SATURDAY 06 DECEMBER 2014

SAT 00:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jtgh)
Episode 3
Adrian moves house again, becomes a cat and babysitter, and finally gets rid of his blazer. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
SAT 00:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009j65v)
David Hicks
Laurence looks at the career of a flamboyant and influential decorator, who became a superstar of the 1960s. From March 2008.
SAT 00:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnwb)
Episode 10
Preacher Dinah visits her cousin Hetty, who languishes under sentence of death in jail. Stars Katherine Igoe and Vicki Liddelle.
SAT 00:45 Simon Gray - Coda (b00t2cn6)
Episode 5
Coming to terms with his terminal cancer, the playwright experiences the joys of a christening, then goes to collect the results of his scan. Read by Toby Stephens.
SAT 01:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00schhg)
Series 3
Episode 2
While Jon Richardson is detained by the volcano Eyjafjallajokull, John Lloyd is joined by emergency guest curator Dave Gorman to welcome poet Ruth Padel, Madness frontman Suggs and Bo Selecta comedian Leigh Francis, who are offering us the Great Exhibition of 1851, a tiger reserve and some Spidermans, and all for public display.
SAT 01:30 My Life in Five Books (b00tt607)
Series 1
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz is the creator of the best-selling Alex Rider novels and was identified by Labour's then Education Secretary Alan Johnson as the secret weapon to get boys reading. In conversation with Stuart Cosgrove, Anthony reveals the five most significant books in his life. From Tin Tin to War and Peace we hear what books have shaped the life of this acclaimed author.
SAT 02:00 Cadfael (b007jlbz)
Monk's Hood
5. Judgement
With a fresh arrest made for murder, Brother Cadfael is keen to see justice delivered.
Conclusion of Ellis Peters's medieval thriller starring Philip Madoc as Brother Cadfael.
Sir Michael Hordern is the narrator.
From the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, dramatised by Bert Coules.
Narrator ...... Sir Michael Hordern
Brother Cadfael ...... Phillip Madoc
Sergeant William Warden ...... Ian Hogg
Brother Mark ...... Ian Targett
Prior Robert ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Martin Bellecott ...... Timothy Carlton
Edwin Gurney ...... Richard Pearce
Edwy Bellecott ...... Stephen Garlick
Brother Petrus ...... Fraser Kerr
The Judge ...... Norman Jones
Hugh Beringar ...... Alan Barker
Maerreg ...... Kenneth Price
Brother Simon ...... Michael Turner
Brother Barnabas ...... Terrence Edmond
Father Heribert ...... Timothy Bateson
Producer: Lissa Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1991.
SAT 02:30 Shake It, Baby (b0076yxd)
Libby Purves meets leading figures in the UK's neo-burlesque revolution, combining titillation with saucy humour whilst divesting themselves of elaborate costumes. From June 2006.
SAT 03:00 Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (b0076t2t)
Episode 1
Gentle, intelligent Oblomov completely fails to deal with life.
He lives in a flat in St Petersburg. He is always about to go and sort out his estate but he rarely gets out of bed. Never doing today what he can put off till tomorrow,
Toby Jones stars as Oblomov - a tragic-comic hero for a couch potato generation.
Russian writer, Ivan Goncharov's 1859 novel dramatised in two-parts by Stephen Wyatt.
Oblomov …. Toby Jones
Zahar …. Trevor Peacock
Tarantyev …. Gerard McDermott
Doctor …. Clive Swift
Stolz/Bailiff …. Nicholas Boulton
Olga …. Claire Skinner
Olga's Aunt …. Richenda Carey
Director: Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2005.
SAT 04:00 Elizabeth Taylor - Dangerous Calm (b0076h31)
Hotel du Commerce
An overheard argument in a French hotel exposes the fragility of a honeymooning couple's own relationship.
Read by Joanna David.
Elizabeth Taylor's collection of short stories abridged by Richard Hamilton
Producer: Emma Harding
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.
SAT 04:15 Drama (b00770hp)
RK Narayan - A Tiger for Malgudi
By R K Narayan, dramatised by Ronald Frame.
Now the companion of a Sadu, an ageing tiger looks back on his life. A rich evocation of Indian life in the 1970s, this comic narrative views human absurdities through the eyes of a wild animal.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
SAT 05:00 After Henry (b007k4gw)
Series 3
Lines of Communication
'It's been wonderfully peaceful. Or it would have been if I hadn't felt so guilty all the time.'
Sarah and her mother Eleanor wage a war of attrition, until Russell steps in.
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Sarah ...... Prunella Scales
Eleanor ...... Joan Sanderson
Russell ...... Benjamin Whitrow
Clare ...... Gerry Cowper
Four radio series were made, but instead of moving to BBC TV - Thames Television produced 'After Henry' for the ITV network.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1987.
SAT 05:30 Spangles 'n' Tights (b04stqd5)
The Movie
Great excitement when the Dublin Theatrical costumiers provide the uniforms for an American film company.
Christopher Fitz-Simon's five-part comedy.
Dessie Doyle …. David Kelly
Violet Doyle … Pauline McLynn
Atony Gogan …. Eugene O'Brien
Mr McNamara …. Frank Kelly
Mike …. Dan Gordon
Mouser Dolan …. Kevin Flood
Ron Berglas as Buddy Kowalski
Gwynne McElveen as Starlet.
Music played by John Trotter.
Directed at BBC Belfast by Roland Jaquarello.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1998.
SAT 06:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jv0p)
The Importance of Being Earnest
London, 1895: crafty friends Jack and Algernon are living a double life.
This production of Oscar Wilde's comedy was mounted to celebrate the centenary of the play's first night at London's Haymarket Theatre on 14th February 1895.
Starring Dame Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Martin Clunes as Algernon Moncrieff, Michael Sheen as Jack Worthing, Miriam Margolyes as Miss Prism, John Moffatt as Canon Chasuble and Michael Hordern as Lane.
Pianist: Terence Allbright. Produced by Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01m49vh)
Your Starter for Ten: 50 Years of University Challenge
Fifty years after episode one was shown on ITV, the geek fest that is University Challenge has not only survived but also flourished.
In this Archive on 4, former Radio 4 controller now Master of St Peter's college Oxford, Mark Damazer, pays tribute to his favourite quiz.
Delving into its history he uncovers a programme that began against the backdrop of a shake up in Britain's university system and came from the entrepreneurial spirit of Manchester's Granada studios.
Mark meets former contestants like Gail Trimble, Sean Blanchflower and Luke Pitcher who have all won the coveted University Challenge title. Through personal anecdotes from the archives from Bamber Gascoigne and in a new interview with Jeremy Paxman, Mark discovers how competing students have, across the decades, delighted its hosts.
Mark Thompson and ITV's John Whiston debate how University Challenge works as piece of television and why it has endured for half a century.
The show has ever been controversial. In a protest about Oxbridge being allowed to enter so many college teams, Manchester University, which included future broadcaster David Aaronovitch, answered most of the questions with silly answers. David tells Mark why he regretted taking his place on the team. Quentin Smith, now a lawyer, was the man behind the Manchester University controversy and tells his version of the story for the first time.
There are also plenty of starters for ten: What sort of brain do you need to be good at it? Has it got deliberately easier or harder? And how do you put together the best team? Answers will be revealed in this loving homage to one of Britain's most admired television shows.
Produced by: Jo Meek
A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 09:00 Comedy Controller (b007jpfr)
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry, actor, writer, wit and naughty national treasure chooses his favourite comedies from the BBC radio archive.
For Stephen, radio comedy inhabits the very way 'I write and think'. He takes us back to his childhood, curled up and listening to programmes like Men From the Ministry (1972). He remembers his friend Douglas Adams, who Stephen recalls thought the whole world through...only backwards, no better displayed than in the very first Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (1978).
He relives the thrill of being offered the chance to write his very own radio show, and asking his friends Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson to help out in Saturday Night Fry (1988). Stephen marvels at the brilliance of the team behind the ultimate news show On the Hour (1992) including Armando Iannucci, Chris Morris and Steve Coogan.
He explains what it's like to experience, from the comedy coal face, an absolute radio classic, the antidote to panel games: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (2003). And chooses his own antidote to radio phone in shows, the award winning Down The Line (2007), starring Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson - who Stephen knew as comedy saplings.
For Stephen, TV is often a greedy, one dimensional medium. For him listening to radio "is so much more".
Producer: Peter McHugh.
SAT 12:00 Patricia Highsmith - Carol (Omnibus) (b04t1yt8)
A tender and unsettling love story about two women - one of them married, and the other 19 - who risk everything to be together.
Written by Patricia Highsmith, who's best-known as one of the 20th-century's most accomplished thriller-writers - a role she assumed overnight when Alfred Hitchcock turned her sublimely disturbing first novel, Strangers on a Train, into a hit movie in 1951.
