Programme Information

Iconic Foxy Brown actress Pam Grier

Pam Grier, star of Coffy and Foxy Brown, explores the cinema of the Seventies, a time when a type of film emerged that featured all-black casts and great soul, R&B and jazz soundtracks.

Pam celebrates these films through the soundtracks and interesting stories that were given the unfortunate name of "blaxploitation" movies. She considers their musical legacy and their wider impact, particularly in terms of the film roles that were available to black actors before and after that period.

These films depicted a reality about the world which African-American audiences could identify with, even if the stories themselves were pure fantasy. Wildly colourful ghetto garb, drug and sex scenes, extreme, often cartoon-like, violence, classic soulful scores – which included the music of Curtis Mayfield, Willie Hutch and Isaac Hayes – and touches of black nationalism are the still-irresistible trademarks of what became known as blaxploitation movies.

The films created a whole music genre that followed the release of the film Shaft and often gained success from their soundtracks, rather than their plot lines. Almost every major artist of the day performed in a film score for these films. After Isaac Hayes led the way with Shaft, Curtis Mayfield followed with Superfly, Marvin Gaye with Trouble Man, then James Brown, Bobby Womack and Edwin Starr also followed the trend.

Contributors to the programme include Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L Jackson, Joel Freeman, Jorge Hinosa, Ashley Walters, Gloria Hendry, Dennis Coffey, Scott Bomar, Lalah Hathaway, Mathieu Bitton, Mary Ramos, Lawrence Bender and James Hyman.

Presenter/Pam Grier, Producer/Sue Clark

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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The Low Anthem are Bob Harris's After Midnight session guests tonight.

They started out in 2006 as a collaboration between Ben Knox Miller – a folk musician, poet and painter from New York State's Hudson River Valley – and Jeff Prystowsky, a jazz bassist and baseball scholar from New Jersey.

Attending Brown University, the two bonded as DJs on radio station WBRU's freeform graveyard shift in rural Connecticut, where their mutual interests in Americana and baseball led to the formation of the band. They began collaborating with classical composer Jocie Adams at Brown University in November 2007.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Cooper

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Lucy Duran visits the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar in the second of three programmes. This week, musicians Justin Vali and Paddy Bush introduce Lucy to the ancient music of Madagascar's royal court.

Justin and Paddy take Lucy to the Ambohimanga royal palace, transporting her back centuries and filling the place with the music that Malagasy kings and queens would once have listened to.

Listeners also hear music from the rarely recorded Hira Gasy tradition. Hira Gasy troupes travel around the high plateau of Madagascar entertaining villages with their often satirical or controversial view of life. Hundreds of villagers gather to hear a variety performance which spreads news, entertains and teaches people lessons.

Presenter/Lucy Duran, Producer/James Parkin

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Opera On 3 Live From The Met – Der Rosenkavalier

Saturday 9 January

6.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Famed soprano Renée Fleming stars as The Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Edo de Waart conducts Der Rosenkavalier, by Richard Strauss.

The Marschallin, sung by Renée Fleming, enjoys time with her young lover, Octavian (Susan Graham), but knows that she's getting older and one day he'll lose interest in her. Sure enough, when he's chosen to deliver the engagement silver rose from the Baron Ochs (Kristinn Sigmundsson) to Sophie (Christine Schäfer), they instantly fall in love with each other. The Marschallin understands the situation and graciously lets Octavian go to his new love.

Strauss's masterpiece contains comedy, pathos and some sumptuous female vocal writing. Presented by Margaret Juntwait, with guest commentator Ira Siff, listeners can hear live back-stage interviews and a quiz during the intervals.

Presenter/Margaret Juntwait, Producer/Ellie Mant

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

What's So Great About... Ep 1/3

Saturday 9 January

10.30-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

Lenny Henry returns with three further explorations of subjects people tend to take for granted but which he's personally never been completely convinced about. In today's opener, Lenny asks What's So Great About... Maths?

Lenny has always been stumped by maths. At school, he found it so tough-going that he never managed to get through the work. He couldn't remember his tables, was scared of getting sums wrong and, in the end, simply gave up on getting his head around numbers.

Now he's really keen to tackle his problem with maths. He's enlisted a heroic group of experts to convince him that maths isn't a disaster area – and can even be fun. He speaks to Countdown's former erstwhile number whizz, Carol Vorderman, and, from the world of excellence in maths teaching, the Government's former maths tsar, Celia Hoyles.

With a group of primary school maths teachers, Lenny gets into gear for some physical maths activities and, along the way, subjects himself to the complex testing procedure of Professor Brian Butterworth, who has spent the last two decades studying the way the brain handles mathematics and number concepts.

Together, will they manage to convince Lenny that maths is worth the trouble?

Next week, Lenny takes up the cause of those who have never managed to see what the plays of Samuel Beckett are all about, with the help of actors Simon McBurney (Endgame) and Fiona Shaw.

In the final programme, modern fine art is in Lenny's sights when he asks What's So Great About... Jackson Pollock?

Presenter/Lenny Henry, Producer/Simon Elmes

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 9 January

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch brings listeners an afternoon of live sporting action, kicking off with live Premier League commentary of Hull versus Chelsea from the KC Stadium, at 12.45pm.

There's also coverage of the day's 3pm kick-offs including Arsenal versus Everton and Fulham versus Portsmouth in the Premier League, as well as updates from rugby union's Premiership, including Harlequins versus Leeds.

At 5.30pm, there's commentary of the Premier League's late kick-off, Birmingham City versus Manchester United, live from St Andrews.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Graham McMillan

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live Football League

Saturday 9 January

2.45-5.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can hear live commentary from one of the top games in the Championship this afternoon, plus there are reports and updates from across the Football League.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Actress, recording artist and BBC Radio 2 presenter Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige is joined by Grammy Award-winning composer David Arnold, who has worked on the scores for a range of film and television projects such as Independence Day, Little Britain, Stargate and, perhaps most famously, the last five James Bond films.

As well as being one of the world's leading composers, David is also a sought-after record producer who, over the years, has worked with the likes of Björk, Kaiser Chiefs, Natasha Bedingfield and, most recently, Dame Shirley Bassey. David chats to Elaine about his Essential Musicals and this week's Big One from Malcolm is from the musical Oliver!.

Presenter/Elaine Paige, Producer/Malcolm Prince

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Ray Davies from The Kinks and Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders discuss their respective music careers in the Seventies and pick some of their favourite songs from the decade.

The pair have recently recorded a duet, entitled Postcard From London, which is released later this month.

