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Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond.

Radio 4,699 episodes

Episodes

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The Holy Blood
The unexpected origins of a global conspiracy theory... in the vaults of the BBC.
26 Aug 2023,57 mins
Scoop
Midsummer deliciousness: ice cream and the British.
19 Aug 2023,57 mins
Blond Ambition: Growing Up with Madonna
Music critic Ann Powers reflects on the pop superstar's four-decade career.
12 Aug 2023,57 mins
Live and Let Diet
Fern Britton charts the history of diets undertaken by British slimmers over the decades.
05 Aug 2023,57 mins
Shticks and Stones: Jewish Comedy and Anti-Semitism
David Schneider explores how Jewish humour is impacted by anti-Semitism.
29 Jul 2023,57 mins
A Most Consequential Death
Exploring the inside story of the death of Dr David Kelly 20 years on.
22 Jul 2023,57 mins
How I Ruined Medicine
Dr Phil Hammond asks if his satire and journalism have undermined the NHS.
08 Jul 2023,57 mins
Last Man Standing
In the near future, Paul Farley finds that he is the last person on the planet.
01 Jul 2023,57 mins
A Brief History of Boomers
American satirist Joe Queenan (b1950) addresses the faults and failings of a generation.
24 Jun 2023,57 mins
The Rocky Horror Radio Show
Rocky Horror is 50... but where did Rocky come from, and where's he going next?
17 Jun 2023,57 mins
The Great Outdoors
Matthew Sweet investigates the history of the Great Outdoors.
03 Jun 2023,57 mins
Marvel vs DC: Contest of the Champions
Exploring the decades long, cosmic culture war between Marvel and DC comics.
27 May 2023,53 mins
The Socrates of San Francisco
The story of Howard Gossage, a remarkable ad man who tried to change the world.
20 May 2023,57 mins
Whatever Happened to JB Priestley?
Stuart Maconie asks why JB Priestley has all but disappeared from our cultural life.
13 May 2023,57 mins
Charles: The Making of a King
Sarah Montague looks at the events and experiences shaping the life of King Charles III.
29 Apr 2023,57 mins
Tanni Grey-Thompson: Still Not Equal
Tanni Grey-Thompson looks at how attitudes to disabled people have changed over 50 years.
22 Apr 2023,57 mins
The Other F Word
Jonathan Freedland asks what the word fascism means in the 2020s.
15 Apr 2023,57 mins
The British Bhangra Explosion
Anita Rani delves into the archives to tell the story of the British bhangra explosion.
08 Apr 2023,57 mins
What Kind of Scotland?
Allan Little recalls the impact of a radical drama on Scottish society and politics.
01 Apr 2023,57 mins
The Funny Old World of Victor Lewis Smith
Dom Joly on the brilliant, bonkers, contrary, groundbreaking iconoclast Victor Lewis-Smith
25 Mar 2023,57 mins
Writing Our Mothers
A journey into the ways women writers have written the mother.
18 Mar 2023,57 mins
The Wheeler Century
Shirin Wheeler reflects on the legacy of her father, BBC journalist Charles Wheeler.
11 Mar 2023,57 mins
Dramatic Beats
Michael Symmons Roberts celebrates a century of BBC Radio Drama.
25 Feb 2023,57 mins
Oh Yoko!
To mark her 90th birthday, this is Yoko Ono on her own terms, in her own words.
18 Feb 2023,57 mins
My Sylvia Plath
Emily Berry presents a personal meditation on the life and afterlife of Sylvia Plath.
11 Feb 2023,57 mins
Knock Knock: 200 Years of Sound Effects
Crash! bang! wallop! Composer Sarah Angliss celebrates the power of sound effects.
04 Feb 2023,57 mins
What Has Media Training Done to Politics?
Matthew Parris explores the rise of media training in politics and the political interview
14 Jan 2023,57 mins
Annie Nightingale's Age of Irreverence
Annie Nightingale explores the links between new music and comedy during the 1960s.
07 Jan 2023,57 mins
#TheQueue
Mark Thomas explores why the British believe they’re born to queue.
31 Dec 2022,57 mins
'Twas the Night Before Christmas: The poem that changed the world
A celebration of 'A Visit from St Nicholas' with the poet Luke Wright
24 Dec 2022,57 mins