NHS (m002tbpq)
New World Order

GP and academic, Dr Margaret McCartney thinks medicine remains conflicted, despite her 20-year quest to reveal the financial influences that can impact your treatments. She learns about today’s increase in partnerships with industry within the NHS and explores new ways of reducing conflicts of interest in medicine where possible.

Presenter: Margaret McCartney
Producer: Erika Wright
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


WED 16:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002v80g)
Don't Panic!!!

These are busy days in the world of crisis comms. Keeping calm is vital - keeping the public calm is even more vital.

David Yelland and Farzana Baduel explain what's going on behind-the-scenes everywhere - from supermarkets and airlines to energy companies - as concern rises that the war in Iran could affect supply lines.

They discuss the importance of being like a meerkat - horizon scanning - for potential public flashpoints. And why PRs have to come up with calming strategies to avoid dreaded words like 'rationing' causing chaos in the aisles and at the pumps.

On the extended edition on BBC Sounds, this isn't just any work/life balance, this is a Marks & Spencer work/life balance. CEO Stuart Machin says he doesn't think leaders should switch off while on holiday.

That might be the only way for those at the very top - but what message does it send out to those lower down the chain? David and Farzana discuss how part of the job as a PR is making bosses understand that not everyone thinks like they do.

Also, life is full of disappointments but how you handle them is what matters. As Wales saw their World Cup dreams vanish in penalty shootout heartache, manager Craig Bellamy elevated the post-match press conference by saying: "Tomorrow the sun will rise and I'm going to watch that sunrise."

Getting the message right in the heat of the moment is no easy thing, but he seemed to nail it.

Producer: Duncan Middleton
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: Eve Streeter
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4


WED 16:15 The Media Show (m002tbps)
Scott Mills' exit & Tim Davie's final week at the BBC, AI-assisted journalism, new UK research project on teens & social media

Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins discuss some of the week's biggest media stories:

Jane Martinson of the Guardian and Max Goldbart of Deadline on Scott Mills' departure from the BBC and Tim Davie's legacy as Director General of the corporation.

As newsrooms around the world continue to debate the use of artificial intelligence in reporting, we hear from Fortune Business Editor Nick Lichtenberg who outlines his method for producing AI-assisted articles.

After two recent United States rulings which found Meta and YouTube liable for developing addictive platform features, we talk to the BBC North America Technology Correspondent Lily Jamali about the legal arguments and potential consequences for design and regulation. Interface designer Aza Raskin from the Centre for Humane Technology explains the tools used by platforms to keep people scrolling, and we hear about a major new UK scientific trial to assess the impact of reduced social media use among teenagers from Professor Amy Orben of the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson


WED 17:00 PM (m002tbpv)
President Trump warns the US could leave NATO

Is the US about to leave NATO? President Trump insists its on the table. PM will discuss with a former UK National Security Advisor. Also the Artemis launch approaches.


WED 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tbpx)
President Trump says Iran has asked him for a ceasefire

Iran has dismissed President Trump's latest claim that it's asked for a ceasefire as "baseless". Also: Sir Keir Starmer has warned that resolving the economic consequences of the war "will not be easy". And the presenter, Carol Kirkwood, has delivered her final weather forecast on BBC Breakfast.


WED 18:30 Stand-Up Specials (m002tbpz)
Ray Bradshaw Hears You

Both of Ray Bradshaw’s parents are deaf but he is not. In this stand-up special, Ray recounts the ups (being the sign interpreter at your own parent’s evening) and downs (his deaf father using a chainsaw at 6 in the morning ) of being a CODA (Child of Deaf Parents) in this hilarious, warm-hearted tribute to his upbringing.

Written and performed by Ray Bradshaw.
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
Sound Engineer: Sean Kerwin
Executive Producer: Ellie Dobing

A Yada Yada Audio production for BBC Radio 4


WED 19:00 The Archers (m002tbq1)
Azra gets Pat and Natasha’s input for the Surgery’s mental health initiative, and Natasha’s not impressed by Tom’s “just suck it up” attitude. Furious Tony interrupts them, demanding an explanation for the advert listing the dispersal sale of his Angus cattle. Azra’s caught in the middle before politely escaping. Pat reminds Tony that he did agree to this, but Tony reminds Tom that he was going to make the call himself when he felt ready. Tom finally confesses that Helen listed the cattle last week. Natasha joins Pat in helping Tony accept things. Later Pat and Tony reflect. Pat’s encouraging: Tony will find a new project. The farm is in safe hands and change is inevitable. Pat gives Tony a small gift – an Angus herd for his model railway. Softened, Tony forgives Pat for forgetting to tell him about the auction.

In the shower, Pip can feel something on her breast and gets Stella to help her check. After some uncertainty, they agree there is something there. Pip will call the doctor tomorrow, as it’s too late today, and they agree to keep things normal until then and not say anything to Rosie. With Rosie put to bed, they have some wine and chat – Stella knows about Ruth’s cancer history. Pip reflects on the past, and how little she has asked Ruth about her breast cancer. She compares herself to her mum, with a young child. Stella encourages Pip not to worry, and they agree there’s nothing they can do until tomorrow, when Pip will make an urgent appointment.


WED 19:15 Front Row (m002tbq3)
SNL UK Cast, plus Trash Cinema Icon Mink Stole

In venues around the UK and here on BBC Radio 4 and on BBC Sounds, it’s Live Comedy Day today – a celebration of live comedy and grassroots clubs. We’re joined by two of the cast of the new Saturday Night Live UK, Emma Sidi and Hammed Animashaun, and by Amanda Dwyer, who won the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at the Glasgow Comedy Festival this weekend, to discuss the stand-up landscape right now.

Mink Stole is an icon of “trash cinema” and has appeared in every one of filmmaker John Waters’ features, from the infamous cult classic Pink Flamingos to mainstream hits Hairspray and Serial Mom. She talks about her long association with Waters and his ensemble of Dreamlanders, and about her show Idol Worship in which she and actor and drag queen Peaches Christ reflect on her career in front of an audience.

And live from opening night at the V&A Dundee where Catwalk – The Art of The Fashion Show celebrates over a hundred years of spectacular fashion displays, from Frederick Worth to Vivienne Westwood and Versace, curator Kirsty Hassard talks us through the history of the runway. And we are also joined by curator Rachel Whitworth from the Bowes Museum in County Durham to discuss one of the modern day pioneers of the fashion show, Vivienne Westwood, as the exhibition Rebel, Storyteller, Visionary opens there.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan


WED 20:00 Moral Maze (m002tbq5)
Artemis 2 and the ethics of human space flight

Today, humanity reaches towards the Moon once more. The first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years.

But as NASA’s Artemis 2 lifts off, some troubling moral questions follow in its wake.

Are the billions of pounds being spent a visionary investment in our future, or a luxury we can't afford while poverty, disease, and a climate crisis demand urgent action here on Earth?

Who benefits from space exploration? The wealthy nations that lead it or all of humanity?

Is there really a moral imperative to explore the possibility of how to live on other planets?

And ... as we venture outwards, do we risk repeating the mistakes of colonial expansion?

That's our Moral Maze tonight ... the ethics of human space flight

WITNESSES: Dr Simeon Barber, Lunar Scientist at Open University; Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility; Dr Tony Milligan, Philosopher in Space Ethics; Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University
PANELLISTS: Carmody Grey, Anne McElvoy, James Orr and Sonia Sodha
PRESENTER: William Crawley


WED 21:00 Stand-Up Specials (m002tbq7)
Live from the UK

S2 E6: Live Comedy Day

It's the first every Live Comedy Day, and Live From the UK brings a special, extended episode to the Radio 4 listener.

