Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Words and Music

A weekly journey of discovery, weaving together a range of music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

Radio 3,9 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

American Ideas of Independence
Ideas of freedom expressed by Willa Cather, Solomon Northup, Walt Whitman, Louise Erdrich.
11 Jan 2026,74 mins
Twelve Days of Christmas
We celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas with music, readings, gold rings and pear trees.
21 Dec 2025,74 mins
The Party
From the Great Gatsby, Mrs Beeton to Jeeves takes Charge, Romeo and Juliet to Harlem Samba
30 Jun 2024,74 mins
Betjeman's World
Bells, blossoms and railway branch lines in a John Betjeman-inspired playlist.
12 May 2024,74 mins
Mills
Our journey takes us from wind and water via the Miller's song to dark, satanic mills.
05 May 2024,74 mins
Byron
Robert Glenister reads from poems, letters and diaries written by the Romantic writer
21 Apr 2024,74 mins
What's in a name?
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but how does my own name define me?
06 Aug 2023,74 mins
Portraits
From Elgar, Missy Mazzoli and Mussorgsky's musical images to Darcy and Dorian Gray.
18 Jun 2023,74 mins
Rebel, Rebel
Rebellion and rule breaking in music and readings by Samuel West and Natalie Simpson.
30 Dec 2018,74 mins