Saturday Live

Sara Cox has been entertaining the nation for 25 years, first through Channel 4 and MTV, then as host of Breakfast on BBC Radio 1 and now drive time on Radio 2. She joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to discuss her latest project, TV book club Under the Covers.Ben Dunne’s teenage son River died in a tragic road traffic accident in Sweden alongside his fellow bandmates from Viola Beach and their manager. They were on the cusp of stardom, scheduled to play a series of festivals in the UK and beyond. In the years following the tragedy, Ben has dedicated his life to providing opportunities for young people in River’s name. Anoushe Husain is a paraclimber who was born missing her right arm below the elbow. A civil-servant by day, Anoushe has experience multiple health conditions including cancer, and now supports girls from deprived backgrounds to improve their lives through climbing.Listener Dr Stephen Gillam is a GP who wonders if he was predestined to take up the stethoscope after discovering his family have been doctors for the best part of 250 years. And we have the Inheritance Tracks of ballet dancer Darcey Bussell.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Richard Hooper

Award winning comedian and actor Omid Djalili joins us to talk about his route to fame, taking part in Splash, quiz show catchphrases, performing in Persian for the first time recently and getting back on stage after lockdown.In 1974, aged 17, Debbie Gayle travelled to the Soviet Union to train at the Kirov school of ballet. It was the height of the Cold war, and she found the experience thoroughly unwelcoming with the exception of a woman called Natasha who became her friend. When Debbie became ill and was isolated in hospital, Natasha proved to be a life line, helping her return to the UK where she left ballet and started a family. Almost 50 years later she told the story to her son and tracked Natasha down, creating a podcast about her experience called "Finding Natasha".Former Chelsea and Everton winger turned 5live pundit Pat Nevin on becoming a footballer by accident. Emma Gray is a world-renowned sheepdog trainer who recently relocated from a remote farm in Northumberland to the even more remote Isle of Bute in Scotland. Not only did she take along her husband and baby, as one would expect, but she packed up her 500 sheep, 40 cows and 20 dogs and transported them by ferry. She talks to us about uprooting, new love and new pastures.Mary Beard chooses her inheritance tracks: Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel and Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves by Eurythmics with Aretha Franklin. And your thank you!Producer: Corinna Jones

Russell Tovey joins Nikki Bedi and Shaun Keaveny. The actor shares how his childhood passion for cartoons and collecting developed into a life changing love of art. Monica Korpal talks about why she retrained to become a nurse. Having been a hospital patient since childhood, due to a rare blood condition, she now works for the Haematology Unit where she was a patient. Alex George entertained millions on Love Island in 2018 but he's also an A&E doctor and personal experiences now make him focused on improving mental health and well-being. Jonathan Dimbleby shares his Inheritance Tracks: Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, the final movement. Celebrity auctioneer and antiques dealer Raj Bisram has appeared on television programmes including Channel 4’s Four Rooms and the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, Flog It! and Bargain Hunt. But before he followed that path, he served in the army, as a ski racer and instructor and loves performing magic.Talk Art by Russell Tovey and Robert Diament is out now. And you can listen to the Talk Art podcast. Russell is also appearing in Constellations with Omari Douglas (30 July - 11 September) at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. Russell is curating Breakfast Under The Tree at the Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate in June, Prismatic Minds at The Flowers Gallery in London in July and a Hugh Steers exhibition in August. Finally, Russell is a 2021 Turner Prize Judge.Live Well Every Day by Dr Alex George is out now.Barbarossa: How Hitler Lost The War by Jonathan Dimbleby is out now.Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Richard Hooper

