Scraps of Bacon

Radio 4, 11.30am

He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last, but Francis Bacon was one of the greatest artists to give away his work to settle outstanding debts, mostly of an alcoholic nature, while his income was “resting“. Among those interviewed by the novelist and documentary-maker James Maw are the owners of the defunct Wheeler’s Oyster Bar, where Bacon amassed such huge debts that he painted rare special commissions in lieu of payment.

A remarkable number of other Soho denizens must be kicking themselves that they didn’t hang on to his offerings when greatness stared them in the face and asked to be put on the tab.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Radio 4, 11pm

Series two of Dirk Maggs’s brilliant dramatisation and production of Douglas Adams’s cosmic sleuth, and if the first episode is anything to go by the next six weeks of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul should just surf by on a wave of surreal laughter.

It has to be admitted that knowing the book probably helps the listener to follow the plot, which seems at this early stage to be a bit all over the place.

We find Dirk Gently (Harry Enfield again, wonderful again) somewhat on his uppers (a scene in which he prizes the arrival of an envelope containing a charity appeal for the free pen that comes with it – very Ed Reardon, who himself returns next week, fans). We also discover that Odin, Thor and other gods have been reduced to appearing in commercials. No doubt it will all start to come together next week. But even if it doesn’t, who cares?

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