82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

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Clive Myrie

Clive Myrie presents a powerful four-part series documenting the events leading up to, surrounding and following the assassination of Martin Luther King - told by the people who were there. In 1968, Dr King was in Memphis to support a strike by the local sanitation workers, campaigning under the slogan "I Am A Man”. For the first time, those workers and their families tell their own stories, laying bare in often shocking detail the realities of the Civil Rights struggle in the Southern states of the US.In this compelling documentary series, we hear first-hand of the daily humiliations of the Jim Crow South, of the hope that Dr King brought and of the fallout from his death. Presenter Clive Myrie takes us on a journey to better understand the mistakes, the triumphs and what that era means for Memphis today.This immersive listen features testimony from a teacher arrested on a daily basis for attempting to break the colour bar in Memphis restaurants. We hear from a man who at six was the first black child in Memphis to attend a white school. A sanitation worker describes how he was beaten daily by police and too scared to go to hospital to have his wounds healed. Why did he strike? Because ‘they wouldn't treat me like a man’.This oral history features the music that was the soundtrack to the struggle, from Booker T., Chuck Berry, Quincy Jones, Dinah Washington, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix.Written and presented by Clive MyrieFirst Broadcast BBC Radio 2, 28th March - 18th April 2018©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

I Have a Dream

Memphis and Martin Luther King

Greg Haddrick

Jeremy Fox

From Vietnam to JFK - spies, lies and the story of the CIA told by its longest-serving agent 
 
The utterly gripping, award-winning drama Central Intelligence is back, revealing further inside stories of the CIA and featuring an all-star cast. Told from the perspective of Eloise Page (Kim Cattrall), who joined on the Agency’s first day in 1947 and, in her 40-year career, became one of its most powerful women. Eloise takes the listener on a journey through the highs and lows of US foreign policy, spanning the staggering world events that shaped not only her career, but also her personal relationships with CIA leaders Allen Dulles (Ed Harris) and Richard Helms (Johnny Flynn). 
 
In series two, the Cold War intensifies with US involvement in South Vietnam. It’s 1954. Colonel Ed Lansdale, former advertising executive and the CIA’s maverick agent in South-East Asia, is given the task of creating dissension in the North to stop the advance of the communists. The death of Stalin brings confusion and elsewhere, Nasser seizes the Suez Canal in Egypt and global powers scramble. The British want control back. The Soviets move in. And the CIA races to keep Egypt from slipping behind the Iron Curtain. 
 
In the shadow games of empire, Eloise Page watches the balance of power shift. The space race begins and high-altitude spy planes are deployed with great success. As CIA policy architect John Foster Dulles becomes gravely ill, Eisenhower’s presidency comes to an end, revolution erupts in Cuba and in the Congo chaos reigns. The charismatic democrat John F Kennedy takes the presidential reins, but tragedy awaits… 
 
Kim Cattrall is a multi-award-winning actress, perhaps best known for her role as Samantha Jones in Sex in the City. In a career spanning over four decades she has appeared in films, on TV and on stage in both the West End and Broadway. Ed Harris is an Academy Award-nominated actor known for his roles in The Truman Show, Pollock and The Hours. He recently starred in the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. Johnny Flynn is best known for his role in TV comedy drama Lovesick, and played David Bowie in the biopic Stardust. He recently performed on stage at the National Theatre as Richard Burton in The Motive and the Cue directed by Sam Mendes, and is also the composer and singer of the theme music for the TV series The Detectorists. 
 
Written by Greg Haddrick 
Directed by John Scott Dryden 
Produced by Emma Hearn 
Original music by Sacha Puttnam 
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4 
 
First Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20th June - 22nd August 2025 
 
©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Central Intelligence: Series 2

The Inside Story of the CIA

Chris Bowlby

Journalist Chris Bowlby reveals why some of postwar Britain’s most controversial policies, fashions and fads became the orthodoxies of their time‘History presented the way it should be – as entertainment’ The TimesEverybody makes mistakes – and some of humanity’s biggest ones have been made with the best of intentions. Hoping for a brighter future (and believing they knew best), 20th century scientists, doctors and politicians turned to quick-fix solutions, miracle cures and panaceas: only to find they came with hidden costs.Over seven series, between 1998 and 2005, journalist Chris Bowlby took a deep dive into post-war history to examine the roots of many of these misguided decisions and contentious policy blunders – from factory farming and football fencing to the mass demolition of housing, scrapping the trams and selling arms abroad. Rediscovered in the BBC archive, this fascinating series has much to say to us today.Find out how asbestos, heavily marketed as a brilliant building material, turned out to be a killer; how electro-convulsive therapy – initially regarded as lifesaving – became one of the most stigmatised medical treatments in mental health care; and how the great British Railways modernisation plan of the 1950s ran into the buffers, with dire consequences for present-day rail travellers. Plus, Chris’s investigations take in trade unions, mortgages, eugenics and penicillin – as well as some more surprising bad ideas such as white sliced bread, early retirement and sitting down...Using a distinctive mix of interviews and research to uncover the roots of problems of the day, Why Did We Do That? is full of unexpected twists and turns, and revels in the black humour with which our greatest blunders are laced. Production creditsPresented by Chris BowlbyProduced by Chris Bowlby, Smita Patel and Jo GlanvilleEditor: Nicola MeyrickFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:The Motorised City 19 Feb 1998Bring on the Bulldozers 8 Jul 1999We Believe in Bunkers 15 Jul 1999Tartan Steel 22 Jul 1999To Cap It All 29 Jul 1999Factory Farming 11 May 2000Football Fencing 18 May 2000Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) 25 May 2000Asbestos 8 Jun 2000Scrapping the Trams 26 Apr 2001Trashing the Future 3 May 2001The Closed Shop 10 May 2001Mortgage Mania 17 May 2001Railway Frustration 16 May 2002Cheap Concrete 30 May 2002Arming the World 6 Jun 2002Bad Bread 2 Jun 2003Deadly Streets 9 Jun 2003Eugenics 16 Jun 2003Early Retirement 23 Jun 2003The Bugs’ Revenge 14 Feb 2005Glued to Our Seats 21 Feb 2005The Supercity and Its Shadow 28 Feb 2005The Ideas Strangler 7 Mar 2005© 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Why Did We Do That?

A BBC Radio History Series

Matthew Syed

Matthew Syed examines our collective addiction to entertainment, asking if we’ve been oppressed by mindless content and how we might break freeForty years ago, Neil Postman’s landmark book Amusing Ourselves to Death compared two dystopian visions – those of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley – and concluded that the latter had proved most prescient. Rather than oppression by Big Brother, humanity was in danger of being overcome by our ‘appetite for distractions’: technologies that tap into our basest instincts, taking away our ability to think and destroying our critical faculties.Postman’s bestseller keyed into society’s fears in the age of cable TV – so how much worse have things got in the age of streaming, Twitter, TikTok and the Metaverse? In this series, broadcaster and award-winning author Matthew Syed explores how we’re now overwhelmed by content and information, and wonders if it is making us less educated and more stupid.Finding the earliest examples of a fear of distraction in ancient texts, historic treatises and archive sound, Matthew compares today’s predicament with solutions from the past, questioning whether our current era really does represent the culmination of Postman and Huxley’s prophecy. If ‘the medium is the message’, is the smartphone the most lethal medium we’ve had? He analyses how consumers, content creators and tech giants contribute to our information overload, and considers why it is in their interest to keep the tap turned on to full. Syed also looks at why our brains reach for escapist content and what’s happening to our bodies when we do so – and asks if it’s possible for us to consume less, but better.Blending provocative analysis with philosophy, storytelling and rigorous journalism, this fascinating series swaps doom-mongering for thoughtful solutions, contemplating the benefits and drawbacks of our technological enhancements and pointing towards a wiser future. 
 
Produced by Sam Peach 
 
©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Appetite for Distraction

A BBC Radio 4 Series

Ted Allbeury

A collection of full-cast dramatisations and original radio plays from master storyteller Ted Allbeury – plus bonus programmes 
 
Described by Len Deighton as ‘a classic writer of espionage fiction’, Ted Allbeury based his many acclaimed spy novels on his own real-life experiences. In World War II, he served as an intelligence officer with Special Operations Executive, and subsequently ran agents across the border between East and West Germany during the Cold War. He began writing in his fifties, and went on to pen over 40 bestselling books, five of which are dramatised here alongside three plays specially written for BBC Radio and two bonus documentaries. 
 
The Lonely Margins tells the story of James Harmer, parachuted into France in 1944 on a secret mission. Christian Rodska and Kim Thomson star in this tense tale of danger and deceit. 
 
Inspired by actual events, The Other Side of Silence sees MI6 agent John Powell tasked with finding out why notorious traitor Kim Philby wants to return to England from Russia. James Bolam stars as Powell, with Nigel Hawthorne as Philby. 
 
In Long Ago and Far Away, starring David McAlister and Kate Binchy, two ex-SOE operatives find the past returning to haunt them when a voice on the radio brings back memories best left dormant. 
 
In Pay Any Price, a Presidential assassination sparks trouble for the CIA and SIS, as they deal with the consequences of a sinister programme known as MKUltra… Starring Barry Foster, Robert Beatty, Susannah Fellows and Michael J. Shannon. 
 
The Way We Live finds Andrew Collins discovering the unexpected repercussions of being ‘positively vetted’ by the Security Service, starring John Forbes-Robertson. 
 
Time Spent in Reconnaissance sees Peter Harvey finding out how an old military adage applies to his professional and private lives. This thrilling radio play stars Michael Cochrane. 
 
No Place to Hide centres around John Rennie (James Kerry), a secret agent whose loyalty is tested when he is ordered to do something he considers abhorrent. 
 
Meanwhile, in Deep Purple, starring Michael Melia, Louise Germain and Steve Hodson, the fates of a Secret Intelligence Service officer, a Russian defector and a prostitute are inextricably linked. 
 
We conclude with the fascinating two-parter Occupation: Spy, in which Ted Allbeury gives us his unique perspective on the shadowy world of spies and spying. 
 
