TODAY’S RADIO

WHAT’S FUNNY ABOUT 11.30AM, RADIO 4 HHHH

Hit TV comedy shows often have their roots in radio. Have I Got News For You, which has guest panellists giving witty answers to questions on the week’s news, was pretty much a copy of Radio 4’s The News Quiz. In this edition of the series on comedy hits, Ian Hislop, a stalwart of Have I Got News For You, joins producer and comedy writer Jimmy Mulville to look back on the show’s success – and to talk frankly about the Angus Deayton problem.

STEVE LAMACQ 6PM, BBC 6 MUSIC

HHHH The Specials have been going since 1977 and have always, in their many incarnations, been a band with a message. They had been planning a new

album before lockdown, but the Covid crisis gave a focus to their thoughts. Now, they’ve brought out an album called Protest Songs 1924-2012. Tracks include Big Bill Broonzy’s Black, Brown And White and Leonard Cohen’s coruscating Everybody Knows. The Specials join Steve for a session of tracks from the album.

THE COLD SWEDISH WINTER 6.30PM, RADIO 4 HHHH

Drawing on writer Danny Robins’s own experiences of life in the far, far north of Sweden, this sitcom stars Adam Riches as the comedian coping with learning a new language, eating rotten herring and living with moose, bears and his Swedish girlfriend’s relatives.

MASTERTAPES 11.30PM, RADIO 4

HHHH Rufus Wainwright was in and out of recording studios as soon as he was born. His parents, Kate Mcgarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, were singersongwriters, and Rufus himself was touring at the age of 13. He joins John Wilson to talk about his inharmonious musical family, and to give a studio session of three of his songs. SJ