RADIO PROGRAMS

There is also a series produced by Stan Freberg of classic American radio shows, such as Fibber McGee and Gunsmoke, aired on weekends here in Houston on am 740. I assume it is available elsewhere.

Thanks for that, edgarblythe.

Excerpts from this week's BBC7 newsletter:

Zen and the Art of Blakes 7 worked really well last
Sunday and will be well worth a repeat at a later
date. Our youngest producer, Martin,worked on this.
As an ardent sci-fi fan,for him it was a labour of
love, which I think came through in the programme.

Many of you have asked if we will be repeating the
Asimov and Terry Pratchett dramas. The answer is yes,
but you will have to wait until late Spring!

The 7th Dimension kicks off this weekend with some
superb spine-chilling drama - Susan Hill's spooky
ghost story, 'The Woman in Black' starring John
Woodvine as Old Kipps, can be heard on Saturday and
Sunday, and also this weekend Edward de Souza,
famously playing the Man In Black introduces the Fear
on Four series from 1988, beginning with 'The
Snowman'. Scary stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/7thdimension.shtml

And a brilliant dramatisation of Stephen King's
terrifying chiller 'Pet Sematary' continues the 7th
Dimension Monday to Friday.

It is indeed a great week for drama on BBC 7.
Sherlock Holmes returns to the airwaves with what
more appropriate series than 'The Return of Sherlock
Holmes'. The excellent Le Carre season continues with
'Smiley's People' following on from 'Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy'. These dramatisations, beautifully
produced by the veteran producer John Fawcett Wilson
really do stand the test of time.

Dramas containing a "love interest" in Valentine's
week start on Sunday with a tale of seduction and
revenge, 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses', starring Lindsay
Duncan and Ciaron Hinds, followed on Monday with the
"crème de la crème" in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,
and then DH Lawrence's 'Sons and Lovers' completes
the week, just to remind you that the path of love is
not always smooth!

The love theme continues with our readings - Simon
Callow reads 'Love Is Where It Falls', his moving
account of two close relationships - his passionate
friendship with Peggy Ramsay who was his agent, and
his love affair with Aziz, a young Egyptian film
maker.

Our other best-seller this week is 'Picnic at Hanging
Rock', a haunting and thought-provoking story set in
the Australian Bush on St. Valentine's Day, 1900.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama

We've had very appreciative feedback from some of you
about 'Room 101':

"What a wonderful series to curl up with" wrote one
listener, and another "unpretentious and warm. a
spontaneity and pace in the original which always
delights".

And of course 'Room 101' was very much an original,
starting on radio over 10 years ago, then, as with
many other excellent radio series, transferred to
television. Partly because they were recorded so long
ago, not all of the interviewees would give
permission for us to repeat the programmes. However,
I'm pleased to let you know that we have been able to
clear 10. Next week Steve Punt will reveal his pet
hates to be banished to room 101, and the following
week it's Jenny Éclair's turn.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/comedy

'Yes Minister' is another great sitcom finding its
way onto BBC 7 this week. See how well you remember
Sir Humphrey's machinations by trying our quiz.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/quizzes

Radio 4 listeners might have heard 'Feedback' this
week, where 'Big Toe' was listened to by a panel of
listeners, who, I'm pleased to say, generally gave it
the thumbs up!

Kirsten from 'Big Toe', accompanied by regular
astronomer Anton, broadcast part of the programme
from the roof of Broadcasting House this week, but as
the Water Boys didn't put it, he saw the stars - and
she saw none of the moon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/bigtoe

On 'Little Toe' this week, the readings of 'Winnie
the Pooh' and 'Charlotte's Web' were pure magic. Two
of next week's stories are 'The Willows in Winter',
and Noel Streatfield's timeless classic, 'Ballet
Shoes'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/bigtoe/littletoe

LarryBS, what a treasure!! I can't believe the incredible variety of quality programs that are available. I see that you are from Sarasota; are you able to get the station locally or do you have to listen on the net?

Thank you for the information. Now I just have to get my tired old laptop repaired so that the sound works.

Hi Diane. Isn't a great station? I have to listen on the net, wish I could somehow get BBC stations on radio! Fortunately I have a good enough setup here with my computer, and a cable connection, so I can listen while working on it.

