the times | Wednesday January 26 2022 11
television & radio
Times Radio
Digital Only
5.00am Calum Macdonald with Early
Breakfast 6.00 Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell
with Times Radio Breakfast 10.00 Matt
Chorley 1.00pm Mariella Frostrup 4.00 John
Pienaar at Drive. 7.00 Phil Williams 10.00
Carole Walker 1.00am Stories of Our Times
1.30 Red Box. Matt Chorley’s politics podcast
2.00 Highlights from Times RadioRadio 2
FM: 88-90.2 MHz
6.30am The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show 9.30
Ken Bruce 12.00 Jeremy Vine 2.00pm Steve
Wright 5.00 Sara Cox 6.30 Sara Cox’s Half
Wower 7.00 Jo Whiley’s Shiny Happy
Playlist 7.30 Jo Whiley. Elbow play a Sofa
Session, including music from their latest
album Flying Dream 1 9.00 The Folk Show
with Mark Radcliffe. Traditional and
contemporary folk and acoustic music, with
interviews and live sessions. Singer and
writer Anaïs Mitchell talks about her new
music 10.00 Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm Nation
12.00 OJ Borg 3.00am Tracks of My Years.
A Meat Loaf tribute (r) 4.00 Vanessa FeltzRadio 3
FM: 90.2-92.4 MHz
6.30am Breakfast
Petroc Trelawny presents Radio 3’s classical
breakfast show. Including 7.00, 8.00
News. 7.30, 8.30 News headlines
9.00 Essential Classics
Georgia Mann presents a selection of music
and features, including works by the
German baritone Christian Gerhaher
12.00 Composer of the Week:
Marianna Martines (1744-1812)
Donald Macleod is joined by Dr Jeremy
Llewellyn to look at a significant
collaboration that extended Marianna
Martines’s fame abroad. Martines
(Sonata in G for harpsichord — Allegro
brillante) Nicoleta Paraschivescu
(harpsichord); (Come le limpide onde —
excerpt). Aleksandra Zamojska (soprano),
Eva Schossleitner (mezzo-soprano), Virgil
Hartinger (tenor), Heidelore Schauer
(salterio), Salzburger Hofmusik, Wolfgang
Brunner (director); (Keyboard Concerto in A)
Melani Mestre (piano/conductor), Iberian
Philharmonic Orchestra; Dixit Dominus
(excerpt). Marianna Herzig (soprano), Nele
Gramss (mezzo-soprano), Christian Havel
(tenor), Roland Faust (bass), Salzburger
Hofmusik, Wolfgang Brunner (director)1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert
Baritone Alessandro Fisher and pianist Kunal
Lahiry take us through the seasons.
Presented by Elizabeth Alker. Winter:
Debussy (Paysage Sentimental);
Mendelssohn (Winterlied Op.19a); Vaughan
Williams (The Winter’s willow); Sibelius
(Demanten på Marssnon, Op.36) Oskar
Merikanto (Kun päivä paistaa, Op.24)
Spring: Grieg (Våren Op.33); Vaughan
Williams (To daffodils); Gounod (Chanson de
Printemps); Schubert (Frühlingsglaube,
D.686); Mendelssohn (Frühlingsglaube, Op.9)
Summer: Peter Cornelius (Frühling im
Sommer); Armas Järnefelt (Solsken); Joseph
Marx (Nocturne); Sibelius (Sommarnatten
Op.90) Autumn: Leevi Madetoja (Yrtit
tummat, Op.9); Toivo Kuula (Syystunnelma,
Op.2); Erik Bergman (Serenade, Op.35); Grieg
(Efteraarsstormen, Op.18) Alessandro Fisher
(baritone), Kunal Lahiry (piano)
2.00 Afternoon Concert
Ingrid Fliter as soloist in Mozart’s Piano
Concerto No. 23, accompanied by the BBC
Philharmonic. Plus, the first symphony by
the Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov, a
contemporary of Tchaikovsky, played by the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
4.00 Live Choral Evensong
Introit: Let all the world (Nathan James
Dearden). Responses: Piccolo. Psalm 119
vv.145-176 (Vann, Walmisley, Pike,
Ashfield). First Lesson: Nehemiah 2 vv.1-10.
