Programme Information

Graham Norton's own show every Saturday morning is a vibrant mix of music and celebrity conversation. The nation's favourite agony uncle is joined by the "Postmistress of Pain", Maria McErlane, for Grill Graham as they offer advice to listeners' problems, live on air.

I Can't Believe It's Not Better revisits some of the worst songs ever to hit the charts and Graham invites listeners to submit their favourite Tune With A Tale.

Plus there's travel with Bobbie Pryor, sport with Alistair Bruce-Ball and the very best showbiz guests. Listeners can email the show anytime: graham.norton@bbc.co.uk.

Presenter/Graham Norton, Producer/Malcolm Prince for the BBC

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In this week's show, Dermot O'Leary has Saturday Sessions from the Grammy and Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter Adele, and Liverpudlian indie trio The Wombats.

He also chats to actor Anthony Head, famous for playing roles in BBC One drama Merlin and worldwide hit series Buffy The Vampire Slayer (not to mention those iconic coffee ads).

Presenter/Dermot O'Leary, Producer/Ben Walker for Ora et Labora TV

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Jimmy Carr hosts six comedy master classes

Jimmy Carr hosts the second of six comedy master classes in which he discusses his passion for all aspects of comedy and plays some of his favourite comedy clips.

Tonight, he takes a look at the theory of jokes and plays clips from the likes of Les Dawson on being healthy; Lee Evans on forgetting stuff; Frankie Howerd on a memorable visit to the doctor's; and Michael McIntyre on relieving himself in the sea. All these clips and more are supplemented by Jimmy's witty and anarchic take on the world of comedy.

Presenter/Jimmy Carr, Producer/Paul Russell for the BBC

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Playing in session for Bob Harris tonight, after 1am, are Two Fingers Of Firewater. They have been described by the press as part Flying Burrito Brothers, part Pogues, and part Jack White, as well as "authentically American" – not bad going for a band from Godalming in Surrey...

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Simpson for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Petroc Trelawny talks to young French conducting star Yannick Nézet-Séguin about his burgeoning career and also discusses the different challenges of directing both opera and film with Mike Figgis as he makes his directorial operatic debut at English National Opera.

He also examines the brilliant playing and troubled life of Sviatoslav Richter as a new biography of the legendary Russian pianist is published.

Presenter/Petroc Trelawny, Producer/Brian Jackson

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BBC Radio 3 presenter Catherine Bott

Catherine Bott introduces highlights of the London debut concert by Apollo's Fire, from the Wigmore Hall.

The Cleveland-based ensemble is directed by its founder, harpsichordist Jeanette Sorrell, and is joined in this concert by soprano Sophie Daneman. Repertoire from the concert includes vocal and instrumental works by Vivaldi, Handel and Rameau.

Presenter/Catherine Bott, Producer/Rebecca Bean

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Opera On 3 – Live From The Met

Saturday 22 January

6.00-9.00pm BBC RADIO 3

Giovanni Meoni stars in the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto

This year's New York Metropolitan Opera season continues with Verdi's Rigoletto, based on Victor Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse.

The Duke of Mantua's hunchbacked jester Rigoletto has raised his daughter Gilda in seclusion from the world. When Count Monterone's daughter is seduced by the Duke, Rigoletto mocks him, causing Monterone to curse him. Then Gilda is also seduced by the Duke, and the curse begins to take terrible effect.

Paolo Arrivabeni conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of Metropolitan Opera. The cast features Giovanni Meoni (baritone), Nino Machaidze (soprano), Joseph Calleja (tenor), Stefan Kocán (bass), Kirstin Chávez (contralto), Kathryn Day (mezzo-soprano), David Crawford (bass), Edyta Kulczak (mezzo-soprano), Eduardo Valdes (tenor), Quinn Kelsey (baritone), Malcolm MacKenzie (baritone), Joseph Pariso (bass) and Patricia Steiner (mezzo-soprano).

Presenter/Margaret Juntwait, Producer/Ellie Mant

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There were times last autumn when it was hard to remember that the situation at the San Jose copper mine in Chile, where 33 men awaited rescue, was reality rather than reality TV. At times the media circus that descended on the Atacama Desert almost created the atmosphere of a game show. Yet the mine disaster in New Zealand that followed shortly afterwards, with its tragic outcome, disappeared swiftly from the front pages and TV headlines of the world.

This fascination in the media with mining disasters is nothing new. Seventy five years ago, 100 million people were held spellbound as a broadcaster working for the Canadian Broadcasting Commission relayed the latest news – live to 650 radio stations across North America and Europe – from Moose River Mine where two men were trapped. It put radio on the map as a transmitter of news and the tale of the two men's horrifying situation gripped those listeners.

The fear, and the exploitation of the fear of being trapped underground – from real life to the stories of Edgar Allen Poe – is reflected here, using sounds, media archive, miners themselves and the words of the mining poet and blogger Mark Nowak.

Producer/Sara Jane Hall

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Robert Worby and Sara Mohr-Pietsch introduce the second of five programmes of highlights from the 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival which took place last November.

Tonight's programme focuses heavily on the theatre, with performance art from Trond Reinholdsten, a concert of duos and quartets for dancers and musicians, and music from composers Jennifer Walshe and Tom Johnson alongside a performance of Mauricio Kagel's Pastorale kantrimiusik given by the Nieuw Ensemble.

Presenters/Robert Worby and Sara Mohr-Pietsch

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Jonathan Myerson's play, Payback, explores the pressures on US diplomacy in the 1973 Middle East War.

The play traces the first 10 days of the 1973 October War, when surprise conflict in the Middle East coincided at the White House with tensions over Watergate.

Golda Meir has become Prime Minister of Israel in her seventies. Syrian and Egyptian troops are massing on Israel's borders, but despite 11 warnings of impending war in the past month, the Israeli cabinet have not called up the reserve.

In Florida, Richard Nixon awaits the final verdict of the Washington Appeal court on his objections to surrendering the Watergate Tapes.

In New York, Henry Kissinger is about to be woken at his room in the Waldorf Astoria with news of a new Middle East War.

Jonathan Myerson's play investigates how domestic and international politics were about to combine, to change the Middle East for ever.

Producer/Jonquil Panting for the BBC

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Film critic Barry Norman explores cinema-going over the last century

Barry Norman continues his exploration into the changing experience of cinema-going over the last century as part of BBC Radio 4's film season.

Barry charts the rise from the Seventies low ebb to innovations being introduced today.

In the Seventies ticket sales had fallen to an all-time low. In conversation with Sir David Puttnam, Barry recalls his own pessimism about the future of cinema at the time. Moving onto the Eighties, he explores the impact on Britain of an American import, the multiplex. He then moves on to the challenge of videos and DVDs in the Nineties and is ultimately surprised to find how positive the picture now looks, as British cinemas embrace 3D and other innovations and attendance figures continue to rise.

