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Liza Tarbuck and Ö÷²¥´óÐã 6 Music's Adam Buxton sit in for Jonathan Ross and are joined by English singer-songwriter Paul Weller, who plays live in the studio.

Presenters/Liza Tarbuck and Adam Buxton, Producer/Fiona Day

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Dale Winton counts down the charts from this week in 1976 and 1999, with hits from The Bay City Rollers, Marmalade, Barry White, Bon Jovi and Mariah Carey.

Presenter/Dale Winton, Producer/Phil Swern

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Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 2'S COMEDY HOUR
Radio 2's Comedy Showcase – Father Figure Ep 1/5

Saturday 10 April

10.00-10.30pm Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 2

Jason Byrne experiences a disastrous first day as a house husband

In the first of five brand new comedies, written especially for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 2 for the network's Comedy Showcase, Jason Byrne experiences a disastrous first day as a house husband in Father Figure.

The fast-paced sitcom is written by Jason Byrne and follows two series of his eponymous Radio 2 show, with additional material by Andrew Collins, whose writing credits include the Ö÷²¥´óÐã One sitcom Not Going Out.

The programme also stars Sharon Horgan (Pulling), Pauline McLynn (Father Ted), Michael Smiley, Paul Putner, and West End star Paul Nicholas (Just Good Friends).

The Comedy Showcase series highlights an array of comic talent, including Simon Nye, Caroline Quentin, Mathew Horne, Kevin Eldon, Stewart Lee, Liza Tarbuck, Tim Minchin, Miriam Margolyes, Michael Kitchen and Rhys Thomas.

Producer/Julia McKenzie

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Special guest Darden Smith performs acoustic versions of songs from his new compilation album, After All This Time.

The Texan born singer-songwriter has a varied musical legacy that embraces rock, pop, country, folk and Americana influences, with the musical roots of his home state. After All This Time draws prime cuts from all 10 of Smith's acclaimed studio albums, including his 1989 collaboration with Boo Hewerdine, and celebrates his 25 years in music.

Presenter/Bob Harris, Producer/Mark Simpson

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Catherine Bott examines the origins of opera

In the first of two programmes this weekend exploring the origins of opera, Catherine Bott examines the genre from its earliest days in the courts of Florence and Rome. Although it began life in these courts, it was in Venice that opera was truly born, and Catherine reveals the circumstances which surrounded its arrival there during the city's carnival season of 1637, and the reasons for its immediate success.

Tomorrow, Catherine looks at opera's success in the watery city, and the powerful role of the mysterious Accademia degli Incogniti.

Presenter/Catherine Bott, Producer/Sam Phillips

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Lucy Duran introduces iconic Brazilian singer Carlinhos Brown, recorded live in concert for World Routes in the Moroccan city of Agadir, and also features a set from veteran Jamaican reggae singer Max Romeo – both artists making their debut appearance in Africa.

The Timitar Festival in Agadir gives both of these artists a chance to fulfil a dream – to perform on the continent that both consider their spiritual home.

When Max Romeo released his song Wet Dream in 1969, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã never quite believed his claim that it was about a leaky roof, and the record was famously banned. In the Seventies he moved away from what he called his "saucy" songs and became a Rastafarian, writing songs such as War In-a Babylon.

Carlinhos Brown's music has its roots in religious music of the African Yoruba deities, but his style ranges far and wide. He is seen as hugely influential in Brazil, not only because of his music, but also because of his work in the favelas of northern Brazil, where he runs a music school.

Presenter/Lucy Duran, Producer/Roger Short

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Opera On 3 – Live From The Met: Die Zauberflöte

Saturday 10 April

6.00-9.30pm Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 3

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Adam Fischer conducts Mozart's Die zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), with Nathan Gunn as Papageno, Matthew Polenzani as Tamino and Julia Kleiter as Pamina.

Tamino, trying to escape from a huge snake, trips and falls unconscious. Three ladies appear and kill the snake with their spears. When he recovers, Tamino sees an odd-looking man entirely covered with feathers dancing towards him. It is Papageno, a bird-catcher. He tells the astonished Tamino that this is the realm of the Queen of the Night.

The gods have plans for Tamino, but first he must prove that he is worthy of admission to the Temple of Light. Luckily Tamino has the assistance of his magic flute and eventually overcomes the ordeals that are put in his way.

Presented by Margaret Juntwait with guest commentator Ira Siff, there are live backstage interviews with members of the cast during the interval.

Presenter/Margaret Juntwait, Producer/Anthony Sellors

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Writer Tahir Shah, who has made Morocco his home for the past six years, journeys deep into the heart of Morocco – the square Jma el Fna in Marrakech – in search of its centuries-old primal energy.

