Elisabeth Mahoney

A week in radio: Ken Dodd

Night Waves is always good, and often excellent. This week's stand-out programme was Matthew Sweet's interview with Ken Dodd. Yes, Ken Dodd. On Radio 3.

Henning Knows Best (Radio 2, Saturday), features comedian Henning Wehn - regularly hilarious as a guest on Radio 4's The Unbelievable Truth - looking at the British from a German point of view. The first programme was about class and, while there were some lines to make you smile (Wehn said his father told him to leave Germany in 1984 because all the jobs had been taken by "chirpy, lovable, violent Geordies" in Auf Wiedersehen Pet) much of it relied on flat cliches and we also had to suffer Peter York talking unfunny twaddle. "It's their bank balance," he said, asked for the defining clue to someone's class. Apart from a couple of nasty lines - working-class people used to be too busy working "to hunt for paedophiles or buy track suits from Sports Direct" - this was safe, obvious stuff.

My current favourite radio pairing is Mr Chairman (Chris Corcoran) and Rex the Caretaker (Elis James) on Social Club FM (Radio Wales, Friday), a very silly, very funny sitcom set in Britain's worst-performing radio station, broadcasting from a Welsh working men's club. They get into endless scrapes trying to outdo rivals Catholic Club FM and win listeners, but think they might be on to something with a new slot: Barry Island Discs. The first guest, a local PE teacher, chose eight records by Brotherhood of Man.

Radio review: John Peel's Shed

A lovely meander through a music fan's formative years and his love for radio.

Radio review: Spike Milligan - The Serious Poet

This study of the comedian's verse, much of it written while he was depressed, helped to highlight the loving and enchanting relationship he had with his daughters.

Radio review: Listen Against

Melvyn Bragg zips back into the past to rewrite history: just another quiet news day on the spoof show.

Radio review: I've Never Seen Star Wars

The format of this show is perfect for Ian Hislop's reputation for dodging much that's modern or wildly popular. Take jeans for example - he's never worn them.

New comedy, Mr Blue Sky (Radio 4), is about Harvey Easter, an eternal optimist. He walks to work one morning, and gets shot. "I suppose it's better than being stabbed," he chirrups.

Andrew Collins's comedy makes you smile rather than guffaw, but is full of warm, nicely observed lines. Harvey (Mark Benton) is maddeningly upbeat, and Rebecca Front plays his exasperated wife well. A neighbour repeatedly lights bonfires in the garden ("What are you burning," she yells, "Edward Woodward?"). Harvey looks on the bright side: "At least he's not burning tyres." And relations with his teenage son are improving: "I think he respects me now I've been shot."

Radio review: The Simon Day Show

New comedy set in a provincial theatre features the comedian in character- some old favourites, some new.

Radio head: Miranda Hart and Jon Holmes

Sharp, funny and properly disgusting, Hart and Holmes are an instant presenting yin-yang hit.