RADIO WEEK

The picks of the best of this week’s radio

ENTERTAINMENT

Cartlann Bhóthar na Léinsi

SUNDAY, 9.30AM, RNAG ★★★★

Dáithí de Mórdha brings us gems from the Munster archives every week on this programme, that demonstrate past traditions, customs, beliefs, ways of life, pastimes, family and community life in the Gaeltacht.

Spoken Stories

SUNDAY, 7PM, RTÉ RADIO ONE ★★★★

A Pirate, Dreaming by Kevin Barry is read by the author. It lands us in 1980s Ireland and the daily morning rituals of a pirate radio DJ spinning discs from Joe Dolan to Mike Oldfield. From his high-up perch under his Velux window, he watches a routine morning grow and the good people of Limerick city getting up and out into another April day.

Talking History

SUNDAY, 7PM, NEWSTALK ★★★★ Presented by Dr Patrick Geoghegan of Trinity College, this lively show takes a critical look at some of the great personalities and political, social and cultural events in history.

FACTUAL

The Tom Dunne Show MONDAY-THURSDAY, 10PM, NEWSTALK ★★★★

A nightly entertainment-driven magazine show focusing on music, culture, movies, sex, sports, comedy, books, gossip and technology.

Archive on Four: Femmes Fatales

TUESDAY, 11PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★ Kathleen Turner (pictured) made a memorable femme fatale in the 1981 neonoir thriller Body Heat. So the husky-voiced actress is well placed to present this celebration of the likes of Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner. Such characters will always be relevant, she says, ‘because men will always be terrified of women’.

Louise McSharry

SATURDAY, 9AM, 2FM ★★★★

This eclectic show brings everything from the newest beauty products to rights for renters. Louise catches up on the headlines in the news with studio 8 sessions shining a light on new music and advice on how to help a troubled relationship. All mixed with top tunes threading it together.

DRAMA

The Lyric Feature

SUNDAY, 6PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★

In 1902, English composer Arnold Bax read Yeats’ The Wanderings of Oisín, an experience which he claimed revealed to him his own inner Celt. This would lead to a long relationship between the composer and Ireland. He became a regular visitor and sometime resident of both Glencolmcille and Dublin, and also wrote poetry under the pseudonym Dermot O’Byrne. The high-water mark of his Irish association was his work In Memoriam, Pádraig Pearse which was written in 1916. Aidan Thomson and guests explore Bax’s complex and unusual relationship with Ireland, Irishness and Patrick Pearse.

Our Truth, Their Lies

FRIDAY, 2.15PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★

A family is torn apart when one member becomes convinced that all the fake news and conspiracy theories being touted on social media are true. A thoughtful, intelligent drama by Irish writer Hugh Costello.