Too bad more people don't listen, in the states anyway, its a refreshing alternative to the tv.

This week's BBC7 newsletter:

We continue tomorrow with the final part of 'Les
Liaisons Dangereuses', a fascinating an intriguing
story, to be followed by a two-part dramatisation of
Günter Grass' novel, 'The Tin Drum'. It's a powerful
award-winning drama set in 1930s Nazi Germany, when
Oskar, a young boy, decides to stop growing and
talking, but communicates by playing his Tin Drum
throughout the dark years of Hitler's rise to power
and World War Two.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama

On Monday and Tuesday you can hear the secret of 'The
Thirty Nine Steps' starring Tom Baker (yes, his work
does extend beyond 'Dr Who') in John Buchan's 1915
spy thriller, then on Wednesday we start a three-part
Russian classic thriller with the themes of guilt and
redemption, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/crimethrillers.shtml

In our hugely popular 7th Dimension, 'The Woman In
Black' ends on Sunday Night, and 'Pet Sematary',
which in my opinion has been the most chilling of our
7th Dimension series so far, finishes on Monday. It's
followed on Tuesday by a very different drama,
specially written for radio by Rene Basilico way
back in 1977 - 'Aliens in the Mind', starring two of
what must surely be the best-known names in the
horror genre - Peter Cushing and Vincent Price.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/7thdimension.shtml

And of course the master of suspense himself, Edward
de Souza as The Man In Black, introduces another half
hour of horror in Fear on Four this Sunday -
'William and Mary', by Roald Dahl. For all of you
fans who asked if we would re-broadcast this
long-running horror series, you'll be pleased to know
that you can hear The Man in Black every Sunday night
for at least the next 16 weeks.

A new and original comedy series which might well
have the sub-title "Catholics in Comedy" started
today - 'Two Priests and a Nun Go Into a Pub...'
Paul Merton invites performers/writers from the world
of comedy, who like Paul were raised as Catholics, to
talk about influences in their lives. The interviews
are illustrated with a wide and interesting range of
clips.

The first guest this morning was Paul O'Grady, whose
selection included a very funny classic Dave Allan
"nun" joke, and also a hilarious Terry Jones clip
from 'The Life of Brian'. If you missed it, you can
catch the repeat in the Comedy Club at 10.30 tonight.
Amongst Paul's guests next week are Julian Clary,
Kathy Burke, and Graham Linehan, the co-creator
writer of 'Father Ted'. Not to be missed.

One of my favourite stand-up performers also starts
his own series today, 'The Small World of Dominic
Holland'. Dominic's quirky observational humour is
very popular, (especially with Rhys from the Message
Board) and you can hear more of Dominic's brand of
humour in The Comedy Zone from Monday to Friday next
week at 14.00 repeated at 21.00.

Another favourite stand up can also be heard in our
late night Comedy Club: Sean Lock - 15 Storeys High.
This series has recently transferred to TV. All I can
add is that, as in most of the best TV comedies, you
heard it on radio first!

Which reminds me of 'Room 101' - don't forget to
listen on Tuesday, when Jenny Éclair reveals her pet
hates to Nick Hancock.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/comedy

Well there wasn't a dry eye in the Little Toe studio
last Tuesday when 'Charlotte's Web' came to its sad,
yet optimistic end. What a wonderful children's story
it is too. It ranks amongst my all-time favourites
and I never tire of hearing it.

Continuing next week on Little Toe, Mole, Ratty and
Badger are brought together again in 'The Willows in
Winter', a delightful re-creation by William Horwood
of Kenneth Grahame's much-loved 'Wind in the
Willows', read by the excellent actor, David Suchet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/bigtoe/littletoe

Now although Valentine's Day is almost over, love is
still in the air on BBC7 next week, when one of our
best sellers is Isabel Allende's 'Aphrodite'. It's "a
sensuous guide to all things erotic and edible", with
"Aphrodisiacs" for starters on Monday morning. And as
Jane Anderson, the Radio Times Billings Editor says
in her digital choices column, "You might want to
keep a pen handy to jot down some of the recipes..."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/bestsellers.shtml

Great Larry looking forward to these programs.