Canticles: The First Service ’Royal Holloway’
(Nathan James Dearden) (world premiere).
Second Lesson: Romans 12 vv.1-8. Anthem:
One in Christ (George Arthur). Hymn: Lord
for the years (Lord of the years). Voluntary:
Kenga e Krushqve (James Macmillan).
Rupert Gough (Director of Music), George
Nicholls (Senior Organ Scholar)
5.00 In Tune
Sean Rafferty is joined by the Van Baerle Trio
who perform live in the studio, and Sean
chats to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s
Bruce O’Neil. Including 5.00, 6.00 News
7.00 In Tune Mixtape
An eclectic non-stop mix of music
7.30 Radio 3 in Concert
Violinist Chloe Hanslip and the Northern
Chamber Orchestra perform a concert of
music for string orchestra and percussion at
the Stoller Hall in Manchester. Grieg
(Holberg Suite op. 40); Finzi (Romance for
String Orchestra op. 11); Elgar (Serenade for
Strings op. 20); Shostakovich (Sonata for
violin, percussion and string orchestra)
10.00 Free Thinking
Special programme marking Holocaust
Memorial Day 202210.45 The Essay: Unearthing
Britannia’s Tribes
Professor Ron Hutton assesses the presence
of the Druids in Iron Age communities
11.00 Night Tracks
An adventurous, immersive soundtrack
12.30am Through the Night (r)Radio 4
FM: 92.4-94.6 MHz LW: 198kHz MW: 720 kHz
5.30am News Briefing
5.43 Prayer for the Day
5.45 Farming Today
5.58 Tweet of the Day
6.00 Today
8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament
9.00 More or Less
Numbers used in everyday life (3/8)
9.30 The Death of Nuance
Exploring what it means to be a moderate in
a world lacking nuance (3/5) (r)
9.45 (LW) Daily Service
9.45 Book of the Week: Worn
By Sofi Thanhauser (3/5)
10.00 Woman’s Hour
Topical conversation offering a female
perspective on the world
11.00 This Union: Being Welsh
Jeremy Bowen returns to his roots in search
of what it means to be Welsh (1/3) (r)
11.30 Oti Mabuse’s Dancing Legends
Arlene Phillips discusses the American
choreographer Alvin Ailey (3/5)
12.01pm (LW) Shipping Forecast
12.04 Mrs Dalloway
By Virginia Woolf (3/10)
12.18 You and Yours
1.00 The World at One
1.45 1922: The Birth of Now
The story of Ah Q, China’s first modernist
work of literature (3/10)
2.00 The Archers (r)
2.15 Drama: Fault Lines — Blood
Bad Blood, by Eve Steele (5/5)
3.00 Money Box Live
The impact of rising energy prices
3.30 Inside Health
Demystifying health issues (3/11) (r)
4.00 Thinking Allowed
Thought-provoking issues (5/6)
4.30 The Media Show
5.00 PM
5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast
6.00 Six O’Clock News
6.30 Ellie Taylor’s Safe Space
The comic argues the time has come for
holidays to be given the heave-ho (4/4) (r)
7.00 The Archers
Alistair comes to the rescue7.15 Front Row
Arts programme
8.00 The Moral Maze
Ethical issues (3/11)
8.45 Witness
The arrest and execution of Observer
journalist Farzad Bazoft (10/14) (r)
9.00 Sketches: Stories of Art and
People
People who journey far and wide in
their pursuit of art (2/3) (r)
9.30 The Media Show (r)
10.00 The World Tonight
With Jamie Coomarasamy
10.45 Book at Bedtime: Mrs Dalloway
Broadcast earlier
11.00 Bunk Bed
Peter Curran and Patrick Marber are joined by
US comedy star Harry Shearer (3/8)
11.15 The John Moloney Show
The stand-up discusses neighbours and
no-quibble policies (1/4) See Radio Choice
11.30 Today in Parliament
Analysis of the day’s developments
12.00 News and Weather
