SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2014

SAT 00:00 Ian Rankin - Beggars Banquet (b00mw69h)
The Hanged Man
The sinister workings of a serial killer's mind are exposed when a fair arrives in Kirkcaldy. Read by Steven McNicoll.
SAT 00:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zft89)
Women
Winston Churchill was revered by millions as the saviour of Britain in the Second World War, but he wasn't just a great war leader - he wrote millions of words of journalism, he painted, he built brick walls, he owned racehorses, he gambled in Monte Carlo casinos and even wrote screenplays. Yet his personality was mercurial; bouts of hyper-activity were interspersed with black days of depression. While he had a loving marriage, he spent long periods apart from his wife and children, some of whom caused him deep anxiety and distress.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death, celebrated historian Sir David Cannadine, author of In Churchill's Shadow, examines the life and career of Winston Churchill by looking at ten different themes that are less well known, but which are crucial to a fuller understanding of one of the most extraordinary individuals ever to occupy No. 10 Downing Street.
Winston Churchill never knew the names of his secretaries - calling 'get me a miss' when he needed to give dictation. Yet such was his charm that women fell in love with him over the dinner table. How much was he interested in women - or sex? Today, Sir David Cannadine explores Churchill's attitude to women, his relationship with his nanny Mrs. Everest and with the other central woman in his life, his wife Clementine.
Featuring Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:30 15 Minute Drama (b009xysg)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 5
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
5/10. Muriel and her mother visit Scarborough during the War but the Germans are shelling the town. A visit from Godfrey Neale changes the course of Muriel's life.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Directed by Pauline Harris.
SAT 00:45 Hilary Spurling - Matisse the Master (b0076r51)
Episode 5
Post-1945, Matisse applies his extraordinary scissor and paper technique to the design of the interior of the chapel at Vence. Concluded by Eleanor Bron.
SAT 01:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00k3x21)
Series 2
Episode 1
John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three distinguished guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary museum.
John and Sean's guests are Brian Eno, Chris Donald and Dave Gorman.
SAT 01:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp11)
Series 1
Les Dawson
"Hardship? He knew all about it..."
Mark Radcliffe profiles the career of the Mancunian wordsmith who started out playing piano in a Parisian brothel - and went on to become one of this country's most popular comedians.
Featuring Roy Barraclough.
A six-part series exploring the tradition of the northern comedian.
Producer: Bernadette McConnell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
SAT 02:00 Monsieur Pamplemousse Investigates (b007jtfx)
The Final Print-Out
The trail leads Pamplemousse and his trusty hound to Père Lachaise Cemetery before a final watery showdown.
Starring Gordon Kaye as the retired policeman living in Paris, now making a living as an inspector for the prestigious restaurant rating directory 'Le Guide'. His long-suffering wife is Doucette (Shirley Dixon) and his ever-constant bloodhound companion is Pommes Frites (Trevor Martin).
Pamplemousse travels around France sampling fine cuisine and wines at gourmet restaurants, while managing to stumble into a series of mysteries. The character was first created in a series of novels featuring comedy, crime and cuisine by Michael Bond. Adapted for radio by Alick Rowe.
A Mentorn Radio production first heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SAT 02:30 Mannequins (b0075zhk)
Glamorous, influential, spooky and silent ... they haunt the high streets.
Sue Limb uncovers the secret world of the Mannequin, hearing about their early history, their changing shapes and styles as she goes up to her arm pits in clay, glass fibre and papier mache, as the latest designs roll out of the factories.
Contributors:
Mary Quant
Michael Southgate
Adel Rootstein
Kevin Alpino
John Taylor
Len Gifford
Dr. Dee Dawson
Rosemary Harden
Marilyn Dumars
Edward Stammers
Judith Fane
Producer: Sandy Bell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1998.
SAT 03:00 Charles Dickens (b007k02r)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Redress
The man who Jasper believes killed Edwin, Neville Landless, has been found stabbed to death.
But Datchery has a plan...
Conclusion of Charles Dickens's unfinished book completed by Leon Garfield and dramatised for radio by David Buck.
John Jasper ..... Ian Holm
Rev. Chrisparkle ..... Gareth Thomas
Deputy ..... Susan Sheridan
Miss Twinkleton ..... Margaret Courtenay
Rosa Bud ..... Moir Leslie
Grewgious ..... John Gabriel
Sapsea ..... Timothy Alock
Durdles ..... Gordon Gostelow
1st Constable ..... David Goudge
2nd Constable ..... Simon Treves
Helena Landless ..... Helena Breck
John Moffatt ..... Datchery
Anna Cropper ..... Mrs Tope
Tartar ..... Michael Cochrane
Bazzard ..... John Samson
Judge ..... David King
Durdles ..... Gordon Gostelow
Crisparkle's Mother ..... Hilda Kriseman
Sapsea ..... Timothy Alcock
Mrs MacSiddons ..... Anne Jameson
Michael Cox ..... Doctor
Pianist: Nicholas Kok
Director: Gordon House
A BBC Radio 4/BBC World Service co-production first broadcast in 1990.
SAT 04:00 EM Forster Short Stories (b017gyls)
The Obelisk
The Story of the Siren is the first in our series of short fiction by EM Forster. It is an unsettling story about a sea nymph and an ill fated young Sicilian. The novelist best known for twentieth century classics including A Passage to India, A Room with a View and Maurice was also a prolific writer of short stories. In them he explored many of the themes central to his novels, including the morals of the middle classes in the early twentieth century, and his fascination with culture and mores of the beguiling South. The reader is Dan Stevens.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton. Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
SAT 04:15 The Recall Man (b00kkdkk)
Stepping Out
Dr Joe Aston feels threatened when a rival psychologist is hired to investigate baffling attacks on women. Stars Jeremy Swift.
SAT 05:00 The Brothers (b007mc8t)
Series 1
Episode 4
Arson and revolving bow ties - just another day for Nigel and Michael. Stars Adam Godley and Raymond Coulthard. From June 2004.
SAT 05:30 Chambers (b007jyzz)
Series 3
Outward Bound
A legal firm invites Fuller-Carp, Ruth and Hilary to take part in an outward-bound weekend - with disastrous results...
Clive Coleman's sitcom set in perhaps the country's least spectacular set of chambers.
John Fuller Carp ...... John Bird
Hilary Tripping ...... James Fleet
Ruth Quirke ...... Sarah Lancashire
Vince ...... Jonathan Kydd
With Chris Pavlo, Simon Greenall, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Natalie Walker.
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1999.
SAT 06:00 Laurie Lee - I Call Me Adam (b047bsjl)
The story of the fugitive crewmen of The Bounty, as they try to create a new life on the island of Pitcairn. Stars Ralph Truman.
A bloodthirsty take on what happened to Fletcher Christian and the crew after the mutiny. Lee even penned a 'foreword' for the drama, explaining: "I had always wanted to write a play of this story, but not as a history of Pitcairn. What I've tried to do here is to adapt the legend - which reads like some primitive saga - and to extend the theme in more general terms, to make it anywhere, anytime."
First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in 1959.
SAT 07:20 Through My Window - Laurie Lee (b047bsjn)
4 Extra Debut. 'A deep green channel of comfort'. Laurie Lee waxes lyrical over his view of Slad that inspired his most famous work. From August 1981.
SAT 07:30 Footlight Fairies (b007k2n0)
The story of 19th-century reformer Millicent Fawcett, who campaigned to remove children from the stage. With Susannah Clapp.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b0183glm)
Ted Hughes: Memorial Tones
On the 6th December a memorial stone to the poet Ted Hughes will be unveiled in poet's corner at Westminster Abbey. To mark the occasion Melvyn Bragg presents a special edition of Archive on 4. With poets, writers and those who knew him well, Melvyn will look back over Ted Hughes' life and work to fashion a memorial in sound to accompany that of stone.
The programme will centre on the many facets of Hughes' own voice; not only reading and discussing his work but in his many radio talks and his advocacy of other poets. It will make a critical appreciation of Hughes work; from his first poetry collection, A Hawk in the Rain, in 1957 to his last, Birthday Letters, in 1998.
But Melvyn will also speak to those who saw at first hand a life touched by both great success and searing tragedy.
Producer: James Cook.
SAT 09:00 Comedy Controller (b007jpjt)
Boothby Graffoe
Boothby Graffoe is a stand-up comedian with a talent and a penchant for cerebral funny songs. In this special alone he composes an impromptu ditty about being Comedy Controller.
He also has a long and treasured history with BBC Radio 4 Comedy - The Big Booth begat In No Particular order -as well as a notable collaboration with Omid Djalili for TV. Boothby's worked with Art Malik, Steve Frost, Jason Isaacs, Pauline McLynn, Glenn Tilbrook, Kevin Eldon, Dean Friedman and Robyn Hitchcock.
He's also a playwright with three productions to his name and has appeared in The Bill and Casualty.