NB: The language in these programmes reflects the era in which they were first broadcast 
 
Due to the age of these archive recordings, the sound quality may vary 
 
Text copyright © Ted Allbeury 1981 (The Lonely Margins, The Other Side of Silence), 1982 (Long Ago and Far Away), 1983 (Pay Any Price, The Way We Live, Time Spent in Reconnaissance), 1984 (No Place to Hide), 1989 (Deep Purple) 
 
'If you like spy stories rooted in the Second World War madness and Cold War paranoia, and appreciate quality radio drama, then ‘Occupation: Spy' will continue to delight for almost eighteen hours' - Greg Jameson 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (p)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Occupation: Spy

Eight Full-Cast BBC Radio Spy Thrillers

Tony Benn

A collection of Tony Benn&rsquo;s private audio diaries, documentaries and archive interviews 
 
Tony Benn was the patriarch of the Labour left, a radical statesman, orator and anti-war campaigner who spent over 50 years as an MP, serving in the Cabinet under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. A prolific diarist, his political memoirs have been compared to Pepys in their detail, scope and accuracy. Three volumes are included here, read by Benn himself, together with four fascinating programmes focussing on the man behind the diaries. 
 
Part I: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Diaries 
 
The Benn Tapes 1 &ndash; For over 25 years, Tony Benn sat late into the night dictating his personal account of the daily happenings at the heart of government. In this unique series, he shares his remarkable recordings from history&rsquo;s front line, recalling events such as Harold Wilson&rsquo;s surprise 1976 resignation; the miners&rsquo; strike of 1984-1985 and the 1992 general election. 
 
The Benn Tapes 2 &ndash; This second series of behind-the-scenes revelations sees Benn recounting why he believes nuclear power is unsafe, disclosing what went on during Cabinet reshuffles and tracing the split in the party following its 1979 defeat, the emergence of the Social Democratic Party, and his challenge to deputy leader Denis Healy. 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 &ndash; Spanning Tony Benn&rsquo;s final decade as an MP, this third volume covers the Gulf War, the rise of New Labour, the death of Diana Princess of Wales and peace in Northern Ireland. Mixing political observations with a moving account of family life, it is full of humour, insight, joy and sadness. 
 
Part 2: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Life 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn &ndash; Dr Anthony Clare talks to the legendary parliamentarian about his life, his career and how his guiding principles were influenced by his parents&rsquo; social and political convictions. 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn &ndash; Arthur Smith accompanies Tony Benn on a trip back to the place where he was born, grew up, and spent most of his political life &ndash; the City of Westminster. 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn &ndash; The veteran politician presents a selection of the prose and poetry that has shaped his personal philosophy, including the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Dwight D Eisenhower, Oscar Wilde and John Bunyan. 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn &ndash; In an event from the 2008 Free Thinking festival, Tony Benn talks about the value of experience and discusses his own life experience with presenter Susan Hitch and the audience. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
 
The Benn Tapes 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Keith Jones 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 Jul-8 Sep 1993 (Series 1), 17 Oct- 5 Dec 1994 (Series 2) 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Jane Ray 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13-17 Oct 2003 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn 
Presented by Dr Anthony Clare 
A Michael Ember production 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 Aug 1995 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn 
With Arthur Smith and Tony Benn 
Produced by Dilly Barlow 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 Jul 2006 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn 
Presented by Tony Benn 
Readers: Saffron Burrows, Jim Findley and Carl Prekopp 
Produced by Christine Hall 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 Jul 2007 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn 
Presented by Susan Hitch 
With Tony Benn 
Produced by Allegra McIlroy 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 11 Dec 2008 
 
&copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tony Benn at the BBC

The Benn Tapes, Free at Last! and more

Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo presents these specially selected shows exploring the history of democracy and the modern political system 
 
In a parliamentary career spanning over 20 years, Michael Portillo served as a Conservative MP and held numerous Cabinet posts. Few people are better placed to comment on politics than him, and in these thought-provoking programmes, he gives us his take on the development of democracy and contemporary political theory. 
 
In the three-part series Democracy on Trial, Portillo investigates the difficult and dangerous global journey taken by this fragile ideal over 2,500 years, and the surprisingly tenuous grip it holds upon the world today. From Athens in the fifth century BC to the present day, he examines the effectiveness of a form of government we take for granted, and analyses its rise, fall and future. 
 
For Whom the Division Bell Tolled sees him looking at the history and peculiarities of the back-bencher, asking historians whether these traits have been present since the very first Parliaments in the 1300s. Across three episodes, he traces the origins of the back-bench revolt, recalls the good and noble works of back-benchers from the past, and wonders whether those on the back bench have always been more interested in keeping their jobs than changing the world. 
 
In The Right Stuff, Portillo considers the lasting influence of the author and philosopher Ayn Rand, questioning whether her work remains a blueprint for those on the political right. Talking to contemporaries and critics, he probes the origins and impact of Rand's writings, and assesses how her controversial ideas relate to the current political landscape. 
 
Capitalism on Trial finds him pondering years of bailouts, stagnating growth and market instability, and asking whether free-market capitalism is looking a little tarnished. Over two programmes, he talks to leading thinkers including Amartya Sen, Will Hutton and Gillian Tett as he weighs up the costs and benefits of the economic system that governs our lives. 
 
Finally, in Things We Forgot to Remember: The 1945 Labour Government, Portillo looks back at Clement Attlee's postwar government, querying how radical their agenda really was and how much our collective memory of it is due to myth-making by subsequent Labour administrations. 
 
Production credits 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Democracy on Trial 
Episode 1 11 May 2010 
Episode 2 18 May 2010 
Episode 3 25 May 2010 
Produced by Philip Sellars and Julia Johnson 
 
For Whom the Division Bell Tolled 
Episode 1 14 May 2008 
Episode 2 21 May 2008 
Episode 3 28 May 2008 
Produced by Philip Sellars 
 
The Right Stuff 11 November 2008 
Produced by Owen McFadden 
 
Capitalism on Trial 
Episode 1 27 September 2011 
Episode 2 4 October 2011 
With Amartya Sen, Will Hutton, Ha-Joon Chang, Gillian Tett, Nigel Lawson and Hernando De Soto 
Produced by Julia Johnson 
 
Things We Forgot to Remember: The 1945 Labour Government 6 May 2007 
With Denis Healey, Peter Carrington and Tony Benn 
Produced by Julia Adamson 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Michael Portillo: On Politics

A BBC Radio Collection

Specially selected history series presented by Michael Portillo, exploring the most significant events before, during and after the First and Second World Wars 
 
Journalist and broadcaster Michael Portillo has always been fascinated by the past. A former politician and history graduate, he has presented several TV documentaries, including Portillo's Empire Journey and Great British Railway Journeys. Now, in these fascinating radio programmes, he turns the spotlight on World War One and Two, examining the cultural, political and economic upheaval surrounding these devastating global conflicts. 
 
1913: The Year Before sees him challenging the notion that the Great War was responsible for seismic shifts in British society. Over 10 episodes, he looks at themes including the suffrage movement, the Irish question, the decline of the liberal party and the arts, and argues that to a great extent, Britain was already in the process of transforming itself by 1913. 
 
The 2-part series The Great War of Words finds Portillo revealing how our understanding of World War One has been distorted by historians, politicians and cultural commentators. He analyses Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium in August 1914, showing how it transformed Britain's war into a moral cause; and considers how arguments over the origins of the war and the issue of war guilt evolved into a fierce, high-stakes battle for meaning. A follow-up episode, The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation?, centres around the factors that prevented peace breaking out between 1914 and 1918, and the attempts that were made to achieve it. 
 
In four episodes from Things We Forgot to Remember, he delves into the First World War and the interwar years, reflecting on the Somme and the victories of 1918, the failings and successes of the League of Nations, the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin and Neville Chamberlain's notorious 1938 declaration of 'peace for our time'. 
 
The aerial bombardment of Britain is the subject of The Blitz, in which Portillo chairs a discussion with leading historians about the strategy and legacy of Nazi Germany's decision to bomb and destroy key British cities. And in a concluding programme, Things We Forgot to Remember: Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany, he recalls the short-lived precursor to the Marshall Plan, which aimed to destroy German industry and turn the country into an agrarian 'pastoral' society. 
 
Production credits 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
1913: The Year Before 
The Long Summer 10 June 2013 
Women's Rebellion 11 June 2013 
The Irish Question 12 June 2013 
The Tides of War 13 June 2013 
Cultural Upheaval 14 June 2013 
Labour Relations & the Triple Alliance 17 June 2013 
Poverty 18 June 2013 
Politics and the Tory Gamble 19 June 2013 
The Empire 20 June 2013 
The Great Change 21 June 2013 
Produced by Tom Alban 
 
The Great War of Words 
Episode 1 4 February 2014 
Episode 2 11 February 2014 
The Great War of Words: Peace before Annihilation? 28 April 2015 
Produced by Mark Burman 
 
Things We Forgot to Remember 
First World War 4 December 2006 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Jesse Owens and the Nazi Olympics 22 November 2010 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
Morgenthau Plan and post-war Germany 4 June 2012 
Produced by Tom Alban, Joanne Cayford and Neil McCarthy 
 
The Blitz 8 September 2010 
With Juliet Gardiner, Sir Ian Kershaw and Terry Charman 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Michael Portillo: On the World Wars

A BBC Radio History Collection

Tim McGarry

David Hume

Comedian Tim McGarry and Orangeman Dr David Hume investigate Irish history from different perspectives 
 
'We're basically the Little and Large of Irish history' Tim McGarry 
 
Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume couldn't be less alike. Tim's a six-foot-four funnyman from Belfast, while David's a vertically challenged historian from Ballycarry. But although they disagree about almost everything, they have a great rapport and a passionate interest in their native island - and in this fascinating series, they join forces for some good-natured, intelligent debate about Irish history, politics and culture. 
 
Travelling the length and breadth of Éire and Northern Ireland, they visit important historical sites, gain new insights into pivotal stories and people, and interview a wide range of experts to give listeners the long and the short of it. Mixed in with the discussions are humorous sketches, bringing the history alive and providing light relief. 
 
