Radio 4 Commissioning Round Guide

COMMISSIONING ROUND, SPRING 2014
Proteus round: 2015 2016 1

Welcome to the Radio 4 commissioning round. This commissioning process is open
to all BBC departments and registered independent companies with the necessary
expertise, as indicated in each commissioning brief. Please only offer a proposal if
you can demonstrate that you have this expertise.
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3
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
5
THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

TIMETABLE
HOW TO SUBMIT AN IDEA TO RADIO 4
HOW THE COMMISSIONING BRIEFS WORK
FAQ ON THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS
RESPONSES TO PROPOSALS
BBC EDITORIAL GUIDELINES & COMPLIANCE
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
THE BBC RADIO 4 AUDIENCE
COMMISSIONING BRIEFS
COMEDY & ENTERTAINMENT
SPECIALIST FACTUAL
GENERAL FACTUAL
ARTS
SPECIAL EVENTS & SEASONS
WORKING WITH RADIO 4
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2
2
5
6
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9
10
12
14
14
33
51
70
86
88
THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS
TIMETABLE
This is the main round for this year. We aim to commission most factual slots for the
financial year 2015-2016.
We will commission comedy for the first half of 2015-16. There will be a second
round in autumn 2014.
For details of our drama commissioning requirements, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/radio/what-we-want/radio-4.shtml
Guidelines published
Briefing in the Radio Theatre,

Broadcasting House
Briefing in Media City, Salford
20th February 2014
24th February 2014

25th February 2014
Pre-offers deadline
27th March- 12 noon
Pre-offers results
17th April
Final offers deadline
22 May 12 noon
Results released
Late July
HOW TO SUBMIT AN IDEA TO RADIO 4

Pre-offers submissions
This first stage of the round invites you to submit brief outlines of your ideas. These
will be sifted by the commissioning team who will shortlist those they think worth
developing for the final offers stage.
All ideas must be entered in the Proteus website by the stated deadline. We do not
require hard copies of any proposal.
Enter factual and comedy proposals, selecting: 2015 2016 1
2015 2016 5)
(Drama proposals must be entered in:
At the top of each commissioning brief there is an indication of the track record we
require in suppliers to that slot. Please do not offer proposals unless you have the
necessary expertise.
For pre-offers we require only the minimum information to enable short-listing.
The following must be entered for each proposal:
title (of your proposal, not the slot)
commissioning brief number Enter each proposal in one schedule slot only. If
we consider it suitable for another slot, we will transfer it.
delivery date Enter a nominal date e.g. 01/10/2015
number of episodes
duration
short synopsis: maximum 200 words
Price per episode This information is managed by us. The guide prices quoted in
these guidelines is with only the rarest exceptions the maximum we will pay.
Long synopsis
Do not enter anything in this field at this stage. It will not be
read.
When commissioning editors have read all pre-offers and selected those they
consider worth further development, we release the results to you in Proteus.
Proposals will show as either rejected or re-requested.
If your offer is re-requested, this means we want to consider it in the final
submission stage. A re-requested proposal does not have to be set up from scratch
when entered as a final offer. It will of course need to be edited to reflect the
requirements for the final offers stage (see below).
Owing to the large number of submissions at this stage (typically over 3,000) we are
unable to provide feedback on rejected pre-offers.
Final submissions
You are invited to discuss short-listed ideas with commissioning editors. Time
pressures may require this to be by phone rather than face to face.
After your conversations with commissioning editors, the ideas you develop for final
submission should be entered in Proteus. Generally, final submissions will be those
which we re-requested at the pre-offers stage. It is also possible to submit fresh
offers which have not been discussed.
All proposals must be submitted in Proteus by the deadline.
Enter factual and comedy proposals in:
2015 2016 1
(Drama proposals must be entered in:
2015 2016 5)
At the top of each commissioning brief there is an indication of the kind of track
record we require in suppliers to that slot. Do not offer proposals unless you can
demonstrate the necessary expertise.
Be realistic in the number of proposals you submit, in view of the number of
programmes available, and observing the cap where this has been applied. If the
cap says a maximum 10 proposals per supplier, we will only read your first 10.
Fewer, better ideas are more likely to get through. In slots where each commission
is for multiple episodes, the number of commissions will be far fewer than the
number of individual programmes available.
The following must be submitted for each proposal:
title If your idea is commissioned you must not subsequently change this title
without written agreement of the commissioning editor.
brief number Submit each proposal in one slot only. If we think it suitable for
another slot, we will transfer it.
achievable delivery date (linked to anniversary / event dates where relevant)
price per episode Radio 4 has a set price it expects to pay for the majority of
programmes. This is entered automatically. If your idea requires a budget
significantly above or below the guide, make this clear in the long synopsis and
explain your reasoning. Only by very rare exception will we agree to commission
a programme above the guide price.
producer
executive producer Include CV in long synopsis field, if the exec is new to R4.
number of episodes
duration
The short synopsis for the final proposal must be under 50 words.
It should convey the essence of the programme.
The long synopsis must not exceed 2 x A4 pages of size 11 type.
key talent Any intended presenter/writer/abridger/performer etc should be
shown in the long synopsis. You do not have to secure talent agreement before
submitting an idea but you should let us know the degree to which named talent
have expressed an interest in the project or have intellectual ownership of it.
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Proteus style guide
Dont use the Notes field. Anything in this field will be deleted.
Dont insert a space or dots or asterisks before beginning the title.
Dont put double spaces in the title.
Dont put quotation marks around the title.
Dont start the title with a slot name, e.g. The Wednesday Debate.
Do begin titles in Proteus with The or A as appropriate, e.g. A Short History of
If you are preparing proposals offline to cut and paste into Proteus, keep the
formatting simple: bold, underline and italics only. Proteus will remove other
formatting, including bulleted and numbered points, as well as converting your
font to the equivalent of Arial size 11.
Supporting material (audio, books, scripts etc) must be delivered to the Radio 4
commissioning office by the closing date of the round. Complete the pro-forma in
section 2 of this document to provide us an inventory of what is sent.
HOW THE COMMISSIONING BRIEFS WORK

Section 4 contains the commissioning briefs, arranged by genre: comedy and
entertainment, specialist factual, general factual, arts and special events. Each brief
provides the following information.
Programme type The name of the commissioning brief
Reference number This 5-digit number appears alongside the name of the brief in
a drop-down menu when you enter your proposal in Proteus. NB: Proteus gives
each proposal a reference number unrelated to this one. Also, neither of these
numbers is related to programme or tape numbers!
Slot
Day/s and time of broadcast
Eligibility Radio 4 always requires producers and executive producers to have a

considerable track-record in the relevant type of programme making. Independent
companies must have registered on the BBC Radio & Music commissioning list.
Duration Programme length, including opening and closing announcements
Estimated number of programmes Remember this is the number of individual
programmes, not of individual commissions. In the 1830 Comedy slot 16
programmes available might result in 3 or 4 commissions, each being for between 1
and 6 episodes.
Transmission period The period when your programme is likely to be broadcast.
Please flag clearly if your idea needs to be transmitted outside this period.
Guide price Radio 4 expects to pay no more than the guide price for commissions
so please budget at this level. If the cost is expected to be significantly above or
below the guide price you must note this in the long synopsis of your proposal,
explaining the reason. Only in rare cases will prices above the guide be agreed.
If you have queries about budgeting or prices, speak to your business manager or to
Githa Weerasinghe, our Finance Partner.
Independent producers should contact Lesley Eaton, Legal and Business Affairs.
Editorial guide Details of the kind of programme needed for this slot
Programmes commissioned in the last round This is to help you avoid offering
ideas too close to what has already been commissioned. The list might not be
complete. Often, if contract or budget negotiations are outstanding, commissions
cannot be listed, so you may also wish to check with the relevant commissioning
assistant.
Proposal to include This cannot be a definitive list, as only you can fully know what
your idea needs for it to be properly assessed. Make your own judgement but if in
doubt put something in rather than leave it out. However, your long synopsis should
not be longer than two A4 pages.
FAQ ON THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

Q: Whats the role of the commissioning editor?
The commissioning editors job is primarily to commission and review programmes,
not to be the executive producer or series editor.
Commissioning editors work as editorial deputies to the Controller, BBC Radio 4. In
line with her strategy for the station, they support the development of proposals by
commissioning and reviewing them. They will not normally intervene in a production
unless this has been specified at the commissioning stage, or compliance matters
arise, e.g. language referrals and editorial policy issues. However, they are available
to provide guidance, if necessary. They may, at their discretion, feel it appropriate to
be more closely involved in development, casting, scripting and editing.
Q: Do I need to have an agreement from talent before I put forward names?
If you name a presenter, please say whether you hope to be able to interest them,
whether they have already expressed an interest, or whether they have any
intellectual ownership of the proposal. Only in exceptional cases would we expect
you to have agreement from actors, as they are often only booked within a few
weeks of production. Citing possible casting is useful, though, as it helps explain
how you hear a character.
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It would be unusual to quote a writer or abridger if you had not already spoken to
them, but in some cases it will happen. If so, please make this clear. If you want to
pitch for an open commission for a writer, speak to a commissioning editor before
you approach the writer.
It would also be unusual to have gained the agreement of contributors, guests or
panellists ahead of an agreed commission. Again, it is useful for us to know the lines
you are thinking along, so potential running orders and cast lists do help.
Q: How do I know if an idea has already been commissioned?
Each commissioning brief gives an indication of what was commissioned for that slot
in the last round. In addition, the commissioning assistant can check specific titles.
Q: Once Ive received a conditional acceptance and all four conditions have
been agreed, do I need to talk to a commissioning editor before starting work?
Normally not, but sometimes the commissioning editor will want a pre-production
meeting. This is most likely to apply to major new series and we will initiate the
meeting. It will be designed to make sure everyone has the same understanding of
how the programme or series is to be made and what it is trying to achieve.
Q: How much should I contact the commissioning editor while making the
programme?
It is your responsibility to deliver the programme as agreed. The commissioning
editor will not normally get involved. The exception would be if changes are made to
what has been agreed, e.g. presenter, title, producer, executive producer.
Independent companies are expected to initiate at least one work-in-progress
conversation with the commissioning editor before recording their programme, and
must ensure the station is informed of any editorial policy issues.
Q: Does the commissioning editor need to hear it before broadcast?
No, but independent productions must be heard and approved prior to broadcast by
the Editor, Editorial Standards (sometimes referred to as the compliance editor).
It is the responsibility of your executive producer or editor to deliver a programme
which matches the editorial brief, complies with BBC Editorial Guidelines and is
technically fit for broadcast. The Editorial Guidelines set out the referral procedures
for issues of sensitive content or impartiality.
Q: Whats my proposal reference number?
You will find this to the left of the title in Proteus
RESPONSES TO PROPOSALS
Results will be released in Proteus. We do not send out hard copies.
Proteus will display one of four standard responses to each offer:
rejection
shortlist
pilot
conditional commission
Rejection
We will provide brief feedback on our reasons for not commissioning a proposal.
Shortlist
Shortlisting happens for 3 principal reasons:
We are seriously interested in the idea but feel more work is needed. In this
case, the commissioning editor will explain what we are looking for.
Competing offers delay the commissioning decision. We need more information
before deciding between them.
We do not have space to commission the idea but want to keep it in reserve in
case gaps appear in the schedule later.
We try to clear proposals from the shortlist quickly and we review it every 3 months
or so to see whether we are in a position to move an idea forward or to reject it. If
you ever need to know about the progress of a shortlisted idea, do get in touch.
Should you ever wish to withdraw an idea from the shortlist, just let us know.
Pilot
We need to hear a pilot before committing ourselves. You should discuss this with
the commissioning editor before doing further work.
Conditional commission
Final acceptance of all ideas is conditional on the following issues. Radio 4 is not
responsible for any costs incurred prior to the full agreement.
o Price and rights
Each conditional commission will be made with a fixed price offer that has been
judged as value for money by the Commissioning and Finance and Business
Affairs teams. It is intended that most will be at the published guide but we
reserve the right to propose an alternative price if we believe it appropriate. If our
price is accepted by you in writing there will be no need to submit a detailed
budget. Contracts will be issued immediately to independent suppliers.
If, however, you wish to challenge the offer made, a detailed budget in Proteus
will be requested and scrutinised by our Finance and Business Affairs team with
the aim of reaching agreement.
Conditional acceptances may be withdrawn if agreement on price is not reached
within a reasonable period.
Radio 4 requires an appropriate set of rights dependent on the type of

programme. This will vary only in exceptional circumstances. The price quoted
on the commissioning brief is based on buying the standard set of rights for that
programme. If fewer rights are bought, the price may be reduced.
o Internet use
Rights should be cleared for simultaneous or near-simultaneous internet use,
together with a 14-day Listen again window. Independent suppliers' rights
clearance should include BBC Primary New Media rights (streaming and audio
on demand).
o Schedule and delivery dates
Each proposal should include your ideal delivery date, though our conditional
acceptance will not necessarily be able to reflect this date. We will not issue
precise transmission dates for programmes not pegged to a particular
anniversary or season but will give the calendar quarter in which we intend to
place them. If you cannot deliver to meet the given transmission quarter, notify
Tony Pilgrim, Head of Planning and Scheduling. Precise delivery dates will be
confirmed well before the start of each calendar quarter.
o Editorial
Conditional acceptance might have specific editorial conditions attached to it, e.g.
that a particular presenter is available, and fulfilment of them must be confirmed
before the commission is finalised and before you start work.
BBC EDITORIAL GUIDELINES & COMPLIANCE

BBC Editorial Guidelines
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/
All programmes, whether commissioned in-house or from an independent producer,

are subject to the BBC Editorial Guidelines. These set out the BBCs editorial
standards, policy on sensitive content, legal and political issues, and the system for
consultation and referrals during the production of programmes. Failure to comply
with these guidelines may lead to the commission being withdrawn and/or a claim for
breach of contract.
Compliance
We require that every recorded programme be heard by a production person of
appropriate seniority and formally signed off by them. BBC programmes are signed
off by their executive producer or editor. But independent productions must be heard
and approved prior to broadcast by Radio 4s Editor, Editorial Standards (sometimes
referred to as the compliance editor).
These decisions are logged in a compliance form, where editorially sensitive content
must be flagged. The form is available to in-house producers on Proteus and to
indies on the BBC commissioning site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/radio/compliance-and-policy/index.shtml
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These must be delivered by 1700 on the day of the commissioning round deadline.
A complete inventory of materials supplied must be included. See below.
o Submit audio and video via an online file-sharing service. Make clear which
proposal it is for. Audio must be in mp3. Always identify which offer it is for
within the filename.
o Material related to comedy briefs should be sent to tamsin.green@bbc.co.uk
o Material related to factual briefs should be sent to shauna.todd@bbc.co.uk
o Unpublished written material should not be put in Proteus. Send it by email to
one of the addresses above. Make it clear which offer it is for.
o Physical supporting material (published books, DVDs etc) must be delivered to:
Radio 4 Commissioning Assistants
Room 4028 Broadcasting House
London W1A 1AA
o Label each item with your name, department or company, the title and the
commissioning brief number of the proposal.
o The package should be accompanied by a complete list of supporting materials,
using the form below.
o Indicate in the long synopsis that you are supplying supporting materials.
With the exception of published books and DVDs, we cannot return supporting
materials to you.
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INVENTORY OF SUPPORTING MATERIALS FOR FINAL OFFERS TO RADIO 4
SUPPLIER
DEPARTMENT /
COMPANY
COMMISSIONING
BRIEF NUMBER
TITLE
SIGNATURE
CONTACT NAME ..
EMAIL ..
MOBILE.............................................................................
TEL ...
DATE.
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THE BBC RADIO 4 AUDIENCE
Reach: One in five adults listen to Radio 4 each week, or 21% of the population. At
11.2m each week, this is Radio 4s highest record ever beating its previous record
by 227K listeners (Q2 2013, which saw 10.98m tune in).
Hours: Radio 4 continues to have a very loyal audience, tuning in for over 11 hours
per week. Based on the most recent RAJAR data (Q4 2013) the average Radio 4
listener tunes in for 11 hours and 30 minutes each week. In total that makes 129m
hours every week.
Share: Share takes all the minutes listened to any radio, and works out what
proportion of this Radio 4 makes up. According to the latest RAJAR results, Radio 4s
share of listening is 12.5% - level with where it has been in previous years. This
equates to one in every eight minutes of radio consumed.
Genre: News attracts the largest number of listeners, at 9.6m per week according to
RAJAR. Drama attracts a strong 7.0m average listeners a week, and comedy
reaches 5.5m.
Online: Radio 4 sees almost 1 million unique browsers to its site each month.
December 2013 saw 902K UBs two in five of these coming from mobile or tablet.
We also saw 16.4m iPlayer requests for Radio 4 programmes, and a further 13.3m
podcasts downloaded providing Radio 4 with a huge digital footprint.
Who is tuning in?