Named after a Lincolnshire market town, the comedian makes his selection of BBC radio comedy: The Goon Show - The Evils of Bushey Spon (17/03/1958); Round the Horne Ser.1 ep11 (16/05/1965); Steptoe and Son - Two's Company (28/03/1971); The Burkiss Way (26/12/1979); The Big Booth (29/01/2000); Hancock's Half Hour - The Conjuror (22/02/1956).
SAT 12:00 Modesty Blaise (b047btt6)
Series 2 Omnibus
A British agent is found dead in suspicious circumstances.
Now rumours are circulating of a plot to steal a huge consignment of diamonds belonging to a Middle Eastern Sheik. The diamonds are part of a deal to secure oil for Britain and Sir Gerald Tarrant, head of a British secret service organisation, needs some specialist help to prevent the plot being carried out.
He decides to 'set a thief to catch a thief' and persuades former criminal Modesty Blaise to come out of retirement, along with her right-hand man Willie Garvin.
Modesty Blaise, by Peter O'Donnell, was adapted from the novel of the same name by Stef Penney.
Modesty Blaise . . . Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin . . . Neil Maskell
Sir Gerald Tarrant . . . Alun Armstrong
Gabriel . . . Ewan Bailey
McWhirter . . . Alex Ferns
Grant . . . Matthew Gravelle
Paul . . . John Hollingworth
Nicole . . . Hannah Pakeman.
Omnibus produced and directed by Kate McAll
With an original score by Goldfrapp's Will Gregory, arranged by Ian Gardiner, and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster.
A BBC/Cymru Wales production first broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
SAT 13:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b047bvj5)
Gitta Sereny
Gitta Sereny chose controversial figures for biographies and held the belief that we are all born 'good'. From September 1998.
SAT 14:00 Dad's Army (b007jr4t)
Series 3
The Cricket Match
Captain Mainwaring goes into bat when the Home Guard platoon are challenged to play a match against the wardens..
The comic exploits of a Second World War Home Guard platoon in Walmington-on-Sea.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Captain Mainwaring …. Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson …. John Le Mesurier
Corporal Jones …. Clive Dunn
Private Frazer …. John Laurie
Private Godfrey …. Arnold Ridley
Private Pike …. Ian Lavender
Warden Hodges …. Bill Pertwee
Private Walker …. Larry Martyn
Vicar …. Frank Williams
Verger …. Edward Sinclair
Announcer/Newsreader …. John Snagge
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1976.
SAT 14:30 The Navy Lark (b007jnvy)
Series 15
NANA
HMS Troutbridge sets sail with Phillips let loose on a new navigational aid.
Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Commanding Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Wren Chasen, Tenniel Evans as the Admiral and Michael Bates as Mr Harris.
Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman and George Evans.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1975.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b0183glm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Laurie Lee - I Call Me Adam (b047bsjl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:20 Through My Window - Laurie Lee (b047bsjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:20 today]
SAT 17:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01hl29y)
Series 2
Compensation Culture
Sony Award-winning comedian Tom Wrigglesworth delivers an open letter to Ken Clarke MP.
He's asking whether compensation culture is actually directly opposed to the theory of evolution?
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth, James Kettle and Miles Jupp
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
SAT 18:00 Dangerous Visions (b02x5j6k)
The Drowned World
As part of Radio 4's Dangerous Visions season, Graham White's adaptation shows a future in which the earth's atmosphere is destroyed. As a scientific mission surveys England's drowned capitals before their final abandonment, two lovers find themselves reverting to a primitive state of consciousness.
In a future in which solar flares have wreaked havoc with the earth's atmosphere, Dr Robert Kerans is part of a scientific mission to survey the drowned cities of what was once the temperate zone before they are abandoned for good.
The de-evolution that the ecological crisis has provoked seems to have affected the expedition's crew. Kerans, alongside his enigmatic lover Beatrice, whom he is trying to persuade to leave, attempts to make sense of the disappearance of a crew member who has succumbed to the lure of the emerging new water world.
Kerans and Beatrice also start to embrace the breakdown they see around them, until an encounter with the maverick scavenger Strangman and his piratical crew forces them to face what de-evolution may really mean, as he drains the drowned city in search of the powers of civilization it may once have held. Ballard's vivid futurescape imagines the surreal results of Darwin's theories going into reverse.
Dangerous Visions - you will be disturbed as you see the present reflected in the glass
of an uneasy future.
SAT 19:00 Comedy Controller (b007jpjt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Mark Steel Solution (b007k0s8)
Series 3
Sexual Politics
The comedian has more radical advice for his fellow man - get yourself a boyfriend. With Maria McErlane. From August 1995.
SAT 22:30 The Jason Byrne Show (b01phj38)
Series 3
The Irish and the Scottish Are Black-Belts in Misery
Jason compares international attitudes to other people's good fortune and explains why his Irish background means that revelling in misery is never far away.
Why is British fruit so bitter? Can Jason relieve heart-ache in the audience and what simple pleasures make Jason and his son happy?
Themed audience comedy show with high-energy stand-up and sketches featuring Laurence Howarth and Daisy Haggard.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b047wksb)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight, Arthur Smith is joined by Suzi Ruffell.
SAT 23:00 The Nick Revell Show (b007k1n0)
Series 2
Homeless
Nick is a struggling writer in his mid-thirties who speaks to his geraniums. They, meanwhile, watch on and take stock of his mishaps.
A sitcom for the 1990s, written by and starring comedian Nick Revell.
With:
Alistair McGowan
Doon MacKichan
Brian Bowles
Charles McKeown
Gabrielle Cowburn
Producer: Ioan Magnusson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1993.
SAT 23:30 The Masterson Inheritance (b007jps7)
Series 2
Beware the Ides of Masterson
The award-winning improvised historical comedy series returns with a story of intrigue, terror, tyrants and togas set in ancient Rome.
Based entirely on audience suggestions.
Starring Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Jim Sweeney, Lee Simpson, Phelim McDermott and Caroline Quentin.
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1994.


SUNDAY 22 JUNE 2014

SUN 00:00 Dangerous Visions (b02x5j6k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Archive on 4 (b0183glm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:00 Modesty Blaise (b047btt6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 03:15 In the Psychiatrist's Chair (b047bvj5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:15 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Laurie Lee - I Call Me Adam (b047bsjl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:20 Through My Window - Laurie Lee (b047bsjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:20 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01hl29y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street Omnibus (b00fvpdw)
Episode 1
Prior to the First World War, Muriel Hammond is trying to find her place in the world.
Muriel unwittingly disgraces herself at her first party and then has to face the harsh reality of boarding school. Life brightens, however, when she befriends the exotic and beautiful Clare Duquesne.
Set in Yorkshire, Winifred Holtby's story about a woman's journey - from her teens to womanhood - into independence and self-fulfilment.
Omnibus of the first five of ten episodes dramatised in by Diana Griffiths.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Mr Hammond ...... David Fleeshman
Clare Duquesne ...... Victoria Brazier
Miss Hancock ...... Daryl Fishwick
Young Muriel ...... Ellie Sager
Young Godfrey ...... Jon-Paul Bell
Director: Pauline Harris.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.
SUN 07:15 Redesigning the Human Body (b00pn48p)
The Skin We're In
Len Fisher confronts his reflection, and dreams about what he could do to make his skin more appealing.
SUN 07:30 Clare in the Community (b00snrjy)
Series 6
Some Others Do 'Ave 'Em
Clare Barker's back on the social work frontline as a vomiting bug hits her colleagues.
Clare Barker is the self-absorbed social worker who has the right jargon for every problem she comes across, though never a practical solution. But there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Clare ... Sally Phillips
Brian ... Alex Lowe
Helen ... Liza Tarbuck
Ray ... Richard Lumsden
Libby ... Sarah Kendall
Megan/Na ... Nina Conti
Peggy ... Rosemary Leach
Dolly ... Doreen Mantle
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2010.
SUN 08:00 Beyond Our Ken (b00vy80f)
From 27/05/1960
Kenneth Horne's busy week, and check out the latest film releases in Picture Go Round. With Kenneth Williams. From May 1960.
SUN 08:30 Much Binding in the Marsh (b008qq3w)
From 24/05/1950
Elocution lessons are on offer with Brains Amalgamated's new machine.
Starring Kenneth Horne and Richard 'Stinker' Murdoch.
With Sam Costa, Maurice Denham, Diana Morrison and Barbara Leigh.
Much Binding in the Marsh ran from 1944 to 1954 initially set at a remote RAF station before being converted to a country club and later the action moved to a newspaper. (The show also ran for a season with commercial breaks on Radio Luxembourg).
Written by Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne.
Music by the Augmented Dance Orchestra conducted by Stanley Black.
Producer: Leslie Bridgemont
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in May 1950.
SUN 09:00 JM Barrie - Peter Pan (b00sbrzy)
An Awfully Big Adventure
Captain Hook turns the tables, as the battle between the Lost Boys and the Pirates begins.
