This week Clive Anderson is talking playing with toys, settling scores and saying goodbyes with OG podcaster Adam Buxton. Tanita Tikaram has finally recorded the follow up to her multi-millions selling 1988 album 'Ancient Heart', called 'LIAR' Jimi Famurewa tells us how you go from stuffing mashed potato in your pocket to appearing on Masterchef. Kiran Landa stars in 'Marriage Material', based on the novel by Santham Sangerhera at the Lyric Hammersmith South London trio Honeyglaze perform a trac...
Jun 07, 2025•35 min
Jason Donovan won the hearts of millions alongside Kylie Minogue in the Australian soap Neighbours; then his debut album was the biggest seller of 1989 and he topped the UK singles chart 4 times. In the 1990s he reinvented himself in musical theatre with acclaimed roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and now he's playing Frank-n-furter in the Rocky Horror Show tour. Its safe to say he knows a thing or two about eye catching costumes, as does Great ...
May 31, 2025•39 min
Clive Anderson brings us Loose Ends from the Hay Festival. Joining Clive in front of a Hay audience are singer Paloma Faith who last year released her most personal album 'The Glorification of Sadness'. She also published her first book 'MILF' (no, not that one), a rousing call to arms for women to take up space, based on her experiences in the music industry, and as a mother. Welsh comedian Mike Bubbins is the star of the sitcom 'Mammoth', in which he plays Tony Mammoth, a PE teacher from the 7...
May 24, 2025•36 min
The comedian and podcaster Stevie Martin is currently battling it out in the latest series of Channel 4’s award winning show Taskmaster - you might have enjoyed her "most snooty possession" which was a portrait of her pet tortoise in military uniform. She'll be here to tell us all about getting "the call" and her favourite games...sorry... tasks. Its also tricky-book-titles week on Loose Ends. The award winning novelist and screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth likes a one word name for her books - th...
May 17, 2025•35 min
Joining Stuart Maconie in the Salford studio are the actress Phina Oruche who began her career modelling in America. She's best known for playing Liberty Baker in Footballers Wives. Phina is currently on stage at the Liverpool Everyman in Nathan Powell's new play 'Takeaway', where she stars as Carol, the matriach behind Hyltons Caribbean takeaway. Kate Mossman is facinated by 'Men of A Certain Age'. so she's written a book to try to get to the bottom of why she's so enthralled by a certain kind ...
May 10, 2025•39 min
Taskmaster star, comic and sitcom actor Alex Horne joins Clive Anderson to talk about season two of his sitcom, to introduce his comedic band The Horne Section and tell us why he's never running out of taskmaster tasks. The lexicographer and broadcaster Susie Dent is now a mystery thriller writer too, she'll be with us to talk about twisty word clues and her all-encompassing love of the English language. Star of Its A Sin, Callum Scott-Howells is currently appearing on stage in Ibsen's Ghosts - ...
May 03, 2025•37 min
Rachel Joyce’s debut novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was a bestseller in 30 languages, became a much-loved film with Jim Broadbent and is about to become a stage musical. She's also got a new novel, a sun-soaked family drama called The Homemade God which has already been hailed by one critic as "the perfect holiday read". Levison Wood has travelled to 150 countries but holiday reading probably isn't top of his priorities as an explorer, documentary maker and photographer. He'll join ...
Apr 26, 2025•37 min
Clive Anderson will be joined by comedian and star of Two Doors Down Kieran Hodgson ahead of his upcoming show Voice Of America. Chef Julie Lin's cookery book Sama Sama celebrates all parts of her Malaysian, Chinese and Scottish identity and mixes tradition with innovation. Lewis Gribben stars in the new series of Charlie Brooker's multi award-winning dystopian drama Black Mirror. Selali Fiamanya's debut novel Before We Hit the Ground is set between Ghana and Glasgow and explores love, grief, fa...
Apr 19, 2025•35 min
Stuart Maconie will be joined by comedian Karen Dunbar, star of sketch comedy show Chewin’ The Fat, ahead of her nationwide tour. Restless Natives: The Musical is the new stage adaptation of the Scottish cult classic. Actor Kirsty MacLaren stars in the show which brings some of Big Country's greatest hits to life. Rosco McClelland celebrates his recent win, having taken home the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at Glasgow International Comedy Festival. World-record breaking adventurer ...
Apr 12, 2025•34 min
Joining Clive Anderson in the Loose Ends studio are the Emmy award-winning actor Billy Porter, currently hanging out in the Kit-Kat club where he is starring as Emcee. Comedian and 'Guilty Feminist' podcaster Deborah Frances White has just published a new book 'Six Conversations We're Scared to Have', about how to ask difficult questions and change minds - including our own. Anna Chancellor stars in April De Angelis's 'Playhouse Creatures', about the first women of theatre at the Orange Tree The...
