Loose Ends

Adrian Lester on the art of simultaneously sword-fighting while reciting poetry in his starring role in the RSC's acclaimed Cyrano de Bergerac. Alexandra Burke pays tribute to Chaka Khan in her new show I'm Every Woman and sings a beautiful Loose Ends special version of Ain't Nobody. Sir Grayson Perry is putting the fun into dysfunctional with a comedy musical about his life, he describes it as th...

Harry Shearer is a comedy legend. He’s the voice of Mr Burns in the Simpsons (and many other characters), he’s Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, and he’s over here with a brand new musical about J Edgar Hoover. Bella Hull first performed stand up a decade ago at the age of 17. In her new show ‘Mad Cow Disease’ she looks back on her decade in comedy. She also spills secrets from the writing room of Satur...

Stuart Maconie sets up camp at Borders Book Festival in the Scottish Borders. Comedian Daniel Sloss continues his world domination with his latest show Bitter which is helping him tick off 60 different countries. She perhaps can't claim 60, but Helen Watson visited an incredible list of countries when she cycled 15,000km from Glasgow to China along the Silk Road in 2009. Her book Tea and Grit dive...

Cosy crime, Mams and other people's Mam's and the joy of space travel are all explored on this week's Loose Ends. Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood reveals his Aunty Jess, a woman who thought two vegetables of the same colour on a place was "common", inspired his Marlow mysteries ace-investigator Judith Potts. Dublin comedian Emma Doran is heading to Edinburgh Festival, but she's not conv...

Edith Bowman is joined by best-selling author Holly Jackson, whose Young Adult mystery crime series A Good Girl's Guide to Murder has been adapted into a TV series staring Emma Myers as the straight-laced amateur detective Pip. Comedian Nish Kumar is heading out on a new tour later this year 'Angry Humour from a Really Nice Guy', he joins Edith to tell her what makes him angry, (hopefully whilst b...

Comedy writer Ben Elton's autobiography What Have I Done? tells the story of a career of comedy firsts, writing hit shows like Blackadder, The Young Ones and Upstart Crow. His love of words is legendary - as a small child his mother wouldn't let him speak til she was on her second cup of tea to braving the "Oxbridge tutorial" vibe of the Blackadder rehearsal room with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and...

Recorded in front of an audience at this year's Hay Festival, Clive Anderson is joined by comedian Athena Kugblenu, celebrating failure with her second history book for children, History's Most Epic Fails. Comedian Robin Morgan bears all in his latest stand-up hour, Let's Overshare. Food writer Georgina Hayden's new book is Medesque: Everyday Recipes with Mediterranean Roots. Keith Cameron is the...

Best-selling historical novelist Conn Iggulden on influencers in the Roman Empire, why Emperor Nero wasn't entirely a baddie and why we have far more in common with ancient Romans than we think. The stand-up comedian Cally Beaton didn't get into comedy until she was in her 40s, but after a chance conversation with Joan Rivers, she left the boardroom for evenings telling funny stories from sticky s...

Ardal O'Hanlon's new book 'A Plot to Die For' is the first in a series of crime novels starring Finn O'Leary, the celebrity gardener who comes back to his small home town where it turns out things aren't quite so cosy. Ella Risbridger tells us why the maxim 'never met your heroes' absolutely does not apply to Nigella Lawson and comedian Kathy Maniura skewers a specific kind of male midlfe crisis i...

Its food, glorious food week on Loose Ends as new Masterchef host - the Irish restaurateur and chef Anna Haugh - joins Clive to talk about her chemistry with co-host Grace Dent, kitchen etiquette and the hierarchy of carbohydrates (spuds on top, of course). Potatoes just don't cut it for the comedian Phil Wang, who will always be a noodles-man. He's going on tour but has a number of foodie side hu...

Comedian Chris Forbes is better known to many as Duncan AKA the other Murray brother, whose sketches with Judy Murray have tickled the nation. And thankfully they seem to have amused his fictional brothers too. Danielle Jam will be telling us what's the story in Balamory - she's joined the cast in the new series and is the nepobaby of the island, following in her dad's footsteps as village's lates...

Alfie Boe's album Face Myself is his most personal yet, packed with original songs which let us get to know the man behind the music. He shares one of his new tracks. Comedian Paul Black has become a star of Scottish social media, with his viral videos reminding us that dads on holiday are all much the same no matter where they're from. His tour Cash Cow brings us more of the characters that peopl...

