Radio Week
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT
The Tom Dunne Show MONDAY-THURSDAY, 10PM, NEWSTALK ★★★★
A nightly entertainment driven magazine show focusing on music, culture, movies, sex, sports, comedy, books, gossip and technology.
My Dream Dinner Party
MONDAY, 4PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
Alison Steadman, using a bit of radio archive magic, imagines hosting a dinner party with John Lennon, Beryl Reid, Anita Brookner, James Stewart and Charles Aznavour on the guest list.
From The Mayflower To The Moon (And Back Again) MONDAY-FRIDAY, 1.45PM, BBC RADIO 2 ★★★★
Joe Queenan presents a wry, ten-part alternative version of American history, including a sharp look at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetic – but totally inaccurate – account of Paul Revere’s famous ride.
FACTUAL
Talking History
SUNDAY, 7PM, NEWSTALK ★★★★
Presented by Dr Patrick Geoghegan of Trinity College, this show takes a critical look at some of the great personalities and political, social and cultural events in history. Talking History focuses on the human side of history — unravelling the sometimes uncomfortable side we don’t usually hear much about.
Anatomy of Guilt
TUESDAY, 4PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
Helena Kennedy QC, who grew up as a Catholic, looks at guilt from various perspectives – legal, psychological and political – and asks why we feel guilty. Collective guilt, and whether our understanding of guilt has changed over time are also discussed by contributors including author Howard Jacobsen.
DRAMA
The Lying Life Of Adults MONDAY-FRIDAY, 12.04PM,
10.45PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
Juliet Aubrey is the reader for this new, tenpart adaptation of the latest novel by Elena Ferrante. Here, teenage Giovanna heads for the slums of Naples to learn more about her father’s estranged sister.
Bád na nGort Dubh
MONDAY, 4.10PM, RNAG ★★★★
In January 1818, a ship was spotted drifting off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula. Boats from the local parishes of Dún Chaoin and
Paróiste an Fheirtéaraigh went out to it, in hopes that it might be carrying some valuable cargo. Sadly, 21 men died in these efforts. It was a tragedy that became the source of a bitter dispute between the two parishes. Breandán Feirtéar tells the story of this tragedy, and the fallout.
Ed Reardon’s Week
TUESDAY, 9.30AM, BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★
The first episode of the popular comedy from 2005, with Christopher Douglas as a curmudgeonly 50-something hack and abusive e-mailer who lives with his cat Elgar, once wrote an episode of Tenko and scratches out a living writing dull coffee-table books and taking part in police identity parades.