SUSAN JEFFREYS’ Radio Week

SOUL MUSIC

SATURDAY, 10.30AM, RADIO 4 ★★★★ The enigmatic lyrics of David Bowie’s Life On Mars and the song’s eerie quality give it a sense of detachment and disillusion. We hear from a few of the many fans who feel the track speaks directly to them.

JOHN LE CARRE: CALL FOR THE DEAD

SATURDAY, 2.45PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★★ Simon Russell Beale stars in this atmospheric dramatisation of the late John le Carre’s first George Smiley novel. Set in London in the 1950s, it takes us into a labyrinth of spooks, spies and treachery.

DAVID BOWIE

SUNDAY,

FROM 5AM, BBC 6 MUSIC ★★★★ David Bowie was born on January 8, 1947 and died on January 10, 2016. From early morning until 12 midnight, BBC 6 Music’s regular DJS will mark those dates and salute the music of the Thin White Duke.

PEKING NOIR

SUNDAY, 7.30PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★★ Shura Giraldi leaves a trail in the shadowy streets of old Peking. Paul French has spent years on the trail of this mysterious figure and criminal mastermind. This riveting drama documentary follows a true story that’s clouded in mystery.

IF THEN: HOW ONE DATA COMPANY INVENTED THE FUTURE

MONDAY-FRIDAY, 9.45AM (FM), 12.30AM, RADIO 4 ★★★★

All this week, we hear Jill Lepore’s account of how an all but forgotten data science firm, founded in 1959, played a part in transforming US politics in the 1960s and society as a whole even after it folded.

RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERT

MONDAY, 1PM, RADIO 3 ★★★★

This live concert from Wigmore Hall, given by cellist Steven Isserlis and friends, celebrates the charming work of the 18th-century composer Luigi Boccherini.

THE REPUBLICANS

WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY, 2.15PM, RADIO 4 ★★★★

Three brilliant dramas written by Jonathan Myerson – full of gossip, facts, satire and the dismaying truth – follow the campaigns and Presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

ARCHERS UPDATE

There’s an old Scottish prayer that goes: ‘From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us.’ One of those beasties bumping around in the night is Jazzer, making a great deal of noise over at Greenacres, trying to be discreet. The Scotsman’s nocturnal wanderings, however, won’t be the only thing troubling Greenacres’ odd menage a trois this week. Harrison is also creeping around carefully, seized by doubt over his sleuthing abilities, now that he realises what’s been going on under his nose. Still, the flame-haired copper does manage to run into one of Ambridge’s many dodgy characters – but will Brian be able to talk his way out of trouble this time?