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Thank you for listening to Seriously. This feed is now ending, but here’s a preview of Illuminated, BBC Radio 4’s new home for creative and surprising one-off documentaries that shed light on hidden worlds. Illuminated is a place of audio beauty and joy, with emotion and human experience at its heart. The programmes you will find in this feed explore the reality of contemporary Britain and the world, venturing into its weirdest and most wonderful aspects.
New episodes are available weekly on Sunday evenings. Just search for Illuminated on BBC Sounds, where you can also subscribe to make sure that you don’t miss an episode.
The clips are taken from the following documentaries:
- The Beauty of Everyday Things - Shifting Soundscapes- How Much Can You Say?- Fragments - The London Nail Bomb
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Meter tampering means altering a meter to prevent it from fully recording how much electricity or gas is being used, or bypassing the meter completely to energy usage being recorded at all. It may seem like a great idea, but there are consequences. It’s dangerous and it is a criminal offence. Its classified as theft and can lead to prison sentences and heavy fines.
The number of people illegally bypassing the grid to save money is increasing at an alarming rate. Its disturbingly simple to do but the consequences can be tragic. In May 2021, two-year-old George Hinds was killed when a gas explosion caused by tampering destroyed his home in Heysham, Lancs. The explosion was triggered by a neighbour cutting through pipes with an angle grinder. He was jailed last year for 15 years for manslaughter. Crimestoppers UK say reports of gas and electricity theft have been rising sharply. In 2017 2,566 cases were reported and last year that figure rose to 10,694- though the industry believes the true figure may be closer to 200,000. Energy theft is not a new phenomenon but the cost of living crisis seems to be the main reason for this sharp increase.
Presenter Dan Whitworth meets gas engineers at the frontline and talks to industry insiders and to Ofgem, the energy regulator to find out what they are doing about it.
Producer: Mohini Patel
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There Is a club that no high school principal in the USA wants to join, but they are all incredibly grateful that its there. Because in the event of the worst possible scenario happening, they will need it
The 'Principal Recovery Network' is made up of school leaders who have lived through the horror of a shooting in their hallways and classrooms. And in the hours after an incident they are on the phone helping the next school principal through their trauma
Sam Walker moved her family from Manchester to Arizona seven years ago and she still can't get used to her kids going through regular lockdown drills so they know what to do if their school is attacked
Sam meets some of the principals who have been through it and have come together to offer support - and now activism.
Presenter: Sam WalkerProduction: Sam Walker and Richard McIlroyImage: Frank DeAngelis, the former Principal of Columbine High School
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In the mountains of Latakia, Syria, Mudar Salimeh devotes much of his time to searching for butterflies. A geologist, artist, and nature lover, Mudar's fascination with butterflies began in the spring of 2018 when a great number of caterpillars appeared in his art studio. Over time, the caterpillars transformed into a cloud of white butterflies, sparking Mudar's quest to find and document these beautiful, elusive creatures.
Syria's civil war has caused extensive ecological damage, affecting far more than just human lives. Then, in February 2023, an earthquake struck the region of Latakia.
Spring 2024 arrives and butterflies start to emerge, we join Mudar as he creates an encyclopedia of the different butterfly species in Western Syria - a task made challenging by the shadows of war.
Photo credit: Mudar SalimehFrom his blog: https://syrianbutterflies.wordpress.com/
Field Recordings by Mudar SalimehMusic by Samer Saem Eldahr a.k.a. Hello Psychaleppohttps://www.psychaleppo.com/Lepidoptera Sound Recordings: Maria Brænder
Produced by Nanna Hauge KristensenA Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4
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Every 17 years in the eastern United States, a roaring mass of millions of black-bodied, red-eyed, thumb-length insects erupt from the ground. For a few glorious weeks the periodical cicadas cover the trees and the air vibrates with their chorus of come-hither calls. Then they leave a billion eggs to hatch and burrow into the dirt, beginning the seventeen year cycle all over again.
Sing. Fly. Mate. Die. This is Brood X or the Great Eastern Brood. It’s an event which, for the residents of a dozen or so US states, is the abiding memory of four, maybe five, summers of their lives.
In a programme that’s both a natural and a cultural history of the Great Eastern Brood we re-visit four Brood X years....1970, 1987, 2004 and 2021…. to capture the stories of the summers when the cicadas came to town.
Princeton University's Class of 1970 remember the cicadas’ appearance at their graduation ceremony, during a time of student unrest and protest against the Vietnam War; a bride looks back to the uninvited - but welcome - cicada guests attending her wedding; a musician recalls making al fresco music with Brood X; and an entomologist considers the extraordinary life cycle of an insect which is seems to possess both great patience and the ability to count to seventeen.
