SATURDAY 26 MARCH 2016

SAT 00:00 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (b007k125)
7. Suspicion
*** THIS EPISODE WAS ORIGINALLY DUE TO BE BROADCAST ON BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA LAST FRIDAY, BUT WAS POSTPONED FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH **
Earth's last living man's shock discovery leaves him feeling deeply suspicious.
Richard Matheson's 1954 cult classic set in 1976 USA. One of the 20th century's most significant vampire novels, combining sci-fi and horror
Read by Angus McInnes.
Abridged by Scott Stainton Miller.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Made for BBC 7 by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in January 2006.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b008nz60)
Series 6
Finlandia
Jean Sibelius's glorious orchestral work was adopted by the Finnish people as a symbol of its fight for independence from Russia, and well over 100 years later it is still regarded as Finland's second national anthem.
Its popularity is international, both in orchestral form and also in shorter form as the Finlandia Hymn.
Featuring Sibelius's great-grandson Jaakko Ilves and conductor John Storgards.
Series about music that makes the hairs stand up on the back of our necks.
Producer: Karen Gregor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.
SAT 01:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnk5)
Deadlock
Down the Hatches
Private eye VI Warshawski's dead cousin "Boom Boom" knew too much about something - and his flat is burgled, leading to another murder...
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With William Hootkins as Bobby Mallory, Kerry Shale as Murray, James Aubrey as Martin Bledsoe, Teresa Gallagher as Paige Carrington and William Roberts as Clayton Phillips.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
SAT 01:30 Men Against The Eiger (b07525kg)
Dougal Haston tells Jack Singleton about becoming the first Briton to climb the Eiger mountain of the Bernese Alps by the direct route on 25th March 1966.
With Chris Bonnington and Ian McNaught-Davis
Producer: Alex Turnbull
First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in May 1966
SAT 02:00 HE Bates - Sugar for the Horse (b007jvmk)
Aunt Tibby
A cunning landlady proves to be as resourceful as the mischievous Uncle Silas. HE Bates's country tale read by David Neal. From September 1992.
SAT 02:15 Plants: From Roots to Riches (b04dqwyh)
The Great Providers
Prof Kathy Willis concludes her major new history series by asking how much plant biodiversity is worth, and examines new research into securing the future of our staple crops.
Understanding the distribution, diversity and potential of plants for food, lay at the heart of the 18th century botanical impresario Joseph Banks' vision to "improve Britain's estates of the world". To secure future resilience of crops in today's world there's a growing need to conserve the closest wild relatives of our staple crops.
Kathy Willis discovers, given climatic threats to some of our most substantial crops such as coffee - for which the industry currently depends on a single species, the economic value of wild relatives of today's domestic crops is considerable.
And as we hear, some important future crops are still to be found from previously overlooked plants.
With contributions from Richard Thompson, Business valuations partner at Price-Waterhouse Cooper; historian Jim Endersby; head of coffee research at Kew, Aaron Davis; Kew's head of yams Paul Wilkin.
Producer Adrian Washbourne
Music for the series was composed by Mark Russell.
SAT 02:30 Ladies of Letters (b007jwdc)
Ladies of Letters Spring Clean
Episode 5
Vera uncovers a sinister scandal, and Irene is on her way home. Stars Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b06nbzds)
Charlotte Bronte: A Life
Affairs of the Heart
Hattie Morahan reads Claire Harman's new and intimate biography of Charlotte Bronte. This vivid and complex portrait of one of our greatest novelists looks ahead to the two hundredth anniversary of her birth in April 2016. Today, Charlotte grieves for her brother Branwell and her sisters Emily and Anne who died in quick succession. Affairs of the heart are also on her mind.
Abridged by Julian Wilkinson
Produced by Elizabeth Allard.
SAT 03:00 Home Front (b06kvdtc)
4 January 1916 - Dorothea Winwood
On this day, Lord Derby published a report that over 650,000 fit single men hadn't offered themselves for service, and Dorothea Winwood is getting into the rhythm of work at the Bevan.

Written by Mike Walker
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Sound: Martha Littlehailes

SECRET SHAKESPEARE
A Shakespeare quote is hidden in each Home Front episode that is set in 1916. These were first broadcast in 2016, the 400th anniversary year of the playwright's death. Can you spot them all?
SAT 04:00 Wildbrain (b075562j)
1997 - Semi-final
Lionel Kelleway visits Mere Sands Wood in Lancashire, to test more wildlife knowledge in the BBC Natural History Unit's quiz.
SAT 04:30 No Commitments (b007jp3j)
Series 8
Wanderlust
Roger is tempted to stray, but he'd be keeping it in the family. Stars Rosemary Leach and Bill Nighy. From January 2002.
SAT 05:00 1835 (b012gpr4)
The Reluctant Aristocrat
In order to prove he's not a feckless, idle aristocrat, Belport manages to kick off the world's first rail strike - in the process proving to everyone that he's a feckless, idle aristocrat...
Comic saga of an aristocrat and his servant who struggle to find things to do in the mid- 1830s.
Belport ...... Paul Rider
Ned ...... Jason Done
Arbuthnot ...... Roy Barraclough
George ...... Simon Greenall
Charlie ...... Jonathan Keeble
Written and directed at BBC Manchester by Jim Poyser.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2004.
SAT 05:30 Wordaholics (b01s8mns)
Series 2
Episode 5
Gyles Brandreth chairs the word-obsessed comedy panel show.
Milton Jones and Robin Ince compete against Natalie Haynes and Lloyd Langford for wordy supremacy.
The Letter of the Week is 'W'. Lloyd Langford hazards a guess as to what 'Welsh cricket' is while Natalie Haynes has to work out what 'Whistling breeches' are.
In a round about Australian slang Robin Ince tries to guess the meaning of 'guttergripper' while Milton Jones takes a stab at 'shypoo'.
All the panellists come up with some brilliant new toponyms and also reveal their pet-hate words.
Writers: Jon Hunter and James Kettle.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2013.
SAT 06:00 Saturday Drama (b00f8zvc)
Marks & Gran - Von Ribbentrop's Watch
By Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
Wine shop owner Gerald desperately needs money: his business is failing and the landlord has raised the cost of the lease. When he inherits a watch that used to belong to wartime Nazi Joachim Von Ribbentrop he believes that his financial troubles are over. But it sparks conflict with his wife and brother, who question the ethics of the potential sale.
Gerald ...... Allan Corduner
Ruth ...... Harriet Walter
Lila ...... Miriam Margolyes
David ...... Nicholas Woodeson
Sasha ...... Sophie Winkleman.
SAT 07:30 Touchline Tales (b00sy3l9)
Series 1
A Thunder of Hooves, A Babble of Bookies
Old friends Des Lynam and Christopher Matthew head for some famous sporting venues - to enjoy, observe, reminisce and trade tales about some of the greatest pleasures in their lives. Today, they lay some bets at a mid-week meet at Goodwood Races, bump into Bob Champion and see if they can discern a potential winner by just looking at it.
As a commentator and friend of sporting stars, Des has, as ever, a fund of stories to tell, and insights to reveal. But Christopher gamely tries to match him stride by stride with his own experiences as a lifelong spectator at the highest levels of sport (and, like Des, an occasional participant at the lowest). And who comes out on top is revealed when they tot up their winnings at the end of the day.
Producer: Paul Kobrak.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01jhpfq)
Bards of the Back Straight
4 Extra Debut. Poet Paul Farley explores how the language of poetry and sports commentary compare. With Sir Peter O'Sullevan. From June 2012.
SAT 09:00 Ross Noble's Newcastle (b0755pvx)
From the bistro bar of Newcastle's Tyne Theatre, where he performed his very first hometown gig – Ross Noble explores Geordie comedy past and present.
Featuring a candid interview with Sarah Millican, an exploration of happiness with Jason Cook and a trip back in time to the humour of old with Percy Douglas and Bobby Thompson.
Self-deprecating, quick witted and warm, there's much to be said for Geordie humour that sets it apart from the comedy in the rest of the British Isles. Newcastle is a city of almost pathological friendliness - no-one takes themselves too seriously and everyone is as quick to poke fun at themselves as at others. Whether you put it down to the cheeriness of the accent or the egalitarian mentality of your average Novocastrian, there's no denying Geordies want people to enjoy themselves as much as they do, and that true homespun North Eastern humour has its tongue placed firmly in its cheek.
Multi-award winning Cramlington born stand up comic Ross Noble is one of British comedy's biggest household names – a TV and radio regular, with numerous sell-out stage shows.
The carefully selected archive includes:
* Ross Noble On....
* Jason Cook, Gavin Webster and Kai Humphries, MacAulay & Co at the Edinburgh Fringe
* The Geordie Game
* Knitted Trunks, Woman's Hour
* Sarah Millican, Funny Friends
* Ant and Dec, Desert Island Discs
* Jason Cook and Chris Ramsey, Jason Cook's Happiness HQ
* Fireside Tales
* Percy Douglas, Wot Cheor Geordie
* Bobby Thompson, Turns of the Century
* Jesting About
Producer: Anna Miles
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by BBC Radio Scotland
SAT 12:00 Trapped (b0076grw)
All Downhill from Here
A group of friends are landed in a situation they're desperate to get out of - on the slopes of a ski resort.
Six black comedies by Mark Maier and Daniel Maier.
Nadine - Olivia Colman
Clare - Joanna Holden
Craig - Mark Maier
Paul - Chris Pavlo
Enzo - Daniel Maier
Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2003.
SAT 12:30 The Brothers (b00pcn0m)
Series 3
Mix Tape
Despite a new office, Nigel and Michael still struggle with life. Stars Raymond Coulthard and Adam Godley. From February 2007.
SAT 13:00 Detective Anna Caceres - Hollywood Endings (Omnibus) (b0755s0z)
Episode 1
Kathleen Turner stars as Detective Anna Caceres of the LAPD.
When Transaviation Flight 179 from Boston crashes into the Sierra Nevada on its approach to to LAX, killing everyone on board, it seems at first like a simple but tragic case of human error.
But when Caceres discovers that Curtis Wexler (Nathan Osborn), a limo driver who was due to meet a wealthy businessman from the flight, is now dating this businessman's widow, she gets the feeling there may be more to this disaster than first appears.
Hollywood Endings starts with the seemingly straightforward, if tragic, loss of the incoming plane. But as Caceres gradually unpicks a complex web of anger, lust and revenge, the story takes us to some dark and wholly unexpected places.
A Big Fish Production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2016.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0755t89)
Ben Elton
Writer and comic Ben Elton chooses 'Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind'? sung by Marlene Dietrich and 'We are the Champions' by Queen.
SAT 14:15 Great Men of Music (b07561ql)
Craig Warner's drama about Eddie, who cannot speak, but expresses his feelings by drawing musical scores. Stars Phil Davis.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01jhpfq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Saturday Drama (b00f8zvc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Touchline Tales (b00sy3l9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 The Twilight Zone (b07564gn)
Series 3
The Howling Man
When a young American goes on a walking tour between the two World Wars, he inadvertently creates chaos.
Stars Christian Stolte. With David Darlow, Doug James and Ana Sferuzza.
Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Adapted by Dennis Etchison and written by Charles Beaumont.

