App Store

Google Play

Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Step into an infinite world of stories

Listen and read

BBC Radio 4


Short documentaries and adventures in sound presented by Josie Long.


Short Cuts

Time capsules and yesterday's dreams of tomorrow, Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring lost futures.

That’s Merely an Adjective 
Produced by Zara Karschay

Time Play by Chelsea Kigano, Lily Sloane, Lilia Vega, and Emily Shaw
Originally made as part of The 24-Hour Radio Race from KCRW's Independent Producer Project
Music and sound design by Lily Sloane, with Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay by Ed Andrews
Special thanks to David Lee

Letters 
Produced by Mika Golubovsky and Sasha Borzenko
Featuring Zehnya Feldman and Natasha Zotova

Higher Ground
Produced by Leila Goldstein 
Featuring Winda Safitri, Yoppi and Naya Hidayatul Alialna

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Axel Kacoutié
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Lost Futures

Feeding the birds, sharing meals and chaotic menus - Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about eating together.

Bird Feeder
Produced by Stella Sims

And to Start...
Produced by Mae-Li Evans

Foodhall
Produced by Nadia Mehdi

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Feast

A criminal defence lawyer finds a surprising new job foisted upon him and a son attempts to recover his joyfulness on a family holiday. Josie Long presents short festive documentaries and merry sonic adventures.

Family Yoga
Produced by Kit Callin

A Conversation with my Mum at Christmas
Featuring Rhik Samadder
A version of this story first appeared in Rhik Samadder's memoir, I Never Said I Loved You
Music by The Enchanted Cinema
Produced by Sarah Cuddon

Miracle on the George Washington Bridge
Produced by Luke Green

Santa Calls
Featuring Matt Storrs
Produced by Talia Augustidis

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Merry Christmas

A friendship forged working the land, memories of volcanic eruptions from 800,000 years ago frozen in Antarctica’s ice cores, and the importance of wild, patient gardens. Short documentaries presented by Josie Long that rise up from the earth.

Wintering
Music by Jules Bradley
Produced by Jules Bradley

Melt Tones
Featuring Dr Dieter Tetzner
Produced by Anton Spice

Sue’s Garden
Featuring Sue Trolle
Music by Sóley
Produced by Rikke Houd

Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Earth

Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures as the clock slips closer to midnight. 

In the last Short Cuts on BBC Radio 4, 13 years after the broadcast of our first ever episode 'Misadventures', we listen to radio waves after dark with the Shortwave Collective, tumble into a radio poem alongside a sleeping child, tune into a late night pirate radio station from the early 1960s, and raise a parting glass.

At Least
Featuring Xelis de Toro
Produced by Phil Smith

Voice of Nuclear Disarmament
With thanks to the British Library Sound Archive, and the family of John Hasted
Produced by Jonny Matfin

Perhaps at Midnight, When All Boundaries Are Lost
Produced by the Shortwave Collective

Good Company 
Featuring Jesse Lawson, Izzy Yon and Femi Oriogun-Williams
Produced by Jesse Lawson

Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Mix by Mike Woolley
Executive Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Midnight

In the first programme of this series of Short Cuts, Josie Long presents a selection of short documentaries which peel back the curtain, peer into the darkness and look out at those who are watching us.

By turns delightful and unsettling, today's audio adventures include the secret games teachers play when they're invigilating exams, a photographer whose ambition is to capture 'still lives' of people unawares in their homes at night, and a glimpse of the devices you can buy to spy on those supposedly close to you.

The items featured in the programme are:

Someone to Watch Over Me
Produced by Sara Parker

Stand by Me
Produced by Benjamin Partridge

I Was Bruce Lee
Produced by Leo Hornak

Cracking the Love Code
Produced by Bob Carlson

All Eyes on Us
Produced by Steve Urquhart

She Sees Your Every Move
Produced by Jonathan Mitchell

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

Someone to Watch Over Me

Josie Long presents a selection of short documentaries in which people hurl themselves into the air with the hope of taking flight.

We glide through the air, fall into the sea and explore grand leaps of the imagination, which cross the border between dreaming and reality.

From comedian Holly Walsh's tale of hurtling off the edge of a pier in a handmade helicopter, through to the story of a trapeze artist balancing on the edge of falling as he casts himself upwards.

The items featured in the programme are:

The Fall
Featuring Charlie Morley

Sky Boy
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown

Falling for Rambo
Featuring Holly Walsh
Produced by Benjamin Partridge

The Dreamers
Featuring Charlie Morley

Looking Up
Originally broadcast in 'Space' from Radiolab
http://www.radiolab.org

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

Taking Flight

Josie Long presents a series of delightful and adventurous short documentaries, brief encounters, true stories and found sound.

We examine rips in the fabric of the universe as Josie Long delves into stories of splits, divisions and tears. From broken hearts to divided personalities.

We hear from a woman who was so tired of being in two minds that she surrendered all of her decision making to a piece of string, a mimic who taught herself how to assume alternate personalities and we recover from heartbreak using the 'Automated Relationship Replacement Hotline'.

The items featured in the programme are:

Automated Relationship Replacement Hotline
Originally broadcast in WireTap
http://www.cbc.ca/wiretap/

String
Produced by Natalie Kestecher
The full version of this story can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/360/string/4010328

Split Voices
Produced by Sarah Cuddon

Other Halves
Produced by Dennis Funk

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

Split

Josie Long presents a selection of short documentaries about communication - messages that could break your heart, rescue you from a fight or save you from a long stay in jail.

The writer Glenn Patterson explains why sometimes we should ignore the writing on the wall, and musician Tom Robinson describes the unlikely message he sent at a time when he was in a lot of trouble.

Stories of last words, lost love and lights being knocked out.

The items featured in the programme are:

Guess Who
Found sound from the collection of Mark Vernon
http://www.meagreresource.com/

L'Esprit De L'Escalier
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown

Yanto
Featuring Glenn Patterson
Produced by Rachel Hooper

Message from Above
Featuring Tom Robinson
Produced by Alan Hall

Dear Sophie
Produced by Sara Parker

Conversations with Nic
Featuring Esther Baker

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

Lines of Communication

Josie Long presents a selection of short documentaries with stories of loss and discovery.

From being lost in the music to lost love - Josie delves into tales of forgotten cassette tapes, voices rediscovered and teenage rebellion.

Hide and Seek
Feat. Steve Colgan

Lost in Music
Produced by Steve Urquhart

I am Luther Blissett
Produced by Rosanna Arbon

Fluctuations
Produced by Phil Smith

Lost Voices
Feat. Jude Rogers

Looking for Layla
Produced by Hana Walker-Brown

Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.

Lost and Found

Growing up in a changing landscape, communicating disaster through a language barrier, a sonic illustration of the world’s dwindling animal populations and finding hope outside our windows. Josie Long presents short documentaries on the climate crisis.

Smoke Signals
Produced by Natalie Kestecher

Hearing Extinction
Produced by Mona Chalabi and Emmy the Great

Mother Earth
Produced by Alia Cassam

Terrace, Rome, Italy during the lockdown
Produced by Daria Corrias
Originally recorded for the Field Recordings podcast

Production Team: Eleanor McDowall and Alia Cassam
Produced by Andrea Rangecroft

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2020.

Habitat

Listen and read

Other podcasts you might like ...