In terms of gender, age and social grade, Radio 4s listener profile remains pretty stable.
Figures = audience numbers in millions per relevant demographic group
The station continues to have a fairly balanced audience in terms of gender (51% male /
49% female) however, our female listeners typically tune in for longer than our male
listeners (13:18 vs. 09:47). The average age of the Radio 4 listener is 55yrs old. The station
also continues to have an upmarket bias 75% of those tuning in fall into the ABC1
demographic.
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When do they listen?
What other radio stations do they listen to?
For any questions about the Radio 4 audience, please contact Elizabeth Lane,
Research Manager for Radio 4 and 4 Extra: Elizabeth.lane@bbc.co.uk
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COMMISSIONING BRIEFS
4.1 COMEDY & ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS

Commissioning Editor:
Caroline Raphael
Commissioning Assistant: Tamsin Green
11.30 Comedy
18.30 Comedy
23.02 Entertainment
Sunday Comedy is not open in this round. Programmes for broadcast on a
Sunday will be picked from the other briefs. Recommission offers for
programmes previously broadcast on Sunday should be entered into the next
most suitable brief.
Duration: All slots are 28. At 2302 we commission some 14 programmes.
Transmission period: April 2015 to October 2015
Guide price for all slots: 11,300 (28) 5,650 (14)
GENERAL NOTES ON COMEDY AND ENTERTAINMENT

(see individual briefs below for detailed guidance)
Very few new programmes are commissioned in any round.
There are a lot of returning series. New series can only start if another stops.
Your ideas need to bring something distinctive to Radio 4. That might be a great
talent or a clever new format. Programmes that mimic that already on air in any slots
(not just comedy) or have specifically not been requested in the following briefs, will
be turned down at pre-offers.
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When you get a proposal commissioned it is the start of a long process. The idea
may have to be piloted; writers will need to be coaxed and supported to write a
minimum of four scripts. Casting for a scripted comedy or a stand up show means
your knowledge of performers and their skills has to be superb. You then need to be
able to direct and produce the programme a stand up can need as much
production to help make the move from comedy club to radio as an actor reading
someone elses lines.
Therefore, to stand a chance of being successful, your company or
department will need to be able to demonstrate substantial and considerable
experience in radio comedy and/or television comedy.
Companies and departments with no radio experience who are invited to a pre-offers
meeting will be asked to name the experienced radio producer(s) who will work with
them on developing and then producing the programme if it is commissioned.
Work online is useful and interesting but will not be enough to demonstrate you can
provide broadcast quality programmes that meet the editorial, talent development,
compliance and technical levels we require.
Diversity
We are determined to continue broadcasting comedy that reflects the rich diversity of
modern Britain. So, please consider how your programme can help us achieve that.
Celebrity-guest shows
We are not looking for any new ones.
We have many shows across the network that revolve around a different celebrity
guest appearing or being interviewed in each programme; think of established
programmes such as Desert Island Discs, Great Lives, A Good Read, With Great
Pleasure and Ive Never Seen Star Wars and newer titles such as One to One and
My Teenage Diary.
Series or serials?
In a series, programmes can, to a greater or lesser extent, be placed in any order
and do not need a detailed explanation each week to explain what has happened so
far. Serials do. We want series. We do not want serials.
ARE YOU READY TO OFFER?

As you read through the following paragraphs please ask yourself do I really have
enough material, the commitment from the on-air talent and writer(s), and the rights if
appropriate, to offer in this round?
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THE PURPOSE OF PRE-OFFERS

Please dont skip this part of the offers process.
It is in your best interests and the interests of your talent to submit a pre-offer,
otherwise you might lose out on essential guidance and support.
At pre-offers I am looking for new ideas featuring exceptional new or established
talent (writing or performing) that are not already appearing regularly on BBC Radio
4; and innovative brave formats that match the needs detailed in the following
guidelines.
This stage of the process allows us to ensure we are developing the right mix and
number of programmes and that we are not encouraging work that will be too close
to programmes already in development or returning.
When making this judgement I will be seeing it from the audience's point of view.
Nuanced differences to something already on air are not going to convince me there
is not a clash. We want to take audiences to the widest variety of places, through a
myriad of emotional experiences and let them enjoy the greatest range of comedic
talent. And make them laugh.
Obviously we cannot judge the quality of the writer's work or talent's skills - but we
can and will judge the subject matter.
Use your 200 words carefully to sum up what the show will be about.
Do not waste space telling me how wonderful the show will be or how brilliant the
talent - that is taken as read!
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN PRE-OFFERS

Returning series
Returning series must be submitted at the pre-offers stage.
Programmes that have gone out or will be going out before the end of September
2014 that are seeking a further commission must be offered in this round.
The Sunday Comedy slot is not open this round so please offer returning series that
broadcast there previously into the next most suitable slot. If you are unsure which
this might be please contact the commissioning editor to discuss.
Offering work that has previously been rejected
If you have not been asked to re-offer it then we would politely suggest you don't.
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Presenters and talent

If the programme is the talents or the presenters idea or they have been involved in
its development, please make this clear to save possible confusion and
awkwardness later.
Choice of talent
Unless you are building a show around a named individual you are not expected to
approach performers at the pre-offers or final offers stage.
It is a waste of time and can cause embarrassment if the programme is not
commissioned. We also know that by the time a commissioned programme is ready
to be recorded the chance of said individual still being available is negligible.
Audience or non-audience?
This is key. Please tell us at pre-offers if this is or is not an audience show.
And we will discuss this further if you are invited to a pre-offers meeting.
Very rarely is it an either/or. The writing, the speed of the jokes, the structure, the
nuance of performance you may want to achieve, the importance of acoustic variety
all need to be taken into consideration when determining what is best for the show
and the listeners.
Television ideas
It is perfectly ok to offer ideas that have been turned down by television. But do tell
us.
It is perfectly ok to offer ideas that have been turned down by another radio station.
Again, tell us.
AT PRE-OFFERS MEETINGS
If your offer gets through the initial pre-offers stage we will meet to discuss the idea
in more depth and in particular focus on the following:
Your writer
Are they ready?
Have you actually seen samples of their radio writing?
If the writer has not written for radio before and you have not ready anything they
have written for radio how do you know they can write for Radio 4?
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With your final offer you will need to submit either a full draft script or substantial
scenes from the series specifically written for radio. Plus storylines for following
episodes, plus character descriptions.
The need for a full script or sample scenes will differ from offer to offer and writer to
writer. We will discuss this when we meet at pre offers.
So, to repeat, are they, are you, ready to offer? If you are not wait till the next round.
Comedy is commissioned twice a year.
Talent
If you offer is built around named key talent, are you sure they want to work with
you?
Have you asked them or their agent/management who else they are talking to?
It is not the end of the world if talent offer different ideas through different suppliers
but make sure it is not the same idea.
Rights and permissions
It is pointless to clear rights ahead of a commission. This wastes your time and
money. It is not the end of the world if an offer falls over later because rights are not
available.
However, where we know there are historical difficulties with the rights holders, we
may ask you to clear them. We will agree this at the pre-offers meeting.
Preparing for the final offer
We will discuss how to write the final offer to make the proposition as clear and
attractive as possible!
FOR FINAL OFFERS

Writers
Please include details of writers past commissions for radio and/or experience
elsewhere.
Please make it clear if television or radio programmes were pilots only or if went to
series.
Rights and permissions
If, as above, you were asked to clear rights in advance of the offer, please indicate if
you have been able to do so.
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Choice of talent
Unless you are building a show round a named individual you are not expected to
approach performers at pre-offers or final offers stage.
But, for final offers, indicative names are needed so that we can judge the tone or
attitude of the programme. Please consider these carefully and ensure that there is a
spread of talent across your offers. We take diversity seriously. Too many of the
same names are still cropping up again and again, most of whom are on the network
already.
Offers for returning series
When offering these you must include your critical thoughts on the series to date
and how you might develop the show further.
Do not worry about including press cuttings we will provide those.
Length of the offer
The final offer must not be longer than two sides of A4 apart from the Proteus front
business page.
Supporting material
This is only required for final offers. See section 2. Apart from published books
and commercially published DVDs, all work must be sent electronically.
Examples of Presenters and Talent
If they have work online (YouTube, blogs, podcasts etc) please include a link in your
offer rather than sending in downloads etc.
Delivery of Supporting Written Material
Written material (e.g. CVs, sample dialogue or scripts) should not be put on Proteus.
It must be sent by email to tamsin.green@bbc.co.uk. Please identify which offer it
is for within the filename.
Delivery of Supporting Audio and Video
Submit via an online file-sharing service to tamsin.green@bbc.co.uk. Audio must
be .mp3 format. Please identify which offer it is for within the filename. You do
not need to include audio for returning series as we already have access to the
programmes.
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1130 Comedy: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Reference number: 47013
Caroline Raphael
Duration: 28
Transmission period: April 2015 to October 2015
Guide price: 11,300
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition: We will put
two or three new titles into development only, alongside returning series.
This is because of the high number of returning series in this slot (see General
Notes on Comedy & Entertainment above).
Please read the General Notes on Comedy & Entertainment first.
This slot introduces a lighter note to the mid-morning schedule.
It is the main slot for situation comedies, entertaining light dramatizations and
comedy dramas. We will also broadcast sketch shows and other new formats.
Shows recorded in front of an audience bring energy and warmth to this time of the
day and repeat well at 1830.
This round the slot is only open for the following submissions:
Programmes from those departments with an output guarantee.
and / or:
Series for recommission. This applies to all series due to be broadcast before
the end of September 2014.
and / or:
Audience situation comedies.
Audience sketch shows with experienced performers and writers

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Audience Comedy Dramas

This is the challenge for writers for this slot this round.
A strong central character or double act defines many of our best loved and recognised
comedies on Radio 4. Indeed the same might be said of most genres of comedy.
Gloriously egotistical, hopeless, dysfunctional, delusional, exasperating, solipsistic and
infuriating but equally charming, endearing, hopeful, optimistic .
Listeners have and continue to have enjoyed the company of Clare trying to do good in
the community, shared recipes with Damien Trench in and out of his kitchen. They have
tuned into Count Arthur Strongs Radio Show and listened from the touchline to the
sporting legend that is or was Dave Podmore. They have spent a week with Ed Reardon.
These characters control the action. They are absolutely at the heart of the programme.
Listeners latch onto them they talk to us about them by their first name. They are all
contemporary characters reflecting parts of own lives back to us.
As acting parts, they woo the best of our comedy actors to the network.
As it happens none of the above are double acts; although the presence of superb
supporting characters beautifully cast and played are essential to their success. But a
new partnership would be equally welcome.
Offers must be audience shows as the sound of laughter is a boon at this time of the day
and it also makes repeating them into the 1830 and other slots more effective.
We will put two or three new ideas into development.
Diversity
We are not looking for:
Comedy Chat shows
Anything set in the past or recent past
Topical comedy
Comedy crime
Spoofs or parodies of television or radio programmes or formats or programmes

about those who work in the media or creative industries
Series set in a work place
Serials
21
1830 Comedy: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Caroline Raphael
Duration: 28
Transmission period: April 2015 October 2015
Guide price: 11,300
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition (i.e. not
guaranteed to any supplier): We will put two or three new titles into development
only, alongside returning series.
This slot provides a variety of energetic as live entertainment formats performed and
written by the best of the experienced and newly established talent for early-evening
listeners, many of whom have arrived home from work or are still travelling. It is also a
recognised entry point for certain listeners new to the network and is popular with
replenishers - the 35 to 54 year olds - as they are available to listen at this time of day.
This is not the slot to test the boundaries of taste or form.
and / or:
Series for recommission. This applies to all series due to be broadcast before the
end of September 2015.
and / or:
Scripted comedy to be recorded in front of an audience. We will only put a very
small number of such ideas into development each round.
and / or
Single programmes featuring major comedy talent who cannot commit to a full
four or six-part run.
Diversity
22
What we are not looking for:
Quizzes these are placed at 1330 but we are not currently looking for new titles.
Topical and satirical shows - we already have The Now Show and The News
Quiz at 1830.
Interview / chat show formats. We have several here and across the network all
vying for very similar guests.

about those who work in the media or creative industries.
Serials
Stand Up Shows
Impressionists
Improvised shows
Panel Shows
Audiences
Programmes at 1830 will be recorded with an audience. The act of sharing laughter with
the studio audience enriches and energises the listening experience at this busy time of
the evening.
You may hear programmes broadcast at 1830 without an audience; these will almost
exclusively be repeats from other slots.
23
Late Night Entertainment 2302: Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday
Caroline Raphael
Duration: Mostly 28, some at 14
Transmission period: April 2015 October 2015
Guide price: 11,300 (28) 5650 (14)
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition (i.e. not
guaranteed to any supplier): We will put two or three new titles into development
only, alongside returning series.
What this slot is for:
This slot will remain a performance space for those with an idiosyncratic voice who
through entertainment, performance or conversation want to explore the world in a
way not afforded by other parts of the schedule at a time of the day when listeners are
prepared to see the world differently.
It will continue to be a safe space in which less experienced talent can find their radio
legs and where established talent can try something new.
We encourage programmes that play with genre, form and sound in a clever and
entertaining fashion for intelligent and curious listeners.
Short form programmes with a simple but highly imaginative centre and first class writing
have worked particularly well at 2302.
Careful consideration should be given to how audiences and location might enhance the
show.
In order to aid development we will also continue to develop a few titles late night with
an eye to eventually moving them, if they prove to be successful, and appropriate, to the
daytime slots.
24
and / or:
Series for recommission. This applies to all series due to be broadcast before the
end of September 2015.
and / or:
Surprising ideas of high imagination and inventiveness that really refresh the
schedule at this time of day. We will put two or three such ideas only into
development.
Diversity
We are not looking for:
Chat or interview shows. We have several.
Panel Shows

about those who work in the media or creative industries.
Topical satirical programmes, as there is a full range of these scheduled at 1830.
Studio based monologues as this programme follows Book at Bedtime, these

are discouraged and should always be discussed with the commissioning editor
before they are offered or too much development has been done on them.
Serials
25
ALL PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED IN OR SINCE THE LAST ROUND

Please note this list is prepared for producers use only to facilitate clash checking
talent and ideas. The list is subject to change for all sorts of reasons.
We are including a list of programmes commissioned, shortlisted or agreed for pilot.
Please check earlier Commissioning Guidelines for previous commissions.
You are advised to match your idea against programmes listed for all comedy slots.
Returning series are in bold.
1130 Comedy
Believe It
Comedy Drama
Richard Wilson's "Radiography" returning for a third
series. Written by Jon Canter.
Blofeld and Baxter: Memories of Test

Match Special
Conversation
Two of Test Match Special's finest bastions have
joined forces for a side-splitting insight into 40 years of
broadcasting.
Boswell's Lives
Scripted Comedy
Boswell does for other legends what he did for Dr.
Johnson. Written by Jon Canter.
Clare in the Community
Scripted Comedy
A further series about Clare Barker, the Social Worker
with a dedicated social conscience - unless it's
inconvenient.
Cleaning Up
Scripted Comedy
We spend the night with a team of night cleaners who
work in a Manchester office block. Written by Ian
Kershaw.
Deborah Frances-White's Risky

Business
Stand Up
Four extraordinary true life stories. Each tale sees
Deborah roll the dice with her own life.
Hobby Bobbies
Scripted Comedy
Our local community support officers are back on their
beat. Written by Dave Lamb.
26
On The Rocks
Scripted Comedy
Continuing the adventures of the inhabitants of pre-war
Scilly Isles St. Martin's. It's 1938 and the threat of war
is looming large. Written by Christopher William Hill.
Shush!
Scripted Comedy
They are closing libraries throughout the land but,
somehow, this one is surviving. What is the secret of
its success? Written by Morwenna Banks and
Rebecca Front.
So On & So Forth
Sketch Comedy
Gentlemen of sketch 'So On & So Forth' present a live
audience sketch show.
Start/Stop
Scripted Comedy
Do you really want to know what your other half is
thinking? The sometimes dark inner and outer view of
marriage and relationships. Written by Jack Docherty.
The Architects
Scripted Comedy
A comedy series set in a struggling architects' practice
based in London. Written by Jim Poyser and Neil
Griffiths.
Who Does Dave Podmore Think He Scripted Comedy

Is?
2014 is the thousandth anniversary of a game invented
by a Podmore, which our own Pod has resented
playing ever since. Written by Christopher Douglas,
Nick Newman and Andrew Nickolds.
1830 Comedy
Chain Reaction
Conversation
A chain of interviews where one week's interviewee
becomes the next week's interviewer.
Best Behaviour
Panel Show
Holly Walsh has impeccable manners. Not so sure about
her guests.
Britain Versus The World
Panel Show
Chairperson Ed Byrne (Irish) with Hal Cruttenden (English)
and Henning Wehn (German) are joined by the cream of
international comedians to sort it out once and for all.
27
Chat Show Roulette
Improvisation
The chat show where our 'guests' have no idea what they
are going to be asked next. Hosted by Justin Edwards.
Dilemma
Panel Show
Sue Perkins presents the next series of the show that gets
to the heart of modern morality,
Don't Make Me Laugh
Panel Show
David Baddiel challenges his guests to not make us laugh.
Heresy
Panel Show
Challenging the unthinkable.
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

In Transit
Scripted Comedy
The Idiot Bastard Band (Ade Edmundson, Neil Innes,
Rowland Rivron and Phill Jupitus) are on tour and may be
coming to a town near you. Hopefully not. Written by the
band with Mark Evans.
It's a Fair Cop
Stand Up
Serving policeman and comic Alfie Moore challenges his
audience to be police officers for one night as he takes
them through a real-life scenario and asks them what
they'd have done in his shoes.
Jocelyn
Sketch Show
Jocelyn Jee Esien stars in her own audience sketch show,
presented and linked by her playing herself and full of new
characters with a couple of returning favourites.
Just a Minute
Mark Steel's In Town
Stand Up
A further series of the award winning show that travels
around the country, researching the history, heritage and
culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their
uniqueness.
Meet David Sedaris
Stand Up
More stories and diaries from the keyboard of one of
America's finest satirists.
28
Mooney's Law
Scripted Comedy
A small corner of the British Armytucked away in an
office, somewhere. Written by Chris Martin and Geoff
Northcott.
My Teenage Diaries
Conversation
Rufus Hound wants you to share your teenage diaries with
him and the entire Radio 4 audience!
Paul Sinha's General Studies

(w/t)
Stand Up
Paul Sinha casts his fearsome eye over another aspect of
contemporary life.
Reluctant Persuaders
Scripted Comedy
Can this group of advertising gurus persuade us to buy
anything? Written by Robert Frimston and Edward Rowett.
The Casebook of Max and Ivan
Scripted Comedy
Private detectives for hire. Written by Max Olesker and
Ivan Gonzalez.
The Museum of Curiosity

The News Quiz
The Now Show
The Unbelievable Truth
Panel Show
Are our panellists passing lies off as truths?
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang Ups
Stand Up
Enjoy a bit of legal phone hacking as we listen into a
second series of Tom Wrigglesworth's weekly calls home
to his parents in Sheffield.
What Does the K Stand For?