Written a year later, Carol broke all the rules for the portrayal of lesbians in American fiction. Despite warnings from her publisher and her agent that a lesbian novel would ruin her new-found reputation, the book became a major best-seller, with over a million sales when it was released in paperback - and Highsmith went on to write thirty more books before her death in 1995.
Carol is a genuinely groundbreaking classic - and a truly modern love story.
A struggling, young theatre designer - nineteen-year old Therese Belivet - takes a temporary Christmas job in a New York store. A week before Christmas, a glamorous stranger comes into the toy department to buy a doll for her daughter - and suddenly Therese's life will never be the same again.
Carol..............Miranda Richardson
Therese...........Andrea Deck
Mrs Robichek....Beverley Klein
Miss Davis........Liza Ross
Richard.............Gunnar Cauthrey
With Barbara Barnes and David Jarvis
Omnibus adapted and directed by Neil Bartlett
Producer: David Blount
A Pier production first broadcast in five parts on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.
SAT 13:15 John Mortimer - Rumpole of the Bailey (b007jz92)
Rumpole Redeemed
The barrister faces a conundrum over whether offenders can ever go straight. John Mortimer's drama stars Timothy West.
SAT 14:00 The Consultants (b0076pvy)
Series 2
Episode 4
Taking register at stunt school, Tarzan learns the alphabet and meet Buck Stark, known to millions as naked superhero Captain Buff.
The Consultants are Neil Edmond, Justin Edwards and James Rawlings.
Producer: Will Saunders
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2003.
SAT 14:30 Dead Ringers (b0076jx6)
The Best of Dead Ringers
Overseas versions of The Archers and David Beckham in Brazil. Highlights with Jon Culshaw and Kate Robbins. From January 2004.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01m49vh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jv0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 18:00 Charles Chilton - Space Force (b007jn65)
Series 2
Unto Death - And Beyond
Stranded on the Golden Planet, the Space Force crew must find a way to return to Mars.
Conclusion of Charles Chilton's second intergalatic adventure starring Barry Foster.
Captain Saxon Berry ...... Barry Foster
Chipper Barnett ...... Nicky Henson
Magnus Carter ...... Nigel Stock
Lodderick Sincere ...... Tony Osoba
With Wendy Murray, Willoughby Goddard, Bernard Brown and Mia Soteriou.
Charles Chilton wrote and produced many popular and successful radio programmes for the BBC - including the classic 1950s serial 'Journey into Space' - charting the adventures of Captain Jet Morgan. This fired the imagination of millions, years before the first moon landing. It was the last radio drama to record higher ratings than the new young upstart television!
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in June 1985.
SAT 18:30 Planet B (b00yqqs6)
Series 3
Disaster!
In the last hours of Planet B, what is better than a farewell party? Virtual reality saga by Matthew Wilkie. Stars Lloyd Thomas.
SAT 19:00 Comedy Controller (b007jpfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation (b017mv2v)
Tolerance
Mark Watson continues his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden
As broadcast live with an audience in November 2011 - Mark asks the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and society - in a dynamic and thought provoking new format he opens the floor to the live audience and asks them to jump into the conversation via tweets and messages to work out how we can all make the world a better place.
This time Mark looks at "Tolerance" - Religious tolerance, moral tolerance, not striking the person next to you on the bus because they haven't worked out you can send a text without your phone beeping every time you press a key.
It's important to tolerate others' faults, their little quirks, and their massive despicable crimes. But can tolerance make us into doormats, allowing evil to thrive? Probably. Shame, that.
Producer: Lianne Coop.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.
SAT 22:30 The Mark Steel Revolution (b00g1zs8)
The Theory of Evolution
Radical comic Mark Steele reassesses Darwin's description of the development of life.
A series of lectures on the theme of revolution, Mark examines some of the major historical forces at work during revolutions as well as holding up a mirror to our own age.
With Martin Hyder and Carla Mendonca.
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1998.
SAT 23:00 BBC New Comedy Awards (b04t6pqs)
2014
Semi-final, part 1 - Extended
Extended edition, made for 4 Extra. Patrick Kielty presents this first semi-final of the 2014 BBC Radio New Comedy Award from the Birmingham Glee Club.
SAT 23:45 No Tomatoes (b0082dsm)
Retro Rocket
A harp goes back in time with Paul Copley and Helen Moon. Sketch show mixing up language and sounds. From October 2007.


SUNDAY 07 DECEMBER 2014

SUN 00:00 Charles Chilton - Space Force (b007jn65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:30 Planet B (b00yqqs6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Archive on 4 (b01m49vh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:00 Patricia Highsmith - Carol (Omnibus) (b04t1yt8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 03:15 John Mortimer - Rumpole of the Bailey (b007jz92)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:15 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Oscar Wilde (b007jv0p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 George Eliot - Adam Bede Omnibus (b00t13s4)
Episode 2
Staffordshire, 1799. Will the captain's military career, or someone else, prevent a marriage to Hetty? Stars Katherine Igoe.
SUN 07:15 Byron Rogers - The Last Human Cannonball (b00fwdfc)
Episode 1
Byron Rogers embarks on a visit to the packed treasure house of a costume store. Read by Crawford Logan.
SUN 07:30 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b00yqhrk)
Series 1
Gelbetia
by Bill Dare
Brian Gulliver, a seasoned presenter of travel documentaries, finds himself in a hospital's secure unit after claiming to have experienced a succession of bizarre adventures.
This week we hear about his travels in Gelbetia, a country run by doctors.
Produced by Steven Canny
Brian Gulliver's Travels is a new satirical adventure story from Bill Dare. The series has attracted an excellent cast led by Neil Pearson and award winning star of the RSC's current season, Mariah Gale. Cast includes fantastic actors Tamsin Greig, John Standing, Paul Bhattacharjee, Christopher Douglas, Catherine Shepherd, Vicky Pepperdine, Phil Cornwell, Antonia Campbell Hughes, Jo Bobin and Katherine Jakeways.
For years Bill Dare wanted to create a satire about different worlds exploring Kipling's idea that we travel, 'not just to explore civilizations, but to better understand our own'. But science fiction and space ships never interested him, so he put the idea on ice. Then Brian Gulliver arrived and meant that our hero could be lost in a fictional world without the need for any sci-fi.
Satirical targets over the series: the medical profession and its need to pathologize everything; the effect of marriage on children; spirituality and pseudo-science; compensation culture; sexism; the affect of our obsession with fame.
Gulliver's Travels is the only book Bill Dare read at university. His father, Peter Jones, narrated a similarly peripatetic radio series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
SUN 08:00 Meet the Huggetts (b00nvyzd)
Clean Linen
A mix-up at the launderette sparks a whole pile of embarrassment for Joe and Ethel Huggett.
Stars Jack Warner as Joe, Kathleen Harrison as Ethel, James Langley as Bobby, Alanna Boyce as Jane, Charles Leno as Fred Stebbings and Alan Keith as the Detective.
Popular working-class family, the Huggetts first hit the cinema screen with a series of Gainsborough films between 1947 and 1949. Their subsequent BBC radio series ran from 1953 to 1962.
Scripted by Eddie Maguire.
Producer: Jacques Brown
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1959.
SUN 08:30 Stop Messing About! (b00r3s1n)
Series 2
Episode 3
Money worries for Sid and Rita, and the Smith Report investigates travel - does it get you anywhere?
Starring Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Joan Sims and announcer Douglas Smith.
After the unexpected death of Kenneth Horne in 1969, plans for the next series of Round the Horne were axed. Instead - using an old catchphrase of Kenneth Williams as a series title - Kenneth joined Hugh Paddick to continue the comedy tradition and was also reunited with his "Carry On" film co-star Joan Sims.
Written by Myles Rudge, David Cumming and Derek Collyer.
With the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 1970.
SUN 09:00 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (b007jqq9)
Secrets
The March sisters go on an outing with Laurie's English friends. Stars Buffy Davis, Jemma Redgrave and Gayle Hunnicutt.
SUN 09:30 Captain Kidd and the First Fifteen (b04t6jvq)
Episode 4
As Harry health deteriorates, Captain Kidd's diabolical plans are coming to fruition. Stars Polly James and Philip Voss.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b04t6k33)
Children's Writers
Anne Fine
4 Extra Debut. From Mozart to Dire Straits, children's writer Anne Fine shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From December 2001.
SUN 10:45 Patrick O'Brian - Samphire (b04t6k35)
Hunting a samphire plant on a cliff edge, Molly and her husband plumb the depths of their relationship. Read by Diana Bishop. From April 1993.
SUN 11:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show (b01dh70q)
Series 7
Episode 22
Back at the Town Hall in New York City, the American funny man welcomes singers Leon Redbone and Heather Masse. From 2011.