Apr 05, 2025•35 min
Loose Ends this week is all about finding the light. Poet, performer and broadcaster Michael Rosen is touring a one man show making sense of some of the darker moments of his life. Dylan Jones was the editor of era-defining magazines like i-D, Arena and British GQ in the 1990s and noughties. Now his memoir, These Foolish Things - tells how he left behind a difficult childhood to embrace a career that encompasses hobnobbing with celebrities from Elton John to Tracey Emin, taking phone calls from ...
Mar 29, 2025•36 min
Clive Anderson's guests in Salford include Bridget Christie who returns with series two of The Change. Gardener's World expert Adam Frost who is on the road with his 'Lessons from the Garden' tour and up and coming stand up Louise Young. Music is from Richard Dawson who has just released a new album 'End of the Middle' and cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe performs from his new album 'Hymns of Bantu' Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Jessica Treen
Mar 22, 2025•33 min
Stuart Maconie and guests come together with mighty laughs, big stories, and altogether good craic from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Declan Lawn is a screenwriter of multiple TV series alongside his creative partner Adam Patterson, including the successful Blue Lights as well as the BBC miniseries The Salisbury Poisonings. Series three of Blue Lights is currently being filmed in Belfast, and he is currently writing series four. Comedian John Meagher is currently touring his stand-up show Big Year ...
Mar 15, 2025•37 min
Clive hosts Loose Ends with an audience in London this week with a set of guests with a serious work ethic and willingness to try new things in the name of entertainment. The chart topping superstar and award winning actor Michael Ball is now also a best selling novelist. Can life backstage really be as chaotic as this page-turner set in theatreland suggests? Hollie McNish is that rare thing, a best-selling poet who also likes to make people laugh. Fresh from entertaining Swiss school children w...
Mar 08, 2025•35 min
Stuart Maconie is looking on the bright side this week with Dave Gorman who thinks that 'Modern Life is Goodish'. In the latest installment of his TV series, Dave Gorman is back with his trusty powerpoint as he falls down rabbit holes but always with a smile on his face -ish. And just to balance out all that positivity we've got natural worrier Angela Barnes whose new stand up tour is called 'Angst', a very funny catalogue of her failures. And if you are anxiously watching the green shoots emerg...
Mar 01, 2025•34 min
Stuart Maconie is joined by the 41st best stand up ever to talk about his new tour 'Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf', and by Philippa Dunne who plays Anne in the school gates sitcom 'Motherland'. Anne is back in the spinoff series 'Amandaland', focusing on Anne's glamorous best friend Amanda. Aysha Kala tells us how she nailed the accent to play Saima in the new Bradford set crime thriller Virdee. Music from song intrepeter Barb Jungr whose new album 'Hallelujah on Desolation Row' sees her back in t...
Feb 22, 2025•36 min
Jack Docherty has entertained audiences in eight series of BBC Scotland’s mockumentary police show Scot Squad, as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson. He returns to our screens in new spin-off The Chief. Writer Kirsty Logan has written on witches, mermaids, and motherhood. Her latest collection of dark tales of love and desire is No & Other Love Stories. Comedian Larry Dean is bringing his acclaimed stand up show Dodger on tour. It explores identity, his grandmother's dementia diagnosis, an...
Feb 15, 2025•35 min
Kevin Clifton entertained the nation for years on Strictly, now he can often be found treading the boards instead – and is currently starring in Chicago as it tours the country. Poet and former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead talks about her collection of poems A Handsel ahead of her appearance at the Winter Words Festival in Pitlochry. Coinneach MacLeod, best known as The Hebridean Baker, has found a global audience for his Scottish recipes. His latest release is The Hebridean Baker: The Scottish Cook...
Feb 08, 2025•34 min
Natural history presenter and cameraman Gordon Buchanan’s new book In The Hide is a look back at some of his greatest adventures across the world, from Mumbai to Mongolia. In 2015 Mhairi Black became the youngest MP elected to the House of Commons since the 1800s. After stepping down at the 2024 General Election, she turned her mind to her tell-all comedy show Politics Isn’t For Me which took last year’s Fringe by storm. She's now taking it on tour. Cal MacAninch is well known for roles in Downt...
Feb 01, 2025•35 min
Clive Anderson celebrates Scotland’s Bard with a special Loose Ends Burns Supper. Comedian Susie McCabe is back with her new show Best Behaviour. The Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award-winner and host of the smash-hit podcast Here Comes The Guillotine is headed for Glasgow Comedy Festival. Meredith Brook stars in new BBC ALBA drama An t-Eilean (The Island), the UK’s first high-end Gaelic drama series which is set on the Isle of Harris. Franco-Scot poet Paul Malgrati’s book Robert Burns and S...
