Opening Lines

About Opening Lines

Producer and writer John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Publisher

BBC Radio 4

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Jan 2023

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

141 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Celtic Christie: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

   A dying man’s final, puzzling question - “Why didn’t they ask Evans?” – provides the title for Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel. What singles this book out is that the investigation is not undertaken by Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, but by Bobby Jones and Lady Frances Derwent – childhood friends whose suspicions compel them to try their hand at some amateur sleuthing. All the twists and turns of plot that Christie does so well are here, along with a charming and humorous evocation of the between-the-wars generation of Bright Young Things that has echoes of PG Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4. Nicola Upson is a crime novelist known for her series of novels that feature a fictional version of the writer Josephine Tey as the heroine and detective. Nicola is also member of The Detection Club. Hugh Laurie archive clip taken from Front Row, BBC Radio 4 – 3 April 2023 Agatha Christie archive clip taken from Agatha Christie: Speaking Her Own Words, Ep 4 Keeping Notes – BBC Radio 4 Extra – 30 December 2015 Reading from Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie (copyright 1934, Agatha Christie Limited – a Chorion company) Reader: Emily Pithon Music: Torquil MacLeod Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Sound: Sean Kerwin Producer: Torquil MacLeod Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

2. 

   6 Sept 2026

   The Things They Carried

   John Yorke explores The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, novelist and veteran of the Vietnam War. Published in 1990 it’s a collection of interlinked stories about a platoon of American soldiers fighting an invisible enemy in the booby-trapped jungles of Vietnam. But Tim O’Brien is not telling a straightforward factual war story, he’s also reflecting on the nature of experience and memory, and the power of storytelling. The title story describes not just the physical objects the soldiers carried but the profound emotional burden of guilt, trauma and grief. The narrator of the stories is called Tim O’Brien, just like the author, but he is a fictional character. One of the book’s main themes is the relationship between truth and fiction, and O'Brien frequently blurs the distinction between the two, suggesting that a fictional story may have more emotional truth than a strictly factual one. The Things They Carried is both a vividly portrayed collection of stories about the often surreal nature of the Vietnam war, and a meditation on the memories of those who fought in it. It reveals that the heaviest burdens soldiers carry are often the invisible ones, and that stories can be a way of coming to terms with those burdens after the fighting has ended. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4. The Things They Carried is published by 4th Estate. Recording of Tim O’Brien from an interview for The National Endowment for the Arts on 9 November, 2011. Contributor: Dr Alex Vernon, ME and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of English at Hendrix College, Arkansas. Author of Peace Is A Shy Thing, a literary biography of Tim O’Brien. Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams Sound: Iain Hunter Producer: Kate McAll Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

3. 

   23 Aug 2026

   Midnight Cowboy

   Midnight Cowboy, a 1965 novel by the American writer James Leo Herlihy, is best known to most for its film adaptation, starring Jon Voight as Joe Buck – a naïve dreamer from Texas - and Dustin Hoffman as Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a New York street pickpocket. The novel tells the story of Joe Buck’s childhood in Texas, provides context for his naivety and emotional illiteracy, and explains what drives him to move to New York in his 20s, to seek his fortune providing sexual services to rich frustrated women. Directed by John Schlesinger, the 1969 movie version focuses less on Joe’s early life – and more on the relationship between Joe and Ratso in New York. The film won best picture at the Oscars the following year. The novel, which didn’t achieve mainstream success, fell out of print in the shadow of the film. But, as John Yorke explains, the story of Midnight Cowboy, however simple, was groundbreaking in the mid 1960s: bringing characters at the margins of society to the centre, and dealing with themes of sexuality and sexual frankness in a powerful new way. John also explores how Herlihy connects the story with the political uncertainty of 1960s America, and looks at what drove him to write the book. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain; from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters, now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: James Leo Herlihy, from Studs Terkel WFMT radio archive, broadcast 1969. Howard Schuman, from Open Book, BBC Radio 4, 10 August 2003. Readings by William Hootkins for Open Book, BBC Radio 4, 10 August 2003. Excerpts from Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy, Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1965. Excerpts from John Schlesinger's 1969 film adaption of Midnight Cowboy. Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain Hunter Producer: Jack Soper Executive Producer: Sara Davies Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Who has been a guest on Opening Lines

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• AL Kennedy
• Sir Richard Eyre
• Dr Genevieve von Lob
• Emma Smith
• Simon Callow

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.2 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 41 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

61

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact Opening Lines

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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