Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2026-03-30T11:55:05.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Scott Mills confirmed to have left BBC Radio 2 following personal conduct allegations
items: Paul McCartney debuts brand new single on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Merseyside
items: Zeb Soanes reveals why his stroke at age of 44 pushed him to star in play about Alec Guinness
items: Farewell, Liza Tarbuck – our Saturdays evenings have lost their light
items: The Crown stars Eileen Atkins and Alex Jennings reunite for BBC Radio 4 drama
items: Stunning drama based on true story starring Derek Jacobi and Frances Barber wins Radio Times award
items: Comedian Slim on his Guide to Life: "I know how to navigate myself in this industry, that's why I've been in it for so long"
items: Love Island icon Chloe Burrows talks dream interviews in exciting new KISS Breakfast role - and talks best friend Millie's All Stars journey
items: Why Carry On icon Kenneth Williams's legacy in British entertainment continues to endure
items: The Archers favourites star in 75th anniversary photoshoot and talk THAT dramatic George whodunnit reveal
items: Has The Archers cheated listeners with George Grundy reveal?
items: 5 everyday household items that are toxic for you – from dishwasher tablets to air fresheners
items: The Archers at 75: Reflecting on the British institution with BBC Radio stars and its celebrity fans
items: Iconic Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw confirms cancer diagnosis and is now "unable to walk"
items: Vote now for the Radio Times Readers' Drama Award
items: Bridge Farm to be brought to life at new RHS show to celebrate The Archers' 75th anniversary
items: Amol Rajan confirms exit from major presenting role: "It's time to get my coat"
items: Bookish star Mark Gatiss adapts and stars in classic cosy crime tale – and it airs on Monday
items: Emma Willis to host new BBC Radio 2 programme as Zoe Ball steps down
items: Rum Punch's Travis Jay: "I've got a right to grab the attention of someone who's like me"
items: BBC Radio Christmas 2025 line-up confirmed – with Hollywood legend set as guest editor for the Today programme
items: Rick Edwards reveals why fatherhood has changed his presenting work for ever - and talks his modelling past
items: Caroline Wyatt gets candid about life with MS - and why she thinks the BBC will endure
items: BBC Radio 2 host Sara Cox details key differences between her radio and podcasting work
items: BBC launches three new radio stations: "It's all about the audience"
items: Jeremy Dyson shares "pure joy" of reuniting The League of Gentlemen stars for brand new project
items: BBC Radio 1 confirms Love Island: Aftersun favourite and more fresh faces to join presenting line-up
items: The Archers star reveals how Game of Thrones role left him with “agony”
items: The Archers star Lucy Speed reveals her pride in show embracing "important" new BBC initiative

Scott Mills confirmed to have left BBC Radio 2 following personal conduct allegations
type: item
date: 2026-03-30T11:55:05.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: News
description: The news was confirmed to BBC staff this morning.
encoded: Broadcaster Scott Mills has been sacked by the BBC following allegations over his 'personal conduct', and will no longer be hosting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show. As reported by The Mirror, the radio DJ was taken off air last week while the BBC assessed the information. A spokesperson for the BBC said: "While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC." Mills rose to prominence presenting the Scott Mills show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022, before making the move to BBC Radio 2. He took over Zoe Ball's Radio 2 breakfast show show earlier this year, moving from his afternoon show slot on the station. In an internal note to staff, Lorna Clarke, director of music at the BBC, said: "I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock. "Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity. "Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I’m able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything further now." Mills is also a prominent figure in the Eurovision circuit, having been a commentator for the semi-finals over the years, although details on the BBC's presenting line-up for the contest this year is yet to be confirmed. Check out more of our Audio coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

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Paul McCartney debuts brand new single on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Merseyside
type: item
date: 2026-03-26T16:46:50.000Z
creator: Phoebe Kowhai Barnes
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: News
description: The Beatles icon says the new song is about John Lennon and growing up in Liverpool.
encoded: Sir Paul McCartney has premiered his brand new single Days We Left Behind, marking his first musical release in six years. The new song debuted on Radio Merseyside today (26 March), meaning the people of Merseyside, where McCartney and the Beatles famously came from, heard the song before anyone else. Meanwhile, on The Afternoon Show with Trevor Nelson on BBC Radio 2, the Beatles icon also announced that the track is from a brand new studio album entitled The Boys of Dungeon Lane. The station exclusively broadcast a voice message from McCartney as he opened up about the inspiration for the new song, saying the lyrics were about the past – namely of growing up in Liverpool – and of John Lennon. "So this next song is very much a memory song for me," McCartney said. "I was doing an interview yesterday and I was thinking, well, songwriters, and writers in general, what else can you draw on, besides the past? I mean, you can do the present, but still a lot of the past in that. "So, anyway, this is the past. You know, it's just a lot of memories of Liverpool for me, and that involves a little bit in the middle about John, Forthlin Road, which is the street I used to live in." He continued: "I used to live in a place called Speke which is, you know, working class. It's only looking back on it, you think, yeah, we didn't have much at all. "But you know, as they always say, it didn't matter, because all the people were so great and you didn't notice you didn't have much." Listen to Days We Left Behind by Paul McCartney: View oEmbed on the source website McCartney found global fame in the Beatles, with whom he released 12 studio albums between 1963 and 1970. He'll soon be seen on the big screen... in a manner of speaking, as Hamnet star Paul Mescal will be playing McCartney in Sam Mendes's new Beatles films, alongside Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn as the other members of the Fab Four. Check out more of our Audio coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming …

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Zeb Soanes reveals why his stroke at age of 44 pushed him to star in play about Alec Guinness
type: item
date: 2026-03-16T17:00:17.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: After a stroke in 2021, Classic FM’s Zeb Soanes has got his dream job — playing 33 roles in a show about Sir Alec Guinness.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. On the first night of the revival of Mark Burgess’s play Two Halves of Guinness, Zeb Soanes sat backstage in his dressing room, preparing to spend the next two hours telling the life story of one of the 20th-century’s great theatrical knights, Sir Alec Guinness. Surrounded by good luck messages from friends and family, Soanes made sure to read one small card in particular: a rare reply to a fan, more than 30 years old, from the man himself. Soanes has one of the country’s most distinctive and beloved radio voices. For 25 years a BBC TV continuity announcer turned Radio 4 newsreader, with forays into The News Quiz, the Shipping Forecast and presenting the Proms on television, he now has the primetime evening slot presenting on Classic FM. But as a trained actor who gave up a job in repertory theatre for the lure of the BBC – “broadcasting was a diversion that somehow lasted for half my life” – Soanes grew up on a diet of classic British films, including all the Ealing comedies, and quickly marked Guinness as his favourite: “Other actors like Olivier used to project their personality outward, while I always felt that Guinness was quieter, inviting us in.” Aged 17, Soanes was even moved to write a letter to his idol, being careful to avoid any mention of Star Wars, which had famously become something of an (albeit lucrative) albatross for the versatile star. A week later, an envelope arrived at Soanes’s home in Suffolk, with a message short but sweet and eternally inspiring – “Good luck with your career.” Now here we are, with Soanes in the title role of Two Halves of Guinness, a witty, intimate one-man exploration of Guinness’s life, sharing his reflections on a dazzling career on stage and screen and the luminaries he encountered along the way. While Guinness famously opted to play all eight members of the D’Ascoyne family in 1949 caper Kind Hearts and Coronets, on stage Soanes delivers 33 characters in total – fro…

