Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray are joined by Julia Donaldson CBE, the children's writer who has written over 200 books, not least The Gruffulo, Stick Man, The Highway Rat and Room on the Broom to name a few. She is also a composer and ex children’s laureate and her repertoire includes books for school use to help children learning to read. From running an Argos store and working as a stand up comedian, to being a parish priest in Burnley, Fr Alex Frost has become a campaigner against poverty and depriv...
Dec 31, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Matt Goss joins Nikki Bedi and Peter Curran. The singer-songwriter and actor will perform Santa Baby and talk about his life, career and what it means to be living back in the UK after over a decade in America. Matt first shot to international stardom as one half of 1980s band Bros but has carved out a successful solo career, his latest single is The Beautiful Unknown. He's touring next year with The Matt Goss Experience which starts in Croydon on the 27th February and finishes on the 16th April...
Dec 24, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by comedian, writer, presenter and disability rights campaigner Sally Phillips whose career covers some of the most successful British comedies of all time, including I'm Alan Partridge and Miranda, as well as Hollywood movies like Bridget Jones. Her new series My Life At Christmas features interviews with big name stars to find out what Christmas means to them. Nadiyka Gerbish joins live from Ukraine to talk about how her country celebrates Christmas, esp...
Dec 17, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Pattie Boyd joins Nikki Bedi and Danny Wallace. The model, muse and photographer talks about her life, the influence of her early years and how she dealt with many years in the public eye, where relationships with George Harrison and Eric Clapton inspired songs such as Harrison's Something and Clapton’s Layla and Wonderful Tonight. When listener Andrew Lock heard our science lesson call in it prompted him to get in touch and tell us about his surprising career as an inventor on a TV show in the ...
Dec 10, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by the BAFTA-winning writer, Jack Thorne. Jack's written a string of hits for stage and screen including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the BBC's adaptation of His Dark Materials, the TV drama This is England and the Enola Holmes films. Cellist Jacqueline Thomas is a member of the renowned Brodsky Quartet, which she co-founded with her brother at the age of 10. As the group celebrates its 50th anniversary, Jacqueline recalls collaborations with famous ...
Dec 03, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by the actress and presenter Emily Atack. She shot to fame in coming of age comedy The Inbetweeners when she was just 17. TV and theatre roles came her way, as well as stints on reality shows such as Dancing on Ice and I’m a Celebrity. She has since done three series of her eponymous one woman show for ITV. Donna Freed is a writer and translator who is one half of the UK's longest running all-female podcast, Radio Gorgeous. Donna was adopted, and found out...
Nov 26, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Michael Morpurgo joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The author has written over 150 books but is perhaps best known as the creator of War Horse, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The former Children’s Laureate is also the co-founder, with his wife Clare, of the charity Farms for City Children. Anne-Marie Dias Borges tells the story of how she was born into destitution, but was taken in by the inventor the hair claw clip. Nikita Gill is the UK’s biggest online poet. Always writing as a ...
Nov 19, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Martin Kemp on life before, during and after Spandau Ballet and keeping the 80s music scene alive. We also have: Listener Jenny Sheppard whose family secret has dominated her life. Printmaker Angela Harding on recreating nature on paper, starting her business late and what's it's like to have her work adorning tea towels and calendars. Comedian Shazia Mirza on comedy, Birmingham and Bollywood. Actor Hugh Bonneville chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Look w...
Nov 12, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Luke Evans joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The Hobbit and Nine Perfect Strangers star left a happy family home in Wales age 16 to pursue his dreams. Luke's big break came after being seen in a London play and he combines acting with a lifelong passion for singing, as he releases his second album. Lucy Gray began collecting discarded shopping lists by accident, as a way to amuse her friends during lockdown. After amassing over 250 of them, they are being displayed in the Museum of Brands in L...
Nov 05, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw and Bez from Happy Mondays. They also have Dr Katriona O’Sullivan who grew up in poverty to parents who were addicted to heroin. Her journey has taken her from working as a dinner lady in the university canteen to becoming an academic. Rainbow Mbuangi plays blind football for England. Fresh from the blind football Euros, where England came third, he joins us to tell us how the game works.
