Jimmy Carr joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. After deciding to pursue a comedy career in his mid-twenties Jimmy has now toured the world as a stand up and is a household name thanks to programmes such as Channel 4’s 8 out of 10 Cats. Jimmy talks about the power of laughter and how it's transformed his life. Natalie Cumming tells the incredible story of her family's violin. Dr Richard Shepherd has been a forensic pathologist for over 30 years and has been involved in the investigation of over 2...
Nov 06, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Daisy May Cooper, the comedy actor and writer joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to talk about how her life growing up in rural Gloucestershire inspired the BBC Three mockumentary-style, This Country. Thomas Leeds also joins us. He was left with no memories of his childhood after a car accident, until an iconic 80s song suddenly unlocked memories that had been lost for years. When Jacob Mitchell aka MC Grammar, a teacher from north London, posted a video of himself rapping The Gruffalo to his fo...
Oct 30, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by award winning comedian and lover of all things random, Ross Noble, who has 16 nationwide comedy tours under his belt, is a regular panellist on comedy shows and currently to be seen on iplayer on The Apprentice Australia. Paralympian sprinter Libby Clegg has won nine major gold medals, including two at the at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio for the 100m and 200m and she is the first blind contestant on Dancing On Ice. She joins us. Listener Georgia Nai...
Oct 23, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Tom Daley joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. Tom fulfilled his Olympic dream this year, becoming the most decorated British diver of all time. He talks about the challenges he’s faced, the lessons learnt, passion for knitting and his proudest achievement so far. Listener Alexis Roxburgh shares his paragliding stories. Anne-Marie is a West End child star turned multi-platinum-selling artist and The Voice coach, who also found time to be a karate World Champion. But despite success, the singer st...
Oct 16, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Sir Lenny Henry: comedian, actor, writer, fund raiser, he’s graced our stage and screen for almost 50 years and now he’s put his talents to writing for the next generation. Arthur Timothy is an architect turned artist whose work is inspired by photographs from the past and his own memories. He describes his paintings as love letters to his family. He joins us. We have Paula Sutton who worked in fashion magazines for years before she decided to showcase ...
Oct 09, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Matt Baker joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. Matt's career has taken him from Blue Peter to The One Show and Countryfile. He’s recently returned to live on his family farm and feels growing up with nature helped in all aspects of his life. Listener Jo Bradshaw is an office worked turned adventurer - who leads expeditions and was attempting to summit Everest during the earthquake of 2015. Khadijah Mellah became the first British Muslim woman to win a horse race in the UK. Age 18 she won the Mag...
Oct 02, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by Henry Holland - who started his career in teen magazines but became a fashion hit in 2008 after his slogan T shirts were worn by designers Giles Deacon and Gareth Pugh at London Fashion Week, his fashion business closed last year but he has since released a hugely successful ceramics collection and is now designing rugs. There is also Ramla Ali, the first Somali boxer in history to compete at the Olympic Games, Molly Schiller who completed a Masters stu...
Sep 25, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Paul Merson was one of English football’s brightest stars in the 1990s. He was capped for England 21 times and scored 99 goals for Arsenal before transferring to Middlesborough for the then highest fee ever paid by a first division team. But throughout his career, Paul waged a very public battle with addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling, as depicted in his new memoir Hooked. He talks to Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. Jamie Laing grew up in Oxfordshire and Knightsbridge, attending prestigious...
Sep 18, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Annie Nightingale joins Nikki Bedi and Suzy Klein to talk about her 50 years in broadcasting, including being the first female DJ on Radio 1 and how her love of new music has led to her being the station's longest-serving broadcaster. Annie also explains why she owes a debt to The Beatles. Ranger Jonathan Ford explains how his love of birds took him to live in Papa Westray, one of the smallest islands in Orkney. Chef Poppy O’Toole lost her job and was inspired by her siblings to make PoppyCooks ...
Sep 11, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Mo Gilligan, host of his own Bafta winning Friday night TV show, judge on the Masked singer, a comedian with sell out tours behind him, but only 5 years ago he was working the shop floor in retail, he joins us to talk about his journey into primetime. Gavanndra Hodge's childhood was chaotic as both her parents had addiction problems, then tragedy struck and her little sister died. She reflects on loss and trauma. Simon Amstell is a writer, director and stand up comedian who first came to promine...