Series 2
Scripted Comedy
Young Stephen K Amos is still growing up in the 1980s.
Written by Jonathan Harvey and Stephen K Amos.
The Brig Society
Sketch Comedy
Marcus Brigstocke returns to tell us what he thinks about
life today using a finely tuned combination of stand up and
sketches.
29
Late Night Entertainment 2302

2525
Sketch Comedy
The audience sketch show set a minimum of 500 years
from now.
Andrew O Neil; Pharmacist Baffler
Stand Up
Confounding expectations and preconceptions,
Andrew O'Neill uses his own personal experience he
examines sexual and gender identity, what they are
and how we get them.
Before They Were Famous
Sketch Comedy
Agony Aunt letters from Ernest Hemingway, Butlins
travel reviews from Cormac McCarthy a political
manifesto by the young JK Rowling and a car manual
written by Dan Brown....a fascinating glimpse into the
embryonic development of our best-loved literary
voices. Written by Ian Leslie.
Best Wishes by Richard Marsh
Scripted Comedy
Richard is a poet who writes rhymes for greetings
cards, whose constant worrying and vivid imagination
means he over-thinks everything leaving him incapable
of making the right choice.
Colin Hoult's Carnival of Monsters
Sketch Comedy
Monsters lurk everywhere in the most surprising
places.
Festival Of The Spoken Nerd
Stand Up
A wise lollop through the underlying realities of our
universe from the brain squad that is - Festival Of The
Spoken Nerd
Hannah Gadsby Speaks from her Art
Stand Up
An irreverent look at how the language of art has
developed over the past 600 years.
Hell Is A City
Drama
Cult classic of British crime fiction, set in Manchester in
the 1950s.
John Kearns - The Ticket
Scripted Comedy
Combining fantastical internal monologues, and his
painful conversations with others, a tiny glimpse into
the life of a mundane man.
30
John Moloney: Gospel (w/t)
Stand Up
Working class Londoner, John Moloney, would like to
share with the listeners his finely nuanced observations
of life.
June & Jean
Scripted Comedy
Character comedy series developed from Croft &
Pearce's Suicidal Ladies sketches. Written by Hannah
Croft and Fiona Pearce.
Liam Williams
Stand Up
A new show for Radio from the pen of storyteller and
comedian Liam Williams.
Life of Barry
Scripted Comedy
Barry from Watford is trying to write his life story.
Written by Alex Lowe.
Muju
Sketch Comedy
The world's greatest (indeed the world's only) MuslimJewish comedy sketch group.
Nurse
Scripted Comedy
They call them Service Users, our Nurse prefers to call
them her patients. Join our Community Psychiatric
Nurse on her sometimes sad and bewildering but
mostly funny daily rounds. Written by Paul Whitehouse
and Dave Cummings.
Seekers
Scripted Comedy
Down at the job centre Stuart and his mates are still
waiting for a job. Written by Stuart Burge.
Small Scenes
Sketch Show
Daniel Rigby, Sara Pascoe, Mike Wozniak and Henry
Paker take us into the nooks and crannies of
contemporary Britain.
Tim Key's Late Night Poetry

Programme Series 3
Scripted Comedy
Tim Key's with sometimes baleful support from Tom
Basden attempts to deliver his anarchic 'poetry'
programme.
31
Sunday Comedy
The Rest is History
Panel Show
The time has come, Frank Skinner said, to talk of
many things: of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax of cabbages - and Kings. A new panel show about
history.
The Write Stuff
Panel Show
James Walton challenges both the knowledge and the
writing skills of his literary guests.
32
4.2
SPECIALIST FACTUAL BRIEFS
ARCHIVE ON 4
Mohit Bakaya
Commissioning Assistant: Shauna Todd
Eligibility: We invite proposals from BBC departments and independent production
companies who can clearly demonstrate considerable experience in radio or TV
documentary production at both producer and executive producer level.
If you have not previously made programmes for Radio 4, you should include your
production track record at the end of the long synopsis in your final offer.
Slot: Saturday, 2002
Duration: 57
Transmission period: April 2015 March 2016
Guide price: 8,000
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition: 23
EDITORIAL GUIDE
Archive on 4 has become an important part of the Radio 4 schedule. It has evolved
into a classy storytelling hour using the archive, rather than a simple showcase for
archive material. We are looking for ideas that maintain the quality and range of
subjects in this Saturday night slot.
Story is key here. The best Archives on 4 deploy analysis, argument, wit,
revisionism, new interviews and authorship along with compelling archive material.
Here are some pointers that may prove helpful when putting your offer (and
programme) together:
This strand should include a wide variety of ideas: individual life stories or
biographies, cultural, scientific, social, political, sporting or entertainment
history.
33
The authority, charisma and energy of the presenter are all vital to the
success of programmes in this slot. The presenter needs to actively engage
with the archive and do more than simply link clip A to clip B.
One of the challenges for those making programmes in the Archive on 4 slot
is to tell stories that can sustain the hour. Proposals should set out how the
idea justifies a 57 minute origination, has enough twists and turns to keep the
listener engaged.
Dont forget this goes out on Saturday night . Programmes should seek to
entertain and engage, as well as inform and educate.
Programmes can include new interviews, where appropriate, but the slot is
not funded or designed to feature a large amount of new material. You are
also allowed out of the studio on occasion!
Please think hard about whether your idea is really an Archive on 4. Too
many offers come in where the bulk of archive available is written or
where the fact that some new archive has come to light becomes the
sole reason to submit to this slot. Offers should demonstrate why the
story is best told through audio archive.
Archive sources beyond the BBCs have worked well. Indeed, some of these
are better suited to providing longer inserts than much of the BBC News
material. But beware offering programmes simply because the archive has
become available.
There will always be a place for simpler programmes that just make use of
fantastic archive without much else besides, but the archive needs to be just
that fantastic!
In the past, we have had too many anniversary pegged programmes that
move gently, but rather predictably, through their story, offering few new
insights. If you are submitting an anniversary pegged proposal do say how
you might introduce surprise and challenge expectations.
When choosing the presenter do think carefully about how his/her voice would
contrast with the type of archive that will dominate the hour.
Be mindful of the cumulative effect of an hour of very old archiveit can make
listening hard work!
We could do with more women presenters in this slot. And more ethnic
diversity too.
Please indicate whether the presenter has been involved in the development
of the proposal.
34
Downloads
Radio 4 may wish to include programmes from this slot in one of its downloads. With
your agreement, the Radio 4 Interactive team would publish the download from the
supplied programme. Radio 4 will meet any additional clearance costs attributable to
the download. When we ask for your agreement to the download, we'll also ask for
an estimate of clearance costs to enable us to decide whether it is practical to
proceed.
SOME PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED IN THE LAST ROUND

The Stranger in the
Mirror
Atlantic Crossing
Fail Again, Fail Better
Rebel Rebel (Cricket
Tours)
The Eccentric
Entrepreneur
Malled: 60 Years of
Undercover Shopping
Imagining the Audience
Wehrmacht Voices
The meaning of life by
AJ Ayer
Angus Wilson: Dead
and Buried?
Dark Horse: An Alec
Guinness Archive
Sentimental Journey
Singing Together
The Interviewer Stole
The Show
BURROUGHS AT 100
JOAN LITTLEWOOD
AND THE PEOPLE'S
THEATRE
Militant and the City
that Dared to Fight
Michael Blastland traces the interplay of public perception and medical

struggle with autism since the 1940s.
Christine Finn takes the last of these evocative aural journeys, tuning in
to pilots, controllers and those who listen in, overhearing other sounds of
Atlantic crossings.
Examines what happens when the personal and sociological value of
stuffing up is taken from us.
Jonathan Agnew looks back at the Rebel Tours of 1982-90 and discovers
what happened to those who decided to risk their careers and reputations
in exchange for hard cash.
Dominic Sandbrook tells the story of the man behind the earliest
commercial radio successes that gave Reith's BBC a fright
Will Self visits an out-of-town mall of the mind.
Who did early broadcasters think they were talking to?
Sean Street explores an extraordinary Nazi sound archive held here, but
never before heard by British listeners, and scarcely anyone else.
Twenty-five years after his death, this programme explores what Freddie
had to say about meaning of life, the universe and everything through his
regular appearances on television and radio as well as his newspaper
columns.
What makes a reputation endure? DJ Taylor offers an erudite and
amusing thesis on why the quality of the writing alone isn't always
enough to ensure survival
Alistair McGowan reveals the private side of Alec Guinness.
Gyles Brandreth investigates 250 years of sentimentality.
Jarvis Cocker uncovers the history of a much-loved schools radio
programme and charts the influence it had on the musicians of today.
Lynn Barber examines the rise of New Journalism, a style of news
reporting that dared to interpret, ruminate and reflect on the situation in
focus.
Iggy Pop creates an intimate portrait of William S. Burroughs on the
100th birthday of America's most cataclysmic author
Richard Eyre celebrates Joan Littlewood's centenary with a magnificently
illustrated and entertaining profile of the woman who changed British
theatre.
How did the popular account of Militant shape the way that Britain sees
Liverpool and the way the city sees itself?
35
Wars, Lies and

Audiotape
Gone With the Wind: A
Legacy
Meeting Myself Coming
Back, Series 6
You Are Feeling
Sleepy...
The Benjamin
Broadcasts
50 years on, historian D.D. Guttenplan explores what really happened in

the Gulf of Tonkin on August 4, 1964
75 years on we use exclusive never before broadcast archive recordings
with the cast and crew to help assess just how big Gone With The Wind
really was.
Public figures replay their own sound archive and use the experience to
re-evaluate their lives and careers.
Louisa Foxe delves into the extraordinary history and compelling science
of hypnosis.
The first ever English-language recreation of the Benjamin broadcasts,
this programme goes on the trail of their author - a Jewish Marxist who
killed himself rather than fall into the hands of the Gestapo.
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
List of possible subjects / themes to be covered
Clear details of audio archive available and whether access has been secured
Treatment
CVs of presenter and producer
NB: Where the programme is to comprise clips of archive recordings/pre-recorded

material, details of ownership and availability of rights should (wherever possible) be
provided. If no preliminary enquiries have been made, this should be stated. As far
as entire or complete programmes are concerned (i.e. where we would normally
expect to take a licence to broadcast), details of availability of broadcast rights,
ownership and price per broadcast must be provided.
36
The Specialist Factual Documentary

Mohit Bakaya
Slot:
Monday
Sunday
Tuesday
2002
1330
1602
Duration: 28
Guide price: 8,300
EDITORIAL GUIDE
This is the 28 politics, history, current/social affairs documentary slot.
This is a place for important political and current affairs stories, emerging
trends, and big or revisionist history that is relevant to today. The Specialist
Factual Documentary should explore the issues and stories that will help the Radio 4
audience understand better the world they inhabit. One of the important roles of this
slot is to provide context forming documentaries that complement the rest of the
schedule and News output.
The key to success here is pitching documentary ideas that go beyond what
Radio 4 does week in, week out through its strands and news sequences. We
cannot emphasise this point enough; it is the single biggest reason ideas do
not get through.
Some further guidance:

37
As stated, programmes or series that deepen our understanding of the world

and events are valued here.
Revisionism is welcomed here - documentaries that uncover new evidence

about the past or feature new arguments challenging the received wisdom
regarding a historical event or period.
Sometimes this slot is used to tell quite complicated stories. Where the
subject matter is dense, proposals should suggest ways in which actuality and
texture will be used to give the audience time to absorb and reflect. Too often
evening features go in assuming too great a level of background knowledge
and then travel at a pace that is unrealistic for an audience that is often doing
other things whilst listening. Sometimes, less is more.
Please consider UK history as well as foreign. We have Crossing Continents

immediately after the Monday slot half the year.
More polemic and thesis driven programmes and series would be welcome in
this slot.
Note that documentaries commissioned here go out in a variety of slots.
Beware anniversary pegs. They are rarely sufficient in their own right.
Most importantly, think why this story should be told in long form
documentary and would not be best covered as an item or series of
items on a regular Radio 4 strand. Listen to the other strands that sit in
the evening like Analysis, In Business, Crossing Continents, File on
Four and the Report.
Where your story is very specifically located please explain how you will make
documentary of interest to a national audience.
We will also take reactive ideas in this slot.
We are keen to encourage more women and people from ethnic communities
as presenters in this slot.
Please indicate whether a named presenter has been involved in at proposal

stage.
Where the series is big enough we may want to explore the possibility of a
book spin off. However, where there is a pre-existing book deal involved, this
MUST be flagged up in the proposal.
Radio 4 reserves the right to commission some of the individual ideas and
schedule these under an umbrella with work from other suppliers.
Downloads
38
proceed.
Can Peter Mandelson
Save the
Republicans?
'Good News is No
News'
Look What They Did
to My Schlong, Ma!
Walking Round in
Circles
Thatcher's Mad Monk
or True Prophet?
Burying Lenin
Black Britain
Love Your Country?

The Special
Relationship
Disabled and Broody:
My Impossible Choice
The Crime
Conundrum
The Invention of
Brazil
Night Hospital
Machiavelli - Devil or
Democrat?
Keeping It Real
Invalid Password
Fear Of The Brain
What could today Republicans learn from the 1980s struggle in the
Labour Party?
The deep (and slowly growing) popular frustration with the
overwhelming negativity of the news agenda
The ancient practice of male circumcision has recently pitted
Western liberal rationalism against unlikely allies This explores the
ties that bind and the fault lines of liberal anxiety.
Acclaimed Northern Ireland poet Nick Laird returns home to consider
the culture of marching.
In the comment after Baroness Thatcher's death, few mentions were
made of Sir Keith Joseph - yet he made Thatcher's revolution
possible.
With increasing calls for Lenin's burial, Daniel Sandford explores
what lies behind the debate. Should Russia's revolutionary hero
finally be put to rest along with his ideas?
Gary Younge meets people from African and Caribbean
backgrounds, their friends and family, and explores what it's like to
be young, British and black today.
In a year that could see Scottish Independence and the
fragmentation of the Eurozone, Professor Sir David Cannadine
presents provocative new thinking about the nation state.
Peter Hitchens re-examines the relationship between the USA and
UK.
A documentary from Julie Fernandez. Drawing on her own
experience, she explores an agonising decision: whether or not to
have children, if it means passing on disabilities?
Should policymakers try harder to escape the rhetoric of "tough" or
simplistic views of the causes of crime?
Misha Glenny continues the successful format with this history of
Brazil.
Investigates the troubling concerns about how hospitals often
function poorly at night and at weekends
This programme explores Machiavellis lesser known role as the
bridge between ancient Rome's republic, the renaissance city-state
of Florence and republicanism today.
Comedian and author Jane Bussmann is on a quest to discredit the
cult of authenticity.
Tim Samuels presents a social history of the password as we
prepare for its demise and ask what can protect us online?
What is the reality of the emigration of skilled people? Research
39
Drain
indicates that the UK has benefitted from a "brain gain" in the last
decade, as young academics have returned here from abroad.
PROPOSALS TO INCLUDE
Synopsis of story
Short description of characters
Description of style of presentation and treatment of subject matter
Reasons why we should hear this programme now
Where you are seeking one of the earmarked innovative commissions an

outline of how you will approach the subject differently.
40
SCIENCE DOCUMENTARY
Mohit Bakaya
documentary production, preferably with a track record in science, at both producer
and executive producer level.
Where your offer is journalistic, we expect a proven track record at both producer
and executive producer level.
Slot: Tuesday/Wednesday 2102
Duration: 28
Guide price: 8,100
Estimated number of programmes available to open competition: 10
EDITORIAL GUIDE
Scientific discovery and technological innovation are changing our world at a rapid
pace, and this is a place to make programmes that help our audience understand
how these changes will affect their lives.
These will mostly be built feature/documentary-style programmes which will reveal
areas of discovery, new developments or issues in science. However, there is also
opportunity for well told history of science here, especially when the past shines a
light on contemporary events.
Please note we also have topical weekly magazine strand Inside Science, as well as
the feature series Frontiers, which explores big ideas and developments in science.
Also, please note that there have been two new additions to Radio 4s science
portfolio The Life Scientific and Inside Health.
41
We will also consider some natural history material here - features which reflect the
inter-relationship between the animal kingdom and the environment as a whole. But
please be mindful of the Natural History Units output on Radio 4.
We understand that, at this stage, it is harder to think about treatment than content,
but please be aware that offers that clearly explain how they will use location,
actuality and other techniques to liven up the airwaves in the evening, will be warmly
received. Clearly, some stories are best told in a more studio based, talking heads
format, but we are keen to make the evening schedule more lively and engaging.
Some further guidance.
Think carefully about what Radio 4 already does in this area and what science
might be covered by returning strands. Too many offers are simply ideas
that would sit best as a 7 minute item in a magazine programme.
The history of science can work well here, especially revisionist history
and/or sometimes where the story involves a compelling human
dimension.
Please take special care when writing your proposal to show how you will
make the story come alive for the (non-scientist) audience at home; this is of
particular importance when dealing with the non-human sciences.
We should not shy away from complex science here, but need to continue to
work on ways of making this accessible (proposals should address this).
Whilst ideas about health and the environment are welcome here, producers
should also bear in mind that Tuesday at 2102 is dedicated to health and
Costing the Earth runs in this slot for half the year.
of the proposal.
Radio 4 reserves the right to commission some of the individual ideas and
schedule these under an umbrella with work from other suppliers.
Downloads
proceed.
42

