Radio choice

The Exploding Library Radio 4, 11.30am

A new run of the easygoing series that invites comedians to riff on their favourite books. Here Natasha Hodgson takes a headspinning dive into the shifting imaginary world of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1995 novel The Unconsoled, a 500-page source of utter bafflement to many, yet it also features regularly on critics’ lists of the best books of all time. Bafflement is a key theme, too, in Hennikay (Radio 4, 6.30pm). After last year’s much-admired pilot, Bill Bailey’s comedy about a mild-mannered Maidstone middle manager who’s plagued by a childhood imaginary friend returns for a four-part series.

Boarding Schools: The System That Rules Britain Radio 4, 4pm

British-nigerian writer Nels Abbey’s documentary focuses on the colonial legacy of boarding schools, an educational model built around and exported by empire-minded Britons of the 19th century. A former boarder, Abbey weighs the benefits of the closed world of boarding school – the camaraderie, the sense of community – against arguments that it puts children at risk of isolation and abuse. He also hears from a mother whose daughter was sexually assaulted while boarding and looks at a campaign in Kenya to abolish boarding completely.