TODAY’S RADIO

THE VOYAGE OF THE ST LOUIS

2.45PM, RADIO 4 HHHHH The St Louis was a luxury liner that took passengers from Europe to America, and also served as a cruise ship. In 1939, it set off from Hamburg with more than 900 desperate people on board. Most of these passengers were Jewish, and were looking for refuge from the Nazis. They’d been promised a safe berth in Cuba, but were turned away from there. From then on, their captain, Gustav Schroder, made an increasingly desperate voyage across to America and then back to Europe, looking for sanctuary for his passengers.

This taut drama tells the story.

RYLAN ON SATURDAY 3PM, RADIO 2 ★★★

The New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo has a new comedy out called Starstruck, available on iplayer tomorrow and on BBC1 Monday night. She plays millennial Jessie, who holds down a couple of dead-end jobs, and finds she’s got herself in a tricky predicament after accidentally sleeping with a film star. Rose tells Rylan ClarkNeal all about it this afternoon.

SIMON MAYO’S ESSENTIAL ALBUMS 3PM, SCALA ★★★

John Williams, who is 80 today, took guitar lessons – when he was just 11 – from the legendary Andres Segovia. To celebrate the virtuoso’s birthday, Simon plays some of Williams’s finest recordings of works by Bach and Rodrigo.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES 7PM, CLASSIC FM ★★★

April 23 is traditionally thought of as Shakespeare’s birthday, so Andrew Collins picks a few tracks from films with a connection to the Bard. Patrick Doyle wrote the score for Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film of Henry V, as well as making a cameo appearance in it. Andrew includes some of that music, plus Nino Rota’s score for 1968’s Romeo And Juliet.

Rose Matafeo (3pm, Radio 2)