Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray are joined by actor and comedian Ardal O'Hanlon. After finding fame playing dimwitted Father Dougal in Father Ted, Ardal went on to star in many more successful series including My Hero and Death in Paradise. Meanwhile he found time to write a critically acclaimed novel while continuing to tour his stand up comedy. Now he has written a new novel, Brouhaha, set in a small border town in Ireland. With the Jubilee weekend celebrations well underway, Shabnam Russo talks to Ni...
Jun 04, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Mobeen Azhar are joined by DJ Fat Tony, who first found fame in the 80s and has played for everyone from Prince and Madonna to Royalty. After 28 years of hedonism, Tony found himself homeless and dying from addiction but he’s now over 15 years sober, in demand as a DJ and working to help others. We also have Angela Hartnett MBE, the Michelin starred chef who's written cookbooks, judged on BBC’s Best Home Cook and a has passion for good, honest food with the best ingredients possib...
May 28, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Tom Felton joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. After acting in a local theatre group aged 6, Tom gained worldwide fame as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series and has recently made his West End stage debut. After surviving cancer and a stroke, listener Briony Maclean got in touch to talk about how she became a model, gaining a new lease of life and a confidence boost. Wynne Evans’ childhood was the focus of the film Save the Cinema, starring Tom Felton. He’s a professional opera singer w...
May 21, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by comedian Geoff Norcott who has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Mash Report, Mock the Week and Question Time, had sell-out Edinburgh runs and two national tours. He is also a rare breed in comedy – a “right wing comedian”. We also have singer and actor Marisha Wallace who is a Broadway and West End sensation. Born and raised in a small town in North Carolina, Marisha has done it all, from tap dancing at the Tonys to nannying for Philip Seymour Hoffman to...
May 14, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Kate Nash joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. The singer and actress talks about why going back on tour is so important, the steps taken to achieve longevity in the music industry, the 15th anniversary of her debut album Made of Bricks and life in LA. Anna Kilpatrick's life changed dramatically after her husband had a stroke age 38. She's now an advocate for making the best of what you have, and living well with less. Matt Whyman has trouble saying no. When asked to be an agony uncle, he said ye...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Sara Davies MBE joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. The Dragons' Den investor started her multi-million pound business as a student and topped the leaderboard during her time on Strictly Come Dancing. Sara talks about her path to success and passion for crafting. Five years ago Jonny Cotsen decided to explore his deaf identity, after a life of adapting to be part of the hearing world. A qualified graphic designer and teacher, Jonny also changed careers to pursue his childhood ambition of perform...
Apr 30, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Will Young joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The singer, writer and podcaster shot to fame 20 years ago after winning the first series of Pop Idol. Seven albums, four Number One’s, 10 million record sales and two Brit Awards later, he is now a leading voice in mental health awareness, particularly in the LGBTQ community. Steve Thompson MBE is a 2003 World Cup winner and has been England’s most capped hooker in the sport of rugby union. He was recently diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Harri...
Apr 23, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Paul Sinha joins Nikki Bedi and Huw Stephens. The former doctor turned stand-up comedian is also a star quizzer on The Chase. He talks about his life, career and recent Parkinson’s diagnosis. Listener Cheryl Underhill got in touch to tell us about discovering a box of her parents’ wartime love letters soon after her mother died in 2013, and why it took her seven years to look at them. Hannah Bourne-Taylor let a bronze-winged mannikin finch nest in her hair for 84 days. The process of caring for ...
Apr 16, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Al Murray, best known as The Pub Landlord, he’s also a history buff with a super successful World War II podcast, and he plays the drums. Alexandra Heminsley found life shifted following a difficult pregnancy, sexual assault and her partner telling her she was going to transition. She joins us. We also have Saturday Live listener, Doris Remnant, who was seven years old when her family were forced to flee Cairo in 1957 during the Suez conflict. They arri...
Apr 09, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Patrick Kielty joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The award winning stand-up and broadcaster talks about growing up in Northern Ireland, his path to comedy and making his screen acting debut. Bestselling novelist Amy Bloom turns to memoir as she recounts the journey she and her husband took to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Pioneering priest Reverend Doctor Ellen Clark-King will talk about learning to sing, after decades of being ashamed of her voice. Cra...