Sep 04, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Bananarama – Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward - who tell us about surviving forty years in the music industry with hits including Venus, Robert De Niro’s Waiting and Cool Summer. James Ketchell has circum-navigated the world by gyrocopter, as well as single-handedly rowing the Atlantic, climbing Everest, and cycling across the world. Listener Mary Monro on retracing her father’s footsteps across China and the route he took after escaping from a Japanese p...
Aug 28, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Actress and author Celia Imrie joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to discuss her debut non-fiction novel, set against the backdrop of the sinking of the Titanic. Celia explains her family connections to the legendary ship and talks about her love of travel and career highlights. Listener Nick Wharton got in touch about his adventures in climbing, and being reunited with his estranged father. Tom Chapman is an award-winning barber who experienced a personal tragedy that led him to create The Lion...
Aug 21, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Harry Enfield, who’ll be telling us how he went from part-time milkman to BAFTA award-winning comedian, actor, writer and director, creating characters such as Tim Nice-But-Dim, Smashie and Nicey and Kevin the Teenager and how now he's playing the Prince of Wales. Catriona Rennison, who has just started as a junior doctor despite being discouraged from following a career in medicine after being treated for anorexia as a teenager. James McNicholas, is a ...
Aug 14, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Tim Vine, a comedian who eschewes the observational / confessional style, and celebrates joke telling and puns, his latest tour combines his love of music with comedy. Listener Fiona Maher grew up hearing that she had a half-brother that she’d never met. After 40 years, she finally found him. She joins us to tell us what it’s like to have a new family. Phil Manzanera has played in some of the biggest stadiums in the world as the guitarist of Roxy Music....
Aug 07, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Ellie Taylor joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The comedian, writer and The Mash Report newsreader talks about her path to stand-up, real life inspiration, and ruining her life in the best way possible. Listener Tom Edwards has had a successful broadcasting career but he hit rock bottom and ended up homeless. He talks about his road to recovery, and how he was helped by a well-known comedian. Mevan Babakar's family fled Iraq in 1991 and she spent her childhood moving from country to country. S...
Jul 31, 2021•1 hr 27 min
Nikki Bedi and Shaun Keaveny are joined by Christian O’Connell, presenter of the Breakfast Show on Gold FM in Melbourne, Australia. He tells us why he left his number one show on Absolute Radio, with three million listeners, to move to the other side of the world and take on the toughest radio market there is. Listener Lisa Jones on the World War Two dog tag she found in her garden and what she discovered when she went in search of the owner. Paula Craig was a detective in the Metropolitan Polic...
Jul 24, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Jack Savoretti joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to talk about his heritage, how his mum inspired him to get into music, and why for his seventh studio album, Europiana, Jack has reached back into his memories of childhood holidays spent on the beaches of north west Italy. Listener and musician Elaine Bryant contacted us to tell us about a very lucky escape she had back in 1984. She was 17, a harpist from Dublin, on a tour of North America and Canada, when they got caught in a snowstorm in the ...
Jul 17, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Matt Haig is an award-winning author of fiction for both adults and children and his memoir of depression and anxiety Reasons to Stay Alive became a runaway bestseller. He joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi to discuss the inspiration for his latest non-fiction work The Comfort Book. Bexy Cameron was born into the Children of God cult and moved around the world with the notorious group. She escaped at fifteen but later felt compelled to document religious sects in order to better understand her c...
Jul 10, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Craig Revel Horwood, He is the one to impress on the Strictly Judging panel, a critical eye honed by his long history in performance and choreography including West Side Story, Cats, Chess, Sister Act, Annie, Son of A Preacher man and all the Strictly Tours. Jessie Cave played Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter films, is a comedian, doodler, podcaster and now a novelist, she joins us. Will Buckingham has always opened his house to strangers. When his pa...
Jul 03, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Felicity Kendal made her stage debut as a baby. Over 70 years later she’s preparing to appear in her first musical, Anything Goes. She talks to Nikki Bedi and Suzy Klein about her career, including the impact of playing Barbara in The Good Life. Sarah Bickers grew up in a welcoming but messy home, and, living with ADHD, has learnt how to to create order out of chaos. She shares her experiences to help others as a professional declutterer. Jamie Hull was involved in a plane crash which saw most o...
