Saturday Live

BBC Radio 4
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Apr 4, 2020 • 1h 24min

Gary Lineker

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by former professional footballer turned sports broadcaster Gary Lineker. During his playing career he played for Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight and was famously never booked. He has presented the BBC flagship show Match of the Day since 1999 and now has a 5Live Match of the Day (MOTD) podcast with fellow pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who meet up in Gary's kitchen for weekly debates about football.Roland Gift was the lead singer of 80’s chart-topping band Fine Young Cannibals and, following his debut role in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, he went on to have a successful acting career. Roland has now written and is starring in Return To Vegas, a musical drama for BBC Radio 4. Clare Pooley is an author and the blogger behind Mummy was a Secret Drinker. Five years ago, despite appearing to be a glossy PR manager who had it all, she realised she was an alcoholic. But how do you tell the truth about your life? Clare started writing a blog charting her alcoholism and new sober life. Sharing the most difficult part of her story became the inspiration for her new novel, The Authenticity Project.Rachael Campey was experiencing bullying and mental health problems when she became pregnant as a teenager. Now 21, she has graduated from university and has been nominated for the Inspirational Individual gong in the Yorkshire Choice 2020 Awards for her work in mental health support. And actor Michelle Collins shares her Inheritance Tracks.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland.
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Mar 28, 2020 • 1h 23min

Sir Chris Hoy

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by six time Olympic Champion, Sir Chris Hoy, who discusses the inspiration behind his career, retirement and writing children’s books. Ruth Linton is a grandmother from Manchester who became a stand up comedian after being treated for a brain tumour. Saturday Live listener and former high-flying police officer James Ellson reveals why he left the challenging streets of Moss Side to become a smallholder and writer of crime fiction and actor Mim Shaikh discusses why he joined a pilgrimage from Belgrade to Istanbul. Plus broadcaster Johnnie Walker shares his inheritance tracks. Producer: Steven Williams Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Mar 21, 2020 • 1h 23min

Bob Geldof

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined on the line by Sir Bob Geldof, of The Boomtown Rats, who left Dun Laoghaire for London, became known for punchy hits and outspoken interviews, then creating Band Aid and Live Aid. We also have Kelda Wood, who, in her mid twenties suffered a life changing injury and she has just become the first para athlete to row solo across the Atlantic. Derrick Osaze is ‘the punching preacher’ – last year he became Ultimate Boxxer III middleweight champion and was ordained as a minister. He joins us. Mary Wood, on her experience as a police officer of looking after a foundling for 24 hours, 25 years ago. And the inheritance tracks of Martina Cole who chooses Galway Bay, performed by Ruby Murray and Word on a Wing by David Bowie And your thank yous. Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Mar 14, 2020 • 1h 25min

Neil Morrissey

Neil Morrissey became a household name in the 1990’s playing Tony in sitcom Men Behaving Badly. As the voice of Bob the Builder he had two number one singles in the UK Charts and now combines acting with running pubs.Alice Morrison is an adventurer who lives and (mostly!) explores in Morocco. She was previously a BBC news editor. She’s travelled extensively in the region, most recently completing a 78-day trek across the Saharan desert with three Berber companions and six camels, receiving help from nomads, and walking through areas of quicksand and landmines.As a teenager who was suffering from depression, Matt Wesolowski was drawn to goth culture and wrote fiction involving vampires and monsters. He is now a bestselling author but has kept his day job teaching English to young people in Pupil Referral Units.Nadia Finer is a business coach with a small voice. The kind of small voice that once made another mum at the school gates tell her own mum that ‘she ought to get that sorted out’, and which led to Nadia avoiding speaking in public for most of her adolescence and twenties. Now she’s embracing her shyness and by founding the Shy and Mighty Society and challenging herself to live in a bigger way.And singer Jane McDonald shares her Inheritance Tracks - Downtown by Petula Clark and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Mar 7, 2020 • 1h 25min

Jo Whiley

Jo Whiley joins Aasmah Mir and the Rev Richard Coles. Jo presents on Radio 2 and from Glastonbury, as well as pursing her passion for gardening. A competitive swimmer in her youth, she is about to take on the triathlon for Sport Relief. Saturday Live listener Deborah Rowland, who trained as an archaeologist and an anthropologist, describes how she uncovered her own human heritage when she tracked down her birth parents. When Ryan Riley’s mum Krista was diagnosed with terminal small cell lung cancer, he cared for her for two years. In that time chemotherapy and radiotherapy dulled her sense of taste and she couldn’t enjoy food. After she died, Ryan had a life changing moment and decided to set up a cookery school for people like his mum.Adapted from his memoir, Greetings From Bury Park, the feature film Blinded by the Light tells the story of Javed (Sarfraz Manzoor), a British Muslim teenager growing up in Luton and how he finds inspiration and hope in the unlikely form of Bruce Springsteen. Sarfraz explains how this has inspired his new show at the Leicester Square Theatre, Blinded by the Light – The True Story.Dame Kristin Scott Thomas shares her Inheritance Tracks – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’, by Nancy Sinatra; and The Planets - Mars, The Bringer Of War, by Holst.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: John Goudie
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Feb 29, 2020 • 1h 25min

