Lives in a Landscape show

Lives in a Landscape

Summary: Alan Dein presents documentaries about modern Britain. BBC Radio 4’s critically acclaimed series in which award-winning presenter Alan Dein goes in search of original stories from around the country – featuring people and places which are usually overlooked by the news.

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Podcasts:

 Lives 10 Oct 12: The Longest Commute in Britain | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:51

Arguably the longest commute in the UK, the Caledonian Sleeper is a quarter of a mile long. Alan Dein rides with three regulars, through a long night of the long distance commuter, to find out where home really lies. Producer: Sara Jane Hall

 Lives 03 Oct 12: Gone Astray | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:46

Maureen's cat has gone astray. On the same Portsmouth street, the Fletcher family have found a cat which they're growing very fond of. The cat has brought the family back together after a nightmare summer holiday with their teenage children. But does their feline peacemaker actually belong to Maureen? Producer: Laurence Grissell

 Lives 23 May 12: Steel Spring | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:45

It's Easter 2012 and Redcar steelworks sees a fiery and unlikely resurrection when its blast furnace is relit. Amongst the flames Alan Dein hears from lives shaped by steel. Producer: Mark Burman

 Lives 16 May 12: Driving change in Portrush | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:28

The people of Portrush in Northern Ireland are hoping that the arrival of the Irish Open golf tournament will breathe new life into this seaside town which was a once thriving holiday resort. For four days the town will turn into a golf lover's paradise. An injection of cash from the government is paying for the demolition of derelict buildings and a major spring clean. But some in Portrush fear this will be a temporary patch-up job and that once the world's TV cameras depart things will return to normal. Producer: Claire Burgoyne

 Lives 09 May 12: Dog Killers | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:35

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 this was a deliberate. For Georgina and her husband Darren the attacks have unleashed mistrust and fear in their once close knit community near Wakefield. Producer: Sue Mitchell

 Lives 02 May 12: The New Estate | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:21

The dramas of young families moving into Cardea, a brand new housing estate on the outskirts of Peterborough which just two years ago was open fields. Sara Jane and Stacey are both expectant mums in their early twenties. Together with their partners, they're about to embark on a new life on the new estate. Producer: Laurence Grissell

 Lives: Readers' Lives 15 Apr 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:31

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 - spring highpoint of the social calendar - approaches, Alan Dein joins the women as they go about their daily lives to hear about their relationship with Putney, with each other and the meaning the book club has for them. Producer: Neil McCarthy

 Lives: The Shoot 08 April 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:21

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. Producer: Laurence Grissell

 Lives: Passion at Glasgow Cross 23 Jan 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:30

On the wall above the Val D'Oro, one of the oldest fish and chip shops in Glasgow hangs a painting of the Crucifixion, painted to commemorate the residents of one of the poorest areas of the city. To the left of the cross, Luigi Corvi, owner of the shop, stands poised to sing, bearing a plate of fish and chips. As Alan Dein discovers, the Passion at Glasgow Cross also describes Luigi's long suppressed dream: he serves fish and chips by day but dreams of life singing opera at La Scala... Producer: David Stenhouse

 Lives: The Home 22 Jun 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:30

Alan Dein visits Vi and John Rubens House in Ilford, Essex, where elderly residents of the old East End Jewish community in London now spend their days. Talking to them about how they spend their time now he discovers a rich landscape of experience in the lives of these entertainingly lively and thoughtful old people. Producer: Simon Elmes.

 Lives: The Devils of Broughton 25 Mar 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:40

Alan Dein reports on a curious midnight ritual in Broughton, Northamptonshire where, as Christmas approaches, the villagers beat out the devil in a din of pots and pans, milk churns and hip baths, drums and hammers, colanders and frying pans - anything that makes a noise in fact. Producer: Sara Jane Hall

 Lives: A Zimbabwean in Belfast 15 Jun 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:10

Alan Dein meets Zimbabwean refugee Wilson Magwere. Back home, he and his fellow musicians from the band Storm were regularly called upon to perform at pro-government rallies while all around them they witnessed their family and friends suffer at the hands of Robert Mugabe's regime. It was soon too much to bear and Wilson left his wife and daughter to flee to Belfast, where he's formed a new band and hopes his family might someday join him. Producer: Conor Garrett

 Lives: Life Model 08 Jun 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:34

Alan Dein meets Arthur Lowe, a 75-year-old life model and former financial adviser, from Shipston-On-Stour who poses for art students as a contribution to society. Alan explores exposure, vanity and the ageing process with Arthur who is acutely aware that his days as a model may be numbered. Producer: Paula McGinley

 Lives: Nuclear Golf 01 Jun 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:43

Alan Dein joins a group for whom the nuclear industry has been a staple of their daily lives. But the golfing members of the Sellafield Area Sports and Recreation Association, have a life away from the pressure of working at one of the most recognisable nuclear establishments in the world. As they make their way to the far end of the course, the holes which neighbour the Sellafield landscape of their working lives, Alan learns how they balance a very particular kind of work and leisure. Producer: Tom Alban

 Lives: Between Brothers 1 Apr 11 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 27:51

Alan Dein follows the lives of two brothers - Alex, searching for a fresh start away from London gangs and his adopted brother JJ, who is poised for success on the London stage. Producer: Sue Mitchell

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