THIS WEEK’S RADIOPICKS
SUNDAY SUNDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT RADIO 2, 7PM
Radio 2 salutes Dame Vera Lynn and other forces sweethearts such as the Andrews Sisters (pictured, right), Marlene Dietrich and Doris Day. The BBC Concert Orchestra also plays Malcolm Arnold’s Bridge On The River Kwai, William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude And Fugue and the Dambusters March.
SPITFIRE: THE PEOPLE’S PLANE WORLD SERVICE, 11.30PM
A ten-part podcast and radio series tells the extraordinary story of the iconic Battle of Britain plane, how it was built across Britain even after the Spitfire factory in Southampton was repeatedly bombed, and revealing how ordinary people in bus depots, car workshops and even a laundry built the plane piece by piece.
MONDAY GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING RADIO 4, 10.45AM/7.45PM
A new five-part adaptation of the Tracy Chevalier hit novel about Vermeer and his painting that was made into a film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. It tells the story of the 16-year-old servant girl who went to work in the Dutch artist’s household and ended up being the subject of the titular painting.
THE FULL WORKS CONCERT: MUSIC FOR HEALING, CLASSIC FM, MON-FRI, 8PM
This week is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, who believed in music’s power to help heal patients. Classic FM offers music to soothe, heal and uplift, and on Wednesday presents Tutto E Bellissimo by rising young pianist and composer Alberto Giurioli.
WEDNESDAY MICHAEL FRAYN’S MAGIC MOBILE RADIO 4, 11.30AM
Featuring monologues and dialogues by Michael Frayn, the playwright who penned the classic farce Noises Off, on such comic themes as God worrying about his self-image on Desert Island Discs and shopping for teabags as a political decision. Actors include Roger Allam, Joanna Lumley, David Suchet and Alfred Molina.
COMEDY CLUB: WHAT’S FUNNY ABOUT… RADIO 4 EXTRA, 10.30PM
Comedy writers Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to those involved about how their shows came to the screen – commissioning, casting, critical reception – and about the nature of comedy. This week, Vicar Of Dibley star Dawn French and writer Richard Curtis reveal how to make nice characters funny.
THURSDAY NIGHT AND DAY, RADIO 4 EXTRA, 10AM/3PM
First of two parts of Virginia Woolf’s comic tale about the romantic entanglements of two young couples set in London in the days before the First World War. Narrated by Kristin Scott Thomas and starring Dervla Kirwan and Jamie Glover.
SATURDAY EUROVISION SONG CONTEST, RADIO 2
Even though the Rotterdam contest has been cancelled, there is some consolation for fans. Graham Norton will be playing Eurovision hits on his show at 10am, and at 9pm in Douze Points he looks back at his ten years of commentating on the contest’s antics and controversies. And in Eurovision Kings And Queens Of Pop at 10pm, super-fan Rylan Clark-Neal picks his favourite moments plus songs from this year.