At Death's Door
Chrysanthemum
Into the Abyss
Personality
Politics
Save the Moon!
The Listeners
Are You Sitting
Comfortably?
How
To
Dismantle
a
Nuclear
Power
Station
Heal Thyself: A
History of SelfHelp
New advances in resuscitation science and how doctors are reversing

the established process of death.
Expands the science of the Chrysanthemum through personal narrative,
on location recording and literary fragments.
Investigates the deep oceans enormous potential for both scientific
discovery and commercial exploitation - and the conflict between the
two.
This explores the implications of the latest research connecting political
and social attitudes to underlying psychological traits.
Protect the Moon from governments, big business and space tourists,
argues Apollo historian Professor Chris Riley. Before it's too late.
Listening is about more than hearing, as we discover from people who
'listen for a living'.
New research tells us our sedentary lives are killing us. How reliable is
the evidence? And are we really on the brink of a public health disaster?
2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the decommissioning of Dounreay
Nuclear Power Plant. We explore exactly what's involved in its
dismantling.
An exploration of our urge to better ourselves.
Investigates an overlooked scandal in modern research and finds out

Everything
We
why so many published findings are just not true, and what that means
Know Is Wrong
for us.
Raising
The Dream of Jurassic Park might be on the cusp of reality. But even if
Allosaurus: The the science could deliver, some argue it would be better spent
Dream
of protecting current species from extinction,
Jurassic Park
Deep
Down Geoff Watts investigates a revolutionary technique which could offer a
Inside
paradigm shift in how we understand the brain.
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
Reasons for why we should do this story now
Details of presentation and production style
Series ideas should give an indication of what each edition might include.
43
TUESDAY DOCUMENTARY
Mohit Bakaya
We expect a proven track record in the relevant sphere of journalism at both
producer and executive producer level. If your proposal involves journalism in
foreign countries we expect to see experience of such work in countries relevant to
your offer. Foreign travel to countries where conflict or other factors incur high risk
will require proof of accredited hostile environment training. Radio 4 will not be able
to pay for such training.
Slot: Tuesday, 2002
(repeat: Sunday, 1702)
Duration: 37
Guide price: 10,200
EDITORIAL GUIDE
These programmes run in the File on 4 break. In the past this has been the place
for one-off investigative documentaries covering a large range of subjects: arts,
religion, politics, social affairs, science, health, sport and international stories.
The key to this slot is depth and ambition. This is a place for long term investigations,
big stories of national importance, ground breaking journalism. Its where we run our
exclusive access documentaries. It is also where we will run heavyweight
intellectual projects of enquiry and the biggest foreign stories. In short, this is a slot
that is all about impact.
44
Some further guidance
Whats your story, whats your angle? It is not enough to identify an area of
interest. Too many proposals fail to clearly set out a specific line of enquiry
and are too general in their approach.
If you are piching an access doc, please consider the editorial challenges
proximity might throw up and address how you will meet them. Also, access
needs to have a purpose, not just because you can.
File on 4 sits in this slot for the majority of the year. Think hard about why your
documentary idea wouldnt be the kind of story that the File on 4 team would
get to in the usual course of events.
We understand that it might not be possible to supply all the data for an
investigation at the proposal stage, but the proposal should indicate the
approach taken and the evidence so far that further work can be justified.
This is also a place to run stories that need more space than a 28 doc will
allow but need to be housed in a single narrative rather than being split into a
series.
Careful consideration should be given to the potential resonance of the idea in

a year or mores time, when the programme will likely be transmitted.
We will also take reactive ideas in this slot.
Sometimes this slot is used to tell quite complicated stories. Where the
subject matter is dense, proposals should suggest ways in which actuality and
texture will be used to give the audience time to digest and reflect. Too often
evening features can sound relentless, giving the listener little chance to catch
their breath and absorb all the fascinating things they are being told.
of the proposal.
Downloads
proceed.
45

How Do Eight
Year Olds
Learn History?
The Business
Covenant
Trick or Trust
Calling me
Racist?
Planet London
(w/t)
Rubbish - the
great waste
crisis
Afghanistan:
The Lessons
of War
Gettysburg
Adam Smith sidesteps the war over the history curriculum to find out how
children learn the subject: a question oddly absent from the debate.
Explores the nature of the relationship between businesses and the state
today and asks whether it has broken down in a struggle for survival.
Explores how recent work in evolutionary biology on self-deception and
reciprocal altruism feeds into understanding today's political controversies
and dilemmas.
Mukul Devichand meets people across Britain who have been called
"racist." Through these tales he gradually reveals the increasingly subtle
faultlines of racial animosity in a changing country.
It's 2030, and we imagine a future in which London has just won
independence from the rest of the UK.
The former environment minister Chris Mullin investigates what happens to
our waste and asks if there is a better way of dealing with it.
As Britain withdraws the last of its troops from Afghanistan, Radio 4
provides a definitive military assessment of the 13 year campaign
150 years on, James Naughtie examines the relevance of the Gettysburg
Address for today.
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
Synopsis of story, presenter, locations, number in run
We understand that, at this stage, it is harder to think about treatment than

content, but please be aware that offers that clearly explain how they will use
location, actuality and other techniques to liven up the airwaves in the
evening will be warmly received. Clearly, some stories are best told in a
more studio based, talking heads format, but we are keen to make the
evening schedule more lively and engaging.
46
NEW IDEAS WEDNESDAY FEATURE

Mohit Bakaya
companies who can clearly demonstrate considerable experience in relevant types
of radio or TV production at both producer and executive producer level. If you have
not previously made programmes for Radio 4, you should include your production
track record at the end of the long synopsis in your final offer.
Slot: Wednesday, 2002 (repeat Saturday 2215)
Duration: 43
Transmission period: April 2015 - March 2016
Guide price: 8,000
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition: 12 to 16
EDITORIAL GUIDE
Youve lived This American Life, experimented with Radiolab, and 99% Invisible has
been a revelation, now help Radio 4 create a new format to reinvent factual
storytelling.
As part of Radio 4s ambition to explore the new ideas that are shaping the world we
live in, and publish the best new thinking first, we are creating a new slot for a new
type of programme - one that has the digital experience at its heart.
Each programme should seek to illuminate an area of thinking that is changing, or
will, change our world. However, this is not be a place for a series of academics and
experts intoning around a linking script, but rather an opportunity to engage and
fascinate the audience with a fresh format that presents specialist material in a new
way.
We dont want to be too prescriptive about the content of this new show. It will take
the listener on a journey into the heart of the future, but it may well visit the past to
do so. The subject areas it will explore will probably sit within the specialist factual
area, i.e. politics, the economy, health, science, education, social policy, law,
business, technology, religion etc.
47
*********************************
We expect you to think about emotion as well as intellect as a means to creating
compelling, must listen audio that will appeal both to an audience not necessarily
well versed in speech radio as well as, of course, the traditional Radio 4 crowd.
There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware
of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the
cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the
soul. Arnold Bennett
*********************************
The digital presence and personality of this new programme should be developed as
an integral part of the new format, not as an add-on. To this end, you will need to
think about what the online experience of this show will be and be prepared to fund
this within the guide price (the size of the business should ensure some economies
of scale here). Visualization may be an important element here.
The challenge is to create a brand which can establish an online presence and
impact of its own, but also push the boundaries of radio storytelling.
*********************************
If you decide to pitch for this business, you should be prepared to submit a detailed
description of how your programme will sound, how it will challenge the established
factual radio model and who you would have at the helm (we remain open minded
about the nature of presentation, but it is likely that the successful offer will have
identified a regular presenter(s) for this slot). Your proposal should describe a format
that can work across the new strand.
We are hoping to do something more ambitious than simply recreate the American
radio models mentioned earlier.
Of course it will be hard to fully explain on paper, especially at pre-offers, but you
need to do enough to intrigue and excite us to take it to the conversation stage.
For your final submission it might be a good idea to take a specific subject and
explain in detail how your format will seek to explore the territory.
Once weve gone through the pitching and final offers stage, we will probably
shortlist the most innovative, exciting formats and then invite suppliers to discuss
further with a view to making a pilot.
We will take account of previous experience of relevant creative programme making
when deciding what to shortlist. We also reserve the right to commission more than
one supplier into this slot.
48
WEDNESDAY DEBATE
Mohit Bakaya
companies who can clearly demonstrate considerable experience in relevant types
of radio or TV production at both producer and executive producer level. If you have
not previously made programmes for Radio 4, you should include your production
track record at the end of the long synopsis in your final offer.
Slot: Wednesday, 2002 (repeat Saturday 2215)
Duration: 43
Transmission period: April 2015 - March 2016
Guide price: 8,000
EDITORIAL GUIDE
This slot is home to the Moral Maze for 26 weeks of the year. In the past, we have
commissioned debate formats, such as Decision Time, Leader Conference and
Bringing Up Britain in this slot.
Proposals should also be aware of the Any Questions? format on Friday evenings.
Some further guidance:
A debate at this time should lift the tone of the evening schedule and inject
some energy into proceedings.
Think about light as well as heat. Whilst, it is important that a diversity of

views is heard, debates should be illuminating and not simply seek out heat
for heats sake.
Wit can be an important component even though this is an authoritative

factual programme.
49
This is a chance to develop fresh formats which could turn into returning
strands on the network.
Beware of overly mannered programmes ones where the format is laid out a
little too heavily.
Do keep diversity in mind. Too many of our debates in the past have underrepresented both women and people from ethnic communities.
Do think about how the programme might interact with listeners beyond the
usual Oxford Union or phone-in formats.
One-off debates are possible, though these need to command their place in
this slot in particular rather than being a special edition of a specialist of
magazine programme.
Where a format is proposed and it is not possible to look forward to issues for
2015/16, it would be useful to include an indication of the subjects that would
be covered were this series about to be transmitted.
Presenter
The right presenter who is able to hold the ring with authority and wit is
essential to these programmes.
of the proposal.
The ability to create some kind of sense of event and manage a complex,
often audience-based format, is essential.

Fit For Purpose.
Parliament, the police, the Church; Britain's institutions are struggling. Let's
rethink them.
Leader
Conference
Pass the Turkey
Twizzlers
Would that Work
Here?
Six live, studio debates taking the form of newspaper morning leader
conferences.
Our food has never been safer, yet fear is rife. Columnist Lucy Kellaway
challenges the prevailing panic at a dinner party for her foodie friends.
Four studio debates on something another country does incredibly well, and we
don't in the UK. Could we import the model?
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
Outline of the subject, presenter, locations, number in run
Treatment: breakdown of live vs. taped elements
Audience or studio based.
Format

50
4.3
GENERAL FACTUAL BRIEFS
1102 FEATURE
Jane Ellison
companies who can clearly demonstrate considerable experience in radio features
production at both producer and executive producer level.
Where your offer is journalistic, we will expect a proven track record in the relevant
sphere of journalism at both producer and executive producer level.
If your proposal involves journalism in foreign countries we expect to see experience
of such work in countries relevant to your offer. Foreign travel to countries where
conflict or other factors incur high risk will require proof of accredited hostile
environment training. Radio 4 will not be able to pay for such training.
Slot: Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Friday, 1102
Duration: 28
Guide price: 8,200
EDITORIAL GUIDE
This slot is the place where creative storytelling and journalistic insight combine to
document the world we live in. Audio has a unique role to play as discreet and
unobtrusive observer. It can be thought provoking and provocative, inquisitive and
insistent, witty and human. Increasingly listeners are expecting access to these
pieces to be time shifted thorough listen again and/or download. The wealth of what
51
Radio 4 has to offer at 11am needs to cut through more decisively in a multi-platform
world - finding the best way to ensure that occasional listeners and committed
specialists are more aware of the riches on offer.
These features, whether in series or in one-offs, should reflect a Radio 4 that is
modern, relevant and representative of the contemporary Britain we live in. Finding
fresh ways of reflecting the UK is a key priority. This of course should not discount
ideas that are international in ambition but that will feel relevant to the Radio 4
audience. Your ideas should be borne out of your own passions to both challenge
and inspire our audience's views on modern life and society.
There were so many good programmes over the last year, it is difficult to mention
them all. Lives in a Landscape has continued with high production values and a
wide range of stories. The Young Devolutionaries was an innovative attempt to use
an ambitious format and Bright Black and Looking for Work was recognised for
bringing different voices to the network. The Welsh M1 presented by Cerys
Matthews was beautifully crafted and Maths and Magic widely commented on.
Please check the list below to see the full range of programmes commissioned for
the coming year.
With reactive commissioning now established, we expect to buy about two thirds the
programmes available for 2015/16. Our aim is to get the big building blocks of the
slot in place (returning series and longer term projects) without compromising the
networks ability to react to a fast moving world.
Reactive commissioning last year included Cappucino Careers, Riding the Graphene
Wave and David Attenboroughs My Life in Sound to accompany Tweet of the Day.
In this round we will be looking for series that promise unique access, revelation and
original first-hand testimony. We are looking for a range of approaches to more vivid
feature making. Even at paragraph stage, your proposals should suggest how the
material lends itself to well-crafted and powerful storytelling. Finding the right range
of material to bring lightness of touch and thoughtful treatments or just ingenious
fun is also a challenge at 11am.
This slot is hugely popular with an average of around 800,000 listeners a day, and
always presents us with very tough choices. We are therefore continuing to invite
fewer pre-offers ideas to achieve a more realistic balance between proposals and
the volume of business available.
For that reason we are asking you to submit fewer offers with more development
relevant to the brief behind your best ideas.
Please do not enter more than 10 offers for 11.02 and for Saturday 10.30 slots
combined.
For BBC departments with an output guarantee, please limit your total offers
to twice the number remaining in your guarantee.
Do not exceed two written pages of A4.
52
Please note that this is not the place for arts features. Analytical current affairs
investigations and science documentaries will be more likely to succeed in the
evening. There is less scope for round-up programmes, anniversaries, well known
history and unquestioning nostalgia.
We will continue to look for one or two projects that we can broadcast as series
across the Monday/Tuesday/ Wednesday of the same week.
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
a clear date for any peg
brief synopsis explaining focus of the idea and indicating style and treatment
proposals for series should give an idea of the breakdown into episodes
suggested presenters should be included, where appropriate, with a note on

whether they have been approached or involved in developing the idea
any book deal or other commercial activity linked to the material
Downloads
Radio 4 may wish to include programmes from this slot in one of its podcasts. With
the podcast. When we ask for your agreement to the podcast, we'll also ask for an
estimate of clearance costs to enable us to decide whether it is practical to proceed.
SOME PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED/SHORTLISTED IN THE LAST ROUND
Title
Cold Water California
Tibet Remembered
Hot Gossip!
Negotiating the Maze
AL Kennedy: Holding
Hands
The Georgians:
Restraint, Revolution
and the Right
The Move
Midwives to Be
Short Synopsis
Amidst a crippling recession Ireland's surrounding oceans are starting to
stir. A road trip to consider the surprising boom in the nation's surfing
industry.
A portrait of pre-invasion Tibet built from archived memories of the
British servicemen, climbers and officials posted there in the years
before the Chinese arrived.
We explore gossip's cultural and scientific origins and the industry of
scandal that's built up over the last 200 years.
Daniel Libeskind, negotiates his way through the labyrinthine planning
and construction of a new 'Peace Building and Conflict Transformation
Centre' at the site of the former Maze prison outside Belfast.
The fierce mind of the writer AL Kennedy addresses what some might
consider to be the cosy, swoony act of holding hands.
Right-wing political historian Amanda Foreman marks 300 years since
the beginning of the Georgian period in 1714, in partnership with the
British Library and a major tie-in exhibition.
Those driven by a need for work are packing up their bags and moving
from North to South and South to North, crossing invisible barriers of
Britain.
It's harder now to secure a place on a midwifery degree course than to
get in to Oxbridge. Sarah Taylor follows an intake of midwifery students
throughout their first training year
53
The Life Sub-Aquatic

Born In Bradford
A Gripping Yarn
The Paper
Commonwealth
The Birth of Love
The Culture War
A Needle Pulling
Thread
Vive les Empereurs!
Will the real Napoleon
Bonaparte step
forward?
On Language Location
COLD WAR
CONFIDENTIAL
The Bronze Age Man of
Jodrell Bank
Seven Round a
Cauldron
Meet The Wainwrights
The New Viking
Invasion
Bird-Mothers Of The
Border
FROM RUSSIA WITH
LOVE
Hail Marys and
Miniskirts
How To Hire A Master
The Singing Fish of
Batticaloa
World War Is A Mickey
Mouse Business
Keeping Mum
Same Sex Parents