Brood X cicadas spend 17 years underground, each insect alone, waiting and listening. In 2021, as Brood X stirred and the air began to thicken with the cicadas’ love songs, we all shared with them that sense of emerging from the isolation of lockdown and making a new beginning.
Featuring: Elias Bonaros, Liz Dugan, Anisa George, Ray Gibbons, Peter Kuper, Gene Kritsky, Gregg Lange, David Rothenberg, Gil Schrage and Gaye Williams
Producer: Jeremy Grange
Cicada audio recorded by Cicada Mania and David Rothenberg
Programme Image: Prof. Gene Kritsky
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When Bury FC was expelled from the Football League after 125 years, the government commissioned a fan-led review of football's financial stability. Centring the importance of football clubs to hundreds of local communities, it recommended tough new rules about governance and ownership of football clubs. Five years on and with both Labour and the Conservatives supporting the creation of a new regulator, Scunthorpe United has become a case study for why politicians think they need to step in. A succession of owners, a string of relegations and a more than gloomy balance book left the North Lincolnshire town wondering what life without its football club might look like. But the efforts of the local community led to a small piece of hope. For Radio 4, lifelong Scunthorpe fan and BBC political journalist (in that order) Jack Fenwick tells the inside story of how it all went so wrong and what happened next.
Presenter and producer: Jack Fenwick
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At the last general election, three of the four seats with the lowest turnout, where the lowest number of eligible people came out to vote, were in Hull.
Alex Forsyth sits down with people who stay at home on election day to find out why.
She begins in Hull East, the seat which had the lowest turnout in the UK at the last general election, visiting Marfleet, a ward with low turnout at local elections. She explores how a pattern of not voting is repeated in other parts of the city. Alex goes on to examine the complex reasons for not voting and speaks to those who believe key events in the city's history might provide part of the answer.
Presented by Alex ForsythProduced by Camellia Sinclair for BBC Audio in BristolMixed by Ilse Lademann
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A group of teenagers agree to give up their smartphones for 5 school days. The phones are locked in a box, and our subjects pick up their old style “brick” phone instead. What’s the best and worst of their smartphone free days? Can they cope, and what, if anything, do they, their parents and teachers notice? Rachel Burden has teenagers, and knows all about smartphone parenting. She joins our intrepid students throughout their week, and reflects upon the positives and negatives of a world where everyone can choose to be constantly connected.
Produced by Victoria Farncombe and Tim O'Callaghan Mixed by Nicky Edwards Edited by Clare Fordham
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Poet Ian McMillan has a gift for the art of small pleasures; the joy of close observation; revelling in everyday things, places and encounters; describing and re-describing them endlessly. In the company of fellow poets Helen Mort, Steve Ely and Dave Green he takes us to ordinary places that fascinate him: a railway platform with a striking red bench, on a bus journey, to a village cafe, and a local museum of curiosities; where we discover they can be portals into different ways of thinking, of feeling, and of being, where anything can happen, where the ordinary can become the extraordinary if we simply open our eyes and our ears.
Presented by Ian McMillan
Produced by Cecile Wright
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Examining how the Israel-Gaza war is affecting students here in the UK. Anwar Akhtar is a director at the Samosa Project, a media and arts charity working to create understanding across cultures. He heads to Leeds, and gets a close-up view of the tensions bubbling over at the university.
This programme was first broadcast on 12 May, 2024.
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Three people from three different eras reveal what it's like to live with multiple personalities, or Dissociative Identity Disorder.
A retired librarian who lived through the disorder's most controversial time and has found peace as several parts; an early YouTuber who fought stigma about DID and now lives as one person; and a young TikToker navigating life as a 'system'.
The BBC has been sharing stories and tips on how to support your mental health and wellbeing. Go to bbc.co.uk/mentalwellbeing to find out more.
Presenter/producer: Lucy ProctorResearcher: Anna HarrisMixed by: James Beard
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A top secret little-known mission that changed the outcome of World War II. Not Alan Turing's Enigma code-breaking mission but a daring foray, conducted behind enemy lines on the shores of Normandy.
Harrison Lewis and wetland scientist Christian Dunn re-enact one of the most remarkable feats of the Second World War and discover the intricate details of the daring but forgotten science that underpinned D-Day.
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Are British politicians at breaking point?
In this new digital age with its high level of public scrutiny, the sheer amount of abuse, disdain and direct threat politicians get is causing their mental health to take a real hit.
