RADIO CHOICE

A MOTHER talks about hiding her family’s screens and phones in an attempt to get her children back; an ex-Google employee explains how being serfs to ‘surfdom’ is ruining our lives. Rhys Jones continues his investigation into the distractions of modern-day life in DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION (RADIO 4, 11AM).

SENIOR astronomer Seth Shostak and his 50-strong team spend their working days looking and listening for signs of life on the billions of planets in our galaxy. So far, they haven’t heard a squeak. Does this mean that we are alone, or are other life forms communicating in ways we cannot comprehend? In SO WHERE ARE THE ALIENS? (BBC WORLD SERVICE 1.30PM, 11.05PM), Seth talks about techniques being

developed in the search for extraterrestrials, and about designing new ways of communicating with whatever — or whoever — is out there.

n THE dangers of cancelling your National Trust membership and the surreal madness of the first-ever Crufts for cats get this opening episode of the award-winning sketch series SMALL SCENES (RADIO 4, 6.30PM) off to a sharp start. Lots of good gags and funny recurring themes from Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Cariad Lloyd (pictured), Henry Paker and Freya Parker.