Oct 29, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Michael Ball joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. In a career spanning over 30 years the singer, actor and presenter has appeared in musicals from Les Miserables and Aspects of Love, to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Phantom of the Opera, winning Olivier Awards for his roles in Hairspray and Sweeney Todd. Michael's debut novel is a love letter to the theatre. As a boy, Hamed Amiri fled Herat with his parents and two brothers after the Taliban put out an execution order for his mother. Their journey ...
Oct 22, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Adrian Chiles. He has graced our TV screens presenting and reporting on various issues over the last 20 years from business to sport, to chat and back to sport again. But recently he has been talking about alcohol moderation, a subject that has become a personal passion project. Dr Rahul Mandal is the research scientist who won Bake Off in 2018 despite not having ever made a cake until 2016. He joins us. Listener Dr Susie West was a junior doctor on the...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Trevor Horn joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The multiple award-winning music producer shares stories from his decades in the music industry. First coming to prominence with The Buggles, Horn ran a label and influenced the iconic sound of artists including ABC, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones and Seal. Raymond Blanc takes Anna Bailey around his orchard in Oxfordshire. Angela Hui talks about her experiences growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales, having duel identities and, aft...
Oct 08, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Craig David joins Julia Bradbury and Richard Coles. The singer-songwriter found fame age 18 with ‘Rewind’ and over the next 22 years dealt with the highs and lows of fame. Craig talks about his career, overcoming obstacles and rediscovering his good vibes. Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature grew up in Deptford, an inner city area of London. Growing up Kwesia dealt with violence and trauma but an opportunity to go to the Peruvian Amazon rainforest changed her life and she now works to share her love ...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Melanie C joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The musician, actor and now memoirist talks about how the seeds for Sporty Spice were planted in her childhood, reveals what it was like to be part of the Spice Girls, and the personal struggles behind the success. Pastor Mick Fleming was once a dangerous, violent drug user and dealer but he transformed his life in his 40s and now provides comfort and support for those in need. Opera singer Rebecca Bottone is the daughter of two acclaimed opera singe...
Sep 24, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Dan Gillespie Sells joins Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Richard Coles. The lead singer with The Feeling, who also composed the music for Everybody's Talking About Jamie, met his fellow band members at the BRIT School aged 16 and they’ve been collaborating ever since. Their latest album is Loss Hope Love, containing the single On the Edge, and they are touring next month. Susan Cousins was abandoned as a baby in India. After being adopted she grew up predominantly in the UK but experienced difficulti...
Sep 20, 2022•1 hr 28 min
Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi host stories and tributes to the Queen.
Sep 10, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray are joined by scientist and best selling writer Carlo Rovelli to discuss life outside of black holes and quantum mechanics and why he’s been dubbed the world’s most inspirational physics teacher. At the age of 24, Georgina Hurst was severely injured in an car accident caused by her then boyfriend’s dangerous driving. She was given a less than one per cent chance of survival. Determined to defy the odds, today she is gearing up to celebrate 25 years since the accident with...
Sep 03, 2022•1 hr 26 min
Deborah Moggach joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The novelist and screenwriter talks about relationships, why it’s never too late to have adventures and the forthcoming play based on her novel These Foolish Things. The first adaptation resulted in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel film. Listener Nick Bunker was listening to Saturday Live a few weeks ago when the writer Lesley Pearse told us how she’d been reunited with the son she’d given up for adoption. He was moved to write to us – as he was ...
Aug 27, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Val McDermid joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The award-winning crime writer was inspired to write after reading Agatha Christie as a child. After attending Oxford University, Val started her career as a journalist and has drawn on these experiences in her latest thriller 1989. Kristin Mcilquham’s father suffered from a serious brain injury (three aneurysms) when she was child which changed her dad’s personality. Now an actor, she is performing her one-woman show Headcase about the impact thi...
Aug 20, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Dave Gorman joins Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray ahead of his latest tour. The comedian gave up a bright future in maths to become a stand-up. He first found fame asking Are You Dave Gorman and, aided by a powerpoint, has been on a mission to prove Modern Life Is Goodish. He’s also recently become a crossword setter. Sanjar Qiam is a master kite-maker from Kabul. To mark the anniversary of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Sanjar is launching a kite-flying festival across the UK to celebrate Afghan ...
