Nikki Bedi and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by Ellie Simmonds. Ellie Simmonds was the face of the 2008 Bejing Paralympics, winning two gold medals in the pool at the age of only thirteen. She followed that up with further gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 and was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics until the games were postponed. Sand sculptor Jamie Wardley transforms tonnes of sand into objects of transient beauty and reveals how his art has enriched his life in an extraordinary way...
Jun 27, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Nemone Metaxas and the Reverend Richard Coles are joined by Simon Le Bon. As lead singer of Duran Duran: a band that has sold over 100 million records, had 18 American hit singles and 21 UK Top 20 tunes, he continues to perform to sold-out audiences around the world. He married a supermodel, had a family and explored his passion for yachts - his life the epitome of glamour. Now a proud grandfather, Simon Le Bon will be live in the studio. We also have Ruqsana Begum, who is a Muay Thai world cham...
Jun 20, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Dawn French has been one of Britain’s best-loved comedians since the mid-1980’s when her double act with Jennifer Saunders became a prime time television hit. She became even more famous as the star of The Vicar of Dibley and has gone on to write books, tour solo and write, produce and perform in television comedy and drama. William Sitwell is a restaurant critic and food writer whose appearances on MasterChef and controversial comments about veganism have propelled him into the spotlight. His n...
Jun 13, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Richard Coles and Kate Silverton are joined by Gabby Logan who has covered most of the major sporting events in football, rugby and athletics and been a trailblazer for women in sport. Her own sporting credentials are impeccable : she’s the daughter of professional footballer and manager Terry Yorath, married to rugby international Kenny Logan and was also an international competitor in rhythmic gymnastics. Carl Austin-Behan left a promising career in the RAF in the late 90s after his military s...
Jun 06, 2020•1 hr 23 min
This week Richard Coles and Kate Silverton are joined by Ricky Wilson, the lead singer of Kaiser Chiefs. The band’s hits include I Predict A Riot and Ruby and last year they released their seventh album, Duck. Ricky was a judge on The Voice and now presents the Pop Detectives podcast with Tony Blackburn. Jack Monroe was an unemployed single parent living in poverty when she started a blog called A Girl Called Jack which described cooking nutritious meals for her family on a tiny budget. She is n...
May 30, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Richard Coles and Shaun Keaveny are joined by Kirstie Allsopp - she has been in our living rooms, stepping into other people’s living rooms, and generally exploring their houses, for 20 years via TV's Location, Location, Location. She’s also embraced the nation’s obsession with crafts with programmes such as Kirstie's Homemade Home, Kirstie's Homemade Christmas, and most recently Keep Crafting and Carry on. She joins us. We also have Paul O’Grady, first known to us as Lily Savage, comedian from ...
May 23, 2020•1 hr 22 min
Richard Coles and Shaun Keaveny are joined by Kathy Burke who became a household name in the 1990’s for her comedy roles in Harry Enfield and Chums, Absolutely Fabulous and Gimme Gimme Gimme. She won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for her performance in Nil By Mouth and is now a theatre director and writer. Dan Jones is an author of bestselling books on English history including The Plantagenets, The Wars of the Roses, and now the 20th Century. His historical sweep is broad, as...
May 16, 2020•1 hr 22 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by Sarah Millican, one of the most successful women working in comedy in the UK, Sarah Dodd, a medic in the NHS who in her freetime has completed over 1675 escape rooms and who now competes in an international team of escape room enthusiasts and writer Helen Moat discusses her bicycle journey from Rotterdam to Istanbul and the healing benefits of slow travel. Plus actor Joe Tracini who has become a hit on social media after creating hilarious dance videos ...
May 09, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by writer Marian Keyes, who has just published her 14th novel and has over 30 million of her books sold to date in 36 languages. Also with us is Tori Amos, the Grammy nominated singer-songwriter who has made 15 studio albums, sold 15 million records and also branched off into the worlds of classical music and musical theatre. John Partridge is known for his contribution to EastEnders and Celebrity MasterChef - which he won - he'll be talking about how cook...
May 02, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Clare Balding who found success as a racing correspondent and since then has presented the Olympics 6 times as well as numerous other chat shows, documentaries and programmes about biking and walking. She has now added dogs to her list of interests and has launched her own “Dogcast”. The actor Daniel Mays has won widespread critical acclaim for roles in a diverse range of films, television and theatre productions, from Mike Leigh’s Palme d’Or nominated ...