And this matters. Broken politicians equal broken politics and that’s bad news for us all.
Few can dispute that in the wake of a near constant stream of scandals, public perceptions of politics and politicians have become increasingly cynical and toxic.
So what impact is this all having on our politicians and our politics?
Jennifer Nadel - Co-Founder of Compassion in Politics - hears raw personal testimony from MPs across the House who have reached breaking point and worse, asking what this means for the health of our democracy?
In this Radio 4 investigation into the mental health and wellbeing of politicians, MPs talk candidly about the incessant pressures of the job and the escalating mental health crisis in parliament.
The programme reveals shocking testimony including one former government minister who tells us ‘Politics has left me a broken human being.’ A young MP describes attempting to take his own life, revealing to the BBC that he is not alone.
This programme asks whether the mental health crisis is affecting MPs' ability to govern. Many say it does, and that good people are simply being driven out or away from public life.
In the face of these mounting personal testimonies Radio 4 asks MPs what can be done?
If you have particular experiences or a story related to this podcast that you would like to share in confidence with the programme makers, you can e-mail: [email protected]
Producer: Daniel TetlowPresenter: Jennifer NadelStudio Manager: Rod FarquharProduction Coordinator: Gemma AshmanEditor: Richard Vadon The music was composed by Daniel Tetlow and Benjamin Bushakevitz and performed by Ammiel Bushakevitz
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25th April 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of Portugal's 'Carnation Revolution', which overthrew the authoritarian dictatorship of the Estado Novo ('New State') which had governed Portugal since the 1920s. A largely bloodless revolution, marked by the carnations that were placed in the rifles of the soldiers, it led to the successful establishment of democracy in Portugal and the integration of more than half-a-million 'retornados' - returnees - Portuguese citizens from its former African colonies.
Portugal's revolution was indeed televised, and recorded in sound. One of those who bore witness to its aftermath was journalist, and former Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow, who reported from Portugal at the time for LBC Radio. At this important anniversary, he remembers his time there, and tells the story of what unfolded, through archive and interviews with those who organised and lived through those heady days of April 1974.
Presenter: Jon SnowProducer: Michael Rossi
With thanks to RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal) and LBC for archive.
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In literature and film, night trains are the setting for intrigue and romance, espionage and sudden death. And in real life too they’re places of possibility and the expectation of new adventures. Writer Horatio Clare boards a train to Vienna for a night-time journey across Europe… and into the archive, aboard night trains of decades past.
His journey begins at the Gare de l’Est in Paris, the departure point for the original Orient Express. He looks back to the golden age of the Wagons-Lits, sleeper trains with wood-panelled cabins, an attendant in every carriage ready to be summoned and dining cars where evening dress was obligatory. It was an era which provided rich inspiration for writers and Horatio evokes his predecessors who used night trains to tell stories of brief encounters, betrayal and, of course, murder.
But luxurious Wagons-Lits are only one part of the story. Other travellers find themselves on very different night-time journeys. There are the rucksack-lugging student inter-railers of the ‘70s and ‘80s, sleeping in train corridors on expeditions of discovery (and self-discovery); the perils of sharing sleeping compartments with strangers; and the Ukrainian refugees reluctantly taking the ‘Rescue Express’ westward as they fled the Russian invasion.
After a long period of decline, night trains are on the rise again as new routes open up across Europe. Maybe it’s because we’re tired of the indignities of budget air travel but it’s also driven by the “Flight Shame” and “Train Brag” movements - a growing awareness that travelling by train is better for the planet. “I’m on a train” is no longer an apology for a poor phone signal. Now it’s a claim to the moral high ground.
Horatio’s journey doesn’t quite go to plan. But as he overcomes the challenges and navigates his way to Vienna, he discovers that night trains have always taken our imaginations to new destinations.
Produced by Jeremy Grange for BBC Audio Wales and West
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For the last decade, True Crime has become ubiquitous on television and podcasts. Yet despite its current popularity, it’s not a new phenomenon. In this programme, author Charles Nicholl take us back to a time before podcasts, TV, pulp magazines, even Penny Dreadfuls – all the way to the English stage 400 years ago when, for the first time, playhouses were putting contemporary news onstage.
