Radio and podcasts of the week: R4 Extra digs into the archive for listeners' requests, and more
All Request Weekend
Radio 4 Extra, from 7.30am
It's another weekend of listener requests on Radio 4 Extra, meaning a richer-than-usual stream of oddities from the archives, many unheard since first broadcast. Among Saturday's highlights are The Flying Doctor (8am/1pm/7pm) from 1960 on the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, and Raymond Briggs's 1983 adaptation of his apocalyptic bestseller When the Wind Blows (9.45am/2.45pm/ 8.45pm) starring Peter Sallis. Sunday's nostalgia pick has to be Animal Magic star Johnny Morris 's Johnny's Jaunt in the Pacific (9.45am/2.45pm/8.45pm), unaired since 1971.
Archive on 4: Damage and Repair
Radio 4, 8pm
Restorative justice is an 'optional extra' available to many victims of crime in the UK, yet it has remarkably low uptake. In an absorbing edition, presenter Hilary Ineomo-Marcus – who has served time in prison for fraud – explores the history and aims of the process, hearing some remarkable testimony about the healing power of victims and perpetrators engaging in dialogue.
Sunday 17 August
Sunday Feature: Delius – A Yorkshireman?
Radio 3, 6.45pm
Composer Frederick Delius was born in Bradford in 1862. As the city celebrates being UK City of Culture 2025, Nick Ahad explores Delius's life and music, and how his local links ('Unquestionably an artist of rural sensitivities. It's not Bradford, it's Yorkshire', says one contributor) and international roots influenced his music making. Preceded by Tasmin Little's 1991 recording of his Violin Concerto (6pm), plus Delius is the subject of this week's Composer of the Week (Mon-Fri, Radio 3, 4pm).
Desert Island Discs
Radio 4, 10am
The final castaway of the current series is former rugby star Maggie Alphonsi, who played as a flanker for Saracens WRFC and England and joins Lauren Laverne to share favourite tracks and talk about her time on the pitch and subsequent career in sports broadcasting. Meanwhile, Evan Davis's guest on the always fascinating The Decisions That Made Me (Radio 4, 12 15pm) is Sophie O'Brien, whose struggle to find a job after redundancy led her to set up the community-oriented recruitment platform Pollen.
Monday 18 August
New Storytellers: My Toy Soldier
Radio 4, 1.45pm
The first of five short documentaries to win a Charles Parker Prize this year for the UK's best young audio-feature makers, airing in this slot every day this week. Made by Kieran Callaghan, a student at the University of Sunderland, it's a touching and innovative exploration of a family fearfully experiencing the premature birth of a firstborn child. For a wider introduction to these awards, at 10am and 4pm, Radio 4 Extra's Charles Parker Prize 2025 features clips and interviews with the finalists.
Unicorn Girl
Apple Podcasts
Apple's latest true-crime podcast is an Apple Cider Vinegar -style look at the unravelling of an influencer. In this case, Utah mother of two and 'real-life unicorn' Candace Rivera who, after a messy divorce, reinvented herself as the founder of multimillion-dollar businesses and a global nonprofit, plus all-around perfect person. But, asks host Charlie Webster, how much of that was a lie? The full series is available to Apple TV+ subscribers, with two episodes followed by weekly drops for non-subscribers.
Tuesday 19 August
Crossing Continents
Radio 4, 9pm
A report from Austria on the legacy of one of Europe's most shocking migrant-crisis incidents, when 71 illegal immigrants were found dead in a refrigerated truck on an Austrian motorway in 2015. Tragically similar to the Essex Lorry deaths six years later, it awoke a shocked continent to the looming migration crisis and the criminal networks behind people smuggling. But, 10 years on, has anything changed? Reporter Nick Thorpe talks with victims' relatives and two smugglers serving life sentences in a Bulgarian prison.
Breakfast Live
Radio 3, 6.30am
Tom McKinney hosts the second of five touring shows from Gloucestershire and Somerset this week for Radio 3's annual summer outing. Today he's at Westonbirt National Arboretum near Tetbury, treating listeners to an atmospheric early-morning wander along the 284-meter treetop canopy walkway, the longest in the country. Broadcasts from the Grand Pump Room in Bath, Bishop's Palace in Wells and the lovely Tyntesfield near Bristol are scheduled for the rest of the week.
Wednesday 20 August
Rylan: How to be in Love
BBC Sounds
Rylan Clark has had some great guests – Stephen Fry and Phillipa Perry among them – on this entertaining, enlightening podcast. But he's kept a humdinger till last: documentary-maker Louis Theroux, who also knows a thing or two about interviewing. Together they make a terrific chat team (Theroux: 'Don't you want to get to the end of life and think you've tried everything on the buffet?' Clark: 'I think I've had a lot from the buffet'), effortlessly drawing each other out, sharing without comparing.
File on 4 Investigates: Rivers of Lead
Radio 4, 11am
If you thought the endless torrents of sewage being dischargedby water companies was the worst thing happening to British rivers, think again. This report looks into the dangers posed by the more than 6,000 abandoned lead mines across the UK, which, with climate change causing an increase in flooding, are leaking dangerous levels of contamination into our rivers each year, and possibly into the food chain.
Thursday 21 August
Piano Room: Robbie Williams
Radio 2, 11.25am
Radio 2's hugely successful Piano Room sessions have seen many impressive guests (Stormzy, Raye, Ed Sheeran, Michael Bublé) perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Maida Vale. But Robbie Williams is a name to equal them all. He'll be joining Vernon Kay for a catch-up before embarking on the requisite three-song set comprising one hit, one cover and one new release.
CBeebies Parenting Helpline
BBC Sounds
Holly Hagan-Blyth and Charlie Hedges are back with another run of the CBeebies podcast that takes calls from parents struggling to navigate their little one's messy early months and years. Guest experts include nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed and continence nurse Brenda Cheer, who contribute to today's opening double drop of episodes tackling questions around fussy eating and potty training.
Friday 22 August
Add to Playlist: Proms Special
Radio 4, 7.15pm
A special Proms-oriented edition, with hosts Jeffrey Boakye and Anna Phoebe joined by trumpeter Alison Balsom (who'll be showcasing her virtuosity in next month's Last Night) and bassoonist Linton Stephens, who leap wondrously from a 12-string version of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA to Scottish folk singer Julie Fowlis via Shostakovich, Jesus Christ Superstar and Mendelssohn. Friday's second of two Proms (Radio 3, 7.30pm) also promises to be special, with soprano Francesca Chiejina joining violinist Joshua Bell and the BBC Symphony Orchestra for Górecki's spellbinding Symphony No 3.
The Rock Show with Shaun Keaveny
Radio 2,11pm
Shaun Keaveny had big boots to fill when Johnnie Walker handed over the reins shortly before his death last year. He's done so brilliantly, acknowledged even by the old guard now, as frontman Joe Elliott and guitarist Phil Collen of Seventies rock giants Def Leppard drop in for a chat ahead of their headline performance at next month's Radio 2 in the Park in Chelmsford.
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