RADIO CHOICE

IT’S DECEMBER 1919, and a monk (Kenneth Cranham) is busy turning an old stable block into a place of prayer, reflection and silence. As he works away, he is aware of being watched. Eventually, his observer — a former soldier (Stuart McQuarrie), who’s been living rough — approaches. Both men, it seems, are looking for redemption in Stephen Wakelam’s drama

ANSWERED PRAYERS (RADIO 4 EXTRA, 11.15AM, 9.15PM), first broadcast in 2004.

FOR tonight’s FULL WORKS CONCERT (CLASSIC FM, 8PM), Catherine Bott presents a selection of her fellow presenters’ favourite pieces as part of the run-up to this year’s Classic FM Hall of Fame. Patrick Doyle’s serene My Father’s Favourite (from the 1995

Emma Thompson film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility) is on the list, as well as Will Todd’s calming choral work In This Place and Gerald Finzi’s Eclogue. ARE we getting too sentimental?

FREE THINKING (RADIO 3, 10PM)

considers whether public displays of emotion are more respected than private grief. Lisa Appignanesi (pictured), author of Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love, is one of three writers on the panel as Rana Mitter hosts a discussion on whether contemporary culture has ‘gone soft’.