Starring Toyah Willcox as Peter Pan, Ron Moody as Mr Darling / Hook, Georgina Cates as Wendy, Roy Hudd as Smee and Chris Emmett as Starkey.
Dramatist: Philip Glassborow
Producer: Dirk Maggs
First heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SUN 09:30 E Nesbit - The Railway Children (b00qy473)
Episode 3
An avalanche poses a problem on the line, and even a fishing trip takes a dramatic turn. Stars Paul Copley and Victoria Carling.
SUN 10:00 The Reunion (b009s0yw)
The National Lottery
Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.
She explores tales of pressure and accusations of underhand dealings as she gathers together five key players in the foundation of the UK National Lottery.
SUN 10:45 Love Stories (b010tbkk)
Fish and Chips
By Freya North. An inheritance by the sea broadens a young woman's horizons. Stories from bestselling romantic novelists. Read by Melody Grove.
SUN 11:00 This American Life (b047byjk)
Testosterone
Some people get more testosterone and regret it. Some lose it and appreciate life without it. US public radio show from 2002.
Weaving interviews, stories, and music, This American Life takes us on an intense weekly journey into the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people and situations.
One of the great speech radio successes of recent years from Ira Glass and his team at Chicago Public Media.
SUN 12:00 Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street Omnibus (b00fvpdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 13:15 Redesigning the Human Body (b00pn48p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 13:30 Agatha Christie (b007jwwc)
The Pale Horse
Can death be brought about by remote control? Historian Mark Easterbrooke discovers that witchcraft and black magic can induce a terrifying series of events.
First published in 1961, Agatha Christie's classic thriller dramatised by Michael Bakewell.
Stars Jeremy Clyde as Mark Easterbrooke, Stephanie Cole as Ariadne Oliver, Terence Alexander as Mr Venables, Mary Wimbush as Thyrza Grey, Hilda Schroder as Bella, Stephen Hodson as Jim Corrigan, Jonathan Adams as Inspector Lejeune and Federay Holmes as Ginger.
Jill Graham as Sybil, Jillie Meers as Rhoda Despard and John Evitts as Colonel Despard, John Fleming as Zachariah Osborne, John Baddeley as Bradley, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Hermia, Philip Anthony as Rev. Calthrop and John Church as Soames-White.
Matthew Morgan as Ardingly, Teresa Gallagher as Poppy and Keith Drinkel as Father Gorman, David Thorpe as Mike, Mike Hudson as Eileen Brandon, Melinda Walker as Mrs Tuckerton, Diana Payan as Mrs Coppins, Sandra James Young as Mrs Davis and Kate Binchy as Mrs Gerahty.
Originally aired to celebrate the 50th anniversary of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Night Theatre.
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SUN 15:00 Beyond Our Ken (b00vy80f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 15:30 Much Binding in the Marsh (b008qq3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 16:00 Mel's Mix: The Best of The 4 O'Clock Show (b047bzjv)
Mel Giedroyc introduces highlights from the past week on the 4 O'Clock Show, including the early musical memories of Sir Paul McCartney and a celebration of the famous Beetle car.
SUN 17:00 JM Barrie - Peter Pan (b00sbrzy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 17:30 E Nesbit - The Railway Children (b00qy473)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Dangerous Visions (b02y0wpp)
JG Ballard - Concrete Island
By J.G. Ballard
Adapted by Graham White
Driving home one Friday rush hour, a cocky young architect crashes down a motorway embankment. At first he seems bound to be rescued, but as he fails to make the passing commuters notice him, he finds himself trapped on a strange, neglected island between the highways. Can this modern day Crusoe survive in a strange new world?
Directed by Mary Peate
Radio 4's Dangerous Visions Season:
The adjective Ballardian refers to the writer 'JG Ballard's fearful imaginings of what the near future might be like. Even though the master creator of dystopian futures died four years ago, his vision of what our future might become feels as relevant, satirical and as scary as ever. Radio 4's Dangerous Visions is a season of dramas that explore contemporary takes on future dystopias. Dramatisations of Ballard's seminal works, Drowned World and Concrete Island, straddle the season, and we have asked five leading radio writers - Nick Perry, Ed Harris, Michael Symmonds Roberts, Michael Butt and Philip Palmer - to imagine what life might be like in the near future if everything goes wrong - and their Dangerous Visions form the bedrock of the series: clever, imaginative and disturbing takes on just what might happen. What happens if sleep is outlawed? If cloning becomes a matter of course, and your loved ones are capable of being cloned? If North London declares UDI on South London, which has become a wasteland? If human sacrifice becomes a part of society? We are also running a 5 part dramatisation of Jane Roger's award winning terrifying novel The Testament of Jessie Lamb, dramatised by the author
Dangerous Visions - you will be disturbed as you see the present reflected in the glass
of an uneasy future.
SUN 19:00 This American Life (b047byjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 20:00 Beyond Our Ken (b00vy80f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 20:30 Much Binding in the Marsh (b008qq3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 21:00 The Reunion (b009s0yw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SUN 21:45 Love Stories (b010tbkk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
SUN 22:00 Clare in the Community (b00snrjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Beautiful Dreamers (b00w7byd)
The Stardiver
Nat travels to Tuscany to meet the Uzbek dissident and billionaire Mikhail Azazev, as he prepares freefall from beyond the Karman Line - an altitude of over 100 kilometres. Featuring contributions from Simon McBurney and Kevin Eldon.
Writers ..... James Lever and Nat Segnit.
Producers ..... Steven Canny and Sasha Yevtushenko.
SUN 23:00 Jon Ronson On (b0076x13)
Series 2
Waiting
Journalist and broadcaster Jon Ronson asks why should we wait for the things we want? With Alain De Botton. From February 2006.
SUN 23:30 We Are Klang: Amazing Lives (b007k3p8)
Explorer
Presumed dead after a 20-year trek, two explorers reveal their findings. Stars Greg Davies and Steve Hall. From April 2007.


MONDAY 23 JUNE 2014

MON 00:00 Dangerous Visions (b02y0wpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 The Reunion (b009s0yw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:45 Love Stories (b010tbkk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 on Sunday]
MON 02:00 Beyond Our Ken (b00vy80f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Much Binding in the Marsh (b008qq3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:00 Clare in the Community (b00snrjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:30 Agatha Christie (b007jwwc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 JM Barrie - Peter Pan (b00sbrzy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 E Nesbit - The Railway Children (b00qy473)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p4y6p)
Episode 1
Being hypnotised by his brother-in-law at a dinner party awakens strange abilities in Tom Wallace. Read by Trevor White.
MON 06:30 No One Left and No One Came (b00762s5)
4 Extra Debut. Anne Harvey explores how Edward Thomas's poem 'Adlestrop' came to be written, and the fascination of a short poem in which nothing happens. From June 2001.
MON 07:00 Fat Chance (b01bn4qm)
Secrets and Lies
Will Graham be the next Blue Peter presenter and why did Tina's husband leave her?
Jenny McDade's high-fat bittersweet comedy for those believing there's a thin person inside them begging to get out.
Graham Pitscottie ..... Gareth Corke
Wendy Bottomley ..... Janine Duvitski
Clive Bottomley ..... Michael Troughton
Soo Pitscottie ..... Anne Reid
Tina Tattersall ..... Julia Deakin
Kelly Chambers ..... Tilly Gaunt
Lee Dubs ..... Harry Myers
Mrs Enright ..... Frances Jeater
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1999.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b046kr4b)
Series 69
Episode 5
How hard can it be to talk for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition and deviation? Very! As Paul Sinha, Patrick Kielty, Shappi Khorsandi, and Gyles Brandreth find out. Nicholas Parsons keeps the score and the peace.
MON 08:00 Listen to Les (b01nlzcy)
From 17/03/1985
Lugubrious Les Dawson with a tale of when the worm turned, and Cosmo discusses modern art.
With Daphne Oxenford, Eli Woods and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1985.
MON 08:30 The Navy Lark (b007jnz5)
Series 15
The Case of the HGM Mark 5
Senior officers aboard HMS Troutbridge fear the worst when they're summoned to the Admiralty.
Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Commanding Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Rita, Tenniel Evans as Bonzo, Michael Bates as the Admiral, April Walker as Wren Barrett and Pete Murray as Himself.
Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman and George Evans.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1976.
MON 09:00 North by Northamptonshire (b00ss2cq)
Series 1
Episode 2
Sheila Hancock heads a stunning cast including Mackenzie Crook, Penelope Wilton, Felicity Montagu and Kevin Eldon. This is a clever, funny and touching series about a small town in the middle of Northamptonshire as it prepares for a talent night.
Written by and also starring Katherine Jakeways.
Rehearsals for the town talent night are well underway, with some of the worst acts ever seen on stage.
Recently divorced Jan has a surprise visit from neighbour and ex-teacher Mary and finds they have more than an untidy hedge in common.
Jan's ex, Frank, thinks his new love Angela may be eating too many peanuts.
Esther knocks Jan to the floor in her self-defence class but wait - could this be Jonathan coming to Jan's rescue?