SUN 12:00 George Eliot - Adam Bede Omnibus (b00t13s4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 13:15 Byron Rogers - The Last Human Cannonball (b00fwdfc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 13:30 Wally K Daly (b007jqz6)
A Right Royal Rip-Off
Inmates Charles and George have a nice little scam going on behind bars. The last thing they want is to be released from prison, so they plot an outrageously daring heist - involving the Crown Jewels.
Starring Peter Jones, Charles Hawtrey, Donald Hewlett and Bernard Bresslaw.
The second of Wally K Daly's trilogy of criminal gang capers produced in the style of old British comedy films.
Charles Forbes .... Peter Jones
Governor Smith ... Donald Hewlett
George Evans .... Lockwood West
Fingers .... Charles Hawtrey
Bullet Head ..... Bernard Bresslaw
Nigel .... John Warner
Mrs Sopworth .... Pauline Letts
Colonel .... Stephen Thorne
Basil .... Ronald Herdman
Winston .... Steve Hodson
Tommy .... John Bull
Chair Person .... Miranda Forbes
Billy .... David Timson
Wilkes .... John Rowe
Plunket .... John Rye
Perkins .... Adrian Egan
Doreen .... Wendy Murray
Calloni .... Gordon Reid
Listen out for conclusion of Wally K Daly's Trilogy - The Bigger They Are.
Producer: Martin Jenkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1982.
SUN 15:00 Meet the Huggetts (b00nvyzd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 15:30 Stop Messing About! (b00r3s1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 16:00 Mel's Mix: The Best of The 4 O'Clock Show (b04t6kxr)
Puffin Pianos, Morris Gleitzman and Island Life
Mel Giedroyc introduces highlights from this week's 4 O'Clock Shows including puffin pianos, author Morris Gleitzman's Inheritance Books and a celebration of island life.
SUN 17:00 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (b007jqq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 17:30 Captain Kidd and the First Fifteen (b04t6jvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Ray Bradbury's Tales of the Bizarre (b007jm54)
Series 1
I Sing the Body Electric
When a young mother dies, she's replaced by a 'Mark V, 110 volt, AC/DC, Electric Grandmother'. What else?
Ray Bradbury introduces his own tingling tale dramatised by Catherine Czerkawska.
Starring David Jarvis as Tom, Angus McInnes as Father, Buffy Davis as Agatha, Colin Scott Moncrieff as Timothy and Joanna Tope as the 'Mark V, AC/DC, Electric Grandmother.
Directed in Edinburgh by Hamish Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996.
SUN 18:30 Robert Holmes - Aliens in the Mind (b007jlw9)
5. Genetic Revelation
Professor Curtis Lark and John Cornelius have established the existence of another colony of mutants in the heart of London, but the only person who could fight them is dead...
Starring Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.
John Cornelius .... Peter Cushing
Curtis Lark .... Vincent Price
Flora Kiery .... Sandra Clarke
Ian Sanderson .... Frazer Carr
Gulliver .... William Eadle
Brigadier Sherman .... Clifford Norgates
Gwynt .... Michael Harbour
Manson .... Andrew Sear
Home Office Official .... James Thomason
Written by Rene Basilico from an idea by Robert Holmes.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1977.
SUN 19:00 Garrison Keillor's Radio Show (b01dh70q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 20:00 Meet the Huggetts (b00nvyzd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 20:30 Stop Messing About! (b00r3s1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 21:00 Serial (b04wzrs9)
The Alibi
Sarah investigates how a potential alibi surfaced and then disappeared again at the worst possible time for Adnan's case.
SUN 22:00 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b00yqhrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Clare in the Community (b00gkktk)
Series 2
Doolah's Choice
The bossy social worker sticks her oar in Helen's wedding and Megan's home birth. Starring Sally Phillips. From October 2005.
SUN 23:00 The Maltby Collection (b00xmvwb)
Series 2
Episode 5
The museum staff pitch their ideas for a special exhibition. Stars Geoffrey Palmer and Julian Rhind-Tutt. From June 2008.
SUN 23:30 The Masterson Inheritance (b007jqwj)
Series 3
The Masterson's Magical Marquee, pt 2
The improvised historical family saga's two-part romp about a Victorian travelling circus. With Josie Lawrence. From July 1995.


MONDAY 08 DECEMBER 2014

MON 00:00 Ray Bradbury's Tales of the Bizarre (b007jm54)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:30 Robert Holmes - Aliens in the Mind (b007jlw9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b04t6k33)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:45 Patrick O'Brian - Samphire (b04t6k35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 on Sunday]
MON 02:00 Meet the Huggetts (b00nvyzd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Stop Messing About! (b00r3s1n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:00 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b00yqhrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:30 Wally K Daly (b007jqz6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (b007jqq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Captain Kidd and the First Fifteen (b04t6jvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q17)
Episode 1
September 1800, Rosia Bay, Gibraltar. Newly commissioned, Jack Aubrey nervously awaits the verdict in his Court Martial for the loss of his ship, the Sophie.
Dramatisation of Patrick O'Brian's popular Napoleonic seafaring adventure.
Starring Michael Troughton as Jack Aubrey and Nigel Anthony as Stephen Maturin.
Dramatised by Roger Danes. Directed by Adrian Bean.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
MON 06:30 Third Ear (b04t6ys4)
Patrick O'Brian
4 Extra Debut. Novelist Patrick O'Brian talks to Alan Judd about his work and his fascination with the historical novel. From March 1992.
MON 07:00 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b00751s5)
Series 4
Episode 4
Sofa-bound TV presenters Mike and Sue Mike take a look at the flipside of fame, Mike meets his biggest fan and the week's good cause is Charity.
Starring Robert Duncan and Jan Ravens.
With Roger Blake, Alistair McGowan, Ronnie Ancona and Emma Kennedy.
Written by David Spicer and Hugh Rycroft from a format by Bill Dare.
Music by Mark Burton.
Producer: Aled Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
MON 07:30 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b04stzf5)
Series 62
Episode 3
The nation's favourite wireless entertainment pays a visit to the Victoria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent. Regulars Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are joined on the panel by Omid Djalili, with Jack Dee in the chair. Colin Sell provides piano accompaniment.
Producer - Jon Naismith.
MON 08:00 Marriage Lines (b04t6qly)
Series 1
The Convention
Kate is concerned when George heads to Birmingham with his colleagues
Starring Richard Briers as George Starling and Prunella Scales as Kate Starling.
Richard Waring’s sitcom based on the mutual love and mistrust of two newlyweds. Originating on BBC TV, it ran between 1963 and 1965 and was adapted in two series for BBC radio due to its popularity.
George ...... Richard Briers
Kate ...... Prunella Scales
Miles ...... Derek Waring
Mr Renfrew Smith ...... Felix Felton
Other parts played by John Graham, Leon Thau and Jo Kendall.
Producer: Charles Maxwell
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1965.
MON 08:30 As Time Goes By (b04t6qm0)
Series 1
Episode 1
Former sweethearts Jean and Lionel meet up again after many years, but true love fails to rekindle.
Starring Judi Dench as Jean and Geoffrey Palmer as Lionel. With Jon Glover and Simon Greenall.
Adapted from his original television series by Bob Larbey. Produced by Martin Fisher.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1997.
MON 09:00 The Personality Test (b00n51fv)
Series 2
Esther Rantzen
Consumer champion Esther Rantzen quizzes a panel about herself.
With Sue Perkins, Lucy Porter, Will Smith and Robin Ince.
Series with changing hosts who quiz the panel.
Script by Richard Turner and Simon Littlefield
Devised and produced by Aled Evans.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2007.
MON 09:30 The Castle (b01jyq99)
Series 4
A Term for the Worse
Hie ye to The Castle, a rollicking sitcom set way back then, starring James Fleet ("The Vicar Of Dibley"), Neil Dudgeon ("Life Of Riley"), Martha Howe-Douglas ("Horrible Histories") & Ingrid Oliver
Anne's off to Cambridge but Charlotte doesn't know the meaning of the word "thick". Literally. Is this the end of a beautiful friendship? And what will Sir Warenne do?
Written by Kim Fuller & Paul Alexander
Music by Guy Jackson
Produced and directed by David Tyler.
MON 10:00 Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (b0076t6b)
Episode 2
Gentle, intelligent Oblomov completely fails to deal with life. He lives in a flat in St Petersburg never doing today what he can put off till tomorrow.
During a summer in the country, he has fallen in love with pretty clever Olga. Back in St Petersburg, Olga's patience is put to the test.
Toby Jones stars as Oblomov - a tragic-comic hero for a couch potato generation.
Conclusion of Ivan Goncharov's 1859 novel dramatised by Stephen Wyatt.
Oblomov …. Toby Jones
Zahar …. Trevor Peacock
Tarantyev …. Gerard McDermott
Olga …. Claire Skinner
Agafya/ Nurse …. Fiona Clarke
Stolz …. Nicholas Boulton
Nicolai …. Harry Myers
Director Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2005.