Over 41 episodes, Tim and David lock horns and trade blows over controversial topics including the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine, the Battle of the Boyne, the birth of the Orange Order, the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, and Home Rule. They also consider Ulster heroine Mary McCracken, ask whether renowned figures such as Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Edward Carson and James Craig were heroes or villains, and wonder whether the Vikings and Oliver Cromwell were really that bad. Plus, in the 2-part special The Long and the Short of Christmas, the duo unite to take a light-hearted but scholarly look at the history of the festive season, from the birth of Jesus to modern times. 
 
Winner of the Gold Award for Specialist Speech Programme at the 2021 IMRO Radio Awards, this wry, engaging and eye-opening series is full of jokes, facts, opinions - and arguments. Irish history has never been so much fun! 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Tim McGarry and Dr David Hume 
Produced by Zoe Robinson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster & BBC Radio Foyle on 20 July-10 August 2014 (Series 1), 19 July-23 August 2015 (Series 2), 6 November-4 December 2016 (Series 3), 3 December 2017-7 January 2018 (Series 4), 9 May-13 June 2020 (Series 5), 24-25 December 2020 (The Long and the Short of Christmas), 24 April-29 May 2021 (Series 6), 27 August-1 October 2022 (Series 7). 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Long and the Short of It

A BBC History of Ireland

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin reflects on Britain's customs, attitudes and social and supernatural phenomena in these six BBC Radio series 
 
Drawn from Radio 3's The Essay strand and presented by journalist and award-winning author Andrew Martin, this beguiling collection brings together his witty, Alan Bennett-esque observations on England's disappearing pastimes, rituals and beliefs. 
 
Yorkshire sees him musing on the county of his birth and upbringing, as he considers his 'Tyke' identity and the ancient rivalry between Yorkshire and Lancashire; chews over questions of class in 'God's Own County'; ponders its past and future; and recalls the coastal jaunts of his youth. In Hanging On, Martin celebrates five aspects of British life that are still with us - just, as he raises a toast to the boating pond; the ventriloquist's doll; the telephone; the milkman and sex shops. 
 
The Lost Hours memorialises the staging posts of the day that are gradually fading away, such as elevenses and the cocktail hour; while England Ejects explores the inclinations and habits that no longer seem so vital nowadays, including modesty, gentility and Sunday church-going. The Further Realm sees Martin contemplating whether he believes in ghosts; reflecting on mediaeval and modern sightings and telling tales of the undead from resonant times of the year. Finally, in The Sound and the Fury, he discusses the noises that annoy us, from piped music to public transport announcements, asking 'how do we cope with jarring sounds in our world today, and could we live without the daily cacophony?' 
 
Quirky and engaging, these delightfully entertaining essays will give you a whole new perspective on the modern world - and the world beyond. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull (Yorkshire, Hanging On, England Ejects, The Further Realm, The Sound and the Fury) and Karen Holden (The Lost Hours) 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 23-27 January 2012 (The Sound and the Fury), 27-31 January 2014 (England Ejects), 26-30 October 2015 (The Further Realm), 17-21 April 2017 (Hanging On), 21-25 January 2019 (Yorkshire), 25-29 October 2021 (The Lost Hours) 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

On the World Around Us

25 Explorations of Britain, Past and Present

Robert Macfarlane

Deborah Levy

Jenn Ashworth

Kamila Shamsie

Michael Donkor

Michèle Roberts

Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Ross Raisin

Owen Sheers

Nicholas Shakespeare

Nat Segnit

Sophie Coulombeau

Christopher Hope

Scarlett Thomas

Erica Wagner

Nicola Barker

Ian Samson

Kirsty Gunn

Philip Hoare

22 writers talk about their memorable excursions and the act of walking, and share their creative observations 
 
In these six series, taken from BBC Radio 3's The Essay, an array of novelists, poets, journalists and biographers chart the varied and inspiring walks they have taken around Britain and elsewhere. Here are treks taken at daybreak and after dark; in winter and in spring; in the footsteps of the past; and - in the case of Robert Macfarlane - along the ridges of the South Downs. 
 
Dawnwalks and Night Walks find Nicholas Shakespeare, Nicola Barker, Kamila Shamsie, Ian Sansom, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Owen Sheers, Janice Galloway and John Walsh taking early morning and late-night strolls around locations ranging from their back garden and local cemetery to Manhattan, Paris, Tasmania and the Antarctic. 
 
Springwalks and Winterwalks feature Michele Roberts, Ross Raisin, John Walsh, Kirsty Gunn, Philip Hoare, Deborah Levy, Christopher Hope, Scarlett Thomas, Erica Wagner and Owen Sheers, as they sample the transforming qualities of spring and the wonders of winter. From Poland and the Languedoc to Hampstead Heath and the Yorkshire Wolds, they delight in the details of the landscape and reflect on what it means to them. 
 
Strange Strolls sees Jenn Ashworth, Michael Donkor, Stephanie Victoire, Nat Segnit and Sophie Coulombeau embarking on walks of entertaining eccentricity, revisiting favourite places including Wandsworth Bridge, the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia and Ibiza. 
 
And in A Five-Day Journey, Robert Macfarlane walks the length of the South Downs in monsoon rain and in sunshine, discovering its chalk trails and its ghosts. He ponders the relationship between paths and stories; explores the poet Edward Thomas' love affair with tracks; considers the concept of the Aboriginal Australian songline; re-imagines the life of artist Eric Ravilious; and contemplates the sometimes eerie relationship between walking, collecting and creation. 
 
Intimate, evocative and immersive, these 30 uplifting programmes transport us to a wealth of wonderful places, and offer fascinating personal insight into the inner worlds of our walker-writers. 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Duncan Minshull, Ciaran Bermingham and Tim Dee 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates: 
 
Dawnwalks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 28 March 2016 
Nicola Barker 29 March 2016 
Kamila Shamsie 30 March 2016 
Ian Sansom 31 March 2016 
Lucy Hughes-Hallett 1 April 2016 
 
Night Walks 
Nicholas Shakespeare 27 October 2008 
Owen Sheers 28 October 2008 
Janice Galloway 29 October 2008 
Kamila Shamsie 30 October 2008 
John Walsh 31 October 2008 
 
Springwalks 
Michele Roberts in Poznan 31 March 2014 
Ross Raisin in the Yorkshire Wolds 1 April 2014 
John Walsh 2 April 2014 
Kirsty Gunn in Sutherland 3 April 2014 
Philip Hoare in Sholing 4 April 2014 
 
Winterwalks 
Deborah Levy on Hampstead Heath 18 February 2013 
Christopher Hope in Languedoc 19 February 2013 
Scarlett Thomas 20 February 2013 
Erica Wagner 21 February 2013 
Owen Sheers in Poland 22 February 2013 
 
Strange Strolls 
Jenn Ashworth - The Abiding Mental Riches of Preston 10 February 2020 
Michael Donkor - On Westminster Bridge 11 February 2020 
Stephanie Victoire - Dark Hollow Falls 12 February 2020 
Nat Segnit - The Other Ibiza 13 February 2020 
Sophie Coulombeau - Walking Matilda 14 February 2020 
 
A Five-Day Journey 
Marking 2 November 2009 
Haunting 3 November 2009 
Singing 4 November 2009 
Flying 5 November 2009 
Collecting 6 November 2009 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Writers on Walks: A BBC Radio 3 Collection

30 Reflections from Exploring on Foot

Naomi Alderman

Kevin Fong

Tracey Logan

Simon Schaffer

In these ten absorbing series, award-winning authors Naomi Alderman and Philip Ball and guest presenters Tracey Logan, Kevin Fong, Simon Schaffer and Lindsey Fitzharris take a look at the many amazing events and characters from science's long history. In this collection, which runs close to 23 hours in total, they throw light on the revolutionary visionaries who defined how we see the world, from pioneers and prophets to inventors, experimenters and creators. 
 
Among the topics explored are feuding dinosaur hunters, jumping genes, the engine that nearly ran out of steam, the day the Earth stopped standing still, how laughing gas was discovered, the first female professional scientist in Britain, and how an eel sparked our interest in electricity. So, if you want to know more about a medieval bishop's Big Bang theory, how Florence Nightingale saved lives with statistics, the medieval equivalent of GPS, the woman who tamed lightning, Cyrano de Bergerac's designs for a spaceship, and what happened when Einstein decided to fix the fridge, our presenters are here to fill you in. Helping them discover the fact behind the fiction are a host of scientists and experts, including Professor Edith Hall, Hannah Fry, Tim Spector, Marcus du Sautoy, Richard Wiseman, Natalie Haynes and Tracy Chevalier. 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
The Bone Wars 10 June 2015 
The engine that ran out of steam 17 June 2015 
DNA's Third Man 24 June 2015 
How Perkin brought purple to the people 1 July 2015 
Seeing is Believing - The Leviathan of Parsonstown 8 July 2015 
Submarine for a Stuart King 6 January 2016 
How an eel sparked our interest in electricity 13 January 2016 
The meteorite and the hidden hoax 20 January 2016 
The duchess who gatecrashed science 27 January 2016 
Einstein's Fridge 3 February 2016 
Florence Nightingale: Statistician 18 May 2016 
Chaucer's Astrolabe - The Medieval GPS 25 May 2016 
Paul Ehrlich's 'Magic Bullet' and the Cure for Syphilis 1 June 2016 
Maxwell's Demon 8 June 2016 
Blood Banks 15 June 2016 
The Day The Earth Stopped Standing Still 30 November 2016 
How Much Testosterone Makes You a Man 7 December 2016 
The man who predicted deforestation and climate change 200 years ago 14 December 2016 
The Woman Who Tamed Lightning 21 December 2016 
Mesmerism 28 December 2016 
Jumping Genes 4 January 2017 
The Birth of Photography 11 January 2017 
Pavlov and his Dogs 7 June 2017 
The Medieval Bishop's Big Bang Theory 14 June 2017 
The Man Who Found Physics in Shells, Seeds and Bees 28 June 2017 
Caroline Herschel and the Comets 5 July 2017 
A wolf, a goat and some cabbages 22 November 2017 
The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars 29 November 2017 
Lise Meitner: Humanitarian physicist 
who unlocked the science of the atom bomb 6 December 2017 
How Humphry Davy discovered laughing gas 13 December 2017 
Michael Faraday and his 'instructess' in chemistry 20 December 2017 
17th-Century Space Flight: The Real Cyrano de Bergerac 13 June 2018 
Urea and the Wohler Myth 20 June 2018 
Descartes' Daughter 27 June 2018 
Hypatia: The Murdered Mathematician 4 July 2018 
Mary Anning and Fossil Hunting 11 July 2018 
Eddington's Eclipse and Einstein's Celebrity 12 December 2018 
Lucretius, Sheep and Atoms 19 December 2018 
Kepler's Snowflakes 26 December 2018 
Lady Mary Montagu's Smallpox Experiment 2 January 2019 
Ibn al-Haytham and How We See 9 January 2019 
Galileo's lost letter 13 August 2019 
Madame Lavoisier's Translation of Oxygen 20 August 2019 
Ignaz Semmelweiss: The Hand Washer 27 August 2019 
Ramon Llull: the medieval prophet of computer science 3 September 2019 
Alexis Carrel and the immortal chicken heart 10 September 2019 
Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing 11 December 2019 
Sophia Jex-Blake, first woman doctor in Scotland 18 December 2019 
Isaac Newton and the story of the apple 25 December 2019 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Science Stories