Featuring never-before-broadcast archive, this series charts the changing experience of cinema-going in Britain over the last century.

Presenter/Barry Norman, Producer/Beaty Rubens for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Saturday 22 January

12.00noon-6.06pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch looks ahead to a packed afternoon of football action.

From 12.45pm, there's live Premier League commentary from Molineux of Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Liverpool (12.45pm kick-off).

Then there is live coverage of all the 3pm kick offs including Manchester United versus Birmingham and Arsenal against Wigan Athletic.

Sports Report at 5pm has post-match reaction and interviews, plus Premier League updates from Aston Villa versus Manchester City from 5.30pm.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tennis

Saturday 22 January

8.00am-1.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted live commentary comes from the night session at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Football

Saturday 22 January

2.55-5.15pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy commentary on a leading game in the Championship, plus score updates from across the Football League.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Cricket

Saturday 22 January

3.00-11.30am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary on the third One Day International between Australia and England, comes live from Sydney.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Michael Ball returns to BBC Radio 2 on Sunday mornings

Listeners are invited to make a Sunday Brunch date with Michael Ball as Michael continues to brighten up Sunday mornings on BBC Radio 2.

This Sunday, it's business as usual as Michael reviews the newspapers and previews the best of the week's movie, DVD, TV and radio entertainment.

There's his special guest, plus Ball's Better Than The Original, the Classic Album Track, all the best music you could wish for plus a surprise or two along the way.

Presenter/Michael Ball, Producer/Jodie Keane for the BBC

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Johnnie Walker continues his celebration of all things Seventies, playing music from both sides of the Atlantic.

This week, Johnnie is joined by drummer Stephen Morris. Stephen reflects on the decade in which his first band, post-punk pioneers Joy Division, signed to Factory Records and released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979.

Presenter/Johnnie Walker, Producer/Natasha Costa Correa for Wise Buddah

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Continuing his series of programmes on the Beatitudes, Brian D'Arcy considers the blessings for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

He explores what is meant by good ethical behaviour through music, prayer and reflection.

Hymns are performed by the Coventry Singers, directed by Paul Leddington Wright with organist Nigel Spooner, and include Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus, O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing and O For A Closer Walk With God.

Presenter/Brian D'Arcy, Producer/Clair Jaquiss for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Roger Allam and Jane Lapotaire star in Stephen Wakelam's historical drama.

In 1588, essayist and landowner Michel de Montaigne set out on a journey around the troubled kingdom of France. He was on a mission to reconcile the Valois King Henri the Third, a Catholic, with his likely successor, the Bourbon King of Navarre, a Protestant.

The stakes are high with the intensification of the Civil War the consequence of failure.

Jeremy Mortimer directs Roger Allam as Michel de Montaigne, James Norton as Peslier, Jane Lapotaire as Catherine de Medici, Elliot Levey as Henri Navarre, Sam Dale as Henri Valois, Sally Orrock as Francoise de Montaigne, Leah Brotherhead as Marie de Gournay, Adeel Akhtar as Sergeant Soumillon, Lloyd Thomas as Captain Guyon and Henry Devas as the courtier.

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The year 1911 saw the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the abdication of the last Emperor in China. One hundred years on, Isabel Hilton describes how China coped with the collapse and looks for any lingering legacy.

After living under the comparative stability of an Imperial system for so long, she explains what happened when the young Emperor Puyi was forced to stand down.

Isabel reports from the Chinese capital, Beijing, on how China set about finding a new system to govern. A century on, has the country fully recovered from the trauma of this rupture from such an ancient past and has it finally settled on its replacement?

Isabel describes China's current relationship with its Imperial past.

Presenter/Isabel Hilton, Producer/Anthony Denselow

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Coronation Street actress Betty Driver

Betty Driver, veteran Coronation Street actress, joins Kirsty Young to choose her Desert Island Discs.

Presenter/Kirsty Young, Producer/Leanne Buckle for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Matthew Sweet looks at the influence of pocket cameras on film

As part of BBC Radio 4's film season, Matthew Sweet takes a look at how the mobile phone and other pocket cameras are transforming the way people watch and make movies – and also what lies ahead.

Technology has come a long way since French scientist Phillipe Kahn accidentally discovered he could use his mobile phone to send pictures of his new-born baby to relatives back in 1997. And yet, as Matthew finds out, we are only just scratching the surface of what can be done with film and phones.

Matthew hears from artists, film studios and advertisers about how films, either made or viewed on mobile phones, are opening a host of possibilities and shaping a new future for the moving image.

Matthew visits the Paris Pocket Film Festival. He joins a group of children at a film-making workshop in London's East End on a mission to shoot a fashion video on their phones. He trails artist film-maker Sylvie Prasad as she uses her mobile phone to shoot a film about and for her mother, who has Alzheimer's. He hears from director Clio Barnard about her reasons for choosing a mobile phone to shoot her film, Dark Glass. And Matthew talks to the people behind a landmark road safety campaign film, shot on a mobile phone, which illustrates the perils to pedestrians of drivers using their own phones.

The programme also follows and features a specially commissioned Pocket Film by British film director Gurinder Chadha, which will be available to view on the BBC Radio 4 website.

Presenter/Matthew Sweet, Producers/Susan Marling and Hannah Rosenfelder for Just Radio Ltd

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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The Completists Ep 1/5

Sunday 23 January

2.45-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Ian Marchant meets five "completists" – each of them driven by the need to tick off the entire collection.

The word "completist" was coined in the Fifties and was originally applied to collectors who aspired to own an entire set of records by a particular artist, usually a jazz musician. But now completists come in many different forms with different ambitions.

The internet has revolutionised this group, dragging them out of their cellars, kitchens, bedrooms and sheds and into web forums, specialist chatrooms and onto the blogosphere to exchange opinions, tips and secrets with whole tribes of fellow completists. The opportunities to complete their goal are more available because of global communication, but the logistics are harder and the goalposts are higher.

Ian, a former Charing Cross Road bookseller, is an old friend and admirer of completists. He recalls the story of one book collector who regularly asked for a particular volume, habitually adding "...but you won't have it".

When the book finally and amazingly turned up, the collector refused to buy it because, once he owned it, he'd no longer have a reason to live.

And as for Ian's completism – he owns all the records of Brinsley Schwarz – it took him 10 years to find a copy of their first album, and it turned out to be lousy.

Presenter/Ian Marchant, Producer/Peter Everett for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Classic Serial – The Moonstone Ep 1/4

Sunday 23 January

3.00-4.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Actor Kenneth Cranham stars as Sergeant Cuff in The Moonstone

Doug Lucie's dramatisation of Wilkie Collins's detective masterpiece from 1868 stars Eleanor Bron as Lady Verinder and Kenneth Cranham as Sergeant Cuff.