Presenter/Johnnie Walker, Producer/Natasha Costa Correa

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Musical theatre actress and winner of BBC One's I'd Do Anything, Jodie Prenger, sits in for Paul O'Grady this week.

Presenter/Jodie Prenger, Producer/Malcolm Prince

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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The love of God has inspired more hymns than perhaps any other subject. Brian D'Arcy introduces just a few of them in this week's edition of Sunday Half Hour and explores some of the teachings behind the words.

This week's featured choir is the Cambridge Chorale and hymns include God Is Love Let Heaven Adore Him, Stainer's anthem God So Loved The World and Come Down O Love Divine.

Presenter/Brian D'Arcy, Producer/Janet McLarty

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

French actress Leslie Caron

French actress and former dancer Leslie Caron, whose big break came when she starred with Gene Kelly in An American In Paris, shares her Private Passions with Michael Berkeley this afternoon. She later went on to become one of the most successful Hollywood musical stars of the Fifties.

Caron's acting career continued with films such as The L-Shaped Room, Damage and Chocolat, and she is about to return to the musical stage in Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

Her choices include music from her early dancing years and some of her favourite songs, as well as a Bach cello suite.

Presenter/Michael Berkeley, Producer/Chris Marshall

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Danny Sapani stars in August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences, which forms this afternoon's Drama On 3.

It is 1957 and once-famous baseball player Troy Maxson now works as a garbage collector. The Fifties are yielding to the spirit of liberation of the Sixties. The civil rights movement is kicking in but Troy can't see it. He is a proud, angry, hard-working man embittered by the racial inequality he has had to face all his life.

He is married to Rose with a teenage son, Cory, but secretly he is sleeping with someone else. When Rose discovers that Troy has been unfaithful and his girlfriend is pregnant, the family begins to fall apart.

Danny Sapani stars as Troy Maxson, Adjoa Andoh as Rose and Daniel Anthony as Cory.

Producer/Claire Grove

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Fourteen centuries ago, an elite band of 300 warriors set out from Edinburgh and marched south to Catraeth, Catterick, in Yorkshire, to meet a force of 10,000 Saxons in a bloody pitched battle.

At the end of a week of ferocious combat, all but three of the 300 lay dead and, with them, the last hope of the Old North – the original Britons – against the Saxon invaders. But the battle left an enduring literary legacy – one of the three survivors, Aneirin, returned to Edinburgh and composed an epic poem, The Gododdin, to commemorate his fallen comrades.

Poet Gwyneth Lewis sets out to explore the origins and meaning of Aneirin's powerful series of elegies for the slain heroes of Catterick. She tells the story of the poem, its poet, the battle, the people who fought it and the world they lived in. With the help of archaeologists and historians, she asks whether the Gododdin can be taken simply as an account of a battle or whether it was really written as propaganda to instil courage in a later generation of Britons.

Presenter/Gwyneth Lewis, Producer/Jeremy Grange

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Retail expert Mary Portas joins Kirsty Young this week to talk about her life, career, favourite music and how she would cope on BBC Radio 4's mythical desert island.

Presenter/Kirsty Young, Producer/Leanne Buckle

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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In his famous poem, Yeats declares he "will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree". Poet Kenneth Steven does exactly that, journeying from the Strand, in London, where Yeats had the idea, to the Lake Isle of Innisfree in Lough Gill, near Sligo, to investigate why this poem strikes a chord with so many people.

Yeats spent many childhood summers on Lough Gill, a large lake with several small islands in County Sligo. Then his family moved to a rather grey area of Kensington, London. One day while he was walking along the Strand, he saw in a shop a fountain with a ball balanced on top of the jet and, somehow, the water transported him imaginatively back to the Lough and the Isle of Innisfree. And so he wrote the short poem which became his best known, somewhat to his chagrin.

The poem is a work of contrasts, opposing the city with the country, crowds with solitude and peace with not war – although the situation in Ireland was tense – but stress and anxiety. As well as demonstrating the poet's early philosophical thinking, there is also a biblical aspect to the language, so this brief lyric is much more than a young man's yearning for a bit of peace and quiet.

In this programme, Kenneth, whose own life and work shares similar concerns, explores all this on his journey from London to the Lake Isle of Innisfree – and talks to Yeats experts, other poets and historians along the way.

Presenter/Kenneth Steven, Producer/Julian May

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

7 Day Sunday

Sunday 10 January

11.00am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Comedian and The Thick Of It star Chris Addison hosts a brand-new topical show for Sunday mornings on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Fellow comedians Andy Zaltzman, Sarah Millican, plus a special guest, join Chris to pull apart the week's big stories and see what makes them tick.

Presenter/Chris Addison

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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5 Live Sport

Sunday 10 January

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman brings listeners the latest sports news and an afternoon of live action.

From 12.15pm, there are regular updates of the Scottish Cup fourth-round tie between Hamilton and Rangers and commentary of West Ham United versus Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, at 1.30pm.

Listeners can also hear updates from Newcastle versus Gloucester in rugby union's Premiership, from 3pm, and live Premier League commentary of Liverpool versus Tottenham from Anfield, at 4pm.

Presenter/Mark Chapman, Producer/Steve Houghton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

NFL American Football

Sunday 10 January

9.00pm-12.30am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can hear live commentary from one of the games in the first week of the NFL play-offs, the "wildcard round". There's also a round-up of all the post-season action.

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Jon Richardson is joined this week by fellow Edinburgh Comedy Awards nominee Tom Wrigglesworth.

Tom was nominated for his show An Open Return Letter To Richard Branson, a show which explores the true(ish) story of when Tom Wrigglesworth did do the right thing.

Seeing the injustice of a confused old lady being charged £115 simply for being on the wrong train, he organised a whip-round of other passengers and was subsequently arrested for begging.

Presenter/Jon Richardson, Producer/Adam Hudson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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The unique Jarvis Cocker begins his weekly BBC 6 Music show, bringing his eclectic record collection and years of stories from travelling the world making music.

In his own words, "It is my intention to fill these hours with as much dodgy opinion, crackpot theories, hare-brained schemes and beautiful, beautiful music as is humanly possible."

Listeners will fill the gaps in Jarvis's record collection in Is it Any Good and Jarvis will venture in to a weekly world of interesting spoken-word material.

Presenter/Jarvis Cocker, Producer/James Stirling

BBC 6 Music Publicity

The fourth series of International Radio 1 sees another four BBC Radio 1 DJ's checking out the music scenes of the cities they love.

