Radio

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 17:16

BEFORE Torchwood returns to our TV screens with an impending apocalypse and a cast of scary zombie children, the Doctor Who spin-off can be found building momentum on the airwaves.

In three new episodes, Asylum, Golden Age and The Dead Line, the Cardiff-based combat squad comes up against a shoplifting teenager with a mysterious accent, an old flame of Captain Jack (John Barrowman) and retro phones that induce coma-like trances. Witness all by tuning in to Afternoon Play: Torchwood (BBC Radio 4, Wednesday to Friday, 2.15pm).

Prefer something a bit more rooted in the real? Try Drama on 3 – FALL by Zinnie Harris (BBC Radio 3, tonight, 8pm), a radio version of Harris' play from last year's Edinburgh Fringe. Set in an unnamed country in the aftermath of a war, the timely piece explores themes of justice and revenge through the story of Kate (Geraldine Alexander), a widow who gets caught up in a government conspiracy after learning that her late husband was a war criminal.

To the world of film and Gurinder, The Movie (BBC Radio 4, Saturday, 10.30am) is a one-off "soundtrack" of the early life of Gurinder Chadha, the British-Indian film director behind Bend It Like Beckham and Bride And Prejudice. Chadha was born in Kenya and grew up in Southall, west London. The programme looks at her home life and the dual identity she quickly established, celebrating the collision of cultures that make her films so entertaining.

Meanwhile, on Radio 2, it's all hair, flares and glitterballs as the station kicks off its Disco Season with The Donna Summer Story (BBC Radio 2, Saturday, 10pm).