SATURDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2021

SAT 00:00 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (b037bvq6)
It’s 109 years after the near annihilation of humanity. Just four men and one woman remain, and they have one final battle… with a psychotic computer.
Starring David Soul.
Harlan Ellison’s famous sci-fi story comes to radio with the author taking the role of the psychotic computer which has prevailed in mankind's last war.
Ted .... David Soul
AM .... Harlan Ellison
Ellen .... Abi Eniola
Nimdok …. Ewan Bailey
Gorrister …. David Timson
Benny …. Jason O'Mara
Producer: Ned Chaillet
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2002.
SAT 00:30 Off the Page (b0184rgl)
Birmingham
Dominic Arkwright and guests discuss the city of Birmingham; its flaws and its fabulousness.
According to a survey, the majority of the population believe that Manchester is the UK's second city and not Birmingham. Lord Digby Jones added further fuel to that debate when he suggested in 2011 that Manchester has a more legitimate claim to that crown.
But is there anything to be gained from being classified as second? Is it a title that either cities want?
Brummies Adrian Goldberg and Shazia Mirza and Mancunian Luke Bainbridge join Dominic Arkwright to discuss why coolness is the one adjective that has eluded the city of a thousand trades.
Blighted by dialectic prejudice and the stereotypes borne of Crossroads and the like, Birmingham is about to embark on another architectural city revamp.
Is Birmingham happy with itself?
Producer: Sarah Langan.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011.
SAT 01:00 Wimsey (b007jvnm)
Strong Poison
5. Pongo
Lord Peter Wimsey's trail goes cold, until a stolen will brings fresh enlightenment.
Ian Carmichael stars as Lord Peter Wimsey – the aristocratic amateur sleuth created by Dorothy L Sayers.
Dramatised by Alistair Beaton.
Lord Peter Wimsey …. Ian Carmichael
Freddy Arbuthnot …. Christopher Scoular
Miss Climpson …. Ambrosine Phillpotts
Nurse Booth …. Joan Hickson
Producer: Simon Brett.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1976.
SAT 01:30 Miss Marple (b007jnl4)
A Murder Is Announced
Episode 5
A further murder has been committed, but just as Miss Marple is piecing her thoughts together - she disappears...
Conclusion of Agatha Christie's whodunit.
Starring June Whitfield as Miss Jane Marple.
Dramatised by Michael Bakewell.
Miss Marple ...... June Whitfield
Inspector Craddock ...... Ian Lavender
Letty Blacklock ...... Sarah Lawson
Colonel Easterbrook ...... Jack Hedley
Laura Easterbrook ...... Joanna McCallum
Bunch Harmon ...... Molly Gaisford
Patrick Simmons ...... Jamie Glover
Mitzi ...... Jenny Funnell
Julia Simmons ...... Angela Sims
Phillipa Haymes ...... Sarah Rice
Director: Enyd Williams
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 1999
SAT 02:00 Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (b09jh3ks)
10. Goodbye, Mummy
After being taken back to painful childhood memories, Eleanor finally confronts her mother...
Tracy Wiles concludes Gail Honeyman's heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking novel.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything. But one simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself.
Abridged by Richard Hamilton.
Producer: Justine Willett
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2017.
SAT 02:15 Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary (b00cqzj4)
5. The Temptation
Emma meets wealthy land owner Rodolphe Boulanger, and succumbs to temptation...
Gustave Flaubert's French masterpiece of betrayal and wantonness - the first great novel of adultery.
Narrated by John Hurt.
Dramatised by Diana Griffiths from Margaret Mauldon's translation.
Narrator ...... John Hurt
Charles ...... Conrad Nelson
Emma ...... Sarah Smart
Rodolphe Boulanger ...... Jude Akuwudike
Madame Lefrancois ...... Siobhan Finneran
Monsieur Homais ...... David Fleeshman
Producer: Pauline Harris
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2006.
SAT 02:30 Blind Date with Don Camillo (b04009c2)
Peter White goes in search of one of his childhood's favourite comic heroes, the buffoonish figure of Don Camillo.
Whilst at the National Blind School, Peter lapped up the braille books that described the antics of this angry Italian Catholic priest who was always pitted against Peppone, the Communist mayor.
Peter discovers that author Giovannino Guareschi's comic creations provide a fascinating road map to the bitter rivalries and huge political instability of post-war Italy. This was a time when the battle-scarred country was recovering from 20 years of Mussolini's fascism, from Nazi occupation, and the Allied campaign to seize the country. The internationally popular Don Camillo books are a snapshot of the early Cold War years when the Communist Party was riding high, and entirely at odds with the conservatism of the Catholic church.