12.30am Book of the Week: Worn (r)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.00 As BBC World ServiceRadio 4 Extra
Digital only
8.00am Hancock’s Half Hour 8.30 The
Michael Bentine Show 9.00 The Write Stuff
9.30 Smelling of Roses 10.00 Sherlock
Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles
11.00 Dip My Brain In Joy 12.00 Hancock’s
Half Hour 12.30pm The Michael Bentine
Show 1.00 Falco: Venus in Copper 1.30 Miss
Marple: A Caribbean Mystery 2.00 Wintering
2.15 Paw Tracks in the Moonlight 2.30
Battling Back 3.00 Sherlock Holmes: The
Hound of the Baskervilles 4.00 The Write
Stuff 4.30 Smelling of Roses 5.00 Alexei
Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar 5.30 Ellie
Taylor’s Safe Space 6.00 A Stir of Echoes
6.30 The Radio Detectives 7.00 Hancock’s
Half Hour. Comedy, with Tony Hancock 7.30
The Michael Bentine Show. One-man comedy
show 8.00 Falco: Venus in Copper. The
bruised Roman woos his girlfriend, who also
turns detective 8.30 Miss Marple: A
Caribbean Mystery. By Agatha Christie 9.00
Dip My Brain In Joy 10.00 Comedy Club: Ellie
Taylor’s Safe Space. The stand-up comic
examines the amount of news being
presented by the media 10.30 And Now in
Colour. Comedy sketches, with Tim Firth
11.00 Bleak Expectations. Dickensian
comedy 11.30 Simon Evans Goes to MarketRadio 5 Live
MW: 693, 909
5.00am Wake Up to Money 6.00 5 Live
Breakfast 9.00 Nicky Campbell 11.00 Naga
Munchetty 1.00pm Nihal Arthanayake
4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 7.45
5 Live Sport: Hearts v Celtic (Kick-off 7.45)
10.00 5 Live Sport 10.30 Colin Murray
1.00am Dotun AdebayotalkSPORT
MW: 1053, 1089 kHz
5.00am Early Breakfast 6.00 talkSPORT
Breakfast with Laura Woods 10.00 Jim
White and Simon Jordan 1.00pm Hawksbee
and Jacobs 4.00 talkSPORT Drive with Andy
Goldstein & Darren Gough 7.00 Kick Off
10.00 Sports Bar 1.00am Extra TimetalkRADIO
Digital only
5.00am James Max 6.30 Julia Hartley-
Brewer. Discussion show 10.00 Mike
Graham 1.00pm Ian Collins 4.00 Jeremy
Kyle 7.00 Kevin O’Sullivan 10.00 James
Whale Feat Ash 1.00am Paul Ross6 Music
Digital only
5.00am Deb Grant 7.30 Lauren Laverne
10.30 Mary Anne Hobbs 1.00pm Chris
Hawkins 4.00 Steve Lamacq 6.00 The 6
Music Album Club 7.00 Marc Riley 9.00
Gideon Coe 12.00 Freak Zone Playlist
1.00am Journeys in Sound 2.00 The
Happiness Map 3.00 Live Hour 4.00 JukeboxVirgin Radio
Digital only
6.30am The Chris Evans Breakfast Show
with Sky 10.00 Eddy Temple-Morris 1.00pm
Tim Cocker 4.00 Kate Lawler 7.00 Steve
Denyer 10.00 Sean Goldsmith 1.00am
Through The Night 4.00 Sam PinkhamClassic FM
FM: 100-102 MHz
6.00am More Music Breakfast 9.00
Alexander Armstrong 12.00 Anne-Marie
Minhall 4.00pm John Brunning 7.00
Smooth Classics at Seven 8.00 The Classic
FM Concert with John Suchet. The music
of Frédéric Chopin, featuring Piano Concerto
No 2, Glazunov’s arrangement of Les
Sylphides 10.00 Smooth Classics 1.00am
Bill Overton 4.00 Early BreakfastRadio Choice
Ben DowellThe John Moloney
Show
Radio 4, 11.15pm
The veteran comedian
John Moloney, above, may
not be the biggest name or
the most glamorous draw
on the comedy circuit, but
he’s not known to some as
the “godfather of British
stand-up” for nothing. He’s
self-deprecating, quick-
witted and has a sharp
delivery of some humorous
one-liners, and his
reflections include musings
on helpful neighbours and
no-quibble policies. He’s
probably not as acerbic or
as sweary as he can be —
this is Radio 4, after all.
