"This is a moment in radio history, and not a good one, as the final episode of Short Cuts on BBC Radio 4 airs. After 40 series of extraordinary, ground-breaking audio..." - Radio Times Pick of the Week
Listen to Midnight on the Short Cuts podcast now - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026ncz
Or on BBC Radio 4, for the last time, today at 3pm
Sea Like a Mirror - an atmospheric gathering storm of a documentary exploring the extraordinary history of the Beaufort scale - airs on BBC Radio 4 this evening at 11pm. Part of the Shipping Forecast at 100 programming. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00269b2
Sea like a mirror
Whistling heard in telegraph wires
Umbrellas used with difficulty...
In this programme we climb to the top of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides, labelled the windiest point in Britain by the Guinness Book of Records, and travel deep into the Met Office archives. With contributions from the writer Scott Huler, author of Defining the Wind; Ruairidh Macrae, the retained lighthouse keeper for the Butt of Lewis and Eilean Glas lighthouses in the Outer Hebrides; Catherine Ross, the library and archive manager at the Met Office; and John Morales, a hurricane specialist and meteorologist with 40 years experience in the field.
The Beaufort scale is read by Charlotte Green
Original music composed by Jeremy Warmsley
Mix by Mike Woolley
Produced by Eleanor McDowall https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00269b2
Happy new year from Falling Tree!
A friendship forged working the land, memories of volcanic eruptions from 800,000 years ago frozen in Antarctica’s ice cores, and the importance of wild, patient gardens.
Short documentaries presented by Josie Long that rise up from the earth in our penultimate Short Cuts on BBC Radio 4. 'Earth' airs at 10pm tonight but is available on the Short Cuts podcast now.
Featuring new work from Rikke Houd, Jules Bradley and Anton Spice
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Mixed by Mike Woolley https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00268zb
Merry Christmas!
The last ever Short Cuts festive special airs on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 9.30pm. Or listen now on the Short Cuts podcast... https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00268qn
Featuring short docs and audio adventures from Kit Callin, Rhik Samadder, Sarah Cuddon, Luke Green and Talia Augustidis. As well as exceptional festival piano playing from Josie Long (exclusively in the podcast)
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Mix by Mike Woolley
🎅“This exquisite programme is the perfect mood-setter for Christmas, but you may need a handkerchief…” - Radio Times number one Christmas radio pick https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00268nz
❄️ Drawing on an iconic recording of Dylan Thomas reading his tale A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Cerys Matthews digs into the archive to discover those other writers and poets - both the wide-eyed and the cynical - who have been inspired to write Christmas through the eyes of a child. Listen to 'A Child's Christmas' on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow night at 8pm.
From Raymond Briggs and Judith Kerr, to Dylan Thomas and CS Lewis, time-travelling back to a childhood Christmas is a strange, nostalgic drug. Its rituals, sounds, smells and emotions become a lens through which to explore pure wonder but also more thorny issues of loneliness, grief and coming-of-age.
Cerys talks to author Katherine Rundell who says, “For children, Christmas has such a surfeit of magic and limitless possibility. For the adult you see it from the other side – you see how Christmas is made – but you never really get to experience it again as something miraculous. That is, unless you conjure it once again by catching it in your text.”
Writer and actor Mark Gatiss describes how Christmas tales can also be a way to carry our child heroes to the edge of the adult world, a place of peril, haunted by the spectres of mid-winter. Think of Susan Cooper’s eerie cult classic, The Dark is Rising and John Mansfield’s The Box of Delights.
In this parallel other Christmas, Cerys also finds themes of entrapment within family and religion and she talks to the author Lemn Sissay about his experience of writing Christmas through the eyes of the orphaned or the fostered child. ‘To really be a child without a family at Christmas is perhaps the most painful story of all,’ he says.
Including reference to:
Dylan Thomas - A Child's Christmas in Wales
Hans Christien Andersen - The Little Match Girl and T
Download 'Feast' from the Short Cuts podcast to hear some delicious short documentaries...
In today's Short Cuts - feeding the birds, sharing meals and chaotic menus as Josie Long cooks a tasty sonic feast on BBC Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00260x7
Featuring new short documentaries from Stella Sims, Nadia Mehdi and Mae-Li Evans
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Mix by Mike Woolley
Time capsules and yesterday's dreams of tomorrow, Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring lost futures.
Featuring new short documentaries from Zara Karschay, Mika Golubovsky, Sasha Borzenko, Chelsea Kigano, Lily Sloane, Lilia Vega, Emily Shaw and Leila Goldstein
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025vhn
“It’s made me challenge how you can tell a story… we’re in danger of having a really beige audio landscape”
“I found Short Cuts to be one of the most beautiful, creative and diverse podcasts available”
Moved hearing listeners and makers talk about the BBC's choice to end Short Cuts on Radio 4's Feedback... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025l2j
County Lines concludes on BBC Radio 4 this morning with 'Hope' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025vpg
Phoebe McIndoe is both journalist and sister to someone caught in county lines and, in this final episode, she widens the lens to understand how austerity and social breakdown created fertile ground for county lines to flourish. From youth club closures to a crumbling care system, she considers how the loss of community safety nets left children vulnerable to exploitation.
Through conversations with activists and those leading innovative solutions, she asks what must change to break this cycle of exploitation and rebuild the protective networks our children need.
Presented by Phoebe McIndoe
Produced by Phoebe McIndoe and Redzi Bernard
With original music by Phoebe McIndoe
Mix by Mike Woolley
Exec Alan Hall
![“[Bird feeder] featured some beautiful observations on life in the garden for the birds and life in the house for Stella...](https://img5.medioq.com/910/451/1130263689104513.jpg)
