BBC Radio 4

Saturday Live

Society EN ↓ 809 episodes

Join Adrian Chiles for a Saturday morning full of remarkable people with extraordinary stories.

Author

BBC Radio 4

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.bbc.co.uk

Latest episode

Jul 11, 2026

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Episodes

Dame Evelyn Glennie, Max Beesley, Keeva, Matt Hopwood 13.02.2018

Dame Evelyn Glennie tells presenters Aasmah Mir and Rev Richard Coles about her mission to find new ways to help people really listen. She blazed a trail as the world's first professional solo percussionist, having become profoundly deaf at the age of 12. When she's not touring internationally, there's little she likes better than getting out her trusty metal detector and going searching for burie...

Jenny Agutter 03.02.2018

Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by the actress Jenny Agutter who plays Sister Julienne in Call the Midwife. She recalls her time living in Hollywood and reveals her passion for rap. Before being called to the bar, Tony Kent was a heavyweight amateur boxer. As a criminal defence lawyer he's defended high profile clients including Anthony Joshua. He has now written his first novel -...

Jo Wood 27.01.2018

Jo Wood's first foray into the public eye was as a popular newspaper's "Face of 1972" aged 17. After 5 years working as a model she met Ronnie Wood and spent the next 30 years living the whirlwind rock and roll lifestyle of the Rolling Stones until her marriage came to an abrupt end. She has since reinvented herself, promoting an organic lifestyle and her passion for interiors and fashion. She joi...

Dan Snow 20.01.2018

Broadcaster and author Dan Snow is the history guy - from first appearing on our screens with the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein, with dad Peter to numerous other documentaries including the Rise of the Royal Navy, Battlefield Britain series and a documentary about his great great grandfather, former Prime Minister, Lloyd George. Alan Fell is Head of Props at the Royal Shakespeare Co...

Brian Moore 13.01.2018

Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein are joined by the commentator and former England Rugby hooker, Brian Moore, who talks about his career, recent health scare and passion for opera and wine. 18 year old Liv Cooke is the current Football Freestyle World Champion. She describes how sitting at home with an injury led her to the sport. The actress, Julie Hesmondhalgh, recalls her childhood in Accrington, playi...

Phil Daniels 06.01.2018

Actor Phil Daniels joins Aasmah and Richard in the studio. Since his first big role aged 19 as the lead in cult The Who film Quadrophenia, he hasn't stopped working in film, theatre or TV including Eastenders; Chicken Run; Les Miserables; Shakespeare; and the voice in Blur's Park Life. Now actor Phil Daniels is putting his versatility to good use in a new production of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stefa...

Lemn Sissay 30.12.2017

The poet Lemn Sissay, lexicographer Susie Dent and conservationist Ian Redmond join the Reverend Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. Lemn Sissay is a poet and broadcaster who has written extensively about his childhood in care. His new collection of poetry Gold from the Stone is published by Canongate Books. Susie Dent is a lexicographer who is the resident word expert in Dictionary Corner on Countdown...

Chris Difford 23.12.2017

Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by the lyricist and musician Chris Difford who, along with Glenn Tilbrook, co-founded Squeeze - with hits such as 'Cool For Cats' and 'Up The Junction'. He talks about his life from early years in south London to playing Madison Square Garden, battling addiction and receiving two Ivor Novello Awards. Dr. Rachel Clarke describes the atmosphere on the...

James Blunt 16.12.2017

Hit singer songwriter James Blunt joins Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny to talk hits, the army and acerbic tweets. Actor Abubakar Salim is the new lead in Assassin's Creed, a video game. We ask him why he wanted to act in a game, how it compares to other roles and how his martial arts study helped the role. We have explosive ordinance disposal expert turned reality TV Love Islander Camilla Thurlow. L...

Tim Peake 09.12.2017

Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein meet astronaut Tim Peake; writer and actor Sanjeev Kohli and cake maker Cynthia Stroud. Tim Peake is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. He finished his 186-day Principia mission on the International Space Station for Expedition 46/47 when he landed back on earth on June 18th 2016. His new book Ask an Astronaut is published by Century. Sanjeev Kohli is a writer, acto...

Liza Tarbuck 02.12.2017

The actress and Radio 2 DJ, Liza Tarbuck, joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles to discuss annuals, puzzles and why she's distracted by everything. Michael Smith became the first person to fly solo around the world in an amphibious plane, retracing the 1938 Qantas, Imperial Flying Boat Routes between Sydney, Southampton and New York. He explains why he visited 70 cinemas along the way. JP De...

Bruce Dickinson 25.11.2017

Bruce Dickinson is best known as lead singer one of the most successful heavy metal bands in history, Iron Maiden. But he's also a airline captain, international fencer, radio presenter, and writer, who has now written his autobiography. The man once billed a "Human air raid siren" joins Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir in the studio. Alby Shale's father, Christopher Shale, died of a heart attack aged...

