The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
On My Wavelength
The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed (Saturday, Radio 4, 7.15pm) has a very special guest for its final episode of the series. The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, ventures forth from the comforts of his shed to visit the grander surroundings of Llwynywermod in Wales, the home of Prince Charles. In conversation with Armitage, the Prince discusses the natural world of the Brecon Beacons, as well as his passion for conservation, the music of Wagner, and poets laureate of the past.
Speaking of royalty, the remarkable Kanneh-Mason siblings (you’ll certainly remember Sheku from his moving cello performance at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) are the stars of BBC Proms 2021: Family Prom – Animal Magic (Sunday, Radio 3, 7pm), an animalthemed family friendly prom, alongside author Michael Morpurgo, broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall. The KannehMason siblings and friends join together to perform Camille Saint-Saëns’s vivid and accessible suite The Carnival of the Animals, accompanied by a series of new poems from Morpurgo.
Somehow it’s 35 years since the inimitable Australian soap Neighbours first came to British
TV, but its influence on pop culture has been beyond doubt. Scott Mills presents Happy Birthday Neighbours! (Monday, Radio 2, 2pm), a celebration of Ramsay Street’s finest, including a mass singalong of the theme song. Neighbours stars will share their memories and there’ll be plenty of music from former residents, including Holly Valance, Natalie Imbruglia, and, of course, a Kylie and Jason megamix.
How good are you at guessing how old someone is? Richard Osman – the TV producer, bestselling author and Pointless co-presenter – has a podcast with this simple premise, and this week it morphs into a Radio 4 comedy series, The Birthday Cake Game (Tuesday, Radio 4, 6.30pm).
Osman is joined by Jayne Sharp, Ed Gamble and Beattie Edmondson, and the winner in the studio takes home their very own birthday cake.
Book of the Week: Sunshine and Laughter (Monday to Friday, Radio 4FM, 9.45am) is Louis Barfe’s portrait of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, abridged by Libby Spurrier and read for radio by Penelope Keith. It tells the story of how the great comedy duo met at the Swansea Empire in the 1930s in a touring variety show. A strong work ethic, building on their early success, led them to the BBC and enormously popular sketch shows with a huge following in the UK, until the death of Eric Morecambe in 1984.
The folk singer, song collector, and regular of offbeat folk music radio programmes, Sam Lee, traces the journey of the River Thames along 215 miles from the Cotswold countryside through London and beyond in Song of the Thames (Thursday, Radio 4FM, 11.30am). Blending folklore, history, music and ecology, he considers the river’s cultural and religious history and meets some of those who work with and depend on it.
And Bill Nighy stars once more as the laconic actor and amateur detective Charles Paris, in a story written by Jeremy Front, based on Simon Brett’s books. In Charles Paris: A Deadly Habit (Friday, Radio 4FM, 11.30am), Charles is playing a monk in a small
West End verbatim theatre piece. When a dead body is discovered, it turns out Charles is one of the last to have seen the victim alive.