the times | Tuesday May 17 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. A lighter take on Westminster
goings-on 1.00pm Mariella Frostrup 4.00
John Pienaar at Drive. In-depth discussion of
today’s news 7.00 Phil Williams. The day’s
news, sport and entertainment news 10.00
Carole Walker 1.00am Stories of Our Times
1.30 Red Box. Matt Chorley’s politics podcast
2.00 Highlights from Times Radio
Radio 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 9.00 The Jazz Show
with Jamie Cullum 10.00 Trevor Nelson’s
Magnificent 7. Seven of Rhythm Nation’s
biggest hits, uplifting tunes and essential
throwbacks 10.30 Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm
Nation. A mix of R’n’B and soulful tunes
12.00 OJ Borg 3.00am Radio 2’s Jazz
Favourites Playlist 4.00 Vanessa Feltz
Radio 3
FM: 90.2-92.4 MHz
6.30am Breakfast
Radio 3’s classical breakfast show, featuring
listener requests. 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 Essential Performers,
which focuses on conductor Zubin Mehta
12.00 Composer of the Week:
Vaughan Williams Today
Exploring how, just as Vaughan Williams was
being hailed as Britain’s greatest living
composer, he was suffering from a creative
block. Vaughan Williams (5 Tudor Portraits
— V. Jolly Rutterkin); (Two Hymn-Tune
Preludes); (Festival Te Deum in F); (Riders to
the sea — Act I: ”... and may he have mercy
on my soul”); (Serenade to Music —
Orchestral Version); and (Epithalamion —
The Lover’s Song) See Radio Choice
1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert
The Nash Ensemble performs Vaughan
Williams’s Piano Quintet and Bruch’s String
Quintet at LSO St Luke’s in London. Vaughan
Williams (St Denio — Scherzo); Bruch (String
Quintet in E flat); and Vaughan Williams
(Piano Quintet in C minor — 1903) (r)
2.00 Afternoon Concert
Rossini (Overture from The Barber of Seville)
Ulster Orchestra, Rafael Payare (conductor);
Berlioz (Harold en Italie — symphony for
viola and orchestra, Op.16) Antoine Tamestit
(viola), Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble,
Marc Minkowski (conductor); Josquin Salve
(Regina a 5) Stile Antico; Beethoven (Piano
Concerto no.3 in C minor, Op.37) Kirill
Gerstein (piano), NDR Elbphilharmonie
Orchestra, Alan Gilbert (conductor); Kurtag
(... quasi una Fantasia, Op.27’1) Kirill
Gerstein (piano), NDR Elbphilharmonie
Orchestra, Alan Gilbert (conductor); (Jacquet
of Mantua Dum vastos Adriae fluctus) Stile
Antico; Stravinsky (Firebird Suite — 1945)
Ulster Orchestra, Dinis Sousa (conductor);
Marianne Martinez Sant’Elena al Calvario (2
arias — Raggio di luce: Nel mirar quell sasso
amato) Ilona Domnich (soprano), BBC
Concert Orchestra, Jane Glover (conductor)
5.00 In Tune
The pianist Paul Lewis joins presenter Katie
Derham ahead of his concert at the Barbican
on Thursday. Including 5.00, 6.00 News
7.00 In Tune Mixtape
A non-stop mix of music, featuring old
favourites together with lesser-known
gems, and a few surprises thrown in
7.30 Radio 3 in Concert
Domingo Hindoyan conducts the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic in Prokofiev’s
wartime Fifth Symphony, composed in
1944 shortly after the Allied landings in
Normandy. Beethoven (Overture: Leonore
No 3); Sibelius (Violin Concerto)
María Dueñas (violin) Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra, Domingo Hindoyan
(conductor); and Prokofiev (Symphony No 5)
10.00 Free Thinking
Rana Mitter looks at a new play at the
National Theatre by Anupama Chandrasekhar
about the man who murdered Gandhi
10.45 The Essay: Poetic Provocations
Inua Ellams considers Kipling’s poem The
White Man’s Burden, the invention of race
and racism, how its myth was evidenced in
philosophy and biology in an endeavour
to prop up the colonial enterprise and the
slave trading industry, and how these beliefs
still play out in the world, during the