Joanna Trollope

Aasmah Mir and Richard Coles are joined by Joanna Trollope CBE, who has 22 novels to her name. A keen observer of our life and times, she is also the fifth-generation niece of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, has chaired awards, judged literature prizes and updated Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. We also have Jason Watkins, the BAFTA winning actor who played Harold Wilson in The Crown, also starred in Nativity!, W1A, Line of Duty, Being Human and now McDonald & Dodds, two feature length detective police dramas. He is also a patron for Child Bereavement UK, following the death of his 2 year old daughter from Sepsis. At the age of 35, Saturday Live listener Raphaël Kopel wanted to play football, but never having played before he found he was shunned on the pitch and struggled to improve. So, he decided to learn how to play, and then trained as a coach for other people, like him, who never learned as a child. He joins us.Claire Nelson never imagined one of those terrifying stranded-in-the-desert ordeals could happen to her. Then, hiking in Joshua Tree national park, she fell from a boulder and shattered her hip, finding herself immobile and alone in a sun-baked wilderness. She's in the studio.We have the inheritance tracks of Radio 1 presenter Clara Amfo who chooses Run to the Sun by NERD and Everything is Everything by Lauren Hill, and your thank yous. Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Feb 22, 2020 • 1h 25min

Zawe Ashton

Actor, writer and director Zawe Ashton’s career began at the age of six and, having appeared on stage and in films ever since, it was the TV role of Vod in Fresh Meat that made her famous. She has since appeared in Hollywood films, had her play For All the Women Who Thought They were Mad performed in New York and London and has published Character Breakdown, an account of her life as a young actor.Amit Patel was a busy 33 year-old A&E doctor when he completely lost his sight over a 36-hour period, just 18 months after getting married. He hit rock bottom, and didn’t leave his home for three months. That’s when Kika came into his life – a guide dog who had been labelled as ‘difficult’.Jewellery maker and metalworker Bob Rowberry spent the 1960s and 70s importing Afghan coats which appeared in Vogue and holding Eric Capton’s hat as he busked. He now lives off-grid in an old school bus, growing his own produce and teaching his craft.Eleanor Wood is a writer from Brighton who, aged 32, felt like her life was falling apart. Her stepmum had died, her stepdad left her mum, and she broke up with her boyfriend of 12 years. So she started leaning on her best girlfriend, who taught her to be resilient, and staunch – and who also happened to be her nan. This led to a girls holiday to Goa with her nan and her two great-aunts.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Feb 15, 2020 • 1h 25min

Don Letts

Aasmah Mir and Rev. Richard Coles are joined by the film director, DJ and musician Don Letts. He talks about being the son of Windrush, scion of dub and midwife of punk-reggae. Molly Case is a nurse specialist in cardiac care and a slam poet, who wowed the Royal College of Nursing conference with a spoken word performance that made headlines. She explains what inspired her to make the switch from English to medicine. Barry Dring lived a double life: oil trader by day, skateboarder by night. He describes how, since becoming a father, he’s discovered a new passion – for crochet.Bridget Anderson grew up in Newport in South Wales, with mixed Welsh Burmese heritage. She recalls her grandmother’s wonderful stories of Burma, and fantastic cooking from Balachaung to Dahl and Wonton Pick-me-up-Soup.Robert Carlyle shares his Inheritance Tracks: Watching the Wheels, by John Lennon and Waiting on a Friend by The Rolling Stones.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Feb 8, 2020 • 1h 24min

Tracey Thorn

Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir are joined by Tracey Thorn, who escaped from suburbia, went to Hull University and emerged as one half of pop group Everything but the Girl. Her latest book details the influence of her background on her journey – not least how boredom was for her a catalyst for creativity. She joins us on Saturday Live. Jenny Tong went from rebellious childhood and repeated school exclusions to trying weightlifting at University where she was doing an International Relations and Politics degree. Today she holds three British Under-23 records and finished fifth at the European Youth Championships in Romania. She joins us.We also have Monty Halls, who left the Royal marines when he realised his passion was the marine part – he retrained as a marine biologist and has done expeditions and documentaries about marine life ever since. His latest one sees him take his whole family with him, to the Galapagos islands.Stephen Saunders learnt to fly after he lost a leg in an accident – then he flew a hot air balloon under Clifton Suspension bridge. He’s also a Saturday Live listener – he joins us. Ainsley Harriot chooses his Inheritance Tracks - Be My Life’s Companion performed by The Mills Brothers and I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl performed by Nina Simone. And we have your thank you.Producer: Corinna Jones Editor: Eleanor Garland
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Feb 1, 2020 • 1h 25min

Frances Barber

Frances Barber first played rock star, screen goddess and drug addict Billie Trix 18 years ago and, along with Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys, she is set to reprise the role in cabaret Musik.Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse began as two Instagram posts called “help” and “kind” that were shared a million times. They have been included in a book of life lessons that has become a surprise bestseller here and in the US.Steve Smith is one of America’s most experienced astronauts. He has taken part in four missions and performed seven space walks, including five to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.Rosie Wilby is a comedian and "love researcher" who presents The Break-Up Monologues podcast.And Emeli Sande shares her Inheritance Tracks - Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and Elgar's Cello Concerto performed by Jacqueline Du Pre.Producer: Laura Northedge Editor: Eleanor Garland

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