Saturday
THE INVISIBLE MAN
Radio 2, 8.30pm
He came from Cleethorpes to conquer the world. Rod Temperton may not be a household name, but you’ll know him by the company he keeps — he wrote and arranged some of the biggest songs in pop. Thriller, Give Me the Night, Boogie Nights, Always and Forever, Off the Wall — they’re all his. Strip away the shroud of anonymity, Mark Goodier.
Sunday
Advertisement
AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS
Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 8.30am
The first Grand Slam of the year reaches its climax, weather permitting. Listeners to the digital channel can enjoy unbroken coverage of the men’s singles final, while terrestrials will have to make do with updates on the Ellie (Eleanor Oldroyd) and Saucy (Graeme Le Saux) show, from 1pm.
Monday
THIS SCEPTRED ISLE: EMPIRE
Radio 4, 3.45pm
Juliet Stevenson returns with the second mighty tranche (60 daily episodes, taking us up to India’s independence in 1947) of Christopher Lee’s detailed and beautifully written history of the rise and fall of the British Empire. To recap — when we left the series it was 1783, we had just lost America and slavery was on its way out.
Advertisement
Tuesday
THE KING & I
Radio 2, 8.30pm
The King is easy enough to identify — that’s Elvis. The “I” is the difficulty — is it Rob Brydon, the comedian, Elvis nut and presenter of this two-part series? Or does it refer to his subject, Colonel Tom Parker, the King’s devious, crooked and possibly murderous manager? Either way, hang on to your Stetson, because there are some top revelations in store.
Wednesday
SAY WHAT YOU THINK
Radio 4, 9pm
Advertisement
Recent research has shown that bilingual people have better problem-solving skills, greater creativity and brains that are more resistant to dementia. This is bad news to Dr Mark Lythgoe, who freely admits to being duff at languages, but would like to be seen as bright in his own right. Over two programmes he attempts to remedy affairs.
Thursday
SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL
Radio 2, 9pm
Once again Mark Lamarr cranks up his rock’n’roll/reggae/rock’n’roll/reggae perpetual motion machine. This time it is a 13-part trawl through the more esoteric reaches of his r’n’r collection (most of which is already pretty esoteric, to be frank). Surely he must be getting close to the end by now? Isn’t it time he shone light on something else — prog rock, say?
Friday
Advertisement
GREAT LIVES
Radio 4, 4pm
The DJ Annie Nightingale nominates the magnificent Marty Feldman for inclusion in Francine Stock’s pantheon of greatness. Generations to come will appreciate the hyperthyroid comedian’s writing and acting better than this one, which left him to live and die in LA rather than insist on his continuing the job he began with the Four Yorkshiremen sketch.