RADIO CHOICE

HMS EREBUS, a ten-gun bomb ketch, was launched in 1826 and served in the Mediterranean and the Antarctic. She was then refitted with a steam engine and in 1845 was one of two ships to set sail under the command of John Franklin, looking for the Northwest Passage — a route through the Arctic ice to the Pacific. All this week, Michael Palin (pictured) follows the final, mysterious voyage of the doomed EREBUS (RADIO 4, 9.45AM (FM), 12.30AM).

LUCY KELLAWAY has spent her working life in newspapers, but at the age of 58, she retrained as a teacher. She and a group of other mature students, including former lawyers, bankers and civil servants, signed up for a Now Teach course. Over the next week, COULD DO BETTER (RADIO 4, 1.45PM) follows Lucy’s progress as she adjusts to

the realities of teaching in London’s East End.

THE fast-paced thriller THE TRUTH ABOUT ANNA (RADIO 4, 2.15PM), inspired by a true story, follows a group of environmental activists in California. New recruit Anna is treated with suspicion by many of the members, who think she is an FBI stooge. A romance grows between Anna and the group’s leader, Greg, causing deep divisions and threatening the group’s plot to blow up a dam. Today, we follow events within the group — but in tomorrow’s concluding episode, we join the FBI eavesdroppers.