In tonight's show, Huw Stephens visits Venezuela as part of a British Council trip to run radio workshops with local communities. While there Huw discovers some new local music and DJs at the Por El Medio De La Calle festival.

The next part of the series comes from the Judge Jules in Helsinki.

International Radio 1 is part of a line up of documentaries that have so far included BBC Radio 1 Stories and Story Of The Noughties. Alongside Nihal's Review show and In New DJ's We Trust they sit at the heart of the weeknight schedule at 9pm.

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Monday 11 January

7.00-9.30am BBC RADIO 2

BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show launches today.

After four years at the helm of BBC Radio 2's Drivetime show, Chris switches to the morning with the aim of setting up the nation for the day with the widest of smiles.

Chris is joined by sports reporter Jonny Saunders, who moves from the Drivetime show, and travel reporter Lynn Bowles who remains on the early shift.

The programme will be a fully interactive show for all the family, featuring listeners on the phone, as well as a classic blend of music for everyone.

Chris will also continue to post his daily blog on the Radio 2 website – bbc.co.uk/radio2.

Presenter/Chris Evans, Producer/Helen Thomas

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot, who was a huge hit at last year's ABBA tribute concert Thank You For The Music, chooses her Tracks Of My Years each day this week on Ken Bruce's show.

Nerina reveals her favourite music, which includes songs by Prince, Tears For Fears and Joni Mitchell. There's also PopMaster, Record Of The Week and Album Of The Week.

Presenter/Ken Bruce, Producer/Gary Bones

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Fern Britton makes her BBC Radio 2 debut, sitting in for Jeremy Vine for the next two weeks. Fern takes a close look at the day's headlines, with lively debate and listeners' views.

Fern says: "I'm delighted to be deputising for Jeremy as I'm a huge fan of the show. I can't wait to interact with the listeners and get my teeth stuck into the topics of the day."

Presenter/Fern Britton, Producer/Phil Jones

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Simon Mayo takes over the helm of BBC Radio 2's Drivetime show from today. The show continues the Radio 2 Drivetime tradition of entertainment, information, intelligent conversation and audience interaction.

Matt Williams is a new addition to the Drivetime team and joins Simon with the sporting news, and Rebecca "Foxy" Fox continues to present the Money feature each day. Plus, every Thursday, Simon is joined by resident gastronome Nigel Barden and, from time to time, Simon will conduct an in-depth interview after 6pm.

Drivetime will also be the home of Radio 2's Great British Songbook initiative – the network's celebration of the work of British songwriters by creating a collection of their finest songs – and occasionally Simon is joined by top artists performing their own version of their favourite British song. First to perform live is Scottish songstress Amy Macdonald, who features on today's show just after 6pm.

From Monday 4 January, Simon launches his own blog on the Radio 2 website – bbc.co.uk/radio2 – and will also be found on Twitter.

Simon continues to present an expanded film programme with Mark Kermode on Friday afternoons on BBC Radio 5 live.

Presenter/Simon Mayo, Producers/Andy Warrell and Carmela DiClemente

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Lenny Kravitz, a lifelong fan of Curtis Mayfield's music, celebrates Mayfield's life and musical achievements in this four-part series which was first broadcast over Christmas on BBC 6 Music.

Curtis was a prolific songwriter whose career was sadly cut short following a tragic accident in August 1990 which eventually led to his death at the age of 57 on 26 December 1999. However, his musical achievements remain and show his immense contribution to soul music. His songs of love and peace influenced millions, and he was an inspiration to many music luminaries including Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.

The first programme concentrates on Curtis's early musical influences: gospel beginnings, writing songs for Jerry Butler, and early Impressions' hits from Gypsy Woman to People Get Ready. The subjects of his songs ranged from simple, tender love songs to broadsides demanding social and political equality.

Presenter/Lenny Kravitz, Producer/Sue Clark

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Donald Macleod presents a celebration of the music of Russian composer, Alfred Schnittke.

The music of Alfred Schnittke is like being lost in a hall of mirrors. Staring back at you is the whole of music history – from Bach to modern pop via tangos, Soviet work songs, Gregorian chant and Viennese waltzes – refracted and distorted: all woven together to create a uniquely personal style.

Thrilling, grotesque, occasionally nightmarish, Schnittke's work knits layer upon layer of subtle allusions, creating a world where everything has a hidden meaning. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony suddenly springs terrifyingly out of the darkness in the midst of an otherwise chaotic symphony. Or a Russian pop song appears inexplicably amidst a Baroque chorale.

Schnittke's world of suppressed meaning perfectly captured life under the cosh of Soviet Communism. This week, Donald Macleod attempts to unpick the myriad strands of a composer often seen as the heir to Shostakovich – and perhaps the last truly great composer of the 20th century: a Soviet composer with a Teutonic name, born with Jewish blood in a German state within the USSR, who described himself as "a stranger everywhere".

Monday's programme looks at Schnittke's early career, culminating in his oratorio Nagasaki, a work that resulted in him being blacklisted by the USSR from "approved" lists of musicians for decades.

Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Steven Rajam

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Over five evenings some of Britain's leading academics explore the life of the Dutch philosopher, Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677). Of Portuguese-Jewish origin and living in Holland during the 17th century – earning a modest living as a lens grinder – Spinoza used his considerable intellectual acumen to lay the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment.

His thoughts on religion were considered so inflammatory by the authorities that he was banished from Amsterdam. His clandestine works were distributed among Europe's intellectuals and were eagerly read. Despite the obstacles he faced, he continued his life writing about the role of religion, and his thoughts on how a multi-faith society can live together co-operatively still have relevance for us today.

In tonight's programme Professor Justin Champion – Head of History at Royal Holloway, University of London – looks at the life of Spinoza and how he managed to have his ideas published despite the authorities' ban on his work.

Presenter/Justin Champion, Producer/Sarah Taylor

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Jez Nelson presents a gig by US trio Fly recorded at Charlie Wright's as part of the 2009 London Jazz Festival. Fly features tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, double bassist Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard on drums.

Ballard and Grenadier make up two thirds of pianist Brad Mehldau's trio with whom they have recorded two successful albums. They met Mark Turner on the East Coast in the Nineties, and though they've individually collaborated with the likes of Chick Corea, Pat Metheny and Joshua Redman, they say "Fly needed to happen", such is their shared instinct for expansive, intelligent and emotive improvised music. In the words of Brad Mehldau, "it's music that hits the head and then seeps into the heart".

