RADIO CHOICE

SAM BOWMAN is an economist with some down-to-earth suggestions for improving society. Sam is the first guest for the latest series of THE SPARK (RADIO 4, 11AM), in which Helen Lewis talks to people with bright ideas that could shape our futures. Sam explains how building more homes could solve a range of problems — and how that could be achieved through a new approach to local democracy.

A THIRD World War has all but wiped out humanity, and only five humans hang on to life in an underground labyrinth. Their slim chances of survival are made all the worse by the existence of a psychotic, human-hating computer called AM. David Soul stars in a chilling radio adaptation of I HAVE NO MOUTH, AND I MUST SCREAM

(RADIO 4 EXTRA, 6PM, 12 MIDNIGHT), Harlan Ellison’s disturbing 1967 sci-fi classic. A SCHOOLTEACHER once called young William Broad ‘idle’, and William, unabashed, took that description for his stage name. Billy Idol (pictured) joins Gary Davies on SOUNDS OF THE 80S (RADIO 2, 8PM) to talk about his 1980s career, beginning with Billy’s arrival in New York in 1981, his highly successful partnership with the guitarist Steve Stevens, and the making of his third studio album, Whiplash Smile.