When Colin Murray left the BBC to present a show on TalkSport, I feared we would never again get to hear him do what he does best, which is present Fighting Talk (Saturday, 11am, 5 Live). Happily, though, he’s now back home. The format of the show is simple: a panel of pundits – usually comprising voluble journalists, egocentric comedians and former sporting stars struggling to keep up – are invited to riff on issues of burning interest to those of us who follow sport, while the chairman keeps order and awards points for their insights. Like all good panel games, the regulars want to win very badly. The job of Fighting Talk chairman is one of those that – on the face of it – any broadcaster ought to be able to do but, in fact, only one person can do really well. Over the course of its 13 years on the air, many prominent lads’ heroes have tried the chair, including Christian O’Connell, Johnny Vaughan and Josh Widdicombe, but nobody comes close to matching the mischievous energy of Murray. Competitors this week include former badminton star Gail Emms, comedian Ivo Graham and the most-feared adversary in the history of the programme, the veteran athletics correspondent John Rawling. He takes no prisoners.
On 1979 Day (Friday, 7am to 7pm, 6 Music) the digital music station devotes its entire daytime output to the records that first came out in that year, back when the singles charts were a broad church and indie music was yet to whoosh up its own fundament. From Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces and Ian Dury’s Do It Yourself to XTC’s Drums & Wires and Setting Sons by the Jam, among many others, they should have no shortage of good stuff to choose from.
In McLevy (Weekdays. 2.15pm, Radio 4), Brian Cox returns with his much-admired turn as the 19th-century Edinburgh detective of fact and fiction. In this story, a high-wire artiste at the circus receives a death threat; perfect listening for darkening afternoons. New listeners can get up to speed with Meet James McLevy (Saturday, 2.30pm, Radio 4).
Positively Pets is the latest wheeze from the fertile mind of Noel Edmonds. It’s a radio station aimed at pets, apparently. Though given that cats tend to wander off to seek out their own entertainment, one must assume the majority of its listeners will be dogs – the couch potatoes of the animal kingdom, whiling away the long hours between meals and walks. Sadly, it’s still in the development stage at the moment. In time, it will join Positively Plants, which provides sounds to make your plants grow; Positively Wedding, programmed with songs suitable for the happy couple’s first dance; and Positively Ocean, which gives you the sounds of the sea programmed with beats in such a way as to summon up delta and theta brainwaves. All these riches may be found at positivityradio.world.
