Latest news about BBC Radio 4

Cery Matthews to co- host Radio 4 music programme

A new BBC Radio 4 music programme, Add To Playlist, co-hosted by Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye, will explore music through surprising connections between songs and artists. This comes as Radio 4 increases its arts programming, which will also see Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode co-hosting a new film show, Screenshot and John Wilson hosting This Cultural Life, featuring in-depth interviews with the most...

BBC Radio 4 extends Front Row and creates new arts shows

BBC Radio 4’s live arts programme Front Row is to be extended to 45 minutes and three new shows are being introduced. A new film show, Screenshot, co-hosted by Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode, will take listeners on a fresh journey through film and screen culture. A new music programme, Add To Playlist, co-hosted by Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye, will explore...

Radio services off-air after fire at a North Yorkshire transmitter site

Local and regional radio stations including Capital, Heart, TFM and BBC Radio Tees have lost their analogue FM services around North Yorkshire following a fire at the Bilsdale mast. National stations Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 and Classic FM along with local DAB services on the MuxCo multiplexes are also suffering from reduced coverage in the area. Freeview services carried by the site are also off-air...

Sue Perkins to host Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4

Broadcaster, comedian and writer Sue Perkins is the next host of BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute programme. As a recent guest host and 58-time panellist, Sue takes the host’s chair for the 87th series of Just a Minute, to keep in check fellow long-time participants Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth and many more all bringing their linguistic A-game to proceedings...

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed returns to Radio 4

Simon Armitage is heading down the garden path for a second series of The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed on Radio 4. Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, accompanied by his 12-string acoustic, will be Simon’s first guest. Later in the series the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen, West End theatre director John Tiffany, broadcaster, DJ and gardener Jo Whiley, author JK Rowling and poet Imtiaz Dharker all pay Simon a visit – with further guests to be announced...

Kirsty Wark to explore Scotland in new BBC Radio 4 series

Kirsty Wark is to explore Scotland’s literary landscape in a new four-part series for BBC Radio 4. Starting on 24 June, each episode will explore Scotland’s past and present literary landscape, produced by Brian McCluskey and Whistledown Scotland. Kirsty will unpick how Scottish authors distinctively and sometimes controversially reflect the perception of their country, and asks if literature still has an influence on the country’s national image...

Bill Bailey leads new comedy special on BBC Radio 4

Comedian, actor, musician and Strictly winner Bill Bailey is taking the lead in a brand new Radio 4 comedy special called Hennikay. Bill plays Guy Starling, a middle-aged man who, after 45 years, suddenly meets up with his imaginary childhood friend, Hennikay. Written by David Spicer, the cast also features Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me) and Elizabeth Carling (Casualty). It’s the biggest day in his career and he is on the brink of closing the biggest...

BBC Radio 4 celebrates Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday

BBC Radio 4 is marking the 80th birthday of Bob Dylan with a series of essays, an original audio drama and a documentary. From Monday 17th May Professor Sean Latham presents It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For: Bob Dylan at 80. Latham is Director of the Institute for Bob Dylan Studies at the University of Tulsa, and in this five part series, illustrated with music, he looks closely at the songs and draws on the Bob Dylan Archive, including material never broadcast before...

BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme extended

Woman’s Hour will become an hour-long show as it reaches its 75th anniversary later this year. The change comes after new presenters Emma Barnett and Anita Rani took the reins in January. Karen Dalziel, Editor of Woman’s Hour said: “Woman’s Hour may be nearly 75 years old but there’s still so much to talk about! It’s fantastic to have more time dedicated to the issues that really matter in women’s lives...

Jane Garvey returns with Life Changing interviews

Jane Garvey returns to Radio 4 this April with her new interview series: Life Changing. In this new programme, Jane meets people who have experienced extraordinary moments that have set their lives on an entirely different course. Each of the seven episodes in this first series will offer Radio 4 listeners a personal insight into some of the darkest and most uplifting moments in human life. Jane Garvey said: “You can talk to some of the most famous people in the world but everybody knows..."