And meanwhile supermarket manager Rod (Mackenzie Crook) gets trapped in an upturned shopping trolley.
Narrator ...... Sheila Hancock
Rod ...... Mackenzie Crook
Mary ...... Penelope Wilton
Jan ...... Felicity Montagu
Jonathan ...... Kevin Eldon
Esther ...... Katherine Jakeways
Keith ...... John Biggins
Frank ...... Rufus Wright
Angela ...... Lizzie Roper
Producer: Claire Jones.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2010.
MON 09:30 Sketchorama (b047c7x4)
Series 3
Episode 1
Tom Tuck presents the pick of the best live sketch groups currently performing on the UK comedy circuit - featuring three up and coming groups in character, improv, broken and musical sketch comedy.
In this programme:
Casual Violence
A comedy collective featuring Luke Booys, Greg Cranness, Dave Arrondelle, Alex Whyman, Ben Champion and writer James Hamilton. Their most recent show, House of Nostril, had sell out runs at the Soho Theatre and the Lowry in Salford Quays, following the show's success at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013. They won a ThreeWeeks Editor's Choice Award in 2011 for their show Choose Death, and their writer James Hamilton was nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality in 2011 and 2012.
Croft and Pearce
Hannah Croft and Fiona Pearce met at school and, in a radical bid to break free from a quiet, cerebral existence in the Home Counties, they both went to study at Oxford University. Desperate to be chatted up by men from mainland Europe, Hannah studied French and Italian. Desperate not to be, Fiona studied English. Fiona went on to train on the three year acting course at Central School of Speech and Drama. Eager to be like Fiona, Hannah also studied acting for three years, at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since then they have enjoyed three successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Beasts
Three refined gentlemen of comedy - Owen Roberts, James McNicholas and Ciarán Dowd. After a sell-out second Edinburgh show, these monstrously funny sketchmen are all set for greater success.
Producer: Gus Beattie
A Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmq4)
Episode 1
Evocative tale of a West Country childhood. The Lee family arrive in their new home. Recorded on location. Stars Tim McInnerny.
MON 11:00 Just So Stories (b047c8nt)
Series 2
How the Camel Got His Hump
A grumpy camel gets the hump for his laziness in Kipling's fantastical tale, read by Samuel West.
MON 11:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010m3ql)
Jilly Cooper
The writer inherits Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and passes on 'Something Good' from The Sound of Music.
MON 11:15 Loose Ends (b0474xd3)
Suggs, Janet Suzman, David Schneider, Chris Stewart, Arthur Smith, Moulettes, Pete Fij and Terry Bickers
Clive goes One Step Beyond with Madness frontman Suggs. As well as playing at the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics Closing Ceremony with Madness, Suggs has been busy penning his autobiography 'That Close'. After spending the last few months taking his theatrical show 'Suggs: My Life Story in Words and Music' around the UK, he talks to Clive about his colourful life so far.
Clive talks to South African/British director and acclaimed actor Janet Suzman. Janet is part of the Jermyn Street's South Africa season. The summer event features five weeks of theatre from some of South Africa's most acclaimed playwrights and best-loved performers. Clive is sharing company with Her Majesty again, as Janet was awarded a DBE in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
Arthur Smith talks to Genesis drummer turned sheep farmer Chris Stewart. It's been two decades since he moved to his farm on the wrong side of a river in the mountains of southern Spain and Arthur talks to Chris about his new book charting the ups and downs of ex-pat life. Having once joined the circus, Chris will feel at home in the tangle of talent of the Loose Ends studio.
Clive delves into the darkest of comedy with actor, writer and director David Schneider. In his play Making Stalin Laugh Schneider tells the story of the Moscow State Yiddish Theatre. The theatre was one of the most respected and critically acclaimed in the world, until its most prominent writers were executed at the hands of Stalin in 1952 - in an event known as the Night of the Murdered Poets.
This week's music is from Moulettes, who perform Lady Vengeance from their album Constellations. And more music from Peter Fij and Terry Bickers, performing Out of Time from new album Broken Heart Surgery.
producer Sukey Firth.
MON 12:00 Listen to Les (b01nlzcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 The Navy Lark (b007jnz5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p4y6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 No One Left and No One Came (b00762s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b128n)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Episode 1
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
1/10. Nearing her 100th birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future at the soon to be closed Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital. Her only solace is her psychiatrist Dr Grene, with whom she has an intense and increasingly complicated relationship.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
MON 14:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zlcpw)
Cinema
Winston Churchill was revered by millions as the saviour of Britain in the Second World War, but he wasn't just a great war leader - he wrote millions of words of journalism, he painted, he built brick walls, he owned racehorses, he gambled in Monte Carlo casinos and even wrote screenplays. Yet his personality was mercurial; bouts of hyper-activity were interspersed with black days of depression. While he had a loving marriage, he spent long periods apart from his wife and children, some of whom caused him deep anxiety and distress.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death, celebrated historian Sir David Cannadine, author of In Churchill's Shadow, examines the life and career of Winston Churchill by looking at ten different themes that are less well known, but which are crucial to a fuller understanding of one of the most extraordinary individuals ever to occupy No. 10 Downing Street.
Winston Churchill was a film fanatic and sought an active role in the movie business. He became friends with Charlie Chaplin and collaborated as a screenwriter in the 1930s with the great Hungarian-born director Alexander Korda. A scene set in the trenches of World War One from Churchill's screenplay - never made into a film - is dramatised here for the first time, as Sir David Cannadine explores Winston Churchill's love affair with cinema and his growing awareness of the power of the moving image. Featuring Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b01yk)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 6
Diana Griffiths' dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
6/10. Muriel's sister Connie returns home unexpectedly with startling news.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Mr Hammond ...... David Fleeshman
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Bobby Collins ...... Sam Curtis
Lady Grainger ...... Daryl Fishwick
Young man ...... Steven Rostance
Directed by Pauline Harris.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b00pls5b)
Willie Daly - The Last Matchmaker
Episode 1
Dermot Crowley reads from the memoir by traditional Irish matchmaker Willie Daly. Telling tall tales of true love, this is a fascinating journey through modern rural Ireland and its recent past.
Abridged by David Jackson Young.
MON 15:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmq4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b047cb0h)
Mel Giedroyc has the first story from Chris Milne's 'Naughty Stories for Good Boys and Girls', plus the last in the series A Guide to Garden Wildlife, and we're off to Wimbledon.
MON 17:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009prt3)
Series 1
Episode 5
Duo Tommy and Sheila's comeback faces jeopardy - from his dodgy past.
Winners of the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, sweethearts Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr are back in the limelight. The only snag is they can't stand the sight of each another...
Mike Coleman's sitcom stars June Whitfield and Roy Hudd.
Tommy Franklin ...... Roy Hudd
Sheila Parr ...... June Whitfield
With Pat Coombs, Julian Eardley, Joshua Henderson, Edward Halsted, Chris Pavlo, Paul Rogan and Ned Sherrin.
Singers: John Barr and Lisa Peace.
Music by Frido Ruth.
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1998.
MON 17:30 Fat Chance (b01bn4qm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 18:00 North by Northamptonshire (b00ss2cq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b047cd1r)
Ann Widdecombe and Helen Wilkinson
Tom Sutcliffe, Ann Widdecombe and Helen Wilkinson compare books by Richard Dawkins, Brian Moore and Antonia Fraser. From 1997.
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser
Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Lies of Silence by Brian Moore
Publisher: Vintage.
MON 19:00 Listen to Les (b01nlzcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 The Navy Lark (b007jnz5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p4y6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 No One Left and No One Came (b00762s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Just So Stories (b047c8nt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010m3ql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:05 today]
MON 21:15 Loose Ends (b0474xd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b046kr4b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Sketchorama (b047c7x4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 23:00 The News Quiz Extra (b047cds5)
Series 11
Episode 3
Satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, with regular panellist Jeremy Hardy and guest panellists including Susan Calman, Romesh Ranganathan and Holly Walsh.
MON 23:45 Foley and McColl: The Interview (b0076d23)
Cool As You Like
The duo tells Parky about their dramatic showbiz bust-up. With Sean Foley, Hamish McColl and Michael Parkinson. From March 2003


TUESDAY 24 JUNE 2014

TUE 00:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b128n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zlcpw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b01yk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 00:45 Book of the Week (b00pls5b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 North by Northamptonshire (b00ss2cq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 A Good Read (b047cd1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p4y6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 No One Left and No One Came (b00762s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmq4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Just So Stories (b047c8nt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010m3ql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:05 on Monday]
TUE 04:15 Loose Ends (b0474xd3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b009prt3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Fat Chance (b01bn4qm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p5x2f)
Episode 2
On an evening out, Tom faces a vision of a woman. Is he hallucinating, dreaming or seeing ghosts? Read by Trevor White.