Jma el Fna may be a common tourist destination for the international hoards that descend on Marrakech, but it remains a very sacred and special place for Moroccans. In a meditation drawing together the storytellers, transvestite players, boxers, master musicians, cigarette sellers, snake charmers, medicine men and many more, Tahir explores the halkas, or circles, where they gather their crowds to enchant and engage.

The sounds of Jma el Fna tell their own story and as Tahir moves between night and day and from circle to circle, he looks for order beneath the apparent chaos; within it he finds an oral tradition and an ancient life-force defying the onslaught of mass tourism and globalisation.

Presenter/Tahir Shah, Producer/Neil McCarthy

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Harold Pinter, who went to Turkey with fellow playwright Arthur Miller to protest about the imprisonment and torture of intellectuals

In The Ambassador's Reception presenter Maureen Freely explores a journey to Turkey made by Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter.

Miller and Pinter went to Turkey in 1985 to protest about the imprisonment and torture of intellectuals.

The trip culminated in the pair being thrown out of the American Ambassador's dinner party held in Arthur Miller's honour. They were visiting Turkey to draw attention to the limits being set on freedom of expression at that time, and the many writers languishing in prison.

Writer and journalist Maureen Freely retraces their footsteps across Istanbul into the homes and meeting places of the Turkish literati who, in the Eighties, were oppressed, imprisoned and tortured for their opinions. Until then the world had turned a blind eye to their plight. Freely asks if Pinter and Miller's trip successfully drew attention to a regime that was persecuting its people or if hopes were raised only to be quashed again.

Maureen hears from painters, writers, and publishers – those who remember the trip vividly, those who were locked up for speaking their mind and the new generation of authors. She finds out whether Turkey is a better, safer and freer place to be a writer today than it was in the spring of 1985, or whether having an opinion that deviates from the official line remains a dangerous path to tread.

Presenter/Maureen Freely, Producer/Gemma Newby

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Ray Quinn stars as James in The Believers by Frank Cottrell Boyce, a comedy drama that follows a Merseybeat Christian pop band.

Set in the early Sixties, the band, The Believers, grapple with life and love as they seek to spread "The Word". But it would help if they were all singing from the same hymn sheet.

James and Billy are nice lads but they don't really get things together until they meet Debbie in a club. She might not be a "believer" but she's in love with music and has enough drive and ambition for all three of them. Managed by the pastor at their local mission hall, The Believers start to make an impression, not least because they have a female drummer. Then The Beatles have their first hit and the world goes crazy for the Merseybeat sound.

The Believers find themselves as the house band in a gambling dive in Leeds; a gambling dive that employs attractive young women dressed as rabbits to distract the punters from their inevitable losses. Can the band survive this eye-opening plunge into the seamy side of life at a time when the two boys discover a new passion beyond their faith in God? For James and Billy are both falling in love with Debbie.

The Believers also features Samantha Robinson as Debbie, Kieran Lynn as Billy, John Biggins as Warren, Rufus Wright as Reverend Michaels, Gary Bleasdale as Elder Wardle and Alison Pettitt as Jenny. Other parts are played by Joanna Monro, David Seddon, Laura Molyneux, Jill Cardo and Keely Beresford. The original music is by Carl Hunter, ex-bass player of The Farm, and Mel Bowen.

Producer/Toby Swift

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It's a tune just a few bars long and no one knows where it came from, but it was top of the pops in the 15th and 16th centuries, disappeared for 500 years, and then made a comeback in the past half century.

Musician and broadcaster Rainer Hersch investigates the puzzle of The Armed Man (L'homme armé) and unpicks the known facts about the tune and its words.

The musical powerhouse of Europe in the 15th century was based in Burgundy. The Ducal court outdid everyone else in splendour and power, and one tune caught the imagination of the court composers.

Early music specialists Catherine Bott and Andrew Kirkman think the original song may have been a warning against the threat of the warring Turks, following the fall of Constantinople in 1453. But it could equally have been a popular children's song or even the name of a pub frequented by some of those composers.

Whatever its origin, it became the big hit of that time, but then, like much of pop music, it just went out of fashion and disappeared.

Rainer tries to unravel the medieval puzzle, and then find out why the song suddenly burst back into life in the 20th century.

Christopher Marshall heard it in his New Zealand secondary school and some years later used it as the inspiration for a lively piece for wind band. Karl Jenkins was introduced to it during the Kosovo crisis 10 years ago, and composed his popular Mass For Peace.

Rainer traces the journey of the tune and the words – never far from the constant threat of war, while appearing in completely different musical clothes.

Presenter/Rainer Hersch, Producers/Merilyn Harris and Richard Bannerman

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In this week's Archive On Four, historian Alan Dein celebrates the centenary of his mentor George Ewart Evans, collector of Suffolk farming tales.

