Afleveringen
-
The tenor Russell Watson's remarkable career took him from playing from working mens clubs in Salford to performing at the Vatican. But his life hasn't been completely charmed - he discusses the brain tumour that threatened his life as well as his voice and how he found his way back to centre stage.
Jackie Kay is one of the UK's most lauded poets who turned to writing as a child as a sanctuary from the difficulties of life as an adopted, if much loved, half-Nigerian child in Scotland. A new BBC One documentary tells her story "In Her Own Words"; we'll be asking why she wanted to do that.
Doctor-turned-comedian-turned-author Adam Kay’s first book This Is Going To Hurt sold over 3 million copies and was adapted into a multi award-winning TV series. Now he's taken another career turn into children's fiction with a new character – Dexter Procter, the ten year old doctor.
As an actress Deborah McAndrew played Angie Freeman on Coronation Street in the 1990s. She left the Rovers Return behind long ago for a career as a writer and her latest play tells the story of the night an Unidentified Flying Object landed near Stoke-on-Trent's Bentilee housing estate. The show draws on multiple eyewitness accounts from the time to create a warm and funny depiction of an extraordinary event happening to very ordinary people.
Plus music from The Lemon Twigs's latest album A Dream Is All We Know.
Presented by Nihal ArthanayakeProduced by Olive Clancy
-
From Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in Stirling.
Richard Armitage’s CV is already packed with roles, including a string of stellar acting credits in the likes of The Hobbit, North and South, Robin Hood, and Spooks. Now he’s added author to the list with his debut novel Geneva.
Ambrose Parry is not one writer but two – it's the penname of internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, Dr Marisa Haetzman. The married couple write books inspired by the gory details Marisa uncovered during her History of Medicine degree.
One of the writers on this year’s Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year shortlist is Suzy Aspley. She started her writing career at the festival when she won its Pitch Perfect competition, and released her spooky novel Crow Moon earlier this year.
With music from Scottish singer-songwriter Rianne Downey, and Chloe Matharu who is both a Merchant Navy Navigational Officer and singer-songwriter and harpist.
-
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
Sir Ian Rankin’s much-loved detective Rebus has had a big year, with a fresh BBC TV adaptation in the summer, and now a return to the stage. Clive Anderson hears about new play Rebus: A Game Called Malice which was written by Sir Ian and Simon Reade, it's touring the UK.
Michelle McManus chats to poet and women’s rights advocate Len Pennie who rose to fame on social media during the pandemic when she shared her Scots words of the day. Her first book Poyums is a collection of funny and fiercely feminist poems.
Northern Irish comedian, actor and podcaster Shane Todd has a loyal fanbase as the host of the Tea with Me podcast and with sell out shows across the world, including opening for the likes of Kevin Hart. He’s currently embarking on his eleventh solo show – Full House.
With music from musician and singer Kim Carnie, whose newest project is documentary Kim Carnie Out Loud which explores her experience of hiding a six year same-sex relationship. She meets other LGBTQ+ folk and creates songs around their stories.
Plus Bathgate singer and Scottish Music Awards Breakthrough-winner Luke La Volpe.
-
Elaine C. Smith has delighted audiences for decades, including work on TV shows like BBC Scotland’s Two Doors Down. In her latest project she joins the touring cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and takes on a character that used to terrify her - The Childcatcher.
Claire Love Wilson is a Scottish-Canadian theatre-maker, actor, and singer-songwriter whose semi-autobiographical show Morag, You’re A Long Time Deid is inspired by the story of a grandmother she never met, and explores queer history from fragments of a recently forgotten past.
Glaswegian stand-up Christopher Macarthur-Boyd had a total sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 and 2024, and is about to take his Scary Times show on tour across the UK and Ireland.
With music from Irish country sensation Nathan Carter, and soul and pop singer Becky Sikasa.
-
Actress and singer Su Pollard’s new tour Still Fully Charged celebrates her 50 years in showbiz – she catches up with Michelle McManus about what keeps her hooked, and being beaten by a dog in a talent competition. Clive Anderson chats to comedian and actor Chris Grace. He’s returned to Edinburgh after his sold-out 2023 run, this time with a packed out performance schedule including his new show Sardines (A Comedy About Death). Award-winning non-fiction writer Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel Hagstone sees an artist discover a commune of women on a remote island – she discusses the inspirations behind it.
With music from comedian and actor Catherine Cohen, and Irish singer and musician Camille O’ Sullivan.
Presented by Clive Anderson Co-host: Michelle McManusProduced by Caitlin Sneddon
-
Clive Anderson is joined by comedian Jason Byrne who returns to Edinburgh for his 28th consecutive Fringe with No Show, a performance that will be totally new each night. Playwright and actor David Ireland’s award-winning plays Cyprus Avenue and Ulster American have had success across the world. His latest play The Fifth Step stars Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder as they navigate the road to recovery. Shetland comedian Marjolein Robertson’s show titled O is full to the brim with blood as she explores her fascination with her own funeral and her near death experience. My English Persian Kitchen is the true story of losing a homeland, and building a new life and community around the tastes and aromas of an Iranian kitchen. Isabella Nefar chats about starring in the play, and cooking on stage.
