SATURDAY 14 MARCH 2015

SAT 00:00 The Seventh Test by Vikas Swarup (b044jh6l)
The Noose
Sapna Sinha works as a sales assistant in a TV showroom in New Delhi. Being the only bread-winner in the family she works long hours to provide for her widowed mother and younger sister. But then a man walks into her life with an extraordinary proposition: pass seven "life" tests of his choosing and she will have wealth and power. At first the tests seem easy, but things are not quite as they seem. Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
10) The Noose
A thriller set in India from the author of "Slumdog Millionaire".
Sapna must revisit her past to make sense of her present. But nothing can prepare her what she finds there. Dramatised from Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel "The Accidental Apprentice".
Writers:
Vikas Swarup is an Indian diplomat and a best-selling novelist. His first novel "Q & A" was made into the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" as well as Sony Award winning radio drama serial for BBC Radio .
Ayeesha Menon dramatized Vikas Swarup's other novels SIX SUSPECTS and Q & A, which won a Sony Award for Best Drama. She also wrote for Radio 4 THE MUMBAI CHUZZLEWITS, UNDERCOVER MUMBAI, THE CAIRO TRILOGY and MY NAME IS RED. Her stage play PEREIRA'S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD, which was developed with the Royal Court Theatre, was recently staged by the Curve Theatre, Leicester.
John Dryden wrote the original three-part dramas series SEVERED THREADS, THE RELUCTANT SPY and PANDEMIC, which won the Writer's Guild Award for best radio drama script. His dramatisation of BLEAK HOUSE won a Sony Award for Best Drama. Other dramatisations include A SUITABLE BOY, A HANDMAID'S TALE and FATHERLAND one of the most repeated dramas on R4 Extra.
Cast:
Sapna ... Rasika Dugal
Acharya ... Vijay Chrishna
Karan ... Neil Bhoopalam
Nirmila Ben / Rosie ... Radhika Mittal
Sapna's Mother ... Shernaz Patel
Raja ... Sumeet Vyas
Kuldeep Singh / Roaji ... Rajit Kapur
Neha ... Amrita Puri
Priya Capoor / Pushpa / Female Judge ... Ayesha Raza
Badan Singh / Politician / Constable ... Kenny Desai
Madan ... Vivek Madan
Neelam / Babli ... Prerna Chawla
Rent Collector ... Satchit Puranik
Production:
Sound Design - Steve Bond
Editing Assistant - Varun Bangera
Script Editor - Mike Walker
Assistant Producer - Toral Shah
Music - Sacha Putnam
Dramatised by Ayeesha Menon and John Dryden from the novel "ACCIDENTAL APPRENTICE" by Vikas Swarup.
Director - John Dryden
Producer - Nadir Khan
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 00:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01g65gz)
Swordplay and Swagger
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his new object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 5. SWORDPLAY AND SWAGGER - The essential accoutrements of any self-respecting gentleman illustrate the extent of violence in Elizabethan London - both onstage and off.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
SAT 00:30 Book of the Week (b03c46nt)
Seamus Heaney - Beowulf
Episode 10
The funeral of Beowulf.
Produced in Salford by Susan Roberts.
Radio Drama North.
SAT 00:45 Book of the Week (b00rqqpj)
Graham Robb - Parisians
Episode 5
"The idea was to create a kind of mini Human Comedy of Paris, in which the history of the city would be illumined by the real experiences of its inhabitants."
So says the author Graham Robb about his new book 'Parisians'. And a whole host of characters walk, scuttle jump, run and flounce across his pages, beginning with the French Revolution and ending in more current times. These inhabitants are natives and visitors, and it is the likes of Charles Axel Guillaumot, Marie Antoinette, Alexandrine Zola, Adolf Hitler and Charles de Gaulle who lighten and darken the city's streets
in five episodes for BOOK OF THE WEEK. The series narrator is Stephen Boxer.
In this final episode, we witness gunshots at Notre Dame, which heralds decades of danger for
a new French leader... Reader Stephen Boxer.
SAT 01:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b0167zkv)
Series 4
Haynes, McCandless, Crystal
Hosted by the Professor of Ignorance from the University of Buckingham John Lloyd C.B.E. and the intensely curious comedian Dave Gorman.
This week's guests:
Natalie Haynes is an author, comedian and critic. Her book, The Ancient Guide To Modern Life is all about the wisdom and lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and Romans and uses them to give us a better perspective of our own time. Natalie is bubbling with facts and loves busting cherished myths about the classical past. Natalie is also a massive fan of detective fiction, to which she has applied her prodigious intellect. An obsessive Diagnosis Murder fan, Natalie would give up a year of her life to live in the time in which Dick Van Dyke was the "biggest star in the world".
David McCandless is a journalist and the author of Information Is Beautiful, a book which uses imaginative new ways to display complex statistical information, using novel graphics. David was also once the UK's Doom video game champion, narrowly beaten in the world final by a 14-year-old boy with a moustache.
David Crystal is the Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He is without doubt Britain's top linguist. He has written over a hundred books on the subject, including the standard texts read by every linguistics student in the country, and edited the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English language. He knows exactly how many different words there are in an average edition of the Sun, because he's counted them, knows just why people are wrong when they say that txtspk is the death of English, and once sold two dozen adjectives at a shilling each.
SAT 01:30 My Life in Five Books (b012x1hy)
Series 2
Andy Merriman
Andy Merriman was born into a life of comedy. His father Eric was one of the first radio comedy writer's producing scripts for the likes of Kenneth Horne and Dave Allen.
Andy has written biographies of Margaret Rutherford and Hattie Jacques but it is his book called A Minor Adjustment which is the story of his daughter Sarah who has Down's syndrome which has had the biggest impact on him.
Talking to Stuart Cosgrove he explains why he's loves these books:
THE IDYLL OF MISS SARAH BROWN by DAMON RUNYON
THE RADIO TIMES GUIDE TO TV COMEDY by MARK LEWISOHN
A MINOR ADJUSTMENT by ANDY MERRIMAN
THE GLORY GAME by HUNTER DAVIES
BIRD LIVES by ROSS RUSSELL.
Produced by Mike Walker.
First broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in 2011.
SAT 02:00 Jedediah Berry - The Manual of Detection (b01q1h08)
Chapter 18
All Unwin's dreams of returning to his day job rest on rescuing his boss Travis. But will he make it in time? The dark forces of Enoch Hoffmann are closing in. Concluded by Toby Jones.
Somewhere in an unnamed, rainy city, Charles Unwin, a lowly but efficient clerk in a big detective agency, has found his world turned upside down when his detective boss, Travis Sivart, disappears.
Suddenly promoted to the role - Unwin's been forced out into the field for the first time in his life. Unprepared and untrained, armed only with his trusty umbrella and The Manual of Detection. His first mission is to find out what happened to his boss.
Abridged by Eileen Horne
Produced by Clive Brill
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Pacificus Productions.
SAT 02:30 The Man Who Was Bojangles (b00d1ypt)
4 Extra Debut. Kwame Kwei-Armah unravels the myths behind the man and soubriquet bestowed on tap dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. From August 2008.
SAT 03:00 RL Stevenson - Kidnapped (b01cj9yd)
Across the Forth
Still a fugitive, David Balfour is near Edinburgh and looks to the law to help him claim his inheritance. Robert Louis Stevenson's historical adventure stars Paul Young.
SAT 04:00 Winston Graham Short Stories (b03yqp4r)
Meeting Demelza
Shortly before his death in 2003, Winston Graham wrote a story for the Cornish magazine, Scryfa. He recounts an imaginary meeting with his best-loved and most spirited creation. Read by Ewan Bailey
Winston Graham was one of the most successful and prolific novelists of the 20th century. He wrote in many genres but his best known body of work was undoubtedly the 12 historical novels set in Cornwall at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries which became known as The Poldarks.
Although it's the Poldarks that brought Winston Graham the most fame, he also wrote more than 30 other novels, six of which have been filmed including the thriller, Marnie directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1964.
This selection celebrates the range of his work and offers a glimpse into the enduring appeal of his most famous characters, Ross and Demelza who are set to return to BBC screens in a new adaptation.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by The Waters Partnership.
SAT 04:15 Neil Brand - Joanna (b00r9xm6)
An old piano recalls the hands that played her, and the passion and pain she has observed. Musical drama starring Haydn Gwynne.
SAT 05:00 Beachcomber... By the Way (b0081s34)
Series 1
Episode 3
Cads and Swine, The Giddy Girlhood of Mrs Wretch, plus a few problems with parrots.
Richard Ingrams, John Wells, John Sessions and Patricia Routledge recreate the world of the JB Morton.
Running in the Daily Express from 1924 to 1975 – JB Morton’s surreally comic ‘Beachcomber’ column paved the way for a great deal of modern humour.
Adapted by Michael Barfield with Richard Ingrams.
Announcer: Brian Perkins
Producer: Harry Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.
SAT 05:30 Living with the Enemy (b00771qx)
Episode 5
Sophie is mistaken for an asylum seeker, and Nick and Gyles are desperate to help her.
Sitcom about a Tory MP-turned-media celebrity and a comedian-turned-holistic therapist.
Written by and starring Nick Revell and Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Brandon ...... Gyles Brandreth
Nick Reynolds ...... Nick Revell
Sophie Okuyu ...... Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Piers ...... Martin Hyder
Immigration officer ...... Dan Mersh
Olga ...... Barunka O'Shaughnessy
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2006.
SAT 06:00 Noel Coward - Nude With Violin (b055f6vq)
Paris 1956: Paul Sorodin, the world-famous artist, has just died.
His family, gathered together for the funeral, is shocked by the discovery that during his life Sorodin had perpetrated an enormous hoax on the international art world.
