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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Favourite BBC Radio programmes
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I am rather partial to The Archers because there are ranchers in my family and Clare in the Community as she is the social worker from Hell and v. funny. Yours?
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
As soon as I saw the thread title and your name, Sir K., I thought there's going to be some mention of An Everyday Story Of Country Folk. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
It's hard for me to pick one; I've never really got into listening on the computer (and its speakers are buggered at the moment, so the question is purely academic), so I'm restricted to listening when I'm home on holiday.
When we pick up a hire-car at home the first thing we do is find Radio 4. If I had my way, I'd have I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute interspersed with Choral Evensong (OK, that's probably Radio 3) and Today (in the unlikely event of my being awake in time). The Archers is fine, but when you haven't heard it for a year, you get a tad confused.
And no trip home would be complete without at least one edition of the Shipping Forecast ... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
As a cricket nut Test Match Special has to be there features like From Our Own Correspondent give good insights and the comedy output is first rate. Mark Steel's tour of British towns (including such out of the way places as Ottery St Mary) and aviation series Cabin Pressure (which also includes a trip to Ottery St Mary). That's a very Radio 4 thing.
Radio 2 has some good presenters but why doesn't Richard Allinson get a better shift than 3 am Saturday? Has he farted in the DG's coffee?
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
Today, Woman's Hour, Old Harry's Game, The Graham Norton Show (so superior to the TV show), The News Quiz, The Now Show, The Unbelievable Truth, Just a Minute, I've Never Seen Star Wars, Clare in the Community, Brain of Britain, Round Britain Quiz, Front Row, Desert Island Discs, Heresy, Down the Line, Ed Reardon's Week, Sounds of the Sixties, Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off, Bleak Expectations, Elvenquest ...
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
Radio 4 comedy is peerless (which isn't to say there isn't some pretty dire stuff, too). Among my permanent favourites are Just a Minute and The News Quiz. The humour of Bleak Expectations seems to be a direct descendant of The Burkiss Way, a great Radio 4 comedy from the 1970s, which now occasionally pops up on Radio 4 Extra.
After decades of stodge, Radio 3 seems to have found a balance between proper highbrow stuff and entertainment. The weekday morning show makes good background if I'm at home.
If ever you need proof that there is still such a thing as civilisation, then it's back to Radio 4 for In Our Time, billed as "a history of ideas". By way of example, the last 5 shows have been about Queen Zenobia, Claude Levi-Strauss, Cosmic Rays, Icelandic Sagas, and Gnosticism. IMNSHO it's a pretty good contender for the most intelligent and engaging radio or television show ever. And I think every show, going back several years, can be downloaded from the BBC website, free.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Lauren Laverne's morning show on BBC Radio 6.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
The BBC World Service News. Unparalleled, and gives interesting and in-depth coverage of international items that don't make it onto the mainstream daytime news. (Also, the BBC foreign language services are good for that and for brushing up aural comprehension.)
"From Our Own Correspondent." Fascinating insights into how things are and the reality on the ground, here and now, in different places worldwide.
"Outlook" and "Witness". As they say, the place where the world tells its story. Eye-witness accounts from people who have been through various experiences. Some of these are shocking, some are moving, some are wonderful, all are interesting.
The Shipping Forecast. To quote from one of the poems of the great Seamus Heaney:
quote:
Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea:
Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux
Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice,
Collapse into a sibilant penumbra.
It's obscurely comforting somehow to listen to, I don't know why, as I always have to get up after it finishes in the morning.
And of course there is Woman's Hour. I used to enjoy the comedy programmes but don't seem to get the time these days. Radio 5 during the day if there's something in-depth being covered that I want to follow.
[ 01. June 2013, 13:24: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
I find those 'Listening project' chats rather irritating and tend to go for the 'off' switch. I very much like In Our Time, Material World , More or less, and other Science programmes; used to like Any Questions', but have lost interest.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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MaggyK
Apprentice
# 17699
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Posted
I enjoy listening to Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra - Cabin Pressure, Old Harry's Game, The Leopard in Autumn, Hancock's Half Hour, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, any Poirot or Miss Marple serial.
It never fails to amaze me just what a range of programmes are on Radio 4. In the last few weeks I've listened to a programme about lie detectors, a fascinating series about the history of disability, the story of Queen Zenobia and not to mention Tweet of the Day!
Posts: 5 | From: south-east England | Registered: May 2013
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by QLib:
Today.... The News Quiz, The Now Show, The Unbelievable Truth, Just a Minute... Front Row, Desert Island Discs, Heresy, Down the Line, Ed Reardon's Week....
Those are other shows I listen to. Also mysteries on R4extra as well as comedy. I do listen to R6 sometimes when Lauren Laverne is on.
During the school year I play R3 in the classroom when I've got a good computer with a bit of volume. The kids would rather have hip-hop on broadcast radio, but I'm having none of that!
