Radio Head - Talking to Strangers & Liza Tarbuck

I wonder why Sally Phillips and Lily Bevan's series of comic monologues Talking to Strangers (Radio 4) didn't go for a second series. The first series is being repeated on Radio 4, with a stunner of cast, including Emma Thompson, Jessica Hynes and Olivia Coleman, and though adapted from a stage show, it's impossible to tell as it works so well.

A monologue featuring a hungover flute player trying to tune in the first episode is both wonderful and mad.

On the theme of very funny women, we all talk to ourselves, but I doubt most of us are as entertaining as Liza Tarbuck on BBC Radio 2. Recommended by Jane Garvey on the Fortunately podcast, I approached it with a bit of scepticism. Silly. Tarbuck hosts her Saturday show solo, but she bounces around the studio, reading out texts and having conversations with herself, never mind the audience.

I was first swung by the great music - a mixture of motown, northern soul, reggae, rock 'n' roll and pop, with big hitters, but also lesser-known treasures and oddities that immediately get saved on the iPlayer Radio app. And she knows the music - really knows it. My favourite music show hosts don't just rattle off facts about the music, they say what it is they like about it, why it gets to them. Tarbuck doesn't flaunt her knowledge (though she clearly has it), but it's obvious she  feels very personally about what's being played. The fact that after two to three episodes are her surreal ramblings begin to bring as much joy as the music is pretty special too. It's been a long-time since I felt anything on Radio 2 was unmissable, since Mark Lamarr left. I certainly didn't expect it to be this.