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Farewell, Liza Tarbuck – our Saturdays evenings have lost their light
type: item
creator: David Crawford
subject: App
subject: App features
subject: Radio
subject: audio
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: Comment
description: After the announcement that Liza Tarbuck is stepping down from her Saturday evening Radio 2 show, we pay tribute to her incomparable style.
encoded: If the murmuration, mohomes, Top Bird Trumpingtons and “Pauline!” mean nothing to you, then you’ve obviously never tuned in to Radio 2 at 6pm on a Saturday evening for two hours of the most joyous, slightly bonkers show on the airwaves. Now, sadly, you will never have that experience, as the host of that gem in the BBC’s crown, the incomparable Liza Tarbuck, has said that after some time off, she will not be returning to the show as she’d “like her weekend back”. This isn’t supposed to be an obituary, but you can bet that for her thousands of ardent listeners – aka the murmuration – a little light went out when they heard that their Saturday evening lodestar was disappearing. Before the news of her departure broke, and while it seemed she was only on a sabbatical, a colleague commented that there would be “uproar” if Radio 2 got rid of Liza. As it is, there will be plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth. For since she took up residence in 2012, up until what would turn out to be her final show on 17 January this year, she grew a devout community of followers all too willing to share their silly family sayings, elderly relatives’ confused malapropisms, tales of stupidity and woe, and most importantly, what they’re cooking for dinner and where they have parked the motorhome (mohome) for the night. The more outrageous of these tales could induce one of the most delightful sounds on the radio, as Liza struggled to hold it together while dissolving into a fit of giggles at the sheer madness of it all. Her approach often followed the Mel Brooks adage, “Stubbing your toe on the sidewalk is a tragedy; falling into an open sewer and dying is comedy,” with the more terrible the listener in the story’s personal anguish, the more guffaws it could elicit. Yet none of it was done with spite or malice; there was a genuine mutual feeling of love for her family of listeners – for beyond the mentions of “dad” and “Pauline!”, it was those who wrote in, took part in the weekly fancy d…

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Farewell, Liza Tarbuck – our Saturdays evenings have lost their light
type: item
date: 2026-03-12T10:41:59.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: Comment
description: After the announcement that Liza Tarbuck is stepping down from her Saturday evening Radio 2 show, we pay tribute to her incomparable style.
encoded: If the murmuration, mohomes, Top Bird Trumpingtons and “Pauline!” mean nothing to you, then you’ve obviously never tuned in to Radio 2 at 6pm on a Saturday evening for two hours of the most joyous, slightly bonkers show on the airwaves. Now, sadly, you will never have that experience, as the host of that gem in the BBC’s crown, the incomparable Liza Tarbuck, has said that after some time off, she will not be returning to the show as she’d “like her weekend back”. This isn’t supposed to be an obituary, but you can bet that for her thousands of ardent listeners – aka the murmuration – a little light went out when they heard that their Saturday evening lodestar was disappearing. Before the news of her departure broke, and while it seemed she was only on a sabbatical, a colleague commented that there would be “uproar” if Radio 2 got rid of Liza. As it is, there will be plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth. For since she took up residence in 2012, up until what would turn out to be her final show on 17 January this year, she grew a devout community of followers all too willing to share their silly family sayings, elderly relatives’ confused malapropisms, tales of stupidity and woe, and most importantly, what they’re cooking for dinner and where they have parked the motorhome (mohome) for the night. The more outrageous of these tales could induce one of the most delightful sounds on the radio, as Liza struggled to hold it together while dissolving into a fit of giggles at the sheer madness of it all. Her approach often followed the Mel Brooks adage, “Stubbing your toe on the sidewalk is a tragedy; falling into an open sewer and dying is comedy,” with the more terrible the listener in the story’s personal anguish, the more guffaws it could elicit. Yet none of it was done with spite or malice; there was a genuine mutual feeling of love for her family of listeners – for beyond the mentions of “dad” and “Pauline!”, it was those who wrote in, took part in the weekly fancy d…

The Crown stars Eileen Atkins and Alex Jennings reunite for BBC Radio 4 drama
type: item
date: 2026-03-11T14:37:38.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: BBC Radio 4
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: The two stars worked together on biographical drama Hope Bourne for the first time since their roles as Queen Mary and her son the Duke of Windsor in The Crown
encoded: Hope Bourne (1918–2010) was a writer and artist who lived for several decades alone on the remote moorlands of Exmoor, without electricity, surviving by hunting, growing her own food and maintaining a fiercely independent way of life. Despite her geographical isolation, Bourne was an accomplished intellectual and artist who was once offered a place at the prestigious Slade art school at the age of eleven. Writer Zalie Burrow has taken a pivotal period in Bourne's life as inspiration for her radio play, Hope Bourne, which she wrote specifically for Dame Eileen Atkins. It concerns Bourne's relationship with the publisher Anthony Dent, played by Alex Jennings, who becomes intrigued when she sends him an untidy but compelling draft of her journals, illustrated with striking drawings. His subsequent visits to Exmoor to discuss publishing lead to an unlikely friendship that develops over several years, during which time Dent’s assumptions about society, success and fulfilment are gradually challenged. The publication of these works led to Bourne becoming quite a celebrity later in life. Burrow describes the genesis for the play as coming from an epiphany in a library: "Hope Bourne first came into my life on a visit to the Exmoor Library in Dulverton, Somerset. Her face, radiant and weathered, shone out from the front of a book perched on a low shelf, and I swiftly devoured all of her wonderful nature books and visited the Exmoor Society, where her amazing little watercolour paintings, adorning receipts and old ripped envelopes, had found a safe home. I researched and quickly became infatuated with this incredibly resilient woman who lived off of one pound a week, a woman who filled her boots with straw in winter to ward off the cold, who lived almost entirely self-sufficiently in the wilds of Exmoor for decades with no hot water or central heating." Yet that initial encounter with Bourne led to a rather long gestation period for the play, as Burrow delved deeper into the …

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Stunning drama based on true story starring Derek Jacobi and Frances Barber wins Radio Times award
type: item
date: 2026-03-06T15:30:52.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: News
description: The stars played two giant figures of 20th century life in the radio drama voted the best this year by Radio Times readers.
encoded: On Sunday 1 March at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House, London, the inaugural Radio Times Readers’ Drama Award was presented at the BBC Audio Drama Awards ceremony. The Radio Times award was one of three external awards presented on the night, alongside the Imison and Tinniswood Awards, run by the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, for the best original script by a writer new to audio drama and for best original script, respectively. Radio Times has been around since almost when the first radio drama was aired in the UK, but we missed Phyllis Twigg’s The Truth about Father Christmas 1922 play for children by several months. Ever since RT has been championing a form that remains beloved by our readers. This year, we decided to give them the chance to tell us what they really like with the Radio Times Readers' Drama Award. From a list of 30 dramas drawn up by a panel of our esteemed critics, which ranged from pacy podcast series to theatrical single dramas, readers could vote online for their favourite. Here’s what they picked as their winner… A play that imagines the meeting between two diametrically opposed giants of 20th century life, played by two giants of the acting profession, its witty and thought-provoking approach to a little-known historical event clearly struck a chord. The winner of the inaugural Radio Times Readers' Drama Award is When Maggie Met Larry by Tim Walker, directed by Richard Clifford for Catherine Bailey Productions. Tim Walker says of winning the award: "My heartfelt thanks to the readers of Radio Times for choosing my play When Maggie Met Larry – focusing on the real-life acting class that Laurence Olivier gave to Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s – as the winner of the magazine's inaugural drama award." As a seasoned, award-winning journalist for The Daily Telegraph and The Observer, Walker knows it’s never a solo effort to get a story out in the world, "Any writer who thinks a drama wins solely on account o…

