Saturday Live

Mary Beard unearths some of the fascinating little-known stories that helped build the Roman Empire in her new series of Being Roman, and reveals how a cake is responsible for making her Britain’s best-known classicist. From the senate and the people of Rome to the Sherlock Holmes of Tudor England – star of the new Shardlake series, Arthur Hughes joins us. Born with a rare condition affecting his...

The Titan of Tartan Noir, crime writer Val McDermid, who grew up playing in the ruins of Macduff's castle, shines a new light on Lady Macbeth in her new book, and tells us show she became addicted to video games. Nicola Nuttall has written a beautiful memoir about helping her daughter Laura make the most of her final days living with brain cancer…Laura had an extraordinary bucket list to complete...

Birmingham’s unofficial global ambassador, Steven Knight, who did as much for flat caps as he did for Brum by creating Peaky Blinders and he’s now taking us back to the West Midlands of the 1980’s with his latest TV series This Town. Catherine Coldstream had a bohemian upbringing in London, lived in Paris and fell in love with "unsuitable propositions in dark polo necks" and then, spent twelve yea...

Racing driver Nic Hamilton is the first disabled athlete to compete in the British Touring Car Championship. Born with cerebral palsy and told he would always need to use a wheelchair, he certainly embodies his self-given title of ‘limit defier’ and shares how he proved everyone wrong in his new book 'Now That I Have Your Attention'. Victoria McCloud, the recently retired first trans woman judge i...

The broadcaster, marathon runner, and proud parent to her life saving stoma Audrey, Adele Roberts reveals how she overcame cancer wrote a book and danced on ice. Writer and comedian Ben Elton whose new stand-up tour highlights his trademark incisive social commentary by exploring authentic stupidity. David Duke went from sleeping rough and living in hostels to playing football in the Homeless Worl...

The irrepressible Tom Shakespeare shares how the boy nicknamed 'The Blob' at school went on to become a bioethicist, disability rights advocate, and now a debut novelist. Kate Silverton has swapped the newsroom for the therapists couch having retrained as a child counsellor. She has also become a bestselling author and her latest book maintains that there's still no such thing as being naughty. Di...

One of Yorkshire’s finest, the actor famous for Fat Friends, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, Gaynor Faye. She’s making her directorial debut with the stage adaptation of The Syndicate, written by her mother; the late, great Kay Mellor. Tommy Blaize is the voice of Strictly. He’s been singing on the show since the very first episode. But today he reveals the family DNA secret that unlocked the sto...

Rear Admiral Jude Terry, the first woman to hold flag rank in The Royal Navy, keeps us ship shape and shares how a rebellious teenager became the highest ranking female member of the Navy. Ready to send us to the sin bin Sara Cox, not that one, reveals how she "walked through stinging nettles" to become the world's first professional female rugby union referee and inspire a whole generation of off...

Entertainer, actor, comedian, author and very clever man, Julian Clary joins us, he makes disdain and innuendo hilarious and he’s back onstage playing Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar. When Christopher Samuel picked up a biro and drew a picture of himself, it changed his life. He’ll tell us how he’s now using art to challenge the perceptions of disability. And having both served time, the award-win...

Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.

Jennie Gow, the journalist and BBC motor racing presenter who is navigating her post-stroke life and plans to be back on air for the Formula 1 this season. Sarah Marsh, the deaf author who has written a debut novel about a deaf woman finding her identity in a hearing world. And sailor Ken Fowler who circumnavigated every island in England and Wales, solo, in a 4m dinghy called Yoda. And don't miss...

Chris Anderson, an entrepreneur with a unique background as the son of missionaries and now the head of the TED organization, advocates for the power of Infectious Generosity as the ultimate idea worth spreading. Jane Cholmeley, once a feminist bookseller and now an author, shares her journey of running Europe's largest women's bookstore amidst challenges of homophobia and misogyny. Daisy Goodwin,...

Today - our guests inhabit very different worlds... One exists in kindness, James Timpson, the businessman and philanthropist - whose new book The Happy Index - puts happiness at the top of his business plans. Marianna Spring on the other hand, spends much of her life in a world filled with nastiness and trolls, and asks Why Do You Hate Me? in her new podcast. And Callum Scott Howells inhabits and...

