SATURDAY 11 APRIL 2020

SAT 00:00 Jenny Stephens - Jefferson 37 (b007k4s9)
Episode 4
Dr Abbotts finds his 'party trick' used against him, and Paul Smith takes full advantage of the chaos. Stars David Birrell.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0076tr2)
Your Inner Child
Matthew Parris, Pat Kane, Matt Harvey and Hilary Mantel discuss the idea of being young at heart. From September 2005.
SAT 01:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h6xz3)
Series 1
The Bank Raid
An old-style bank raid keeps the boys busy. Will DS Brook make his date with Judie?
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His side-kick is 23 year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
Chief Inspector Roach …. David Daker
DC Harrison …. Peter Cleall
Forensic Scientist …. Roger Hammond
Mr. Franklin …. John Ringham
Miss Rees …. Liza Flanagan
Collator …. James Sosmo
Matron …. Margot Boyd
Police Officer …. David Timson
Charles Owen …. John Sharp
Judie …. Jacqueline Tong
Mrs. Miller …. Julie May
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1980.
SAT 01:30 Past Presence (b0076mgw)
Why has King John’s Magna Carta of 1215 endured through wars and even European Union arguments?
Presenter Tristram Hunt traces the background and interpretation of Magna Carta from its inception through to modern times.
Producer: Matthew Dodd.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004.
SAT 02:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06q7gwp)
Episode 5
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 5:
The story continues with the members of the Grand St Petersburg ballet anticipating the imminent arrest of the husband of the murdered ballerina. Not only had Miles Sutton been asking his wife for a divorce, he was also hiding a serious drug habit. Questions remain however over the murder weapon - the pair of shears found by our narrator, Peter, after the murder took place. The performances of the now sell-out ballet continue as does the investigation, and tonight a wealthy patron holds a party for the company.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
SAT 02:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bfpzw)
Three Wise Men
Heather Couper reviews ancient associations of stars and planets with deities and astrology's link to maths and the 24-hour day.
SAT 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jsrt)
A Whistling Woman, Part 2/7
Frederica has doubts about her television career and her brother, Marcus, makes a shocking discovery. Stars Karl Prekopp.
SAT 02:45 Paper Gardens (m000h2p5)
The Plant Hunters
Leslie Forbes pays a visit to London's Kew Gardens to investigate the enthusiasm of plant hunters and botanical artists.
SAT 03:00 Evelyn Waugh - A Handful of Dust (m000h6q1)
Episode 2
Tony's life is shattered by Brenda's revelation of adultery.
Conclusion of Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel starring Tara Fitzgerald and Jonathan Cullen.
Dramatised by Bill Matthews.
Brenda Last ...... Tara Fitzgerald
Tony Last ...... Jonathan Cullen
Beaver ..... Ronan Vibert
Jock .... James Simmons
Milly ..... Dariel Pertwee
Mrs Beaver .... Sally Grace
Dr Messinger .... Robert Glenister
Rosa .... Vivienne Rochester
Mr Todd .... Jack Klaff
Teddy Last .... Daniel Philpott
Reggie .... David Timson
Ambrose ... Kim Wall
Babs .... Jane Whittenshaw
Polly .... Colleen Prendergast
Tony's Solicitor .... Denys Hawthorne
Senior Detective .... Geoffrey Whttehead
Winnie .... Jade Williams
Jenny .... Alice Arnold
Director: Sally Avens
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1996.
SAT 04:00 Funny You Should Ask (b0b8brq5)
From 24/03/1981
Peter Jones hosts the entertainment quiz about comedy as he tests a panel of experts: Leslie Crowther, Barry Cryer and Dick Vosburgh.
Funny You Should Ask ran for 8 series from 1976 to 1982.
Questions compiled by Michael Pointon.
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 1981.
SAT 04:30 The Adventures of John and Tony (b009pn8p)
The Total Hotel Experience
John and his best friend Tony find themselves taking part in a seaside hotel's murder-mystery weekend.
John just wants to play dominoes, but amongst the guests is a woman from his past - with her potatoes.
Written by John Hegley
Starring John Hegley, Simon Munnery, Terry Malloy, Sunny Ormonde and Andy Hockley.
Original music by Nigel Piper.
Director: Anne Edyvean
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
SAT 05:00 Electric Ink (b01jjtn5)
Series 2
Episode 1
Maddox has lost the job of news editor and now faces being sued.
Alistair Beaton and Tom Mitchelson's comic satire set in the struggling world of newspapers. .
Maddox ..... John Sessions
Oliver ..... Alex Jennings
Freddy ..... Stephen Wight
Carol ..... Polly Frame
Masha ..... Debbie Chazen
Keith ..... Sam Dale
Producer ..... Sally Avens
A group of dysfunctional journalists attempt to cover major news stories at the same time as grappling with the demands of working in a multi-platform environment, watching circulation figures plummet and the recession causing half the workforce to be laid off.
At the heart of the comedy is the relationship between Maddox Bradley, a journalist who mourns the day of proper investigative journalism, and Freddy, the online editor who will regurgitate a press release quite happily and call it a story. But they have a grudging respect for the each other as Freddy helps Maddox stay afloat in the world of Twitter, Facebook and podcasting and Maddox shows Freddy how to sniff out the real story. Both are at the mercy of Oliver, the pragmatic editor more concerned with keeping his job, and Carol, the news editor who believes that circulation will increase if they run pieces on Big Mac eating orang-utans and 'intelligent' skunks rather than Maddox's moral crusading diatribes. And only Masha, the Russian head of online communities, who wants to give away all their content because that is true democracy, knows Freddy's secret; that he's a posh boy from Eton rather than a hyper-cool kid from the street; well that's what Freddy thinks anyway.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2010.
SAT 05:30 Just a Minute (m000h9y5)
The panel game hosted by Nicholas Parsons comes from The Mermaid Theatre in London where the panellists are Paul Merton, Sue Perkins, Graham Norton and Ross Noble.
SAT 06:00 Ben Travers - Rookery Nook (m000h81d)
The confetti hardly brushed from his tailcoat and his new wife nursing his new mother-in-law, Gerald Popkiss motors to Chumpton where his new sister-in-law can keep her eye on him.
The question is - can he explain the beautiful, barefoot, pyjama-clad girl sleeping in his bed...?
From the novel and stage farce by Ben Travers - adapted by Peter King.
Gerald Popkiss .... Ian Lavender
Clive Popkiss .... Brett Usher
Gertrude Twine .... Anne Jameson
Harold Twine ..... John Grillo
Mrs Leverett .... Elizabeth Bell
Putz .... Carl Duering
Conrad the dog ..... Percy Edwards
Clara Popkiss .... Helena Breck
Rhoda Marley .... Melinda Walker
Poppy Dickey ..... Jenny Funnell
Chumpton villager ..... David Garth
Rector .... Colin Starkey
Baby .... Thomas King
Music composed and played by Ed Welch (piano) with Ron Aspery
Director: Peter King
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1985.
SAT 07:30 The Voices of... (b08rq6dn)
Series 2
Christopher Robson
Countertenor Christopher Robson reflects on his life in music - from playing in a Salvation Army band, via the stage of the Coliseum singing Handel, to working with Damon Albarn.
Christopher Robson found his voice by chance during a singing lesson as a teenager. Up to that point he had proved himself a musical child, playing cornet in a Salvation Army band and singing during services, sometimes reluctantly and often with his brother Nigel. But from the moment he discovered falsetto - the ability to soar above the usual range of the male voice - his ambitions led in a different direction. What followed resembles, at times, the life of a rock star rather than an opera singer.
In this intimate portrait, recorded at the London Coliseum, Christopher looks back on his rocky route into the music business, roles in iconic productions, such as Nicholas Hytner's Xerxes, his life in Germany and collaborating with Damon Albarn on his opera Dr Dee.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.
SAT 08:00 Somebody Did It Better (m000h81g)
The story of the many songs that just missed out on a place in the 007 hall of fame.
Samantha Bond (Miss Moneypenny) explains how some of the biggest names in pop music have been rejected in the pursuit of the perfect Bond song.
Producers: Richard Latto & Pete Doherty
Made by BBC Radio Solent and first broadcast in 2015.
SAT 09:00 Comedy Greats (b007k0ly)
The 1950s
Episode 1
Decade by decade, Barry Cryer showcases some of the funniest and finest shows ever broadcast by the BBC.
With his hair in a quiff, our King of Skiffle rock 'n'rolls his way back to the 1950s. Barry's first comedy six-pack is plucked from the schedules of the BBC Light Programme and BBC Home Service:
* Life With The Lyons:
Series 5 (7/25) - A Crooner In the House
Daughter Barbara is in love with singer Ronnie Harris and father Ben's not happy. Stars Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon. From January 1955.
* In All Directions:
06/01/56
American President Eisenhower fields questions and life in the BBC's Public Relations Office. Sketches galore scripted by and starring Peter Ustinov and Peter Jones. From January 1956
* The Al Read Show:
Northern Variety Parade
The wonders of modern cafeterias and the cheesy chat-up lines of men with motor cars.
Starring the Salford sausage maker turned monarch of the monologue. From November 1955.
* A Life of Bliss:
Finding a Girlfriend
Matchmakers galore target shy bachelor David Bliss. Stars George Cole, Petula Clark and Percy Edwards as Pysche the dog. From October1954.
* Take It From Here:
Series 10 (8/20)
Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley worry over BBC cuts in sound radio - and how Ron and Eth first met in 'The Glums'. With June Whitfield. From February 1957.
* The Goon Show:
Series 8 (10/26) - King Solomon's Mines
Neddie Seagoon loses at roulette, so heads off in search of legendary African riches. Stars Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. With Wallace Greenslade. From December 1957.
Produced and scripted by Peter Reed
Made for BBC 7 and first broadcast in May 2003.
SAT 12:00 Says on the Tin (b00g4fv7)
Toothpaste
Disgraced American ad man Eliott Thurber is forced to transfer to the new London branch of Parabola Media.
CAST:
Eliott Thurber .... Michael Brandon
Esther Finn .... Samantha Bond
Hannah Walker .... Pippa Haywood
Zadie .... Joannah Tincey
Ted Bruckner .... Malcolm Tierney
Toothrot …. Chris Pavlo
Customs Officer …. Stephen Critchlow
Woman ….Janice Acquah
Child …. Manjeet Mann
Stewardess …. Donnla Hughes
Plaque Inam Mirza
Written by Christopher Hill.
Producer: Liz Webb.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2008.
SAT 12:30 Gossip from the Garden Pond (b04g7d6q)
The Tadpole and the Dragonfly
The Tadpole played by Julian Rhind Tutt and the Dragonfly played by Alison Steadman, reveal the truth about life in a garden pond, in the first of three very funny tales, written and introduced by Lynne Truss, with sound recordings by Chris Watson.
The jaunty Tadpole revels in his youth as he darts about the pond, generally avoiding his neighbours because most of them want to eat him! "When are you going to grow up?" asks the Dragonfly. This is far from easy as the tadpole is quick to point out, as he has to go through a whole traumatic body-changing metamorphosis. The only disadvantage, he reckons, of being young and immature of course, is that you have no hands, which makes things tricky when you want to wave at anyone or take a selfie, but it's a small price to pay for the freedom of youth reckons our happy-go-lucky fellow, until a strange dream signals a life-changing event. "One minute you're wiggling, wiggling. and the next you look absolutely daft waving your bottom around, coz there's nothing on the end of it"
The Dragonfly is lighter than air, quick, beautiful; all dazzling wings and observant eyes . She is also quite highly sexed and living life at a great rate knowing that she doesn't have much time. Having spent months and months living in the murk and mud of the garden pond as an ugly, aggressive nymph, her life was transformed when she felt impelled to climb up a stem and was transformed into an adult. She is dazzling; with her aerial acrobatics, fine wings and long slender limbs. But she knows she hasn't long to live and before she dies, she must feed and find a mate "I'm gorgeous, I'm ready ... and I'm hot, hot, hot".
