29/11/2013

There are irritants aplenty this week as listeners tell us about the Radio 4 programmes that have driven them to distraction. Many of them wrote to ask why Radio 4's Book of the Week about the life of former French president Mitterrand used French accents that rendered it more 'Allo 'Allo! than serious biography.

And many other listeners are infuriated by the repeated use of just four piano notes heard in Radio 4's A History of Britain in Numbers. The series' Executive Producer, David Prest, tells us why they decided to use a 'motif' that some say distracted them from the vital statistics.

We'll also be talking to the Controller of BBC Radio 2, Bob Shennan. While Radio 2's audience reached a record high of 15 million this year, the changes to the Sunday evening schedule and the loss of firm favourites like Big Band Special and Russell Davies has left some listeners deeply disappointed. The Controller explains why he made the changes.

And should an active politician appear on Desert Island Discs? We air your views on Ed Miliband's appearance on Sunday's edition.

Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.