Radio programmes 1. Clarke’s Psalter SINGLE PROG. TX: 09/09/2018 Dur: 28’00” Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 Production Company: Overtone Productions A contemporary poet examines his process of engaging with the Psalms and scrutinises his belief that poetry is the most powerful means of negotiating and making sense of ourselves and the world today. Edward Clarke charts his journey writing a collection of modern Psalms. It began with an accidental attempt to write a Psalm in rhyming couplets but has become a compelling part of his life - getting up in the early hours every morning and juggling writing with commitments to family and teaching. His poems are not translations but imitations that draw on his daily life and on the "Holy Book” which he sees as central to a way of life. His wife Francesca observes her husband's commitment to the project, and how his poetry provides him with a means to critique the modern world. She concludes that, while she prefers life to poetry, Edward seems to prefer poetry to life. Edward writes according to the old rhythms of English poetry, and uses old stanzas as well as inventing his own in the manner of the Sidneys, John Donn, and George Herbert. This attention to form embodies his hope that his Psalter will outlive other contemporary poets. He writes out of a conviction that the role of poetry is to negotiate the boundaries between the material world and spiritual realms - an attempt to wake himself up as much as his audience. Throughout the programme we also hear a developing sound tract by the Italian Composer Corrado Fantoni who is setting some of Edward Clarke’s poems to music. Since TX Paraclete Press has decided to publish the complete work, and Ed also won the Phyliss Tickle prize an unpublished collection. 2. The Kristapurana SINGLE EPISODE from a longer series or strand TX: 18/11/2018 Dur: 43’52” Broadcaster: BBC Radio 3 Production Company: BBC Radio Amazing travels of the first Englishman in India, a Jesuit Missionary, & a hunt for a lost poetic masterpiece.. A full 50 years before John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, an Englishman called Thomas Stephens composed an epic based on the story of the Bible, and he wrote it in Goa, India - that lush, monsoon soaked region so beloved of hippies and holidaymakers. And he wrote it, not in English, or any European language, but in a regional Indian language, Marathi. 11,000 verses in a classical Indian verse form, rich with images of India - jasmine and coconuts, palm trees and gurus. 'The Kristapurana' is the great, forgotten jewel of Anglo-Indian contact, and the story of its making is as complex as the man who wrote it. Once read and recited in every Christian household in Goa, now barely a memory… why has it disappeared? And who was this man, this Thomas Stephens? How did he find himself on the other side of the world? Professor Nandini Das, scholar of early travels and voyages of exploration, is fascinated by Thomas Stephens, and 'The Kristapurana'. She brings the epic poem, and it's writer to life, tracking the scattered traces of his life, from the Tower of London to a remote parish church in south Goa, in an evocative monsoon soaked adventure, reaching back almost 500 years. With the help of architectural historian Noah Fernandez, archivist Sally Dixon-Smith from the Tower of London, Father Peter Davidson of Campion Hall, Father Vijay D'Souza, Dr Suresh Amonkar, Professor Gil Harris, Dr Liesbeth Corens, Joao Vicente De Melo, Dr Carlos Fernandes of the Goa State Library, Dr Menezes, Rector of Rachol Seminary and Father Victor, archivist, Father Glen D'Silva and the children of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Vaddem, Sanguem 3. 19 weeks SINGLE PROG. TX: 17/04/2018 Dur: 44’00” Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 Production Company: BBC In 2016 writer Emily Steel had a termination after her baby was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. 19 weeks tells her story with brutal honesty. Emily used to think that people that had 'late' abortions weren't very smart or responsible. A late termination wasn't really ok. Yet here she is, being ushered through protesters, putting on a hospital gown, having an IV drip inserted. Emily is 19 weeks pregnant. The two-day abortion procedure is about to start, but the anaesthetic doesn't seem to be working ..... According to recent statistics 1 in 3 women in the UK have had an abortion and 95% of those say they don't regret it. Yet the subject remains taboo. 19 Weeks is a raw account of the emotional, physical and philosophical battles Emily encountered throughout her late pregnancy termination. Eve Myles stars as Emily in this true and visceral story. Directed by Helen Perry, A BBC Cymru/Wales Production. 