Producer Sarah Blunt.
SAT 13:00 The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Omnibus) (m000h81j)
Episode 1
George Eliot’s novel of grand passions and tormented lives to mark the 140th Anniversary of George Eliot’s death this year.
Omnibus of the first of five of ten episodes by Rhiannon Tise.
A brother and sister, pitted against one another in love and life. An absorbing tragedy of family discord and financial ruin, of sibling love and bitterness. And a powerful tale of desire, betrayal and moral conflict.
George Eliot, the Narrator ….. Anna Maxwell Martin
Young Maggie ….. Amy-Jayne Leigh
Young Tom ….. Oliver Zetterstrom
Young Lucy ….. Grace Doherty
Mr Tulliver ….. Roger Ringrose
Mrs Tulliver ….. Alison Belbin
Maggie ….. Joanna Vanderham
Tom ….. Will Kirk
Lucy ….. Ell Potter
Philip ….. Chris Lew Kum Hoi
Stephen ….. Jack Farthing
Mrs Moss ….. Heather Craney
Mr Wakem ….. John Dougall
Mrs Glegg ….. Elizabeth Counsell,
Mr Stelling ….. John Lightbody,
Dr Kenn ….. Hasan Dixon
Luke/Bob ….. Kurtis Lowe
Keiza/Sally ….. Bettrys Jones
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale
George Eliot's most autobiographical novel draws on her personal pain at the loss of the close bond with her brother who had cut off all contact with her. It resulted in one of the great novels of childhood, and one of literature's most unforgettable heroines. Like Anne of Green Gables and Jane Eyre, Maggie captures the dilemma of being the clever girl in the family, the ugly duckling, the misplaced foundling who longs to be recognised for the genius she secretly knows herself to be.
As the rebellious Maggie’s fiery spirit and imaginative nature bring her into conflict with her narrow
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2020.
SAT 14:10 Inheritance Tracks (m000h81m)
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas
Actress Kristin Scott Thomas inherits ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’ by Nancy Sinatra and wants to pass on ‘Mars’ by Holst.
SAT 14:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kfq8)
Series 2
Jersey
Pam's on the largest Channel island to learn about black butter, visit an underground hospital and try unusual cake.
Poet and raconteuse, Pam Ayres is back on the open road, visiting nine more places in Britain to hear tales from the people who live there.
Photograph by Laurence Watts.
Producer: Jill Marshall
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in November 2001.
SAT 14:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007rr6s)
Series 1
In a Jam
Carter's uncle gets time to reflect, stuck on a busy motorway to the coast.
Uncle Mort …. Stephen Thorne
Carter Brandon …. Sam Kelly
Pat/The Belgian Lady …. Liz Goulding
Narrator …. Christian Rodska
Written by Peter Tinniswood.
Producer: Pete Atkin
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990.
SAT 15:00 Somebody Did It Better (m000h81g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SAT 16:00 Ben Travers - Rookery Nook (m000h81d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 The Voices of... (b08rq6dn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b007jm5y)
The Secondary Phase
Fit The Eleventh
On Brontitall, Arthur meets an archaeologist, gets captured and learns all about the Shoe Event Horizon.
Starring Peter Jones as The Book, Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox, David Tate as Eddie, Stephen Moore as Marvin, John Baddeley as Bird Two Rula Lenska as Lintilla and Mark Smith as Hig Hurtenflurst.
The original scripts by Douglas Adams (1952-2001) went on to spawn a series of novels, a feature film, at least three stage shows, a TV series, a computer game, a collection of comic books - and various towels.
Radiophonic sound and music by Paddy Kingsland.
Producer: Geoffrey Perkins
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1980.
SAT 18:30 The Price of Fear (b007jmty)
Not Wanted on the Voyage
Horror legend Vincent Price introduces a tale of the despotic Henrietta Forsythe's sway over her secretary and new husband.
Stars Margaret Courtenay as Henriette Forsythe, Sandor Eles as Carlos Mendoza, Henry Stamper as The Captain and Sheila Grant as Evelyn.
Scripted by William Ingram.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1983.
SAT 19:00 Comedy Greats (b007k0ly)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Lee Mack Show (b00bt53m)
Suggs
Singer Suggs joins the quick-fire comic for stand-up, sketches and music. With Angela McHale and Steve Brown. From March 2005.
SAT 22:30 Paul Sinha's Citizenship Test (b038n3dh)
Episode 3
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 third episode he looks at British culture - newspapers, TV, art and film. He tests the studio audience on their knowledge, with those that answer incorrectly being deported; he also offers up ten pounds of his own money to anyone in the audience who can correctly identify an artist that the Home Office think all new immigrants should be aware of.
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.
SAT 23:00 Buy Me Up TV (b009jcxh)
Episode 3
It's the comedy series inspired by every shopping channel you've ever seen and every product you've never wanted to buy.
Starring Justin Edwards, Colin Hoult, Katherine Jakeways, Ewen MacIntosh, Alex MacQueen and Greg Proops.
Special guest: Rich Hall
Producer: Lucy Armitaqe
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 2008.
SAT 23:30 Earls of the Court (b00qvpk2)
Earls Reunited
Comedy drama series by Will Adamsdale and Stewart Wright about two Australians down on their luck in London.
Lloydie returns after years of travel to find best mate Johnno still living in their old flat. But their former gang has disbanded and times have changed. Worse still, the sins of the past are about to catch up with them.
Lloydie ...... Stewart Wright
Johnno ...... Will Adamsdale
Bonzo ...... Rufus Wright
Kirsty ...... Keely Beresford
Shalk ...... Michael Shelford
Brett ...... David Seddon
Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
SAT 23:45 Foley and McColl: The Interview (b0076cvt)
Rockall
The duo are set to tell all on Parky's TV chat show. Stars Sean Foley, Hamish McColl and Michael Parkinson. From February 2003.


SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2020

SUN 00:00 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (b007jm5y)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Saturday]
SUN 00:30 The Price of Fear (b007jmty)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Saturday]
SUN 01:00 The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Omnibus) (m000h81j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:00 on Saturday]
SUN 02:10 Inheritance Tracks (m000h81m)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:10 on Saturday]
SUN 02:15 Pam Ayres' Open Road (b007kfq8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Saturday]
SUN 02:45 Uncle Mort's South Country (b007rr6s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Saturday]
SUN 03:00 Somebody Did It Better (m000h81g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 on Saturday]
SUN 04:00 Ben Travers - Rookery Nook (m000h81d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Saturday]
SUN 05:30 The Voices of... (b08rq6dn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Saturday]
SUN 06:00 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (Omnibus) (b07jl4vz)
Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman
Omnibus of the conclusion of ‘Babel Tower’, the third novel of AS Batt's quartet, and the start of the fourth, ‘A Whistling Woman’.
It’s the late ‘60s and Frederica has embarked on a career in television in London and there are major changes in her Yorkshire home.
Older Frederica …. Rosemary Leach
Frederica …. Indira Varma
Leo …. Jack Langan
Daniel …. Shaun Dooley
John Ottaker …. Richard Coyle
Begbie/Ounce …. Ben Onwukwe
First Voice/Goatley …. Peter Marinker
Jude Mason …. Mark Heap
Agatha …. Amanda Root
Nigel …. Mark Bazeley
Rupert …. Robert Portal
Third Voice …. Amanda Root
Paul Ottaker …. Tim Treloar
Leo …. Leagh Conwell
Foreman/Marcuc …. Carl Prekopp
Judge …. Ian Masters
Richmond Bly …. Jeff Nuttall
Wilkie …. James Callis
Luk …. Janek Lesniak
Lucy …. Sandra Clark
Jacqueline …. Alison Pettitt
Impey … Peter Darney
Written by A.S. Byatt and dramatised by John Harvey.
Producer: Sally Avens.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2002.
SUN 07:15 Run and Ask Daddy If He Has Any More Money (m000h894)
"It was Easter and my friend David was helping his wife Milly Frood in the shop when he heard a voice he recognised..."
A university professor runs into his former mistress and her family. Will his past catch up with him?
Jane Lapotaire reads Fay Weldon's story
Producer: Duncan Minshull
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1993.
SUN 07:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06tvm72)
Series 5
Episode 1
John Finnemore - writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Double Acts, regular guest on The Now Show and The Unbelievable Truth - returns for a fifth series of his multi-award-winning sketch show, joined as ever by a cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.
This first episode sees an unlikely wager, a troubled bluesman, and, well - since you ask him for a rip-roaring adventure on the high seas...
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme won the BBC Audio Drama Award for 'Best Scripted Comedy with Live Audience' in 2015; and a Radio Academy Silver Award for Comedy in 2014.
"One of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" - The Guardian
"The best sketch show in years, on television or radio" - The Radio Times
"The inventive sketch show ... continues to deliver the goods" - The Daily Mail
"Superior comedy" - The Observer
Written by and starring ... John Finnemore
Ensemble ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Ensemble ... Simon Kane
Ensemble ... Lawry Lewin
Ensemble ... Carrie Quinlan
Original music composed by ... Susannah Pearse
Original music performed by ... Jason Hazeley
Producer: Ed Morrish
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a BBC Radio Comedy production.
SUN 08:00 Home to Roost (m000h890)
Series 2
Kath's Baby
William appears indifferent to his daughter’s good news. Stars Deryck Guyler and Mollie Sugden. From 1975.
Mollie Sugden and Deryck Guyler play Olive and William Wheeler. After forty years working for the same company, William has retired and is trying hard to adapt to his new life of leisure. Olive, on the other hand, is trying to adapt to having her husband under her feet all day, for the first time in their marriage.
This second series ran from 1st July to 23rd September 1975.
CAST:
William Wheeler …. Deryck Guyler
Olive Wheeler …. Mollie Sugden
Jack Bailey …. Norman Rossington
Kath …. Patricia Greene
Nev …. John Baddeley
James …. Ysanne Churchman
The Posh Lady …. Linda Polan
Writer: Anne Jones
Theme music composed and played by Alex Walsh and his Band.
Producer: Trafford Whitelock.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1975.
SUN 08:30 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
Episode 3
"At Abingdon, the river passes by the streets. Abingdon is a typical country town of the smaller order - quiet, eminently respectable, clean and desperately dull."
George, Harris and J encounter a tragedy and some nasty weather, as they conclude their holiday on the River Thames - with Montmorency the dog.
Adapted and performed in three episodes by Jeremy Nicholas.
Music by Jeremy Nicholas. Performed by The Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Producer: Paul Mayhew-Archer
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1984.
SUN 09:00 The Passion in Plants (Omnibus) (m000h892)
Over centuries people have used wildflowers to share our stories, including those in the Bible. As stained glass windows reminded ordinary people of its characters and events, so did the plants of the hedgerow that they encountered every day. In this way many trees and flowers came to play a part in telling the Easter story.
Writer and naturalist Bob Gilbert considers the key moments of Christ's Passion and the plants that in folklore came to reflect them. With his friend Brother Samuel, a Franciscan friar, Bob searches for these in wild locations ranging from rural woodlands and meadows to the pavements of Poplar in the East End of London. They explore their traditions, how they came about, and their meanings.
Plus readings from writers such as AE Housman, Tennyson and the author of Dream of the Rood, together with songs and music.
They begin with Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry to Jerusalem. In the woods at Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Brother Sam look for the goat willow or sallow - the pussy willow plant - which was, still is in some places, cut early in the morning and carried in Palm Sunday processions. They visit, too, ancient yews at Tandridge and Crowhurst in Surrey. Evergreens were rare and yew branches were also used to represent the palm fronds. Standing inside a huge, hollow yew they consider the significance of these venerable and mysterious trees.
The last Supper, the meal Jesus took with his disciples in the upper room, was the Feast of the Passover, when Jews eat 'the bitter herbs' as a reminder of the harsh experience of their enslavement in Egypt. Ilana Epstein, an expert in Jewish culinary traditions and a great cook herself, reveals the identity of these herbs and their the subtle significance.
