Archive on 4

Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond.

Radio 4,699 episodes

Episodes

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China in Slogans
How Communist Party slogans reveal the turbulent story of modern China.
17 Jul 2021,57 mins
Thank You & Goodbye
Jim Waterson tells the inside story of the collapse of the News of the World.
10 Jul 2021,57 mins
Millions Like Us
We're told Covid is our Second World War. If so, what does that mean for our politics?
03 Jul 2021,57 mins
The Woman-Machine
Elizabeth Alker celebrates women composers at the forefront of electronic music.
26 Jun 2021,57 mins
Stewart Lee: Unreliable Narrator
Comedian Stewart Lee considers the problems and possibilities of unreliable narrators.
12 Jun 2021,57 mins
Covering Edward Said: 40 years of Islam, Media and the West
Exploring the legacy of Edward Said's Covering Islam, published forty years ago.
05 Jun 2021,57 mins
The Tulsa Tragedy that Shamed America
Alvin Hall tells the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
29 May 2021,57 mins,
Bob Dylan: Verbatim
The many variations of Bob Dylan’s life and music told in his own words.
22 May 2021,57 mins
A Spy in Every Embassy
The Swiss spy machine company secretly owned by the CIA and German BND.
15 May 2021,57 mins
What’s Going On Now?
Emeli Sande explores the impact of Marvin Gaye's classic 1971 album What's Going On.
08 May 2021,57 mins
The Hunger Strikes
Peter Taylor revisits the 1981 IRA hunger strikes and assesses their legacy.
01 May 2021,57 mins
Our Bodies, Ourselves
Five decades on, Laura Barton looks back at a revolutionary text for women's liberation.
24 Apr 2021,57 mins
A Night with Prince
Music critic Ann Powers reflects on time spent with Prince in his Hollywood mansion.
17 Apr 2021,57 mins
Gagarin and the Lost Moon
Kevin Fong tells the story of Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 Earth orbit
10 Apr 2021,57 mins
A Writer and His Country - John le Carré Across Six Decades
Who was the real John le Carré and what was his relationship with Britain?
03 Apr 2021,57 mins
A Year on the NHS Frontline
Dr John Wright shares recordings made over the last year on the covid wards in Bradford.
27 Mar 2021,57 mins
The Forgotten Referendum
Bust-ups, bums and Brexit's beginning? - Chris Mason tells the story of the AV referendum.
20 Mar 2021,57 mins
Search for a Common Culture
Did a common culture ever exist in the UK, what did it mean and is it needed now?
13 Mar 2021,57 mins
A Backwards Catastrophe
Travelling in reverse through the archives to trace the roots of the environmental crisis.
06 Feb 2021,57 mins
Easier Than Curing a Toothache? The Story of Lobotomy
Claire Prentice looks at the history of a notorious medical procedure - lobotomy.
30 Jan 2021,57 mins
The Alliance
How close were Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan at the end of the Cold War?
23 Jan 2021,57 mins
It's Behind You! The weird and wonderful story of British pantomime
Cultural historian Christopher Frayling explores the rich and surprising history of panto.
26 Dec 2020,57 mins
Disorienting: Asians on Screen
Phil Wang investigates the representation of East and South East Asians in western media.
19 Dec 2020,57 mins
Da da da DAAAAA!
Rachel Parris leads us on an irreverent tour of Beethoven's 5th Symphony
12 Dec 2020,57 mins
All Things Must Pass at 50
Discover the story of George Harrison’s most famous album.
21 Nov 2020,57 mins
14/11/2020
Steve Fielding explores how political parties have recovered from big election defeats.
14 Nov 2020,57 mins
Our Sacred Story
Alec Ryrie argues that the Second World War is our modern sacred narrative.
07 Nov 2020,57 mins
Trump: Backwards
Scrolling backwards through the archive to tell the Trump story in reverse.
31 Oct 2020,57 mins
Play for Today
Alison Steadman celebrates 50 years since BBC TV's seminal drama series began.
17 Oct 2020,57 mins
A Media Divided
The end of the Fairness Doctrine and the rise of political polarisation in US broadcasting
09 Oct 2020,57 mins