Apr 02, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Suzy Klein and Huw Stephens are joined by actor, comedian and entertainer Les Dennis as he hosts a tribute to his friend Barry Cryer. Kat Farmer left a lucrative city job after she had kids and was unsure what to do next. She rediscovered a love of fashion and it’s ability to reinvent, and embraced the digital age, starting a blog, "Does my bum look 40 in this?" and becoming an online influencer. She now works as a stylist, for personal clients and on TV. She joins us. Saturday Live listener Mar...
Mar 26, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Siobhán McSweeney joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The actor talks Derry Girls, the significance of going back to West Cork for her latest role and manifesting her Great British Pottery Throwdown gig. Gary Stevenson became a very successful City trader but he explains why he left to become an inequality economist. Listener Stefan Jennings got in touch and shares how finding his chef father’s journal revealed a dad he never knew. Andrew Garfield chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Just a Gigolo by...
Mar 19, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Richard Coles and Andrea Catherwood are joined by comedian Paul Merton: stalwart on Have I got News for You and Just a Minute, he's an impro pro. We hear one woman’s story of how building a toilet - using a chainsaw - helped her find herself. Siri Heller joins us. Guest Patrick Foster estimates that he placed a total of £4million on bets over the course of 12 years. The former professional cricketer turned teacher hid his gambling addiction until everything unravelled in 2018. Adventurer Elise W...
Mar 12, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Marcus Wareing joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The award-winning chef, food writer, restauranteur and judge on MasterChef: The Professionals is now learning new skills as he produces food on his small holding in East Sussex. Ellie Pacey is a former British Tractor Pulling champion who has recently taken part in BBC 3’s The Fast and the Farmer-ish. She’s also a Formula 1 apprentice test technician and has been a Miss England finalist. Tulsi Vagjiani survived a plane crash which killed her par...
Mar 05, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Anoushka Shankar who started playing the Sitar when she was 9, secured a recording contract aged sixteen and has been nominated for 7 Grammy awards. She is the musical successor to her father the world renowned musician Ravi Shankar, and is celebrating his life and achievements. Harry Parker's life changed overnight when he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. He talks rebuilding his life, identity and the impact of technology. Maddy Lucy Dann is a j...
Feb 26, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Rose Matafeo, comedian and star of BBC Three’s romantic comedy, Starstruck, who grew up in New Zealand and did her first stand up gig as a teenager. Magnus Hanson-Heine will be telling us what it was like growing up in a house with a model shark on its roof in Oxford. Nathaniel Hall kept a secret from his family for fifteen years – that he was HIV positive, after his first sexual experience. And boxer Nicola Barke, aka The Burmese Python, on overcoming ...
Feb 19, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles start your weekend with: DJ and producer Naughty Boy whose Deal or No Deal win funded his music career, and now he numbers Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and Emeli Sande among his collaborators. Photographer and meat-free living advocate Mary McCartney who found fame as a baby when she appeared on the cover of her dad Paul McCartney's first solo album, and since then has become an acclaimed photographer as well as the co-founder of Meat Free Mondays. Elise Christie, world champ...
Feb 12, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Shaun Keaveny are joined by Keith Brymer Jones, master potter, judge on the Throw Down, who used to be in a band called the Wigs, gets emotional about ceramics and has helped to revive the profile of clay. Cleo Sylvestre was the first black actor in a leading role at the National Theatre but not before she had had the Rolling Stones backing her on a track. She joins us. Kevin Quinn was a marathon runner before he realised that he had four holes in his heart. He had an operation an...
Feb 05, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Claire Sweeney joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The actress, singer, dancer and TV presenter Claire Sweeney made her professional singing debut age 14 and her varied career includes playing Lindsey Corkhill in Brookside and performing alongside Patrick Swayze in the West End. Rory O’Grady turned detective to document the final journey of his older brother and the passengers who died alongside him in a mid-air collision over Italy in 1958. Rory talks about the significance of finding family me...
Jan 29, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Vicky McClure, star of Line of Duty and This Is England. Her latest role is in a new drama on bomb disposal, keeping us on the edge of our sofas. We also have Helen Naylor who grew up believing that her mother had a chronic health condition that made her so exhausted she had to spend most of her time in bed. After her mother's death she found her diaries which told a different story. Listener Liz Ashworth emailed us about her mission to keeping traditio...