This week's BBC7 Newsletter (e-mailed on Fridays):

"My policy on this is clear - I want to give you a mix
of the best of both - BBC 7 is an archive network
and many of our listeners do want to hear the radio
shows from the '50s, '60s and '70s which they
remember with fondness. Granted, some programmes
don't always stand the test of time, but many of them
are well worth repeating to a new generation as well
as the older.

I also believe we should be introducing listeners to
as much new comedy as we can (Rights notwithstanding)
and it pleases me to be able to broadcast recent
archive comedies such as 'The Boosh', 'Little
Britain', 'Hudson and Pepperdine' and 'Old Harry's
Game' amongst others which could become the classics
of tomorrow.

There's a slight change to the weekend schedule on
Sunday when we start a run of lunchtime classic
comedies, 12.30 - 1.00. This is where you'll find
many of the titles you've requested over the past few
weeks via e-mail and the Message Board.

On Sunday we kick off with 'Men From the Ministry',
the original Whitehall spoof broadcast many years
before 'Yes, Minister' was even a glimmer in Anthony
Jay's eye. It starred Derek Guyler as Lennox-Brown,
and Richard Murdoch as Richard Lamb, two bungling
Civil Service executives. The series was so popular
in its day that it ran for 15 years! You can hear
'The Men From the Ministry - A Private Affair', on
Sunday at 12.30p.m, repeated at 19.00. The series
will run for 5 weeks, and will then be followed by
two of our other most-requested series: 'Take It From
Here' and 'The Clitheroe Kid'. Can't you just smell
your roast beef dinners when some of those shows are
even mentioned?

On to more contemporary comedy. In the Comedy Zone
this week I'm pleased to welcome Mark Steele, in a
series of his "lectures". His topics are: Lord Byron,
Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, Che Guevara, Billie
Holiday and Karl Marx. A real mixed bunch - but all
of them guaranteed to amuse in Mark's idiosyncratic
interpretations.

At 8am 'The Now Show' returns, with the excellent
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, and 'Room 101' on Tuesday
has David Baddiel as Nick Hancock's guest.
Late night comedy continues with a series of
fifteen-minute comedy gems - 'The World of Pub',
followed by 'Stand-Up 2', stand-up comedy compered by
Barry Cryer from The Pleasance Theatre London. Barry
introduces some of the best stand-up comedians from
around Britain. Amongst them are Dominic Holland,
Junior Smith, Jo Enright, Richard Morton, Linda Smith
(well-known to Radio 4 listeners through 'The News
Quiz'), Hatty Hayridge, Marcus Brigstoke and many
more.

What a late night line-up!
BBC7 COMEDY

We're maintaining our high standards in readings and
drama this week. Following on from the erotic and
exotic 'Aphrodite' readings and the mysterious
'Picnic at Hanging Rock', we have two very different
readings coming up for you.

On Monday you can hear the first episode of Paul
Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazaar', which
chronicles his journey from Victoria Station, London
all the way to Tokyo Central. It's a fascinating
odyssey of adventure and fun, read by William Hurt.

Monday also brings you the opening chapters of 'The
Graduate'. The now-classic film from the 1963 novel
by Charles Webb had so many delicious moments in it.
Who can forget Mrs. Robinson as she first seduced the
young, naïve Benjamin Braddock, played by the young
not-so-naïve Dustin Hoffman? Our reading is in ten
episodes, and is read by William Hope.

BBC7 DRAMA - Bestsellers

We have two real blockbuster, award-winning dramas
starting this week. On Sunday it's Vikram Seths'
epic love story, 'A Suitable Boy', set in 1950s
India. This wonderful production by John Dryden was
recorded on location and you can almost breathe in
the atmosphere created. 'A Suitable Boy' is in 5
parts and is spread over the next three weekends.

The mid-week drama is another epic. It is Tolstoy's
world famous 'War and Peace', starting in 1805 in St
Petersburg and Moscow, where the families of the
aristocracy are unaware of how much their lives are
going to change as Napoleon Bonaparte threatens the
peace of Europe. This is a major 10-part drama
series, which will run Mondays to Fridays over two
weeks, and stars Leo McKern, Simon Russell Beale and
Amanda Redman.