In British tradition sorrel and tansy (used to get rid of worms!) became the equivalent of the bitter herbs. They grow in Bob's garden in Poplar and he and Brother Sam follow traditional recipes, cooking a tansy pancake and a dish called simply, a 'tansy'.
Why does the elder never amount to more than a scruffy, scrubby bush? Because, full of remorse after betraying Jesus with a kiss, Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Bob and Sam look closely at an elder and find a certain fungus that often grows on it - auricularia auricula-judae, Latin for 'the ear of Judas'.
The torture of Jesus and the weaving of a crown of thorns is represented in British tradition by the hawthorn, a plant particularly rich in folklore, being associated with spring and the coming of new life as well as with death and decomposition.
Christ carries his cross on to the road to the place of his crucifixion. There is the story of Veronica, who steps forward to wipe the sweat and blood from Christ's brow with her veil. Bob and Sam search the city streets to find the plant that now bears her name and has come to be associated with aiding people on their journeys - the Veronica or speedwell.
The Easter story reaches it critical moment with the crucifixion of Christ at Golgotha, the 'place of the skull'.
In British folklore several different trees are said to have provided the wood for the cross but none more commonly than the aspen which has ever since been condemned to tremble with remorse. Bob and Brother Sam encounter an aspen in an urban park and consider its stories, as well as the wider role of trees in both Christianity and other world religions.
Several plants, all with spots on their leaves, were said to have grown at the foot of the cross and to be stained by the dripping blood of Christ. Among them were the early purple orchid and the wild arum or cuckoo pint. Bob and Brother Sam find the first spring rosettes of these flowers unfurling beside a country lane, before moving on to woodland to seek out the tiny plant whose name encapsulates the dramatic events of the day: the Good Friday plant or moschatel.
Then Bob and Brother Sam celebrate the culmination of the Easter story, seeking out the plants associated with the Resurrection.
As Christ rises from the tomb it is the pearlwort, according to Gaelic legend, that is there to cushion his first footfall. Bob and Sam find this diminutive plant in the cracks between paving stones in an East London street.
One of the most beautiful stories of the Resurrection is of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ and mistaking him for the gardener. As she reaches out to towards him he tells her not to touch him. This Biblical story is told again in the name of the 'touch-me-not' balsam. Rare and late flowering, Bob and Brother Sam have to resort to the herbarium at Kew Gardens to see a specimen.
In the culmination of the story, they do, however, manage to find in the woods at Hilfield friary, the beautiful wood sorrel. Flowering at Easter, it is known as the 'Alleluia plant'.
Omnibus of five parts.
Readers: Bettrys Jones and Ell Potter
Producer: Julian May
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2020.
SUN 10:10 The Listening Project (b073bb5s)
Jason and Alice – Dungeons, Dragons and Daughters
Fi Glover introduces a conversation between a father and daughter about their shared interests during her childhood and the foundation they buuilt for their continued relationship. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
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 learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess
SUN 10:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b09z66f8)
Artists
Maggie Hambling
From George Melly to Marilyn Monroe. Artist Maggi Hambling shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From December 2005.
SUN 11:00 Radiolab (b0b0552q)
Series 3
Colours
Radiolab explores why something so intangible as colour can pack such a visceral punch? With Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.
Radiolab is a Peabody Award-winning show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and the human experience.
First broadcast on public radio in the USA.
SUN 12:00 Home to Roost (m000h890)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
SUN 12:30 Jerome K Jerome - Three Men in a Boat (b01cvb6v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
SUN 13:00 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (Omnibus) (b07jl4vz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SUN 14:15 Run and Ask Daddy If He Has Any More Money (m000h894)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 today]
SUN 14:30 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (Omnibus) (b0bfxfd8)
On a rainy January afternoon, the recently widowed Laura Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel on the Cromwell Road. Apprehensive but doughty, she settles into her room without a view, and begins to meet the other residents.
For the long-term residents of the Claremont Hotel, life revolves around waiting for dinner, the 9 o'clock serial and visitors. Mrs Palfrey assures her new friends that her grandson will soon be making an appearance...
Eleanor Bron reads Elizabeth Taylor's poignant and witty masterpiece.
Published in 1971 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is both tender and sharp in its depiction of old age.
Abridger: Robin Brooks
Producer: Natalie Steed
First broadcast in five-parts on BBC Radio 4 in August 2018
SUN 15:45 One to One (b09ly62p)
Gail Emms talks to Helen Glover
The Olympian, Helen Glover, speaks to world-class badminton player, Gail Emms, about the difficult time she has had since retiring from sport.
Helen Glover is one of our most successful athletes. In a life devoted to rowing, she has won a phenomenal twenty one Olympic, World and European gold medals. But now she is contemplating retirement. And she is discovering that looking to the future - towards a life away from competitive rowing - is as daunting as it is liberating.
Gail Emms, alongside her doubles partner, Nathan Robertson, won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and became World Champion in 2006. But when she retired in 2008, she struggled financially and underestimated how hard it might be to find a new sense of identity and purpose.
Producer: Karen Gregor.
SUN 16:00 Colin Shindler - Garbo and Gilbert in Love (m000h896)
The dramatised story of legendary Hollywood actress Greta Garbo's celebrated affair with silent movie star John Gilbert.
As the talkies supersede the silents, the brilliant and enigmatic Swedish actress is destined for superstardom, while her lover descends into drunken obscurity.
Colin Shindler's classic celebrity love story.
Greta Garbo ....Kristin Milward
John Gilbert .... Henry Goodman
Louis B Mayer .... Lou Hirsch
King Vidor ..... William Hope
Eleanor .... Amy Shindler
Thalberg .... Lewis Hancock
Winchell .... John Guerrasio
Stiller .... Andrew Wincott
Marlene Dietrich .... Bella Merlin
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2005.
SUN 17:00 Poetry Extra (m000h898)
In Pursuit of Edward Thomas
Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive and selects In Pursuit of Edward Thomas.
The poet Edward Thomas died at the Battle of Arras just over one hundred years ago on 9th April 1917. He'd been a poet for little more than two years and his collected works amount to only a slim volume. Nevertheless he is regarded as among the greatest of English poets. What made him so? Poet and editor, Matthew Hollis, follows a journey Thomas made by bike in the spring of 1913 from London into south west England. It was a journey that produced a prose book for Thomas, In Pursuit of Spring, but it was also a journey that turned him towards poetry.
Producer: Tim Dee
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.
SUN 17:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06tvm72)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 18:00 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (b007jpx9)
Episode 2
After first fleeing The Creature, Victor heads to the mountains to avenge his brother's murder. Stars John Wood.
SUN 19:00 Radiolab (b0b0552q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
SUN 20:00 The Passion in Plants (Omnibus) (m000h892)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SUN 21:10 The Listening Project (b073bb5s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:10 today]
SUN 21:15 Desert Island Discs Revisited (b09z66f8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:15 today]
SUN 22:00 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06tvm72)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SUN 22:30 Twenty Players (b06kxptb)
Series 1
Frankie Swoop
Forgotten sporting heroes. Barry Davies tells the story of a most precociously talentless footballer. From June 1995.
SUN 22:45 The Music Teacher (b00sk6jn)
Series 1
Episode 5
Written by Richie Webb.
Another week; another barrage of useless pupils for music teacher Nigel Penny in this new musical comedy written by and starring 2009 Writers' Guild Award winner Richie Webb. Featuring Vicki Pepperdine as Arts Centre Manager Belinda.
Episode 5: Shut away in his tiny windowless practice room Nigel endures his usual steady stream of talentless pupils: a vocalist claiming a sub-bass range and a wannabe Avant-Garde composer stretching his already taut patience. But hidden amongst the dross is a little ray of light in the shape of Martha - a local folk singer/songwriter who reignites not only his passion for performing, but his passion for - well, passion.
Will Nigel be able to make this opportunity count both on and off stage? Not if Belinda has anything to do with it: she's forgotten to get Nigel's CRB clearance sorted, and the local Beavers and Brownies gang show is in town.
Cast:
Nigel Penny ..... Richie Webb
Belinda ...... Vicki Pepperdine
Other roles by Dave Lamb, Jim North and Jess Robinson.
Produced by Richie Webb
Directed by Nick Walker
A Top Dog production for BBC Radio 4
SUN 23:00 The Secret World (b012gs0y)
Series 2
Episode 3
David Beckham tries to hire a rainbow for a party. Jon Culshaw explores famous folk's private lives. From July 2010.
SUN 23:30 Fabulous (b00fb8zx)
Series 2
Episode 4
Faye is anxious. She knows that today's women are Fabulous; they have it all, the job, the house, the colour-co-ordinated capsule wardrobe and they cope with the pressures modern life brings effortlessly, with nothing more than a copy of Prima and a poem by Pam Ayres to guide them. So why can't she pull it off? Life should be exciting with Edith going on maternity leave and announcing who will get her job...
Starring Daisy Haggard with Katy Brand, Stephen Critchlow, Ben Crowe, Justin Edwards, Mel Hudson, Martin Hyder, Joanna Neary, Jo Scanlan, Laura Solon, Dan Starkey and Ann Reid.
Written by Lucy Clarke
Music by Osymyso
Producer: Simon Nicholls
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.


MONDAY 13 APRIL 2020

MON 00:00 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (b007jpx9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Sunday]
MON 01:00 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (Omnibus) (b07jl4vz)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Sunday]
MON 02:15 Run and Ask Daddy If He Has Any More Money (m000h894)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:15 on Sunday]
MON 02:30 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (Omnibus) (b0bfxfd8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Sunday]
MON 03:45 One to One (b09ly62p)
[Repeat of broadcast at 15:45 on Sunday]
MON 04:00 Colin Shindler - Garbo and Gilbert in Love (m000h896)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:00 Poetry Extra (m000h898)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:00 on Sunday]
MON 05:30 John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (b06tvm72)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Sunday]
MON 06:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h73w7)
Series 1
The Do-It-Yourself Job
Detective Sergeant Dave Brook's tactics for recovering stolen silver ingots doesn't impress his boss. And why is a newlywed crook pleading not guilty - if he's trying to go straight?
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His sidekick is 23-year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
DC Harrison …. Peter Cleall
Chief Inspector Roach …. David Daker
Dickie Fenn ...... Bill Nighy
Peter Parsons ...... Derek Francis
Harry Dean ...... George Tovey
Magistrate ...... Brian Haines
DC Maxton ...... Christopher Blake
Clerk ...... Peter Baldwin
Former BBC war correspondent, Robert Barr is best remembered for his work on BBC TV’s ‘Z-Cars’ and ‘Softly Softly’.
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1980.
MON 06:30 Not Fade Away (b00tt5cv)
How do you end a piece of music? For 500 years pieces always had a clear ending. But in the 20th Century music often ended with a fade out instead. Stuart Maconie looks at how and why this change came about.
Pop songs often fade but classical music nearly always has a very clear ending, often a climax with all the performers playing a rousing cadence which almost guaranteed applause.
An early exception is Haydn's Farewell Symphony of 1772 which ends with the players leaving the stage one by one, until there are only two players left. Haydn wrote it as a hint that the players needed a break.
Holst's Planets Suite (written 1914 -16) ends with a chorus of women's voices sound fading into nothing - perhaps the first true example of a fade in music.
At the same time, recording technology was developing and fades could be created by moving away from the recording horn. And record companies began imposing endings for commercial reasons or to fit it onto a side of a 78 record, sometimes with quite brutal results.
With the advent of modern recording techniques it became easy to create a fade electrically and from the 1950s onwards this became commonplace.
But it was in the 1960s when the fade came into its own, particularly with the iconic 2 minute fade of Hey Jude.
So has the fade out simply become a lazy way to end a song? And what happens when that song is played live and a fade isn't possible?
