Movers and Shakers: a podcast about life with Parkinson's

When is the right time to start taking Parkinson's drugs? Having put the question to the Movers & Shakers Facebook group, we had a range of responses from those who didn't take Levodopa (the widely prescribed and most effective medication for treating Parkinson's symptoms) at all, to those who swore by starting early. In this episode, we hear from some of those people, and receive myth-busting...

We spend most of out time talking about how Parkinson’s impacts us Parkies, but we don’t often speak about the experience of those family members, particularly the children, who live with it too. One of our guests for this week reached out to us with his reflections on caring for his dad, so we asked a couple of our very own Parkinson’s kids to come along to the pub too to tell us what it's like l...

Does Parkinson's cause pain? Can a non-Parkinson's pain be aggravated by the disease? Or is just our old age? Dr Susan Duty, Professor in Pharmacology and Neuroscience at King's College London, joins us this week to explain why it is we're all enduring so much discomfort. Movers & Shakers is brought to you in partnership with Cure Parkinson's . Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, Gillian Lacey-Sol...

We can't quite believe it either but this week's episode was recorded at the UCL Brain Bank headed by Consultant Neurologist Tom Warner (also notably, Gillian's neurologist!). Thanks to expert guidance from Consultant Neuropathologist Zane Jaunmuktane and Clinical Research Fellow Patrick Cullinane we now know a considerable amount more about how banks like this one can use brains and other donatio...

The Movers & Shakers are back in the pub to talk walking football. We're big fans of activities that help slow down the progression of Parkinson's Disease, particularly walking football; it may even rival ping pong (but not according to Gillian!). We didn't have a kick about in situ but we had some experts in to tell us all about it - and Rory went to his local club to give us a taste of the r...

The BBC Radio 4 investigative programme 'Impulsive' shocked listeners across the world. Aired at the beginning of the year, 'Impulsive' revealed the devastating effects that the readily prescribed Parkinson's drugs, dopamine agonists, were having on their users, including causing hypersexuality and compulsive gambling, among other extremes. We've actually covered this topic before on Movers &...

Live from Phoenix, Arizona, for the World Parkinson's Congress 2026; it doesn't get much better than that if you ask us. We all took turns speaking to Parkinson's experts, whether that be on dancing, singing, or even finding a cure. There's almost no one we didn't try to speak to.. We even got to hear a fantastic comedy set from Paul, of which you will get a taste. Tune in to find out what we got...

We're at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! This year's event has a special focus on Parkinson's with the newly named Parkinson's Resilience Rose and the beautifully designed Parkinson's UK show garden. Unsurprisingly, the weather chose to be less than impressive for the day of our visit, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the sites and exploring the PUK plot with the help of the Head Gardeners and c...

To kick off our eighth season of Movers & Shakers, we're reporting to you from this year's Try-Athlon at the Twickenham Stoop. Organised by the Sports Parkinson's team, the annual event gathers together Parkies from far and wide to partake in a range of Parkinson's-friendly sports, from golf, to walking rugby, and even ballet (which one of our team members had a crack at!). We all put our trai...

This year for our special World Parkinson's Day episode, we're coming to you live from Sutton (Mark's local branch) where they've arranged a day of amazing events to raise awareness of PD, with a particular focus. The voice will be our big campaign for 2026 and we're encouraging everyone to speak out (or sing out, if the desire takes you). Go to moversandshakerspodcast.com for more details on how...

For the final episode of this seventh season of Movers and Shakers, we're looking on the bright side of life. Can positivity actually improve your condition? Or does it mask the hardship of life with PD? And what on earth is 'toxic positivity'? To discuss all this – and put the gang on a spectrum from Tigger to Eeyore – we've gathered at the Notting Hill pub for "a laugh and a moan ". Movers &...

Driving is something that people often take for granted – right up until they can't do it. With a Parkinson's diagnosis comes a lot of insecurity about being behind the wheel. When do you know if it's time to stop? How do you manage the DVLA's red tape? And what's the situation with those mythical blue badges? To run through these considerations, the Movers and Shakers are joined in the Notting Hi...

