Victoria Pendleton has suffered depression and grief since becoming an Olympic cycling champion. She's come out of it a stronger person, still on the lookout for a challenge. Having won her second Olympic gold medal at her home games in London in 2012, Victoria retired from cycling as a national hero. But she kept chasing sporting challenges, competing in horse racing then trying mountaineering. An unsuccessful attempt to climb Everest in 2019 - her first real failure - sent her into depression,...
May 29, 2026•46 min
Oonagh Cousins was one of Britain's best rowers, and was awarded a place on Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But after having Covid and being unable to fully recover, Oonagh lost her place in the squad. Oonagh now lives with Long Covid, which impacts roughly 2 million people in the UK. Having her Olympic dream taken from her by this illness has made her reflect on her own identity and the experience of sufferers of similar conditions. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning inte...
May 22, 2026•53 min
As Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting vows to bring the UK back into the EU Emma asks - do we really want to have that fight again? Or is it fair enough if many of us have changed our minds? Would you dob your child in to the police? The Government is bringing in harsher penalties for the parents of children who commit crimes, saying it's time to remove the influence of "parents who can't parent". Is it all the fault of Mum and Dad? Plus as the makers of Married at First Sight face the cons...
May 21, 2026•39 min
Weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth's ex-husband was jailed in 2021 for coercive control and stalking her. Even though he is now free, he was given a lifetime restraining order stopping him from contacting Ruth or their two children. At times he would contact her up to 200 times a day while she was at work, but Ruth was unable to tell people the truth about her relationship. It took one extreme night for the police to become involved. Years on, Ruth is still learning to be fully free. In Ready to T...
May 15, 2026•50 min
We’re doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News – a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us talking. On this episode - what the hell is going on in our politics - have we all become addicted to the psychodrama of leadership battles? As headlines ring out about 'basketcase Britain', one of those calling for Sir Keir Starmer to go tells us why the chaos of the week is all worth it. And there's a new TV trend we don't seem to be able t...
May 14, 2026•27 min
Comedian John Robins talks about how he stopped drinking booze and why he’s happiest alone. He had his last drink in 2022 but only accepted he was an alcoholic after he had quit. John is known for his Edinburgh award-winning stand up shows and podcasts like How Do You Cope? and partnership with Elis James. He’s just written a book, Thirst: Twelve Drinks That Changed My Life, which chronicles his lifelong relationship with alcohol. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning interviewer...
May 08, 2026•52 min
We're doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News - a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us all talking. On this episode - why are some in middle class Britain swiping things from supermarkets and then bragging about their five-fingered discounts? While the former New York Police Chief tells us crime is crime and should be tackled, the man who used to advise Jeremy Corbyn argues this is the consequence of rich corporations making sp...
May 07, 2026•31 min
Emma has some exciting news about a special spin-off series, Ready to Talk News, publishing over the next three weeks on Thursdays. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
May 05, 2026•1 min
Author Sally Gardner’s addiction to shopping has cost her £700k. She has only just discovered this compulsive behaviour is side effect of drugs she’s been prescribed for 20 years. Sally is a Carnegie Medal and Costa Children’s Book Award-winning writer who suffers from a debilitating condition called Restless Legs Syndrome. To combat it she has taken drugs called dopamine agonists for two decades. When her children heard a BBC radio investigation revealing the extent of compulsive behaviour the ...
May 01, 2026•52 min
Lindsey Burrow’s husband Rob was her childhood sweetheart before he became an England rugby league star. After he got motor neurone disease she became his carer for the final years of his life. Lindsey continued her work as a physiotherapist in the NHS, and looked after their three children, as Rob's condition deteriorated. She has now written a book, Take Care, chronicling her time caring for the husband she describes as "a hero". In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning interviewe...
Apr 24, 2026•54 min
Shaheen Hashmat left her family home aged 12 feeling she needed to escape, fearing a forced marriage. Initially she kept in touch, until deciding to become totally estranged in her twenties. By cutting contact, she lost the identity and sense of belonging that comes with family. She describes it as the worst kind of break up, one that left her questioning everything. Who am I without them? How do I trust my own decisions? And how do you rebuild when the people who shaped your life are no longer ...
