PODCAST · society
Lives in a Landscape
by BBC Radio 4
Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today
Episodes
-
RIP
Alan Dein travels to Nottingham to meet with the 4th & 5th generations of a family firm of Funeral Directors (with a 6th generation already on the horizon). When furniture maker and dealer Arthur William Lymn started 'undertaking' funerals with his son Harold Percy in 1907, their first premises...
-
Goodbye to Boleyn
The Boleyn Ground, Upton Park. Home to West Ham since 1904. No one would call the stadium, or indeed the streets that closely bind it in the borough of Newham, beautiful but it has echoed to one of football's oldest anthems 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' since the 1920's. Now that song and the...
-
13/11/2015
When pensioners Viv and Fred Morgan read about a teenager committing suicide clutching her teddy, they decided to act - turning their home into a school to help other bullied kids. They took their Bed and Breakfast in Hatton, Warwickshire and turned rooms into classrooms and built recreation and...
-
Care for Claire
Lives in a Landscape reports from Penistone, where Claire Throssell is being helped by her community after her sons were killed by their father in a house fire exactly a year ago. As well as killing his sons and himself, Darren Sykes also destroyed much of the house, lighting fires throughout the...
-
The Life of Reilly
For every stand-up comedian that's a household name, there are dozens of hard-working, funny, committed comedians who haven't quite broken through into the national consciousness. Christian Reilly is a musical stand-up, a wandering minstrel, whose comedy material is delivered through song. He's a...
-
The Glastonbury Tales
Alan Dein joins African and Afro Caribbean Catholics from Bristol as they take part in the annual pilgrimage to the ancient abbey at Glastonbury. On board the pilgrim bus, parishioners share their life stories, and explain why they are all drawn to worship in the church of St Nicholas of…
more -
The River Cam
Alan Dein tackles the picturesque but crowded stretch of the River Cam that winds in and out of Cambridge. Here, house-boats, punts, rowing boats and cruisers fight for space on what is, the river manager says, the most crowded stretch of river in Britain. Producer: Chris Ledgard.
-
The Adoption Party
In the last few years, 'adoption activity days' have gathered momentum in the UK, where children waiting to be adopted meet prospective adoptive parents at a party. The children are often 'hard to place,' either because of medical issues, their age, or behavioural problems. The hope is that once...
-
Herd under the Hammer
Alan Dein meets farmer Steve Graham as he sells his herd of 1000 dairy cows - the largest UK sale this year. Having woken at dawn for 35 years to milk the cows, he has decided to sell - but how will he adjust to life without them? Steve's life has been governed by the relentless pattern of…
more -
My Class My World
Ms Pope runs a tight ship in her class of 27 at Bowling Park Primary School: she has little option given her pupils come from 18 different countries, speak 31 languages between them and have to all pitch in on the frequent occasions when classmates leave and new ones arrive Maja tells me that...
-
Holy Island: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Alan Dein meets the modern residents of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. While the recorded history of of the place can be traced back to the 6th century and includes the followers of St. Aiden and St Cuthbert, the current residents try to maintain a way of life that has existed for hundreds of...
-
Titans Together
In the start of the new series of Lives in a Landscape Alan Dein discovers that instead of prescribing tablets local GPs are writing out prescriptions for a few weeks of Titan therapy: watching rugby games, attending weekly lunches and fitness classes. The pensioners are sitting alongside the...
-
Sails and Oars Only - Oyster Fishing on the Fal
In 1602 Sir Richard Carew saw fishermen catching oysters with 'a thick strong net fastened to three spills of iron, and drawn to the boat's stern, gathering whatsoever it meeteth lying in the bottom of the water, out of which... they cull the oyster'. When Les Angel and Timmy Heard show Alan Dein...
-
Jam, Jerusalem and an Awful Lot of Glitter
Jam, Jerusalem and an Awful Lot of Glitter When Jeannie joined her local branch of the Women's Institute in Liverpool, she hoped for a bit of distraction from an ongoing, long term illness. But what she found there was a whole lot more than jam and Jerusalem. Before you could say Victoria sponge...
-
Last Port of Call
Alan Dein visits an old mariners' home on the banks of the River Mersey. Mariners' Park in Wallasey is home to over 150 former Merchant Navy seamen and their wives or widows. Many of them set off on their maiden voyage as young sailors from Liverpool, passing the home on their port side as they...
-
The Horses of Holme Wood
Bradford Council regularly monitors horse numbers on its Holme Wood estate, with workers and police carrying out late night raids to round them up. Alan Dein meets the animal owners and explores their bitter battle with the council as they tether horses in parks, alleys and even their own…
more -
Racing Drivers
Gerry Marshall was one of the most famous racing drivers of his generation; a larger-than-life character with big appetites, who eventually died of heart failure behind the wheel at Silverstone in 2005. His son, Gregor, always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but Gerry discouraged him,...