Originally a cult sci-fi and horror TV series created by Rod Serling and broadcast in the USA on CBS from 1959 to 1964, The Twilight Zone was first adapted by American producer Carl Amari in 2002 as a 40-minute radio drama series.
Rod Serling had managed to electrify the new medium of television - so armed with a licence from CBS and the Serling estate, Amari's slick adaptions are based on the original TV scripts.
Actor Stacy Keach (best known here as TV detective Mike Hammer) takes Serling's original role as narrator - with a full cast, music and sound effects.
Directed and produced by Carl Amari and Roger Wolski for Falcon Picture Group.
SAT 18:40 James Follett - The Pentworth Trilogy (b007jrgl)
Temple of the Winds
Episode 4
Recent strange events lead Sergeant Mike Malone to investigate the leader of a local religious cult. Read by Nigel Anthony.
SAT 19:00 Ross Noble's Newcastle (b0755pvx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Vivian Stanshall's Radio Flashes (b04dm1bx)
Episode 3
Music and comedy courtesy of Britain's greatest eccentric. With advice from fitness guru Gregory Pectorals.
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band singer Vivian Stanshall took to the airwaves of BBC Radio 1 on Saturday 28 August 1971.
Over two hours, relive Vivian's mix of zany comedy and music - including his take on Dick Barton's radio serial "Breath from the Pit". Featuring drummer Keith Moon from The Who.
Vivian has previously featured on 4 Extra - thanks to his solo comedy 'Sir Henry at Rawlinson End', which originated as sessions for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 in the mid-1970s.
With Chris Bowler. Produced by John Walters.


SUNDAY 27 MARCH 2016

SUN 00:00 The Twilight Zone (b07564gn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:40 James Follett - The Pentworth Trilogy (b007jrgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:40 on Saturday]
SUN 02:00 Detective Anna Caceres - Hollywood Endings (Omnibus) (b0755s0z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 03:10 Inheritance Tracks (b0755t89)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 03:15 Great Men of Music (b07561ql)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Saturday Drama (b00f8zvc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Touchline Tales (b00sy3l9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Ladies of Letters (b00k1864)
Ladies Of Letters Spring Clean (Omnibus)
Spring cleaning unearths a confusing contraption, while the heart attack of a mutual suitor brings deep-seated rivalries to the fore for the proud grandmothers.
Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge return as bickering Irene Spencer and Vera Small, and this time they're full of springtime recipes and tips for a long and healthy life.
Written by Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman.
With:
Rachel Atkins
Christopher Kelham
Ann Beach
Producer: Liz Webb
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2013.
SUN 07:15 Roger Law and the Chinese Curiosities (b01kbjx5)
Series 1
Episode 2
In the second in his series on Chinese museums, Roger Law continues his journey through Shanghai. He finds that capitalism seems to be celebrated in some ways in the bank museum, whilst a tobacco museum doesn't allow its visitors to smoke on the premises. He finally ends up in an 'ancient sex museum', filled with the most unusual curiosities.
SUN 07:30 Mr Blue Sky (b01h5xcs)
Series 2
You're Leaving
Harvey Easter (played by Mark Benton), 46, is the eternal optimist. He is able to see the good in every situation, the silver lining within every cloud, the bright side to every bit of bad news.
This, however, is his downfall. Someone for whom the glass is always half-full can be difficult to live with, as his wife of 19 years, Jacqui (played by Claire Skinner), knows all too well. Even as life deals Harvey and the Easter family a series of sadistic blows, Harvey looks on the positive side. It's pathological with him. The way Jax sees it, instead of dealing with the problems of their marriage and their teenage kids, Harvey's optimism is actually his way of avoiding engagement with the big issues.
Mr Blue Sky is about one man battling to remain positive in moments of crisis, and one woman battling to live with someone who has his head in the clouds.
This week, Harvey's racist mum, Lou, moves in while she grieves for her plumber boyfriend and drives Jax out of the house, but will she give her blessing to Charlie and Kill-R's wedding when they fix a date?
Cast:
Harvey Easter ..... Mark Benton
Jacqui Easter ..... Claire Skinner
Charlie Easter ..... Rosamund Hanson
Robbie Easter ..... Tyger Drew Honey
Kill-R ..... Javone Prince
Lou Easter ..... Sorcha Cusack
Rakesh Rathi ..... Navin Chowdhry
Sean Calhoun ..... Michael Legge
Written by Andrew Collins
Title Music Arrangement by Jim Bob
Producer/Director: Anna Madley
Editor: Rich Evans
An Avalon Production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 08:00 ITMA - It's That Man Again (b07569bb)
From 04/11/1943
Tommy Handley and the gang are asked to take over a local public school.
ITMA proved to be one of the BBC's most popular radio comedies ever produced. It was first transmitted just before the start of the Second World War in 1939 and ran to 1949. Domestic audiences topped 20 million, and the audience worldwide was said to number 30 million. It starred Liverpudlian comic Tommy Handley, who with Ted Kavanagh created the series named after the phrase newspapers often used to describe Hitler: It's That Man Again!
The original setting on a ship was deemed inappropriate once war broke out, and was replaced with the Office Of Twerps, with Tommy as Minister of Aggravation and Mysteries. Other settings followed - a seaside resort, and a war factory which by 1943, for this run of episodes, had been turned into a hotel.
Featuring a host of supporting characters including Dorothy Summers as Mrs Mopp and Jack Train as Colonel Humphrey Chinstrap.
Producer: Francis Worsley
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in 1943.
SUN 08:30 Doctor in the House (b007jsxl)
Digs
Student medic Simon Sparrow gets saddled with vampish landlady, Mrs Robinson.
The misadventures of student doctor Simon Sparrow - adapted for radio by Ray Cooney from Richard Gordon's novel 'Doctor in the House' published in 1952.
Starring Richard Briers as Simon Sparrow, Geoffrey Sumner as Sir Lancelot Spratt, Ray Cooney as Tony Benskin, Edward Cast as Taffy Evans, Norma Ronald as Vera and Ann Murray as Mrs Robinson.
Producer: David Hatch
Recorded at the BBC Paris studio in London.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1968.
SUN 09:00 But You Did Not Come Back: Omnibus (b07569bk)
Deported with her father to Auschwitz-Birkenau, only Marceline Loridan-Ivens survived the Holocaust. Read by Sara Kestelman.
SUN 10:10 Inheritance Tracks (b04prn2x)
Rebecca Front
The Thick of It actress shares her love of 'They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus' and why she will pass on Bach's concerto.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs: Longplay (b0756c1q)
Comedy Writers - Marks and Gran
4 Extra's extended edition as Kirsty Young chats to island castaways, comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. From September 2015.
SUN 11:15 The Moth Radio Hour (b0756cp2)
Series 2
Sewing, Singing, Suits, and Cemeteries
True stories told live in the USA: Catherine Burns introduces tales about running away from home and the power of singing.
The Moth is an acclaimed not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling based in the USA. Since 1997, it has celebrated both the raconteur and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. Originally formed by the writer George Dawes Green as an intimate gathering of friends on a porch in Georgia (where moths would flutter in through a hole in the screen), and then recreated in a New York City living room, The Moth quickly grew to produce immensely popular events at theatres and clubs around New York City and later around the USA, the UK and other parts of the world.
The Moth has presented more than 15,000 stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth podcast is downloaded over 27 million times a year.
Featuring true stories told live on stage without scripts, from the humorous to the heart-breaking.
The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange.
SUN 12:00 ITMA - It's That Man Again (b07569bb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 Doctor in the House (b007jsxl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Ladies of Letters (b00k1864)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 Roger Law and the Chinese Curiosities (b01kbjx5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Hot Milk: Omnibus (b0756d5d)
Episode 1
Sophia, a young anthropologist, sets out to discover if her mother's illness is real or imagined. Read by Indira Varma.
SUN 15:45 Gillian Tindall - A Necessary Price (b0756g95)
Having lived in France for ages, Eleanor hardly feels English any more - then she confronts an old secret. Read by Anna Massey.
SUN 16:00 Don Haworth - Challenged (b0075s00)
Set in a remote part of the Pennines, a widowed mother and her son battle to come to terms with the passage of time when hired worker, Tom arrives.
Son Harry, who has learning difficulties, is described by his school as 'challenged'.
With Tom's encouragement he finds new confidence, but this creates fresh conflict for the trio.
Atmospheric drama by Don Haworth.
Anne ...... Brigit Forsyth
Tom ...... Paul Copley
Harry ...... Matthew Booth
Producer: Pauline Harris
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2000.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b0756glz)
Walking With Whitman
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive.
'Walking With Whitman' features the father of American Literature who blew away the cobwebs of dusty imitation.
The Lancashire Moors are the unlikely setting for a celebration of the acclaimed poet, Walt Whitman. Every year Whitman's devotees gather for the annual Whitman Walk, to recite his works and share from the loving cup. Stuart Maconie joins this happy band of walkers and Whitmanites to discover why the American, who never visited this northern mill town, is still celebrated around Bolton some 120 years later.
Producer: Russell Crewe
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2009.
SUN 17:30 Mr Blue Sky (b01h5xcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 EM Forster - The Machine Stops (b048jcvg)
A world in which people can only communicate through a machine sounds like the internet today. But this story, written in 1909, takes us to a future where the machine has become an all-powerful God.
EM Forster's story dramatised by Gregory Norminton.
Stars Gemma Jones as Vashi, John McAndrew as Kuno and Jillie Meers as the Computer.
Director: Jane Morgan
Producer: Marilyn Imrie
Made for BBC Radio 4 by Catherine Bailey Productions.
First broadcast in 2001.
SUN 18:45 Edgar Allan Poe (b00grsvq)
The Tell-Tale Heart
The perfect murder, planned and executed with unerring precision. Unless a rhythmic beating gives it away.
Edgar Allan Poe's short-story read by Brian Gear.
Producer: Pamela Howe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1987.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b0756cp2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
SUN 19:50 But You Did Not Come Back: Omnibus (b07569bk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:00 Desert Island Discs: Longplay (b0756c1q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Mr Blue Sky (b01h5xcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Jelly Mountain (b00ftk74)
Episode 5
Musings on a footkerchief and a forest full of girls. Songs and stories from Ivor Cutler, with Beverley Crew. From May 1996.
SUN 22:45 The In Crowd (b008qs9f)
Series 2
Episode 6
Holidays, tattoos and cultural hooligans with a twist.
Sketch show from Manchester's Comedy Store.
With Robin Ince, Helen Moon, Smug Roberts and Kate Ward.
Producer: Graham Frost
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b076pxm8)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to Pierre Novellie.
SUN 23:00 I Think I've Got a Problem (b00cc4qg)
Series 2
Episode 1
In an attempt to rid him of the band that lives in his head, Tom’s been sent to a special centre for the entertainingly afflicted. The treatment's going well - until the band can't take any more and make Tom burst into song.
Reunited once more, Tom and the band decide they've missed each other and hatch an escape plan...
Andrew McGibbon and Nick Romero's everyday story about a man who can't stop himself from breaking into song.
Suggs ..... Tom Caine
Bob Monkhouse ..... Dr Boone
Phil Cornwell ..... Bouche
Andrew McGibbon ..... Jake
Nick Romero ..... Monty DeVere
Bill Nighy ..... Malc
Julia Deakin ..... Phelia
Toby Longworth ..... Clammy
Tracy-Ann Oberman
Songs: Andrew McGibbon. Nick Romero and Suggs
Producers: Andrew McGibbon and Dawn Ellis.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2003.
SUN 23:30 Giles Wemmbley Hogg Goes Off (b00fnfnq)
Series 1
China
The naive gap year student lands in Beijing for his Duke of Edinburgh Award challenge. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From July 2002.