Stuart Maconie draws from his own experience as a dj and we also hear from Stephen Johnson presenter of BBC Radio 3's Discovering Music, Jacob Smith Lecturer in Film and Television Studies and remastering engineer Roger Beardsley. And Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 talks about ending songs live that faded out in the studio versions.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.
MON 07:00 Says on the Tin (b00gb0bt)
Cat Food
Comedy by Christopher William Hill.
Eliott struggles to promote gourmet cat food for an intensely conservative company.
Eliott Thurber ...... Michael Brandon
Esther Finn ...... Samantha Bond
Hannah Walker ...... Pippa Haywood
Pippa Walker ...... Manjeet Mann
Zadie ...... Joannah Tincey
Ted ...... Malcolm Tierney
Mrs Braden ...... Rachel Atkins
Other parts played by Stephen Critchlow, Donnla Hughes, Janice Acquah and Jill Cardo.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
MON 07:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m000h2d3)
Series 4
The Theatrical Impresario
Curtain up! Light the lights! Milton’s got nothing to hit but the people from the rival theatre who are trying to destroy his theatrical dreams.
Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is "Help!". Each week, Milton and his trusty assistant Anton set out to help people and soon find they're embroiled in a new adventure. Because when you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push.
"Milton Jones is one of Britain's best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners" - The Guardian.
"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times
"If you haven't caught up with Jones yet - do so!" - The Daily Mail
Written by Milton with James Cary (Bluestone 42, Miranda), and Dan Evans (who co-wrote Milton's Channel 4 show House Of Rooms), the man they call "Britain's funniest Milton," returns to the radio with a fully-working cast and a shipload of new jokes.
The cast includes regulars Tom Goodman-Hill (Spamalot, Mr. Selfridge) as the ever-faithful Anton, Josie Lawrence and Colin Hoult (Anna Mann, Russell Howard's Good News).
With music by Guy Jackson
Produced and directed by David Tyler
A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4
MON 08:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
Cleaning Up
Can the inept crew of HMS Troutbridge manage to get it ship-shape for an inspection?
Stars Leslie Phillips as the Sub-Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee as the Chief Petty Officer, Stephen Murray as the Number One, Richard Caldicot as Captain Povey, Heather Chasen as Second Officer McCluty, Tenniel Evans as Taffy Goldstein and Michael Bates as Alfie.
Laughs afloat aboard British Royal Navy frigate HMS Troutbridge. The Navy Lark ran for an impressive thirteen series between 1959 and 1976.
Scripted by Lawrie Wyman
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in July 1967.
MON 08:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
Series 3
A Jumbo Sized Problem
The Home Guard platoon must pave the way for a convoy, but then the circus turns up.
Starring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones, John Laurie as Private Frazer, Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey, Ian Lavender as Private Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges and Larry Martyn as Private Walker.
Adapted for radio from Jimmy Perry and David Croft's TV scripts by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1976.
MON 09:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b080t0pc)
Series 17
Episode 5
David Mitchell hosts the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents.
John Finnemore, Frankie Boyle, Jeremy Hardy and Lucy Porter are the panellists obliged to talk with deliberate inaccuracy on subjects as varied as Donald Trump, musicals, weddings and Oxbridge.
The show is devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith, the team behind Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Produced by Jon Naismith
A Random Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
MON 09:30 Chambers (b007jp3w)
Series 2
The Masons
Turmoil abounds when barrister John Fuller-Carp tries to join a lodge. Stars John Bird and Sanjeev Bhaskar. From May 1998.
MON 10:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj1)
The Young Lady in Black
Mrs Oliphant wrote her last chapter of the Chronicles of Carlingford when Lucilla Marjoribanks married Tom.
It's now 1875 and Mrs Oliphant returns to the town to focus on Phoebe Beecham's family - with the jealousies and rivalries of Carlingford between the Church and the Dissenters and Society and its shopkeepers.
Stars Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Oliphant, Charlotte Attenborough as Phoebe, Junior, Michael Onslow as Clarence Copperhead, Timothy West as Copperhead, Elizabeth Proud as Mrs Copperhead, Norman Bird as Mr Beecham, Ann Windsor as Phoebe, Snr, John Hollis as Tozer, Cathy Sara as Ursula, Peter Jeffrey as Mr May, Fiona Christie as Janey May, Richard Derrington as Reginald May, David King as Sir Robert Dorset, Sunny Ormonde as Ann Dorset and Oona Beeson as Sophy Dorset.
Music composed and played by Malcolm McKee.
Directed at BBC Pebble Mill by Sue Wilson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
MON 11:00 TED Radio Hour (m000h8dw)
Series 7
The End of Privacy
Guy Raz explores our changing notions of privacy, the consequences, and whether privacy will soon be a relic of the past.
First broadcast on NPR in the USA in 2014.
MON 12:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 12:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 13:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h73w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 13:30 Not Fade Away (b00tt5cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 14:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnmhn)
Episode 6
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 6:
There's shocking news for the cast of the ballet just as everyone is anticipating the arrest of conductore Miles Sutton for the murder of his wife. Peter Sargeant's role as a publicist is rapidly becoming that of detective.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
MON 14:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsd2)
Philosopher Scientists
Heather Couper considers Greek philosopher Thales's idea that natural forces, not actions by gods, cause natural disasters. From 2008.
MON 14:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jssj)
A Whistling Woman, Part 3/7
Frederica reignites an old flame, John, and her new TV series starts. Marcus finds a damsel in distress. Stars Richard Coyle.
MON 14:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xd44c)
Episode 1
Gavin Francis leads us round a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Taking in health and illness, and offering insights on everything from the ribbed surface of the brain to the unique engineering of the foot.
Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.
He begins with the moment, age 19, when he first held a human brain.
Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
MON 15:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
MON 16:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b080t0pc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
MON 16:30 Chambers (b007jp3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
MON 17:00 Says on the Tin (b00gb0bt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
MON 17:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m000h2d3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 18:00 Planet B (b00p4mck)
Series 2
The Tender Trap
Kip is looking for love on the dating site, The Spark. But he gets more than he bargained for when a mysterious woman explodes into his world. Series 2 opens with a bang as we log back on to the virtual world where you can be whoever you want to be.
Lioba …. Tessa Nicholson
Kip …. Joseph Cohen-Cole
Noush …. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Cerberus …. Chris Pavlo
Loris21 …. Melissa Advani
Voice of Planet B …. Adjoa Andoh
Other Parts …. Rhys Jennings, Piers Wehner and John Biggins
Written by Matthew Broughton.
Director: James Robinson.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
MON 18:30 A Good Read (b00nycc0)
Kate Clanchy and Michael Dixon
Sue MacGregor and her guests - poet, Kate Clanchy and director of the Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon discuss their favourite paperbacks by Neil Astley, Paul Torday and H Rider Haggard.
Kate's choice: Staying Alive by Neil Astley
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
Michael's choice: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
Publisher: Phoenix
Sue's choice: King Solomon's Mines by H Rider Haggard
Publisher: Penguin Classics
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2009.
MON 19:00 The Navy Lark (b007k1zp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
MON 19:30 Dad's Army (b007jr27)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
MON 20:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h73w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
MON 20:30 Not Fade Away (b00tt5cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
MON 21:00 TED Radio Hour (m000h8dw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
MON 22:00 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m000h2d3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
MON 22:30 Chain Reaction (b00gsb85)
Series 2
Alexei Sayle Interviews Lenny Henry
One feisty comedian grills another in the tag talk show, where the guest is next week's interviewer.
Based on the original BBC Radio 5 programme of the same name, Chain Reaction is a simple idea of big name stars from the world of entertainment interviewing others whose work they appreciate and admire.
Recorded with an audience, the interviews focus on the life, career and the passions of the interviewee but often prove to be as revealing about the interviewer.
Producer: Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2005.
MON 23:00 The Now Show (m000h26q)
Series 56
Episode 6
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis get to grips with the continuing COVID-19 lock-down and disruption with sketches and guests.
In the last of the current series, Zoe Lyons gets things done, Scott Bennett speaks to us from his shed, and Jess Robinson invokes her blitz spirit.
Also featuring George Fouracres and Gemma Arrowsmith.
Song written and arranged by Jess Robinson and Alex Silverman.
Written by the cast, with additional material from Catherine Brinkworth, Gareth Gwynn, Alex Kealy and Simon Alcock.
Production Co-Ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Production
MON 23:30 Hut 33 (b00m0ld0)
Series 1
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Bletchley Park codebreakers grapple with the complexities of religion.
CAST:
Charles …. Robert Bathurst
Archie …. Tom Goodman-Hill
Minka …. Olivia Colman
Gordon …. Fergus Craig
Mrs Best …. Lill Roughley
Joshua …. Alex MacQueen.
Written by James Carey.
Producer: Adam Bromley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2007.


TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020

TUE 00:00 Planet B (b00p4mck)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Monday]
TUE 00:30 A Good Read (b00nycc0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Monday]
TUE 01:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h73w7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Monday]
TUE 01:30 Not Fade Away (b00tt5cv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnmhn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Monday]
TUE 02:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsd2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Monday]
TUE 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jssj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Monday]
TUE 02:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xd44c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Monday]
TUE 03:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:00 The Unbelievable Truth (b080t0pc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Monday]
TUE 04:30 Chambers (b007jp3w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Monday]
TUE 05:00 Says on the Tin (b00gb0bt)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Monday]
TUE 05:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m000h2d3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Monday]
TUE 06:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7jqv)
Series 1
The Birthday Party, part 1/2
Could a swish soiree at a very high-class club be the start of an audacious heist? DS Dave Brook is on it.
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His sidekick is 23-year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
Chief Inspector Roach …. David Daker
Tommy ...... Johnny Wade
Thorn ...... Alan Lake
Judie ...... Jacqueline Tong
Neale ...... Tony Anholt
Butler ...... Danny Schiller
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1980.
TUE 06:30 New Conversation (b01460dl)
Olivia O'Leary follows historian and philosopher Theodore Zeldin as he tries to change the way people talk to each other. He wants to make the world a better place - starting with the London Borough of Lewisham.
Prof Zeldin believes there are substantial social benefits to be gained from encouraging people to strip away social conventions and talk about things which go beyond gossip, argument and chit chat. He wants people to talk about who they really are, and what they want from life. He calls it 'new conversation.'
Guests at his 'conversation dinners' spend several hours talking to just one other person. They are required to follow a menu of conversational gambits such as : When have you felt isolated and what do you do about it? What would make the world a better place and how could you make that happen?
Olivia follows Prof Zeldin as he introduces his 'new conversation' to a wide range of people including former MPs, Pilates teachers, furniture store staff and unemployed teenagers. She asks why such people would want to be told how to talk to each other by an elderly Oxford academic.
Prof Zeldin's ambitious plan is to turn the borough of Lewisham into a place where the entire quarter of a million inhabitants can get to know each other. He argues that his approach will break down isolation and alienation, and even create more satisfying jobs.
But Prof Zeldin's efforts to sweep all along with him on his adventure hit a barrier when conversation dinner guests accuse him of staging a glorified version of Blind Date. And he meets resistance elsewhere from community groups who refuse to talk to people from other parts of the borough.
But with the support of the local council, Prof Zeldin pushes on; staging a mass conversation dinner in a park, and even hatching a scheme to enable local GPs to get to know their patients better. It's an uphill struggle, but Prof Zeldin is not a man to give up easily.
Producer: Brian King
A Just Radio production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
TUE 07:00 HR (b00tmkg9)
Series 2
Wandering
Comedy drama series by Nigel Williams that charts the misfortunes of a middle-aged HR officer and his trouble-making colleague.
Sam and Peter wile away retirement blues with a holiday in Spain. Suddenly Sam, a lifelong virgin, seems to be presented with a life-changing opportunity.
Sam ..... Nicholas Le Prevost
Peter ..... Jonathan Pryce
Miguel ..... Sam Dale
Gwenda ..... Christine Kavanagh
Director: Peter Kavanagh.
