Programme Information

• Saturday – Graham Norton (10am-1pm): This week's guests include Doctor Who star Karen Gillan.
• Saturday – Ricky Ross in for Bob Harris (12midnight-3am): Ricky Ross sits in for Bob Harris with three times Grammy Award winner Keb Mo as his guest.
• Monday to Friday – Ken Bruce (9.30am-12noon): Brit and Mobo Award winner Jessie J chooses the Tracks Of My Years.
• Monday – Paul Jones (7-8pm): Tonight's show features Giles Robson & The Dirty Aces, recorded live at The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in Colne.
• Thursday – Sounds Of The 20th Century (Ep 31/50): Jeremy Vine introduces 1981, the year of The Specials' Ghost Town and riots in Brixton and Toxteth. The New Romantics arrive to brighten up the clubs, there's some saucy skirt-ripping at Eurovision and a new political party is shaking up Westminster.

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Two Episodes Of Mash is a comedy sketch show starring Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson with support from Perrier Award-winner David O'Doherty and BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce. This week, Paul Harry Allen and Jimmy Carr also star.

Each show is a mix of silly sketches interspersed with Diane and Joe's humorous banter.

Presenters/Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson, Producer/Clair Wordsworth

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Cellist Natalie Clein shares some of the music and musicians that continue to inspire her, including Janáček's Violin Sonata, Bach's Keyboard Concerto in D minor, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 and recordings by Daniil Shafran, Zara Nelsova and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Presenter/Natalie Clein, Producer/Les Pratt

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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From the Grand Theatre in Leeds, Christopher Cook introduces Opera North's new period production of Tchaikovsky's tragic tale of obsession and greed – The Queen Of Spades.

The young gambler Hermann attempts to end his run of bad luck by trying to discover the old Countess' secret of the cards and winning the hand of her granddaughter Lisa in marriage. Willing to risk everything, he ends up gambling with love and life.

This English-language version of Tchaikovsky's final Pushkin Opera is directed by Neil Bartlett and translated by Bartlett and Martin Pickard, with Dame Josephine Barstow as the Countess, Orla Boylan as Lisa and Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Herman. The Orchestra of Opera North is conducted by Richard Farnes.

Presenter/Christopher Cook, Producer/Sam Phillips

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Ivan Hewett introduces performances by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – recorded earlier tonight in Glasgow's Fruitmarket – of three maverick composers: Giacinto Scelsi; John Cage; and Cornelius Cardew.

Cardew is also the subject of this week's Hear And Now Fifty – a series of features about landmark works from the late 20th century – and his biographer, pianist John Tilbury, describes Cardew as he knew him, as well as the turbulent reaction of early audiences to his masterwork, The Great Learning. Writer Paul Griffiths explains its place in Cardew's musical and political thinking.

Presenter/Ivan Hewett, Producer/Philip Tagney

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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French saxophonist Michel Portal is also one of the world's great classical clarinettists, and a restless musical experimenter.

In this week's Jazz Library, prior to a concert at the London Jazz Festival, Portal joins Alyn Shipton to pick some of the best examples of his recorded jazz. From his multi-tracked solo Dajarme via work on clarinet, soprano, alto and tenor sax to his most recent album Baliador, selections from which he will play in London, Portal's choices are eclectic and virtuosic.

Presenter and Producer/Alyn Shipton

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

• Open Country (Ep 1/14), Saturday, 6.05-6.30am;

• Living World (Ep 1/5), Sunday, 6.35-7.00am;

• Frontiers (Ep 1/6), Wednesday, 9.00-9.30pm.

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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In his spare time, satirist Roger Law used to breed rabbits, but none of them ever came up to the exacting standards of the British Rabbit Council. Now he's determined to find out the secret of breeding the perfect English rabbit.

Roger looks at his favourite and one of the country's oldest breeds, the Old English Spot. A drawing of the perfect English Rabbit was made by Victorian artist Robert Wippell circa 1838. To breed pedigree Old English for exhibition, their spots must accord with Wippell's drawing as closely as possible. The judges mark the spots to a total of 100 points. Unfortunately, some judges like small spots, others large ones. The perfect English Rabbit is yet to be born.

Roger talks to top breeders and explores what drives someone to set up hutches for 100 rabbits in a back garden, and how some people live, breathe and dream rabbits.

Presenter/Roger Law, Producer/Mark Rickards for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Set in Sixties Illinois, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway.

It tells the story of the evil that grips the boys' small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one autumn midnight.

These two innocents, both aged 13 – Will is born one minute before Halloween, and Jim one minute after – save the souls of the town.

The carnival is a thrilling and chilling world featuring a mirror maze that reflects a person's older or younger self, depending on their desires, and a magic carousel that leaves its riders a year older when it plays Chopin's Funeral March forwards and with each rotation, but makes them a year younger when it rotates backwards.

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is dramatised by Diana Griffiths and stars Theo Gregory as Will and Josef Lindsay as Jim.

Producer/Pauline Harris for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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With Gaddafi dead, Owen Bennett-Jones explores what happens after dictators fall: from Stalin to Saddam, Mao to Milosevic. How does the way they go shape their country's future?

Presenter/Owen Bennett-Jones, Producer/Simon Watts

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

BBC Radio 4 Extra brings listeners tantalising gothic tales from the BBC archive, which includes:

• A Hundred Years Of Mervyn Peake, Saturday, 7.30-8.00am; from the island of Sark, the children of the Gormenghast author reminisce about their father on the centenary of his birth.

• Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost (Ep 1/3), Saturday, 6.00-6.30pm; the Otis family move into an old English country house, despite warnings that it's haunted. Read by Alistair McGowan.

