TODAY’S RADIO

RETURN TO THE HOMELESS HOTEL

11AM, RADIO 4 (FM) ★★★ Last year, Radio 4 made a programme about Simon, who had been sleeping in doorways on the streets of Manchester. When the Covid pandemic broke out, Simon was given emergency accommodation in an en-suite room in a Holiday Inn. In this update from the team behind the first programme, we learn where Simon is now and how he’s coped – and find out if his time off the streets has broken a cycle of destitution and despair.

UNITE

6.30PM, RADIO 4 (FM) ★★★ Imogen (Claire Skinner) is a property developer; Tony (Mark Steel) is a working-class, left-wing Londoner. This new sitcom follows what happens when they set up

home together. It’s a relationship that’s put under strain by class, compromise, hope, desolation, love, identity, stepsibling rivalry and Crystal Palace FC.

JO WHILEY

7PM, RADIO 2 ★★★

The members of the English rock band Wolf Alice (the name comes from a strange Angela Carter short story) join Jo for a Sofa Session. The band won a Mercury Prize in 2018 for their album Visions Of A Life. This evening, Ellie Rowsell (vocals, guitar), Joff Oddie (guitar, vocals), Theo Ellis (bass) and Joel Amey (drums, vocals) give us tracks from their latest album, Blue Weekend.

THE FOLK SHOW

9PM, RADIO 2 ★★★★

Back in 2015, Nancy Kerr sang a song on Mark Radcliffe’s

Folk Show about bees in a city cemetery; it had a cheery tune, but serious lyrics. It’s called Dark Honey, and Mark includes it tonight in show that’s full of songs about gardens and bees. Johnny Flynn’s Queen Bee and Richard Thompson’s Beeswing are also on the bill.