#bbcradio4 — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bbcradio4, aggregated by home.social.
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Kemi's team are going to have to listen to this interview and explain why she is such a massive gobshite.
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Oh, well, since YOU put it like THAT, this guy sounds COMPLETELY REASONABLE! 👍
interview 2026-09-07 1310ish
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Writing Our Mothers
Archive on 4‘Mothers have such a weight of idealisation and expectation landed upon their bodies and their minds and what women writers can do is to take that apart and explore
its underbelly,’ says feminist writer Jacqueline Rose.Whether worshipped or vilified, treated as lifetime confidantes or rarely trusted, the mothers we meet when we write them are re-inventions. Some may be closer to the
truth than others. Many of them will have roots in the life experiences of the daughter-writer. Virginia Woolf, who lost her mother at the age of 13, said she was obsessed with writing her mother. Eventually she also argued that it was ‘the occupation of the woman writer to kill’ what she called ‘The Angel in the House’ – the perfect, self-sacrificing mother – who may well have been her own maternal influence.Drawing on interviews with Maya Angelou, we hear how for her to write her mother was to ‘write about a hurricane in its perfect power’. She describes how the influence of a mother who ‘abandoned’ her as a child forced her most urgent examinations of class, race and, importantly love. In another frank interview with Marguerite Duras from 1968, she describes writing as a search for connection with her raging and ‘mad’ mother. For Sylvia Plath, the process of writing about becoming a mother herself in the 1950s produced work of a psychic intensity rarely seen before.
What the archive ultimately reveals is that a mother, whether present or absent, loving or cruel, might be as formative an influence on a writer’s work, as in life. ‘When I read about motherhood, I want to be shaken loose from whatever limitations I have when I think about what that means,’ says the writer Siri Hustvedt.
With contributions from Susie Orbach, Jacqueline Rose, Kit de Waal and Siri Hustvedt, and narration from Amaka Okafor.
Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4Archive sources:
Desert Island Discs with Arundhati Roy (2017)
A Chance to Meet ... Edna O'Brien (1971)
Sylvia Plath, Peter Orr interview (1962)
Audre Lorde, Pacifica Radio Archives and Academy of American Poets www.poets.org
Maya Angelou, BBC News (1985)
Jeannette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (BBC, 1990) and Face To Face (BBC, 1994)
Marguerite Duras, Worn Out With Desire To Write (1985)
Toni Morrison, Brief Encounters (BBC, 2001)
Jackie Kay, Book of the Week (The Waters Company for BBC R4, 2015)
Elena Ferrante, Lying Lives of Adults (BBC, 2020)
Available now57 minutes
#ArundhatiRoy #EdnaOBrien
#SylviaPlath #AudreLorde
#MayaAngelou #JeannetteWinterson
#MargueriteDuras #ToniMorrison
#JackieKay #ElenaFerrante -
( ... there are possibly some David Sedaris fans out in Fediverseland ... )
David Sedaris
Take Four BooksPresenter James Crawford speaks to American author and humourist David Sedaris on his new collection of essays, The Land and Its People. From navigating the realities of ageing to reflecting on his personal relationships, Sedaris explores a wide range of experiences across the book's 28 essays.
He also discusses the three works that inspired the collection: Raymond Carver's Cathedral (1981), Joy Williams's Taking Care (1982), and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads (1988).
Producer: Rachael O’Neill
Editor: Gillian Wheelan
This was a BBC Audio Scotland production.Show less
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Available now29 minutes
On air
Today
16:00
BBC Radio 4 -
Intimacy (Radio Version)
1. Did You Just Dribble on Me?
2. I Like Being NakedEpisode 1 of 4
Intimacy coordinator Liza lands a major film on a Greek island, but old tensions resurface. As she meets the cast, setting boundaries proves harder than expected.
Lena Headey as Liza
Tia Bannon as Ruby
Hannah Waddingham as Lou
Alison Steadman as Mum
Simon Kassianides as Rob
Thaddea Graham as Kate
Tom Goodman-Hill as Gary
Maisie Williams as Bunny
Matthew Broome as AlexAdditional Voices:
Dempsey Bovell, Tom Glenister, Mark Kilcawley, James Nicolaou, Paul Panting, Finlay Paul, Nigel Pilkington, Josh Singh Sian, Sam Stafford, Sarah WhitehouseBased on an original idea by Erika Lust
Executive Producers: Sharon Horgan, Faye Dorn
Executive Producer for the BBC: Dylan Haskins
Assistant Commissioner for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna
Written, created and directed by Lena Headey
Constultant Audio Director: Celia De Wolff
Series Producer: Emma Morgan
Story Producer: Maddie Beautyman and Megan Heverin
Production Manager: Archan Mohile
Production Coordinator: Marlene Beauquis Smith
Production Runner: Tobias Davies
Script Assistants: Liis Miik and Jo Troy
Casting Director: Lauren Evans
Intimacy Coordinator: Robbie Taylor Hunt
Recorded at Sound Node
Sound Designer: Martin Schulz
Supervising Sound Editor and Mixer: Daniel Jaramillo
Recording Engineers: David Crane and Giancarlo Granata
Music and Score composed by Max Perryment
Merman Television Managing Director: Rebecca Parkinson
Merman Finance Director: Jackie Sidey
Merman Television Head of Production: Amanda Wasey
Merman Television Finance Manager: Gemma Wilson
Legal and Business Affairs: Mark Rogers and Georges Villeneau
Artwork Photography: Stevan Keane
Behind the Scenes: Michas VanniA Merman Television Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
28 minutes
On airToday
23:00
BBC Radio 4#LenaHeadey #BBCRadio4 #BBCDeama
#BBCIntimacy
#AlisonSteadman #MaisieWilliams -
(fascinating documentary about someone I've never heard of who spouted a load of bollocks which fascinated easily confused idiots (imho))
Alan Watts: The Brahman of Bromley
Archive on 4Jarvis Cocker wasn’t exactly enthusiastic when his bandmate suggested they listen to some old Buddhist lectures to while away the hours on their tour bus. But when the captivating voice of Alan Watts floated through the speakers, it transformed the way he saw the world.