Presenter: Charles Nicholl
Actors: Rhiannon Neads, John Lightbody, Michael Bertenshaw, Josh Bryant-Jones, Ian Dunnett JuniorSound design: Peter RingroseProducer: Sasha Yevtushenko
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With criminal gangs now controlling most of Haiti's capital and no function government, Mike Thomson explores what caused this spiralling descent to Anarchy in this predominately Christian, Caribbean country, where more than half its eleven million French and Creole speaking people live below the poverty line. Mike looks for answers with help from Haitians, experts and political leaders who’ve lived through many of their nation’s recent social upheavals and natural disasters.
Producer: Ed PrendevilleBBC Audio in Cardiff
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In February 2024, the NHS dental crisis hit the headlines as hundreds of people queued outside a dental practice in Bristol to register as NHS patients. It was the latest sign of the severity of the national shortage of NHS dentists.
The Nuffield Trust have declared that NHS dentistry faces its 'most perilous point' in 75-year history and the government have responded pledging to improve access and funding for dentistry.
At the centre of this crisis are the dentists who serve our communities.
A Dentist's Life follows one Cornwall based dentist, Dr Jenna Murgatroyd, as she treats patients needing vital care, manages a practice facing financial risk and trains the next generation of dentists.
As a second generation dentist, Dr Murgatroyd also reflects on the past and the future of the profession and asks what it means to be a NHS community dentist today.
Produced by Mugabi Turya
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What do Artificial Intelligence and digital technology mean for actors and their relationship with audiences?
Leading acting coach Geoffrey Colman, who has spent his working life on the sets of Hollywood movies, in theatrical rehearsal spaces, and teaching in the UK's most prestigious classrooms, wants to find out.
AI, he says, may represent the most profound change to the acting business since the move from silent films to talkies. But does it, and if so how are actors dealing with it? What does that mean for the connection between actors and audiences?
Geoffrey's concern is rooted in acting process: the idea that the construction of a complex inner thinking architecture resonates with audiences in an authentic almost magical way. But if performance capture and AI just creates the outer facial or physical expression, what happens to the inner joy or pain of a character’s thinking? The implications for the actor’s technique are profound.
To get to the bottom of these questions Geoffrey visits some of those at the cutting edge of developing this new technology. On the storied Pinewood lot he visits Imaginarium Studios, and is shown around their 'volume', where actors' every movement is captured. In East London he talks to the head of another studio about his new AI actor - made up from different actors' body parts. And at a leading acting school he speaks to students and teachers about what this new digital era means for them. He discusses concerns about ethical questions, hears from an actor fresh from the set of a major new movie, quizzes a tech expert already using AI to create avatars of herself, and speaks to Star Wars fans about how this technology has allowed beloved characters to be rejuvenated, and even resuscitated.
Producer: Giles Edwards
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Richard King explores the past and present of the second homes debate in Wales, revisiting the story of Meibion Glyndwr – active terrorists on British soil for almost 15 years. The proliferation of second homes is a problem in many parts of the UK. They contribute to pushing up house prices, often in low-income areas, effectively locking young people out of the housing market. It’s a problem with different characteristics in different places.
In Wales it is compounded by the fate of Cymraeg, the Welsh language.
It is felt by many that second homes contribute to the fragmentation of Welsh-speaking communities and pose a threat to the survival of the language.
It's nothing new. Beginning in 1979, Meibion Glyndwr – Sons of Glyndwr (Owain Glyndwr being a soldier who led a revolt against English rule in the 1400s) – responded to this threat by carrying out hundreds of arson attacks and fire-bombings. Initially targeting second homes and holiday cottages in Welsh-speaking areas, the campaign later expanded to target estate agents, English-owned businesses and the offices of police and politicians, accompanied by stencilled letters containing extravagant nativist threats. Hundreds of properties were damaged and destroyed. It lasted until 1994 and only one person was ever convicted of a related offence.
The Meibion Glyndwr campaign was audacious and shocking – and utterly ineffective.
In the thirty years since the last attack Wales has gained its own parliament and with it a measure of power to decide its own fate. And as elsewhere in the UK, the issues around second homes have only become more urgent. One of the newer policies enacted by the Welsh government is a council tax premium on second homes, with local authorities able to decide how much of a levy to apply, up to a possible 300%.
Writer Richard King visits Abersoch on the Llyn Peninsula, a village very much at the sharp end of the current situation and hears from some of those who lived through the Meibion Glyndwr campaign.
Featuring Robat Gruffudd, Amanda Jones, Richard Wyn Jones, Alun Lenny, Louise Overfield and Eifiona Wood.
With grateful thanks to Sian Howys, Meic Parry and Dylan Roberts.
(The programme contains an archive recording which refers to RS Thomas as a non-conformist minister. RS Thomas was a priest in the Anglican Church in Wales.)
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