MON 11:00 Patrick O'Brian - Little Death (b04t7kjc)
Haunted by World War Two and vowing not to kill again, an ex-fighter pilot is invited to shoot pigeons. Read by Liam O'Callaghan.
MON 11:15 Loose Ends (b04tcbcy)
Sara Cox, Richard Curtis, Lee Mack, Josie Lawrence, Andrew O'Neill, Hiss Golden Messenger, Francesca Belmonte
Clive talks to Richard Curtis, award-winning, international film-director and script writer, and the creator of 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Love Actually', 'Notting Hill' and 'Mr Bean', about his new children's book 'Snow Day' and his adaptation with Paul Mayhew Archer of Roald Dahl's 'Esio Trot', as part of the BBC's Xmas programming.
In new film 'Bonobo' comedienne and actress Josie Lawrence leads a commune whose social structure, like that of the Bonobo ape, centres around recreational sex. Hilarity ensues.
Clive's co-host Sara Cox meets comic Andrew O'Neill; transvestite, and 'pharmacist baffler'. He is also married and in a steam-punk band, and his current Radio 4 show examines gender identity, using his own experiences.
And mid sell-out tour, multi-award winning star of 'Not Going Out' and 'Would I Lie To You'? Lee Mack talks sitcoms, well-crafted gags and sharp one-liners.
With music from Hiss Golden Messenger who performs 'Saturday's Song' from his album 'Lateness of Dancers', available now on Merge Records. And more music from Francesca Belmonte who performs her new single 'Stole', available on Monday 29th December on False Idols.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
MON 12:00 Marriage Lines (b04t6qly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 As Time Goes By (b04t6qm0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q17)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Third Ear (b04t6ys4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth1)
Episode 4
Adrian has a near-miss, but manages to lose his job and his psychotherapist in the process. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
MON 14:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc8w)
Country House
Laurence plots the rise of the country house style in the disquieting years of the '70s and '80s when the past became a consolation and an escape from the present. From March 2008.
MON 14:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnxd)
Episode 11
In the darkness of her prison cell, preacher Dinah struggles for Hetty's soul.
George Eliot's haunting story of love betrayed and love rewarded dramatised in 15 episodes by Robert Forrest.
An immediate bestseller in 1859, Eliot's second novel established her reputation and paved the way for masterpieces such as The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch.
Starring Katherine Igoe as Hetty, Victoria Liddelle as Dinah and Crawford Logan as Mr Irwine.
Director: Patrick Rayner.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b01l30yg)
Katherine Boo - Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Episode 1
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Boo tells the tale of those she met there, from the garbage scavenger to the wannabe slumlord, the corrupt police officers to the slum's first female college graduate, as she looks at what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: while local teenage boys see a job in the luxury hotels as a way out, one woman sets her sights on becoming the slum's first female slumlord.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones
Producer: Justine Willett.
MON 15:00 Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (b0076t6b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b0366kyb)
On today's show, ringmaster Mel Giedroyc takes us on a tour of a modern circus, and author David Almond reads the first part of his own story The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas.
MON 17:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b00bt51z)
Series 3
Episode 1
Singers Tommy and Sheila have a supermarket to open - and go silver surfing.
Sweethearts Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr won the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest, but now they're back in the big time. The problem is, they can’t stand each other…
Third series of Mike Coleman's six-part sitcom.
CAST:
Tommy Franklin …. Roy Hudd
Sheila Parr …. June Whitfield
Hetty Stark …. Pat Coombes
Murray …. Julian Eardley
Louis Elstein …. Edward Halsted
Music by Frido Ruth.
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2001.
MON 17:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b00751s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 18:00 The Personality Test (b00n51fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b04t7rry)
Peter Firth and Judith Palmer
Sarah LeFanu, the Rt Rev Peter Firth and Judith Palmer discuss books by Rohinton Mistry, Cecil Lewis and John Banville. From November 1998.
Tales from Firozsha Baag, by Rohinton Mistry
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Sagittarius Rising, by Cecil Lewis
Publisher: Warner Books
The Untouchable, by John Banville
Publisher: Picador.
MON 19:00 Marriage Lines (b04t6qly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 As Time Goes By (b04t6qm0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q17)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Third Ear (b04t6ys4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Serial (b04wzs3g)
The Break-Up
Friends say Adnan was sad when Hae dumped him, but not crazy sad, just normal sad. The prosecutors say he was rage-filled and vengeful. Which is it?
MON 21:40 Inheritance Tracks (b04khrzx)
Trevor Nunn
Theatre director Trevor Nunn inherits the Paul Temple radio theme, and passes on 'All You Need Is Love' by the Beatles.
MON 21:45 Back to the Drawing Board (b008zhmd)
Episode 1
Fire-proof grease, happy accidents and the doggy doorbell. Matthew Harvey explores the fascinating world of inventions.
MON 22:00 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue (b04stzf5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 The Castle (b01jyq99)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 23:00 The News Quiz Extra (b04t7tx3)
Series 12
Episode 7
Made for 4 Extra. Satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig with regular guest Jeremy Hardy, plus Fred Macaulay, Bob Mills and Holly Walsh.
MON 23:45 Hearing With Hegley (b009y1s3)
Series 1
Episode 1
The poet laureate of alternative comedy, John Hegley, presents a selection of his work.
With contributions from Keith Moore, Susan Norton, Andrew Bailey and Nigel Piper.
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1996.


TUESDAY 09 DECEMBER 2014

TUE 00:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnxd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 00:45 Book of the Week (b01l30yg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 The Personality Test (b00n51fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 A Good Read (b04t7rry)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q17)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Third Ear (b04t6ys4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (b0076t6b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Patrick O'Brian - Little Death (b04t7kjc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:15 Loose Ends (b04tcbcy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Like They've Never Been Gone (b00bt51z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue (b00751s5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q19)
Episode 2
Jack tests the Sophie under sail, and Stephen's romantic notions of naval life are distinctly tarnished. With Michael Troughton and Nigel Anthony.
TUE 06:30 The Perfect House (b008jz4w)
Charlie Luxton visits Venice to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Andrea Palladio, known as the father of western architecture. The symmetry and grace of the Villa Emo, completed in 1565, explain the reputation Palladio acquired as the ultimate domestic architect.
TUE 07:00 Two Doors Down (b008h68b)
Series 2
Druids and Draws
Edith Black's lodger, Victor, the Ulster-Scots poet, has fallen in love with a Celtic druid, Anashuya - and brought her back to Belfast...
Starring Stella McCusker.
Annie McCartney's sitcom about the bohemian Belfast residents of Marlborough Road, saved from chaos by their cleaning lady, Sally.
Sally ...... Stella McCusker
Clare ...... Marcella Riordan
Evie ...... Katy Gleadhill
Victor ...... Alan Mckee
Anashuya ...... Laura Hughes
Miss Black ...... Roma Tomelty
Fintan ...... Gerard Murphy
Layla ...... Emily Walmsley
Rory ...... Richard Clements
Anna ...... Hannah R Gordon
With Gerry Anderson as Himself
Director: Tanya Nash
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2002.
TUE 07:30 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b04svfsc)
Series 2
The Separatists
When the lights from a new zebra crossing outside Tom's parent's house causes insomnia in the Wrigglesworth household, Tom's dad is forced to take matters into his own hands and cause a fuss. Not perhaps in the way everyone else would though...
Meanwhile, Tom is down in London preparing himself for a visit from the bailiffs.
With Kate Anthony, Paul Copley and Judy Parfitt.
Written by Tom Wrigglesworth and James Kettle. With Miles Jupp.
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.
TUE 08:00 The Goon Show (b007jr24)
Series 10
Tales of Men's Shirts
It is 1942, and Neddie Seagoon must stop the Germans' secret weapon. Stars Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. From December 1959.
TUE 08:30 Doctor at Large (b009xxrs)
In General Practice
Simon Sparrow lands a job in Aberdeen, where he's forced to tackle a pepped-up port loving lady.
The misadventures of newly qualified doctor, Simon Sparrow - adapted for radio by Ray Cooney from Richard Gordon's 'Doctor at Large' published in 1955.
Starring Richard Briers as Simon Sparrow, Geoffrey Sumner as Captain Spratt, Ray Cooney as Tony Benskin, Joan Sanderson as Mrs Russell, Stanley Baxter as Dr Hockett and Joan Sims as Dora.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1969.
TUE 09:00 The News Quiz Extra (b04t7tx3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Hearing With Hegley (b009y1s3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrhz)
March 1846
A mysterious letter from New Orleans arrives to disturb the untroubled existence of Combe Raven House in West Somersetshire.
What is the secret being kept by Mr and Mrs Vanstone from their devoted daughters, Magdalen and Norah?
Published in 1862, Wilkie Collins novel dramatised in six parts by Ray Jenkins.