Alan Watts is considered by many to have been a key translator of Eastern spiritual ideas in the 20th century. His books and lectures took the complex and often intangible concepts of Buddhism, Zen and Taoism, and unpacked them for Western ears with startling clarity and wry humour.
Born in Chislehurst in 1915, Watts moved to America just before the Second World War, where he became a popular public intellectual, “philosophical entertainer” and a thought-leader for the Beat Generation and emergent hippy counterculture.
In the years since his death in 1973, Watts’ reputation has only grown - first in esoteric New Age circles, and now with the millions of viewers online who take comfort from his archive of recorded lectures on YouTube and social media.
With access to his extensive recorded archive, Jarvis Cocker examines Watts’ life, work and digital legacy - featuring interviews with Watts enthusiasts and family members, historians and experts, as well as artists and filmmakers inspired by his work.
Access to Alan Watts' audio lectures provided by Mark Watts at the Alan Watts Organization.
Written and produced by Tom Harrad.
Executive producer: Ant Adeane
Sound mix: Alex PortfelixA Small Blue production for BBC Radio 4
Available now57 minutes
Last onYesterday
20:00
BBC Radio 4 -
Mr Jefferson's Library (5 part series)
Michael Goldfarb visits the Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello in Virginia to see how Jefferson's reading shaped the beginnings of American history.
#MichaelGoldfarb
#LibraryOfCongress
#ThomasJefferson
#Monticello#BBCRadio4 #BookOfTheWeek #BBCBOTW #BBCBookOfTheWeek
(15 minute episodes) (very fast reading presentation style)
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🤔 If only the knife hadn't had a black handle!
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Under the Influence of AI
The DocumentaryAI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.
But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?
In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.
In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.
But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?
Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.
Producer Neil McCarthy
202Y-04-26 1330-1400
#BBCRadio4 #BBCRadio4TheDocumentary #BBCTheDocumentary
#AI #LLM #Grok #NarrativeStoryDriven -
Under the Influence of AI
The DocumentaryAI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.
But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?
In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.
In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.
But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?
Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.
Producer Neil McCarthy
202Y-04-26 1330-1400
#BBCRadio4 #BBCRadio4TheDocumentary #BBCTheDocumentary
#AI #LLM #Grok #NarrativeStoryDriven -
Under the Influence of AI
The DocumentaryAI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.
But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?
In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.
In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.
But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?
Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.
Producer Neil McCarthy
202Y-04-26 1330-1400
#BBCRadio4 #BBCRadio4TheDocumentary #BBCTheDocumentary
#AI #LLM #Grok #NarrativeStoryDriven -
Under the Influence of AI
The DocumentaryAI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.
But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?
In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.
In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.
But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?
Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.
Producer Neil McCarthy
202Y-04-26 1330-1400
#BBCRadio4 #BBCRadio4TheDocumentary #BBCTheDocumentary
#AI #LLM #Grok #NarrativeStoryDriven -
Under the Influence of AI
The DocumentaryAI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.
But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?
In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.
In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.
But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?
Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.
Producer Neil McCarthy
202Y-04-26 1330-1400
#BBCRadio4 #BBCRadio4TheDocumentary #BBCTheDocumentary
#AI #LLM #Grok #NarrativeStoryDriven -
🌟 Did you discover our 'Researcher spotlight' in the latest issue of Changing Populations, our newsletter magazine? If not, you missed some great interviews, announcements and resources 🌟
▶️ Navigate to section 10 to read the full round-up: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/WzAYgcw05ELXCdXJ?ref=Link
#socialscience #economics #demography #eventhistoryanalysis #carers #caring #intergenerational #generations #migration #REF2029 #BBCRADIO4 #demographic #population #changingpopulations
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#BBCRadio4 #BBCSecretsAndLies #SuezCrisis #Drama
2026-03-07 1500-1600
Road to Suez
Secrets and LiesThe true story of how in 1956 Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, lied to Parliament and took Britain to war under false pretences, told through the eyes of a young civil servant, Donald Logan.
