Radio choice Charlotte Runcie

The Island RADIO 4 EXTRA, 1.30PM

This week, Radio 4 Extra is broadcasting a “holiday season” of programmes chosen to celebrate the magic of islands and their special places in our imaginations. For this documentary, Sara Parker visits the Isle of Sheppey, just off the north coast of Kent. Situated in the Thames Estuary, it was the bustling home of the Bottleworks glass factories, Royal Doulton potteries and steelworks. Now it’s a place of high unemployment and low morale, but nonetheless “the island” continues to have a romantic hold over its inhabitants. The Compass: A Tale of Two Rivers

WORLD SERVICE, 1.30PM

Susan Marling visits Los Angeles and Kuala Lumpur in this two-part series to find out about the regeneration of the waterways that snake through some of the world’s biggest cities. In this episode, Marling speaks to architect Frank Gehry, who has been tasked with creating a masterplan for the redevelopment of the polluted Los Angeles River. The river was lined with concrete in the Thirties, but it could become the centrepiece of a regenerated neighbourhood if LA succeeds in its bid to host the 2024 Olympics.