RADIO WEEK
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT Spoken Stories SUNDAY, 7PM, RTÉ RADIO ONE
★★★★
The latest Spoken Stories: Independence is Shorn by Sue Rainsford, read by Saoirse Ronan (pictured). It moves hauntingly between a brutal long ago and a present time of purging the past, while not forgetting it. Two daughters do with their mother’s hair what she asked them to do after she died; to cut off her long plait and take it back to where she lived her early life.
The Poetry Programme
SUNDAY, 7.30PM, RTÉ RADIO ONE ★★★★ Bebe Ashley finds inspiration for poetry in the music of Harry Styles.
Tara Stewart
SUNDAY, 9PM, 2FM ★★★★
Tara showcases the best in new music from the biggest chart singles to the most underground bands and chats to the exciting artists making the news in music right now.
Mary Portas on Style
TUESDAY, 7.30PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
A new series in which the fashion guru talks about what style means today, and here she goes in search of much-needed joy and colour. Her guests include fragrance specialist Lizzie Ostrom and Jay Blades, talking about the much-loved TV hit The Repair Shop.
FACTUAL Sunday Miscellany
SUNDAY, 9AM, RTÉ RADIO ONE ★★★★
As part of Belfield 50, a project marking five decades since University College Dublin transferred its administration and Arts, Commerce and Law faculties to join Science on the Belfield Campus, this is a special programme with the support of UCD. Voices will include Ellen Rowley, co-author, with Finola O’Kane Crimmins of the recent book, Making Belfield; historian Paul Rouse; novelist, short story writer and scholar Éilis Ní Dhuibhne; writer and director Gerry
Stembridge; lawyer Daisy Onubogu, and the UCD Choral Scholars.
The Hard Shoulder
MONDAY-FRIDAY,4PM, NEWSTALK ★★★★ Kieran Cuddihy bring his style of straighttalking to this opinion-led drivetime talk show, covering everything from current affairs and politics to sport and business.
Afterlives
TUESDAY, 11AM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
Harry and Anne have something awful in common: their sons, both in their 20, died by suicide. They talk about their grief and their mission to spare other parents the sorrow they have known.
DRAMA
The Lyric Feature
SUNDAY, 6PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★
Brian O’Nolan is one of Ireland’s greatest writers but perhaps the most enigmatic. Who was he really? Was he the brilliant Flann O’Brien, an internationally acclaimed experimental novelist? Was he Myles na gCopaleen, the beloved satirical daily columnist, or was he a frustrated, hard drinking, civil servant in the department of ‘yokel’ government? This hybrid drama-documentary examines his life and work.
Stone
MONDAY-FRIDAY, 2.15PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
This excellent crime drama, rooted in reality and full of psychological insights, returns for a new series, with Hugo Speer as DCI Stone. This week, Stone heads an investigation of a stabbing that comes close to home.
Bunk Bed
WEDNESDAY, 11PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★ Patrick Marber and Peter Curran bring us another episode of their strange, brilliant comedy series, set in the dark, where the conversation wanders into weird territory.