Angela Barnes is back at the comedy club where she did her first ever gig, the Brighton Komedia. She did a comedy course with comedy guru Jill Edwards, so catches up with her to chat about starting out, and grassroots comedy.

We also tour to all 4 nations of the UK, bringing you insights on a night tour of Edinburgh Zoo, useless stuff you learn in school, nans playing rugby and the dystopian world of fast food restaurants.

Throughout the show, some of the UK's best loved comedians will also pop up to tell you about their first ever gig.

In this episode, you can hear;

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd at the Monkey Barrel in Edinburgh
Emer Maguire at the Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Carwyn Blayney at the Swansea Grand
Seann Walsh at Komedia Brighton

Additional Material by Ruth Husko

Recorded by David Thomas, Sean Kerwin and Davy Neil
Sound design by David Thomas
Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman
Executive Producer: Pete Strauss

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


WED 21:45 Short Works (m002pffc)
Morags

Morag only agreed to visit the Callanish Stones to get close to Felix. Instead, she’s about to receive an unsettling gift in a short story from Camilla Grudova.

Read by Nicola Roy
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Camilla Grudova is based in Edinburgh. Her publications include the story collection, “The Doll’s Alphabet” and Women’s Prize longlisted novel, “Children of Paradise”. In 2023 she was named one of Grant’s ‘Best of Young British Novelists’.


WED 22:00 The World Tonight (m002tbq9)
NASA to launch its first crewed mission to the Moon in over half a century

NASA is to launch the Artemis II mission to the Moon. It is the first time for over half a century a crewed rocket will head to the celestial body, we’ll hear from one of the four surviving astronauts who have set foot on the Moon.

Also in the programme: Tomorrow the UK government will host a gathering of international leaders to discuss plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, we speak to our Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet; and what is happening on the streets of Clapham? We hear from a former deputy assistant commissioner to the Metropolitan Police after a number of young people were arrested for taking part in a social media trend called "swarming the streets."


WED 22:45 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (m002tbqc)
Episode 3

Described by 2025 Booker judges as, "A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story."

The Lancashire coast, the early 1960s. On the day that we meet Thomas Flett as he goes about his daily drudgery, out of the rain-soaked mist the new world comes to him – Edgar Acheson, a Hollywood director, spies him out in the bay with his horse and cart and tracks him down as he returns home from a frustrating few hours shanking for shrimps.

The American wants Thomas’ skills and knowledge of the bay in the fictional town of Longferry which is a location he has scouted for his next film. Over the next 48 hours we become intensely involved in this collision of the two worlds.

Thomas has very few people in his life – both his father and grandfather are dead. The first disappeared to join the army around the time he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and his grandfather, Pop. Friendships at school were difficult as nothing confers outsider status more than being the child of a vanished father and a teenaged unmarried mother in the 1940s. So Acheson’s charismatic presence and warmly open manner strikes a chord with this lonely young man.

The narrative unfurls with the daily tides, which ebb and flow around the twice daily low water - early in the morning and again in the evening. It is the sea and the treacherous sinkpits in the sand of the wide shoreline that dominate Thomas’ life.

Benjamin Wood has crafted a quietly profound story of the margins, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist , and dreams flicker vividly at the edges of reality.

Read by Richard Fleeshman
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:00 Brian & Roger (m002tgjc)
1. Carla

A new series of the hit podcast specially recorded for Radio 4.

There’s not much that could quell Roger’s positive mood; he’s got a plan for a very special bonding activity with his teenage son Jamie and Brian may be able to help. There’s romance on the cards too but he'll need some dating advice...

Brian & Roger are friends that met at a support group for divorced men.
Both are starting again, both are finding it hard.
One of them is nice.

Written and performed by Harry Peacock and Dan Skinner.
Produced by Joel Morris and Sally Harrison.
Music by Bach, arranged by Hywel Davies.
Hywel Davies (piano), Luke Belcher (bass), Tilly Tremayne (vocals).

Executive Producer: Johnny Vegas
A Woolyback production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:15 Misguided Meditations (m0019z5j)
1. Fluffy Bunny Island

The self-care and mindfulness trend is booming. With the popularity of apps like Calm, Headspace, and Breethe, the well-being meditation genre is ripe for satire. Misguided Meditations is a loving spoof of the popular guided meditation sleep stories.

So breathe in…then breathe out…and enjoy each episode led by our narrator Mina that will take listeners on a delightfully surreal late-night adventure that descends into a total nightmare cringe-fest. A trip to the enchanted forest might result in someone naked in front of their entire class having forgotten their homework. A midnight dip in the mermaid lagoon might be ruined by an encounter with the cursed starfish of procrastination. Oh, and we couldn't miss Fluffy Bunny Island – whose inhabitants ask hard-hitting questions about your life choices.

Written by Joanne Lau.
Starring Mina Anwar.
Produced by Gus Beattie.
A Gusman production for BBC Radio 4


WED 23:30 The Artificial Human (m002qtdy)
AI's Bubble Trouble?

2. What are the consequences of an AI economic crash?

In part two of their exploration of the economics of Ai Aleks and Kevin ask, what are the consequences of the anticipated financial bubble bursting, and would a crash stop there?

There's massive uncertainty over whether the Ai industry can make enough money to warrant the astronomical sums being invested, making 2026 a make-or-break year for the sector in the eyes of many experts. We're joined by Dame Diane Coyle economist at the University of Cambridge to look at how far the blast radius of an Ai crash might reach. Nathanael Benjamin from the Bank of England will explain why they issue a warning over inflated Ai business valuations and explain what the bank are doing to protect the economy from any shocks. And Jerry Kaplan Silicon valley insider and expert on the social and economic impact of Ai shares his experience of booms and busts in the technology industry and his thoughts on who might be left standing should the wheels come off the Ai financial band wagon.

Presenters: Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong
Producer: Peter McManus
Researcher: Elizabeth Ann Duffy
Sound: Steve Greenwood and Sarah Hockley

THURSDAY 02 APRIL 2026

THU 00:00 Midnight News (m002tbqj)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 00:30 The Radio Universe (m002tbp5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Wednesday]


THU 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tbql)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tbqn)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


THU 05:00 News Summary (m002tbqq)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


THU 05:04 Inside Health (m002tbkd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]


THU 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tbqs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


THU 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tbqv)
The washing of feet

Spiritual reflection to start the day in Holy Week with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Good morning.
Once, when I was on a long pilgrimage walk over several weeks, after walking with rain-soaked feet for several days I ended up with terrible blisters. A fellow pilgrim saw my predicament and insisted on tending to my feet. It was a moment of both grace and awkwardness. He soothed my suffering feet with such gentle care. But, as someone so used to tending to others, I found it quite challenging to accept the kindness of this stranger.

A friend once wondered to me what the church might have looked like if, instead of sharing bread and wine at worship, we washed one another’s feet each week. It is what Jesus did for his disciples just before his arrest. He was their leader and teacher, and he stooped down and performed the most menial of tasks.

Jesus constantly turned the tables. He fraternised with the lowly, the poorest and those who suffered and he humbled himself with the friends who looked up to him as their leader. Those with power found that unsettlingly subversive.

People who suffer hardship carry stories that are important to hear. People fleeing from war and persecution warn those of us who live at ease just how cruel and fragile our world can be. Isn’t that why Jesus consistently sought out the poorest and undertook the task of the lowest servant? We deceive ourselves if we imagine that living a life of ease can be taken for granted.

