RADIO CHOICE

THAT supreme guitarist, songwriter and singer Joan Armatrading (pictured) will be with KEN BRUCE (RADIO 2, 9.30AM) in the relaxed atmosphere of the Radio 2 Piano Room to perform tracks from her new album, Not Too Far Away.

THE invention of the synthetic polymer called plastic transformed our world. Cheap, disposable and endlessly useful, it has changed how we live — at a price. In the three-part series PLASTIC FANTASTIC (RADIO 4, 11AM), Mark Miodownik tells the history of plastic and hears how science can help to solve the plastic pollution problem.

THE new Radio 2 schedules kick in this week. Presenters have been moved around or replaced, and more live music has sprung up. Craig David does his bit by dropping into the studio for the first live session on

the new joint show for JO WHILEY & SIMON MAYO (RADIO 2, 5PM).

THERE are some great songs lost and buried in forgotten Broadway musicals. Some of these musicals have just fallen out of fashion, some were unlucky flops, and some were just too awful for words. In a new, ten-part series of THEY WRITE THE SONGS: THE BROADWAY EDITION (RADIO 2, 9PM), Barry Manilow sets out to rescue these songs from the mists of oblivion. He’ll be playing us recordings from Katharine Hepburn, Ray Bolger, Danny Kaye and Liza Minnelli.