Vulcan's Revenge (w/t)
Recycled Radio
Three Continents,
Three Generations.
This documentary explores how the lure of the deep is enticing

scientists, astronauts, and holidaymakers into a life sub-aquatic.
Winifred Robinson follows doctors and researchers in Bradford as they
track 14,000 babies and their families in an effort to better understand
childhood illnesses.
Over the last 10 years the world of knitting has been transformed - it's
not just acceptable, it's positively cool!
Historian Joya Chatterji digs back through the dusty Cabinet memos and
long forgotten treaties to unearth the accidents, arrogance and ambitions
that formed the bedrock of the British Commonwealth
Laura Ashe explores the peculiar circumstances of the birth of love, in
the century following the Norman Conquest.
Novelist Lionel Shriver returns to Northern Ireland to find out how the
peace is being waged.
A montage exploration of our relationship with the sewing needle.
As 15,000 humans and horses prepare to recreate the Battle of
Waterloo on its 200th anniversary, Max Cotton goes inside the weird
world of Napoleonic re-enactment.
Series on language in Bhutan and Burma.
Analysis of previously secret intelligence material from M15, dating from
the early post-war period.
The author gives a rare interview to Professor Martin Goodman, Head of
Creative Writing at Hull University about the direct line he believes exists
from the Bronze Age through to today and paints a unique portrait of his
life at Blackden.
Peter White meets the seven youngsters nominated by sporting legends
to light the 2012 cauldron
A portrait of a family and musical dynasty whose relationships have
been played out in public and in song.
Journalist and fertility expert Kate Brian assesses the demand for - and
suitability of - Danish sperm donors.
A tale of two cities, and two groups of women revolting against the
status-quo. Raven-mother or mother-hen: Which role would you
choose?
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, have been mired in
controversy from the beginning, with accusations of spectacular levels of
corruption, and worries that a new mafia war might be brewing.
For every thousand Irish men who came to build England's motorways in
the 50s and 60s, over a thousand women came too. This is their story.
Examining the mysterious world of the head-hunter, in the search for
high-profile candidates for prestigious positions.
Retired correspondent Prince Casinader reflects on his love for the
singing fish, the cultural symbol of his hometown Batticaloa in eastern
Sri Lanka.
Marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Gerald Scarfe
tells the remarkable story of how Walt Disney helped defeat Hitler.
Radio 4 and Radio 1 join forces to meet the young people sacrificing
their school work and social life and altering the course of their lives to
look after their parents.
A mother of two boys and part of a same sex couple, talks to others in
the same position in the UK issues of raising 'happy' children.
April 2015 sees the 200th anniversary of by far the most violent volcanic
eruption in human recorded history. Mount Tambora, Indonesia.
Old radio, recycled.
Thousands of Indians were sent to Kenya by the British from the end of
the 19th century, mainly as construction workers on the railways. On
Kenyan independence, facing discrimination, many Kenyan Indians
utilized their link with Britain to settle in the UK.
54
Rockets in the Desert
My Family and Other

Ibex
Tutor Proof
Lives in a Landscape
Common As Muck
The Mother of the Sea
Steve the Sweep
The War Widows of

Afghanistan
Penelope's Party
Charting the Border
(New Maps of Ireland)
Child Versus Book
The Flaw at the Heart of
the Wirtschaftswunder
The Leadership Gap
Pilgrims' Path
The Indian Girls'
Football Club
The Radio 4 Psalter
The Secretaries Of
Juliet
Wittgenstein's Jet
Churchill's Grave
Tales from the Ringroad
Anti-establishment and
uber-capitalist
With humble duty
reports...
Inside the
Hammersmith Gender
Identity Clinic
Reclaiming the
Swastika
THE WAITING
African Gap Years
With NASA laying off staff and shutting down facilities, an unlikely group
of Internet millionaires, engineers, pilots and thrill seekers is filling the
void and pushing at the final frontier.
Vittorio Sella is regarded by many as the greatest of all mountain
photographers. Andrea Sella goes in search of his ancestor and returns
to the mountains of his childhood to see how the icy world has changed
over the past 100 years.
Peter White delves into attempts to "tutor proof" a whole range of school
entrance exams. Why is it important and with over-zealous parents and
an army of private tutors is there any hope of succeeding?
Alan Dein and selected guest presenters explore documentary stories
that reflect the often surprising reality of living in Britain today.
He is set to wed the 'Quality Street' heiress and yet is, by his own
admission, "as common as muck." Professor Green, compares
backgrounds - his and hers - through his lyrics and life
Quentin Cooper tells the story of the unlikely connection between
English Botanist Dr Kathleen Drew Baker and the booming worldwide
Sushi industry.
Steve Carver spends a week working as a chimney sweep - a recessionbusting business which is booming thanks to the rise in fuel prices, and
the growing trend for log-burners.
A look at one of the saddest legacies of the 10 year war: the many
widows of British and Afghan security forces killed during the conflict.
80 year old artist Penelope Simpson invites her friends round to
decorate her coffin.
The writer Garret Carr charts the Irish border; a place of mythology and
controversy and creates a new digital map for the R4 audience.
Follows a handful of illiterate children on their journey towards being
able to read.
Germany has the oldest population in Europe and the lowest birth rate.
But is Germany ready for mass immigration?
There is a vast cadre of 'leaders', running through the private and public
sectors, who are overpaid and often underperforming. How come?
How you use landscape as a weapon?
Samira Ahmed tells the story of the Indian girls who avoid marriage by
playing football.
Explores the remarkable place of the Psalter in the history of faith and
society.
Every year, thousands of letters arrive in Verona, addressed to "Juliet".
Jolyon uncovers the real stories of love from all over the world.
This programme tells the story of Wittgenstein's earliest research
programme, and tests his theories.
The stories of visitors to Winston Churchill's final resting place - St
Martin's Church in Bladon, Oxfordshire
The undiscovered intrigues and dramas played out on three of Britain's
ring roads
Gillian Tett explores the politics behind the UK's start-up revolution.
Janet Anderson was Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household which
involves writing a daily message to Her Majesty on proceedings in
Parliament.
Inside the largest and oldest gender identity clinic in the world to explore
the issues around gender dysphoria.
Recent archaeological and DNA research is casting surprising new light
on the origins and meaning of the swastika
Fiona Shaw explores the pleasure and pain of waiting in this gloriously
sound rich feature.
This programme reverses the cliche of the gap year in Africa by seeing
life in the UK through the eyes of two Ghanaian students
55
In Defence of Pushy
Parents
Rise of the WILLIES
The Boneyard
Caribbean Domino Club
SANDHURST AND
THE SHEIKHS
Gambo and Franklin
The Last Wish of a

Prince
Shopping with Mother
Lives in a Landscape
Voices from Our
Industrial Past
Out of the Ordinary
The Meeting
Mending Young Minds
Salt
First There Was The
Word
Are Human Rights
Really Universal?'
Laurence of America
A Call from Joybubbles
Linard's Travels
Black inventors
PODCASTING - THE
FIRST TEN YEARS
The Hunt for Future
Classics
The Shetland Dividend
A Family Without A
Child
The Civil Rights Act: 50
Years On, What's
Changed?
Little Chechnya on the
Steppes
Called Up and Sent
Down
A Tale of Two Rivers;
The Tigris and the
Euphrates
Nan-Kids
Mapping the Void
Setting out to defend a much maligned figure within society - the pushy
parent.
The London commuters who come from way outside zone 9.
Health and Safety has come to gravedigging.
Benjamin Zephaniah charts the stories of the Caribbean domino clubs of
London and his hometown Birmingham.
The link between Sandhurst and the current Arab leaders (and their
military chiefs of staff) is examined by Matthew Teller.
A maritime disaster nearly 200 years ago, still remains the greatest
mystery of the Arctic waters, but may be solved as we join a British crew
in a race across the icy seas.
The campaign trail to have the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire's
remains exhumed and returned to India.
Mothers and daughters shopping together - a fantasy of feminine
togetherness but also a real battleground.
Takes small personal stories that reflect a wider narrative from
contemporary Britain.
Unpicking the dark myth of Britain's industrial revolution using accounts
of everyday life written by working people
Jolyon Jenkins investigates those stories that start in everyday
experience but end up in the realms of the bizarre and fantastical.
The drama of two crucial meetings on different sides of the country
which will change lives and reveal truths about life in Britain today.
Following the work of The Department of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital.
The history of one of the world's oldest and most important trades - Salt.
Eexploring the new - and fluctuating - relationships between British
Muslims, books, readerships and the written word.
Exploring the worldwide origins of human rights.
Laurence Okoye has been offered a key spot in one of America's top
football teams: his journey throwing light on the sport itself.
The story of a blind genius whose peculiar talents led to him being first
prosecuted and then employed by the phone company.
Talkative, eccentric and nearing retirement, African American parcel and
baggage attendant Linard deals with everything that the airlines don't.
Tim Pemberton reveals the neglected stories of some remarkable men.
Celebrateing ten years of the podcast, meeting those who paved the
way for its explosion in popularity.
We explore the practice of contemporary collecting.
Alex Salmond wants Scotland to draw an oil dividend from the North
Sea. One part of Scotland has been doing so for 35 years. What lessons
can be drawn from Shetland's experience?
Explores what it means to be childless, how society treats women who
aren't mothers and whether our centuries-old image of childlessness is
keeping up with the facts.
The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination against racial, religious and
ethnic minorities and women. But in the 50 years since, how successful
has America been in eradicating discrimination?
The story of the Chechens exiled by Stalin in 1944.
The story of the Bevin Boys, a secret underground movement that
exposes hidden seams in the social fabric of our country.
Following the two rivers that have done so much to shape human
civilisation.
Quarter of a million children in the UK today are being brought up by
their grandparents.
Just hours after the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, a group of
56
Fan Power
Indira's Children
Hack My Hearing
Essex, My Essex
Oligarchs of
Londongrad
Controlling Our Borders
students started a 24 hour stake-out of a university dorm in Boston,

USA. Each had a laptop and their task was to save lives.
How being a fan has changed.
The children caught up in the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984
relate how they grew up in an India reeling from the shock.
Frank's personal story of losing his hearing, but finding a new world of
'hearing hackers' hoping to create a superhuman experience.
Ian Sansom attempts to reclaim this historic county as the home of
radicals, artists and revolutionaries, from William Morris to Ian Dury.
London is now the destination of choice for Russia's millionaires. Olga
Betko goes beyond all the front page controversies and finds out what
really means for new Russians to settle in Londongrad.
The Government is scrapping the UK Border Agency, but will the new
structure work any better?
57
SATURDAY FEATURE
Jane Ellison
sphere of journalism at both producer and executive producer level.
Slot: Saturday, 1030
Duration: 28
Transmission period:
April 2015 to March 2016
Guide price: 8,200

Estimated number of programmes available for competition in this slot: 20
EDITORIAL GUIDE
The Saturday Feature is an invitation for bold, fun and surprising programmemaking. There is a heavy, though not exclusive, leaning towards popular culture and
high profile presentation.
With audience figures in the region of one million, the Saturday morning feature is a
showcase for accessible, creative story-telling. Programmes here need a good
narrative but at its most successful, the slot explores fresh perspectives on popular
culture in its broadest sense.
A lot of the programmes in this slot have been pegged. That may be inherent in the
way Saturday 10.30 has developed but we are keen to make sure we do not have
too many anniversaries marked here. They are better avoided unless it is a major
moment that can be approached with original thinking rather than a straight retelling
of the story.
58
Over the past year Will Gompertzs interviews with Zeitgeisters and Dont Log Off
both explored stories reflecting digital creativity in different ways. Sanjeev
Bhaskars Bollywood history also broadcast on Asian Network was well reviewed;
Jamie Cullums Piano Pilgrimage and Soweto Kinsch re-imagining his native
Birmingham were also highlights. Punt PI continued his unique investigations and
The Enfield Thunderbolt was an original story crafted with skill and a sense of fun.
Saturday morning can also be the place for big series that connect to events of
national significance popular reminiscence if you like - done in a thoughtful way for
the audience. The Cultural Front series part of World War One on the BBC is one
example Choristers of the Coronation, last year is another.
This is not a specialist arts strand (11.30 weekday is for more specific arts
commissioning).
With Jay Rayners Kitchen Cabinet to be scheduled for part of the year in this slot,
we are looking for a maximum of 25 programmes for Saturday morning with a good
range of voices and presenters.
Strong presentation is important. Please could you indicate clearly whether you have
signed up key talent or whether your idea for presentation is just indicative?
Please do not enter more than 10 offers for 11.02 and for Saturday 10.30 slots
combined.
to twice the number remaining in your guarantee.
Do not exceed two written pages of A4.
PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE
Details of your proposed presenter. Please indicate clearly if the presenter

has been approached or is involved in the creation of the proposal
A clear date for any peg if there is one
A brief episode breakdown for any series
PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED / SHORTLISTED IN THE LAST ROUND

Title
STATE OF GRACE
Short Synopsis
A cultural attempting to understand our contemporary conception of 'grace'.
Likely Tour baht 'at...
As Yorkshire gets ready to host the world's greatest cycle race, the Tour De
France in 2014, we hear the remarkable story of how they won the bid.
Punt PI
Steve Punt reopens Radio 4's very own detective bureau.
D-Day Dames
In June 1944 a group of American women journalists were gathering in

London, pushing to be part of the forthcoming D-Day invasion. It was a
59
turning point in the opportunities for women to report from warzones.

Glad to be Grey
The Cultural Front
Lights, Camera, Akshun!
Proudly grey-haired Mary Beard combs through the history, science and
significance of the hair-colour revolution.
Landmark series charts how the war transformed the arts, drawing on
newly-digitized archives and research to argue that these were years of
rapid cultural response, artistic innovation and technological change.
Sanjeev Bhaskar reveals the long and intimate relationship between
Bollywood and Britain, in a surprising and previously untold story.
Don't Log Off
Alan Dein returns to the world of Skype and Facebook capturing a series of
new and on-going dramas with people in every corner of the globe
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT

PEOPLE
Sandi Toksvig explores a growing industry offering training and advice for
"dealing with difficult people."
Who's a Pretty Boy Then?
The culture and the people of the North East - and their love of budgerigars.
The Art of Keynes
The extraordinary and largely unknown story of how Keynes persuaded the
British government to take paintings in lieu of France's war debt.
J.D. Salinger's Spiritual Quest
Through recently discovered letters, Vishva Sodhi explores how iconic

American writer, J.D. Salinger, maintained a deep and enduring relationship
both with Eastern philosophy and a New York based Swami.
The story of a prescient moment from Jeff Buckley's breakthrough tour of
England twenty years ago.
The Grace of Jeff Buckley

Moulin Rouge - Frou-Frou and
Femmes
A celebration of cabaret and can-can as the Moulin Rouge celebrates 125

years of Frou-Frou and Femmes but also a new era.
The Frequency of Laughter
A social history of the world of radio comedy.
In Search Of The Holy Tail
Marc Riley and some famous friends take off after something that, despite
their best efforts, they stand very little chance of finding.
Zeitgeisters
Series of profiles of the cultural entrepreneurs who are shaping our lives
and defining the very spirit of our age, often without us even knowing it.
Kate explores the parallels between the rebellious Romantic poets and
contemporary rappers, and examines the fusion of influences in today's
vibrant youth poetry scene.
Bandleader Ivy Bensons all-girl big band was the first in Berlin to entertain
the troops at the end of WW11. Melanie Chisholm celebrates Ivy's
achievements with the remaining members of that band.
Cycling's rock star, Bradley Wiggins is in Mallorca. He's joined by real rock
star, cycling enthusiast, Paul Heaton as he trains in Mallorca.
Kate Tempest & The New

Romantics
Ivy Benson: Original Girl
Power
Mallorca and Middle-Aged
Men in Lycra
The Art Of The Loop
The Soul of Ireland
The Folklorist
Matthew Herbert explores the art of the music loop, and the million-dollar
industry around it; and asks whether loops are setting musicians free or
killing creativity.
Parish tours were the only way to get your record heard by the youth of
Ireland in the sixties. We navigate the winding roads of Ireland to discover
the memories of the tours and the music that was played
Folk singer Seth Lakeman travels to New York to meet the man regarded
as the world's leading expert on Folk music, 85 year old Izzy Young
Re-imagining the City - series