Currently listening to Eddie Izzard on R4extra.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
Currently listening to Eddie Izzard on R4extra.
Oo, I have that recorded for later. Must listen to it soon. Another vote for Lauren Laverne, and 6music in general for new (to me) music.
Am partial to The News Quiz and the Unbelievable Truth, and recent short seasons of Mark Steel's in Town and The Mark Thomas Manifesto.
I usually listen to Kermode and Mayo's film show on a friday afternoon. I enjoy Kermode's approach to reviewing, and if he does occasionally get a bit ranty, Simon Mayo drags him back.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I got one of my rare pangs of homesickness reading QLib's list. ![[Tear]](graemlins/tear.gif)
The thing about the Shipping Forecast for us was that when we lived in Northern Ireland, it always seemed to be on whenever we got into the car, no matter what time of day, and the cry of "not the bloody shipping forecast again" became a sort of catch-phrase. But, as Ariel said, it has its own rather comforting poetry.*
My dad's one of the few people I know who would voluntarily listen to it (despite not being a sailor), and when we saw a dish-towel with a map of it when we were in the Isle of Man on holiday, we couldn't resist getting it for him. Twenty years later, he still uses it (at least when we're at home).
* So do the footie results as read by Patrick Barclay, another thing we miss, although D. quite often prints them from the interweb and reads them out (with the appropriate inflections, of course) ... ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
It has to be I'm sorry I haven't a clue: yes, not the same without the Humph (Humphrey Lyttleton) but Jack Dee brings his own style.
Its the only programme that can unite across the generations - I've fond memories of listening to it with my (then) 84 year-old papa, self, friend and 17 year-old Goddaughter.
Not wise to listen while driving - helpless mirth can be a danger ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
[QUOTE]
I usually listen to Kermode and Mayo's film show on a friday afternoon. I enjoy Kermode's approach to reviewing, and if he does occasionally get a bit ranty, Simon Mayo drags him back.
MrD loves this and has put several of the podcasts on CD so I can listen to them in the car...even if the programmes are about films from last year I still enjoy listening.
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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
It has to be I'm sorry I haven't a clue: yes, not the same without the Humph (Humphrey Lyttleton) but Jack Dee brings his own style.
Its the only programme that can unite across the generations - I've fond memories of listening to it with my (then) 84 year-old papa, self, friend and 17 year-old Goddaughter.
Not wise to listen while driving - helpless mirth can be a danger
I was once driving, with a friend in the passenger seat, when I'm Sorry... came on the radio. Humph went into one of his innuendo-laden rambles on the subject of the fair Samantha, and my friend, who'd never heard the show before, was horrified. "They can't put this on Radio 4! It's pure filth! There could be children listening!..."
I don't know what made me laught more - Humph's "pure filth" or my friend's spluttering outrage.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
Every so often, the BBC broadcast Big Finish Doctor Who. This is good.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
Every so often, the BBC broadcast Big Finish Doctor Who. This is good.
Yes Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith are my perfect Whovian pairing. As for other shows on't wireless, I am a big fan of John Shuttleworth (who is very much like my dad) and Count Arthur Strong (who is so like my late grandfather to be quite spooky).
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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glockenspiel
Shipmate
# 13645
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Posted
I'm in love with radio, so will be posting various thoughts on here as thread progress - Simon: I'm with you on the excellence of Richard Allison on R2 - As a flip-side to that: Why is Ken Bruce given such a good slot?!
I regret that Test Match Special is inexorably sliding into becoming too serious, for my liking, and thus losing its USP altogether - long gone are the days when you could hear Fred Trueman striking a match for his pipe slightly off-mike ... I daresay there's no smoking allowed in the studio now ...
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glockenspiel
Shipmate
# 13645
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Posted
Above: I somehow remembered Sioni's name as 'Simon' - Must be getting old ....
Posts: 1258 | From: Shropshire | Registered: Apr 2008
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
We're a Radio 2 household and Simon Mayo is a definite must-listen (not least for the confessions) - perhaps the best presenter on the station. And amen to those lamenting the absence of Richard Allinson from a decent slot - perhaps he could take over from Ken Bruce if/when the latter leaves.
(Actually I don't mind Ken Bruce: he's amiable and self-effacing enough and a refreshing change after the franticness (if that's a word) of Chris Evans. And I do like the chemistry between him and Lynn Bowles which makes me chuckle).
Johnnie Walker and Paul O'Grady I normally try and catch on a Sunday. Dermot O'Leary I normally try and avoid. And, if I'm allowed one other gripe, how on earth has Elaine Paige been able to hold down a radio show for as long as she has - it certainly isn't because of her presenting skills (although it's only worse when Barbara Windsor steps in for her).
Just one last thing: my parents are Radio 4 listeners and the one thing I remember are the "urgent message" broadcasts just before the six o'clock news, when Joe Bloggs would be asked to contact such-and-such Hospital "about his mother, who is seriously ill". I don't know why I remember them so much, 'cos they're not the cheeriest of broadcasts, but for some reason they do. Do they still happen?