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Comedian Slim on his Guide to Life: "I know how to navigate myself in this industry, that's why I've been in it for so long"
type: item
date: 2026-02-18T15:00:33.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Pass the Mic
description: Comedian Slim sits down with Pass the Mic to chat about his brand new BBC Radio 4 show and how he's seen the industry evolve over the years.
encoded: It's not often that people sit down and look back on their entire life for the purpose of bringing about laughter, but that's exactly what comedian Slim has done for his latest venture for BBC Radio 4. His new six-part series, Slim's Guide to Life, is just another string to his impressive career bow, having been the first Black British comedian to sell out the London Palladium with a solo show and now widely celebrated as the Godfather of the Black British comedy scene. Having performed to audiences all around the globe, Slim now reflects on his life and career in his trademark comedic way, telling stories about being a teenage father to working as a London bus driver. Chatting to Radio Times for Pass the Mic, he admits that he's "happy and excited with anticipation to see it all come together, to see the final result". He remarks: "It's a nice experience because you're evaluating your life. I think we do it as humans every 10 years anyway. Every 10 years from 30, you look back on the decade before and think, 'How have I done? Have I advanced? Am I any further? My dreams, have they come true?' So, it was nice to go back, especially the early years." But how has it been penning a script based all around your life for a brand new radio audience? As Slim explains below, it's been a cathartic experience and is also an opportunity to expand his fanbase further in an industry that he has grown confident in navigating over his years of experience. How did you go about crafting Slim's Guide to Life – what was the writing process like? I had material that was written anyway but I had to go and write for the first few decades, as I realised I didn't really have any material. All my material's after 20 years old so that was nice revisiting that, sitting down and writing that on top of stuff I already had. I enjoyed happily sitting down and doing the project. Was it cathartic to revisit those early years of your life? Absolutely. We're adults now... I had a happy childhood so i…

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Love Island icon Chloe Burrows talks dream interviews in exciting new KISS Breakfast role - and talks best friend Millie's All Stars journey
type: item
date: 2026-02-17T17:38:44.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: It's been years in the making.
encoded: Ever since she burst onto screens via an interesting voice note on Love Island in 2021, Chloe Burrows has remained a frequent face across television and the audio waves, and she isn't showing signs of slowing down. Earlier this year Burrows, alongside Tyler West, took over the reins from Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely on KISS Breakfast, and it's been something Burrows has been working towards ever since she stepped out of the villa. "This has been a four year stint, so I actually started demoing radio straight after Love Island. I was very bad," she told Radio Times. "So I took a break and then I always, always, always wanted to do radio, more specifically KISS, hence why I have done so much with them over the years because I would not let them leave me alone." Burrows, who also hosts her own podcast, explained she was always first to ask whenever KISS had something going, having worked with them on a red carpet for the BRIT Awards as well as their Haunted House Party. But as for the actual breakfast show, Burrows says it has been "months" in the making, with her and West often "pretending to do breakfast shows" before getting the gig. Burrows and West kicked off their show at the start of the month and have already done some impressive interviews, from Halle Berry to Margot Robbie, but there is a long list forming of dream guests the presenter would love on the show. "I think I would love Amelia Dimoldenberg because I think everything she touches, I think she's incredible," Burrows told Radio Times. "Maya Jama, obviously, because who doesn't love Maya Jama? I would also love Snooki (Nicole Polizzi) or JWoww (Jennifer Lynn Farley) from Jersey Shore. "I think they would be iconic. Any Kardashian, obviously. I love Ru Paul as well, like there are so many people that I think are amazing." View Green Video on the source website Soon, our conversation turns to Love Island. Millie Court, Chloe's best friend whom she met on the show in 2021, is currently back in the villa on…

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Why Carry On icon Kenneth Williams's legacy in British entertainment continues to endure
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:01:04.000Z
creator: David McGillivray
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Radio presenter and dedicated Williams fan Wes Butters spoke to Radio Times about the legendary performer.
encoded: Say the name Kenneth Williams and immediately you’re reminded of a rubber face, elongated vowels, a camp persona and a master of comic timing, as demonstrated in the Carry On films and radio programmes that are still popular today. But for radio presenter and dedicated Williams fan Wes Butters, the comic luminary remains much more than a "cartoon character". Butters says, "He transcended all age groups, all levels of society, all BBC networks." In a book, a radio documentary and now a film to be released later this year, Butters has been at pains to stress the star’s qualities as a person, something Williams would have appreciated, having often referred to the supposed ignominy of the creative artist required to perform low comedy. When Butters was planning a celebration of Williams’s centenary – a whole day of programmes on Radio 4 Extra this Saturday to mark exactly 100 years since Williams’s birth on 22 February 1926 – he had the same aim, to remind us of his idol’s dedication and versatility. Featured highlights include The Streets of London (1980) in which Williams proudly showed off his neighbourhood to Johnny Morris and Percy Edwards, and panel show The Law Game (1988), one of his last appearances. For Butters, this recording is bittersweet: "He’s so buoyant, at his best just months before he died." Butters, 46, was still a boy when Williams died. "He was ubiquitous in my childhood," Butters recalls of a time when Williams’s cross-generational appeal extended to frequent storytelling duties on Jackanory. "Everything about him was amusing to me," says the presenter, who was confused when he read the star’s celebrated Diaries, posthumously revealing a much darker side. "I couldn’t reconcile that happy joyous character with the man who would not allow himself to feel joy." One night in 2005, Butters bought a photo on eBay reportedly once owned by Williams. Butters contacted the seller, Williams’s godson Robert Chidell, who said he was selling everything, a colle…

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The Archers favourites star in 75th anniversary photoshoot and talk THAT dramatic George whodunnit reveal
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T17:00:39.000Z
creator: Libby Purves
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: BBC Radio 4
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
subject: News
description: Radio Times heads to Ambridge to take a deep dive into the latest plot twist.
encoded: This article originally appeared in Radio Times magazine. It began in 2024 when Alice Carter, an intermittently recovering alcoholic from the prosperous Aldridge family, fell asleep drunk in the passenger seat of her car. Her nephew-in-law George Grundy, a farmworker’s son, couldn’t resist offering to drive her home (it was a flash car). But Alice half-woke and clawed drunkenly for the door: it made George swerve and knock another car, bearing Mick, Joy and Fallon, from the bridge into the River Am. George dived in for a heroic rescue but afterwards panicked and moved the blotto Alice into the driver’s seat. Fallon lost the baby she didn’t know she was expecting, and everyone’s trauma rolled on for weeks. Alice was riven by guilt, though she couldn’t remember driving. George finally admitted the truth: when his grandparents Neil and Susan reported it, he got sent to prison for eight months. On release, he found most of Ambridge pretty unforgiving. Jobless and barred from the Bull, he ranted at all of them on New Year’s Eve. Following a conversation with the now saintly, forgiving Alice however, he resolved to put the past behind him and make good. Hollie Chapman, who plays Alice, explains, “The tables turned, and when she went from being the drunk to someone giving George wise advice, the scene felt really emotional, and I nearly lost it.” Add Radio Times as a Preferred Source on Google Keep up to date on what’s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times – see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google. Angus Stobie who voices George and joined Chapman on RT’s photoshoot to mark the dramatic storyline for the soap’s 75th anniversary, agrees that something changed in the characters’ dynamic. “I think George is slightly in awe of Alice and how she handled the whole situation. He also then means to change, family is at the centre of it all, and he wants to work and give back and provide.” …