George Ewart Evans put the village of Blaxhall on the map and created a tradition of oral history in the UK, recording fireside chats. He began by chatting to his neighbours over the fireside in the Fifties and transcribing stories about poaching, shepherding, smuggling and ditching.

The talk was of a hardscrabble life, of leaky roofs and meals of pea soup and pollard dumplings and beef only at Christmas, with occasional festivities like the Whitsun fair.

Evans came from a Welsh mining village and he sympathised with the labourers' stories about the tyranny of the trinity of parson, squire and farmer. He was a sympathetic listener who allowed his community to speak for itself and he captured the stories of people whose traditions had been unbroken for generations; who worked on the land before mechanisation; who believed in magic and folk wisdom; and who had intuitive understanding of working with animals.

Evans's 11 books about the working lives and folk stories of Blaxhall are a portrait of every facet of his village and paved the way for books and programmes, both fiction and not fiction, about British agricultural life.

Alan Dein talks to people who remember Evans in the village of Blaxhall and to his son Lord Evans and youngest daughter Susan, as well as historian Owen Collins.

Presenter/Alan Dein, Producer/Judith Kampfner

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5 Live Sport

Saturday 10 April

12.00noon-7.00pm Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 5 LIVE

Mark Pougatch presents 5 Live Sport live from Aintree ahead of the 2010 Grand National. Mark has all the build-up to the big race plus all the day's sports news and live Premier League and FA Cup semi-final action.

There's coverage of the afternoon's 3pm football kick-offs, including Hull versus Burnley and West Ham United versus Sunderland in the Premier League, with updates from rugby union's European Rugby Cup quarter finals and reports from day three of golf's Masters in Georgia.

There's live commentary of all the day's big races at Aintree, including the Grand National at 4.15pm. 5 Live's racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght and former Gold Cup and Grand National-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald provide an indispensible guide to the races, with commentary from Luke Harvey and John Hunt.

At 5pm Mike Ingham, Alan Green and Chris Waddle are live from Wembley with live commentary of the weekend's first FA Cup semi-final, Aston Villa versus Chelsea.

Presenter/Mark Pougatch, Producer/Mark Williams

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Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted commentary of the third round of The Masters 2010 live from Augusta, Georgia, as Tiger Woods returns to championship golf.

The commentary team is led by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 5 Live's golf correspondent Iain Carter, alongside Andrew Cotter, John Murray and Alistair Bruce Ball; with expert analysis from Jay Townsend and Andrew Magee.

Producer/Graham McMillan

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5 Live Football League

Saturday 10 April

2.45-5.00pm Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Uninterrupted commentary comes from a leading game in the Championship, plus there are reports and goal updates from across the Football League.

Producer/Jen McAllister

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Rugby Union

Saturday 10 April

5.25-7.15pm Ö÷²¥´óÐã RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS EXTRA

Listeners can enjoy uninterrupted live European Rugby Cup quarter-final commentary on Munster versus Northampton.

Producer/Jen McAllister

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It's a Daptone Records showcase on The Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show.

Independent funk and soul label Daptone Records is home to the likes of Sharon Jones and has released records by Lee Fields and Binky Griptite. Craig Charles chats to founders Gabriel Roth and Neal Sugarman about creating the label out of the ashes of Desco and who they think are future stars of the scene.

Presenter/Craig Charles, Producer/Hermeet Chadha

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Richard Allinson and Steve Levine look at the work of former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. Bernard talks about his early days with the band along with his production credits for Duffy, Kate Nash, Fyfe Dangerfield and others.

The programme includes rare access to demo recordings from both Suede and Duffy, while David McAlmont talks about his collaborations with Butler. Lead singer with Texas, Sharleen Spiteri, also comments on Bernard's work on her 2008 debut solo album Melody. Steve Levine analyses the original multi-track recording of one of McAlmont And Butler's biggest hits and talks with Fyfe Dangerfield about the construction of his recent Butler-produced hit She Needs Me.

Presenters/Richard Allinson and Steve Levine, Producer/Steve Levine

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Tom Robinson presents two hours of under-the-radar new music found on the internet. His guests are Brighton's angular agitators Crooked Mountain, Crooked Sea. Tom also plays session tracks from utilitarian digital marching band Gyratory System, plus all manner of new and surprising musical tips from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing fraternity.

Presenter/Tom Robinson, Producer/Tom Whalley

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Raj and Pablo bring listeners the latest news from Bollywood. This week, the duo speak to Bollywood's rising star Vivek Oberoi, talking about his role in Prince, the latest Indian blockbuster to hit screens.

Vivek discusses his action-hero role and shares his thoughts on appearing alongside three female megastars, one of whom is British-Asian actress, Aruna Sheilds. Combined with the latest gossip and features, this is a must-listen for Vivek Oberoi fans.

Presenters/Raj and Pablo

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