Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock speaks on space travel future and aliens: "I'm not sure about alien abduction"
Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock tells us why the future of space exploration matters and how she hopes to inspire the next generation.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been blown off course by cancelled trains. She has finally arrived at the Royal Institution in London to rehearse her Christmas Lectures on the furthest reaches of the known cosmos, but the journey was challenging. She laughs at the irony: “I was stranded. I was like, ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, but no one was listening.” The Sky at Night presenter – whose dream of becoming a space scientist took root after watching an episode of Clangers – has slept for just three hours, but she’s fizzing with the energy that both fuels her insomnia and has made her a household name. “I have dyslexia and ADHD, my head is a-buzz with ideas. Sometimes it’s overwhelming,” she explains. She’ll be pouring a slice of those thoughts into her three-lecture series, entitled Is There Life beyond Earth? and showing on BBC Four, covering Nasa’s plan to return humans to the Moon, potential signs of life on exoplanets, whether future human settlements could survive in space and how the James Webb Space Telescope – on which she worked in the design stages – is rewriting the story of the Big Bang. Dame Maggie’s story is compelling – her parents separated when she was four, she was diagnosed with dyslexia at eight and attended 13 different schools. But she made her name in science because, she says, “I was lucky to have a powerful dream.” She also wants to hammer home the message that space is for everyone. “Growing up, I thought space and astronomy were done by white guys in togas. You hear about the Greeks and Romans, you don’t really hear about everybody else. But every culture has looked up at the night sky. It’s the heritage of all of us,” she says. However, our ancestors could never have imagined this current era of billionaire-fuelled galactic adventure, led by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson. While Dame Maggie is optimistic that “more of us will get out there” despite the eye-popping cost of a ticket ($28 million for a maiden flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepherd rocket in 2021, for example), she has concerns. “Space is too important to leave to the vagaries of billionaires,” she says. “There might be life out there. How will we interact with that? The nightmare is that we exploit rather than embrace space. We need to get legislation in place before we spread our wings because, as humans, we have a tendency to make a mess of things.” Is she confident that we will find other lifeforms some day? “I’m pretty convinced there’s life out there. I’m not sure about alien abduction, because space is vast! Even if aliens are there, I think they might find it quite challenging to find us.” As a space educator who’s spoken to some 650,000 people through her talks – “I’m knackered, but it’s a joy” – what’s the one thing she would change about our perception of space? “People say, ‘You spent all this money on space. What’s it for?’ They don’t ask that about art or poetry. I worked on the James Webb telescope, but most of my time is spent on observation satellites that look at our planet and tell us about climate change or help when a disaster hits. They benefit our planet, but people don’t really see that.” She’d also like us to prise ourselves away from our phones and marvel at the sky, just like our ancestors did. “Stuck at the station this morning, people were on their phones. It’s a beautiful day, the sky was blue. I looked up and felt the sun on my skin. Every so often, look up, because it makes your heart sing.” Despite all her achievements – from developing hand-held instruments to detect landmines to becoming the first black woman to win a gold medal in the Physics News Awards – Dame Maggie has one ambition that she is yet to achieve, to actually get to space. “So far, 12 people have walked on the Moon. They’ve all been white, they’ve all been American and they’ve all been male. Now Nasa has said they need to send a woman, they need to send someone who isn’t American and they need to send someone who isn’t white. “I keep saying, ‘Me! Me!’, so we’ll have to see.” Train timetable permitting, expect to see her there. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: Is There Life Beyond Earth? air Sunday 28th to Tuesday 30th December at 7pm on BBC Four and iPlayer. 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.