Presenter/Jez Nelson, Producer/Peggy Sutton

Book Of The Week – Must You Go? Ep 1/5

Monday 11 to Friday 15 January

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

At times painful, at times very funny, Antonia Fraser's Must You Go? is a love story and – as with many love stories – the beginning and the end, the first light and the twilight, are dealt with more fully than the high noon in between.

Must You Go? is based partly on Antonia's own diaries which she has kept since October 1968 – as well as her own recollections, immediate reactions, as she always writes her diary the next morning unless otherwise stated, and memories.

Intriguingly her diaries pay special attention to any green shoots where her late husband Harold Pinter's writing is concerned, which is perhaps a consequence of a biographer living with a creative artist and observing the process first hand. The book is also interlaced with the love poems Pinter wrote to Antonia.

What is particularly poignant is the record of Pinter's long and painful struggle with cancer to which he eventually succumbed at Christmas 2008.

The result is an extremely candid testimony to one of modern literature's most celebrated marriages, between one of the greatest playwrights of our age and the prize-winning biographer.

The book is read by the author.

Reader/Antonia Fraser, Producer/David Roper

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Gerry Anderson investigates whether sport in Northern Ireland has been reclaimed to be enjoyed by the many instead of the few, in Playing For The Common Ground.

Gerry grew up as a Catholic in Derry. He played football and cricket as a boy and is still a fan of both. However, when he went to the Christian Brothers School he was made to play traditional Irish games of hurling and Gaelic football (GAA), as football and cricket were deemed to be games for Protestants. This was the complication of sport in Northern Ireland – like most things it has been divided down sectarian lines but, in the last 10 years, great efforts have been made to change this way of thinking.

Football and GAA have been the two controversial sports which have alienated opposing communities. During the programme, BBC Radio 5 Live sports presenter and football fanatic Colin Murray speaks to Gerry about how he feels efforts made by Northern Irish fans to stamp out sectarian and racist chanting is the first concrete sign that the peace process is working at a grass-roots level.

Gerry also looks at ice hockey and boxing. Boxing escaped the sectarian tagging, largely because paramilitaries allowed boxing clubs to mix from one side of the community to the other, while ice hockey was introduced to Belfast in 2000, specifically as a non-sectarian sport to which families would be able to bring their children and not feel that they were at any risk of violence.

Presenter/Gerry Anderson, Producer/Rachel Hooper

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Ed Reardon's Week Ep 1/6

Monday 11 January

11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

Author and pipe-smoker Ed Reardon

Ed Reardon, the nation's favourite author, pipe-smoker, cat-lover, scrimper, saver and master of the abusive email, returns for a new series of Ed Reardon's Week.

Picking up the threads of Ed's thwarted life, listeners' find him prematurely but happily retired, ensconced at Charterhouse Court – Berkhampstead's accommodation of choice for the financially distressed. Ed has given up the life of a writer and gone to the place that his daughter and her right-on vicar stepfather were so heartily encouraging him to move to at the end of the last series. No more is his life one of unmitigated misery, disappointment, abuse and sheer grinding poverty, but rather one of happily undertaking Piccadilly Pot Pourri, the latest jigsaw from the games cupboard, and leading the fight to get the parental controls taken off the day-room computer.

Of course this life of joy won't last, and so it is that Ed is forced to return to his eternal struggle to keep mind, body and soul together with the rather pressing matter of earning some money.

The series is written by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds and the cast, once again, stars Christopher Douglas, Stephanie Cole, John Fortune, Philip Jackson, Rita May, Geoffrey Whitehead and Barunka O'Shaugnessy, with guest appearances from Tony Gardner and Emma Fryer.

Producer/Dawn Ellis

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Book At Bedtime – The Coral Thief Ep 1/10

Monday 11 to Friday 15 January

10.45-11.00pm BBC RADIO 4

The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott is a compelling love story set in Paris in 1815 following the end of the Napoleonic wars.

Daniel Connor, a brilliant and ambitious student, is in the French capital to take up a new position with some of the leading scientists of the day. The chaos of an occupied city, a beautiful and enigmatic woman, and the swirl of revolutionary and heretical ideas about how life began, create a heady atmosphere that is all too seductive.

The Coral Thief is read by Dan Stevens (In The Line Of Beauty and Sense And Sensibility).

Reader/Dan Stevens, Producer/Liz Allard

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Victoria Derbyshire presents the latest news and entertainment, plus there's real-life listener stories and special guests.

Presenter/Victoria Derbyshire, Producer/Louisa Compton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Gabby Logan presents a new daily lunchtime programme (Monday to Friday) as part of the new look to BBC Radio 5 Live's weekdays; with the latest news and business stories and George Riley has all the day's sports news.

On Wednesdays the programme will come live from Westminster when Gabby will be joined by John Pienaar and political guests for Prime Ministers Questions.

Presenter/Gabby Logan, Producer/Heidi Dawson

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Richard Bacon presents a new daily afternoon programme (Monday to Thursday) as part of the new look to BBC Radio 5 Live's weekdays.

Richard will be joined by special guests, alongside the latest news, sport, entertainment and television stories.

Presenter/Richard Bacon, Producer/Robin Bulloch

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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5 Live Sport

Monday 11 January

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Arlo White presents all the day's sports news and is joined by special guests for the Monday Night Club, discussing the latest big issues in football.

At 8pm there's live Premier League commentary on Manchester City versus Blackburn from the City of Manchester Stadium.

Presenter/Arlo White, Producer/Francesca Bent

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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Tony Livesey

Monday 11 January

10.30pm-1.00am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Part of BBC Radio 5 Live's new schedule, Tony Livesey takes over the reigns of the late-night topical discussion and phone-in on the day's major talking points. Tony taps into the views and experiences of listeners from across the UK, hearing their thoughts on the day's news.

Presenter/Tony Livesey, Producer/Jonathan Aspinwall

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Andrew Collins chats to British creative-team Hammer And Tongs who have collaborated with Vampire Weekend for the video to their new single Cousins.

Hammer And Tongs is the pseudonym of promo and film director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith. Best known for their work on music videos for Blur's Coffee And TV and Supergrass's Pumping On Your Stereo, Hammer And Tongs also directed Vampire Weekend video for A Punk which won Q's video of the year award in 2008.

Garth Jennings directed feature film Son Of Rambow and has also previously sat in for Joe Cornish on the Adam And Joe Show.

