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Editor's note: today we start a four-part series of posts about a chilling fantasy drama called Pilgrim which you can hear in the Afternoon Play slot starting today at 1415 and for the following three weeks. Producer Marc Beeby has been keeping a production diary - SB

To the drama studio in Broadcasting House for the first day of eight recording a new series of Pilgrim. Co-producer Jessica Dromgoole, the writer Sebastian Baczkiewicz and I are really excited to be making another series about poor, cursed William Palmer. We think we learnt a lot from making the first series and we're all very pleased to be re-entering this strange world with new stories that feel so tight and original. We're also delighted we've got such a good cast together. In addition to the incomparable Paul Hilton as our hero, we've also managed to get Claire Price, Luke Treadaway, Jamie Foreman, Judy Parfitt, Bill Gaunt and the redoubtable Anna Wing, still magnificent at 94!

The read through of the first episode goes well, although the world of Pilgrim needs a bit of explaining to some of the cast who haven't heard the first series. It can be a bit difficult getting your head round the hero being the best part of a thousand years old, or the idea that the person you thought was your grandfather is actually a malevolent faerie responsible for letting a whole church full of people drown during the Great Flood of 1757.

The cast are all so experienced and so good the recording is pretty straightforward and goes well. But we have two big technical challenges in this ep. The first is to make one of the characters suddenly speak with the collective voice of a 100 (drowned) people. What does this sound like? None of us knows. Easy to type this in a script, less easy to realise. We get the whole cast to speak the lines in chorus. Then we get them to whisper the lines. At the same time we experiment with different sorts of feedback effect and echo. One thing we all agree on: we want any moments of magic in this series to sound organic - to sound as though they come from nature, rather than signalling them with, say, tinkly music or zappy electronics. Some of the feedback and echo effects we try sound a bit manufactured. They won't do. We'll have to see what we can make of this when it comes to the editing.

Our other technical challenge is that two of the characters actually drown on dry land, with no water present (it's magic, you see), while another character is talking. This is tricky. In the end we decide to record the drowning character separately and then combine them with the speaking character in the edit. Jude Akuwudike is brilliant. He throws himself into it, spitting out great volumes of water, gargling and gurgling and thrashing about on the floor as if his life depended on it. Which I suppose it did. At the end of the take he gets a round of applause from us all. He deserves it. He is brilliant. He is also soaked.

Marc Beeby is Co-Producer of Pilgrim

• Listen to episode one of Pilgrim, series two, this afternoon at 1415 and, for seven days afterwards, on the Radio 4 web site.
• Jessica Dromgoole, who co-produced Pilgrim, has written for the Radio 4 blog before.
• Marc Beeby made a lovely video to promote the series which you can see on .
• shows Lessingham Church in Norfolk and is by Steve Bowbrick

Editor's note. In this blog post, Radio 4's Interactive Editor explains how important the views of web site users have been to the redesign of the site. Please take a minute to leave a comment here and tell us what you think of the changes to the Radio 4 site - SB.

It's now over a year since we relaunched the Radio 4 website. During that time we've received lots of audience feedback. We've also relaunched some of our programme web sites (Woman's Hour, In Our Time, You & Yours, for instance) and become part of a wider range of conversations about Radio 4 on the web. So it's time to refresh our top-level pages to reflect all of this.

Ö÷²¥´óÐã page

We've made some 'tweaks', rather than a wholesale redesign.

The top promotion area has divided opinion to some extent. Some correspondents (including contributors to this blog) felt strongly that the top image was too big; others liked it and told us it encouraged them to explore further. So we hope that an effective compromise is to reduce the visible image size slightly, in favour of text content, whilst retaining the impact that it makes.

On the top-right of the page, we've retained the navigation by title and subject and have added links to our biggest programme websites, some of which we've relaunched in the last few months. Take a look if you haven't done so already.

Returning to the left-hand side of the page, the 'Choice of the Day' area (the designers call this a 'carousel') didn't go down particularly well with users. Some people didn't understand how the carousel functioned, others simply chose not to use it. But the visible content was popular. So we've opted for a simpler presentation.

Underneath that, we've retained the popular iPlayer programmes list (updated daily) but have replaced the rather static list of podcasts in favour of highlighting some gems from the archive, which your feedback tells us you'd like to see more of.