Having discovered a 17th-century ancestor Dame Judi Dench embarks on a hopeful search for links to the Bard
Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me will air on Channel 4 this Christmas, with a date TBA. When Dame Judi Dench tries to teach her recalcitrant African grey parrot, Sweetie, the name of her literary hero, she’s met with stony silence. “Shakespeare!” the Oscar-winning actress coos, before sighing. “It would be wonderful if you said it!” The parrot has other ideas. “I was with my nephew and suddenly she said, ‘Drop your trousers. You’re a slag’. It’s very rude! She didn’t get that from me!” she laughs. However, while Dench has no luck with her pet bird, she hopes to reap more rewards in an intimate documentary on her passion for Britain’s famous man of letters and the possibility of uncovering an ancient family connection. During Channel 4’s Shakespeare, My Family and Me, she examines new evidence about the life of her eight times great-grandfather, the nobleman Anders Bille, who was a member of the Danish royal court in the 17th century and whom she first discovered during a 2021 episode of the BBC series, Who Do You Think You Are? Ideally, Dame Judi would like to find out whether Bille ever met the Bard, which – if true – would be an incredible discovery given the profound influence he has had on her own life, both professionally and personally. Her late husband, Michael Williams, who performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company himself, famously called the wordsmith “the man who pays the rent” and Dench even has a tree in her garden dedicated to him. Dame Judi’s passion for the writer began in childhood and today, she says, the rhythm of his language is in her blood. She has played most of his female roles, from Ophelia in Hamlet to Lady Macbeth and ruefully admits: “I can’t remember what I’m doing the day after tomorrow or the day after that, but I can remember reams of Shakespeare”. Indeed, in the documentary, there are spine-tingling moments when she fluently recites passages from his plays. “She’s in the library in Denmark and does a soliloquy from Antony and Cleopatra,” exclaims director Harvey Lilley. “It’s spontaneous, unrehearsed. She hasn’t been in Antony and Cleopatra since 1987! We had no idea that was coming. She has this love of Shakespeare. It’s the language, the rhythm. For her, it’s not an ancient language. It’s something completely natural.” Dame Judi searches through the Danish archives to find out whether her ancestor may have met the playwright in 1606, just a year after the Gunpowder Plot and as plague returned to England – but also, adds Lilley, the year “Macbeth and King Lear may have been performed for the first time and possibly when Antony and Cleopatra was being written.” Lilley, who directed the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in which Dame Judi’s Danish roots were first discovered, continues: “You have this detective story, which is astonishing in itself – did her ancestor actually meet her hero? But this also allowed her to talk about her life and her relationship with Shakespeare.” The director has a long history of working with Dame Judi, including on My Passion for Trees in 2017 and Wild Borneo Adventure in 2019. “We hoisted her up a tree twice the size of Nelson’s Column. She’s just up for it!” he says. But clearly there’s also a level of trust between them. In the documentary she touches on the deterioration of her vision due to age-related macular degeneration. “As you see in the film, she’s determined,” says Lilley. “She has a fear of boredom. Yes, her eyesight is an issue, but moving forward she wants to do stuff, and she wants to carry on. She makes it easy because she’s such an enthusiast.”
Judi Dench "wants to carry on" amid sight issues as British acting legend investigates her family history with Shakespeare
Having discovered a 17th-century ancestor, Dame Judi Dench embarks on a hopeful search for links to the Bard.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. When Dame Judi Dench tries to teach her recalcitrant African grey parrot, Sweetie, the name of her literary hero, she’s met with stony silence. “Shakespeare!” the Oscar-winning actress coos, before sighing. “It would be wonderful if you said it!” The parrot has other ideas. “I was with my nephew and suddenly she said, ‘Drop your trousers. You’re a slag’. It’s very rude! She didn’t get that from me!” she laughs. However, while Dench has no luck with her pet bird, she hopes to reap more rewards in an intimate documentary on her passion for Britain’s famous man of letters and the possibility of uncovering an ancient family connection. During Channel 4’s Shakespeare, My Family and Me, she examines new evidence about the life of her eight times great-grandfather, the nobleman Anders Bille, who was a member of the Danish royal court in the 17th century and whom she first discovered during a 2021 episode of the BBC series, Who Do You Think You Are? Ideally, Dame Judi would like to find out whether Bille ever met the Bard, which – if true – would be an incredible discovery given the profound influence he has had on her own life, both professionally and personally. Her late husband, Michael Williams, who performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company himself, famously called the wordsmith “the man who pays the rent” and Dench even has a tree in her garden dedicated to him. Dame Judi’s