Great Love, your subversive tenderness and care for those on the edge teach us about the wisdom that emerges among those who suffer. In a world harrowed by brutality and suffering, help us towards this wisdom which we still desperately need to learn. Amen.


THU 05:45 Farming Today (m002tbqx)
02/04/26 Ferries and islanders on Barra, rare breed sheep, soil

There’s concern that animal welfare may be at risk on some Scottish islands because of widespread disruption to ferry services. Eight ferries serving islands on the west coast of Scotland were out of service earlier this week. Calmac, Caledonian MacBrayne, the government owned company that runs them, describes the situation as critical with almost every island affected. NFU Scotland says there’s a risk vital supplies like feed and fertiliser won’t arrive on crofts and farms when they are needed most. We take a closer look at how all this is affecting businesses on the Isle of Barra, speaking to a haulier and the managing director of a shellfish company.

There are 60 native breeds of sheep in the UK and DEFRA says 40 of those breeds are officially at risk, with fewer than 6000 breeding ewes according to their newly published ‘UK native breeds support’ list. Farmers who keep rare breed sheep often sell their meat for a premium at farmers markets or in box schemes, but the decline in the number of small abattoirs able to process small batches of carcasses means the numbers just don’t add up for some of those farmers now.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney


THU 06:00 Today (m002tbzd)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


THU 09:00 In Our Time (m002tbzg)
The Spanish-American War 1898

Misha Glenny and guests discuss a turning point in world affairs in 1898 that left Spain greatly reduced as an imperial power and the US the owner of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a significant influence over the newly independent Cuba where the war broke out. The US had been eyeing Cuba for decades, waiting for the right moment and the right kind of action, and in April 1898 intervened in the long-running fighting on the island for independence from Spain. With a much stronger navy it was a very uneven battle and the US soon triumphed over Spanish forces from Manila to Santiago de Cuba. This brief war confirmed the US as a power on the world stage and made a shocked Spain turn inwards to ask what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, people in the Philippines were about to attempt a new and bloody independence fight with the US.

With

Frank Cogliano
Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh

Mary Vincent
Professor of Modern European History at the University of Sheffield

And

Stephen Wilkinson
Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Buckingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Clarendon Press, 1997)

Sebastian Balfour, ‘Riot, Regeneration and Reaction: Spain in the Aftermath of the 1898 Disaster’ (The Historical journal 38.2, 1995)

Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2021)

Greg Grandin, America, América: A New History of the New World (Torva, 2025)

Richard Kluger, Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2007)

Robert W. Merry, President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon & Schuster, 2017)

Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2008)

Louis A. Pérez Jr., Cuba Between Empires, 1878–1902 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983)

John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

Mary Vincent, Spain, 1833-2002: People and State (Oxford University Press, 2007), especially chapter 3

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 (m002tbzj)
That's a Great Question (with Stewart Lee in Laugharne)

Stewart Lee joins Armando at the Millennium Hall in Laugharne.

Is AI too sycophantic? Should we worry about how military-grade AI is being sold in start-up jargon? Let's ask the best AI there is, Armando Iannucci.

In another episode in front of an audience, Armando and Stewart treat us to a dramatic reading of a Chat GPT interaction. We also hear whether the Metaverse is an unwelcome template for AI companies, and why Stewart admires the boffins who make sex robots.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound editing: Chris Maclean
Recorded by Searle Whittney and Dyfan Rose
Production Coordinator: Asha Osborne-Grinter
Executive Producer: James Robinson
Recorded at the Millennium Hall in Laugharne

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


THU 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002tbzl)
Artemis II, Meg Jones, 'Battlefield techniques abuse'

Nasa's Artemis II spacecraft has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and is now orbiting the Earth in the first crewed mission to the Moon in half a century. If all goes well in the next few hours, it will head off to go around the Moon. The mission should take 10 days, with four astronauts on board including one woman. Anita Rani speaks to Sian Cleaver, a spacecraft engineer on Artemis II.

The Women’s Six Nations is just around the corner and after last year’s Rugby World Cup win, the expectations for England’s Red Roses are sky high. Over 70,000 tickets have already been sold for the women's opening game against Ireland on Saturday 11 April, and the team have announced a new captain, Meg Jones. There’s also the release of a new documentary England Meet England on ITV. So, is the team feeling the pressure? Red Roses' new captain Meg Jones joins Anita.

The Ministry of Defence has been accused of failing women who are suffering domestic abuse at the hands of their partners in the forces. A dossier of cases has been compiled by the Survivor Family Network, which supports domestic abuse victims in the family courts. Their investigation alleges that battlefield techniques are being used to inflict violence on wives and girlfriends. And when they try to report it, they say the military closes ranks. Anita talks to the director of the Survivor Family Network, Natalie Page.

Former lawyer turned author Ella King’s new novel, Dear Darling is the story of Lauren, a young teenage girl who has a relationship with a much older man. When she’s an adult and a mother herself, he comes back into her life and Lauren decides to confront him and the harm that he did to her. Ella joins Anita to discuss the novel and how her former work with victims of abuse and domestic violence have informed her research.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rebecca Myatt


THU 11:00 This Cultural Life (m002tbzn)
Don McCullin

Award-winning photographer Sir Don McCullin talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and formative experiences. He started out in the late 1950s documenting the working-class lives in the north London neighbourhood in which he had grown up. Employed by the Observer newspaper, and later the Sunday Times, McCullin photographs captured scenes of struggle, despair and violence. Travelling to the front lines of conflict zones in Cyprus, Beirut, Vietnam, Cambodia, Biafra, Northern Ireland and elsewhere, McCullin earned a hard-won reputation as one of the greatest war photographers of all time. In recent years he has focused his lens on the beauty of the natural world, particularly the landscape around his home in Somerset. His work is held in permanent collections around the world including the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A. He was knighted in 2017 for services to photography.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


THU 11:45 The Radio Universe (m002tbzq)
4. Little Green Men

How to explore space, without leaving earth.

Astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrifying voyage through the cosmos using one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in science: the radio wave. Chapman reveals how these invisible messengers glide through space, bounce off planets, tunnel through clouds and slip past galactic dust - carrying secrets of the universe that no other kind of light can uncover.

Episode Four: Little Green Men

In 1967 Phd Student Jocelyn Bell Burnell detected a mysterious repeating signal. Could it be 'Little Green Men'?

Read by Jasmine Hyde.
Produced and abridged by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:00 News Summary (m002tbzs)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


THU 12:04 Scam Secrets (m002tbzv)
Please Call Me

Scam Secrets is back with a close look at a disturbing and emerging scam technique that can totally clean out its victims.

In a hybrid scam - or pig butchering, as the criminals describe it - the manipulation reaches new levels as investment and romance scams are combined. Shari Vahl, criminal language expert Dr Lis Carter and former fraudster Alex Wood hear from Catherine, whose father was targeted in this way. A chilling voicenote reveals the romantic element to the scam, while a criminal pretending to be an investment adviser was busy stealing more than £200,000 from the 84-year-old.

One of the leading experts on this trend, Dr Martina Dove, tells the team how she's read detailed scripts guiding criminals through how to psychologically manipulate different types of victims to a terrifying level of detail.

Remember if there's a scam you want the team to investigate, or if you want to let us know what you thought of the programme - get in touch at scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk

PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL

PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY


THU 12:32 Sliced Bread (m002tbzx)
Collagen (2026 update)

What's the latest on Collagen?

The new series of Sliced Bread kicks off with an update on one of the wonder products most-requested by listeners. Presenter Greg Foot first looked at Collagen in 2022 and returns to the subject to find out what has changed in the scientific landscape since then. Could there be new evidence that it really can do what the manufacturers claim: rejuvenate skin, nails and hair - and even help with joint and bone health?