Magdalen Vanstone ...... Sophie Thompson
Captain Wragge ...... Jack May
Norah Vanstone ...... Elizabeth Mansfield
Miss Garth ...... Kathleen Helme
Mrs Vanstone ...... Jo Kendall
Mr Vanstone ...... Michael Graham Cox
Mr Clare ...... Peter Woodthorpe
Frank Clare ...... Paul Downing
Manager ...... Christopher Good
Miss Marable ...... Susan Sheridan
Mrs Marable ...... Joanna Mackie
Mr Pendril ...... John Moffatt
Narrator ...... Philip Sully
Music by Peter Brewis and played by Maurice Cambridge.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1989.
TUE 11:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Stag at Bay (b04t922f)
He is writing an article on marriage. She has retreated to her mother's. And the horned beast? Read by Sean Barrett.
TUE 11:15 Peter Tinniswood (b007rfd0)
I Always Take Long Walks
Dame Judi Dench plays Enid, the wife of a man addicted to cricket.
She shares with us her private thoughts - many of which she has while taking walks - on cricket, kitchen units and life with her husband.
Written by Peter Tinniswood. Director: John Tydeman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1991.
TUE 11:50 Ken Whitmore - Brown's Bull (b01709h1)
Mr Rosemount is not happy. But he has a plan to gain revenge on the man responsible. Read by Bernard Cribbins.
TUE 12:00 The Goon Show (b007jr24)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 Doctor at Large (b009xxrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 The Perfect House (b008jz4w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth5)
Episode 5
Adrian 'enjoys' a Russian holiday, desperately seeks accommodation and keeps in touch with Bianca. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
TUE 14:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc90)
Loft Living
Bowen hits Manchester to explore the rise of lofts during the 1980s - a change in people's expectations of what homes could be. From April 2008.
TUE 14:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnxz)
Episode 12
Hetty confesses the full horror of her crime, but Dinah makes her own admission. Stars Katherine Igoe and Vicki Liddelle.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b01l314l)
Katherine Boo - Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Episode 2
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: a young teacher banks on education as a way out of the slums, while a young garbage scavenger is tempted into theft.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones
Producer: Justine Willett.
TUE 15:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrhz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b0366nk3)
Mel Giedroyc hears about the 'The Headless Lady' sideshow illusion, and author David Almond reads the second part of his story The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas.
TUE 17:00 The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket (b04t6tf8)
Series 1
Daily Rehearsals
A driving lesson sparks problems aplenty for the dear ladies.
Starring Dame Hilda Bracket and her lifelong companion Dr Evadne Hinge.
The dear ladies reside in the Suffolk village of Stackton Tressel. This was the genteel setting for three Radio 4 series between 1977 and 1979, with further spin-off seasons on Radio 2 until 1990. In the early 1980s, they expanded over to BBC TV with the series Dear Ladies.
Dame Hilda Bracket ...... George Logan
Dr Evadne Hinge ...... Patrick Fyffe
Maude ...... Daphne Heard
Scripted by Mike Craig, Lawrie Kinsley and Ron McDonnell.
Produced at BBC Manchester by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1977.
TUE 17:30 Two Doors Down (b008h68b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 18:00 We've Been Here Before (b00fz84k)
Series 2
Episode 3
Clive Anderson hosts the panel show that pokes fun at events of the past.
The topical historical satirical panel show setting out to prove that there's nothing new under, or in, The Sun.
Mark Steel and David Quantick battle it out against John O'Farrell and Chris Addison.
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2004.
TUE 18:30 The Tingle Factor (b04t96jg)
Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore shares those musical moments which stir his emotions with Jeremy Nicholas.
From Duke Ellington to Bach, the comic actor and musician also looks back over his life and career.
Producer: Andrew Mussett
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1992.
TUE 19:00 The Goon Show (b007jr24)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 Doctor at Large (b009xxrs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 The Perfect House (b008jz4w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Serial (b04wzslj)
Leakin Park
Three weeks after Hae went missing, a man found her body in a city forest. But his story is strange and his past is even stranger. Did he really just stumble on her by accident?
TUE 21:30 Moy McCrory - The Mermaid and the Rat Catcher (b00vknkp)
Can a lonely rat catcher keep his promise to a mermaid, or lose her forever? Read by Gerard McSorley.
TUE 21:45 Back to the Drawing Board (b008zt90)
Episode 2
Apart from creativity, great inventions call for patents and money. Presented by Matthew Harvey, with James Dyson.
TUE 22:00 Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-Ups (b04svfsc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 The Headset Set (b012fs7b)
Series 1
Episode 4
It is appraisal day in the offices of catalogue company Smile5, but only Sailesh has prepared for it.
Eavesdrop on both sides of the bizarre, horrific and ludicrous phone calls when customers call in as events unfold with company staff.
Aleesha and other characters ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Bernie and other characters ..... Margaret-Cabourn Smith
Big Tony, Ralph and other characters ..... Colin Hoult
Sailesh, Bradley and other characters ..... Paul Sharma
Various ..... Philip Fox
Writers: James Kettle, Stephen Carlin, Celia Pacquola, Andy Wolton, Benjamin Partridge, Colin Hoult, Kevin Core, Madeliene Brettingham, Rebecca Hobbs and Dan Tetsell.
Script editor: James Kettle
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2011.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b04wx2vg)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight, Tom Wrigglesworth chats to Adam Riches.
TUE 23:00 Delve Special (b00t1qsy)
Series 1
The Shifton Scandal
In 1982 Shifton, a town 20 miles north east of Birmingham, was demolished to make way for London's third airport.
David Lander examines the part played in the scandal by Mickey Ozada's Jolly Good Fun Holiday Company and looks at the fate of the Women's Anti-Airport Protest Camp.
Studio production by Stephen Fry, Jack Klaff and Andrew Sachs.
With Brenda Bleythn, Moray Watson, Tony Robinson and Jan Ravens.

Dramatic reconstruction by Mark Arden, Stephen Frost, Felicity Montague and Phil Nice.
Researched and compiled by Tony Sarchet.
Editor: Paul Mayhew-Archer.
Delve Special ran for four series from 1984 to 1987 and later transferred to TV as: This is David Lander.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1984.
TUE 23:30 Vent (b00t2crk)
Series 1
Switching Off
Ben's doctors wonder if lying in a coma might be making him depressed and they send in the hospital psychiatrist to see him. This has a surprising effect on Ben, Mary and Mum.
Meanwhile Ben's unconscious mind takes him back to his previous experience of therapy - having a row with Mary about their marriage guidance counsellor.
Dark sitcom written by Nigel Smith.
Starring Neil Pearson as Ben Smith, Fiona Allen as Mary, Josie Lawrence as Mum and Leslie Ash as Blitzkrieg.
With Mark Perry, Dave Lamb, Jo Martin, Lucy Montgomery and Nicola Walker.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2006.


WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER 2014

WED 00:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc90)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnxz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 00:45 Book of the Week (b01l314l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 We've Been Here Before (b00fz84k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 The Tingle Factor (b04t96jg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q19)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 The Perfect House (b008jz4w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrhz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Stag at Bay (b04t922f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:15 Peter Tinniswood (b007rfd0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Tuesday]
WED 04:50 Ken Whitmore - Brown's Bull (b01709h1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:50 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket (b04t6tf8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Two Doors Down (b008h68b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1c)
Episode 3
The discipline of HMS Sophie's crew is tested and found to be wanting. Stars Michael Troughton and Nigel Anthony.
WED 06:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yfn)
Episode 1
4 Extra Debut. John Bird examines how a Chicago theatre project became arguably the world's most famous and influential comedy club. From May 2006.
WED 07:00 North by Northamptonshire (b017x4fn)
Series 2
Episode 2
Jan has Helen back at home, but is it what she really wants?
Sheila Hancock narrates the bittersweet adventures of the residents of Wadenbrook - a small town in Northamptonshire.
Written by Katherine Jakeways
John Biggins............Keith
Mackenzie Crook.........Rod
Kevin Eldon.........Jonathan / Ken
Shelia Hancock........... Narrator
Jessica Henwick.............Helen
Katherine Jakeways.... Esther / Jacqui
Felicity Montagu..............Jan
Geoffrey Palmer..........Norman
Lizzie Roper............Angela
Penelope Wilton............Mary
Rufus Wright..............Frank.
Producer: Victoria Lloyd
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011
WED 07:30 Paul Sinha's History Revision (b04sxr8s)
Series 1
Food
Paul Sinha looks through all of human history and examines how we came to be where we are.
He starts with something every day, something we all know to be true; he then reveals the quirks of history and the fascinating stories that led up to this point.
This time it's food. Paul’s starting point is his own high street in south London. What historical events gave his hometown its name? But more than that - how did it end up being culinarily dominated by Chinese and Indian restaurants?
The story starts in 1600 and takes in trade, invasion, opium, a bloody civil war that left 30,000,000 people dead, giant greenhouses and the cultivation of saffron.