MONDAY 28 MARCH 2016

MON 00:00 EM Forster - The Machine Stops (b048jcvg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:45 Edgar Allan Poe (b00grsvq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Ladies of Letters (b00k1864)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Roger Law and the Chinese Curiosities (b01kbjx5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Hot Milk: Omnibus (b0756d5d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Gillian Tindall - A Necessary Price (b0756g95)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Don Haworth - Challenged (b0075s00)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b0756glz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Mr Blue Sky (b01h5xcs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnkn)
Deadlock
Bedtime Stories
Somebody wants private eye VI Warshawski dead and tampers with her car.
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With Eleanor Bron as Lottie, William Hootkins as Bobby Mallory, Kerry Shale as Murray, James Aubrey as Martin Bledsoe, Peter Marinker as Nils Greyfalk, and Teresa Gallagher as Paige Carrington.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
MON 06:30 Britain's Black Revolutionary (b00t4q0j)
There are still few black leaders in British political life - but life-long trade unionist Bill Morris finds that as far back as the London of 1848 the son of slave was leading one of this country’s most powerful political movements.
Few of us have heard of William Cuffay, a physically deformed tailor who lived in Soho. And yet, he was notorious in his day, to the extent that the political class of the 1840s dubbed him "the pore old blackymore rogue" as he went on to lead a political movement so powerful that Britain cowered behind its shuttered windows and the massed ranks of its armies.
Just as the thrones of Europe were yet again tumbling to revolution, the 1848 Chartist uprising in favour of democracy and equality in London threatened the status quo in Britain. History records that an articulate democrat, William Cuffay, emerged as a key organiser of the mass demonstration that faced the Duke of Wellington's army in the demand for the vote. Revolution threatened the capital - but who was the diminutive tailor holding such sway?
Lord Morris follows a predecessor in the labour movement through his fascinating story - from son of a St Kitts slave to political leader, and ultimately into exile at Her Majesty's pleasure in Tasmania.
Producer: Philip Sellars
First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2010.
MON 07:00 Trapped (b0076gw4)
Stand-Up Tragedy
Backstage at a comedy club, four comedians are about to discover that life on the circuit isn't always a laugh a minute. In fact we could be heading for a Stand Up Tragedy...
Six black comedies by Mark Maier and Daniel Maier.
Bill .... Philip Jackson
Lynn .... Lynne Ferguson
Rob .... Chris Pavlo
Andy .... Mark Maier
Pietr .... Daniel Maier
Froggy .... Ralph Ineson
Producer: Alex Walsh-Taylor
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2003.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b0741n3y)
Series 74
Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons asks Gyles Brandreth, Esther Rantzen, Paul Merton & Tim Rice to speak on the topic of his choosing, without deviation, repetition or hesitation for Just a Minute.
This week's topics include: Bubble & Squeak, A Leap Year and A Mission to Mars.
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd.
MON 08:00 Dad's Army (b007jrdx)
Series 3
The Captain's Car
When a French general pays a visit to Walmington-on-Sea, there's a mighty motoring mix-up for the Home Guard platoon.
The comic exploits of a Second World War Home Guard platoon.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Captain Mainwaring …. Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson …. John Le Mesurier
Corporal Jones …. Clive Dunn
Private Frazer …. John Laurie
Private Godfrey …. Arnold Ridley
Private Pike …. Ian Lavender
Warden Hodges …. Bill Pertwee
Private Walker …. Larry Martyn
Lady Maltby …. Betty Marsden
Colonel Masters …. Garrard Green
Announcer/Newsreader …. John Snagge
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1976.
MON 08:30 Listen to Les (b01n21nt)
From 10/02/1985
Lugubrious Les Dawson tells us of thin Albert, and Cosmo Smallpiece discusses modern teenagers.
With Daphne Oxenford, Eli Woods and Colin Edwynn.
Music by Brian Fitzgerald.
Scripted and produced by James Casey.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 1985.
MON 09:00 Quote... Unquote (b01lhbgn)
Another edition of the 48th series of Quote... Unquote, the popular quotations programme presented and devised by Nigel Rees. The guests this week are author Louise Doughty, writer and broadcaster Natalie Haynes, newsreader Nicholas Owen and columnist Hugo Rifkind. The reader is Peter Jefferson.
Producer: Ed Morrish.
MON 09:30 King Street Junior (b007jmlv)
Series 6
A Good Read
The staff heatedly debate what makes a good read, with Mr Beeston as a reluctant mediator. Stars Karl Howman. From June 1991.
MON 10:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06kvm16)
11-15 January 1916
In the week when the Welsh and Scottish Trades Unions voted to oppose conscription, there's pressure at the Bevan to return more wounded men to duty.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
MON 11:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b0759mjt)
The Superstitious Man's Story
Longpuddle villagers discover how strange omens surround the death of ex-resident, William Privett. (1891) Read by Richard Mitchley.
These tales from Thomas Hardy published between 1877 and 1929, possess all the power of his novels: the wealth of description, the realistic portrayal of the age old lore of Wessex, the 'Chaucerian' humour and the shrewd insights into human nature. They tenderly re-create, what was even then, a rapidly vanishing rural world and yet the narratives remain timeless in their embrace of both the farcical and the tragic aspects of daily life.
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Lizzie Davies
Made for BBC Radio Extra by Waters Company Productions.
MON 11:15 Bookclub (b0075h53)
John le Carré
James Naughtie and readers from Cornwall talk to author John le Carré about his Cold War spy trilogy Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People - following the battles of spymasters Smiley and Karla.
In a specially extended edition of the programme, John talks about the provenance of his characters and the influence of his own background on his writing.
Producer: Jeanette Thomas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
MON 12:00 Dad's Army (b007jrdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Listen to Les (b01n21nt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Britain's Black Revolutionary (b00t4q0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdcrk)
John le Carré - A Delicate Truth
A Rock and a Hard Place
If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can they remain silent? Damian Lewis begins reading A Delicate Truth, the brand new novel from the master of his genre, John le Carré, a novel which tells the story of a good man who must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.
An undercover counter-operation in the British colony of Gibraltar, a middle-ranking man from the Foreign Office serving as 'eyes on' and reporting to an ambitious Minister; the aim to capture a jihadist arms-buyer, the success, assured.
But back in the UK a junior officer has his doubts and commits an unthinkable act. Three years on, he will find himself facing an impossible choice. In a journey that will take him from Cornwall to Wales via murky secrets in the depths of Whitehall, Toby Bell will try to find out the truth about the night on the Rock and bring it the attention and justice it deserves.
Tonight: Between a Rock and A Hard Place - the counter-operation swings in to action.
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Damian Lewis is a British actor best known for his role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. His many credits include Band of Brothers, Life and The Forsyte Saga.
The reader is Damian Lewis
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
MON 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yn6xm)
Gossips and Goodfellows
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting:
Dr Thomas Dixon presents a major 15-part history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
In the 16th century, friendships were generally limited to an overlapping network of family members and neighbours, who lived and worked in close proximity, and shared their lives at home, in church, at the well, the bake-house and the tavern.
Today, our friendships often extend across the globe, and our Social Networks can extend to thousands.
Thomas Dixon launches this series by talking with the anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, whose influential research explores the number of people with whom each individual is cognitively capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship.
The newly named "Dunbar's Number" is around 140, and Thomas maps this figure onto the historical picture of village life. He speaks with historians Bernard Capp and Naomi Tadmor about close-knit, real-life friendships in the 16th and 17th centuries. He learns how a group of female "Gossips" supported their friend Mary Freeman when her husband accused her of giving him the pox; and about two young "Goodfellows"in 1617, who got so drunk that they pissed into a chamber pot and shared the contents.
This is the beginning of an absorbing story in which both the similarities and the differences between friendship past and present emerge.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
Presenter: historian Dr Thomas Dixon is the Director of the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
MON 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vdgq0)
The Skool Days of Nigel Molesworth
Hail St Custards
Everyone's favourite anarchic skoolboy, Nigel Molesworth gives a guided tour of the complete and utter shambles that is St Custards, the finest educational establishment this side of Dotheboys Hall.
Imelda Staunton stars as Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custards, in this fresh adaptation of the notorious Goriller of 3B's guide to skool life for tiny pupils and their parents.
Aided by best friend Peason and thwarted by everyone from Grabber the skool bully to Wandsworth the skool dog, Nigel Molesworth teaches us the ins and outs of skool life - including how to avoid lessens and how to build your own H-bomb.
Molesworth ...... Imelda Staunton
Peason ...... Sophie Thompson
Grabber ...... Jack Farthing
Prudence ...... Jessica Brown Findlay
Headmaster ...... Patrick Barlow
Radio Announcer ...... Lewis Macleod
Adapted by Patrick Barlow and George Poles from the books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, with additional material by Abigail Wilson.
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014. .
MON 14:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r0b35)
Episode 1
Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks's isn't. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.
It's a life lived according to the demands of the seasons: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the fells.
Through his eyes, we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.
James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter (using his moniker: @herdyshepherd1) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.
Read by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Produced by Kirsteen Cameron
Music details:
Track: "The Nightshift"
CD: Country Escape
Label: BBC Production Music BBCPM031.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
MON 15:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06kvm16)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Quote... Unquote (b01lhbgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 King Street Junior (b007jmlv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Trapped (b0076gw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Just a Minute (b0741n3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (b007k14x)
8. Regret
Worried that Ruth has the vampire plague, last man on Earth Robert Neville regrets being so candid.
Richard Matheson's 1954 cult classic set in 1976 USA. One of the 20th century's most significant vampire novels, combining sci-fi and horror
Read by Angus McInnes.
Abridged by Scott Stainton Miller.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Made for BBC 7 by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in January 2006.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076406)
Barry Norman & Ben Pimlott
Matthew Parris and his guests, film critic Barry Norman and historian Ben Pimlott, discuss favourite books by George Orwell, Donna Leon and George Eliot. From 2001.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
Publisher: Penguin
Friends in High Places by Donna Leon
Publisher: Arrow
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Publisher: Penguin.
MON 19:00 Dad's Army (b007jrdx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Listen to Les (b01n21nt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Britain's Black Revolutionary (b00t4q0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b0759mjt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Bookclub (b0075h53)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b0741n3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 I've Never Seen Star Wars (b01pp5vg)
Series 5
Dave Gorman
Marcus Brigstocke invites comic Dave Gorman to try new experiences, including horse-riding and a strip club. From January 2013.
MON 23:00 The Now Show (b07466lj)
Series 48
Episode 4
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are joined by Ellie Taylor, Jon Holmes and Mitch Benn to present the week in news through stand-up and sketches.
This week the gang take a look at the fallout from Iain Duncan Smith's surprise resignation, Ellie Taylor explains why Millennials are so anxious, Jon lets his appreciations for the Great British public be known in no uncertain terms and Punt and Dennis discuss the lack of sound opposition in the House of Commons with the Assistant Editor for The Spectator Isabel Hardman.
MON 23:30 Elvenquest (b016vn8f)
Series 3
Episode 4
As they continue their search for the Sword of Asnagar, the noble Questers find themselves coming to the rescue of King Baldwin the Jovial whose mead hall is being terrorised by a terrible creature called "The Grundle".
But when Amis, the Chosen One, starts to question whether he is actually all that special after all, the Questers hatch a plan to kill the beast and restore Amis' self-worth.
Meanwhile, time is running out for Lord Darkness. Kreech tells he must find a girlfriend to keep him young, or he'll find his incorporeal essence once more slowly shrivelling and turning to dust. So Darkness starts off on the dating game. Trouble is, it's been a bit of time since he last met a girl, let alone chatted one up...
Fantasy-based sitcom set in Lower Earth written by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto.
Vidar ...... Darren Boyd
Dean/Kreech ...... Kevin Eldon
Amis, aka The Chosen One ...... Dave Lamb
Sam ...... Stephen Mangan
Lord Darkness ...... Alistair McGowan
King Baldwin The Jovial ...... Daniel Rigby
Penthiselea ...... Sophie Winkleman
Producer: Sam Michell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2011.


TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016

TUE 00:00 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (b007k14x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076406)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnkn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 Britain's Black Revolutionary (b00t4q0j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdcrk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yn6xm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vdgq0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r0b35)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06kvm16)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Quote... Unquote (b01lhbgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 King Street Junior (b007jmlv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Trapped (b0076gw4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Just a Minute (b0741n3y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnl3)
Deadlock
Deadlock
VI Warshawski flies to Canada to continue her investigation on the giant freighter the Lucella Weisser. But she's in for a shock when they sail through the Great Lakes Lock.
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With Eleanor Bron as Lottie, William Dufris as Captain Bemis and Keith Drinkel as Mike Sheridan.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
TUE 06:30 M Is for Maxwell Knight (b00h30nq)
Writer and historian Christopher Lee tells the story of the popular 1950s radio and television naturalist Maxwell Knight, who led a secret existence as an MI5 spy runner. He discovers what it was about this quietly spoken and gentle man that made him such a successful spymaster and inspired Ian Fleming to use him as a model for the character of M in his James Bond novels.
TUE 07:00 55 and Over (b01p3hnx)
4. Old v Young
Hearts are more fragile than previously thought when disaster strikes and old lovers are forced to confront their new younger replacements around a hospital bed.
Juliet Stevenson and Philip Jackson star in Peter Souter's romantic comedy about love, sex and other foolhardy mistakes made by the modern 50-pluser.
Jane ..... Juliet Stevenson
Ray ..... Philip Jackson
Tony ..... Patrick Brennan
Heather ..... Liza Sadovy
Honey ..... Stephanie Racine
Sam ..... Adam Nagaitis
Portia ..... Sarah Thom
Director: Helen Perry.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2012.
TUE 07:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
Series 10
My Kinda Town
Clare gets involved with a devious TV producer who's making a documentary about the Sparrowhawk estate.
Brian has gone on a fitness kick and joined a men's group, which is threatened by the arrival of a new member.
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.
Clare continually struggles 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.
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden.
Clare ...... Sally Phillips
Brian ...... Alex Lowe
Alan ...... Richard Lumsden
Carl ...... Richard Lumsden
Simon ...... Andrew Wincott
Libby ...... Sarah Kendall
Lou ...... Lizzie Roper
Caspar ...... Karl Theobald
Malcolm ...... Anil Goutam
Producer: Alexandra Smith.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.
TUE 08:00 Round the Horne (b007zkzy)
Series 4
Episode 7
Kenneth Horne hits The Celluloid Jungle and waltzes off for some strictly Bona Ballroom tuition from Julian and Sandy.
With Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden.
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.
Written by Barry Took, Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Donald Webster.
Music by the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in April 1968.
TUE 08:30 The Men from the Ministry (b013qzgl)
Safe and Unsound
The bungling bureaucrats spark fears of a top level security leak...
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Richard Murdoch and Deryck Guyler.
With Norma Ronald, Ronald Baddiley, John Graham, Patricia Hayes and John Cole.
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 April 1973.
TUE 09:00 The Now Show (b07466lj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01blzkq)
The Music Festival
Will reluctantly accompanies wife Annabelle to a music festival. She brings her annoying friend Heather along.
Will Smith's sitcom about a couple in marriage counselling,
Counsellor Guy must mediate another dispute between Will and Annabelle, with flashbacks to the events that spawned the argument, and by the end, the couple find marital equilibrium once more. Sort of.
Will Smith ..... Will Smith
Annabelle Smith ..... Sarah Hadland
Guy ..... Paterson Joseph
Heather ..... Morwenna Banks
Various ..... Simon Bubb
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2012.
TUE 10:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l37tj)
18-22 January 1916
In the week of the first concerted attempt to break the Siege of Kut, Folkestone's characters are all looking for release.
Written by Sarah Daniels
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
TUE 11:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075fmsz)
The Winters and The Palmleys
The aged groceress remembers a lonely old lady from the village, "dead these five-and-twenty year at least" who had good reason to be so aloof from her neighbours. (1891) Read by Richard Mitchley.
These tales from Thomas Hardy published between 1877 and 1929, possess all the power of his novels: the wealth of description, the realistic portrayal of the age old lore of Wessex, the 'Chaucerian' humour and the shrewd insights into human nature. They tenderly re-create, what was even then, a rapidly vanishing rural world and yet the narratives remain timeless in their embrace of both the farcical and the tragic aspects of daily life.
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Lizzie Davies
Made for BBC Radio Extra by Waters Company Productions.
TUE 11:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0480grn)
Have You Heard the Music Man
Ex-trombonist George can't remember his son's name. But put on some music, and it's remarkable what he can recall of his days on the road - and what intimate detail.
First of three plays about memory by David Napthine.
Stars Windsor Davies as George, Carol McGuigan as Heather and Jack McBride as Stan.
Director: Jonquil Panting
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1989.
TUE 12:00 Round the Horne (b007zkzy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men from the Ministry (b013qzgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 M Is for Maxwell Knight (b00h30nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdm1c)
John le Carré - A Delicate Truth
Suspicions and Unease
If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can they remain silent? Damian Lewis begins reading A Delicate Truth, the brand new novel from the master of his genre, John le Carré, a novel which tells the story of a good man who must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.
An undercover counter-operation in the British colony of Gibraltar; a middle-ranking man from the Foreign Office serving as 'eyes on' and reporting to an ambitious Minister; the aim to capture a jihadist arms-buyer - the success, assured.
But back in the UK a junior officer has his doubts and commits an unthinkable act. Three years on, he will find himself facing an impossible choice. In a journey that will take him from Cornwall to Wales via murky secrets in the depths of Whitehall, Toby Bell will try to find out the truth about the night on the Rock and bring it the attention and justice it deserves.
Tonight: Suspicions and Unease - the more Toby sees of his new Minister, the less he understands.
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Damian Lewis is a British actor best known for his role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. His many credits include Band of Brothers, Life and The Forsyte Saga.
The reader is Damian Lewis
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
TUE 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yns3j)
A Marriage of Minds
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Having launched the series by exploring the close-knit but instrumental friendships which most people experienced in the 16th and 17th centuries, Dr Thomas Dixon turns to the elite ideal of friendship as expressed in classical writers such as Aristotle and Cicero, and as lived out by Renaissance men such Thomas More and Erasmus.
He looks into the continuing influence of these emotional "friendships of choice". Today we take such friendships for granted but in the seventeenth century they were available only to those who had the time, money and education to pursue them.
It was commonly believed that only men had the capacity for such friendships but Thomas Dixon reveals how women too were beginning to spread their social wings. He tells the story of the Welshwoman Katherine Philips, a published poet and the wife of a wealthy landowner, who argued that since the soul has no gender, then friendship - a mingling of souls - was equally available to both men and women.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
TUE 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vdy14)
The Skool Days of Nigel Molesworth
A Tour of the Cages
Molesworth and his friend Peason explain the different types of masters and how best to deal with them.
Imelda Staunton stars as Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custards, in this fresh adaptation of the notorious Goriller of 3B's guide to skool life for tiny pupils and their parents.
Aided by best friend Peason and thwarted by everyone from Grabber the skool bully to Wandsworth the skool dog, Nigel Molesworth teaches us the ins and outs of skool life - including how to avoid lessens and how to build your own H-bomb.
Molesworth ...... Imelda Staunton
Peason ...... Sophie Thompson
Grabber ...... Jack Farthing
Prudence ...... Jessica Brown Findlay
Mr Metcalf-Walker ...... Lewis Macleod