2
Passionate and persuasive guides ask listeners to "re-imagine" a city they

think they know.
ALL YOU NEED IS LAB HOW SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY INSPIRED
INNOVATION IN MUSIC
Most histories of pop music stress the role of the creative individuals, but
Midge Ure argues that most of the innovative ideas have come from
technological advances.
60
NARRATIVE HISTORY
Jane Ellison
Slot: Monday-Friday, 13.45
Duration: 14
Transmission period: February 2015 to March 2016
Guide price: 3,100 per episode
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition:
episodes
90
EDITORIAL GUIDE
Narrative history is now established as a major touchstone of Radio 4 broadcasting
attracting reviews and comment. Linda Colleys Acts of Union and Disunion
broadcast in January is the most recent example of the impact the slot can make.
These series are rooted in the unique ability of 15 audio vignettes to captivate and
inspire listeners; they focus on pieces of original source material and connect them
to a broader story.
It is the opportunity to construct chronological, thematic or other narratives from
these brilliant building blocks that makes this slot both challenging and exciting. The
combination of expertise and original authorship with dynamic and imaginative use of
audio offer huge potential for creative and intellectual ambition. These are also
programmes that work well as digital downloads, with short episodes building over a
number of weeks.
In this round we are asking for a small number of proposals for 2015 and some ideas
to develop for 2016. We are looking for original insights into the past across a wide
61
range of subjects - especially as new source material and new methods open up
new avenues of enquiry.
Over the past year, the slot has focused on three thought provoking and illuminating
aspects of UK history. As well as Acts of Union and Disunion Britains economic
history was dissected in Andrew Dilnots Britain in Numbers and Ann McElvoy
analysed British Conservatism last autumn.
Lucy Kellaway told the story of the office in an insightful and fresh way and Peter
Whites series Disability:A New History was packed with revelation and surprise. A
Cause for Carolling was a treat before Christmas and The Ideas that Make Us
presented by Bettany Hughes has captured the imagination.
Coming up will be Martin Sixsmiths History of Psychology and a major new series
on the British Navy for the summer of 2014. The coverage of WW 1 will also be
reflected in this slot with a series of essays Month of Madness and Voices of the
First World War, combining the sound archives of the BBC and IWM over 4 years.
We have also already commissioned proposals on Germany, India and we are
developing an idea about fiction. We also plan a partnership with Kew on the history
of plants.
Not all the series in this slot are of the same length; one or two will be broadcast over
4 to 6 weeks. Other commissions will be around 10 episodes. All narrative history
commissions of 10+ episodes will normally include a weekly 58 omnibus version.
To give the slot variety and to create changes of pace in the schedule over the year,
we also intersperse the history series with short runs of general features
commissioned under the 15 features brief - number 47006.
An offer in this slot should explain why you want to introduce or reintroduce the
Radio 4 audience to the history you are passionate about. Are there new things to
say about it? Is it in some way relevant to today?
We would expect to know who will write and present the series this is key to
understanding how the editorial authority of the project will be guaranteed and how it
will sound on air. We would like to know if you are using an adviser or consultant.
There are many ways of making these programmes giving them texture and drama.
You will need to establish why the 15 format is right for the idea. Atomising complex
subject matter into short episodes has implications for the narrative, the number of
characters or ideas you can introduce to the audience, the level of detail. There are
important structural and dramatic issues to consider. The end result elucidates and
informs without becoming reductive.
We would expect a rough indicative outline of how the series might work across a
number of weeks. We will also consider ideas for a substantial online presence with
interactivity especially for a proposal of scale. So please feel free to include this in
your thinking.
62
To be commissioned in this slot, programme areas or companies will have to

demonstrate that they have a significant track record in the making of major history
series, going beyond the ad hoc documentary. The ability to craft complex
arguments over several episodes will be key, as well as the expertise that will be
brought to the project, either from within the team or through advisers.
The proposal should include:
a clear but not over-detailed synopsis of the idea
an editorial motivation for the events you have chosen
a preliminary sense of how the breakdown into weeks might work
detailed thoughts about authorship and presentation
ideas about treatment
realistic budget assumptions
a proposition for online
NARRATIVE HISTORIES COMMISSIONED
Title
The History of Brazil is Round
Portraits of India
Voices of the First World War
What is a Story?
History of British Food
Narrative History of the Royal Navy
Five Hundred Years of Friendship
London v Paris
Lucy Kellaways History of Office Life
Our Dreams, Ourselves
British Conservatism - The Grand Tour
Acts of Union
Germany
Historic Backdrop
Narrative
History
of
Scottish
Nationalism
In Search of Ourselves The Story of
Psychology
Greenback: How the Dollar came to
Rule the World
A History of Disability
Short Synopsis
David Goldblatt journeys with the ball through a footballing history
of Brazil, the nation where life really is a pitch.
The story of three millennia of Indian civilisation through the
dramatic life stories of the children of the subcontinent both real
and fictional
audio recordings of those involved in the Great War in partnership
with IWM
A detailed analysis of the state of 'The Story', in world fiction
Sheila Dillon takes us through British eating
The Royal Navy has had a crucial role in the story of Britain. This is
its history, told with passion and new insights by Admiral Lord West.
Exploration of how the meaning of friendship has changed over the
last five hundred years.
The gripping story of a battle of two cities, London and Paris, and a
battle of two competing cultures in history
Lucy Kellaway traces the stories of the people who have been at
the sharp end of this new form of economic and social organization.
How our interpretation of dreams has changed from ancient
cultures, via Freud, to contemporary neuroscience.
A journey through the many mansions of our most powerful, but
least discussed, ideology.
As Scotland considers independence, our premier historian of
Britishness examines our 500 year history of unions and disunions.
A History of Germany
John McCarthy uses photographs taken, as a lens through which to
view the broader changes that have swept across the Middle East
The story of the rise of Scottish Nationalism from William Wallace to
the Independence Referendum of 2014.
A thirty-part history of psychology.
How the dollar became the currency of the United States a
process that took the nearly 80 years, and was no easy task.
Peter White presents a history of disability
63
All 15 FEATURES
To avoid confusion, all ideas for 5 x 15 features programmes should be
entered here. If you have an idea that would be better scheduled on
consecutive days, please flag it up in your proposal.
Narrative History series of 10 episodes or more are entered under brief 47169.
Jane Ellison
sphere of journalism at both producer and executive producer level. If your proposal
involves journalism in foreign countries we expect to see experience of such work in
countries relevant to your offer. Foreign travel to countries where conflict or other
factors incur high risk will require proof of accredited hostile environment training.
Radio 4 will not be able to pay for such training.
Slot: Weekdays, 0930 and 1345
Duration: 14
Transmission period: April 2015 to March 2016
Guide price: 3,100
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition (across 0930
and 1345 weekdays): 50 episodes
EDITORIAL GUIDE
The fifteen minute feature can range from the funny, to the provocative to the
challenging - but always clear and coherent. Four or five episodes are preferred but
proposals for occasional single features are also welcome. These features need to
stand out as key building-blocks in the schedule.
64
The short features open up opportunities for audiences to engage with storytelling
with a different rhythm and pace, introducing some new ideas with new voices and
presenters. They can be very powerful, memorable and exquisitely crafted.
The 15 minute programmes are placed in high profile parts of the schedule, often
between well know Radio 4 strands.
They provide a bridge between The World at One and The Archers for
example when there are breaks in the narrative history commissions at 13.45.
Features that change theme and texture are particularly welcome. Please do
not offer too many history ideas so that we can vary the range of ideas at
lunchtime.
Getting On Air: the Female Pioneers and Publishing Lives felt very timely at
13.45 as the debates about women in broadcasting and the future of British
publishing respectively were topical. Europes Trouble Makers was a good
example of a more reactive series. The beautifully crafted Thames Crossings
provided a real contrast with texture and pace
With One to One now a key building block in the schedule, the 15 minute
programmes will also generally be broadcast for half the year at 9.30 am.
Essays and talks have not been commissioned here because of the reading
which follows at 0945. Over the past year, Roger Laws Wow How Did They
Do That and Pop Up Ideas originated at 9.30 am.
It is important that the features should be crafted to stand out whilst remaining
surprising and fresh. We are looking for mix and range as well as clever use of the
form. Ideas with a bit of a twist can work very well. With the long commissioning lead
times, ideas must stand the test of time and not date too quickly. Some slots will be
held back for reactive commissioning.
We expect to be able to repeat programmes between these slots and - when needed
- in other parts of the schedule. Just So Science, and 15 by 15 with Hardeep Singh
Kohli are examples of programmes that have spanned both slots.
To avoid confusion, all ideas for 5 x 15 features programmes should be
entered here. If you have an idea that would be better scheduled on
consecutive days, please flag it up in your proposal.
Narrative History series of 10 episodes or more are entered under brief 47169.
Proposal to include
brief synopsis explaining focus of the idea and indicating style and treatment
proposals for series should give an idea of the breakdown into episodes
suggested presenters should be included, where appropriate, with a note on

whether they have been approached or involved in developing the idea
any book deal or other commercial activity linked to the material

65
LATEST PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED OR SHORTLISTED

Title
CYBERSPACE CEMETERY
THE REAL STORY OF
TECHNOLOGY
Manchester: Alchemical City
Picture Power
Just So Science Series 2
The New Networks
Alice In Carroll-Land
The Sound of Space
The Value of Failure
Quietest New Year On Earth
The Town Is the Menu

World Agony
Lucy Mangan's literary
solutions to the economy
Last Day
Penguin Post Office
Martin Wainwright's Myth of
the North
"Open or wrapped..?"
About A Mountain
James and the Giant Trees
of Strutt
Short Synopsis
An imaginative series of features exploring digital death through part factual
exploration, part fantastical gothic romance.
In its new gallery, Information Age, the Science Museum is using novel
approaches to bring technology to life, focusing on the ordinary people who
used, and adapted, communications technology in remarkable ways.
Jeanette Winterson explores of the story of Manchester.
Five award-winning photographers turn witness to major events.
Vivienne Parry returns with a new series of fascinating scientific tales woven
around more of Rudyard Kipling's memorable Just So Stories.
The power of networks in Britain and bringing together people who think they
don't 'do' networking.
Ruth Padel decodes 5 aspects of Lewis Carroll in the characters from "Alice in
Wonderland" to mark the 150th anniversary of the book's publication.
Solar scientist Dr Lucie Green plays her favourite sounds from space and
describes what these celestial noises reveal about our universe.
Five people with experience of failure talk about the role it played in their life
and how it is regarded in their sphere of expertise.
New Year's Day in Bali, is a day of complete silence. What sounds are left?
Local residents gather round a roving kitchen table to share anecdotes,
insights and ingredients all of which provide a local chef inspiration to design a
signature dish uniquely from, of and about their town.
The doyenne of agony aunts, writer and broadcaster Irma Kurtz talks to 5
agony aunts from around the world to hear the concerns of their homelands.
Lucy Mangan selects five different economic remedies from literature and tries
them out.
Five short stories capturing a strange day - the very last time of going to work.
On a tiny Antarctic island, there's a hut. It's a post office, and every summer it
becomes surrounded by 4000 Gentoo penguins which come here to breed.
I Martin Wainwright will ask how such a limited and limiting identity for the
North evolved?
Bernard Cribbins has agreed to present this series featuring a three day course
on how to run your own Fish & Chip shop.
Charles Emmerson travels around Mount Ararat, charting the stories of the
Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Azeris and Iranians who live in its shadow.
Tree-climber James Aldred explores the lives of five iconic trees.
66
9 OCLOCK SERIES
Jane Ellison
Eligibility: You must be able to demonstrate a track record in production relevant
to your proposal.
Slot: Weekdays, 0900
Duration: 28'
Transmission period: April 2015 to March 2016
Guide Price: 7,000 (interview and studio formats)
Estimated number of programmes available for open competition: 2 or 3 series
EDITORIAL GUIDE
The 9 am slot is one of the most high profile showcases on Radio 4. It is the home of
some of the networks best known, well-loved and long running factual programmes:
Start the Week, Midweek, In Our Time and Desert Island Discs.
Series such as The Reunion, The Long View, Stephen Frys English Delight The Life
Scientific have also established themselves here. And there have been more ad hoc
series such as Voices from the Old Bailey or Public Philosopher. Space will be left
for more reactive commissions like the recent history of the Middle East Uncovering
the Arab World or the MINT season.
As in previous rounds, we will be considering the very best documentary and long
form feature ideas from the material that is submitted at 20:02 and 11:02 into this
high profile slot.
In this round, we are also interested in ideas for a small number of potential new
formats based around interview or studio that might work here. We are keen to
encourage innovative and surprising ways of thinking about the mix at 9 am.
Depending on the idea we might commission a pilot rather than going into
production.
67
We expect proposals to be editorially ambitious with high profile presentation and

where appropriate a multi platform dimension. This slot is broadly based and not
just focused on current affairs.
Please do not enter documentary ideas under this brief as we will consider
some of the offers submitted for other slots for placing here. This brief is
specifically focused on new format ideas for 9am.
Given the scale of the ideas required, we do not expect more than one or two
proposals from any company or department for 9am at pre-offers.
Proximity to Today should also be borne in mind when establishing the tone of a
0900 programme. The style of production, potential power of the material, strength of
the contributors and the promise of revelation will be essential ingredients. How you
will hold the attention of the audience at this key junction should be highlighted in
your proposal.
Please check the full range of strands and series that Radio 4 already broadcasts to
avoid duplication of programmes already commissioned.
Budget
Radio 4 expects to pay the guide price for programmes in this slot so please budget
at that level and use the guide price as the budget. If the expected price differs
significantly from the guide price please discuss it with the commissioning editor
during pre- offers meetings and include a note in the long synopsis of the final offer
explaining the reason.
Podcasts
Radio 4 may wish to include programmes from this slot in one of its podcasts. With
your agreement, the Radio 4 Interactive team would publish the podcast from the
the podcast. When we ask for your agreement to the podcast, we'll also ask for an
estimate of clearance costs to enable us to decide whether it is practical to proceed.
Proposal to include
clear treatment and explanation why the format will sound fresh and new
suggested cast list, suggested presenter(s) and whether he/she has been
approached.
68
SOME PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED / SHORTLISTED IN THE LAST ROUND

The Long View
The programme which examines current events in the light of their

historical precedents.
No Triumph No Tragedy
Posing the questions about disability which other programmes are

too embarrassed, or too politically-correct, to ask.
FRY'S ENGLISH DELIGHT SERIES 7
Another series of the audacious language programme.
A Law Unto Themselves
A series of illuminating and entertaining interviews with some of the

world's most brilliant and influential lawyers.
INSIDE THE ETHICS COMMITTEE
Debate programme about medical ethics, Inside the Ethics

Committee, chaired by Joan Bakewell.
Decision Time
Discussion programme which sheds light on the process by which

decisions are taken and implemented.
Uncovering The Arab World
How decisions made by the great colonial powers in the dying days
of the Ottoman Empire during WW1 created seismic changes which
are still reverberating to this day in the modern Arab World.
A Brave New World
Lives and ideas of three great men, CS Lewis, Aldous Huxley, and
John F Kennedy, who all died on the same day, 50 years ago.
69
4.4 ARTS BRIEFS

Commissioning Assistant:
Tony Phillips
Vanessa Morris & Karen Howe
General Notes for all Arts Features

Consider all of our arts features slots as beautiful open spaces, inviting audiences in
for a huge range of cultural storytelling.
Radio 4 is a destination for curious minds - our audiences have a hunger on the one
hand for stories defined by rigour and clarity and on the other for entertainment and
wit; both have their place. In every case our arts features should be defined by being
original, entertaining and informative we should also of course be striving to reflect
the diverse world we live in subject matter, in presenters and in interviewees
. They can also be global stories and they should shine the spotlight on
establishment cultural output as well as the fringe.
The network has a wide range of daily and weekly arts programmes from Front Row
to Open Book to The Film Programme. It is important therefore to ensure that what
you are offering as a feature is a big enough and bold enough idea to stand alone
outside of our regular arts output. Therefore alongside offering original and
engrossing analysis, Radio 4 could therefore be reimagined as a space for artists to
play and experiment.
So as with the best of any feature-making we are looking for depth, originality and
compelling storytelling. Please dont feel you have to be a slave to the anniversary;
but do feel confident that arts features can and should be award-winning.
70
POPULAR ARTS FEATURE

Tony Phillips
Commissioning Assistant: Vanessa Morris & Karen Howe
Eligibility: You must be able to demonstrate a track record in production relevant to
your proposal.
Slot: Mon 1602, Thursday 1130
Duration: 28
Guide price: 6.2k
Estimated number of programmes available for competition: 30
EDITORIAL GUIDE
Popular arts features offer audiences an opportunity to engage deeply with a single story
or short series of programmes. They are scheduled between general factual features
and You and Yours, this slot then introduces a distinctive note to the mid-morning
schedule by focusing on the eclecticism of modern culture in the UK and around the
world.
We are looking for the most engaging and adventurous single programmes and series.
These will often be driven by a strong narrative and a burning passion to tell stories that
offer audiences fresh insights into aspects of literature, drama, visual arts etc.
We are also looking for opportunities to financially support a select number of ideas that
have accompanying multiplatform components such as film, audio-slideshows and
animations.
Please do not enter more than 10 offers for each of the arts slots.
to three times the number remaining in your guarantee.
71

47165 Popular Arts
Title
In Search of Barney Bubbles
description
The hunt for the truth about the most influential and enigmatic of graphic
designers.
Black is a Country
This two part series explores the musical underground of the Black Power
movement.
Merzman: The Art of Kurt Schwitters
How a leading German modern artist's greatest work was rediscovered in a

barn in Cumbria.
I'm Rather Worried about Jim...
Penelope Keith explores the radio serial Mrs Dales Diary 40 years after it
ended.
The Mystery of the Mystery of Edwin

Drood
Frances Fyfield explores the manuscript of Dickens' last and unfinished

novel.
A Last Excuse Me Dance
The first reunion in 70 years of writer Shirley Hughes and her 1940s dancing
partner
Vic Oliver - The First Castaway

Remembered
David Baddiel explores the mercurial life of entertainer Vic Oliver.
Holy Mackerel - It's My Life!
How Frank Dickens' record-breaking cartoon strip Bristow has survived 60

turbulent years.
Famed For Its Knitting
The life and changing times of Woman's Weekly as it celebrates its

centenary
Writing in Three Dimensions: Angela

Carter's...
Angela Carter's friends, colleagues and admirers remember her innovative

plays for radio
Al Read Rediscovered
Robert Powell explores the recordings of Salford born comedian Al Read.
OSCAR SINGS
Andrew Collins explores how the award for 'Best Song' reflects a changing
film landscape
Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle
How Tarzan has enjoyed a hundred years swinging through the jungle of
popular culture.
The 12 Inch Single
Paul Morley on the 7 inch single's grand relative - the 12 inch - and its peak
in the 80s.
Fever Pitched: Twenty Years On
Nick Hornby on the 20th anniversary of his best-selling football memoir

'Fever Pitch'.
In The Lounge With Rich Morton
Comedian and musician Rich Morton explores the laid-back world of lounge
music.
THE ROAD HOME: REMAKING

HOMER'S ODYSSEY
Architects of Taste
There is Business Like Show
Business
Writing Madness
What the Scandinavians Know About
Children's Literature
Art Disrupted: Damien Hirst and Co
Tom Holland explores the continuing appeal of Homer's Odyssey.