Within days of his appointment as assistant to the Foreign Secretary, Logan is sent on a secret mission to Paris and soon finds himself at the centre of a major tripartite conspiracy. Together with representatives of France and Israel, a plan is hatched to attack Egypt following their nationalising of the Suez canal.
Thirty years later as Government documents are to be declassified Logan must decide whether to tell his side of the story.
Richard Monks' drama is based on several sources including Logan’s own unpublished memoir.
It includes some imagined scenes.Donald Logan ..... Jamie Parker
Irene Logan ..... Fenella Woolgar
Anthony Eden ..... Joseph Millson
Selwyn Lloyd ..... John Heffernan
Patrick Dean ..... Elliot Cowan
Christian Pineau ..... Raad Rawi
Ben Gurion ..... Elliot Levey
Moshe Dayan ..... Shai MathesonWriter ..... Richard Monks
Director ..... Sally AvensA BBC Studios Audio Production
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(people suffering as a result of taking Parkinson's prescription drug Aripiprazole)
6. Chasing Losses
Shadow World
Impulsive Episode 6 of 11Lucy’s on her lunchbreak when she tries her first scratchcard - soon, she’s hooked. She’s never been interested in gambling before, but after a few months the glove compartment of her car is full of scratchcards. And then she starts gambling online…
Lucy’s taking a medication called Aripiprazole for her mental health condition. It’s a partial dopamine agonist - a different mechanism to the dopamine agonist drugs used for Parkinson’s and Restless Legs Syndrome that we’ve heard about in previous episodes.
But it’s got similar side effects. For Lucy, this means compulsive eating, hypersexuality - and a gambling problem that’s spiralling out of control.
Details of organisations offering help and support with some of the issues raised are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
If you have any concerns about medication you’re taking, speak to your doctor.
Presenter: Noel Titheradge
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Matt Willis
A BBC News Long Form Audio production(the fifteen minute episodes are downloadable)
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(... the_WORST_episode_of_this_series_on_BBC_Radio4 ...)
Café Hope -- Change Please
Cemal Ezel, from Change Please, tells Rachel Burden how they help address homelessness by selling coffee. The social enterprise trains homeless people for employment through the sale of coffee, offering them a living wage, housing and therapy support.
Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they're doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip and celebrating the people making the world a better place.
We're all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community or it might be about trying to make one life a little easier. And the key here is in the trying. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it's always worth a go.
You can contact us on [email protected]
Presenter: Rachel Burden
Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Editor: Clare Fordham(QuangoNote: The interviewee advocates for #PreEmploymentChecks (- and probably adhers to #WorkReady or #JobReady -) which is part of the fuck-knuckle jobnobbling strategy of Ian Duncan Smith, Tim Montgomerie and the neverending identity checks of our lame-ass security-intelligence community. Their approach is a right-wing capitalist one.)
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(When I was listenimg to the "Figuring It Out" strand today, I thought, "Do they not lnow that the US economy runs on slavery, exploitation, theft and fraud? And, stolen land.".)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(... and then Evan talked about himself being a boyracer on #BBCPMProgramme later on ...)
The World at One #BBCWato #BBCRadio4
Europe vs the US: How do they compare?
The World at One Highlights
President Trump has described Europe as a “decaying” group of nations led by “weak” people, saying it was being "destroyed" by immigration, which was “ruining" Europe's heritage.
The new US National Security Strategy says the US must “cultivate resistance” within Europe to its "current trajectory" which has set it on a path of "civilisational erasure" - a document which describes itself as “a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth”.
The World At One's Sarah Montague and PM's Evan Davis consider "Europe versus America" - how do they compare, in income, job opportunities, life expectancy, literacy, and quality of life and happiness?
length 10 mins
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Sarah Montague expresses Heresy against BBC orthodoxy around the Farage!
"Now, we wouldn't normally lead our programme with the new policies of a party with only four MPs but ..."
2025-08-26 1300-1345 Tuesday
(that is at about 8 minutes :20 seconds in but there's still about four minutes of Faragemania before that and then it just goes on with indepth spectroscopic analysis of his brainfart after that)
#BBCRadio4 #BBCWato
#ReformUK #PartyConferences
#UKMigration #UKPol(episode is currently downloadable)
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#BakeForUkraine on😃#BBCRadio4
#TheFoodProgramme #podcast!On BBC Radio 4
📻👍⏯ https://bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001np4rAnyone can SUPPORT them via their WE AID page
😇💛➡ https://WE-AID.org/en/initiativesn/initiatives/bake-for-ukraine/#yesWEAID #humanitarian #relief #emergencyaid #radio #airplay #bread #baking #bakingbread #bakery #education #recipe #socent #entrepreneur #startup #liveunited #unitedway #uplifting #inspiring #solution #giveback #news