The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
Gerard O’Donovan On My Wavelength
There’s two noteworthy anniversaries today. The centenary of the birth of Maria Callas, the 20th century’s greatest operatic diva, is celebrated in Opera on 3 (Radio 3, 6.30pm) with a rare airing of her legendary 1953 performance as Tosca at La Scala in Milan. And in Archive on 4: La Divina (Radio 4, 8pm), soprano Lesley Garrett delves into the BBC’s rich archives to search for clues to both Callas’s remarkable talent and her tragic personal life. Away from opera, film buffs won’t want to miss The World of the Wicker Man (Radio 4 Extra, from 5pm), a spine-tingling five hours of vintage and newly commissioned programmes celebrating the 50th anniversary of what many consider to be the best British horror film ever made.
In Clive Myrie at Christmas (Sunday, Radio 3, 1pm), the BBC’s most amiable news man invites us to step off the usual seasonal track for an hour of slightly less familiar festive music. Among his choices this week are Samuel ColeridgeTaylor’s Christmas Overture and jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas.
On 10 December 1993, in his celebrated Nobel Peace Prize address, Nelson Mandela spoke of the “common humanity” in which the people of South Africa would live “like the children of paradise” following the end of apartheid. Three decades on, in South Africa: The Children of Paradise (Monday, Radio 4, 8pm) Fergal Keane, who as the BBC’s South Africa correspondent lived through some of the country’s most difficult times, returns to see how those hopes and dreams of becoming a better nation have turned out.
The EU’s Green Deal aims for Europe to be the first climateneutral continent by 2050. But despite promising funding in excess of €1 trillion, as the true cost to individual nations becomes apparent, more and more people are unwilling to pay the price. Anna Holligan reports from the Netherlands and Denmark for
The Green Backlash (Tuesday, Radio 4, 4pm) on how the rising popularity of anti-green political parties could impact European politics in the coming years.
In the second talk from this year’s Reith Lectures (Wednesday, Radio 4, 9am), Prof Ben Ansell is in Berlin to explore international security. The Future of Security considers whether citizens of wealthy countries have been lulled into a false sense of security regarding threats from abroad and at home, and explores whether the first world’s huge technological advantages will be powerful enough to guarantee future security.
For centuries, Cypriots trapped and ate songbirds as part of a traditional diet. But in recent decades the illegal killing of migrating birds has reached industrial levels, increasingly attracting organised crime gangs. This week’s Crossing Continents (Thursday, Radio 4, 11am) reports on how official’s failure to act has prompted conservation groups to call on outside forces to help stop the slaughter.
Take a bite of the second run of Drama: English Rose (Friday, Radio 4, 3pm), Helen Cross’s sparkling, modern spin on the vampire genre. Now in Los Angeles, Rose (Alexandra Mardell) worries she has gone too far in helping Maya (Miranda Braun) become a millionaire “wellness” entrepreneur. But first she has to check on baby Gully, and find out if he is at the root of her emotional unbalance; and if not him, then who?