Archive on 4

Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond.

Radio 4,696 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

The Louisville Lip
Ten years on from his passing, Muhammad Ali's story is told in his own words.
30 May 2026,57 mins
The Sound of Soft Power
Radio’s international art of persuasion
23 May 2026,57 mins
The Life and Many Deaths of the Local
Shane Richie discovers how pubs can survive today by exploring how they did in the past.
16 May 2026,57 mins
In The Psychiatrist’s Chair
Kirsty Young remembers Anthony Clare's ground breaking and incisive interview series.
09 May 2026,57 mins
Voices of the General Strike
David Runciman explores the General Strike of 1926: nine days that shook the nation.
02 May 2026,57 mins
The Last Dance Floor in Chernobyl
The story of a couple falling in love and getting married against the backdrop of disaster
25 Apr 2026,57 mins
The Evolution of The Naked Ape
Ella Al-Shamahi revisits Desmond Morris’s controversial book The Naked Ape, six decades on
18 Apr 2026,57 mins
The Sarkozy Affair
The rise and fall of Nicolas Sarkozy and why this story is gripping France.
11 Apr 2026,57 mins
The Ghosts of Maida Vale
Matthew Sweet summons the spirits from the world famous BBC Maida Vale recording studios.
28 Mar 2026,57 mins
Into the Ether
Unearthing audio treasures from the radiophonic past.
21 Mar 2026,57 mins
Wilson's Way Out
The astonishing story of PM Harold Wilson's sensational resignation fifty years ago.
14 Mar 2026,57 mins
Sara Pascoe Presents... The Anti-Awards Awards
Sara Pascoe hands out the Anti-Awards Awards.
07 Mar 2026,57 mins
Concorde: The Future We Flew Away From
Rory Sutherland explores our obsession with speed through the prism of Concorde.
28 Feb 2026,57 mins
Airbrushing Autocracy: The Fall and Rise of the Marcoses
The Philippines bloodless revolution stunned the world. 40 years on, has all been lost?
14 Feb 2026,57 mins
Landscape for a Good Infant
How has the state shaped different generations’ experience of infancy?
07 Feb 2026,57 mins
Taxi Driver at 50: New York, Then and Now
The film Taxi Driver is 50 years old. Michael Goldfarb looks at New York then and now.
31 Jan 2026,57 mins,
Forged in Steel
Alan Dein retraces his journey around the UK in search of the story of steel.
24 Jan 2026,57 mins
The Narrative Trap
Philosopher Julian Baggini explores how stories shape and distort our world.
17 Jan 2026,57 mins
Paris with Marianne
Jude Rogers revisits her afternoon in Paris with Marianne Faithfull.
10 Jan 2026,57 mins,
Robert Graves and 'I Claudius', L years on
A portrait of Robert Graves, 50 years on from the TV adaptation of I, Claudius.
03 Jan 2026,57 mins
How the Muppet Show Began in Britain
Louise Gold celebrates The Muppet Show’s anarchic birth in Britain in the mid-1970s.
27 Dec 2025,57 mins
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Katherine Rundell unearths the Christmas ghost story.
20 Dec 2025,57 mins
The Battle of the Drina
The forgotten story of the siege of Goražde in the Yugoslav wars.
13 Dec 2025,57 mins
A Journey Behind Bars
Rex Bloomstein reflects on 50 years exposing stark realities of prison life.
29 Nov 2025,57 mins,
Forbidden Britain: Brief Encounter Revisited
Nina Wadia on love, guilt and why Brief Encounter still stirs the British conscience.
22 Nov 2025,57 mins
Jodrell Bank at 80
Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond
08 Nov 2025,57 mins
Out of This World: 25 Years of the ISS
East and west collaborate to launch humanity’s first ever international space station.
01 Nov 2025,57 mins
Aleister Crowley - Master of the Dark Arts
Paul Morley explores the scandalous life and intriguing musical legacy of Aleister Crowley
25 Oct 2025,57 mins
A People's History of Gaza
Gaza's history, from the 1940s to the 2010s, told through the memories of ordinary people
18 Oct 2025,57 mins
War & Peace: The UN at 80
At 80, does the peacekeeping organisation still have a role to play?
11 Oct 2025,57 mins