Aug 13, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Actor James Purefoy joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to talk about Fisherman's Friends One and All. From Mark Antony in Rome to The Black Prince in A Knight's Tale, James talks about his long and wide-ranging career. The Singh Twins are visual artists whose colourful and acclaimed work draws on traditional Indian techniques, Western medieval illuminated manuscripts and contemporary Western culture. They talk about their close bond and identifying as 'twindividuals'. Adeline Vining found a vint...
Aug 06, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Doon Mackichan joins Nikki Bedi and Rev Richard Coles. The actor, writer and comedian – and double Emmy winner - talks about her latest comedy role set in a suburban street in Glasgow, how she did impressions to avoid the school bullies and her love of wild swimming. Loree Draude is one of the first women to fly combat jets in the U.S. Navy. She switched to start-ups in Silicon Valley, rediscovered her love of theatre and now has a one-woman show. Matt Rowland Hill grew up the son of a minister ...
Jul 30, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Robert Peston joins Nikki Bedi and Peter Curran. Whilst keeping very busy as ITV News' Political Editor, Robert Peston has written his debut novel. He talks about the memories it triggered, career highlights and passions outside work. Listener Gerry Wright got in touch to talk about the significance of sailing for her family, and a particularly poignant bedside trip with her mother. Ben Aldridge used to suffer from severe anxiety until he used the ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism to get outs...
Jul 23, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Adil Ray are joined by Delia Smith CH CBE, first known for teaching cookery skills on TV and in her books in a no-nonsense style. 50 years worth of recipes later, she is now sharing her thoughts on spirituality. Liv Thorne wanted a baby, but she was single. Instead of hanging around waiting for Mr Right, she took things into her own hands and bought some sperm, having her son in 2018. Keen to reduce stigma surrounding such choices, she documented her experience and found that revi...
Jul 16, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Eddie Hearn joins Nikki Bedi and Rev. Richard Coles. One of the biggest boxing promoters in the world, Eddie represents some of the biggest names in the sport, including Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor. He talks about what drives him to succeed and the biggest challenges he’s faced. This weekend is the Llangollen Eisteddfod, an international music and dance festival in North Wales, which has been running since 1949. In 1956, when she was 15, Myron Lloyd entered the Welsh singing competition in a...
Jul 09, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles meet Baroness Floella Benjamin - who became a household name in the mid 70s and 80s as the host of Playschool. She came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation from Trinidad and as well as TV presenting, she is a successful actor, writer and producer, a working peer and advocate for the welfare and education of Children, she is also a Dame and an OBE. We also have Aled Haydn Jones - the current head of radio 1 - who has spoken out about his rollercoaster journey...
Jul 02, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Barbara Charone joins Nikki Bedi and Rev. Richard Coles. Barbara has been called the UK’s most powerful music PR and has launched the careers of artists including Madonna. She talks about growing up in Chicago, her role in the music industry and also finding time for football. Listener and writer Isabel Wolff got in touch to talk about the day her family saved Harold Wilson from drowning. Labi Siffre shares his Inheritance Tracks: Sail Away by Randy Newman and Il Canto sung by Luciano Pavarotti....
Jun 25, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Gyles Brandreth joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles. The writer, broadcaster and former MP talks about his life, varied career and why he’s still trying to please his parents. Felicity Cloake shares her experiences of cycling around the UK sampling breakfasts. Actor James Nesbitt chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Stardust by Nat King Cole and Star of the County Down by Van Morrison and The Chieftains. Ronnie Archer-Morgan discovered a love of objects when he was a boy; his passions helped him when ...
Jun 18, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by actor Minnie Driver who talks about her life, career and the lesson’s she’s learnt from her life so far. We also have Pearl Lowe, the former singer, ex-party girl and recovered addict on her regrets and living in the moment. Actor, director and writer Denis Lawson is perhaps best known for his appearances in classic films such the original “Star Wars” trilogy, but he has years of experience in the West End as a musical theatre actor, winning an Olivier ...
Jun 11, 2022•1 hr 24 min
