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Thursday 4 December 2008

Talking too much

Let's Talk About Sex (BBC Radio 2); The Jeremy Vine Show (BBC Radio 2); Something Understood (BBC Radio 4); Afternoon Play: Grace (BBC Radio 4)

As it happens, I’m really glad I tuned in to Vine’s programme. He’s quick-witted, charming and has a great sense of timing, knowing just when to cut off the phone-bores and ranters. But there was nothing much about sex talk and teenagers on his programme, nor did we hear from the real victims: those children born to teenage parents who can’t cope and who have no support from an extended family. A quick glance at the Radio Two playlist tells you all you need to know about the average age of its audience — Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac and Free with the odd concession to something contemporary, such as The Script, but nothing too dangerous. And their opportunities for education, work, family support meant that any hiccoughs in their life trajectories were not going to be too disastrous.

Parents of teenage rebels might have found solace on Radio Four on Sunday, when Mark Tully beautifully illustrated the delicate business of generational transition through his selection of readings and music for Something Understood, which this week focused on ‘Roots and Wings’. Tully was exploring the delicate question of how to balance love with the necessity of letting go; how to protect but not to crush the independent spirit of the child. We heard from the Hindu poet Champa Vaid, whose mother told her to remember that as a girl she should ‘Do whatever you are told to do/ Learn to cook and endure’, and the mesmerising choir, Libera, teenage boys from south London who have been given a new future by being given something to do, to sing.

The utter failure of words sometimes to convey the important truths was powerfully revealed in Monday’s Afternoon Play on Radio Four. In Grace, by Mick Gordon (who also directed) and the philosopher A.C. Grayling, Tom horrifies his mother (the eponymous Grace) by declaring that he wants to be ordained as a priest. Grace is a scientist and a fundamentalist atheist who cannot tolerate the idea of her son being seduced by religion, ‘the most pernicious source of conflict in our world today’. Tom, however, cannot deny what has happened to him, ‘this feeling’, this belief that has come over him. He can’t explain in terms that his mother would understand, he just knows what he must do. A stimulating debate for mid-afternoon on Monday, with a shocking and discomfiting dénouement. Life doles out its cards and leaves us no choice but to accept with what grace we can muster. The cast was impressive (with Paola Dionisotti as Grace and Will Keen as Tom), supported by original music (by Jon Frankel) and once again that elusive credit, ‘Sound Design’, this time by Simon Willey.

More articles from: Kate Chisholm | this section

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