Showing results by author "BBC" in All Categories

Have you ever noticed that when you do something positive to your body, your mood lifts too? Our minds and bodies are more connected than you could ever imagine and the latest science is proving just that. In this podcast, Psychologist Kimberley Wilson explores a range of activities that can help to boost your focus, energy and overall mental wellbeing. And she’ll reveal her easy take-home tips and tricks that you can add to your daily routine to help you get started right away - whether you want to reboot with a nap, take a cold water splash, or reap the benefits of a burst of morning sun.

In today's fast-paced world, most people are familiar with feeling stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed. But a remarkable resource exists to ease these problems – nature. BBC Studios Natural History Unit and environmental psychologist Alex Smalley have teamed up to create immersive natural soundscapes that will help you unlock this incredible healing potential. Whether it’s learning to tap into the awe-inspiring power of thunderstorms or replenishing your attention with the sound of the rainforest, each soundscape will help to unlock mental health benefits that are grounded in academic research.

Cindy Murphy is the early 2000s poster girl for having it all. A top job in finance in Manhattan, two delightful daughters and a house in the suburbs. But Cindy’s life is built on a lie. She’s really a Russian spy sent to live in deep cover in the US and send intel back to Moscow. Rosamund Pike narrates this true story documentary about an extraordinary woman who deceives her friends, neighbors, boss and even her children.

"Jack and the Beanstalk", read by Lenny Henry
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears", read by Sheridan Smith
"Puss in Boots", read by Lenny Henry
"Snow White", read by Sheridan Smith. Here are four fantastic stories, full of magic and fun, that young children are sure to love!

“I am not Nicholas Rossi!” gasps Arthur Knight through an oxygen mask in March 2022. Recently discharged from a Covid ward in Glasgow, he's in a wheelchair. The police say he’s Nicholas Rossi, suspected of faking his death and wanted for rape in Utah. The story makes headlines globally.

With its wickedly funny mimicry and on-point parodies, Dead Ringers became an instant classic when it hit the airwaves in January 2000. In these four series, first broadcast between 2020 and 2023, the team give us their inimitable impersonations of the famous and infamous: from Donald Trump and Joe Biden to Liz Truss, Professor Chris Whitty and Holly Willoughby.

How the luckiest treasure hunters on earth became Newport’s most wanted

In this BBC Radio 4 podcast, Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken are on a mission to help us take better care of ourselves.Although they are identical twins, Chris and Xand are very different and they never stop thinking and arguing about science and health. They want to lead healthy, happy lives and as doctors, they want this for everyone. Yet they tussle over how best to get there.When it comes to looking after our own health, it can be confusing. Medicine and science produce amazing new treatments and diagnostics every day and we are bombarded with so many headlines and pieces of advice; but ...

Hosted by the peerless Sandi Toksvig, these 25 episodes take us through the highlights and lowlights of 2008, a year dominated by the global financial crisis and the US presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. Scrutinising stories both world-shaking and whimsical are an esteemed panel of comedians, journalists and commentators, among them Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Phill Jupitus, Francis Wheen, Kevin Day, Carrie Quinlan, Mark Steel, Hugo Rifkind, Justin Edwards, Sue Perkins and Robin Ince.

Four more extended episodes from the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, specially compiled by producer Jon Naismith. The antidote to panel games returns with this 16th glorious collection, in which Jack Dee gives regular panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden silly things to do. Joining them in this compilation are special guests Rob Brydon, Victoria Wood, Susan Calman and David Mitchell.

Radio 4's longest-running panel show, in which contestants are challenged to speak on a on a given topic for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition, returns with Sue Perkins at the helm for this complete collection of episodes from 2024. Featuring quickfire improvisation, inspired ad-libbing and spontaneous hilarity - as well as a live studio audience - join Sue Perkins and her guests as they battle for points, glory and the perfect, uninterrupted minute.

An unsettling collection of full-cast dramas from the long-running BBC Radio 4 horror series. Throughout five series of Fear on 4 from 1988-1997, Edward de Souza was The Man in Black, a sinister raconteur who introduced a weekly half hour of terror and suspense. Here, he welcomes us to his house of horrors as he presents 13 terrifying tales that will make your flesh crawl. With eerie sound effects that enhance the atmosphere of dread, these bloodcurdling adaptations run the gamut from the mysterious to the macabre. With superb casts including Imelda Staunton, Bernard Cribbins, Anna Massey, Thora Hird and Sean Barrett.

This is a dynamic, modern dramatisation of a classic book by John Wyndham. Bill Nighy ( Love Actually and many other films) and Sarah Parish ( Cutting It) play Richard and Janet, a couple caught up in the goings-on of a sleepy English village in which all the children have golden eyes, blond hair, and a sinister talent for telepathy and telekinesis. (Wyndham's novel was filmed as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.)

Ever since 1977, The News Quiz has been finding the hilarity in the headlines and providing witty commentary on stories big and small. In these 25 episodes from 2009, the inimitable Sandi Toksvig is in the hot seat, presiding over an all-star panel of journalists and comedians.

This six-part comedy series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1988. Hosted by Stephen Fry, accompanied each week by Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson, and a selection of guests including Phyllida Law, Robert Bathurst, Julia Hills, and Alison Steadman, the show takes the form of a roundtable discussion, interspersed with sketches that veer tangentially from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Loved by Radio 4 listeners since 1967, Just a Minute is the deliciously devious word game that asks players to speak for sixty seconds on any given subject without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Putting them through their linguistic paces—and keeping order over the proceedings—is chairman Nicholas Parsons. Included here are five series from 2013-14, collected together to celebrate the show's 55th birthday and featuring its 900th episode and a Christmas special.

Just a Minute has been entertaining generations of listeners since its first series in 1967. This collection of five series from 2018-2019, commemorating the programme's 55th anniversary, contains the last ever episodes chaired by broadcasting legend Nicholas Parsons, as well as several shows in which Gyles Brandreth sits in for him as temporary host. Between them, they keep the scores and the peace.

A collection of full-cast dramatisations and readings from the best-selling author. Maeve Binchy was one of Britain's best-loved storytellers, and this compilation of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular.

Kaitlyn Braun, a pregnant young woman in crisis, takes dozens of birth workers through an escalating series of disasters – rape, baby loss, and even a coma. One by one, the doulas struggle to support her and grieve with her, and even save her life as they’re led down a distressing path. And then the truth comes out.In this six-part true crime series, Sarah Treleaven untangles a complex web of lies and deception to ask who Kaitlyn really is and why she did the things that she did. Cases like these puzzle legal experts and raise intricate moral and ethical questions. This is not your average...

A collection of classic nursery rhymes and songs brought to you by the BBC. Join in with over 40 minutes of fun with familiar favourite rhymes including This Little Piggy, Incy Wincy Spider and Baa Baa Black Sheep. Pre-schoolers will love to sing, dance and learn with this traditional compilation of 30 cheerful songs. Head down to the farm with Old McDonald, count with One Potato Two Potato and discover the delightful joys of Hey Diddle Diddle with a CD that will soon become an essential soundtrack to those precious early years.