Programme Information

More than any other form of show business, the musical needs to have something new to say – or has to find a new way of saying something old, as Michael Ball explains as he presents Breaking The Mould, the third programme in a special season of documentaries celebrating The Musical.

As the series of programmes, each presented by a leading name from the world of musical theatre, continues, Michael shows that the musical is a vulnerable medium in that it's made of so many ingredients – story, words, music, dance, costume and setting, all of which must come together in a perfect mix if the whole show is to succeed. But one of the constants about musical theatre is its ability to evolve.

Over the years, a number of shows have broken new ground – even smashed the mould of what was or wasn't a musical – and have been rewarded with commercial and critical success. Examples in this programme include Jesus Christ Superstar, Show Boat, Cats, Chicago and Oklahoma!

Contributors include: Stephen Sondheim, Joel Grey, Maury Yeston, Tim Rice, Elaine Paige, Sandy Wilson, Elaine Stritch, Cameron Mackintosh, Michael Grandage, Gillian Lynne, Ruthie Henshall, Ted Chapin, Mary Rodgers, Marge Champion and Richard Stilgoe.

Presenter/Michael Ball, Producer/Malcolm Prince for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Jools Holland's special guest on this week's show is American singer-songwriter Jesse Dee, who joins Jools and his band on an impromptu version of Nothing Can Change This Love.

Presenter/Jools Holland, Producer/Sarah Gaston for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Although he's responsible for some of the best-known Spanish guitar pieces, Isaac Albéniz didn't actually write any of them originally for that instrument. They are all transcriptions and arrangements of some of the wealth of piano music he produced throughout his career.

Donald Macleod this week introduces a selection of Albéniz's piano music, both in its original form and in a variety of other guises, including his masterpiece, Iberia. There's also a chance to hear Albéniz's two pieces for piano and orchestra, his only purely orchestral work, and extracts from his rarely performed operas, which came to fruition thanks to an intriguing collaboration with an English businessman with a passion for poetry.

From an early age, Albéniz made a good living as a highly respected pianist in his native Spain, and it wasn't long before his reputation spread to France and Britain.

At first, composition followed in the wake of his performing career, though not for long. As well as producing a large quantity of elegant salon music, Albéniz began writing more Spanish-style pieces, in which he adapted traditional dances with their characteristic rhythms and tunes. In this first programme, Donald introduces a selection of these works from Albéniz's formative years, including his Rapsodia Española.

Presenter/Donald McLeod, Producer/Deborah Preston

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Monday 20 September

1.00-2.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Sean Rafferty introduces a live recital from London's Wigmore Hall by brilliant young Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, who is joined by fellow former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, pianist Ashley Wass, for sonatas by Grieg and Schumann.

They pair Grieg's youthful First Sonata, written on holiday in Denmark, with Schumann's darker and fiery Second Sonata.

Presenter/Sean Rafferty, Producer/Adam Gatehouse

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Neil MacGregor explores the impact of Western European travel, trade and conquest between 1450 and 1600 in this week's A History Of The World In 100 Objects.

He begins with an exquisite miniature version of the sort of high-tech vessel that was to take Europeans right around the world. Today's object is a small clockwork version of the type of galleon that the Spanish sent against England in the Armada, and which they also sent across the high seas. This one was made for a grand dinner table – it could move, make music, tell the time and fire tiny cannons. Neil discusses the significance of this new breed of sailing ships and describes the political state of which this galleon is a symbol – the Holy Roman Empire.

Marine archaeologist Christopher Dobbs compares the tiny galleon to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth and historian Lisa Jardine considers the European fascination with mechanics and technology throughout the 16th century.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producer/Anthony Denselow for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Woman's Hour Drama – Hysteria Ep 1/5

Monday 20 to Friday 24 September

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

Against the background of rising hysteria in Middlesbrough over the murders of prostitutes, Denise's dreams of a happy second marriage, even a family at 40 years old, are challenged as circumstantial evidence seems to point the finger at her husband, Phil.

Developed at the Bore Place workshop with the aim of telling a contemporary story with a small cast, Hysteria by Steve Chambers addresses the fragile dynamics of a marriage and the taboo subject of men paying for sex and how a community can so easily be whipped into a suspicious frenzy.

Christine Kavanagah plays Denise, Michael Hodgson plays Phil, Celia Hewitt plays Kath, Colleen Prendergast plays Sheree, Sean Baker plays Jimmy, Jude Akuwudike plays John, Sally Orrock plays Nurse and Michael Shelford and Tony Bell play the policemen.

Producer/David Hunter for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Last Tudor tells the story of a reality show contestant who decides that he has a greater claim to the throne than the current Royal Family. This improvised drama, told in a documentary format, charts his rise and fall in a satire on celebrity, delusion and spin.

The story is based on the true story of Anthony Hall, a former policeman who in 1931 started to give public speeches claiming that he was the descendant of an illegitimate son of Henry VIII and therefore the last Tudor.

The drama supposes that Anthony Hall's great grandson, Murray Gray, a local government employee at Bristol City Council, discovers his family history and decides to exploit the royal claim as part of his bid to win a television talent show called The Fame Factor. He dresses up as Henry VIII to raise money for charitable causes, and seeks pop stardom to escape his boring job dealing with parking fines.

Initially the case of Murray Gray is simply one story in a history documentary about Royal pretenders, but as Murray becomes more and more successful in The Fame Factor, events, and the "documentary", spiral out of control.

The documentary is presented by real-life presenter and producer Jolyon Jenkins, who devised the drama with Abigail Youngman.