Apr 17, 2026•52 min
Deepa Paul grew up in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country where she was expected to meet one partner and stay with them for life. She followed that path, entering a monogamous relationship with her husband. But a small moment shifted everything. While selling furniture on an online directory, Deepa found herself exposed to a world of different sexual preferences and lifestyles. It challenged what she had been taught about love and sex. What followed was a move to the Netherlands, w...
Apr 10, 2026•49 min
Will Adolphy followed male influencers to figure out how a real man should look, feel and act. Now he helps men and boys escape the influence of the online manosphere. Throughout his teens Will Adolphy became increasingly isolated from his family, focussing his time on online gaming. Later he became more deeply drawn into the masculine digital culture that has become known as ‘the manosphere’, becoming so obsessed with one influencer that he hung a painting of him on his wall. But he was also su...
Apr 03, 2026•49 min
On New Year's Day, Jess Davies woke up to discover an image of her in a clingfilm bikini had been created by Elon Musk's AI tool Grok and posted to X. She discusses how she has gone from working as a glamour model to campaigning against online image abuse. Jess shares how her first experience as a victim of image abuse occurred when she was just 15 when a private photo of her was shared around her hometown. She explains how this led to her career in modelling. She now works as a writer and prese...
Mar 27, 2026•48 min
Ric Renton shares how reading the dictionary in prison aided his writing career. Following a school life, he describes as “absent” and a violent childhood involving drugs, Ric requested a dictionary to read cover to cover while in prison. Twenty years later, he has written and starred in plays and is a writer and actor in the BBC drama Waiting For The Out. With the latest reoffending rates stating that over 40% of adult criminals in England and Wales go on to reoffend within a year of being let ...
Mar 20, 2026•48 min
Lottie Clarke shares her husband's story and explains why she thinks UK law on assisted dying should change. The couple were happily married for 19 years, but were apart at the moment he died. After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, James Clarke wanted to retain control at the end of his life. He eventually travelled to Switzerland where assisted dying is legal. Lottie believes they could have had a bit more time together, along with their three children, if assisted dying was legal in...
Mar 13, 2026•53 min
Fashion writer Billie Bhatia talks about her experiences of living in a bigger body, fatphobia and the cultural, social and personal impact of weight loss jabs. Billie talks to Emma about dating, navigating the fashion industry and shares her thoughts on the body positivity movement as well as Serena William’s controversial weight loss drugs advert at Super Bowl 2026. A recent study by University College London researchers, estimated that 1.6 million adults in England, Wales and Scotland used dr...
Mar 06, 2026•55 min
Dame Tracey Emin discusses love, feminism, and making art after losing her bladder to cancer, ahead of the opening of her largest ever exhibition. Emin is one of the UK’s foremost visual artists, having risen to fame in 1990s. In 2020, she was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma on her bladder. One specialist gave her six months to live. Four weeks later, a seven-and-a-half-hour surgery removed her bladder, uterus, urethra, a portion of her colon, some lymph nodes, and half her vagin...
Feb 27, 2026•52 min
Deborah Douglas is one of the many victims of disgraced Birmingham surgeon Ian Paterson, who maimed many of his patients. After a breast cancer diagnosis in 2003, Deborah thought she was in the best hands possible. But Paterson subjected her to a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and extensive chemotherapy, all of which were entirely unnecessary. Paterson has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after carrying out unnecessary operations, while Deborah Douglas has campaigned for justice for his...
Feb 20, 2026•50 min
Chris Davids of electronic duo Maribou State discusses suffering from a rare brain condition, how it affected his passion for making music and the surgery and experimental procedure that led to his recovery. Chris was experiencing extreme headaches while working on the group’s third album, Hallucinating Love, during lockdown. Eventually he was diagnosed with a Chiari malformation, meaning the lower part of his brain was pushing down into his spinal canal. He talks to Emma about a complex period ...
