Loose Ends

Loose Ends is the guest of Durham Brass Festival this week, providing flugelhorns, euphoniums and an enthusiastic audience at the newly refurbished 110 year old Redhills Miners Hall, once known as "the Pitman's Parliament". Far from brassed off to be with him is the poet laureate Simon Armitage who finds exactly the right words to describe the magic of brass music but then admits to never having w...

This week Stuart is joined by comedian and poet Tim Key who takes us to LA Baby in his new book, Lucy Porter who is learning to let go in her new stand up show, and Shabaz Ali: the Tik Tok sensation with his takedowns of the super-rich. Eastenders and Call the Midwife star Leonie Elliott is starring in a new play, Liberation. There's music from Billy Nomates, performing from her new album Metalhor...

It's mostly lollipops, ribbons and cakes for Clive Anderson this week as he meets Bake Off host Mel Giedroyc, Jane Austen improviser Rachel Parris and Romantic Novelist Mike Gayle (the only man to win the Romantic Writers Association's top award). But not all.... Mel Giedroyc's new podcast - and she emphasises it's a comedy one - is taking over from Kathy Burke on Where There's a Will There's a Wa...

This week Loose Ends is coming from the Homecoming festival at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. Clive Anderson is joined by comedian, actor and writer Dawn French, who moved to Cornwall to give her more space to write and Fern Britton, who has written eleven novels set in Cornwall, and has lived here on and off since starting her career in regional television here in 1980. He also chats to...

It's 20 years since Jenny Colgan became a published author and since then her books have been translated across the globe, from Brazil to Bulgaria. Her latest novel is Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages. Playwright Douglas Maxwell is back at the Tron in Glasgow, a theatre that kickstarted his professional career 25 years ago. His one-man show Man’s Best Friend explores isolation and dogwalking. Zara...

Ore Oduba switched broadcasting for the stage after his 2016 Strictly win. His latest production is the adaptation of Peter James’ Picture You Dead book which is on tour across the country. Tom Newlands' debut novel Only Here, Only set in a fictional Fife town has received many plaudits in the UK and beyond. It's coming out in paperback later in June. Comedian Kim Blythe continues to go from stren...

This week Clive Anderson is talking playing with toys, settling scores and saying goodbyes with OG podcaster Adam Buxton. Tanita Tikaram has finally recorded the follow up to her multi-millions selling 1988 album 'Ancient Heart', called 'LIAR' Jimi Famurewa tells us how you go from stuffing mashed potato in your pocket to appearing on Masterchef. Kiran Landa stars in 'Marriage Material', based on...

Jason Donovan won the hearts of millions alongside Kylie Minogue in the Australian soap Neighbours; then his debut album was the biggest seller of 1989 and he topped the UK singles chart 4 times. In the 1990s he reinvented himself in musical theatre with acclaimed roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and now he's playing Frank-n-furter in the Rocky H...

Clive Anderson brings us Loose Ends from the Hay Festival. Joining Clive in front of a Hay audience are singer Paloma Faith who last year released her most personal album 'The Glorification of Sadness'. She also published her first book 'MILF' (no, not that one), a rousing call to arms for women to take up space, based on her experiences in the music industry, and as a mother. Welsh comedian Mike...

The comedian and podcaster Stevie Martin is currently battling it out in the latest series of Channel 4’s award winning show Taskmaster - you might have enjoyed her "most snooty possession" which was a portrait of her pet tortoise in military uniform. She'll be here to tell us all about getting "the call" and her favourite games...sorry... tasks. Its also tricky-book-titles week on Loose Ends. The...

Joining Stuart Maconie in the Salford studio are the actress Phina Oruche who began her career modelling in America. She's best known for playing Liberty Baker in Footballers Wives. Phina is currently on stage at the Liverpool Everyman in Nathan Powell's new play 'Takeaway', where she stars as Carol, the matriach behind Hyltons Caribbean takeaway. Kate Mossman is facinated by 'Men of A Certain Age...

Taskmaster star, comic and sitcom actor Alex Horne joins Clive Anderson to talk about season two of his sitcom, to introduce his comedic band The Horne Section and tell us why he's never running out of taskmaster tasks. The lexicographer and broadcaster Susie Dent is now a mystery thriller writer too, she'll be with us to talk about twisty word clues and her all-encompassing love of the English la...

