Saturday Live

Actor and broadcaster Tony Robinson joins Aasmah Mir and Rev. Richard Coles to talk about his life onstage, the impact of playing Baldrick, and the unusual way his love of history developed. Gemma-Louise Stevenson shares the art of wheelchair dancing. Saturday Live Listener Dr. Ciaran O'Keeffe reveals how Ghostbusters inspired him to become a Parapsychologist. Writer Jonathan Harvey meets up with...

Alexander Armstrong, quizmaster, actor, classically trained baritone and occasional oboist shares his love of music and llamas. Arlene Phillips left home at 22 to follow a career in dance. She founded the dance troupe Hot Gossip, courting controversy with Mary Whitehouse, and went on to work with a string of artists from Aretha Franklin to Robbie Williams and choreographed Hollywood films and West...

Michael Ball joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles to discuss his musical collaboration with the Tenor Alfie Boe; his family's association with the Mini car, and how he deals with his superstitions. The inventor and designer, Max McMurdo, shares his passion for upcycling and explains how he made 25 items from an old Beetle, and converted a shipping container into his home. Adele Jackson desc...

Tom Fletcher of McFly, Silent Film pianist Neil Brand, Bookshop frequenter Erica Jones and extreme engineer Jimmy de Ville join Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. Tom Fletcher is best known as singer and songwriter of McFly, he's also written for Busted and One Direction, clocking up ten UK number one singles. He's also a children's author, having written The Dinosaur that Pooped series with his band m...

Ian Wright joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles to discuss his football career, proudest achievements and life after retiring from the game aged 36. Reporter JP Devlin talks to Saturday Live listener Maria Prowse who talks about the special relationship with her dog- which nearly ended when Maria gave her dog away after her husband died. Writer India Knight shares her love of dogs and revea...

The illusionist Derren Brown joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles to discuss why he's spent three years researching what makes us happy. The ex-footballer and manager of the England Women's Team, Hope Powell, received 66 caps for England and became the first women to obtain the UEFA pro licence. After managing the England Women's team for 15 years she has recently been appointed as the firs...

Comedian and writer David Baddiel on writing for children and whether death and dementia make good subjects for comedy. Olympic diver Chris Mears won gold in Rio in spectacular style. He reveals how a brush with death inspired his success and his sideline as a music producer. On the centenary of Roald Dahl's birth, Dr Tom Solomon discusses how the writer's fascination with medicine inspired many o...

Cerys Matthews, Damon Hill, Meik Wiking and Benny Lewis join Aasmah and Richard for Saturday Live. He became Formula One World Champion in 1996, following in the footsteps of his father, the legendary F1 champion Graham Hill who tragically died in a plane crash when Damon was 15 years old. Now a SKYF1 racing commentator, Damon will be telling us how he ended up behind the wheel himself. Cerys Math...

Stand-up comedian and actor John Bishop joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev. Richard Coles. John Bishop found fame after discovering his talent for stand-up comedy in his thirties. He talks about his willingness to try new things, which includes a new TV interview series, his Liverpudlian identity and creating comedy. Listener Rachel Gadsden is an artist who is involved in creating artworks and an animat...

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Ralf Little. He first came to our attention as Antony in The Royle Family and has now produced the 'mockumentary' series Borderline. He reveals why he swapped medical school for acting and what it was like to play football with Zinedine Zidane. JP Devlin meets Fergus Anckorn, a former British soldier, he was the youngest member of the Magic Circle and now...

Miles Jupp joins the Rev Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir and shares his love of cricket, rollercoasters and why he is possibly the poshest stand-up comedian on the circuit. Lance Corporal Richard Jones from the Household Cavalry reveals how he combines being a magician alongside his military career. Plus a trio of extreme sports enthusiasts: Blake Aldridge on why he left the world of Olympic diving t...

Craig Charles and David Emanuel join Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. For a while Craig Charles was best known for playing Dave Lister in sci fi comedy Red Dwarf, but he has probably usurped that with his love for Funk and Soul, dj-ing on BBC 6 music and gigging around the country. With acting, poetry, performance, dj-ing and writing under his belt, now he's championing BBC Get Playing. Fashion Desig...

