Short Cuts

Josie Long presents documentaries where reality takes on a magical aspect - tales of snake-filled American towns, a visit to a shaman and of crashing back down to earth.

The Curve of the Earth

The Shaman

Snake Pit, Waurika

Magical Realism

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in May 2017.

Personality tests, tests of character and knowing how to cheat. Josie Long presents stories of people testing their mettle.

The writers Ross Sutherland and Joe Dunthorne examine the Sutherland-Dunthorne luck index to see why one's success seems to mean the other's failure. James Acaster embarks on a quest in search of connection and oversized novelty letters, and we hear the story of two men who knew how to deceive the people examining them.

The Wow Scenario

Project Alpha

The Sutherland-Dunthorne Inverse Proportional Luck Index

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in May 2017.

Josie Long presents stories of messages sent across borders. Unsent postcards, a last message and the journey for home.

An old handwritten note, in pursuit of a woman who ran away, leads to a town submerged in water; the writer Laura Barton discovers a tranche of muted, unsent missives in a storage box; and we hear the voices of those who are far from home.

Dear Martha

Envision Yourself a Free Man

A Very Different Time

Unsent

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

"We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."

Josie Long presents short documentaries and radio adventures in the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut, shortly before the tenth anniversary of his death - from peculiar travel suggestions to the kindness contained in a library. The writer Joe Dunthorne also engages Vonnegut in a dialogue, inspired by God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian.

We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.

Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God

Reporter on the Afterlife

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

AFalling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2017.

How do we talk to people we disagree with? How do we learn to listen? Josie Long presents short documentaries and stories about communicating across the divide.

From the holocaust survivor who's dedicated her life to talking to those who hurt her to the musician who believes the world can be understood through the medium of counterpoint.

Counterpoint

Isolated Incidents

Forgiveness

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2017.

Josie Long hears stories of courage, fresh hope and pinball wizardry - from two lawyers who pursue a sudden courageous career change in middle age to the pursuit of new love after loss.

The items in the programme are:

Go For It!

Geis and Geis: Pinball Machine Distributors

Leap

The Understudy

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2017.

Josie Long presents documentaries about time and timing. From losing your grasp on the passing hours to a childhood fear of Sundays - how our experience of time gets under our skin.

The features in this programme are:

Tick Tick Tick

Escaping the Present

The Cymbal Crash

Sundays

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2017..

Josie Long presents stories of those who have pretended to be someone they're not. From an undercover cop to stars of the art world caught in an elaborate fiction.

The features in this programme are:

The Connor Brothers

Wife of a Terrorist

Undercover

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2017. .

Josie Long hears stories of hope found amidst the darkness - tales of love letters, hope on the water and the man who has steered 28,000 people safely to shore across treacherous waters from the end of a phone line.

"I must admit I'm deeply impressed by people who step out and do something and say something... whatever dreaming they would do it. A Mexican farm worker Jessie De La Cruz said, 'we have a saying in Spanish, when things look bleak, esperanzas mueren al ultimo. Hope dies last.'" - Studs Terkel

The features in this programme are:

Dear John

Bird in the Breath and Other Hopeful Cargo

Send Me Your Location

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2017.

Josie Long presents stories on things drawing to a close - from stories captured, bottled and buried over time, to reflections at the end of a life well-lived.

The Kajakman

Too Many Miles

Harold

Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2016.