With music from Scottish violinist and composer Catriona Price and Two Hearts, AKA New Zealand's hottest comedy pop-music duo Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore.
Presented by Clive Anderson Produced by Caitlin Sneddon
-
From the Edinburgh Festivals, Clive Anderson and Michelle McManus talk to actor, comedian and family favourite Bobby Davro about his beginnings in TV entertainment, his acting journey and finding comedy through tough times – something he explores in his show Everything is Funny...If You Can Laugh at It. Lara Ricote, a former winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer prize, chats about her Fringe run of Little Tiny Wet Show (Baptism) which looks at the complexities of relationships. Plus Australian actor, writer, and director Virginia Gay – she's a familiar face on the small screen down under, and makes a return to Edinburgh with her gender-flipped version of Cyrano.
With music from critically-acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk, and a performance from gig-theatre production A Giant on the Bridge – featuring Jo Mango and Louis Abbott (of Admiral Fallow), alongside fellow Scottish musicians Raveloe, Solareye and Goodnight Louisa.
Presented by Clive Anderson Produced by Caitlin Sneddon
-
This week Stuart is joined by Jon Holmes who's producing a new play at the Edinburgh Festival - which explores what happens when the camera moves on from a relationship forged on a Love Island-style reality show.
And there are definitely some strained relationships in the second series of House of the Dragon - but they're more the kind that result in being run through with a sword. Breakout star Ewan Mitchell tells us about working on the blockbusting Game of Thrones spin-off.
Julia Fordham joins to perform for us and share some of her insights into the relationships that are meant to last - and Kym Marsh talks about bringing a classic Disney villain to the stage in a touring production of 101 Dalmations.
Presented by Stuart MaconieProduced by Kev Core
-
Clive Anderson and Emma Freud present Loose Ends from Latitude Festival in Suffolk. They'll talk to the actor-turned-musician Damian Lewis who will discuss his latest album Mission Creep and why he's chosen to go back to his musical roots when he could have rested on his Hollywood laurels as the star of Homeland and Billions. The UK's favourite choirmaster Gareth Malone on a new tour of Sing-Along-A-Gareth and his special connection to Latitude. The director Rachel Ramsay on her Grierson award shortlisted documentary - The Lost Lionesses - about the 1971 unofficial Women's World Cup which was watched by record audiences but subsequently largely erased from sporting history. And the comic Elf Lyons who studied at a Parisian clown school where she learnt the fine art of "bouffon" - a performance style based around mockery - that she works into stand up shows that have been hailed as "unhinged brilliance". Plus, as we're recording at the BBC Introducing stage, we have fresh new music from Indie pop sibling duo Esme Emerson and from Americana led singer-songwriter Gia Ford.
Presented by Clive AndersonProduced by Olive Clancy
-
Clive will talk monkeys, masks and improvisation with comic Nina Conti who is honing a brand new show Whose Face is it Anyway? and about to release her directing debut a feature film called Sunlight; Chef Tom Kerridge's been on a culinary tour of the UK for a new cookbook and TV show and has plenty to say about our food, farming and how to pronounce "scone"; Actress Samantha Spiro stars in an acclaimed new RSC production of "Shakespeare's sitcom" - The Merry Wives of Windsor - where the women get the last laugh; Best selling crime writer Donna Leon on her much-loved detective hero Commissario Brunetti and why she's been moved to become an "eco-detective" herself. With music by Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Plínio Fernandes ahead of their appearance at the BBC Proms and from That Woman, aka Josie from Oh Wonder who is realeasing a solo album.
Presented by Clive AndersonProduced by Olive Clancy
-
The actor, producer and now memoirist Griffin Dunne on growing up in Hollywood in a family of literary stars including his aunt Joan Didion, on his own screen success opposite Madonna in Who's That Girl and in After Hours and the real-life tragedy that changed his life forever. Soft Cell front man Marc Almond on his early days as a subversive performance artist, mellowing into music that showcases his voice and his trip to the palace to get his OBE. In the decade since publishing her first psychological thriller, Ruth Ware's become an international best-seller, with her stories optioned for Hollywood movies and published in 40 languages. Now she's curated Harrogate Crime Writing Festival and has plenty to say about new trends, the enduring popularity of the genre and the forthcoming Netflix movie of her book The Woman in Cabin 10 starring Kiera Knightley. The comedian, Taskmaster champion and Celebrity Mastermind Sophie Duker advocates self delusion in her new show - But Daddy I Love Her - arguing that we should all opt for hot fantasy rather than cold hard reality. How will that work? Plus music from Tyneside singer-songwriter Nadine Shah's album, Filthy Underneath.