Described by TS Eliot as the first and best of English detective novels, The Moonstone involves a huge diamond, stolen from the forehead of an Indian deity, plundered in a siege and finally given to Rachel Verinder on her 18th birthday. The stone is said to carry a curse and mysteriously disappears on the night of the celebrations.

The cast also includes: Jasmine Hyde as Rachel Verinder; Steve Hodson as Betteridge; Paul Rhys as Franklin Blake; Stephen Critchlow as John Herncastle; Alison Pettitt as Rosanna Spearman; Mark Straker as Godfrey Ablewhite; Clare Corbett as Penelope; and Paul Battacharjee as Mr Murthwaite.

The Moonstone is recorded on location by Lucinda Mason Brown with original music by David Chilton.

Producer/Janet Whitaker for Goldhawk Essential Limited

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Poetry Please Ep 1/7

Sunday 23 January

4.30-5.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Roger McGough returns with a new series of readings of listeners' poetry requests, including work by Bertolt Brecht, Rudyard Kipling and Kate Scott.

There's something of a food-related theme to the edition, with William Carlos Williams's evocative poem describing the chilled plums he's raided from the fridge.

Kipling's poem Arithmetic On The Frontier weighs a British soldier's life against that of his adversaries and his own officers.

The readers are Jon Strickland and Phyllida Nash.

Presenter/Roger McGough, Producer/Mark Smalley for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Sunday 23 January

12.00noon-6.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Colin Murray presents the Sunday Review with a round-up of the weekend's football so far, plus reports and reaction after the third One Day International between Australia and England in Sydney.

From 1.15pm, there's live Championship commentary of Queens Park Rangers versus Coventry City from Loftus Road.

At 4pm, there is live Premier League commentary of Blackburn Rovers versus West Bromwich Albion from Ewood Park.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

5 Live NFL

Sunday 23 January

6.45pm-3.00am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy commentary from the NFL as the first Championship game gets under way, with a place in the Super Bowl up for grabs.

There is also full commentary from the second Championship game, as the final Super Bowl contender is decided.

Producer/Simon Crosse for USP

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Post-punk pioneers Gang Of Four take over the 6 Mix.

Formed by singer John King and guitarist Andy Gill at Leeds University in 1977, Gang Of Four released a string of acclaimed singles in the late Seventies and early Eighties including Damaged Goods and I Love A Man In Uniform.

For a period of time they became one of Britain's most talked-about bands but future releases failed to live up to the hype and, by the mid Eighties, the band had drifted into obscurity.

A series of releases during the early Nineties helped them maintain a cult following but eventually the band called it a day in 1994. Many expected Gang Of Four to become a footnote in musical history. But, all of sudden, in the early 2000s, a wave of then-hot new bands including Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture and the Futureheads started citing Gang Of Four's early material as a key influence on their sound. Following this fresh and unexpected wave of interest, Andy and John reformed the band in 2004 and started recording again.

As they prepare to release their first new album in 16 years, entitled Content, Andy and John take over the 6 Mix decks to play a selection of music from the last 40 years which inspired them to make music and has informed the sound of their new LP.

Presenters/Andy Gill and John King, Producer/Rowan Collinson

BBC 6 Music Publicity

BBC Radio 1 DJs Jaymo and Andy George

In New DJs We Trust, BBC Radio 1's showcase for the hottest new DJ talent and new dance music, gets a 9-10pm takeover slot from Monday to Thursday this week, featuring the new line-up for 2011. Listeners can expect a nightly party mixing together the full spectrum of new dance music from techno to bassline and everything in-between.

In control tonight are Jaymo and Andy George mixing up box fresh electro, future disco and house party beats.

The In New DJs We Trust takeover comes to a head on Friday 28 January when the whole Radio 1 dance family comes together for the second free January In New Music We Trust Live events taking place at Sheffield University's Student Union.

Presenters/Jaymo and Andy George, Producer/Tom Koenig for Somethin' Else Productions

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

Vanessa Feltz wakes up early risers or very-late-to-bedders in her second week at the helm of the Early Breakfast Show.

Her show is crammed with 90 minutes of great music from across the decades as she takes listeners through a first look at the day's news, plus there's Pause For Thought at 5.45am.

Listeners can contact the show by emailing vfeltz@bbc.co.uk.

Presenter/Vanessa Feltz, Producer/Mark Hagen for the BBC

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This week, Duffy chooses her Tracks Of My Years.

There's the nation's favourite music quiz, Popmaster, and a track from the Album Of The Week and the Record Of The Week. There's also a sprinkling of traffic news throughout the show.

Presenter/Ken Bruce, Producer/Gary Bones for the BBC

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Paul Lamb And The Kingsnakes are in session tonight on Paul Jones. With their mix of blues, boogie and swing, and inducted into the British Blues Awards Hall of Fame, the band play tracks from their new album, Mind Games.

Plus there's new releases and classic R&B.

Presenter/Paul Jones, Producer/Paul Long for the BBC

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Roxy Music's lead singer Bryan Ferry

As January 2011 sees Roxy Music reform for a 40th anniversary tour, Pulp front man and BBC 6 Music presenter Jarvis Cocker celebrates the band and their music.

Evolving from the late-Sixties art-rock movement, Roxy Music epitomised fashion, glamour and innovative music. Through the Seventies and Eighties they released a string of ground-breaking albums, culminating with their 1982 classic Avalon. The Thrill Of It All hears from key band members, showcases their best-know songs and reflects on their impressive career.

Tonight's final programme visits the punk era and the re-grouping of Roxy Music in 1978. Their comeback album sounded more dance orientated, with a soul-pop sound that was markedly different from their earlier records. Manifesto confirmed their British popularity, and the single Dance Away charted worldwide. This brings the story up to date with the 40th anniversary tour celebrating their illustrious past.

The programme features new interviews with key band members Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera and others.

This two-part series was originally broadcast on BBC 6 Music. Jarvis presents a weekly show, Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service, at 4pm on 6 Music.

Presenter/Jarvis Cocker, Producer/John Sugar for Sugar Productions

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

"Some maintain his temper was very even, because he was always angry,"; so said composer Adolphe Adam about Luigi Cherubini. He's the same man Beethoven selected when asked to name the greatest composer in Europe – apart from himself.

Italian by birth and from a modest background, he was singled out early for his prodigious talent, and by 18 he was completing his studies with Giuseppe Sarti, one of the leading Italian opera composers of the day. Operatic commissions followed and, before long, he had won enough recognition to receive an invitation to become house composer at the King's Theatre in London's Haymarket.

It was then a short step to Paris, where Cherubini settled at the age of 25; he would remain there for the rest of his life, during which he came to bestride Parisian music like a colossus.

