SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2017

SAT 00:00 Orbit One Zero (b08fy3gj)
The Frozen World
"If I had known, that night, the terrible risk Elizabeth had taken!" But Clifford knew...
Newspaper reporter, Tom Lambert has decided to reinvestigate the strange events of ten years before, concerning the "cosmic noise". Believing the inside story was never told, he's tracked down the only man who knows, Dr Hayward Petrie.
Told in flashbacks, the story unfolds from Dr Petrie's own recordings of the time when the detection of a strange pattern of signals sparks a mysterious discovery...
Starring Felix Felton as Dr Petrie, David Spenser as Tom Lambert, Graydon Gould as Clifford Brown, and Elaine MacNamara as Elizabeth Ryder.
Written by Peter Elliott Hayes
Producer: David Davis
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in May 1961.
SAT 00:30 Soul Music (b01m5hhy)
Series 14, Dvorak's New World Symphony
While for many, it will be always associated with brown bread, the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony is an enduring a piece that never fails to move and inspire. We hear from the anti- apartheid campaigner Albie Sachs, who explains that through whistling the theme while in solitary confinement, he was able to make contact with the wider world and kept his spirit and hope alive.
Margaret Caldicott recalls the important role the piece played in her mother's life while in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Producer Lucy Lunt.
SAT 01:00 Alun Owen - The Lancaster Gate End (b01f4xrc)
Contrary views are swapped in a series of blunt exchanges between two regular visitors to one of Her Majesty's royal parks.
Starring John Le Mesurier as the Colonel, Peggy Aitchison as the Woman and Alan Dudley as the Park Keeper.
Written by Alun Owen.
Producer: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Thirty Minute Theatre in June 1982.
SAT 01:30 Malmesbury: The Philosophy Town (b017551k)
Britain's most famous political philosopher Thomas Hobbes was born there, and Malmesbury in Wiltshire wants to become for philosophy what Hay-on-Wye is for books, St. Ives for painting, or Aldeburgh for music.
It is setting out to become the country's special 'Philosophy Town'. The scheme is the brainchild of philosophy and small-town enthusiast Michael Cuthbert, and he has got the backing of Wiltshire Council and the involvement of the local and long-established Thomas Hobbes Society. He has also enthused the head teacher of Malmesbury School, whose students are being encouraged to take philosophy seriously.
For the past three years Malmesbury has hosted an annual philosophy festival. Initially this focused on Hobbes - and the country's leading experts came to speak - but now its scope is wider. This year, under the title Cherish The Thought, the theme is 'history and ideas', with a particular emphasis on links between British and French philosophical traditions.
Mark Whitaker (who has himself published work on Hobbes) reports from the Malmesbury Festival. He interviews leading philosophers who are speaking. These include John Cottingham, Simon Glendinning and Angie Hobbs. Professor Hobbs has been designated a 'Town Philosopher', and she also holds an academic title in the Public Understanding of Philosophy.
The Festival raises questions as to what philosophy is once it escapes from the academy. Whitaker interviews members of the audience and local residents about how they see the link between their town and philosophy. He also explores plans to give philosophy a permanent place in Malmesbury. There is talk of a 'Philosopher's Footpath' from Oxford, of inscriptions of great philosophical sayings on the town's buildings, and of a philosophical bookshop-cum-cafe.
Producer: Mark Whitaker
A Square Dog Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b124l)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 5
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry, abridged by Neville Teller.
5/10. Dr Grene has found a document claiming that Roseanne's father was a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary and was killed by the IRA. But this is totally at odds with her own memories of her father and the way he died.
Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
SAT 02:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00ndm9x)
Neat and Not too Showy
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
These days we take it for granted that the home is a place of refuge in which we express our true self; that idea was an invention of the 18th century. Prof Vickery explores the invention of taste, and the role of interior decor in creating both social prestige and a successful marriage.
Moving into the 19th century, Prof Vickery explores the homes of people lower down the social scale and their ideas about how they wanted them to look. She draws on a series of funny and revealing letters which she discovered in the archive of a wallpaper company.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 02:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmxc)
Episode 20
With Marius in his arms and barely alive, Valjean struggles to find a way out of the Parisian sewers. Starring Roger Allam.
SAT 02:45 Book of the Week (b01dnn41)
Tim Winton: Land's Edge - A Coastal Memoir, Episode 5
by Tim Winton.
In a specially-commissioned coda, the acclaimed author describes how the increasingly threatened and fragile marine ecology has turned him into an environmental campaigner in Western Australia.
Read by Stephen Dillane
Abridged and produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.
SAT 03:00 George Eliot - Daniel Deronda (b007k07z)
Episode 3
A heady mix of death, revelation, politics and marriage make up the climax to this 1876 classic. Starring Anna Chancellor.
SAT 04:00 The 3rd Degree (b05rnx80)
Series 5, Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd
A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from Cardiff University, The 3rd Degree is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners while delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Biology, Journalism and Astrophysics and the questions range from the intricacies of relativistic length contraction to the idiocies of homeopathy via Grexit, webinars and a man called Walter Plinge.
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quick-fire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction.
The host, Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show also delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. He has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, including The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen, as well as a half-hour comedy for Radio 4's Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called The Genuine Particle.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
SAT 04:30 Are You From the Bugle? (b01jcc07)
Rovers Return
A celebrity is visiting Butterthwaite. Can Graham get the story? Stars Jeffrey Holland and Mark Gatiss. From June 1996.
SAT 05:00 Miracles R Us (b00sjpjd)
Postcards
Caroline and Sylvia are dubious over a new client, but a weekend away dampens any misgivings. Stars Anna Massey. From June 2010.
SAT 05:30 Guilt Trip (b07mxt9d)
Episode 3
Comedy drama in which Felicity Montagu (Lynn in Alan Partridge and Mrs Mainwaring in the new Dad's Army film ) and her daughter (Olivia Nixon) play a mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path to raise money for the dead father's charity. But the mother and father had been divorced for nine years and he had re-married, so relationships between them all have been strained. Things come to a head at any mention of the French Oak gable table Ros and her now dead ex bought together in Camden. This has somehow ended up in the step-mother's house, much to Ros's annoyance: "I mean she sits at it! It's my table and she sits at it." The series is co-written by Katherine Jakeways who also plays the step-mother.
It's day 10 of the walk and in this episode they spot a narrow boat that reminds Laura (Ros's daughter) of the Rosie and Jim boat she remembers from the children's TV show. But when the owner (Juliet Cowan) invites them aboard, it does not all go quite as they might have expected.
The producer was Jane Berthoud, it was a BBC Radio Comedy production.
SAT 06:00 Daphne Du Maurier - The Years Between (b00qm3c3)
In the early 1940s, Diana Wentworth's MP husband, Michael, is reported missing - presumed killed in action.
Once over the shock, she builds a new life - taking over Michael's seat in parliament, and falling in love with a much more suitable man.
But on the eve of their wedding, a phone call brings Diana shattering news....
Daphne du Maurier's 1945 stage play dramatised for radio by Jill Hyem.
Stars Diana Quick as Diana Wentworth, Roger Allam as Michael Wentworth, David Collings as Richard Llewelyn, Peter England as Robin Wentworth, Frederick Treves as Sir Ernest Foster and Derek Waring as the Vicar.
Director: Cherry Cookson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
SAT 07:30 Yes Yes Yes (b00t0zm6)
Series 1, All on the Black
John Rawling relives the 1985 World Snooker Championship, with Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor in the battle for the crown.
SAT 08:00 Archive on 4 (b01lz7yk)
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Archive
Anthony Burgess is best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, published 50 years ago.
Burgess was born in 1917 in one of the poorest areas of North Manchester. It was entirely unpredictable that such a major literary figure and polymath would spring from such a humble background.He remained in Manchester until he graduated from the University, but never went back to live there and was careful to disguise his Northern accent.
Paul Morley - a fellow Northern exile - visits some of the key landmarks of Burgess's early life - Xaverian College where he was taught by strict Catholics from the Xaverian Brothers; the Free Trade Hall where he heard the Hallé Orchestra; Central Library where he began a lifelong process of self-education.
Paul also considers Burgess's continuing passion for writing classical music; his first creative ambition was to be a composer. He wrote over 200 pieces of pieces of classical music, including full-length symphonies and a ballet. Very little of his music was performed during his lifetime, but it is now attracting interest from musicians and academics.
Burgess's legacy includes not only 33 published novels, two autobiographies and a large amount of journalism but a previously unheard archive of about 800 audio cassettes and home movies. Paul Morley visits The International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, which is cataloguing this rich, diverse and remarkable archive.
Contributors include Dr Andrew Biswell, biographer of Anthony Burgess and Director of The International Anthony Burgess Foundation; Paul Philips, author of a book about Burgess's music; and Dr Kevin Malone an expert on the music Burgess himself wrote for his own dramatized version of A Clockwork Orange.
SAT 09:00 The Workin's of Perkins: The Radio Life of Geoffrey Perkins (b00pk92h)
When British comedy stalwart Geoffrey Perkins died suddenly in 2008, he left behind a legacy of programmes that few can equal. He was involved in ground-breaking TV productions such as Spitting Image, Father Ted and The Fast Show. He also kick-started the careers of the likes of Ben Elton and Harry Enfield. However, Perkins' roots were in radio.
This 3 hour tribute to the late comedy producer, writer and performer is presented by his friend and colleague Angus Deayton.
Featuring: Radio Active, Hordes of the Things, Legal, Decent, Honest and Truthful, Ernest Fontwell Versus The Experts and The Twenty Seven Year Itch and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
SAT 12:00 Genius (b008gh65)
Series 1, Paul Daniels
From the 99p coin to steel drum urinals, Dave Gorman asks magician Paul Daniels to select the best loopy idea. From October 2005.
SAT 12:30 Babblewick Hall (b01mxtj6)
Series 1, Episode 1
Squire Fenton Babblewick inherits an estate, but his manservant is dismayed. Stars Nicholas Le Prevost. From December 1995.
SAT 13:00 AM Smith - 44 Scotland Street (b08gdw3v)
Series 4 Omnibus
Series 4 Omnibus. Someone is seeking a thorn free zone, meanwhile Irene Pollok's creativity reaps rewards. Stars Crawford Logan and Emma Currie.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (b08gdxg8)
Ruud Gullit
Football player, manager and pundit, Ruud Gullit chooses 'Let's Get It On' by Marvin Gaye and 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.
SAT 14:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kd6s)
The Vale of the White Horse
Tales of tanks on the streets and peril in the playground, as Pam revisits her birthplace - the Oxfordshire village of Stanford-in-the-Vale.
Series in which poet and raconteuse, Pam Ayres takes to the open road, visiting eight places in Britain to hear tales from the people who live there.
Producer: Simon Elmes
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 2000.
SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007jrfs)
Series 2, Kindlewood Night
A mysterious night of passion and kindling awaits Carter Brandon and his uncle. Peter Tinniswood's adventures with Sam Kelly.
SAT 15:00 Archive on 4 (b01lz7yk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Daphne Du Maurier - The Years Between (b00qm3c3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Yes Yes Yes (b00t0zm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 The Twilight Zone (b08gf0jp)
Series 4, There Goes the Neighborhood
When a scientist transports a grotesque alien beast to Earth, the nature of beauty's called into question...
Written by Barry Richert.
Starring Tim Kazinursky, Meg Thalken and Roger Mueller with Stacy Keach as the narrator.
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.
Produced and directed by Carl Amari for Falcon Picture Group.
SAT 18:40 James Follett - Wicca (b00jlz5k)
Episode 3
With the Sussex town of Pentworth cut off from the world by an invisible wall, desperate residents attempt to break out.
The second book in James Follett's 'The Silent Vulcan Trilogy'
Abridged in 8-parts by Miranda Davis.
Producer: Richard Bannerman
Made for BBC 7 and first broadcast in 2004.
SAT 19:00 The Workin's of Perkins: The Radio Life of Geoffrey Perkins (b00pk92h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 Mark Steel's in Town (b03s76dh)
Series 5, Southall
Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 for a fifth series of the award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and does a bespoke evening of comedy in each one.
As every high street slowly morphs into a replica of the next, Mark Steel's in Town celebrates the parochial, the local and the unusual. From Corby's rivalry with Kettering to the word you can't say in Portland, the show has taken in the idiosyncrasies of towns up and down the country, from Kirkwall to Penzance, from Holyhead to Bungay.
This edition comes from Southall in Middlesex, which is also known as "little India" due to the large Asian community there. Mark tried the local food - Jalebi, Paan, Pakora - that can seem alien to someone who grew up in 1960s Kent. The twin landmarks of Heathrow Airport and the Sikh temple dominate the area, with the latter proving more popular as Mark also discusses football, astrology and bank openings.
Written and performed by ... Mark Steel
Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair
Production co-ordinator ... Trudi Stevens
Producer ... Ed Morrish.
SAT 22:30 Will Smith's Midlife Crisis Management (b00g0536)
Episode 1
Comedy series in which comedian Will Smith seeks help and advice - primarily from his godfather Peter - on coping with the onset of middle age. Peter invites Tory MP George to help Will speak his mind.
With Roger Allam, Geoffrey Whitehead, Jill Cardo, Gunnar Cauthery, Roger Drew, Donnla Hughes, Robert Lonsdale, Dan Starkey, Malcolm Tierney.
SAT 23:00 4 Extra Stands Up (b03xcl8c)
4 Extra Stands Up, Episode 5
Alistair Barrie introduces a selection of stand up comedians recorded live before a sold-out audience at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington, London at the end of 2013.