Ian Kelly explores the theatricality and architecture of food and feasting.
Will Young explores the hidden world of industrial musicals.
Vivienne Parry takes her diagnoses of literary heroines into the early 20th
century.
Mariella Frostrup looks at Scandinavian children's literature.
Damien Hirst and co, reflect on the forces that produced a brash, bold group
of artists.
72
Word for Word
Paul Allen examines the use of verbatim eyewitness accounts and legal
evidence in theatre
Jack London's People of the Abyss
Dan Cruickshank re-traces Jack London's 1902 footsteps he made among

the East End poor.
Who's angry now?
John Harris investigates the current state of contemporary British protest

music.
ALTON TOWERS: A JOURNEY

INTO PUGINLAND
Alain-Fournier's Lost Estate
One in a Million
Ampers-Fan
The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Pugin's Gothic masterpiece, Alton Towers.
Julian Barnes and Hermione Lee visit the places which inspired a classic
novel.
One million books given away for free - how did it affect those involved?
Alastair Sooke investigates the history of the ampersand.
Move Over Wodehouse
Mukti Jain Campion reports on the changing reading habits of India's

growing middle class.
The Library Returns
Jonathan Glancey argues that amid closures the public library is also being
re-invented.
Poetry, Texas
The Danish poet Pejk Malinovski stumbles upon a small town in Texas
called Poetry.
Follow Up Albums
Pete Paphides tells the story behind Dexys Midnight Runners' Don't Stand
Me Down.
Miles Jupp in a Locked Room
Miles Jupp investigates the appeal of mind-bending crime novels set in

locked rooms.
It's Fun But Is It Theatre?
Punchdrunk, YouMeBumBumTrain, and other immersive theatre companies

under the microscope.
Pina Bausch - Dance For Your Life

Pump Up the Volume
Slippered Pantaloons
Deborah Bull takes us into the life and work of Pina Bausch's Tanztheater
John Wilson looks at the role of music in professional sport.
If all the world's a stage, how do actors face old age dramas?
Forced Entertainment
Bob Dickinson follows this acclaimed experimental theatre group evolving a

new production.
Staff No Fee: The Other Life of Brian
Barry Johnston explores the early career of the legendary commentator

Brian Johnston.
Stuart: A Face Backwards
Mark Burman strips away the layers of Stuart Freeborn's remarkable life in
movie make-up.
The Uncanny
The Voice of God
The Godfather of Ulster Punk
Ann Widdecombe's Hell Hounds and
Night Hags
Ulster's Forgotten Darling
How has The Uncanny shaped fiction, film, architecture and art?
Ricard Coles on the various ways that the voice of God is depicted, and
what this reveals.
Alan Dein meets figurehead of the Northern Irish punk scene, Terri Hooley
Ann Widdecombe explores the supernatural lore and legend of Dartmoor.
Fionola Meredith goes in search of medieval scholar, author and poet,
Helen Waddell.
73
Raising a Glass to Cheers
Stephen Merchant presents an appreciation of one of America's best-loved

TV sitcoms.
Challenging Kane
Matthew Sweet asks if Citizen Kane should again be voted the greatest film
ever.
The Best of Everything

Steptoe and Son... and Sons
The Magic Theatre of Hermann
Hesse
The Best of Everything - the steamy 1950s novel that was ahead of its time.
Paul Jackson and a team of script writers assess the legacy of Steptoe
& Son, 50 years on
Tracing the legacy of the cult Swiss-German writer Hermann Hesse.
Rock 'n' Roll in Four Movements
Stuart Maconie on rock musicians who combined symphony and pop music
in the 60s and 70s
Lewis' Return Home
The life-story of Ted Lewis, author of the novel which became the popular
film Get Carter
The Floating World of Hokusai
Audrey Niffenegger catches Hokusai's 'Great Wave' to trace his far-reaching

influence...
Mr Jupitus In The Age of Steampunk
Phill Jupitus journeys back to the steam-powered future to party like it's
1899.
Dancing with Mountains
Writer Andrew Greig explores the connections between mountain climbing

and art.
Stir It Up - 50 Years of Writing

Jamaica
Poet Salena Godden considers the impact of her Jamaican heritage on her
literary identity.
Walter Kershaw: The UK's First

Street Artist?
Uncovering the life and work of a pioneering and under-appreciated British

painter
"Messy, Isn't It?": The Life and Works

of Richard Brautigan
Jarvis Cocker's love for one of literature's most extraordinary figures,

Richard Brautigan
True Tales From the Crypt
Roger Luckhurst goes in search of the original Curse of the Mummy's

Tomb...
Big Shot
John Sugar explores an evolving music industry and the changing role of
music manager.
Duration, Duration, Duration
Pop songs are 3 minutes, movies about 90. Grace Dent looks at how
duration shapes culture.
Happy Days: The Children of the

Stones
Writer and comedian Stewart Lee explores the television series Children of
the Stones.
Was Dracula Irish ?
Irish novelist Patrick McCabe explores the Irish influences on Bram Stoker's
Dracula.
In Search of Richard Yates

Scream Queens
Nick Fraser makes the case for rediscovering the work of Richard Yates
Reece Shearsmith meets the female screen stars of horror.
Hollywood on the Tiber
Mukti Jain Campion looks back at the heyday of Rome's most famous film
studios.
IN SEVEN DAYS...Inside a Historic

Campaign
Artist Nicola Green charts her journey to capture images of Barack Obama's
2008 campaign.
Justice between the Covers
Helena Kennedy QC explores the power of law in the pages of classic

fiction.
Tim Key and Gogol's Overcoat
Comedian Tim Key spins his own surreal tale of one of Russia's greatest
short stories.
74
Words on Water
The views of writers who use fishing to explore our relationship with nature
and our place
Expressing Pain
Stuart Flanagan explores how art can help in the consulting room.
Mockery with Monocles: The

Western Brothers Revealed
Geoffrey Palmer celebrates variety act The Western Brothers.
When Harry Potter Met Frodo: The

Strange World of Fan Fiction
Naomi Alderman investigates the sub-culture of internet fan fiction
The Beat Hotel

Songs of the Sacred Harp
The Physicist's Guide to the
Orchestra
Blackout Ballet
Mr X: Julian Maclaren-Ross
Stage Door
How a down-at-heel Parisian hotel became the world's avant-garde

headquarters.
Cerys Matthews visits Alabama to uncover a sacred choral tradition.
Trevor Cox on the physics behind the way orchestral instruments make their
unique sound
Ismene Brown uncovers the story of Mona Inglesby and International Ballet.
Did drink and drugs rob Britain of a literary genius?
Rachael Stirling reveals strange tales from theatre's back doorstep.
Neil Tennant's Smash Hits Christmas
Neil Tennant recalls his stint, from Christmas 1982, on pop's most
successful magazine.
Grease Was Our World
Grease has entertained audiences for over 40 years, Alan Dein searches for
its true roots.
Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale
Beatrix Potter's The Tailor of Gloucester restored with its original Chistmas
music
Bute: Dreams of the World's Richest

Man
Jonathan Glancey on the amazing cultural legacy of the third Marquis of

Bute
Roger, The Eagle Has Landed
Mark Radcliffe recalls the influential life of cult DJ and club promoter, Roger
Eagle.
Forgetting a Revolutionary: Lawrence

Durrell at 100
Johnny Cash and the Forgotten
Prison Blues
A Menace to Society
Cornershop
Tim Marlow encourages us not to forget the novelist Lawrence Durrell.

Danny Robins explores the little-known story of Johnny Cash the prison
reformer.
Lifelong fan Danny Wallace celebrates the Beano comic in its 75th
anniversary year.
The story of a ground breaking record, its impact and its legacy.
The Art of Sequencing
Susan Marling reports from the Hudson Valley on the painters that shaped
America.
Guy Garvey on the challenge of turning a collection of songs into a single
piece of art.
The World Cup for Writers
Joe Dunthorne's England Writers Football Team plays against the Scotland
Writers Team.
Lyrical Journey
How The Proclaimers' song 'Sunshine on Leith' became an anthem for a

changing city.
Blind Date With Runyon
Peter White hears about Damon Runyon, who captured New York's lowlife
vibes in the 1920s.
Who Was Rosalind?
Susan Hitch finds out about the boys created the female roles in
Shakespeare's plays.
The Men Who Painted Paradise: The

Hudson River School
75
Marseille 2013
Philip Sweeney on music, crime and culture in Marseille, 2013 European

City of Culture.
30 Years of the Bradshaws
John Henshaw explores the unrelenting success of one of the longest

running comedy series.
The Meaning of Liff at 30
John Lloyd celebrates 30 years of The Meaning of Liff with Matt Lucas and
Helen Fielding.
Was Gertrude Stein Any Good?
I am a genius. Gertrude Stein. A genius. I. Gertrude Stein. Am I a genius?
Sound Painting
Tim Marlow explores the kinds of sounds and music that influence an artist's
art and work.
Dreamers of the Black Metropolis
The story of how Chicago's black artists of the 20th Century forged a new
identity.
The Curse of the Confederacy of

Dunces
The Confederacy of Dunces, one of the great comic books of the 20th
century, had a difficult gestation as a book; attempts to film it over the past
30 years have been similarly cursed.
Rhymes of Passion
I Wandered Lonely as a Cat: Poetry
and Jazz.
The Arthur Cravan Memorial Society
Foot Notes
Destination Freedom
The Butterfly Effect
The Original Be Bop Man: A Story of

Bob Kaufman
Are You There God? It's Me, Sarah
Motown: Speaking In The Streets
The Concrete and the Divine
Norway's Soul: Re-evaluating Knut

Hamsun
Laura Barton tells the true story behind By Grand Central Station I Sat
Down and Wept.
Ian McMillan reveals the heart of Poetry and Jazz and detects its strong
beats today
Arthur Smith convenes the last ever meeting of the Arthur Cravan Memorial
Society and pieces together an unreliable portrait of this charlatan and
genius - the Dada-ist James Dean.
They communicate our sexual desires, aesthetic sense, social status and
personality. And whilst our eyes may be windows to the soul - psychologists
say that it is in fact our shoes that are the gateway to our psyche.
It's often assumed that the drive for black emancipation in America began
with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. This feature
challenges the perception, taking us back years earlier to the arts
broadcasting of Chicago radio's 'Destination Freedom!'
Lesley Garrett examines the story of Cio-Cio San, who evolving from a short
novel was brought to the stage by Puccini in Madama Butterfly, and
captured the imagination of writers, performers and directors remaining one
of popular cultures most enduring characters.
Bob Kaufman was a pioneer of the Beat Movement and the most influential
African-American artists of the Beat Generation. The distinctive jazz
influence on his work meant he was often referred to as The Original Be
Bop Man or The American Rimbaud.
Teen Novels from America in the 70's featured crazy mixed up kids, girls
mainly. Sarah Cuddon loved them
In 1970, Berry Gordy, the founder of the Motown record label, set up a
Motown spoken word label. It was called Black Forum records and
recorded poetry, civil rights speeches, political gatherings...
Designing churches requires a certain kind of architect - it's about bringing
together the divine with the concrete, creating a space separate from the
secular world. Under the umbrella of the Glasgow practice of Gillespie Kidd;
Coia (GKC), Isi Metzstein and Andrew MacMillan seized on the momentary
experimentalism of the Catholic Church to revolutionise church design.
The author of classics such as Hunger, Mysteries, Victoria and Pan,
Hamsun is considered by many to be the Godfather of Modern Fiction.
76
Capra-esque
And Calm of Mind
The Gatsby Factor
The Poet and the Painter
Everybody Loves Bernard (w/t)
When Washington Came to Brum
Wireless Nights
A Room for a View: The Artist's

Studio
Poetry in Translation w/t
In Godzilla's Footsteps
Ebony: Black on White on Black
Lowry Revisited
Letting the Walls Speak
Arthur Machen and the Borders
"The art of [my films] is very, very simple... it's the love of people. Add two
simple ideals to this love of people: the freedom of each individual and the
equal importance of each individual and you have the principle on which I've
based all my films." - Frank Capra, 1982
Ex-soldiers with stress disorders take a Shakespeare play about the costs
of war to a paying public.
Baz Luhrmann's much anticipated film version of The Great Gatsby opens
in the UK on May 17th Here, Sarah Churchwell offers her take on what
makes the slimmest of Fitzgerald's novels not only an enduring classic, but
a huge force in American fiction and, some would say, the greatest
American novel.
We go into the artist's studio to follow royal portrait painter Fiona GrahamMackay as she paints the poet Seamus Heaney.
Bernard Cribbins OBE, is one of our most enduring - and endearing allround entertainers having starred in everything - from Dr. Who to doing all
the voices of The Wombles - during his 65 years of showbusiness. In this
revealing personal reminiscence, he recalls his extraordinary career and
ponders on what he thinks has made him so successful an actor. With
contributions from colleagues and fellow entertainment legends - we'll
discover his secret and why it is, that everybody loves Bernard.
The stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are two of the
formative texts in modern American literature, and were written, naturally
enough, in Birmingham.
Jarvis Cocker prowls the darkness, eavesdropping on stories of the night
people.
Paula Rego's studio is an old garage complete with forklift trucks and a
costume wardrobe; David Gentleman's' a neat white attic. How does an
artists' studio reflect their art and do they still need one? We send artist
Susan Aldworth in with sharpened palette knife and microphone.
The magazine Modern Poetry in Translation was started by Ted Hughes
after WW2...
The Artists who are walking in Godzilla's Footsteps to come to terms with
Japan's Tsunami.
Ebony Magazine changed the face of Black publishing and Black America.
Gary Younge charts it's irresistible rise and fall.
In 'Lowry Revisited' Michael Symmons Roberts will offer his own personal
re-appraisal of the artist and the man.
The story of Derry's controversial 400 year old walls as told by 'Anna Nicole'
composer Mark Anthony Turnage and poet Paul Muldoon.
Arthur Machen was a novelist and mystic whose greatest work was the
novella The Great God Pan (Stephen King calls it the greatest horror story
in the English Language).
John Dos Passos
Musician and comedian Rainer Hersch on the life of near namesake William
Herschel - a German-born British composer and astronomer who
discovered Uranus, and infrared radiation. He also composed 24
symphonies.
Documentary maker Adam Curtis pays homage to the writer who inspired
him.
Absinthe Makes the Art Grow Fonder
For the 150th anniversary of Toulouse-Lautrec's birth, an art history of the

drink that fuelled Bohemia.
Hersch on Herschel
77
Playing Ping Pong with Henry Miller
From Derry to Mostar: Siege Cities

and the Conquest of Happiness w/t
The Road to the National Theatre
The Art of Radio Times

Shot In Belfast w/t
Bingo, Barbie and Barthes: 50 years

of Cultural Studies
Troubled Walls
Dinner at Annaghmakerrig
The Art of the Nation
Houses of Creativity
A sexist, pornographic, macho, misogynist - Henry Miller sounds the perfect

subject for acclaimed feminist poet Kim Addonizio, as she visits those who
knew him, were inspired by him, were related to him, during his two
decades in California - where he coincided with the birth of the 'personal
growth'era.
Following the development of a theatre production in Derry~Londonderry,
the first UK City of Culture, which will travel to two other divided cities.
For its 50th anniversary in October 2013, James Naughtie traces the history
of the struggle to create a National Theatre, exploring what such an
institution is and should be in a nation such as Britain.
Peter Day presents the story of the art commissioned and showcased by
Radio Times from its earliest editions, celebrating 90 years of publication in
September 2013, to today.
The story of Northern Ireland's burgeoning film industry.
Fifty years after Richard Hoggart established Cultural Studies with the
founding of the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies, Lynsey Hanley
looks at what this new discipline has given us - has it really narrowed the
separation between high culture and real life, or just been an excuse for
some of the worst writing imaginable.
By replacing it's murals is Belfast's history being white-washed?
Colm Toibin invites us for dinner at the ancestral home of theatre impresario
Sir Tyrone Guthrie.
The vast majority of the Nation's Art is not held in our public institutions - the
Tate or National Gallery - they are housed in the sixty million front rooms all
over the country. Will Gompertz assesses the importance of this national
treasure trove, and tells their story for the first time.
Bridget Kendall examines the Soviet concept of the Houses of Creativity:
the soviet answer to providing the artists with inspiration and the State with
cultural masterpieces.
78
MUSIC FEATURE
Tony Phillips
your proposal.
Slot: Tuesday, 1130
Duration: 28
Guide price: 6.2k
Estimated number of programmes: 15
EDITORIAL GUIDE
What are we looking for?
Extraordinary and original stories that will immerse the audience deep into the worlds
of music, musicians and those whose lives are or have been touched by music.
Radio 4 is of course not primarily a music network so its important that your ideas reflect
the sensibility of a speech based network. The treatments that will be most successful
will be those that acknowledge and reflect the fact that the network is primarily a
speechbased network. As a result music stories should be driven by strong narratives
that explore and investigate music through the prism of personal narratives, cultural
movements or events.
79

47133 Music
Title
How Folk Songs Should Be Sung
description
Folk singer Martin Carthy examines the rise and fall of Ewan MacColl's
Critics Group.
Bach's Choir
Stephen Evans traces the 800 year history of the boys choir of St
Thomas' Church, Leipzig.
The Brontes' Piano
Catherine Bott explores the Bronte sisters' musical world through their
restored piano
Robert Winston's Musical Analysis
Robert Winston brings a scientist's ear to his passion for music.
The Topping Tooters of the Town
William Lyons conjures the brash and brilliant music of the 500 year old
town Waits
North Of The Border - The Rise of

Mexican Music
Robin Denselow examines the growing influence of the Mexican drug

ballad, or Narco-corrido
Balalaika Born Again
The intriguing tale of Alexey Arhipovskiy and his new balalaika sound.
Folk Song, Art Song
Christopher Maltman debates the place of folk song in the classical

recital repertoire.
Conjuring Halie
Cerys Matthews celebrates one of her musical heroines, gospel singer

Mahalia Jackson.
The First LP In Ireland
The extraordinary story of how classic Irish folk songs were saved from
extinction.
Modern Day Griot
Gaylene Gould meets modern musicians who are adapting traditional

West African music.
Cerys Matthews' Blue Horizon
Cerys Matthews indulges her passion for the seminal British Blues
record label
The Songs of Milne
John Kember rediscovers the original song settings of children's verses

by A.A. Milne
John Barry - The Lost Tapes
Presenter Eddi Fiegel explores the song writing of John Barry through
a lost interview.
Changing My Voice
Christopher Gabbitas explores the effects on singers of changing the

pitch of their voice.
Sibelius: A Symphony that Burned
The story of Sibelius's notorious 'lost' Eighth Symphony...and its

remarkable rediscovery.
Madam Mao's Golden Oldies
Anna Chen explores the history of the famous Chinese Model Operas
Making Tracks
Paul Morley charts a history of music through recording studios. 1.

