Radio 7

BBC Radio 7 Newsletter - Friday 27th November

New to Radio 7
The Selection
Classic Comedy
Comedy Zone
Comedy Club
7 Drama
7th Dimension
Crime And Thrillers
Fact And Fiction
Children's
And finally


Hello again

"What a great question to be asked on a wet afternoon" Sarah, one of our listeners, e-mailed us with regard to my request for your favourite children's classics. Sarah's favourite all-time children's book is Alison Uttley's The Country Child, which, she says "had and still has, a strangely powerful and magical hold over me - as if I could travel back in time... it's a book for any child/adult who has a deep love of nature and the rhythms of the earth."

Sarah's second favourite is The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett.

Other interesting titles which brought out memories of childhood and stand the test of time according to some of you are:
Eagle of the Ninth Rosemary Sutcliffe (which also happens to be a favourite childhood book of Radio 4's Commissioning Editor for Drama, Jeremy Howe)
Legions of the Eagle - Henry Treece (my apologies for getting the "eagles and legions" muddled in my letter last week, and thank you to those of you who quickly informed me of my error!)
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper (a five part fantasy sequence which is one of my own particular favourites too)
Just So Stories - Kipling (requested to be read by David Davis - and the good news is that there is a recording of these retained in the archive, and which we hope to schedule in the new year)
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (also a favourite of Radio 4's Commissioning Editor for Comedy, Caroline Raphael)
The Otterbury Incident - Cecil Day-Lewis (one listener said that when this was read to her at junior school she became so involved in the story that she could hardly sit still in her seat)
Jennings  - Anthony Buckeridge (already heard on Radio 7 and delightfully read by Stephen Fry)
The Tree that Sat Down - Beverley Nichols
The Swish of the Curtain - Pamela Brown
The Moomintrolls - Tove Jansson
The Black Riders + The Stormy Petrel - Violet Needham
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh - Robert C. O'Brien
The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton

Amongst other writers who struck a nostalgic chord with some of you were Lewis Carroll, W.E.Johns, Nicholas Stuart Gray, and Diana Wynne Jones. We are researching all of the above titles to check whether any actually exist in the BBC archive, as readings or dramatisations.

If you would like to add to our list of favourite children's novels, please e-mail the titles and authors' names to us at: 
  radio7@bbc.co.uk

But now on to programmes I recommend for the week ahead:



New to Radio 7
Saturday - Mrs Pepperpot - 9am and 7pm
Saturday - The King's General  1pm and 1am
Saturday - Undone  6pm and midnight
Saturday - The Man in Black - 6.30pm and 00.30am
Sunday - Planet B 6pm and midnight
Sunday - The News Quiz - 10pm
Monday-Friday  - A Stir of Echoes - 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am
Thursday - The Brothers   9.30am and 5.30pm
Friday - The Furniture Play  10am, 3pm and 3am



The Selection
Comedy Controller: Galton and Simpson
As Alan Simpson, one-half of the UK's most successful writing duos celebrates his 80th birthday this week, BBC Radio 7 celebrates Ray and Alan's favourite comedies. Their 'Comedy Controller' choices include:Take It From Here (09/04/1958); Ray's A Laugh (25/10/1949); Round the Horne - Gaslight Son of Flicker (20/03/1967); Hancock's Half Hour - Sunday Afternoon at Home (22/04/1958); Steptoe and Son - The Desperate Hours (26/05/1974).
Many happy returns Alan, and many thanks for all the happy hours, not to mention 'Half Hours' you've given to Radio 7 listeners!
Saturday at 10am and 8pm



Classic Comedy
The Goon Show: The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea
Constable Neddie Seagoon sets out to apprehend Minnie and Henry's Sussex assailant. Scripted by the inimitable Spike Milligan, it was first broadcast in October 1954.
Thursday at 12 midday and 7pm



Comedy Zone
How Tickled Am I?
Mark Radcliffe traces the career of Ted Ray, who became one of the most successful comedians of the 1950s and 60s. First broadcast in 2000.
Sunday at 11am and 5pm

Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel
A recreation of the popular Marx Brothers Radio Show from the 1930s. Using a selection of recovered scripts from the original series, written by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman, these were adapted by Mark Brisenden and were first heard on Radio 4 in 1990. With Michael Roberts playing Groucho Marx as Waldorf T. Flywheel and Frank Lazarus playing Chico Marx as Emmanuel Ravelli, this series is produced by Dirk Maggs.
Monday at 9.30am and 5.30pm 

The Brothers
NEW TO RADIO 7
Series 2 of the sitcom about two brothers who run a website-design company continues. Oonagh makes a discovery and Nigel is at last pushed to the brink. Stars Raymond Coulthard and Adam Godley. First broadcast in October 2005.
Thursday at 9.30am and 5.30pm