And of course 'The Pickwick Papers', with Freddie
Jones as Mr Pickwick, and the much-missed actor Simon
Cadell as Dickens, continues over the next 3 weeks.
This serial was produced 25 years ago by Jane Morgan,
and it is a timeless top-drawer production.

BBC7 DRAMA - 7DRAMA

Discworld fans will be pleased to hear that on
Wednesday they can hear a 3-part dramatisation of
'Only You can Save Mankind' by Terry Pratchett. This
is one of Terry's Johnny Maxwell books, in which
Johnny find himself, via a computer game, attempting
NOT to save Mankind from the alien hordes, the
Screewees, but trying to save the Screewees from
Mankind (if you see what I mean).

Also this weekend the 7th Dimension features another
Stephen King horror, 'Secret Window, Secret Garden'.
This is an atmospheric dramatisation of a bizarre,
edgy short story from Stephen King's 'Four Past
Midnight' Collection.

BBC7 7th DIMENSION

And if you still feel the need for more fear, 'The
Monkey's Paw' is the Fear on Four story to scare you
at 18.30 on Sunday night, repeated at 24.30.

The children's drama this weekend, in 4 parts, could
almost be part of the 7th Dimension too. It's 'The
Demon Headmaster'. This popular tale of a sinister,
controlling headmaster was produced first for radio
and subsequently made for TV. I prefer the radio
version - the pictures are better.

There are two new stories loved by the young and the
young-at-heart starting on Little Toe on Monday -
'The House at Pooh Corner', inimitably read by Alan
Bennett, and '101 Dalmatians' read by Juliet
Stevenson.

BBC7 BIGTOE LITTLETOE
BBC7 BIGTOE

So that's quite a list of listening for you in the
week ahead.

Finally, as I know some of you like to know what to
look out for in forthcoming weeks, future treats in
the schedule include 'Paul Temple', 'The Burkiss
Way', 'Dial M for Pizza', 'Think the Unthinkable',
and 'The Sunday Format'."

This week's BBC7 newsletter:

"No need to panic if you're a Douglas Adams fan,
because this is the week we bring you our tribute to
Douglas - 'So Long and Thanks For All The Fish', three
hours of programming, introduced by his producer and
friend, Geoffrey Perkins.

You'll be able to hear an extended version of the
Radio 4 documentary about Douglas, with contributions
from Stephen Fry, Griff Rhys Jones, and Professor
Richard Dawkins amongst others. This will be followed
by 'Last Chance to See', one of the programmes Douglas
made with the broadcaster and zoologist Mark
Cawardine, in which they track down wonderful and rare
creatures from all over the world.

Douglas also had a brief career as a BBC radio
producer, and in this tribute you can hear one of his
productions, 'Black Cinderella Two Goes East', with a
very starry cast including John Cleese as the Fairy
Godmother. Listen in and find out the intriguing
answer as to why the Fairy Godmother only makes her
appearance by telephone!

We asked you to vote for whichever episode of 'The
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' you'd like to hear -
the very first episode was the clear winner so that is
also included in the programme.

You can find out the answer to Life, The Universe and
Everything when the entire series of 'Hitchhiker's'
starts on Monday and runs in the 7th Dimension slot
from 3 to 18 March.

Lastly, some of the Vogon poetry entries will be read
out by Peter Donaldson, and the winner will be
announced on air.

BBC7 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Staying with the 7th Dimension, this weekend the
frightening 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' comes to an
end, and we start a real classic on Sunday, Bram
Stoker's well-know tale of horror, 'Dracula'. This
runs over the next 3 weekends in 7 episodes.

BBC7 7th Dimension

Ray Bradbury continues with his 'Tales of the
Bizarre', and The Man in Black returns with 'The Music
Lovers' in Fear on Four.

On Saturday we get double value in our Comedy
Controller slot when Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
choose their favourite comedies. It was a privilege to
have these two legendary giants of comedy coming into
the BBC 7 studio. They have such a wealth of
interesting and funny stories to tell, so try not to
miss their 'double act'.