Rachel Joyce’s debut novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was a bestseller in 30 languages, became a much-loved film with Jim Broadbent and is about to become a stage musical. She's also got a new novel, a sun-soaked family drama called The Homemade God which has already been hailed by one critic as "the perfect holiday read". Levison Wood has travelled to 150 countries but holiday reading...

Clive Anderson will be joined by comedian and star of Two Doors Down Kieran Hodgson ahead of his upcoming show Voice Of America. Chef Julie Lin's cookery book Sama Sama celebrates all parts of her Malaysian, Chinese and Scottish identity and mixes tradition with innovation. Lewis Gribben stars in the new series of Charlie Brooker's multi award-winning dystopian drama Black Mirror. Selali Fiamanya'...

Stuart Maconie will be joined by comedian Karen Dunbar, star of sketch comedy show Chewin’ The Fat, ahead of her nationwide tour. Restless Natives: The Musical is the new stage adaptation of the Scottish cult classic. Actor Kirsty MacLaren stars in the show which brings some of Big Country's greatest hits to life. Rosco McClelland celebrates his recent win, having taken home the Sir Billy Connolly...

Joining Clive Anderson in the Loose Ends studio are the Emmy award-winning actor Billy Porter, currently hanging out in the Kit-Kat club where he is starring as Emcee. Comedian and 'Guilty Feminist' podcaster Deborah Frances White has just published a new book 'Six Conversations We're Scared to Have', about how to ask difficult questions and change minds - including our own. Anna Chancellor stars...

Loose Ends this week is all about finding the light. Poet, performer and broadcaster Michael Rosen is touring a one man show making sense of some of the darker moments of his life. Dylan Jones was the editor of era-defining magazines like i-D, Arena and British GQ in the 1990s and noughties. Now his memoir, These Foolish Things - tells how he left behind a difficult childhood to embrace a career t...

Clive Anderson's guests in Salford include Bridget Christie who returns with series two of The Change. Gardener's World expert Adam Frost who is on the road with his 'Lessons from the Garden' tour and up and coming stand up Louise Young. Music is from Richard Dawson who has just released a new album 'End of the Middle' and cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe performs from his new album 'Hymns of Bant...

Stuart Maconie and guests come together with mighty laughs, big stories, and altogether good craic from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Declan Lawn is a screenwriter of multiple TV series alongside his creative partner Adam Patterson, including the successful Blue Lights as well as the BBC miniseries The Salisbury Poisonings. Series three of Blue Lights is currently being filmed in Belfast, and he is c...

Clive hosts Loose Ends with an audience in London this week with a set of guests with a serious work ethic and willingness to try new things in the name of entertainment. The chart topping superstar and award winning actor Michael Ball is now also a best selling novelist. Can life backstage really be as chaotic as this page-turner set in theatreland suggests? Hollie McNish is that rare thing, a be...

Stuart Maconie is looking on the bright side this week with Dave Gorman who thinks that 'Modern Life is Goodish'. In the latest installment of his TV series, Dave Gorman is back with his trusty powerpoint as he falls down rabbit holes but always with a smile on his face -ish. And just to balance out all that positivity we've got natural worrier Angela Barnes whose new stand up tour is called 'Angs...

Stuart Maconie is joined by the 41st best stand up ever to talk about his new tour 'Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf', and by Philippa Dunne who plays Anne in the school gates sitcom 'Motherland'. Anne is back in the spinoff series 'Amandaland', focusing on Anne's glamorous best friend Amanda. Aysha Kala tells us how she nailed the accent to play Saima in the new Bradford set crime thriller Virdee. Mus...

Jack Docherty has entertained audiences in eight series of BBC Scotland’s mockumentary police show Scot Squad, as Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson. He returns to our screens in new spin-off The Chief. Writer Kirsty Logan has written on witches, mermaids, and motherhood. Her latest collection of dark tales of love and desire is No & Other Love Stories. Comedian Larry Dean is bringing his ac...

Kevin Clifton entertained the nation for years on Strictly, now he can often be found treading the boards instead – and is currently starring in Chicago as it tours the country. Poet and former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead talks about her collection of poems A Handsel ahead of her appearance at the Winter Words Festival in Pitlochry. Coinneach MacLeod, best known as The Hebridean Baker, has found a gl...

Natural history presenter and cameraman Gordon Buchanan’s new book In The Hide is a look back at some of his greatest adventures across the world, from Mumbai to Mongolia. In 2015 Mhairi Black became the youngest MP elected to the House of Commons since the 1800s. After stepping down at the 2024 General Election, she turned her mind to her tell-all comedy show Politics Isn’t For Me which took last...