Adapted by Patrick Barlow and George Poles from the books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, with additional material by Abigail Wilson.
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
TUE 14:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3tcz)
Episode 2
After his grandfather's death, James Rebanks's family face a difficult financial decision about the farm.
James Rebanks is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.
An increasingly marginalised and precarious livelihood - it costs £1 to sheer a sheep, yet each fleece is worth only 40p - Rebanks' anger at the way small farmers are treated, and his passion for continuing his ancestors way of life, is palpable. Through his eyes, we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.
James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter @herdyshepherd1 where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.
Read by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
TUE 15:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l37tj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Foul Play (b00jtm1q)
Series 3
Oh Yes She Is Dead!
Crime writers Susan Moody and Simon Shaw probe a Charming murder at the pantomime. Oh yes they do!
Simon Brett hosts the murder quiz.
Suspects played by Maria McErlane and Lee Simpson.
Producer Liz Anstree
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1998.
TUE 16:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01blzkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
TUE 17:00 55 and Over (b01p3hnx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (b007k167)
9. Attack
With the new society on the attack, Robert Neville refuses to leave his house.
Richard Matheson's 1954 cult classic set in 1976 USA. One of the 20th century's most significant vampire novels, combining sci-fi and horror
Concluded by Angus McInnes.
Abridged by Scott Stainton Miller.
Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Made for BBC 7 by BBC Scotland and first broadcast in January 2006.
TUE 18:30 The Palace of Laughter (b007k29d)
Series 2
Sunderland Empire
Geoffrey Wheeler profiles the premier variety venue in the North-East of England where artists as varied as Vesta Tilley, Harry Lauder, Ken Dodd and Helen Shapiro have entertained generations of theatre-goers.
The Sunderland Empire is also the theatre where the Carry On comedy actor Sid James collapsed and died. Theatre staff who were there on the night share their memories of the sad event.
Featuring archive performances from many of the stars who have appeared on the Empire's stage.
Series visiting variety theatres around the United Kingdom.
Producer: Libby Cross
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2003.
TUE 19:00 Round the Horne (b007zkzy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men from the Ministry (b013qzgl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 M Is for Maxwell Knight (b00h30nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075fmsz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0480grn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Bleak Expectations (b00vrxwt)
Series 4
A Tolerable Life De-Happified
Our hero Pip sees his former nemesis - the badly named Gently Benevolent - thwarted and locked up in a prison within a jail within a gaol spelled the other way, and apparently repentant of his crimes. But late one foggy night when Pip is attacked with a bowl of sinister custard he realises a new form of evil is stalking the streets of London, and he is obliged to ask for help from his erstwhile foe. Can Benevolent now be trusted? And who is the sinister evil figure?
Meanwhile, Pip's wife Ripely has become obsessed with cutlery, and the purchase of some diamond-handled dodo knives looks likely to force Pip into bankruptcy. And his best friend Harry Biscuit claims to be having terrible problems with an angry badger, but is it all as it seems?
Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy in the style of Charles Dickens.
Sir Philip ..... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ..... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ..... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ..... James Bachman
Grimpunch ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ..... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ..... Susy Kane
Producer: Gareth Edwards
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
TUE 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b076pxv8)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tiff Stevenson chats to Pro Resting.
TUE 23:00 Father Figure (b01bl4fb)
Series 1
People Carrying
Tom Whyte and his family are on their way to a wedding. It's all going well until they hit a traffic jam. Before long traffic laws are being broken, the rescue services are on their way and there are a few surprises awaiting them in a lay-by...
A family sitcom written by and starring Irish comedian Jason Byrne.
CAST:
Tom Whyte .... Jason Byrne
Elaine Whyte .... Lucy Montgomery
Dylan Whyte .... Dominic Applewhite
Mary Whyte .... Pauline McLynn
Pat Whyte .... Dermot Crowley
Roddy .... Michael Smiley
Producer: Julia McKenzie.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in February 2012.
TUE 23:30 Radio 9 (b04dykmz)
Series 2
Episode 1
Urban fox hunting, reckless parenting and faking surgery for real. Stars Johnny Daukes and Hils Barker. From June 2005.


WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH 2016

WED 00:00 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (b007k167)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 The Palace of Laughter (b007k29d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnl3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 M Is for Maxwell Knight (b00h30nq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdm1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yns3j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vdy14)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3tcz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l37tj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Foul Play (b00jtm1q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Mr and Mrs Smith (b01blzkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 55 and Over (b01p3hnx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Clare in the Community (b0612n9l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnm6)
Deadlock
Pavane for a Dead Hockey Player
Everyone wants private eye VI Warshawski off the case, but the next body isn't hers. In fact, she thought he was the villain.
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With James Aubrey as Martin Bledsoe, William Hootkins as Bobby Mallory, Kerry Shale as Murray and Bill Nighy as Roger Ferrant.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
WED 06:30 The Green Children of Woolpit (b00slvqh)
Sometime in the 12th-century two children appeared from a pit on the edge of a field in the Suffolk village of Woolpit.
They were coloured green and spoke a unknown language. They sickened until they were allowed to eat green beans. The boy died but the girl revived and grew up learning English, marrying a man from Kings Lynn, and speaking of the place she and her brother had come from.
Susannah Clapp and Richard Mabey investigate the story and its remarkable enduring appeal to villagers, visitors and a succession of folklorists and writers.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
WED 07:00 The Brothers (b00pm1nv)
Series 3
Gothic
Nigel is haunted, while Michael thinks he is Bruce Willis. Stars Raymond Coulthard and Adam Godley. From February 2007.
WED 07:30 Chain Reaction (b0742mqd)
Series 11
Sandi Toksvig interviews Roy Hudd
Series 11 of the show where one week's interviewee becomes the next week's interviewer. The first episode of Chain Reaction was broadcast on BBC Radio Five in 1991 when John Cleese was the first comedian in the hot seat. Now, 25 years on, a new series sees another raft of the world's best-loved comedians talking to each other about their lives and work. This week, the writer, broadcaster and erstwhile News Quiz host Sandi Toksvig turns interviewer as she chats to comedy icon, Roy Hudd.
Sandi Toksvig is a prolific writer and broadcaster who chaired the News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 for nine years and over 220 episodes. In 2015 she was a founder member of the Women's Equality Party and, later that year was announced as the new host of the long-running BBC television series, QI.
Roy Hudd has clocked up more than 50 years in showbusiness, starting out as a Butlins redcoat in the 1950s and then developing a stellar career through numerous successes on stage, radio and screen. BBC Radio listeners know him best as the host of the much loved News Huddlines on Radio 2 for 26 years. More recently, Roy gained plaudits for his moving portrayal of Bud Flanagan in the BBC drama 'We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story'.
In this the year of his 80th birthday, Roy tells Sandi about his beginnings in showbusiness, reveals how Arthur Askey gave him a leg up in the early days and shares his favourite pantomime story courtesy of Tom O'Connor.
Producer: Richard Morris
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b01kbz4q)
Series 6
Chasing the Kepeac
Sister ships HMS Troutbridge and HMS Makepeace are sent on a wild ghost chase into the fog.

Stars Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Richard Caldicote as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Mrs Povey, Ronnie Barker as Commander Stanton, Tenniel Evans as the Admiral and Michael Bates as Commander Bracewell.

Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.

Scripted by Lawrie Wyman

Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.

First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1963.
WED 08:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b013n0q0)
Series 8
Episode 8
With the rise of the Common Market in mind, Radio Prune goes International.
Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Sketches written by Graeme Garden 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 Bill Oddie, Liam Cohen and Dave Lee.
Producer: David Hatch/Peter Titheradge
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in April 1970.
WED 09:00 It's Not What You Know (b037tnxt)
Series 2
Episode 5
What is Masterchef finalist Kirsty Wark's signature dish? What is Andrew Maxwell's best character trait? What is Francis Wheen's greatest fear?
All these questions, and more, will be answered in the show hosted by Miles Jupp, where panellists are tested on how well they know their nearest and dearest.
Producer: Sam Michell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2013.
WED 09:30 The Fall of the Mausoleum Club (b007jqjk)
The Charge of the Boys' Brigade
Miss Primrose is ordered to travel to South Africa and murder General Cheeseman. With Alison Steadman. From September 1988.
WED 10:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3js2)
25-29 January 1916
In the week when President Woodrow Wilson declared "The world is on fire, and sparks are likely to drop anywhere", pressures begin to tell at the Bevan hospital too.
Written by Claudine Toutoungi
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
WED 11:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075g3n9)
Netty Sargent's Story
Mr Day, the painter, recalls the unusual circumstances by which Netty Sargent came to own her house. (1891) Read by Richard Mitchley.
These tales from Thomas Hardy published between 1877 and 1929, possess all the power of his novels: the wealth of description, the realistic portrayal of the age old lore of Wessex, the 'Chaucerian' humour and the shrewd insights into human nature. They tenderly re-create, what was even then, a rapidly vanishing rural world and yet the narratives remain timeless in their embrace of both the farcical and the tragic aspects of daily life.
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Lizzie Davies
Made for BBC Radio Extra by Waters Company Productions.
WED 11:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0482y65)
Eraser
After a head injury, Terri keeps notes to help her memory, but her notebooks begin to contradict each other. With Jo-Anne Horan.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b01kbz4q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b013n0q0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The Green Children of Woolpit (b00slvqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdmy9)
John le Carré - A Delicate Truth
Breaking Every Rule
If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can they remain silent? Damian Lewis begins reading A Delicate Truth, the brand new novel from the master of his genre, John le Carré, a novel which tells the story of a good man who must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.
An undercover counter-operation in the British colony of Gibraltar; a middle-ranking man from the Foreign Office serving as 'eyes on' and reporting to an ambitious Minister; the aim to capture a jihadist arms-buyer - the success, assured.
But back in the UK a junior officer has his doubts and commits an unthinkable act. Three years on, he will find himself facing an impossible choice. In a journey that will take him from Cornwall to Wales via murky secrets in the depths of Whitehall, Toby Bell will try to find out the truth about the night on the Rock and bring it the attention and justice it deserves.
Tonight: Breaking Every Rule - Toby takes an irrevocable step.
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Damian Lewis is a British actor best known for his role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. His many credits include Band of Brothers, Life and The Forsyte Saga.
The reader is Damian Lewis
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
WED 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03ynvdb)
Love Your Enemies
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
At a time when Christianity taught a gospel of universal love, including loving your enemy, individuals might still find themselves drawn to particular friendships. The Bible itself contained such contradictions, as the 17th century Anglican poet George Herbert put it: "David had his Jonathan, Christ his John." These apparent contradictions were the cause of real anxiety amongst devout Christians.
The role of individual friendships became even more apparent after the Reformation, when personal friendships began to assume the confessional role once held by priests.
Thomas Dixon takes up the story during the Civil War, and considers this tension within particular religious communities such as the Quakers.
He talks with the historian Naomi Tadmor and also hears from Anglican-turned-Quaker, Terry Waite, who movingly recalls the meaning of friendship and of learning to love himself as a friend, during years of solitary confinement after being taken hostage in 1987.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
WED 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vf6z5)
The Skool Days of Nigel Molesworth
Lessens and How to Avoyd Them
Molesworth's efforts to explain the best way to bunk off class are thwarted by the fact all the masters seem to have disappeared.
Can he and Peason find the missing teachers in time to avoyd their lessens?
Imelda Staunton stars as Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custards, in this fresh adaptation of the notorious Goriller of 3B's guide to skool life for tiny pupils and their parents.
Aided by best friend Peason and thwarted by everyone from Grabber the skool bully to Wandsworth the skool dog, Nigel Molesworth teaches us the ins and outs of skool life - including how to avoid lessens and how to build your own H-bomb.
Molesworth ...... Imelda Staunton
Peason ...... Sophie Thompson
Grabber ...... Jack Farthing
Prudence ...... Jessica Brown Findlay
Headmaster ...... Patrick Barlow
Latin Master ...... Lewis Macleod
Adapted by Patrick Barlow and George Poles from the books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, with additional material by Abigail Wilson.
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
WED 14:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3xc3)
Episode 3
Clashing with his father, James Rebanks gains a place at Oxford University, but misses the farming life.
James Rebanks is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.
Small scale farming is an increasingly precarious livelihood, it's almost impossible to earn enough money to bring up a family, you need a secondary income. And so, as disagreements with his father intensified, James, aged twenty-one, decided to return to education, resulting in a place at Oxford. All the time he was away, he longed to be back home, working on the fells.
James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter ( as the @herdyshepherd1 ) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.
Read by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
WED 15:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3js2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 It's Not What You Know (b037tnxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 The Fall of the Mausoleum Club (b007jqjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 The Brothers (b00pm1nv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 Chain Reaction (b0742mqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Paul Magrs - Never the Bride (b0092n8g)
The Night Owls
Assembled monster turned B&B landlady, Brenda investigates a mysterious Whitby radio host. Stars Joanna Tope and Monica Gibb.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b00771k5)
Letting the Cat Out of the Bag
4 Extra Debut. Dominic Arkwright, Fran Abrams, Camilla Wright and Simon Evans discuss the role of journalism in revealing secrets. From December 2006.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b01kbz4q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b013n0q0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The Green Children of Woolpit (b00slvqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075g3n9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0482y65)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 Chain Reaction (b0742mqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Seekers (b03ctfp8)
Series 1
That Bloke Keeps Looking at Us
There's a bloke sitting at the other end of the Job Centre waiting room. Joe, Terry and Stuart try and work out who he is.
He starts giving the three lads, evil looks. Joe becomes adamant that he is a hitman sent by the Food Standards Agency. Terry thinks it might be a bloke from Benefits fraud. Whoever he is they're determined not to be intimidated and return the evil looks.
Steven Burge’s comedy about the staff and the clients who frequent a Job Centre in the Essex town of Rayleigh.
Starring Matthew Horne and Daniel Mays.
Stuart ...... Mathew Horne
Joe ...... Daniel Mays
Terry ...... Tony Way
Mr Rocastle ...... Tony Way
Nicola ...... Zahra Ahmadi
Gary Probert ...... Steve Oram
Bill Parfitt ...... David Seddon
George Dorset ...... Alex Lowe
Mandy Dorset ...... Bharti Patel
Mr Boland ...... Michael Bertenshaw
Producer: Katie Tyrrell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2013.
WED 23:00 The Masterson Inheritance (b007jspx)
Series 1
The Mastersons and Johnson
The French Revolution is in full swing and the fate of the Masterson family is inextricably linked with that of a tumble dryer.
An improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself - based entirely on audience suggestions.
Starring Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Caroline Quentin, Jim Sweeney and Phelim McDermott.
Producer: Phil Clarke
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1993.
WED 23:30 And Now in Colour (b007jscz)
Series 2
Stately Home
The team take the audience on a posh day out. Starring Tim de Jongh, William Vandyck and Tim Firth. From January 1991.