-
Branscombe Chalet Owners
In February 2014, the worst storms in a generation hit the south Devon coast. Among those affected were the owners of five beach chalets at Branscombe. The sea took away much of the beach and eroded the earth banks on which the chalets stood, exposing the foundations and making some of them...
-
The Death Doulas
Alan Dein meets doulas in Lewes in Sussex - people working in palliative care from all walks of life who have learned how to be companions for people who are dying. They also are involved in consciousness-raising about the end of life and run Death Cafes in Lewes. We follow doulas Polly and Jane…
more -
The Roman Way
Alan Dein follows the fast-moving story of a squatter who takes over a pub in Luton - he says for the benefit of the local community. The Roman Way is a sprawling 1960s pub at the centre of the Lewsey Farm housing estate. The landlord of fourteen years, Declan, made the decision earlier this year...
-
Getting the House Ready
74 year old Myf Barker is turning her enormous home into a wedding venue in the hope that it will make money. Kate Lamble meets the family and uncovers memories amid the chaos. Purton House has been lived in by Myf, her late husband and her children for decades. It's a rambling family mansion…
more -
Spirit of Battle
Wrestling, which used to draw millions of viewers to the box on Saturday afternoons in the 1970's, is still going strong in theatres up and down the country. Characters like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks have given way to The Avalanche, Tony Spitfire and Thunder who throw each other about and...
-
Waxing and Filing - Jade's Beautiful Dream
Jade has a dream - to run the best beauty parlour in the business. Just off Oxford Street, shopping mecca of London's West End, Jade's salon paints nails to perfection, massages faces, and does intimate waxing with aplomb. Intimacy with the clients is also what Jade is good at - knowing her...
-
The Show Must Go On
Alan Dein follows Pat & Hayley Mallon - a husband and wife singing duo - around the pubs of Bath. The show must go on - even as 69 year old Pat prepares for major surgery on an aneurysm. Bath's pub circuit is a far cry from the packed houses that Pat was playing with his 5 piece Country & Western...
-
Sirens of Yorkshire - Community First Responders
It's Friday night in Hornsea, a small village in East Yorkshire; the air is cold and the stars seem to go on forever. Just off the High Street, a small accountancy firm is closing up; Andy, a man who loves the challenges of VAT, has finished the filing, and is having a cup of tea, chatting on the...
-
Christmas at Sandringham
As the Royal Family sit down to their festive dinner on the Queen's Norfolk estate, Alan Dein invites Radio 4 listeners to spend Christmas at a rather different Sandringham - the Sandringham Hotel in Weston super Mare. Alan joins the seafront hotel's 'Turkey & Tinsel' celebrations as three...
-
Going, Going, Gone
Alan Dein present's Radio 4's series of documentaries telling out-of-the-ordinary stories from contemporary British life. In the Sheffield auction room they see it all, from miners' welfare centres, to country manors and repossessed bowling alleys, and whatever state the buildings are in there's...
-
Rooms for Rent
Alan Dein returns with more extraordinary stories of ordinary life in Britain. In Rooms for Rent, he meets Helga and her daughter Melody in a small Norfolk town who, ever since husband - a Cliff Richard impersonator - upped sticks and left, rent out rooms. They've got two men in situ, and a...
-
Freeminers in the Forest of Dean
Alan Dein meets the "free miners" of the Forest of Dean, still digging coal in their seventies. They're a dying breed, but one woman's attempt to join the club has stirred up strong feelings. Once a major industry, coal mining in this corner of Gloucestershire is down to a handful of diehard...
-
St James' Gardens in Liverpool
In the shadow of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral sits St James' Gardens, an oasis of green space in the heart of the busy city. The Gardens have been several things over the centuries. It was first a quarry from which the docks and much of the city of Liverpool was built. Once all the rock that...
-
The Wedding
Mimi and Ryan are getting married. Alan Dein presents a fly-on-the-wedding cake documentary that follows them through the day, from waking up with a hangover to chucking-out time at Sale Rugby Club. In between there's a church wedding, a christening (their daughter Isabella is six months old),...
-
The Longest Walk
It's rambling, but not as we know it. Every year the Long Distance Walkers' Association organises a 100 mile walk. It has to be completed in 48 hours, which for most people means walking through two nights with no sleep. By the end, hallucination is common, and many of the 500 who started out…
more -
Rocking the Rails at Castle Cary
Location, location, location - it's everything for idyllic Castle Cary Station, a quiet, sleepy commuter stop on the Great Western train line - because this particular sleepy station in Somerset just happens to be the closest station to Worthy Farm - home of the Glastonbury Festival. For 11…
more -
It's a Bargain
We're all at it - from the very wealthiest amongst us to the very poorest: buying and selling on eBay. And no one knows better than Dave and Gary what's involved in shifting the items traded up and down the country. The idea was simple: the depression in the building trade left Gary casting round...