Lee Child 21.11.2017

Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher thrillers, talks to Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny about his latest book The Midnight Line. Actress Alison Steadman discusses Hold the Sunset, her upcoming sitcom with John Cleese, and her children's book - Spider! Space engineer Abbie Hutty reveals what it takes to design the new Mars Rover due for the red planet in 2020. And TV archaeologist Alex Langlands exp...

Radio 4 BBC Children in Need auction; Katie Melua 11.11.2017

Katie Melua joins Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. She talks about her childhood from Georgia to Belfast and London, her music, and she describes how the late Sir Terry Wogan championed her career and how she has released this year's official BBC Children in Need single in his honour. Saturday Live hosts Radio 4's BBC Children in Need auction, offering listeners the chance to bid for some amazing pri...

Reggie Yates 04.11.2017

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined by broadcaster and actor Reggie Yates. From Desmonds to Top of the Pops, he's been on camera nearly all of his life, but it's as a documentary filmmaker that he's now familiar, investigating everything from religion in South Africa, race and homophobia in Russia to gun crime in Chicago. John Virgo has spent the last forty years playing snooker as a p...

Goldie 28.10.2017

Goldie, producer, DJ and artist; actor Tim Bentinck and model and campaigner Mary Russell join Aasmah Mir and the Reverend Richard Coles.. Born in Walsall and brought up in a series of children's homes, Goldie made his name as a graffiti artist before becoming a sought after producer and DJ. As an actor he appeared in the James Bond film the World is Not Enough and learned how to conduct an orches...

Rick Stein 21.10.2017

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined by chef, restaurateur and TV presenter Rick Stein whose latest culinary journey has taken him to California and Mexico. Showjumper Nick Skelton went on to win Olympic Gold after breaking his neck in a fall. After 60 years, Lin Sunderland has fulfilled her ambition to become a lighthouse keeper. Mary-Ann Ochota has been travelling the waterways of Bri...

Mary Berry 14.10.2017

Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles are joined by the Queen of Baking, Mary Berry who has been teaching the nation to cook for over four decades. She's now turning her attention to home maintenance and tells us how to air our beds and clean our loos in a new book. Harry Judd is best known as the drummer for pop band McFly and a winner of Strictly Come Dancing. Now a fitness fanatic, he explains h...

Gloria Hunniford 07.10.2017

Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny are joined by the broadcaster Gloria Hunniford - who started out as a singer at the age of seven and went on to become the first woman to have a daily radio programme on BBC Radio 2. She describes how she has interviewed everyone from Salman Rushdie to Doris Day and even managed to stay on air during a bombing. Arctic explorer Erling Kagge discusses the enemy of all ra...

Monty Don 30.09.2017

Monty Don joins presenters Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny to discuss his television gardening career, his new book Down To Earth, and how getting your hands dirty is good for your mental well-being. Tree climber and award-winning documentary cameraman James Aldred shares his love of trees and the adventures he's had with gorillas, leopards, snakes and poisonous frogs in rainforests around the world....

Marc Almond 23.09.2017

Presented by Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny. The singer Marc Almond talks about his new album of 1960s orchestral pop and his diverse career using world music influences, including Russian folksongs. Saturday Live listener Lisa Cooper tells the fascinating story of her grandmother Pearl, who was born in 1900 in a village near Kiev, in Russia and experienced pogroms, the Bolshevik Revolution and Civi...

David Essex 16.09.2017

As he prepares to join the forthcoming Living Legends tour, David Essex tells us about his route from blue-eyed East End boy to star of stage, screen and soap via a barrage of screaming fans. The Living Legends tour begins in October. Comedian Katherine Ryan joins the Saturday Live panel show ahead of her stand-up tour. She'll tell us how she's found her move from Canada to the UK has been good fo...

Jeremy Vine 09.09.2017

Jeremy Vine recalls his dad-built tree house and hoisting Karen Clifton aloft on Strictly. Sally Goble tells us what it's like to swim the channel. Malachy Tallack spends his time cresting the ocean wave in search of legendary and lost islands of the world And look heavenwards with Penny Thornton, chef-astrologer, for tips on going Virgotarian... Your Thank You and the Inheritance Tracks form Anth...

Stephen McGann 02.09.2017

Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles are joined by Stephen McGann, who plays Dr. Turner in BBC TV series Call the Midwife. He reveals why he has combined his passion for genealogy, with his academic interest in the social dimensions of medicine, to write a personal history of his family. Sarah Walker's father wrote the Countryman's Diary column in a couple of local newspapers until his death earl...

Marty Wilde and Roger McGough 26.08.2017

Sixty years in showbiz for Marty Wilde this year. The south London boy was signed by the famously unsentimental pop Svengali Larry Parnes, and rose to fame with the generation that included Sir Cliff and Billy Fury. He co-wrote Kids in America for his daughter, 80s pop star Kim Wilde, and has just produced his granddaughter's cover of the Lulu hit 'I'm a Tiger'. If that were not enough, this autum...

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