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Radio 3 always has Choral Evensong, and the series The Essay was fascinating (I think it's available on iPlayer...)
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I fell asleep listening to the World Service news broadcast last night. The next thing I knew, I was dreaming about riots in Stratford upon Avon (bricks being thrown through the windows of those lovely Shakespearian houses), and having to take shelter with my Iraqi grandmother in a safe house where the armed forces couldn’t get at us.
Yes, I know, serve me right for not listening to a more cheerful programme.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Jemima the 9th
Shipmate
# 15106
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
Just one last thing: my parents are Radio 4 listeners and the one thing I remember are the "urgent message" broadcasts just before the six o'clock news, when Joe Bloggs would be asked to contact such-and-such Hospital "about his mother, who is seriously ill". I don't know why I remember them so much, 'cos they're not the cheeriest of broadcasts, but for some reason they do. Do they still happen?
No, at least not as long as I've been listening (about 10 years). But there was a feature about them on ipm, another radio4 programme, recently.
I'll commence my list with PM. I love PM. Eddie Mair is a fabulour broadcaster, a great interviewer - he's forthright with the politicos and tob knobs but never as shouty as some of the Today presenters. I do like Today a lot though. Humph(rys) made my morning the other day with "The weather forecast? It's going to be horrible". I like the World at One, and the World Service programmes when I'm up at night with sproglet. As mentioned In Our Time is wonderful - it makes my brain tingle to listen to it, as does More or Less, which is slightly cheeky in the same way PM often is.
Much radio 4 comedy has rendered me helpless with laughter - especially I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue, Cabin Pressure, Bleak Expectations, the Castle, the Now Show, especially if Mitch Benn is on form, and the News Quiz.
More votes also for Clare in the Community, and Ed Reardon's week. Much of the 6.30 comedy is wonderful, but some of it misses the target completely.
Incidentally, you know you live in a radio4 dominated household when you pile all the kids into the car after ballet lessons, put the radio on (for cabin pressure) and Child A pipes up "Mum, is it Benedict?"
I'm a latecomer to 6music, but love Jarvis Cocker's Sunday service, and Huey before him. Jarvis is a national treasure, and it's high time he was recognised as such.
Quite agree about Richard Allinson, he deserves a far better spot. The kids like Chris Evans on radio 2 in the mornings, and it makes a change from Today if the news is too grim. And the folk programme on a Wednesday evening on radio2, now presented by Mark Radcliffe, who I like, but Mike Harding was very good and I miss him. Radcliffe & Maconie are also a nice 6music afternoon listen if the R4 play is too grim.
BBC radio's on all day, here. Does it show?
Posts: 801 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2009
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Jemima the 9th
Shipmate
# 15106
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Posted
Gah. Great long waffly post & I forgot the Archers. Oops.
Posts: 801 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2009
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
For me at the moment I think my favourite is The Life Scientific which are autobiographical interviews with top scientists. They manage to combine human interest with accounts of actual science. The should dispel any notion that scientists are all the same. I particularly like the fact that in my listening about half the scientist are women. This has to be positive discrimination on the part of BBC but it still makes it feel as if women can be there.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I just looked that up, JJ. I'm going to listen to one of the professors right after the episode of Ed Reardon's Week I am listening to again.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
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Posted
I have also been introduced to "the Infinite Monkey Cage" by MrD recently. A heady mix of comedy, science and lovely,lovely Dr Brian Cox. Often the science bit is a bit beyond me, but I do enjoy it.
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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
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norfolkadam
Apprentice
# 17674
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Posted
I like to have Radio Four on in the background when I'm doing other things like cooking and doing housework and the like.
I wake up in time for Tweet of the Day which is rather fun then Today then I may listen to the Radio 3 Breakfast show on the way to work if I can't handle any more politicians being harangued by John Humphries.
After work I'll often listen to the World Tonight, Midnight News, Today in Parliament and the Shipping Forecast. I do like the In Our Time podcast and find most of their non-fiction shows fairly bearable (except nature ones like Saving Species). What does turn me off is the drama, I used to enjoy The Archers but now I don't, sometimes I enjoy Book at Bedtime or the Afternoon Play but often I'd rather be listening to something factual.
Anyway I'm off to a blast of the Shipping Forecast before bed.
Viking, North Utsire and all that.
[ 08. June 2013, 23:44: Message edited by: norfolkadam ]
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http://commonorgarden.tumblr.com/
Posts: 8 | From: Southampton | Registered: May 2013
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
... one thing I remember are the "urgent message" broadcasts just before the six o'clock news ...
I rememeber those too - from the days before everyone had mobiles or at least contact numbers when they went on holiday. I used to feel sorry for the recipients, and wonder if they happened to have the radio turned on when the messages were broadcast.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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