'Costing the Earth - Throwaway Food'
(BBC Radio 4, 9 to 9.30pm)
Alex Kirby finds out who is to blame for the eight million tons of wasted food that each year ends up on landfill sites, where it generates greenhouse gases. He asks if supermarkets should accept responsibility for urging people to buy more than they need.
15 September
'BBC Learning Zone: Dynamo - Key Stage 1, Science'
(BBC 2, 3 to 5am)
This science programme for children aged five to seven is one to set the video for.
16 September
'Five Live Report - Killing Me Softly'
(BBC Radio 5 Live, 12 noon to 12.30pm)
The programme investigates passive euthanasia - the withdrawal of medical treatment which leaves many patients to die of starvation and dehydration. It cites the example of David, a boy born with cerebral palsy. He slipped into a coma after medical staff gave him diamorphine to suppress the respiratory system and shorten his life because it was 'in the best interests of the patient'. But his mother pulled out the drug supply and she and her family revived David, who is still alive three years later.
'Tales from the Global Economy - Santa: Supply and Demand'
(BBC 2, 6.40 to 7.30pm)
Santa Claus is the patron saint of supply and demand. Round the planet production lines have been rolling all year, with the toy factories of China making 80 per cent of the toys sold at Christmas. The UK toy market is worth almost 2bn, with half that expenditure coming in the weeks before Christmas. The programme follows Daniel, Matthew and Rebecca to see how they succumb to six months of targeted advertising.
17 September
'Health Matters'
(BBC Radio 4, 8.05 to 8.30pm)
The popularity of Caesarian births in Brazil, and whether they are safer than natural childbirth, is examined in this first programme in a new series.
'A Child's World - The Lying Game'
(Channel 4, 8.30 to 9pm)
How and when young children learn the art of deception is examined in this second programme in a six-part series on children's development. The series consultant is respected child development psychologist Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith of the Institute for Child Health.
18 September
'Welcome to Britain'
(BBC 1, 10.35 to 11.15pm)
The first programme in a new series about the working of the UK Immigration Department. It follows the work of officials deciding who is and who isn't a genuine asylum seeker, the attempts made to round up illegal workers and failed ayslum applicants, life in a detention centre and the heart-breaking realities of trying to deport 30,000 people a year.
19 September
'Rugrats'
(BBC 1, 4.30 to 4.45pm)
Another episode of the popular children's cartoon series about a group of babies and toddlers who find high adventure in the everyday world around them.
