Darkly comic, heart-warming drama by award-winning writer, Christine Entwisle.

Toots is an octogenarian living unhappily in a care home. She wants more outdoor days, she wants her allotment back and she wants to see her chickens.

A doctor is sent to assess Toots. But she's menopausal and struggling with a variety of unhelpful symptoms. And when the doctor forces open Toots’ window to relieve a hot flush and then forgets to shut it, Toots makes a break for it.

Cast:

Toots… Susan Jameson

Sound Design by Craig Dormer

Directed by Kirsty Williams

By Andy Grace Edwards. Poignant drama about love, art and the healing power of a walk.

Drama by Faebian Averies, winner of The Imison Award 2022, starring Gabrielle Creevy (The Guest, In My Skin)

Olive is a space-obsessed care home survivor and prison lifer. Emily is the toughest woman in the jail. Together they break out and go on the run – they're not friends but they do need each other. Olive wants to go to Anglesey to the centenary celebrations of her hero, the Welsh aerospace engineer Tecwyn Roberts; Emily has her own reasons for wanting a last chance at freedom. Will they make it as far as Anglesey before the law catches up with them?

Our first broadcast coincides with the centenary of Tecwyn Roberts' birth.

CAST

Olive - Gabrielle Creevy

Emily - Brid Brennan

Beryl - Faebian Averies

Paul - Keiron Self

Simon - Dean Rehman

Pat - Lauren Morais

Tia - Sasha McCabe

Karl - Gwydion Rhys

Tom - Django Bevan

Production Coordinator: Eleri McAuliffe

Sound Design: Catherine Robinson

Producer: John Norton

A BBC Audio Wales Production

Celebrating Bradford City of Culture and as part of BBC Contains Strong Language Festival, Bradford based writer Jeremy Dyson's original comedy drama set in West Yorkshire in 1978 is inspired by a true story.

High Cockalorum tells of a touching, funny and unlikely encounter between a Hollywood superstar and a humble lad from Leeds thrown together by circumstance.

A meditation on fame, success and what ultimately matters.

MARTY / JAMES MASON.....Mark Gatiss

Writer - Jeremy Dyson

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4

The first series of Life and Time was awarded Bronze at his year's ARIAS and now the second series returns. This time writer, James Fritz focuses on the Prison Officers.

Prison Officer, Michael Rose featured briefly in the first series and he's back. Michael is good at his job. It's rewarding but the pressure is growing. A wave of experienced officers are leaving and not being replaced. Then one day Rihanna joins. A young newbie and Michael needs to show her the ropes but Michael is becoming disillusioned and alarmed about the prison crisis - death by a thousand cuts. Rihanna, her new boots too shiny and the prison keys heavy on her belt, hasn't a clue about what lies ahead and that life on the inside is just as tough for the officers as it is for the prisoners.

Michael ..... Robert Glenister

Directed by Tracey Neale

Writer: James Fritz

John Hersey's ground-breaking account of the bombing of Hiroshima that brought the world face to face with the human reality of nuclear war. Told through the voices of six survivors, this powerful and unflinching retelling includes detailed accounts of the injury, loss, courage and consequence of that morning in August 1945.

Written after two weeks spent interviewing citizens in the devastated city, the article was originally published in The New Yorker in 1946 under tight secrecy, due to U.S. suppression of the bomb’s long-term effects. It sold out rapidly and helped shift public understanding from triumphalist narratives to the harrowing human cost of nuclear war.

Hailed by New York University as the most important work of journalism in the 20th century, Hiroshima remains a moving testament to the power of bearing witness.

Hersey focuses his account on six of the survivors he interviewed. Miss Toshiko Sasaki; Dr. Masakazu Fujii; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge; Dr Terufumi Sasaki; Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto.

Part One takes us through the morning of the bombing and its immediate aftermath.

Read by:

Directed by Anne Isger

A BBC Studios Audio Production

As Hope faces an unexpected medical scare, she sets her heart on reconnecting with her long-lost daughter — but secrets from the past threaten to derail her plans. Meanwhile, Jean embarks on her own emotional quest to confront her birth mother. Old wounds resurface, loyalties are tested, and a quiet family life begins to crack open in unexpected ways.

Hope . . . . . Danielle Vitalis

Writer: Carol Russell

An AI wellness app observes its user, encouraging her on daily runs and healthy shopping trips.

But when does ‘wellness’ become too much?

A new short story by award-winning Manon Steffan Ros (writer of The Blue Book of Nebo), read by Kezrena James, produced by Fay Lomas.

By Hannah Khalil.

1649 was a significant year in British History because King Charles I was executed for treason. A lesser known, but arguably equally important, historical moment occurred in that same year: the first publication of the Qu'ran in English. Surprisingly, it was instigated by an English woman, called Margaret White, who was the wife of a printer called Robert based in Fleet Street, London.

Based on historical research, this drama imagines the circumstances as to how the Qu'ran came to be first published in the English language.

Cast:

Production Co-ordinator - Pippa Day

With thanks to Professor Suzanne Trill, the Arab British Centre and Dr Johnson’s House Museum

A BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4.

By Helen Cross.

Rose has made a fresh start in the City of Angels and life feels good. But she can't ignore the past, and now it's starting to bite.

Her ex-boss Maya is loving never getting older and has Rose to thank for that. Maya has big plans for a 'rejuvenation' spa in the California hills, but Rose suspects all is not what it seems. On top of that she's worried that someone, or something, is trying to send her telepathic messages. But are they to warn her, or frighten her?

Stylish and surprising fantasy horror with a comic twist, starring Alexandra Mardell (Coronation Street) and Demetri Goritsas (Ten Percent). With music by Dana Margolin and Sam Yardley of Mercury-nominated band, Porridge Radio.

Helen Cross wrote ‘My Summer of Love’ which won a Betty Trask award and was made into a Bafta-winning film with Emily Blunt (recently rated her best film in The Guardian top ten Emily Blunt films). Mary Ward-Lowery won Best Director in 2020 Audio Drama Awards.

Rose ... Alexandra Mardell

Original music written and performed by Dana Margolin and Sam Yardley of Porridge Radio.

Sound design by Ilse Lademann and Mary Ward-Lowery