TUE 07:30 Ellie Taylor's Safe Space (m000h0gj)
Motherhood
Comedian Ellie Taylor has some opinions she'd like to get off her chest. In this episode she looks at being a parent and whether having kids might have ruined her life. She discusses her views with stand-up, sketches and help from the studio audience and side-kick Robin Morgan. She also welcomes a special expert guest...her Mum.
It is produced by Sam Michell and is a BBC Studios Production.
TUE 08:00 The Goon Show (b007jslg)
The White Box of Great Bardfield
Can Neddie get rich quick by exporting Britain's surfeit of snow? Stars Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan. From March 1955.
TUE 08:30 J Kingston Platt's Showbiz Handbook (b007jzkv)
Brian Allington
The man of many parts uses the wealth and poverty of his experience to discuss his old chum. Stars Peter Jones. From May 1986.
TUE 09:00 The Now Show (m000h26q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 on Monday]
TUE 09:30 Such Rotten Luck (b0648pf9)
Series 2
Kiss My Hand, Iris
Struggling writer Woodhouse continues his fruitless search for literary fame and fortune. Stars Tim Pigott-Smith. From December 1991.
TUE 10:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj3)
A New Gentleman
Phoebe Beecham has met Clarence Copperhead at a Ball in London. His wealthy father disapproves of her, and she fortuitously leaves London to visit her sick Grandmother in Carlingford but gets a shock on arrival...
Stars Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Oliphant, Charlotte Attenborough as Phoebe, Junior and Peter Jeffrey as Mr May.
Dramatised from Margaret Oliphant's 1876 novel by Elizabeth Proud.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
TUE 11:00 Say Yes by Tobias Wolff (b0713x9k)
A couple are washing up after their evening meal. A casual conversation reveals a startling difference between them. How well do we know those who we love and live with?
Written by Tobias Wolff
Read by Henry Goodman
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 11:15 Bob Sherman - The Titanic Inquiry (m000h844)
Episode 1
When the Titanic sank, the owners of the White Star Line made every effort to return straight to England.
An inquiry set up by the US Senate held the surviving witnesses ashore in New York until questions could be answered.
From over a thousand pages of testimony in the Inquiry Archives, Bob Sherman has created a gripping courtroom drama in two parts.
Senator William Alden Smith .... Kenneth Haigh
J Bruce Ismay ... Nlckolas Grace
Mrs Stuart White ... Jill Johnson
Senator Fletcher .... John Sharian
Charles Herbert Lightoller .... Conrad Nelson
Harold Lowe ... Ben Crowe
Women's voices ... Barbara Barnes
Philip Franklin ... Bob Sherman
President Taft ... Peter Marinker
Daniel Buckley ... Tom George
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002.
TUE 12:00 The Goon Show (b007jslg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 12:30 J Kingston Platt's Showbiz Handbook (b007jzkv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 13:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7jqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 13:30 New Conversation (b01460dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 14:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnmpb)
Episode 7
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 7:
With Miles Sutton's death confirmed as a gruesome accident, Detective Gleason declares the case closed. Peter is however a little curious as to why Mr Washburn had been writing letters seeking a replacement for Ella Sutton before she was murdered. Nonetheless they are all looking forward to the final performance in the first run of Eclipse.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
TUE 14:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsc7)
Wheels Within Wheels
Heather Couper reflects on astronomer Ptolemy, who wrote 13 volumes listing over 1000 stars and 48 constellations around AD 150.
TUE 14:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jssw)
A Whistling Woman, Part 4/7
Daniel has difficulty communicating with Will and Lucy joins a disreputable religious commune. Stars Shaun Dooley.
TUE 14:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xdcb1)
Episode 2
Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.
Francis has dissected many human faces during medical training, and as a demonstrator of anatomy, but he has never lost the sense of privilege that doing so brings.
Our faces are key to our human identity – when faces are available, we pay more attention to them than to any part of the visual world. When our ability to use our facial muscles to convey our emotions is harmed, as in Bell’s palsy, it can be socially devastating.
But even when a face is damaged, it’s still vital to our sense of self.
Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
TUE 15:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
TUE 16:00 Jest a Minute (b00g4vzx)
Series 2
Episode 4
Rhod Gilbert's comedy quiz from the Glee Club in Cardiff.
With Elis James, Jon Richardson, Lloyd Langford and Chris Corcoran
Producers: Paul Forde and Gareth Gwynn.
First broadcast on BBC Radio Wales in 2006.
TUE 16:30 Such Rotten Luck (b0648pf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
TUE 17:00 HR (b00tmkg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
TUE 17:30 Ellie Taylor's Safe Space (m000h0gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 18:00 Planet B (b00p84q9)
Series 2
Make a Wish
If Kip is confused by the soldiers in Desert Killzone practising magic words, that's nothing compared to Lioba's confusion at Sinbad's understanding of shock and awe. She helped design this site, didn't she?
Lioba …. Tessa Nicholson
Kip …. Joseph Cohen-Cole
Nugent …. Rhys Jennings
Abanaazer …. Bruce Alexander
Barks …. Piers Wehner
Ifrit …. Nigel Hastings
Voice of Planet B …. Adjoa Andoh
Written by Mike Carey.
Director: Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
TUE 18:30 The Tingle Factor (b07jlr2g)
Richard Ingrams
Former editor of 'Private Eye' and 'The Oldie' magazines, Richard Ingrams tells Robin Ray about music which stirs his emotions.
Recalling his life, career and the perils of lampooning the rich and famous, Richards selection includes Mozart, Delius and Bach.
Producer: Andrew Mussett
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1991
TUE 19:00 The Goon Show (b007jslg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
TUE 19:30 J Kingston Platt's Showbiz Handbook (b007jzkv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
TUE 20:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7jqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
TUE 20:30 New Conversation (b01460dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
TUE 21:00 Say Yes by Tobias Wolff (b0713x9k)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
TUE 21:15 Bob Sherman - The Titanic Inquiry (m000h844)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
TUE 22:00 Ellie Taylor's Safe Space (m000h0gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
TUE 22:30 Life: An Idiot's Guide (b0436hkz)
Series 3
Multiculturalism
Comedian, Stephen K Amos is joined by Stephen Grant, Nish Kumar and Andrew Maxwell to compile an idiot's guide to multiculturalism.
TUE 23:00 Where Did It All Go Wrong? (b0076gmh)
Series 1
The True Confessions of Sherlock Holmes
Simon Munnery debunks the image of some iconic characters, starting with the 'science man' of Baker Street. From August 2003.
TUE 23:15 The Pin (b07b3snr)
Series 2
Award
Following a hugely successful first series, which drew praise from the likes of David Walliams and Ben Stiller, Alex and Ben are back with their weird twist on the double-act sketch show. Strap in for a 15 minute delve in to a world of oddness performed in front of a live studio audience.
This week, The Pin are trying for a perfectly achievable goal for a Radio 4 late night comedy - an Oscar.
About The Pin
The Pin are an award-winning comedy duo, and legends of Edinburgh festival. They deconstruct the sketch form, in a show that exists somewhere between razor-sharp smartness and utterly joyous silliness.
After a sold-out run in Edinburgh, and a string of hilarious performances across BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC 3, Channel 4, and Comedy Central, this is The Pin’s debut solo show for Radio 4. Join them as they celebrate, make, collapse and rebuild their jokes, each other, and probably the radio too.
For fans of Adam and Joe, Vic and Bob, and Fist of Fun - a show of absurd offerings from two loveable idiots.
- 'The Pin prove it's still possible to play with the conventions of the medium of sketch comedy.’ - The Guardian
- 'Knowing and inventive: a 15 minute blast.' - The Times
- 'The sketches are funny, and made special by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen also examining, subverting and reversing familiar tropes. The material is excellent.' - Radio Times
- 'Eviscerating their chosen form completely.' - The Sunday Times
- 'A very classy, very funny show indeed.' - The Telegraph
Producer: Sam Bryant
A BBC Studios Production
TUE 23:30 Think the Unthinkable (b01hbrw8)
Series 3
Iota Credit Cards
The management consultants tackle credit card security, with the morally dubious Owen. Stars Marcus Brigstocke. From July 2004.


WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 2020

WED 00:00 Planet B (b00p84q9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Tuesday]
WED 00:30 The Tingle Factor (b07jlr2g)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Tuesday]
WED 01:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7jqv)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Tuesday]
WED 01:30 New Conversation (b01460dl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnmpb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Tuesday]
WED 02:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsc7)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Tuesday]
WED 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jssw)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Tuesday]
WED 02:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xdcb1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Tuesday]
WED 03:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vj3)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:00 Jest a Minute (b00g4vzx)
[Repeat of broadcast at 16:00 on Tuesday]
WED 04:30 Such Rotten Luck (b0648pf9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Tuesday]
WED 05:00 HR (b00tmkg9)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Tuesday]
WED 05:30 Ellie Taylor's Safe Space (m000h0gj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Tuesday]
WED 06:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7yny)
Series 1
The Birthday Party, part 2/2
Detective Inspector Mannock arrives to take charge of investigations into the suspicious gathering of crooks at a swish birthday party.
Just what is Terry Neale up to?
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His sidekick is 23-year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
DI Mannock ...... Maurice Colbourne
Neale ...... Tony Anholt
Thorn ...... Alan Lake
Barman ...... Adrian Egan
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1980.
WED 06:30 The Soul of Ireland (b04bryc2)
RTE's Sean Rocks traces how Ireland first heard soul music, blues and R&B, from smoky bars to armed forces radio. But it was the network of Parish halls that brought Dusty Springfied, Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher to the masses.
"Ireland in the 50's and 60's was a cultural backwater," Father Brian D'Arcy explains. "The parish hall was the (social) web of our time". Parish tours meant that artists got heard by the youth of Ireland - something that was not easy on Irish Radio or TV.
This music had some early enthusiasts who would trade vinyl and stories of the best upcoming artists, but there were those that labelled it The Devil's Screeching. Music journalist Trevor Hodget recalls when Van Morrison's band Them played Cookstown, "The punters started pelting the band with pennies and a near riot ensued."
Still considered one of the finest blues singers in the world, Van Morrison remembers how he first got into blues and how hard it was to find other musicians in Ireland who could play black music: "It sounded like Chinese music to most of them!"
Showband player and Arklow resident Liam O'Reilly recalls a slightly bizarre encounter with a music legend. In 1965, Dusty Springfield played Arklow's endearingly titled Entertainment Centre. Liam remembers the heckles when Dusty announced "Sorry, we are not used to playing small places like this."
Touring with The Springfields, musician Mike Hurst had to act like a bouncer in many of the dancehalls, "He grabbed hold of Dusty's shoulders and started to try and kiss her!" In the middle of a strangle hold Mike was told by his manager, "I wouldn't be doing that if I were you Mike, he's the Chief of Police!"
Producer: Peter Shevlin
A BlokMedia production first broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 07:00 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrj4)
Series 1
Organathon
Eddie attempts a record-breaking electronic organ session for charity while son Jason receives a mysterious letter...
The lives of the Stockport-based, Conroy family - in series 1 of Jim Poyser and Damian Lanigan's comedy drama.
Starring Dominic Monaghan as Jason, John McArdle as Eddie, Beverley Callard as Maureen. Jason Done as Michael, Jo-Anne Knowles as Debbie, Chris Pavlo as Hugo, Brian Poyser as Brian and Richard Davies as Mr Owen.
Music: Big George
Producer: Neil Mossey
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
WED 07:30 The Wilsons Save the World (b09fzt7j)
Series 1
Approval
A brand new sitcom for BBC Radio 4 written by Marcus Brigstocke and Sarah Morgan and starring Marcus Brigstocke as Mike and Kerry Godliman as his wife Max.