You can gain useful vocabulary from John Lloyd of things that we don't have words for but should, and Mary Bourke entertains us with a dark response to the unreasonable. John Robins surprises us with an unusual Dickensian condition he's developed, and Nish Kumar explains some of the awkward social situations he's fallen into.

Bob Mills explains life as an overweight man and Alistair Barrie celebrates Britain's love of complaining.

Made for Radio 4 Extra by Dabster Productions.


SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

SUN 00:00 The Twilight Zone (b08gf0jp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:40 James Follett - Wicca (b00jlz5k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:40 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 AM Smith - 44 Scotland Street (b08gdw3v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (b08gdxg8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kd6s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 02:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007jrfs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Archive on 4 (b01lz7yk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Daphne Du Maurier - The Years Between (b00qm3c3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 Yes Yes Yes (b00t0zm6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables Omnibus (b007jtvf)
Episode 4
Can Marius persuade his Grandfather to let him marry Cosette before Valjean takes her to England?
Victor Hugo's epic story of social injustice, dramatised in 25 episodes by Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Lin Coghlan.
Starring Roger Allam as Jean Valjean, Joss Ackland as Victor Hugo, Lucy Whybrow as Cosette, Jonathan Forbes as Marius, Leslie Phillips as Gillenormand, Patsy Palmer as Eponine, Peter Darney as Enjolras, Carl Prekopp as Combeferre, Annette Badland as Toussaint, Leagh Conwell as Gavroche and Sean Baker as Vendor.
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2001.
SUN 07:15 The Paper Round (b014qxbx)
Stephen K Amos
A series in which five public figures revisit the route of their paper round to reveal how it influenced their attitudes to work, creativity and independence.
Having a paper round is a rite of passage for many children, and many successful public figures claim to have braved the early mornings and the elements to deliver newspapers. For some, it's a chance for independence and freedom, or a temporary escape from home. For others, it provides the money to spend on music, fashion and girl/boyfriends.
Award-winning comedian Stephen K Amos recalls his paper round route with Bob Kingdom in Balham, South West London.
Producer: Olivia Landsberg
A Ladbroke production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 07:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03kpnjz)
Series 9, Intellectual Fireworks
Ed appears to have stepped on the gravy train at last as he takes up a professorship at Much Wenlock Court - a prestigious writing retreat. He hopes this will lead him to, at the very least, a contentious Saturday Essay on the Today Programme. However, this retreat has been set up by one Jaz Milvain so could Ed's change in fortune be too good to be true?
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis.
SUN 08:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jpbw)
The Bishop Learns the Facts
Clerical confusion reigns when Noote's friend asks him to marry her.
Starring Robertson Hare as the Archdeacon, William Mervyn as the Bishop, Jonathan Cecil as Bishop's Chaplain - the Reverend Mervyn Noote and John Barron as the Dean. With Jo Kendall as Julia and Betty Bascombe as Mary.
The ecclesiastical sitcom started life as a TV pilot in Comedy Playhouse, ahead of a run on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. Selected scripts were revised and re-recorded for radio.
Written and adapted by husband-and-wife team, Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps.
Producer: David Hatch.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1972.
SUN 08:30 ITMA - It's That Man Again (b007jynj)
Will a compromising photo put Tommy Handley's political ambitions at risk?
With Jack Train, Dorothy Summers, Horace Percival, Diana Morrison, Dino Galvini, Sydney Keith, Fred Yule, Joan Capra and Paula Green.
It's That Man Again - ITMA made a radio superstar of Tommy Handley (1894-1949) and had more than 20 million devoted listeners to the BBC Home Service each week - with millions more around the world. The show's title came from a newspaper headline used in stories about Adolf Hitler in the lead up to the Second World War.
Catchphrases like "TTFN - Ta-Ta for now" and "Can I Do You Now, Sir?" coupled with a frenetic, topical approach made it utterly distinctive.
From 1939 to 1949, over 310 episodes were broadcast, breaking away from existing comedy and music hall conventions with an anarchic and irreverent style - created by its writer Ted Kavanagh.
BBC Variety Orchestra, conducted by Charles Shadwell.
Producer: Francis Worsley.
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in November 1944.
SUN 09:00 Deaths of the Poets: Omnibus (b08gj7wp)
What is the cost of poetry? Must poets be doomed and melancholic? Poets Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley explore.
SUN 10:10 Inheritance Tracks (b08gj7wr)
PP Arnold
Soul singer PP Arnold chooses Ike and Tina Turner's 'River Deep, Mountain High' and Aretha Franklin's 'Natural Woman'.
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b08gj7wt)
75 years, Gene Wilder
4 Extra Debut. From Frédéric Chopin to Otis Redding. Hollywood actor, Gene Wilder shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From February 1997.
SUN 11:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b08gj80p)
Series 4, Mr Rogers, Bellevue, Super Markets and Coney Island
True stories told live in in the USA: Catherine Burns introduces tales of life and death, cheating and childhood.
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 11:55 The Listening Project (b046p07j)
Natalie and Kenny - In Sickness and in Health
Fi Glover with a conversation between Natalie and her husband. She's 25 years younger than Kenny, but she's definitely not a trophy wife; neither is she a gold digger.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can upload your own conversations or just learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
SUN 12:00 All Gas and Gaiters (b007jpbw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 ITMA - It's That Man Again (b007jynj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables Omnibus (b007jtvf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 The Paper Round (b014qxbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Underground Railroad: Omnibus (b08gj8bs)
Episode 1
The story of two escaped Georgia plantation slaves, Cora and Caesar, and those that help them. Read by Clarke Peters.
SUN 15:45 Doris Lessing - Lucy Grange (b08gj8ps)
4 Extra Debut. Exiled from her sophisticated homeland, stylish Lucy seeks solace and 'to accept the second-rate'. Read by Estelle Kohler.
SUN 16:00 Peter Tinniswood (b0075667)
Next Time We Might Play Better
An excruciatingly inept quartet of musicians' fervent aim is to play better.
Peter Tinniswood's touching comedy stars Graham Crowden as Mr Leslie Deedes and Hugh Dickson as the Narrator.
With Jillie Meers, Carolyn Jones, Christopher Scott, Stephen Thorne, Anthony Ofoegbu, Tracy Ann Oberman and Gerard McDermott.
Musical director: Michael Haslam
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1997.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (b08gjcrx)
Gwyneth Lewis - How To Knit A Poem 2/2
BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive of Gwyneth Lewis in 'How To Knit A Poem'.
With more from her original series, poet Gwyneth asks what is scientific about knitting and hears how artists are using knitting to challenge preconceptions about society.
Producer Penny Arnold
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.
SUN 17:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03kpnjz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Matt Bloom - Find Me (b0076h5d)
4 Extra Debut. 2020: Terrifying consequences ensue when Mary uses a new matter transportation machine to get to Sydney. Stars Julia Watson.
SUN 18:45 Book at Bedtime (b06pxm4h)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, Episode 3
Chilling revenge for a terrible crime is at the heart of Neil Gaiman's multi-award-winning novelette, inspired by a Hebridean myth and originally commissioned by Sydney Opera House for the Graphic Festival with celebrated illustrator Eddie Campbell.
3/5. The reaver realises the dwarf is not all that he seems.
Reader: Bill Paterson
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Abridged and produced by Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.
SUN 19:00 The Moth Radio Hour (b08gj80p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 19:55 The Listening Project (b046p07j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:55 today]
SUN 20:00 Deaths of the Poets: Omnibus (b08gj7wp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 Inheritance Tracks (b08gj7wr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b08gj7wt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 Ed Reardon's Week (b03kpnjz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 The Party Party (b007wwh3)
Episode 5
The town of Microcosm is set for revenge, greed and attempted murder. Stars Hugh Laurie and Clive Mantle. From June 1987.
SUN 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b08gdpc6)
The best in contemporary comedy. Arthur Smith chats to Rob Auton and Dan Cockrill.
SUN 23:00 Newsjack (b08fy0xq)
Series 16, Episode 5
BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical sketch show Newsjack returns for its 16th series with brand new host Angela Barnes.
Irreverent and satirical, Newsjack is the scrapbook sketch show written entirely by the Great British public, and then bought to life by a revolving cast of sketch performers.
This weeks cast features Kieran Hodgson, James Meehan and Jessica Ransom.
In this edition we undergo a Brexorcism and fire up the lie detector...
The programme continues to be a showcase for new comedy writing: anyone can submit material (sketches and one-line jokes) - these can be submitted every week of the six week run.
Details for submitting material can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kvs8r
Producers: Adnan Ahmed and Abby C. Kumar
BBC Studios Production.
SUN 23:30 The History Plays (b01d1403)
O Salutaris Hostia, Diana
The History Plays are a series of imagined conversations at key moments in the recent history of Britain.
In "O Salutaris Hostia, Diana" Imelda Staunton stars as Martha and Toby Jones as Graham. The couple look back over their lives together but their very different views on Diana mask a far more personal conflict, and Graham's dislike of the princess has its roots in his pain over the circumstances of their son Alan's death.
Written and directed by Nigel Smith
Produced by Gareth Edwards.


MONDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2017

MON 00:00 Matt Bloom - Find Me (b0076h5d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 00:45 Book at Bedtime (b06pxm4h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:45 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables Omnibus (b007jtvf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 The Paper Round (b014qxbx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Underground Railroad: Omnibus (b08gj8bs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 Doris Lessing - Lucy Grange (b08gj8ps)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Peter Tinniswood (b0075667)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (b08gjcrx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 Ed Reardon's Week (b03kpnjz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gjg2g)
The Ninescore Mystery
Lady Molly and her assistant Mary use feminine intuition over the gruesome village murder of a young woman. Lady Molly's assistant Mary is the narrator.
Read by Sophie Thompson.
The Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories by Baroness Orczy feature Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives in literature. Originally published in 1910, Lady Molly pre-dates her real-life counterparts by almost a decade.
Relying on brains rather than brawn to solve crimes, she and her faithful assistant, Mary Granard, take on the cases of The Ninescore Mystery, The Irish-Tweed Coat and A Day's Folly, applying feminine tact and intellect to catch the culprits.
Orczy's characters The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Old Man in the Corner are literary classics, but the lesser-known Lady Molly stories are some of the first to feature a female detective as the main protagonist.
The reader, Sophie Thompson received an Olivier Award nomination for the 1995 London revival of the musical Company, before winning the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the London revival of Into the Woods. Her film appearances include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Persuasion (1995) Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Gosford Park (2001), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010). She also played Stella Crawford in the BBC's EastEnders (2006-07), for which she won "Best Bitch" at the Inside Soap awards. Other Olivier nominations include Wildest Dreams (RSC 1994), Clybourne Park (Royal Court and West End, 2010), and Guys and Dolls (Savoy Theatre, 2015-16).
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
MON 06:30 The Countertenor (b017cjmg)
Men who sing in falsetto: Bidisha surveys the Counter Tenor voice - in classical music and in the music of Jimmy Somerville, Smokey Robinson, the Bee Gees and Plan B. She looks at the sexual ambiguity and ethereal quality of a voice that can still make people feel uncomfortable.
Many people still associate the Counter Tenor sound with the use of castrati, even though the last of that breed died nearly a century ago. The voice is inextricably linked in their minds with the notion of being unmanly, different, lesser or 'other'. At the same time the countertenor sound itself can be so beautiful that it is beguiling; listeners find themselves torn between the pleasure of the art and their social confusion.
Writer and broadcaster Bidisha, fascinated by hearing the voice of Alfred Deller on the radio, visits Canterbury Cathedral to find out how the voice became part of classical music mainstream again after a silence of almost 200 years.
She discovers the role of composer Benjamin Britten in bring the voice back onto the public stage in the part of Oberon in a Midsummer Night's Dream, written for Alfred Deller.
She visits a voice clinic to see a camera being put down the throat of professional Counter Tenor to see exactly what happens to a man's vocal cords when he sings in falsetto. And she asks - can all men sing in falsetto?
And she looks at the extensive and continuing use of the voice in pop music, where it has become more easily accepted than it was in classical music when it first became popular again.
With contributions from Mark Deller, Michael Chance, Iestyn Davies, Nicholas Clapton, Declan Costello, Ian Aitkenhead, Rev Richard Coles and Plan B.
MON 07:00 Absolutely Delish (b08gpfsr)
Grazing
By Sophie Woolley. Lifestyle guru Leone's promised dietary advice requires a health warning for Rod and Nadia. Stars Sally Phillips. From May 2013.
MON 07:30 Just a Minute (b08ff17k)
Series 77, Episode 1
Just A Minute is 50 years old this year! Nicholas Parsons has been hosting since day one, and kicks off the first episode of the new series with a cracking line-up: Paul Merton, Josie Lawrence, Zoe Lyons and Graham Norton.
The panel have to talk on a given subject for sixty seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation. How much does Zoe know about Anne Boleyn? Has Graham ever used the phrase "Don't you know who I am?"? What can Josie tell us about dust sheets, and what does Paul consider the 8th Wonder of the World? Plus - spoiler alert - someone speaks for a full minute without interruption - but who?? Tune in to find out!
Hayley Sterling blows the whistle and it was produced by Matt Stronge.
Just A Minute is a BBC Studios production.
MON 08:00 Not in Front of the Children (b08gjzsv)
Series 2, A Yap in the Night
A spate of break-ins in the neighbourhood sparks a security crackdown in the Corner household.
Starring Wendy Craig as Jennifer Corner, Francis Matthews as Henry Corner, Charlotte Mitchell as Mary, Roberta Tovey as Trudi, Jill Riddick as Amanda, Hugo Keith-Johnston as Robin, Frederick Treves as the Detective, David Tate as Mr Wilkinson and Benny Lee as the Pet Shop Owner.
The second series of comedy mishaps of the Corner family: Jennifer and Henry and their three children Trudi, Amanda and Robin. Not in Front of the Children originally ran for four series from 1967 to 1970 on BBC TV. Richard Waring adapted his own scripts for this radio version, now fully restored from the original reel-to-reel tapes.
Wendy Craig won a Best Actress BAFTA award for the TV version of Not in Front of the Children in 1969. This was the first of several housewife roles that Wendy Craig was to play on television. Later series included And Mother Makes Three/Five and Butterflies.
Music by Ronnie Hazlehurst
Producer: Trafford Whitelock.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 1970.
MON 08:30 Dad's Army (b007jlfs)
Series 1, The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage
Summer, 1940: Convinced a German invasion of Walmington-on-Sea has begun, Mainwaring and his men mount a gun placement at Godfrey's cottage. Chaos, inevitably, ensues...
Six years after legendary sitcom Dad's Army started on BBC TV, these specially adapted radio versions began recording with the original cast.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, James Beck as Private Walker, Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Nan Brawnton as Cissie Godfrey, Percy Edwards as Percy the Parrot and John Snagge as the announcer.
Adapted from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's original BBC TV scripts by Michael Knowles and Harold Snoad.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1974.
MON 09:00 Quote... Unquote (b04dk882)
Quote ... Unquote, the popular quotations quiz, returns for its 50th series.
In almost forty years, Nigel Rees has been joined by writers, actors, musicians, scientists and various comedy types. Kenneth Williams, Judi Dench, PD James, Larry Adler, Ian KcKellen, Peter Cook, Kingsley Amis, Peter Ustinov... have all graced the Quote Unquote stage.
Join Nigel as he quizzes a host of celebrity guests on the origins of sayings and well-known quotes, and gets the famous panel to share their favourite anecdotes.
Episode 2
Comedian and writer Dave Gorman
Novelist and journalist Philip Hensher
Presenter, critic and author Libby Purves
Writer, poet and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen
Presenter ... Nigel Rees
Producer ... Carl Cooper.
MON 09:30 Anything Legal (b008cxvk)
Episode 7
Charles and George's DIY skills arouse their wives' suspicions. Stars Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles. From December 1984.
MON 10:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t18j1)
Episode 1
An unfortunate duel is the catalyst for young Redmond Barry to leave his native Ireland and serve on the battlefields of the Seven Years War - before a chance reunion with his long-lost uncle offers a way to make their fortune at the gaming-tables of the highest courts of Europe.
William Makepeace Thackeray's classic 19th Century novel about the rise and fall of an Irish adventurer, set during the second half of the 1700s and moving from rural Ireland to the courts of Europe to the drawing rooms of English society.
Stars Gerard McSorley as Barry Lyndon, Andrew Scott as Redmond Barry, David Kelly as Chevalier de Balibari, Sheila Hancock as Bell Barry, Kenneth Cranham as Lord Lyndon/Von Greuelgruber and Tina Kellegher as Mme Fitzsimons.
Dramatised in two episodes by Don McCamphill
Producer: Lawrence Jackson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.
MON 11:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9x3)
An Incident
Two children, two pets, one stranger. Then a small domestic disaster. Alistair McGowan reads a tale from the Russian master.
MON 11:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qx2y)
Roll Jordan Roll
Rehearsing for the Brecon Jazz Festival, Megan keeps playing a certain melody but where does it come from?
Her musical detective trail leads to the 1880s and the visit to Swansea of a choir of emancipated slaves...
Stars Rakie Ayola as Megan the Fifth, Margaret John as Megan the Third, Helen Griffin as Megan the First, Don Warrington as Frederick Loudin, Phylip Harries as Owan and Rhodri Hugh as the Rev Davies.
Written by Alan Plater.
Stories based on original material researched and collected by Jen Wilson of the Women's Jazz Archive, Swansea.
Composer and Musical Director: Paula Gardiner
Music: Aula Gardiner, Richard Roberts, Peter Churchill, Nia Lynn, Dyfrig Morris and Lee Williams.
Directed in Wales by Alison Hindell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
MON 12:00 Not in Front of the Children (b08gjzsv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Dad's Army (b007jlfs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gjg2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 The Countertenor (b017cjmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4vp1)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 6
Despite mourning his late wife, Dr Grene tries to learn more about his patient, Roseanne. Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
MON 14:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctx)
Education in the Moral Home
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution, and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.
Until the late-19th century, home was the only schoolroom many British children were to experience, especially if they were girls. But was domestic education really so inferior to formal schooling? Drawing on diaries she has discovered, Prof Vickery explores home education from the perspective of both mother and child.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 14:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmyd)
Episode 21
Once more Jean Valjean puts his life into Inspector Javert's hands...
Victor Hugo's epic story of social injustice, dramatised in 25 episodes by Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Lin Coghlan.
Starring Roger Allam as Jean Valjean, Joss Ackland as Victor Hugo, Lucy Whybrow as Cosette, Jonathan Forbes as Marius, David Schofield as Javert. Leslie Phillips as Gillenormand, Shuna Snow as Mme Gillenormand, Annette Badland as Toussaint and Ewan Bailey as Basque.
Producer: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2001.
MON 14:45 Book of the Week (b01fhrhx)
Double Cross, Episode 1
Written by Ben Macintyre.
A team of agents (codenames Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo) is recruited to work as part of the 'Double Cross System' run by the secret Twenty Committee.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee, so named because twenty in Roman numerals forms a double cross.
The key D-Day spies were just five in number, and one of the oddest military units ever assembled: a bisexual Peruvian playgirl, a tiny Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian seducer, a wildly imaginative Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming, and a hysterical Frenchwoman whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire deception. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is here revealed for the first time. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.
These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.
Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
Reader: Jonathan Keeble.
MON 15:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t18j1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 Quote... Unquote (b04dk882)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 Anything Legal (b008cxvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Absolutely Delish (b08gpfsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Just a Minute (b08ff17k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Orbit One Zero (b08gk51z)
The Unseen
Grave warnings emanate from deep space. Do the seemingly indestructible cylinders have a weakness?
Newspaper reporter, Tom Lambert has decided to reinvestigate the strange events of ten years before, concerning the "cosmic noise". Believing the inside story was never told, he's tracked down the only man who knows, Dr Hayward Petrie.
Told in flashbacks, the story unfolds from Dr Petrie's own recordings of the time when the detection of a strange pattern of signals sparks a mysterious discovery...
Starring Felix Felton as Dr Petrie, David Spenser as Tom Lambert, Graydon Gould as Clifford Brown, and Elaine MacNamara as Elizabeth Ryder.
Written by Peter Elliott Hayes
Producer: David Davis
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in May 1961.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b0076gqm)
Mary Midgley and Al Alvarez
Sue MacGregor and her guests - philosopher, Mary Midgley and poet, Al Alvarez - discuss books by Doris Lessing, Barbara Kingsolver and David Lawrence. From 2003.
The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
Publisher: Flamingo
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Publisher: Faber
Nothing Like The Night by David Lawrence
Publisher: Michael Joseph.
MON 19:00 Not in Front of the Children (b08gjzsv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Dad's Army (b007jlfs)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gjg2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 The Countertenor (b017cjmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9x3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 21:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qx2y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
MON 22:00 Just a Minute (b08ff17k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 The Lawrence Sweeney Mix (b008z5ld)
Series 2, Episode 4
Invention as it happens as Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney perform improvised sketches driven by the audience. From February 2008.
MON 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b08hcq7m)
The best in contemporary comedy. Lizzie Roper chats to Dave Johns.
MON 23:00 News Quiz Extra (b08gk681)
Series 19, Episode 8
Susan Calman, Charlie Higson, Sarah Kendall and Lucy Porter join Miles for this the last show in the current series.
Producer: Tamara Shilham
A BBC Studios Production.
MON 23:45 Crème de la Crime (b010j4pb)
Series 2, The Lord and Mike Shepherd
Michael Feydeau and David Pershore probe the unsolved case of a vanishing Lord. Stars Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. From May 2002.


TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2017

TUE 00:00 Orbit One Zero (b08gk51z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b0076gqm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gjg2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 The Countertenor (b017cjmg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4vp1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmyd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Book of the Week (b01fhrhx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t18j1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 Quote... Unquote (b04dk882)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 Anything Legal (b008cxvk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Absolutely Delish (b08gpfsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Just a Minute (b08ff17k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gmpkc)
The Irish-Tweed Coat
Lady Molly and Mary take on the Mafia to try and prove the innocence of a young man accused of murder.
Read by Sophie Thompson.
The Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories by Baroness Orczy feature Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives in literature. Originally published in 1910, Lady Molly pre-dates her real-life counterparts by almost a decade.
Relying on brains rather than brawn to solve crimes, she and her faithful assistant, Mary Granard, take on the cases of The Ninescore Mystery, The Irish-Tweed Coat and A Day's Folly, applying feminine tact and intellect to catch the culprits.
Orczy's characters The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Old Man in the Corner are literary classics, but the lesser-known Lady Molly stories are some of the first to feature a female detective as the main protagonist.
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
TUE 06:30 When Wesley Went to Winchester (b011zm1g)
In 1970, broadcaster Wesley Kerr was awarded a County Bursary to study at the prestigious public school Winchester College. Forty years later, he opens the gates of memory and attends a special reunion to find out what happened to the other bursary boys and explores the scheme's attempts at 'social engineering.'
From a working class background, Wesley was a black foster child growing up in Hampshire. With the odds against him, he passed the exam and interview and took the opportunity that was presented to him, later becoming the BBC's first black television reporter and royal correspondent. His early success even made the national press - one newspaper headlined 'Coloured Boy Wins place at Public School'. For Wesley and many of these boys, they were parachuted into a new life at one of Britain's top public schools.
The national bursary scheme, initiated by Winston Churchill, MP Rab Butler and Lord Fleming, ran from 1947 to 1974, after a request by Churchill that a quarter of public schools places were to be taken by state school boys and were funded by the local education authority. A number of other schools such as Eton and Rugby also gave bursaries.
At the unique springtime reunion, Wesley meets over thirty former pupils, who include a former judge, the man who's designing the new Routemaster bus and the Bishop of Gibraltar. With stories of strange accents, public school pranks and those who struggled to fit into an alien environment, Wesley hears how the experience gave them new opportunities and shaped their lives.
Producer: Tamsin Barber.
TUE 07:00 Control Group Six (b00752n7)
Episode 3
Agent Beatrice is Dr Heaven's girl of his dreams, but will she stick around long enough for him?
A bizarre four-part comedy - half sketch show and half psychological thriller. Written and performed by Richard Bean, Andrew Clifford and Clive Coleman. With Geraldine Fitzgerald and Mandy Knight.
Control Group Six is a company town, like any other with a high murder-rate. But only one man possesses the experience, the post-Jungian insight and the gullibility to enter such a dangerous environment - Dr Heaven, company psychologist.
Producer: Colin Swash
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.
TUE 07:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b04lq2lx)
Series 1, Health and Beauty
A new series from multi-award winning comic Mark Watson where he attempts to answer the big questions and make sense of life, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden.
Mark and his two henchmen tackle academic and abstract topics. Themes will be examined from every angle, torn apart, laughed at and put back together again in an effort to understand ourselves and the world around us, and make it a slightly better place using stand-up, poetry, songs and dippy interactions.
This week Mark looks at "Health & Beauty". Our world is full of people telling us how to be healthier and more attractive. But how can we tell if we are well, both mentally and physically? Does living more healthily lead to better mental health, or not so much because you have to eat stuff like cabbage and you wish you were dead? At the same time many people claim to be beautiful, but does beauty really matter or is it, as the popular saying goes, in the eye of the beholder?
Why is it so hard to get to the bottom of what will make us look and feel good, and will this eternal quest ever end?
Mark Watson is a multi-award winning comedian - his awards include the inaugural If.Comedy Panel Prize 2006. He is assisted by Tim Key, winner of an Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009, and Tom Basden who won the the If.Comedy Award for Best Newcomer in 2007.
Written and performed by Mark Watson, Tim Key and Tom Basden
Produced by Lianne Coop
An Impatient production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 08:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k1r0)
Series 4, And Afterwards At
It's a big day for Harold. He's set to tie the knot! But Albert's not convinced.
Starring Wilfrid Brambell as Albert and Harry H Corbett as Harold. With Pat Coombes, Patricia Hayes, Margot Boyd, Edward Kelsey, Sheila Grant, Martin Friend and Katherine Parr.
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 8 series for TV.
Written for TV and adapted for radio by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Produced by Bobby Jaye
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 2 in March 1972.
TUE 08:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01by3zq)
Pushing the Vote Out
The dopey duo react when a by-election candidate goes from slide to landslide. With Deryck Guyler. Re-recorded in April 1980.
TUE 09:00 News Quiz Extra (b08gk681)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:45 Crème de la Crime (b010j4pb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:45 on Monday]
TUE 10:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t1bsd)
Episode 2
Pursuing widowed Lady Lyndon, Redmond Barry becomes a titled country squire. But then his luck changes. Stars Gerard McSorley.
TUE 11:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9x9)
A Play
She insists on showing him her terrible work. He takes drastic action. Alistair McGowan reads a tale from the Russian master.
TUE 11:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qvgd)
The Great Pork Pie Mystery
Musical detective Megan's mystery melody quest leads her to a 1920s Swansea tearoom. Stars Rakie Ayola and Margaret John.
TUE 12:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k1r0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01by3zq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gmpkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 When Wesley Went to Winchester (b011zm1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7k)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 7
Roseanne McNulty remembers when she secretly met another man behind her husband's back. Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
TUE 14:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njct8)
The Garden Indoors
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.
By the mid-19th century, the majority of the British population lived in filthy polluted towns. Yet the Victorians contrived increasingly ingenious ways to domesticate nature, capturing ferns and sea anemones under glass in their parlours.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
TUE 14:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmyw)
Episode 22
Unaware that Marius has survived the Revolution, Cosette is convinced he has died at the barricades. Starring Joss Ackland.
TUE 14:45 Book of the Week (b01g6nfn)
Double Cross, Episode 2
Written by Ben Macintyre.
By 1941 Double Cross agents are providing the Germans with false military information and plans are being made to use pigeons as weapons of espionage.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee, so named because twenty in Roman numerals forms a double cross.
The key D-Day spies were just five in number, and one of the oddest military units ever assembled: a bisexual Peruvian playgirl, a tiny Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian seducer, a wildly imaginative Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming, and a hysterical Frenchwoman whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire deception. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is here revealed for the first time. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.
These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.
Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
Reader: Jonathan Keeble
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier Production For BBC Radio 4.
TUE 15:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t1bsd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Puzzle Panel (b00xmkdw)
Episode 4
Brainteasers galore with Chris Maslanka, William Hartston, Professor Angela Newing and Robert Eastaway. From June 1998.
TUE 16:30 Babblewick Hall (b01n21l1)
Series 1, Episode 2
Defying his canny manservant, radical squire Fenton sets out to reform beetroots. Stars Nicholas Le Prevost. From January 1996.
TUE 17:00 Control Group Six (b00752n7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b04lq2lx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxh)
Episode 1
Timid commuter, Arthur Vezin becomes too enchanted with a sleepy and strange French town and its people to leave.
He's slowly drawn more and more into their realm of secrets and talk of ancient memories...and is struck by how the people there resemble cats, both in looks and behaviour...
Algernon Blackwood's dark tale read in 4-parts by Philip Madoc.
Born in Shooter's Hill and educated at Wellington College, Algernon Blackwood had a varied career, farming in Canada, operating a hotel, and working as a newspaper reporter in New York City before moving to England and starting to write horror stories. He was very successful, writing 10 books of short stories and appearing on both radio and TV to tell them. He also wrote 14 novels and a number of plays, most of which were produced but not published. He was an avid nature lover and many of his stories reflect this.
Producer: Lawrence Jackson
Made for BBC 7 by BBC Northern Ireland and first broadcast in 2005.
TUE 18:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007m5v6)
Series 2, Will Hay
Mark Radcliffe profiles popular comedian Will Hay, remembered for both his film acting talents and his passion for astronomy.
TUE 19:00 Steptoe and Son (b007k1r0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 The Men From the Ministry (b01by3zq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gmpkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 When Wesley Went to Winchester (b011zm1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9x9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qvgd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b04lq2lx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 2000 Years of Radio (b06fwync)
Series 2, Olympic FM
