Mark Radcliffe presents the first of two programmes exploring the personal life of Karen Carpenter, who died in 1983 and whose cheery, controlled and immaculately polished singing voice (as one half of legendary 70s pop duo the Carpenters) masked a deeply troubled spirit. With input from Phil Ramone, Herb Alpert, Nicky Chinn, personal friends and, in archive interviews, Karen and Richard Carpenter.

Yesterday Once More - the Karen Carpenter Story 8.30pm R2
Mark Radcliffe gets some varied work from R2. At Christmas time he was manfully trying to match Shane MacGowan's alcohol consumption and now he's switched his attentions to squeaky-clean Karen Carpenter. There's little point in writing (yet again) about the velvety sound of her voice but one of the interesting things revealed here is that she had a four-octave range and could just as easily have sung her songs high. So why didn't she? "Because the money's in the basement," she once told singer/songwriter Tom Bahler. There are lots of insights like this, plus archive radio interviews and, as you would expect, some great music. (Jane Anderson)