Presenter/Andrew Collins, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley has a live set from Lawrence Arabia. All the way from Christchurch New Zealand, Lawrence is known to his parents as James Milne and has previously been part of the Brunettes and the Ruby Suns. He also toured with Okkervil River. His UK debut, Chat Darling, is out in January.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe presents LCD Soundsystem live from Electric Picnic and archive Aztec Camera concert tracks. Plus, there's another chance for listeners to hear session tracks from recent live guest Jah Wobble, Broken Family Band, new progressive indie sextet Sian Alice Group and panoramic Nineties freeform vibes from Quickspace Supersport.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley is transported back into a different era... the start of the pop revolution when Beatlemania was about to take over the world. It's March 1964 and Bill Grundy interviews the fifth Beatle, manager Brian Epstein, for his regional radio programme Frankly Speaking.

Marc revisits the BBC's archives and hears Epstein speak candidly about how and when he discovered The Beatles and what it was like seeing them perform for the first time. He reveals his role in their image change, just exactly what it is a manager does and his theories on why they'd go on to be a success in America. Plus Brian tells listeners how he reacted when Paul turned up late for their first meeting.

This programme was first broadcast in 2009.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Darren is looking for Deepika, in the week's first visit to Silver Street. He claims he wants to collect his phone from her place but is that the only reason?

Meanwhile, Jungli Cabs get a fare and it turns out to be someone who has been away for a while...

Elsewhere, Jaggy is in a bad mood and takes it out on the Rangers players. Later Jaggy receives a phone call from Cyrus, who wants what he is owed.

Darren is played by Samuel Kindred, Deepika by Babita Pohoomull, Jungli by Adil Ray, Jaggy by Jay Kiyani and Cyrus by Nigel Hastings.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Influential Fifties DJ Alan Freed

BBC Radio 2 tells the fascinating story of one of the most influential DJs in pop history, Alan Freed.

At a time when Frank Sinatra and Pat Boone dominated the airwaves, Alan Freed would spend his weekends at his local record store, Record Rendezvous. It was there that he was introduced to rhythm and blues and witnessed first hand its popularity with teenagers.

Working as a late-night sports reporter on his local radio station, Freed's lucky break came when one of the disc jockeys called in sick. Whilst filling in, Freed played some of the rhythm and blues records he'd collected at Record Rendezvous but was fired for playing black artists on a "white" radio station. However, due to an overwhelming response by listeners, he was later reinstated and given his own show.

Freed's Moondog Show became extremely popular due to his passion and enthusiasm for the music he was playing. He moved to New York and became a huge star but, although he was popular with his teenage audience, he was also making enemies. At a time when there was still racial segregation in the US, the authorities didn't approve of the effect that "black music" was having on society.

In 1958, when violence occurred outside the Boston Arena after a Freed stage show, local authorities charged him with inciting to riot. The charges were eventually dropped but his radio station employers declined to renew Freed's contract and he moved on to WABC, in New York, where he hosted a radio programme and a locally televised dance show.

Freed's downfall came following an investigation into disc jockeys receiving payment for playing records, which later became known as "payola". WABC asked Freed to sign a statement confirming that he had never accepted payment for playing records. Freed claimed payments he'd received from record companies were given to express their gratitude for his support not as an inducement to play their records. He was promptly fired from both his radio show and the TV programme.

When his court case came to trial in 1962, Freed pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial bribery and received a suspended sentence and a $300 fine. However, he insisted that he had never played a record that he didn't like. His arrest has since been queried as the charges stemmed from 1959 but payola wasn't illegal until 1960.

The side effects of this negative publicity were such that no prestigious station would employ him. He moved to California, a broken man, and turned to alcohol. He died in 1965 from liver disease at the age of 43. However, Freed's legacy lives on and, in 1986, the part he played in shaping musical history was recognised when he was among the original inductees to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in his hometown of Cleveland.

The programme features contributions from people close to Alan including his son Lance. It also includes fascinating archive clips of Freed's original shows and an interview with Buddy Holly.

Producer/Nan Davies

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Famous Footsteps Ep 1/5

Tuesday 12 January

9.30-9.45am BBC RADIO 4 (Title change 5 January)

Fiona Neill looks at the experience of growing up in a creatively successful family and aims to find out what pressures are faced by children born to parents who are successful writers, comics or musicians and how difficult it is for them to live up to the perceived expectations.

The series features five families – Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson and their daughters, Ella and Beattie; Lady Tessa Montogomery, daughter of Daphne Du Maurier; William Miller, son of Sir Jonathan Miller; songwriter Guy Chambers, his nine-year-old daughter and Guy's father, who was lead flautist in the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and Orange Prize-winning novelist Kamila Shamsie and her mother, literary critic Muneeza Shamsie.

The series explores how creative people cope with doing their day job while also trying to look after young children; looks into the advantages for children born into a creative family; examines the downside of having famous and successful parents; finds out how families cope when things go wrong; and uncovers the reality behind the "bohemian" lifestyle.

Presenter/Fiona Neill, Producer/Sarah Harrison

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats Ep 1/4

Tuesday 12 January

1.30-2.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Much-loved broadcaster and influential jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton

In his eighth series of Jazz Greats for BBC Radio 4, Ken Clarke MP shares his enthusiasm for some of the great names in jazz, beginning with Humphrey Lyttelton.

Many Radio 4 listeners knew "Humph" as the hilariously deadpan chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. But the much-loved broadcaster was also an exemplary and influential jazz musician.

Louis Armstrong dubbed him "the top trumpet man in England today". A master of the trumpet, he spearheaded the post-war traditional jazz revival in Britain, later forming his own band that set the standard for British jazz for several decades. Friend and fellow BBC presenter Alyn Shipton joins Ken in the studio to discuss one of Britain's most important and best-loved jazz musicians.

Other greats featured in the series include Cannonball Adderley, Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins.

Presenter/Ken Clarke, Producer/James Hale

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Charlie and Amy are both in their early thirties, both single and both working in the same dead-end job. They then begin a relationship, but it's a bit of a disaster. Nevertheless, it continues. They both dream of their first loves – the loves that have never really been bettered.

Then Amy falls pregnant and the lives they're leading, and the dreams they're dreaming, are forced into very clear focus. Are their memories all rose-tinted and are their presents both compromised by an idealised past?

Sandy Grierson plays Charlie and Cora Bissett plays Amy.

Writer/DC Jackson, Producer/Kirsty Williams

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Curiosities Of The Egyptian Hall Ep 1/3

Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14 January

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Award-winning radio actress Miriam Margolyes reads the first of three stories inspired by London's Egyptian Hall.

