Radio

Published on Friday 14 August 2009 17:01

RADIO 1 has come under fire recently. Shadow minister for culture Ed Vaizey wants the station to be sold, believing it fails to reach its target audience of teenagers and twenty-somethings (the station is to re-jig its lineup from next month).

A seemingly expensive TV campaign featuring Scott Mills looking ridiculous in a King Arthur get-up hasn't helped. But the station has its moments. Zane Lowe Presents… Arctic Monkeys Live From Maida Vale (BBC Radio 1, Monday, 7pm) is a two-hour special with the Sheffield band playing tracks from their new album, Humbug.

Scottish filmmaker Gillies Mackinnon, who recently directed the TV drama Zig Zag Love (starring Robert Carlyle), makes his radio drama debut on Friday. Flesh and blood (BBC Radio 4, 9pm) is set in Glasgow, where a teenage boy leaves home without explanation. His father Kenny responds by cycling obsessively and dropping sandwiches into bins wherever his son has been "sighted", and keeps the boy's absence a secret from his ex-copper grandfather. Gary Lewis and David Hayman star.

Highlights of this week's Proms coverage include a two-day residency from the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Described as "an orchestra against ignorance" for bringing together young Arab and Israeli musicians, it culminates in a performance of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, in Prom 50 (BBC Radio 3, Saturday, 7.30pm). Prom 45 – Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (BBC Radio 3, Tuesday, 10pm) is also worth a listen for quirky renditions of Wagner and Beethoven.