Not surprisingly, the programmes they chose are all
from that Golden Age of Radio Comedy, and include:
'Take It from Here', 'Ray's a Laugh', 'Round the
Horne', 'Hancock's Half Hour' (Sunday Afternoon at
Home) and 'Steptoe and Son' (The Desperate Hours).

Ray and Alan were keen to include 'Breakfast With
Braden' but unfortunately none of the programmes had
been kept in the Sound Archive. Yes, it frustrates us
too when programmes from the past are missing, but I'm
happy to report that the importance and value of our
radio heritage has been recognised for some time now,
and performance programmes are now carefully
catalogued and kept.

Classic comedy on Sunday includes the Men from the
Ministry in 'A Slight Case of Demolition', and the
first of 6 programmes from the 1970s, 'The Burkiss
Way'.

For those of you who have been asking for actual dates
for Sunday Classic Comedy, 'Take It from Here' starts
on 6 April, and after a 6-week run is followed by 'The
Clitheroe Kid' on 25 May.

Our run of 'On The Hour' finished this week, to be
replaced by another excellent comedy series which
transferred to television - 'Whose Line Is it Anyway?'
- presented by Clive Anderson. Team Captains are
Stephen Fry and John Sessions, with guests Rory
Bremner and Dawn French. Only 6 programmes were made
for radio, and you can hear all of them over the next
6 weeks.

And for Chris Morris fans who have already started to
ask, 'On The Hour' will be returning on 14th April.

We say goodbye to 'The Mark Steel Lectures' on Monday
but radio's first "quality weekend newspaper", 'The
Sunday Format' starts on Tuesday. Before the many Mark
Steel fans rush to our message board to beg for more,
let me assure you that Mark will be returning in late
spring.

BBC7 Comedy

In Crime and Thrillers, Raymond Chandler's 'The Big
Sleep' takes over mid-week when 'The Russia House'
comes to an end on Tuesday. 'The Big Sleep' was
Raymond Chandler's first novel, featuring the laconic
ever-so-slightly-shady private eye Philip Marlowe,
played in this radio drama by Ed Bishop.

Humphrey Bogart played the original Philip Marlowe in
the 1946 film. Our very stylish production was made in
1977, and the producer was the ebullient, talented and
knowledgeable John Tydeman, OBE, who for many years
was Head of Radio Drama, responsible for many of the
brilliant productions we fortunately still have in the
BBC Archive. Future Raymond Chandler Crime and
Thrillers scheduled (and also produced by John) are:
'The Lady in the Lake', 'The Long Goodbye' and
'Farewell My Lovely'.

The Trials of Marshall Hall is a fascinating true crime series, with each programme introduced by the creator of 'Rumpole of the
Bailey', John Mortimer himself. Sir Edward Marshall
Hall was a celebrated criminal barrister, and these 5
dramatisations are based on his most famous cases:

The Black Trunk, The Camden Town Murder, A Hint of
Arsenic, A Death at Christmas, and The Case of the
Green Bicycle.

BBC7 Drama - Crime Thrillers

John Mortimer will be celebrating his 80th birthday in
April, and BBC7 will celebrate by bringing you
readings from his autobiography.

On Big Toe this week, the steel band worked their
magic when the children in studio performed a song
with them on air, after only 30 minutes practice, and
the plant expert from Kew Gardens brought in a pitcher
plant, which on opening up, revealed a mass of dead
flies! Andy McNab, the ex-SAS author, came into studio
yesterday and in a fascinating interview talked about
survival in the jungle, the desert and secret spaces
in people's attics.

Next week, the youngest Briton ever to scale Everest,
Bear Grylls, will be venturing into the Big Toe studio
to talk about the challenges of mountaineering. Never
a dull moment on Big Toe.

BBC7 Big Toe

After a delightful week of Winnie the Pooh stories,
Alan Bennett returns on Monday with the story of Danny
Fox, and on Tuesday Cruella deVil gets her
come-uppance when '101 Dalmatians' reaches its happy
ending. Alison Steadman then makes her debut on Little
Toe with 'A Fishbone of Fairytales', starting on
Wednesday.