Apr 25, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Alexandra Shulman, former editor of Vogue, who produced the magazine for 25 years and has now published a book about her life at the top, the pressures she faced and her love of clothes. Comedian Joe Lycett explains why he legally changed his name to Hugo Boss and back again. Commercial pilot Kate Burrows shares her story of surviving a crash landing in the Irish Sea and how she went on to become a member of the Goldfish Club. Natural history TV directo...
Apr 18, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Claudia Winkleman, one of our best known TV and radio presenters, known for her sharp wit and self deprecating humour not to say her thick black fringe, presenter of Strictly, Radio 2, podcast with Tanya Byron amongst many other things, she joins us on Saturday Live. We also have Comic actor/ writer Robert Webb, from Peep show, Back, Mitchell and Webb, Confetti, dancing Flashdance to win Let's Dance for Comic relief, memoirist and now with his first nov...
Apr 11, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by former professional footballer turned sports broadcaster Gary Lineker. During his playing career he played for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight and was famously never booked. He has presented the BBC flagship show Match of the Day since 1999 and now has a 5Live Match of the Day (MOTD) podcast with fellow pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who meet up in Gary's kitchen for weekly debates about football. Ro...
Apr 04, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by six time Olympic Champion, Sir Chris Hoy, who discusses the inspiration behind his career, retirement and writing children’s books. Ruth Linton is a grandmother from Manchester who became a stand up comedian after being treated for a brain tumour. Saturday Live listener and former high-flying police officer James Ellson reveals why he left the challenging streets of Moss Side to become a smallholder and writer of crime fiction and actor Mim Shaikh discu...
Mar 28, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined on the line by Sir Bob Geldof, of The Boomtown Rats, who left Dun Laoghaire for London, became known for punchy hits and outspoken interviews, then creating Band Aid and Live Aid. We also have Kelda Wood, who, in her mid twenties suffered a life changing injury and she has just become the first para athlete to row solo across the Atlantic. Derrick Osaze is ‘the punching preacher’ – last year he became Ultimate Boxxer III middleweight champion and was ordai...
Mar 21, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Neil Morrissey became a household name in the 1990’s playing Tony in sitcom Men Behaving Badly. As the voice of Bob the Builder he had two number one singles in the UK Charts and now combines acting with running pubs. Alice Morrison is an adventurer who lives and (mostly!) explores in Morocco. She was previously a BBC news editor. She’s travelled extensively in the region, most recently completing a 78-day trek across the Saharan desert with three Berber companions and six camels, receiving help...
Mar 14, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Jo Whiley joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles. Jo presents on Radio 2 and from Glastonbury, as well as pursing her passion for gardening. A competitive swimmer in her youth, she is about to take on the triathlon for Sport Relief. Saturday Live listener Deborah Rowland, who trained as an archaeologist and an anthropologist, describes how she uncovered her own human heritage when she tracked down her birth parents. When Ryan Riley’s mum Krista was diagnosed with terminal small cell lung can...
Mar 07, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Joanna Trollope CBE, who has 22 novels to her name. A keen observer of our life and times, she is also the fifth-generation niece of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, has chaired awards, judged literature prizes and updated Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. We also have Jason Watkins, the BAFTA winning actor who played Harold Wilson in The Crown, also starred in Nativity!, W1A, Line of Duty, Being Human and now McDonald & Dodds, two feature le...
Feb 29, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Actor, writer and director Zawe Ashton’s career began at the age of six and, having appeared on stage and in films ever since, it was the TV role of Vod in Fresh Meat that made her famous. She has since appeared in Hollywood films, had her play For All the Women Who Thought They were Mad performed in New York and London and has published Character Breakdown, an account of her life as a young actor. Amit Patel was a busy 33 year-old A&E doctor when he completely lost his sight over a 36-hour ...
Feb 22, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Aasmah Mir and Rev. Richard Coles are joined by the film director, DJ and musician Don Letts. He talks about being the son of Windrush, scion of dub and midwife of punk-reggae. Molly Case is a nurse specialist in cardiac care and a slam poet, who wowed the Royal College of Nursing conference with a spoken word performance that made headlines. She explains what inspired her to make the switch from English to medicine. Barry Dring lived a double life: oil trader by day, skateboarder by night. He d...