How will the British Olympic team fair in 776 BC? Recreation of the wireless archives with Al Holloway. From October 2002.
TUE 22:45 The Problem With Adam Bloom (b007rgld)
Series 1, Cutting Corners
The frugal comedian features an excerpt from his stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival. With Rob Rouse. From September 2003.
TUE 23:00 The Nick Revell Show (b007k2dc)
Series 1, Episode 5
The writer struggles for cash, while his geraniums moan about Christmas decorations. With Alistair McGowan. From February 1992.
TUE 23:30 Arthur Smith's Balham Bash (b00lk09w)
Series 1, Episode 2
Arthur Smith invites an audience into his home for music and comedy.
Benjamin Zephaniah, Stephen K Amos and Matt Holness join regular contributor Pippa Evans, as singer-songwriter Loretta Maine.


WEDNESDAY 01 MARCH 2017

WED 00:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007m5v6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gmpkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 When Wesley Went to Winchester (b011zm1g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njct8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmyw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Book of the Week (b01g6nfn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 William Makepeace Thackeray - Barry Lyndon (b00t1bsd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Puzzle Panel (b00xmkdw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Babblewick Hall (b01n21l1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 Control Group Six (b00752n7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (b04lq2lx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gn0r7)
A Day's Folly
When a Countess becomes the victim of blackmail, she calls in Lady Molly who's soon in hot pursuit.
Read by Sophie Thompson.
The Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories by Baroness Orczy feature Molly Robertson-Kirk, one of the first female detectives in literature. Originally published in 1910, Lady Molly pre-dates her real-life counterparts by almost a decade.
Relying on brains rather than brawn to solve crimes, she and her faithful assistant, Mary Granard, take on the cases of The Ninescore Mystery, The Irish-Tweed Coat and A Day's Folly, applying feminine tact and intellect to catch the culprits.
Orczy's characters The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Old Man in the Corner are literary classics, but the lesser-known Lady Molly stories are some of the first to feature a female detective as the main protagonist.
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
WED 06:30 The Real Patron Saints (b00768rh)
Saint David
How did a monk keen on standing in freezing cold water become the Patron Saint of Wales? Ian Hislop investigates.
WED 07:00 Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends (b0076svc)
Series 4, Autumn Crocus
Sitcom by Kay Stonham.
1/4. Autumn Crocus
Wendy is pregnant and extremely excited at the prospect of becoming a mother at last. Robin is panicking and trying to cram in all those things he wished he'd done before having a baby, like buy a motorbike!
Their next door neighbours, manic depressive Derek, and his bored younger wife, Maureen, are as ever being supportive, in their own special way.
Robin ...... Brian Capron
Wendy ...... Kay Stonham
Derek ...... Martin Trenaman
Maureen ...... Amelia Bullmore.
WED 07:30 It's Jocelyn (b08fgw6f)
Series 2, Dumped
It's Jocelyn returns for a second series of sketches and stand-up from the wonderful mind of Jocelyn Jee Esien.
In episode one, Jocelyn talks about a break-up, a flirty dentist crosses the line and a street magician shows off his skills to the public.
This series Jocelyn is joined by Paul Whitehouse as a cockney funeral director, as well as the vocal talents of Ninia Benjamin, Curtis Walker, Dee Kaate, Gavi Chera and Karen Bartke.
The producer is Suzy Grant and It's Jocelyn is a BBC Studios production.
WED 08:00 The Navy Lark (b007jmsx)
Opportunity Knockers
Will a star be born? The crew audition for a talent contest aboard HMS Troutbridge.
Starring Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Commanding Officer, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Wren Simkins, Tenniel Evans as the Admiral and Michael Bates as the Vice-Admiral.
Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman and George Evans.
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in June 1972.
WED 08:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007tdvy)
The Wild Man of the Woods
The lad announces that he's rejecting society to go and live a truly rural life.
Starring Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques.
Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Theme and incidental music composed by Wally Stott. Recorded by the BBC Revue Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz.
Producer: Dennis Main Wilson
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in January 1957.
WED 09:00 Genius (b008h570)
Series 1, Richard Madeley
Dave Gorman asks Richard Madeley to select the public's best loopy idea, from mini-elephants to food on tap. From November 2005.
WED 09:30 Second Holmes (b0161p3d)
The Case of the Shadowed Minister
The grandsons of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson help an MP who claims he's being followed. Stars Peter Egan. From January 1983.
WED 10:00 John Mortimer - The Dock Brief (b007js6p)
A cynical and unsuccessful, elderly barrister is overjoyed to be assigned a 'dock brief - to defend a husband accused of the murder of his wife.
John Mortimer's legal satire stars Michael Hordern as Wilfred Morganhall and David Kossoff as Herbert Fowle.
Music composed and conducted by Antony Hopkins.
Producer: Nesta Pain
First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in May 1957.
WED 11:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9zv)
The Old House
The landlord shows one of his properties, but the memories are traumatic. Alistair McGowan reads the Russian master's tale.
WED 11:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qss0)
Beacons
Musical detective Megan's mystery melody quest comes full circle when she gets a surprise. Stars Rakie Ayola.
WED 12:00 The Navy Lark (b007jmsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007tdvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gn0r7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The Real Patron Saints (b00768rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7r)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 8
Roseanne remembers how her husband, Tom, left her after she was discovered with John. Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
WED 14:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctb)
Exporting the Home
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.
Prof Vickery explores the kind of homes the British struggled to create in India, using the diaries and letters of colonial settlers.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
WED 14:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmz9)
Episode 23
It's Marius and Cosette's wedding day. But is that trouble lurking outside the church? With Leslie Phillips and Henry Goodman.
WED 14:45 Book of the Week (b01g6nkq)
Double Cross, Episode 3
Written by Ben Macintyre.
By 1943, preparations are gathering pace for the Allied landings in Normandy, and new recruit, Lily Sergeyev, offers her services to the British Double Cross team as a spy.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee, so named because twenty in Roman numerals forms a double cross.
The key D-Day spies were just five in number, and one of the oddest military units ever assembled: a bisexual Peruvian playgirl, a tiny Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian seducer, a wildly imaginative Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming, and a hysterical Frenchwoman whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire deception. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is here revealed for the first time. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.
These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.
Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
Reader: Jonathan Keeble
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier Production For BBC Radio 4.
WED 15:00 John Mortimer - The Dock Brief (b007js6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 Genius (b008h570)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Second Holmes (b0161p3d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends (b0076svc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 It's Jocelyn (b08fgw6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxm)
Episode 2
Vezin realises that the cat-like villagers are watching him closely. Philip Madoc reads Algernon Henry Blackwood's dark tale.
WED 18:30 Off the Page (b00t0fzl)
Working Mums
Provocative and thoughtful new writing and discussion, presented by Dominic Arkwright. This week Arabella Weir, Deborah Orr and Oliver James join Dominic in the studio to write about and debate their experiences of Working Mums.
Produced by Beatrice Fenton.
WED 19:00 The Navy Lark (b007jmsx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Hancock's Half Hour (b007tdvy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gn0r7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The Real Patron Saints (b00768rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qb9zv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 21:15 Alan Plater - The Devil's Music (b007qss0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
WED 22:00 It's Jocelyn (b08fgw6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Goodness Gracious Me (b008x8fx)
Series 1, Episode 1
The teenage Bhangramuffins are DJing, the Maharisha Yogi is lecturing - and the hungry comedy team go for an 'English'.
Stars Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Nitin Sawhney, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia.
Gold Winner of the Sony Radio Academy Awards. The sketch comedy show originally ran on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998, later transferring to TV on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001.
Scripted by Sharat Sardana, Richard Pinto and the cast.
Produced by Gareth Edwards and Anil Gupta.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1996.
WED 22:55 The Comedy Club Interviews (b08hcqb5)
The best in contemporary comedy. Lizzie Roper chats to Dave Johns.
WED 23:00 Elis James's Pantheon of Heroes (b01pgjbt)
Series 2, Outlaws
Twm Sion Cati, Jesse James and Bartholomew Roberts. Determining the ultimate heroes of Wales. From December 2012.
WED 23:30 Paul Sinha's Citizenship Test (b0386j1j)
Episode 2
Paul Sinha is proudly British. He also loves a quiz. So you would have thought that the UK Citizenship Test, which newcomers to this country must pass to become citizens, would have been right up his street. But the questions in the 2012 and 2013 Home Office guides seem either bizarrely easy - "Where is Welsh most widely spoken?" - or infuriatingly vague - "What happened in the First World War?".
So Paul has created his own test, to better reflect the things that aspiring migrants should understand before they can call themselves British. In this second episode he deals with the health of the nation - our diet, our drinking habits and our athletic prowess. And he tests the studio audience on their knowledge, with those that answer incorrectly being deported.
The series intertwines the sort of comedy Paul has become known for on The Now Show, The News Quiz, and Fighting Talk, as well as his own Radio 4 shows The Sinha Test and The Sinha Games, and the command of facts and figures he demonstrates on the ITV quiz show The Chase, with a dash of the patriotism that has seen him banned from the bar at the United Nations.
Written and performed by Paul Sinha.
Producer: Ed Morrish.