Only Sebastien, his former valet, knows all the answers ...
Noel Coward’s comedy of manners dramatised by Peggy Wells.
Sebastien ..... Aubrey Woods
Isobel Sorodin ..... Joyce Carey
Jane Patricia ..... Routledge
Cherry-May Waterton ..... Barbara Mitchell
Anya Pavlikov ..... Betty Huntley-Wright
Jacob Friedland ..... Wilfrid Carter
Pamela ..... Margaret Wolfit
Colin Allan ..... Cuthbertson
Clinton Preminger ..... Junior Kerry Francis
Lauderdale ..... Rufus Frampton
Producer: Glyn Dearman
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1970.
SAT 07:30 Freedom Pass (b00ssn7l)
Episode 6
Alan Coren and Christopher Matthew take the train to Southend-on-Sea to recall the holidays of their youth. From September 2005.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b03g89cl)
Gloria and Me
Growing up in Belfast, the writer Glenn Patterson assumed that everything that moved him musically came from afar. To begin with, it was England and Glam Rock, but gradually strange sounds began to infiltrate from even further afield. A school friend introduced him to Patti Smith. Patti Smith introduced him to 'Gloria'. It was a convoluted route by which the song finally reached him - only a couple of miles from where it was written.
At a gig in the USA in 1988, Bruce Springsteen shouted "lets take it back to where it all started" as he launched into a version of Gloria. It's a song that's been covered by everyone from Simple Minds to Ricky Lee Jones to The Doors.
Glenn talks to Mickey Bradley, bass player with the Undertones, who remembers Gloria being one of the first songs the band learned to play. The simple three chord structure makes it deceptively straightforward - although Glenn's attempt to learn it might disprove that theory - but the song has always held a strange magic for him. Even now, he says, he would fight his corner to say it's one of the best songs Van Morrison has ever written.
Mickey and his fellow Undertones were learning to play Gloria while listening to Nuggets, an album of garage rock highlights put together by Patti Smith's guitarist, Lenny Kaye. His relationship with Gloria starts with the Patti Smith band and both he and Patti talk about why they picked this song to re-work.
And Glenn unearths a rare recording of the famously taciturn Van Morrison discussing the song, with a young Rolling Stone journalist, Cameron Crowe.
Produced by Rachel Hooper
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Four.
SAT 09:00 Edgar Wallace: The Man Who Wrote Too Much? (b055fy0h)
How can a writer, whose publisher declared him the 'King of Thrillers', and was thought to be responsible for a quarter of all new books read in Britain by the late 1920s, be largely forgotten today?
In this 3 hour archive special, crime writer Mark Billingham investigates the life of the man called the 'fiction factory', the best-selling author, journalist, playwright, film director and creator of King Kong – Edgar Wallace.
Wallace's life seems the stuff of fantasy. An illegitimate child in London, largely self-educated, he was the newspaper boy who became one of the most famous writers in the world. He sold millions of books, but he was plagued by debts. He died in Hollywood in 1932, aged 56, after writing the original story for King Kong. His body was returned by ocean liner in honour to Britain, only to be reunited with an ocean of outstanding bills.
Mark presents some of the best adaptations and documentaries about Edgar Wallace from the BBC Radio archive:
* A 1951 version of one of Wallace's biggest successes, The Ringer
* One of Wallace’s best crime creations, The Mind of Mr JG Reeder
* Loveable racing 'turf tipster' Educated Evans, starring Roy Hudd and Andrew Sachs.
And though he died in 1932, Mark has a hunch that he may be able to hear from Edgar Wallace himself.
His work was the source of countless 50s and 60s TV and film adaptions. His books have sold in their multi-millions. But from the 'Golden Age' of crime fiction it is Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie who are really remembered today. Was Edgar Wallace just a man who wrote, and did, too much?
Producer: Peter McHugh
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in March 2015.
SAT 12:00 Anne Tyler - Ladder of Years (Omnibus) (b055fy0k)
Episode 1
An unexpected romantic encounter in the grocery aisle sparks the beginning of a new adventure for homely Delia Grinstead.
Anne Tyler's unsettling story about marriage, family and hope.
Omnibus of the first five of ten parts dramatised by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
Delia ...... Nancy Crane
Adrian ...... Ian Conningham
Sam ...... Nathan Osgood
Eliza ...... Jessica Turner
Rosemary ...... Rhiannon Neads
Skipper ...... David Acton
Carroll ...... Sam Valentine
Driscoll ...... Mark Edel-Hunt
Susie ...... Roslyn Hill
Director: David Hunter
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
SAT 13:15 John Peacock - London Particulars (b008pbr7)
The Kitten Houser
With a frightened young girl in danger, Pip and Thomas investigate a sophisticated vice ring. Stars Charles Simpson.
SAT 14:00 Round the Horne (b00j05vh)
Series 1
Episode 1
The bona beginnings of one of the BBC's most popular comedies. The story so far, the BBC's Backroom Boys and part one of The Clissold Saga.
Starring Kenneth Horne. With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith
Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1965.
SAT 14:30 Not in Front of the Children (b0552w74)
Series 1
A Drop of the Soft Stuff
The facts-of-life conversation is enough to drive Henry to drink.
Starring Wendy Craig and Francis Matthew.
The comedy mishaps of the Corner family - Jennifer and Henry and their three kids Trudi, Amanda and Robin.
Four series were first shown on BBC TV from 1967 to 1970. Richard Waring adapted his own scripts for this radio version, now fully restored from the original reel-to-reel tapes. Wendy Craig won a Best Actress BAFTA award for the TV version of Not in Front of the Children in 1969.
Jennifer Corner ...... Wendy Craig
Henry Corner ...... Francis Matthews
Mary ...... Charlotte Mitchell
Mr Barratt ...... Felix Felton
Trudi ...... Roberta Tovey
Robin ...... Hugo Keith-Johnston
Amanda: ...... Jill Riddick
Music by Ronnie Hazlehurst
Producer: Trafford Whitelock.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1969.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b03g89cl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Noel Coward - Nude With Violin (b055f6vq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b01l1dl0)
Series 2
Episode 1
John Finnemore, the writer and star of Cabin Pressure, regular guest on The Now Show and popper-upper in things like Miranda and Family Guy, records a second series of his hit sketch show.
The first series was described as "sparklingly clever" by The Daily Telegraph and "one of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" by The Guardian. It featured Winnie the Pooh coming to terms with his abusive relationship with honey, how The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers and how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde decided whose turn it was to do the washing up.
This episode doesn't feature any of those things, but it does feature an awkward celestial relationship, surprisingly easy contract negotiations, and a trailer for a film about the only mode of transport that hasn't had a film made about it yet.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is written by and stars John Finnemore. It also features Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. It is produced by Ed Morrish.
SAT 18:00 Simon Guerrier - Graceless (b01l1h2g)
Series 1
The Sphere
Abby and Zara are not real. They were created by pan-dimensional beings to help save space and time. Starring Ciara Janson.
Abby - Ciara Janson
Zara - Laura Doddington
Marek - Fraser James
Daniel - David Warner
Nan - Patricia Brake
Nicholas - Alex Mallinson
Written by Simon Guerrier
Directed by Lisa Bowerman
A Big Finish Production.
SAT 19:00 Edgar Wallace: The Man Who Wrote Too Much? (b055fy0h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 4 Extra Stands Up (b055g0kz)
Series 2
Episode 2
Richard Melvin introduces a selection of more exciting stand up comedians.
Tiff Stevenson reveals her experience at a cinema in New York with her particularly Scottish boyfriend, whilst Boothby Graffoe discovers that he may have psychic ability.
Scottish comedian Jojo Sutherland reveals how she spies on her own children and her countryman Raymond Mearns is bemoaning his children as they leave home for the first (and last) time.
Having moved to London, Fern Brady explains how she seeks revenge on her friends who imitate her broad accent and distinguished headliner Fred MacAulay proves himself to be the Godfather of Scottish comedy.
Recorded at Edinburgh's comedy club The Stand.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Dabster Productions.
SAT 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b05h7t3c)
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith chats to Margaret Thatcher: Queen of Soho.
SAT 23:00 Goodness Gracious Me (b008x8fx)
Series 1
Episode 1
The teenage Bhangramuffins are DJing, the Maharisha Yogi is lecturing - and the hungry comedy team go for an 'English'.
Stars Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Nitin Sawhney, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia.
Gold Winner of the Sony Radio Academy Awards. The sketch comedy show originally ran on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998, later transferring to TV on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001.
Scripted by Sharat Sardana, Richard Pinto and the cast.
Produced by Gareth Edwards and Anil Gupta.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1996.
SAT 23:30 The Last Hurrah - Interview With the Snowman (b055g0pl)
Episode 2
Rik Mayall is Elton, the last remaining talking Snowman - an alcoholic, war-mongering, immortal, immoral tyrant. Duncan Pow is Ed Mullet.
Elton's interview with Ed sprawls onwards, in the depths of the dangerously secret and disgusting gentlemen's club, The Last Hurrah, moving gracelessly from the time he invented Y-Fronts to his highly suspicious escape from East Germany.
Specially adapted for radio from the original series "The Last Hurrah" - the late Rik Mayall is at his anarchic best, in his last great leading role.
Produced by Sweetchuck Productions.


SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2015

SUN 00:00 Simon Guerrier - Graceless (b01l1h2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 Archive on 4 (b03g89cl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:00 Anne Tyler - Ladder of Years (Omnibus) (b055fy0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:00 on Saturday]
SUN 03:15 John Peacock - London Particulars (b008pbr7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:15 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Noel Coward - Nude With Violin (b055f6vq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b01l1dl0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044vfsx)
Episode 2
Can sales assistant Sapna Sinha pass seven tests to change her life? From Vikas Swarup's novel The Accidental Apprentice.
SUN 07:15 Whatever Happened to the Teapots? (b00nt9cy)
Episode 2
In the 1980s, Roger Law of Spitting Image went to Stoke-on-Trent to get some novelty Margaret Thatcher teapots made. Now Roger returns to meet up with the craftsmen who helped him get a handle on Mrs T.
Roger visits the Barleston Estate to find out if there is anything left of Wedgwood apart from its award-winning museum.
SUN 07:30 Clare in the Community (b015zswt)
Series 7
Heroes
In Episode Five - 'Heroes'; Clare encounters Bradley Bigg - Pop's tub-thumping troubadour and Blue Collar balladeer whose music influenced and shaped her as a teenager. Meanwhile, Brian has to break some bad news to Nali and Helen takes on the role of Health and Safety Officer with uncharacteristic vigour.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life
In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Episode Five - Heroes
Clare: SALLY PHILLIPS
Brian: ALEX LOWE
Megan/Nali: NINA CONTI
Ray/Mr Trueman: RICHARD LUMSDEN
Helen: LIZA TARBUCK
Simon/Bradley: ANDREW WINCOTT
Libby: SARAH KENDALL
Chelsy: VICTORIA INEZ HARDY
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Katie Tyrrell.
SUN 08:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jp5l)
Series 1
Only Three Can Play
The Bishop, Archdeacon and Bishop's Chaplain regularly enjoy their own board game of imaginary railway journeys - until Noote gets distracted by an attractive neighbour...
The ecclesiastical sitcom started life as a TV pilot in Comedy Playhouse, ahead of a run on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971.
Adapted from their TV script by husband-and-wife team, Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps.
The Archdeacon …. Robertson Hare
The Bishop …. William Mervyn
The Bishop's Chaplain - Noote …. Derek Nimmo
The Dean …. John Barron
Christine …. Elizabeth Proud
Mrs Buckley …. Sonia Fraser
Granny …. Eva Stuart
Producer: David Hatch.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1971.
SUN 08:30 Life With The Lyons (b0131zxx)
Lovely to Look At
Ben's pal Tex arrives for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation. Will he succumb to Olde England's charms?
Starring real-life American family: Ben Lyon and his wife Bebe Daniels and their children, Richard and Barbara.
With Doris Rogers as Florrie, Molly Weir as Aggie, Horace Percival as Mr Wimple, David Enders, Clive Baxter, Hugh Morton and Arthur Hill.
Life With the Lyons was one the BBC's most popular radio sitcoms between1950 and 1961. It was also adapted for BBC TV.
Written by Bebe Daniels, Bob Block, Ronnie Hanbury and Bill Harding.
BBC Variety Orchestra conducted by Paul Fenoulhet.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1953.
SUN 09:00 Alan Garner - Elidor (b010gls9)
Episode 2
Roland finds himself in the dying land of Elidor. His brothers and sister have disappeared into the Mound of Vandwy, but the wounded King Malebron can do nothing for them.
Only Roland can rescue them and find the four Treasures - a spear, a sword, a cauldron and a stone, which have the power to save Elidor.
Alan Garner's classic fantasy adventure dramatised in four-parts by Don Webb.
Stars Mossie Cassidy as Roland, Raffey Cassidy as Helen, William Rush as Nicholas, Stephen Hoyle as David, Toby Hadoke as Malebron, Fiona Clarke as Mrs Watson and Gerard Fletcher as the Foreman.
Original music composed by Ian Williams
Directed at BBC Manchester by Charlotte Riches.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in April 2011.
SUN 09:30 Michelle Magorian - Back Home (b0112flv)
Episode 2
The war is over but the battle is only just beginning for Rusty, as she moves to Guildford to face her acid-tongued grandmother. Stars Mary Wimbush.
SUN 10:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b055g89c)
Parky at 80
Kingsley Amis
4 Extra Debut. From Johann Strauss to Sidney Bechet, the novelist shares his castaway choices with Michael Parkinson. From November 1986.
SUN 10:45 Afternoon Reading (b00zdl26)
Extremely Entertaining Short Stories
The Brown Wallet
Stacy Aumonier's life as a stage performer, 'society entertainer', World War One private and draughtsman all contributed to his unrivalled reputation as a short-story writer in the 1920's.
Nobel Prize winner and Forsyte Saga author John Galsworthy described Stacy Aumonier as "one of the best short-story writers of all time." Other famous admirers included Alfred Hitchcock, who had several of his stories adapted for television, and James Hilton, author of Goodbye, Mr Chips, who once said of Aumonier: "I think his very best works ought to be included in any anthology of the best short stories ever written."
However since his untimely death at the age of 51, Aumonier has been rather forgotten. This is particularly ironic considering Galsworthy's belief - expressed in his foreword to a posthumously published collection of short stories - that Aumonier would, through his writing, "outlive nearly all the writers of his day."
Sadly, this did not happen. Yet the recently published collection of Aumonier's Extremely Entertaining Short Stories has certainly helped bring this overlooked talent to a new audience. Aumonier's stories are not only hilarious, full of wit and genuine warmth for his subjects, but also beautifully constructed insights into the various absurdities of human behaviour; be it in the drawing rooms of London high society or the trenches of World War I.
'The Brown Wallet' read by Mark Heap.
Mark Heap has appeared widely across television, radio and film; he recently appeared on TV as Thomas Brown in the returning BBC series 'Lark Rise to Candleford'. His acclaimed comedic performances include 'Spaced', 'Green Wing' and BBC series 'The Great Outdoors'
'The Brown Wallet' by Stacy Aumonier was abridged by Neville Teller and read by Mark Heap. It was recorded in Belfast and the Producer/Director was Laura Conway.
'A Source Of Irritation' read by Mark Addy.
Mark Addy has worked extensively in film, television and on stage. His many credits include 'The Full Monty', 'Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983' and the upcoming HBO television series 'Game of Thrones'.
'A Source of Irritation' by Stacy Aumonier was abridged by Neville Teller and read by Mark Addy. It was recorded in Belfast and the Producer/Director was Michael Shannon.
'The Room' read by Mathew Horne
Mathew Horne's many television credits include 'The Catherine Tate Show', 'Teachers' and '20 Things to Do before You're Thirty'. Mathew is best known to many for his portrayal of Gavin in the hit BBC series 'Gavin and Stacey'.
'The Room by Stacy Aumonier was abridged by Neville Teler and read by Mathew Horne. It was recorded in Belfast and the Producer/Director was Laura Conway.
SUN 11:00 TED Radio Hour (b055jymq)
Series 1
Identities
A journey through fascinating ideas based on talks by riveting speakers on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) stage.
Guy Raz investigates the journeys some people make in order to answer the question: who am I? With the writer Pico Iyer.
SUN 11:45 Afternoon Reading (b01061hy)
Edna O'Brien - Saints and Sinners
Madame Cassandra
'Madame Cassandra' by Edna O'Brien.
Read by Sorcha Cusack.
Abridged by Doreen Estall
Produced by Lawrence Jackson
Edna O'Brien is one of the most distinguished writers and figures in the world of letters. Since emerging from Ireland in the early 1960s with 'The Country Girls', her many novels including 'Girl with Green Eyes', 'House of Splendid Isolation' and 'In The Forest' have attracted both praise and controversy. 'Saints and Sinners' is her eagerly awaited new collection.
Sorcha Cusack's numerous theatre credits range from plays with the RSC and National Theatre to Frank McGuinness's 'Baglady' to 'Bloody Sunday' at the Tricycle. Her many TV and film credits include 'Eureka Street', 'Snatch' and 'Middletown'.
Producer Lawrence Jackson's credits for Radio 4 include four series of the popular murder-mystery 'Baldi', two series of John Connolly's 'Ghost Stories' and the Classic Serial 'Barry Lyndon'. For Radio 7 his credits include C.S.Lewis' 'Out of the Silent Planet' and 'Perelandra', G.K.Chesterton's 'The Man Who Was Thursday', Daphne Du Maurier's 'The House on the Strand' and classic ghost stories by Sheridan Le Fanu and Algernon Blackwood.
SUN 12:00 Vikas Swarup - The Seventh Test Omnibus (b044vfsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 13:15 Whatever Happened to the Teapots? (b00nt9cy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 13:30 Noel Coward - A Song at Twilight (b055jzjh)
The surprise emergence of an ex-mistress from his past proves threatening for Hugo Latymer, a grand old man of letters, and his wife Hilde.
The purpose of her visit turns out to be as shocking as it is dramatic - and threatens to destroy the couple’s marriage...
Noel Coward's famous wit and observation of character are as sharp and entertaining as ever.
This was the Master's swansong in London's theatre land marking his farewell stage appearance in 1966 in his own play.
Hugo Latymer …. Michael Denison
Hilde Latymer …. Jill Bennett
Carlotta Gray …. Dulcie Gray
Felix …. Sean Barrett
Producer: David Johnston
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1988.
SUN 15:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jp5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 15:30 Life With The Lyons (b0131zxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 16:00 Mel's Mix: The Best of The 4 O'Clock Show (b055jzwp)
Dick and Dom, Just So Science and Wellington Boots
Mel Giedroyc recalls the best of this week's 4 O'Clock Show, including Dick and Dom, Just So Science and a celebration of wellington boots.
SUN 17:00 Alan Garner - Elidor (b010gls9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 17:30 Michelle Magorian - Back Home (b0112flv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Edgar Allan Poe (b00grs8w)
The Gold Bug
American master of suspense, Edgar Allan Poe's famous story of piracy and slavery from 1843.
His narrative of an obsession with the discovery of a "golden bug" evokes famous pirates, and drips with the casual racism of the old American South.
Dramatised by Gregory Evans giving the story a critical makeover, as a former slave recounts the "true" story.
Starring Clarke Peters as Charles, John Sharian as Legrand, Rhashan Stone as Jupiter and William Hootkins as the Doctor.
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
SUN 19:00 TED Radio Hour (b055jymq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:45 Afternoon Reading (b01061hy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 today]
SUN 20:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jp5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 20:30 Life With The Lyons (b0131zxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 21:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b055g89c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
SUN 21:45 Afternoon Reading (b00zdl26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 today]
SUN 22:00 Clare in the Community (b015zswt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 The Richest Man in Britain (b00nrrq8)
The Elephant in the Room
Sitcom by Nick Hornby and Giles Smith about an ageing rock star and his search for fulfilment.
Trillionnaire rocker Dave Mabbutt introduces ex-lead singer Andy to his new best friend and personal assistant, Mr Tumble the elephant.
Dave Mabbutt ...... Mark Williams
Dom ...... Russell Tovey
Dave's Mum ...... Lynda Bellingham
Andy ...... Noddy Holder
The Lawyer ...... Gus Brown.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b05h7vjz)
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Arthur Smith chats to the men behind Margaret Thatcher: Queen of Soho.
SUN 23:00 Newsjack (b054t8pr)
Series 12
Episode 3
This week's stories lovingly bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches, one-liners and vox-pops by the public. Trying to make sense of it all is our host, Nish Kumar.
SUN 23:30 Jon Ronson On (b00pnt6h)
Series 5
Fear of Flying
The writer Jon Ronson looks at one of our deepest fears. When Vicky Coren realised her fear of flying was stopping her travelling, she sought help from a specialist councillor. He cured her - only to die a year later in an air crash.
Mike Thexton tells Jon of his ordeal on board a hijacked plane, waiting to be shot for 12 hours. And comedian Danny Robins is terrified of death - so terrified that Jon decides to send him to a near death experience festival in Spain in order to try to cure his phobia. Finally, Jon finds a scientist who is working on finding an answer to eternal life.
Producer: Laura Parfitt
An Unique production for BBC Radio 4.