Jan 25, 2025•36 min
This year the Scottish pop rock band Deacon Blue celebrates 40 years together. Not only is the band going strong – so is the marriage bringing together its lead vocalists Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh. They both join Nihal Arthanayake to reflect on four decades of music-making. Paul McKenna’s career has taken him from radio DJ to stage hypnotist to self-help book author. His latest offering – Power Manifesting – explores how he’s used manifesting to achieve his goals. He looks at how super-ac...
Jan 18, 2025•35 min
Loose Ends is in Hebden Bridge this week, a town made famous by the BBC drama Happy Valley, but you might also recognise the place and its glorious scenery from Last Tango in Halifax, Gentleman Jack or The Gallow's Pole. Clive will talk to local resident and bestselling novelist Joanne Harris, maybe best known for Chocolat which was adapted into an Oscar nominated film of the same name. Her latest book The Moonlight Garden is a fantasy set in a "long ago and far away" version of London and fits ...
Jan 11, 2025•36 min
Loose Ends is kicking off the year with a special recording at the Salford Lad's Club. If your New Year's resolution is to listen to music we've got you covered as Stuart Maconie will be joined by Stockport's finest, Blossoms, performing songs from their fourth UK number one album 'Gary'. We also have the powerhouse vocals of Rowetta, who will also talk about her time with the Happy Mondays and we have Graham Fellows, who celebrates 40 years as John Shuttleworth. Journalist Miranda Sawyer is the...
Jan 04, 2025•32 min
Wayne Sleep, Ben Miller, Rosalind Eleazar and Lou Conran join Stuart Maconie for this week's Loose Ends, with music from The Lottery Winners. Dance icon Wayne Sleep waltzes in to tell us stories of his life - all detailed in his new autobiography, Just Different. Tales of his friendships with Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury, David Hockney and fellow ballet legend Rudolph Nureyev intermingle with insights into his working-class upbringing and the difficulties of trying to make it as the shortest ...
Dec 28, 2024•36 min
It's a glorious fusion of nostalgia, tinsel and song this week in a show recorded with an audience at the BBC Radio Theatre. Clive talks to punk princess Toyah Willcox about her Xmas Party tour with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and a blistering year that's seen her perform at Glastonbury, take part in Strictly Come Dancing and join the cast of Now That's What I Call a Musical. To celebrate 30 years since boyband East 17 scaled the charts with Stay Another Day - songwriter Tony Mortimer pe...
Dec 21, 2024•35 min
Stuart Maconie is joined in the Salford studio by Sheffield's finest, Richard Hawley, playing tracks from his latest album 'In This City They Call You Love', and by comedian and podcaster Cariad Lloyd on her Christmas book for children, The Christmas Wish-tastrophe. Seema Pankhania is on a quest to cook the national dish from every country around the world and she's documenting her journey on her popular Youtube and TikTok channels. She's just pusblished her first cookbook 'Cravable: All I want ...
Dec 14, 2024•37 min
Loose Ends this week is a masterclass in the many ways human beings find to laugh: the writer and comic Jenny Eclair started her career as a punk performance poet, who created her stage name to chime with the band she joined - Cathy le Creme and the Rumbabas. But as we learn in her new memoir, she knew as a small child called Jenny Hargreaves that she had the "funny bones" required to make her a comedy star. There is little about Ferdia Lennon's debut novel Glorious Exploits that might suggest c...
Dec 07, 2024•37 min
Author and historian Charles Spencer has written many books including The White Ship, To Catch A King and A Very Private School, and now finds himself down a Rabbit Hole – along with his fellow trivia hunters Cat Jarman and Richard Coles - in their podcast The Rabbit Hole Detectives. Digging into the past and uncovering weird and wonderful stories, every week the trio discuss the whos, whats, whens and whys and have now turned all this into a book… aptly titled The Rabbit Hole Book. Charles join...
Nov 30, 2024•36 min
Loose Ends embraces the great outdoors this week at the Kendal Mountain Festival. Stuart talks to festival patron and bestselling writer Robert Macfarlane about his "mountain DNA" and unusual walking snack. Broadcaster and writer Louise Minchin loves a mountain too. Having put aside the extreme working practice of rising at 3am for Breakfast TV she now loves a triathlon, a free-dive at night under ice or the extreme experience that is learning to cook a soufflé from an online video for Celebrity...
Nov 23, 2024•34 min
Clive Anderson is joined by actor Shazad Latif, who stars as Nemo in 'Nautilus', a new ten part TV series based on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Latif's TV credits include Spooks, The Pursuit of Love and Toast of London, where he played the fan favourite Clem Fandango. And he's also joined by Michael Cumming, who directed Latif in three series of Toast of London. He is currently touring his documentary film 'Oxide Ghosts', a collection of outtakes and behind the scenes footage from...
Nov 16, 2024•37 min