THURSDAY 02 MARCH 2017

THU 00:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 Off the Page (b00t0fzl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Vintage Crime: Baroness Orczy - Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (b08gn0r7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The Real Patron Saints (b00768rh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmz9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Book of the Week (b01g6nkq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 John Mortimer - The Dock Brief (b007js6p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Genius (b008h570)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Second Holmes (b0161p3d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Robin and Wendy's Wet Weekends (b0076svc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 It's Jocelyn (b08fgw6f)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gnwjk)
Murder at Pentecost
When chirpy travelling salesman, Montague Egg arrives in Oxford, he gets embroiled in solving a murder.
Read by Nigel Planer.
Montague Egg, travelling salesman for Plummet and Rose, Wines and Spirits, Piccadilly, is another little-known sleuth. The creation of Dorothy L Sayers, 'Monty-on-the-Spot' just happens to be in the wrong place at the right time and becomes embroiled in police investigations in Murder at Pentecost and The Poisoned Dow '08.
Chirpy in manner and eager to please, Monty uses his working-class wits and experience to solve the cases that are baffling the professionals. A complete contrast from Sayers' more famous literary character, Lord Peter Wimsey, Monty is fond of quoting maxims from The Salesman's Handbook, his favourite publication. "A cheerful voice and cheerful look put orders in the order-book."
The reader, Nigel Planer is best known for his role as Neil in cult TV comedy The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy in Filthy Rich and Catflap, Nigel's also appeared in many West End musicals including the original casts of Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Wicked and Hairspray. TV work includes The Comic Strip Presents, Episodes, Hank Zipzer, King and Castle, Shine on Harvey Moon, Blackadder III, Rollover Beethoven and much more. Radio and voice credits include Gloomsbury, Polyoaks, Otherwise Engaged, Gruesome Tales for Grizzly Kids and Adrian Mole.
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
THU 06:30 The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities (b018grhw)
Crime novelist Frances Fyfield takes us into the heart of Dickens' creative process: his handwritten manuscripts.
When Dickens wrote 'A Tale of Two Cities' in 1859 it was, for him at least, both the best of times and the worst of times.
He'd separated from his wife, started a new weekly journal and was becoming more and more familiar as a performer of his own works.
But the process of creation for his new novel was the same as ever.
A tightly written manuscript on individual leaves was whisked off to the printers, proof-read and edited by the author and then made available, instalment by instalment, to a loyal public.
Frances Fyfield has been given access to that manuscript, held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and along with the scholar Robert Patten and actor David Timson, she explores the frantic handwriting, the ferocious self-editing and the sheer energy of Dickens' original pages.
And she also visits a print museum to get an idea of just what a challenge it was, turning these pages into print against the deadlines Dickens had set himself.
Producer: Tom Alban.
THU 07:00 Dry Slopes (b00lvl1l)
Series 1, Families and How to Conceive Them
Friendless, jobless Angus breaks free from his sheltered-life shackles to go on a date. Starring Nick Ball. From May 1995.
THU 07:30 Meet David Sedaris (b063d34q)
Series 5, The Understudy; Big Boy
One of the world's best storytellers, back on BBC Radio 4 doing what he does best.
There are two stories, this week:
The Understudy sees some questionable childcare from the child's point of view, and Big Boy is about a problem many of us have faced when one flush just isn't enough.
And there are some extracts from David's unique diary.
Produced by Steve Doherty
A Giddy Goat production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 08:00 Stop Messing About! (b00cmz01)
Series 1, Episode 12
The serialised War Memoirs of Kenneth Williams - and: rev up with bona racing drivers, Ben and Hur!
Stars Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Joan Sims and announcer, Douglas Smith.
After the unexpected death of Kenneth Horne in 1969, plans for the next series of Round The Horne were axed. Instead - using an old catchphrase of Kenneth Williams as a series title - Kenneth joined Hugh Paddick to continue the comedy tradition and was also reunited with his "Carry On" film co-star Joan Sims.
Written by Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Myles Rudge
With the Max Harris Group.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in June 1969.
THU 08:30 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
Room to Manoeuvre
Cleaner Elsie borrows a flat for a night, but must keep caretaker Ramsay out of the way. Stars Roy Dotrice. From February 1982.
THU 09:00 All the Way From Memphis (b00jdp93)
Series 1, Episode 4
James Walton's pop music history quiz with Andrew Collins, Martin Freeman, Tracey Macleod and Stewart Lee. From December 2004.
THU 09:30 Nineteen Ninety-Four (b014sntd)
Happiness Is Work
Edward is now in charge of the environment, but for how long? Orwellian sitcom starring Robert Lindsay. From April 1985.
THU 10:00 Saturday Drama (b00rd3ws)
Playing With Trains, Episode 1
Stephen Poliakoff is reunited with leading actor Timothy Spall in a new two-part radio version of his drama Playing With Trains, to be broadcast in March. Spall is joined by Zoe Tapper (whose recent TV credits include lead roles in Survivors, Desperate Romantics and Affinity) and Geoffrey Streatfeild (who recently starred as Hal in the RSC's History Cycle). Poliakoff and Spall previously collaborated brilliantly on the ground-breaking TV dramas Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers.
The play tells the story of the rise and fall of Bill Galpin (Spall), a flamboyant entrepreneur who pools his fortune into backing risky inventions which are concerned with safeguarding the environment, while at the same time having a very tempestuous but poignant relationship with his two children Roxanna and Danny (Tapper and Streatfeild).
Beginning in the heady days of the late 1960s, Playing With Trains deals with the fact that Britain invents so much, yet manufactures so little. Galpin makes a fortune from a brilliant development in gramophone technology, and then turns himself into a self-appointed patron and champion of inventors and innovators everywhere, clashing with the establishment through the libel courts, speeches to captains of industry, Civil Service offices and even TV shows.
Parallel to his relationship with industry is his even more tempestuous relationship with his children. Roxanna - whom he expects to become a great engineer - drops out of Cambridge and becomes an art student in attempt to escape her father's grip. Danny, meanwhile, turns into the very thing his father despises - a financial expert, but in so doing recognises the shortcomings of his father's enterprises.
Playing With Trains is a moving family drama set over two decades, charting a "love affair" between father and daughter. It's Poliakoff at his very best, telling an intensely private story within a sweeping public drama.
Playing With Trains was originally staged at the RSC in 1989.
The cast is completed by Helen Longworth (Frances), Joseph Kloska (Mick), Nigel Hastings (Vernon Boyce), Michael Fenton Stevens (Gant) and Bruce Alexander (QC). It was produced and directed for BBC Radio Drama Birmingham by Peter Leslie Wild.
Producer/Director Peter Leslie Wild.
THU 11:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qbb8m)
Ivan Matveyitch
An old academic and a young boy. It's a topsy-turvy friendship, but it endures. Alistair McGowan reads the Russian master's tale.
THU 11:15 Lavinia Murray - By the Coast of Coromandel (b0186yvm)
A surreal tale of Edward Lear in search of his creations. Songs by Nina Perry. Stars Derek Jacobi and Floella Benjamin.
THU 12:00 Stop Messing About! (b00cmz01)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gnwjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities (b018grhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7y)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 9
Father Gaunt's deposition refers to a baby born long after Roseanne's marriage was over. Read by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
THU 14:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctd)
Dunroamin
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.
The roots of the suburb lie very deep; but for snobs and bohemians, the adjective 'suburban' has always been the ultimate put-down. Prof Vickery listens to the experiences of those who moved there.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 14:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmzr)
Episode 24
Jean Valjean tells Marius about his criminal past, while Thenardier prepares his blackmail plans. Starring Joss Ackland.
THU 14:45 Book of the Week (b01g6pgz)
Double Cross, Episode 4
Written by Ben Macintyre.
The plans for the D-Day landings have been finalised but the alarm is raised when a high profile German businessman with ties to MI5 is arrested by the Gestapo.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee, so named because twenty in Roman numerals forms a double cross.
The key D-Day spies were just five in number, and one of the oddest military units ever assembled: a bisexual Peruvian playgirl, a tiny Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian seducer, a wildly imaginative Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming, and a hysterical Frenchwoman whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire deception. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is here revealed for the first time. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.
These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.
Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
Reader: Jonathan Keeble
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier Production For BBC Radio 4.
THU 15:00 Saturday Drama (b00rd3ws)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 All the Way From Memphis (b00jdp93)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Nineteen Ninety-Four (b014sntd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 Dry Slopes (b00lvl1l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Meet David Sedaris (b063d34q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxy)
Episode 3
When Vezin declares his love for Ilse, he fears for his actions. Philip Madoc reads Algernon Henry Blackwood's dark tale.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b00djvgk)
Series 16, Lady Hester Stanhope
Series of biographical discussions with Matthew Parris.
Georgian political hostess, traveller, diplomat and spy Lady Hester Stanhope is nominated by businesswoman and Dragon's Den investor Deborah Meaden. Stanhope's biographer Kirsten Ellis lends her expert knowledge to the discussion.
THU 19:00 Stop Messing About! (b00cmz01)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 Know Your Place (b018jpjy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gnwjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities (b018grhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qbb8m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Lavinia Murray - By the Coast of Coromandel (b0186yvm)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Meet David Sedaris (b063d34q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Newsjack (b08gp910)
Series 16, Episode 6
This week's stories bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches, one-liners and vox-pops. Trying to make sense of it all is new host, Angela Barnes.
THU 23:00 Rubbish (b00770sz)
Series 1, Chilling
Martin is horrified that people are doing despicable things to council bins. So he aspires to be a vigilante, despite high blood pressure. Stars Reece Dinsdale. From October 2006.
THU 23:30 Hut 33 (b01jk1bx)
Series 3, Big Machine
1942: can Gordon's new computing invention help the Bletchley Park code-breakers?
Stars Tom Goodman-Hill as Archie, Robert Bathurst as Professor Charles Gardner, Fergus Craig as Gordon, Alex MacQueen as 3rd Lt. Joshua Featherstonhaugh-Marshall, Olivia Colman as Minka and Lill Roughley as Mrs Best.
Written by James Cary.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2009.