To find out, Greg is rejoined by the expert from that original episode four years ago, dermatologist Dr Emma Wedgeworth, alongside Professor Jayne Tierney from University College London who specialises in reviewing evidence.

Together they do a deep-dive on the latest science, including a new study from one of the brands featured in 2022, Absolute Collagen. Does it stand up to scrutiny?

If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.

RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM
PRODUCERS: PHIL SANSOM AND GREG FOOT


THU 12:57 Weather (m002tbzz)
The latest weather forecast


THU 13:00 World at One (m002tc01)
Can Westminster talks help to open up the Strait of Hormuz?

The government aims to show it can co-ordinate action to restart global shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. How likely is it to be successful? We hear the thoughts of Baroness Ashton, special adviser for nuclear talks with Iran, and a former high representative for foreign affairs and security policy for the EU. Evan Davis joins Sarah to discuss whether we are in for a period of low economic growth and high inflation - so-called stagflation. And we hear from a dancer in her seventies who has reformed a dance troupe she belonged to in the 1970s.


THU 13:45 The Shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls (m002tc03)
Episode 4

An infamous wall separated residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford.

In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls.

Finally they were demolished in March 1959... On the fifth birthday of a Cutteslowe resident called Steven Griffiths. “The teacher said today is a big day everyone, and I thought ‘I know, it’s my birthday’”. Steve’s life was shaped by what happened to his family in the months running up to the demolition of the walls. He says that when things were tough, he always had three homes on the estate - his parents, and both grandparents'. Now Steve wants to know what happened to the estate and the houses which gave him his start. "The walls came down, let's keep them down, that's the message..."

Today, Steve's maternal grandparents' house. They were the very first family to move in when the house was built in 1932, and their arrival saw the construction of the walls in the first place. Who lives there today?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore
Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe
Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’


THU 14:00 The Archers (m002tbq1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Wednesday]


THU 14:15 The Citadel (m002tc05)
Series 10

Episode 2

The tenth and final series of The Citadel by Tom Needham based on the book by A J Cronin.

Denny struggling with his health and, worried that he is putting Andrew and Christine under terrible stress, has disappeared. His friends are frantic to find him. They will discover Denny hasn't gone far but can they make him see sense. Denny has turned to someone else for help but will he find the answer he is looking for.

Philip Denny ..... Matthew Gravelle
Andrew Manson ..... Richard Fleeshman
Christine Manson ..... Catrin Stewart
Joseph Hofman ..... Allan Corduner
Maurice Hofman ..... Joe Coen
Eddie ..... Ifan Meredith

Directed by Tracey Neale

This final episode takes us from 1934 through to the Summer of 1946. Philip Denny is in a bad way and turns away from the friends who are desperate to help him. Is it his unrequited love for his partner's wife that is the source of his troubles and can he finally discover whether that love is not unrequited after all. Or is it all just wishful thinking on his part. But there is something else much more troubling for Denny and Manson is determined to unlock the mystery, all the while continuing to battle for the formation of a National Health Service. Andrew has his own dilemma to face. A decision he must make about their patient, Joseph.

Writer - Tom Needham
Producer & Director - Tracey Neale
Technical Team - Keith Graham and Sam Dickinson
Production Co-Ordinator - Ben Hollands

A BBC Studios Production


THU 15:00 Open Country (m002tc07)
In Celebration of the Daffodil

Thriplow Daffodil Weekend in Cambridgeshire started as a way of raising money for a church roof in 1968. Nearly sixty years later, it is thriving. More than 40,000 bulbs are planted each year to create the incredible displays and a small village of just 250 residents welcomes more than 10,000 visitors over the weekend. Martha Kearney joins them to discover what’s involved, meeting the organiser Paul Earnshaw and ‘daffodil Tom’ who spends his winter planting the bulbs.

Daffodils are ubiquitous in spring in Britain. We see them on vergesides and gardens across the country, but the flower is not native to the UK. Martha visits Cambridge Botanic Garden to find out more about the history and use of the humble daff. There are around 30,000 varieties of daffodil, or narcissus, grown - but some varieties are extremely rare. The Royal Horticultural Society is asking gardeners to log any pink blooms, to find out how many are left.

Celebrated in literature and used for centuries in medicine, there is much more to the daffodil - as Martha finds out on her travels in Cambridgeshire.

Producer: Helen Lennard


THU 15:27 Radio 4 Appeal (m002tc09)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 on Sunday]


THU 15:30 Feedback (m002tc0c)
News coverage of Iran, Woman's Hour Follow Up, and Miss Marple

Since the conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran began at the end of February. Feedback has received a steady stream of comments from listeners about the tone of the BBC's coverage. We've also been discussing news avoidance from people who are starting to turn off the radio because of a prevalence of negative headlines. Andrea Catherwood takes a look inside the newsroom with the BBC's Director of News Content Richard Burgess.

We've also received many comments in response to our piece last week about a recent episode of Woman's Hour, with listeners offering a different perspective to those broadcast previously.

And it's the case of the missing radio programmes - some keen-eyed BBC Radio 4 Extra fans noticed that particular episodes of Miss Marple were mysteriously absent from BBC Sounds recently. We set out to crack the case.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood
Producer: Pauline Moore
Assistant Producer: Rebecca Guthrie
Executive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


THU 16:00 The Briefing Room (m002tc0f)
What's happened to the Gaza peace plan?

The world’s attention is currently fixed on the US-Israel war with Iran and the effect it’s having on the Gulf region and global energy prices. But it was only six months ago that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed and President Trump launched his 20-point peace plan. Since then we’ve heard little about progress beyond the return of Israeli hostages - the first phase of the plan. David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss what's happening to the citizens of Gaza and what has to happen next if the peace plan is to be followed through.

Guests:

Rushdi Abu Alouf, BBC Gaza Correspondent
Anshel Pfeffer, Israel Correspondent, The Economist
Tahani Mustafa, Lecturer in International Relations, Deptartment of War Studies, King's College, London
Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound Engineers: James Beard and Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon


THU 16:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct977d)
Responding to your science questions

This week, we’re letting you run the airwaves. Victoria Gill puts your science questions to Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, and Penny Sarchet, Managing editor of New Scientist.

If you’ve ever wondered why men have nipples, how gravity slingshots work, or whether photosynthesis could solve our energy problems, that’s all on this week’s BBC Inside Science.

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Ella Hubber & Debbie Kilbride
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


THU 17:00 PM (m002tc0k)
Yvette Cooper leads talks on Hormuz

We are joined by the former ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Hopton, as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper meets with representatives from 40 nations to discuss a pathway toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz. We also hear testimony from ordinary Iranians suffering under wartime conditions. Also on the programme, ahead of the arrival of Storm Dave, we tell you everything you need to know for your Bank Holiday travels. And we reminisce about the 1969 moon landing as the Artemis II mission begins its journey.


THU 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tc0m)
A funeral director pleads guilty to preventing the burial of bodies

A former funeral director in Hull has pleaded guilty to 30 counts of preventing a lawful and decent burial, after police found dozens of bodies stored in an unrefrigerated warehouse. Also: Reform UK’s housing spokesman has been sacked because of comments he made about the Grenfell Tower fire. And the BBC's science team watches the Artemis Mission set off on its journey around the Moon.


