Saturday Live

Scientist and broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili shares his experience of growing up in Iraq, his passion for music and his first novel, which will be published in April. Eboni Beckford-Chambers talks about combining a career in law with being an England netball player. As the new Biggin Hill Memorial Museum opens today, Geoff Greensmith recalls his childhood growing in the area during WW II. Listener Ste...

The actress, Brenda Blethyn, star of Vera; Monisha Rajesh recounts travelling around the world by train; Mo Gawdat on his happiness algorithm, and rugby international James Haskell shares his Inheritance Tracks. Brenda Blethyn, star of Vera, recalls working for British Rail, before launching her acting career. Mo Gawdat, Former Chief Business Officer, Google (X), explains his algorithm for happine...

Trevor Nelson talks about how he became one of the country's leading R&B DJs; pigeon fancier Ian Evans sets the scene from The British Homing World Show of the Year in Blackpoool. Man Like Mobeen star and creator Guz Khan, who until recently was a Humanities teacher in the Midlands. Sharon D. Clarke shares her Inheritance Tracks. She has chosen Sweet Jamaica by Clancy Eccles and What’s Goin’ O...

Aasmah Mir and Konnie Huq are joined by Dame Kelly Holmes, double gold winner at the Athens Olympics in 2004. She talks about her life in the army, pursuing her dream of becoming an Olympian and adjusting to life after retiring from athletics. Jacquie Davis is one of the world's top female bodyguards. During her career she has protected royals and celebrities, rescued hostages and carried out unde...

Aasmah Mir and Mobeen Azhar are joined by the actor and TV presenter Bradley Walsh. Currently starring in Doctor Who, he talks about going on a father and son road trip in the US, where he was pushed to his limits with cowboy training and sky diving! Former professional footballer and teacher, Len Johnrose, describes his small victories, silver linings and making the most of living with motor-neur...

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Gabrielle, THE pop star of the 90s – inspiring lyrics, cool image, intriguing eye patch, hit after hit, and then she went quiet. After time out as a mum of two she has just released her first album for 11 years, and she is back. Will Farmer’s life seems only to exist on a summer’s day surrounded by beautiful objects in the garden of an English stately hom...

David Gower talks about his life in cricket and how spending his early years in Africa inspired his passion for wildlife. Anne Atkins has been inspired to write about her son Alex, who has Asperger's. They discuss their relationship and how Alex has learnt how to read people. Clive Collins explains why Christmas trees are so important to him. Singer Lily Allen shares her Inheritance Tracks - she h...

The comedian and actor Hugh Dennis talks about being the son of a Bishop and his latest role in The Messiah. Former nurse, Christie Watson, recalls lessons of kindness and hospital Christmasses. Listener Stephanie Bouckley shares her Thank You story pegged to the 30th anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster. JP Devlin meets Arthur Spencer, a former teacher and WWII navigator, who has been recognised...

Prue Leith has been in our cooking consciousness for years but her appointment as a judge on TV's bake off has exposed her culinary expertise to a whole new audience and inspired a new cook book. She joins Richard and Aasmah along with: Marianne Power who was such a fan of self-help she decided to follow a book a month for a year. She joins us to reflect on her journey of self discovery. Former pr...

Slade guitarist Dave Hill; Young People’s Laureate for London Momtaza Mehri; Listener Mary Diggory takes JP Devlin back to the woods that gave her sanctuary; Shona Davies on finding love as she sailed around the world. Joanne Froggatt shares her Inheritance Tracks: Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush and Proud Mary performed by Ike and Tina Turner. Dr Xand van Tulleken talks about combining medicine an...

Comedian and writer Sandi Toksvig, former armed robber turned triathlete John McAvoy and bubble enthusiast, Dr. Helen Czerski and harmonica fan Ben Hewlett. With the Inheritance Tracks of Richard Blackwood. Sandi Toksvig joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles, to talk about being a national “Trevor”, adapting Treasure Island, why baking makes her emotional, and honeymooning in the Arctic. Hel...

Stephen Fry joins Richard and Aasmah to talk about Greek Heroes and finding wedded bliss. We also have JoJo Wood who extolls the virtue of wood carving for mental health, and Dr Catherine Walker, a septuagenarian weightlifter and academic at Oxford university, and Bisi Alimi who is a LGBTQ rights campaigner and the first person to come out as gay on national TV in Nigeria. We have your thank you a...