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Has The Archers cheated listeners with George Grundy reveal?
type: item
date: 2026-02-16T12:53:24.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Comment
description: The identity of the Ambridge resident who attacked George Grundy came as a shock to most fans.
encoded: So we now know who lamped poor George Grundy (played by Angus Stobie) with a bottle of well-oaked Chardonnay on New Year’s Eve as he walked to make amends with his mother, Emma (Emerald O'Hanrahan). But I doubt whether any Ambridge addict who placed a bet on whodunnit is now sitting pretty after their hunch paid off. None of the main suspects who were in the frame turned out to be guilty – from one of Marky’s henchmen getting even for George grassing him up in prison to the improbable notion it was George’s younger half-sister Keira, fed up with the disruption he caused in the family. Add in the long list of others with potential motives, including Brad (Taylor Uttley), Jazzer (Ryan Kelly), Fallon (Joanna Van Kampen), Harrison (James Cartwright), Mick (Martin Barrass), Chris (Wilf Scolding), Lilian (Sunny Ormonde), Brian (Charles Collingwood) and Amber’s dad, and the scripts were a masterclass in misdirection. Yet when it was revealed in last Friday’s episode that it was Brian’s beloved son Ruairi (Arthur Hughes) who had done the dastardly deed, listeners couldn’t help but be surprised. Not that there’s no logic behind Ruairi being the attacker. He is the half-brother of Alice (Hollie Chapman) after all, and she almost went to prison after George placed her – blind drunk – at the wheel of her car, following the crash back in 2024 that saw Mick, Joy (Jackie Lye) and Fallon career off the road and into the icy waters of the Am. Fallon lost her unborn child after the crash and the guilt almost overwhelmed the hoodwinked Alice, who couldn’t remember what happened that fateful night, and saw her turning back to her old, destructive friend, the bottle. So it’s feasible that Ruairi has harboured a long-simmering grudge against George and that on a drunken New Year’s Eve in the Bull at which he saw George square up to his elderly father Brian, whose angina seems to strike whenever he gets het up or over-exerts himself, he would grab one of the bottles of fancy wine that he …

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5 everyday household items that are toxic for you – from dishwasher tablets to air fresheners
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:01:44.000Z
creator: Mark Miodownik
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Magazine
description: Scientist and broadcaster Mark Miodownik reveals the toxins that lurk in our homes.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Modern technology has allowed us to create homes of unparalleled comfort and convenience, but in doing so we have unwittingly exposed ourselves to invisible dangers through some of the products we buy. These dangers originate from the chemicals created by talented scientists trying to solve human problems and deliver miracle materials, some of which have been shown to be dangerous to human health and the biodiversity of the planet. Here are five everyday household items to look out for: Dishwasher tablets Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are chemicals with carbon–fluorine bonds, which give them properties such as non-stick, water-proofing and stain resistance in products like cookware, clothing, packaging and even dishwasher tablets. They gain these properties because the carbon-fluorine bonds are so strong that they do not chemically react with almost anything. But they are so stable and inert it’s hard to get rid of them as there are few micro-organisms that can break them down – hence why they are called forever chemicals. Their prevalence means they end up in our food and water. Evidence is mounting that as the concentration in our organs increases, they can cause illnesses and even cancers. Plastic food containers Plastics are wonderful and versatile materials. In the form of packaging they make food last longer and so prevent food waste and reduce prices. However, during the manufacturing of plastics, additives are added to give them strength and durability. Many of these chemicals have been shown to have a detrimental impact on human health. These include Bisphenol A (BPA), which interferes with the body’s hormones, affecting reproductive and metabolic systems. BPA acts like the hormone oestrogen, affecting the immune system – it’s also been linked to many other disorders. The EU has now banned BPA in all food-contact plastics, but in the UK it has only been banned for use in babies’ bottles. Avoi…

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The Archers at 75: Reflecting on the British institution with BBC Radio stars and its celebrity fans
type: item
date: 2026-02-09T17:01:09.000Z
creator: Libby Purves
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: From cake competitions to coercive control, The Archers has captivated its devoted listeners for 75 years and counting.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. For all the gentle storylines about lemon-drizzle cake and family tiffs, there is something oddly majestic about The Archers and its survival for 75 years. It’s not about thriller events – though there’s a grand shock revelation coming very soon. The more solid pleasure of the radio drama lies in getting to know the characters over years, watching them arrive, reveal themselves, scrape against the others, maybe intermarry and bear children, with all recognisable tensions and worries and rows. And the reason that this tapestry of lives becomes sort of majestic is its sheer longevity: the following of fictional lives in real time. And in a largely urban society, it perhaps helps to remind those in cramped cities that food comes from hard work and green fields. When you meet the long-serving actors they always stress that peculiar sense of living in a parallel reality. Pat Gallimore, who has played Tony Archer’s wife Pat for 52 years, says: “If anyone had told me at that audition in 1974 that I would be around for half a century, it’d be unbelievable. But like your own life it becomes part of you, surviving and thriving. A second life, a second family.” Gallimore’s character Pat is a classic example of a figure listeners have heard evolving over the years: from a Welsh-accented CND firebrand and leftist, who cancelled Tony’s Express for The Guardian, we’ve heard her support the farm going organic “way before it was mainstream”. The Archers was part of that new acceptance just as it reflects today’s rewilding enthusiasm. Her Pat also worked through a delicate handling of grief over her elder son’s death on a tractor. I remind her how furious farming people were when the then-editor giggled in an interview about his departure as a “fun” plot. “Yes,” says Gallimore thoughtfully, “we all know that things can hit people personally. It matters.” Another storyline that hit people personally, making national news, was the “c…

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Iconic Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw confirms cancer diagnosis and is now "unable to walk"
type: item
date: 2026-01-29T13:16:15.000Z
creator: Phoebe Kowhai Barnes
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: BBC Radio 1
subject: News
description: "I am in good spirits, feeling very positive and planning another podcast."
encoded: Former Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw has revealed that he is battling cancer which is affecting his spinal column and has left him "unable to walk". Kershaw's friend and podcast producer Peter Everett shared the news on Facebook this week, confirming that the broadcaster has been receiving treatment including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and physiotherapy. Fans had been expressing their concern for the 66-year-old as no new episodes of his self-titled podcast had been posted for more than six months. Everett shared a comment from Kershaw himself, who despite his diagnosis had maintained his typical sense of humour. "I am in good spirits, feeling very positive and planning another podcast," he said. "I am determined not to die before Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Ant’n’Dec. That should keep me going for a while." Everett himself added: "My friend Andy has been going through a difficult time. Although we’ve not been able to put together any podcasts in the last six months, we are very grateful to all the patrons and supporters who have stuck with us." Kershaw began his career in radio first, but in 1984 he enlisted as a new presenter for BBC2’s Whistle Test before getting his own show on BBC Radio 1 the following year. He presented his own music show for 15 years, which was characterised by his boredom of Anglo-American music and had a strong African influence. Over his broadcast journalism career he also worked for BBC Radios 3 and 4, reporting on stories from around the world, notably the Rwandan genocide, Angola's civil war in 1996, Sierra Leone in 2001 and repeatedly from Haiti. In 2021, Kershaw launched The Andy Kershaw Podcast as a continuation of his much-loved former BBC Radio 1 show. He officially describes the premise of his podcast as "Andy Kershaw plays some bloody great records". There are currently 37 episodes of his podcast which can be listened to on its website. The last upload was in June 2025 and whilst Kershaw and Everett have confir…

