(ITV 1, 3.45 to 4.15pm each weekday).
A new series for children based on the quirky ducks created by renowned artist Michael Bedard. The programmes take place in the whimsical world of Ducktown, where life is good, and one duck stands out from all the others - Bill, who waddles to a different beat. The other characters, including Aldo the Alligator and Fred, a mysterious heat-sensitive penguin, deal with human dilemmas in a way only animals know how.
'The Lost Girls'
(Channel 4, 9 to 10pm)
Every year in the UK around 10,000 people go missing and stay missing. This two-part series looks at how as a direct result of the Fred West case 139 families were reunited with missing family members with whom they had had no contact for years. Unfortunately few of the reunions were happy ones.
14 April. 'The Food Programme - the Look of Food'
(BBC Radio 4, 12.30 to 1pm).
Derek Cooper talks to food stylists and photographers about their work, and discusses if perfect images of food are more likely to deter people from trying to reproduce them than they are to tempt them to cook. He finds out from the supermarkets and the farmers who supply them how buying policies regarding shelf-life, transportability and product appearance determine the crops that are grown.
15 April. 'Book of the Week - Head over Heels in the Dales'
(BBC Radio 4, 9.45 to 10am each weekday).
School inspector Gervase Phinn reads from his latest book of memoirs that was published last month. With his customary warmth and humour he tells of his work in the primary and secondary schools of the North Yorkshire Dales. He deals with everything from a six-year-old who wants to know how to spell 'sex' to a 16-year-old with an impressive assortment of tattoos. As ever, Gervase's message is more than a series of jokes, and his enthusiasm for children and young people, and his passion for good teaching shine through.
16 April. 'Ritual' (BBC Radio 4, 11 to 11.30am).
Dr Gillian Rice looks at the relationship between human and animal ritual and the fine boundary between normal behaviour and severe illness. She looks at Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which affects up to 3 per cent of the population. People with this disorder become trapped in an endless cycle of ritual actions, such as a woman who became a recluse for ten years as she felt she was unable to leave her house for fear of contamination.
17 April. 'In Safe Hands'
(BBC Radio 4, 11 to 11.30am).
This second of three programmes following the work of one of the country's busiest child protection units. This programme features social workers in Nottingham as they spend time teaching parents how to manage their children's challenging behaviour and reconcile a range of problems including truancy.
