The Interview

Even if you have not seen his shows, you will have heard his songs. For works such as Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Lion King, Sir Tim Rice is regarded as one of the greatest lyricists of his generation. After a break from songwriting which lasted ten years, he is completing a new work, so what tempted him back? Why are there so few truly original musicals nowadays and why has he made it c...

We are in a depression - unemployment at levels last seen during the thirties, an economic crisis in the Eurozone and the prospect of worse to come. But the Nobel Prize Winning economist Paul Krugman, thinks none of this needs to be happening and that America and Europe should be richer than they were five years ago - even now it wouldn't take much to solve the problem. He thinks what debt-ridden...

The people of Greece shocked the rest of Europe with the results of their parliamentary elections on 6 May 2012. No party had a clear majority and the Syriza coalition of the radical left was put in second place. Syriza opposes the bailout package or 'memorandum' which gives Greece billions of euros in exchange for a very tough austerity package of cuts and tax increases. Gavin Esler speaks to Syr...

Iron Maiden is one of the most successful heavy metal bands ever. They have sold more than 80 million albums and are renowned for their live shows - tickets for which they say sell faster now than at any point in their 30 years as a band. Sarah Montague speaks to the band's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, the only member of the band who has lopped off the long, 'hard rocking' hair. And that is becau...

Robin Gibb was a musician who did much to define the pop music of the 70s and 80s. With his brothers Maurice and Barry he formed the Bee Gees. They wrote the soundtrack for the disco era, perhaps captured best in their music for the movie Saturday Night Fever. In December 2010, Robin Gibb joined Stephen Sackur in the Hardtalk studio to talk about his music, his family and the pressures of a pop bu...

So much for all the talk of a Moscow Spring. Despite sporadic street protests and the stirrings of middle-class rebellion, Vladimir Putin is back in the Kremlin and Russia's economic and political status quo remains intact. Why do liberal opponents of Putin struggle to gain traction? Stephen Sackur speaks to Grigory Yavlinsky, economist, reformer and a veteran leader of Russia's fragmented opposit...

At last Sub Saharan Africa has a positive economic story to tell, but is it being matched by improved governance? Are Africa's leaders making the best use of the current surge in economic growth to tackle endemic poverty? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Guy Scott, recently appointed vice-president of Zambia. He is a trained scientist, an ex-farmer, and he happens to be the most senior white of...

Football is a global obsession - the star players of the sport, the likes of Messi, Rooney and Ronaldo reap vast rewards and worldwide adulation. But there's a sense of something rotten in the people's game. A sport worth billions of dollars has fallen prey to match fixing, cheating and bouts of shameful behaviour. Stephen Sackur speaks to Louis Saha, a French international striker, currently with...

Greece appears to be inching closer to the Eurozone exit door. If the Greeks leave how far could the contagion spread? One country which could very soon find itself in the eye of a financial storm is Cyprus - where the banks are paying a heavy price for their investments in Greece. Stephen Sackur speaks to Michalis Sarris, chairman of the Cyprus Popular Bank and former minister of finance. A mount...

Has western military intervention in Afghanistan failed? The question will hang over this weekend's Nato summit in Chicago as the alliance's political leaders set the seal on a phased military retreat while pledging long-term support for the Afghan Government. Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir William Patey who has just retired from his post as British ambassador in Kabul. Did the West get the balance...

Jordan has survived the Arab Spring relatively unscathed, at least so far. Perhaps it is because the king has promised reform. But he is now on his fourth prime minister since the start of 2011 and the changes proposed so far won't do enough to satisfy his critics. They say King Abdullah is just buying time and is not serious about reform. And this in a country seen as critical to peace in the reg...

American Presidents have long been criticised for being too in thrall to the Jewish lobby, and that American Jews influence US foreign policy, which explains America's unwavering support for Israel. So what happens if American Jews fall out of love with Israel? That's what the Jewish American academic Norman Finkelstein claims is happening. He suggests that American Jews are now unhappy with what...