Rockfield in Wales
A Sound British Adventure
Comedian Stewart Lee explores the early pioneers and rumblings of

electronic music.
Composing LA
How Western classical music underpinned the golden age of the

Hollywood film score.
The Voices of Robert Wyatt

One Man's War
An intimate portrait of the musician Robert Wyatt in his own words.

Katie Derham delves into the fascinating world of musical life during
the Second World War
80
Spellbound: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Miranda Sawyer looks at one of music's most distinctive artists

Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Swansong
A new series in which Stuart Maconie looks at four final albums, and
tells their stories.
Blues Run the Game
Laura Barton tells the poignant story of singer-songwriter Jackson C

Frank.
Who's Drummer?
Nick Barraclough finds out about the fifteen minutes of fame for one
young fan of The Who.
Rebuilding The LSO
Matthew Bannister tells the story of the London Symphony Orchestra

from the 1980s to now.
An Alternative Christmas
Reverend Richard Coles on the buried and forgotten Alternative

Christmas recordings.
Riot Grrrls
A noisy exploration of the punk and politics of Riot Grrrl.
Bellydancing and the Blues
Guy Schalom hunts out the spirit of the new Egypt in the musical roots
of the bellydance
Jazz is Dead
Paul Morley tests the contention that jazz is dead - a victim of its own
history.
Scoring Father Brown
Debbie Wiseman guides us through the world of the film composer
Baaba Maal and the Senegalese Kingdom

of Music
Meeting musicians at the Blues du Fleuve Festival, organised by

Baaba Maal in Senegal.
Feel the Chant: The Brit Funk Story
David Grant revisits a unique era in British music when jazz funk
exploded onto the scene.
Studio in the Sand
Robin Denselow hears the music of the Saharawi people in the refugee
camps of Algeria.
Flashmob Flamenco
Spain's current economic crisis is seeing the return of flamenco as a

form of protest
Julie Fowlis' Heritage Well (w/t)
Comme Je Suis: A Portrait of Juliette

Greco
Lady Gaga v Heavy Metal: The Confusing

World of Pop in Indonesia
Ella in Berlin
Paul Mason on Wagner
The Science of Music
Acclaimed Gaelic singer and multi-instrumentalist Julie Fowlis has

taken the songs she learnt from her native Outer Hebrides to
Hollywood. In this programme she charts her very personal musical
journey and, through a special concert Solas Ur Tobar An Dualchais,
inspires other young Scots to follow her lead.
Laura Barton (who featured in our profile of Francoise Hardy) presents
a portrait of Juliette Greco, singer, resistance fighter and muse to Miles
Davis, Jean Paul Sartre, Boris Vian et al .... Greco is now 86. We'd like
to record an interview with her while we still can. In terms of treatment,
think of a cross between our 'Voices of Robert Wyatt', 'Under Jacques
Demy's Umbrella' and Russell Finch's 'Brel et Moi' ...
Lady Gaga was banned but Death Metal is cool - From the streets of
Jakarta, we hear the contradictions that make up the burgeoning
Indonesian pop scene.
On 13 February 1960 at Berlin's Deutschlandhalle, where Hitler had
roused the masses to embrace National Socialism, Ella Fitzgerald took
to the stage with a tribute to the people of Berlin; for the first time she
sang the Bertolt Brecht song, Mack the Knife - and she forgot the
words.
To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Richard Wagner, Paul Mason
investigates the amazing phenomenon of his work and reputation
through three investigative features.
Robert Winston looks at music with a scientist's eye, questioning,
experimenting, proving and provoking in a series which seeks to fully
understand our relationship with the power of sound.
81
Tales from the Stave
The series that finds the magic of the creative moment in the handwritten manuscripts of some of the greats of the classical repertoire
heads towards its tenth series with a humdinger of a collection.
Soul Music
The stories behind pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

told in montage form.
The Secret Life of J S Bach
Scientist, handyman, architect, council employee. That's the real J S

Bach.
Tom Ravenscroft's One Man Band

In Search of Nic Jones
The Night Singer
Harmony of the Spheres: Planet Rock
Loving You
About A Boy
Far Distant Chords

Kitch!
Tom Ravenscroft is fascinated by the one man band and for Radio 4
he goes in search of the musical characters who prefer to go solo.
Stuart Maconie tracks down the legendary lost figure of British folk
music, Nic Jones.
For a thousand years the nightingale has been the most celebrated
song-bird in the western world.
'So tun'st this World below, the Spheres above, Who in the Heavenly
Round to their own Music move' (Henry Purcell)
Every year the Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl holds the most
important Elivs festival outside the legendary singer's homelands in the
states.
From Mahler's "Das Klagende Lied" to Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester
Psalms" and Howard Blake's "The Snowman", the singing voice of the
solo boy has taken on a potency for many composers through the
centuries.
Reem Kelani revisits migrant musicians who were putting down roots in
the UK a decade ago
Poet and musician Anthony Joseph pays tribute in storytelling, poetry
and song to his hero, the Windrush calypsonian Aldwyn Roberts aka
'Lord Kitchener'.
82
POETRY FEATURE
Tony Phillips
your proposal.
Slot: Sunday 16.30 (repeat: Saturday, 23.30)
Duration: 28
Guide price: 6.2k
Estimated number of programmes: 10
EDITORIAL GUIDE
What are we looking for?
There has always been a close relationship between poetry and radio, and in particular
Radio 4. We know that people often turn to poetry at significant moments in their lives
in sorrow or in celebration; Poetry Please is testament to that. Fresh and original
features that can offer the audience new, original and thoughtful perspectives on poets,
poems or the craft of writing or listening to poetry will be most welcome.
Challenge us with new work, new writers, new formats, new voices. BBC Bristol
responded to this last year with Paul Farley presenting an engagingly original format for
new poetry, The Echo Chamber. Indicative names of presenters at pre-offers stage is
always useful. And remember the guide price is a guide we try to adhere to but for the
occasional project that is offering an ambitious multi-platform idea, please make this
clear at pre-offers and final offers stage.
If the idea is the presenters or they have been involved in its development, please make
this clear at the pre offers and final offers stage.to save confusion or embarrassment
later.
This is the home of the long-running and popular anthology series Poetry Please.
Between runs we broadcast complementary works celebrating and investigating poetry,
poets and the experience of writing and reading poetry.
83

47114 Poetry
Title
The Narrow Road to the Disaster
Zone
description
Stephen Henry Gill in the poet Basho's path to areas of Japan
devastated by the tsunami.
Adventures in Poetry
Satirising politicians and patriotism is at the heart of a provocative

poem by ee cummings
A Foreigner Everywhere
Paul Farley explores the American poet Elizabeth Bishop's

extraordinary years in Brazil.
The Person From Porlock
Paul Farley seeks out the famous visitor who interrupted Coleridge's
writing of Kubla Khan
Poems from the Pennines
Poet Simon Armitage takes us on a journey to the Stanza Stones.
The New Group
Ian Sansom on the contemporary poetry scene emerging in Northern

Ireland.
Poetry 2012 - the Power of the

Poem
Poetry 2012 - the Power of the Poem: offering a window into each
Olympic nation
My Heart is in the East
Medieval historian Miri Rubin explores the history of the most famous
of Hebrew poems.
An Outcast of the Islands: Lady

Grange
Kenneth Steven traces the forced journey of Lady Grange, abducted

& imprisoned on St Kilda
THE SEAFARER
Simon Armitage takes us to sea to explore one of the oldest poems in

the English language.
Learning to Love Dafydd
Gwyneth Lewis, the first Welsh Poet Laureate, goes in search of the
Welsh language Chaucer
Return to Oasis
Mike Greenwood visits Alamein on the trail of a unique anthology of

World War Two poems.
Poetry Workshop
Ruth Padel works on poems in progress with The Dove Cottage Poets
in Grasmere.
A Few Don'ts
The poet Lavinia Greenlaw revels in Ezra Pound's manifesto, A Few

Don'ts by an Imagiste.
No Ideas But In Things: The Poetry

of William Carlos Williams
Annie Freud explores the work of the all-American poet, William Carlos
WIlliams.
Liz Lochhead: Poems for a New

Scotland
A year in the life of Liz Lochhead, Scotland's 'Makar' or poet laureate
The Echo Chamber
Adventures in strong language - the best of new poetry - introduced by

Paul Farley.
Ursula Vaughan Williams, Poet and

Muse
Irma Kurtz tells the story of poet Ursula Vaughan Williams, the
composer's second wife.
Broken Paradise
Poetry from 3 decades of Sri Lanka's civil war
84
The Bards of Whitelocks Bar
Poet Jean Sprackland props up the bar of the oldest pub in Leeds described by John Betjeman as 'the very heart of Leeds' and, in the
company of bar staff, drinkers and poets, tells the story of the
overlooked 'Leeds school' of poetry.
What I Read to the Dead: Wladislaw

Szlengel
As life in the Warsaw Ghetto became first unbearable and then

unliveable many sought out the words of the poet Wladislaw Szlengel.
His poetry, written in the last months before final annihilation, gave
hope and solace.
Sonnets to Orpheus
Lindisfarne: Poetry in Progress
Poetry Please
Poetry Idol
A feature about the creation and extraordinary appeal of a great

modern masterpiece, Maria Rainer Rilke's 'Sonnets to Orpheus'.
In the summer of 2013, after a 400 year absence from the North East,
the Lindisfarne Gospels will be making their way home from the British
Library to be displayed in Durham. The Gospels were originally
created on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne - a place of spiritual and
natural harmony, even today.
Roger McGough presents a selection of listeners poetry requests.
Shahidha Bari goes on set for the 2014 season of The Million's Poet,
broadcast from Abu Dahbi, to find out why poetry is rocking the Middle
East.
85
4.5 SPECIAL EVENTS and SEASONS

Commissioning Editor: jointly managed by the whole
commissioning team
Do not also put ideas for component programmes into other briefs unless
asked to by a Commissioning Editor, once we have all assessed the special
events proposals and decided which we want to proceed with.
companies who can clearly demonstrate considerable experience in the relevant
genres of radio production at both producer and executive producer level.
Guide price: Not applicable
EDITORIAL GUIDE
What distinguishes a Special Event or Season is that it should be a proposal on a
single theme which crosses strands or day parts. The impact will be different and
distinctive from the rest of the stations schedule. A sense of occasion or celebration
may be created.
Special Events proposals might span a variety of commissioning briefs and their
coherence becomes obvious only when the various parts are assembled.
Sometimes, small, carefully constructed clusters of programmes might be
commissioned from one supplier in their entirety, but more often Radio 4
management will want to take an active role in scoping out the scale and
scheduling of a season.
Therefore, ideas for Special Events that get past the pre-offers stage should be
discussed with Commissioning Editors and the Controller before you do any
work on the detail.
Anniversaries and seasons might be celebrated on several or all stations. What we
need is for your proposal for Radio 4 to be utterly distinctive and clearly shaped for
our audience.
86
However, we can be over-reliant on anniversaries. Therefore, we particularly

welcome suggestions of events or a focus on a subject that will surprise the
audience and be distinctive. Innovative treatments of more predictable events are
also welcome.
Some of our Special Events are contained within one day. The King James Bible,
Bloomsday and Big Bang Day are examples. Others have spread more widely, in
terms of programme style and timetable. These include MINT, Tweet of the Day,
Comedy Advent Calendar, New Elizabethans, Foreign Bodies, The Real George
Orwell, Listening Project, History of the World in a 100 Objects, Dangerous Visions,
Martin Luther Kings Dream Speech, Cultural Exchange.
Our World War coverage I has begun. With the big drama and factual strands that
are launching we are unlikely to look for very much more. In addition, the following
BBC clusters and seasons are already planned for 2014/15: Coding, Magna Carta
and Waterloo. There are other specific Radio 4 plans in development that we will be
able to discuss anon.
With such events, the core programmes and the idea might come from one group of
producers, but other programmes might subsequently be commissioned from
elsewhere.
We have recently found that event ideas which have been created collaboratively
between different teams with varied expertise can be particularly striking. So, a
seasonal event or idea might come from one source. But the station reserves the
right to create a portfolio of programmes from other sources to provide the listener
with the best possible schedule.
So, Radio 4 is looking for:
special days or nights
landmark events
programmes, across the genres, which merit a different duration from what
the normal schedule allows.
Interactive
Proposals for special events should also outline any interactive component they may
have. This does not mean that every event has to have a big interactive wing or a
vote but it is an important consideration. Note the success of the Big Bang Day
and History of the World online component.
We are looking for big ideas with a fully integrated interactive dimension.
Remember, though, that we are looking to commission only a very few such ideas
this year, so do be realistic about the development time you devote to this area. Do
not enter a budget estimate for the interactive element of your proposal. This will be
considered on an ad hoc basis once we decide to take an idea forward.
87
WORKING WITH BBC RADIO 4
Working with BBC Radio 4 is the essential handbook for all suppliers.
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/radio/what-we-want/radio-4.shtml
It covers:
Whos who at Radio 4, with contact details
Delivery
Schedule information
Editorial requirements
Compliance
Title changes
Technical requirements
Listening copies
Live programmes
Durations
Announcements and credits
Programme Descriptions (billings, promotion notes & presentation details)
On-air promotion and written trails
Repeats
Scheduled and revised repeats
Delayed repeats
Publicity
Marketing
Audience Research
Audience Lines
Arranging Audience Lines support
Trailing Audience Lines on air
Feedback
Radio 4 Interactive
Broadcasting on the internet
Health and safety
Radio 4 contacts
Appendices
A: Topicality status
B: Credits on Radio 4
C: Making better trails
D: Synopses for serials
E: Summary of paperwork requirements
F: Programme paperwork templates
88

Radio 4 Commissioning Round Guide

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Radio 4 Commissioning Round Guide

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COMMISSIONING ROUND, SPRING 2014

Proteus round: 2015 2016 1

THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

Briefing in the Radio Theatre,

Briefing in Media City, Salford

20th February 2014

24th February 2014

27th March- 12 noon

Final offers deadline

HOW TO SUBMIT AN IDEA TO RADIO 4

(Drama proposals must be entered in:

(Drama proposals must be entered in:

Proteus style guide

HOW THE COMMISSIONING BRIEFS WORK

Day/s and time of broadcast

Eligibility Radio 4 always requires producers and executive producers to have a

FAQ ON THE COMMISSIONING PROCESS

Radio 4 requires an appropriate set of rights dependent on the type of

BBC EDITORIAL GUIDELINES & COMPLIANCE

All programmes, whether commissioned in-house or from an independent producer,

INVENTORY OF SUPPORTING MATERIALS FOR FINAL OFFERS TO RADIO 4

THE BBC RADIO 4 AUDIENCE

Who is tuning in?

Figures = audience numbers in millions per relevant demographic group

When do they listen?

What other radio stations do they listen to?

4.1 COMEDY & ENTERTAINMENT BRIEFS

GENERAL NOTES ON COMEDY AND ENTERTAINMENT

ARE YOU READY TO OFFER?

THE PURPOSE OF PRE-OFFERS

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN PRE-OFFERS

Presenters and talent

FOR FINAL OFFERS

1130 Comedy: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Programmes from those departments with an output guarantee.

Audience situation comedies.

Audience sketch shows with experienced performers and writers

Audience Comedy Dramas

Comedy Chat shows

Anything set in the past or recent past

Spoofs or parodies of television or radio programmes or formats or programmes

Series set in a work place

1830 Comedy: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Spoofs or parodies of television or radio programmes or formats or programmes

Late Night Entertainment 2302: Tuesday,

Chat or interview shows. We have several.

Spoofs or parodies of television or radio programmes or formats or programmes

Topical satirical programmes, as there is a full range of these scheduled at 1830.

Studio based monologues as this programme follows Book at Bedtime, these

ALL PROGRAMMES COMMISSIONED IN OR SINCE THE LAST ROUND

Blofeld and Baxter: Memories of Test

Clare in the Community

Deborah Frances-White's Risky

Who Does Dave Podmore Think He Scripted Comedy

Britain Versus The World

Chat Show Roulette

Don't Make Me Laugh

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

It's a Fair Cop

Meet David Sedaris

Paul Sinha's General Studies

The Casebook of Max and Ivan