Martin Fry is a singer/songwriter who came to prominence in the early 1980s as lead singer of the band ABC. Their debut album, the Lexicon of Love, was a UK number one. Thirty four years on, he has released a sequel to reflect how his perspective on life and love has changed; and he explains why he now chooses to perform with an orchestra. The conductor Paul MacAlindin recalls how a newspaper adve...

Dancer and choreographer Wayne Sleep talks about life as a dancer, his love of the stars and shares his unusual new hobby. Gary Fildes is a bricklayer turned astronomer, and founder of the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland. Listener Andrew Townsend talks about how his life changed after taking up running when he was 55. Reporter JP Devlin will be hearing all about how to train cats with Sarah...

Saturday Live's summer road trip begins in South Shields, at the Westovian Theatre, with Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles. As preparations for the maritime themed summer parade get underway, actor and presenter Denise Welch talks about why the North East will always be home, the return of TV series Boy Meets Girl and keeping her Geordie accent. Olympian Brendan Foster talks about his athletic career a...

The Saturday Live Summer Road Trip pulls into its final stop in Cromer, Norfolk where Reverend Richard Coles and Kate Silverton broadcast live from the Pavilion Theatre at the end of Cromer Pier. They are joined by Lesley Garrett, one of Britain's most popular sopranos, actor and writer Charlie Higson who found fame with the Fast Show, the double bass playing beatboxer Bellatrix and Steve Ignorant...

This week the Saturday Live road trip continues to Morecambe in Lancashire, where the Catch The Wind Kite Festival is taking place this weekend, with beautiful views across Morecambe Bay and plenty of fresh sea air. The programme comes live from The Platform, where Aasmah Mir and the Reverend Richard Coles celebrate the great day out, nostalgia, kites and space. Morecambe-born designer Wayne Hemin...

The next stop on the Saturday Live summer road trip is the beautiful seaside town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire. It's the Long Course Weekend and Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles will be celebrating extreme sports, adrenaline and music, live from Wales. Wrexham lad Tim Vincent first hit our screens as the youngest ever male Blue Peter presenter, which saw him flying a fighter jet, running the New York Mar...

Richard Madeley is one of the most recognizable faces on British TV, part of a successful husband and wife presenting team that lasted over 20 years. He has written four books - one about his relationship with his father, the latest called 'The Night Book' which is published this month. Living statues. You see them now in Trafalgar Sq. and at the seaside, wherever tourists gather, standing dead st...

Rick Astley rolls into the studio to talk to Aasmah Mir and Rev Richard Coles about his comeback album, what it's like to be at the top of the charts the second time round and why he drives to as many different concerts as possible even if they are abroad. Police Sergeant Colin Taylor reveals the trials of policing one of Britain's most remote communities on the Scilly Isles. Professional clown Da...

Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Actor Freddie Fox starred in TV drama Cucumber, has played Romeo, and is currently performing the parts of both Demetrius and Bottom in a madcap production of A Midsummer Night's dream. Rescued from Kolkata riverside by Mother Theresa, Gautam Lewis went on to carve a career in the music industry working with bands like The Libertines. He joins us on Satur...

This week on Saturday Live - Aasmah Mir and Kate Silverton speak to wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan about her long and varied career, train enthusiast David Brewer, the man who has photographed every railway station in the UK, Rachel Mariner on swapping the courtroom to write for the stage and Mark Simpson, Young Musician of the Year in 2006 and is a nominee in the South Bank Sky Arts Awards...

The comedy writer and performer, Barry Cryer, joins Aasmah Mir and Kate Silverton. James Young has always been a keen gamer. When, in 2012, he lost two limbs after he was hit by a train, James thought he'd never pick up a games controller again. He explains how he is now at the centre of one of the biggest projects in the gaming world - the creation of a high tech prosthetic arm. JP Devlin meets C...

Former political correspondent, pasa doble specialist and now narrow boat enthusiast John Sergeant celebrates 50 years of broadcasting and reveal show he got his break into the industry Garden designer Juliet Sargeant tells us about her preparations for the pinnacle of the horticultural year - the Chelsea Flower Show. Saturday Live listener Freya Rodger reveals why she is attempting to do all 41 O...

With Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles Actor and writer David Mitchell talks about playing William Shakespeare in new series Upstart Crow, his comedy partnership with Robert Webb, and being unable to read people, despite getting a lot of practice as team Captain on Would I Lie to You. As the football season comes to an end, listener Angela Hallam talks about the craft of making football mascots...