Programme Information

Long-distance relationships can be tough. The travelling and the costs as well as the effort of trying to stay close, even though it may be weeks before you see that special someone face-to-face.

This documentary finds that long-distance relationships can often be worth the wait. Paul, who survived four years of university mainly apart from him girlfriend, is now happily married to her.

Emily is married too, but her husband is in the army and can be away for six months at a time, while Carla is in a long-distance relationship with someone she met online.

Chloe and Alice from Leeds explain how they cope with having boyfriends in jail, while Maria spent £7,000 visiting her boyfriend, before it all went horribly wrong.

BBC 1Xtra Publicity

Performance On 3 continues its focus on the works of Beethoven with the start of a landmark cycle of the composer's symphonies, performed by leading period instrument group The Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment.

They begin their cycle with Symphony No. 4, one of the composer's most underrated yet dramatic pieces, and Symphony No. 7, one of the most popular and a reflection of the time in which it was written during the Napoleonic Wars.

The OAE are conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, with whom the band have a close relationship developed in both opera house and concert hall. Each symphony in this cycle is prefaced with episodes from the life of the composer read by Beethoven biographer John Suchet, adapted from his fictionalised life of the composer, The Last Master.

Presenter/Catherine Bott, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Neil MacGregor's retelling of the history of humanity, using objects from the British Museum's collection, arrives in Crete around 1700BC.

The programme tells the story of man's fascination with bulls and the emergence of one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous civilisations in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean – the Minoans.

The Minoans of Crete were more powerful than the mainland with a complex and still largely unknown culture. They enjoyed a ritual connection with bulls as well as a rich bronze-making tradition. To consider the Minoans and the role of the bull in myth and legend, Neil introduces listeners to a small bronze sculpture of a man leaping over a bull, one of the highlights of the British Museum's Minoan collection.

He explores the vast network of trade routes in the Mediterranean of the time, encounters an ancient shipwreck and tracks down a modern-day bull leaper to try to figure out the attraction.

Presenter/Neil MacGregor, Producer/Anthony Denselow

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Fags, Mags & Bags Ep 1/6

Wednesday 10 February

11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

Fags, Mags & Bags returns for a third series of low-return retail but high-end comedy featuring more corner-shop capers from Lenzie's Premier convenience store.

The first series saw Ramesh et al boldly complete a magazine part-work and cause a near riot selling beef swastikas. In series two the Majhu family was rocked to its core by the appearance of a much-despised auntie and the shop turned into a temporary shrine to Michael Jackson.

The new series of Fags, Mags & Bags sees Sanjay finding a girlfriend and embracing the arts while the very eco-balance of shop society is thrown into chaos after Ramesh allows Alok to install a slush machine.

Written by and starring Sanjeev Kohli and Donald Mcleary, the comedy featues special guest appearances including Sylvester McCoy.

Producer/Gus Beattie

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Postcards From A Cataclysm presents nine short plays about global annihilation. As an asteroid hurtles towards earth, a variety of people each react in their own unique way.

This innovative drama stars Kenneth Cranham (Hot Fuzz, Layer Cake), Tim Key (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2009) and Josie Long (Skins) alongside writers Tim Crouch, Rommi Smith and The Factory Theatre Company, among others.

The "song-length" plays feature intricate sound design from recent National Film And Television School graduate Zhe Wu and music from the London Community Gospel Choir.

The shorts will also be individually podcast. The result is nine very different, finely crafted audio gems that push the boundaries of sonic storytelling.

The plays include Lost & Found (Part 1 and 2) by David Varela – where Reggie and Colin have one more delivery to make before the end of the world.

The Asteroid Hitters by Rommi Smith in which Wolfie and Rosa plan to spend the apocalypse making love; but Wolfie has a secret.

In Prints (Part 1 and 2) by Lizzie Nunnery time and space begin to warp, and a couple receive ghostly echoes from their past.

Josie's Diary by Josie Long sees Josie lament the lack of her favourite type of bread on the shelves of the supermarket.

In Amazing Grace by The Factory Theatre Company someone, somewhere starts to sing and all around join in; well, all but one.

Tim Crouch's No Milk tells of an elderly couple who snuggle up as the world around them falls apart.

In Phone Message by The Factory Theatre Company the boredom of a traffic jam is broken by terror.

Beth investigates a mysterious voice coming from the granite on Bodmin Moor, in The Voice In The Rock by Carl Grose.