Presented by Stuart MaconieProduced by Olive Clancy
-
Stuart is joined in the Salford Loose Ends studio by the Welsh Sprinter Iwan Thomas, who held the UK 400m record for 25 years. His new memoir 'Brutal', tells his story - one of speed, the drive to succeed and an extremely high tolerance for pain. . Comedian Chloe Petts is gearing up for the Edinburgh Fringe, and in perhaps the ultimate highbrow/lowbrow combination; she's just presented a series on Radio 4 on the history of the toilet.
Raghu Dixit is an independent Indian artist, soundtrack composer and former Microbiologist. His new album 'Shakkar' has been inspired by his personal struggles, but spreads a message of joy and kindness. Kiiōtō is the new project by singer songwriter (and former Lamb vocalist) Lou Rhodes and musician and songwriter Rohan Heath, formerly of the Urban Cookie Collective. They are just about to release their debut album 'As Dust We Rise'.
Anna Ptaszynski joins us for some sport fact ephemera and Lottie Gross talks about where to take your dog on holiday.
Presenter: Stuart MaconieProducer: Jessica Treen and Kev Core
-
Joining Stuart in our Salford studio are Charlie Higson. After writing several books in the bestselling 'Young Bond' series, Charlie has written his first Bond for Adults. Stand up Bilal Zafar's new show 'Imposter' is about a once harmonious house-share that goes very wrong and Pravesh Kumar has written 'Frankie Goes to Bollywood', a new musical about an everyday girl from Milton Keynes plucked from obscurity to live the life of a bollywood star.
Music this week comes from English Teacher, dubbed 2024's hottest new guitar band, and tik-tok sensation, classical guitarist Alexandra Whittingham.
Presenter: Stuart MaconieProducer: Jessica Treen
CHARLIE HIGSONCharlie Higson is an author, actor, comedian and writer for radio and television. He is the author of five beloved Young Bond books, starting with Silverfin in 2005. He’s also the author of the ‘Enemy’ series of Young adult Zombie adventures and the crime thriller ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Night’. He’s also one of the brains behind one of the best comedy series of the 90’s, ‘The Fast Show’, which recently completed a 30th anniversary tour.
A New Bond for a new Monarch, Charlie Higson’s first ‘Adult’ Bond – On His Majesty’s Secret Service was written in double quick time for the coronation and is inspired by researching his history podcast. Higson’s Bond is very much a man of 2023 – he’s in tune with his gut biome, but he’s still got the car, the gadgets and the girl.
ENGLISH TEACHERLeeds based ‘English Teacher’ have been hailed as 2024’s hottest new guitar band, but they’ve spent time honing their craft - they’ve been playing together since meeting at the University of Leeds at 2018. In April they released their debut album, This Could Be Texas. Fresh from from touring America, they are vocalist Lily Fontaine, guitarist Lewis Whiting, drummer Douglas Frost, and bassist Nicholas Eden.
PRAVESH KUMARBack in the year 2000 armed with a credit card, Pravesh Kumar started the Rifco theatre company with an aim to tell accessible stories about British Asian communities like the one he grew up in in slough. Rifco’s shows include the musical Britain’s Got Bhangra, The Deranged Marriage and the film Little English. Along the way, Pravesh was awarded an MB for his contribution to British Theatre. His latest musical is ‘Frankie Goes to Bollywood’ – the story of Frankie, played by Laila Zaidi, a normal girl plucked from obscurity in Milton Keynes to be the latest Bollywood star. Frankie is taken in by the glamour, a romance with leading man Raju King and a rivalry with a fellow Bollywood actress no longer deemed young enough.
ALEXANDRA WHITTINGHAMManchester-born Guitarist Alexandra Whittingham started with humble beginnings performing covers of Avril Lavigne and auditioning for Blackpool’s Got Talent. Since then she has become a viral sensation through videos of her performing breathtaking classical arrangements on her guitar.
Fresh off of signing with a major music label, Decca, she’s here to tell us about her journey to becoming a revered guitarist and why it’s important that classical music is accessible to everyone.