The horrors in the dank underground tunnels of
Bogeydom are revealed on Saturday with a wonderfully
disgusting children's drama, 'Fungus the Bogeyman',
from the enduringly funny yet poignant book by Raymond
Briggs. 'Fungus' was published in 1978 and has a
lasting appeal to children and adults.

BBC7 Little Toe

From:
Mary Kalemkerian
Head of Programmes
BBC 7

larry, you come up with some great stuff.

there's a radio program i love, it used to be called "coast to coast" with art bell. it's weird program with all kinds of people claiming to have been kidnapped by ufo's, seeing ghosts, etc., they even had one guy a couple of weeks ago claiming he ran into bigfoot and communicated with it telepathicaly. it comes on early in the morning as i'm driving to work, it always start my day off with a laugh.

Thanks pueo - though disturbed to hear that art bell radio waves have made their way through the alien infested atmosphere of planet earth all the way to your part of the world.

Larry, my gratitude to you knows no bounds! Like you, I often listen to overseas (or other distantly-located) radio stations on my 'puter while working on it. This is a more-than-welcome addition to my list of sites to visit often.

Thank you.

I'm glad you found your way here, MA - its a great network to listen to. I had it on all last night, listening to old British comedies.

Thanks to oldandknew for the reminder that there are other BBC radio stations!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

This week's BBC7 newsletter:

BBC7

Well the biggest success of last week on BBC7 was our
tribute to Douglas Adams - So Long and Thanks For All
The Fish.

Geoffrey Perkins, presenting the programmes, gave us
such an insight into the joys and frustrations of
working with Douglas. The programme generated a lot of
e-mails from our listeners, many of whom found it
moving as well as entertaining. For me it was an
additional pleasure to hear a programme which Douglas
had produced, the hilarious Black Cinderella Two Goes
East, and to find out the background to the production.

BBC7 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

In response to requests to hear it all again soon,
I've been able to schedule a repeat in its entirety on
Sunday 1st June. So you only have 12 weeks to wait.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy continues all
through next week of course and ends on 18th March.

Galton and Simpson, who were described by one of our
producers as the "Lennon and McCartney of Comedy"
brought us an excellent selection of classic comedy as
Comedy Controllers last Saturday. Listeners who
particularly enjoyed Take It From Here as part of their
selection can look forward to six programmes (which include the wonderful Glums) starting Sunday lunchtimes
as from 6th April after the current run of Men From The
Ministry.

If you're at a loose end, Why not try out our new Goons
Quiz, based on the Booted Gorilla.

BBC7 Quizzes

With Comic Relief almost in full stride, BBC 7 will be
taking you behind the scenes with Ewan McGregor and a
host of celebrities in A Bunch of Red Noses, Saturday
at 12 noon.

BBC7 Comedy Hour

And guests on Big Toe later on in the week will be
talking about what they'll be doing to help Comic
Relief.

BBC7 Big Toe

Drama highlights starting on Sunday include an
excellent new Dickens:

Dombey and Son in 6 x 1 hour episodes, begins with A
Funeral and A Christening. (no weddings I'm sorry to
say)

Those of you who missed the gritty drama with a
Northern Rugby League setting, This Sporting Life,
broadcast in our first week, now have the opportunity
to hear a welcome repeat starting on Monday.

BBC7 Drama

Two excellent readings ended today. If you didn't
catch the final episode of The Graduate, do try to
listen to the repeat this evening. The final scene in
the church followed by Benjamin's getaway on a bus
with Elaine in full wedding outfit is a captivating
listen.

Two new readings start on Monday. In her
autobiography, And That's Not All, Joan Plowright
tells us about her acting career and how she managed to
fit it in with her marriage to the legendary Sir
Laurence Olivier.

A fascinating best-seller, Tulip Fever, by Deborah
Moggach also starts on Monday for two weeks.
Set in 17th century Holland at a time when tulip bulbs
were literally worth their weight in gold, it's the
story of a passionate affair between an artist and
Sophie, an attractive young woman married to a wealthy
old merchant. The readers are Emma Fielding and
William Gaminara. Without giving too much of the story
away, the outcome for Sophie is, sadly, not as
fortunate as that of Elaine and Ben's in The Graduate.