The complete BBC Radio 4 popular science series

John Wilson

Bill Morris

Marcus du Sautoy

Tasmin Little

Lauren Child

Gary Rhodes

Digby Jones

Rachel Portman

Andrea Levy

Major public figures go back to their beginnings and uncover where they really started 
 
John Wilson (acclaimed arts and culture reporter and journalist, and presenter of Front Row, Newsnight Review and Pick of the Week) meets up with a variety of public figures from such diverse fields as food, mathematics, politics, writing and music, and takes them back to the influential schools, teachers, and early workplaces they may have forgotten, but which have not forgotten them. 
 
His guests include the first Black trade union leader, Lord Bill Morris; classical violinist Tasmin Little; the late restaurateur and television chef, Gary Rhodes; Lord Digby Jones, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment; the late Women's Prize and Costa Book Award winning author, Andrea Levy; veteran journalist, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo, and many more. The locations too are widely varied and richly formative - from car component manufacturers and specialist vocational institutions to grammar and private schools. 
 
Top of the Class is a fascinating look beneath the usual façade of a public figure, perfect for anyone wanting to see the human face behind a successful life story, as well as the teachers, mentors, best friends and rivals who helped them grow into the person they became. 
 
Episode guide 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
Bill Morris 28 July 2008 
Tasmin Little 4 August 2008 
Lauren Child 11 August 2008 
Gary Rhodes 18 August 2008 
Marcus du Sautoy 28 December 2010 
Rachel Portman 18 January 2011 
Lord Digby Jones 25 January 2011 
Michael Portillo 19 July 2011 
Andrea Levy 26 July 2011 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Wilson 
Produced by Sarah Taylor 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Top of the Class

The complete BBC Radio 4 series

Various

Individuals who have experienced some of society's biggest issues tell their stories - and search for answers 
 
 From climate change, fake news and vaccine hesitancy to mental health, addiction and domestic violence, there are no shortage of societal problems facing the UK right now. But while we are aware these challenges exist, without personal experience it is hard for us to understand what it is like to struggle with them, and harder still to envision potential solutions. 
 
 These compelling documentaries, first broadcast on radio under the title 'My Name Is...', introduce us to a range of individuals who have confronted various hardships, telling their stories and following them as they ask difficult questions and endeavour to drive positive change. Among those we meet are Rachel, who has been sectioned multiple times and seeks to challenge the status quo around psychiatric treatment; Katie, a onetime problem gambler investigating how online gambling firms target the vulnerable; Abi, who almost died at the hands of her violent boyfriend and now helps others stay safe; and Fozia, a doctor horrified by the Covid conspiracy theories that leave patients afraid to come to hospital even when they're seriously ill. 
 
 We also hear from others whose stories are less harrowing, but equally absorbing. There's Noga, a 17-year-old youth strike organiser doing everything she can to save the planet; Hamza, a basketball and martial arts coach who believes broadening access to sport can improve opportunities for disadvantaged kids; Lucy, who's looking for love and wondering whether to ditch the dating apps; and 11-year-old Roman, who adores Minecraft and wants to know if his parents' limits on his screen time are fair. 
 
 Offering unique insight into the lives of a host of extraordinary people, these fascinating first-person accounts highlight the complexity of the issues affecting Britons today, and provide diverse perspectives on how we can set about tackling them. 
 
 Production credits 
 Presented by Noga Levy-Rapoport, Rachel Waddingham, Katie, Josh Walker, 'Courtney', Peter Trimingham, Beth Miles, Abi Blake, Imogen Rhodes, Fozia Hayat, Natasha Saunders, Lucy, Roman, Niellah Arboine, Jordan Lee, Anna, Elvis MacGonagall, Hamza Malik, Joshua Styles, Anna, Christina Adane, Natalie, Haroon Mota, Sam, Kate Deeming, Bex Wilson, Laura Brothwell, Claire Randall, Chris Fox 
 
 Produced by Sue Mitchell, Ben Crighton, Lydia Thomas, Miles Warde, Richard McIlroy, Ben Carter, Eliza Lomas, Kevin Core, Mugabi Turya, Seren Jones, Lucy Proctor, Giles Edwards, Beth Hemmings 
 
 Production Coordinators: Anne Smith, Gemma Ashman, Dave James, Sarah Goodman, Helen Surtees, Siobhan Maguire 
 
 Editors: Philip Sellars, Emma Rippon, Gill Farrington 
 
 First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
 My Name is Noga 1 April 2019 
My Name is Rachel 8 April 2019 
My Name is Katie 22 April 2019 
My Name is Josh 6 May 2019 
My Name is Courtney 27 May 2019 
My Name is Peter 6 January 2020 
My Name is Beth 27 January 2020 
My Name is Abi 3 February 2020 
My Name is Immie 10 February 2020 
My Name is Fozia 27 July 2020 
My Name is Natasha 3 August 2020 
My Name is Lucy 17 August 2020 
My Name is Roman 24 August 2020 
My Name is Niellah 31 August 2020 
My Name is Jordan 1 February 2021 
My Name is Anna 8 February 2021 
My Name is Elvis 15 February 2021 
My Name is Hamza 1 March 2021 
My Name is Josh 8 March 2021 
My Name is Anna 16 August 2021 
My Name is Christina 30 August 2021 
My Name is Natalie 6 September 2021 
My Name is Haroon 28 February 2022 
My Name is Sam 7 March 2022 
My Name is Kate 14 March 2022 
My Name is Bex 21 March 2022 
My Name is Laura 25 July 2022 
My Name is Claire 08 August 2022 
My Name is Chris 29 August 2022 
 
 
 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Hardship Britain: Personal Stories of Social Issues Today

A BBC Radio 4 collection

Mark Lawson

Mark Lawson takes an international look at celebrated literary detectives, talking to their creators to explore how mystery fiction reflects society's trends and tensions 
 
'Masterly'' Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph 
 
Throughout its long history, crime fiction has broadened our horizons, introducing us to unfamiliar places, people and cultures and showing us new ways of looking at the world. In this fascinating series, Mark Lawson takes a global tour of the genre, putting detective novels under the magnifying glass to examine how they have depicted - and predicted - social and political change. Focussing on famous fictional investigators - from Hercule Poirot, Jules Maigret, Van der Valk and Martin Beck; through Dalgliesh, Rebus, Jane Tennison and Harry Hole; to Benny Griessel, Tess Monaghan and Easy Rawlins - he explores what these iconic protagonists can tell us about the historic character of their nations. 
 
Through the framework of their cases, he pursues the shadows of the Second World War and the Cold War; conflicts between the politics of the left and right; the rise of nationalism; and the pressures caused by migration. He also finds out how crime novels have portrayed transitional societies in South Africa and Northern Ireland; examined the legacies of military rule in Argentina and the Castro revolution in Cuba; and tackled post-colonialism in Australia and Nigeria. 
 
Helping Lawson with his inquiries are authors including Andrea Camilleri, who discusses the effects of both the Mafia and Berlusconi on Italian society; Brian McGilloway, who talks about the Troubles and the wave of Irish crime fiction that the peace process has provoked; and Petros Markaris, whose detective series prophesied the Greek financial crisis. Plus, Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley reveal how they introduced the experience of women and black Americans into their work; Russian writer Boris Akunin and Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov meditate on Dostoevsky, Putin, censorship and their different approaches to crime writing; and in a special episode on TV detectives, Lawson talks to creative talent from the ITV hit Broadchurch, the Danish show The Killing and the French success Spiral about the medium's suitability as a crime scene and the rise of female investigators. 
 