Donald Macleod investigates the life and work of the man often referred to as "an Italian composer writing German opera for a French audience". He begins by examining Cherubini's Italian roots with two early choral pieces written under Sarti's tutelage. Then listeners follow him to London, where he discovers that the title "house composer" really means "house composer of pasticcios" – operatic patchworks stitched together from well-known arias. His one original opera for London, Il Giulio Sabino, was not a success, but his first international success was just five years away. In 1791 Lodoïska was an instant smash and went on to play to sell-out houses throughout Europe before eventually crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1826.

Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Chris Barstow

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Period band the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment throw their focus forward to the late 19th century and works by three of the great late-romantic composers. Sarah Connolly is the soloist in Mahler's Songs Of A Wayfarer, Youthful Musings On Love And Nature, some of which he reworked into his First Symphony, while the Totenfeier, which follows it, became the opening movement of his Second Symphony.

Two preludes also feature: Wagner's lushly romantic prelude to his opera Parsifal and Liszt's poetically inspired tone poem, Les Preludes.

Sarah Connolly is the mezzo-soprano, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Novelist Tracy Chevalier considers The Necklace

Five writers are invited to explore the meaning of clothes and accessories in a particular work of art, be it a story, novel, film, painting or song lyric. How the clothing resonates, the tale behind its depiction and whether the writer would wear the garment themselves are all considered. Suits and dresses, coats and jewels, and even rags, all feature in accounts by a variety of commentators

In the first episode, novelist Tracy Chevalier considers how a set of sparkling stones tease in Guy de Maupassant's famous story The Necklace.

On Tuesday, novelist Justin Cartwright thinks about corporate America and how it is vividly caught in the novel The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit.

On Wednesday, art critic Laura Cumming ponders a particular black dress, memorably painted by John Singer Sargent in the 1880s.

In episode four, film critic Peter Bradshaw tells listeners about two red coats worn with sadness and menace in the classic film Don't Look Now.

In Friday's final instalment, Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman recalls the words of Leonard Cohen's song Suzanne, and how they dressed a generation of young women.

Producer/Duncan Minshull

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Book Of The Week –
The Sun Hasn't Fallen From The Sky Ep 1/5

Monday 24 to Friday 28 January

9.45-10.00am BBC RADIO 4

Maureen Beattie reads Alison Gangel's memoir of a chaotic childhood in Glasgow in the late Sixties.

Seven-year-old Ailsa Dunn's Ma is prettier than all the other mothers and her Da is the most handsome man in the world. But then alcohol intrudes and unpredictability reigns, and when the man with the briefcase comes to call she senses the family is in trouble.

Reader/Maureen Beattie, Producer/Jane Marshall for Jane Marshall Productions

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Woman's Hour Drama – Writing The Century Ep 1/5

Monday 24 to Friday 28 January

10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4

The series which explores the lives of real people through their diaries and correspondence now enters the final decade of the 20th century.

Catherine Thackray faces a terminal illness. She wants to put her life in order and to create a family history for own grandchildren. In so doing, she takes up her mother Marjory's memoir, and weaves it into her story.

During the week's episodes listeners meet Marjory Sharpe – the grandmother; Catherine Thackray – the daughter; and are introduced to Rebecca Thackray – the granddaughter, poised, on Millennium night, to take that tradition into a third generation.

In re-visiting the past key events in both lives, the five episodes give a snapshot of the 20th century. Catherine's ongoing diaries between 1993 and 2000 chart the Yugoslav war; Maxwell's death; Rwanda; the Chinook Enquiry; Dunblane; the IRA; Blair's election; and Princess Diana's state funeral.

The cast stars Eleanor Bron as Catherine Thackray; Will Tacey as Lawrence Thackray; Julia Rounthwaite as Becca Thackray; Suzanne Bertish as Marjory Sharp; Drew Carter-Cain as Tom Sharp; and Lloyd Peters as Doctor. It is dramatised by Vanessa Rosenthal and the music is by Nicolai Abrahamsen.

Producer/Gary Brown for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Iain Macwhirter explores why Glasgow suffers from higher mortality rates than expected from the levels of deprivation in the city.

Having suffered from heart disease, and had consultants shrug their shoulders and declare it was a result of being Scottish, Iain wants to know whether his health has been impacted by this effect.

Glasgow has been overtaken in the health stakes by Eastern European cities struggling to shrug off the legacy of communism. It is being left behind by the statistics from Liverpool and Manchester, which show, like-for-like, Glasgow's citizens are dying younger, whatever their wealth. In this programme, Iain investigates why this might be.

Presenter/Iain Macwhirter, Producer/Lucy Lloyd for the BBC

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Afternoon Play – Market Ep 1/6

Monday 24 January

2.15-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4

Market is a series of six plays about people who work in and around market stalls in a northern city. Each story is a self-contained quirky tale. Modern morality plays, with a whiff of the fantastical about them.

The first story is Loco Parentis by Gary Brown.

Jim cannot sleep because his daughter has left for university, his business is going belly up and his father is going gaga. Oh, and to top it all he suspects his wife is having an affair with her boss. He needs to escape, but where to?

The cast stars Reece Dinsdale as Jim; Gerard Fletcher as Market Manager; Bobby Knutt as Ken; Sue Kelly as Lisa; Kathryn Hunt as Robin; Ellie Meigan-Rose as Jenny; Joncie Elmore as Steve; Szilvi Naray Davey as Nurse; and Sam Hevicon as Student. The original music is by Steven D Reid.

Producer/Peter Leslie Ward for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Critic and writer David Thomson

Critic and writer David Thomson continues his journey through cinema and its relationship with violence, romance, happy endings and flight for BBC Radio 4's film season.

Monday's programme, If It Moves, Shoot It, explores cinema and violence.

In Tuesday's programme, The Look Of Love, David continues his personal journey through the power and meaning of cinema in search of longing and romance.

On Wednesday, David looks at Happy Endings and cinema's powerful allure by offering a world of escape, happiness over the rainbow and the reassurance that everything is going to be all right in the end.

The Last Flight, Thursday's programme, explores how film and flight have been intertwined for decades.

In the final programme of the series, David considers what the future holds for cinema under the relentless spread of visual media, and in the age of instant delivery.

Presenter/David Thomson, Producer/Mark Burman for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Book At Bedtime – The Meeting Point Ep 1/10

Monday 24 to Friday 28 January

10.45-11.00pm BBC RADIO 4

When Euan and Ruth Armstrong set off with their young daughter, Anna, to live in Bahrain, it is meant to be an experience and adventure they will cherish.

But on the night they arrive, Ruth discovers the truth behind the missionary work Euan has planned and feels her world start to crumble. She starts to question her faith – in Euan, in their marriage, and in all she has held dear.