Paul Sinha is an acclaimed stand-up who was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy award for his show Saint or Sinha? He frequently appears on The News Quiz, The Now Show, and Fighting Talk. He is a resident 'chaser' on the ITV quiz show The Chase with several of his own series on BBC Radio 4.
Written and performed by Paul Sinha.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.
WED 08:00 The Burkiss Way (b007js9k)
Series 4
Avoid Like the Plague the Burkiss Way
The Grim Reaper arrives, keen to spread the Red Death.
Starring Fred Harris, Jo Kendall, Nigel Rees and Chris Emmett.
Cult sketch comedy series which originally ran from 1976 to 1980.
Written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick.
Producer: David Hatch
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1979.
WED 08:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00s6n2b)
Series 3
Episode 7
Scary wannabes in 'Opportunity Flops' - and an Agatha Christie flavoured whodunit?
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Brian Cooke & Johnnie Mortimer, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Alan Hutchinson, Bernard King, and Peter and David Lund.
Originating from the Cambridge University Footlights revue 'Cambridge Circus', ISIRTA ran for 8 years on BBC Radio and quickly developed a cult following.
Music and songs by Dave Lee and Bill Oddie.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in April 1966.
WED 09:00 Whispers (b007k3bv)
Series 3
Episode 5
Gyles Brandreth hosts the scandals quiz with Lucy Moore, Anthony Holden, Richard Herring and Louise Doughty. From November 2005.
WED 09:30 The Hudson and Pepperdine Show (b007jnyr)
Series 1
Episode 1
Mel and Vicki battle to keep the show going despite constant interruptions from the Dirty Sloanes and the Goatee Beard Men's Group.
Variety meets sitcom meets sketch show - written and performed by Mel Hudson and Vicki Pepperdine.
With Martin Hyder and Jim North.
Script editor: Graeme Garden
Producers: Claire Jones and Helen Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2000.
WED 10:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrlw)
July 1846
Suddenly orphaned with no name and no inheritance - what next for Magdalen and Norah Vanstone?
Wilkie Collins' novel dramatised by Ray Jenkins.
Magdalen Vanstone ...... Sophie Thompson
Captain Wragge ...... Jack May
Norah Vanstone ...... Elizabeth Mansfield
Miss Garth ...... Kathleen Helme
Mr Clare ...... Peter Woodthorpe
Frank Clare ...... Paul Downing
Mr Pendril ...... John Moffatt
Mrs Wragge ...... Vivian Pickles
Bulmer ...... John Bull
Narrator ...... Philip Sully
Music by Peter Brewis and played by Maurice Cambridge.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1989.
WED 11:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (b0076m5x)
Episode 1
Benedict Cumberbatch reads the seventh historical novel in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series.
In the early summer of 1812, Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin arrive in Canada on HMS Shannon after escaping their American captors.
Produced and abridged by Lisa Osborne.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
WED 11:15 Blunt Speaking (b00764qp)
Losing his knighthood in 1979, Sir Anthony Blunt reflects on his life and shame of his exposure. Written and performed by Corin Redgrave.
WED 12:00 The Burkiss Way (b007js9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00s6n2b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth9)
Episode 6
Adrian finds 'true lurv' in a Soho bedsit, gets a job in the catering trade and undergoes a makeover. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
WED 14:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc94)
Retail
A history of shopping for the home from imports from India during colonial times to the Conran-fuelled passion for European design. From April 2008.
WED 14:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnyk)
Episode 13
As the day of the hanging arrives, Adam pays a visit. Stars Thomas Arnold, Katherine Igoe and Vicki Liddelle.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b01l317b)
Katherine Boo - Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Episode 3
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: a feud between two Muslim neighbours ends tragically, and threatens to bring down both families.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones
Producer: Justine Willett.
WED 15:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b0366x4q)
Mel Giedroyc spins a yarn about the history of the hula hoop, and author David Almond reads the third part of his story The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas.
WED 17:00 Life in London (b011q9fw)
High and Low Life
Pierce Egan is reduced to pawning himself.
He talks his way out of this bind by relating the adventures of Tom, Bob and Jerry as they drink with the lower orders in the East End, dance with high society up West and attend a masquerade, where Jerry is smitten by a serial seductress...
Starring Greg Wise and Mark Gatiss.
Pierce Egan’s 19th-century comic novel adapted by Dan Tetsell.
Pierce Egan .... Geoffrey McGivern
Corinthian Tom .... Greg Wise
Pickpocket .... Neil Edmond
Jerry Hawthorn .... Mark Gatiss
With James Bachman, Neil Edmond, Morwenna Banks, Giles Taylor and Alys Torrance.
Original music by Ben Walker
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2006.
WED 17:30 North by Northamptonshire (b017x4fn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 18:00 Whispers (b007k3bv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b0076ggf)
Wickedness
Matthew Parris talks to writers Philip Burley, Mimi Thebo and Richard Morton Jack about the nature of good and evil. From August 2003.
In each programme, Matthew Parris introduces a group 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 2003.
WED 19:00 The Burkiss Way (b007js9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00s6n2b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Serial (b04wzsrg)
Inconsistencies
The detectives find a lead and bring Jay in for questioning. He tells them the story of 13 January, but a few weeks later his story changes.
WED 21:35 Inheritance Tracks (b04kjhnw)
Chris Hadfield
Astronaut Chris Hadfield inherits 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone', and passes on 'The Story' by Brandi Carlile.
WED 21:45 Back to the Drawing Board (b00904ns)
Episode 3
What are the risks of debt, and when do you give up? Matthew Harvey looks at the characteristics of an inventor.
WED 22:00 Paul Sinha's History Revision (b04sxr8s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Danny Robins Music Therapy (b00ft476)
Episode 4
Danny Robins harnesses the power of music to improve the world and solve listeners' problems.
Danny campaigns for bagpipes to be celebrated rather than reviled and tries his hand at writing a 'Winterval' No 1 hit single.
With Isy Suttie and special musical guest rapper Doc Brown.
Producer: Ben Walker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2008.
WED 23:00 Concrete Cow (b04t6vjy)
Series 2
Marriage
A couple are forced to put an exact price on love, a hi-fi obsessive goes too far and Turing needs IT support..
Second series of the four-part sketch show in which anything is possible.
Starring:
Robert Webb
Beth Chalmers
Catherine Shepherd
Steven Kynman
Abigail Burdess
Chris Pavlo
Written by James Cary.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2004.
WED 23:30 The Skivers (b007jq44)
Series 1
Britt Ekland
New age DIY, the wonders of Sweden and Sinatra sings punk.
Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh's skilful sketch show with special guest Britt Ekland who's not in the mood for romance.
Written and performed by Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh.
With Peter Bradshaw and Mel Giedroyc
Producer: Jon Naismith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1994.


THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER 2014

THU 00:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jth9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc94)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnyk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 00:45 Book of the Week (b01l317b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Whispers (b007k3bv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Off the Page (b0076ggf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrlw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (b0076m5x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:15 Blunt Speaking (b00764qp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Life in London (b011q9fw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 North by Northamptonshire (b017x4fn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1f)
Episode 4
Money is shown to be the root of all evil, and Captain Jack Aubrey divides the men from the goats. Stars Michael Troughton and Nigel Anthony.
THU 06:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yjn)
Episode 2
John Bird examines the impact Second City's theatre project has had on TV comedy and how the organisation has evolved. From May 2006.
THU 07:00 The Elephant Man (b007k2cj)
While the Cat's Away
Leonard and Adam head off to Frankfurt for the sake of the polar bear's future - and the zoo's!
Peter Serafinowicz stars in Debbie Barham's sitcom about the life of an elephant zoo keeper.
Terry Lyon …. Peter Serafinowicz
Leonard …. Chris Emmet
George …. Geoff McGivern
Maureen …. Geraldine Fitzgerald
Adam …. Richard Pearce
Stephanie …. Joanna Monro
Morse …. Wayne Forester
Producer: Richard Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in September 1996.
THU 07:30 My Teenage Diary (b04sxzqx)
Series 6
Chris Difford
Rufus Hound is joined by the musician and Squeeze founder member Chris Difford. His 1974 diary talks about the very early days of the band and describes life behind the scenes - including a wild ride down the A20 on the back of a motorbike.
Produced by Harriet Jaine
A Talkback production for BBC Radio.
THU 08:00 It Sticks Out Half A Mile (b007jpyj)
Marooned
A visit to the pier theatre ends in disaster for Arthur Wilson and Miss Perkins.
A seaside saga of pier perpetuation starring John Le Mesurier, Ian Lavender and Bill Pertwee.
Arthur Wilson ...... John Le Mesurier
Frank Pike ...... Ian Lavender
Bert Hodges ...... Bill Pertwee
Miss Perkins ...... Vivienne Martin
Derek ...... Paul Russell
Written by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles, based on the characters originally created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in January 1984.