London's Egyptian Hall was originally built in 1812 to house collections of curiosities brought back from the most remote and mysterious parts of the globe. However, it soon became the venue for extraordinary spectaculars, panoramas and pseudo-scientific demonstrations – such as Britain's first ever films, illusions, magic and freak shows. By the end of the 19th century, it had become known as England's Home of Mystery and Many Illusions, under the management of renowned magician Maskelyne. It became the centre of magic and spiritualism where new acts were demonstrated and charlatans exposed.

The first story, Between Isis And Osiris, by John Peacock, tells the sad tale of Benjamin Robert Haydon, the prolific painter who exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in the 1840s. Unfortunately for Haydon, audiences preferred to go and see an American midget, also appearing at the Hall, called General Tom Thumb.

The second tale, The Great Mephisto!, written by Tony Lidington and read by Madhav Sharma, is about a young Indian illusionist who took revenge on his cruel employer when he appeared at the Egyptian Hall in the 1880s.

The final story is Curious Shadows, written by Jerome Vincent and read by Gunnar Cauthery. A young man investigates the murder of his sister – a young actress who appeared in films shown at the Egyptian Hall in the final decade of the 19th century, when there was great rivalry between film-makers who guarded their technical secrets closely.

Readers/Miriam Margoyles, Madhav Sharma and Gunnar Cauthery, Producer/David Blount

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Mark Pougatch presents all the day's sports news and commentary from an FA Cup third-round replay match.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Adrian Williams

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Gideon Coe introduces a vintage Cure concert from 1985 and Laura Veirs live at Summer Sundae. Archive session tracks include sets from Radiohead, recorded in 1994, grungy North Carolinan quartet Superchunk and folkish vibes from Smoke Fairies.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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BBC 6 Music presenter Marc Riley

Marc Riley travels back to 1973 tonight – the year that President Nixon ordered a ceasefire in Vietnam, the Stock Exchange admitted women for the first time and Princess Anne married Lieutenant Mark Phillips.

It was also the year in which BBC Radio 1 broadcast interviews with Pete Townshend in a series called The Story Of Pop. Presented by Alan Freeman, the 26-part show featured a mix of musicians talking about the history of popular music.

At a time when The Who were just about to release Quadrophenia, Marc revisits Townshend's take on the industry, Woodstock, The Kinks and the Mods.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Simran tells Jaggy to ring the Santorini letting agents, in today's visit to Silver Street. Later, Simran is furious with Jaggy after getting a call from Kesar's nursery. But what has Jaggy done?

Chunky tells Jungli that he overheard Bibi on the phone and, if she gets her way, it will mean bad news for one of them.

Meanwhile, Jungli gets a cab booking to pick Kenny up from Rangers. Kenny is shocked and confused when Jungli reveals who he picked up earlier in the day...

Simran is played by Balvinder Sopal, Jaggy by Jay Kiyani, Chunky by Shahid Ahmed, Jungli by Adil Ray, Bibi by Indira Joshi and Kenny by Brian Croucher.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Of the many medical advances made over the last 50 years, the treatment of premature babies is in the vanguard.

The capacity to maintain, sustain and nurture a child born as early as the 25th week of pregnancy is extraordinary. But it also brings extraordinary complications and dangers for the child and a period of desperate waiting and hoping for the parents.

Broadly speaking there are three potential outcomes. The first and worst is the death of the child. The third is a slow, steady and eventually complete journey that ends with the child going home with the parents to a normal life. The second is a more difficult area. While the child survives, the possibility of a routine existence once home is limited and there are many complications which the medical profession can't fully assess for at least two years.

In this programme, Joan McFadden invites parents at the Neonatal Unit at the Southern General Hospital, in Glasgow, and others who have been through the process, to talk about the decisions they made, why and how they made them and what pressures they were under.

Presenter/Joan McFadden, Producer/Tom Alban

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Towards Zero Ep 1/4

Wednesday 13 January

11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

Hugh Bonneville, Marcia Warren and Claire Rushbrook star in this four-part dramatisation of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, adapted for radio by Joy Wilkinson.

Against her better judgement, Lady Tresselian has allowed tennis ace Neville Strange and his wife, Kay, to visit at the same time as Neville's ex-wife, Audrey.

Other guests only add to the tension: there's Ted, Kay's ever-present "friend"; Thomas, recently returned from wartime Africa; Mary, Lady Tresselian's frustrated companion; and the mysterious Mr MacWhirter, who Lady Tresselian has recently taken in.

With a group of guests harbouring conflicting desires, Lady Tresselian is already set for an explosive house party and, when old Justice Treves dies suddenly and another member of the party is murdered in bed, the group is thrown into turmoil. It is left to Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Leach to solve the case.

Hugh Bonneville stars as Neville, Marcia Warren as Lady Tresselian and Claire Rushbrook as Audrey.

Producer/Mary Peate

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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This is the compelling true story of one family caught up in the tragedy of the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana, in 1978, told through their own extraordinary letters.

The Moores were a close and loving middle-class family. The father, John, was a Methodist preacher who devoted his life to serving others; the mother, Barbara, was warm and caring. They had three daughters, two of whom – Carolyn and Annie – were strongly attracted early on by the utopian ideals of Jim Jones and his socially progressive, racially integrated church: the Peoples' Temple.

Carolyn, a serious young socialist, later became Jim Jones's mistress and had a son by him. When Jones took his church out to the jungles of Guyana to set up a self-sustaining agricultural commune and pioneer a new way of living, Carolyn was there as his most loyal lieutenant. She died in the final mass suicide.

Annie, her funny, likeable and outgoing younger sister, was dedicated to nursing and unusually passionate about social justice. She ended up in charge of doling out the "Kool-Aid" at the end of Jonestown and then shot herself.

Producer/Beth O'Dea

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Introduced by the mysterious HP Lovecraft, played by Stephen Hogan, Weird Tales is a series of three chilling and intimate plays for the late-night slot on BBC Radio 4.

In this second instalment, Split The Atom, by Lynn Fergusson, Frank Ivory is very angry – burning, simmering, steaming angry. If asked, he would smile and say "Everything's fine" but, on the inside, he would be cursing. Frank's story is about what happens when someone refuses to see the morning as a new day and instead holds on to the resentments of the past. If Frank doesn't stop behaving like this, one day, his body will just suddenly explode...

Drawing listeners into a claustrophobic and disturbing world, the plays set out to explore the character's deepest fears and torments. The series concentrates on the psychological element of the horror genre stirring the imagination of listeners.

Frank is played by Derek Riddell.

Producers/Mary Peate, Gemma Jenkins and Luke Fresle

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Mark Pougatch

Mark Pougatch presents all the day's sports news and commentary from an FA Cup third-round replay match.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Graham McMillan

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Award-winning performance poets Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland perform material from their new show for Andrew Collins.