Feb 13, 2026•47 min
Writer Laura Dockrill discusses the extreme delusions and psychotic breakdown that she suffered after her son's birth. She shares how she got beyond them and how she is today. Just weeks after becoming a mother, Laura found herself is a desperate state. It took an intervention from her best friend, the singer Adele, to have her admitted to a psychiatric ward. With the support of her husband she is now thriving, and has published a memoir, What Have I Done?, about her illness. In Ready to Talk wi...
Feb 06, 2026•54 min
On the morning of New Year's Day 2011, actor Jason Watkins' two-year-old daughter Maude died. He and his wife had taken her to hospital the previous day, but only after an inquest did they come to the realisation that she had been suffering from undiagnosed sepsis. The couple have since campaigned for a better understanding of the condition among healthcare professionals. Watkins has since become known for his roles in sitcoms W1A and Trollied, and won a BAFTA in the title role of drama The Lost...
Jan 30, 2026•51 min
Dr Koshka Duff was arrested and detained in 2013 after offering a legal advice card to someone being stopped and searched. Dr Duff was then subject to a strip search by Metropolitan police officers, an experience she describes as "terrifying". On CCTV footage, officers were heard laughing about her hair, clothes and talking about her underwear and her smell. The Metropolitan Police have since apologised and paid the academic compensation for their "sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language". ...
Jan 23, 2026•55 min
After BBC local news anchor Polly Evans found herself unable to speak while doing a live broadcast, she disappeared from screens overnight. Polly had been having trouble with her voice for months following a virus and believed the stresses of a high-pressure workplace and a busy home life were to blame. But unknown to her she had a serious neurological disorder. She explains how coming to terms with it has changed her life and her identity. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning i...
Jan 16, 2026•46 min
After years of trying to have a baby and unsuccessful IVF treatment, Caroline Stafford and her husband decided to build a future without the thing that they wanted the most. Long After years of trying to have a baby and unsuccessful IVF treatment, Caroline Stafford and her husband decided to build future without the thing that they wanted the most. Caroline shares the couple’s difficult experiences trying to have children, before they made the empowering decision to find an alternative meaning i...
Jan 09, 2026•44 min
After a cardiac arrest brought on by a hereditary heart condition and the stress of work, Patrick Charnley was clinically dead. He came back to life a changed man. Patrick suffered a brain injury that affects his sight and stamina. He is no longer able to work or live as he did before and he cannot remember nearly a year of his life before the heart attack. Despite these impairments, he prefers the life he now lives. He has left a stressful life as a lawyer and has now written a novel, This, My ...
Jan 02, 2026•45 min
Journalist Archie Bland talks about his son, Max, who nearly died one night when he was just seven weeks old. Archie shares the extraordinary ordeal his family went through that night, as his home filled with police and paramedics, and the extreme circumstances of the following weeks. Max survived, but his life was forever changed. Archie now says Max is “more interesting than anyone he’s ever met”, and his son has radically altered Archie’s own understanding of disability, and of life itself. I...
Dec 19, 2025•48 min
Tulisa Contostavlos spent a decade fighting court battles, from an ex releasing a sex tape to being caught up in an elaborate tabloid sting. She shares what life has taught her. Tulisa rose to fame in UK R&B and hip hop trio N-Dubz and became a judge on The X Factor aged just 23. She talks candidly about some of the desperate lows she has suffered since, how she has processed being targeted by the press, and how she is feeling today. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning inte...
Dec 12, 2025•49 min
Yoni Finlay was shot as a synagogue in Manchester was attacked on Yom Kippur, 2 October 2025. The synagogue was Yoni's place of worship, but it had also been Emma's synagogue when she was a child. He talks to her about that day, and how it has affected him, his family, and his community. Yoni was hit by a police bullet which first passed through the attacker and went on to kill Adrian Daulby, one of two fatalities from the congregation that Yoni pays tribute to. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnet...
Dec 05, 2025•50 min
When she was 15, Georgia Barrington discovered she has been born without a womb. Then her best friend, Daisy Hope, made her an extraordinary promise that she fulfilled over a decade later. As a child Georgia always dreamt of being a mother, and even after her rare diagnosis she went on to become a midwife. She and Daisy share the story of a surrogacy that changed both their lives and created a unique bond between the pair. In Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett, the award-winning interviewer speaks ...
Nov 28, 2025•48 min