pandemic, across countries and cultures
and in the death of George Floyd
11.00 Night Tracks
An adventurous, immersive soundtrack for
late-night listening, from classical to
contemporary and everything in between
12.30am Through the Night The pianist
Alexander Lonquich performs Beethoven
with the Munich Chamber Orchestra
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
With Martha Kearney and Justin Webb
8.31 (LW) Yesterday in Parliament
9.00 The Long View
Exploring topical issues through history
9.30 One Direction
Jerry Brotton goes west (5/5)
9.45 (LW) Daily Service
9.45 Book of the Week: Empire of
Pain — The Secret History of the
Sackler Dynasty
By Patrick Radden Keefe (2/10)
10.00 Woman’s Hour
Conversation offering a female perspective
on the world, with Emma Barnett
11.00 Putin
How Vladimir Putin’s Covid-19 isolation
affected his thinking. Last in the series
11.30 Mary Portas: On Style
Interviews with designers Jenny Packham
and Dieter Rams. Last in the series
12.01pm (LW) Shipping Forecast
12.04 Call You and Yours
1.00 The World at One
1.45 The Future Will Be Synthesised
Examining the use of deepfakes in the
political arena (2/5)
2.00 The Archers (r)
2.15 Drama: An Accident That Wasn’t
Your Fault
By Margaret Perry (r)
3.00 The Kitchen Cabinet
With Melissa Thompson, Jordan Bourke, Sue
Lawrence and Dr Annie Gray (7/7) (r)
3.30 Costing the Earth
Qasa Alom explores how green this summer’s
big sporting events can be
4.00 Bound to the Mast
How some mental-health patients are
dictating how and when they are treated
4.30 Great Lives
The comedian Rob Newman nominates
Franklin D Roosevelt (7/9)
5.00 PM
5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast
6.00 Six O’Clock News
6.30 Daphne Sounds Expensive
The sketch trio hold a gala night (1/4) (r)
7.00 The Archers
Jakob is keen to keep things professional,
and Freddie feels defensive
7.15 Front Row
Arts programme
8.00 File on 4
Examining the rollout of the UK’s Homes for
Ukraine scheme (2/10)
8.40 In Touch
News for people who are blind or partially
sighted
9.00 All in the Mind
Exploring the limits and potential of the
human mind (4/10)
9.30 The Long View
Exploring topical issues through history (r)
10.00 The World Tonight
Presented by Ritula Shah
10.45 Book at Bedtime: Love Marriage
By Monica Ali (2/10)
11.00 Fortunately
Jane Garvey and Fi Glover chat to fellow
broadcasters
11.30 Today in Parliament
Political round-up
12.00 News and Weather
12.30am Book of the Week: Empire of
Pain — The Secret History of the
Sackler Dynasty (r)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.00 As BBC World Service
Radio 4 Extra
Digital only
8.00am The Goon Show 8.30 King Street
Junior 9.00 The News Quiz 9.30 Do Nothing
’Til You Hear From Me 10.00 The Raj Quartet
11.00 Bertrand Russell — The First Media
Academic? 12.00 The Goon Show 12.30pm
King Street Junior 1.00 Unnatural Death
1.30 The House 2.00 Clock Dance 2.15
Vanity Fair 2.30 Passing the Hat 3.00 The
Raj Quartet 4.00 The Museum of Curiosity
4.30 Do Nothing ’Til You Hear From Me 5.00
North by Northamptonshire 5.30 Just
William Live: William and the Musician 6.00
Mort 6.30 Soul Music 7.00 The Goon Show
7.30 King Street Junior 8.00 Unnatural
Death. Murder mystery, by Dorothy L Sayers.
Originally broadcast in 1975. Last in the
series 8.30 The House. Political thriller
serial by Christopher Lee. First broadcast in
October 1991 9.00 Bertrand Russell — The
First Media Academic? Robin Ince listens to
recordings and broadcasts of Bertrand
Russell 10.00 Comedy Club: Just William
Live: William and the Musician. Performed by
Martin Jarvis 10.30 The Nick Revell Show
10.55 The Comedy Club Interview. Paul
Garner chats to Andy Hamilton 11.00 What
Does the K Stand For? The return of the
sitcom by Stephen K Amos and Jonathan
Harvey 11.30 The Million Pound Radio Show.
