PICK OF TODAY’S RADIO

THE CONFESSIONAL, RADIO 4, 6.30PM

THE two series so far of this show, in which guests are invited to confess to three terrible things they’ve done, have been a bit weedy. The presenter, comedy actor Stephen Mangan, has done his best to sound shocked at some pretty tame and often self-serving confessions, but few of his guests have been prepared to spill the beans. Fortunately, Marian Keyes (pictured) doesn’t believe in holding back. The bestselling novelist, who has an impressive sideline as an agony aunt, is the guest in this episode from series one. She tells Stephen the details of a disservice she did that still haunts her, 20 years later.

PICTURES of Madeleine Smith show her demure in a bonnet and ribbons, yet she was the writer of some steamy letters that led to her going on trial for murder. The Glasgow socialite spent her time at balls and shopping, but at night she could be found at her window being wooed by a warehouse worker, Pierre Emile L’Angelier. One evening in 1857, Pierre died of arsenic poisoning. LADY KILLERS WITH LUCY WORSLEY (RADIO 4, 11.30AM) tells a story of illicit love, blackmail, murder — and lots of circumstantial evidence.