Soho Stories Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
When Channel 4 launched at the start of the 1980s, it triggered an explosion in the television production sector. Whereas the BBC and ITV previously had a duopoly when it came to making television programmes, independent companies suddenly started to be able to get their own shows on the air. Broadcaster Paul Jackson begins a three-part examination about this sea change in British telly.
Archive on 4: On Northern Men Radio 4, Saturday 8pm
Screenwriter and author Kay Mellor is known for her Northern-set dramas, so she’s the ideal person to present a look at how men from the North of England have been portrayed on screen, from traditional stereotypes to a more diverse representation in modern shows from Queer As Folk, Shameless and The Street.
Elaine Paige on Sunday Radio 2, Sunday 1pm
This week’s guests are the London cast of Forbidden Broadway, currently playing at Menier Chocolate Factory, and Samantha Spiro, appearing in Hello Dolly! at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Tennyson’s Maud Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
Award-winning sound designer Christopher Shutt brings his talents to bear in a tale of a disturbed young man who roams windswept vistas, haunted by his father’s suicide and his mother’s early death. Joseph Millson performs Tennyson’s poem and captures the rapid mood-swings of Tennyson’s disturbed, dangerous and yearning protagonist.
Afternoon Play: Antimacassars and Ylang Ylang Conditioner Radio 4, Monday 2.15pm
Ian Potter’s comedy follows eighty-year-old Frank (Russell Dixon) as his everyday shopping trip to buy some coffee turns into a personal odyssey.
The Hunt for Sexton Blake Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
The Adventures of Sexton Blake Radio 2, Friday 9.15pm
In his time, he was more popular than Sherlock Holmes, but these days very few people know of Sexton Blake. David Quantick presents an hour long profile of Blake’s literary impact, with help from author Michael Moorcock and comic illustrator Kevin O’Neill.
This documentary serves as a prelude to a new series of Sexton Blake radio plays starring Simon Jones as Blake, Wayne Forester as his plucky assistant Tinker and June Whitfield as Mrs Bardell.
The National Theatre of Brent’s Iconic Icons Radio 4, Wednesday 6.30pm
The National Theatre of Brent — whose company consists entirely of Desmond Olivier Dingle (Patrick Barlow) and Raymond Box (John Ramm) — begins an occasional series profiling some of the world’s greatest cultural icons, starting with Bob Dylan. Of course, as with any RTB production, the facts are entirely new. Who knew, for example, that the young Robert Zimmerman would be inspired to change his name based on the book Dylan Thomas the Tank Engine?
Afternoon Play: Marmalade for Comrade Philby Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
A mediocre novelist’s tale of a Cambridge graduate turned spy is mistranslated in foreign editions to suggest that it’s actually an autobiography. The mistake has been perpetrated by translator Hannah (Penelope Wilton), who has long harboured romantic intentions towards the author, Patrick Bradyn (Bill Nighy) — but will her actions drive him into the arms of another woman?
Afternoon Play: Telling the Bees Radio 4, Friday 2.15pm
Apparently it’s an old bee-keeping tradition that when an apiarist dies, somebody has to tell his hive. But when May (Kika Markham) loses her husband, she is paralysed with grief. She knows she has funeral arrangements to make, numerous people to call — but she can’t even tell the bees.
Friday Night is Music Night Radio 2, Friday 7.30pm
Lorna Luft leads a celebration of the music of her mother Judy Garland, with the help of Linzi Hateley, Frances Ruffelle and John Barrowman.
The Friday Play: The Prospect - The Prodigal Fraudster Radio 4, Friday 9pm
The Friday Play returns with a series of three plays by Mike Harris which resumes the tale of ambitious politico Bobby Khan, now an MP with ministerial ambitions. Zubin Varla stars as Khan, with Barbara Marten, Nicola Stephenson and Christopher Bisson in support.