FRIDAY 03 MARCH 2017

FRI 00:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvxy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b00djvgk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gnwjk)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 The Tale of A Tale of Two Cities (b018grhw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t7y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jmzr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Book of the Week (b01g6pgz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Saturday Drama (b00rd3ws)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 All the Way From Memphis (b00jdp93)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Nineteen Ninety-Four (b014sntd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 Dry Slopes (b00lvl1l)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Meet David Sedaris (b063d34q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gpbt0)
The Poisoned Dow '08
Arriving at Pentecost College, wine salesman, Montague Egg is drawn into the mystery murder of a client.
Read by Nigel Planer.
Montague Egg, travelling salesman for Plummet and Rose, Wines and Spirits, Piccadilly, is another little-known sleuth. The creation of Dorothy L Sayers, 'Monty-on-the-Spot' just happens to be in the wrong place at the right time and becomes embroiled in police investigations in Murder at Pentecost and The Poisoned Dow '08.
Chirpy in manner and eager to please, Monty uses his working-class wits and experience to solve the cases that are baffling the professionals. A complete contrast from Sayers' more famous literary character, Lord Peter Wimsey, Monty is fond of quoting maxims from The Salesman's Handbook, his favourite publication. "A cheerful voice and cheerful look put orders in the order-book."
Producer: Jo Green
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Greenlit Productions.
FRI 06:30 The Mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (b019gz0c)
'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' is a tantalising element of the Dickens manuscript archive held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Along with fellow crime-writer Simon Brett and Dickens scholar Professor Jenny Hartley, Frances Fyfield uses the packed manuscript pages, detailed number plans and early cover designs to try and make sense of one of English Literature's great mysteries: what really happened to the eponymous hero. Edwin Drood.
Dickens died shortly after bringing the curtain down on Chapter 23, barely half way through the twelve monthly instalments. He suffered a massive stroke later that day, 8 June 1870, and died the next day.
By that stage in Dickens' novel, Edwin has gone missing and it is suspected that he has been murdered but no body has been found. The finger of suspicion points at Neville Landless but the author seems to be hinting at the guilt of a more sinister figure, the leader of the Cathedral choir, John Jasper.
Ever since, Dickensian enthusiasts have searched the book for every hint of a clue as to what the author intended to do with the characters he'd created. Frances isn't afraid of joining these so-called 'Droodians' in trying to employ her crime-writer's insights to make sense of the pieces of the jigsaw left to us.
But her investigation, which takes her to Rochester where the novel is set, also examines the state of Dickens' mind at the time, and his fascination with the criminal mentality, including vintage Dickensian types like Mr Crisparkle, the angular Mr Grewgious and the hideous auctioneer Mr Sapsea.
Frances and her colleagues also search the manuscript for signs of the author's failing health, and, perhaps more importantly, failing ability.
What they find is the usual high octane writing style, brilliant inventiveness and perhaps a greater subtlety in characterisation than in many of the earlier works.
Producer: Tom Alban.
FRI 07:00 Miracles R Us (b00sm8tq)
Lot 243
Caroline's car gives up the ghost. It will cost more to have it mended than the business can afford.
They have been asked to attend an auction at a country house to bid for a Lot for a client and Sylvia will drive them there in her car - a car Caroline knew nothing about. They turn left all the way. They find the client's item, but, also find Caroline's grand-mother's silver dressing table set, sold with everything else when her husband's fraud brought their lives crashing down.
Whilst Caroline reflects with a cigarette outside she bumps into Lauren, soon to be ex-wife of the pop star who owns the house and all the contents that are being auctioned. The women, united by events, strike up a friendship. Meanwhile, Sylvia meets Lambourn the Gardener and they realise they are kindred spirits.
Caroline..............................Deborah Findlay
Sylvia..............................Anna Massey
Lauren..............................Madeleine Bowyer
Lambourn..............................Trevor Peacock
Carl Bailey..............................Nigel Hastings
Auctioneer..............................Michael Shelford
Written by Lesley Bruce
Producer: Katie Tyrrell
Music and stings from the music of Nick Drake. Theme: "When the Day is Done" and stings: "Time of No Reply" and "Cello Song".
FRI 07:30 Guilt Trip (b07nrlqx)
Episode 4
Felicity Montagu and her daughter play mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path.
Comedy drama in which Felicity Montagu (Lynn in Alan Partridge and Mrs Mainwaring in the new Dad's Army film) and her daughter (Olivia Nixon) play a mother and daughter doing a two week sponsored walk along The Thames Path to raise money for the dead father's charity. But the mother and father had been divorced for nine years and he had re-married, so relationships between them all have been strained. Things come to a head at any mention of the French Oak gable table Ros and her now dead ex bought together in Camden. This has ended up in the step-mother's house, much to Ros's annoyance: "I mean she sits at it! It's my table and she sits at it." The series is co-written by Katherine Jakeways who also plays the step-mother.
It's the last day of the walk and they still have 10 miles to go, but when they oversleep at the hotel they were not supposed to be staying in in the first place, it's not looking good. They are hung over and Ruth is organizing a big reception for them at Tower Bridge - but will they get there in time?
The producer was Jane Berthoud, it was a BBC Radio Comedy production.
FRI 08:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00q9y63)
Series 2, Episode 3
Astronaut space capers, a whodunit? - and the Knitting Song.
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs plus TV and cinema parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Written by John Esmonde & Bob Larbey, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Peter Vincent and David McKellar.
Originating from the Cambridge University Footlights revue 'Cambridge Circus', ISIRTA ran for 8 years on BBC Radio and quickly developed a cult following.
Songs by Bill Oddie with music by Dave Lee.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in October 1965.
FRI 08:30 The Goon Show (b007jyf4)
The Call of the West
Count Moriarty and Grytpype-Thynne sell saxophones to the Indians in a cowboy caper. Stars Peter Sellers. From January 1959.
FRI 09:00 The 3rd Degree (b05tbjt2)
Series 5, University of Manchester
A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors.
Coming this week from the University of Manchester, The 3rd Degree is a funny, lively and dynamic quiz show aimed at cultivating the next generation of Radio 4 listeners while delighting the current ones.
The Specialist Subjects in this episode are Biology, American Studies and Medicine and the questions range from the sound of bats to the films of Eddie Redmayne, via The Beggar's Opera and Morph.
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and it pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in a genuinely original and fresh take on an academic quiz. Being a Radio 4 programme, it of course meets the most stringent standards of academic rigour - but with lots of facts and jokes thrown in for good measure.
The rounds vary between Specialist Subjects and General Knowledge, quick-fire bell-and-buzzer rounds and the 'Highbrow & Lowbrow' round cunningly devised to test not only the students' knowledge of current affairs, history, languages and science, but also their Professors' awareness of television, film, and One Direction.
The host, Steve Punt, although best known as a satirist on The Now Show also delights in all facets of knowledge, not just in the Humanities (his educational background) but in the sciences as well. He has made a number of documentaries for Radio 4, including The Poet Unwound - The History Of The Spleen, as well as a half-hour comedy for Radio 4's Big Bang Day set in the Large Hadron Collider, called The Genuine Particle.
Producer: David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 09:30 Are You From the Bugle? (b01jltzd)
Plastic Balls and Sewing Machines
Butterthwaite is getting a new museum - can Graham get an exclusive on the opening? Stars Jeffrey Holland. From June 1996.
FRI 10:00 Saturday Drama (b00rl20k)
Playing With Trains, Episode 2
Stephen Poliakoff is reunited with leading actor Timothy Spall in a new two-part radio version of his drama Playing With Trains, to be broadcast in March. Spall is joined by Zoe Tapper (whose recent TV credits include lead roles in Survivors, Desperate Romantics and Affinity) and Geoffrey Streatfeild (who recently starred as Hal in the RSC's History Cycle). Poliakoff and Spall previously collaborated brilliantly on the ground-breaking TV dramas Shooting the Past and Perfect Strangers.
The play tells the story of the rise and fall of Bill Galpin (Spall), a flamboyant entrepreneur who pools his fortune into backing risky inventions which are concerned with safeguarding the environment, while at the same time having a very tempestuous but poignant relationship with his two children Roxanna and Danny (Tapper and Streatfeild).