• Mervyn Peake's The History Of Titus Groan (Ep 1/6), Saturday-Sunday, 8.00-11.00pm; in two, three-hour slots each night listeners can hear the whole of the recent BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the idiosyncratic life of the heir to Gormenghast. It stars Luke Treadaway, Paul Rhys, Mark Benton and James Fleet.

• The Man In Black – Nicholas Pierpan's The Printed Name (Ep 2/5), Sunday, 6.00-6.30pm; Mark Gatiss introduces another chilling tale as The Man In Black. Ewan Bailey stars in this writer's devilish pact with a mysterious man.

• A Short History Of Vampires – Tanya Huff's Quid Pro Quo (Ep 4/4), Sunday, 6.30-7.00pm; Natalie Haynes introduces a tale about a vampire's battle of wits to rescue her human lover. It is read by Genevieve Adam.

• Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Tuesday, 11.15am-12.00noon; living in a castle in Austria, lonely Laura is captivated by a beautiful visitor in this Gothic vampire tale starring Anne-Marie Duff.

BBC Radio 4 Extra Publicity

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Radio 4 Extra programming for the Halloween season includes:

• Garrison Keillor's Radio Show (Ep 2/32), Saturday, 8.00-9.00am; a brand new episode from the American funny man welcomes Ricky Skaggs with Kentucky Thunder and singer Heather Masse to his Minnesotan HQ. From 2010.

• Down The Line (Ep 6/6), Saturday, 7.00-7.30pm; things go bump in the night on award-winning Gary Bellamy's phone-in, starring Rhys Thomas and Mark Gatiss. It was originally broadcast in February 2007.

• MR James's Ghost Stories – Canon Alberic's Scrapbook (Ep 1/5), Monday, 11.00-11.15am; a collector of antiquities finds a priceless ancient book, but something evil lies within its pages. Read by Benjamin Whitrow.

• Dermot Bolger's Haunting Women – The Linen Mill (Ep 1/5), Monday, 6.30-6.45pm; when 82-year old Ellie revisits her old workplace she is, in turn, visited by the past. Can she be forgiven? Stars Doreen Keogh.

BBC Radio 4 Extra Publicity

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Peter Marinker reads some of the best in classic American Pulp Fiction in this second series recorded especially for BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The guilty pleasures of America's hardest, sassiest, cheapest style of thriller have inspired countless movies and attracted some of the best American writers.

This series of five stories ranges from underworlds inhabited by damaged Vietnam vets, hit men and serial killers in the south to the bums and derelicts of the Lower East side of Manhattan, set against a score from the likes of Miles Davies, Danny Elfman, John Ottman and Michael Andrews.

In the first week, A Matter Of Principle by Max Allan Collins, a Vietnam-vet-turned-hit-man has taken early retirement by killing his boss. At a loose end, on one cold dark night by the lakes, he comes across an old enemy. Something's going down. Should he get involved? It's very tempting...

Reader/Peter Marinker, Producer/Frank Stirling for Unique Productions

BBC Radio 4 Extra Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 29 October

11.55am-2.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents live Premier League football commentary of Everton versus Manchester United (12noon kick-off). The programme also features updates from the first half of Chelsea versus Arsenal in the Premier League (the second half of which can be heard live from 2pm) and Aberdeen versus Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.

From 3pm there's live football coverage of all the kick-offs including Manchester City versus Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and Celtic versus Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League. There are also reports from the Indian Grand Prix qualifying and from the Twenty20 cricket between India and England in Kolkota.

In Sports Report at 5pm there's post-match reaction and interviews, plus regular Premier League football updates from West Bromwich Albion versus Liverpool from 5.30pm.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live Formula 1 – 2011: Indian Grand Prix Third Practice/Qualifying

Saturday 29 October

6.25-7.35am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA
9.25-10.35am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra brings uninterrupted commentary on the third practice session for the Indian Grand Prix. The qualifying session can be heard at 9.25am.

Producer/Jason Swales for USP

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Football

Saturday 29 October

12.40-1.35pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra brings uninterrupted commentary on the first half of Chelsea versus Arsenal in the Premier League. The second half can be heard on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Cricket

Saturday 29 October

1.45-5.15pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary on the Twenty20 International between India and England comes live from Kolkota.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Nemone returns to weekends on BBC Radio 6 Music, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as her Culture Club guest. The Oscar-winning actor, who has starred in movies such as Magnolia, The Talented Mr Ripley and The Boat That Rocked, discusses his feature-length directorial debut, Jack Goes Boating, in which he also stars.

Presenter/Nemone

BBC Radio 6 Music Publicity

While it ranks alongside Chinese Kung Fu or the Samurai Bushido, the ancient Indian martial art of Shastar Vidiya is nearly forgotten – not least because the British colonial masters swiftly banned it after the Anglo-Sikh wars. After centuries of practising its fearsome techniques, Sikh fighters in Punjab were shot for simply carrying a sword. Now the last-known master of the art, British-born Nidar Singh Nihang, is searching for a successor.

As a child, Nidar was sent to live with relatives in Punjab, where a chance meeting changed his life. The man he met was an ageing warrior who could trace his lineage back to the time of the Sikh Gurus. He introduced young Nidar to the secrets of Shastar Vidiya, or the knowledge of weapons, thus passing on the tradition to the next generation. In this programme, Hardeep Singh Kohli joins Nidar Singh Nihang as he searches for his own successor among young Sikhs in Britain.

Presenter/Hardeep Singh Kohli

BBC World Service Publicity