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Vote now for the Radio Times Readers' Drama Award
type: item
date: 2026-01-20T00:01:00.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
description: Have your say and vote now!
encoded: Radio is famously the “theatre of the mind” and that’s most apparent in audio drama, where listeners can be transported from a cosy village pub to the far reaches of the galaxy, all from the comfort of their bed, bath or beyond. Alison Hindell, commissioning editor for drama and fiction at Radio 4, says the best audio drama “enlightens and illuminates, leading the listener into lives they will never lead and to places they may never go. Every listener will experience an entirely unique production, and be touched in different, individual ways, because for each of us it all happens within our own imaginations.” To celebrate this transportive genre, we have established our own Radio Times Readers’ Drama Award, for dramas broadcast or released between 1 October 2024 and 31 October 2025, and now invite you to vote for your favourite from a 30-strong shortlist (see below along with clips to jog your memory) drawn up by a panel of our expert critics. They range from gritty one-man shows to star-laden adaptations of literary classics and from meditative pieces on loss to heart-thumping thrillers. Chris Jones, senior director of production for Europe at Audible, highlights the three elements that comprise good dramas: “First, writing – a script designed to be heard, where every line of dialogue, every breath, sound effect or moment of silence earns its place to reveal character or carry action. "Then, casting – the right actor doesn’t just read lines, they embody the character. Lastly, sound design – treating the acoustics of an environment or the footsteps of a character not as background, but as storytelling itself.” Bear these in mind when you cast your vote. The vote closes at 11:59pm on Friday 20 February and the winner will be announced at the BBC Audio Drama Awards ceremony on Sunday 1 March and revealed in the issue of Radio Times on sale Tuesday 3 March. The vote follows below - make sure you choose carefully as you only have one vote. The shortlist is below. View R…

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Bridge Farm to be brought to life at new RHS show to celebrate The Archers' 75th anniversary
type: item
date: 2026-01-19T17:42:37.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: News
description: Designer Jo Thompson has created a garden for the inaugural RHS Badminton Flower Show.
encoded: As part of The Archers’ 75th anniversary celebrations, the show has teamed up with the Royal Horticultural Society and garden designer Jo Thompson to bring to life a location central to the drama for decades, Bridge Farm. Remarkably the farm went fully organic in 1984 and has been innovating regularly ever since, moving into organic milk production and running its own dairy. The Archers 75th Anniversary Garden at the new RHS Badminton Flower Show will look to reflect that commitment to organic farming and be a similarly pioneering, productive, sustainable, welcoming, family centred and optimistic space. Though it’s more recent Bridge Farm history that has inspired the overarching spirit of the garden – the sewage spill last year that caused havoc for the Archers’ business and had listeners across the land gagging at the sloshing sound effects. The plot is designed to be a hopeful front garden, lovingly rebuilt after the damage from the spill. That rebuilding will be reflected on air throughout the year, with references to the replanting of the Bridge Farm garden in the programme, some of which will then be on show at RHS Badminton. Jeremy Howe, editor of The Archers, says: “For the past 75 years [The Archers] has been reflecting rural life in the UK. The RHS garden will be a wonderful opportunity for fans to see Bridge Farm brought to life as never before – we can’t wait.” Thompson says: “I’ve been a long-time Archers fan, so creating a Bridge Farm garden to mark the programme’s 75th anniversary has been an absolute joy. The Archers world feels incredibly familiar to so many people, and everyone has their own idea of what Bridge Farm looks like – which has made it both exciting and a little daunting, in the best possible way. I can’t wait to see it come to life, with plenty of small details that will feel familiar to listeners.” Some of those details in the 12m by 18m feature garden, will include Bridge Farm’s visitor entrance and noticeboard with bunting and pots; …

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Amol Rajan confirms exit from major presenting role: "It's time to get my coat"
type: item
date: 2026-01-15T12:45:05.000Z
creator: Molly Moss
subject: audio
subject: Radio
description: Rajan also presents University Challenge.
encoded: Amol Rajan has announced he is leaving his role on BBC’s Today programme after five years. The presenter, who joined the staple radio show in 2021, revealed in a statement that he is unleashing his "inner entrepreneur" to launch his own unspecified company. The BBC said that Rajan will continue to work for the BBC, hosting University Challenge and the Radical podcast. "The pips have sounded, and it's time to get my coat," Rajan said in a statement, adding: "Leaving Today might be mad. This team is the best of the best: consistently world class, and exceptionally well-led by Owenna Griffiths and Mohit Bakaya. I will always feel like I played in the editorial version of Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, or Steve Waugh's Australia." He continued: "I genuinely couldn't be prouder of Amol Rajan Interviews, which will stand the test of time. Travelling all around the world (or indeed Essex) to spend so much time with so many icons has been an unforgettable privilege. Speaking about his reasons for his departure, he added: "Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I'm extremely excited to jump into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creator Economy, and build my own company. I'll still do Britain's oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast. "But Del Boy was my hero growing up, and it's time to unleash my inner entrepreneur. I am very much not leaving the BBC, Britain's noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux. It's that world I'm heading for, and I'm excited." Rajan took over from Jeremy Paxman as the host of University Challenge for the 53rd series in 2023. Before joining the BBC, Rajan worked as the editor of The Independent, becoming the first non-white editor of a national newspaper in over a century. He quit the role in 2016 when he was appointed the BBC’s first media editor, before joining Radio 4’s Today programme five years later. Owenna Griffiths, editor of Today, praised Rajan’s "rare combination of inte…

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Bookish star Mark Gatiss adapts and stars in classic cosy crime tale – and it airs on Monday
type: item
date: 2026-01-09T12:51:28.000Z
creator: James Hibbs
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC
subject: News
description: Gatiss's audio drama adaptation of Murder Every Monday first aired in 2008.
encoded: As fans of Mark Gatiss's period crime drama Bookish wait for it to return for season 2 later this year, another crime story from Gatiss is set to air on Monday (12th January 2026). This time, it's an audio adaptation of Pamela Branch's novel Murder Every Monday, which Gatiss dramatised and starred in for BBC Radio 4 back in 2008. The hour-long drama is set to air again on Radio 4Xtra, with broadcasts of it at 3pm and again at 9pm on Monday 12th January, and another at 5am on Tuesday 13th January. The synopsis for the audio drama says: "Asterisk Club founder Clifford Flush hasn't murdered anyone for years. But when the urge comes upon him to bump off his bridge partner (the man's bidding was really quite unforgivable), he and the rest of the club are forced to leave London in bit of a hurry. "Once out of harm's way, in the rural hamlet of Krunte Abbas, they acquire the dilapidated Dankry Manor and set themselves up as homicide consultants." The dramatisation of Pamela Branch's novel, which was first published in 1954, stars Simon Williams, John Castle, Barbara Kirby, Graham Crowden, David Ryall, Stephanie Beacham, Mark Benton, Ian Hallard and Cal Jaggers, as well as Gatiss himself in a supporting role. Gatiss has plenty of history when it comes to both crime dramas and adaptations, as he is not only behind hit original series Bookish, in which he also stars as bookshop owner and amateur detective Gabriel Book, but also acclaimed modern Arthur Conan Doyle adaptation Sherlock. Gatiss has also adapted a host of classic Ghost Stories for his annual BBC Two programme A Ghost Story for Christmas, most recently A Room in the Tower, which starred Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley. Murder Every Monday by Pamela Branch will air on Radio 4Xtra at 3pm and 9pm on Monday 12th January, and again at 5am on Tuesday 13th January 2026. Check out more of our Audio coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to …

