THIS WEEK’S RADIO PICKS

SUNDAY

NATALIE HAYNES STANDS UP FOR THE CLASSICS, RADIO 4, 4.30PM

Men fought wars over Helen Of Troy, but was she really to blame, and how did all that kidnapping affect her? Stand-up Natalie Haynes creates comic routines out of major figures and thousands of years of Western culture. SUNDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT RADIO 2, 7PM

Actor Paterson Joseph presents a 2015 concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Billie Holiday (right). Singers Madeline Bell, Gloria Onitiri and Rebecca Ferguson and the BBC Concert Orchestra perform the troubled singer’s memorable numbers. CABIN PRESSURE, RADIO 4, 7.15PM

The first of a six-part series of the sitcom about a cash-strapped airline starring Stephanie Cole, Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam. In this episode, pilot Martin (Cumberbatch) realises he has left a client’s cat in the unheated hold.

MONDAY

BOOK OF THE WEEK: THE SEE-THROUGH HOUSE, RADIO 4, 9.45AM, MON-FRI

Author Shelley Klein grew up in a modernist-design house. This is a moving portrayal of dealing with an awkward parent, death and grief – then saying goodbye to a family home.

TUESDAY

PEOPLE FIXING THE WORLD: ELECTRICITY THAT GROWS ON TREES WORLD SERVICE, 3.05PM

It has been discovered that when the wind blows and the leaves of trees touch each other, they generate an electric charge. Italian researchers have found out how to power lights from one leaf.

THURSDAY

CHRIS HAWKINS 6 MUSIC, 6AM

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week, and Chris Hawkins is asking 6 Music listeners to share sounds that make them happy – maybe birdsong, or the wind in the trees. They will then be given to multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper, who will weave the recordings into a track.

FRIDAY

DRAMA: ERIC THE SKULL RADIO 4, 2.15PM

Simon Brett’s play about the founding in 1930 of the crime writers’ group, the Detection Club, which continues to this day. TV’s Father Brown, Mark Williams, plays the sleuthing priest’s creator, G.K. Chesterton, the group’s first president.

SATURDAY

OPERA ON 3: HANSEL AND GRETEL RADIO 3, 6.30PM

Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of Humperdinck’s Hansel And Gretel, from the 2010 Proms, that has Alice Coote and Lydia Teuscher as the eponymous siblings, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.