THURSDAY 31 MARCH 2016

THU 00:00 Paul Magrs - Never the Bride (b0092n8g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b00771k5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The Green Children of Woolpit (b00slvqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdmy9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03ynvdb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vf6z5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3xc3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3js2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 It's Not What You Know (b037tnxt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 The Fall of the Mausoleum Club (b007jqjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 The Brothers (b00pm1nv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 Chain Reaction (b0742mqd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnmq)
Deadlock
The Long Goodbye
Clayton Phillips's body could only have got into the hold of the Gertrude Rutton one way. VI uses the same vehicle to confront the villain and ends up swimming for her life.
Sara Paretsky's thriller stars Kathleen Turner as VI Warshawski. With Bill Nighy as Roger Ferrant, Peter Marinker as Nils Greyfalk and Kerry Shale as Murray.
Eleanor Bron as Lottie, William Hootkins as Bobby Mallory, James Aubrey as Martin Bledsoe, Peter Marinker as Nils Greyfalk, Teresa Gallagher as Paige Carrington and William Roberts as Clayton Phillips.
Sara Paretsky has created one of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime-fiction. Her heroine, VI Warshawski, is a strong female character in a male-dominated world. VI is comfortable packing heat and trailing nasty suspects but she never loses touch with her basic femininity. Paretsky says of her Warshawski: "I was troubled by the way women were portrayed in (detective fiction) they always seemed either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likeable female private investigator".
Kathleen Turner also starred in the same role in the 1991 film 'VI Warshawski'.
Dramatised by Michelene Wandor.
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1993.
THU 06:30 Gurinder - the Indian Sequel (b00s1n43)
We're off to Goa with British film director Gurinder Chadha, who's a special guest at India's biggest and most colourful film festival, in Goa.
Her movies - Bend It Like Beckham, Bride And Prejudice, Bhaji on the Beach - are big hits in India. For millions of Indians, her portrayal of life for British Asians is the most realistic view they've had of their diasporic counterparts in the UK. Not only have her films changed our notion of what 'British' means by putting the Asian community firmly in the mainstream consciousness, but the way that Indian audiences respond to her films also tells us something about the changing relationship between India and the UK, and the Indian diaspora who live here.
As a twice migrant herself, she brings elements of Indian, Kenyan, and British themes to her work - a fusion of cinematic methods and subject matter.
In the glamorous setting of the flamboyant Goan film festival, we'll discover how huge Gurinder is there, and talk to Indian cinemagoers, directors, actors, and movie buffs about the larger than life director, her films, and how, whilst they're clad in their designer labels in a country that's a new world power, they see the British Asian community as endearingly old fashioned.
Producer: Lucy Greenwell.
A Just Radio production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
THU 07:00 All the Young Dudes (b007ncd1)
Series 1
Homeward Bound
Moving back where he grew up, Patrick meets school mate Billy. Jim Sweeney's comedy-drama with Steve Steen. From July 2001.
THU 07:30 Hal (b04pr6sy)
Series 1
Death
Hal Cruttenden stars as a 40-something husband and father who, years ago, decided to give up his job and become a stay at home father. His wife, Sam, has a successful business career which makes her travel more and more. His children, Lilly and Molly, are growing up fast, and his role as their father and mentor is diminishing by the day.
Written by Hal Cruttenden and Dominic Holland.
With Dominic Holland, Ed Byrne, Anna Crilly, Gavin Webster, Dominic Frisby and Samuel Caseley.
In this episode, Hal faces a horrifying thought - he might have testicular cancer. So he tries to look mortality in the face - not easy for an overly sensitive and emotional man. He tries to bond with his entrepreneurial stepson Jack, but a visit to a football match doesn't work out as Hal planned.
An unlikely form of salvation arrives when it's suggested that Hal takes part in a charity run. Things take an unexpected turn and Hal actually surprises himself - but not in the way he planned.
Producer: Paul Russell
An Open Mike production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2014.
THU 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
Series 6
Porn Yesterday
Harold's aghast when he discovers exactly 'What the Butler Saw'!
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold.
Written for TV and adapted for radio by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Albert ...... Wilfrid Brambell
Harold ...... Harry H Corbett
Mabel ...... Norma Ronald
Vicar ...... Anthony Sharpe
Following the conclusion of their hugely successful association with Tony Hancock, writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson wrote 10 pilots for the BBC TV's Comedy Playhouse in 1962. The Offer was set in a house with a yard full of junk, featuring the lives of rag and bone men Albert Steptoe and his son Harold and it was the spark for a run of eight series for TV.
Producer: Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in March 1976.
THU 08:30 Radio Active (b008s3jb)
Series 4
The Martin Brown Show
A big break for "Mr Hospital Radio" himself, as Martin Brown gets his very own show on Radio Active.
Radio Active is the one and only local national radio station.
Starring:
Helen Atkinson-Wood
Angus Deayton
Geoffrey Perkins
Philip Pope
Michael Fenton-Stevens
Music by Philip Pope and Steve Brown.
Written by Angus Deayton and Geoffrey Perkins. With Jon Canter.
Producer: Jamie Rix
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1984.
THU 09:00 Booked (b0075llz)
Series 3
Episode 2
Ian McMillan's irreverent literary game with Mark Thomas, Roger McGough, Dillie Keane and Miles Kington.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1997.
THU 09:30 Beachcomber... By the Way (b008qs53)
Series 3
Episode 3
A woman struggles to take off her shoe – and the perils of drinking different types of alcohol.
Richard Ingrams John Wells, John Sessions, Joan Sims amd Patricia Routledge recreate the world of JB Morton.
With Brian Bowles, Simon Greenall, Henrietta Gooden and featuring June Whitfield.
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 – thanks to characters he created between the wars.
Adapted by Michael Barfield with Richard Ingrams.
Announcer: Brian Perkins.
Producer: Harry Thompson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1994.
THU 10:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3lgf)
1-5 February 1916
In the week when Britain suffered the worst zeppelin raid thus far in the war, all of Folkestone is jumpy.
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
THU 11:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075p19n)
Old Mrs Chundle
Kindly soul Mrs Chundle, a little deaf, who sought help from the new curate to hear his weekly sermon. (1929) Read by Richard Mitchley.
These tales from Thomas Hardy published between 1877 and 1929, possess all the power of his novels: the wealth of description, the realistic portrayal of the age old lore of Wessex, the 'Chaucerian' humour and the shrewd insights into human nature. They tenderly re-create, what was even then, a rapidly vanishing rural world and yet the narratives remain timeless in their embrace of both the farcical and the tragic aspects of daily life.
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Lizzie Davies
Made for BBC Radio Extra by Waters Company Productions.
THU 11:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0483q5w)
May All Your Wishes Come True
Eddie is found wandering Newcastle with no idea of his past. What should he do until his memory returns? Stars Derek Walmsley.
THU 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Radio Active (b008s3jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 Gurinder - the Indian Sequel (b00s1n43)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdrrp)
John le Carré - A Delicate Truth
Hard Evidence
If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can they remain silent? Damian Lewis begins reading A Delicate Truth, the brand new novel from the master of his genre, John le Carré, a novel which tells the story of a good man who must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.
An undercover counter-operation in the British colony of Gibraltar; a middle-ranking man from the Foreign Office serving as 'eyes on' and reporting to an ambitious Minister; the aim to capture a jihadist arms-buyer - the success, assured.
But back in the UK a junior officer has his doubts and commits an unthinkable act. Three years on, he will find himself facing an impossible choice. In a journey that will take him from Cornwall to Wales via murky secrets in the depths of Whitehall, Toby Bell will try to find out the truth about the night on the Rock and bring it the attention and justice it deserves.
Tonight: Hard Evidence - his worst suspicions confirmed, who can Toby trust now?
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Damian Lewis is a British actor best known for his role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. His many credits include Band of Brothers, Life and The Forsyte Saga.
The reader is Damian Lewis
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
THU 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqj3f)
Webs of Loyalty
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
Renaissance thinkers insisted that friendships were purely about emotional ties, but, in reality, friendships are often formed for more instrumental reasons - to give practical support in times of need. "That's what friends are for", observes one speaker in the opening montage of this episode.
Thomas Dixon takes up his story to explore the impact of expanding commerce and politics on friendship in the 18th century.
He learns about the friendship of the midwife and money-lender, Elizabeth Hatchett, with the pawn-broker, Elizabeth Carter, who lived and worked together in London in the early 18th century. And he looks into the circles of friendship of a Sussex shopkeeper, Thomas Turner, during the 1761 General Election, as an example of friendship within political life. Historians Alex Shepard and Naomi Tadmor share their research and vivid examples of such complex webs of loyalty.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
THU 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vfczr)
The Skool Days of Nigel Molesworth
Wizz for Atomms
Tired of masters skipping lessens to visit the new under-matron, Prudence, the Headmaster has banned everyone in school from visiting the infirmary.
But Grabber, the skool bully, has fallen for her and orders Molesworth to help him out.
Imelda Staunton stars as Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custards, in this fresh adaptation of the notorious Goriller of 3B's guide to skool life for tiny pupils and their parents.
Aided by best friend Peason and thwarted by everyone from Grabber the skool bully to Wandsworth the skool dog, Nigel Molesworth teaches us the ins and outs of skool life - including how to avoid lessens and how to build your own H-bomb.
Molesworth ...... Imelda Staunton
Peason ...... Sophie Thompson
Grabber ...... Jack Farthing
Headmaster ...... Patrick Barlow
Radio Announcer ...... Lewis Macleod