Feb 15, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Tracey Thorn, who escaped from suburbia, went to Hull University and emerged as one half of pop group Everything but the Girl. Her latest book details the influence of her background on her journey – not least how boredom was for her a catalyst for creativity. She joins us on Saturday Live. Jenny Tong went from rebellious childhood and repeated school exclusions to trying weightlifting at University where she was doing an International Relations and Pol...
Feb 08, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Frances Barber first played rock star, screen goddess and drug addict Billie Trix 18 years ago and, along with Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys, she is set to reprise the role in cabaret Musik. Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse began as two Instagram posts called “help” and “kind” that were shared a million times. They have been included in a book of life lessons that has become a surprise bestseller here and in the US. Steve Smith is one of America’s most experienc...
Feb 01, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Kay Mellor was a married mother at 16, and by her twenties had found her way to Bretton Hall College to study drama. An actor, director and screenwriter, she started on Coronation Street, before writing such TV classics as Fat Friends and Band of Gold, which she has now adapted for the stage. Paul Olima was born in Dublin. He played football professionally, before taking up sports modelling. He explains how he became a body double, standing in for the likes of Mario Balotelli, Usain Bolt and Ant...
Jan 25, 2020•1 hr 24 min
Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein are joined by former Special Forces sniper, Ant Middleton, now star of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, where ex-Special Forces soldiers put civilian recruits through their paces, SAS style. Andrew Garrido was desperate to play the piano. He couldn't afford lessons, but undeterred, he made a keyboard out of paper and taught himself and is now studying at the Guildhall School of Music. Jane Couch took part in unregulated boxing matches for years – sometimes against men -...
Jan 18, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Rev Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Fay Ripley. Most famous for playing Jenny, her northern counterpart, in TV’s Cold Feet, the series started 24 years ago and continues next week. The actor also cooks - she has written 3 cookbooks, drives fast, has had a chat show and likes to try her hand at anything she fancies. Sam Jalloh, who left Sierra Leone to play tennis, which he learnt playing barefoot and with a plywood raquet. Dr Zoe Williams played Amazon in TV's Gladiators, whilst study...
Jan 17, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Crime novelist Kathy Reich’s famous heroine is Temperance Brennan, an academic anthropologist turned forensic anthropologist, much like Kathy herself. Her latest novel, A Conspiracy of Bones, is published this year and Kathy joins Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein. Mike Bushell has made a career out of his hobbies; he famously holds the world record for participating in the greatest number of different sports on his Saturday morning slot on BBC Breakfast. He can now add ballroom dancing to the list as p...
Jan 04, 2020•1 hr 25 min
The writer and poet Michael Rosen joins Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein. He shares his discoveries of a lost family found, the importance of play, and tells us how to eat a bagel. Back by popular demand: the cook Julia Georgallis, gives advice on ‘How to eat your Christmas tree’. Incurable romantic, William Cash, explains why he has a treasure trove of more than a thousand love letters, archived in a pig shed, and how restoring his family home helped him deal with heartbreak. Inspired by her experienc...
Dec 28, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein are joined by Ruth Jones, who co-wrote and starred in one of our most loved TV comedies: Gavin and Stacey, which seemingly ended after 3 successful series, almost ten years ago. However, in May her co-writer & co-star James Corden announced they’d be back this year for a Christmas Special, and there are only 4 more days to wait as it airs on Christmas Day. Gloria Stewart will be here - the Yorkshirewoman organises a huge dinner every year for those lonely at Christm...
Dec 21, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Jason Manford began his stand up career at the age of 17 and was nominated for the Perrier Award in Edinburgh in 2005 at just 24. As he embarks on a starring role in the West End run of Curtains, Jason tells Suzy Klein and Aasmah Mir why he won't be pigeonholed. Justin Myers had been secretly detailing his romantic encounters and reviewing dates in the Blind Date column in the Guardian Weekend Magazine on his blog The Guyliner for ten years. Then he began to receive messages threatening to revea...
Dec 14, 2019•1 hr 25 min
Actor and comedian Ben Miller joins Richard Coles and Suzy Klein to talk about why he chose comedy over physics and about his new children's book, The Boy Who Made The World A Disappear, in which the main character is inspired by his son. Zena Cooper was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, a genetic condition which affected her eyesight to the extent that she hid her blindness from family and friends for over thirty years. Emily Chappell went from cycle courier to endurance cyclist, entering the Tra...
Dec 07, 2019•1 hr 25 min