National sweetheart, and very silly boy, Joe Lycett adds some pizazz to proceedings...as he talks art, Queen's Heath and his special brand of public service vigilantism as he sets his sights on the water companies. The writer, producer and creator behind landmark TV series; Queer as Folk, It’s A Sin, Years and Doctor Who, Russell T Davies, looks back on a ground-breaking career. So much has happen...

Bringing his trademark droll humour and a bit of poetry to proceedings…the actor and comedian Tim Key discusses his new collection and reveals the story behind one of the most remarkable acts kindness he received from a stranger. He loves dogs, he loves sport and he’s one of the best in the world at commentating on both…we welcome the voice of a thousand sports Andrew Cotter. Bringing us emotional...

Tom Odell, the Ivor Novello Award winning musician discusses his new album 'Black Friday' and reveals why freshly baked cakes helped with his piano lessons. Zoë Colville, aka The Chief Shepherdess, went from the madness of hairdressing in a trendy Soho salon in London, to the ‘relative’ tranquillity of tending sheep on a farm in Kent. Boxer Nathan Heaney describes his journey from fighting with gr...

Extending our knowledge of Imperial frontiers - journalist, author and Empire educator Sathnam Sanghera’s reveals why tea is the best medium to discuss the British Empire. Crossing the final frontier with Libby Jackson - she boldly explores where none of us are likely to as The Head of Space Exploration at the UK Space Agency. And the record-breaking Darren Edwards keeps crossing endurance frontie...

Bestselling writer, self-experimenter and host of Just One Thing, Michael Mosley is a man so keen on giving the nation ‘just one thing’ to do to improve our lives, that we’re soon going to run out of hours in the day to incorporate them all. If the very thought of handmade chocolates makes you salivate, prepare to drool, because the master chocolatier behind the new Wonka film, Gabriella Cugno rev...

Ed Byrne, the stand-up comedian, describes how he turned to comedy as a way of coping with the loss of his younger brother in 2023.

With 2024 just around the corner, we’re celebrating the lovely achievements of our guests from the year past and some of yours too... Artist Gareth Reid has painted King Charles, Graham Norton, and recently won Portrait Artist of the Decade with his interpretation of Dame Judi Dench. Rogue Jones, the married singer-songwriters Ynyr Ifan and Bethan Mai, won the coveted Welsh Music Prize 2023 for th...

The creative polymath Mark Gatiss; actor, writer, director, producer, funny man and excellent purveyor of Christmas ghost stories - shares his love for the macabre. By car, train, bus and...canoe - .The Hebridean Baker, Coinneach MacLeod, reveals the festive traditions of the Isle of Lewis. And illustrator Lucy Claire who came to fame by honouring the likes of The Queen and Matthew Perry with art...

Steven Moffat, the BAFTA and Emmy award winning TV writer and producer, famous for Doctor Who and Sherlock has made his debut as a playwright with The Unfriend returning to London’s West End. Kelda Wood is the former GB Para-Canoeist, first adaptive-rower to row the Atlantic unsupported, and a charity founder, whose world turned upside down by not one...by two lifechanging incidents. And the anima...

From an animal loving Billericay boy to international supermodel turned designer - David Gandy has been the face of some of the worlds biggest brands. The Scottish actor Sam Heughan is internationally famous for playing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser in Outlander but is also an award-winning businessman and bestselling author. And the Queen of Harps, Catrin Finch, not only a classical harp virtuoso...

Author Katherine Rundell, winner of Waterstones’ Book of the Year 2023 for her fantastical and mythical ‘Impossible Creatures’, had a childhood filled with travel; from Kent, to Zimbabwe and Belgium - to an adult life filled with playfulness. Steve Greenwood, one of the directors of Planet Earth III, has spent his life tracking-down impossible creatures and even discovered a new species of rat. Tr...

Dan Snow, history conduit, broadcaster, podcaster and bestselling author grew up with two posters on his bedroom wall...one was of Kylie Minogue - the other was of the Duke of Wellington defeating Napoleon at Waterloo. Corporal Rob Bugden is a former RAF parachute instructor whose career ended in an aerial collision which left him with life changing injuries. He now teaches the importance of resil...