Adapted by Patrick Barlow and George Poles from the books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, with additional material by Abigail Wilson.
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
THU 14:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3zjm)
Episode 4
James Rebanks recalls the dark days of 2001, facing the horror of foot-and-mouth disease.
James is the first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations.
In this episode, he remembers the dark days of 2001, when farmers faced the horror of Foot and Mouth disease. From the loss came something unexpected: a neighbour's kindness led him to breed pure Herdwick sheep.
James Rebanks has a huge following on Twitter (he's the @herdyshepherd1 ) where you can see photographs detailing day to day life on the farm - including his fine flock of Herdwick sheep and, the latest additions to the workforce, sheepdog Floss's ten puppies.
Read by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
THU 15:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3lgf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 Booked (b0075llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Beachcomber... By the Way (b008qs53)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 All the Young Dudes (b007ncd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Hal (b04pr6sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Paul Magrs - Never the Bride (b00941pb)
The Vintage Costumed Hero Ball
Monstrous B&B landlady Brenda gets a murderous surprise at a superheroes convention. Stars Joanna Tope and John Paul Hurley.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b0077058)
Series 10
Nina Simone
Joanna MacGregor chooses the singer, pianist and activist. With Matthew Parris and expert analysis from Mark Coles. From September 2006.
THU 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b007jp1c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Radio Active (b008s3jb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 Gurinder - the Indian Sequel (b00s1n43)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075p19n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 David Napthine - Unforgettable (b0483q5w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Hal (b04pr6sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 The Headset Set (b0124pxs)
Series 1
Episode 2
A new phone system is causing chaos in the call centre at Smile5, the mail order catalogue company.
Eavesdrop on both sides of the bizarre, horrific and ludicrous phone calls when customers call in as events unfold with company staff.
Aleesha and other characters ..... Chizzy Akudolu
Bernie and other characters ..... Margaret-Cabourn Smith
Big Tony, Ralph and other characters ..... Colin Hoult
Sailesh, Bradley and other characters ..... Paul Sharma
Writers: James Kettle, Stephen Carlin, Andy Wolton, Colin Hoult, Madeleine Brettingham, Dale Shaw, Kevin Core, Rob Gilroy, Tom Neenan and Jon Hunter.
Script editors: James Kettle and Dan Tetsell
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
THU 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b076pxzd)
The best in contemporary comedy. Tiff Stevenson chats to Pro Resting.
THU 23:00 Old Harry's Game (b007jmbj)
Series 3
A Four Letter Word
A new arrival in Hell persuades Satan to re-shoot 'Casablanca' - with a mutant alien.
Andy Hamilton’s devilishly funny sitcom set in Hell.
Satan …. Andy Hamilton
The Professor …. James Grout
Thomas …. Jimmy Mulville
Scumspawn …. Robert Duncan
Other characters played by Felicity Montagu, Philip Pope, Nick Revel and Michael Fenton Stevens.
Producer Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1999.
THU 23:30 Sir Ralph Stanza's Letter from Salford (b00767qj)
Series 1
The Verse Was Yet to Come
The new poet-in-residence heads to the north-west to gain inspiration from the locals. Stars James Quinn. From May 2002.
THU 23:45 Steven Appleby's Normal Life (b00slshn)
Series 2
Normal Reality
Cartoonist Steven Appleby is only mildly surprised to be identified as the Earth's supreme being by alien civilisations throughout the universe.
But where does reality end and fantasy begin?
Paul McCrink stars as Steven Appleby with what he laughably describes as "insights into normal, everyday life".
With:
Rosalind Paul
Ewan Bailey
Nigel Betts
Rachel Atkins
Written by Steven Appleby
Producer: Toby Swift
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2003


