RADIO CHOICE

IT’S a new year and a new voice to wake up to as ZOE BALL (RADIO 2, 6.30AM) (pictured) takes over the BBC’s flagship breakfast show. Her first guests are John Cleese and Nadiya Hussain. Later, Sara Cox (5pm) and Jo Whiley (7pm) also kick off their new shows.

CAITLIN MORAN is the narrator for a dramatisation of her own funny and frank memoir HOW TO BE A WOMAN (RADIO 4, 10.45AM, 7.45PM). It starts in Wolverhampton, where Caitlin, a 13-stone 13-year-old from an unconventional background, sets out on life’s journey — with the help of big knickers and a sharp wit.

WASHINGTON is a slave toiling on a plantation in Barbados, whose life takes many strange turns. Alex Lanipekun reads a ten-part adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s WASHINGTON BLACK (RADIO 4, 12.04PM,

10.45PM). The action, which features an escape by hot-air balloon, ranges from the Arctic to North Africa, and explores the nature of evil, freedom and morality.

n ‘I DON’T believe in the supernatural — but just the same, I wouldn’t live in Shawley Rectory,’ says a neighbour who lives near the large and slightly menacing house. Miles Jupp begins a week’s worth of tales by Ruth Rendell, SHORT WORKS: A SEASON OF MURDER, MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE (RADIO 4 EXTRA, 2.45PM), with the crime writer’s two-part ghost story The Haunting of Shawley Rectory.