MONDAY 16 MARCH 2015

MON 00:00 Edgar Allan Poe (b00grs8w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b055g89c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:45 Afternoon Reading (b00zdl26)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:45 on Sunday]
MON 02:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jp5l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Life With The Lyons (b0131zxx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:00 Clare in the Community (b015zswt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:30 Noel Coward - A Song at Twilight (b055jzjh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Alan Garner - Elidor (b010gls9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Michelle Magorian - Back Home (b0112flv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jctjf)
Series 1
Headless in Glasgow
Two unlikely cops Detective Inspector Bob Boxer and Detective Constable Shona Doberman probe an academics killing spree in Glasgow.
Alastair Jessiman's gritty comedy police drama stars Finlay Welsh as DI Bob Boxer, Anita Vettesse as DC Shona Doberman and James Bryce as DCI Paton.
DC Shauna Doberman is regarded as the smart one in the crime-fighting duo, whilst DI Bob Boxer is the plodding old-school cop, who aims to reach the right conclusion.
Producer: David Jackson Young.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Radio Scotland.
First broadcast in March 2009.
MON 06:30 Looking for Ripley (b00hrk2v)
Crime writer Mark Billingham investigates Tom Ripley, the suave and amoral central character in Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
Mark tracks down those with a real insight into Ripley's ambiguities. Opera director Jonathan Kent once played Ripley and was thought to be perfect in the role by Highsmith herself. Professor Dinesh Bhugra, President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists, is an avid fan and uses the Ripley books to teach medical students about psychopathy.
Andrew Wilson, Highsmith's biographer, thinks the elusive Ripley is to be found in the unpublished notebooks of his creator. The readings are by Ian Hart.
MON 07:00 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
Room to Manoeuvre
Cleaner Elsie borrows a flat for a night, but must keep caretaker Ramsay out of the way.
Ramsay Potts is the jobsworth caretaker at a crumbling Edwardian block of flats, pursued by the over-amorous cleaner Elsie.
Starring Roy Dotrice as Ramsay and Patricia Hayes as Elspeth Spurgeon.
Eight-part sitcom written by Andrew Palmer and Nell Brennan.
With John Graham, Jon Glover, Norma Ronald, Nell Brennan and Yvonne Manners.
Producer: Edward Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1982.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b054pq25)
Series 71
Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons hosts this classic comedy panel game with Alun Cochrane, Tony Hawks, Josie Lawrence and Paul Merton, recorded in Canterbury. So naturally, the subjects include 'Canterbury Tales' and 'The Garden of England'.
This is series 71 of Radio 4's classic panel game in which the contestants are challenged to speak on a given subject for a minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation.
This series, the guests include Jenny Eclair, Stephen Fry, Sheila Hancock, Robin Ince Paul Merton, Graham Norton, and trying his hand at the game for the first time, the tenth doctor, David Tennant.
Recorded at the BBC's Radio Theatre and Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, this long running and popular series enters its 47th year with the same wonderful host, Nicholas Parsons.
MON 08:00 Dad's Army (b007jscw)
Series 1
Operation Kilt
Captain Mainwaring's squad is challenged to try and capture the headquarters of the Highland platoon.
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 Godfrey …. Arnold Ridley
Private Pike …. Ian Lavender
Private Frazer …. John Laurie
Captain Ogilvy …. Jack Watson
Mrs Pike …. Pearl Hackney
Announcer …. John Snagge
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1974.
MON 08:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00k3myf)
From 15/04/1984
From his own father to a huge hairy mountain gorilla.
Michael Bentine stars in the ultimate one man show written and performed by the host.
Producer: Jamie Rix
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in April 1984.
MON 09:00 The Write Stuff (b01b1nk7)
Series 15
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe is the Author of the Week this episode - a man who both helped establish modern journalism and modern espionage, as well as being the creator of such literary classics as "Moll Flanders" and "Robinson Crusoe", a book that, the Bible excepted, has been translated into more languages than any other.
Team captains Sebastian Faulks and John Walsh are joined by journalist, Jane Thynne, and creator of the DI Thorne novels, Mark Billingham.
For the finale of the show, the teams are asked to imagine Robinson Crusoe's observations were he to be marooned on an island today...the Isle of Dogs or Ibiza, for example.
MON 09:30 The Brig Society (b036ksd8)
Series 1
Prison
Uh-oh - Marcus Brigstocke has been put in charge of a thing!
Each week, Marcus finds he's volunteered to be in charge of a big old thing - a hospital, the railways, British fashion, a prison. And each week he starts out by thinking "Well, it can't be that difficult, surely?" and ends up with "Oh - turns out it's utterly difficult and complicated. Who knew...?"
This week, Marcus has been volunteered to run a prison - so while he's serving his thirty-minute term, he'll be looking into such urgent issues as overcrowding, rehabilitation, radicalisation and the difficulties of dining-hall protest tray-banging syncopation.
Banged up with him are Rufus Jones (Hunderby, Holy Flying Circus), William Andrews (Sorry I've Got No Head) and Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Miranda).
The show is produced by Marcus's long-standing accomplice, David Tyler, who also produces Marcus' appearances as the inimitable as Giles Wemmbley Hogg.
Written by Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Salsby, Toby Davies, Nick Doody, Steve Punt and Tom Neenan.
Produced by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 10:00 Keith Waterhouse - Mr and Mrs Nobody (b055knqf)
A delightful diary account which reveals the day-to-day activities of one Charles Pooter, a London clerk, and his long-suffering wife Carrie.
Starring Dame Judi Dench and Michael Williams.
Written by Keith Waterhouse. Based on George and Weedon Grossmith's 19th Century comic masterpiece 'The Diary of a Nobody'.
Carrie Pooter .... Judi Dench
Charles Pooter ....Michael Williams
Incidental music composed by Colin Sell. Played by Colin Sell and Peter Ripper.
Director: Gordon House
First broadcast on the BBC World Service in May 1990.
MON 11:00 Afternoon Reading (b0081ck7)
Alan Howard Reads
On Dover Beach
The popular veteran actor reads specially commissioned short stories.
Matthew Arnold engages in animated internal debate with himself about his poem On Dover Beach and its place in history.
By Tom Stoppard.
MON 11:15 Loose Ends (b055ddk8)
Scottee, Esther Rantzen, Danny Brocklehurst, Rick Edwards, Tyrone Huggins, Jose Gonzalez, C Duncan
Clive Anderson is joined by Esther Rantzen, Danny Brocklehurst, Rick Edwards, and Tyrone Huggins for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from José González and C Duncan.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
MON 12:00 Dad's Army (b007jscw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00k3myf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jctjf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Looking for Ripley (b00hrk2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 15 Minute Drama (b04htrnt)
Marcy Kahan - Lunch
Humiliation
by Marcy Kahan
Bill and Bella meet every month for lunch and swap news.
It's March 2014 and whilst Bella has been walking across the Sahara Bill has been busy humiliating himself.
Directed by Sally Avens.
MON 14:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gf5t0)
Europe: Triumphs of the Past
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his new object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 6. EUROPE: TRIUMPHS OF THE PAST - As a tourist attraction in Westminster Abbey, Henry V's instruments of battle reflect the view of English history as depicted on the Elizabeth stage.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
MON 14:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01f9y2q)
Episode 1
Stephen Tompkinson reads Keith Waterhouse's classic comic story about a young dreamer who fantasises about a more exciting life.
MON 14:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0147g9m)
Childhood Memories
The Goon Show star recalls his Swansea childhood and why a raffle was one of his greatest disappointments.
Autobiography of comedian and singer Sir Harry Secombe first published in 1982.
Abridged by Elizabeth Proud.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1983.
MON 15:00 Keith Waterhouse - Mr and Mrs Nobody (b055knqf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b055ks9n)
BBC School Report, Keep It In The Family & A Monster Calls
Mel Giedroyc dusts off her buzzer for another series of the 4 O'Clock Show quiz, Keep It in the Family. Plus, there's the first part of A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness.
MON 17:00 A Whole New Ball Game (b00cb1m8)
Series 1
Hungry
Robert's mum is doing so much work for the church he can't get enough to eat. And it seems his friends and family can’t seem to get enough of something else.
A six-part black comedy by Martin Davies
Stars Desmond Barrit as Father Benedict, Brenda Blethyn as Mrs Patterson, Paul Parris as Robert Patterson, Charlotte Coleman as Barbara Patterson, Martino Lazzeri as Guy Entwhistle, Mark Straker as Andy, Claire Skinner as Janet and Jill Meers as Lady At Counter and Gordon Reid as Father Hugh
Producer: Lissa Evans
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1993.
MON 17:30 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 18:00 The Write Stuff (b01b1nk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0075lw5)
Howard Brenton and Alexander Walker
Sarah LeFanu and her guests playwright Howard Brenton and film critic Alexander Walker discuss books by Primo Levi, Stefan Zweig and George Orwell. From 1999.
The Truce by Primo Levi
Publisher: Abacus
Casanova: A Study in Self-Portraiture by Stefan Zweig
Publisher: Puskin Press
Keep The Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Publisher: Penguin Books.
MON 19:00 Dad's Army (b007jscw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 The Michael Bentine Show (b00k3myf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jctjf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Looking for Ripley (b00hrk2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Afternoon Reading (b0081ck7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Loose Ends (b055ddk8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b054pq25)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 The Brig Society (b036ksd8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 23:00 The News Quiz Extra (b055kt2k)
Series 13
Episode 4
A satirical review of the week's news, chaired by Sandi Toksvig. Andy Hamilton, Sara Pascoe and Andrew Maxwell join regular panellist Jeremy Hardy.
MON 23:45 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b00zt22n)
Series 1
Episode 4
Helen Keen's off-beat but true account of the history of space flight.
With Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane.
* Will humanity ever make it to the stars?
* Time travel, parallel universes and faster than light travel.
* Have aliens ever made it here? If so, were they tempted to use their vastly superior intelligence to really clean up in pub quizzes?
Written by Helen Keen and Miriam Underhill.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2011.