Kiri Pritchard-McLean welcomes the actor and writer Ralf Little as he tours the country with the first ever stage adaptation of John le Carré's classic book The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Comedian Nina Gilligan joins us to talk about her new Radio 4 comedy special and her upcoming stand-up tour, Lemoncake. Actor Sam Riley is about to star in the new BBC romantic crime drama Mint. And we've mus...

Clive Anderson is joined by comedian Jen Brister, currentl touring her show 'Reactive', she's on a mission to see if she can chill out. Actor Giles Terera is starring in a new production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at the Old Vic and best-selling novelist Jojo Moyes' latest book is 'We All Live Here'. Angélique Kidjo is back with her first new album in five years, inspired by her mother, it...

Stuart Maconie is joined in Salford by master of mind control and psychological illusion Derren Brown who is currently touring his latest show 'Only Human'. Stand up Maria Shehata moved to the UK for love, but the course of true love did not run smoothly and the relationship ended soon after. She explores her decision in a new Radio 4 stand up special 'Maria Shehata is Wisdomless'. Alison Larkin t...

Stuart Maconie soaks up Glasgow International Comedy Festival. He is joined by comedian Alana Jackson who went viral with her stories of Glasgow funerals, took home the prestigious So You Think You're Funny? award in 2024, and took time out of her line dancing schedule last year to enjoy a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival. Plus stand-up Sam Lake, who asks guests on his podcast - I've Had A R...

Comic, Strictly winner and Live Comedy Day ambassador Chris McCausland joins Kiri Pritchard-McLean for a chat about siblings. Chris remembers pitched battles aged 11 with his then four year old sister over TV rights. Comedy cabaret duo Flo and Joan are sisters Rosie and Nicola Dempsey who do perform songs about slipping each other poison in their tea. But we think that's a joke. The Orielles too a...

Clive Anderson is joined by The O.C star Mischa Barton who is in a new production of Double Indemity. And it's a double dose of murder and intrigue as we're also joined by best-selling crime writer Ava Glass with her new book 'The Hiding Season'. And from death to life, since we're very grateful comedian Emmanuel Sonibu survived his near fatal heart attack and is here to tell the tale in his stand...

Stuart Maconie talks to the Riot Women and In The Thick Of It actress Joanna Scanlan on her lastest project, Mercy - a dark comic thriller. Faye Tozer is perhaps best known as part of the crowd pleasing, hearts and flowers pop band Steps, but now she's joining the cast of Mean Girls the musical - what does she make of the world of queen bees and "plastics". Fascinating Aïda's Adèle Anderson on sta...

Joining Stuart for this week's Loose Ends are... Comedian and actress Lucy Beaumont on the play that, 40 years ago, inspired her mum to become a writer. It also features a chip-eating Alsatian. Chef and broadcaster Gizzi Erskine with tales of members of The Damned being left with Courtney Love's baby. Comedian Alasdair Beckett-King on the good old days of landline phones and pop tarts. Jonny Balch...

Stuart talks to the award winning writer and composer of Calendar Girls and Kinky Boots - Tim Firth - about his latest stage creation, The Ladies Football Club. Can the man who got his break with a play about two yucca plants strike fresh gold with this tale of the women who began to play football whist working in Sheffield's munitions factories during World War I and end up playing to many thousa...

Joining Clive this week are the actress and singer Keala Settle, who's starring in a newly re-imagined production of John Ransom Phillips' Mrs President. Presenter Michaela Strachan is heading off across the country with her show Not Just A Wild Life, to celebrate 40 years of her career in television. Comedian Ross Noble joins us mid-tour to delve into his Cranium of Curiosities. Star of stage and...

Stuart Maconie is in Glasgow for the city's annual folk, roots and world music festival - Celtic Connections. He's joined by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, whose tour Vitruvian Mango sees him trying to figure out what it is to be a man, and why he feels like more of one when his wife asks him to reach something from a high shelf. Ashley Storrie will be chatting all about the new series of her award-w...

Joining Stuart for this week's Loose Ends are actor Nigel Havers, who tells us about his remarkable shepherd's pies and the sex appeal of Mrs Thatcher. Comedy writer and performer Rosalie Minnitt on how dreaming of cows and seeing moonlit owls doesn't bode terribly well. Comedian Mike Wozniak on how a luxuriant moustache can help balance out an underdeveloped lower face. And there's music from Dan...

Stuart Maconie's tiptoeing the line between dark and light in this week's Loose Ends. When she won Strictly Jill Halfpenny got the highest ever score for her sequin studded jive, but there's not a glitterball to be seen in her latest role as the traumatised mum Eve in the dark psychological thriller Girl Taken, which also stars Alfie Allen as the creepiest teacher you'd never hope to meet. Ian Smi...