Where Do You Want Me? (A Comic in Continental Crisis)
Radio 4, Saturday 10.30am
Something that our light entertainment correspondents in The Stage have been covering over recent years is the growth of entertainment prospects in Spanish resorts that cater to British holidaymakers. Johnny Vegas, star of ITV1’s hit comedy series Benidorm, revisits the resort to meet some of the comedians, singers and spesh acts who have moved out there.
Saturday Play: All Quiet on the Western Front
Radio 4, Saturday 2.30pm
First broadcast a year ago on Radio 3 (and highlighted in our Turn off the TV preview), this first radio adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel earns an appropriate repeat on Remembrance Sunday weekend.
Drama on 3: The Promise
Radio 3, Sunday 8pm
When Ariadne Nicolaeff’s English translation of Aleksei Arbuzov’s play, set in World War II during the seige of Leningrad, debuted in London in 1967, the cast comprised Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Ian McShane. Here, the roles are taken by Ruth Wilson, Russell Tovey and Harry Lloyd. The three play teenagers who are thrown together in a war-torn apartment block, and follows them both during and after the war.
Weekday choices — including the major Dickens adaptation which is the highlight of this week’s radio output — after the jump.
Our Mutual Friend
Radio 4, Monday-Friday 10.45am & 7.45pm
For the next four weeks, the Woman’s Hour Drama slot is taken up by a bold new adaptation of Dickens’ final, and some would say greatest, novel. Jason Watkins and Pauline Quirke play the Boffins, two servants of old Mr Harmon, and upon whose death they inherit his vast fortune when the body of his sole heir is retrieved from the Thames.
Britain’s Other Music Hall: The Story of the Blackface Minstrels
Radio 4, Tuesday 11.30am
Minstrelsy was huge in Victorian music hall. The “cork show” (getting its name from the burnt cork colouring used to black up) was the precursor to a tradition that survived into the 1970s wit the BBC’s Black and White Minstrel Show. Now, though, cultural awareness means that the genre has died out — but its influence lives on. Musician Tony Etoria investigates.
A Cymbal Tale
Radio 4, Tuesday 1.30pm
If you were going to trace the origins of one musical instrument throughout history, one can guess that the one you choose wouldn’t be the humble cymbal. This long-overshadowed instrument is showcased by comic writer and performer Andrew McGibbon, as he traces its origins from Assyria in the 8th century BC to the present day.
Afternoon Play: Albert’s Boy
Radio 4, Tuesday 2.15pm
Victor Spinetti stars as Albert Einstein in a reworked version of the 2005 play he starred in at the Finborough Theatre. Coming towards the end of his life, Einstein is obsessed with finding a unified theory, almost to the exclusion of all else, including the two sons he abandoned when he left his wife for another woman. When Peter Bucky (Richard Laing) visits the scientist, he aims to find out why he has now cut the boys out of his will.
Jo Caulfield Won’t Shut Up
Radio 4, Tuesday 6.30pm
Stand-up Jo Caulfield returns with another series of friendly bitching and obstinate foot-in-mouthery.
How David Hasselhoff Brought Down the Wall
Radio 2, Tuesday 10.30pm
Comedian Richard Herring brings an irreverent look at the collapse of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago by focussing on the Hoff’s European hit single Looking for Freedom, which resonated as the strictures of the old divisions fell.
Afternoon Play: 28
Radio 4, Wednesday 2.15pm
Schoolteacher Nathan (Joseph Cohen-Cole) is a schoolteacher who, as a result of a connection with a terrorist, is detained by police for 28 days before being released without charge. In the following 28 days, he struggles to rebuild his life.
Nick Mohammed: Apollo 21
Radio 4, Wednesday 6.30pm
An adaptation of comedian Mohammed’s Edinburgh show, in which he uses a mockumentary style to imagine a series of reminiscences from astronauts on the US’ Apollo space missions. To give an idea of what it entails, here’s a video preview for his Edinburgh show:
Afternoon Play: The Railway Siding
Radio 4, Thursday 2.15pm
Jack (Sam Dale) is a struggling architect who is forced to take an overnight train from Haverfordwest in Wales to London Paddington. On the journey, he encounters a garrulous guard and a mysterious woman passenger dressed in Forties clothing. she tells of her previous intention to leave her suburban husband and children for a rendezvous with her lover at Reading station. But she did not alight at Reading and is now on her way back to the domestic life she hasn’t the heart to shatter. But when Jack tells the Guard about her, she is nowhere to be found — and the guard has a chilling historical tale to tell…
The Blagger’s Guide To… Jazz
Radio 2, Thursday 10.30pm
David Quantick returns with his guide to musical genres, which mixes fact and fantasy with archive recordings to great comedic (and educational) effect. In this first of a six-part series devoted to jazz, Quantick focusses on Duke Ellington, the saxophone and bop.
Friday Night is Mercer Night
Radio 2, Friday from 7pm
A special evening of programmes dedicated to lyricist Johnny Mercer, born 100 years ago this year. In Pardon My Southern Accent, Clarke Peters explores the links between Mercer’s work and his upbringing in the Southern US state of Georgia. A live edition of Friday Night is Music Night follows with vocals from Sally Ann Triplett, Ruthie Henshall, Higel Harman and Curtis Stigers. Finally, in Manilow and Mercer, Barry Manilow offers his personal view of Mercer’s work. After the lyricist’s death, his widow invited Manilow to set some previously unused Mercer lyrics to new music, including When October Goes.
Afternoon Play: Number 10
Radio 4, Friday 2.15pm
A return of Jonathan Myerson’s series of plays set within a fictional version of 10 Downing Street. Anthony Sher returns Prime Minister Adam Armstrong. After a general election, the Conservatives have won more seats, but Labour got a larger share of the popular vote. Both need help from the Liberal Democrats — but which party will form the next Government?
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