With Euan so often away, Ruth is confined to their guarded compound with her neighbours and, in particular, Noor, a troubled teenager recently returned to Bahrain to live with her father. Confronted by temptations and doubt, both Ruth and Noor must make choices that could change all of their lives for ever.

The Meeting Point is Lucy Caldwell's second novel. It was abridged by Doreen Estall and the readers are Laura Pyper and Yasmin Paige.

Readers/Laura Pyper and Yasmin Paige, Producer/Heather Larmour for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Monday 24 January

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Chapman presents football debate, build-up to tonight's football action and the day's sports news in The Monday Night Club.

From 8pm there's live Premier League commentary of Bolton Wanderers at home against Chelsea.

In The Final Whistle at 10pm there is post-match reaction to Chelsea's visit to Bolton.

Presenter/Mark Chapman, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tennis

Monday 24 January

8.30am-2.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary comes from the night session at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Bafta-nominated comedian Nick Helm drops by to tell Shaun Keaveny about his new stand-up show, Keep Hold Of The Gold, which promises to be a display of bravura, chutzpah and positive thinking, with laughs and some poetry.

Presenter/Shaun Keaveny, Producer/Lisa Kenlock

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Ghost Poet joins Nemone in the studio.

A rapper from Coventry who has already has been compared to Roots Manuva and supported by the likes of Gilles Peterson and NME, Ghost Poet's debut album, Peanut Butter Blues And Melancholy, to be released in 2011, showcases his ramshackle but hook-laden productions.

Presenter/Nemone, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

In New DJs We Trust, BBC Radio 1's showcase for the hottest new DJ talent and new dance music, gets a 9-10pm takeover slot all this week from Monday to Thursday, featuring the new line-up for 2011. Listeners can expect a nightly party mixing together the full spectrum of new dance music, from techno to bassline and everything in-between.

In control tonight are new additions to the fold, dubstep major players Skream and Benga. Mixing together the heaviest bass sounds and beats at the lowest frequencies, the dynamic duo bring a rave to the airwaves over one hour.

The In New DJs We Trust takeover comes to a head on Friday 28 January when the whole Radio 1 dance family comes together for the second free January In New Music We Trust Live event, taking place at Sheffield University's Student Union.

Presenters/Skream and Benga, Producer/Tom Koenig for Somethin' Else Productions

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

Jamie Cullum is joined by Gary Burton as he continues to showcase his love for all types of jazz and music rooted in jazz, from its heritage to the future.

Gary Burton, who is heralded as one of the most innovative jazz vibraphonists around and is known for his unique four-mallet technique, talks in depth about his career. The list of famous jazz artists he has worked with ranges from Stan Getz and George Shearing to playing alongside Chick Corea for almost 40 years, and championing artists such as Pat Metheny. Burton shares anecdotes from each of these experiences and explains what he looks for in new talent.

Presenter/Jamie Cullum, Producer/Karen Pearson for Folded Wing

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Welsh singer-songwriter and ex-Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys drops in for a live session with his band. They play tracks from his new album, Hotel Shampoo.

Presenters/Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, Producer/Lizzie Hoskin for Smooth Operations

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

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Desmond Carrington presents words and music from stars whose records were first heard during the Fifties, using archive from Radio Luxembourg and the BBC Light Programme.

Each one-hour show features stars interviewed by John Hannam, among them Nat Gonella, Edmund Hockridge, Russ Conway, Frankie Vaughan, Lonnie Donegan, Ruby Murray, Lionel Bart and Al Martino. This week, he remembers the singer and former BBC Radio 2 presenter Ronnie Hilton, and singer, actress and cabaret star Eartha Kitt.

Throughout the series, Desmond's guest is the veteran singer and broadcaster Teddy Johnson who, 60 years ago, was the first British presenter of the first-ever radio series of Top 20 record programmes.

Presenter/Desmond Carrington, Producer/David Aylott for Foldback Media Ltd

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Performance On 3

Tuesday 25 January

7.00-9.15pm BBC RADIO 3

Kodály devoted much time to collecting and arranging folk music of his native Hungary, and in his Marosszék Dances he uses tunes collected in the Szekely region of the country to give the work its colour.

The local colour in Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto isn't folk but jazz, which infuses the work's second movement. The concerto features clarinettist Robert Plane.

After the interval, American conductor JoAnn Falletta puts the Ulster Orchestra through their paces as they perform the classical contours of Brahms's mighty Second Symphony.

The concert is broadcast live from the Ulster Hall, Belfast.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Marie-Claire Doris

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Mary Ann Kennedy presents the first of four Late Night Sessions live from Glasgow at the world's biggest winter music festival, with a top line-up of festival artists and recorded concert highlights. The sessions run from very late until very early, and the artists are traditionally never divulged before the day.

Celtic Connections is held in 14 venues over 18 days, with between seven and 25 concerts and other events each day, involving 1,500 artists from more than 30 countries. Scots and Irish Celtic music is at the centre of the festival, but it has always embraced the music of the Celtic cultures of the USA, Canada, France and Spain, together with the closely connected cultures of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe and, in recent years, has also connected with traditions across Africa and Asia. The concerts range from the most traditional to the most experimental, all brought together in the context of one of the world's liveliest folk cultures, with a never-ending stream of young Scottish musicians who are reinventing their own traditions for their own time.

Presenter/Mary Ann Kennedy, Producer/Roger Short

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Saving Species looks at the importance of farmed land for wildlife, both in the UK and overseas.

A final Memories piece remembers the past abundance of those tenacious predators, stoats and weasels. It questions the global No. 1 agenda of farmland, food security and wildlife and asks how wildlife should be viewed against a backdrop of feeding billions of people.

Presenter/Brett Westwood, Producer/Mary Colwell for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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With Great Pleasure Ep 1/5

Tuesday 25 January

11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

BBC DJ Zoe Ball reveals her favourite pieces of writing to a live audience

DJ Zoe Ball shares some of her favourite pieces of writing with a live audience, as the programme bringing fresh insight into lives through literature returns for a new series.

The readers are Hattie Morahan and Blake Ritson – with a guest appearance by Johnny Ball.

Presenter/Zoe Ball, Producer/Christine Hall for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Travelling Light Ep 1/3

Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27 January

3.30-3.45pm BBC RADIO 4

Travelling Light presents three tales written by Tove Jansson, each focusing on a journey.

Today's tale is Shopping, read by Claire Rushbrook. At five in the morning, Emily makes her shopping forays. But although June approaches, outside it is getting darker.

In Wednesday's tale, Foreign City, read by Timothy West, an old man whose memory is fading is on his way to visit his grandson when he breaks his flight at an unknown city. His son has arranged the journey, but the old man becomes confused and events carry him on a different path.

In The Gulls, the final tale on Thursday, Arne has had a breakdown, so with his wife Elsa they escape to a remote island so he can recuperate. But there is nothing peaceful about this wild and untamed landscape. The story is read by Alice Coulthard.