THU 18:30 The Matt Forde Focus Group (m002tc0p)
Series 2

4. The Politics of Utopia

We like to think politics is about pragmatism. But what if it's always really been about utopia? Top political comedian Matt Forde convenes his Focus Group in front of a live theatre audience with a sharp and varied panel — journalist and broadcaster Jo Coburn, former Cabinet minister Michael Gove and comedian Ahir Shah - to ask whether the dream of a perfect society is the secret engine of political life.

From new towns built from scratch with names designed to start arguments, to a Home Secretary who wants the eyes of the state on every citizen at all times, and why we're still working five days a week when Keynes promised us we'd be living a life of leisure and writing poetry by now — this is an episode about vision and ambition, and the considerable gap between the two.

Written and presented by Matt Forde
With additional Material from Karl Minns, Ruth Husko and Richard Garvin
Produced by Richard Garvin
Sound Design and Edit: David Thomas
Executive Producers: Jon Thoday and Richard Allen Turner
An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4


THU 19:00 The Archers (m002tbtm)
Oliver’s grateful to Miranda for her recent help with his near-miss with Duke. Miranda’s sorry for appearing so glum when they chatted afterwards, and gives Oliver the whole story about Brian. Oliver’s horrified to learn how Brian suddenly went back on their plans to move in together. They discuss Jennifer, and Oliver comments on Brian’s past ‘indiscretions’. Miranda seizes on this – she knows about Siobhan, but who else? When pushed, Oliver mentions Brian and Caroline. He regrets his words and tries to get Miranda to give Brian the benefit of the doubt. They discuss Caroline, with Oliver sharing that he normally raises a glass to his late wife on her birthday, which would be tomorrow. Miranda offers to join him and he warmly accepts.

Stella struggles gathering Rosie’s things for school, as she tries to help Pip, who’s heading to see Azra this morning. Azra asks standard questions and Pip tells her Ruth had cancer at about Pip’s age. Azra examines Pip and finds a small lump – she doesn’t think it’s anything to worry about but refers Pip to the breast clinic. She explains what will happen. Azra encourages Pip not to worry, and is keen to check she has someone to chat with over a cup of tea. Azra suggests it would be worth telling Ruth. Pip says she’ll think about it. Stella phones to check in and agrees with Azra about telling Ruth, who might be sad to be left in the dark. Pip worries it might stir things up for her mum, but agrees to consider it.


THU 19:15 Front Row (m002tc0r)
Review: The Drama starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Tim Robey and Nancy Durrant to review:

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya's new film The Drama about a young couple in the lead up to their wedding.

Life of Pi author Yann Martel's novel Son of Nobody about a newly discovered classic text with the story partly told in footnotes.

And from the creator of Mum and Him and Her, Stefan Golaszewski's new BBC drama series Babies which follows one couple's experience of pregnancy loss.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Lucy Collingwood


THU 20:00 When It Hits the Fan (m002v80g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Wednesday]


THU 20:15 The Media Show (m002tbps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:15 on Wednesday]


THU 21:00 Loose Ends (m002tbd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:15 on Saturday]


THU 21:45 Strong Message Here (m002tbzj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


THU 22:00 The World Tonight (m002tc0t)
Trump sacks US Attorney General Pam Bondi

President Trump has sacked Pam Bondi as the US Attorney General. Bondi has been criticised for her handling of the files related to the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. We speak to Gloria Allred, a well know human rights lawyer who represents many of Epstein's accusers.

Also in the programme: is it time to rethink the pensions triple lock? We speak to Lord Willetts who was in former Prime Minister David Cameron's cabinet when the policy was introduced in 2010; and the 91-year-old lollipop man retiring after nearly 3 decades on the job.


THU 22:45 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (m002tc0w)
Episode 4

Described by 2025 Booker judges as, "A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story."

The Lancashire coast, the early 1960s. On the day that we meet Thomas Flett as he goes about his daily drudgery, out of the rain-soaked mist the new world comes to him – Edgar Acheson, a Hollywood director, spies him out in the bay with his horse and cart and tracks him down as he returns home from a frustrating few hours shanking for shrimps.

The American wants Thomas’ skills and knowledge of the bay in the fictional town of Longferry which is a location he has scouted for his next film. Over the next 48 hours we become intensely involved in this collision of the two worlds.

Thomas has very few people in his life – both his father and grandfather are dead. The first disappeared to join the army around the time he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and his grandfather, Pop. Friendships at school were difficult as nothing confers outsider status more than being the child of a vanished father and a teenaged unmarried mother in the 1940s. So Acheson’s charismatic presence and warmly open manner strikes a chord with this lonely young man.

The narrative unfurls with the daily tides, which ebb and flow around the twice daily low water - early in the morning and again in the evening. It is the sea and the treacherous sinkpits in the sand of the wide shoreline that dominate Thomas’ life.

Benjamin Wood has crafted a quietly profound story of the margins, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist , and dreams flicker vividly at the edges of reality.

Read by Richard Fleeshman
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4

Music - The Jolly Waggoner (Traditional folk song) Performed by Richard Fleeshman


THU 23:00 Radical with Amol Rajan (m002tc0y)
Rethinking Democracy: Would Citizens Do a Better Job than Politicians? (Hélène Landemore)

In this week’s episode, Amol sits down with Yale political theorist and author of ‘Politics Without Politicians’, Professor Hélène Landemore, to discuss her argument to revive citizen‑led governance. She explains why she believes our current electoral systems fall short of representing the full diversity of the population and lays out a practical roadmap for what she calls an “open democracy.”

Hélène also addresses the most common critiques of her approach and highlights real-world examples of citizen assemblies – how would they work at scale? Who would (and wouldn’t) be allowed on them? And what if people simply aren’t interested?

GET IN TOUCH

* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk

Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and Monday. Previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan

Amol Rajan is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.

Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis Vickers, Anna Budd and Rufus Gray. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Mike Regaard. The editor is Sam Bonham.


THU 23:30 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

FRIDAY 03 APRIL 2026

FRI 00:00 Midnight News (m002tc10)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 00:30 The Radio Universe (m002tbzq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Thursday]


FRI 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m002tc12)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m002tc14)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


FRI 05:00 News Summary (m002tc16)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


FRI 05:04 The Briefing Room (m002tc0f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Thursday]


FRI 05:34 Shipping Forecast (m002tc18)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping.


FRI 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m002tc1b)
The weight of human existence

Spiritual reflection for Good Friday with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Good morning.
The most moving sculpture I have seen is in the Vatican in Rome, The Pietà. It is a depiction of Mary, Jesus’s mother whom the accounts tell us witnessed the crucifixion of her son. In Michelangelo’s sculpture she is depicted cradling his dead body in her arms. It is a depiction of profound sorrow, down to the depths of loss, and it is almost impossible not to feel moved.

There is a question I once read asking, ‘what would you see if you saw the face of God?’ And the answer was, ‘You would see a face half ruined by suffering and fierce with joy’.

Mysteriously, that sculpture of Mary’s sorrow cradling in her arms the child she once bore speaks profoundly of the many tragic moments that living a fully human life brings about.

This Holy Week for Christians is not a fingers-crossed hope against hope that all will turn out well. For many in our world that simply does not happen. It’s an opportunity to reflect on how we can begin to bear the weight of human existence when things do not go as we had hoped or planned.

This is an emotional week in which the narrative about Jesus played out in Jerusalem all those years ago enables us to read the story of human life with its tragedy, betrayal and brutality and know that suffering may not completely ruin us but instead has the potential to illuminate the costliness of what it means to grow into our full humanity.

Gracious God, each one of us carries the marks of life upon us. Lines of laughter mix with stories of loss and suffering etched upon us. As we reflect on the suffering of Good Friday, help us to discover that you turn ‘laments and curses into hymns’, heralding the new. Amen.