Presenter/Andrew Collins, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Travelling all the way from Glasgow for a session are Scottish indie pop legends The Pastels. Led by Stephen Pastel, they formed in 1982 and released their first single the same year. A major influence on much of the indie pop that followed Stephen's 53rd and 3rd label also helped to launch the careers of other Scottish bands including The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Shop Assistants, BMX Bandits, The Vaselines and Soup Dragons.

Their most recent album was a collaboration with Tokyo-based band The Tenniscoats, which came out in 2008.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

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Gideon Coe plays concert archive from King Crimson and The Futureheads and a 1992 session from the disbanded Stereolab. There's also another chance to hear sessions from Blk Jks, hushed Minnessotan mumblings from Low and Malian world-blues veteran Ali Farka Toure.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley goes back to 1977; the year that Elvis Presley died, EMI fired the Sex Pistols and Star Wars fever hit Britain.

It's also the year that John Tobler spoke to Debbie Harry and Chris Stein just before Blondie broke in the UK with the release of Denis. Marc replays uncut extracts from an interview that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1's Rock On show on 5 November 1977, in which Debbie and Chris discuss the early bands they were in, the New York scene, meeting Phil Spector and their disgust at a Donna Summer record.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Simran tears a strip off Jaggy for forgetting to collect Kesar from nursery, as the drama continues. She thinks Jaggy has been on another planet recently and wonders what is wrong with him.

Meanwhile, Jungli and Chunky speculate about what their mother has planned for them and wonder why she is keeping it a big secret.

Sandra makes a surprise return but tells Kenny he needs to start doing things for himself. Kenny is just pleased things are back to normal but then Sandra drops a bombshell...

Simran is played by Balvinder Sopal, Jaggy by Jay Kiyani, Jungli by Adil Ray, Chunky by Shahid Ahmed, Sandra by Anita Dobson and Kenny by Brian Croucher.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Health Of A Nation Ep 1/2

Wednesday 13 January

8.00-8.30pm BBC WORLD SERVICE

Broadcaster Michael Goldfarb follows the laborious political process which led to the passage of President Barack Obama's signature legislation – reforming America's healthcare system.

From Congressional committee rooms to the offices of lobbyists, hospital emergency rooms and rallies both for and against the reform of America's sprawling healthcare system, this two-part series examines the workings of the American legislative processes.

Presenter/Michael Goldfarb, Producer/Julia Hayball

BBC World Service Publicity

On The Blog Ep 1/6

Thursday 14 January

10.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 2

Caroline Quentin (Men Behaving Badly), Simon Greenall (I'm Alan Partridge) and Andy Taylor (My Family) return for a third series of the sitcom On The Blog.

A shocking new dawn has broken in the world of Andrew Glasgow (Taylor). Having finally severed ties with his terrifying Sudeten-Czech mother (Quentin), he has decided to leave home. At the tender age of "38 and three halves" the war-gaming blogger faces the biggest battle of his life so far – he needs to find a job.

Over the next six weeks listeners are invited to join Andrew as he struggles to hold down a different job each week in the face of his mother's hostile – and increasingly surreal – attempts to get him to move back in.

This new series covers online employment agencies, social networking in the workplace and the arch blogger's opinion of the vulgar practice of "twittering". The series features a fresh cast of weird and wonderful work colleagues (played by Simon Greenall, DeNica Fairman and Caroline Quentin) and some truly sinister new flat mates.

Producer/Adam Bromley

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Dee Dee from The Crystals is Suzi Quatro's special guest this week.

Dee Dee talks about coping with fame and chooses music by her favourite American influences. Suzi also plays the music she heard in her formative years, from doo-wop to motown and rock 'n' roll, taking listeners from the Fifties and Sixties to the present day.

Presenter/Suzi Quatro, Producer/Mark Simpson

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

In many of today's contentious and emotional public debates – for example around disability, antenatal screening, or even the heated discussion of the "right to die" – there are often no clear answers, says bioethicist and disability specialist Tom Shakespeare.

Neither science, nor social research, nor ethical reasoning can tell us what to do – much as we may wish for them to do so. Instead, he argues it's not science, but actually art that can help us think through these modern dilemmas by making space for the emotion and complexity they need.

In this talk, recorded as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival at The Sage, Gateshead, Tom Shakespeare demands that we think of art as a "tool for thinking". He explains why, as a scientist, he believes we need to involve art in some of our most difficult social and ethical decisions – because it will help in unexpected ways.

Presenter/Matthew Sweet, Producer/Victoria Shepherd

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Frances Barber stars as Maggie Fortune in Andrea Earl's Solace. Maggie is a respectable middle-class woman – a mother and grandmother with a dependency that's taking over her life.

This intriguing drama explores her growing dependency to prescribed tranquilisers over long-term use and the difficult process of withdrawing.

Fear of the phone, venturing outside, life and panic rising – and then help, comfort, some solace in the form of a pill; this is how Maggie's mid-life is forming. She's a widow, has a loving relationship with her young granddaughter, and a more fractious one with her daughter. They see each other regularly and are all excited that the granddaughter is representing the school in a piano recital. Maggie has also just been reacquainted with a childhood sweetheart who has recently returned to their home town. But none of this can help Maggie when she is forced into a situation where she has to face withdrawing from the drugs – a whole new challenging phase opens before her.

Solace is a drama developed through extensive research and interviews with women and men addicted to prescribed tranquilisers. The play concludes with three short, emotive testimonies from recovered tranquiliser users.

Please note: This play was originally billed in Week 1 BBC Radio Programme Information.

Producer/Pauline Harris

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport presenter Eleanor Oldroyd

Eleanor Oldroyd is joined by some top sports correspondents to discuss the week's major sporting stories in The Headline Hour.

From 8pm, 5 Live Cricket reviews the first day's play of the fourth Test of England's tour of South Africa. That is followed at 9pm by London Calling, 5 Live Sport's regular look at those hoping to win gold at the London 2012 Olympics, followed by And Another Thing... at 10pm when two of 5 Live's top pundits offer their views on a topical sports issue in a head-to-head debate.

Presenter/Eleanor Oldroyd, Producer/Claire Burns

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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BBC Radio 5 Live's Gavin Lee reports on a unique attempt at reconciliation, bringing together individuals who were pitted against each other by the "War on Terror".