Chef Raymond Blanc began to write a recipe book at the beginning of 2020 inspired by the fast and simple cooking of French scientist Edouard de Pomaine and by his mother. He had no idea the world was about to change. A few months later, Raymond was self-isolating when he found that his mother had died in France and then he was hospitalised with Covid for a month over Christmas and into January. He joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to explain how Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home reflects how the past year has changed his approach to food and life.Kathryn Heyman experienced a horrific assault in her early 20s on her way home from a party. In a bid to escape the trauma, Kathryn joined four trawlermen on the Timor Sea where she was unexpectedly able to heal from the wounds of the past. She joins us to talk about her new memoir Fury. Actor Joseph Marcell has been well-known to British theatre audiences for 50 years, beginning his stint at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1972 and now sitting on the board of The Globe Theatre. He is globally famous for a different reason, having played the role of British butler Geoffrey in hit 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched the career of Will Smith and is still in syndication on television networks around the world.Asian Network presenter Yasser got his first break in TV when he was 12. He talks about discovering a different side to Pakistan when he went there as a DJ, being a 2012 Olympic Torch Bearer and shares stories from his Ramadan tracker, which is discovering out how Muslims are celebrating Ramadan around the world. And we have the Inheritance Tracks of designer Anya Hindmarch.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles are joined by Andi Oliver whose first career was as vocalist and performer in the band Rip Rig + Panic with her brother Sean and Neneh Cherry, amongst others. She then explored her passion for food and had a cookery show, more recently she became a judge on The Great British Menu and this year is hosting the show for the first time. Joe Marler plays rugby union for Harlequins and has 72 caps for England, has played for the British Lions and the Barbarians. He plays loose head prop and has been known to sport a mohican. He has said that ‘loose head’ was a good way to describe him - on the field he played the role of the pantomime villain, using the game as a way of letting out his aggression – legally! But off the field he was struggling with his mental health… he joins us.IT consultant Ed Accura never learnt to swim as a child growing up in Ghana and it was only after the birth of his daughter that he decided jump in a pool. Spurred on by shocking statistics which said 95 per cent of black people don’t swim in the UK, Ed has created two docu-dramas called Blacks Can’t Swim. He joins us to talk about his journey to the poolside. Writer Rebecca Schiller decided to try her hand at outdoors living by moving into a smallholding in the heart of Kent. But instead of finding calm, her mental health deteriorated and she began wondering if she had made a terrible mistake. And Deborah Meaden from Dragon’s Den chooses her Inheritance Tracks: Smooth Sailing by the Temptations and Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye. And your thank you.Producer: Corinna Jones

Tim Burgess joins Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi. The Charlatans frontman talks music, meditation and how his lockdown Twitter listening parties have become more successful than he could have imagined. Natasha Coates developed severe allergies when she was 18. She threw herself into gymnastics and won 22 British titles and 38 British medals. Natasha talks about living with her condition and what sport means to her.Lawrence Okolie tells the story of how he went from an unhealthy fast food server to world boxing champion and Olympian , inspired by seeing boxer Anthony Joshua in the 2012 Olympics.Presenter Liz Kershaw shares her Inheritance Tracks: Bobby Darin - Beyond the Sea and You Could Be Mine by Guns N' Roses. George Butler talks about his experiences as an award-winning artist and illustrator. His work, specialising in reportage, travel and current affairs, has taken him around the world, drawing and telling the stories of people in war zones, refugee camps and most recently on the Covid frontline.Tim's Twitter Listening Party is on daily, replays available via the website. Tim Burgess' book The Listening Party is being published in September. Lawrence Okolie's book Dare to Change Your Life is out now. George Butler's Drawn Across Borders: True Stories of Migration is out now.Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Eleanor Garland

