BBC Radio 4 LW

Shipping Forecast

The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping

Shipping Forecast: 19/12/2009

19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Shipping Forecast, 19/12/2009Close menu

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

News Briefing

News Briefing: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News Briefing, 19/12/2009Close menu

Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 19/12/2009

Daily prayer and reflection with Bishop Alan Abernethy.

Running Away

Running Away: Episode 4: Hugh Dennis

Episode 4

Episode 4: Hugh Dennis

Hugh Dennis

BBC Radio 4 - Running Away, Hugh Dennis

Comedian Hugh Dennis takes one of his favourite walks near his home on the Sussex Downs.

Tim Samuels joins five famous guests as they escape their work for a few hours. Comedian Hugh Dennis takes one of his favourite walks near his home on the Sussex Downs.

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Famous guests put the demands of their hectic daily lives on hold and escape their desks

Tim Samuels joins five famous guests as they put the demands of their hectic daily lives on hold, escape their desks and diaries and run away for a few hours

News and Papers

The news headlines, including a look at the newspapers

News and Papers: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News and Papers, 19/12/2009

News headlines, plus a look at the papers.

The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.

Weather

Weather: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Weather, 19/12/2009Close menu

Open Country

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

Open Country: Growing Tents Not Crops on Gower

Growing Tents Not Crops on Gower

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Growing Tents Not Crops on Gower

Helen Mark visits the Gower Peninsula to explore the impact of tourism on farming.

What does it mean for the future of agriculture when farmers find that tents are more profitable than crops? Helen Mark visits the Gower Peninsula in south-west Wales to find out.

What does it mean for the future of agriculture when farmers find that tents are more profitable than crops? Helen Mark visits the Gower Peninsula in south-west Wales, one of the UK's most popular holiday locations, to explore the long-term impact of tourism on farming.

Farming Today

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Farming Today: Farming Today This Week

Farming Today This Week

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Farming Today This Week

Research predicts that food sales will be up on last year despite the recession.

Research predicts that food sales will be up on last year despite the recession. Charlotte Smith visits Melton Mowbray's farmers market to find out if this is true.

Charlotte Smith visits Melton Mowbray's farmers market to find out if the recession is making a dent in sales this year.

According to the Centre for Retail Research, people believe they will spend an average of 168 pounds on food and drink for Christmas. This is 14 pounds more than last year. The regions most likely to increase their spending are London and the south east. Farming Today This Week investigates if this prediction is a reality by asking turkey, sprout, parsnip and dairy farmers across the country if they are seeing an increase in sales this Christmas.

Today

Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme; including Thought for the Day

Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme; including religious reflections from Thought for the Day at 0748

Today: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Today, 19/12/2009

Including Sports Desk, Weather, Thought for the Day.

With Evan Davis and John Humphrys. Including Sports Desk; Weather; Thought for the Day.

Test Match Special

Test Match Special: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Test Match Special, 19/12/2009

Coverage of the fourth day of the First Test between South Africa and England in Pretoria.

Coverage of the fourth day of the First Test between South Africa and England from Centurion Park, Pretoria. Commentary by Jonathan Agnew, Gerald De Kock and Simon Mann.

Coverage of the fourth day of the First Test between South Africa and England from Centurion Park, Pretoria. Commentary by Jonathan Agnew, Gerald De Kock and Simon Mann and summaries from Michael Vaughan, Geoff Boycott and Vic Marks. 

Including Shipping Forecast.

Woman's Hour

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Woman's Hour: Weekend Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Weekend Woman's Hour

Sigourney Weaver talks about Avatar and life beyond the screen.

Highlights of this week's Woman's Hour programmes with Jane Garvey. Sigourney Weaver talks about Avatar and life beyond the screen.

Highlights of this week's Woman's Hour programmes with Jane Garvey.

Sigourney Weaver talks about Avatar and life beyond the screen; what the noughties have done for women; James May on why it's okay for men to not have a feminine side; the working life of Britain's Consul-General in Iraq; theatre teenagers when they're too old for panto; what is the right level of compensation for women who donate their eggs?

1989: Day by Day

1989: Day by Day: Episode 76: 19th December 1989

Episode 76

Episode 76: 19th December 1989

19th December 1989

BBC Radio 4 - 1989: Day by Day, 19th December 1989

Serious unrest is reported in Romania, with hundreds massacred.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago. Serious unrest is reported in Romania, with hundreds massacred.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago.

Serious unrest is reported in Romania, with hundreds massacred.

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.

Sir John Tusa looks back at the events making the news 20 years ago

Afternoon news and current affairs programme

Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines

PM: Saturday PM

Saturday PM

BBC Radio 4 - PM, Saturday PM

Coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn, plus sports headlines.

Full coverage and analysis of the day's news with Carolyn Quinn, plus the sports headlines.

iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners.

