TV and radio

'Moral Notes - Family Life'

(BBC Radio 4, 11.30am to 12 noon)

Simon Brett explores how the Victorians perfected the use of popular song as a way to reflect values, morality and beliefs. He looks at how the image of family life as a happy gathering presided over by fond parents began in the 1840s and notes how, behind the facade, songs chart the shift from obedience to disaffection.

'Word of Mouth - To Correct or Not to Correct'

(BBC Radio 4, 4 to 4.30pm)

Michael Rosen asks whether pointing out our children's mistakes gives them a grammatical head start or stifles a natural process.

'Fingertips'

(ITV, 4.05 to 4.25pm)

Fearne Cotton and Stephen Mulhern present a programme full of things for children to make and do, including how to make biscuits, balance anything from jets to elephants and bake in plant pots. Another programme in the series is on Friday at the same time.

12 January

'The Simpsons - Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala (annoyed grunt)cious'

(BBC 2, 6.20 to 6.45pm)

In this episode of the series about the world's favourite family, the Simpsons hire a Mary Poppins-like nanny after Marge becomes overwhelmed by the demands of being a housewife and mother to Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

15 January

'Book of the Week - The Boys are Back in Town'

(BBC Radio 4, 9.45 to 10am weekdays)

Pip Torrens reads Simon Carr's provocative and amusing account of how he raised his two sons in a household without women. After his second wife died, Simon Carr brought up his two boys in an environment that he calls 'free-ranging and semi-feral'. The story reveals how Simon and his sons learned from each other about how to live their lives.

16 January

'The Really Wild Show'

(BBC 1, 4.20 to 4.35pm)

In this edition of the popular children's wildlife programme, Michaela Strachan travels to Ecuador in South America, where she attends a crazy tea party at Saiananda Wildlife Sanctuary and meets unusual guests including colourful macaws, Paloma the white-tailed deer and Shanti the donkey. Nick Baker also investigates the fate of the Andean condor, a huge bird of prey, and discovers that there are only 75 left in Ecuador.

17 January

'Signs of Life - The New Controller'

(BBC Radio 4, 9 to 9.30pm)

Dr Jill Wellborne, an expert on anorexia nervosa, looks at what happens to the body when it is starved and explains the science of famine. A former anorexia sufferer details the changes that occurred to her mind and body when she was suffering from this eating disorder.

18 January

'Analysis'

(BBC Radio 4, 8.30 to 9pm)

As many health scares turn out to be exaggerated or even untrue, society's confidence in political and scientific advice is dangerously undermined and people tend to become increasingly complacent. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto examines the vagaries of health prevention and discusses the idea that health scares are justifiable because people's good health is precarious and improperly understood.