BBC7 Drama - Bestsellers

Alistair MacLean's dramatic Second World War
thriller, based on a true war time story, The Guns of
Navarone, starts on Monday. That's followed by
another appearance from Hercule Poirot ready to solve
yet another murder, on this occasion while he's on an
English summer holiday. Evil Under the Sun is a 5 part drama.

I've had many requests for any of the Paul Temple
series which have survived.

Well there's one coming up for you soon: Paul Temple
and The Gilbert Case, in 8 parts, starting on Monday
17th March in our Crime and Thriller slot.

BBC7 Drama - Crime Thrillers

On Little Toe a super new children's weekend drama
begins on Sunday, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book in
5 parts. Listen out for Freddie Jones as Baloo the
Bear, and Eartha Kitt's sizzling performance as Kaa the snake. It's a delight.

BBC7 Littletoe


A link to the BBC 7 weekly schedule.

BBC7 Weekly Schedule

This week's BBC7 Newsletter:

BBC7

For those of you who need even more of a comedy fix
after a week of Comic Relief, we've got a great week of
comedy ahead for you on BBC7.

Starting on Saturday, "Doddy" fans will enjoy Ken
Dodd's Palace of Laughter. For the next three
Saturdays the brilliant and eccentric Ken takes his
Travelling Comedy Company on a Theatre Tickle Tour.
Tomorrow's programme was recorded in 1985 at Wigan
Little Theatre. How tickled you'll be.

BBC7 Comedy - Classic

A Shakespearean Company with a difference will also be
with us for the next three weekends; the RSC, that is
the Reduced Shakespeare Company, will be bringing you
the cut-price works of the Great Bard in a style you
certainly wouldn't hear at Stratford.

Enjoy their manic versions of Shakespeare - beginning
with The Tragedies, and thereafter at breakneck speed
romping through The History Plays, The Comedies, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, all packaged up in six hilarious
half hours!

BBC7 Comedy - ComedyZone

My old favourites, Galton and Simpson return to BBC 7
In Conversation with Paul Jackson on Sunday and Mark
Radcliffe's comedy winners in his Saturday Selection
are: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Think the Unthinkable,
The Sunday Format, The Hudson and Pepperdine Show,
Little Britain, and I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again.
All broadcast in that order.

BBC7 Comedy

The Hole In the Wall Gang returns on Monday morning
with series 3 and 4 of their very Irish comedy show,
Half Sketch (is it because they're Irish?) and Room
101, the dumping ground for all that is truly dreadful,
finishes this week with Rory McGrath as Nick Hancock's
guest.

BBC7 Comedy - Comedy Club

Harry Hill takes over with his quirky and surreal Fruit
Corner the following week.

Dial M For Pizza, another requested comedy sketch show
series, from 1987, is served up on Monday, replacing
Think the Unthinkable, which will return later on in
the year.

Those of you who enjoyed Jo Brand (self-described Drag
Queen) singing on BBC1 for Comic Relief last Saturday
can hear two of her early stand-up shows, in A Load of
Old Balls, late night comedy on Wednesday and Thursday.

As you night have noticed on the Message Board, a much
requested archive series is Paul Temple.
Unfortunately, only three complete series of Francis
Durbridge's super-smooth sleuth and his glamorous wife
Steve were kept for posterity, and we will certainly be
scheduling all of them. The evocative strains of The
Coronation Scot heralds our first mystery, Paul Temple
and The Gilbert Case, in 8 parts. It was recorded 50
years ago in 1953 and now I'm delighted to be able to
give it another airing on BBC 7 starting on Monday.

BBC7 Drama - Crime Thrillers

Our research has shown that a lot of new listeners have
joined us since the new year, and I do get requests
from listeners who would like to hear dramas they have
missed. Therefore this week you can hear a repeat of
two excellent dramas, The French Lieutenant's Woman,
followed by Room at the Top. Series 3 of King Street
Junior continues, and will be followed by subsequent
series at a later date.