TUE 06:30 Laurie Lee's Long Sleep (b047ct5p)
The 'Cider With Rosie' author's views on mortality, with extracts from his 1997 Thanksgiving Service. Features John Mortimer.
TUE 07:00 Snap (b012s2gf)
Series 3
Episode 3
Divorced Doug and Molly come to blows over his mum Annie, who seems to be going senile.
Continuing Paul Mendelson's sitcom about a couple trying to rebuild their relationship after divorce.
Starring Rebecca Lacey as Molly, Paul Venables as Doug, Soumaya Keynes as Kaz, Jessie Sullivan as Ryan, Marlene Sidaway as Annie, Robin Weaver as Dawn and Jonathan Tafler as Raymond.
Producer: David Ian Neville
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2005.
TUE 07:30 Dilemma (b01m0f2n)
Edinburgh 2012
Sue Perkins presents a special edition of the panel show that puts moral and ethical dilemmas to a panel of guests until they admit that they'd behave appallingly, recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Guests include Marcus Brigstocke and Bridget Christie, and subjects include disabled parking spaces, adverts, and life imprisonment. This is a show where there are no 'right' answers - but there are, however, some deeply damning ones.
Dilemma was devised by Danielle Ward.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
TUE 08:00 The Goon Show (b00b5pg1)
Series 7
The Mysterious Punch-up-the Conker
Stand by for a thrilling pursuit of a mysterious nose assailant!
Groundbreaking, surreal BBC radio comedy written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens.
Starring:
Peter Sellers
Harry Secombe
Spike Milligan
Jack Train
First billed as Crazy People, ten series of The Goon Show were recorded between 1951 and 1960, but sadly many of the earliest shows weren’t kept in the archive.
With the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray.
Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.
Announcer: Wallace Greenslade
Producer: Pat Dixon
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in February 1957.
TUE 08:30 The Al Read Show (b00cq63d)
From 7/10/1995
The legendary Northern comic pokes at courting, marriage, kids and football.
A compilation of Al Read's 1950s monologues.
Originally produced at BBC North by Ronnie Taylor
Compilation produced by Mike Craig.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in October 1995.
TUE 09:00 The News Quiz Extra (b047cds5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Foley and McColl: The Interview (b0076d23)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmqh)
Episode 2
Young Loll's first taste of the world. Evocative tale of Lee's Gloucestershire childhood reaches the 1930s. Stars Tim McInnerny.
TUE 11:00 Just So Stories (b047ldl9)
Series 2
The Crab That Played With the Sea
Made for 4 Extra. Samuel West reads Kipling's tale of how the mischievous Pau Amma, king of crabs, was cut down to size for his arrogance.
TUE 11:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gbwd)
Laurie Anderson
The artist and musician inherits 'Music in Twelve Parts' by Philip Glass and passes on 'Strange Fruit' by Billie Holiday.
TUE 11:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzckt)
Magnolia Blossom
Theo is ready to leave her husband when a financial scandal intervenes. Mike Walker's revamped whodunit starring Emilia Fox.
TUE 12:00 The Goon Show (b00b5pg1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Al Read Show (b00cq63d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p5x2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 Laurie Lee's Long Sleep (b047ct5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b123t)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Episode 2
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
2/10. Roseanne has been a patient in Roscommon Mental Hospital for many years. Dr Grene has begun investigating whether any of his patients were originally incarcerated for social, rather than medical, reasons.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
TUE 14:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zlk0h)
Money
Winston Churchill was revered by millions as the saviour of Britain in the Second World War, but he wasn't just a great war leader - he wrote millions of words of journalism, he painted, he built brick walls, he owned racehorses, he gambled in Monte Carlo casinos and even wrote screenplays. Yet his personality was mercurial; bouts of hyper-activity were interspersed with black days of depression. While he had a loving marriage, he spent long periods apart from his wife and children, some of whom caused him deep anxiety and distress.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death, celebrated historian Sir David Cannadine, author of In Churchill's Shadow, examines the life and career of Winston Churchill by looking at ten different themes that are less well known, but which are crucial to a fuller understanding of one of the most extraordinary individuals ever to occupy No. 10 Downing Street.
Winston Churchill's finances were never comfortable. Despite being born in a palace, he had to work as a writer to fund his lavish lifestyle and lack of money was a constant source of anxiety. He spent more than he earned for most of his life, gambled in Monte Carlo casinos and was prevented from selling Chartwell by the generous intervention of supporters. Today, Sir David Cannadine explores Churchill's vexed relationship with money.
Featuring Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0fxj)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 7
Diana Griffiths' dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
7/10. Muriel has gone to stay with Connie in the Yorkshire Moors. Connie, desperate for Muriel's help, receives a letter and discovers the truth concerning a past lover.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Connie ...... Joanne Froggatt
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Mr Todd ...... Paul McCleary
Mrs Todd ...... Deborah McAndrew
Ben Todd ...... Graeme Hawley
Alice ...... Tahira Dar
Directed by Pauline Harris.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbws)
Willie Daly - The Last Matchmaker
Episode 2
Dermot Crowley reads from the memoir by traditional Irish matchmaker Willie Daly. Telling tall tales of true love, this is a fascinating journey through modern rural Ireland and its recent past.
Willie is inducted into the family business by his grandfather.
Abridged by David Jackson Young.
TUE 15:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b047lfmd)
In today's show Mel finds out how to dig like an archaeologist, and she wishes Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall a very Happy Birthday in her birthday week.
TUE 17:00 Up the Garden Path (b0084qnz)
Series 2
You Shall Go to the Ball
Izzy gets invited to a ball in Cambridge, but she could do with a fairy godmother...
Tumbling from one love entanglement to another, 30 something teacher Izzy Comyn has a predilection for inappropriate men.
Imelda Staunton stars as Izzy.
An 8-part radio sequel adapted from Sue Limb’s 1984 novel. The second of 3 series which ran from 1987 to 1993. Granada also adapted the series for ITV.
Izzy ...... Imelda Staunton
Charles ...... David Robb
Dick ...... Mike Grady
Michael ...... Nicholas Le Prevost
Maria ...... Marty Cruickshank
Louise ...... Phyllida Nash
Gwyn ...... Dafydd Hywel
Producer: Jonathan James-Moore
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1988.
TUE 17:30 Snap (b012s2gf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 18:00 Act Your Age (b00ftb87)
Series 1
Episode 3
Simon Mayo discovers which generation is the funniest. With Jon Richardson, Lucy Porter and Roy Walker. From December 2008.
TUE 18:30 Musical Genes (b00dyknm)
Series 1
Phil Cunningham
Tom Morton meets the brother of the late Scottish folk music legend John Cunningham.
Series searching for the true story behind some of our best loved musicians.
Producer: Deirdre Waldie
First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in October 2008.
TUE 19:00 The Goon Show (b00b5pg1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Al Read Show (b00cq63d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p5x2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 Laurie Lee's Long Sleep (b047ct5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Just So Stories (b047ldl9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gbwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:20 today]
TUE 21:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzckt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 today]
TUE 22:00 Dilemma (b01m0f2n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Concrete Cow (b0076jns)
Series 1
Episode 2
Mr Punch's parole board, Hitler and Wittgenstein playing Monopoly, new product lines for Faberge, temping for NASA and Batman's schedule.
Sketch show relying on a mixture of words, actors, jokes and noises all done in the right order.
Starring Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Steven Kynman, Chris Pavlo and Robert Webb.
Written by James Cary, Sally Hawkins, Catherine Shepherd, Ashley Blake, Jon Holmes, Adam Bromley and Williams Ennes-Borlance.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2002
TUE 23:00 Bleak Expectations (b00nkv3r)
Series 3
A Now Grim Life Yet More Grimified
Pip Bin faces his most gruelling fate yet at the hands of his evil undead ex-guardian and an enormous quantity of cheese.
But can the spirits of Harvest Festival past, present and future show him a way to redemption?
Mark Evans's epic comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.
Sir Philip Bin ...... Richard Johnson
Gently Benevolent ...... Anthony Head
Young Pip ...... Tom Allen
Harry Biscuit ...... James Bachman
Dr Wackwallop ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely Fecund ...... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ...... Susy Kane
Other parts ...... Mark Evans
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
TUE 23:30 Son of Cliche (b00p4mcr)
Freddie Fortune
From a spoof Melvyn Bragg to a signing chimp.
Featuring 'The Further Reasonably Exciting Adventures of Captain Invisible and the See-Thru Kid'.
Sketch comedy starring:
Chris Barrie
Nick Maloney
Nick Wilton.
Written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
Producer: Alan Nixon
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1984.


WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE 2014

WED 00:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b123t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zlk0h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0fxj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 00:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbws)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Act Your Age (b00ftb87)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 Musical Genes (b00dyknm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p5x2f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Laurie Lee's Long Sleep (b047ct5p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie (b007jmqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Just So Stories (b047ldl9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gbwd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:20 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzckt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Up the Garden Path (b0084qnz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Snap (b012s2gf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p6125)
Episode 3
Who is the strange woman that Tom Wallace sees in his living room? Why can he sense other people's emotions? Read by Trevor White.
