RADIO WEEK

The picks of the best of this week’s radio

ENTERTAINMENT Book On One: Shadowplay

MONDAY, 11.20PM, RTÉ RADIO ONE ★★★★ This is the second week that Joseph O’Connor reads from his award-winning novel Shadowplay. Set in and around the Lyceum Theatre in London, the imagined intertwined lives of Bram Stoker, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry are at the heart of the story. The infectiousness of theatre and live performance make this book particularly moving to hear its author read at this time.

Tara Stewart

MON-FRIDAY, 7PM, 2FM ★★★★

Tara’s (pictured) programme showcases the best in brand new music from the biggest chart singles to the most underground bands. She also gets to chat to the most exciting artists in music right now in an entertaining, informative show.

Mark Steel’s in Town

THURSDAY, 6.30PM, BBC RADIO FOUR ★★★★

Comedian Mark Steel returns with his awardwinning touring show, now recorded outside due to the pandemic. His first port of call in three episodes is Brighton, where he performs on the pebbly beach to the sound of the sea and the squawk of the seagulls.

FACTUAL

The Invention of Scandinavia

TUESDAY, 11AM, BBC RADIO FOUR ★★★★ Over three episodes, Misha Glenny looks at what distinguishes Sweden, Denmark and Norway, with particular reference to the Covid pandemic and what their different responses say about those nations today.

Rupert Bear and Me

MONDAY ,2.30 PM, BBC RADIO FOUR EXTRA ★★★★ The yellow check-clad bear made his debut in a newspaper cartoon 100 years ago today. Mark Radcliffe recalls his Rupert obsession and discusses what makes the bear and his Nutwood pals so enduring.

DRAMA The Lyric Feature SUNDAY, 6PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★

Zoë Comyns tells the story of the relatively unknown Cork born writer and composer Ethel Voynich who sold millions of copies of her anti-Catholic novel The Gadfly in Russia in the early 1900s. She also composed hundreds of musical works, allegedly had an affair with Reilly Ace of Spies and is linked to one of the most intriguing cryptographic books ever written: The Voynich Manuscript (named after her husband Wilfrid Voynich). Music, Mystery and Manuscripts is part biography, part mystery and part recovery project.

The Nickel Boys MONDAY-FRIDAY, 12.04PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★

Young Elwood, a bright lad, is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr’s message to love your enemies and work hard to get on in life. Rhashan Stone reads from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in a segregated Florida in the 1960s.

Keeping The Wolf Out WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY, 2.15PM, BBC RADIO 4

★★★★

Set in Hungary in 1964, this three-part drama follows special investigator Bertalan Lazar as he fights crime without falling foul of his Communist comrades.