The weekly interactive current affairs magazine featuring online conversation and debate.

iPM: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - iPM, 19/12/2009

Six O'Clock News

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4

Six O'Clock News: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Six O'Clock News, 19/12/2009

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.

Loose Ends

An eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy

Loose Ends: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Loose Ends, 19/12/2009

Peter Curran is joined by Boy George, Mark Ravenhill and Michael Fassbender.

Peter Curran is joined by Boy George, Michael Fassbender and Mark Ravenhill. Allegra McEvedy talks to Ben Schott. With comedy from John Hegley and music from Thea Gilmore.

Peter Curran and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. 

He  is joined by eighties pop sensation Boy George, the actor Michael Fassbender and the playwright Mark Ravenhill. 

Allegra McEvedy talks to almanac compiler Ben Schott. 

With comedy from performance poet John Hegley, and music fit for the festive season from Thea Gilmore.

From Fact to Fiction

Series in which writers create a fictional response to recent headlines.

From Fact to Fiction: Series 7

From Fact to Fiction: Series 7: Episode 7: The Guilt Season

Episode 7

Episode 7: The Guilt Season

Series 7

The Guilt Season

BBC Radio 4 - From Fact to Fiction, Series 7, The Guilt SeasonSearch BBC

Writer Liz Jensen creates a fictional response to the week's news.

With matters of climate change under international scrutiny, novelist Liz Jensen brings together three characters with wildly differing views in a comic monologue.

With matters of climate change under international scrutiny, novelist Liz Jensen brings together three characters with wildly differing views in her comic monologue, The Guilt Season.

Series in which writers create a fictional response to the week's news

Saturday Review

Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe and guests offer sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events

Saturday Review: Keira Knightley's stage debut and Sam Taylor Wood's feature film Nowhere Boy

Keira Knightley's stage debut and Sam Taylor Wood's feature film Nowhere Boy

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Keira Knightley's stage debut and Sam Taylor Wood's feature film Nowhere Boy

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Richard Coles, Jude Kelly and Amanda Vickery.

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Richard Coles, Jude Kelly and Amanda Vickery to discuss the cultural highights of the week, including Keira Knightley's stage debut in The Misanthrope.

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Richard Coles, Jude Kelly and Amanda Vickery to discuss the cultural highlights of the week, including Keira Knightley's debut stage appearance in The Misanthrope. Starring alongside Damien Lewis in Martin Crimp's translation of Moliere's classic 17th century French comedy, directed by Thea Sharrock, the play explores the very contemporary issue of celebrity.

Sam Taylor Wood's feature film debut tells the story of John Lennon's troubled adolescence in Liverpool, torn between his strict, domineering Aunt Mimi, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, and his inconstant but loving mother Julia, played by Anne Marie Duff. Yearning for a normal family, Lennon (Aaron Johnson) escapes into the new and exciting world of rock n' roll, where his fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney (Thomas Brodie Sangster).

Colum McCann's novel Let The Whole World Spin won the prestigious National Book Award in America. It is set in 1974 against the backdrop of Philippe Petit's celebrated high wire walk between the Twin Towers, a pivotal moment loosely drawing together a rich cast of New York residents. From two immigrant Irish brothers to an uptown mother grieving for her son lost in Vietnam, from the realities of life in the Bronx for a streetwalker to the cocaine adventures of two trendy young painters. McCann's is a vividly-drawn portrait of 1970s Manhattan.

Plus a review of the highlights on television over Christmas, featuring the Cranford Christmas Special, starring Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton, a new adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of The Screw, John Hurt reprising his role of Quentin Crisp in An Englisman in New York, and Andrew Davis's adaptation of Joanna Briscoe's erotic thriller Sleep With Me.

Archive on 4

Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond.

Archive on 4: A Dog's Life

A Dog's Life

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, A Dog's Life

Peter White examines the changing role of the working dog.

BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent Peter White examines the changing role of the working dog through extensive and sometimes previously unbroadcast archive.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, BBC Disability Affairs Correspondent Peter White examines the changing role of the working dog, from the early 1900s to their role in today's society, using extensive and sometimes previously unbroadcast archive. 

Perennially 'man's best friend', dogs are also now man's best colleague. From guide dogs to guard dogs, hearing dogs to healing dogs, Peter examines the ways in which we have become so dependent on canines. Over the years we have progressed from guide dogs to dual purpose dogs, to dogs that can detect imminent epileptic fits, smuggled drugs and explosive devices - even dogs that can do your washing. 

The programme features a mix of historical material, new interviews and previously untransmitted archive of the trainers, the owners and those that place their lives in the paws of their dogs.

Classic Serial

Adaptations of works which have achieved classic status

Classic Serial: The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy: Book 1: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Classic Serial: The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy: Book 1: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Part 3

Part 3 The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy

BBC Radio 4 - Classic Serial, The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy, Book 1: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Part 3

George Smiley reaches the end of his hunt for the mole.

