Saturday Live

Composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, Kim Wilde's inheritance tracks, Bryony Gordon on staying sober and running, the Urban birder David Lindo and Thames plastic picking cyclist Dhruv Boruah join Rev Richard Coles and Suzy Klein. Mark-Anthony Turnage is one of the most admired and widely-performed composers of his generation whose operas include Anna Nicole and Coraline. He'll be talking about why he lik...

Shaun Keaveny and Sonali Shah are joined by Rylan Clark-Neal who found fame as a contestant on the X-Factor in 2012. He subsequently won Celebrity Big Brother in 2013 and is now a presenter on programmes including This Morning and Big Brother's Bit on the Side. Paralympian David Smith won gold at Rio in 2016. He explains what it takes to be a Boccia champion. Mary Ellis discovered scything and has...

Conversation from the actor Stephen Mangan, pop-up beach organiser Scott Barton, nanotechnologist Dr. Michelle Dickinson, and The Madonna of Bolton - Matt Cain. With Orla Kiely's Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. The actor Stephen Mangan talks about his hair, his 52 cousins and his new Channel 4 series Hang Ups! in which he plays a therapist, who has his own t...

Mark Gatiss talks about return of The League of Gentlemen, his passion for painting, and why he's drawn to the artist John Minton. Joining him are history teacher and performance poet Jaspreet Kaur, Francoise Malby-Anthony, who runs a game reserve which she set up with her late husband 'Elephant Whisperer' Laurence Anthony; and thriller and Batman writer Gregg Hurwitz. Robert Winston is Chairman o...

Conversation from the Journalist Robert Peston, stand up comedian Darren Harriott, teacher Vanessa Tissington, Wimbledon obsessive Ben Chatfield and Butterfly Ambassador, Kate Bradbury. With Chris Difford's Inheritance Tracks. Presented by Konnie Huq and the Rev. Richard Coles. Robert Peston talks about his late father, his family's social mobility and his passion for organising speakers in school...

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles host and perform with opera star Bryn Terfel. He's appearing in the title role in Falstaff at the Royal Opera House. Edwina "IronGran" Brocklesby, tells how she took up marathons, triathlons and Iron Man racing in her 50s. She's still going strong at 75 and wants to spread the message that exercise helps physical and mental health whatever your age. BBC Securit...

Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny with athlete and presenter Kriss Akabusi, singer Kim Appleby, writer Steven Camden, teacher Abed Ahmed and author Ben Okri. Sporting legend Kriss Akabusi still holds the British record for the 400m Hurdles. He gets philosophical about the different sides to his personality, discusses school sports participation and reflects on his career. Abed Ahmed is a teacher with a...

With Aasmah Mir and guest presenter Konnie Huq are trumpeter Alison Balsom OBE, cycling blogger Jools Walker, self taught Fungi expert Geoff Dann and Joanne Barton who went from teenage alcoholism to becoming a doctor in A&E. Alison Balsom is having a break from travelling the world playing virtuoso trumpet in a new role as Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Music Festival; Jools Walker is a...

Guests include actor and stand up comedian Richard Blackwood, Little Britain star Matt Lucas, fashion commentator and football obsessive Simon Doonan, and American Football player Phoebe Schecter. Richard Blackwood talks about his early rise to fame and bankruptcy, before playing the donkey in Shrek the Musical and moving on to straight acting roles. Matt Lucas, began his career as a giant baby pl...

With Rev. Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir, David Coulthard talks about his Formula 1 career and life after racing. Listener Kate got in touch to tell us how writing helped her on the way to recovery from anorexia. JP Devlin meets song and dance man Movin' Melvin Brown; Whitney Brown explains how she went from being an academic in America to dry stone walling in Wales. Opera star Willard White shares...

With Rev. Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir, John Torode on MasterChef and how travel has inspired his cooking, Simon Mayo shares his Inheritance Tracks, Milad Shadrooh reveals how he became The Singing Dentist, psychologist Janina Scarlet on how superheroes changed her life and enabled her to help others. Mandy Coppin breaks off from organising the largest number of light aircraft to fly the River Tyn...

The adventurer and explorer Benedict Allen joins Konnie Huq and the Rev. Richard Coles. He explains why he returned to Papua New Guinea to visit a community he'd befriended 30 years earlier, why he doesn't take modern technology with him, but does travel with postcards of The Queen. As Manchester United prepare to meet Chelsea in the Cup Final later today, JP Devlin is in conversation with its for...

With Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson for parents, Eliza Carthy was unlikely to do anything else, but her enthusiasm, research and skill in arranging, writing and performing along with 2 Mercury Music Prize nominations has enabled her to fly the flag for folk music in England. She'll be playing live in the studio to Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny and talking about her latest album with her mother. R...

Aasmah Mir and Rev. Richard Coles are joined by poet Pam Ayres, who talks about her passion on hedgehogs, her time in the WRAF and the everyday events that have inspired her more recent poems. Liz O'Riordan is a breast cancer surgeon, who has had breast cancer herself. She describes how this experience has changed her bedside manner and inspired her 'Jar of Joy'. JP Devlin meets Saturday Live list...

Sir Tim Rice talks to Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles about bringing the musical Chess back to the West End. He also reflects on his career, love of cricket and performing himself. Listener Talitha MacKenzie got in touch and is appearing on the programme to talk about her love of historical costumes and dance. Robyn Hollingworth left her life in London and returned home to rural South Wales when her...

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by history obsessive Dr Lucy Worsley, whose mission is to make history accessible: she writes books for adults and children, she presents TV documentaries, often dressing up as historical characters to further tell their tales, and she is also Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. Her latest book is about Jane Austen, who, Lucy says, was one of the most i...

Presented by Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. Andy Hamilton earned his comedy stripes at Cambridge, in the university's Light Entertainment Society, and has written and performed for a number of radio and television programmes from I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Drop the Dead Donkey, to QI, to Old Harry's Game, and the award winning Outnumbered. He discusses how he manages change. Delia El-H...

Alesha Dixon tells us about her career as singer, songwriter, author and Britain's Got Talent judge. Christian Donlan describes living with multiple sclerosis. Rev Andrew Rawding served as a British soldier in Coalisland, County Tyrone and has since returned there as rector. Hannah Wright recalls her childhood behind prison walls. Inheritance Tracks - John Gordon Sinclair chooses I Love You Becaus...

Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein talk to stand-up comedian Arthur Smith about his new act examining his father Syd's experiences in World War Two and as a police constable. Syd fought in north Africa, was in an Italian POW camp, was forced to work in mines in Germany and ended up in Colditz, where he was liberated by the US army. Nell Gifford rejected an academic career to run away to the circus. She lov...

Alexandra Burke reveals the life events that have inspired the songs on her new album. Raynor Winn was made bankrupt and lost her home, just as her husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness. They embarked on the journey of their lifetime - to walk the South West Coast Path, the 630-mile. sea-swept trail from Somerset to Dorset, via Devon and Cornwall. She discusses the impact of this on their...

Kim Wilde joins presenters Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles. She sold ten million albums, and after retiring, having a family and then a successful gardening career, has returned to the stage. She has a new album out and is about to embark on her first UK tour for 30 years. We also have Helen Tse who is a lawyer, writer and restaurateur whose book about her family story, Sweet Mandarin - also the name...

Richard Coles and Suzy Klein are joined by presenter and author Katie Piper. In 2008, she survived a horrific acid attack that left her blind in one eye and required more than 200 operations. Putting the attack behind her, she launched the Katie Piper Foundation in 2009 to aid people who'd suffered similar burns and scarring. She is set to travel the country with a new Tour: What's In My Head. Bri...

The conductor, Charles Hazlewood, believes in making music inclusive, from projects fusing five Grime MC's with the BBC Concert Orchestra to founding the world's first paraorchestra, inspired by his daughter Eliza. He presents a two-part series on BBC Four - Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism. Lulah Ellender has written Elisabeth's Lists. Part memoir, part family history, part ex...

Debbie McGee tells us about her time on Strictly, how she needs to keep busy and life two years after the death of her husband, Paul Daniels. Joe Cushnan's father walked out on his family, never to return or make any contact. Joe is now trying to find out about the life his father subsequently embarked on. Rosamund Thorpe is sure she has Scottish blood and knows where it came from. Peter Lovatt ak...

The actor and producer Greg Wise is brother of Clare Wise, who died of cancer in 2016. Greg has co-written a book about how he and Clare dealt with her illness - the appointments, the hair loss, the chemo, the showers... and the cat, Grably. Jess French is a zoologist, naturalist and entomologist and presents CBeebies Minibeast Adventure with Jess. Her passion for scorpions and tarantulas began wh...