RADIO CHOICE

(RADIO 4, 2.15PM)

is a modern-day Dickensian drama that is both sad, funny and truthful.

IN THE spring of 1973, members of the Axbridge Ladies Guild, plus friends and relatives, got on a Vickers Vanguard aircraft at Bristol Airport for a jaunt to Basle in Switzerland. Caught in a snowstorm, the plane crashed during a second landing attempt, and 108 passengers and crew were killed. AFTERMATH (RADIO 4, 9PM)

joins Alan Dein a he visits an area of Somerset that, 45 years on, still bears the emotional scars of this tragedy.

MEERA SYAL (pictured) returns with another fivepart series of A SMALL TOWN MURDER (RADIO 4, 10.45AM, 7.45PM), the crime drama centred on the work of family liaison officer Jackie Hartwell. There’s always a strong storyline in these tales, written by Scott Cherry, as well as an authentic feel of gritty reality. In this week’s series, some teenagers have stolen a car and gone for a joyride — to their deaths.

TOMMY (Daniel Mays) isn’t a bad lad. He’s kindhearted, well-meaning and likeable, but he also never quite faces up to the consequences of his actions. Now, for the first time in his life, he’s in a magistrates’ court, and his little lies and evasions are mounting up to a problem that can’t be laughed away. COMMUNITY SERVICE