THU 08:30 Listen to Les (b007wvm2)
From 25/09/1983
Les Dawson's life as a spy, a rare interview with boxer Sugar Albert Ackroyd and Cissie despairs of Ada.
With Roy Barraclough, Daphne Oxenford and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in September 1983.
THU 09:00 Who Goes There? (b00fj1rj)
Series 3
Episode 1
Martin Young chairs the quiz looking at lives of the noteworthy and notorious from the history books.
Tackling the biographical teasers are team captains Francis Wheen and Fred Housego with guests Sue Cook and Annabel Giles.
Producer: Aled Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2000. .
THU 09:30 Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends (b0076syq)
Series 4
Congratulations, It's a Hob Nob
Wendy is busy preparing for the baby's arrival. Unfortunately, Robin isn't feeling very well and takes to his bed, much to the frustration of everyone.
Robin ...... Brian Capron
Wendy ...... Kay Stonham
Derek ...... Martin Trenaman
Maureen ...... Amelia Bullmore.
THU 10:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrpm)
June 1847
Magdalen, with the aid of the swindler Captain Wragge, is determined to get back her inheritance from her cousin Noel.
Wilkie Collins’ novel dramatised by Ray Jenkins.
Magdalen Vanstone ...... Sophie Thompson
Captain Wragge ...... Jack May
Norah Vanstone ...... Elizabeth Mansfield
Frank Clare ...... Paul Downing
Mrs Wragge ...... Vivian Pickles
Landlady ...... Susan Sheridan
Vicar ...... Joe Dunlop
Lizzie ...... Alice Arnold
Mrs Lecount ...... Eleanor Bron
Noel Vanstone ...... Nigel Anthony
Captain Kirke ...... Robin Ellis
Narrator ...... Philip Sully
Music by Peter Brewis and played by Maurice Cambridge.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1989.
THU 11:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (b0076m69)
Episode 2
After long years at sea, Aubrey and Maturin are on their way home on HMS Diligence. But a dangerous enemy is hard behind. Read by Benedict Cumberbatch.
THU 11:15 Drama (b0077605)
Robin Mukherjee - A Fire in the Sun
By Robin Mukherjee.
A woman visits her elderly parents in Spain after a fire which has destroyed their retirement home and hospitalised her mother. She discovers that her perceptions of her family's history are not the full story.
Directed by Peter Kavanagh.
THU 12:00 It Sticks Out Half A Mile (b007jpyj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Listen to Les (b007wvm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jthj)
Episode 7
Adrian's romance with Bianca in the Soho bedsit is threatened, as are other things he holds dear. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
THU 14:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc98)
Eco-houses
Laurence explores new ways to build and run a home for the mass market by visiting an eco-community in Nottingham. From April 2008.
THU 14:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnz3)
Episode 14
As the journey to the hanging scaffold begins, a visitor arrives. Stars Katherine Igoe, Vicki Liddelle and Thomas Arnold.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b01ky5r9)
Katherine Boo - Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Episode 4
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: while some slum dwellers are forging their way up into the overcity, others are fighting for their lives back in the slum.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones
Producer: Justine Willett.
THU 15:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b03677bb)
Roll up roll up, as Mel Giedroyc goes in search of the history of the flea circus, and author David Almond reads the fourth part of his own story The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas.
THU 17:00 No Commitments (b00shr9h)
Series 3
An Ill Wind
Victoria's illness makes Roger squeamish. Charlotte overreacts, but Anna is a rock. Stars Rosemary Leach. From December 1994.
THU 17:30 The Elephant Man (b007k2cj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 18:00 Who Goes There? (b00fj1rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b0076byx)
Series 2
Captain James Cook
4 Extra Debut. Media executive and broadcaster Greg Dyke chooses explorer Captain James Cook. With Humphrey Carpenter. From December 2002.
The biographical series in which a distinguished guest chooses someone who's inspired their life. Will their hero stand up to intensive scrutiny and merit the description of having led a great life?
THU 19:00 It Sticks Out Half A Mile (b007jpyj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Listen to Les (b007wvm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Serial (b04wzsy5)
Route Talk
Adnan challenges Sarah to recreate the state's timeline by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes.
THU 21:45 Back to the Drawing Board (b0090bb6)
Episode 4
Many inventors have poor business skills, but one man is out to build bridges and change perceptions. Matthew Harvey reports.
THU 22:00 My Teenage Diary (b04sxzqx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Laura Solon - Talking and Not Talking (b00nywl0)
Series 3
Episode 2
Perrier Award-winning comedian, Laura Solon continues her series of sketches, monologues and one-liners.
Olga the ex-tyrannt takes on a British Post Office, a man tries to buy his mother a gift in an expensive department store and Sandrine, the Parisien radio host, chats about why French culture is much better then the culture of say, Britiain.
Producer: Colin Anderson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
THU 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b04wx2vl)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight, Tom Wrigglesworth chats again to Adam Riches.
THU 23:00 Continuity (b00tjq8m)
Episode 3
A Continuity Announcer's booth can be a lonely place - especially on the late shift, when you've barely seen your wife and children for a week. Still, this Radio 4 Continuity Announcer is nothing, if not a consummate professional and he's not going to let his own insignificant little problems get in the way of your listening pleasure. Especially when there are so many exciting programmes coming up in the next week, which he's got to tell you about. At least some of them are exciting. Some of them aren't quite his cup of tea, if he's honest, but that's not really the point, is it? They may be right up your street. It's not really his place to express an opinion. Even if it is tempting. This may be a come-down from heady days spent announcing on the Today programme, but he's got a job to do. Though sometimes it is rather difficult to concentrate .....
Alistair McGowan stars in a new subversive sitcom about a Continuity Announcer brooding on the escalating disasters of his private and professional life; at the same time as attempting to give us a preview of the programmes on offer in the coming week on Radio 4. Or what might be Radio 4 in a parallel universe. Trails for 'The Ethical Enigma', 'Britain's Favourite Sound' and 'The History of Britain One Year at a Time' are just some of the strange delights on offer in the world of this 'radio professional', who harbours a slightly inappropriate relationship with his audience.
Written by Hugh Rycroft a stalwart of 'The News Quiz' and co-creator of 'Parliamentary Questions' and 'Life, Death and Sex with Mike and Sue', the series also features the voices of Lewis Macleod, Sally Grace, Charlotte Page and David Holt.
Produced by David Spicer and Frank Stirling
A Unique Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 23:15 Guy Browning's Small Talk (b0076n25)
Series 2
How to Pack
Start naked and pretend to get dressed - bad luck if the taxi comes early. The writer shares travel tips. From September 2004.
THU 23:30 A Look Back at the Nineties (b007jqvx)
1998
The Queen makes a decision, England's shocker, and The Archers go on strike.
Recorded in 1993, Brian Perkins, Kate Robbins and Jack Dee 'look back' at 1998, a year that was yet to happen.
A satirical review set on New Year's Eve 1999 - the Sony Gold award-winning comedy recalls the events from 1995 to 1999.
Predicted by 'Spitting Image' writers Mark Burton, John O'Farrell and Pete Sinclair.
Producer: Caroline Leddy
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1993.


FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER 2014

FRI 00:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jthj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc98)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnz3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 00:45 Book of the Week (b01ky5r9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Who Goes There? (b00fj1rj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Great Lives (b0076byx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Second City: Comedy Central (b0076yjn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrpm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (b0076m69)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:15 Drama (b0077605)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 No Commitments (b00shr9h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 The Elephant Man (b007k2cj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1h)
Episode 5
A difficult decision for Jack Aubrey, as the life of a member of the crew is weighed against prize money. Stars Michael Troughton and Nigel Anthony.
FRI 06:30 The Kiss at 100 (b007yvl9)
Rowan Pelling visits Vienna to explore the enduring appeal of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss, which has become one of the world's most reproduced paintings since it was first exhibited 100 years ago. Who are the couple depicted in the famous clinch?
FRI 07:00 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076sdr)
Series 2
Lulu's Back in Town
Musician Roy panics when his wife's vivacious sister takes best pal George out for dinner. Stars Don Warrington. From June 2005.
FRI 07:30 Hal (b04tdqwq)
Series 1
Fidelity
Hal Cruttenden stars as a 40-something husband and father who, years ago, decided to give up his job and become a stay at home father. His wife, Sam, has a successful business career which makes her travel more and more. His children, Lilly and Molly, are growing up fast, and his role as their father and mentor is diminishing by the day.
So what can Hal do as he reaches a crossroads in his life? Help is (sort of) at hand in the form of his eager mates - Doug, Fergus and Barry - who regularly meet at their local curry house for mind expanding conversations that sadly never give Hal the core advice he so desperately needs.
Hal is confused even further as he regularly has visions of his long dead and highly macho father, who he's forced to engage in increasingly frustrating conversations.
