Curiously, or perhaps not so curiously, the final episode of Midweek (29 March), now pulled after a run of nearly 34 years, demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the Radio 4 chat show format in about equal parts.

To mark her valedictory outing, host Libby Purves had assembled the veteran pop chanteuse Suzi Quatro, the actress Harriet Walter, the screenwriter and director Richard Curtis and the former National Hunt jockey Declan Murphy, and almost immediately the  matter of harmonisation – here defined as finding something all four could happily talk about – hung ominously in the air.