Production credits 
Written and presented by Mark Lawson 
Produced by Robyn Read and Martin Williams 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Belgium - Hercule Poirot and Jules Maigret 22 October 2012 
With Val McDermid, Lord Grey Gowrie, Andrea Camilleri and David Suchet 
Germany - Inspector Barlach 23 October 2012 
With Josie Rourke, Simon McBurney, Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski, Katharina Hall and Ferdinand von Schirach 
Czechoslovakia - Lieutenant Boruvka 24 October 2012 
With Paul Wilson 
Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk 25 October 2012 
With Lord Grey Gowrie and Saskia Noort 
Sweden - Inspector Martin Beck 26 October 2012 
With Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell, Åsa Larsson, Camilla Lackberg, Jens Lapidus, Val McDermid and Gunnar Staalesen 
UK - Commander Dalgliesh and Chief Inspector Wexford 29 October 2012 
With PD James and Ruth Rendell 
Sicily - Inspector Rogas 30 October 2012 
With Paul Bailey, Gianrico Carofiglio, Andrea Camilleri and Petra Reski 
Spain - PI Pepe Carvalho 31 October 2012 
With Antonio Hill and Jason Webster 
Britain - DCI Jane Tennison 1 November 2012 
With Lynda La Plante, Saskia Noort, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid 
Italy - Inspector Montalbano 2 November 2012 
With Andrea Camilleri 
Germany - PI Kemal Kayankaya 5 November 2012 
With Jakob Arjouni 
Scotland - DI John Rebus 6 November 2012 
With Ian Rankin 
Sweden - Kurt Wallander and Lisbeth Salander 7 November 2012 
With Henning Mankell, Kenneth Branagh, Liza Marklund, Camilla Läckberg and Eva Gabrielsson 
Norway - Harry Hole 8 November 2012 
With Jo Nesbø, Liza Marklund and Gunnar Staalesen 
Russia and Ukraine - Erast Fandorin 9 November 2012 
With Boris Akunin, Ian Rankin and Andrey Kurkov 
 
Series 2 
Greece - Inspector Costas Haritos 8 July 2013 
With Petros Markaris 
Argentina - Superintendent Perro Lascano 9 July 2013 
With Ernesto Mallo and Claudia Pineiro 
Ireland - Inspector Benedict Devlin 10 July 2013 
With Brian McGilloway 
South Africa - Detective Captain Bennie Griessel 11 July 2013 
With Deon Meyer and Sifiso Mzobe 
Screenland - DS Ellie Miller, DI Sarah Lund, Captain Laure Berthaud 12 July 2013 
 
Series 3 
Cuba 17 November 2014 
With Leonardo Padura and Caroline Garcia-Aquilera 
USA 18 November 2014 
With Laura Lippman and Walter Mosley 
Poland 19 November 2014 
With Zygmunt Miloszewski and Joanna Jodelka 
Australia 20 November 2014 
With Peter Temple and Gabrielle Lord 
Nigeria 21 November 2014 
With Helon Habila and CM Okonkwo 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Foreign Bodies

Crime Fiction Around the World

Francine Stock

Francine Stock explores how the Great War shaped culture and society between 1914 and 1918 
 
The First World War was the great military and political event of its time. But it was also an imaginative event: one that profoundly altered the ways in which men and women thought about the world, and about culture and its expressions. In this compelling five-series programme, journalist and presenter Francine Stock scrutinises the diverse responses of artists and entertainers to the bitter realities of war, and reveals how their new perspectives entered the public consciousness. 
 
Each series focuses on a specific year of the conflict, beginning with 1914, as the written word was mobilised; the music industry embraced both patriotism and escapism; and painters including Kandinsky created some of their most powerful work. Stock shows how the aftershocks of war sparked the rise of modernism and the avant-garde in 1915, and looks at how trauma was addressed in the works of Freud and the compositions of Debussy. Moving on to the following year, she demonstrates how the carnage at Verdun and the Somme inspired Dadaism, galvanised creators from Picasso to Apollinaire - and made the tank into an unlikely icon on the home front. 
 
Looking at 1917, Stock tells the story of the Harlem Hellfighters and how jazz conquered France; finds out about the popular cross-dressing theatre troupes who were taking the Front Line by storm; and listens as the first meeting between poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen is celebrated in a landmark violin performance using instruments made in memory of the duo. She concludes by examining the war's final deadly year, as US troops arrive on the Western Front, Charlie Chaplin makes a film about a private with dreams of becoming a war hero; the Austro-Hungarian Empire falls; and Elgar, Stanley Spencer and Rebecca West anticipate the end of the hostilities and the soldiers' return. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Francine Stock 
Produced by Tom Alban, Mark Burman, Caitlin Smith, Mark Rickards, Clare Walker, Georgia Catt, Sarah Shebbeare, Elizabeth Duffy 
Production Coordinator: Anne Smith 
Editors: John Goudie, Philip Sellars 
 
Readers: Clive Hayward, Heather Craney, Sean Baker, Susan Jameson, Sam Rix, Sargon Yelda, Brian Protheroe, Nicola Ferguson, Nick Underwood, Lucy Doyle, Sean Murray, Ryan Whittle, Liam Fernandez, Cameron Percival and other members of the Radio Drama Company 
Singer: Eloise Irving 
Pianist: Simon Townley 
 
First broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
Words for Battle 8 March 2014 
With Catriona Pennell, Samuel Hynes, Tim Kendall, Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Mark Derez, Jan Van Impe, Gerhard Hirschfeld 
Arf a Mo, Kaiser: Popular Culture on All Fronts 15 March 2014 
With Eloise Irving, Simon Townley, John Mullan, Susan Scott, Rachel Moore, Gerhard Hirschfeld, Stefan Goebel, Hubertus Jahn, Anita O'Brien 
Kandinsky, Khaki and Kisses 22 March 2014 
With Jane Potter, David Boyd Haycock, Richard Cork, Stacy Gillis, Stefan Goebel 
 
Series 2 
Glimpses of a Modern World 18 April 2015 
With Genevieve Bell, Pat Mills, Samuel Hynes, Guillaume de Syon, Richard Slocombe, Stewart Kelly, Bryony Dixon, Mark Wollaeger 
A Cubist War 25 April 2015 
With James Taylor, Nicholas Rankin, Susan Harrow, Santanu Das, Peter Stanley, Christian Liebl 
War on the Mind 2 May 2015 
With David Code, Anna Farthing, Edgar Jones, John Forrester, Dorothy Price, Matthew Hollis 
 
Series 3 
Bleeding France 9 April 2016 
With Jay Winter, Alice Kelly, Linda Robertson, Sylvie Leray-Burimi 
The Tank and the Home Fires 16 April 2016 
With Cathy Haill, Helen Brooks, Kimberley Reynolds, Diana Thompson, Vincent Thompson, Richard Slocombe, David Wiley, Alistair Fraser 
Dada and Defiance 23 April 2016 
With Toby Thacker, Alan Dein, Jed Rasula, Jan Rueger, Emily Finer, Boris Dralyuk 
 
Series 4 
The Jazz Kings Go to War 12 August 2017 
With Max Brooks, Reid Badger, Adriane Lentz-Smith, Noble Sissle Jr 
Reality and Reconstruction 19 August 2017 
With Steve Burnett, Catherine Walker, Boris Dralyuk, Richard Cork, Sylvain Bellanger, Suzannah Biernoff, James Partridge, Sarah Crellin 
An Intimate War 26 August 2017 
With Jason Crouthamel, Anke Vetter, Kevin Clarke, Jay Winters, Laraine Porter, Simon Rothon 
 
Series 5 
1918: Chaplin Goes to War 8 September 2018 
With David Luben, Claggett Wilson Read, Lucie Dutton, Ailsa Grant Ferguson 
1918: Vienna and the Fall of an Empire 15 September 2018 
With Michael Haas, Marcus Patka, Ivan Ristic, Nicolai Guteman 
The Return of the Soldier 22 September 2018 
With Boris Dralyuk, Martin Sorrell, Toby Thacker, Jane Potter, David Haycock, Ann Danks 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

World War One: The Cultural Front

A BBC Radio 4 history series

Fintan O'Toole

Ruth Padel

Heather Jones

Elif Shafak

David Edgerton

Sara LeFanu

The complete BBC Radio 3 series exploring how great creative minds responded to the First World War in individual works of art and scholarship 
 
World War I saw an unprecedented loss of life in Western Europe, and destruction on a scale no one alive had ever seen. All those who experienced it were irrevocably changed, including many writers and artists upon whose oeuvre it left an indelible mark. 
 
This captivating series examines the impact of the war on artists and thinkers through the prism of their great works. In each episode, a leading figure from the worlds of science, culture and the arts reflects on a single iconic piece, and discusses how the events of 1914-18 shaped its creation. 
 
The 29 artworks in this collection comprise paintings, plays, books, films, sculptures and cartoons. Ian Christie appraises Eisenstein's seminal Soviet drama Battleship Potemkin; Dame Gillian Beer considers Virginia Woolf's masterpiece Mrs Dalloway; Fintan O'Toole decodes James Joyce's epic modernist novel, Ulysses; and Dr Heather Jones looks at the controversy and war connections around Marcel Duchamp's notorious 'Fountain'. 
 
Key texts such as Sigmund Freud's twin essays Thoughts for the Time on War and Death; Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Lectures; and Siegfried Sassoon's celebrated 1917 protest letter to The Times are analysed by Dr Michael Shapira, Santanu Das and Joanna Bourke; and a panoply of other pieces, among them Kathe Kollwitz's 'The Grieving Parents', Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie and Rudyard Kipling's Epitaphs are discussed by experts including Ruth Padel, Elizabeth Kuti and Janet Montefiore. 
 
Powerful, moving, thought-provoking and often shocking, these landmark works are all, in their very different ways, a response to the horrors of World War I and its aftermath - one that vividly demonstrates the transformative effects the conflict had on the collective artistic psyche. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Allan Little, Sara LeFanu, Martin Rowson, Prof David Edgerton, Michal Shapira, Dr Heather Jones, Ian Christie, Lyse Doucet, Santanu Das, Ruth Padel, Arthur Smith, Prof Gillian Beer, Richard Cork, Sasha Dugdale, Fintan O'Toole, Gerald Dawe, John D McHugh, Elizabeth Kuti, Tarek Osman, Joanna Bourke, Elif Shafak, Dr Imaobong Umoren, Janet Montefiore, Jane Potter and Alex Walton 
Produced by Beaty Rubens, Benedict Warren, Emma Kingsley, Simon Elmes and Sarah Bowen 
 
Episode list: 
1. Paths of Glory 
2. Non-Combatants and Others 
3. Der Krieg 
4. The Memorandum on the Neglect of Science 
5. Thoughts for the Times on War and Death 
6. Le Feu 
7. Battleship Potemkin 
8. Fighting France, from Dunkerque to Belfort 
9. The Broken Wing 
10. The Grieving Parents 
11. Tagore's Nobel Lectures 
12. Tzara's Dada Manifesto 
13. Woolf's Mrs Dalloway 
14. Parade 
15. Akhmatova's July 1914 
16. James Joyce's Ulysses 
17. Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September 
18. Francis Ledwidge's poem O'Connell Street 
19. Father Browne's Photograph of a Wounded Soldier 
20. Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie 
21. Marcel Duchamp 
22. Gertrude Bell 
23. Siegfried Sassoon's Letter to The Times 
24. Mata Hari's Final Performance 
25. Isaac Rosenberg's Dead Man's Dump 
26. WEB Dubois' Returning Soldiers 
27. Rudyard Kipling's Epitaphs 
28. Mary Borden's The Forbidden Zone 
29. Isobel Rae 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Minds at War

How great artists and their work were shaped by the First World War

Jonathan Sacks

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks to the world's leading thinkers about morality today 
 
In this fascinating series Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks explores what morality means, speaking with globally renowned thinkers, as well as voices from the next generation. 
 