WED 06:30 The Art of Travel (b047lhwg)
'I haven't suffered shock from the obvious'. Laurie Lee reveals his first taste of life beyond Slad to Annette Kobak. From January 1997.
WED 07:00 An Actor's Life for Me (b008j0ln)
Series 2
Puppets
Robert discovers the pitfalls of working with hypnotists and ventriloquists.
John Gordon Sinclair stars in Paul Mayhew-Archer's sitcom.
Robert Wilson ..... John Gordon Sinclair
Desmond Shaw ..... Gary Waldhorn
Sue ..... Caroline Quentin
With:
John Baddeley
David Gooderson
Jonathan Kydd
Jane Whittenshaw:
Producer: Paul Spencer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1990.
WED 07:30 Start/Stop (b03bg4vk)
Series 1
Barbecue
Three couples sail off into the sunset. And sink.
Jack Docherty’s sitcom about love, marriage and despair.
Starring Jack Docherty, Charlie Higson, Katherine Parkinson, John Thomson, Fiona Allen and Kerry Godliman.
With their marriages in various states of disrepair - a Barbecue proves painful for everyone.
Barney ...... Jack Docherty
Cathy ...... Kerry Godliman
Fiona ...... Fiona Allen
David ...... Charlie Higson
Evan ...... John Thomson
Alice ...... Katherine Parkinson
Producer Steven Canny
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2013.
WED 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b009rnlw)
Series 6
The Fete
The lad rashly agrees to tempt Sir Laurence Olivier to open the East Cheam Garden Fete.
Starring Tony Hancock. With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Wilfred Babbage, Jack Watson and Hugh Morton.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1959.
WED 08:30 Albert and Me (b007jzdc)
Series 2
Minder
Bryan is offered a job at last, but where will he find a babysitter?
Stars Robert Lindsay and Pat Coombs.
Single parent Bryan Archer struggles to find work while raising his baby son, Albert.
Bryan Archer ...... Robert Lindsay
Mum/Albert ...... Pat Coombs
Mrs Willis ...... Diana King
Vera ...... Marcia Warren
Joe ...... Ron Pember
Mr Graham ...... Douglas Blackwell
Job Centre Clerk ...... David Graham
Incidental music by Max Harris.
Producer: John Fawcett Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1983.
WED 09:00 All the Young Dudes (b01c7rsl)
Series 2
Communication Breakdown
The couples need to talk, but is a cosy chat really what's on the agenda? With Jim Sweeney and Stephen Frost. From October 2002.
WED 09:30 King of Bath (b047ljr2)
Ars Brevis
No true gentleman would speak Welsh, but Beau Nash finds that revealing his roots is the only way to secure a fortune.
Six-part comedy drama series by Arnold Evans casting the 18th-century dandy Richard 'Beau' Nash in a series of adventures.
Beau Nash ...... David Bamber
Annie ...... Eiry Thomas
Lady Huntingdon ...... Rosamund Shelley
FannyAlice Arnold
Pryderi ...... Iestyn Jones
Widow Perkins ...... Stevie Parry
Composer: John Hardy
Directed at BBC Wales by Alison Hindell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.
WED 10:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b019rgnv)
Episode 1
New York State, 1778. Henry Wharton, a young soldier for the British in the American War of Independence, creeps into no-man's land to spend an evening with his family.
But the happy reunion is cut short when American troops surround the house. Can the mysterious peddler Harvey Birch provide Henry with a means of escape?
Published in 1821, James Fenimore Cooper's tale of espionage and divided loyalties during the American War of Independence
The first commercially successful American work of popular fiction, The Spy is also generally regarded as the world's first espionage novel. Fennimore’s double agent Harvey Birch, began the tradition of spy-as-hero, leading to the great genre novels of the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Dramatised in two parts by DJ Britton.
Harvey Birch . . . . . Burn Gorman
Frances . . . . . Rose Leslie
Henry . . . . . Alex Waldmann
Mr Wharton . . . . . James Lailey
Sarah . . . . . Francine Chamberlain
Mr Harper . . . . . Timothy Watson
Caesar . . . . . Richard Pepple
Peyton Dunwoodie . . . . . Simon Bubb
Captain Lawton . . . . . Gerard McDermott
Colonel Wellmere . . . . . Adam Billington
Isabella Singleton . . . . . Victoria Inez Hardy
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
WED 11:00 Just So Stories (b047lk7w)
Series 2
The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo
Samuel West reads Kipling's fantastical tale of the kangaroo who was chased all over Australia by a dingo and found his hop.
WED 11:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010t4pk)
Peter Hook
The musician inherits 'Strangers in the Night' sung by Frank Sinatra and passes on Candi Staton's 'You Got the Love'.
WED 11:15 MR James (b01pg64z)
Echoes from the Abbey
One of his few great passions in life was a fascination for our great English Abbeys. So when he received an invitation to spend Christmas at Medborough Abbey, James accepted without a second thought. But had he known of the strange, supernatural and eventually tragic series of events that were to take place, he might have thought again - or perhaps not...?
Inspired by a fragment of his writing, Sheila Hodgson provides MR James with a ghostly encounter at Christmas.
Stars David March as James, Arnold Diamond as Arthur Layton, Ysanne Churchman as Nora Layton and Timothy Stark as Harley.
Director: David Johnston
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1984.
WED 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b009rnlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Albert and Me (b007jzdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p6125)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The Art of Travel (b047lhwg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b1242)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Episode 3
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
3/10. Roseanne, an elderly patient in a mental hospital, is writing her life story. Her psychiatrist is astounded at what she recounts.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
WED 14:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zllkb)
Painting
Winston Churchill was revered by millions as the saviour of Britain in the Second World War, but he wasn't just a great war leader - he wrote millions of words of journalism, he painted, he built brick walls, he owned racehorses, he gambled in Monte Carlo casinos and even wrote screenplays. Yet his personality was mercurial; bouts of hyper-activity were interspersed with black days of depression. While he had a loving marriage, he spent long periods apart from his wife and children, some of whom caused him deep anxiety and distress.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death, celebrated historian Sir David Cannadine, author of In Churchill's Shadow, examines the life and career of Winston Churchill by looking at ten different themes that are less well known, but which are crucial to a fuller understanding of one of the most extraordinary individuals ever to occupy No. 10 Downing Street.
Despite not taking up painting until he was 40, Winston Churchill produced more than 500 canvasses in his lifetime and became an honorary member of the Royal Academy. His show there in 1959 outsold every previous exhibition except one dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci. So why was painting such an important part of Churchill's life? Sir David Cannadine explores the hobby that meant most to Churchill and how it helped to keep what he called the 'black dog' of depression at bay.
Featuring Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0gyt)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 8
As the war comes to an end, Muriel hears news of Delia and comes to a decision. Stars Claire Goose and Deborah McAndrew.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbw4)
Willie Daly - The Last Matchmaker
Episode 3
Dermot Crowley reads from the memoir by traditional Irish matchmaker Willie Daly. Telling tall tales of true love, this is a fascinating journey through modern rural Ireland and its recent past.
How the cultural and social changes of the 1960s began to impact on life in rural Ireland.
Abridged by David Jackson Young.
WED 15:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b019rgnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b047lqx6)
Mel is back in Wimbledon today but gets sidetracked by the Wombles. Plus two of Jimmy Osmond's favourite tracks, and why did elephants help with ploughing during World War One?
WED 17:00 The Code of the Woosters (b007wnzd)
The Small Leather-Covered Notebook
Gussie Fink-Nottle causes a spot of botheration for Bertie Wooster.
PG Wodehouse romp adapted by Chris Miller.
Starring Michael Hordern as Jeeves, Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster, Rex Garner as Gussie Fink-Nottle, Bridget Armstrong as Madeline Bassett and Miriam Margolyes as Stiffy Byng.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1973.
WED 17:30 An Actor's Life for Me (b008j0ln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 18:00 All the Young Dudes (b01c7rsl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b007670t)
Seven Deadly Sins
Playwright Amy Rosenthal and sociologist Frank Furedi join Chris Bigsby to discuss Pride, Lust and the other vices.
In each programme, Professor Bigsby introduces a duo of writers of fact and fiction: new talent and established names. In the context of a discussion of one of the ideas and pre-occupations of our times, each presents a piece on this week's topic.
The best new writing and the freshest conversation from 2002.
WED 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b009rnlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Albert and Me (b007jzdc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p6125)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The Art of Travel (b047lhwg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Just So Stories (b047lk7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010t4pk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:05 today]
WED 21:15 MR James (b01pg64z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Start/Stop (b03bg4vk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 A Look Back at the Future (b01rlngt)
2005
It's the year of the Telepathone.
Recorded in June 1994, Brian Perkins, Kate Robbins and John O'Farrell recall the turbulent upheaval of 2005 - a year that was yet to happen.
Everything you wanted to know then, about the 21st century.
