Saturday Play - Mary Poppins BBC Radio 4, 2.30 to 3.30pm
Poised, punctilious and practically perfect in every way, Mary Poppins brings her own magic to the role of nanny. This radio production is based on several of PL Travers' stories that have never been dramatised before and features Juliet Stevenson in the title role.
Bush Lessons BBC Radio 4, 7.45 to 8pm
Diaries by overseas volunteer Ruth Charlton, who spent a year working in a remote school in the Limpopo province of South Africa. With no teaching experience and no common language, how do you explain the concept of birthdays and Christmas to a group of six-year-olds? Continues on 4 January at 5.40pm.
4 January America's Fattest City Channel 4, 9 to 10pm
Everything's bigger in Texas, including the people. Obesity has become public enemy number one, and for the past three years Houston has been named America's Fattest city - two-thirds of its population are overweight.
5 January Tonight with Trevor McDonald - Back to the Ration Book ITV 1, 8 to 8.30pm
In the first of two programmes, 30 children try to cope with living on 1940s rations. Their current food intake is analysed, then they are shown getting to grips with their new diet, which bans processed foods and doubles their vegetable intake.
Second City Sitting BBC Radio 4, 8.30 to 9pm
A dawn-to-dusk portrait of England's second city, Birmingham, as seen through the eyes of people who find themselves sitting in the city.
6 January
The Choice BBC Radio 4, 9 to 9.30am
Jill Clough was head of an independent school for 14 years. Here she talks to Michael Buerk about her decision to return to the state sector to take on a failing 'fresh start' school in Brighton. Repeated at 9.30pm.
Front Row BBC Radio 4, 7.15 to 7.45pm
Mark Lawson fronts the arts programme that includes the announcement of the best novel, best first novel, poetry collection, biography and children's book in the Whitbread Book Awards.
7 January
Brilliant Creatures ITV 1, 4.10 to 4.30pm
In this new series, Gail McKenna and Stephen Mulhern look at amazing animals from all over the world. This programme features a climbing leopard, a dog that swallowed a butter knife, and some do's and don'ts of animal ownership.
Binding Love BBC 2, 10.30 to 11.30pm
There are currently 250,000 parents who have learning difficulties in the UK and Government policy aims to keep these families together by providing them with appropriate support. Yet more than half of the children still end up in care. This documentary follows a young couple with learning difficulties who are determined to bring up their child together, having already lost three children between them who are being brought up by relatives.