FRI 05:45 Farming Today (m002tc1d)
03/04/26 "Muddy Fingers" McGurn

Farmer Roger Corrigan is a born storyteller. Now in his 80s, he has spent all his life farming in Fermanagh and is full of tales about the changes he's seen and the characters, history and folklore of the area.

Roger keeps cattle and sheep on his 460 acre farm in west Fermanagh and is a keen supporter of environmentally friendly farming. So, when he was invited to take part in a project which paired artists and farmers together to highlight farming and environmental issues, he was happy to work with one of his neighbours, potter Anna McGurn.

Anna McGurn is a self taught potter who is passionate about working with local clay, so much so that she calls herself, 'Muddy Fingers McGurn'. "It's wonderful stuff, pliable and easy to work with and I love the fact that I'm shaping pieces about this land, from the very land itself," she says.

Roger is not so keen on the clay. He says the plentiful, dark seams which run through County Fermangh's lakeland are the bane of every farmers life; thick and almost impossible to do anything with, particularly in wet weather.

Anna and Roger's work is nearing completion and will be displayed in an exhibition alongside other farming/art collaborations later this year.
Five farms in Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Leitrim in the Irish Republic are taking part in the scheme which is funded by the Creative Ireland Shared Island Programme and sponsored by the Ulster Wildlife Trust and the Leitrim Sustainable Agriculture Council.

Produced and presented by Kathleen Carragher.


FRI 06:00 Today (m002tbsz)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


FRI 09:00 Desert Island Discs (m002tbt1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]


FRI 10:00 Woman's Hour (m002tbt3)
Childhood epilepsy, Pre-loved fashion, Mary Magdalene music

Childhood epilepsy, medical treatment, and the power of a mother and son working together. Filmmaker Emma Matthews and her son Louis Petit have created a new film, along with his father Chris Petit. D is for Distance focuses on Louis’s own experience of severe, drug‑resistant epilepsy. He suffered hundreds of seizures, frightening drug withdrawals and years of uncertainty — until they travelled to the Netherlands to get medical cannabis. Their film opens today at the British Film Institute in London. Emma and Louis join Anita Rani, along with Professor Finbar O'Callaghan from the Epilepsy Research Institute.

The sale of second hand clothing is forecast to rise this year to £217bn globally. Here in the UK it's estimated the market has grown to more than £7bn, and nearly one in four fashion transactions. So why are women turning to resale sites like Vinted and Depop? Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle, founder of Insight With Passion, tells us where this growth is coming from and discusses future trends.

Composer Tansy Davies tells Anita about The Passion of Mary Magdelene, which has just premiered at The Barbican in London and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 4 April at 10.30pm. The piece tells the story of the crucifixion through Jesus’s most important female follower and the first person to witness the resurrection. Tansy talks about why she wanted to focus on Mary and examines the conflicting views about Mary Magdalene.

In her new book Herlands, BBC global reporter Megha Mohan explores the history of women-led communities both physically and virtually, from co-housing for older women in Paris to the controversial feminist online trolls of South Korea. Megha travelled around the globe to hear from the women who created and care for these communities, which offer refuge, resilience, and connection to the land.

Producer: Melanie Abbott
Editor: Sarah Crawley


FRI 11:00 The Food Programme (m002tbt5)
Generation Z

Generation Z, young adults aged roughly 18 to 30, are coming of age in a world defined by uncertainty. With difficult job and housing markets many are experiencing prolonged adolescence, often living with parents far longer than previous generations. At the same time, they are the first true digital natives: a generation growing up with the internet as a central part of their lives.

In this programme, Jaega Wise explores how these seismic social and economic shifts are reshaping the way young people eat and think about food. She speaks with author Chloe Combi about the cultural forces that are driving Gen Z’s evolving food identities. She also meets Sumayah Kazi, the youngest-ever Bake Off contestant, to talk about how social media is effecting how young people cook and eat. BBC reporter Emse Winterbotham lives at in her family home in London. She finds out more about the practicalities of living and eating with your mum and dad when you are an adult. Jaega also travels to Stourbridge to meet Will Griffin and his dad steve to talk more about how the generations are sharing the kitchen.

Presenter: Jaega Wise
Producer: Sam Grist


FRI 11:45 The Radio Universe (m002tbt7)
5. The Dark Side of the Moon

How to explore space, without leaving earth.

Astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrifying voyage through the cosmos using one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, tools in science: the radio wave. Chapman reveals how these invisible messengers glide through space, bounce off planets, tunnel through clouds and slip past galactic dust - carrying secrets of the universe that no other kind of light can uncover.

Episode Five: The Dark Side of the Moon
From the ruins of Arecibo to the silent far side of the Moon, as Earth grows noisier, radio astronomers consider relocating.

Read by Jasmine Hyde.
Produced and abridged by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:00 News Summary (m002tbt9)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


FRI 12:04 Rare Earth (m002tbtc)
The Joy of Soil

Beneath our feet is a world wide web that keeps us all alive. Estimated to be the origin of about 97% of the calories we eat, soil is fundamental to life. But it's a whole living world of its own. A biological engine, a carbon sink, and home to an abundance of bacteria, insects and worms. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski find out how soil is made, how it's faring in a world of intensive farming and how to get it back to full health.

Joining Tom and Helen to dig into the hidden drama of soil are:

Jack Hannam, Professor of Sustainable Agriculture & Biodiversity at the University of Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute
Duncan Farrington MBE, farmer and founder of Farrington Oils
Simon Jeffery, Professor of Soil Ecology at Harper Adams University
Dr Rachel Cassidy, lead scientist on Northern Ireland's Soil Nutrient Health Scheme.
Andrew Baker, Soil Acoustics.

Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton

Assistant Producers: Rebecca Rooney and Toby Field

Rare Earth is produced in association with the Open University.


FRI 12:57 Weather (m002tbtf)
The latest weather forecast


FRI 13:00 World at One (m002tbth)
President Trump threatens further strikes on Iranian infrastructure

US President warns the government in Tehran they know what needs to be done "fast". Air Marshal Edward Stringer explains how militaries choose their targets, and an American lawyer explains why he thinks war crimes are being committed. Also on The World at One, we hear from a teacher forced to leave the profession after balancing work and parenting became impossible, and the head of roads policy at the AA will explain sky-rocketing diesel prices.


FRI 13:45 The Shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls (m002tbtk)
Episode 5

An infamous wall separated residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford.

In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls.

Finally they were demolished in March 1959... On the fifth birthday of a Cutteslowe resident called Steven Griffiths. “The teacher said today is a big day everyone, and I thought ‘I know, it’s my birthday’”. Steve’s life was shaped by what happened to his family in the months running up to the demolition of the walls. Steve wants to know what happened to the estate which gave him his start. "The walls came down, let's keep them down, that's the message..."

Today, Steve returns to the estate, and to the school, to recount the day the walls fell. What happened when the children finally got to discover the houses on the other side of the walls?

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore
Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe
Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’

With thanks to Cutteslowe Primary School and headteacher Gillian McDermott, Stephanie Jankovic and Cutteslowe Community Centre, Rev Tom Murray, and everyone at the Cutteslowe Community Larder.


FRI 14:00 The Archers (m002tbtm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Thursday]


FRI 14:15 Limelight (m001wjck)
Sabine

Episode 1

When Sabine’s body is found beneath the cliffs in an apparent suicide, her sister Elly is convinced she was murdered. Elly's hunt for the killer takes her deep into the secret life her sister kept hidden.