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Emma Willis to host new BBC Radio 2 programme as Zoe Ball steps down
type: item
date: 2025-12-13T18:39:48.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: News
description: Bigs news for BBC Radio 2 listeners.
encoded: Emma Willis will replace Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 Saturday lunchtime programme, as the presenter today announced she will step down later this month. Willis will be on the airwaves from January 2026 each Saturday lunchtime between 1pm and 3pm. The BBC has teased her programme will be jam-packed with special guests. Emma said of the announcement: "I'm a huge fan of Radio 2, so I'm absolutely chuffed to be joining the family - and it's a real honour to follow in the huge footsteps Zoe leaves behind, who's someone I admire and adore. I'm very much looking forward to spending my Saturday lunchtimes with the Radio 2 audience and I’ll happily be the filling to a Romesh and Rylan sandwich!" Willis has spent six years co-presenting Sunday mornings on Heart Radio alongside Stephen Mulhern. And since 2019, she has been a regular voice on Radio 2, often deputising for Sara Cox, and Claudia Winkleman and Romesh Ranganathan. Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, commented: "Emma is one of the UK’s most popular broadcasters, so I’m thrilled that she’s joining the all-star Radio 2 family of presenters. I’m certain that our loyal listeners will welcome her with open arms. "I can’t wait to hear Emma’s new show as a part of our Superstar Saturday weekend schedule, which features Tony Blackburn, Dermot O’Leary, Romesh Ranganathan, Rylan, Liza Tarbuck, Gary Davies and Fearne Cotton." Read more: Rum Punch's Travis Jay: "I've got a right to grab the attention of someone who's like me" BBC Radio Christmas 2025 line-up confirmed – with Hollywood legend set as guest editor for the Today programme Zoe Ball will present her last programme on Saturday 20th December, though she will continue to host specials on the station, which she has done throughout the year. Zoe said: "Spending Saturday lunchtimes with the Radio 2 gang has been an absolute hoot, the listeners, the stories, and of course my weekly giggles with Romesh and Rylan. I’m over the moon for the fabulous Emma to take the reins, she’s pure su…

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Rum Punch's Travis Jay: "I've got a right to grab the attention of someone who's like me"
type: item
date: 2025-11-27T09:00:02.000Z
creator: Morgan Cormack
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 4
subject: Exclusive
subject: Interview
subject: Pass the Mic
description: Having cut his teeth in the world of comedy, Travis Jay chats to Pass the Mic about returning to BBC Radio 4 for a full season of award-winning sitcom Rum Punch.
encoded: After the success of his pilot episode of Rum Punch last year, comedian Travis Jay is back for a fully fledged series of his radio sitcom – and it's only set to be the start of something greater, should the stars align for Jay who also has dreams for Rum Punch beyond the airwaves. As we speak before the release of the BBC Radio 4 series and even ahead of the live recording of his second batch of episodes, Jay is admittedly "super excited" for the release of the full season. "I think the response to the pilot was definitely eye opening. It was a real surprise because it's an audience I'm not familiar with, on a platform I'm also not familiar with. While I listen to podcasts, the idea of being on Radio 4 was just like, 'Okay, everybody speaks so positively about this'. It's just something I still didn't know. So, the response has been far bigger than I imagined," he says. And a positive reaction was definitely recieved around Rum Punch's initial episode, with the pilot going on to scoop up the award for Best Comedy Sitcom at BBC's 2025 Audio Drama Awards. Winning that was "something else", Jay beams, with it proving that the positive feedback "is not in my head and it really did connect". "I genuinely didn't know that we'd be in the running for something like that. When you start writing, it's the furthest thing from my mind. Then it's like – bam, nominations are in," he laughs. He continues: "It's my first comedy award, and I've been doing this for 16 years. I'm just grateful the people are enjoying the project. I think it's a powerful story to tell and I think the feeling it leaves is the thing I really aim for. "I'm one of these stand up comics – I do touch on serious things. Previous specials I've done, I've touched on grief, losing my grandfather. It would seem like, how did you make that funny? But I know that there's value in real life and authentic stories. "The comedy will come, I trust my bones to find comedy. But dealing with real subjects is also quite a p…

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BBC Radio Christmas 2025 line-up confirmed – with Hollywood legend set as guest editor for the Today programme
type: item
date: 2025-11-24T12:17:22.000Z
creator: Molly Moss
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 1
subject: BBC Radio 2
subject: BBC Radio 3
subject: BBC Radio 4
subject: BBC Radio 5 Live
subject: BBC Radio 6 Music
subject: News
description: Six festive guest editors for BBC Radio 4's Today programme have been announced.
encoded: The BBC has unveiled its Christmas 2025 radio line-up, with Cate Blanchett, Baroness Theresa May and acclaimed historian Tom Holland among the celebrities set to guest edit BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this festive season. They will be joined by broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, inventor Sir James Dyson and AI entrepreneur Mustafa Suleyman, and each be curating an episode between 24th December and 31st December. The festive takeover kicks off on Christmas Eve, with a special guest edit from Bragg, where he will be exploring the origins of the nativity story. Dyson will use his episode on Boxing Day to explore how Britain can get its inventive streak back, while Blanchett’s guest edit, which will broadcast on 27th December, will examine a range of topics including the impact of AI technology on women in the film industry and beyond. Suleyman’s guest edit on 29th December will ask how we can navigate the realities of a post-superintelligence world. Holland will edit the programme on 30th December, hosting an early celebration for England’s 1100th birthday and examining the impact of AI on academic research. Finally, May will explore the themes of domestic violence, trust in politics and modern slavery in her guest edit on 31st December. Owenna Griffiths, Editor of the Today programme, said: "Every Christmas on Today, a new set of guest editors take up residence and bring with them a wonderful range of new stories, fresh ideas and, hopefully, a sprinkling of joy." She continued: "This year is no exception. In a rapidly changing world, this year's guest editors will help bring illumination and understanding and I'm enormously grateful to all of them for giving up the time to take part." Elsewhere on the BBC radio Christmas line-up, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly is set to make her Radio 2 debut. Kelly is set to take over Jeremy Vine’s slot during the festive period, while the station will also host a Jane McDonald special and a celebration of the music of Stevie Wonder presented …