Ben Fogle became famous over twenty years ago when he spent a year living on a Scottish Island for early reality TV programme Castaway. It was the springboard for remarkable career involving television presenting, publishing ten books, climbing Everest, swimming with crocodiles, saving elephants, walking to the South Pole and rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. He tells Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi about his most recent project; travelling around the country to tell people about his extraordinary life. Ade Adepitan is a former Paralympian and a globe-trotting TV presenter, but he has only just started his most important adventure - fatherhood. He joins us to talk about this new chapter in his life and his latest three-part series, Ade on the Frontline: Climate Change.Liz Knight never felt comfortable in a suit when she worked in sales. After being made redundant she began working in a day care centre and, through the elderly people she met there, she learned more about local wildlife on the Welsh Borders. Liz turned that knowledge into a business and now a book Forage: Wild Plants to Gather, Cook and Eat. Listener Christina Longden contacted Saturday Live to tell us about her great great great grandfather, whose life had been shrouded in secrecy for a hundred years. Robert Stanley was a working class man from Manchester, who rose to become mayor and was one of the earliest converts to Islam. And snooker player Steve Davis shares his Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Claire Bartleet

Nikki Bedi and Rev Richard Coles are joined by Mel Giedroyc, one half of Mel and Sue who shot to fame hosting Light Lunch, and then warmed our hearts and made us drool with the comforting TV cooking competition programme Great British Bake Off. Since Mel has acted, presented, podcasted about quilting, and she’s written her first novel. Stuart Lawrence’s life was thrown into disarray aged 17 when his adored older brother Stephen was killed in a racially motivated attack. Determined to have an positive impact on young people, he became a teacher, and is now a motivational speaker. Tiggi Trethowan is a listener who contacted us with her story of losing her sight. Alice Cooper chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Train Kept a Rollin’ by The Yardbirds and Thunderclap Newman, Something in the air and your Thank you. Producer: Corinna Jones

Liz Pichon talks to Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi about celebrating 10 years since her first Tom Gates book came out, ways she coped with undiagnosed dyslexia, doodling, and why, when she was growing up, her dad may have had the best job. Chris Bavin was a market trader turned grocer whose career took an unexpected turn when he was invited to be a TV presenter. He explains why his latest job has taken him to the New Forest. A surprise birthday present left Kath Cordingly with a love of beekeeping, she now owns around 10 million bees and is often found rescuing swarms from unusual places, despite developing an allergy to bee stings. Singer Mica Paris shares her Inheritance Tracks: Come Live with Me Angel by Marvin Gaye and Tom Browne- Funkin for Jamaica. Comedian and producer John Simmit talks about his life and career which includes playing Dipsy in the original Teletubbies series.Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales by Liz Pichon is out now and the closing music was from Tom Gates The Album which is also out now. BBC Two’s Remarkable Places To Eat is back for two part series. Chris’s episode about the New Forest is on 6th April at 8pm. Mica Paris’ latest album Gospel....is out now. John Simmit narrates the Windrush musical Rush : A Joyous Jamaican Journey which tours around UK theatres starting on August 28th. Venues include The Palace Theatre, Redditch; Nottingham Playhouse; Bournemouth Pavilion.Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Richard Hooper

Composer, musician and producer Nitin Sawhney has just released his 11th studio album ‘Immigrants’ and has scored over 50 films and televisions programmes. He joins Suzy Klein and Nikki Bedi to discuss his life, his multi-award-winning music and how he manages to work across the worlds of music, film, video games, dance and theatre. Jeanne Socrates is a retired maths lecturer who battled through cyclones, broken bones and the loss of her husband to become the oldest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world in 2019. She’s recently completed a solo campervan tour of Australia and is looking to continue her sailing adventures once the pandemic ends. Ravinder Bhogal is a former beauty journalist who swapped eyeshadow palettes for pots and pans as an award-winning restaurateur and food writer. She crosses multiple cultures through her recipes and her second cookbook Jikoni was shortlisted for the André Simon prize. Melissa Rice was a well-presented schoolteacher in her twenties who was privately suffering from mental health problems, Crohn’s disease and alcoholism. After entering recovery from alcohol abuse, Melissa went on to co-host Hooked, a BBC podcast about addiction, and has written Sobering: Lessons Learnt the Hard Way on Drinking, Thinking and Quitting.We also hear the Inheritance Tracks of television presenter Philip Schofield.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Richard Hooper Presenter: Nikki Bedi Presenter: Suzy Klein