Readers/Claire Rushbrook, Timothy West and Alice Coulthard, Producer/Karen Rose for Sweet Talk Productions Limited

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Katharine Whitehorn chooses Mary Stott, the great campaigning journalist, in the latest episode of the biographical series.

Mary Stott is the journalist who could be considered, perhaps more than anyone, as the person who started the revolution in women's journalism that began in the Fifties.

Presenter/Matthew Parris, Producer/Beth O'Dea for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Tuesday 25 January

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents the day's sports news and the build-up to tonight's League Cup and Premier League games.

At 7.45pm there is live commentary from the League Cup semi-final second leg between Arsenal and Ipswich Town, plus updates of Blackpool versus Manchester United in the Premier League.

From 9.40pm there's post-match reaction following tonight's football in The Final Whistle.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tennis

Tuesday 25 January

8.30am-2.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Tennis fans can enjoy live and uninterrupted commentary from the night session at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

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Cricket

Tuesday 25 January

3.00am-11.30am BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary on the fourth One Day International between Australia and England comes live from Adelaide with the Test Match Special team.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Brighton-based mix-up-merchants The Go! Team handpick the tracks for this week's Lunchtime Playlist. The band are due to release their much anticipated third album, Rolling Blackouts, this year. Joining them in this voyage of sonic discovery are artists as diverse as Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof and Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast.

Presenter/Nemone, Producer/Jax Coombes

BBC 6 Music Publicity

Sheffield's finest, Toddla T, brings his own distinctive brand of beats, bass, bleeps and wiggle to get listeners into the party mode as In New DJs We Trust, BBC Radio 1's showcase for the hottest new DJ talent and new dance music, continues its 9-10pm takeover slot. Featuring the new line-up for 2011, the takeover promises a nightly party mixing together the full spectrum of new dance music, from techno to bassline and everything in between.

The In New DJs We Trust takeover comes to a head on Friday 28 January when the whole Radio 1 dance family comes together for the second free January event, taking place at Sheffield University's Student Union.

Presenter/Toddla T, Producer/Tom Koenig for Somethin' Else Productions

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

Celtic Connections 2011 Ep 1/2

Wednesday 26 January

10.00-11.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue fame presents highlights of Celtic Connections 2011

Deacon Blue front man Ricky Ross brings highlights of Celtic Connections 2011 from Glasgow, which runs from 13 to 30 January. It is Scotland's major music winter festival with more than 1,500 artists playing from the worlds of folk, roots, world, Americana and traditional music.

Talking about the Festival, Ricky says: "In the depth of winter, the warmest and best place to be is Scotland's Celtic Connections Festival. The world comes to Glasgow and from here we'll bring a flavour of that wide world in two exclusive programmes for BBC Radio 2."

Ricky talks to the some of the artists from this year's event and features live music and exclusive performances.

Presenter/Ricky Ross, Producer/Richard Murdoch for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Belgian-born composer Cesar Franck's reputation largely rests on a small number of compositions, most of them written towards the end of his life, of which the Symphony in D minor is perhaps the most famous orchestral work.

Fauré's Requiem is not only his most famous work but also among the most popular of all classical pieces. Its setting of the Latin Requiem mass contains beautiful music including the famous soprano Pie Jesu and the final tranquil In Paradisum.

Yannick Nézet-Seguin conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, with soprano Sally Matthews and baritone Gerald Finlay.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Rana Mitter hosts a debate recorded at last year's BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking festival at The Sage Gateshead, entitled Academics And The Media – Friends Or Foes?

As Radio 3 and the Arts And Humanities Research Council (AHRC) join forces to find the next generation of public intellectuals, Rana Mitter, Night Waves presenter and Professor of the History of Modern China, joins Professor Rick Rylance, head of the AHRC, and a panel that includes former Channel 4 commissioning editor Tim Kirby and TV historian Jon Conlin, to debate the tricky relationship between academics and the media.

They discuss whether the media is really the fabled opportunity for academics to reach millions beyond the lecture hall that it is meant to be; or if, in reality, it involves compromises that reduce scholarship to little more than glorified story-telling.

Presenter/Rana Mitter, Producer/Kirsty Pope

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Ballylenon Ep 1/6

Wednesday 26 January

11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

Christopher Fitz-Simon takes a playful but jaundiced look at Sixties Ireland as the comedy drama series returns.

Muriel Maconchy, 62, is a spinster and has inherited a corner shop. Thanks to her councillor father's influence, she has the Post Office franchise. Known as the eyes of Ballylenon, Muriel, the Honouree Secretary of the Development Association, has a long-term "understanding" with its Chair, Phonsie Doherty. She is a gentle personality, but misses nothing.

This series also features Vera Maconchy, 61, Muriel's younger and more forthright spinster sister who runs the 10-line manual telephone exchange and is known as the ears of Ballylenon. Every call goes through her switchboard, its content noted, discussed and any necessary action taken. She also writes the horoscope anonymously for the Donegal Vindicator.

Ballylenon is written by Christopher Fitz-Simon. The cast stars Margaret D'Arcy as Muriel Maconchy, Gerard Murphy as Phonsie Doherty, Stella McCusker as Vera Maconchy, Aine McCartney as Mrs Vivienne Hawthorne, Dermot Crowley as Rev Samuel Hawthorne, Gerard McSorley as Kevin "Stumpy" Bonnar, Frankie McCafferty as Guard Gallagher, James Greene as Daniel O'Searcaigh, Niall Cusack as Monsignor McFadden, Chris McHallem as Aubrey Frawley, Joanna Munro as Polly Acton, Patrick Fitzsymons as Eamonn Doyle and Derek Bailey as Mr Boylan.

Producer/Eoin O'Callaghan for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Mordrin McDonald – 21st Century Wizard Ep 1/6

Wednesday 26 January

11.00-11.15pm BBC RADIO 4

Mordrin McDonald is a 2,000-year-old wizard living in the modern world, where settling garden disputes and watching Countdown are just as important as slaying the odd Jakonty Dragon. He makes a welcome return in this new series of the comedy written by David Kay and Gavin Smith.

Mordrin is deadpan, dry and makes delicious jams. He initially set up as a public limited company for income tax relief, but has found it a useful vehicle to help him bolster his wizard skillset and his range of services. He has been running Fruity Potions from his cave for the past few years, in between completing the odd quest as instructed by the Wizard Council. In the past his services were on hand to help kings in battles of good and evil, or as he prefers to put it, "assisting with neighbour disputes".

In this first episode, Mordrin is recruited to help re-capture evil sorcerer Billirock the Black, who has escaped from his prison under Stirling Castle and is hell-bent on exacting his revenge.