But this marks a welcome
return to the spotlight for
a man who has won many
awards and is worth
checking out.
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W
ho’d have thought that
Julian Fellowes would
change direction so
radically to offer such
a bleak, minimalist
drama? Joke! The Gilded Age is here
and it’s all snobbery and society balls,
waspish aunts and snooty servants,
and on a very “new money” budget —
in other words, precisely the American
Downton it was expected to be.
What may be a surprise is that,
while it’d be easy to pick on it, it is
actually quite enjoyable. The prospect
of sitting through a feature-length
episode of a new Fellowes fantasia,
one with a lot of fussy hats, promised
little more than being forced to admire
a lavish gift box of Ferrero Rocher for
80 minutes. And yet... few TV writers
are as adept as Fellowes in introducing
you to characters without you noticing
that you’re listening to 90 per cent
expositional dialogue. “And who’s to
support our niece Marian?” Aunt
Agnes (Christine Baranski) asked. “Me!
With the Van Rhijn money, which was
not achieved at no cost to myself... ”
We had a lot of this hand-holding
in a kind of who’s who, amid much
gliding camerawork, bustling strings
and elegant upholstery. And Aunt
Agnes and her spinster sister Ada
Brook (Cynthia Nixon) clicked nicely
as a double act. Nixon is a mildly
comical foil to Baranski, essentially the
“Maggie Smith” here, with a series of
disapproving looks — not least those
aimed at the arrivistes Bertha and
George Russell, moving into their
outrageous house across the street. A
war between Agnes and Bertha (Carrie
Coon) certainly has potential.
Then there are the young women
with their dangerously modern views.
Louisa Jacobson’s newcomer in town,
Marian, proved less a wide-eyed
ingenue, more a strong-minded
woman. That her new friend Peggy
Scott (Denée Benton) is black is
interesting precisely because she’s nota stock victim character and for
suggesting there was actually a black
middle class in 1880s New York.
There’s a lot going on in this Fifth
Avenue world, one where people
seem to be competing for who’s the
haughtiest — a party that Marian
visited was like a parade of preening
peafowl. The Gilded Age may prove too
soapy for Edith Wharton fans and
possibly not cosy enough for Downton
ones. The latter at least have a steady
sprinkle of Fellowes one-liners. The
railroad boss George told a chap he’d
just shafted: “I may be a bastard, but
you are a fool. I think I know which I
prefer. Good day to you, sir!”
This was an assured if overlong
start, and it’ll be interesting to see if
America takes to its own heritage in
the way it does Britain’s posho dramas.
Perhaps The Decade the Rich Won
is why the Tories are freezing the
licence fee. If part one did anything,
it reminded us that the Conservatives
are the “nasty party”. Sure, there was
a balance of talking heads, but the
facts about how the rich got richer
after the 2008 bank bailout won’t have
been good for anyone’s blood pressure.
Some of the politicos talked with
regret of drinking the “Kool-Aid” of
austerity policy. Not George Osborne.
“The bottom 20 per cent in Britain
while I was chancellor did better, their
wages increased.” Can he be right, or
is he still drinking his own Kool-Aid?America’s Downton gets off to an assured start
ALISON COHEN ROSAJames
Jacks on
TV review
The Decade the Rich Won
BBC2
{{{((
The Gilded Age
Sky Atlantic/Now
{{{{(
Christine Baranski in Julian Fellowes’s drama The Gilded Age