Radio Week
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT
Desert Island Discs Revisited SUNDAY, 10AM, 9PM, BBC R4 EXTRA ★★★★
Back when George Clooney was one of the world’s most desirable bachelors, he was sent by Sue Lawley to the BBC’s legendary desert island. In this repeat programme, we learn about the eight records he chose to take to the island.
When Summer’s In The Meadow SUNDAY, 6PM, RTÉ LYRIC FM ★★★
In December 1913, the ballad Danny Boy, written by English lyricist Frederic E Weatherly, was published in New York City. In the century that followed, it became one of the most recorded songs of all time. It is well loved here, but in America it became an anthem for an entire immigrant community and attracted countless recording artists to its poignant story of loss, love and faithfulness. In this documentary, Mary Brophy travels to the heartland of IrishAmerica, to tell the story of the song in one city, and attempt to uncover how it rose to such heights.
Binneas Béil MONDAY, 3PM, RTÉ RnaG
★★★★★
Róisín ReImagined, with Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, has been chosen by presenter Áine Hensey as this week’s Album of the Week. The album brings us a thrilling concert performance recorded in the majestic St Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny during the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2021. Some of Ireland’s best loved sean-nós songs were specially arranged for this project, including classics such as Róisín
Dubh, An Chúilfhionn, Slán le Máigh and An tSeanbhean Bhocht.
FACTUAL Iris Aniar
THURSDAY, 9.15AM, RTÉ RnaG ★★★ Séamus Ó Scanláin brings us the history and folklore surrounding St Patrick on the programme this bank holiday morning.
The Smugglers’ Trail FRIDAY, 11AM, BBC RADIO 4
★★★★
In November 2021, 30 people piled into an inflatable dinghy in a doomed attempt to reach England from France. The dinghy deflated as they crossed the Channel. Former soldier Rob Lawrie follows a story of death and revenge.
DRAMA Talk To Me
MONDAY, 10AM,
3PM, BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★
The cult horror novelist H.P. Lovecraft had a short, strange and poverty-stricken marriage to a Ukrainian woman. This drama documentary focuses on the marriage and a dark family secret that had a profound effect on Lovecraft.
Dráma Lá Fhéile Pádraig
THURSDAY, 11AM, RTÉ RnaG ★★★★
A dramatic interpretation of the short story Lá Fhéile Pádraig from the book An Grá Agus An Ghruaim by Seosamh Mac Grianna, performed by the Aisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair drama group.
Our Friends In The North
THURSDAY, 2.15PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★ This saga, mixing the personal and the political, was a hit TV series in 1996. Now, it’s been adapted into a ten-part radio drama by its playwright, Peter Flannery, with a new end by writer Adam Usden.