The cast stars David Kay as Mordrin, Jack Docherty as Bernard The Blue, Gordon Kennedy as Geoff, Hannah Donaldson as Heather, Katrina Bryan as Jill and Greg Hemphill as Billirock the Black.

Producer/Gus Beattie for The Comedy Unit Limited

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

5 Live Sport

Wednesday 26 January

7.00-10.30pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents the day's sports news and build-up to tonight's League Cup action.

At 7.45pm there's live commentary of the League Cup semi-final second leg from St Andrew's Stadium as Birmingham City face West Ham United.

From 10pm, The Final Whistle has post-match reaction following tonight's football, which also included Premier League action as Liverpool hosted Fulham.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Acclaimed photographer Joseph Rodriguez turns his lens on a group of young Muslims growing up in the city of Malmö, Sweden, in the concluding programme in Open Eye – a series not so much about photography as about the people and the landscapes with which a photographer forms a deep and visceral bond.

Malmö is a city increasingly divided on racial, religious and cultural grounds, and one in which Joseph discovers many young Muslims feel they are treated as second-class citizens.

Presenter/Joseph Rodriguez

BBC World Service Publicity

BBC Radio 1's showcase for the hottest new DJ talent and new dance music gets a 9-10pm takeover slot throughout the week – featuring the new line up for 2011.

Listeners can expect a nightly party, mixing together the full spectrum of new dance music from techno to bassline and everything in between.

In control tonight is Dutch house supremo Chuckie a new addition to the INDWT line-up for 2011. "The King of Dirty Dutch" from Holland includes listeners in a relentless hour of house beats all wrapped in his distinctive sound.

The In New DJ's We Trust takeover comes to a head on Friday 28 January, when the whole Radio 1 dance family come together for the second of the free In New Music We Trust Live January events, taking place at Sheffield University's Student Union.

Presenter/Chuckie, Producer/Tom Koenig for Somethin' Else Productions

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

BBC Radio 2 In Concert

Thursday 27 January

8.00-10.00pm BBC RADIO 2

Legendary welsh band the Manic Street Preachers

Jo Whiley presents a special show featuring a homecoming gig from the Manic Street Preachers, live, from the Blackwood Miners Institute in Newport, Wales.

This is the first time in over 25 years that the Manics have played in their home town of Blackwood. Introduced on stage by Jo, the band performs some of their classic hits and songs from their latest album, Postcards From A Young Man, in front of an audience of BBC Radio 2 listeners.

As well as hearing the concert on Radio 2, listeners can watch it streamed, live, online and highlights are available on the BBC Red Button. There are also highlights from earlier in the day when the Manics show Jo some of the sights of Blackwood. Reminiscing about their early years, the band also talk about their approach to songwriting in a special acoustic session as part of Radio 2's Great British Songbook.

Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire is looking forward to playing at the Miners Institute: "I don't think we have done a gig there in the little theatre since 1987, my misspent Jimmy White-esque years! The one and only gig we did there turned into a full-scale riot when we went there, and the piano was smashed, I think, which we felt really bad about."

Talking about where the band will be visiting in Blackwood Nicky says: "Maybe Pen-y-fan Pond, where we used to go and pretend we were the beat generation and read poetry to each other; [and] my dad's shed, where we used to practice. You wouldn't believe how we did practice in there because it is so small! It's amazing to see actually."

BBC Introducing band, Denuo, feature as this week's support act. Described by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens as playing "assured acoustic indie rock with a nod towards the kind of minor key melancholy as peddled by Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith", Denuo is Tom Mason with producer/engineer Russell Hayes. Currently based in Cardiff, Tom made his debut in the city, performing at SWN Festival in October 2009.

They perform two songs, live, from the Deep Navigation Bar at the Blackwood Miners Institute. Jo also rounds up all the live music on BBC Radio 2 over the past week and brings listeners the latest ticket news for up-and-coming tours in the Gig Guide. Listeners can contact Jo by emailing inconcert@bbc.co.uk.

Listeners can turn over to digital station BBC 6 Music at 10pm to hear Manic Street Preachers play the encore to this very special gig.

Presenter/Jo Whiley, Producer/Radio 2 Live Music for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

The London Symphony Orchestra's principal conductor Valery Gergiev's passion for the music of his homeland is in evidence in this all-Russian programme of music, written 100 years apart.

Tchaikovsky wrote his First Symphony in 1866, it is the composer's earliest notable work and is a piece he remained fond of, later claiming it had more substance than many of his more mature works.

Shostakovich wrote his Second Violin Concerto in the spring of 1967 for the veteran violinist David Oistrakh and the role is taken tonight by the young Armenian Sergei Khachatryan whose performances of the composer's works have gained rave reviews.

Valery Gergiev conducts: Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 2 in C sharp minor, Op 129; and Tchaikovksy's Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Winter Daydreams.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Brian Jackson

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Andy Kershaw goes in search of music from all over the planet

For this major series to accompany BBC One's Human Planet, Andy Kershaw and Lucy Duran go in search of music from some of the world's remotest, as well as some more familiar, locations – visiting many of the places featured in TV series Music Planet.

In Greenland, Lucy greets the New Year with music and hears the mighty voice of Greenland's greatest singer, Rasmus Lyberth.

In Norway, Andy goes reindeer-herding under the midnight sun with Human Planet's May Torril, who also happens to be an accomplished singer in the Sami tradition of yoiking.

In Canada, Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq introduces listeners to her village in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and sings the intensely soulful music of the western Inuit.

And in Siberia, Andy meets musicians from Yakutsk, the coldest city on Earth, where long winter nights are whiled away with the help of a Jew's harp.

Presenters/Andy Kershaw and Lucy Duran, Producers/Roger Short and James Parkin

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

This Afternoon Play is inspired by the true story of Ursula Kemp whose eight-year-old son testified against her for witchcraft in St Osyth, Essex, in 1582.

Jean Bodin, a French aristocrat, brings news to Queen Elizabeth of witches in her country. The luminaries of her court and those who want to find favour set out to root out witches within their wards. Brian Darcy, Justice of the Peace in St Osyth, arrives in the town of his birth. He is here to do his duty, and at church on Sunday he watches the women of the town with a sharp eye.

Some days later, Grace Thurlowe arrives in his drawing room with the news he is hoping for. Ursula Kemp, a local apothecary, has bewitched Grace's family. She sent familiars into Grace's house to rock the cradle where her 10-month-old baby lay and the child fell to its death on the stone floor. Ursula cursed Grace and now Grace is lame. Ursula will have to pay.

Ursula's illegitimate son does not know his name or who his father is. His mother will not tell him. So he imagines instead. And his wild imaginings fuel the fire underneath Ursula. Ursula is bought before Brian Darcy. And Darcy presents her with an impossible choice.

