

Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake
BBC Radio 5 Live
Nihal Arthanayake presents in-depth interviews with headline guests across entertainment, sport, culture and politics.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 24, 2020 • 21min
George Alagiah
The BBC newsreader and journalist returns to Headliners to tell Nihal how his cancer treatment is going, what he makes of the recent increase in exposure for the Black Lives Matter movement and how he’s been coping during lockdown.

Jun 10, 2020 • 19min
Keisha Buchanan
Former Sugababes member Keisha Buchanan tells Nihal Arthanayake about the trauma she experienced as the only black member of the platinum-selling girl-group. She says she was unfairly stereotyped as an “angry black woman” by the press, leading to her needing therapy to recover.

Jun 10, 2020 • 42min
Rutger Bregman
The historian and author Rutger Brebman tells Nihal why he thinks humanity is less cruel than we’ve been led to believe. His new book Humankind looks at why some of the stories and experiments that are often-cited examples of our cruelty may be fundamentally flawed.Photo credit: Maartje ter Horst

Jun 3, 2020 • 21min
Aitch
The Manchester rapper talks to Nihal about his rise to stardom, wanting to work with Liam Gallagher and how success has changed his family’s life.

Jun 1, 2020 • 51min
Jay Blades
The Repair Shop star talks to Nihal about growing up with dyslexia and how he found his passion for restoring furniture.

May 26, 2020 • 38min
Tori Amos
A piano prodigy who won a scholarship to the Peabody Institute at the age of five, Tori Amos is one of the most remarkable musical talents of her generation. In this episode of Headliners, she talks to Nihal about the inspiration for her songwriting, addressing dark truths in her work and why she decided to record her thoughts in her new book; Resistance: A Songwriter’s Story of Hope, Change and Courage – which is part memoir, part personal manifesto.Photo credit: Des Willie.

May 21, 2020 • 48min
The Last Dance
Nihal discusses the legacy, impact and reaction to NBA legend Michael Jordan in the wake of Netflix’s smash hit documentary series The Last Dance.He’s joined by journalist and former Olympic athlete Matthew Syed, DJ and presenter Reece Parkinson and John Amaechi, the first Briton to play in the NBA, who faced Jordan on court at the beginning – and the end – of this career.Photo credit: Andrew D Bernstein

May 20, 2020 • 41min
KSI
The pioneering YouTuber on his new album, his next fight and why he won’t live in the USA.

May 18, 2020 • 35min
Russell Tovey
The Years and Years actor on learning to dance, collecting art and “keeping real” in quarantine.

May 14, 2020 • 44min
Gianluca Vialli (from 2020)
The former Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea striker tells Nihal about the people that have inspired him, his hopes for the future of football, and his recovery from pancreatic cancer.