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Rick Edwards reveals why fatherhood has changed his presenting work for ever - and talks his modelling past
type: item
date: 2025-10-28T00:01:44.000Z
creator: Gareth McLean
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The 5 Live DJ on the joys of fatherhood, the downside of modelling — and crying on air.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. What’s the view from your sofa? It’s a fireplace that I think I like, but I’m not completely sure about. It’s very ornate, with a wooden surround that incorporates a mirror above it. It probably dates from, and hasn’t been changed since, the 1920s. Then there’s the TV, which is small and probably temporary, and keeps tilting backwards because I mounted the little feet on it badly. Sounds like you need a TV upgrade! We left the TV that we loved in our old house because it was wall-mounted, was perfect in the space and it felt like a nice thing to do, to leave it for the next people. My wife Emer [Kenny, Karen Pirie writer and actor] and I really regret that now. You began your career as a model — when did you realise you’re handsome? I was a cute kid, I think, and then, from 10 to 16, which is the worst age for this to be the case, I was not a good-looking boy. At all. I wonder if, in those formative years, it was character-building. Then, around 17 or 18, the proportions of my face sort of settled down, and from that point, it’s been fine. It’s weird to go from being not-good-looking to, a couple of years later, getting scouted for modelling work. I did it when I was at university and just after. That was odd. I didn’t like it one bit. Aside from the models, who seemed fine, it’s an industry of a lot of not very nice people. I found it a bit grubby. What’s the best TV programme you’ve watched recently? Your Friends & Neighbours on Apple TV starring Jon Hamm. He’s great – the whole cast is good – and it has some quite interesting things to say about family. As a fairly new father, with anything that says anything at all about family and fatherhood, I am quite likely to cry. How do you juggle family life and, among other things, 5 Live Breakfast? It’s tricky, because both Emer and I work and I’m very conscious of ensuring that she still has all the time she needs to work. Trying to dovetail it all together is a comp…

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Caroline Wyatt gets candid about life with MS - and why she thinks the BBC will endure
type: item
date: 2025-10-06T23:01:18.000Z
creator: Terry Payne
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis disrupted BBC correspondent Caroline Wyatt’s career. But 10 years on she’s unbeaten and still broadcasting.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Caroline Wyatt uses the word “luck” a lot. Lucky to have started out in journalism at a time when the world seemed to be changing for the better. Lucky to still be broadcasting, even though it leaves her exhausted and bed-bound. And, yes, lucky to have only been struck down by what she describes as a “gentler” version of the chronic illness multiple sclerosis. “Some people get it very aggressively from the beginning, so yes, I have been so lucky with the way that my MS has developed.” She’s sunny and speaks with no hint of self-pity, even though she acknowledges, with almost a newsreader’s detachment, that her condition is deteriorating. “I am slowly getting worse and I have got to the stage where I’ve had all the drugs I’m eligible for with the NHS. The thing that I really notice now is the way my brain is changing. I can’t focus and concentrate as much… it’s like accelerated ageing.” She also has to contend with crushing fatigue. “You wake up in the morning feeling as if you haven’t been to bed. And the older I get [she’s 58], the worse it gets.” We last met 10 years ago in her central London flat, where she spoke for the first time about the hospital results confirming she had MS. Today, as that diagnostic anniversary approaches, we’re at the BBC’s HQ, from where she broadcasts a 30-minute version of Radio 4’s PM programme every Saturday. She laughs – as she does frequently – about the support she needs from colleagues in getting the programme on air. “My eyesight is really quite unreliable now, so if I’m nervous or have a lot of adrenaline in my system I find it really hard to read words on a screen. I ask the team to print out a script in big letters, which these days is the equivalent of saying I’m a dinosaur, but it just makes it a lot easier.” Today is also the day that Donald Trump is in town and the world’s broadcast media are in tow. Considering she was the BBC’s woman in Berlin not long after the reuni…

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BBC Radio 2 host Sara Cox details key differences between her radio and podcasting work
type: item
date: 2025-10-03T09:42:10.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: Sarah Cox spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about her podcast and radio career.
encoded: Sara Cox has been a mainstay on the audio waves for years, having hosted BBC Radio 2's drivetime show since 2019, and she's showing no signs of slowing down! Alongside her radio show, she also hosts The Teen Commandments, a podcast in which she and best friend Clare Hamilton reminisce and commiserate as they attempt to write the 'commandments' of modern teenagedom. Because after all, the best teen advice comes from those who have already been through it. While the outputs of her radio show and podcast are different, there is so much more that differs between the shows that listeners may not realise. Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com at the British Podcast Awards 2025, Cox said: "The difference is that on the radio I've got everyone at the table, so I've got four year olds and teenagers and everything from sort of seven hours old to 107 listen to Radio 2, and I love that about it that you're just speaking to everybody at the table. "But I feel like with podcasting you do have that little bit more freedom to be a little bit wild. And it's exactly like how me and Clare speak to each other in real life, and to have that freedom is really refreshing and quite exciting." Hamilton and Cox launched the podcast back in February and have been having a blast ever since. "Getting to work together with your best mate is the dream," Hamilton told RadioTimes.com. "It's not like work, we forget the microphones are there and we just have a real giggle!" Cox added: "I've got loads of lovely jobs and I've been doing this for nearly 30 years now but without doubt this, creatively, and the heart of it is really the most satisfying thing I've done for a while. "It's just so different to have so much control. And podcasting is so different from radio or any kind of broadcasting that I've done before so I feel like it's really special. "You feel like your listeners are a community that comes together." Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Gu…

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BBC launches three new radio stations: "It's all about the audience"
type: item
date: 2025-09-11T23:01:33.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 1
subject: BBC Radio 3
subject: News
description: The Radio 1 and Radio 3 spin-offs were approved while Radio 2 and 5 Sports Extra proposals were dismissed.
encoded: Twenty-three years since it last launched new national radio stations – BBC 6 Music, 1Xtra and Asian Network – the BBC has three starting on the same day. Previously available since November 2024 as live streams on BBC Sounds, Radio 1 Anthems, Radio 1 Dance (which has been on Sounds since 2020) and Radio 3 Unwind passed full competition assessments undertaken by the industry’s regulatory body Ofcom in July of this year and will start broadcasting on DAB+ on Friday 12 September. The three stations were part of wider proposals from the BBC, which also included the launch of a Radio 2 spin-off and the extension of the broadcasting hours of 5 Sports Extra. Both the Radio 2 spin-off and the extension of 5 Sports Extra were refused by Ofcom for the negative impact it was deemed they would have on commercial competitors. Sam Jackson, the controller of Radio 3, says that while he couldn’t be certain that Unwind would get approval, “I wasn't surprised, because I think we made a very, very strong case. I was very proud of the submission that we made, I felt we did a good job of arguing why this was distinctive and why it would be welcomed.” He points out that around 8,000 different pieces of music will be played on Unwind each year, from a broad repertoire but with a focus on recordings from the past 10 years – even of Baroque or classical pieces – and a mission to introduce new contemporary works, including from performers or composers who aren’t signed to record labels. Radio 1 controller Aled Haydn Jones is similarly robust in his defence of why we need two new stations: “It’s all about the audience. Ofcom has pointed out that the BBC needs to be doing better with young audiences. Having services for young people is a public service. Radio 1 is the biggest radio station for youth audiences in the UK, so having stations with the Radio 1 brand offering more is a pretty special thing.” Both men are keen to stress the differences between what their stations are offering and wh…