Elly has gone to Brighton to pack up her sister’s university room and wait for the results of the post-mortem. But things aren’t quite adding up, and Elly soon starts to unearth the secrets that Sabine was keeping from her.

Sabine is a new five-part murder mystery by Mark Healy.

CAST
Elly ..... Sorcha Groundsell
Sabine ..... Freya Mavor
Mia ..... Aisling Loftus
Gabe ..... Tommy Sim’aan
Daniel ..... Ivanno Jeremiah
Sullivan ..... John Lightbody
Poppy ..... Juliana Lisk
Elly’s Mum ..... Jessica Turner

Written by Mark Healy
Directed by Anne Isger
Sound by Keith Graham, Ali Craig and Pete Ringrose
Production Co-ordination by Gaelan Davis-Connolly

Sabine is a BBC Audio Production for Radio 4


FRI 14:45 Life Without (m002tbtp)
Life Without Sleep

We all know the importance of sleep, but what happens if we literally can’t? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies breaks down how long a world full of sleepy people could function.

From memory loss to hallucinations, sleep is keeping all our brains working and our bodies functioning. Without it, we would surely die, but what might happen before we do and has tech found solutions to life without sleep?

This episode features Derk-Jan Dijk a expert in sleep and Professor at the University of Surrey, and Dr Sophie Bostock an educator dedicated to the science of sleep and performance.

An ITN production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 15:00 Good Friday Meditation - Notes on an Execution (m002tbtr)
"Bad news comes in the night, by torchlight and with a kiss."

Award-winning novelist and screenwriter, Rhidian Brook, treads in the footsteps of Jesus' followers as they come face to face with the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus.

He speaks with Bishop Richard Harries about the place of the crucifixion in the modern world and how it has inspired him throughout his life in politics and the arts. With Jackie Pullinger, he talks about her work with drug addicts, prostitutes and gang members within the Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong, and how the events of Holy Week inspired her to go where few dared.

Extracts from "Notes on an Execution" by Rhidian Brook, serve as a guide through the Good Friday narrative and are read by actor, Daniel Millar.

Producer: Katharine Longworth


FRI 15:30 Café Hope (m002pq0p)
Pet Blood Bank

Lara Howe, from the Pet Blood Bank, tells Rachel Burden how dogs are helping to save the lives of their fellow canines by donating blood. The charity runs donation sessions across the country and the blood is stored at a processing centre, separated into different products and distributed to vets when required.

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

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

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

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Editor Clare Fordham


FRI 15:45 Short Works (m002tf8m)
Union Jacq by Bita Taghavi

‘Sometimes it feels like nothing changes, doesn't it? Like every day’s the same. And then one day you wake up and you can’t recognise a thing. Not even yourself.’

Jacqui’s lived in the same Southwest town all her life. She thought that she knew her neighbours, she thought that she knew herself. Turns out she was wrong.

A new story about self-discovery, courage and hope.

Written and read by Bita Taghavi
Produced by Alison Crawford

Bita Taghavi is a writer and actor based in Bristol. She's originally from Newcastle and this is her second piece for Short Works.


FRI 16:00 Last Word (m002tn1t)
Robert Fox, Mary Rand MBE, Sir Tony Hoare, Biruté Galdikas

John Wilson on

Robert Fox the producer who had a career that spanned theatre, film and television. We have tributes from Colin Firth, Rupert Everett and Robert’s brother, the actor Edward Fox.

Mary Rand MBE, the first British woman to win an Olympic athletics gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Sir Tony Hoare, one of the world’s leading computer software designers who developed algorithms and languages which have become industry standards.

Biruté Galdikas, the primatologist and conservationist whose years of studying orangutans in their natural habitat helped understand and protect the primates.

Interviewee: Edward Fox
Interviewee: Rupert Everett
Interviewee: Colin Firth
Interviewee: Wendy Sly
Interviewee: Professor Bill Roscoe
Interviewee: Professor Erin Vogel

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies
Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Glyn Tansley

Archive used: Another Country movie promo, Another Country Trailer, 1984, director Marek Kanievska, writer Julian Mitchell, Goldcrest Films International,, YouTube Uploaded by Sundance Now, 04/10/2017; Another Country, Queen’s Theatre, directed by Stuart Burge, written by Julian Mitchell, 1982, broadcast on Newsnight, BBC Two, 02/03/1982; Mary Rand at the 1964 Olympics, BBC Sound Archive, commentary by David Coleman, 1964 Tokyo Olympics, 14/01/1964; An Interview with Tony Hoare, ACM 1980 A.M. Turing Award Recipient, Interviewer: Cliff Jones, Newcastle University, 24/11/2015, uploaded to Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) YouTube channel on 25/10/2016; Biruté Galdikas interview, Good Morning, BBC One, 15/02/1995; Biruté Galdikas, Great Apes Documentary, BBC Two, 29/02/1976; Biruté Galdikas interview, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, 16/02/1995;


FRI 16:30 Life Changing (m002tbnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]


FRI 17:00 PM (m002tbtt)
One crew member rescued as US jet is downed over Iran

A search mission is under way as Iran claims to have shot down an American aircraft. We'll discuss what's involved in combat rescue operations and speak to Ambassador John Bolton, a former National Security Advisor to President Trump. Also on the programme, could the government be on the verge of approving more drilling in the North Sea? We'll have a briefing. And, is it easier to get to the Moon than Milton Keynes? We'll bring you an update on Artemis AND your Easter travel.


FRI 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m002tbtw)
Reports say a US fighter jet has come down over Iran

US media are reporting that one crew member from an American fighter jet downed in Iran has been rescued. Also: Executives at Marks and Spencer have called on the Government and local mayors to do more about retail crime. And the astronauts on NASA's Artemis lunar mission have described the spectacular experience of looking back at Earth after leaving orbit.


FRI 18:30 The Naked Week (m002tbty)
Series 4

Jesus Christ Superstarmer, and Dark Satanic Mills

The team pile in on Mills and the Moon. (Mills and Moon sounds like a series of romantic novels. Just to manage your expectations, that's not where we're going with this). Also, just in time for Easter, the world premiere of Jesus Christ Superstarmer.

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes The Naked Week; a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at.

With award-winning writers and a crack team of contemporary satirists - and recorded in front of a live audience - The Naked Week delivers a topical news-nude straight to your ears.

Written by:
Jon Holmes
Katie Sayer
Gareth Ceredig
James Kettle
Jason Hazeley

Additional Material:
Karl Minns
Helen Brooks
Sophie Dickson
Molly Punshon
Cooper Mahwinny Sweryt
Joe Topping
Kevin Smith

Investigation team:
Cat Neilan
Becky Pinnington
Emily Channon

Guests: Rosie Holt, Space Lawyer Heather Allansdottir.

Production Team: Tony Churnside, Jerry Peal, David Riffkin.

Production Coordinator: Molly Punshon
Assistant Producer: Katie Sayer
Executive Producer: Philip Abrams

Produced and Directed by Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 19:00 The Archers (m002tbv1)
Robert’s weary with Easter Promises volunteering, while Lynda complains about criticism of her over the pub cricket team. Robert confesses he has spoken with Oliver and sorted access for them to the cricket ground. Lynda accuses Robert of being part of the ‘mutiny’ against her, but softens when he flatters her. She concludes that she’s happy to pass the baton onto Robert, while he insists that he will still need her help.