In this last episode of the series, Hal faces a new challenge - unwanted romantic attention. Happily married to Sam and with two adoring daughters, life is a picture of roses at home. But how will Hal cope with the romantic attention of a new, attractive neighbour Angie?
The cast includes co-writer Dominic Holland, Ed Byrne, Ronni Ancona, Anna Crilly, Gavin Webster, Dominic Frisby, Samuel Caseley and Emily and Lucy Robbins.
Produced by Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
FRI 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jz69)
Series 1
A Trip to France
The Lad is longing to sample life across the English Channel, but Sid's got other ideas.
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Moira Lister, Bill Kerr, Sidney James and Kenneth Williams.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in January 1955.
FRI 08:30 The Men from the Ministry (b00zmxnq)
Storm in a Tea Urn
Trouble starts brewing over Sir Gregory's ban on the bumbling bureaucrats making tea.
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler.
With Norma Ronald, John Graham, Ronald Baddiley, Patricia Hayes and John Curle.
Written by Edward Taylor and John Graham.
'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977. Deryck Guyler replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966. Sadly many episodes didn't survive in the archive, however the BBC's Transcription Service re-recorded 14 shows in 1980 - never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Producer: Edward Taylor,
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1970.
FRI 09:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00sfwmp)
Series 3
Episode 3
John Lloyd invites guests Kevin Eldon, John Ronson and Richard Wiseman to add to the imaginary collection. From May 2010.
FRI 09:30 Big Jim and the Figaro Club (b008hpzv)
The French Connection
Arch-rivals town hall clerk Potts and sanitary inspector Perkins hurl insults and then onions...
Six anarchic tales from those demob days “when we was going to build the new Jerusalem - you know, before the world turned lax and sour”.
Stars Norman Rossington as Big Jim, Roland Curram as Harold Perkins, Harold Goodwin as Old Ned, David John as Nimrod, Sylvester McCoy as Turps, David Beckett as Chick, Christopher Godwin as Potts, Hilary Mason as Miss Farquhar, Andre Maranne as French Onion Johnnie and Norman Mitchell as PC Speedworth.
Narrated by Bernard Cribbins.
Written by Ted Walker.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1987.
FRI 10:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrs9)
July 1847
In her attempt to regain her inheritance from her cousin Noel, Magdalen has disguised herself as Susan Bygrave and gone to stay near Noel in Aldeburgh.
But Mrs Lecount suspects her true identity...
Wilkie Collins’ novel dramatised by Ray Jenkins.
Magdalen Vanstone ...... Sophie Thompson
Captain Wragge ...... Jack May
Miss Garth ...... Kathleen Helme
Noel Vanstone ...... Nigel Anthony
Mrs Wragge ...... Vivian Pickles
Little Boy ...... Susan Sheridan
Mrs Lecount ...... Eleanor Bron
Chemist ...... Christopher Good
Postmaster ...... Simon Bullock
Servant ...... Jo Kendall
Narrator ...... Philip Sully
Music by Peter Brewis and played by Maurice Cambridge.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1989.
FRI 11:00 Patrick O'Brian - The Surgeon's Mate (b0076m6t)
Episode 3
Dr Stephen Maturin takes a trip to Paris to address the Institute on scientific matters. Read by Benedict Cumberbatch.
FRI 11:15 Drama (b0076wy0)
Jane Beeson - The Discourse of Two Once-Young Women
The Discourse of Two Once-Young Women
By Jane Beeson.
Three old friends from schooldays during the war plan to meet up. Why are the two women so nervous, and what can have changed so radically? Their male friend acts as a conduit but the circumstance of their meeting is something none of them could have anticipated.
Daisy ...... Lynn Farleigh
Gerald ...... Oliver Ford Davies
Ida ...... Eleanor Bron
Matt ...... Geoffrey Beevers
Mother ...... Ella Smith
Young Daisy ...... Anna Lanyon
Young Ida ...... Tessa Montague
Boy ...... John Cummins
Directed by Cherry Cookson.
FRI 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jz69)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Men from the Ministry (b00zmxnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Kiss at 100 (b007yvl9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Sue Townsend - Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (b007jthp)
Episode 8
Adrian inherits some money and decides to take a creative writing holiday in Greece. Read by Nicholas Barnes.
FRI 14:15 Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's History of Home (b009mc9d)
Ideal Home Show
Laurence talks to philosopher Alain de Botton about how our ideas of the home have changed and what the future holds. From April 2008.
FRI 14:30 George Eliot - Adam Bede (b007jnzn)
Episode 15
The time arrives for Dinah to decide where her heart really lies. Stars Katherine Igoe, Vicki Liddelle and Thomas Arnold.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b01l3049)
Katherine Boo - Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Episode 5
"One of the most powerful indictments of economic inequality I've ever read. If Bollywood ever decides to do its own version of The Wire, this would be it." Barbara Ehrenreich
Sudha Bhuchar reads Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo's landmark work of life, death and hope in the slums of Mumbai. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of Annawadi, a makeshift slum sitting in the shadow of Mumbai's glittering luxury hotels and shiny new international airport. Through the stories of the characters she meets, Boo reveals what it takes to escape poverty in one of the 21st century's great, unequal cities.
Today: while some slum dwellers are forging their way up into the overcity, others are fighting for their lives back in the slum.
Author: Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is currently a staff writer at the New Yorker. This is her first book.
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar is joint founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company, Tamasha, and is both an actor and playwright.
Abridger: Richard Hamilton-Jones
Producer: Justine Willett.
FRI 15:00 Wilkie Collins - No Name (b007jrs9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b0367bcz)
Mel Giedroyc gets spooked by scary sounds, takes a tumble with an Ethiopian circus, and introduces the final part of David Almond's story The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas.
FRI 17:00 After Henry (b007jq4g)
Series 3
Intellectual Aspirations
'... but he did look at you twice. So clearly you have something that appeals to him other than your ability to discuss Schopenhauer's Weltanschauung.'
Clare's seeing graduate Julian, but his brainy parents make her feel inadequate.
Simon Brett's comedy about three generations of women - struggling to cope after the death of Sarah's GP husband - who never quite manage to see eye to eye.
Sarah ...... Prunella Scales
Eleanor ...... Joan Sanderson
Russell ...... Benjamin Whitrow
Clare ...... Gerry Cowper
Julian ...... Jasper Jacob
Four radio series were made, but instead of moving to BBC TV - Thames Television produced 'After Henry' for the ITV network.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1987.
FRI 17:30 Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me (b0076sdr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 18:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b00sfwmp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 18:30 My Life in Five Books (b00txh41)
Series 1
AL Kennedy
AL Kennedy is an award winning writer whose first published book 'Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains' hit the bookshops in 1991.
Now established as a novelist and short story writer Alison Louise Kennedy is also a stand-up comedian.
In conversation with Stuart Cosgrove she reveals her favourite book from childhood and the book she has bought but has never finished. Stuart also enquires about her favourite bedside book, the novel she wishes she had bought as a teenager and the book she has returned to most often.
FRI 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jz69)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Men from the Ministry (b00zmxnq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander (b04t6q1h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Kiss at 100 (b007yvl9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Serial (b04wzt43)
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence prosecutors had against Adnan, including curious behaviour, a dramatic note and an unexpected mid-afternoon phone call.
FRI 21:45 Back to the Drawing Board (b0090f2l)
Episode 5
What happens when you give an inventor time, space and financial support? Matthew Harvey investigates the pitfalls.
FRI 22:00 Hal (b04tdqwq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Cowards (b00fhtm0)
Series 2
Episode 2
Cowards: Sketch show with a comic slant on human frailties. With Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski and Tim Key.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2008.
FRI 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b04xtcq2)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tonight, Arthur Smith chats to James Acaster.
FRI 23:00 Blue Jam (b04t6vkc)
Series 2
Episode 2
The mind of Chris Morris leaks onto radio in this dreamlike combination of comedy and music. With Kevin Eldon, Amelia Bullmore, David Cann and Mark Heap.
Are you still lying curare-still, seeking relief in feigning dead? Then welcome, oo-tazz welcome. Chris Morris is here to help you wallow in the melancholy, for the second series of this subversive radio classic.
Immediately prior to Blue Jam's initial burst on radio, Chris Morris had caused a furore with Channel 4's Brass Eye. Yet Blue Jam managed to be a total departure from his previous work. Originally airing in the early hours on BBC Radio 1, it's a blend of ambient music, deadpan ( sometimes brutal ) sketches and offbeat monologues. A whole audio landscape of the subconscious, the ad-hoc low-fi sheen of production lending it a kind of verisimilitude.
In sharp contrast with the personality-led comedies of recent years, Blue Jam makes a virtue of anonymity. Borat scribe Pater Baynham is one of the writers, and Julia Davis and Amelia Bulmore are among the cast. Rightly winning a clutch of Sony Awards, it remains unique - nothing before or after was remotely like it.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in March 1998.