From Steven Pinker and Robert Putnam to Melinda Gates and Jordan Peterson, the guests discuss the free market and the financial crash, selfies and social media, individuals and tribalism, artificial intelligence, role models, and rediscovering politics of the common good. 
 
With each topic, Rabbi Sacks also talks with teenagers from Manchester, London and Hertfordshire about how they engage with moral questions, and what they see as the greatest moral struggles that Generation Z will face. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks 
 
Producer: Dan Tierney 
Series Editor: Christine Morgan 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 3-7 September 2018 
 
Episode 1: Responsibility 
How can we pursue our own interests without feeling vulnerable and isolated? With Jordan Peterson, Noreena Hertz, and Michael Sandel. 
 
Episode 2: Jordan Peterson 
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks to Jordan Peterson, professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, and discusses how moral codes are formed. 
 
Episode 3: Noreena Hertz 
Noreena Hertz, economist, author and broadcaster, gives her verdict on the current state of capitalism and explores the failure of markets to deliver moral outcomes. 
 
Episode 4: The Selfie Generation 
How does a culture of selfies impact the way we live our lives? With Jean Twenge, Professor of psychology at San Diego State University, and David Brooks, political and social commentator and author. 
 
Episode 5: Jean Twenge 
Rabbi Sacks meets with Jean Twenge to explore why children with higher internet usage seem to have the lowest outcomes for happiness, resilience and tolerance. 
 
Episode 6: David Brooks 
David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, shares with Rabbi Sacks his thoughts on how individualism has gone too far. 
 
Episode 7: Is Society a Myth? 
What happens when we move from "we're all in this together" to "I'm free to be myself"? With Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University, and Robert Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University. 
 
Episode 8: Jonathan Haidt 
Rabbi Sacks talks to Jonathan Haidt, who is concerned about the destructive forms of tribalism in society today. 
 
Episode 9: Robert Putnam 
Why have social bonds collapsed in America, and what does that mean for the rest of the world? Rabbi Sacks and Robert Putnam discuss the importance of social capital. 
 
Episode 10: Artificial Intelligence 
How can humans continue to choose our fate in a world of AI? With Mustafa Suleyman, Co-founder and Head of Applied AI at DeepMind, and Nick Bostrom, Philosophy Professor at the University of Oxford. 
 
Episode 11: Mustafa Suleyman 
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks speaks to Mustafa Suleyman at one of the world's leading innovators in Artificial Intelligence, and explores the biggest moral questions around AI. 
 
Episode 12: Nick Bostrom 
In a further examination of the moral challenges of AI, Rabbi Sacks talks again with Nick Bostrom, who was one of the first to warn of the dangers of 'superintelligence'. 
 
Episode 13: Moral Heroes 
Who are the role models of the next generation, and do they provide hope for a better, more ethical and more responsible world? With Steven Pinker, Melinda Gates, Michael Sandel, and Jordan Peterson. 
 
Episode 14: Steven Pinker and Melinda Gates 
Rabbi Sacks meets with Steven Pinker to hear his reasons for hope for a better world, and with Melinda Gates to explore the motivations for her philanthropy. 
 
Episode 15: Michael Sandel 
In the final episode, Rabbi Sacks and the world-renowned political philosopher Michael Sandel discuss how we can return to a politics of the common good. 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Morality in the 21st Century

A BBC Radio 4 Philosophy and Ethics Series

Michael Portillo uncovers the forgotten events concealed by famous moments in history 
 
History is complicated, and to make sense of it, we construct a narrative, editing and shaping the past to form a coherent story. But in doing so, there is much we leave out, leading to gaps in our collective memory. In this series, broadcaster and former politician Michael Portillo revisits some of history's best-known moments to fill in some of these gaps, rediscovering forgotten events that augment our understanding and shift our perspective. 
 
Reappraising milestones such as the Spanish Armada, the French Revolution, the First World War and the Great Depression, he probes our selective amnesia, asking what we have mythologised, and what we've ignored. Was Alfred the Great really a bold English hero, or an Anglo-Saxon spin doctor? Why is Georgian England remembered for its elegant architecture and regency refinement when this period of history was full of riots and political strife? And could the Bengal famine of 1943, a horrific event in British India that cost at least 1.5 million lives, have been avoided? 
 
Talking to leading historians and experts, Portillo peels back the layers of history to uncover the uncomfortable truths and murky, ambiguous stories behind iconic events such as the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688, the struggle for Indian independence and the Boston Tea Party. He also reveals a Suffragette plot to assassinate Herbert Asquith; shows how a disastrous attempt at overseas colonisation led to the 1707 Act of Union merging England and Scotland; and takes a look at the real losers of the Battle of Trafalgar - the Spanish. 
 
Not revisionist, but restorative, this fascinating series challenges the orthodox view of history without glossing over its complexities, presenting a surprising, thought-provoking re-evaluation of our past and reminding us that the events we choose to remember are not always those that are the most significant. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Michael Portillo 
Produced by Julia Adamson, Tom Alban, Marya Burgess, Joanne Cayford, James Cook, James Crawford, Neil George, Laurence Grissell, Julia Johnson, Roger Mahony, Neil McCarthy, Paula McGinley and Philip Sellars 
Consultant: Chris Williams of the Open University 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Series 1 
The Battle of Mers-el-Kebir 16 May 2005 
The Spanish Armada 23 May 2005 
The French Revolution 6 June 2005 
 
Series 2 
Jack the Ripper 27 November 2006 
The First World War 4 December 2006 
The 1945 Labour Government 11 December 2006 
 
Series 3 
On Suffragettes 24 December 2007 
The Darien Scheme 31 December 2007 
The Bengal Famine 7 January 2008 
The Battle of Trafalgar 14 January 2008 
 
Series 4 
The League of Nations 15 December 2008 
Alfred the Great 22 December 2008 
 
Series 5 
Chamberlain and 'Peace for our Time' 1938 14 December 2009 
The Hanseatic League 21 December 2009 
The Glorious Revolution 28 December 2009 
 
Series 6 
King Harold 15 November 2010 
The Violent Side of Indian Independence 29 November 2010 
The Great Depression in the USA 6 December 2010 
 
Series 7 
The Real Boston Tea Party, 1773 13 November 2011 
Police Strike 20 November 2011 
The English Armada 4 December 2011 
 
Series 8 
The Georgian Façade 11 June 2012 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Things We Forgot to Remember

Christopher Harding

Alex Bellos

Rana Mitter

David Peace

SF Said

Natasha Pulley

Matthew Sweet

Richard Lloyd Parry

Roy Jenkins

Philip Dodd

A captivating anthology of programmes, painting a multi-faceted portrait of a unique country 
 
Japan is a land of complexity, contrast and contradictions. The world's third-largest economy, it is a powerhouse of innovation and a pioneer in technology, fashion and pop culture. But it also has a rich, ancient heritage and a deep reverence for custom, ritual and tradition. This illuminating 2-part radio collection traverses the different aspects of this fascinating country, from its famous historical figures to its diverse cultural landscape. 
 
Part 1: History opens with Japan in Five Lives, in which cultural historian Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from the country's past to answer the question 'Who are the Japanese'? In Killing Time in Imperial Japan, he explores early 20th Century Tokyo, a bustling, cosmopolitan capital where the meaning of 'time' was hotly contested. Dark Blossoms sees him examining the doubts and misgivings accompanying Japan's rapid embrace of modernity, while in Japanese Tsunami, broadcasters Richard Lloyd Parry and Matthew Sweet discuss the devastating natural disaster that rocked the country in 2011. In Land of the Rising Sums, Alex Bellos visits Kyoto to ask why Asian cultures seem so much better at maths; in Japan and Religion, Roy Jenkins discusses the place of religious traditions in modern Japan; and in Supernatural Japan, Christopher Harding looks at how the Japanese have used ghosts and ghost stories to make sense of their world. 
 
Part 2: Culture celebrates Japan's art, literature and film. In Japan Now 2020, Philip Dodd talks to writers Hiromi Ito and Yukiko Motoya and photographer Tomoko Sawada about women's roles in Japanese culture today. Meanwhile, in Images of Japan, illustrator Fumio Obata and manga translator Jocelyne Allen discuss Japanese comic book imagery, and we join novelists Kyoko Nakajima and Yuya Sato in conversation with Christopher Harding. Landmark: Seven Samurai and Landmark: Rashomon see Matthew Sweet and Rana Mitter investigating the stories behind Akira Kurosawa's two most influential films, in the company of guests including film scholar Ian Christie and authors SF Said, David Peace and Natasha Pulley. The Tale of Genji takes us into the shimmering world of mediaeval Japan, as Rana Mitter explores Murasaki Shikibu's masterpiece, widely considered to be the world's first novel. Finally, in Godzilla and Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Harding considers cinematic depictions of Japanese fear, as exemplified by the legendary monster king and the 2013 animated film The Wind Rises. 
 
Contents 
Japan in Five Lives 
Killing Time in Imperial Japan 
Dark Blossoms 
Japanese Tsunami 
Land of the Rising Sums 
Japan and Religion 
Supernatural Japan 
Japan Now 2020 
Images of Japan 
Landmark: Seven Samurai 
Landmark: Rashomon 
The Tale of Genji 
Godzilla and The Wind Rises 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Japan

A BBC documentary collection

Greg Jenner

A funny, fascinating and personal look at 100 years of history in the BBC archives 
 
 
Historian Greg Jenner uses a random date generator to visit somewhere in the BBC's vast archives of remarkable sound clips from the last 100 years. Using that clip as a jumping-off point to explore what has changed between then and now, Greg talks to experts and those connected to the archived people, places, and ideas, including Stephen Fry, writer Naomi Alderman, playwright Nell Leyshon, social historian Carol Dyhouse, author and disability campaigner Dr Amit Patel, food historian Annie Gray, and inveterate tennis fan Geoff Dyer. 
 
