Today’s radio

TEATIME

11.30AM, RADIO 4 HHHH Whispering Uncle Bob tries to balance 31 spoons on his face, Lisa tries to make trouble, Joe tries to woo his ex-wife, and everyone tries to sit on a chair that isn’t there. This opening episode of a new sitcom starts with the old cliche of a newly married couple trying to spend time alone, while family members barge in. Fret not. Katherine Jakeways is the writer, and this is a well-crafted comedy full of odd characters, offbeat dialogue and sly wit.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT

8PM, RADIO 2 HHHH

Imelda May, backed by Leo

(son of Benny) Green and his orchestra, gives a concert of songs celebrating some of the many great musicians who have come from Ireland. Imelda includes Sinead O’connor’s Nothing Compares 2U on the bill, and closes with that reliable tear-jerker Danny Boy.

THE ESSAY: TOP OF THE BILL

10.45PM, RADIO 3 HHHH When he was a child, the only black woman the comedian

Stephen K. Amos saw on television was the reflection of his mother turning the set off. Stephen felt lost and alone, in both Britain and Nigeria. Everything changed when he found the African-american sitcom Sanford And Son on African TV. In this short talk, he explains how the US version of Steptoe & Son did so much more than just make him laugh.

LOVE IN RECOVERY

11PM, RADIO 4 EXTRA HHHH Comedy writer Peter Jackson wrote this sitcom, set in an Alcoholics Anonymous group, while working on his own problems with alcohol. This gave him both the right and the insight to make jokes about AA, resulting in this funny, sad and very engaging series. SJ

Imelda May (8pm, Radio 2)