Cold Case

Radio 4, 11am

Advances in DNA profiling have enabled police frequently to solve crimes that previously had them confessing themselves baffled, and here Penny Marshall reports from the cutting edge in a two-part series that considers individual cases as well as the latest from the labs. And it is in the details of the crimes themselves where the fascination of these programmes lies. In the first, Marshall follows the progress of a reopened rape case from 1987 that eventually led to the conviction and a six-year sentence for a Huddersfield man, Thomas Madigan. She sits in on the pre-trial preparation by detectives and the forensic scientists, learns what rebuilding a cold case involves, and returns to Yorkshire after Madigan's conviction to talk to his victim, now 69.

How Soon Is Too Soon?

1Xtra, 2.30pm

The consistently excellent documentary strand of 1Xtra's afternoon magazine programme Max reports on the differing ages of consent around the world. In Italy it's 14, in Tunisia it's 20, in Australia and America it varies from state to state - the marriage of the rocker Jerry Lee Lewis to his 13-year-old cousin in 1957 still makes strong men wince - while in Pakistan you have to be married to have sex. In this country it is 16, and here teenagers join a panel including Simon Blake, the chief executive of sexual health charity Brook, the human rights activist Peter Tatchell and Zoe Hilton of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to discuss the role of education in our understanding of, and attitudes towards, sex and whether the figure of 16 is too high, too low, or should be scrapped altogether.

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