-
New School: The First Year
In the second of two programmes, Alan Dein follows the mixed fortunes of a new primary school on a housing estate just outside Peterborough over the course of a year. As the school opens its doors, the school is still struggling to attract the number of children headteacher Jackie Ashley hopes…
more -
New School: Under Construction
To kick off the new series of Lives in a Landscape, Alan Dein presents a two part special following a year in the life of a new primary school just outside Peterborough - from initial construction to the end of the third term. For headteacher Jackie Ashley, the opening of St Michael's Church…
more -
Wheelchair Pusher Needed
"Pusher needed for Silly Old Fart in Wheelchair". When Terry Chambers had to use a wheelchair after a stroke, he needed someone to push him through the streets of Crouch End in North London. He already had one carer but it wasn't enough. So he placed this jokey advert in the local newsagent's...
-
Academy Beat
Providing pastoral care is key to his role as head of year eleven at the London school and he does this by combining a no nonsense approach to bad behaviour with a sensitive handling of some of the difficulties encountered by his fifteen and sixteen year old charges. This is their GCSE exam year...
-
An Occasional Island
The people of Muchelney, Alan Dein discovers, have an intimate relationship with water. They live on the flood plain of the River Parrett in the Somerset Levels. The name of their ancient village, from the Norse and Old English, means 'growing great island', and, despite the draining of the...
-
Zoo for Sale
In a rain sodden valley, close to the fresh winds of the Irish Sea, a leopard marches back and forth through the mud. Close by, capuchin monkeys chuckle as they cling to the bars, and in the warmth of a dark glass tank, a 14 foot python is being moved for feeding. These are unwanted animals…
more -
The Allotment
Alan Dein visits a Hastings allotment and finds that a plot of land means a lot more to people than a place to grow vegetables. He joins various allotmenteers as they tend their plot and hears how differently they use it. A young family have created a haven where the children learn about nature…
more -
The Pigeon Men of Burdiehouse
Burdiehouse is a council scheme on the outermost tip of Edinburgh and it's here, hidden away from the world outside, that Alan encounters the pigeon, or doo men, locked in a constant battle to capture each other's birds. These men are neighbours but when it comes to pigeons the battle lines are...
-
The Longest Commute in Britain
The Longest Commute in Britain Geoff picks up a copy of "Horse and Hound" for his wife and strides toward Euston Station; Angus heads for the lounge car, where a whisky is ready and waiting; Mary leaves the offices of 'Country Life', and joins the London rush hour crowds wearing sturdy walking...
-
Gone Astray
Alan Dein goes in search of stories from Britain today. 1. Gone Astray. Maureen's black and white cat Rosie has gone missing and the pensioner is scouring the neighbourhood to find her. Little does she know that further down the same Portsmouth street, the Fletcher family have had a visitor. Last...
-
Steel Spring
Steel Spring. In 1990 Alan Dein travelled the length and breadth of Britain to document lives in steel- already an industry in decline. His then employer British Steel is, itself, now history. Decline, closure and layoffs have been the depressingly familiar litany of modern British industry. When...
-
Driving change in Portrush
Golf has put Portrush on the map once again. The seaside town in Northern Ireland is home to two stars of the sport, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke. Their names are proudly displayed on the 'Welcome to Portrush' road signs. Along with fellow Northern Ireland player, Rory McIlroy, the two men...
-
Dog Killers
Alan Dein delves into the deaths of two Labradors, Moz and Chloe and three Jack Russell Terriers, Monty, Poppy and Murphy, living in different families on the same street. Following the latest death, pork steak laced with pesticide was found in a garden and a local vet is in little doubt that…
more -
The New Estate
In the first of a new series of documentary stories from contemporary Britain, Alan Dein captures the dramas of young families just moving into Cardea: a brand new housing estate on the outskirts of Peterborough. Just two years ago, Cardea was just open fields - now it's a burgeoning community.…
more -
Readers' Lives
5. Readers' Lives. Every six weeks a group of women in affluent Putney by the Thames in south-west London meets to discuss a book they've all been reading. This is no casual club open to the public but a close knit circle of friends and bibliophiles whose group is exclusive. As Boat Race Saturday…
more -
The Shoot
Alan Dein follows the fortunes of Iraq veteran turned wedding photographer Stefan Edwards as he contends with the difficulties of life on civvy street and tries to cut himself a slice of the increasingly competitive wedding market. It's a March wedding for Lorraine and Richard from Newport and...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Lives in a Landscape have?
Lives in a Landscape currently has 63 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Lives in a Landscape about?
Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today
How often does Lives in a Landscape release new episodes?
Lives in a Landscape has 63 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Lives in a Landscape?
You can listen to Lives in a Landscape on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Lives in a Landscape?
Lives in a Landscape is created and hosted by BBC Radio 4.
URL copied to clipboard!