Feedback

Roger asks the BBC’s North America editor Jon Sopel how he attempts to set his own agenda and remain impartial in one of the most divisive US elections of all time. And who is his Americast podcast aimed at? Also this week two British Asian listeners will cast a critical ear over the Asian network. Is it for them? Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: A Juniper Connect p...

There is to be a new chairman of the BBC, and several high profile figures have been linked with the position. In Feedback this week Roger attempts to try and find out how much power the new chairman will have, and whether he or she will be accountable in any way to the licence-fee payer. Journalist and broadcaster Anne McElvoy talks about her attempts to get political opponents to actually listen...

The BBC’s Medical Editor is once more reporting from the Covid front line. Roger Bolton asks Fergus Walsh what lessons he has learned from covering the first wave. What is code switching? The BBC Radio 4 programme of that name raised some questions from Feedback listeners, Roger asks a linguistics academic to explain. And Nancy Sinatra puts on her boots again. Did she walk all over our listener re...

An in-depth interview with the Controller of Radio 4, Mohit Bakaya. He has been in charge of Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra and Radio 4 podcasts for almost a year, and before that had been a commissioning editor at the network since 2008. He responds to listeners’ questions about The Archers, Desert Island Discs, Woman’s Hour, coronavirus coverage and his plans for the future. Presenter: Roger Bolton Prod...

The BBC’s head of statistics discusses the reliability of figures broadcast for coronavirus infections and deaths. Was the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini a suitable subject for Radio 4’s Great Lives series? The programme’s presenter Matthew Parris defends the decision. And two amateur reviewers give their verdict on an episode of Woman’s Hour. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon...

Now that the Archers have started talking to each other face-to-face Alison Hindell, the Commissioning Editor in charge of Ambridge, answers listeners' criticisms of the programme during lockdown, and responds to a range of audience views on Radio 4 drama. Producer Sarah Shebbeare discusses her World Service documentary The Death Row Book Club in which an innocent man survived 28 years in solitary...

Is there any point in Radio 4 broadcasting comedy programmes such as the News Quiz without a studio audience and with all the panellists in different places? The executive in charge, Julia McKenzie, joins Roger Bolton to discuss comedy under coronavirus restrictions, and whether Just a Minute will return now that its legendary presenter Nicholas Parsons has left the stage. And the BBC';s Director...

The outgoing Editor of Radio 4’s Today Programme is heading off to a monastery in France. Has three years of editing the BBC‘s flagship radio news programme led to her taking the veil? Sarah Sands reflects on her tenure and brings an ‘outsider's’ view of Today and the BBC - and explains she’s going on retreat to write a book. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir S...

Is it worth the BBC holding the Proms this year without an audience present? Controller of Radio 3 Alan Davey discusses the value of the Proms without Promenaders. Test Match Special is back, also without crowds of spectators, and with the commentators in safety bubbles, TMS Producer Adam Mountford explains how they are muddling through, and reveals who upset the England team with their impromptu...

Was Cleopatra secretly carried into her first audience with Julius Caesar wrapped in a duvet rather than a carpet? Radio 4’s Homeschool History claims a duvet is nearer the truth than Hollywood’s version. Presenter Greg Jenner outlines his evidence. Two Feedback listeners review a Radio 2 documentary about Italia 90. Did it take them out of their comfort zones? And will these latest cuts to the lo...

Is the study of crowd control a suitable one for scientists? Radio 4’s The Life Scientific thought so but some Feedback listeners disagreed. Did the Rethink series which brought together three BBC radio networks deliver on its promise to explore new ways of thinking after the coronavirus crisis? And two listeners living abroad who enjoy Radio 4, review and give their verdicts about a programme on...

Does the BBC need to rethink its business coverage in light of the coronavirus epidemic? The BBC’s Business Editor Simon Jack gives his view and answers listeners' questions. Journalist Nick Wallis explains why he spent ten years on an investigation into the treatment of sub-postmasters by the Post Office, which has now been turned into a ten-part series on Radio 4. And two listeners living abroad...