Comedy, with Nick Revell and Andy Hamilton
Radio 5 Live
MW: 693, 909
5.00am Wake Up to Money 6.00 Breakfast
9.00 Nicky Campbell 11.00 Naga Munchetty
1.00pm Nihal Arthanayake 4.00 5 Live Drive
7.00 5 Live Sport 10.00 5 Live Golf 10.30
Nick Bright 1.00am Dotun Adebayo
talkSPORT
MW: 1053, 1089 kHz
5.00am Early Breakfast 6.00 Breakfast
10.00 Jim White and Simon Jordan 1.00pm
Hawksbee & Baker 4.00 Drive with Andy
Goldstein & Charlie Austin 7.00 Kick Off
10.00 Sports Bar 12.00 Extra Time
TalkRadio
Digital only
5.00am James Max 6.30 Julia Hartley-
Brewer 10.00 The Independent Republic of
Mike Graham 1.00pm Ian Collins 4.00
Jeremy Kyle 7.00 The News Desk with
Tom Newton Dunn 8.00 Piers Morgan
Uncensored 9.00 The Talk 10.00 Daisy
McAndrew 11.00 Piers Morgan Uncensored
12.00 Petrie Hosken 4.00am The Talk
6 Music
Digital only
5.00am Deb Grant 7.30 Lauren Laverne
10.30 Mary Anne Hobbs 1.00pm Chris
Hawkins 4.00 Steve Lamacq 7.00 Tom
Ravenscroft 9.00 Gideon Coe 12.00 Artist in
Residence 1.00am Joe Strummer’s London
Calling 3.00 Live Hour 4.00 Peel Acres
Virgin Radio
Digital only
6.30am The Chris Evans Breakfast Show
with Sky 10.00 Eddy Temple-Morris
1.00pm Tim Cocker 4.00 Gaby Roslin 7.00
Bam 10.00 Olivia Jones 1.00am Sean
Goldsmith 4.00 Steve Denyer
Classic 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. John Suchet marks the birthday
of the eccentric Erik Satie with his Three
Gymnopedies, inspired by an ancient festival
of dancing. Plus, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Brahms,
Sowande and Elgar 10.00 Smooth Classics
1.00am Bill Overton 4.00 Early Breakfast
Radio choice
Ben Dowell
Vaughan Williams
Today
Radio 3, noon
Donald Macleod’s fresh
and invigorating look
at one of Britain’s most
popular composers
(marking the 150th
anniversary of his birth)
continues all week.
Tonight’s episode is called
Turning Tides and follows
the composer who, in the
wake of the deaths of Elgar
and Holst in 1934, was
quickly hailed as Britain’s
greatest living composer.
However, as Macleod
argues, becoming the
musical face of the
establishment left him
estranged from a younger
generation of British
composers, with his creative
crisis exacerbated by the
slide towards war.
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I
f you have never read The Time
Traveler’s Wife (annoyingly
I am forced to use the American
spelling) then you may have
occasionally wondered what the
hell was going on in Steven Moffat’s
lush, witty but erratic adaptation.
Actually, even if you have read
Audrey Niffenegger’s novel, you may
still have been confused. Theo James
plays Henry, the titular time traveller,
in different timelines, his varying ages
signified only by (bad) wigs.
Henry, 28, appeared in the same
scene as Henry, 36, then with Henry
aged seven, which words on the screen
kept having to spell out for us. Luckily
James is charismatic and dextrous
in the lead male role, with good
comic timing and a toned gym body.
Dramas with fluctuating timelines
are frustrating and this has the added
annoyance of the characters speaking
directly to camera — although here it
can explain what’s happening.
Rose Leslie as Clare puts in a
strong, nuanced performance and
the dialogue is as sprightly and sharp
as you’d expect from Moffat. “Is that
your secret? That you’re a secret
asshole?” she asked the younger, more
arrogant Henry. “It’s kinda every man’s
secret,” he replied. Good line. He had
just suggested that all women are mad.
If the drama sometimes feels overly
abstruse and repetitive (to be fair, it’s a
complicated novel), it’s also successful
at drawing out how time travel is a
metaphor for relationships, mental
absence and commitment-phobia.
It’s an uneven watch, however, with
some things working well (such as
their domestic bickering) and others
not so well, like the occasional heavy
exposition: “So in my future I’m going
to start showing up in your past?”
Henry asks. Yes, for 14 years, 152 times.
There’s also the slightly queasy
business of Henry first meeting Clare
as an adult man while she is a child —
and he is naked. He effectively
grooms her to steal clothes for him
and eventually to be his wife. They
acknowledge that quite wittily, with
a reference to Clare grooming her
toy pony and Henry grimacing at the
word. But it gets better, episode two
featuring a hideous, random tragedy in
Henry’s life. Worth sticking around for.
Celebrity confessionals about
mental health are fashionable fare for
documentaries now, but they teach us
something about resilience. How Joe
Wicks has turned out — a force-of-
nature body coach — feels miraculous.
The son of a drug-addicted father and
a depressed mother with OCD, it
would have been textbook predictable
for him to go off the rails. But, as Joe
Wicks: Facing My Childhood showed,
instead he channelled his childhood
pain into rigorous self-discipline.
The Wicks family has confounded
the odds: his brothers didn’t spiral
downwards either and they still have
loving relationships with their mother
and father, the latter now clean. They
all got teary about the past. Gary, their
father, said he’d thought he was the one
suffering, never considering the impact
his addiction had on his children. But
he was self-medicating the depression
he’d had since he was a child.
It showed how life is more
complicated and surprising than we
think and being dealt a tough hand
can sometimes be your making.
A repetitive drama, but still worth your time
HBO
Carol
Midgley
TV review
Joe Wicks: Facing
My Childhood
BBC1
{{{{(
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Sky Atlantic/Now
{{{((
Theo James and Rose Leslie are charismatic in the lead roles