Radio

 

There was a fantastic Radio 4 series called Fear on Four that ran in the late 80s / early 90s; despite the fact all the shows were spooky thrillers they all had completely different settings ranging from the Napoleonic War to futuristic sci-fi. Although I didn't listen to the show when it was originally aired I became a fan when they were rerun on BBC7 on Sundays. I was so impressed with it I contacted the BBC to ask if there were any plans to release the show on CD - they replied saying no.

Yesterday I found a site that has all 48 episodes available for free download; such radio recordings are considered Old Time Radio (or OTR), which means they are considered so old that they are no longer protected by copyright. The quality of the recordings are generally very good and the webmasters have kindly supplied the episode titles and original air dates.

Download the shows here.

Thanks to the webmasters at Vic and Sade for making these available!

Update: you can now get them here - the old link doesn't work. Fear on Four

Update 2: Okay, so they're still under copyright. I contacted the BBC and they have no plans to release them. The link above has nothing to do with me - use it at your own risk!

John Humphrys returns to Radio 4 this morning with a new Series of On The Ropes. In each episode of this programme Humphrys chats candidly to a high-profile figure who has, at some point, hit rock bottom or fallen completely from grace.

Even if you're not familiar with the interviewee, Humphrys' entertaining and outspoken manner makes this first-rate listening.

The series kicks off at 9:00 this morning and features "fat" chef Clarissa Dickson-Wright. Humphrys chats with Dickson-Wright about her upper-class yet violent childhood, her fall to chronic alcoholism (half a bottle of vodka before breakfast!) and her rise to a television programme that was watched by over 70 million people that world over and was subtitled into Inuit!

The 9:00 programme is repeated at 21:30 and is also available through the Listen Again feature on the Radio 4 website.