Written by Mark Burton, John O'Farrell and Pete Sinclair.
Producer: Caroline Leddy
First broadcast (with the aid of a crystal ball) on Radio 4 in July 1994.
WED 23:00 Old Harry's Game (b00cbpy7)
Series 5
The Crusade
Satan starts a quest to improve mankind by infiltrating the world's great religions.
Andy Hamilton’s devilishly funny sitcom set in Hell.
Satan …. Andy Hamilton
Thomas …. Jimmy Mulville
Scumspawn …. Robert Duncan
Other characters played by Philip Pope, Nick Revell and Michael Fenton Stevens
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2005.
WED 23:30 The Secret World (b0125n5t)
Series 2
Episode 1
From Al Pacino to Keith Harris and Orville, Jon Culshaw and friends probe the private lives of the famous. From July 2010.


THURSDAY 26 JUNE 2014

THU 00:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b1242)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zllkb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0gyt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 00:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 All the Young Dudes (b01c7rsl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Off the Page (b007670t)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p6125)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 The Art of Travel (b047lhwg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b019rgnv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Just So Stories (b047lk7w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:05 Inheritance Tracks (b010t4pk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:05 on Wednesday]
THU 04:15 MR James (b01pg64z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 The Code of the Woosters (b007wnzd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 An Actor's Life for Me (b008j0ln)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p684p)
Episode 4
Tom Wallace feels sure the woman he sees once lived in the house, but what does she want? Read by Trevor White.
THU 06:30 Literary Walks - Laurie Lee (b047lrjd)
A premature wake? Laurie Lee takes Christopher Somerville on a tour of the village of Slad, where he grew up. From September 1985.
THU 07:00 Ayres on the Air (b01b30dr)
Series 2
Animals
Parrots, limpets and highland cattle are in Pam Ayres's poetic zoo. Stanzas and sketches with Felicity Montagu. From March 2006.
THU 07:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b01fhys6)
Series 8
Original British Drama
Ed reardon leads us through the ups and down of his week, complete with his trusty companion, Elgar, and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.
This week, following one of his numerous, pithy, letters of complaint to the BBC, Ed finds himself doing some research for his son, Jake, the only family member left representing the name of Reardon working in the media. The unexpected consequence of this is that Ed finds himself working in harmony with the 12 year- olds both on screen and in the coffee stations and tea points of power, to produce a piece of genuinely water-cooler factutainment.
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas.
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
THU 08:00 Dad's Army (b007jr7l)
Series 3
Time on my Hands
The Home Guard platoon try to capture a German pilot hanging off the Town Hall clock in Walmington-on-Sea.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges, Frank Williams as the Vicar, Larry Martyn as Private Walker, Erik Chitty as Mr Parsons and Fraser Kerr as the German pilot.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1976.
THU 08:30 Take It From Here (b0170720)
From 12/05/1955
Can Eth get all she wants on her wedding present list? Starring Dick Bentley, Jimmy Edwards and June Whitfield. From May 1955.
THU 09:00 Dead Ringers (b00j5hpx)
Series 3
Episode 3
More celeb sound-alikes, as the Turner Prize interests Harold and Albert Steptoe. With Jon Culshaw. From December 2000.
THU 09:30 Bristow (b00ct8w3)
Series 1
The Great Escape
Bristow plots the summer holiday of a lifetime - in Mudsea.
Michael Williams stars as Bristow, the Chester-Perry buying clerk. He is but a small cog in a gigantic wheel... and he knows it.
Adapted from by Frank Dickens from his famous newspaper cartoon strip. Syndicated internationally, it ran for 51 years from 1961.
Bristow …. Michael Williams
Jones …. Rodney Bewes
Mrs Purdy …. Dora Bryan
Hewitt …. Owen Brenman
Miss Sunman …. Katy Odey
Fudge …. Jon Glover
BJ …. Christopher Benjamin
Post Boy …. Simon Schatzberger
Francine …. Carol Starks
Turner …. David Ryall
Other parts played by the cast.
Music: John Whitehall
Producer: Neil Cargill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1999.
THU 10:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b01b8yyb)
Episode 2
New York State, 1778. Henry Wharton, a young soldier for the British, has been captured by American forces while wearing a disguise in no-man's land.
He must stand trial as a spy, and if found guilty, he will hang. Can General Washington be found in time to issue a pardon?
The conclusion of James Fenimore Cooper's tale of espionage and divided loyalties during the American War of Independence
Harvey Birch . . . . . Burn Gorman
Frances . . . . . Rose Leslie
Henry . . . . . Alex Waldmann
Mr Wharton . . . . . James Lailey
Sarah . . . . . Francine Chamberlain
Mr Harper . . . . . Timothy Watson
Caesar . . . . . Richard Pepple
Peyton Dunwoodie . . . . . Simon Bubb
Captain Lawton . . . . . Gerard McDermott
Skinner . . . . . Adam Billington
Isabella Singleton . . . . . Victoria Inez Hardy
Colonel Martin . . . . . Paul Moriarty
Dramatised by DJ Britton.
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
THU 11:00 Just So Stories (b047lrz1)
Series 2
The Butterfly That Stamped
Made for 4 Extra. Samuel West tells the tale of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, who used his wisdom and cunning to help a lowly butterfly settle an argument.
THU 11:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gj9c)
Andrea Levy
Author Andrea Levy inherits 'Magic Moments' by Perry Como and passes on 'London Is the Place for Me' by Lord Kitchener.
THU 11:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzwdq)
In a Glass Darkly
A jealous lover is haunted by a fellow pilot's death and a vision of murder. Mike Walker's revamped whodunnit with Neil Dudgeon.
THU 12:00 Dad's Army (b007jr7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Take It From Here (b0170720)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p684p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Literary Walks - Laurie Lee (b047lrjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b124b)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Episode 4
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
4/10. Roseanne, a long-time patient in a mental hospital, is writing her traumatic yet colourful life story. Dr Grene, the senior psychiatrist at the hospital, is keeping his own record.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
THU 14:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zllm4)
Horses
Winston Churchill took part in Britain's last imperial cavalry charge at Omdurman, had a passion for polo, hunting, and racing, which brought him into friendly competition with the Queen later in his life.
In this programme, historian Sir David Cannadine explores Churchill's sentimental connection to the horse as a symbol of the fast disappearing, aristocratic world he so strongly believed in.
With Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0jqd)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 9
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
9/10. Muriel moves from Yorkshire to London to live with Delia. She quickly adjusts to her new life until she receives an unexpected visit.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Delia Vaughan ...... Deborah McAndrew
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Directed by Pauline Harris.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbw6)
Willie Daly - The Last Matchmaker
Episode 4
Dermot Crowley reads from the memoir by traditional Irish matchmaker Willie Daly. Telling tall tales of true love, this is a fascinating journey through modern rural Ireland and its recent past.
Coming from a line of traditional Irish matchmakers, Willie's father made his last match a month before he died - finding a wife for his son.
Abridged by David Jackson Young.
THU 15:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b01b8yyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b047lsx8)
Mel Giedroyc finds out how to make fake bananas from British cookery doyenne Marguerite Patten, and author Lucy Hawking chooses two of her favourite books for younger readers.
THU 17:00 No Commitments (b007jmrd)
Series 1
Cracks In The Varnish
Caring and sharing can be hard work for Victoria. Stars Rosemary Leach, Celia Imrie and Nicola Pagett. From January 1992.
THU 17:30 Ayres on the Air (b01b30dr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 18:00 Dead Ringers (b00j5hpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b00763nj)
Series 1
Clement Attlee
4 Extra Debut. Bookseller Tim Waterstone and biographer Ben Pimlott discuss former prime minister Clement Attlee. With Joan Bakewell. From August 2001.
THU 19:00 Dad's Army (b007jr7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Take It From Here (b0170720)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p684p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Literary Walks - Laurie Lee (b047lrjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Just So Stories (b047lrz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gj9c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:20 today]
THU 21:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzwdq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 today]
THU 22:00 Ed Reardon's Week (b01fhys6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Revolting People (b00wr9v4)
Series 4
Reunion
Samuel and company hit London, where McGurk has a family get-together. 1775 America sitcom starring Andy Hamilton. From May 2006.
THU 23:00 The Penny Dreadfuls (b00gpbcv)
More Brothers Faversham
Maximillian Faversham
The story of Victorian Britain's greatest horror writer.
The comedy trio's swashbuckling family romp.
Written by and starring Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck.
With Miles Jupp and Ingrid Oliver.
Script edited by Richard Turner.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in 2008.
THU 23:30 Think the Unthinkable (b01hznxh)
Series 3
Wagstaff and Mutual
The management consultants try to help an investment bank with some bad financing. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From July 2004.