We've also removed the 'topical tags' list. Technical constraints meant that these tags weren't always as topical as we wanted them to be. And research with users (we did a 'click-tracking' study) told us that hardly anyone clicked on them. We've used the space instead to promote some of the ever-growing conversation on the web about Radio 4.

Comment and Programmes pages

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that we've added a fifth term to our top navigation - a page we've called "Comment", which aggregates a lot of the comment and conversations around Radio 4 - on our messageboards and blogs, and on social networks.

And we've improved our 'Programmes' page by only listing genres relevant to Radio 4 (no more 'animation'!), and by presenting the most recently broadcast programmes in each genre.

I hope that these design changes will make it easier to find programmes that inspire and entertain you, and introduce you to more content and conversation around your favourite programmes. I look forward to reading your comments.

My thanks to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã teams, to David Jones from the Radio 4 Interactive team and to our colleagues at , who have helped with these changes.

Leigh Aspin is Interactive Editor at Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

Horror film 'curses' have a strong tradition in movie folklore, whether it's the death of multiple family members during the making of The Exorcist, or lightning striking Gregory Peck's plane on his way to film The Omen.

I've always dismissed such stories as nonsense, so when we set about making Matthew Broughton's 'The Rain Maker' - an English horror story for Radio 4's Afternoon Play - I was pretty confident the production would pass without incident. I was wrong...

We set out to record the play on location in a forest in Kent, in the stifling heat of early July. From the start the omens weren't good. As we drove into the countryside we were greeted by a single magpie picking at the wet flesh of a dead rabbit. We attempted to laugh off the superstitious significance, but continued down the narrow country lanes with a collective sense of what increasingly felt like dread.

Then, suddenly a truck hurtled around a blind bend towards us. The back of the truck was filled with gas canisters and as it screeched to a halt a couple of these were catapulted into the air. One narrowly missed our windscreen and erupted on the ground in front of us. The driver hopped out and with a smile and a wave tossed the offending canister back into the truck, before hurtling off again, spewing a cloud of white gas behind him like some demonic spirit.

Once we arrived at Apple Tree Farm - our base - we got ready for a long day recording in the woods. It was hot and we were slightly concerned about the prospect of insect bites. Kat (who runs the farm) declared she had just the thing and swiftly produced a bottle of sheep dip. We decided we'd take our chances with the insects.

As we descended into the thick green forest, we soon remembered why we'd come. Our actors (Kenneth Cranham and Joe Dempsie) sounded fantastic echoing around the trees; the tall canopy like a vast cathedral of nature. But we were wrong to disregard the threat of the flies. Huge blood suckers, as big as prunes, constantly hovered around our ankles and nipped at our knees.

We persevered and after a very successful day of recording we got ready to wrap things up. We began work on the final scene, when something peculiar happened. A cool wind swept through the woods sending a collective shiver down our spines, then the sound man's face turned white and his mouth opened wide in a look of sheer terror. Something had just wiped the disc. We'd lost everything we'd recorded that day. It was almost as if the woods didn't want to be heard.

Numb and in a state of shock we packed up our things and headed back to the car. But we took a wrong turn. It was getting dark and we were lost. We stumbled around the woods searching for the path. Panic spread quickly through the group as the light faded and malevolent faces seemed to lurk in the dark shadows.

To cut a long story short, and avoid sounding overly melodramatic, we managed to find our way back to London in one piece. And we managed to retrieve the 'lost' audio from the corrupted disc so, thankfully, you can hear the fruits of our labour. But there was certainly something in the air down there, in the woods, in Kent.

Of course there are those who'd say that so called 'curses' are entirely manufactured as a means of marketing a story by increasing the supernatural aura around it. It's certainly often difficult to separate fact from fiction, but all I know for sure is this: In the six weeks since we recorded The Rain Maker, everyone involved in the production has been struck down by insect bite related infections. Including the Executive Producer, and he didn't even go to Kent...

James Robinson is producer and director of The Rain Maker

• The Rain Maker stars () and () and is written by Matthew Broughton ( on Twitter).
• Listen, if you dare, to The Rain Maker tomorrow afternoon, August 24, at 1415 and on the Radio 4 web site for seven days after that.
• The picture shows, left to right, James Robinson, Caleb Knightley (Studio Manager), Kenneth Cranham and Joe Dempsie. They don't look very happy do they?

