Radio Week
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT Spoken Stories
SUNDAY, 7PM, RTÉ RADIO 1★★★★
St Alban’s Drive by Danielle McLaughlin introduces us to Tom, a university history lecturer, and his partner Izzy. Their relationship is strained. His sense of the loss of his father is palpable while Izzy’s view of the world is haunted by its injustices which she confronts through drawing. Their present distance is heightened by Tom’s mother’s objection to an integration centre for asylum seekers opening near her home.
2fm Breakfast with Doireann and Eoghan
MON-FRIDAY, 6AM, 2FM ★★★★
Home of 5 Words to A Fortune, Random RapOff Friday, Dish of the Day, Tweet, Tweet Yeah and Charadio, 2FM Breakfast with Doireann Garrihy and Eoghan McDermott (pictured) is an entertaining start to the day.
Arena
WEDNESDAY, 7PM, RTÉ RADIO 1 ★★★★ Nobel Prize winning author of the The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro will be on Arena with Seán Rocks to talk about his new book Klara and the Son. Ishiguro is one of the great writers of this generation. He has received four Booker Prize nominations and won the award in 1989.
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.
FACTUAL
The Lyric Feature
SUNDAY, 6PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★
Iarla’s O Lionard’s guest in this edition of Vocal Chords is the singer and vocal coach Veronica Dunne, who celebrated her 90th birthday in 2017. In this extended interview at her home she traces her life in song back to her childhood, when singing competed with horses for her attention.
The Confessional
THURSDAY, 11.30AM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★ David Tennant did something unforgivable during a school Nativity play when he was five. He confesses all to Stephen Mangan in this new series that has stars owning up to three things of which they are ashamed.
DRAMA Drama On One
SUNDAY, 8PM, RTÉ RADIO 1 ★★★★
Small Bones by Siobhán Mannion is a new monologue commissioned as part of RTÉ Drama On One’s Long Story Short Season.
For a musician in isolation, an unanticipated connection becomes central. On the night the clocks go back, the pianist prepares for another working week in lockdown.
Frankenstein Lives!
TUESDAY, 11 AND 9PM, BBC RADIO FOUR EXTRA ★★★★
Christopher Frayling takes a look at the Frankenstein myth, from Mary Shelley’s original novel more than 200 years ago to the countless adaptations since then and their enduring appeal to new generations. Among the contributors are film director John Landis, the daughter of Boris Karloff and Hammer actress Madeline Smith.
MUSIC
Aedín Gormley’s Sunday Matinee
SUNDAY, 1PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★
Glorious choral music guaranteed as Aedín’s featured artist is American contemporary composer Morten Lauridsen, whose musical approaches are very diverse but with an overall lyricism that has proved hugely popular with both choirs and audiences alike.
Sunday Night Is Music Night
SUNDAY, 7PM, BBC RADIO 2 ★★★★ The musical genius of Ella Fitzgerald is celebrated in this concert, recorded at the Hackney Empire, with the impeccable BBC Concert Orchestra playing some of the hits of the orphan girl who became a star.
RTÉ Choice Music Prize Special
THURSDAY, 12PM, 2FM ★★★★
The RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album and Song of the Year 2020 will be announced live in this special Tracy Clifford (pictured) show. The special event will feature live performances from the shortlisted album acts.
The Classic FM Concert
FRIDAY, 8PM, CLASSIC FM ★★★
Memories of Jim Morrison are evoked as Nigel Kennedy joins the Prague Symphony Orchestra in a rendition of The Doors Concerto for this selection of 1960s hits arranged for classical orchestras.