Programme Information

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