Radio Review: When Marian Keyes sat opposite veteran news journalist and Mastermind quizmaster John Humphrys for his new programme On the Ropes (BBC Radio 4, Tuesday) he sounded vaguely mystified as to why he should be interviewing a chick-lit writer.
His new series features interviews with people who have experienced a turning point in their lives. Humphrys's style is factual and chilly and he introduced Keyes as "a writer who has sold 10 million books, is rich and successful and at the age of 16 fell in love with alcohol and by the age of 30 tried to kill herself". Humphrys doesn't go in for the softly, softly business of making his interviewees feel comfortable. "I wouldn't normally say this to an author, but I haven't read any of your books," he said, sounding slightly superior.
Everyone listening to Keyes, including Humphrys, got more than they bargained for. It was a heart-rending, brutally honest interview as Keyes described in harrowing detail the development of her dependence on alcohol ("I had no moral centre, no North Star, I hadn't a clue how to function as a human being"); her denial ("I thought, 'I only drink wine I can't be an alcoholic'"); her treatment ("I ran out of the hospital with a drip in my arm, got into a taxi and got him to stop at the off-licence for a bottle of vodka"); and her eventual salvation through therapy ("I won't drink today and if tomorrow comes, I'll say I won't drink today").
She broke down when recounting her suicide attempt in London, but the interview went on. Keyes has a tinkly, girly voice that sounds more suited to giggly chat than harrowing personal revelations and that oddly made the interview all the more compelling. "Is writing a crutch?" asked Humphrys, not cutting her any slack. "No, my sobriety can't be dependent on that. If something goes wrong, do I drink? No. It can't be like that."
Like Humphrys, Brenda Power (RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday) has mastered the art of letting her interviewees talk without unnecessary interruptions, but unlike Humphrys her strength is her seriously empathetic style. She too is talking to people who have experienced turning points, and her guest on Wednesday was Lindsay Nicholson, whose husband, Observer journalist John Merritt, died of leukemia aged 35, leaving her with two young daughters. Soon after, one of her daughters, Ellie, also contracted leukemia and died after eight harrowing months.
Nicholson has written a book on the grieving process, Living on the Seabed, so called she said because grief sends you so low it's like being on the seabed and you just have to crawl around there for a while - but at least you can't fall any further.
"Did you ever ask 'why me?'" asked Power. "Actually when you spend so much time in hospitals and see illness and the people who are ill it's more like 'why not me?'," said Nicholson. Losing a loved one also means losing friends, she discovered, because people don't know what to say.
"We could do with your 'I'm sorry for your troubles'," she said. "People in England don't have anything like that to say; it gets you over the hurdle."
I'm hugely enjoying the impromptu competition raging in my e-mail in-box with readers clocking how long Ryan (or Brian as some callers have taken to addressing him) Tubridy can witter on without taking a break. One reader claims she timed him talking for an entire 10 minutes. And I believe her, because I counted nine minutes before I copped myself on and switched station. If there was a prize, I'd give it to that women for endurance.
Although if she gets through the wince-inducing two-hander Tubridy's developing with Jimmy McGee - on Monday "you're my security blanket, Jimmy" - then she deserves a bonus. Midway through the summer stint The Tubridy Show is still dire, despite some production tweaks. It doesn't help that even Tubridy seems to be showing signs of boredom. A listener called in on Monday with a good weather bulletin - yes indeed, the phone calls to the show are riveting. Tubridy, looking at the clock, commented "only 21 minutes until we're delivered into the arms of liberty". Posh-speak, surely, for "get me out of here".
On Wednesday, the normally sedate world of BBC Radio 4 fizzed with the sort of politically incorrect language that even EastEnders shies away from. Word 4 Word (BBC Radio 4, Wednesday) promises to be a fascinating series. It is attempting to map the current state of the English language, and the first programme canvassed listeners on slang names for people who wear designer clothes - "chavs" won hands down in that category - and for an unattractive woman. "Mingers" and "pikeys" topped the list and an Irish listener called in and offered "wagon", going on to say that "a nun is a covered wagon". "Hmm, I sense a Wild West theme there," replied presenter Dermot Murnaghan, momentarily sounding lost for words.