Meeting Guareschi's descendants, Italian satirists today, a publisher and academics, Peter discovers that the short stories he so enjoyed as a teenager unlock a passionate and pivotal time in Italy's history.
Arrested and imprisoned by three different successive regimes, first by Mussolini, then made a POW by the Nazis, only to fall foul of the post-war Christian Democrat government, we'll hear that Guareschi continued to hone his satire, always using humour to poke fun at authority, in whatever shape or form it presented itself. He certainly knew how to make life hard for himself, but nearly 50 years after his death Guareschi's characters live on: the Don Camillo films remain a staple of Italian TV.
But, Peter asks, do the antics and rivalries of Don Camillo and Peppone still speak to us today, and if so, what do they tell us?
Producer: Mark Smalley
Frist broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.
SAT 03:00 Martin Boyd - Lucinda Brayford (b0076q1g)
3. Expectations
Badly injured Hugo has refused to divorce Lucinda, leaving her torn between what society expects of her and what her heart desires.
Conclusion of Martin Boyd's novel about the battles between wealthy Australian Lucinda and the English aristocracy.
Starring Juliet Aubrey.
Dramatised by Elspeth Sandys.
Lucinda ...... Juliet Aubrey
Hugo ...... Jonathan Firth
Paul ...... Paul Rhys
Pat ...... Mark Straker
Marian ...... Penelope Wilton
Arthur ...... Michael Cochrane
Lydia ...... Abigail McKern
Fred ...... James Laurenson
Julie ...... Angela Pleasence
Bill ...... Nick Boulton
Tony ...... Matt Day
Watteau ...... Miranda Barber
Mrs. Greene-James ...... Joanna McCallum
Lord Fitzauncell ...... Stephen Hogan
Stephen ...... Robert Hastie
Muriel ...... Helen Longworth
Heather ...... Alex Tregear
Mrs. Galway ...... Ndidi Del Fatti
Stephen ...... Pax Baldwin
Commanding Officer ...... Hugh Dickson
Director: Janet Whitaker
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2005.
SAT 04:00 Funny You Should Ask (b0b2r0jx)
From 20/04/1978
Peter Jones hosts the entertainment quiz about comedy as he tests a panel of experts:
Barry Took, Derek Roy and Mike Burton recall memories of careers and comic colleagues.
Funny You Should Ask ran for 8 series from 1976 to 1982.
Questions compiled by Michael Pointon.
Producer: Bob Oliver Rogers
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in April 1978.
SAT 04:30 In the Red (b007jzh9)
Episode 1
London is plagued by a series of bizarre murders of bank managers.
Hot on the trail of the killer are an old-style Chief Police Inspector and BBC Radio's anarchic crime correspondent, George Cragge.
A blackly humorous murder mystery set in the world of City finance, the BBC and political parties starring Michael Williams.
Dramatised in seven-parts by Mark Tavener and Peter Baynham from Mark Tavener's novel.
George Cragge ...... Michael Williams
Frank Jefferson ...... Barry Foster
Geoffrey Crichton-Potter ...... Stephen Moore
Henry ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Max ...... Peter Woodthorpe
Dominic De'ath ...... Benjamin Whitrow
With:
Nicholas Le Prevost
Peter Serafinowicz
Eva Stuart
Susie Brann
Alice Arnold
David Antrobus
Annabel Mullion
Music by Tony McAnaney.
Producer: Paul Schlesinger
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1995.
SAT 05:00 Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully (b01k9hmd)
Pilot
Katherine Parkinson and Julian Rhind-Tutt star in this 'Comedy Showcase' pilot about an alien invasion of a small English village.
The Geonin are not your typical alien invaders. Instead of the usual all-at-once approach to global domination (which usually fails, they've noticed) they've decided to start small. They've encircled a small English village with an impenetrable heat wave, preventing anything coming in or out.
With Cresdon Green as their base, they will learn about humankind, using their knowledge to effectively and efficiently spread their domination over the rest of the world, bit by bit.
Katrina just came back to borrow some money from her parents. And, having been turned down, she's really in no mood to stick around - but the Geonin are not letting anyone in or out, and she has tickets to the theatre in London. So what choice does she have but to start The Resistance?
Following this pilot - two series were produced with an amended cast.
Written by Eddie Robson.
Kat Lyons ...... Katherine Parkinson
Uljabaan ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Mrs Lyons ...... Jan Francis
Mr Lyons ...... Peter Davison
Ron ...... Dave Lamb
Lucy ...... Hannah Murray
Computer ...... John-Luke Roberts
Chris ...... Don Gilet
Producer: Ed Morrish.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in July 2012.
