Some things are better heard on radio, than seen

A double dose of BBC1 drama at the weekend (Silent Witness, Casualty) left me wondering whether there’s a link between the falling crime figures announced last week and the levels of blood and bestiality now showing nightly on TV. With so much violence available at the switch of a button, who needs to create their own? (Bear with me, the connection with radio will soon become apparent.) What surprised me was not just the amount of violence but also the lack of any real motivation. It was all completely unbelievable (in spite of the best efforts of the make-up department) and meaningless, and as a consequence mind-numbingly dull. Which is why it’s such a relief to turn on the radio on Sunday afternoon and be taken into the no less nasty, if a lot less bloody world of Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Chronicles (Radio 4).

Set in a cathedral close in the imaginary county of Barsetshire, these tales of Anglican life are fuelled by malicious gossip, gleeful snobbery, overweening ambition and devious doings — all of which we come across every day.