Michael and Maxine Wilson and their teenage daughters, Lola and Cat (plus their bearded dragon Chomsky, and about 150,000 bees) have resolved to live a cleaner, greener, serener life. This is a show about living ethically... whatever that means. Millions of people try every day to make 'good' choices and do the 'right thing', be ethical, charitable and community minded. It's hard. Most of us live with hypocrisy and failure all the time but keep on trying. The Wilsons, good folk that they are, are trying about 20% harder and learning to live with about 19% more failure. They are not giving up.
In this episode the family wrestle with their various need for approval from others as Mike's parents Phillip and Jennifer come to stay.
Producer...Julia McKenzie
Production Coordinator...Tamara Shilham
A BBC Studios Production.
WED 08:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007rgpj)
Series 4
The 13th of the Series
The lad gets triskaidekaphobic over the recording an episode of his show numbered between 12 and 14.
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 08:30 Tales From the Mausoleum Club (b007jnsr)
Jess of the B'ournevilles
Mr Sturdy arrives at the Club with a tale of West Country paganism. Stars Timothy Spall. From July 2003.
WED 09:00 Counterpoint (b00j6bbl)
Series 23
2009 Heat 3
From London, Paul Gambaccini host the music quiz with contestants from Surrey, Middlesex and Lincolnshire. From 2009.
WED 09:30 Bangers and Mash (b0075hby)
Episode 6
The toffee tin with half the company profits is missing. With only three days to go, can the two-and-a-half grand be collected in time?
Conclusion of the six-part comedy series by Katie Hims.
Stars Roger May as Juan, Catherine Harvey as Martina, Gerard McDermott as Jimmy, Jane Whittenshaw as Carol and Mark Straker as Kingsley.
Director: Catherine Horn
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.
WED 10:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vk2)
An Unmitigated Cub
Phoebe has made the acquaintance of the Mays in Carlingford. Although of opposing religious persuasions, Reginald is strongly attracted to her - and the arrival of Mr Northcote, the new non-conformist minister, causes friction which is not based on purely ecclesiastical differences.
Stars Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Oliphant, Charlotte Attenborough as Phoebe, Junior and Peter Jeffrey as Mr May.
Dramatised from Margaret Oliphant's 1876 novel by Elizabeth Proud.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
WED 11:00 Jim Morrison's Will to be Weird (m000h93s)
3: The End
Had Jim Morrison of The Doors not died in mysterious circumstances at the tender age of 27 in 1971, he would have celebrated his 75th birthday in 2018.
Over three sixty-minute episodes, Paul Gambaccini mixes the music and poetry of the man with the influences that moulded the self-proclaimed ‘The Lizard King’. Paul first encountered Morrison in 1967 when, as a young music director on a New Hampshire radio station, he eagerly opened The Doors’ first single ‘Break On Through’. He followed his career from beginning to end and, to this day, visits Morrison’s grave in Paris.
In addition to Paul’s memories and observations, we delve into the Radio Archive and feature:
‘The Cemetery Confessions’ [Radio 4 06/05/2004]
A star-studded cast interprets the final confessions of some of the many notable occupants of the Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise, Paris.
Producer: Mik Wilkojc
Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first heard in 2018.
WED 12:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007rgpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 12:30 Tales From the Mausoleum Club (b007jnsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 13:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7yny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 13:30 The Soul of Ireland (b04bryc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 14:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnn2q)
Episode 8
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 8:
A third death has abruptly re-opened the murder inquiry. Peter Sargeant feels impelled to take action to keep Jane clear of the accusing eye of Detective Gleason.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
WED 14:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvscc)
Mathematics of the Sky
Astronomer Heather Couper considers the contribution of the Islamic scholar, poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam.
WED 14:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jst2)
A Whistling Woman, Part 5/7
The religious community in Yorkshire becomes cult-like under the influence of its charismatic leader. Stars Ben Thomas.
WED 14:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xgkx8)
Episode 3
Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.
A serious motorbike crash brings a young soldier to A&E with a badly injured shoulder. His arm is paralysed, and may not recover.
Since Homer wrote the Iliad almost three thousand years ago, military strategists have understood the power of wounds to the brachial plexus, the network of nerves behind our collarbones. Our ‘arms’ are both parts of our body, and weapons of war.
Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
WED 15:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
WED 16:00 Counterpoint (b00j6bbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
WED 16:30 Bangers and Mash (b0075hby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
WED 17:00 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrj4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
WED 17:30 The Wilsons Save the World (b09fzt7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 18:00 Planet B (b00pbx1r)
Series 2
Paradise Hazard
Welcome to Happy Valley, the perfect environment for Planet B residents to live forever! Lioba and Kip marry, move in, and begin to raise a family. But it's harder to live the dream in this thoroughly modern community than it looks.
Lioba …. Tessa Nicholson
Kip …. Joseph Cohen-Cole
Cerberus …. Chris Pavlo
Vicar …. Ewan Hooper
Everett …. Bruce Alexander
Tom …. Nigel Hastings
Brenda …. Melissa Advani
Madeline …. Keely Beresford
Doctor …. Rhys Jennings
Voice of Planet B …. Adjoa Andoh
Written by Steve Sunderland.
Director: Jessica Dromgoole.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
WED 18:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp3v)
Series 1
Sandy Powell
"Can You Hear Me Mother?"
Famed for his catchphrase and comic ventriloquism, Mark Radcliffe profiles the career of Rotherham entertainer, Sandy Powell.
A six-part series exploring the tradition of the northern comedian.
Producer: Bernadette McConnell
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1999.
WED 19:00 Hancock's Half Hour (b007rgpj)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
WED 19:30 Tales From the Mausoleum Club (b007jnsr)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
WED 20:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7yny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
WED 20:30 The Soul of Ireland (b04bryc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
WED 21:00 Jim Morrison's Will to be Weird (m000h93s)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
WED 22:00 The Wilsons Save the World (b09fzt7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
WED 22:30 Warhorses of Letters (b03q59t3)
Series 3
Episode 2
By Robbie Hudson and Marie Phillips
Stephen Fry and Daniel Rigby star as Napoleon's horse Marengo and Wellington's horse Copenhagen, with an introduction by Tamsin Greig, in the world's first epistolary equine love story.
Still cruelly sundered by fate despite the war having ended, Marengo is put rather unwillingly out to stud and discovers the overwhelming and exhausting joys of parenthood, and Copenhagen finds a new way of passing the time - writing racy horse fan fiction, a genre for which he turns out to have a remarkable flair...
Produced by Gareth Edwards.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
WED 22:45 Guy Browning's Small Talk (b0076mys)
Series 2
How to Go to a Party
The writer and humorist shares his tips on making merry and avoiding being 'de-mingled'. From August 2004.
WED 23:00 Clare in the Community (b015pbhd)
Series 7
Debt of Honour
Episode Four - Debt of Honour
Clare is being plagued by Brian's marriage proposals. Her driving lessons lead to an unexpected encounter and there is an unveiling of a piece of public art at the Sparrowhawk Family Centre.
Sally Phillips is Clare Barker the social worker who has all the right jargon but never a practical solution.
A control freak, Clare likes nothing better than interfering in other people's lives on both a professional and personal basis. Clare is in her thirties, white, middle class and heterosexual, all of which are occasional causes of discomfort to her.
Each week we join Clare in her continued struggle to control both her professional and private life
In today's Big Society there are plenty of challenges out there for an involved, caring social worker. Or even Clare.
Episode Four - Debt of Honour - Cast
Clare: SALLY PHILLIPS
Brian: ALEX LOWE
Megan / Nali: NINA CONTI
Ray / Nick Powell: RICHARD LUMSDEN
Helen/ Lady Mayoress/Carol Morley: LIZA TARBUCK
Simon / Frankie 'The Fruitcake' Finnigan: ANDREW WINCOTT
Libby: SARAH KENDALL
Spartacus /'James Naughtie': GERARD McDERMOT
Written by Harry Venning and David Ramsden
Producer Katie Tyrrell.
WED 23:30 Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (b01d51th)
Series 1
With David O'Doherty
In a new brand music comedy series comedian Alex Horne and his 5 piece band give us a latin lesson; ponder the language that unifies us all and guest comedian David O Doherty takes us for a noisy ride in the 'quiet carriage'.
Host .... Alex Horne
Trumpet/banjo .... Joe Auckland
Saxophone/clarinet ....Mark Brown
Double Bass/Bass .... Will Collier
Drums and Percussion .... Ben Reynolds
Piano/keyboard .... Joe Stilgoe
Guest performer ....David O'Doherty
Producer .... Julia McKenzie.


THURSDAY 16 APRIL 2020

THU 00:00 Planet B (b00pbx1r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Wednesday]
THU 00:30 How Tickled Am I? (b007jp3v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Wednesday]
THU 01:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h7yny)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Wednesday]
THU 01:30 The Soul of Ireland (b04bryc2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qnn2q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Wednesday]
THU 02:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvscc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Wednesday]
THU 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jst2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Wednesday]
THU 02:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xgkx8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Wednesday]
THU 03:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vk2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:00 Counterpoint (b00j6bbl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Wednesday]
THU 04:30 Bangers and Mash (b0075hby)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Wednesday]
THU 05:00 Stockport, So Good They Named It Once (b007jrj4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Wednesday]
THU 05:30 The Wilsons Save the World (b09fzt7j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Wednesday]
THU 06:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h828w)
Series 1
The Coming Out Present
A newly paroled villain becomes involved in a security raid. Detective Sergeant Dave Brook sees a way to settle an old score.
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His sidekick is 23-year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
Moody ...... Michael McClain
Chief Insp. Roach ...... David Daker
Harry Dean ...... George Tovey
Collator ...... James Cosmo
Barmaid ...... Jenny Twigge
Ryan ...... Harry Towb
Ross ...... Paul Angelis
Brennan ...... Alan Barry
Police Officer ...... Trevor Cooper
Police Officer ....... Michael McStay
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1980.
THU 06:30 The Thing About Hank (b015n6wd)
He influenced a generation of guitarist players with his wide grin, black specs and red Stratocaster. Hank Marvin changed the way we see the guitar and in 'The Thing About Hank' we hear how. The programme explores Marvin's unique sound which Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page reveals, he tried to emulate as a teenager. Page was not the only aspiring guitar hero adapting Hank's style Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits front man) goes back to his schooldays explaining how he and his pals learnt the Shadows tunes after class.
No programme exploring the music of Hank and The Shadows would be complete without comments from Britain's answer to Elvis, Cliff Richard. As we hear it was Cliff who purchased Hank's first Fender Stratocaster imported from America. Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera believes that "Strat" guitar was crucial to the Hank Marvin sound that became a key feature of The Shadows success. The guitar with its red polished body and tremelo arm became a signature instrument for the young Marvin. Later two models would bear Hank's name "The Burns Marvin" and the "Stratocaster Hank Marvin" model. Hank Marvin talks about this accolade and explores some of the Shadows best known tunes, 'Apache', 'Wonderful Land" and 'Footapper'. Hank also talks us through The Shadows 'Walk" which British teenagers copied when ever a Shadows tune hit the airways.
Presented by John Sugar
Producer: John Sugar
A Sugar Production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.
THU 07:00 The Architects (b03y3kgn)
Series 1
Fracking Hell
Jim Poyser and Neil Griffiths' new comedy series set in a struggling architectural practice. Potentially lucrative contracts involving nuclear power plants, military drone manufacturers and a fracking company leave Matt and his principles in potential meltdown.
Directed by Toby Swift.
THU 07:30 Ability (b0b1srpp)
Series 1
Episode 2
Matt is 25. He has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app on his iPad. Everyone who cares about Matt knows that this isn't the defining thing about him. He is funny and clever and "up for stuff" - partly because he is keen to show that there's nothing he can't do, but also because, if he's honest, he's aware that he's less likely than other people to get the blame.
Now Matt's left home for the first time and moved in to share a flat with his best mate, Jess. But when Bob (Allan Mustafa) shows up as the new carer, the fun really starts. Bob is new to the job and, although willing, domestic duties are not really his forte. He's better at selling weed and dealing in knocked off iPads.