The west faces a lost decade of economic stagnation. Unemployment is high, inequality is rising and governments are broke. Should we be blaming capitalism or looking to the market for solutions? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir Ronald Cohen, one of Britain's most innovative business leaders. He is a pioneer of venture capitalism who is now committed to the idea of social investment, or capi...

Africa's newest nation, South Sudan, is in trouble. Less than a year after independence from Khartoum, the South and its much larger northern neighbour are confronting each other over oil reserves, borders and territory. Sporadic fighting has prompted mutual recrimination and talk of all-out war. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to South Sudan's foreign minister Nhial Deng Nhial. The African Union...

Science is constantly changing and deepening our understanding of ourselves and our planet. So is it time to give scientists a more prominent role in the debate about humanity's strategic choices; economic, political and environmental? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sir John Sulston, a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist who has led a Royal Society study into the global impact of populati...

In post Soviet Russia, a small band of businessmen became unimaginably rich. These so-called oligarchs command assets worth billions of dollars, but their position isn’t without its perils in the era of Putin. Disloyalty to the Kremlin can have grave consequences. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire many times over, the architect of a vast business empire that current...

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur is at the Globe Theatre in London - a magical recreation of the theatre where William Shakespeare honed his theatrical genius in the late sixteenth century. Over the next six weeks every one of Shakespeare’s 37 plays is going to be performed, in 37 different languages by theatre companies from all over the world. He speaks to actor Zoë Wanamaker, honorary president of the...

The official Olympic creed says it’s not the winning that counts but the taking part. Try telling that to the elite professional athletes and their coaches who have dedicated their lives to the quest for a gold medal. With the London games now fewer than 100 days away HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Peter Keen, Performance Director for UK Sport. In Beijing four years ago, his strategies helped...

In a programme first broadcast in 2012, Stephen Sackur speaks to FW de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid-era leader and a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela. Photo: Former South African President FW de Klerk in Cape Town, South Africa, 2020 (Credit: Reuters)

From Syria, to Sri Lanka, to Russia, there are journalists ready to put themselves in harm's way to shine a light on some of the darkest corners of conflict, crime and corruption. What makes them do it? And what difference do they make? Stephen Sackur speaks to British photo journalist Paul Conroy who was wounded in the Syrian army's bombardment of the city of Homs last February which killed his S...

Stephen Sackur speaks to perhaps the UK's most controversial police officer, a commander in London's Metropolitan Police and a convicted criminal. Ali Dizaei was born in Iran, studied law in London and became a high-flying spokesman for ethnic minority police officers in a London force dogged by accusations of racism. Ali Dizaei portrays himself as a victim; the courts decided he was a rogue cop....

Stephen Sackur speaks to one of Britain's finest writing talents, whose creativity defies a simple label. Yes, Michael Frayn is a renowned playwright whose work has ranged from high farce to cerebral intensity. But he's also an acclaimed novelist and an accomplished translator from the Russian of Chekhov and Tolstoy. Throughout his writing career he's mixed high seriousness with a wicked sense of...

Should Iraq be doing more to end the bloodshed on its doorstep or does it have its own vested interest in keeping Syria's president Assad in power? While president Nouri Al-Maliki faces criticism for his stance on Syria and his closeness to Iran, the country remains gripped by a rise in sectarian violence. Hamid Al-Bayati represents Iraq at the United Nations. Tim Franks asks him just how much inf...

Lake Como in northern Italy is the venue for an economic conference hosted by the Ambrosetti Forum. The economic policy-makers gathered here are fervently hoping that the worst of Europe's sovereign debt crisis is over - but is it? Stephen Sackur speaks to Juergen Stark who was - until his shock resignation in 2011 - a key figure on the board of the European Central Bank. He quit because he disagr...

Alan Ayckbourn is often described as the most performed playwright alive in the world. A revival of his play Absent Friends has opened in London's West End. And a new play - his 76th - premieres this summer. After more than 50 years of writing and directing, what is it about Alan Ayckbourn and his portrayal of relationships in the English suburbs that can still fill theatres around the world?