Today’s radio

THE UNCANNY

6.30AM, 1.30PM, 8.30PM, R4 EXTRA HHHH

The airwaves are given over to the supernatural for Halloween, starting with this exploration of horror fiction. Mark Gatiss and A.S. Byatt, no slouches when it comes to sending shivers down spines, talk about slipping a feeling of unease and disquiet into their work. There’s also an extract from Freud’s essay The Uncanny, in which Freud examines how something ordinary can shift into something strange and unsettling.

FEAR IN THE FURROWS

11.30AM, RADIO 4 HHHH

An owl shrieks and a branch taps at a window, while the wind howls around the chimneys. A night in the depths of the countryside has supplied the setting for many a creepy film,

Mark Gatiss (6.30am, R4 Extra) drama and book. This programme explores an imaginary world of sinister rituals, secrets buried deep in the soil and, often as not, a very nasty shock for some hapless city dweller. Simon Hollis will be taking us on a journey through some very dark places as he delves into the sinister underside of the rural idyll.

THE FULL WORKS CONCERT

8PM, CLASSIC FM HHH

Take a break from this cold night with a trip to warmer climes. This concert, given by Stratford-uponAvon’s Orchestra Of The Swan, was recorded by Classic FM in Birmingham. It opens with the Overture from Rossini’s The Barber Of Seville, and closes with another work full of sunshine and light, Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien.

FREE THINKING

10PM, RADIO 3 HHH Audiences queuing to see Ghost Stories at the Ambassadors Theatre in London are warned that they’re in for a terrifying time. Jeremy Dyson, who wrote this play with Andy Nyman, tells us about this drama, which centres round a lecture given by a professor of parapsychology. SJ