Jan 22, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Author and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher trained as an actor, but with several bestselling novels under her belt and her hit podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby featuring guests stars such as the Duchess of Cambridge, she has had little time to take to the stage in recent years. Now she stars in the West End in Danny Robins's terrifying new play 2.22 A Ghost Story at London's Gielgud Theatre. During lockdown, Femi Fadugba's debut novel, which combines his expertise in quantum physics with a thrilling tim...
Jan 15, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Rev Richard Coles are joined by actor Ralf Little who first appeared on our screens as the awkward Antony in the Royle Family, went on to star in Two Pints and a packet of crisps, and now Death in Paradise. Legendary football manager Brian Clough took our guest Craig Bromfield under his wing as a troubled youngster but their relationship ended when Craig betrayed Brian and never saw him again. Craig has written about his experience to make sense of what he did and why he did it. H...
Jan 08, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Sarah Parish joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. Best known for her work in Mistresses, W1A , Broadchurch and Bancroft, Sarah talks about her career, including her latest project which is a crime thriller, and the charity she co-founded with her husband in memory of their first daughter. Supriya Nagarajan explains why she gave up a successful banking career to become a musician. Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton talks about being homeless as a teenager and how it inspired her career, she's the chief fire ...
Jan 01, 2022•1 hr 24 min
In this festive edition of Saturday Live, Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by the actor Mark Strong, who has made a name playing villains in some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters, including Sherlock Holmes, Shazam and Cruella. He drops by to talk about darkly comic medical drama Temple. Comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri discusses her journey from homelessness to being one of the most exciting stand up comedians in the country. We hear about your new Christmas traditions, from socially distance...
Dec 25, 2021•56 min
Comedian, writer and entertainer Julian Clary joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to talk about the lure of the pantomime and how his love of dogs has changed his life. Maria Sodahl, who received a likely-terminal cancer diagnosis just before Christmas nine years ago, on how she has turned her experience into the film Hope. Nathan Evans, the former postman who went viral on Tik Tok with his rendition of the sea shanty, Wellerman. And food historian Annie Gray will be taking us on a trip through t...
Dec 18, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Nikki Bedi and Mobeen Azhar are joined by Brian May, musician and astrophysicist, who played guitar on Buckingham Palace, and with the rock band Queen and is fascinated by stereoscopy AKA 3D. Also we have: journalist and broadcaster Camilla Tominey on her experiences growing up with her mother who had alcoholism. Johanna Basford joins us, she worked for years as a commercial illustrator – her work can be found on wallpaper, beer cans and even as tattoos – she had the idea of creating adult colou...
Dec 11, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Joanna Lumley talks to Nikki Bedi and Shaun Keaveny about her career highlights and why her latest work is celebrating the Queen. Comedian Slim spent 15 years as a bus driver before being encouraged by a friend to try stand-up. 28 years later Slim has toured the world, won awards for his work and recently had a solo show at the London Palladium. Ben and Danielle Marsh tell the story of how their family shot to fame after they started sharing their music on social media during lockdown. Seth Lake...
Dec 04, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Monica Galetti: chef, judge on Masterchef and chef proprietor of her own restaurant, judge on the BBC programme MasterChef: The Professionals since 2009 and has presenter of Amazing Hotels... In the studio we have Raymond Antrobus, one of the most exciting and acclaimed poets working today whose journey includes discovering he was deaf aged 6 and finding his passion for writing. Royd Tolkien’s brother Mike was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease aged 3...
Nov 27, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Guy Garvey joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. The singer and 6 Music presenter has been making music with elbow for over three decades. He talks about the band’s achievements and the inspiration behind his lyrics. Kate London toured the UK with her own theatre company, but was inspired to become a Met Police Officer and these experiences have led to her becoming a crime writer. Jet Suit inventor Richard Browning has been called the real life Iron Man. He talks about his work, taking the plunge ...
Nov 20, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by Evanna Lynch who was a Harry Potter superfan who developed anorexia aged 11. Whilst having treatment, her beloved Harry Potter books provided an escape, particularly the dreamy, independent character of Luna Lovegood in the fifth book. When the film came around amazingly she won the role, and Evanna played Luna for the remaining four films. She joins us. A few years ago, Hamza Yassin went on holiday to a remote Scottish peninsula. He never left. He is n...
Nov 13, 2021•1 hr 23 min
