The team captains are Lee Mack and John Thomson. The funny voices are provided by Alistair McGowan and Ronni Ancona. The name of the presenter is in the title. The script uses the words “bessie” for best friend and “snog” for kiss. All of which leads me to wonder if this pilot of Gaby’s Talking Pictures (Thursday, 11pm, Radio 4) was originally done for Radio 2 and not Radio 4. It feels just a bit too breezy for the latter. Gaby Roslin’s quiz is ostensibly about film but, if I were writing the proposal, I would say the accent is on humour. The problem with humour on quizshows is that it only shows through after many episodes. Will this get that chance?
Alan Carr With Melanie Sykes (Sunday, 5pm, Radio 2) returns for a four-week stint on Radio 2 in the end-of-the-weekend slot. To mark the occasion they’re also guests on A Good Read (Tuesday, 4.30pm, Radio 4). The books are John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Malcolm Bradbury’s The History Man and Andrea Ashworth’s Once In A House On Fire. You’re welcome to speculate about who chose what.
John McCarthy’s exploration of the relationship between Van Morrison’s music and the people who listen to it, Music Extra: Van Morrison and Me (Sunday, 8pm, BBC World Service), includes not only an interview with novelist Ian Rankin, musician Glen Hansard and fellow Beirut hostage Brian Keenan, but also a chat with the man himself.
In the second episode of his new series Aftermath (Monday, 8pm, Radio 4), Alan Dein travels to Hyde to talk to people affected by the appalling crimes of Greater Manchester GP Harold Shipman. He talks to the journalist from the local paper who first broke the story, the family whose suspicions were first aroused by a suspect-looking will, the relatives of the victims who campaigned for a public inquiry and the doctor who took over Shipman’s practice. A chilling, salutary listen.
Frank Swain, who was diagnosed with deafness at the age of 30, has been using his hearing aid to work with sound artist Daniel Jones to detect and “sonify” the internet connections all around him. In Meet The Cyborgs (Tuesday, 11am, Radio 4) he talks to some of the people whose bodies have been similarly modified to do everything from detect colours to sense earthquakes.
If there were a real driving school with an instructor whose voice and manner was as soothing as the driving instructor Bill Paterson plays in Clutch, Throttle, Brake (Weekdays, 10.45am, Radio 4), they would be able to charge a premium for his services and would still have a long waiting list. He plays Ken, who’s charged with getting middle-aged teacher Nat (Samantha Spiro) through her third driving test despite the help of her mother, Suki (Alison Steadman). I’ve got nothing against cosy comedy-drama when it’s done as well as this piece by Christopher William Hill.