4. Judas SERIES TX: 26/03/2018 Dur: 67’16” Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 Production Company: BBC NI Radio Drama Broadcast daily on BBC Radio 4 across Easter week 2018, this powerful drama told the story of Jesus from the perspective of the young man you never hear from: Judas. Judas of Kerioth followed Jesus all through His ministry, hearing revolutionary teaching and witnessing miracles. Like the other apostles, he gave up everything to follow this teacher, and yet, with the kiss of friendship, he betrayed the man he loved and who loved him. Over the course of this BBC Radio 4 ‘15 Minute Drama’ series (5 x 15 mins) we follow Judas from his first encounter with Jesus, hearing Him preaching on a hillside, to becoming a trusted disciple. However Judas, always an outsider, struggles to weigh Jesus’ peaceful teachings against his growing resentment for the Roman authorities. As the final episode unfolds, retelling the Passion of the Christ from the perspective of Jesus’ betrayer, Judas comes to realise how much he has lost. Starring Damien Molony as Judas, Jimmy Akingbola as Jesus, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as John and Clive Hayward as Peter. Directed by Allegra McIlroy Sound design by Wilfredo Acosta. Writer Multi award winning writer Lucy Gannon tackles the human story of Judas in a bold and challenging retelling of the greatest story never told. Lucy Gannon is a hugely experienced playwright and creator of television series such as ‘Soldier, Soldier’,‘Frankie’ and ‘The Best of Men’ which told the story of the first Paralympic Games. She was awarded the MBE for services to drama in 1996. Lucy’s writing of ‘Judas’ blended unflinching humanity with warmth and tenderness, bringing a story close to her heart to life for listeners of all ages and backgrounds. 5. BBC Heart & Soul: Stepping on the Bones - Solovki and Russia's Past SINGLE EPISODE from a longer series or strand TX: 20/07/2018 Dur: 27’00” Broadcaster: BBC World Service Production Company: BBC Radio Founded in the 15th century on a remote archipelago in the White Sea, Solovetsky monastery (or “Solovki”) was once one of Russia’s most religious sites. But in the 20th century the islands gained notoriety as the “Mother of Gulags” – the first and most brutal of the concentration camps of the Soviet time, a stark embodiment of repression. With the fall of the communism in the early 1990's, the monastery was re-established though and a small group of monks were allowed to settle. Monks and historians have worked together to keep the dual-legacy of Solovki alive, but spiritual revival on the bones of the dead has proved complicated; the Russian Orthodox Church wants to make the entire archipelago the stronghold of belief it had once been, while historians and human rights activists say that traces of Gulag are being gradually and forcibly removed. Natalia Golysheva, whose grandfather was a Gulag prisoner, explores the conflict of Solovki’s legacy. Will reconciliation ever be possible? 6. Belonging (Part 1 : Old ties, Part 2 : New bonds, Part 3 : Tomorrow's Stories SERIES TX: 03/12/2018 Dur: 27’40” Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 Production Company: BBC Radio The three part series explores why a need to belong is an essential part of what it means to be human and why former cabinet minister, Douglas Alexander, believes we have a crisis of belonging today. He asks religious leaders, ethicists, historians, psychologists, stall holders, gig workers and poets about the ties that bind and why, now, they are fraying. Programme 1 looks at recent decades - the period during which Alexander was an MP. He discusses the decline in religious observance, the growing lack of security and a weakening of class and social structures. Into this heady mixture, has arrived a flourishing of online tribes in an age of social media and political storytelling that has focused, perhaps, too much on economic individual progress. Programme 2 looks at the many different ways in which people today identify themselves - as welsh Somalis, global londoners, muslims, jews, atheists, scientists, scots, brits and english; we have more choice now than ever before. So to whom do we believe we belong? And what role has place - where you were born and where you live - had, throughout history, in deciding who you are and where you call home. Alexander, born and brought up in Renfrewshire, explores the rise of nationalism, with a focus on Scotland, and explores the impact that referendums have had on hardening divides. Programme 3 looks at the power shared stories might have in uniting a fractured country. In an age of diverse media, what form might modern stories take and who would today's effective story-tellers be? Alexander asks what we can learn from religious rituals and poetic rhetoric.