Beginning in the heady days of the late 1960s, Playing With Trains deals with the fact that Britain invents so much, yet manufactures so little. Galpin makes a fortune from a brilliant development in gramophone technology, and then turns himself into a self-appointed patron and champion of inventors and innovators everywhere, clashing with the establishment through the libel courts, speeches to captains of industry, Civil Service offices and even TV shows.
Parallel to his relationship with industry is his even more tempestuous relationship with his children. Roxanna - whom he expects to become a great engineer - drops out of Cambridge and becomes an art student in an attempt to escape her father's grip. Danny, meanwhile, turns into the very thing his father despises - a financial expert, but in so doing recognises the shortcomings of his father's enterprises.
Playing With Trains is a moving family drama set over two decades, charting a "love affair" between father and daughter. It's Poliakoff at his very best, telling an intensely private story within a sweeping public drama.
Playing With Trains was originally staged at the RSC in 1989.
The cast is completed by Helen Longworth (Frances), Joseph Kloska (Mick), Nigel Hastings (Vernon Boyce), Michael Fenton Stevens (Gant) and Bruce Alexander (QC). It was produced and directed for BBC Radio Drama Birmingham by Peter Leslie Wild.
Producer/Director Peter Leslie Wild.
FRI 11:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qbb8r)
Bad Weather
Or to put it another way, what has the husband been up to in Moscow? Alistair McGowan reads Constance Garnett's translation.
FRI 11:15 Jane Cassidy - Retouching (b00759fq)
4 Extra Debut. A woman wants an old photo retouched with the child in it removed. The retoucher wants to find out why. Stars Marie Jones.
FRI 12:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00q9y63)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Goon Show (b007jyf4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gpbt0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (b019gz0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Book at Bedtime (b00b4t84)
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture, Episode 10
Dr Grene must head to England to uncover the truth about Roseanne McNulty's child. Concluded by Doreen Keogh and Alex Jennings.
FRI 14:15 Amanda Vickery - A History of Private Life (b00njctg)
Alternative Homes
Historian Amanda Vickery presents a series which reveals the hidden history of home over 400 years. She draws on first-hand accounts from letters and diaries, many of which have never been heard before. Including songs which have been specially recorded for the series.
Homes were exposed to huge forces of change in the 19th and 20th century, responding to industrialisation, pollution, and the imperial mission. Prof Vickery explores how they remained idealised havens in a heartless, dirty world.
'Home means a place to go to when you are in trouble. A place sadly altered by war. A place to glorify when away and rely on always...' So reported one woman to the Mass Observation survey. Prof Vickery explores the enduring pull of a home of one's own.
Readers: Deborah Findlay, John Sessions, Madeleine Brolly and Simon Tcherniak.
Singers: Gwyneth Herbert and Thomas Guthrie, with David Owen Norris at the keyboard.
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
FRI 14:30 Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (b007jn05)
Episode 25
As Thenardier attempts to blackmail Marius, can there be a final reconciliation for Valjean and Cosette? Starring Roger Allam.
FRI 14:45 Book of the Week (b01g6pwc)
Double Cross, Episode 5
Written by Ben Macintyre.
It is June 1944 and the Allies prepare for the landings in Normandy, taking the Germans by surprise, thanks to the work of the double agents working for the British secret service.
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence - the Bletchley Park code-breakers, MI5, MI6, SOE, Scientific Intelligence, the FBI and the French Resistance. But at its heart was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents controlled by the secret Twenty Committee, so named because twenty in Roman numerals forms a double cross.
The key D-Day spies were just five in number, and one of the oddest military units ever assembled: a bisexual Peruvian playgirl, a tiny Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian seducer, a wildly imaginative Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming, and a hysterical Frenchwoman whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire deception. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is here revealed for the first time. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.
These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.
Ben Macintyre is the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
Reader: Jonathan Keeble
Abridger: Libby Spurrier
Producer: Joanna Green
A Pier Production For BBC Radio 4.
FRI 15:00 Saturday Drama (b00rl20k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 The 3rd Degree (b05tbjt2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 Are You From the Bugle? (b01jltzd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 Miracles R Us (b00sm8tq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Guilt Trip (b07nrlqx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Algernon Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries (b007jvy3)
Episode 4
Vezin is wary over a mother and daughter's invitation to witches' Sabbath. Philip Madoc reads Algernon Henry Blackwood's dark tale.
FRI 18:30 Soul Music (b01mddl6)
Series 14, Beethoven's Violin Concerto
Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major Opus 61 was written in 1806, but was not a success at its premiere. 200 years on and this Concerto is regarded as one of the greatest pieces ever written for the violin. This programme explores ways in which the Beethoven Violin Concerto has touched and shaped people's lives. Writer Kelly Cherry describes her father loving this piece and still remembering it even when he had Alzheimers. Violinist Robert Gupta talks about this piece being the music which cemented his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers - a moment which changed Robert's life. Joe Quigley remembers hearing the Concerto at a crucial point in his life whilst living in a monastery. Devorina Gamalova recalls being entranced by this music as a child. And violinist Christian Tetzlaff talks about what it's like to play the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
Producer: Rosie Boulton.
FRI 19:00 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00q9y63)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Goon Show (b007jyf4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Dorothy L Sayers - Montague Egg (b08gpbt0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (b019gz0c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Stories by Anton Chekhov (b00qbb8r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 21:15 Jane Cassidy - Retouching (b00759fq)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
FRI 22:00 Guilt Trip (b07nrlqx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 To Hull and Back (b06hjkv6)
Series 1, The French Connection
To Hull and Back is the eagerly anticipated sitcom from BBC New Comedy Award winner Lucy Beaumont. First episode in this new series.
Sophie still lives at home with her mum in Hull. They make a living doing car boot sales at the weekend. Except they don't really make a living because her mum can't bear to get rid of any of their junk. Plus, they don't have a car. As their house gets more cluttered, Sophie feels more trapped. Sophie dreams of moving to London to meet her dad and to become a famous actress. Will this dream come true?
Cast
Sophie - Lucy Beaumont
Sheila - Maureen Lipman
Jean - Kerrie Marsh
Ernie - Norman Lovett
Michelle - Jemma Walker
Sadie - Jaimi Barbakoff
Writer
Lucy Beaumont
Producer
Carl Cooper
This is a BBC Radio Comedy Production.
FRI 23:00 Everyone Quite Likes Justin (b01mc0mc)
Series 2, Episode 1
by Justin Moorhouse and Jim Poyser
Justin's still living with his father-in-law, still working with his ex-wife and still calling on his Gran for her words of wisdom. This week he also has to cope with not having a plus one to bring to his school reunion.
Justin ..... Justin Moorhouse
Gran ..... Anne Reid
Lisa ..... Christine Bottomley
Man ..... Jim Poyser
Bryn ..... Lloyd Langford
Ray ..... Paul Copley
Miles ..... Rob Rouse
Tanya ..... Victoria Elliott
Producer: Steven Canny
In one version of his life, Justin is a loveable celebrity who is successful, funny, and stopped in the street by adoring fans. He's the man who has everything.
In the more realistic version he's a DJ in a slightly shabby local radio station who gets hassled by the occasional oddball on the street. And he's the man who hopes for everything.
And at home? Well, it's chaotic. His wife has left him, taking custody of his 8-year-old son Justin jnr. So he's back on the market. So he's currently living in his father-in-law's spare room in Bury. The only person who understands him is his Gran, living in luxury in an old folk's home in Warrington. Oh, and his producer Bryn but this might not be such a good thing.
Everyone Quite Likes Justin is written by Justin Moorhouse and Jim Poyser. Justin is a comedian who sells out gigs across the country. He has also written plays and a previous show for Radio 4. Jim Poyser is a writer and producer of enormous experience in both radio and television.
Recorded in front of an audience in Manchester.
FRI 23:30 Ectoplasm (b007wp38)
The Affair of the Baddie's Niece
Lord Zimbabwe and Dr Lilac hit the Wild West to thwart an evil Waffle Baron. With Dan Freedman and Nick Romero. From July 2000.