People probably came out this afternoon thinking "I hope I don't run into a flashmob of comedians". Well, bad luck suckers, 'cos that's exactly what they're going to run into...

So said Mark Watson as he kicked off last weekend's rather friendly invasion of The Royal Mile by Radio 4 comedians. The whole thing (including a special outdoor episode of Just a Minute) was filmed using the latest high definition cameras and you'll be able to see the full-length version on the the red button on your digital TV later this week.

In the meantime, click through to YouTube and play the HD version of the video for a quite dazzling sample of the event as it happened and click the embed button to put the video on your own web site.

Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog

This week sees the last of Feedback until the autumn and probably the last ever appearance on it of Mark Damazer, as Controller of Radio 4 anyway. He is soon off to Oxford to become Head of St Peter's College. Judged by audience numbers he is going out on the crest of a wave. Listening figures for his network have never been higher, though a hotly-contested general election campaign probably had something to do with that.

There has also been wide critical acclaim for series like The Complete Smiley and A History of the World in 100 Objects. But the seas have not always been smooth. Soon after Mr Damazer started his tenure, some six years ago, he decided to axe the UK theme. There was uproar, many listeners wanted to axe him instead, and even today we receive email demanding the theme's return.

Then there was the, shall we say, inelegant way Edward Stourton was replaced on the Today programme, though Ö÷²¥´óÐã News management should, at the least, accept part of the responsibility for that.

However, rather than have us summarise the hits and misses of his Controllership we thought we would ask Mark Damazer himself to compile his own, short, Desert Island list ,of favourite programmes, to be replayed late at night in his Oxford eyrie when he gets withdrawal symptoms.

We suggested he exclude the 100 Objects from the shortlist since we had featured the series heavily recently, and of course, out of modesty, Feedback itself, a less likely choice. I started by asking him how he'd made his choice:

On a personal note can I just say that Mark Damazer has been unfailingly supportive of Feedback, has never tried to censor us, and has always been willing to come and be interviewed - which cannot be said of all Ö÷²¥´óÐã executives. Other interviewees may have given us shorter answers but noone gave fuller ones.

Please keep writing and emailing while we are off air. A new Controller, Gwyneth Williams, awaits your scrutiny.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

• Listen again to the whole programme, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
• Mark selected The Wenner Tapes, Charles Wheeler's Coming Ö÷²¥´óÐã, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold from The Complete Smiley season and John Humphrys' interview with Abu Izadeen from Today on 22 September 2006.

"Why did this trial only appear on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's News radar when there was a celebrity event to cover?" - Julie Smith.

"The Ö÷²¥´óÐã seems to be becoming like the tabloid newspapers, caught up in the cult of celebrity" - Cynthia Wells.

"The message is loud and clear that it is important because famous people are involved" - Silas Sutcliffe.

Not many of us knew that Charles Taylor, the former dictator of Liberia, was almost three years into his trial at the Hague, facing 11 separate charges of war crimes. Until, that is, a certain supermodel gave evidence in front of the cameras, to be followed by a former Hollywood star and civil rights campaigner.

The Feedback listeners quoted above, like several others of our correspondents, wondered if Ö÷²¥´óÐã news editors think the public is more interested in the supermodel Naomi Campbell, and the actress, Mia Farrow, than in the genocide.

As Don Benson wrote: "As far as I know Miss Campbell is famous for wearing clothes. Beyond that any talents and achievements which might possibly make her important escape me."

The court did establish that Ms Campbell had received stones of some sort, but their size and the name of their donor is still not clear. Neither is the reason that they were given to Naomi Campbell.

While none of our listeners disputed the importance of covering the trial itself, dealing as it is with the most appalling crimes of genocide, rape and disfigurement, they do question the way it has been covered, and fear it reflects a growing obsession with celebrity.

I put listeners' concerns to the Editor of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Newsroom, Richard Clark.

Also this week I talked to Mark Wakefield, head of performance at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Trust who is in charge of the reviews into Radio3, Radio4, and radio 7. You have just 2 weeks left to take part in the consultation, which ends on 26th August. If you want to take part either head for or to that of Feedback itself where you will find a link. If you require a hard copy of the consultation document or a Braille one the number to call is 08000680116.

