THIS WEEK’S RADIO PICKS

SUNDAY WORDS AND MUSIC: ONLY CONNECT RADIO 3, 5.30PM

E.M. Forster, the author of such novels as A Room With A View and Howards End (Helena Bonham Carter in the film, right), died 50 years ago today. To mark the occasion, actors Mark Strong and Bettrys Jones read prose from Conan Doyle to Wendy Cope, with music, reflecting on connections both technical and personal.

MONDAY RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERT RADIO 3, 1PM

As part of this month of live weekday concerts from London’s Wigmore Hall, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen play Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in F major, Op.5 No.1, Schumann’s Romances, Op.94 and Fauré’s Cello Sonata No.1.

A BIG DISEASE WITH A LITTLE NAME RADIO 4, 1.45PM, MON-FRI

A look back to another pandemic, which has affected 75 million people around the world and killed 32 million: HIV/Aids. This is the story of conspiracy theories, stigma and delayed government action over treatment told in the first of ten episodes from the point of view of Brit Peter Staley, who went to work in New York, tested positive and, at 24, thought he had less than two years to live.

TUESDAY DRAMA: THE JESTER OF ASTAPOVO RADIO 4, 2.15PM

Rose Tremain’s adaptation of her own short story set in the remote Russian village of the title and based on a true incident during Tolstoy’s last days. It is the village’s stationmaster who is actually central here, and all is well with him and his lady love until the tumultuous arrival of an unwell Count Tolstoy and his wife.

THURSDAY MURDER MUST ADVERTISE RADIO 4 EXTRA, 6AM & 8PM

Dorothy L. Sayers’ absorbing 1933 crime story is set in the world of advertising. Posh sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) goes undercover at Pym’s Advertising Agency to catch a killer.

FRIDAY LIFE, UNCERTAINTY AND VAR, RADIO 4, 11AM

Tom Chivers begins with how the Video Assistant Referee promised to end problems in football and goes on to show how attempts to eliminate uncertainty in other areas of life lead to disappointment.

COMEDY CLUB: WHAT DOES THE K STAND FOR?

RADIO 4 EXTRA, 10.30PM

A sitcom written by Jonathan Harvey and comedian Stephen K. Amos based on the latter’s experience of his immigrant family and growing up in 1980s London.