SAT 05:30 It's Not What You Know (b09tf70n)
Series 5
Episode 1
Has Tony Hawks ever committed a crime, what's the most embarrassing thing Rachel Riley does when working on Countdown and what did Desiree like least about working as a dominatrix?
All these questions, and more, will be answered in the show hosted by Joe Lycett where panellists are tested on how well they know their nearest and dearest.
Produced by Matt Stronge.
It was a BBC Studios Production.
SAT 06:00 Richard Marsh - The Beetle (b04n923r)
British politician Paul Lessingham, a handsome man of wealth, talent and ambition, has a strange and disturbing past which threatens to destroy him.
Richard Marsh's tale of terror starring Gerald McDermott, Robert Holt and Tracy-Ann Oberman.
Dramatised by Roger Danes
Paul Lessingham .... Gerard McDermott
Robert Harper .... Robert Holt
Dora Grayling .... Tracy Ann Oberman
Sidney Atherton .... Alex Lowe
Marjorie Lindon .... Janet Maw
Augustus Champnell .... Sean Baker
Mr Lindon .... Hugh Dickson
Percy Woodville .... Christopher Scott
With Ioan Meredith, Stephen Thorne, Linda Polan, Chris Pavlo and Alison Pettit.
Richard Marsh's Gothic novel about a fantastical creature was first published in 1897 – the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula, which it outsold six times over after winning popular appeal amongst readers in the Victorian period.
Marsh published over 80 novels, yet much of his work has been largely forgotten.
Director: Marion Nancarrow.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1997.
SAT 07:30 Great Lives (b092mbm2)
Series 43
Helen Sharman on Elsie Widdowson
How many people realise the impact Elsie Widdowson had on the way we view nutrition?
She was a food scientist who devoted her life to improving the diets of adults and children in Britain and abroad.
Matthew Parris hears why Helen Sharman, the first Briton to go into space, thinks Widdowson deserves her nomination.
They are joined by Elsie's friend and biographer Margaret Ashwell, President for the Association for Nutrition.
You can download the podcast to hear an extended version of the broadcast programme
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2017.
SAT 08:00 Listomania (b09z7br4)
Series 1
Episode 3
From the magnificent to the mundane.
From the humble 'to do' list to the bucket list and many more...
Susan Calman hosts the series exploring the world of the lists.
With:
Sara Cox
James Acaster
Miles Jupp
Jocelyn Esien
Written by James Kettle and Gráinne Maguire with Max Davis and Gabby Hutchinson Crouch.
Producers: Sam Bryant and Adnan Ahmed.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 2015.
SAT 08:30 All the Young Dudes (b00cgyjs)
Series 1
School's Out
Having moved back to London, Patrick is still looking for a teaching post and tries for a job at his old school.
An unexpected voice from the past leaves him feeling cold...
Comedy drama written by and starring Jim Sweeney.
Patrick …… Jim Sweeney
Helen: Cathryn Harrison
Billy …… Steve Steen
Joe …… Stephen Frost
Moira …… Sadie Shimmin
Maria …… Flaminia Cinque
Charlie …… Izzy De Rosario
Mr Martin …… Geoffrey Whitehead
Announcer: Whispering Bob Harris
Producer: Steve Doherty
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2001.
SAT 09:00 The Burkiss Way (b00jvj68)
Celebrate the Burkiss Way
Happy dynamic living!
It's back to the 1970s and 80s as comedy writers David Renwick and Andrew Marshall – plus original cast members Chris Emmett, Nigel Rees and Fred Harris - recall their cult BBC radio comedy hit .
Discover how Eric Pode of Croydon came to be! Which cast member made the leap from Big Ted and Play School to Radio 4? And why did 'The Burkiss Way' earn itself a mention in the Houses of Parliament?
Enjoy five classic episodes first heard on BBC Radio 4, featuring the talents of Jo Kendall, Chris Emmett, Fred Harris and Nigel Rees:
* Skive from School the Burkiss Way:
Can 'Moses Minor' lead the boys of Greyfriars away from the clutches of their oppressors?
From 1977.
* Not the Burkiss Way:
Learn how to offer family planning for rabbits. Michael Parkinson interviews Bugs Bunny.
From 1978.
* Remember the Burkiss Way:
From 3-2-1 to The Generation Game Questions galore in the clash of the game shows!
From 1979.
* Settle out of Court the Burkiss Way:
Find out 'What's My Gender', plus a galactic 'Panorama'.