But he likes Matt and treats him like a real person. So, as far as Matt is concerned, Bob is here to stay.
Ability is the semi-autobiographical co-creation of Lee Ridley, otherwise known as Lost Voice Guy. Like his sitcom creation, Lee has cerebral palsy and can only speak via an app. Lost Voice Guy is - probably - the first stand up comedian to use a communication aid. He won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014, has done three full Edinburgh shows and been tour support for Ross Noble, Patrick Kielty and Jason Cook. Lee has previously worked for Sunderland City Council's communications team, and the BBC in Newcastle and London as well, as various local newspapers.
Katherine Jakeways is the co-creator and co-writer of Ability. Katherine is a multi-award nominated writer. She has written North by Northamptonshire, Guilt Trip and All Those Women for BBC Radio 4 as well as numerous radio plays. She has also written for Crackanory and The Tracey Ullman Show for TV along with a BBC 1 pilot, Carol and Vinney.
A Funny Bones production for BBC Radio 4.
THU 08:00 Frankie Howerd (m000h7z8)
Series 2
Episode 4
Frankie Howerd is commissioned by ‘steam radio’ to serialise his memoirs.
Ably assisted by June Whitfield and Ray Fell, Francis titters and teeters through his eventful life and illustrious career.
Written by David McKellar and David Nobbs.
Music from the Bill McGuffie Quartet.
Producer: David Hatch.
First broadcast in BBC Radio 2 in July 1973.
THU 08:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00b02bc)
Series 4
Episode 8
Hovercrafts, ferrets - and the three-toed sloth.
More quick-fire sketches, terrible puns, humorous songs and parodies.
Stars Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie.
Written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.
Originating from the Cambridge University Footlights revue 'Cambridge Circus', ISIRTA ran for 8 years on BBC Radio and quickly developed a cult following.
Music and songs by Dave Lee, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden.
Producer: Humphrey Barclay
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in November 1966.
THU 09:00 It's Your Round (b018g279)
Series 2
Episode 1
The first in a new series in which the panellists bring their own round for the other panellists to play.
Angus Deayton presides over a panel of comedians - Miles Jupp, Fred MacAulay, Josie Long and Nick Helm - all trying to beat each other at their own games.
Featured rounds:
Miles Jupp's 'Test Match Specialists', a quiz using the rules and regulations of the 'world's finest sport' (Miles' words)
Fred MacAulay's 'Play Your Various Different Categories Right', like 'Play Your Cards Right', but with other variables such as Scottish landmarks, household accident statistics, Radio 4 presenter's heights and, er, the song 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' by Band Aid.
Josie Long's 'Dream Day Job' in which panellists have to guess an audience member's dream day job by asking yes/no questions.
Nick Helm's 'Cream Crackered' in which panellists have to eat as many cream crackers as they can in a minute...commentated on by Test Match Special's very own, Henry Blofeld.
Producer: Sam Michell.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
THU 09:30 Millport (b00761w5)
Series 2
Happy Returns
It's Irene's 33rd birthday - so the island inhabitants have a few surprises in store...
Bittersweet comedy written by and starring Lynn Ferguson as 30-something island barmaid Irene Bruce, who hankers after a better life on the mainland.
Stars Lynn Ferguson as Irene, Janet Brown as Moira/Agnes, Lewis McLeod as Alberto/Robert/Ferryman/Bob, Gabriel Quigley as Ena/Bunty and Kenneth Bryans as Dougie.
Music arranged by Olly Fox.
Producer: Lucy Bacon
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2001.
THU 10:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vkc)
A Guilty Bit of Paper
In the final episode of her Carlingford Chronicles, Mrs Oliphant recounts how Mr May, beset on all sides by debt, is swept towards the conclusion of his deceitful action.
Amongst the close little coterie of lovers, there is a surprise and a disappointment.
Stars Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs Oliphant, Charlotte Attenborough as Phoebe, Junior, Peter Jeffrey as Mr May and Timothy West as Mr Copperhead.
Dramatised from Margaret Oliphant's 1876 novel by Elizabeth Proud.
Producer: Sue Wilson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994.
THU 11:00 There Is No-one in the Lab But Mice, by Tania Hershman (b07q2r50)
What happens when scientists around the world suddenly down tools?
Written by Tania Hershman, who is the author of two story collections, My Mother Was An Upright Piano: Fictions, and The White Road and Other Stories. Her award-winning short stories and poetry have been widely published in print and online and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4. Tania is founder and curator of ShortStops, celebrating short story activity across the UK and Ireland. She is a Royal Literary Fund fellow at the faculties of science at Bristol University.
Written and Read by Tania Hershman
Producer: Jeremy Osborne
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4
THU 11:15 Bob Sherman - The Titanic Inquiry (m000h7zb)
Episode 2
Testimony from the archives of the US Senate's investigation into the sinking of the Titanic moves on to an early confrontation with cheque-book journalism in 1912.
The inventor of the wireless, Guglielmo Marconi, takes the stand.
From over a thousand pages of testimony in the Inquiry Archives, the conclusion of Bob Sherman's gripping two-part courtroom drama.
Senator William Alden Smith ... Kenneth Haigh
Guglielmo Marconi ... John Sessions
Senator Fletcher ... John Sharian
George Rowe ... Peter Marinker
Charles Herbert Lightoller ... Conrad Nelson
Harold Bride ... Ben Crowe
Frederick Fleet ...Tom George
Female Voices ... Barbara Barnes
Male Voice ... Peter Marinker
Director: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2002.
THU 12:00 Frankie Howerd (m000h7z8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 12:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00b02bc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 13:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h828w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 13:30 The Thing About Hank (b015n6wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 14:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qrmw8)
Episode 9
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 9:
The body count has reached three. Peter Sargeant is desperate to find out the truth and has begun to interview his list of suspects. But the clock is ticking as Detective Gleason seems about to make an arrest and, despite the lack of evidence, Peter’s girlfriend Jane Garden looks to be the likely candidate. Peter has already talked to Anna Eglanova who is convinced that Alyosha had a hand in Ella's death. Next he visits Jed Wilbur at home.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
THU 14:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsch)
The Earth Moves
Astronomer Heather Couper considers the impact of Copernicus's idea that the Earth was not at the centre of the universe.
THU 14:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jstb)
A Whistling Woman, Part 6/7
Protesters disrupt the prestigious conference at the Yorkshire university where Luke is speaking. Stars Peter Marinker.
THU 14:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xhwqh)
Episode 4
Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.
The liver is a mysterious organ - essential to life, multifarious in its actions, its tissue unusual in being able to regenerate.
Ancient cultures used the livers of sacrificed animals to predict events; Biblical kings planned wars according to what the liver foretold. Livers appear in the proverbs of eastern Europe and in the folk tales gathered by the Brothers Grimm. And when a young gardener scratches her finger on a thorn and falls into a coma, it might be her liver which saves her life.
Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
THU 15:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
THU 16:00 It's Your Round (b018g279)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
THU 16:30 Millport (b00761w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
THU 17:00 The Architects (b03y3kgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
THU 17:30 Ability (b0b1srpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 18:00 Planet B (b00pdkf2)
Series 2
Light City
In Light City you are either with the police or against them. Whichever side you're on, there are points to be earned. But when an uncompromising vigilante arrives it looks like the rules are changing.
Lioba …. Tessa Nicholson
Kip …. Joseph Cohen-Cole
Ed66 …. Rhys Jennings
Shiver …. Nigel Hastings
Clairesquare …. Melissa Advani
Reva …. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Trent …. John Biggins
Hand …. Bruce Alexander
Pauly …. Piers Wehner
Homeless Man …. Ewan Hooper
Voice of Planet B …. Adjoa Andoh
Written by Dawn King.
Director: Colin Guthrie.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
THU 18:30 Great Lives (b04fz6ky)
Series 34
Tom Shakespeare on Gramsci
Dr Tom Shakespeare is a lecturer at the Medical School in the University of East Anglia and prominent campaigner for the rights of the disabled.
He explains to Matthew Parris why the life and work of the Italian left-wing revolutionary Antonio Gramsci means a great deal to him personally.
They're joined in the studio by Professor Anne Sassoon.
Producer: Christine Hal
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2014.l
THU 19:00 Frankie Howerd (m000h7z8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
THU 19:30 I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (b00b02bc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
THU 20:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h828w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
THU 20:30 The Thing About Hank (b015n6wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
THU 21:00 There Is No-one in the Lab But Mice, by Tania Hershman (b07q2r50)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
THU 21:15 Bob Sherman - The Titanic Inquiry (m000h7zb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:15 today]
THU 22:00 Ability (b0b1srpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
THU 22:30 Newsjack (m000h7zh)
Newsjack Unplugged, Series 5
Episode 4
Newsjack's plucky younger sibling where each week, Eshaan Akbar transforms the news into sketches and one-liners with the help of the Great British public.
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Production
THU 22:45 Quando, Quando, Quando (b00800m4)
Spies
Spies steal the Quando brothers' secret formula - upsetting the delicate equilibrium that's existed for so long between them and the Quandos.
Brothers Rene, Carlo and Charlie Quando chop, snip and crimp their lucky clients into shape at London's finest hair salon.
Six-part comedy written and performed by Rainer Hersch and Mark Maie. With Stephen Greif and Catherine Tate.
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1999.
THU 23:00 The Skivers (b007xwy1)
Series 2
William Franklyn
Dolphins, and Sue Lawley's secret. Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh welcome special guest William Franklyn. From February 1995.
THU 23:30 At Home With The Snails (b007k2ql)
Series 1
Episode 2
Alex is obsessed with snails, but can women ever replace them in his affections? Stars Gerard Foster. From July 2001.


FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2020

FRI 00:00 Planet B (b00pdkf2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:00 on Thursday]
FRI 00:30 Great Lives (b04fz6ky)
[Repeat of broadcast at 18:30 on Thursday]
FRI 01:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03h828w)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 on Thursday]
FRI 01:30 The Thing About Hank (b015n6wd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qrmw8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:00 on Thursday]
FRI 02:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvsch)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:15 on Thursday]
FRI 02:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jstb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:30 on Thursday]
FRI 02:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xhwqh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 14:45 on Thursday]
FRI 03:00 Margaret Oliphant - Phoebe Junior (b03m7vkc)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:00 It's Your Round (b018g279)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 on Thursday]
FRI 04:30 Millport (b00761w5)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 on Thursday]
FRI 05:00 The Architects (b03y3kgn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 on Thursday]
FRI 05:30 Ability (b0b1srpp)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 on Thursday]
FRI 06:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03hw1vb)
Series 1
The Legacy
Detective Sergeant Dave Brook seems personally affected by a theft from a young woman.
Max, meanwhile, is hauled in by their boss...
Stories of crime and detection in London by Robert Barr.
Starring Ray Brooks as long-serving, ducking-and-diving DS Dave Brook. His sidekick is 23-year-old ‘grammar school boy’ DC Blair Maxton, played by Christopher Blake.
DS Dave Brook …. Ray Brooks
DC Blair Maxton …. Christopher Blake
DC Harrison …. Peter Cleall
Chief Inspector Roach …. David Daker
Mrs Kendall ...... Jessie Evans
Billie Sellars ...... Roy Holder
Susan Graham ...... Victoria Plucknett
Tommy ...... Johnny Wade
Producer: Martin Fisher
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1980.
FRI 06:30 The Art of the Menu (b04jjz3v)
At the family restaurant run by Ben Schott's in-laws just outside Trenton, New Jersey, there is no written menu. Once, during the war, Giacomo Rosati wrote out the dishes and their prices - not to show customers what was being served but to show what was being charged. The practice didn't last. That menu hangs decoratively but redundantly on the wall.
So, back in his New York neighbourhood, Ben learns that every menu tells its own story - quite literally in the curious menu collection of Bernard Freed. For forty odd years, Bernard wrote what he ate and how it tasted on the back of his menu alongside the film he saw after each meal. They're in the New York Public Library.
