THIS WEEK’S RADIOPICKS
A new adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, set in the near future, in which the Christian soldier Othello faces re-invasion of his Cyprus base by an increasingly aggressive Turkish president. Emma Harding’s version examines conflict between Christian and Muslim, Europe and the Middle East, and Western ‘civilisation’ and Eastern ‘barbarism’.
R.L. STEVENSON’S WEIR OF HERMISTON RADIO 4, 3PM
Robert Louis Stevenson died halfway through writing this novel. Using his notes, Colin MacDonald’s dramatisation completes the story of an early 19th Century Scottish family where idealistic law student Archie rebels against the capital punishment favoured by his father, ‘hanging judge’ Lord Hermiston. Phyllis Logan and Jack Lowden star.
MONDAY G.F. NEWMAN’S THE CORRUPTED RADIO 4, 2.15PM
The Detectorists’ Toby Jones stars in this epic tale of greed and corruption in the 20th Century and the rise of a Russian family from poverty to the top of the financial tree – via encounters with real historical characters such as Margaret Thatcher (above). This series reaches the 1990s.
TUESDAY THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: CELEBRATING THE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY
CLASSIC FM, 8PM
The Central Band of the Royal Air Force plays Nigel Hess’s Lochnagar Suite, inspired by Prince Charles’s book, The Old Man Of Lochnagar, while violinist Nicola Benedetti, previous recipient of the Queen’s Music Medal, performs Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. We also hear from Judith Weir, the first female Master Of
The Queen’s Music.
WEDNESDAY AFTER HENRY: MEMORY GAMES RADIO 4 EXTRA, 8.30AM
Simon Brett’s gentle, poignant comedy about the response of three generations of women to the death of a father/husband/son ran for four series on radio, and then on TV from 1985 to 1989. In this first of eight episodes, widow Sarah (Prunella Scales) is helped with memories of her husband by a quiz organised by her daughter.
FRIDAY LATE JUNCTION: MUSIC FOR DAYDREAMS RADIO 3, 11PM
A timely programme for lockdown Britain: writer and psychoanalyst Josh Cohen asks if, in a world where we are supposed to be busy and productive, we have lost the art of doing nothing. He advocates certain kinds of music to slow life’s pace and calm our state of mind.
SATURDAY BUILDING A LIBRARY RADIO 3, 9.30AM
Kirsten Gibson looks at the various recordings of, and uncertainties surrounding, the origins of Purcell’s opera Dido And Aeneas, which may have been first performed in the late 1680s at a Chelsea girls’ school or the English court.
COMEDY GREATS RADIO 4 EXTRA, 7PM
In the first of two episodes on the 1960s, Barry Cryer picks clips from The Navy Lark to Beyond Our Ken, Benny Hill Time, I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again and more.