Michael Palin talks with Rev. Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir about travelling in the footsteps of a ship, Erebus, that went missing in the late 1840s and was only re-discovered in 2014. He also discusses the special relationship with his fellow Monty Pythons. Dani Crilly tells the story of the horse who she says saved her life. Vee Walker talks to us from Bavay in France, which was liberated by Vee’...

Actor Tamsin Greig, quizzer and barrister Shaun Wallace, explorer Aldo Kane, RAF trauma nurse Sadie Melling and "Chabuddy G". With Stephen Mangan's Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. Tamsin Greig is Olivier Award winner, an Aldridge of Borsetshire, Malvolia in a Twelfth Night, and a keen trampolinist. She describes how her love of movement is being constrained...

Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, who reveals why he has a red painted head and blue horns for his first character-driven stand up show. Jodi Ann Bickley explains why she writes lovely letters to strangers in need – about 4,000 so far. After 65 years working at Waterloo Station, Don Buckley is thought to be Britain’s longest-serving railway worker. He...

Comedian and writer Adam Hills is also the host of Channel 4's taboo busting comedy satire The Last Leg. He joins Richard and Aasmah along with: Georgina Lawton who grew up thinking she was white like her parents, then she found out about her black heritage. Claire de Lune is a ceramicist who recently found that her family had been working with clay for 700 years. And composer Shirley J Thompson o...

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined in the Saturday Live studio by stand-up comedian Bridget Christie, digital artist and mental health campaigner Kirsty Latoya, milkman Ian Beardwell and etymologist Paul Anthony Jones, the author of Around the World in 80 Words. We also hear the Inheritance Tracks of dancer and choreographer Akram Khan - Mera Joota Hai Japani by Raj Kapoor & Arvo...

Former England football player and manager Kevin Keegan made his professional debut fifty years ago. He talks to Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles about how a nun was his first mentor, the way Bill Shankly changed his life and seizing opportunities off the pitch. Christel Dee is a Dr Who fan - also known as a Whovian - whose life and career has been shaped by the show. British Olympian Archer...

She can dance, she can sing, she can ice skate and act in gritty London based soap EastEnders: all round showbiz star Bonnie Langford joins us to talk about her show business career spanning 5 decades and her return to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane where it all began aged 7. Aged 15 George Green was a talented footballer and signed by Everton. Money and success at such a young age led him to drug a...

Coming live from Stirling, Coast presenter and archaeologist Neil Oliver talks about his love of the British Isles; writer, musician and journalist Doug Johnstone takes time out from Stirling's Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. Comedian and You-Tuber Bachala Mbunzama, better known as Bash the Entertainer, talks about his journey from the Congo to Glasgow. Orkney folk musicians...

Legendary keyboard player Rick Wakeman is known for his huge contribution to prog rock with the band Yes, his own innovative compositions, his flamboyant caped stage presence and his numerous piano arrangements. Bea Priestley is a 22 year-old wrestler in the ever growing woman’s wrestling scene. Bea got back into wrestling after brain surgery when she was 18 and now tours the UK and Japan. Eric Mo...

Conversation from comedian Susan Calman, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones aka The Black Farmer and about Simon's Cat. Naga Munchetty shares her Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. Comedian and actress Susan Calman explains why she gave up a successful career in corporate law for stand-up, she shares her memories of Strictly Come Dancing and reveals her love of cats. Simon...

Maggie Aderin-Pocock on her love of the moon and Nigerian heritage; Ali Payne tweeted to try and find the inscribed copy of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist given to her by her late husband. She continues her search on Saturday Live. Celebrating 30 years of marriage, The Alarm's Mike and Jules Peters discuss working together and dealing with individual cancer diagnoses. Rehana Popal is the first pract...

Singer songwriter Jim Kerr of Simple Minds talks about his love of walking in deserts and mountains, sustaining friendships over decades and his pop career. Atoosa Sepehr shares recipes from her cook book Persian Kitchen - authentic recipes and fabulous flavours from Iran - and talks about growing up in Iran & Italy. Nigerian crime fiction writer Leye Adenle reveals how "sunshine noir" authors...

We're live from the YMCA Theatre in Scarborough with Sir Michael Parkinson, folk legend Martin Carthy, surfer Tori Gower and Jennifer Dunne on the exhibition the Ancient Seas of the Yorkshire Coast. With Inheritance Tracks from Kiki Dee. Sir Michael Parkinson talks about his early life in Yorkshire, happy memories of holidays in Scarborough, his passion for cricket and forthcoming tour - An Evenin...