Saturday Play: Utz Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
Gregory Norminton adapt Bruce Chatwin’s novel to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his death. Kaspar Utz is a Prague-based collection of Meissen porcelain, and has managed to preserve his collection throughout his country’s turbulent past. A British academic who met him in the 1960s returns twnety years later to find out what has happened to the man and his collection.
Classic Serial: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Radio 4, Sunday 3pm
The Complete Smiley series returns after John le Carre’s first two novels featuring the gentleman spycatcher first appeared in the Saturday Play slot. Simon Russell Beale is perfect as Smiley, and in this three-part adaptation he is joined by a superb cast including Brian Cox, Ruth Gemmell and Siobhan Redmond.
Drama on 3: Tartuffe Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
Moliere’s classic comedy, as adapted by Roger McGough for the Liverpool Playhouse.
Afternoon Play: In Mates Radio 4, Monday 2.15pm
Pauline Quirke stars in a play by Sue Teddern.Michelle (Quirke) sends audio tapes from he home in Orpington to her pen pal Randall, an inmate on Death Row. She promises herself and Randall that these will be the unexpurgated confessions of a bubbly housewife. But as the relationship unfolds, it becomes clear that she is trapped in her house and she isn’t quite as bubbly as she would like to think.
Arthur Smith’s Balham Bash Radio 4, Tuesday 11pm
Stage columnist Arthur Smith invites an audience into his Balham home for an evening of music and comedy. Pippa Evans costars, with a range of guests including Paul Sinha, Milton Jones and Glenn Tilbrook.
Baggage Radio 4, Wednesday 11.30am
A fourth series of Hillary Lyon’s Edinburgh-based domestic drama. At the end of the last series, Fiona lost her battle with breast cancer, leaving her friend Caroline (Lyon) and ex-husband Roddy (Robin Cameron) to bring up her baby, April. The odd family unit expands in this series to include April’s birth father and Fiona’s Alzheimer-afflicted mother.
Shappi Talk Radio 4, Thursday 6.30pm
Curious mix of stand-up comedy and chat show-style interviews hosted by Shappi Korsandi. Each week the show will have a different theme: in this first show, the subject is racism. Meera Syal and Felix Dexter are guests.
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