Radio: Pick of the Day

THERE ARE echoes of Alan Bennett in the Afternoon Play (2.15pm R4), Char March's monologue "People Come Here To Cry". It deals with Deborah, a middle-aged woman who visits her local crisis centre to receive counselling for an undisclosed problem. The pain is presumably supposed to seep through the determinedly brisk observations but it's the soulful performance of Sue Johnston's (right) that stops you weeping in disbelief.

In The Directors (10pm R2), Nora Ephron, the wisecracking first lady of romantic comedy, talks about her debt to her mother, Phoebe, and her non-macho approach to movie making - a good cappuccino machine for the crew can make all the difference, apparently.

Dominic Cavendish