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Jeremy Dyson shares "pure joy" of reuniting The League of Gentlemen stars for brand new project
type: item
date: 2025-09-09T06:01:38.000Z
creator: Caroline Frost
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: The cast of The League of Gentlemen team up again in a new radio comedy drama written by Jeremy Dyson.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. There is a picture on the wall of Jeremy Dyson’s office, and he is gazing at it as we speak: “It’s the four of us riding the log flume at Blackpool Pleasure Beach after the end of our first big tour. We’re all screaming with joy, and it sums up the miracle of the journey – an absolute thrill-ride that we went on together.” Now, 24 years on, the quartet – Dyson and fellow The League of Gentlemen stars Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss – is reuniting for High Cockalorum, a gentle Radio 4 comedy drama penned by Dyson and inspired by his uncle’s brush with stardom. Commissioned as part of the BBC’s Contains Strong Language festival (there’s a live playout and Q&A at St George’s Hall, Bradford, on 20 September), Dyson describes the 1978-set story as “a mini road movie about an encounter between a humble lad from West Yorkshire and a Hollywood film star”. In real life, Dyson’s uncle worked for a record label, where he was occasionally called on to look after actors working on soundtrack albums – which is how he once came to spend time with James Mason, star of such films as A Star Is Born and Lolita. Dyson says: “When I told Mark this story, he joked, ‘You write it, I’ll play it.’ Eighteen months later, here we are.” As well as the charm of two very different people brought together by circumstance, High Cockalorum explores how fame can change people. It’s a subject Dyson has long had opportunity to witness first hand, as he and his League friends reached dizzying heights after winning the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1997. Unlike the other three, Dyson has opted to stay mostly behind the camera, giving him what he says is “the best of both worlds”. On the pros and cons of the instantly recognisable celebrity experienced by his colleagues, Dyson muses: “The inconveniences strike me more. You get hassled everywhere and there’s not much upside to that. I don’t feel deprived.”…

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BBC Radio 1 confirms Love Island: Aftersun favourite and more fresh faces to join presenting line-up
type: item
date: 2025-08-27T13:28:49.000Z
creator: Katelyn Mensah
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: BBC Radio 1
subject: News
description: The presenting line-up is expanding this autumn.
encoded: BBC Radio 1 has announced a dazzling new line-up of presenters joining the Friday Early Breakfast monthly rotation and the station's Life Hacks this autumn. Beth Wallace, Jack Remmington and Ash Holme have been confirmed as the next wave of presenters set to host Fridays 5am - 7am. Wallace, who has been part of the Radio 1 family since last Christmas, will kick off the rotation in September. She also presents a show on the Scottish-based local Forth 1 and was nominated for Best New Presenter at the 2025 ARIAS. "I'm absolutely buzzing to be part of the Radio 1 team for the next few weeks," said Wallace. "Radio 1 is a station I’ve always adored and it’s gonna be an absolute pleasure to kick start Fridays, get folk in the weekend mood early. Laughs, good vibes and fun times coming your way." Presenting duo Jack Remmington and Ash Holme will be taking the October slot, with both of them known for their hilarious videos on social media. Holme has built a following of over two million on social media, and was part of this year's Love Island: Aftersun panel. Remmington is known for his pop culture commentary and hosting red carpets, as well as his work on the podcast Famously... In Love. The duo said: "We're sooo excited to be back at BBC Radio 1 and this time soundtracking your Fridays through October - tune in to liven up your mornings and enjoy the energy and chaos we’re bringing your way." And while Shanequa Paris is on maternity leave, Charley Marlowe and Lina Nielsen will join Lauren Layfield to co-host Radio 1's Life Hacks, with Marlowe taking over in September and Nielsen in October. The pair will also co-host The Official Chart: First Look alongside Lauren Layfield. Nielsen said: "I’m thrilled to have this opportunity with Radio 1 and the Life Hacks team. Having been a guest on the show before the Olympics, I’ve always loved catching up with them live on air. Now, I can’t wait to join as a co-host throughout October." Aled Haydn Jones, Head of Radio 1, commented o…

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The Archers star reveals how Game of Thrones role left him with “agony”
type: item
date: 2025-08-11T23:01:55.000Z
creator: Catherine Pepinster
subject: Fantasy
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: audio
subject: Interview
subject: Magazine
description: Actor Rupert Vansittart, who plays The Archers’ latest bounder, has form.
encoded: This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. You know summer’s really here when you’re sitting on the boundary watching a cricket match,” said Usha, solicitor and wife of Alan, the local vicar, in a recent episode of The Archers. “Freshly mown grass, the players in their cricket whites...” The recorded thwack of willow on leather conjured a timeless English idyll. Except, being The Archers, village cricket is more often the inspiration for a strong plotline. The latest involves Lawrence Harrington, chair of the rival Roserran Cricket Club, who first appeared when Lynda Snell, chair of the Ambridge Cricket Club, asked his advice after the team rose up the league. He promptly made a pass at her, undeterred by the fact she is happily married, and horrified her with snide, implicitly racist remarks about her friends the Maliks, the newly arrived Muslim family. Now the cricket season is in full swing, Lawrence is back. And if his distinctive voice is familiar, it’s because he’s played by Rupert Vansittart, regularly called on to play a not very nice toff. His notable roles include Lord Ashfordly in Heartbeat, MI5 boss Sir Alec Myerson in the final two series of Foyle’s War, and Lord Yohn Royce in Game of Thrones. “You don’t think of me if you want a drug dealer in Newcastle,” he says, entirely pragmatic. “If people want me to play a man in a tweed suit throwing a tenant out of their cottage, well, why not? It’s only acting.” And while there are pleasures to be had in TV drama – “I spent my time as Lord Ashfordly driving around gorgeous settings in Yorkshire in a Rolls-Royce” – there are downsides to TV roles, such as having to wear historic costumes. “With Game of Thrones, I tried to make the costume halfway comfortable with huge foam pads under my shoulders – the breastplate was agony.” But there are other reasons why he’s enjoying The Archers. “Radio is you and the script. It’s elegant and straightforward, and you’re not being watched,” he says. “And I knew a l…

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The Archers star Lucy Speed reveals her pride in show embracing "important" new BBC initiative
type: item
date: 2025-08-07T08:52:05.000Z
creator: David Crawford
subject: audio
subject: Radio
subject: TV
subject: Exclusive
subject: News
description: "As someone who plays a farm manager, I really want our content and storylines to be as real as possible so that they honour the legacy of farming at the heart of the show."
encoded: On Thursday 7 August, BBC Farmwatch will see farmers taking over the airwaves, broadcasting for 24 hours nonstop across local radio, BBC Sounds and BBC News. As the initiative offering a comprehensive look at the daily realities of modern farming returns for a second year, with an emphasis on discussing some of the most pressing issues currently facing the industry. Stories to be featured include a 25-year-old farmer in Herefordshire who unexpectedly took over the family farm at 17 – leaving her in charge of a 200-acre site, with more than 1500 sheep and cattle; investigating the financial and emotional cost of farm fires in the East and West Midlands; meeting a fifth-generation wool farmer in County Durham; and 12 hours of outside broadcasting from a mixed farm in Somerset which makes its own gelato. There will also be a live broadcast from a combine harvester — with a so-called “Combine-Cam” — showing a field being harvested and allowing viewers to ask questions directly to farmers while they’re working. Harriet Cowan, the popular farmhand from Clarkson’s Farm, and Mike Wilkins, the fourth-generation Wiltshire farmer who starred in last year’s Great British Bake Off, will be presenting a live programme on every BBC Local Radio station across England. Yet, anything on BBC radio linked to farms and farming has to pay a visit to the nation’s most famous farmers in Ambridge, with The Archers on BBC Radio 4 featuring a special BBC Farmwatch storyline in which some of the Ambridge residents tune into their local radio station and are inspired by what they hear. Talking to Radio Times about the initiative, The Archers actor Lucy Speed said, “Farmwatch is a brilliant BBC Local Radio initiative that shines a light on the real stories behind British farming, and it’s something I’m proud to see reflected in The Archers.“ Her character, Stella Pryor, has been at the heart of a recent story that explores the conflict between environmental initiatives such as rewilding and farm…

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