The menu is a compromise between cooking and commerce. Using artful language (scrumpets* anyone?) and clever graphics, it is simultaneously about - and not about - the food.
Ben meets a chef who writes menus and a menu designer who rarely uses one, discovering the tricks and secrets of that little piece of paper or fancily decorated card.
With The Homestead Inn's Giacomo and Peter Rosati; Birmingham-born, Manhattan-based chef April Bloomfield; The New York Public Library's Rebecca Federman who co-curates What's On The Menu?; graphic designer and menu supremo Matteo Bologna; Kate Krader, Restaurant Editor at Food and Wine magazine; and Eisenbergs lunch counter regular Mark Kirschner.
* Braised lamb breasts, breaded and deep fried with a little mint vinegar sauce on the side.
Reader: Tina Lohmann
Produced by Tamsin Hughes
A Testbed production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.
FRI 07:00 Electric Ink (b01jrt6d)
Series 2
Episode 2
By Alistair Beaton and Tom Mitchelson.
A comic satire set in the struggling world of newspapers. Maddox refuses to give up a source. Could he really face prison.
Maddox ..... John Sessions
Oliver ..... Alex Jennings
Freddy ..... Stephen Wight
Carol ..... Polly Frame
Masha ..... Debbie Chazen
Policeman ..... Henry Devas
Warder ..... Adeel Akhtar
Producer ..... Sally Avens
Alistair Beaton and Tom Mitchelson's satire is set in the world of modern newspapers.
A group of dysfunctional journalists attempt to cover major news stories at the same time as grappling with the demands of working in a multi-platform environment, watching circulation figures plummet and the recession causing half the workforce to be laid off.
At the heart of the comedy is the relationship between Maddox Bradley, a journalist who mourns the day of proper investigative journalism, and Freddy, the online editor who will regurgitate a press release quite happily and call it a story. But they have a grudging respect for the each other as Freddy helps Maddox stay afloat in the world of Twitter, Facebook and podcasting and Maddox shows Freddy how to sniff out the real story. Both are at the mercy of Oliver, the pragmatic editor more concerned with keeping his job, and Carol, the news editor who believes that circulation will increase if they run pieces on Big Mac eating orang-utans and 'intelligent' skunks rather than Maddox's moral crusading diatribes. And only Masha, the Russian head of online communities, who wants to give away all their content because that is true democracy, knows Freddy's secret; that he's a posh boy from Eton rather than a hypercool kid from the street; well that's what Freddy thinks anyway.
FRI 07:30 Just a Minute (b00gvjpg)
Series 54
Episode 5
Nicholas Parsons chairs the devious word game. The panellists are Paul Merton, Liza Tarbuck, Gyles Brandreth and Sue Perkins. Episode first broadcast on 26th January 2009.
FRI 08:00 The Men from the Ministry (b00ybxgy)
The War with the Isle of Wight
The daft duo sets out to buy some land for the military and nearly start a war...
A weekly tribute to all those who work in government departments.
Stars Wilfrid Hyde White and Richard Murdoch.
With Norma Ronald, Roy Dotrice, Diana Olsson, Julian Somers and Joan Sanderson.
Written and produced by Edward Taylor.
'The Men from the Ministry' ran for 14 series between 1962 and 1977. Deryck Guyler replaced Wilfrid Hyde-White from 1966. Sadly many episodes didn't survive in the archive, however the BBC's Transcription Service re-recorded 14 shows in 1980 - never broadcast in the UK, until the arrival of BBC Radio 4 Extra.
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in November 1962.
FRI 08:30 The Marx Brothers' Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel (b00890mh)
Series 3
Episode 3
Shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel starts a bus tour of New York.
Recreation of the Marx Brothers' lost shows charting the adventures of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel and his assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli. Originally broadcast with sponsors on America's NBC radio network in the 1930s. The scripts were rediscovered in 1988.
Starring Michael Roberts as Groucho Marx as Waldorf T Flywheel and Frank Lazarus as Chico Marx as Emmanuel Ravelli. With Lorelei King and Graham Hoadly.
Special guest stars Spike Milligan and Dick Vosburgh.
Written by Nat Perrin and Athur Sheekman. Adapted by Mark Brisenden.
Music arranged and conducted by David Firman.
Producer: Dirk Maggs
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1992.
FRI 09:00 Funny You Should Ask (b04st6lb)
From 19/05/1981
Peter Jones tests the knowledge of three comedy experts: Carry on film star Charles Hawtrey, the comedian famed for his catchphase 'You lucky people' Tommy Trinder and composer/conductor Ron Goodwin.
Featuring questions about the classic British film comedies, Charles Hawtrey reveals his favourite out of the 24 Carry on films which he appeared in. There are also rounds on music in comedy films and childhood.
Looking at all kinds of comedy, Funny You Should Ask ran for seven series from 1978 to 1982.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1981.
FRI 09:30 The Adventures of John and Tony (b007k1s6)
The Hiking Holiday
John and his best friend Tony find face dodgy hotels and sinister monks, but love is in the air...
Written by John Hegley.
Starring John Hegley, Simon Munnery, Terry Malloy, Sunny Ormonde and Andy Hockley.
Original music by Nigel Piper.
Director: Anne Edyvean.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 1999.
FRI 10:00 Jill Paton Walsh - The Wyndham Case (b007jsrd)
The locked library of St Agatha's College in Cambridge houses an invaluable collection of 17th-century volumes. It also contains one dead student. A tragic accident - or is there some more mysterious and deadly circumstance surrounding the death of model student Philip Skellow?
If anyone can find out, it’s college nurse and amateur sleuth, Imogen Quy, and her policeman friend, Mike.
Imogen Quy …. Carolyn Pickles
Mike Parsons …. Richard Derrington
Sir William …. Jeffery Dench
Lady Buckmoat …. Marlene Sidaway
Fran Bullion …. Tracey Wyles
Mountnessing …. Charles Collingwood
Mrs. Skellow …. Gillian Goodman
Lord Goldhooper …. Ian Brooker
Nick …. Tom George
Emily and Tracy …. Claire Corbett
Catherine and Felicity …. Jasmine Hyde
Jack …. Thomas Arnold
Phillip Skellow …. Alex Trinder
Roger …. Martyn Read
Written by Jill Paton Walsh and dramatised by Neville Teller.
Directed in Birmingham by Peter Lesley Wild
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.
FRI 11:00 Podcast Radio Hour (m000h95c)
Presenters recommend their favourite podcasts and speak to the people who make them.
FRI 12:00 The Men from the Ministry (b00ybxgy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 12:30 The Marx Brothers' Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel (b00890mh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 13:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03hw1vb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 13:30 The Art of the Menu (b04jjz3v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 14:00 Death in the Fifth Position by Gore Vidal (b06qrn50)
Episode 10
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 10:
It would appear that Mr Washburn has decided to let Jane Garden take the fall. He is willing to see her arrested and have her reputation ruined even when she is found innocent, in order for the ballet company to continue its tour. Peter continues to piece together his theory of what happened, but time is running out. He needs to spend some time with Louis to find out what he knows. It's an evening that involves alcohol and a bathhouse.
The music used in the series is (as mentioned in the story) Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged by Isobel Creed
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4
FRI 14:15 Cosmic Quest (b00bvscm)
The Imperfect Cosmos
Astronomer Heather Couper looks at Tycho Brahe's realisation that the heavens change - that a planet's orbit could be predicted.
FRI 14:30 AS Byatt - The Frederica Quartet (b007jstn)
A Whistling Woman, Part 7/7
Alexander hosts a play to raise cash for repairs and a fire at the farm has dire consequences. Stars Indira Varma.
FRI 14:45 Gavin Francis - Adventures in Human Being (b05xj1qd)
Episode 5
Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.
His journey ends at the foot – a marvel of engineering often overlooked by anatomists and medical students.
It’s thanks to the arches of our feet that we stepped into our humanity more than two million years ago.
Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015.
FRI 15:00 Jill Paton Walsh - The Wyndham Case (b007jsrd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:00 today]
FRI 16:00 Funny You Should Ask (b04st6lb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
FRI 16:30 The Adventures of John and Tony (b007k1s6)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:30 today]
FRI 17:00 Electric Ink (b01jrt6d)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:00 today]
FRI 17:30 Just a Minute (b00gvjpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 18:00 Planet B (b00pgqf0)
Series 2
Dark Star
In Light City you are either with the police or against them. Whichever side you're on, there are points to be earned. But when an uncompromising vigilante arrives it looks like the rules are changing.
Lioba …. Tessa Nicholson
Kip …. Joseph Cohen-Cole
Blend …. Emerald O'Hanrahan
Fabian …. Ewan Hooper
Cerberus …. Chris Pavlo
Voice of Planet B …. Adjoa Andoh
Other Parts …. Melissa Advani, Kate Layden, Rhys Jennings and Piers Wehner
Written by Matthew Broughton.
Director: Jeremy Mortimer.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.
FRI 18:30 Off the Page (b0076tvb)
It's Not What You Know
Matthew Parris, Alexander Waugh, Emma Richler and Susie Boyt reflect on the pervasive power of nepotism. From September 2005.
FRI 19:00 The Men from the Ministry (b00ybxgy)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:00 today]
FRI 19:30 The Marx Brothers' Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel (b00890mh)
[Repeat of broadcast at 08:30 today]
FRI 20:00 Robert Barr - Detective (b03hw1vb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
FRI 20:30 The Art of the Menu (b04jjz3v)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:30 today]
FRI 21:00 Podcast Radio Hour (m000h95c)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:00 today]
FRI 22:00 Just a Minute (b00gvjpg)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
FRI 22:30 Bird Island (b01k2b18)
Series 1
Episode 3
On one hand, Ben is on the trip of a lifetime to Sub-Antarctica. On the other, he's trapped in an icy hell with one other person, a dodgy internet connection and a dictaphone. Loneliness is something of a problem. His fellow travelling scientist Graham should alleviate this, but the tragi-comic fact is, they are nerdy blokes, so they can only stumble through yet another awkward exchange. Ben experiences all the highs and lows that this beautiful, but lonely place has to offer but fails miserably to communicate this to Graham. So, Ben shares his thoughts with us in the form of an audio 'log'.
Apart from his research studying the Albatross on the Island, Ben attempts to continue normal life with an earnestness and enthusiasm which is ultimately very endearing. We're with him as chats awkwardly with Graham, telephones his mother and as he tries to form a long distance relationship with a woman through Chemistry.com. In fact, we follow Ben as everything occurs to him. We also hear the pings and whirrs of machinery, the Squawks and screeches of the birds and the vast expanse outside. Oh, and ice. Lots of ice.
EPISDE THREE:
Bird Island is the story of Ben, a young scientist working in Antarctica, trying to socially adapt to the loneliness by keeping a cheery audio diary on his Dictaphone. An atmospheric 15 minute non-audience comedy.
Ben and Graham encounter a seal cub that's been attacked. He takes it home and carefully nurses it back to life and share the pup's progress with his mum and Dad.
EPISDE THREE CAST:
Ben ..... Reece Shearsmith
Graham ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Beverley..... Alison Steadman
Robin..... Gerard Mcdermott
Written by ..... Katy Wix
Produced by ..... Tilusha Ghelani.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
FRI 22:45 Paperback Hell (b0076cl3)
Series 1
Shopping For Mr Wrong
Tale of a singleton who wants to be swept off her feet. Another spoof chapter of a bestseller. Starring Mel Hudson. From 2003.
FRI 23:00 Little Britain (b008h569)
Series 1
Episode 3
Back where it started out - Matt Lucas and David Walliams' oddball TV smash hit, without the cameras. From March 2001.
FRI 23:30 The Maltby Collection (b00xj161)
Series 2
Episode 4
At the museum's first children's day, the dog counting competition is not going well. Stars Geoffrey Palmer. From June 2008.