TODAY’S RADIO

The Free Degrees

11AM, RADIO 4

The Degree Apprenticeship – or the ‘earn while you learn’ degree – was launched in 2015 to allow students to combine four years’ work experience with studying for a degree. Unlike many other courses, which leave graduates with thousands of pounds’ worth of debt, these degrees are free. Samantha Fenwick meets pioneer students Jess, Aaron and Izzy to find out why they chose this route over a traditional degree and how they juggle a demanding job with university coursework.

Lying Low

2.15PM, RADIO 4

Hold on there fella! Adrian Dunbar, so good as Superintendent Hastings in the BBC’s police corruption drama Line Of Duty, stars as Samuel Beckett in this new play by Stephen Wakelam, which imagines what took place during the three weeks the Irish novelist and playwright spent lying low in Folkestone in March 1961.

Soul Music

6.30PM, RADIO 4 EXTRA

It’s hard to believe now, but when Leonard Cohen’s haunting ballad Hallelujah was released on his 1984 album Various Positions, it was almost ignored. It has since been recorded by hundreds of artists, and in this documentary we hear from people touched by the song.

The Full Works Concert

8PM, CLASSIC FM

Today, a two-year, worldwide celebration of the life of the 20th-century cultural giant Leonard Bernstein gets under way at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. There will be more than 1,000 events taking place on six continents, and tonight, Catherine Bott gives us a flavour of the extraordinary output of the great man, presenting a range of pieces that show off his versatility with Bernstein as composer, performer and conductor.

The Verb

10PM, RADIO 3

Ian McMillan presents live from Hull – the UK’s City of Culture for 2017 – where he will be looking at poetry inspired by the city. He will also be talking to poet and editor Rachael Allen about the life and career of one of Hull’s most famous adopted sons, Philip Larkin.

Adrian Dunbar (2.15pm, Radio 4)