See you next week.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

• Listen again to the whole programme, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
• The picture shows soldiers loyal to Charles Taylor during the civil war in Liberia. It's from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's picture library.

Choosing the Reith lecturer every year is one of the privileges of the job. It is a rather wonderful piece of patronage (for me, at any rate) and poses numerous challenges.

I look every year for something original - and someone who is a good communicator. Topicality can be an advantage, but with some subjects it doesn't matter.

I moved the Reiths to a different transmission pattern a few years ago - to 0900 with a Saturday evening repeat - to increase the audience and the lecturers' impact. It's a big occasion for Radio 4.

So I'm naturally delighted to have seduced Antony Gormley for 2011. We began talking about it a while ago in his Kings Cross studio/workshop. It's a very large edifice and various sculptures at different stages of preparation are dotted around, being attended to by a small group of craftsmen - and women - who must have been tempted to say "look but don't touch" but with amazing politeness restrained themselves. It was a fascinating experience.

Antony Gormley will be the first sculptor to be a Reith lecturer and, for that matter, the first practising visual artist to do so. He has, of course, broadcast before (quite a bit on Radio 3) and has much to say about art and culture. It is a mouth-watering prospect.

Mark Damazer is Controller of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

• The 2010 Reith Lectures were given by President of the Royal Society Martin Rees and you can listen to them all on the Radio 4 web site. There's a useful archive of past lectures too (although, inevitably, it's not complete).
• The picture of Antony Gormley was taken by Oak Taylor-Smith.
• Read the Radio 4 Press Office's announcement.

Editor's note: this week's item from Feedback, Radio 4's weekly accountability programme, concerns the highly contentious issue of trails. Putting his head in the lion's mouth to defend them is network manager, Denis Nowlan. Brave man - SB

What is it about trails that so excites or rather inflames the Feedback listener? This week as I entered the office I could feel the heat radiating off the incandescent emails.

The immediate cause was an interview I did last week with the deputy Editor of the Today programme, Jon Zilkha. A few days before, a Ö÷²¥´óÐã weather forecaster had had to cut his pre-8 a.m. bulletin from its standard 90 seconds length to a truncated 20 seconds. The reason was that a live discussion about the Ö÷²¥´óÐã itself had overrun, in listeners' view an increasingly common occurrence.

Of course another option would have been to drop the trail instead. Mr Zilkha defended the decision to cut the forecast and went on to suggest that for many listeners trails are just as important as the weather. Many of our correspondents were incredulous about that assertion.

"If he can actually find a listener who would rather listen to a trailer then hear a weather forecast, I"ll buy him a drink" wrote Colin Williams.

Deborah Bull told us "You are a public service and a decent weather forecast is part of that. There is no justification for preferring to run trails instead".

Peter Simpkin said "I hope you will follow up with a direct question to the Controller R4... is the 5-to-8 trailer more important than the weather by higher command?"

Well the Controller was not available but the official defender of trails was. He is the Network Manager of Radio 4, Denis Nowlan. Listen to his defence of trails and tell us what you think in a comment:

By the way show that Radio 4 has just had its best listening figures ever, and that those for Radio 3 have gone down a little. I think there must have been a General Election.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 4

• Listen again to the whole programme, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
• On the About the Ö÷²¥´óÐã blog, Margo Swadley writes about

Ö÷²¥´óÐã Audio & Music interactive is the department that looks after all the activity on the web, the red button and on the social networks for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã radio stations, music programmes on the TV and all the big annual events (The Proms, Glastonbury and so on).

Four times a year the team meets to share ideas, case studies and war stories. The meeting is imaginatively called the 'departmental' and it takes place in Broadcasting House - big presentations in the Radio Theatre and smaller 'break-out' meetings in various conference rooms. It starts at 0900 and finishes at 1300.

Tomorrow's 'departmental' is all about innovation - showing off the good stuff we've been building lately, learning from friends and partners who are innovating and talking about ways to innovate better ourselves. Mark Friend, Controller of the department, will chair. He says:

We've decided to make our departmental meeting as open as possible so that we can share some of the projects and ideas that we're excited about - both in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã and in other companies. Using social media to do this is an obvious step for us, and I'm excited to see how readers of this blog will engage in it."

Read the rest of this blog post, find out how to join in and leave comments on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Internet blog.