TUESDAY 17 MARCH 2015

TUE 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b04htrnt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gf5t0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01f9y2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 00:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0147g9m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 The Write Stuff (b01b1nk7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 A Good Read (b0075lw5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jctjf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Looking for Ripley (b00hrk2v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Keith Waterhouse - Mr and Mrs Nobody (b055knqf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Afternoon Reading (b0081ck7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:15 Loose Ends (b055ddk8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 A Whole New Ball Game (b00cb1m8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd6wp)
Series 1
The Killings in Kirkibrae
DI Bob Boxer and DC Shona Doberman probe a link between some nasty serial killings in Glasgow and some gruesome murders in an idyllic village in the remote Scottish Highlands.
Alastair Jessiman's gritty comedy police drama stars Finlay Welsh as DI Bob Boxer, Anita Vettesse as DC Shona Doberman and James Bryce as DCI Paton.
DC Shauna Doberman is regarded as the smart one in the crime-fighting duo, whilst DI Bob Boxer is the grizzled old-school cop, who aims to reach the right conclusion.
Producer: David Jackson Young.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Radio Scotland.
First broadcast in March 2009.
TUE 06:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055pgp2)
Episode 1
4 Extra Debut. Extracts read by Simon Cadell reveal the playwright's strong opinions on England and Englishness. With Graham Payne. From April 1996.
TUE 07:00 Nineteen Ninety-Eight (b01dbfn3)
Episode 6
Edward and Tabitha finally face their foe, Colonel Brad. Orwellian sitcom with David Threlfall and Hugh Laurie. From May 1987.
TUE 07:30 Ayres on the Air (b03pmk77)
Series 5
Home
Pam Ayres presents poems, stories and sketches about Home.
Pam talks about her first home, the impact of her grown up sons leaving home and downsizing.
Plus, how making your home more 'vintage' can go too far - and how life changes when both partners retire.
And what should you do when your partner's snoring becomes too much to bear?
With:
Felicity Montagu
Geoffrey Whitehead as Pam's long-suffering husband 'Gordon'.
Poems include: A September Song, My Little Grandson & Pollen on the Wind
Sketch writers: James Bugg, Jan Etherington, Claire Jones, Grainne McGuire, Andy Wolton and Tom Neenan.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.
TUE 08:00 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
Series 1
Episode 2
Kenneth Horne's secrets from the BBC backroom boys and continuing 'The Clissold Saga'.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London. Announcer: Douglas Smith
Round The Horne was born out of the demise of BBC radio comedy Beyond Our Ken, after the end of writer Eric Merriman's involvement. Using the same cast and producer, Barry Took and Marty Feldman were persuaded to write the scripts - which led to four series that ran between 1965 and 1968 - packed full of parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in March 1965.
TUE 08:30 The Ken Dodd Show (b00hwyq9)
From 19/07/1964
The creature of Invercockieleekie wreaks a special kind of havoc when confronted with Doddy's singing.
Starring Ken Dodd.
With Judith Chalmers, John Laurie, Patricia Hayes, Peter Hudson, Wallas Eaton and Percy Edwards.
Music from The Migil Five.
BBC Revue Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Lockyer.
Script by Ken Dodd and Eddie Braben.
Producer: Bill Worsley
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1964.
TUE 09:00 The News Quiz Extra (b055kt2k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Helen Keen's It Is Rocket Science (b00zt22n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 Pamela Branch - The Wooden Overcoat (b00sybp8)
London 1951: Newly acquitted killer Benji Cann finds refuge at the Asterisk Club, but then turns up dead. Stars David Tennant.
TUE 11:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cs)
Alan Howard Reads
Marriage Lines
The popular veteran actor reads specially commissioned short stories.
A return visit to the island of Barra brings back memories of decades past, holidays and young love.
By Julian Barnes.
TUE 11:15 Kathryn Simmonds - Poetry for Beginners (b01q0v64)
Poetry sparks lust, ruthless ambition and simmering rivalries at a residential writing course in Shropshire. Stars Joanna Tope.
TUE 12:00 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Ken Dodd Show (b00hwyq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd6wp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055pgp2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hvxb7)
Marcy Kahan - Lunch
The Wonderful Guy
by Marcy Kahan
Bill and Bella meet up once a month and swap news.
Bella has a new man but he happens to be half her age.
Directed by Sally Avens.
TUE 14:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gg7dt)
Ireland: Failures in the Present
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his new object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 7. IRELAND: FAILURES IN THE PRESENT - A rare woodcut offers a equally rare visual impression of the troubles and tragedies of Elizabethan Ireland.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
TUE 14:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fb3ps)
Episode 2
Billy is now engaged to two girls in his Yorkshire home town, but he imagines an escape to London. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.
TUE 14:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b014b98y)
Holidays
Sir Harry recalls his travels, tummy troubles and an unfortunate series of events at sea.
Autobiography of comedian and singer Sir Harry Secombe first published in 1982.
Abridged by Elizabeth Proud.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1983.
TUE 15:00 Pamela Branch - The Wooden Overcoat (b00sybp8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b055q36g)
David Thewlis, Keep It in the Family and A Monster Calls
Mel Giedroyc says happy birthday to Harry Potter actor David Thewlis and presents the next episode of A Monster Calls, by award-winning author Patrick Ness.
TUE 17:00 Capital Gains (b007rq8b)
Series 1
Capital Return
Home at last, how will Julius Hutch come to terms with the bank that made him rich? Can he set himself up to live happily ever after?
Peter Jones stars as Julius Hutch.
Written by Collin Johnson.
Julius Hutch ...... Peter Jones
Pauline Tone ...... Celestine Randall
Sexton Lewis ...... Jeffrey Wickham
Peter Fang ...... Peter Whitman
News Reader ...... Collin Johnson
Kate ...... Justine Midda
Producer: Andy Jordan
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1995.
TUE 17:30 Nineteen Ninety-Eight (b01dbfn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 18:00 Hidden Treasures (b055q39m)
Harewood House
From gorgeous fashion creations to athlete wrestling with a python.
Lars Tharp chairs the light-hearted Antiques Quiz from the Long Gallery at the Earl of Harewood's family home in West Yorkshire.
With Henry Sandon, Sally Kevill-Davies, Tim Bentinck and Kevin Baker.
Producer: Annie Bristow
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1998.
TUE 18:30 Frankly Speaking (b055q3p1)
Maurice Chevalier
French entertainer Maurice Chevalier is interviewed about his life and career by Penelope Mortimer, Colin MacInnes and Carl Wildman.
Sadly the full programme from 1963 no longer exists, but this is a long extract. Then in his 70s, he speaks openly about how much he owes to English vaudeville and music hall. Chevalier reveals his use of the then new-fangled stage microphone, touches on his working class roots, his adored mother and two bouts of depression. He's also questioned about his stage persona as the sophisticated, romantic, Frenchman versus the real Chevalier.
Launched in 1952 on the BBC Home Service, Frankly Speaking was a novel, ground breaking series. Unrehearsed and unscripted, the traditional interviewee/interviewer pairing was initially jettisoned for three interviewers firing direct questions - straight to the point.
Early critics described it as 'unkempt', 'an inquisition' and described the guest as prey being cornered, quarry being pursued - with calls to axe the unscripted interview. But the format won out and eventually won over its detractors.
Unknown or very inexperienced broadcasters were employed as interviewers, notably John Freeman, John Betjeman, Malcolm Muggeridge, Harold Hobson, Penelope Mortimer, Elizabeth Beresford and Katherine Whitehorn.
Only about 40 of the original 100 programmes survive.
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1963.
TUE 18:50 Inheritance Tracks (b05p9mlq)
Judith Kerr
Children's writer and illustrator Judith Kerr inherits a lullaby by Brahms and Gershwin's hit from Porgy and Bess.
TUE 19:00 Round the Horne (b00j05w2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Ken Dodd Show (b00hwyq9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd6wp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055pgp2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Kathryn Simmonds - Poetry for Beginners (b01q0v64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Ayres on the Air (b03pmk77)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b00htwhd)
Series 2
Suggs
Suggs reads A Brief History of Time, listens to Vivaldi, changes the oil in a car and has his first tap-dancing lesson.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b05njlkm)
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Tiff Stevenson chats to Joel Dommett.
TUE 23:00 Strangers on Trains (b00d75p2)
Episode 2
Heated views on climate as travellers reveal their faith and beliefs. Stars Nat Segnit and Stewart Wright. From September 2008.
TUE 23:15 Ivor Cutler - A Wet Handle (b00cl648)
Episode 2
'Walking Down the Road' and 'The Jambeena Body Affair'.
Music, prosaic idiosyncrasy and whimsy from the unique Ivor Cutler. With Alison O'Kill and Craig Murray-Orr.
Producer: Neil Cargill
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in June 1997.
TUE 23:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b00yqsj3)
Series 3
Girls and Boys
With Rudy about to tie the knot, it's party time - Adam style.
Adam has created a wedding spreadsheet, and it's down to Richie to intervene to ensure that both the Stag Do, and Doreen's hen night, go off with a Rudy Sharpe Sizzle.
Father and son comedy set in the finest old-school record shop in Birmingham.
Stars Lenny Henry and Larrington Walker.
Written by Danny Robins and Paula Hines
Adam ...... Lenny Henry
Rudy ...... Larrington Walker
Richie ...... Joe Jacobs
Tasha ...... Natasha Godfrey
Clifton ...... Jeffery Kissoon
Doreen ...... Claire Benedict
Producer: Lucy Armitage.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2011.


WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 2015

WED 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hvxb7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gg7dt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fb3ps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 00:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b014b98y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Hidden Treasures (b055q39m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 Frankly Speaking (b055q3p1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:50 Inheritance Tracks (b05p9mlq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:50 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd6wp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055pgp2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Pamela Branch - The Wooden Overcoat (b00sybp8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:15 Kathryn Simmonds - Poetry for Beginners (b01q0v64)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Capital Gains (b007rq8b)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Nineteen Ninety-Eight (b01dbfn3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd9h8)
Series 1
The Big Cheese
Detective Inspector Bob Boxer falls into the clutches of an old sadistic adversary. At first he resists the pressure to go over to the "other side" and swell the ranks of Villains Incorporated. But when his enemies exploit one of his deepest childhood fears, even Bob's cast-iron will begins to crack like a caramel log. Might a good cop go to the bad?
Alastair Jessiman's gritty comedy police drama stars Finlay Welsh as DI Bob Boxer, Anita Vettesse as DC Shona Doberman and James Bryce as DCI Paton.
DC Shauna Doberman is regarded as the smart one in the crime-fighting duo, whilst DI Bob Boxer is the grizzled old-school cop, who aims to reach the right conclusion.
Producer: David Jackson Young.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Radio Scotland.
First broadcast in March 2009.
WED 06:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055qt0k)
Episode 2
The extracts read by Simon Cadell deal with sex, sexuality, health and a Las Vegas triumph. Presenter Tony Staveacre. From April 1996.
WED 07:00 Believe It! (b03mg87c)
Series 2
Episode 4
Jon Canter's "radiography" of Richard Wilson returns for a second series.
Celebrity autobiographies are everywhere. Richard Wilson has always said he'd never write one. Based on glimmers of truth, Believe It is the hilarious, bizarre, revealing (and, most importantly, untrue) celebrity autobiography of Richard Wilson.
He narrates the series with his characteristic dead-pan delivery, weaving in and out of dramatised scenes from his fictional life-story. He plays a heavily exaggerated version of himself: a Scots actor and national treasure, unmarried, private, passionate about politics, theatre and Manchester United (all true), who's a confidant of the powerful and has survived childhood poverty, a drunken father, years of fruitless grind, too much success, monstrosity, addiction, charity work and fierce rivalry with Sean Connery and Ian McKellan (not true).
The title - in case you hadn't spotted - is an unashamed reference his famous catchphrase.
Written by Jon Canter
Produced and Directed by Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 07:30 Chain Reaction (b054qfjd)
Series 10
Vic Reeves talks to Olivia Colman
One half of comedy double-act Vic & Bob, Vic Reeves, talks to Oscar and BAFTA award-winning actress Olivia Colman.
Chain Reaction is the long running hostless chat show where last week's interviewee becomes this week's interviewer.
Producer: Charlie Perkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2015.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
Series 2
The Lighthouse Lark
Commander Povey probes smuggling aboard HMS Troutbridge during a rescue attempt of a lighthouse keeper.

Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as Number One, Richard Caldicot as Commander Povey, Ronnie Barker as AS Johnson,Heather Chasen as Heather, Michael Bates as Mr Proudfoot and Tenniel Evans as Goldstein.

The Navy Lark ran for an impressive 13 series on BBC Radio between 1959 and 1976.

Scripted by Lawrie Wyman.

Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in January 1960.
WED 08:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00t9zpz)
Series 4
Episode 7
Making movie news: 'The Lone Hydrangea' and 'The Sound of Monks' and 'The Curse of the Flying Wombat' continues...
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Ian Lang, Graeme Chapman, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Eric Idle, and Bill Oddie.
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 November 1966.
WED 09:00 So Wrong It's Right (b0106v13)
Series 2
Episode 6
Charlie Brooker hosts the comedy panel show that sees comics Lee Mack, Sarah Millican and Graham Linehan battle to supply the finest wrong answers.
Charlie's tests see the guests recall 'the worst thing they've done on their own'. Who will win between Lee Mack's story of avoiding Anthea Turner, Sarah Millican's tale of woe whilst stuck on the side of motorway, or Graham Linehan's calamity in a hotel shower?
Added to this are the panel's ideas for a terrible new gameshow. Will anyone spot the fatal flaw in Graham's pitch - the futuristic word quiz 'Scrabble 2000'?
The host of So Wrong It's Right, Charlie Brooker, also writes for The Guardian and presents BBC4's satirical series Newswipe & Screenwipe as well as Channel 4's 10 O'Clock Live. He won Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009 and Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his Guardian newspaper columns.
Produced by Aled Evans
A Zeppotron Production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 09:30 Edgar Wallace - Educated Evans (b03yh0dk)
The Snout
Can the skint 1920s tipster plot revenge on a local informant and end up a winner too? Stars Roy Hudd and Andrew Sachs. From July 1996.
WED 10:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlqq)
Episode 1
Paul Morel is born in Nottinghamshire at the turn of the 20th century. His father is a hard-working, hard-drinking miner, but his mother a refined woman of middle-class aspirations.
As family conflict grows, Paul's mother turns to her sons.
Published in 1913, DH Lawrence's classic novel dramatised in three parts by Michael Butt.
Paul Morel …. Benedict Sandeford
Gertrude Morel …. Elizabeth Estenson
Walter Morel …. Clive Russell
Miriam …. Fiona Clarke
Young Paul …. Simon Lanos
William …. Joseph Attenborough
Annie …. Andrea Nicholas
Mrs. Davies …. Kate Rutter
Mr. Jordan …. Peter Meakin
Director: Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
WED 11:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826ct)
Alan Howard Reads
The Tipping Point
The popular veteran actor reads specially commissioned short stories.
A car journey and a CD of Schubert Lieder offer an English academic the opportunity to reflect on the painful conclusion to a love affair with a German environmentalist.
By Helen Simpson.
WED 11:15 Drama (b00t0fzn)
Alex Shearer - The Diabolical Gourmet
Death by fine dining: the true story of Pere Gourier and his string of perfectly legal murders in the finest restaurants of 1790s Paris.
Bored with his wife and home life, the well-off landowner begins to amuse himself by taking hard-up acquaintances every day to the best restaurants in Paris and dining them to death. Everyone knows about it but - as he isn't doing anything against the law - no one can stop him.
Dealing with a succulent batch of topics - food, wine, fine dining, the effects of over-indulgence, a loophole in the law and a murderer who can't be stopped - this true story unfolds from the perspective of Ameline, the executioner's assistant who volunteers to take on the murdering bon vivant Gourier at his own game in the richest restaurants in Paris.
The intensity and opulence of Gourier's deadly feasts (he would order 15 steaks at a sitting, trying to kill off his fellow diner) lead to a final dining-room confrontation between him and Ameline, the table groaning under the weight of course after course of rich, deadly food - the murder weapon of a rich, deadly gourmet.
Historical drama, written by Alex Shearer.
Ameline ..... Mark Benton
Gourier ..... Ian McNeice
Chavette ..... Royce Mills
Gaston/Bayard/Antoine/Victor/Hubert/Henri/Charles ..... Jon Glover
Widow/Magdalene/Madame Cambertin ..... Rachel Atkins
Director: Neil Cargill
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00t9zpz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd9h8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055qt0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hyrpx)
Marcy Kahan - Lunch
The Spotlight
by Marcy Kahan
Bill is in a state he has been invited on Newsnight to debate the economy.
Bella decides to give him a mock interview.
Director ..... Sally Avens.
WED 14:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gg8h6)
City Life, Urban Strife
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his new object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 8. CITY LIFE, URBAN STRIFE - The life of London's apprentices and Shakespeare's groundlings told through a rare woollen cap.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
WED 14:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fbfx5)
Episode 3
Billy is in big trouble both at work and home, so he returns to his dreams of London and Ambrosia. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.
WED 14:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0148rvv)
Majorca
Sir Harry Secombe recalls his idyllic holiday home in Majorca and his not-so-idyllic command of Spanish.
Autobiography of comedian and singer Sir Harry Secombe first published in 1982.
Abridged by Elizabeth Proud.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1983.
WED 15:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlqq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b055v4s6)
Cerys Matthews, BBC School Report and A Monster Calls
Musician and broadcaster Cerys Matthews reveals her Inheritance Tracks and there's more from current story A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness.
WED 17:00 Flying the Flag (b007jx83)
Series 1
Compromising Positions
Why does William sleep with his windscreen wipers? And will the tabloid press settle for a diplomatic answer?
The British Ambassador gets suspicious...
Alex Shearer's Eastern bloc embassy sitcom.
Starring Dinsdale Landen as HM Ambassador Mackenzie, Peter Acre as William Frost, Moir Leslie as Helen Waterson,Christopher Benjamin as Colonel Surikov, Milton Johns as Brown and Margaret Ward as Mrs Poonskey.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1987.
WED 17:30 Believe It! (b03mg87c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 18:00 So Wrong It's Right (b0106v13)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b0076kl4)
Alter Egos
Matthew Parris welcomes three guests. Or is it more? John Fortune, Martin Newell and Pauline Black explore identity. From March 2004.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b00zn2fv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00t9zpz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd9h8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055qt0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826ct)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Drama (b00t0fzn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Chain Reaction (b054qfjd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show! (b00dbsqc)
Series 2
Hospital Appointment
The showbiz legend has got hospital tests, and says his goodbyes in case the worst happens. Stars Steve Delaney. From March 2007.
WED 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b05njlqm)
From 10pm to midnight, seven days a week, the Comedy Club has two hours of comedy. Plus Tiff Stevenson chats again to Joel Dommett.
WED 23:00 The Maltby Collection (b00m67w1)
Series 3
Episode 1
Massive budget cuts are needed – so who will museum director Walter put forward for the chop?
Geoffrey Palmer and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in series 3 of David Nobbs’ sitcom about a small museum of paintings and sculpture.
Rod Millet ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Walter Brindle ...... Geoffrey Palmer
Prunella Edgecumbe ...... Rachel Atkins
Susie Maltby ...... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Julian Crumb-Loosely ...... Ben Willbond
Wilf Arbuthnot ...... Geoff McGivern
Eva Tattle ...... Julia Deakin
Des Wainwright ...... Michael Smiley
Stelios Constantinopoulis ...... Chris Pavlo
Gloria Brindle ...... Helen Atkinson Wood.
Producer: Colin Anderson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2009.
WED 23:30 The Penny Dreadfuls (b00gpbcq)
The Brothers Faversham
Augustus Faversham
The story of Victorian Britain's most celebrated magician - Augustus Faversham.
The comedy sketch trio present swashbuckling tales of four brothers born into the same privileged aristocratic family - Horatius, Theseus, Leonidas and Augustus.
Written by and starring Humphrey Ker, David Reed and Thom Tuck.
Alexandra Faversham ... Ingrid Oliver
Narrator... Miles Jupp.
Producer: Julia McKenzie
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in February 2008.


THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2015

THU 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hyrpx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01gg8h6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fbfx5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 00:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0148rvv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 So Wrong It's Right (b0106v13)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 Off the Page (b0076kl4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jd9h8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b055qt0k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlqq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826ct)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:15 Drama (b00t0fzn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Flying the Flag (b007jx83)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Believe It! (b03mg87c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jdp91)
Series 1
The Seat of Evil
When a much-loved Scottish comic is killed in the street by a falling safe, it looks like an unlucky one-off accident. But then there are more celebrity killings and a pattern starts to emerge.
Is it a brand new case for Boxer and Doberman - or a continuation of the one they're on already? The plot thickens like fog on the Clyde.....
Alastair Jessiman's gritty comedy police drama stars Finlay Welsh as DI Bob Boxer, Anita Vettesse as DC Shona Doberman and James Bryce as DCI Paton.
DC Shauna Doberman is regarded as the smart one in the crime-fighting duo, whilst DI Bob Boxer is the grizzled old-school cop, who aims to reach the right conclusion.
Producer: David Jackson Young.
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Radio Scotland.
First broadcast in March 2009.
THU 06:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b05925gr)
Episode 3
The playwright endures drama with the press and new wave theatre, but enjoys his 70th birthday. Reader Simon Cadell. From May 1996.
THU 07:00 The Pickerskill Reports (b01381nf)
Series 2
Richard and Gregory Severin
Written by Andrew McGibbon.
It is the late forties and Gregory and Richard Severin, soon to head off to university, become entranced by the in-vogue teachings of Lenin, Marx, Engels and Trotsky and the Soviet experiment.
In a bid to save himself from being bored to death by their endless Spartist dogma, Pickerskill uses a detention with them to say that he is secretly one of them - a communist, and that they must remain silent until he gives them the signal to join him in the vanguard of the great British workers proletarian rebellion. Unfortunately, his false pledge of allegiance is overheard by the cook of Castlereagh House who happens to be the daughter of a murdered White Russian anti-communist.
Cast:
Dr Henry Pickerskill ....... Ian McDiarmid
Richard Severin ........Tom Kane
Gregory Severin ...... James Rowland
A.R.F. Somerset Stephenson ....... Mike Sarne
Mrs Stroove ...... Mia Soteriou
Cartwright/Dawson .......Toby Longworth
The Colonel/Pyotr Stroove ...... Andrew McGibbon
Producers: Nick Romero and Andrew McGibbon
Directed by Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains For Radio Production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 07:30 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b01mqq6h)
Series 2
Kognitia
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.
More memories as Brian relives his experiences in Kognitia where selective memory is taken to a new extreme.
Brian Gulliver ..... Neil Pearson
Rachel Gulliver ..... Mariah Gale
Kalmena ..... Debra Stephenson
Lamet ..... Duncan Wisbey
Door ..... Harry Livingstone
PA ..... Amaka Okafor
Producer: Steven Canny
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2012.
THU 08:00 Brothers in Law (b0599zby)
Series 1
Reasonable Doubt
Can rookie barrister Roger Thursby cope with his first case using a jury?
Starring Richard Briers as Roger Thursby, Richard Waring as Henry Blagrove and Ann Davies as Sally Mannering.
With guest star Peter Jones as Daniel Wright.
Adapted for radio by Richard Waring from the BBC TV scripts.
Restored from BBC Transcription Service tapes - originally edited for sale abroad.
Published in 1955, Henry Cecil's comic legal novel Brothers in Law was adapted first for TV in 1962 by Frank Muir and Denis Norden. It provided the first regular starring role for Richard Briers, who later reprised his role of the idealistic young lawyer Roger Thursby for BBC Radio between 1970 and 1972.
Produced by David Hatch.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1970.
THU 08:30 Not in Front of the Children (b059c408)
Series 1
The George Washington Complex
Can the idea of honesty gain sway in the Corner household?
Starring Wendy Craig and Francis Matthew.
The comedy mishaps of the Corner family - Jennifer and Henry and their three kids Trudi, Amanda and Robin.
Four series were first shown on BBC TV from 1967 to 1970. Richard Waring adapted his own scripts for this radio version, now fully restored from the original reel-to-reel tapes. Wendy Craig won a Best Actress BAFTA award for the TV version of Not in Front of the Children in 1969.
Jennifer Corner ...... Wendy Craig
Henry Corner ...... Francis Matthews
Mary ...... Charlotte Mitchell
Mother ...... Fanny Rowe
Father ...... Noel Howlett
Ferris ...... Alexander John
Trudi ...... Roberta Tovey
Robin ...... Hugo Keith-Johnston
Amanda: ...... Jill Riddick
Music by Ronnie Hazlehurst
Producer: Trafford Whitelock.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1969.
THU 09:00 It's Your Round (b01946wq)
Series 2
Episode 3
Another panel of comedians endeavour to beat each other at their own games, watched over by Angus Deayton.
Featured rounds:
Will Self's "What's In My Hand?"...further explanation unnecessary.
Glyes Brandreth's "It's My Party", in which panellists must all pitch their own, new political party.
Sara Pascoe's "Tax Loss Entertainment", in which panellists must improvise the worst play in history.
Arthur Smith's "How Much Would It Cost For You To?", a refinement of a game he's played before in which panellists must guess the money they'd require in order to complete various unpleasant tasks.
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.
THU 09:30 House on Fire (b01462bv)
Series 2
Death
The return of the comedy series written by Dan Hine and Chris Sussman.
Times are hard and the mortgage is overdue. Matt and Vicky believe the only logical thing to do is to fake Matt's death and claim on the insurance. Meanwhile, Colonel Bill receives an offer he absolutely cannot refuse -from The Queen.
Cast:
Vicky ..... Emma Pierson
Matt .... Jody Latham
Colonel Bill ..... Rupert Vansittart
Peter ..... Philip Jackson
Julie ..... Janine Duvitski
Hans ...... Stephen Mangan
Insurance/Driving Instructor/
Royal Attendant/Priest ..... Colin Hoult
Additional characters will be played by Colin Hoult
Producer: Clive Brill
A Pacificus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 10:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlr6)
Episode 2
Clinging to her sons, unhappy Gertrude is jealous of Paul's success and his friendship with Miriam.
Published in 1913, DH Lawrence's classic novel dramatised by Michael Butt.
Paul Morel …. Benedict Sandeford
Gertrude Morel …. Elizabeth Estenson
Walter Morel …. Clive Russell
Miriam Leivers …. Fiona Clarke
William …. Joseph Attenborough
Annie …. Andrea Nicholas
Mrs. Radford …. Kate Rutter
Director: Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
THU 11:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cv)
Alan Howard Reads
The Family Friend
By Marina Warner. Egypt 1901, some English army officers indulge in fox-hunting. Read by popular veteran actor Alan Howard.
THU 11:15 Mrs Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (b00943r6)
An Offal Discovery
When Rupert Sethleigh vanishes, amateur sleuth Mrs Lestrange Bradley probes some alarming events in the village of Wandles Parva.
Stars Mary Wimbush as Mrs Bradley, Richard Pearce as Aubrey Harringay, Christopher Scoular as James Redsey and David King as the Vicar of Wandles.
Glady's Mitchell's story of mayhem and murder dramatised by Elizabeth Proud.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991.
THU 12:00 Brothers in Law (b0599zby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Not in Front of the Children (b059c408)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jdp91)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b05925gr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hz49m)
Marcy Kahan - Lunch
Other People
by Marcy Kahan
Whilst Bella contemplates potential motherhood Bill is having parental problems of his own.
Directed by Sally Avens.
THU 14:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01ghc4h)
New Science, Old Magic
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his new object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 9. NEW SCIENCE, OLD MAGIC - Dr Dee's Mirror was actually a highly polished disk of black obsidian from Mexico but it reflects the Elizabethan fascination with the new sciences of cosmology and astrology.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
THU 14:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fcqlh)
Episode 4
As he goes to perform his pub act, things get even more complicated for the three-timing romeo. Read by Stephen Tompkinson.
THU 14:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0148wfr)
Variety and Comedians
Sir Harry Secombe remembers his early career on stage in variety - and recalls his friendship with a young Tony Hancock.
Autobiography of comedian and singer Sir Harry Secombe first published in 1982.
Abridged by Elizabeth Proud.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1983.
THU 15:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b05gtzwv)
Children's Dens, Keep It in the Family and A Monster Calls
Mel Giedroyc goes into hiding with a guide to building the perfect children's den, and David Hayman reads the next episode of A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness.
THU 17:00 No Commitments (b00t3twn)
Series 4
Two at a Time
Victoria is convinced Anna is having a secret affair, while Charlotte heads for a fall. Stars Celia Imrie. From August 1996.
THU 17:30 The Pickerskill Reports (b01381nf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 18:00 It's Your Round (b01946wq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b0076h63)
Noel Coward
4 Extra Debut. TV producer Peter Bazalgette chooses the actor, lyricist and playwright, Noel Coward. With Humphrey Carpenter. From October 2003.
THU 19:00 Brothers in Law (b0599zby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Not in Front of the Children (b059c408)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jdp91)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b05925gr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Mrs Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (b00943r6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Brian Gulliver's Travels (b01mqq6h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Newsjack (b05gv7zm)
Series 12
Episode 4
This week's stories lovingly bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches, one-liners and vox-pops by the public. Trying to make sense of it all is our host, Nish Kumar.
THU 23:00 Old Harry's Game (b00j7vtm)
Series 7
Episode 6
Satan has worked how to return baby Patrick to Earth behind God's back.
But God is all-seeing and knows what Satan is up to. And now God is pretty angry.
Stars Andy Hamilton as Satan, Annette Crosbie as Edith, Robert Duncan as Scumspawn, Jimmy Mulville as Thomas and Timothy West as God.
Other roles played by Mike Fenton Stevens, Philip Pope and Felicity Montagu.
Written by Andy Hamilton.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2009.
THU 23:30 Hut 33 (b00lxzyd)
Series 1
Food
The Bletchley Park code-breakers think of some new ways to improve wartime rations. Stars Robert Bathurst. From July 2007.