The Archers has taken a dramatic turn – but is it for the worse? As internal monologues replace dramatic dialogue and confrontation, listeners give their verdicts on the most radical transformation in the soap’s long history. As Tim Harford prepares to do even more episodes of Radio 4’s More or Less, he explains to Roger about the use - and abuse - of statistics. And should Radio 4 Extra stop repe...

How well is BBC News rising to the challenge of reporting the coronavirus pandemic, and what should its role be? Should it support the Government at this time of national crisis or continue with tough forensic questioning and reporting? Roger Bolton puts listeners’ comments and questions about the coronavirus coverage to Gavin Allen, the head of BBC News output. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: K...

Does the BBC’s coronavirus podcast put too much emphasis on politics and not enough on medical science? That's one of the comments from listeners discussed by Roger Bolton with Dino Sofos, the editor of the Coronavirus Newscast. Roger also asks a transgender priest why she chose the issue of her identity as a subject for her Lent Talk on Radio 4, and why she was inspired by Jesus Christ’s journey...

Does BBC local radio have a special role to play in the coverage of the coronavirus crisis and, with many of its staff in isolation, does it have the resources to do it? Roger Bolton puts these and other questions to Chris Burns who runs BBC local radio. A reporter from Radio Gloucestershire explains how her station is coping, having only just finished covering the terrible floods in the Severn ar...

Chris Mason is now presenting Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 in a room alone and without an audience. He tells Roger Bolton how this has changed the programme, and listerners give their views on missing the applause, the boos and the hisses. Also, listeners discuss whether a coronavirus free Ambridge is absurd or a refreshing change from the real world, and if it was wise to blow up Linda Snell. Pre...

Feedback devotes the whole programme to putting listeners’ questions and concerns to the BBC’s Director of Radio and Education James Purnell. He tells Roger Bolton how the Corporation is coping in the present crisis and what changes we can expect in the near future. And they go on to discuss the future strategic challenges facing the Corporation as its own financial problems increase and with the...

In Feedback this week, the latest information on how the BBC is responding to the coronavirus crisis and making changes to its radio schedules. Two listeners will venture well out of their comfort zones to listen to a very disturbing story on the World Service. And is this the moment when slow radio comes into its own? The producer of Living National Treasures sings the praises of a sculptor’s chi...

As the coronavirus outbreak is confirmed as a pandemic, the BBC’s medical correspondent Fergus Walsh talks about the daily dilemmas he faces in reporting the story, and answers comments from the audience about the coverage. The Editor of Ramblings - a long-running staple of the BBC Radio 4 schedules - responds to some listeners who think it has lost its way. And two more listeners review That Pete...

As the Ambridge storyline about historic child sex abuse comes to an end, Roger Bolton hears audience views and discovers how The Archers production team handled this difficult story. The Editor of The Archers, Jeremy Howe, explains how the story was planned and why a much loved character, the retired academic Jim, was chosen to be at the centre of the plot. Also, a father and daughter try - and f...

A senior BBC News executive discusses the extensive coverage given to the coronavirus Covid-19 as it continues its spread around the world. The award-winning comedian Jon Holmes explains how he thinks the audience should listen to his new Radio 4 comedy series, The Skewer. And two more listener reviewers give their thoughts on a long-running Radio 4 programme. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kat...

Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, Fran Unsworth, answers listener concerns about the planned cuts and fears they will lead to the loss of distinctiveness for programmes such as Today, The World at One and PM. She explains the changes and why she believes there is no alternative. Also, can science help dispel racist myths? We discuss Adam Rutherford’s Book of the Week on BBC R4, How to Argu...

Radio 3 had a much admired schedule, so why change it? That's one of the questions Roger Bolton puts to Radio 3's Controller of Radio 3, Alan Davey, in the last programme of the current series. Also, two listener reviewers have some pungent comments to make about a popular history podcast and The Observer’s Miranda Sawyer gives Radio 4 some radical advice. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Di...

As the Government boycotts BBC Radio 4’s the Today programme, Roger Bolton asks the Editor, Sarah Sands, for her view and how she will respond. Also on Feedback this week, two more listeners - a mother and daughter - are taken out of their comfort zones to listen to George the Poet, with surprising results. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Conne...