FRIDAY 01 APRIL 2016

FRI 00:00 Paul Magrs - Never the Bride (b00941pb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b0077058)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 VI Warshawski (b007jnmq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 Gurinder - the Indian Sequel (b00s1n43)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdrrp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqj3f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vfczr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r3zjm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l3lgf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 Booked (b0075llz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Beachcomber... By the Way (b008qs53)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 All the Young Dudes (b007ncd1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Hal (b04pr6sy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost Special (b01c8cbn)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story of the mysterious disappearance of a train en route from Liverpool. Read by David Schofield.
FRI 06:30 M1: The Modernist Marvel (b00nk9hz)
Poet and musician John Hegley shares his reflections on Britain's first major motorway which opened in 1959, with a poetic meditation.
With his mandolin in tow, John slows down, turns off and seeks out the overlooked sights and sounds of the M1 - the 200-mile stretch of road that's the transport backbone of Britain.
John learns why there is no Junction 3, discovers how a scientific formula for loo breaks determined how far apart service stations should be built, and admires the road for the glimpse on the modern world it offers us.
Producer: Simon Jacobs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
FRI 07:00 1835 (b012mbjv)
Down at the Old Bull and Bush
Belport falls in love with renowned music-hall artiste Emilia La Rue. But can he prise her away from Svyatislav the strong man? Probably not.
Comic saga of an aristocrat and his servant who struggle to find things to do in the mid- 1830s.
Belport ...... Paul Rider
Ned ...... Jason Done
Danvers ...... Roy Barraclough
The Great Fettuccine ...... Simon Greenall
Emelia ...... Sue Cleaver
Written and directed at BBC Manchester by Jim Poyser.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2004.
FRI 07:30 Wordaholics (b01sdmd2)
Series 2
Episode 6
Gyles Brandreth presides over the comedy panel game where, this week, Susie Dent and Lloyd Langford compete against Dave Gorman and Natalie Haynes to find out which team is the most passionate and knowledgeable about words.
This week Susie Dent reveals two of her favourite now-defunct words from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary are 'pandiculation' (to stretch while yawning) and 'snirtle' (to laugh in a quiet and restrained manner); Dave Gorman comes up with a new cliche to replace 'Curiosity Killed the Cat'; Natalie Haynes tells us what the Cockney rhyming slang 'a Basil' refers to and Lloyd Langford is asked the meaning of 'dumpoke' from the 1903 dictionary, 'Hobson Jobson - A Glossary of Anglo Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases' (a book which Susie Dent claims is 'a very good read').
Writers: Jon Hunter and James Kettle
Producer: Claire Jones.
FRI 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jxpn)
Series 6
The Impersonator
When he hears his sound-alike in a TV commercial, the lad heads straight to court.
Starring Tony Hancock. With Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Peter Goodwright, Ann Lancaster, Jerry Stovin, Jack Watson, Ronald Wilson and Wilfrid Babbage.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music written by Wally Stott.
Producer: Tom Ronald
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in December 1959.
FRI 08:30 The Goon Show (b008wf71)
Series 7
The Nadger Plague
Neddie Seagoon turns to witchcraft in a bid to thwart Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty
Groundbreaking, surreal BBC radio comedy written by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens.
Starring:
Peter Sellers
Harry Secombe
Spike Milligan
First billed as Crazy People, ten series of The Goon Show were recorded between 1951 and 1960, but sadly many of the earliest shows weren’t kept in the archive.
With the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray.
Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott.
Announcer: Wallace Greenslade
Producer: Peter Eton
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in October 1956.
FRI 09:00 Wildbrain (b075pp7l)
1997 - Semi-final
Lionel Kelleway visits Bristol, to test more wildlife knowledge in the BBC Natural History Unit's quiz.
FRI 09:30 No Commitments (b007jp3z)
Series 8
Impossibly High Standards
Victoria grows more irritating, as Anna gets a surprise proposition. Simon Brett comedy starring Celia Imrie. From January 2002.
FRI 10:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l4n8z)
8-12 February 1916
In the week that conscription came into effect, there are secrets and celebrations in Folkestone. Final Omnibus of the season, Home Front returns on 4th April 2016
Adeline Lumley ..... Helen Schlesinger
Albert Wilson ..... Jamie Foreman
Anna White ..... Amelia Lowdell
Charles Chaplin ..... Owen Clarke
Cristine ..... Ysabelle Cooper
Dolly Clout ..... Elaine Claxton
Dorothea Winwood ..... Rachel Shelley
Dr Streatfield ..... Chris Pavlo
Elsie Buss ..... Tracey Wiles
Eric Morton ..... Paul Rainbow
Florrie Wilson ..... Claire Rushbrook
Gabriel Graham ..... Michael Bertenshaw
Hilary Pearce ..... Craige Els
Isabel Graham ..... Keely Beresford
Ivor Davies ..... Alun Raglan
Ivy Layton ..... Lizzy Watts
Jessie Moore ..... Lucy Hutchinson
Johnnie Marshall ..... Paul Ready
Kitty Lumley ..... Ami Metcalf
Laurie Pearce ..... Will Howard
Lilian Frost ..... Alex Tregear
Maisie Harris ..... Cassie Layton
Nancy Parker ..... Jane Whittenshaw
Norman Harris ..... Sean Baker
Roland Pemble ..... Jack Holden
Ruby Tulliver ..... Martine McCutcheon
Ruth Billings ..... Katie Redford
Sylvia Graham ..... Joanna David
Victor Lumley ..... Joel MacCormack
Winifred Dinsdale ..... Alice Lowe
Clerk ..... Richard Pepple
Written by Shaun McKenna
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
FRI 11:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075pq6s)
The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing
An ambush on Christmas Eve does not end well for the perpetrators. (1877) Read by Richard Mitchley.
These tales from Thomas Hardy published between 1877 and 1929, possess all the power of his novels: the wealth of description, the realistic portrayal of the age old lore of Wessex, the 'Chaucerian' humour and the shrewd insights into human nature. They tenderly re-create, what was even then, a rapidly vanishing rural world and yet the narratives remain timeless in their embrace of both the farcical and the tragic aspects of daily life.
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Lizzie Davies
Made for BBC Radio Extra by Waters Company Productions.
FRI 11:15 Drama (b011plrz)
Gerda Stevenson - The Apple Tree
Family drama set on a Scottish island, starring Juliet Stevenson.
Maria is an Englishwoman who has fallen in love with her husband Iain's Highland heritage - but there's a shock in store for them when they take a trip home to his mother's island croft.
It is Hogmanay. Iain, an artist, and the son of a crofter, has just received news of his mother's death. He and Maria set off from Edinburgh to attend the funeral. They drive north in blizzard conditions. Eventually they reach Iain's mother's house, where brother James, sister-in-law Ishbel, and the church elders are gathered. In the aftermath of this family crisis Maria's love affair with the island way of life will be severely tested.
Maria..............Juliet Stevenson
Iain.................Iain MacRae
James.............David Walker
Ishbel..............Carina MacLeod
Minister..........Angus Peter Campbell
Producer/director: Bruce Young
Gerda Stevenson is a Scottish actress, writer and director. She is married to the Gaelic poet, Aonghas MacNeacail.
FRI 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jxpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Goon Show (b008wf71)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost Special (b01c8cbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 M1: The Modernist Marvel (b00nk9hz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b01sdw31)
John le Carré - A Delicate Truth
A Ghost from the Past
If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can they remain silent? Damian Lewis begins reading A Delicate Truth, the brand new novel from the master of his genre, John le Carré, a novel which tells the story of a good man who must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.
An undercover counter-operation in the British colony of Gibraltar; a middle-ranking man from the Foreign Office serving as 'eyes on' and reporting to an ambitious Minister; the aim to capture a jihadist arms-buyer - the success, assured.
But back in the UK a junior officer has his doubts and commits an unthinkable act. Three years on, he will find himself facing an impossible choice. In a journey that will take him from Cornwall to Wales via murky secrets in the depths of Whitehall, Toby Bell will try to find out the truth about the night on the Rock and bring it the attention and justice it deserves.
Tonight: A Ghost from the Past - Sir Christopher Probyn's idyllic retirement is about to be shattered.
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Damian Lewis is a British actor best known for his role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. His many credits include Band of Brothers, Life and The Forsyte Saga.
The reader is Damian Lewis
The abridger is Sally Marmion
The producer is Di Speirs.
FRI 14:15 Five Hundred Years of Friendship (b03yqyz9)
When William Met Mary
Social networking appears to be expanding our circles of friendship just as our sense of community is contracting: Dr Thomas Dixon presents a timely history of how the meaning and experience of friendship have changed over the centuries.
The famous 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally, crystallised for modern viewers the key question of whether a man and woman can truly be friends without any sexual element.
This was a question which radical and educated people were beginning to ask in the 18th century, alongside its mirror image - can a husband and wife also be friends?
Thomas Dixon traces the changing face of friendship and the new idea of "companionate marriage" during this era, through the linked histories of the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the radical philosopher William Godwin.
With the help of the historian Barbara Taylor, he considers three moving stories: Mary's early friendship with Fanny Blood, of whom she declared: "To live with this friend is the height of my ambition"; the halting start, close friendship and devoted but tragically short marriage of Wollstonecraft with Godwin, who described their relationship as "friendship melting into love"; and the marriage of their daughter, Mary, who wrote of her desolation after the death by drowning of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley: "I have now no friend."
Thomas Dixon brings together issues of friendship and marriage in this most contemporary of historical series.
Producer: Beaty Rubens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.
FRI 14:30 15 Minute Drama (b04vjh7t)
The Skool Days of Nigel Molesworth
Fun with Scrumms
As the school term comes to an end, Molesworth must find a way to survive the perils of the playing field and the wrath of skool bully Grabber if he’s to have any hope of tucking into some Christmas turkey.
Imelda Staunton stars as Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custards, in this fresh adaptation of the notorious Goriller of 3B's guide to skool life for tiny pupils and their parents.
Aided by best friend Peason and thwarted by everyone from Grabber the skool bully to Wandsworth the skool dog, Nigel Molesworth teaches us the ins and outs of skool life - including how to avoid lessens and how to build your own H-bomb.
Molesworth ...... Imelda Staunton
Peason ...... Sophie Thompson
Grabber ...... Jack Farthing
Prudence ...... Jessica Brown Findlay
Headmaster ...... Patrick Barlow
Chief Prune ...... Lewis Macleod
Adapted by Patrick Barlow and George Poles from the books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, with additional material by Abigail Wilson.
Director: Patrick Barlow
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2014.
FRI 14:45 The Shepherd's Life (b05r6sx0)
Episode 5
Spring is the farmer's reward for the hard days of winter - and in this final episode, the cycle of the year begins again, as James Rebanks prepares for lambing.
The first son of a shepherd, who was himself the first son of a shepherd, James and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. Through his eyes we see that the Lake District is not a playground or a scenic backdrop, it's a working landscape that needs sheep and its farmers to survive.
Concluded by Bryan Dick
Written by James Rebanks
Abridged by Sian Preece
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron
Music details:
Track: "The Nightshift"
CD: Country Escape
Label: BBC Production Music BBCPM031.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.
FRI 15:00 Home Front - Omnibus (b06l4n8z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Wildbrain (b075pp7l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 No Commitments (b007jp3z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 1835 (b012mbjv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Wordaholics (b01sdmd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Paul Magrs - Never the Bride (b009gctd)
Our Frank
A cliff-top drama for Whitby landlady Brenda, when her monstrous old fiance appears. Stars Joanna Tope and Monica Gibb.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b008pygx)
Series 6
Tainted Love
Originally a Motown song written by Ed Cobb and recorded by Gloria Jones, Tainted Love became famous on the UK's Northern Soul scene in the late 1970s.
It was heard by Marc Almond and Dave Ball who later became Soft Cell, and recorded a classic version.
Featuring:
Mark Ravenhill
Peter Christopherson
Ray Harris
Russ Winstanley
Alan King
Dave Ball
Mike Thorne
Danny McNamara
Nev Fountain
Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.
Producer: Sara Conkey
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2008.
FRI 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007jxpn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Goon Show (b008wf71)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Lost Special (b01c8cbn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 M1: The Modernist Marvel (b00nk9hz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Thomas Hardy Short Stories - More Tales of Village Life (b075pq6s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Drama (b011plrz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Wordaholics (b01sdmd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Rudy's Rare Records (b01nq1c8)
Series 4
Miss Reenie Comes to Stay
Adam's surprise birthday present for his Dad backfires.
Adam has a surprise for his Dad's birthday - his sister Reenie! It backfires when Miss Reenie turns out to be the house guest from hell and plans to stay for 6 months.
Father and son comedy set in the finest old-school record shop in Birmingham. Starring Lenny Henry, Larrington Walker and some terrific tunes.
Rudy's Rare Records is a tiny down at heel old reggae record shop in Birmingham - one of a dying breed; a place with real soul, stacked with piles of vinyl, where the slogan is "if we don't have it - them don't mek it". It's owned by the charismatic, irrepressible Rudy Sharpe (Larrington Walker), reluctantly helped out by his long-suffering neurotic son Adam (Lenny Henry) and Handsworth's first, black, surly girly goth, Tasha (Natasha Godfrey). Rudy has recently married his long-term love interest Doreen (Claire Benedict) which is leaving his best friend Clifton (Jeffery Kissoon) feeling left out - that is until Rudy's sister Miss Reenie comes to stay.
Adam ..........Lenny Henry
Rudy.......... Larrington Walker
Tasha...........Natasha Godfrey
Doreen..........Claire Benedict
Clifton...........Jeffery Kissoon
Miss Reenie.......Angela Wynter
RSPCA Man ........ ..Joe Sims
Written by Paula Hines
Script Editor: Danny Robins
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
SWEET JAMAICA * LORD KITCHENER
DANGER IN YOUR EYES * ASWAD
LORD A MASSIE MASSIE * DANNY D AND THE SHADOWS
NOT ME * ROBERT MITCHUM
GIRL I'VE GOT A DATE * ALTON ELLIS
I'M IN LOVE AGAIN * FATS DOMINO
TOP FORM/OLD MACDONALD * YELLOWMAN
SISTER LOVE * GREGORY ISAACS
BLACK WOMAN * SISTER CAROL
DANGEROUS * KARDINAL OFFISHALL & AKON.
FRI 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b076py0b)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to Max and Ivan.
FRI 23:00 The Mark Steel Lecture (b007md98)
Series 2
Che Guevara
The radical comedian profiles the revolutionary leader who became a left-wing hero, despite chronic asthma. From April 2001.
FRI 23:30 Hard to Tell (b03jb3n7)
Series 2
Episode 3
Second series of the relationship comedy written by Jonny Sweet.
It tells its central love story through the couple's individual conversations with their family and friends. In the process, we are introduced to all manner of relationships from a father and his cherished tour van to two women rivalling for the position of Best Friend, from a brother and sister comparing notes on Brazilians to a vicar and his new parish, and from a lodger's historic fling with a local waitress to a mum's lack of control over her desire to monitor her son's life.
Recorded on location, Hard To Tell's naturalistic, contemporary and conversational style brings new meaning to restaurants, funerals, French dressers and monkey puzzle trees.
Jonny Sweet is also the writer of Radio 4's Party and co-writer/co-star of Chickens on Sky 1.
Episode 3:
Tom's Mum's cousin has died and she volunteers her son to give the eulogy. At the funeral, Ellen suspects an infidelity, while Gillian the lodger suspects a mental disorder.
Producer: Lucy Armitage
A Tiger Aspect production for BBC Radio 4.