 
From dance crazes, post-war Christmases and communist sitcoms to pub evolution, life on the waterways and women's political activism, Past Forward provides a rich and thought-provoking look at the oral histories, personal stories, big moments and small joys of the past and the present, and how our history has shaped the people we have become. 
 
 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
The Lambeth Walk 03 January 2022 
1984 - Comrade Dad 04 January 2022 
Christmas 1945 05 January 2022 
Mary Whitehouse 06 January 2022 
Porton Down 07 January 2022 
Match Point 10 January 2022 
Kitty Hart-Moxon 11 January 2022 
If People Can't Let Slip... 12 January 2022 
Traffic 13 January 2022 
England v Argentina 1998 14 January 2022 
Dinner Is Served 21 March 2022 
Get Out of My Pub 22 March 2022 
Talking Technology 23 March 2022 
The Teen Age 24 March 2022 
Louie Hooper sings Lord Rendall 25 March 2022 
Listen with Mother 28 March 2022 
Rebuilding Britain 29 March 2022 
The Corncrake and the Croft 30 March 2022 
Life on the Canals 31 March 2022 
Save our Steelworks 01 April 2022 
 
 
Production credits 
Produced by Dan Potts, Amelia Parker, Martin Williams, Megan Jones, and Eliane Glaser, for BBC Wales 
 
Cover credits 
Photographer: James Gifford-Mead (jamesgiffordmead-photography.co.uk) 
Image adapted by Rabia Ali 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Past Forward: A Century of Sound

BBC Worldwide

1982 was a historic year, a year in which the battle for a small group of islands in the South Atlantic dominated the news. 
 
From the initial broadcasts of the growing Argentine threat and Mrs Thatcher's speech to the Commons informing them that a Task Force will sail, to the battles for Goose Green and Port Stanley, the Argentine surrender and the controversial sinking of the Belgrano - all these historic moments, together with all the other important events of the Falklands War, are recorded here, in live BBC Radio News coverage. 
 
Released to mark the 40th anniversary of the conflict, this collection of recordings from the BBC Radio News team brings to life the events of the Falklands War and includes speeches and statements from journalists and survivors, as well as key political figures such as Margaret Thatcher and former President of Argentina Leopoldo Galtieri. 
 
 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The Falklands War: Recordings from the Archive

A landmark BBC radio collection

Stephen Barlay

Stephen Barlay's gripping Cold War drama about the threat of nuclear war 
 
Laid up in a CIA hospital, recovering from a gunshot wound, British agent Maxon is about to have his peaceful convalescence shattered. As the radio DJ introduces In the Mood, the swinging sound of Glenn Miller is cut off by a shrill, insistent alarm - one signalling imminent, universal death. America's brand new Global Early Warning System has detected an approaching nuclear missile from outer space... 
 
But the attack never takes place. The weapon, launched from an unmanned Soviet space vehicle, was destroyed seconds later - so how did the public alert come to be broadcast? As a member of the elite team responsible for safeguarding GLEW, Maxon is assigned to investigate. Meanwhile, he takes on a second, parallel mission - helping his ex-lover, Jacqueline, prove her scientist husband Kowalski has not turned traitor and leaked GLEW secrets to the Russians. 
 
Searching for answers, Maxon travels to Toronto, where he is framed for murder and forced to go on the run. And when he finally uncovers the shocking truth, he finds himself mired in deceit and treason - and caught up in a deadly game of nuclear poker. With the doomsday clock pointing to two minutes to midnight, can Maxon and Jacqueline avert disaster? 
 
Written by acclaimed novelist Stephen Barlay, this tense espionage thriller stars Ian Hendry as Maxon and Toby Robins as Jacqueline. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Stephen Barlay 
Directed by Peter King 
Music composed and played by Ed Welch (piano) with Ron Aspery (saxophone) 
 
Cast 
Maxon - Ian Hendry 
Jacqueline - Toby Robins 
Disc Jockey/Announcer/MP/Gloucester/Wennstrom - Nigel Graham 
Inspector Wells/President/Doomsday Man - Bob Sherman 
Interviewer/Reporter - Madi Hedd 
Captain - Stuart Milligan 
Guard - Ian Tyler 
Nurse/Nadia- Zhivila Roche 
Reporter/MP/Announcer/Stewardess - Alex Marshall 
Beryov - Peter Gale 
Petrushka - Richard Marner 
Ellsberg - George Coulouris 
The Nachalnik - Paul Hardwick 
Locke - Alan Tilvern 
Kowalski - Carl Duering 
Cabbie - Peter Whitman 
Hostess - Gay Baynes 
Papa Mike - Errol MacKinnon 
Minister/Sandy - Peter Tuddenham 
Call Girl/Operator - Carole Boyd 
Chuck - Bruce Boa 
Inspector - Peter Marinker 
Fergus - James Bryce 
Aram Sarian - Vladek Sheybal 
Saul - Blain Fairman 
Girl - Mary Cornford 
Winston - Stuart Organ 
Tucker - Norman Jones 
Sleet/Reporter - Brett Usher 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 24 April-19 June 1983 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Price of Silence

A BBC Radio 4 Cold War Sci-Fi Thriller

Philip Palmer

A gritty thriller set behind the Iron Curtain in 1960s Hungary 
 
Budapest, 1963. Special Investigator Bertalan Lázár and his wife, spymaster Franciska Lázár, face formidable challenges as they try to navigate a path through the dangerous underworld of Cold War-era Hungary. Catching the criminals is difficult enough, but there are other more threatening battles raging in higher places. 
 
In these 16 episodes, Bertalan must investigate the murder of a former member of the secret police, fight a turf war as he tries to find a child killer, probe a seemingly straightforward case of GBH that leads him to a rogue cop and enter the uncharted territory of Budapest's underground drugs scene after a rock musician is found dead. 
 
Written by Philip Palmer, this gripping, atmospheric drama expertly conjures up the tense, paranoid world of Communist Hungary, where dissidence was dangerous, the truth was hard to find and pursuing justice could get you killed. Leo Bill stars as Bertalan and Clare Corbett as Franciska, with Andy Linden as Tibor Farkas and Joseph Ayre as József Szabados. 
 
The episodes in this collection are: 
 
 The Wolf 
The Old Days 
Behind the Wall 
Waiting by the River 
Heroes 
Gellert Hill 
Spider's Web 
Carnaby Street 
Gypsy Dancers 
Grandmother's Footsteps 
Mad Dog 
The Light of Dawn 
The Great Society 
Red Pen 
The Great Tree Gang 
The Magical Magyars 
 
Produced and directed by Toby Swift and Sasha Yevtushenko 
Sound Design by Caleb Knightley 
 
Cast 
Bertalan Lázár - Leo Bill 
Franciska Lázár - Clare Corbett 
Tibor Farkas - Andy Linden 
József Szabados - Joseph Ayre 
Gizella - Nicola Ferguson 
Bela Fekete - Sargon Yelda 
Mr Papp - Nick Underwood 
Kitchen Porter - Richard Pepple 
Police Officer/Csaba - Sam Rix 
Lilien Racz - Adie Allen 
Milton Szilard - Philip Fox 
Kristof Szep - Samuel James 
Mr Kiraly - Robert Blythe 
Waiter/Peterke - Tom Forrister 
Mrs Tolnay - Sanchia MacCormack 
Stenographer - Kerry Gooderson 
Dmitri Dragunov - Simon Scardifield 
Márk Mészáros - Michael Bertenshaw 
András Vásáry - David Hounslow 
Priest/Copper - Christopher Harper 
Gyuri Varg/Fabenyi/Police officer/Partygoer - Kenny Blyth 
Dorina Varga - Helen Clapp 
Ministry official/Police officer/Drug dealer/Partygoer - Chris Pavlo 
Hanna Krivosik - Franchi Webb 
Zsófia/Nurse 1 - Sarah Ovens 
PuŠomori Žiga - Debbie Korley 
Mrs Kovacs/Nurse 2/Receptionist - Susan Jameson 
Gyozo Novak - Carl Prekopp 
Florian Hevesi - Luke Nunn 
Sandor Boros - Stephen Greif 
Pathologist - Jane Whittenshaw 
Cop/Detective - Stefan Adegbola 
Mother - Emma Handy 
Kulcsar - Roger Ringrose 
Draskovic - Ewan Bailey 
Billiards player/Prison officer - Ian Dunnett Jnr 
Hadik - Hasan Dixon 
Richard Miklos/Károly Miklós/Laska - Shaun Mason 
Violinist/Márton Kozma/Police Officer/Priest - Simon Ludders 
Réka Kozma/Pathologist - Jane Slavin 
Archivist/Ioveanu - Tony Turner 
Orsolya - Ria Marshall 
Receptionist - David Sturzaker 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Keeping the Wolf Out

The complete BBC Radio 4 full-cast crime series

Fergal Keane

A BBC Radio collection about Ireland and the Irish, hosted by Fergal Keane - plus bonus material 
 
Award-winning BBC foreign correspondent Fergal Keane grew up in Dublin and County Cork, and has always felt a deep attachment to his ancestral homeland. In these six absorbing programmes, he takes a wide-ranging look at Ireland's history, culture and people, in topics ranging from the political to the personal . Also included are two moving autobiographical pieces about fatherhood and his own childhood. 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain explores the profound influence the Irish have had on the United Kingdom over many centuries. Beginning in the ancient Celtic world, Fergal travels through the time of the Vikings to the 19th and 20th Century and on to the present day, examining how Irish migrants and their descendants have shaped literature, business, sport and the physical landscape. 
 
Troubles Shared sees Fergal and fellow journalist Peter Taylor discussing their experiences of reporting on the Northern Ireland conflict. Over two episodes, they revisit the province to talk about what they saw, and ask what it all means now. Meanwhile, No Man is an Island takes Fergal from the Republic to Northern Ireland, as he charts the seismic changes that have taken place in both regions and reflects on the sectarian feuding which has dominated the history of Ulster. 
 