From 1980.
* Wave Goodbye to CBEs the Burkiss Way
The sketch show team's last-ever episode which provoked controversy.
From 1980.
Producer: Martin Dempsey
Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in April 2009
SAT 12:00 Bad Salsa (b048jj9b)
Series 1
A New Perspective
After treatment for ovarian and breast cancer Chippy, mad Jill is sad and Terri is definitely dangerous to know!
The road back after cancer treatment can be tricky and full of obstacles.
Two middle-aged women and their younger friend seek to regain their zest for life and love by learning to dance at Bad Salsa, the club where everyone knows your name but no-one knows your prognosis!
Depictions of people with cancer on TV and radio too often follow a standard format; there is the diagnosis, the depression the chemo, then the false recovery followed by the tragic death.
Written by Kay Stonham, Bad Salsa tries to paint a picture at once more hopeful and more in line with survival rates, which have improved immensely over the past 20 years.
For many, 'living with cancer' is now their day-to-day challenge. Our characters have finished their treatment and are in the process of finding their way back to normal life or at least finding a "new normal."
Everyday challenges must go on like boring marriages, distracting crushes, troublesome children, difficult workmates and infuriating parents. But their brush with mortality gives them a new perspective.
So do they preserve their pre-cancer status quo, or in Terri's words, to say, "sod it all" and "go for it!"?
Follow the women as they embrace the world of salsa whilst they adjust to life after cancer.
Terry ...... Camille Coduri
Chippy ...... Sharon Rooney
Jill ...... Natasha Little
Marco ...... Doc Brown
Gordon ...... Andrew Obeney
Colin ...... David Cann
Georgie ...... Emily Chase
Tim ...... Matt Houlihan
Sara ...... Antonia Reid
Chippy's Mum ...... Kay Stonham
Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2014.
SAT 12:30 Round the Horne (b007k2gd)
Series 2
Episode 10
Suspense in Kenneth Horne's 'The Portrait of Florian Thrust', plus a bout of bona wrestling for Julian and Sandy.
Starring:
Kenneth Horne
Kenneth Williams
Hugh Paddick
Betty Marsden
Bill Pertwee
Announcer: Douglas Smith
Parodies, recurring characters, catchphrases and double-entendres galore!
Classic groundbreaking comedy series written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman.
Recorded at the BBC's Paris Studio in Lower Regent Street, London.
Music by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers and The Fraser Hayes Four.
Producer: John Simmonds
First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in May 1966.
SAT 13:00 Archive on 4 (b01s37f3)
Collar the Lot
Actor Tom Conti explores the story of Italian internment in Britain during the Second World War.
On June 10th 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France. Overnight, as a result, the thousands of Italians living in Britain were declared enemies, considered a potential threat. Winston Churchill ordered the authorities to 'collar the lot' of so-called 'enemy aliens' and over 4,000 Italians were rounded up and imprisoned.
Most were shopkeepers, hairdressers, ice cream sellers and respectable citizens at the heart of their communities. Many had been in Britain all their lives.
We hear from some of the very few still alive, who were taken from families, jobs and homes to makeshift camps across the UK.
Tom Conti's own father was an Italian who had made a life in Scotland, but was interned on the Isle of Man. Tom visits the island to discover which camp his father was kept in, and what conditions were like for all those kept behind barbed wire.
Alfonso Conti narrowly avoided being put on board the cruise liner the Arandora Star, which was requisitioned for war duties and was bound for Newfoundland carrying internees. It was hit by a torpedo just off Ireland and sank within 20 minutes.
With archive interviews and testimony from the last Italian survivor, Tom tells the story of the ship's tragic sinking, in which nearly 500 Italian civilians lost their lives, and lift the lid on this overlooked episode in British history.
Producer: Jo Wheeler
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2013.
SAT 14:00 The Penny Dreadfuls (b04v29h5)
Macbeth Rebothered
An alternative tale of Shakespeare's noble king.
A comedy play by The Penny Dreadfuls.
Greg McHugh stars as Macbeth with Susan Calman as the narrator.
Other roles:
Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Humphrey Ker
David Reed
Thom Tuck
Written by David Reed with additional material by Humphrey Ker.
Producer: Julia McKenzie.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2014.
SAT 15:00 Women Talking About Cars (m0001b9c)
Series 3
1. Floella Benjamin
Victoria Coren Mitchell talks to actress, singer, writer, business woman, and politician Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, known to millions of BBC TV's Play School viewers as Floella Benjamin.