Murray Gray is played by Jonathan Alden and his girlfriend Chantelle by Nadia Williams. Murray's PR agent, Memphis Garfield, is played by real-life music promoter Conal Dodds.

Producer/Jolyon Jenkins for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Key Matters Ep 1/5

Monday 20 to Friday 24 September

3.45-4.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Ivan Hewett explores the question of why certain musical keys have become associated with particular moods in a new series of Key Matters. A major, for example, has almost always been employed by composers to write optimistic, even ecstatic music, while in contrast E minor has become the key of choice for portraying menace and tragedy.

In Monday's programme, pianist and conductor Jonathan Cohen discusses the open optimism of A major.

On Tuesday, Ivan is joined by pianist Kenneth Hamilton to explore the treacherous and obscure world of F sharp.

Cellist and composer Philip Sheppard defines the qualities of E minor on Wednesday.

On Thursday, French horn player Roger Montgomery explains why F major is traditionally associated with pastoral and hunting sounds.

And Ivan ends the week talking with violinist Daniel Hope about the majesty and glory of D major.

Presenter/Ivan Hewett, Producer/Rosie Boulton for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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In Exit Strategy – Choosing A Time To Die, Jenny Cuffe visits an Exit International workshop to explore the issue of assisted dying for the old.

The question of whether society should permit assisted suicide isn't going away. But while the grey areas of the British legal system are floundered over, a radical Australian doctor has found a loophole. As physically helping someone to die is illegal, he is providing information to paying participants on how to "peacefully and painlessly" kill themselves.

Dr Phillip Nitschke runs Exit International, an organisation that distributes information on end-of-life methods. Banned from holding seminars in his own country, he is taking his workshops on the road, including to the UK.

Jenny gains exclusive access to an Exit International workshop. She talks to the people present about their reasons for attending and investigates whether Exit is acting in the interests of humanity, or irresponsibly by offering dangerous information without safeguards.

Talking with geriatricians, psychologists, campaigners and elderly people, Jenny explores society's last great taboo: death.

Presenter/Jenny Cuffe, Producer/Gemma Newby for All Out Productions

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Book At Bedtime – Sister Ep 1/10

Monday 20 to Friday 24 September

10.45-11.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Rosamund Luton's first novel, Sister, is a suspenseful thriller about the bond between two sisters.

When Beatrice hears that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she leaves her job in New York and returns home to London on the first available flight. Having already lost her little brother to cystic fibrosis as a child, Bee cannot bear the thought of losing her sister.

When she tells the police that Tess had been getting nuisance calls and that she was pregnant by a lecturer at her college, who hadn't wanted her to have the baby, the police decide to set up a reconstruction of Tess's last known movements.

Sister is abridged by Lauris Morgan Griffiths and read by Hattie Morahan.

Reader/Hattie Morahan, Producers/Sara Davies and Christine Hall for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Mark Chapman introduces tonight's edition of 5 Live Sport and is joined, from 7pm, by special guests to discuss the latest major footballing talking points in The Monday Night Club.

At 9pm Mark Clemmit joins Mark in the studio for a round-up of the weekend's action and stories from the Football League. Then, from 9.30pm, Mark is joined by Dave Vitty for Football Express, a quick-fire comic look at the weekend's action.

Presenter/Mark Chapman, Producer/Steve Houghton

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live Cricket

Monday 20 September

12.45-9.15pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

The Test Match Special commentary team are in the Lord's commentary box to provide full, uninterrupted coverage of the fourth One Day International between England and Pakistan.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Andrew Collins sits in for Lauren Laverne and is joined by Edwyn Collins for a live session as he releases Losing Sleep, his first album since his illness five years ago.

Presenter/Andrew Collins, Producer/Gary Bales

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Marc Riley meets Musee Mecanique, who take their name from a collection of vintage arcade games, player pianos and novelties found on San Francisco's Fishermen's Wharf and who are based in the musical hotbed of Portland, Oregon.

Appropriately, their home studio is full of extraordinary instruments, antiques and second-hand flotsam, from musical saws to hand-cranked ice cream makers. As well as visiting the Riley studio, band leaders Sean Ogilvie and Micah Rabwin also double as the backing band for Laura Gibson.

Joined on record by multi-instrumentalists Matthew Rubin Berger, Jeffery Boyd and Brian Perez, Musee Mecanique's debut album, Hold This Ghost, was released in February.

Presenter/Marc Riley, Producer/Michelle Choudhry

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Gideon Coe's archive selection of concert recordings revisits Mark E Smith's ever-changing line-up of The Fall, as well as a 1978 set from Midlands-based progressive rock combo Gentle Giant.

BBC Sessions tonight come from US slacker group Drop Nineteens, plus a set from Indie darlings the Three Johns from 1983 and a 1991 John Peel recording by indie-electro pioneers the Shamen.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

The Mysteries Of The Brain Ep 1/4

Monday 20 September

8.00-8.30pm BBC WORLD SERVICE

What goes on in the brain when we recognise a friend, feel the position of our limbs, or reach for a cup of coffee? How many senses do we use to taste a potato chip? Why do some people see numbers as coloured?

This new four-part series, presented by Barry Smith, director of the Institute of Philosophy, examines the surprising answers that contemporary neuroscience is providing to these questions and how these answers are changing our sense of ourselves.

The series examines how the experiences we most take for granted are due to the silent and hidden workings of several co-operative systems in the brain. It explores the way these intricate systems create our sense of ourselves and the world around us, and the strange experiences that result when some of these systems stop working. The series includes interviews with some of the world's leading neuroscientists.

Presenter/Barry Smith

BBC World Service Publicity