In The NEO NDE [Near Earth Object, Near Death Experience] by Rommi Smith, Marcia can't wait for the end of the world – it will end – they promised.

Producer/James Robinson

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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BBC Radio 4 presenter Laurie Taylor

In this week's Thinking Allowed, Paul Gilroy joins Laurie Taylor to discuss the changing place of black culture.

Cultural critic Paul Gilroy discusses his new book, Darker Than Blue. He talks to Laurie about how jazz, blues, hip-hop and much of what stood for black culture, now seems generically American and is exported around the world. Within the United States, luxury goods, motor cars, branded items and a quest for individual gratification may have diluted the collective spirit that brought African-Americans the civil rights they won.

Paul analyses how American blackness has acquired a high visibility worldwide and has a potent political value to the United States while a global counter terrorist operation is in process.

Paul traces the shifting character of black culture on both sides of the Atlantic and offers an account of what it means to be black in Britain and the United States.

Presenter/Laurie Taylor, Producer/Charlie Taylor

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Wednesday 10 February

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents all the day's sports news and, at 7.45pm, there's live commentary on Arsenal versus Liverpool. There are also updates of the evening's other Premier League matches including Everton versus Chelsea and Aston Villa versus Manchester United.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Steve Rudge

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Football

Wednesday 10 February

7.40-9.45pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

• www.bbc.co.uk/football

Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on one of the night's top matches in the Premier League.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Every week the Lunchtime show will feature a playlist of hand-picked music from bands and artists. The specially selected tracks will be played out across the week and available in full via the BBC 6 Music website.

This week's Featured Playlist is selected by the dub fuelled ska rocksteady and reggae of Pama International who became the first new band to sign to Trojan Records for 30 years in 2006. Discover the band's influences across the week including tracks by Otis Redding, Burning Spear, Dennis Brown and Culture.

Presenter/Nemone, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Featuring 1993 concert tracks from the much-missed Kirsty MacColl, Gideon Coe tonight selects archive tracks from a recent session by Kurt Vile for Marc Riley plus an epic racket from London (via San Diego) trio The God Machine, recorded for John Peel in 1992.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Frank Wilson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Khatija and Zenab exchange polite conversation, but it isn't long before they are bickering again, as the drama continues. Later they call a truce.

Jodie decorates the cafe for Valentine's Day; Sway thinks they should play it low-key given everything that has happened recently but will Jodie agree?

A bouquet of flowers is delivered to Sandra, with no card attached. She doubts that Kenny would have sent them but who else could it be?

Khatija is played by Miriam Ali, Zenab by Sudha Buchar, Jodie by Vineeta Rishi, Sway by Nicholas Bailey, Sandra by Anita Dobson, Simran by Balvinder Sopal and Kenny by Brian Croucher.

BBC Asian Network Publicity

Obama's America Ep 1/2

Wednesday 10 February

8.00-8.30pm BBC WORLD SERVICE

In the first of this new two-part series examining Obama's America, Simon Schama explores the battle of ideologies which have formed American foreign policy.

Evoking two former opponents and philosophical warriors of the foreign policy debate: President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur, Simon reflects on the perennial struggle between isolationism and interventionism, idealism and pragmatism that is still being debated in America today. Should the US, with its enormous military might, act as a global sheriff or should it adopt a more hands-off approach, pursuing diplomacy and containment over a desire for outright military victory? Will Obama succeed in his attempt to "choose our better history" and rebuild America's image around the world?

The programme will focus on the Korean War, America's forgotten conflict and one which marked the birth of the nation as a superpower, liberating a new vision of what the US could do in the world and ushering in an era of expansive, interventionist foreign policy.

Presenter/Simon Schama

BBC World Service Publicity

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The final instalment of this three-part series, presented by Bidisha, features full-length interviews tracing the spiritual journeys of three writers through their fiction and poetry.

The poet, artist and film-maker Imtiaz Dharker was born a Muslim in Lahore, Pakistan and educated at a school with a strict Protestant ethic in Glasgow, where her family moved when she was a child. When growing up she began to question and challenge the restrictions of her religion, particularly for women, and poetry provided a platform for her to achieve this.

The titles of some of her poetry collections reflect the issues with which she grapples: Postcards From God and I Speak For The Devil. However, as Bidisha discovers, Imtiaz Dharker is far too sensuous and down-to-earth to want to be labelled a "spiritual writer".

Presenter/Bidisha, Producer/Kate Howells

BBC World Service Publicity