We're sinking our teeth into another important issue this week, as we look at oral health and the role that it might play in Parkinson's. The Movers and Shakers are joined at the pub – where Paul is caught, live on microphone, snarfing a chocolate mousse – by experts from both dentistry and neurology to look at the chicken and (chocolate) egg question of whether PD affects oral health, or if bad o...

This week we're doing something a little bit different on Movers & Shakers. We're joined in the pub by Dr Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, a distinguised American cardiologist with a controversial idea: that Parkinson's might be caused by too much, rather than too little, dopamine. Sackner-Bernstein's ideas call into question the underlying assumptions of the condition and have been refuted by many...

One of the strangest symptoms of Parkinson's is the sudden appearance of unexplained figures – whether that's a cat or a small child, a barking dog or a fully clad Venetian – in your environment. There hallucinations can be benign, but they can also be unsettling, and this week we're trying to find out what's causing them. Are they related to night terrors? Can they always be rationalised? And are...

This week we're returning to one of the most contentious subjects in Parkinson's world: what causes the condition? Research has increasingly focused on the role of pesticides – particularly one called Paraquat – which are routinely used in agriculture yet are severely toxic to humans. Could investigations into the role of Paraquat prove a connection to PD? And, if so, does that mean that we could,...

Last year was a landmark year for the Movers & Shakers team, as our Parky Charter project reached 100,000 petition signatories and generated a parliamentary debate. So how will we be following it up in 2026? To debate the possible campaigns we could embark on this year, the gang are joined by Mark 'Crippo' Cripps, our marketing guru, to try and come up with an impactful, yet achievable, propos...

If certain windsurfing former Judges are to be believed, there's nothing quite like a bout of vigorous exercise for easing the symptoms of Parkinson's. But does the medical evidence support this? Cramped into their booth in the Notting Hill pub, the Movers & Shakers pick over the verifiable scientific facts behind the assumption that exercise can alleviate PD symptoms. Is it possible to fairly...

Freezing is one of PD's most unusual symptoms. Whether it's a threshold, a zebra crossing or just getting out of bed, the sudden inability to move can strike at any moment. Why does it happen? And is there anything that can be done to combat this mysterious immobilisation? The Movers and Shakers – who have experienced very different types of freezing – squeeze into the Notting Hill pub (and hopefu...

After our festive break, the Movers & Shakers are back in the Notting Hill pub with glad tidings for the new year. Gillian and the Judge have been sunning themselves (in Antigua and Australia, respectively), Rory has been hitting the Vegas strip, Mark has been battling with Turkish Airlines, and Paul has finally completed shooting of his new film. But Paul isn't the only Mayhew-Archer bringing...

It's the end of another year – and what a year it's been! From the Big Sing on World Parkinson's Day through the Parky Petition campaign and getting our debate in Parliament, 2025 has been a stellar year for the Movers and Shakers and our community. For this final episode before we tootle off for Christmas, we've gathered at Chez Lacey-Solymar (minus Gillian herself, who was struck down by flu) to...

From our little corner of the Notting Hill pub, it can be hard to see what life is like for people with Parkinson's across the rest of the UK – let alone around the world! Today, however, we're talking about Parkinson's care in Africa, a continent where levodopa access is limited and where stigmas around the condition still impact countless lives. We're joined by experts – both in the pub and down...

How do you run clinical trials that maximise the efficiency for patients, clinicians and drugs developers? That's the challenge being addressed by world's largest ever clinical trial of Parkinson's medications. To discuss this new, and potentially extremely effective, way of runnings multiple trials simultaneously, the Movers & Shakers are joined at the pub by some of the core team from the pr...

So, after two long years of campaigning, this week the Parky Charter – our set of demands for the government – had its moment in Parliament. With the Movers & Shakers and other supporters in attendance, MPs debated the need for improved care for people with Parkinson's across the UK. But what were the important moments from the debate? What wasn't mentioned? And where do we go from here? To ce...

This week, the Movers & Shakers are joined in the pub by our friends from Cure Parkinson's and Parkinson's UK. They are two of the charities working so hard to find ways of dealing with Parkinson's and improving the lives of those with the condition. But they also face huge challenges. Is enough being invested in research? Are the charities forced to compete with one another for limited resour...