Return of the interview series that uses a famous woman's cars as a vehicle to talk about her life.
Floella tells how her supremely happy childhood in Trinidad turned sour when her parents left her with a cruel foster family – and the joy of being reunited with them when she came to England.
She explains how she learnt to overcome racism with a smile. Plus the freedom that came with passing her driving test - driving around looking for parties in the 1960s – and why when she became a peer, she chose Baroness of Beckenham as her title.
Car descriptions read by Sarah Hadland.
Producer: Gareth Edwards.
A BBC Studios Production, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2018.
SAT 15:30 The Maltby Collection (b00cnclw)
Series 1
Episode 1
Rod Millet has always dreamed of working at the Maltby Collection.
But when he’s appointed deputy curator of painting and sculpture, it quickly becomes clear that the son of a self-made biscuit mogul isn't going to fit into the musty and insular world of London antiquities...
Starring Geoffrey Palmer and Julian Rhind-Tutt.
The first of three series of David Nobbs’ sitcom about a small museum of paintings and sculpture.
Rod Millet ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Walter Brindle ...... Geoffrey Palmer
Prunella Edgecumbe ...... Rachel Atkins
Julian Crumb-Loosely ...... Ben Willbond
Des Wainwright ...... Michael Smiley
Eva Tattle ...... Julia Deakin
Wilf Arbuthnot ...... Geoff McGivern
Producer: Colin Anderson
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2007.
SAT 16:00 Richard Marsh - The Beetle (b04n923r)
[Repeat of broadcast at 06:00 today]
SAT 17:30 Great Lives (b092mbm2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:30 today]
SAT 18:00 Spine Chillers (b08ch63p)
Peter Redgrove - Dracula in White
Prisoners up and down the country seem to be disappearing mysteriously from Her Majesty's prisons.
Joanna, a TV journalist, suspects they've been used as guinea-pigs in some unspeakable experiments, and sets out on a perilous course to verify her suspicions....
Peter Redgrove's chilling drama stars Maggie McCarthy and Benjamin Whitrow.
Joanna …… Maggie McCarthy
Dr Exeter-White …… Benjamin Whitrow
Sam Mellish/MP …… Jerold Wells
Ron …… John Linstrum
Judge …… Paul Nicholson
Mrs Petit …… June Barrie
Delivery Boy …… Richard Curnow
Other parts played by the cast.
Directed at BBC Bristol by Brian Miller
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 1984.
SAT 18:45 The Strange and The Sinister by William Croft Dickinson (b0b53ptb)
4. The Work of Evil
Can a sceptical academic resist the challenge of reading a book that curses anyone that dares open it?
Read by Moultrie Kelsall.
William Croft Dickinson introduces his stories of the supernatural set in Scotland.
Producer: John Gray
First broadcast on the BBC Home Service in October 1961.
SAT 19:00 The Burkiss Way (b00jvj68)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]
SAT 22:00 The Lee Mack Show (b00bfq1c)
Midge Ure
Lee Mack presents stand-up comedy, sketches and music.
With Angela McHale and band leader Steve Brown.
With guests:
Midge Ure
Mick Miller
Producer: Claire Jones
First broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in March 2005.
SAT 22:30 Women Talking About Cars (m0001fdq)
Series 3
2. Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders talks to Victoria Coren Mitchell about her life and some of the cars she has driven along the way.
From the much-polished Ford Zephyr of her childhood that her father let her steer as a special treat to the day her husband to be Adrian Edmondson reversed into her much-loved Alfa Spider, nearly ending their romance before it began.
Car descriptions read by Sarah Hadland.
Producer: Gareth Edwards
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2018
SAT 23:00 The Skivers (b007zn0j)
Series 2
Henry Cooper
Peter Sissons and Alan Hansen's secrets are revealed.
Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh's skilful sketch show.
With special guest Henry Cooper who's on fighting form as he reveals the ways of the fist.
Written and performed by Nick Golson and Tim de Jongh.
With:
Peter Bradshaw
Mel Giedroyc
Producer: Jon Naismith
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1995.
SAT 23:30 Hut 33 (b00ljn73)
Series 1
Bridge Too Far
Three wartime code-breakers are forced to share a draughty wooden hut as they try to break German ciphers.
Unfortunately, they hate each other.
James Cary's sitcom set in Bletchley Park in 1941.
Charles .... Robert Bathurst
Archie .... Tom Goodman-Hill
Minka .... Olivia Colman
Gordon .... Fergus Craig
Mrs Best .... Lill Roughley
Joshua .... Alex MacQueen
Producer: Adam Bromley.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2007.