George Smiley, called back from retirement, is reaching the end of his hunt to find the mole he believes is tearing the British Secret Intelligence Service apart.

Dramatisation by Shaun McKenna of John le Carre's classic novel. 

George Smiley, called back from retirement, is reaching the end of his hunt to find the mole he believes is tearing the British Secret Intelligence Service apart.

George Smiley ...... Simon Russell Beale
Ann Smiley ...... Anna Chancellor
Control ...... John Rowe
Peter Guillam ...... Ewan Bailey
Jim Prideaux ...... Anthony Calf
Mendel ...... Kenneth Cranham
Magyar ...... Peter Majer 
Ricki Tarr ...... Jamie Foreman 
Toby Esterhase ...... Sam Dale
Bill Haydon ...... Michael Feast
Karla ...... Philip Fox 
Polyakov ...... Stephen Greif 
Steve Mackelvore ...... Piers Wehner 
Mrs McCraig ...... Kate Layden 
Bill Roach ...... Ryan Watson 

This episode is available until 3.00pm on Sunday 2nd May as part of the Series Catch-up Trial.

Classic Serial: The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy

Book 1: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Dramatisation of John le Carre's classic novel, set in Berlin in the early 1960s

Dramatisation by Shaun McKenna of John le Carre's classic novel. George Smiley is called out of retirement to seek out a mole believed to be at the heart of the Circus

News and Weather

The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4

News and Weather: 19/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - News and Weather, 19/12/2009

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.

Unreliable Evidence

Series exploring and analysing the legal issues of the day

Unreliable Evidence: European Law: After Lisbon

16/12/2009

European Law: After Lisbon

BBC Radio 4 - Unreliable Evidence, European Law: After Lisbon

Will the Lisbon Treaty generate a legal tsunami which will overwhelm British sovereignty?

Will the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty generate a legal tsunami which will overwhelm British sovereignty? Are we governed by our own laws or the law of Europe?

Clive Anderson presents the series analysing the legal issues of the day. 

European law has been described as an incoming tide which cannot be held back. Will the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty generate a legal tsunami which will overwhelm British sovereignty? Are we governed by our own laws or the law of Europe?

Brain of Britain

General knowledge in which listeners compete for the title of Brain of Britain.

The nationwide general knowledge contest in which 48 listeners from all parts of the UK fight their way to the final. The prize is a silver salver and the title Brain of Britain.

Brain of Britain: 14/12/2009

14/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Brain of Britain, 14/12/2009

Russell Davies chairs the tenth, heat of the perennial general knowledge contest.

Russell Davies chairs the tenth, heat of the perennial general knowledge contest, with four contestants from Wales.

Adventures in Poetry

Programme exploring the background, effect and lasting appeal of some well-loved poems

Adventures in Poetry: Series 10

Adventures in Poetry: Series 10: Episode 6: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

Episode 6

Episode 6: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

Series 10

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

BBC Radio 4 - Adventures in Poetry, Series 10, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

Peggy Reynolds explores the stories behind the Keats' poem and its enduring appeal.

Keats' poem records him touching the ancient world through translation and his fecund imagination. Peggy Reynolds explores the stories behind its creation and its enduring appeal.

Peggy Reynolds explores the background, effect and lasting appeal of some well-loved poems.

'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold...' Keats' sonnet - his first great poem - begins. Keats couldn't read Greek and the poem records him touching the ancient world through translation and his already fecund imagination. Peggy explores the stories behind its creation and its enduring appeal.

Peggy Reynolds explores the background, effect and lasting appeal of some well-loved poems

Midnight News

The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.

Midnight News: 20/12/2009

20/12/2009

BBC Radio 4 - Midnight News, 20/12/2009

The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.

Afternoon Reading

Short stories or abridged books, often from new writers

Afternoon Reading: Pier Shorts

Afternoon Reading: Pier Shorts: Episode 2: Love Lessons from Cephalopods

Episode 2

Episode 2: Love Lessons from Cephalopods

Pier Shorts

Love Lessons from Cephalopods

BBC Radio 4 - Afternoon Reading, Pier Shorts, Love Lessons from CephalopodsSearch BBC

By Kay Sexton. A marine scientist challenges a Russian gangmaster to a swimming contest.

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Programme Index

Shipping Forecast

19/12/2009

Genres

Brand

Weather

19/12/2009

Genres

Brand

Weather

19/12/2009

Genres

Brand

1989: Day by Day

Episode 76: 19th December 1989

Genres

Series

Shipping Forecast

19/12/2009

Genres

Brand

Weather

19/12/2009

Genres

Brand

Shipping Forecast

20/12/2009

Genres

Brand

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