Comedy Club
The News Quiz
NEW TO RADIO 7
Sandi Toksvig (pictured) is joined by Jeremy Hardy, Francis Wheen, Carrie Quinlan and Sue Perkins as they comment on the stories making the headlines. Broadcast on Radio 4 on 20th November. 
Sunday at 10pm

The Mitch Benn Music Show
The musical comedian presents his selection of some favourite comic songs, with more than a little help from his guest Boothby Graffoe. First broadcast on Radio 7 in July 2005.
Sunday at 11pm

Son of Cliché
Sketch comedy written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1984. With Chris Barrie, Nick Maloney and Nick Wilton. Listen out for Chris Barrie reading Red Dwarf, starting on 6th December. More information next week.
Sunday at 11.30pm 

Knowing Me Knowing You
Chat show host 'Alan Partridge', who first appeared as a reporter in On the Hour, welcomes a therapist and 1960s businessman "Carnaby Street's Mr Boutique" onto his couch. Produced by Armando Iannucci and starring Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber, Rebecca Front and David Schneider, this award-winning series was first broadcast in December 1992.
Tuesday at 10pm

Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
Life's big mysteries are explained by sci-fi star, Lionel Nimrod. Starring Richard Herring, Stewart Lee and Tom Baker. First broadcast in October 1992.
Tuesday at 11.30pm

Double Income No Kids Yet
Series 3 of David Spicer's comedy about modern life and parenthood, as seen through the eyes of two thirty-something non-parents. First broadcast in 2003, it stars David Tennant and Elizabeth Carling. 
Wednesday at 10pm

Ed Reardon's Week
Welcome to the world of Ed Reardon - author, pipe smoker, consummate fare-dodger and master of the abusive e-mail. Starring Chris Douglas, it was produced by Simon Nicholls for Radio 4 in 2004.
Friday at 11pm



7 Drama
The King's General
NEW TO RADIO 7
A paralysed beauty and a reckless soldier fall in love during the English Civil War. Daphne Du Maurier's classic love story is dramatised for radio by Michelene Wandor and stars Cathryn Harrison, Roger Allam, Carolyn Pickles, Philip Sully and Gary King. The director is Cherry Cookson and it was first broadcast in 1992.
Saturday at 1pm and 1am 

Ice
Geologist Glyn Sherwood makes a disturbing revelation when he discovers that 800 square miles of solid ice has become detached from the Antarctic. The ice is drifting inexorably towards New York Harbour, and the combined force of the U.S. military seems powerless to avert the collision. Written by James Follett, it stars Sean Barrett, Ed Bishop and Jonathan Tafler. First broadcast in 1986, it is directed by Alec Reid.
Sunday at 1pm and 1am

The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan's enduring 17th century classic, about the adventures of Christian, a pilgrim who embarks on a perilous journey to the Celestial City. Dramatised in three parts by Brian Sibley, the late Anton Rogers (pictured) stars as the narrator John Bunyan, and the cast includes Neil Dudgeon, Alec McCowen, Don Warrington, Anna Massey and Peter Bowles. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2004, it is directed by Pam Fraser Solomon.
Tuesday - Thursday at 10am, 3pm and 3am

The Furniture Play
NEW TO RADIO 7
Simon Brett's comedy drama features fledgling publisher Miles Hadley, who is as untutored in love as he is in business. Now he has to cope with both - in the shape of Laura, an attractive, aspiring writer, with the pieces of furniture in his flat provide a running comentary on his romantic progress. Starring Michael Maloney, Raquel Cassidy, Jim North and Patrick Barlow. The director is Peter Kavanagh and it was first broadcast in 2004.
Friday at 10am, 3pm and 3am



7th Dimension
Undone  Series 3
NEW RADIO 7 COMMISSION
Edna Turner has just saved the worlds - again. Can she kick-back and enjoy summer? Ben Moor's comic sci-fi saga returns, with Alex Tregear.
By the end of series two Edna Turner has met her father for the first time and a sister she never knew she had. She's saved the universe twice but has seen her job disappear and found that her friend and mentor had been using her for his own ends. But things are about to get a lot worse for her. Produced for Radio 7 by Colin Anderson and Lyndsay Fenner.
Saturday at 6pm and midnight

The Man in Black
NEW RADIO 7 COMMISSION
The final tale from series 2 - The Old Road. Mark Gatiss (pictured) introduces Penelope Skinner's chilling tale of a young woman's terror on an ancient road. With Laura Molyneux, Ellie Beaven and Rhys Jennings, the director is Faith Collingwood.
Saturday at 6.30pm and 12.30am

Planet B  Series 2
NEW RADIO 7 COMMISSION
The Tender Trap by Matthew Broughton. Kip is looking for love on the dating site, The Spark. But he gets more than he bargains for when a mysterious woman explodes into his world. Series 2 opens with a bang as we log back on to the virtual world where you can be whoever you want to be. Starring Joseph Cohen-Cole, Tessa Nicholson, Emerald O'Hanrahan, Chris Pavlo, Melissa Advani and Adjoa Andoh. Planet B is produced for Radio 7 by James Robinson. 
Sunday at 6pm and midnight