FRIDAY 20 MARCH 2015

FRI 00:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hz49m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01ghc4h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01fcqlh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 00:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b0148wfr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 It's Your Round (b01946wq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Great Lives (b0076h63)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Boxer and Doberman (b00jdp91)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Noel Coward - From His Diaries (b05925gr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlr6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:15 Mrs Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (b00943r6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 No Commitments (b00t3twn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 The Pickerskill Reports (b01381nf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Steve May - Last Man Out (b00755g9)
At the end of a night of jazz, only the drummer and the bar manager remain, packing up and picking over the ruins of their lives.
Starring Louise Lombard as Gill and Donald Sumpter as Henry.
Drums: Damian Grant
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast in BBC Radio 4's Thirty Minute Theatre in January 1998.
FRI 06:30 City Messengers (b00d028s)
Documentary following the lives of two of London's 400 cycle couriers, whose working day is spent delivering packages across the city. The job is badly paid and the risk of serious injury is relatively high, yet there is a thriving sub-culture of people who have chosen the freedom of the road above the security of the office.
FRI 07:00 Living with the Enemy (b00771zg)
Episode 6
'If you can't get even, get mad'. Gyles goes on the rampage and Sophie turns to gossip.
A night out celebrating turns to disaster for everyone...
Sitcom about a Tory MP-turned-media celebrity and a comedian-turned-holistic therapist.
Written by and starring Nick Revell and Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Brandon ...... Gyles Brandreth
Nick Reynolds ...... Nick Revell
Sophie Okuyu ...... Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Barry ...... Martin Hyder
Asif ...... Dan Mersh
Rick ...... Neil Pearson
Producer: Ed Morrish
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2006.
FRI 07:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b01mqqb1)
Series 2
Episode 2
John Finnemore, the writer and star of Cabin Pressure, regular guest on The Now Show and popper-upper in things like Miranda and Family Guy, records a second series of his hit sketch show.
The first series was described as "sparklingly clever" by The Daily Telegraph and "one of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" by The Guardian. It featured Winnie the Pooh coming to terms with his abusive relationship with honey, how The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers and how Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde decided whose turn it was to do the washing up.
Of those things, this episode includes another sketch about how the Archers sounds to people who don't listen to the Archers, as well a song about a dog and a sketch about a mathematician's agent.
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is written by and stars John Finnemore. It also features Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. Original music is by Susannah Pearse. It is produced by Ed Morrish.
FRI 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b0186wj0)
Series 3
The Blackboard Jungle
The lad is a young master in a school full of juvenile delinquents. A parody of the controversial 1955 movie of the same name.
Starring Tony Hancock.
With Bill Kerr, Sidney James, Andree Melly 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
Recovered episode first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1955.
FRI 08:30 The Men from the Ministry (b011qfrb)
The Finger of Suspicion
Bumbling bureaucrat Lamb is inconvenienced over collecting the takings from public loos.
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler. With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley and John Graham.
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 Radio 4 in September 1971.
FRI 09:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b016lbpt)
Series 4
Horne, Wheeler, De Botton
Hosted by the Professor of Ignorance from the University of Buckingham John Lloyd C.B.E. and the intensely curious comedian Dave Gorman.
This week's guests:
Alex Horne is a comedian and writer. He co-presents the anarchic BBC4 comedy panel show We Need Answers with Tim Key and Mark Watson. Alex may have started his career as a stand-up comic by winning a Christmas cracker joke writing competition. Since then, his life has been one long experiment, the biggest of which is a project to become the oldest man in the world. He is still alive to this day and climbing up the chart by a hundred places every minute. Alex is also developing his own unique form of beard and has been trying for some time to get a new word of his own invention into the Oxford English Dictionary.
Sara Wheeler is a traveller and travel writer who has been described as the new Eric Newby. Her travel books include Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica; Travels in a Thin Country; and the biography of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, a polar explorer who himself wrote a moving account of his own experience as a survivor of Scott's disastrous 1912 Antarctic expedition. Sara often speaks on behalf of the disenfranchised nomadic peoples of the arctic, such as the Chukchi, who live in the far North Eastern tip of Siberia. When not travelling, Wheeler lives with her family in London.
Alain de Botton is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a 'philosophy of everyday life' and have been bestsellers in 30 countries. Alain also started and helps to run The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain started writing at a young age. His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], was published when he was 23.Alain's next book is titled Religion for Atheists.
FRI 09:30 The Cavity Within (b00770ns)
Episode 4
Dentist Marty has high hopes for a relationship. The zoo brings out the animal in Pete.
Written by Jim Poyser.
Starring Chris O'Dowd as Marty, Jeff Rawle as Pete, Mark Straker as Tim, Christine Kavanagh as Anna, Sarah Crowe as Daisy, Mark Straker as Tim, John Rowe as Mr Holmes. Other parts played by Tracy Wiles, Bethan Walker and Emma Noakes.
Director: Peter Kavanagh
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
FRI 10:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlrk)
Episode 3
Gertrude clings to her son Paul, who now turns to a new lover even though he has not forgotten his first love.
Conclusion of DH Lawrence's classic novel dramatised by Michael Butt.
Paul Morel …. Benedict Sandeford
Gertrude Morel …. Elizabeth Estenson
Walter Morel …. Clive Russell
Miriam Leivers …. Fiona Clarke
William …. Joseph Attenborough
Annie …. Andrea Nicholas
Mrs. Radford …. Kate Rutter
Clara Dawes …. Janice Chambers
Baxter Dawes …. Peter Meakin
Director: Claire Grove
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
FRI 11:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cw)
Alan Howard Reads
The Sentence
By Nina Raine. A judge looks back on his childhood and a story that he told his children. Read by Alan Howard.
FRI 11:15 Mrs Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (b00947vh)
The Bones of the Matter
Rupert Sethleigh is missing and a headless corpse's been found jointed in the Butcher's Shop.
Rupert's cousin Jimsey is under suspicion, but Mrs Lestrange Bradley has other ideas...
Stars Mary Wimbush as Mrs Bradley, Richard Pearce as Aubrey Harringay, Christopher Scoular as James Redsey, David King as the Vicar of Wandles, Teresa Gallagher as Felicity Broome, Terence Edmond as George William Saville and Norman Bird as Superintendent Bidwell
Glady's Mitchell's story of mayhem and murder dramatised by Elizabeth Proud.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1991.
FRI 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b0186wj0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Men from the Ministry (b011qfrb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Steve May - Last Man Out (b00755g9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 City Messengers (b00d028s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 15 Minute Drama (b04hyvtm)
Marcy Kahan - Lunch
The Whole Enchilada
by Marcy Kahan
Bella has made some life changing decisions but Bill has an announcement of his own.
Directed by Sally Avens.
FRI 14:15 Shakespeare's Restless World (b01ghgk3)
Toil and Trouble
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, continues his object-based history. Taking artefacts from William Shakespeare's time, he explores how Elizabethan and Jacobean playgoers made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived.
With old certainties shifting around them, in a time of political and religious unrest and economic expansion, Neil asks what the plays would have meant to the public when they were first performed. He uses carefully selected objects to explore the great issues of the day that preoccupied the public and helped shape the works, and he considers what they can reveal about the concerns and beliefs of Shakespearean England.
Programme 10. TOIL AND TROUBLE - The differences between Scottish and English witches are revealed by a model ship, made to be hung in a church.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
FRI 14:30 Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar (b01f9wj6)
Episode 5
Billy's fantasies have all been exposed. Will he leave to start a new life in London? Concluded by Stephen Tompkinson.
FRI 14:45 Sir Harry Secombe - Goon Abroad (b01494gh)
Sports and Swansea
Goon Show star Sir Harry Secombe recalls his school days in Wales, lessons in sportsmanship, and he makes a few confessions.
Conclusion of the autobiography of comedian and singer Sir Harry Secombe.
Abridged by Elizabeth Proud.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1983.
FRI 15:00 DH Lawrence - Sons and Lovers (b007jlrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The 4 O'Clock Show (b05h3c3q)
Danny Wallace, Keep It in the Family and A Monster Calls
Author Danny Wallace discusses his debut children's novel Hamish and the Worldstoppers. Plus the next chapter of A Monster Calls, by award-winning author Patrick Ness.
FRI 17:00 Beachcomber... By the Way (b0082ckc)
Series 1
Episode 4
Lord Shortcake takes up amateur dramatics, Captain Foulenough takes us back to his unsavoury childhood, Cricket is taken too seriously, and Prodnose is escorted to the graveyard in the hope he’ll take the hint...
Richard Ingrams, John Wells, John Sessions and Patricia Routledge recreate the world of the JB Morton.
Running in the Daily Express from 1924 to 1975 – JB Morton’s surreally comic ‘Beachcomber’ column paved the way for a great deal of modern humour.
Adapted by Michael Barfield with Richard Ingrams.
Announcer: Brian Perkins
Producer: Harry Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989
FRI 17:30 Living with the Enemy (b00771zg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 18:00 The Museum of Curiosity (b016lbpt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 18:30 My Life in Five Books (b0132tgd)
Series 2
Zoe Wicomb
2/4
Zoe Wicomb was born and raised in South Africa and has lived in Scotland since 1994. She's taught in the Department of English Studies at the University of Strathclyde and now concentrates on writing.
Her latest book, You Can't get Lost in Cape Town is a collection of short stories about growing up as a young coloured woman in South Africa.
Zoe talked to Stuart about these five books:
1. The Children's Bible
2. Toni Morrison - Beloved.
3. Flannery O'Connor -A Good Man Is Hard to Find.
4. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart.
5. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse.
FRI 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b0186wj0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Men from the Ministry (b011qfrb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Steve May - Last Man Out (b00755g9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 City Messengers (b00d028s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Afternoon Reading (b00826cw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Mrs Bradley - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop (b00947vh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b01mqqb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 The League against Tedium (b007tm2l)
Episode 6
A message from the holy land! Bamboozling blur of oddball comedy and easy listening, with Simon Munnery. From February 1997.
FRI 23:30 Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing (b01ckgh4)
Series 1
About Moving Out
Nathan decides it's time to leave home. But, can he find somewhere to live and will his mother allow him to leave?
This is the story of young, up-and-coming comedian Nathan Caton, who becomes the first in his family to graduate from University - only to opt for a career in comedy - much to his family's annoyance who want him to get a 'proper job' using his architecture degree.
Each episode shows the criticism, interference and rollercoaster ride that Nathan endures from his family as he pursues his career against their wishes.
A mix of Nathan's stand-up intercut with scenes from his family life.
Written by: Nathan Caton Additional material by: Ola and Maff Brown.
Nathan ..... Nathan Caton
Grandma ..... Mona Hammond
Mum ..... Adjoa Andoh
Dad ..... Curtis Walker
Reverend Williams ..... Don Gilet
James ..... Ola
Script Editor: James Kettle
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.
FRI 23:45 Tina C (b019fyqw)
Tina C's Global Depression Tour
Iceland
Country legend Tina C challenges the Secretary for the US Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Where they have failed, she can come up with a solution to the Global Recession.
So Tina has set off on a six country tour to prove it - and her next stop is Iceland.
Tina C ...... Christopher Green
With:
Sigrun Davidsdotti
Victoria Inez Hardy
Musical arrangements by Duncan Walsh Atkins and Christopher Green
Director: Jeremy Mortimer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2012.