Ursula And Boy is written by Abigail Docherty and it stars Austin Moulton as Boy; Natalie Press as Ursula; and Meg Fraser as Grace. The sound design is by Nigel Lewis.

Producer/Lu Kemp for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Eleanor Oldroyd presents the day's sport news and debate on the top stories.

From 8pm, there's cricket news and interviews as England and Australia continue their one-day series, plus a look ahead to the World Cup.

At 9pm, there is more on one of the day's top sports stories.

Presenter/Eleanor Oldroyd, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tennis

Thursday 27 January

8.30am-1.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on the first men's semi-final at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

Steve "Lammo" Lamacq welcomes his guests, including Jim Bob, into the studio to chat about some interesting new releases, in a show inspired by tomorrow's Evening Session special.

Presenter/Steve Lamacq, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Tonight's show features live tracks from the encore to Manic Street Preachers' special gig, broadcast from Blackwood Miners' Institute, in the band's home town.

These tracks follow their live set, played immediately before (9-10pm), as part of BBC Radio 2's In Concert show, presented by Jo Whiley.

Presenter/Gideon Coe, Producer/Mark Sheldon

BBC 6 Music Publicity

BBC Radio 1's In New Music We Trust Live

Friday 28 January

7.00pm-5.00am BBC RADIO 1

Tonight is a huge night for dance music with the second of BBC Radio 1's free new music events for January – taking place at Sheffield University Student Union.

Annie Mac kicks off proceedings at 7pm from the student bar with her official start to the weekend, broadcast in front of an audience and featuring special guests Breakage and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, plus new additions to Radio 1's In New DJs We Trust, Skream and Benga.

The party continues in Sheffield at 9pm with Pete Tong playing the hottest new dance tracks alongside special guests, plus more from Skream and Benga. From 11pm, Judge Jules kick-starts a six-hour marathon of dance music over two rooms at the Student Union with special live guests and DJ sets from the Radio 1 dance family bringing together a mammoth night covering the wide spectrum of new dance music.

Presenters/Annie Mac and Pete Tong, Producers/Becci Abbott for BBC Radio 1 and Tom Koenig for Somethin' Else Productions

Radio 1 is available on FM, DAB, Digital TV and online at bbc.co.uk/radio1.

BBC Radio 1 Publicity

Claudia Winkleman takes a look at Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy which runs from 22 January to 7 April. It is the first exhibition for 30 years to examine British sculpture of the 20th century.

Presenter/Claudia Winkleman, Producer/Jessica Rickson for the BBC

BBC Radio 2 Publicity

Performance On 3

Friday 28 January

7.00-9.15pm BBC RADIO 3

Vassily Sinaisky conducts two works by Czech composers which surround a work by a composer often influenced by Slavic music. Dvořák's Slavonic Dances took Brahms's similarly titled set as their inspiration. But, whereas Brahms used actual folk melodies, Dvořák's pieces took the character of folk dances but the melodies are entirely his own.

Brahms's epic First Piano Concerto is performed by Croatian pianist Dejan Lazic. He recently made his own piano and orchestra transcription of Brahms's Violin Concerto.

Janácek's Taras Bulba is an orchestral fantasy that takes three key moments from a novel by Gogol which recount the death of the protagonist and his sons. The programme is broadcast live from The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

Presenter/Martin Handley, Producer/Mike George

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

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Poet Ian McMillan presents The Verb

Ian McMillan bursts onto the air with BBC Radio 3's language cabaret. This week, cellist Steven Isserlis performs excerpts from his musical fairy stories for children and characterises the distinctive story-telling voice of the cello.

And novelist David Vann sets out his theory that American writers unconsciously turn to Anglo-Saxon words when they're evoking landscape and scale.

Presenter/Ian McMillan, Producers/Erin Riley and Dymphna Flynn

BBC Radio 3 Publicity

Aasmah Mir explores the sexual pressures faced by teens in Britain today.

At a time when young people are more exposed than ever to extreme sexual and violent behaviour, the programme hears about the work being done on the frontline, with the children who many people think are growing up too fast.

Aasmah looks into the factors that imply sexual violence is on the increase in the early teens and meets youth workers at the sharp end. Teenage Kicks asks those working with young people and teenagers themselves what can be done to help them develop healthy relationships.

Presenter/Aasmah Mir, Producer/Lizz Pearson for the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

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Hip hop and high notes collide when rapper YT falls in love with a young soprano in Penny Woolcock's romantic comedy.

Sway plays rapper YT, who is sent to collect a debt from a conductor at an opera house. He hears Gabrielle sing the aria Signore, ascolta from Puccini's Turandot and falls in love. But she is fixated on the conductor and is appalled when YT pursues her down the street, rapping to beats on his phone.

Desperate, he steals a recording of her aria and mixes a club tune that becomes a huge underground hit. It leads to clubbers demanding more opera and he persuades her to sing on his radio show. As their music collides, Puccini never sounds quite the same again. But gangster brother Honey Monster casts a long shadow over the young lovers. He wants his money back, and he is not choosy about his methods.

YT And The Soprano features a specially composed soundtrack by Sway, featuring the voice of Claire Watkins.

The cast stars: Sway as YT; Claire Watkins as Gabrielle; Ashley Gerlach as Scoobs; Mark Monero as Honey Monster; Claire-Louise Cordwell as Lily; and Marc Warren as Adam. The sound design is by Eloise Whitmore.

Producer/Melanie Harris for Crosslab Productions

BBC Radio 4 Publicity

Colin Murray takes a look at the weekend's FA Cup fourth-round ties and all the weekend's sporting action in Kicking Off.

Presenter/Colin Murray, Producer/Mike Carr

BBC Radio 5 Live Publicity

Tennis

Friday 28 January

8.30am-1.00pm BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted commentary on the second men's semi final at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Producer/Jen McAllister

BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Publicity

King and queen of indie music radio, Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, return for a special one-off Evening Session.

Over a decade since the end of the legendary Evening Session on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music takes up the mantle and turns back the clock to bring listeners the programme that soundtracked the Nineties.

Steve and Jo are reunited to pick their favourite tracks from the era and some of today's best new music too.

They're joined for live sessions by Libertines front man Carl Barat, who plays tracks from his career including his self-titled debut solo album released last year; and Chapel Club, who play their first BBC 6 Music session ahead of the imminent release of their hotly tipped debut album Palace.

Presenters/Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley, Producer/Paul Sheehan

BBC 6 Music Publicity

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Tom Ravenscroft features a guest mix from Wirral-based producer Matthew Barnes, better known as dub/grime/soul act Forest Swords.

Claiming to sound like: "River hymns + damp woods + dry leaves + sea winds", Forest Swords' recent album, Dagger Paths, has collected plaudits from all corners of the music press and should be a very interesting listen.

Presenter/Tom Ravenscroft, Producer/Adam Hudson

BBC 6 Music Publicity