Keane on Keane... finds him presenting a profile of his uncle, celebrated playwright John B Keane. Visiting Dublin and the dramatist's home town of Listowel, Fergal hears how a country publican became an internationally-acclaimed writer. Another iconic figure is recalled in United Irishman, in which Keane recounts the colourful life of Wolfe Tone, the Protestant founding father of Irish republicanism. 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later gives Fergal's impressions of life in Northern Ireland, as he talks to the country's citizens and listens to their poetry and music. And in two bonus essays, Letter to Daniel and My Grandmother's House, we receive insights into Fergal's own family life, through his poignant message to his newborn son and his recollections of his early days and his grandparents' home in Cork. 
 
 
How the Irish Shaped Britain 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by John Murphy &amp; Adele Armstrong 
Mixed by Eloise Whitmore 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 11-25 January 2021 
 
Troubles Shared 
Presented by Fergal Keane and Peter Taylor 
Produced by Conor Garrett 
First broadcast BBC Radio Ulster, 31 October-7 November 2020 
 
No Man is an Island 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November and 9 December 1996 
 
Keane on Keane... 
With Fergal Keane and John B Keane 
Produced by Chris Spurr 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6 January 2005 
 
United Irishman 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Chris Bowlby 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 November 1998 
 
There Will Be Sunlight Later 
Presented by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Cathy Packe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 October 1990 
 
From Our Own Correspondent: Letter to Daniel 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast as BBC Radio 4, 15th February 1996 
 
My Grandmother's House 
Read by Fergal Keane 
Produced by Tony Grant 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 January 1999 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

How the Irish Shaped Britain

And 5 other BBC documentaries on Ireland

Susan Morrison

The history of Scotland's witch hunts revealed, with Susan Morrison 
 
About 450 years ago, from 16th to the early 18th centuries, witch hunts took place in Scotland. The country was convulsed by waves of savage panics and purges, leading to the judicial murder of thousands of their own citizens, mainly women. Women who were convicted and executed for crimes they not only didn't commit, but which were impossible for anyone to commit. 
 
Over six episodes, Witch Hunt investigates one of Scotland's biggest miscarriages of justice. Susan Morrison, along with Dr Louise Yeoman and a team of expert historians, explores how events aligned to allow this to happen. How did it get to the stage where many innocent people were executed for imaginary crimes? 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Witch Hunt

A BBC Radio Scotland history

Christopher Andrew

Christopher Andrew and guests ask what would have happened if major historical moments had taken a different course 
 
In these 34 intriguing episodes, leading historian Christopher Andrew rewrites history, considering what might have transpired if pivotal events had turned out differently. By altering a single, plausible fact, he explores alternative futures where the Spanish Armada landed on English soil, Pontius Pilate freed Jesus, the Nazis occupied Britain, and many more. 
 
What if George Washington had lost the War of Independence? What if Columbus had never reached the New World? And what if Elizabeth I had married? In the company of an array of guest experts, Andrew tackles these and other questions, imagining a world where cars are banned from our cities, JFK survived the shooting in Dallas, or the Great Fire of London never took place. 
 
Full of thought-provoking hypotheses and lively speculation, this counterfactual history series not only suggests what could have happened, but refreshes our memories of what actually occurred during some of history's key turning points. In contemplating an alternate story, we are reminded how extraordinary it is that things did indeed result in the way that they did. 
 
Episode list 
1. What if Hitler had won the war against Russia in 1941? 
2. What if John F Kennedy had survived the shooting in Dallas? 
3. What if the 1979 referendum had led to Scottish independence? 
4. What if Columbus hadn't reached the New World? 
5. What if we'd kept the trains and banned cars from our main towns and cities? 
6. What if King Edward VIII had married Mrs Simpson and remained on the throne? 
7. What if Pontius Pilate had freed Jesus? 
8. What if the Spanish Armada had landed in Kent in 1588? 
9. What if Labour leader John Smith had lived? 
10. What if either the royalist or parliamentary armies had achieved outright victory at the battle of Edgehill? 
11. What if the NHS had never been introduced in 1948? 
12. What if Britain had not discovered the North Sea Oil? 
13. What if there was no fire of London in 1666? 
14. What if Alfred the Great was defeated in 878? 
15. What if German Emperor Wilhelm I had died ten years earlier? 
16. What if germ warfare were to be used against the US? 
17. What if there was no 1947 Agriculture Act? 
18. What if Martin Luther King had survived the assassination on 4 April 1968? 
19. What if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo? 
20. What if the Diggers had spread in 1649, and there were no slaves, lawyers or accountants? 
21. What if Yasser Arafat had been assassinated in 1968? 
22. What if Mary Tudor had completed the Counter-Reformation as planned? 
23. What if the First Crusade had failed in 1095? 
24. What if Germany had defeated France at the beginning of World War I in 1914? 
25. What if Britain had voted against EU membership in the 1975 EEC Referendum? 
26. What if the Russians had won the Space Race? 
27. What if Alexander the Great had gone West, not East? 
28. What if George Washington had lost the American War of Independence? 
29. What if the Germans had discovered that the Allies had cracked the Enigma code during World War II? 
30. What if the Nazis had occupied Britain in 1940? 
31. What if Elizabeth I had married? 
32. What if the Chinese authorities had not sent tanks into Tiananmen Square in June 1989? 
33. What if the Zulus had defeated the British in 1879? 
34. What if D-Day had failed? 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Professor Christopher Andrew 
 Produced by Ian Bell, Mark Smalley and Isobel Eaton 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 2 January 1991-5 June 2004. 
 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
(P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What If?

A BBC Radio 4 alternative history

Becky Milligan

David Torrance

A compelling collection of programmes exploring one of the world's most repressive and dangerous nations 
 
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a highly secretive totalitarian state - and one that poses an increasing threat to the West due to its rapidly expanding nuclear weapons programme. This unique 3-part collection takes an in-depth look at the country, encompassing its history, the human stories behind the regime, and its possible future. 
 
Part 1: Inside North Korea examines the politics, economy and leadership of this isolated nation. The Real Story: How dangerous is North Korea? discusses whether the country's increasing military belligerence rules out any hope for engagement with the rest of the world, while The Inquiry: Is North Korea broke? investigates how the state makes its money, from coffee shops to counterfeiting. And in two illuminating Profile programmes, David Torrance and Becky Milligan scrutinize the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, and his sister and closest confidant Kim Yo-jong. 
 
In Part 2: The People, North Koreans and Westerners recount their experiences. Assignment: Escape from North Korea talks to the forgotten survivors who made it across Asia's iron curtain, while The Documentary Podcast: North Korea's celebrity defectors discovers how these escapees have become a valuable commodity in South Korea. Seven fascinating Outlook documentaries focus on the extraordinary stories of ordinary individuals, including a defector interrogated for playing Western music; a young man who led a street gang; a female soldier; an author who befriended dictator Kim Il-sung; a former spy; a woman who fled North Koreat twice - and another who claims her defection was a terrible mistake. Trending: North Korea's YouTube Stars looks at the vloggers uploading footage from inside the hermit kingdom, and in an episode of HARDtalk, American missionary Kenneth Bae tells of his arrest and imprisonment in a Pyongyang labour camp. 
 
Part 3: Looking Forward asks, what next for North Korea? Three engrossing episodes of The Inquiry delve into the regime's missile capability and its global repercussions; reveal the conversations inside the war rooms; and consider whether China may hold the key to getting North Korea to step back from its nuclear ambitions. Finally, A Korean Thaw revisits the 2018 Winter Olympics, when North and South Korea competed under a single banner, and poses the question, could sports diplomacy stop a war in the peninsula? 
 
Cast and credits 
The Real Story: How dangerous is North Korea? 
Presented by Ritula Shah. First broadcast BBC Radio World Service, 16 October 2020 
The Inquiry: Is North Korea Broke? 
Presented by Celia Hatton. First broadcast BBC Radio World Service, 24 May 2018 
Profile: Kim Jong-un 
Presented by David Torrance. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 April 2012 
Profile: Kim Yo-jong 
Presented by Becky Milligan. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 2 May 2020 
Assignment: Escape from North Korea 
Presented by Chris Gunness. First broadcast BBC World Service, 14 May 2003 
The Documentary: North Korea's celebrity defectors 
Presented by Jonathan Griffin and Natalia Zuo. First broadcast BBC Radio World Service, 26 March 2020 
Outlook: I fled North Korea for playing the wrong song 
Presented by Rajan Datar. First broadcast BBC World Service, 26 March 2020 
Outlook: I led a street gang in North Korea 
Presented by Matthew Bannister. First broadcast BBC World Service, 13 October 2016 
Outlook: A Woman Inside North Korea's Army 
Presented by Matthew Bannister. First broadcast BBC World Service, 28 September 2017 
Outlook: My Time with North Korea's Dictator 
Presented by Matthew Bannister. First broadcast BBC World Service, 4 April 2018 
Outlook: I Spied for North Korea 
Presented by Lucy Ash. First broadcast BBC World Service, 21 October 2013 
Outlook: Escaping North Korea Twice 
Presented by Jo Fidgen. First broadcast BBC World Service, 5 March 2018 
Outlook: I Want to Go Back to North Korea 
Presented by Matthew Bannister. First broadcast BBC World Service, 30 September 2015 
Trending: North Korea's YouTube stars 
Presented by Jonathan Griffin. First broadcast BBC World Service, 6 April 2018 
HARDtalk: Former North Korea Detainee - Kenneth Bae 
Presented by Stephen Sackur. First broadcast BBC World Service, 28 August 2017 
The Inquiry: North Korea Deep Dive 
Presented by Ruth Alexander. First broadcast BBC World Service, 22 December 2017 
The Inquiry: What Would War with North Korea Look Like? 
Presented by Neal Razzell. First broadcast BBC World Service, 27 July 2017 
The Inquiry: Can China Solve the North Korea Problem? 
Presented by Neal Razzell. First broadcast BBC World Service, 21 September 2017 
A Korean Thaw 
Presented by Jean Lee. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 February 2018 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Inside North Korea

A BBC Radio Documentary Collection

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