BILAL ZAFAR
Sharing a house can be an unpredictable experience, we’ve all heard about ‘nightmare’ housemates. In Bilal Zafar’s new show ‘Imposter’ he tells the story of his old housemate, a story of compulsive lying, escalating threats and minty hot chocolate. Bilal is a ‘wry storyteller’; his previous shows are ‘Zafarcakes’, about a joke on twitter that got out of hand, and the people who couldn’t take a joke and ‘Care’, about looking after wealthy residents in a care home, for minimum wage. He’s also active on the Twitch streaming platform where he plays a manager from the game Pro Evolution Soccer 5 to an enthusiastic audience of ‘Assistant Managers’. Bilal won the new act of the year award in 2016 and was nominated for best Newcomer at the Edinburgh comedy awards
-
The comedian Paul Sinha is a man of many careers - from working GP to sucessful stand up to his role as "The Sinnerman" in ITV's quiz show The Chase. He joins Clive to talk about his new autobiogaphy - Once Sinha Lifetime - charting his extraordinary Bengali family background through the peaks and troughs of his own working life to his recent medical diagnosis. Tara Fitzgerald is an actor with a career that encompasses both film classics like Brassed Off and I Capture the Castle as well as new hits like Game of Thrones and Waking the Dead. Now, to celebrate 125 years since the birth of Noel Coward, she stars in a triple bill of his less performed plays – Suite in Three Keys. We'll ask what Coward has to offer today's audiences. And forget about five a day, the TV Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says we should be eating thirty a week and what's more its really not that hard to do. Plus music from singer songwriter Bess Atwell's third album Light Sleeper, produced by The National's Aaron Dresser who also works with Taylor Swift. Plus comedy performance from Jazz Emu, the alter-ego of comedian Archie Henderson and his hilarious band The Cosmique Perfection.
Presented by Clive AndersonProduced by Olive Clancy
-
After a series of best-selling books focussing on girls and women Caitlin Moran turns her attention to the lads in ‘What About Men?’. Find out if comedian Laura Smyth is indeed living her best life on the ‘Living My Best Life’ tour and Alex Lowe tells us what makes his Clinton Baptise character so popular. John Hopkins on playing Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Leeds Playhouse and we have music from Dexys - formely Dexy's Midnight Runners.
Presenter: Stuart MaconieProducer: Jessica Treen
-
Stephen Merchant - the BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor, comedian and writer behind hits like The Office and Extras - joins Clive Anderson and Athena Kugblenu to talk about a new series of The Outlaws, a hugely popular crime caper set on a Bristol community service project; the Vogue journalist and author Plum Sykes will discuss her new novel, Wives Like Us, billed as "desperate housewives in the Cotswalds"; Award-winning actor Adeel Akhtar of Sherwood, Fool Me Once and Four Lions fame on returning to the stage for the first time in almost a decade in Chekov's The Cherry Orchard and the writer and broadcaster Kate Bradbury on taking a stand against climate change in our own back gardens. Plus music by jazz singer songwriter Madeleine Peyroux and Irish pop sensation LYRA - who managed to knock Beyonce off the number one slot in the Irish album charts.
Presented by Clive AndersonProduced by Olive Clancy
-
Clive is joined by impressionist Jan Ravens (who brings along Liz Truss and Theresa May) chatting about the challenge of developing an impersonation and what happens when the politician who forms part of your act gets the boot...Award-winning novelist Tiffany Murray describes her unusually starry childhood at the residential recording studio Rockfield. It includes a childhood visit from David Bowie and being woken by Freddie Mercury singing "Galileo" - as revealed in her new book My Family and Other Rock Stars. Viv Groskop chats about her One Ukrainian Summer a memoir about falling in love and coming of age in the former USSR. The Will Barnes Quartet and Aleighcia Scott provide the music. Presented by Clive AndersonProduced by Kevin Core
-
Joining Stuart Maconie in our Salford studio are the comedians Frank Skinner and Rachael Fairburn. In Frank's latest stand up show '30 years of Dirt' he has his comedic eye firmly on the dirty joke, while Rachel Fairburn's showgirl finds her moving away from boozing and towards crystals - will it last?
Maxine Peake stars in Robin/Red/Breast at Manchester's Factory International. Based on John Bowen's cult TV play Robin Redbreast, Maxine plays Norah, a woman who has escaped the city for village life. But it is not exactly the idyll she dreamed off... The movement director is Imogen Knight, the writer is Daisy Johnson, and it is directed by Sarah Frankcom and features music from Gazelle Twin.
In her latest book the biographer and historian Kathryn Hughes tells the story of how we fell in love with cats, and illuminates the life of the man who did so much to change their image, the artist Louis Wain.
Music is from Willy Vlautin, novelist, songwriter and musician who was the lead singer in Richmond Fontaine. Willy also chats about his new novel 'The Horse', his most personal book yet, it examines the trials of a life on the road. And we also hear from BBC Introducing Rising Star Phoebe Green.
Presenter: Stuart MaconieProducer: Jessica Treen
-
Stuart Maconie is joined by Sacha Lord who offers some Tales from the Dancefloor, Julie Hesmondhalgh talks about the impact of a single punch which is considered in a new play by James Graham at the Nottingham Playhouse. Dr Benji Waterhouse, a frontline NHS psychiatrist, discusses his new book You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here and there's music and chat from Fairground Attraction and Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand.
- Laat meer zien