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Archive on 4

Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond.

Radio 4,677 episodes

Episodes

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Robert Graves and 'I Claudius', L years on
A portrait of Robert Graves, 50 years on from the TV adaptation of I, Claudius.
03 Jan 2026,57 mins
How the Muppet Show Began in Britain
Louise Gold celebrates The Muppet Show’s anarchic birth in Britain in the mid-1970s.
27 Dec 2025,57 mins
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Katherine Rundell unearths the Christmas ghost story.
20 Dec 2025,57 mins
The Battle of the Drina
The forgotten story of the siege of Goražde in the Yugoslav wars.
13 Dec 2025,57 mins
A Journey Behind Bars
Rex Bloomstein reflects on 50 years exposing stark realities of prison life.
29 Nov 2025,57 mins,
Forbidden Britain: Brief Encounter Revisited
Nina Wadia on love, guilt and why Brief Encounter still stirs the British conscience.
22 Nov 2025,57 mins
Jodrell Bank at 80
Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond
08 Nov 2025,57 mins
Out of This World: 25 Years of the ISS
East and west collaborate to launch humanity’s first ever international space station.
01 Nov 2025,57 mins
Aleister Crowley - Master of the Dark Arts
Paul Morley explores the scandalous life and intriguing musical legacy of Aleister Crowley
25 Oct 2025,57 mins
A People's History of Gaza
Gaza's history, from the 1940s to the 2010s, told through the memories of ordinary people
18 Oct 2025,57 mins
War & Peace: The UN at 80
At 80, does the peacekeeping organisation still have a role to play?
11 Oct 2025,57 mins
One Last Chance to See
Katherine Rundell rediscovers Douglas Adams' epic journeys in search of threatened species
04 Oct 2025,57 mins
Nine Votes that Count
Mark Damazer puts the US Supreme Court under the microscope.
13 Sep 2025,57 mins
Pauline Cutting: Surgery Under Siege
Saleyha Ahsan tells the story of the woman who inspired her career and life.
06 Sep 2025,57 mins
Freud v Klein: The Battle For Our Children's Minds
Tanya Byron explores how two remarkable women transformed the way we understand children.
30 Aug 2025,57 mins
Outrage Inc
PR guru Mark Borkowski on the part stunts have played in the history of direct action.
23 Aug 2025,57 mins,
Damage and Repair
Hilary Ineomo-Marcus hears powerful stories of restorative justice in the UK.
16 Aug 2025,57 mins
Exposing Hiroshima
The forgotten story of the first Western journalist to report on the Hiroshima atom bomb.
02 Aug 2025,57 mins
Pétain on Trial: From Hero to Traitor
Allan Little explores the legacy of the trial that divided and shook France to its core.
26 Jul 2025,57 mins
Time, Paper, Bone
The story of anti-apartheid activist James Booi's disappearance and reburial.
19 Jul 2025,57 mins
100 Years of Mein Kampf
John Kampfner read the world’s most notorious book so you don’t have to.
05 Jul 2025,57 mins,
Simpson's Dictators
John Simpson looks back at the dictators he's met: the mad, the malign and the meek.
28 Jun 2025,57 mins
We Were the Mods
Pete Townshend and Phil Daniels look back on Quadrophenia with their modern-day mirrors.
21 Jun 2025,57 mins,
Here We Go! The Art of the Football Chant
Les Back charts the history of football chants and asks if they’re modern-day folk songs.
14 Jun 2025,57 mins,
Into the Sharkiverse
Jon Harvey celebrates 50 years of Jaws with a hilarious history of shark fiction.
07 Jun 2025,57 mins
The Braveheart Effect
Susan Morrison takes a cynical swipe at the most successful film about Scotland ever made.
24 May 2025,57 mins
Philadelphia's Forgotten Bomb
Why did the Philadelphia police drop a bomb on an occupied house in 1985?
10 May 2025,57 mins,
Against the Current: The Great Gatsby at 100
Sarah Churchwell marks the centenary of F Scott Fitzerald’s The Great Gatsby.
26 Apr 2025,57 mins
Masters of the Impossible
Richard Wiseman explores the strange world of mind magic and the life of David Berglas.
19 Apr 2025,57 mins
Kenneth Williams: Said the Actor to the Bishop
Kenneth Williams recorded excerpts from the Bible. They've not been broadcast until now.
12 Apr 2025,57 mins