Jun 26, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Johnny Flynn is in the rare position and being both an acclaimed musician and a successful actor who is breaking into the A-list both here and in America. He recently starred as David Bowie in the biopic Stardust and Mr Knightly in a big-screen adaptation of Emma and has just released an album he made during lockdown with writer Robert MacFarlane; Lost in the Cedarwood. He joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to talk about combining music, acting and family life. James O’Brien grew up knowing he w...
Jun 19, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by iconic Beninese singer songwriter Angelique Kidjo. Whilst known for her energetic world music style she has also collaborated with Philip Glass, covered Talking Heads, played to a jubilant crowd at the BBC Proms and worked as an advocate for the rights and education of women. Growing up in Afghanistan in the 80s, Waheed Arian had to flee the war aged 5. He contracted TB in a refugee camp and his childhood and education were completely disrupted by war. ...
Jun 12, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Big Zuu joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The rapper started teaching himself to cook when he was 9 and is now combining a career in music with his passion for food. Listener Shobha Edgell is a former barrister who, after retirement, took up walking football, as well as being an extra in television and film. Hamish de Bretton Gordon is a chemical weapons expert who also has a heart condition called Sudden Death Syndrome. Victoria Hislop shares her Inheritance Tracks: Take Five by Dave Brubeck ...
Jun 05, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Sara Cox has been entertaining the nation for 25 years, first through Channel 4 and MTV, then as host of Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 and now drive time on Radio 2. She joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to discuss her latest project, TV book club Under the Covers. Ben Dunne’s teenage son River died in a tragic road traffic accident in Sweden alongside his fellow bandmates from Viola Beach and their manager. They were on the cusp of stardom, scheduled to play a series of festivals in the UK and beyo...
May 29, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Award winning comedian and actor Omid Djalili joins us to talk about his route to fame, taking part in Splash, quiz show catchphrases, performing in Persian for the first time recently and getting back on stage after lockdown. In 1974, aged 17, Debbie Gayle travelled to the Soviet Union to train at the Kirov school of ballet. It was the height of the Cold war, and she found the experience thoroughly unwelcoming with the exception of a woman called Natasha who became her friend. When Debbie becam...
May 22, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Russell Tovey joins Nikki Bedi and Shaun Keaveny. The actor shares how his childhood passion for cartoons and collecting developed into a life changing love of art. Monica Korpal talks about why she retrained to become a nurse. Having been a hospital patient since childhood, due to a rare blood condition, she now works for the Haematology Unit where she was a patient. Alex George entertained millions on Love Island in 2018 but he's also an A&E doctor and personal experiences now make him foc...
May 15, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Chef Raymond Blanc began to write a recipe book at the beginning of 2020 inspired by the fast and simple cooking of French scientist Edouard de Pomaine and by his mother. He had no idea the world was about to change. A few months later, Raymond was self-isolating when he found that his mother had died in France and then he was hospitalised with Covid for a month over Christmas and into January. He joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to explain how Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home reflects how th...
May 08, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Andi Oliver whose first career was as vocalist and performer in the band Rip Rig + Panic with her brother Sean and Neneh Cherry, amongst others. She then explored her passion for food and had a cookery show, more recently she became a judge on The Great British Menu and this year is hosting the show for the first time. Joe Marler plays rugby union for Harlequins and has 72 caps for England, has played for the British Lions and the Barbarians. He plays l...
May 01, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Tim Burgess joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. The Charlatans frontman talks music, meditation and how his lockdown Twitter listening parties have become more successful than he could have imagined. Natasha Coates developed severe allergies when she was 18. She threw herself into gymnastics and won 22 British titles and 38 British medals. Natasha talks about living with her condition and what sport means to her. Lawrence Okolie tells the story of how he went from an unhealthy fast food server t...
Apr 24, 2021•1 hr 24 min
Ben Fogle became famous over twenty years ago when he spent a year living on a Scottish Island for early reality TV programme Castaway. It was the springboard for remarkable career involving television presenting, publishing ten books, climbing Everest, swimming with crocodiles, saving elephants, walking to the South Pole and rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. He tells Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi about his most recent project; travelling around the country to tell people about his extraordinary ...
Apr 17, 2021•1 hr 24 min