BBC7 Drama - 7Drama

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ends on Tuesday,
and as in life, asking more questions than it answers.
On Wednesday we start another comedy sci-fi serial in 5
parts. In a time-hopping tale, Time Hops, specially
made for Radio 5 in 1994, a screwball scientist mouse
escapes from the future in a mission to save her planet
from an ecological disaster. The listeners loved it at
the time, and I hope you do too.

In response to some desperate pleas for Spaceforce,
created by Charles Chilton in 1982, a six-part series
of this will start on the 26th March when Timehops has
ended.

BBC7 Drama - 7th Dimension

Two readings not to be missed on Little Toe this week
are Pippi Longstocking, read by Juliet Stevenson and
then something completely different which should appeal
to all ages:

Far from the Sahara, Michael Palin transports us to the
icy wastes of Alaska when he reads Biggles Flies North,
a fast paced story starring that flying ace - Squadron
Leader James Bigglesworth. Chocs away, chaps!

BBC7 Littletoe

A link to BBC 7's weekly schedule.

BBC7 Weekly Schedule

Happy Listening

Mary Kalemkerian
Head of Programmes
BBC 7

This week on BBC 7

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/


"The Comedy hit this week on BBC 7 has been without
doubt The Reduced Shakespeare Company.For
those of you who missed these very clever and funny
programmes, there are four more to go.

This Saturday and Sunday you can hear their 30-minute
versions of Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.

Dial M for Pizza ends on Monday, and it has been so
popular that I have already scheduled the second
series for May.

BBC7 Comedy

Old Harry's Game takes over as from Tuesday. Some of
you have noticed that we have skipped from series One
to Three. This is because Series Two contained some
sketches that were inappropriate in view of the current
war situation, and we have therefore postponed Series
Two until a later date.

BBC7 Comedy - Comedyzone

Two new late night comedies start next week - Lee and
Herring's Fist of Fun, which originated on Radio One,
and Chewin' The Fat, which originated on Radio Scotland
before transferring to television.

BBC7 Comedy - Comedyclub

There's another two-some when we start two new
best-sellers this week. Comedian Tony Hawkes reads
Round Ireland with a Fridge, in which he recalls
highlights from a memorable journey which he took on as
a result of a drunken bet.

William Hope reads A Patchwork Planet, by Anne Tyler.
This witty novel centres round Barnaby Gaitlin, a
nearly-thirty, divorced black sheep of his wealthy
Baltimore family.

BBC7 Drama - Bestsellers

Paul Temple continues until Tuesday, and here I must
thank listeners who have written in to tell me of
further Paul Temples which are not held by our Archive.
I will certainly investigate these, and you can look
forward to hearing them later in the year.

BBC7 Drama - Crimethrillers

In the 7th Dimension, we come to the end of Dracula
this weekend, to be followed next weekend by a Dr Who
adventure in 2 parts, Slipback, originally made for
Pirate Radio 4 in 1985 and starring Colin Baker as The
Doctor.

Fear on Four continues, but Ray Bradbury' Tales of the
Bizarre have now ended to be followed by equally chilling stories
presented by Vincent Price, The Price of Fear. The first story is An Eye For An Eye.

Midweek, the wacky Time Hops ends on Tuesday to be
replaced by the legendary Charles Chilton's
Spaceforce, in six episodes. This often asked for
series stars Barry Foster as Saxon, and was made for
Radio 2 in 1982. And before anyone asks about Charles
Chilton's best-known sci-fi series, Journey Into Space,
Operation Luna can be heard on BBC 7 towards the end
of April.

BBC7 Drama - 7th Dimension

On Little Toe next week there's a delightful story,
Nicobobinus written and read by Terry Jones.

BBC7 Littletoe

Spike Milligan would have been 85 on 16th April, so on 6th
April we will be giving you another chance to hear our
tribute to him, Goodbye Spike. Many listeners have
asked to hear this again. You can hear some of Spike's
lesser known programmes in this tribute, such as Plain
Tales From the Raj, and Dinosaurs. It is introduced by
Eric Sykes, and Spike's long-term agent and manager,
Norma Farnes.

BBC7 Comedy - Classic Comedy

Link to this week's schedule at a glance.

BBC7 Schedule

Happy listening
Mary Kalemkerian
Head of Programmes BBC 7"