Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett

Comedian Eleanor Thom struck up a friendship with Emma after they discussed their shared struggles with endometriosis. Eleanor has undergone 12 surgeries for the condition, and the pair have decided to air publicly some of what they say to each other about it in private. Endometriosis is a system-wide inflammatory disease that causes tissues like the lining of the womb make their way around the bo...

Edd Hedges is a stand up comedian. He grew up in a small village, and was bullied throughout his childhood by a neighbour named Brett. Edd had come back to the village one evening to perform a charity gig. After going to bed at his parents’ house, Ed was awoken when someone was banging at the door. That person turned out to be his bully, who had just murdered two people, one of whom was Brett’s mo...

Victoria Pendleton has suffered depression and grief since becoming an Olympic cycling champion. She's come out of it a stronger person, still on the lookout for a challenge. Having won her second Olympic gold medal at her home games in London in 2012, Victoria retired from cycling as a national hero. But she kept chasing sporting challenges, competing in horse racing then trying mountaineering. A...

Oonagh Cousins was one of Britain's best rowers, and was awarded a place on Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But after having Covid and being unable to fully recover, Oonagh lost her place in the squad. Oonagh now lives with Long Covid, which impacts roughly 2 million people in the UK. Having her Olympic dream taken from her by this illness has made her reflect on her own identity and the exper...

As Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting vows to bring the UK back into the EU Emma asks - do we really want to have that fight again? Or is it fair enough if many of us have changed our minds? Would you dob your child in to the police? The Government is bringing in harsher penalties for the parents of children who commit crimes, saying it's time to remove the influence of "parents who can't par...

Weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth's ex-husband was jailed in 2021 for coercive control and stalking her. Even though he is now free, he was given a lifetime restraining order stopping him from contacting Ruth or their two children. At times he would contact her up to 200 times a day while she was at work, but Ruth was unable to tell people the truth about her relationship. It took one extreme night...

We’re doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News – a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us talking. On this episode - what the hell is going on in our politics - have we all become addicted to the psychodrama of leadership battles? As headlines ring out about 'basketcase Britain', one of those calling for Sir Keir Starmer to go tells...

Comedian John Robins talks about how he stopped drinking booze and why he’s happiest alone. He had his last drink in 2022 but only accepted he was an alcoholic after he had quit. John is known for his Edinburgh award-winning stand up shows and podcasts like How Do You Cope? and partnership with Elis James. He’s just written a book, Thirst: Twelve Drinks That Changed My Life, which chronicles his l...

We're doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News - a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us all talking. On this episode - why are some in middle class Britain swiping things from supermarkets and then bragging about their five-fingered discounts? While the former New York Police Chief tells us crime is crime and should be tackled, th...

Emma has some exciting news about a special spin-off series, Ready to Talk News, publishing over the next three weeks on Thursdays. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Author Sally Gardner’s addiction to shopping has cost her £700k. She has only just discovered this compulsive behaviour is side effect of drugs she’s been prescribed for 20 years. Sally is a Carnegie Medal and Costa Children’s Book Award-winning writer who suffers from a debilitating condition called Restless Legs Syndrome. To combat it she has taken drugs called dopamine agonists for two decades....

Lindsey Burrow’s husband Rob was her childhood sweetheart before he became an England rugby league star. After he got motor neurone disease she became his carer for the final years of his life. Lindsey continued her work as a physiotherapist in the NHS, and looked after their three children, as Rob's condition deteriorated. She has now written a book, Take Care, chronicling her time caring for the...

Shaheen Hashmat left her family home aged 12 feeling she needed to escape, fearing a forced marriage. Initially she kept in touch, until deciding to become totally estranged in her twenties. By cutting contact, she lost the identity and sense of belonging that comes with family. She describes it as the worst kind of break up, one that left her questioning everything. Who am I without them? How do...

Deepa Paul grew up in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country where she was expected to meet one partner and stay with them for life. She followed that path, entering a monogamous relationship with her husband. But a small moment shifted everything. While selling furniture on an online directory, Deepa found herself exposed to a world of different sexual preferences and lifestyles. It ch...

Will Adolphy followed male influencers to figure out how a real man should look, feel and act. Now he helps men and boys escape the influence of the online manosphere. Throughout his teens Will Adolphy became increasingly isolated from his family, focussing his time on online gaming. Later he became more deeply drawn into the masculine digital culture that has become known as ‘the manosphere’, bec...

On New Year's Day, Jess Davies woke up to discover an image of her in a clingfilm bikini had been created by Elon Musk's AI tool Grok and posted to X. She discusses how she has gone from working as a glamour model to campaigning against online image abuse. Jess shares how her first experience as a victim of image abuse occurred when she was just 15 when a private photo of her was shared around her...

Ric Renton shares how reading the dictionary in prison aided his writing career. Following a school life, he describes as “absent” and a violent childhood involving drugs, Ric requested a dictionary to read cover to cover while in prison. Twenty years later, he has written and starred in plays and is a writer and actor in the BBC drama Waiting For The Out. With the latest reoffending rates stating...

Lottie Clarke shares her husband's story and explains why she thinks UK law on assisted dying should change. The couple were happily married for 19 years, but were apart at the moment he died. After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, James Clarke wanted to retain control at the end of his life. He eventually travelled to Switzerland where assisted dying is legal. Lottie believes they coul...

Fashion writer Billie Bhatia talks about her experiences of living in a bigger body, fatphobia and the cultural, social and personal impact of weight loss jabs. Billie talks to Emma about dating, navigating the fashion industry and shares her thoughts on the body positivity movement as well as Serena William’s controversial weight loss drugs advert at Super Bowl 2026. A recent study by University...

Dame Tracey Emin discusses love, feminism, and making art after losing her bladder to cancer, ahead of the opening of her largest ever exhibition. Emin is one of the UK’s foremost visual artists, having risen to fame in 1990s. In 2020, she was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma on her bladder. One specialist gave her six months to live. Four weeks later, a seven-and-a-half-hour surger...

Deborah Douglas is one of the many victims of disgraced Birmingham surgeon Ian Paterson, who maimed many of his patients. After a breast cancer diagnosis in 2003, Deborah thought she was in the best hands possible. But Paterson subjected her to a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and extensive chemotherapy, all of which were entirely unnecessary. Paterson has been sentenced to 20 years in prison...

Chris Davids of electronic duo Maribou State discusses suffering from a rare brain condition, how it affected his passion for making music and the surgery and experimental procedure that led to his recovery. Chris was experiencing extreme headaches while working on the group’s third album, Hallucinating Love, during lockdown. Eventually he was diagnosed with a Chiari malformation, meaning the lowe...

Writer Laura Dockrill discusses the extreme delusions and psychotic breakdown that she suffered after her son's birth. She shares how she got beyond them and how she is today. Just weeks after becoming a mother, Laura found herself is a desperate state. It took an intervention from her best friend, the singer Adele, to have her admitted to a psychiatric ward. With the support of her husband she is...

On the morning of New Year's Day 2011, actor Jason Watkins' two-year-old daughter Maude died. He and his wife had taken her to hospital the previous day, but only after an inquest did they come to the realisation that she had been suffering from undiagnosed sepsis. The couple have since campaigned for a better understanding of the condition among healthcare professionals. Watkins has since become...

Dr Koshka Duff was arrested and detained in 2013 after offering a legal advice card to someone being stopped and searched. Dr Duff was then subject to a strip search by Metropolitan police officers, an experience she describes as "terrifying". On CCTV footage, officers were heard laughing about her hair, clothes and talking about her underwear and her smell. The Metropolitan Police have since apol...