FRIDAY 27 JUNE 2014

FRI 00:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b124b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zllm4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0jqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 00:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbw6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Dead Ringers (b00j5hpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Great Lives (b00763nj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p684p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Literary Walks - Laurie Lee (b047lrjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy (b01b8yyb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Just So Stories (b047lrz1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:20 Inheritance Tracks (b010gj9c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:20 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Agatha Christie (b00jzwdq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 No Commitments (b007jmrd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Ayres on the Air (b01b30dr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p689c)
Episode 5
After his series of terrifying premonitions, Tom battles to discover what Helen wants. Concluded by Trevor White.
FRI 06:30 The Unsettled Dust: The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman (b0184v2s)
Screenwriter Jeremy Dyson praises the supernatural stories of British author and conservationist Robert Aickman and argues they should receive greater recognition for their contribution to literature.
Robert Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist Richard Marsh whose occult thriller The Beetle (1897) was in its time as popular as Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Aickman is best remembered today for co-founding the Inland Waterways Association, but his Grandfather's work influenced him to write around fifty so called "strange" stories involving the supernatural and macabre over a thirty year period starting in the late forties.
In recent years League of Gentlemen writer Dyson has adapted Aickman's work into various forms of Drama including the BBC Radio Four play 'Ringing the Changes'.
By speaking with fans of Aickman and introducing students to his work for the first time, Dyson argues that Aickman's literary gifts have been undervalued and during his lifetime he should have received greater critical acclaim.
FRI 07:00 Chambers (b007jz7m)
Series 3
It's Only Words
John Fuller-Carp gets embroiled in a very costly bet with rival barrister Vernon Ames, while Ruth joins an exclusive dating agency.
Clive Coleman's sitcom set in perhaps the country's least spectacular set of chambers.
John Fuller Carp ...... John Bird
Hilary Tripping ...... James Fleet
Ruth Quirke ...... Sarah Lancashire
Vince ...... Jonathan Kydd
With Jeremy Clyde, Simon Greenall, Ben Crowe. John Rowe and Emma Clarke.
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1999.
FRI 07:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01hxpy6)
Series 2
Junk Mail
Sony Award-winning comic Tom Wrigglesworth performs the last in his series of open letters.
Now he's taking issue with his local curry house and their addiction to junk mail.
Tom also tracks the development of advertising and marketing - a development trajectory which has now led us to the rather ridiculous stage where we can be "Facebook friends" with Jacob's Crackers.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth, James Kettle and Miles Jupp.
Producer: Simon Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2012.
FRI 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
Series 6
Porn Yesterday
Harold's aghast when he discovers exactly 'What the Butler Saw'!
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold.
Written for TV and adapted for radio by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Albert ...... Wilfrid Brambell
Harold ...... Harry H Corbett
Mabel ...... Norma Ronald
Vicar ...... Anthony Sharpe
Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the BBC TV's Comedy Playhouse in 1962. The Offer was set in a house with a yard full of junk, featuring the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold and it was the spark for a run of eight series for TV.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in March 1976.
FRI 08:30 The Small, Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter (b007jxjk)
Series 2
The Club
Author Gerald has money worries, while his wife Diana bids to join a ladies' club.
The convoluted chronicle of an optimistic author starring Ian Carmichael as Gerald C Potter and Charlotte Mitchell as his wife.
With Michael McClain and Jo Manning Wilson.
Written by Basil Boothroyd.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1977.
FRI 09:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00k8fdv)
Series 2
Episode 2
John Lloyd and Sean Lock host a panel show in which three distinguished guests donate fascinating exhibits to a vast imaginary museum.
Tim FitzHigham, Simon Singh and Gavin Pretor-Pinney donate Don Quixote, a pigeon-spattered telescope and an extremely rare cloud.
FRI 09:30 Trevor's World of Sport (b00mdz9v)
Series 2
Episode 2
The sports agent with a conscience tries to cope with some nightmare clients. Stars Neil Pearson. From December 2005.
FRI 10:00 Elizabeth Gaskell - Ruth (b00tx095)
Episode 1
A pretty orphan is apprenticed to a dressmaker. Attending a ball, the elegant Bellingham becomes enchanted. Stars Rory Kinnear.
FRI 11:00 Just So Stories (b047lxgt)
Series 2
The Elephant's Child
Made for 4 Extra. Curiosity can get you into a lot of trouble, as one young elephant discovers in this fantastical tale read by Samuel West.
FRI 11:15 Sheila Hodgson - Turn, Turn, Turn (b01pglt9)
In which MR James - in an effort to heal a breach between a young man and his father - tells a cautionary and chilling tale of evil and witchcraft.
One of a number of dramas written by Sheila Hodgson inspired by MR James and portraying him as the diarist of a series of fictional ghost stories.
Starring David March as James, Michael Cochrane as Charles Fenton, Gerald Cross as Sir John Cheke, Alan Lawrance as the Rev Nicholas Fenton and Colin Etherington as Mark Palgrave.
Director: David Johnston
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977.
FRI 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Small, Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter (b007jxjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p689c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Unsettled Dust: The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman (b0184v2s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b124l)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Episode 5
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
5/10. Dr Grene has found a document claiming that Roseanne's father was a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary and was killed by the IRA. But this is totally at odds with her own memories of her father and the way he died.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
FRI 14:15 Churchill's Other Lives (b00zllpz)
Religion
Churchill once admitted he did not support the Church from the inside like a 'pillar' but from the outside more like a 'flying buttress'. His relationship with God blew hot and cold and yet he had a sense of himself as a man gifted by fate with a higher purpose, as he called it, a 'glow worm'.
In this programme, historian Sir David Cannadine explores Churchill's faith and his powerful and driving sense of destiny.
With Roger Allam as Winston Churchill.
Written and Presented by Professor Sir David Cannadine
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b00b0qj8)
Winifred Holtby - The Crowded Street
Episode 10
Diana Griffiths's dramatisation of Winifred Holtby's tale of a woman's journey into self-fulfilment.
10/10. Muriel returns to Marshington in Yorkshire for the annual fete and is faced with a life-changing decision.
Muriel ...... Clare Goose
Godfrey ...... James D'Arcy
Mrs Hammond ...... Brigit Forsyth
Directed by Pauline Harris.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b00pmbw8)
Willie Daly - The Last Matchmaker
Episode 5
Dermot Crowley reads from the memoir by traditional Irish matchmaker Willie Daly. Telling tall tales of true love, this is a fascinating journey through modern rural Ireland and its recent past.
A salutary tale warning against messing with the path of true love.
Abridged by David Jackson Young.
FRI 15:00 Elizabeth Gaskell - Ruth (b00tx095)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b047ly46)
Mel has the last in our week of Chris Milne's Naughty Stories for Good Boys and Girls, and she finds out how to train a dog to be a Hollywood star.
FRI 17:00 Ring Around the Bath (b00nm9sj)
Series 1
Return of the Kidi
Middle-aged Stella battles to get her grown-up children to leave home. Stars Duncan Preston and Penny Downie. From August 2003.
FRI 17:30 Chambers (b007jz7m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 18:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00k8fdv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 18:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp3v)
Series 1
Sandy Powell
"Can You Hear Me Mother?"
Famed for his catchphrase and comic ventriloquism, Mark Radcliffe profiles the career of Rotherham entertainer, Sandy Powell.
A six-part series exploring the tradition of the northern comedian.
Producer: Bernadette McConnell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
FRI 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Small, Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter (b007jxjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Richard Matheson - A Stir of Echoes (b00p689c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Unsettled Dust: The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman (b0184v2s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Just So Stories (b047lxgt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Sheila Hodgson - Turn, Turn, Turn (b01pglt9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Tom Wrigglesworth's Open Letters (b01hxpy6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Party (b00rfhjq)
Series 1
Episode 3
Satirical sitcom by Tom Basden about a group of young idealists trying to set up a new political party.
The Party clarifies its policies on climate change, while Duncan deals with the aftermath of under-cooked chicken sausages from a BBQ. Before long, murder is committed and the young idealists are placed in a compromising position.
Simon ...... Tom Basden
Mel ...... Anna Crilly
Duncan ...... Tim Key
Jared ...... Johnny Sweet
Phoebe ...... Katy Wix.
FRI 23:00 The Mary Whitehouse Experience (b047lyck)
Series 4
Episode 7
Cinderella is stuck watching Catchphrase. Stars Hugh Dennis, Steve Punt, Robert Newman and David Baddiel. From December 1990.
FRI 23:30 Weak at the Top (b00tgch7)
Series 2
Booty
John Weak reveals the feminist metatext of a chocolate bar ad that features a bikini-clad model with lips that could suck the hair shirt off a Benedictine monk at 50 yards.
Randy, devious, sexist and workshy, John Weak puts the man into management – in Guy Browning’s sitcom.
Starring Alexander Armstrong as marketing maestro and "totty" magnet John Weak.
Hayley ...... Clare Perkins
Sir Marcus ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Bill Peters ...... Ron Cook
Sasha ...... Tracy Wiles
Tibet ...... Adjoa Andoh
Ski Guy ...... Kim Wall
Producer: Jonquil Panting
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2006.