The Story Of Light Entertainment (BBC2); The Miracles Of Jesus (BBC1); Blizzard: Race To The Pole (BBC2): Radio, said Ed Stewpot Stewart at the start of The Story Of Light Entertainment, "was the mother of television - and they're still looking for the father."

The narrator was even more insistent about the importance of the wireless (a term that dates anyone who uses it). Radio, we were told, "created more entertainment formats, game shows and comedy stars than any other branch of show business".

The next 90 minutes set out to prove this by relating how television didn't kill the radio star, but only made them more rich and famous. Kenny Everett, The League of Gentlemen, Little Britain, Alan Partridge, Terry Wogan ... the list of radio voices and series that became successful on TV was seemingly endless.

So were the stories they had to tell, even if I thought several of those who appeared were dead and several others had aged so much they may well have been.

Those who moan that today's TV has gone downmarket should have heard David Jacobs recall the show Lucky Couple, which he said "was quite disgraceful really". It involved throwing bananas at a newly-married couple for reasons I couldn't understand.

Seeing a clip of Pete Murray introduce one of the first TV pop shows with the words "It's time to jive on the old six-five," was a real blast from the past.

The genius of Kenny Everett was praised by all and sundry, although Tony Blackburn was less enthusiastic about Noel Edmonds taking over his coveted Radio One breakfast show. "I don't think I was the nicest person in the world," he said. "I couldn't forgive him for being younger, talented and better looking than me."

Terry Wogan recalled writing, as a young presenter, to the then-controller of BBC2, David Attenborough, asking for a job as he wanted "to extend the sphere of my television activity". Attenborough turned him down on the grounds that he already employed one Irishman.

If the Radio Stars instalment of The Story Of Light Entertainment was a straightforward and fascinating documentary, the first part of The Miracles Of Jesus used every technical trick in the book to enliven a series that the makers obviously thought viewers would otherwise find tedious.

The camera constantly circled or rose above Rageh Omaar as he gazed at admittedly beautiful scenery and attempted to reveal the hidden meaning behind the miracles - feeding the 5,000, walking on water, raising the dead - performed by Jesus.

Alas, it would have taken a miracle for my concentration not to wander during the dramatic reconstructions and Omaar asking endless questions, while failing to supply the answers.

Blizzard: Race To The Pole is a re-run of the 1911 race to the South Pole by teams led by Amundsen and Scott. The former won the race, the later lost his life.

This recreation - "13 men, 1,400 miles of freezing snow and ice, 99 days" - hit a snag from the outset. Sled dogs are banned in Antarctica now, so the race is being staged in Greenland.

The dogs are proving troublesome as they're more concerned with humping each other and fighting than pulling sleds.

The musher for the Scott team is also hampered by not speaking the language in which the dogs were trained. "Okay, good doggies," just isn't good enough.