The House on the Strand
Daphne Du Maurier's masterpiece is a beguiling combination of romantic atmosphere, haunting psychology and assured storytelling. The tale revolves round the narrator Dick Young, who escapes from his troubles in the form of a new drug, which transports him six centuries back in time. But his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and throw his own life into the balance. Read in 12 parts by Julian Wadham, it was first broadcast on Radio 7 in 2005, and directed in Northern Ireland by Lawrence Jackson.
Tuesday - Friday at 6.30pm and 00.30am  (continues following week)



Crime And Thrillers
A Stir of Echoes
NEW RADIO 7 COMMISSION
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life in a seemingly normal neighbourhood until his brother-in-law hypnotises him; a chance event that awakens psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he can hear the private thoughts of the people around him, and learns shocking secrets he never wanted to know. This thriller from novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson is adapted for radio by Neville Teller, and produced for Radio 7 by Heather Larmour. Read in 5 parts by Trevor White.
Monday -  Friday at 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am



Fact And Fiction
Mrs Pepperpot
NEW TO RADIO 7
The adventures of an incredible shrinking woman who's always in trouble. Based on Alf Proysen's books and dramatised for radio in 4 parts by Lavinia Murray, it stars Alison Steadman (pictured), with Geoff Hinsliff and Jane Cawdron. First broadcast in 1999, the producer is Melanie Harris.
Saturday at 9am and 7pm

Men Of Stone
This intriguing series presented by Julian Richards looks at the history of Portland Stone and the men who quarried it. First broadcast in 2006.  
Monday: Portland – the Jurassic Park. The story of Portland Rock and the quarrying of its famous stone in Dorset. Julian Richards investigates Mesolithic masonry.
Tuesday: Quarrying, Cruelty and the Crown. The early days of quarrying for Portland Stone and its royal connections
Wednesday: The Choice of the Professionals. From Jones to Parry via Wren and Lutyens - the story of Portland Stone and London's cityscape.
Thursday: Island Life Then. Julian Richards takes a trip through time to uncover some of Portland's social history from pregnant brides to taboo mammals.
Friday: Island Life Now. Is the future for the industry to go underground? And what do you do with a worked out quarry? Julian Richards investigates.
Monday to Friday at 2.15pm and 4.15am 

No Room For Secrets
One of this country's best loved actors, Joanna Lumley reads from her autobiography, in which she recalls her life from her childhood in India through to her various memorable roles on stage and television. First broadcast in 2004.
Monday to Friday at 2.30pm and 4.30am



Children's
CBeebies
Join all your CBeebies friends for an early breakfast of songs, rhymes and stories on Radio 7.
Daily at 5am

Big Toe Books
Kirsten O'Brien (pictured) presents an hour of children's stories every day.
Saturday and Sunday at 8am and Monday to Friday at 4pm:

Saturday and Sunday
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Read by Lauren Ward.

Monday to Friday
Jerry and the Monsters by Allen Sadler. Read by Jez Edwards.
Marshmallow Magic and the Wild Rose Rouge by Karen McCombie. Read by Tracy Wiles.
The Missing Link by Kate Thompson. Read by Ciaran McMenamin.

www.bbc.co.uk/bigtoe




And finally
The Student Radio Association, (SRA) is an organisation which represents the UK student radio community, encouraging universities and colleges to set up their own radio stations, offering support and advice, and organising events to bring together student radio stations the length and breadth of the U.K.

Student Radio has provided a starting point for young people who hope to work in the radio industry, and it has launched the careers of several radio presenters, including Simon Mayo, Scott Mills, and Kevin Hughes.
On Tuesday this week, the annual Student Radio Awards were held at the IndigO2, with an audience of over 700 which included professionals from the radio industry and students from all round the country. The awards were hosted by Fearne Cotton, Scott Mills and Greg James.

There were 14 categories in all, ranging from Best Scripted Programme to Best Interview . Much as I'd like to list the names of all of the winners and runners-up, there isn't the space, but names to look out for in the future must surely be the winners for Best Female Presenter and Best Male Presenter.

Respectively, they were: Julie Ann Lough from RaW (Warwick University) and Fergus Dufton from URN (Nottingham University)

And the Winner for Student Radio Station of the Year was LSRfm from Leeds University.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and also to those who made it to the list of nominees. And to those students who are keen to work in the great medium of Radio, I wish you every success.

You can find out more information about the Student Radio awards on  www.studentradioawards.co.uk/.


I leave you now with the  Schedule and the iPlayer.

Happy listening!

Mary Kalemkerian
Head of Programmes, BBC Radio 7