Miranda joins Oliver for lunch at The Bull, where Lilian gets drawn in to their discussion about Brian and defends his actions. Brian then arrives and makes things awkward, pushing to have a private moment with Miranda, but she resists. Oliver criticises Brian, revealing he knows about his recent actions towards Miranda. Brian becomes petulant before agreeing to leave, with Miranda’s assurance that she’ll contact him when she’s ready to talk.

Lilian asks Brian why he got cold feet over the move, wondering why his concern over Ruairi is enough to end a relationship. Brian admits he doesn’t want to lose Miranda and Lilian urges him to tell Miranda the truth. They’re interrupted by Lynda and Robert, with Lynda surprising Lilian by talking about the need to sort out the new logo and kit for the cricket team. Lilian wonders where Lynda’s change of heart has come from.

Brian catches Miranda outside the pub and pleads with her – he wants them to be together. But when Miranda presses him on moving in with her, Brian maintains it’s complicated. Miranda then declares she’s heard enough – it’s over.


FRI 19:15 Screenshot (m002tbv5)
Fishing

Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode swap film reels for fishing reels, to ponder why fishing onscreen has got us hooked. The net is cast wide to consider everything from industrial scale fleets showcased in films like The Perfect Storm and long running series, Deadliest Catch, to more leisurely endeavours like The River Runs Through It, and the BBC’s Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing.

With guests, Mark Jenkin, John Lurie and Gagga Jónsdóttir.

Mark speaks to Cornish film director Mark Jenkin about why fishing has continued to have such a strong presence in his films, and how the industry has often been romanticised onscreen. Jenkins 2019 feature debut Bait dramatised clashes between tourists and locals in a once flourishing fishing village, and in his newest film, Rose of Nevada, a fishing vessel lost for 30 years mysteriously reappears in a derelict harbour.

The actor, painter and frequent Jim Jarmusch collaborator, John Lurie, shares with Ellen how his 90s cult TV show, Fishing With John, hauled away the conventions of late night cable fishing shows, and what it was like onboard with the actors, Dennis Hopper and Willem Defoe.

Ellen also talks to the Icelandic writer-director, Gagga Jónsdóttir, about her documentary, Strengur, and some of her unexpected cinematic sources of inspiration. The film follows the journey of four teenage girls challenging traditional gender roles on the River Laxá, as seventh generation angling guides.

Producer: Mae-Li Evans
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 20:00 Any Questions? (m002tbv9)
Lord Falconer, Heledd Fychan MS, Ben Maguire MP, Dame Penny Mordaunt

James Cook presents political debate from Stanley Arts in Croydon, south London with the Labour peer Lord Falconer; Plaid Cymru spokesperson for finance, Welsh language and culture Heledd Fychan MS; Liberal Democrat shadow attorney general Ben Maguire MP; and former Conservative cabinet minister Dame Penny Mordaunt.

Producer: Paul Martin
Assistant producer: Lowri Morgan
Production coordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Lead broadcast engineer: Mark MacDonald
Editor: Glyn Tansley


FRI 20:55 This Week in History (m002tbp3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:40 on Wednesday]


FRI 21:00 Archive on 4 (m001thnp)
Jim Kerr on Jim Morrison

Jim Kerr, lead singer of the Scottish band Simple Minds, on the importance and influence of The Doors’ Jim Morrison - marking what would have been the iconic rock stars 80th birthday.

Making a pilgrimage to Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris where Morrison was buried shortly after his untimely death in July 1971, Jim describes the enormous impact Morrison has had on his life, from the very first time he heard The Doors' Riders on the Storm on his father’s car radio as an 11-year-old, and the immediate fascination with all aspects of Morrison’s poetry and The Doors' music that continues undimmed more than 50 years later.

Deeply affected by the intoxicating and menacing atmosphere of The Doors' music, the teenage Jim Kerr set out on a mission to find out as much as he could about the enigmatic Californian counter-cultural icons and soon discovered a small group of like minded Glaswegians, including his school friend Charlie Burchill, all of whom were fascinated by the dark drama of Morrison and his band.

The more they leaned about The Doors and their influences, the more Jim and Charlie were determined to follow The Doors' blueprint and form their own band to see how far their artistic visions could take them.

When Jim first visited Morrison’s grave in 1979, he viewed the rock legend as a young man, who had lived a dynamic, exotic life. Now, returning as a 65-year-old, Jim has a different perspective on what he views as a young man’s legacy, which he examines through the prism of his own poetry and music, featuring previously unheard Morrison poetry, studio out takes and archive interviews with the self-proclaimed Lizard King.

A Lonesome Pine production for BBC Radio 4


FRI 22:00 The World Tonight (m002tbvf)
US fighter jet shot down over Iran

One crew member has been rescued and one is still missing after a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran. A search aircraft sent to retrieve the pilot also came under fire. A personnel recovery specialist tells the World Tonight how the US will attempt to carry out a rescue.

Also on the programme, as hereditary peers prepare to depart the House of Lords for good, Shaun Ley visits one for whom centuries of family history will be brought to an end; we hear about two lost Dr Who episodes left undiscovered since 1965; and Oxford's real life Riot Women get back together to play their indie music again nearly 30 years after splitting up.


FRI 22:45 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (m002tbvk)
Episode 5

Described by 2025 Booker judges as, "A book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of realism, and - stunningly - a love story."

The Lancashire coast, the early 1960s. On the day that we meet Thomas Flett as he goes about his daily drudgery, out of the rain-soaked mist the new world comes to him – Edgar Acheson, a Hollywood director, spies him out in the bay with his horse and cart and tracks him down as he returns home from a frustrating few hours shanking for shrimps.

The American wants Thomas’ skills and knowledge of the bay in the fictional town of Longferry which is a location he has scouted for his next film. Over the next 48 hours we become intensely involved in this collision of the two worlds.

Thomas has very few people in his life – both his father and grandfather are dead. The first disappeared to join the army around the time he was born, and he was brought up by his mother and his grandfather, Pop. Friendships at school were difficult as nothing confers outsider status more than being the child of a vanished father and a teenaged unmarried mother in the 1940s. So Acheson’s charismatic presence and warmly open manner strikes a chord with this lonely young man.

The narrative unfurls with the daily tides, which ebb and flow around the twice daily low water - early in the morning and again in the evening. It is the sea and the treacherous sinkpits in the sand of the wide shoreline that dominate Thomas’ life.

Benjamin Wood has crafted a quietly profound story of the margins, a place where the ordinary and the extraordinary can co-exist , and dreams flicker vividly at the edges of reality.

Read by Richard Fleeshman
Abridged and produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4

Music - The Jolly Waggoner (Traditional folk song) Performed by Richard Fleeshman


FRI 23:00 Americast (w3ct8lyw)
Are the Democrats ready to win back Congress?

Excitement has been building among some Democrats after the party won a special election in Florida last week in a district that includes Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach. This win, along with several others recently, suggests the party may have the momentum heading into November’s midterm elections, when they’ll be looking to reclaim control of the House, and possibly even the Senate. Despite the optimism, some Democrats are cautious about the party’s progress as frustration builds over internal divisions within the party.

In today’s episode, Justin and Sumi sit down with key Democratic advisor Jim Messina, who was deputy chief of staff to Barack Obama and the mastermind behind his successful 2012 presidential campaign. He gives his thoughts on how the party needs to approach the midterm elections and the main contenders to take over leadership of the party.

HOSTS:
* Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
* Sumi Somaskanda, BBC chief presenter

GUEST:
* Jim Messina, former deputy chief of staff to Barack Obama

GET IN TOUCH:
* Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
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* Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
* Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Emma Close with Alix Pickles and led by George Dabby. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

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Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

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FRI 23:30 BBC Inside Science (w3ct977d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Thursday]