Presenter/Gavin Lee, Producer/Ed Main

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Test Match Special

Thursday 14 January

8.15am-4.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Jonathan Agnew leads the commentary team presenting ball-by-ball commentary of the opening day's play of the fourth Test between South Africa and England, live from the Wanderers, Johannesburg. Ashes-winning former England captain Michael Vaughan, Geoffrey Boycott and Vic Marks provide expert summary.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Gideon Coe dips into the BBC's archive for live performances by Joy Division and Beastie Boys spin-off BS2000.

Tonight's session tracks come from the Dylan Thomas-inspired Starless And Bible Black, Electricity In Our Homes, Gaelic-African sounds from Mouth Music and Canterbury prog-rockers Caravan.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley revisits a BBC archive interview from July 1993 with rock star Ian Gillan.

In his typical entertaining style, Gillan, interviewed by Claire Sturgess for BBC Radio 1, talks about his year with Black Sabbath and how they inspired much of the film Spinal Tap. He also reveals how he took to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and his legendary, long-running feud with Deep Purple band-mate Ritchie Blackmore.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Chunky discovers Bibi is setting one of them up with a potential wife, but is surprised by Jungli's reaction, in today's visit to Silver Street. Chunky figures out what his brother is planning. Jungli then has a realisation of his own – Chunky already has his eye on someone, but who is she?

Elsewhere Jaggy asks Cyrus for a chance to win his villa back in a poker game. Will Cyrus agree?

Meanwhile Kenny begs Sandra to reconsider...

Chunky is played by Shahid Ahmed, Jungli by Adil Ray, Jaggy by Jay Kiyani, Cyrus by Nigel Hastings, Kenny by Brian Croucher and Sandra by Anita Dobson.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Michael Freedland continues his journey in this series marking the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley's, as part of BBC Radio 2’s Elvis Season.

He visits Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis was born: the birthplace museum where director, Dick Guyton, guides listeners around the two-room shack built the year before Elvis' birth, the First Assembly of God church where Elvis sang as a boy, Lawhorn school and Milam High.

Several of Elvis’s school friends help to tell the story and Michael’s visit to Tupelo ends at the famous hardware store where Elvis was bought his first guitar; and finds the store is exactly as it was in 1945.

Presenter/Michael Freedland, Producer/Neil Rosser

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Charlie Gillett introduces sounds from around the world, including a studio session with Cameroonian "Sawa Blues" singer Muntu Valdo.

Muntu was brought up in Douala in Cameroon. He made his first guitar from plasterboard and fishing line when he was a teenager. He then went on to study law, but his university career was cut short when he was injured during a student political demonstration.

Deciding to devote himself to music, he started his own band. Now preferring to work solo, accompanying himself with guitar and effects pedals, Muntu blends traditional styles from Cameroon with jazz and blues influences.

Presenter/Charlie Gillett, Producer/James Parkin

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Manchester City's ground Maine Road is closing and the team is moving to a new stadium on the other side of the city, in today's Afternoon Play written by Sarah McDonald Hughes.

No-one is more upset than 12-year-old Leo, who lives opposite the ground and is a fanatical City fan. As the last match looms, his grief is compounded by the death of his grandmother, the subsequent breakdown of his alcoholic mum and the realisation that they can no longer stay in their grandmother's council house.

As Leo's sister Jade struggles to hold the family together and find a new home, and his wayward dad threatens to topple everything, Leo has to come to terms not only with the end of Maine Road, but the start of a new life.

Maine Road features Siobhan Finneran as Leo's mum, Sarah McDonald Hughes as Jade and Lee Boardman as Leo's dad.

Producer/Charlotte Riches

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Based on public documents and verbatim records, Deep Cut tells the powerful story of the search for an answer by the parents of 18-year-old Private Cheryl James, found shot dead at Deep Cut barracks in November 1995.

Deep Cut is a radio adaptation of the award-winning production, which has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival, in London and on tour in the UK.

The central characters are Des and Doreen James, and the play follows their search for an answer as to why their daughter Cheryl was found shot dead at Deep Cut training barracks on 27 November 1995.

Pip Donaghy plays Des, Janice Cramer plays Doreen, Simon Molloy plays Nicholas Blake QC and Amy Morgan plays Jonesy. The director is Mick Gordon, who directed the play for all its theatre productions and tours.

Producer/Richard Bannerman

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's weekly film review moves to a new weekly two-hour slot. Every Friday, Mark joins Simon to cast his critical eye over the latest big-screen releases.

The programme is also available as a podcast from bbc.co.uk/5live.

Presenters/Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, Producer/Robin Bulloch

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

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5 Live Sport presenter Colin Murray

Colin Murray is joined by Pat Nevin and Perry Groves for Kicking Off With Colin Murray, previewing the weekend's football action, including Chelsea versus Sunderland, Manchester United versus Burnley and Tottenham versus Hull in the Premier League.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Louise Sutton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Test Match Special

Friday 15 January

8.15am-4.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

The fourth Test between South Africa and England from the Wanderers, Johannesburg, moves into its second day with live Test Match Special commentary from Jonathan Agnew.

Ashes-winning former England captain Michael Vaughan, Geoffrey Boycott and Vic Marks provide the expert analysis.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

The Rock Show is joined tonight by rifftastic funk-metallers Living Colour.

Recently reunited, the guys join Bruce Dickinson to talk about their new album Chair In The Doorway and their current European tour.

Presenter/Bruce Dickinson, Producer/Ian Callaghan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Kenny and Jaggy fall out when Kenny criticises Jaggy's laid-back attitude to work, in the final visit of the week to Silver Street. Darren knows what is really bothering Kenny and offers him some advice.

Chunky finally understands why Jungli cannot marry the girl that Bibi is lining up for them. Will Jungli's big revelation have the desired effect?

Elsewhere, the pressure mounts on Jaggy and he is forced to ask Darren for help.

Kenny is played by Brian Croucher, Jaggy by Jay Kiyani, Darren by Samuel Kindred, Jungli by Adil Ray, Chunky by Shahid Ahmed, Simran by Balvinder Sopal and Cyrus by Nigel Hastings.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

In the second of this four-part series, Farayi Mungazi explores the rich and complex history of African football. With the World Cup to be played in Africa's newest democracy in 2010, Farayi explores the very particular history of football in South Africa. It was here that perhaps football first came to the continent, and where apartheid denied the world stage to many of its best talents.

But in South Africa, football became the ultimate expression of freedom on the rocky confines of Robben Island prison and where apartheid was directly challenged on the pitch.

Presenter/Farayi Mungazi, Producer/Mark Burman

BBC World Service Publicity