Radio Previews

The English actor/director, Steven Berkoff, always causes a stir either due to his direct (some would say, rude) attacks on the middle classes or his sharp side comments on society in general. Therefore, his conversation about the music in his life with Sandy Burnett on Calling the Tune (Tuesday, 10 p.m., Lyric FM) should provide further insights into this intriguing character.

POM BOYD'S radio adaptation of her own stage play, Down Onto Blue, is the Play of the Week (Tuesday, 9.02 p.m., RTE Radio 1). An hilarious yet stinging look at contemporary Irish family life, this is the third in the Rough Magic series. Peter Caffrey and Deirdre Donnelly were among the cast when the play first hit the boards in the old Project Theatre five years ago.

Keen to check out the mood in Glastonbury this year? Well, the BBC is doing its public service bit by providing musical snatches and commentary for those who can't make it or simply wouldn't be cool enough to get past the gate into Britain's hottest music festival. Steve Lamacq and John Peel preview the acts and talk to some of the early arrivals at Worthy Farm, Somerset, in Glastonbury '99 (Thursday, 8 p.m.- 12 midnight, BBC Radio 1), while Zoe Ball (Friday, 6.30 a.m. and 9 p.m., BBC Radio 1) and Jo Whiley (Friday 12 noon, BBC Radio 1) decamp at the venue itself.

In the last of the current series of The Ancient Ark (Thursday, 9.30 a.m., BBC Radio 4), Joanna Pinnock explores some of the myths that developed around waterbirds. For example, in Celtic mythology, cranes were associated with wicked women and therefore feared and loathed, while swans held strong links with religious cults going back as far as the Bronze and Iron Ages.

What exactly would you choose if asked to send 10 things into the future? Travel writer Dervla Murphy provides her answer on Time Capsule (Tuesday, 7.35 p.m., RTE Radio 1).