The Best Shows On The Radio
5 Live Boxing With Costello & Bunce
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a long-time fan of the sport or have only just had your interest piqued by Tyson Fury’s recent heroics. Insider knowledge, razor-sharp insight and a great relationship make commentator Mike Costello and pundit Steve Bunce the best pairing in the boxing business. Tune into their lively half-hour radio show – Tuesday nights, usually – or download the podcast for a deeper dive.
Radio 5 Live
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The Arts Hour
Expand your horizons with this eclectic magazine show. With a remit to bring arts from around the world to a new global audience, its recent editions have been built around career-spanning interviews with the likes of Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx and Samuel L Jackson. Alongside the big names, eye-opening smaller items have showcased Pakistani musicians, Irish sculptors and the role of superheroes in society.
World Service
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Desert Island Discs
If it ain’t broke… The Desert Island Discs formula was established in 1942 and the only thing that’s changed since is the presenter. It’s now Lauren Laverne asking distinguished guests for the eight recordings, book and luxury item they’d take with them if they were cast away. The show’s currently on a corona-enforced break, but the Beeb’s website offers more than 2,000 episodes for you to wade through. Recent highlights include Laverne’s interviews with Wendell Pierce (The Wire) and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.
Radio 4
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The First Time With…
Matt Everitt was once the drummer in short-lived Britpop band Menswear. Today, he’s a friendly radio interviewer who specialises in coaxing big names into telling all about their musical heritage. Guests have included Liam Gallagher, Dave Grohl and, most recently, Devendra Banhart talking about growing up in Venezuela and discovering The Smiths.
Radio 6 Music
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In Our Time
Proudly billing itself as ‘Never knowingly relevant’, In Our Time has been telling the history of ideas for more than two decades. Completely ignoring the news of the day, each episode zooms in on a niche historical, philosophical, religious, cultural or scientific topic – and dives deep. Presenter Melyvn Bragg gathers a panel of world-class academic experts, challenging them to explain and defend their position on their specialist subject, which could be anything from the evolution of horses to the 18th-century gin craze.
Radio 4
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In The Studio
This World Service programme engages some of the most creative minds on the planet. Artists, writers, sports stars, musicians, DJs and designers try to explain the processes that enable them to break new ground in their work. One episode, you might meet the engineers working on Aston Martin’s first-ever SUV; the next, it could be an encounter with Timberland streetwear designer Jeff Staple.
World Service
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Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review
Mark Kermode used to have a small film review slot on Simon Mayo’s Radio 5 Live show. It worked so well that, even with the show itself now gone, the pair still hook up weekly for Friday-afternoon film reviews and movie-related chatter. For the duration of lockdown, there’s the usual nerding out, as well as an emphasis on interviews (Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Sheen have both phoned in) and tips on the best movies to be streaming right now.
Radio 5 Live
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The Life Scientific
Professor Jim Al-Khalili chats life and work with some of the world’s leading scientists. He probes them for their inspirations and motivations, asking them how their discoveries might change the world down the line. Recent editions have looked at how pollen can help detectives understand murder scenes and whether the human mind is a machine.
Radio 4
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Movie Mixtapes
Ali Plumb is Radio 1’s in-house film geek. As well as keeping the station’s listeners across all the latest movie news, he builds the playlists for its Movie Mixtapes show. Carefully themed episodes have recently spanned Quentin Tarantino films to a special driving edition, as well as rival superhero playlists of songs from the Marvel and DC universes.
Radio 1
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Start The Week
Every Monday morning at 9am sharp, Radio 4’s Start the Week gets to grips with a significant cultural issue. Presenters rotate – Andrew Marr and Amol Rajan are among the regulars – and so does the expert panel. Some of the issues can feel quite pressing – sexual politics, to give a recent example – while others feel more timeless: in the last couple of months, episodes have also looked at nature worship, money and morality, and man’s love of home.
Radio 4
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Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone
This mind-bending Sunday-night show is the place to come for an adventure in underground and experimental music. Veteran presenter Stuart Maconie has a fine ear and an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject: recent editions have focused on albums as diverse as John Coltrane’s jazz masterpiece A Love Supreme and Pere Ubu’s post-punk classic Dub Housing. If one musical trip a week isn’t enough for you, Radio 3’s similarly daring and excellent Night Tracks also takes its listeners deep into uncharted territory.
Radio 6 Music
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