passion for the writer began in childhood and today, she says, the rhythm of his language is in her blood. She has played most of his female roles, from Ophelia in Hamlet to Lady Macbeth and ruefully admits: “I can’t remember what I’m doing the day after tomorrow or the day after that, but I can remember reams of Shakespeare”. Indeed, in the documentary, there are spine-tingling moments when she fluently recites passages from his plays. “She’s in the library in Denmark and does a soliloquy from Antony and Cleopatra,” exclaims director Harvey Lilley. “It’s spontaneous, unrehearsed. She hasn’t been in Antony and Cleopatra since 1987! We had no idea that was coming. She has this love of Shakespeare. It’s the language, the rhythm. For her, it’s not an ancient language. It’s something completely natural.” Dame Judi searches through the Danish archives to find out whether her ancestor may have met the playwright in 1606, just a year after the Gunpowder Plot and as plague returned to England – but also, adds Lilley, the year “Macbeth and King Lear may have been performed for the first time and possibly when Antony and Cleopatra was being written.” Lilley, who directed the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in which Dame Judi’s Danish roots were first discovered, continues: “You have this detective story, which is astonishing in itself – did her ancestor actually meet her hero? But this also allowed her to talk about her life and her relationship with Shakespeare.” The director has a long history of working with Dame Judi, including on My Passion for Trees in 2017 and Wild Borneo Adventure in 2019. “We hoisted her up a tree twice the size of Nelson’s Column. She’s just up for it!” he says. But clearly there’s also a level of trust between them. In the documentary she touches on the deterioration of her vision due to age-related macular degeneration. “As you see in the film, she’s determined,” says Lilley. “She has a fear of boredom. Yes, her eyesight is an issue, but moving forward she wants to do stuff, and she wants to carry on. She makes it easy because she’s such an enthusiast.” The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Shakespeare, My Family & Me will be available to watch on Channel 4. Check out more of our Documentaries 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.
Is AI damaging our brain power? Jim Al-Khalili explores Secrets of the Brain
A new BBC series asks if our most complex organ can keep pace with artificial intelligence.
As artificial intelligence is pitted against the brain, Jim Al-Khalili, broadcaster and professor of theoretical physics, explores how the human brain has evolved into the most complex known structure in the universe. In his new BBC series, Secrets of the Brain, he examines how the brain, with its hundred billion neurons, came to exist. It’s a story spanning hundreds of millions of years – but does new technology mean brain power is in decline and will it lose out to AI? You describe the human brain as the most complex structure known in the universe. Why? There’s nothing that comes close in terms of complexity. It’s so intricate, with almost a hundred billion neurons and over a hundred trillion connections. If you were to lay all its axons end-to-end, they’d stretch halfway to the Moon. In your new series, you explore 600 million years of evolution to uncover how the brain came to exist. What surprised you? That creatures had rudimentary eyes before they had brains. That early evolution of just a light-sensitive receptor - a cell that can absorb sunlight - triggers chemicals that send signals to other cells to tell that creature how to swim in the ocean, how to move towards or away from the light. That didn’t need a brain. Vertebrates evolved in the oceans and they had rudimentary brains to help them hunt for food and evade predators. But when creatures started to come out of the oceans, there was another step change in brain growth and complexity. They had to process all the visual information entering their rudimentary eyes. That triggered a growth in their brain power and the brain had to grow. The other thing to mention is extinction events. In the Permian Mass Extinction, 95 per cent of all life on Earth was wiped out. Luckily for us, 5 per cent of life survived. To survive, it had to face challenges. To figure out solutions, it needed a larger brain. How much of our brains do we use? It’s an urban myth that most of the brain isn’t used. We use a very significant fraction. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2025/09/secrets-brain-56b7528.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Jim Al-Khalili sits at a laboratory bench holding a beaker of dark liquid, surrounded by scientific glassware, bottles, and filtration equipment." title="Jim Al-Khalili sits at a laboratory bench holding a beaker of dark liquid, surrounded by scientific glassware, bottles, and filtration equipment." /> Why do we know so little about the brain? I’m a theoretical physicist and people say, “Quantum physics, that’s so difficult.” No, it’s easy. You can explain so many things with one equation. It can tell you what atoms or galaxies can do. With biology and biochemistry, there’s layer upon layer of complexity. The brain has interconnectedness in a way that no other part of the body has. What would you like to know about the brain? To understand more about how and why the brain deteriorates with age. One of the big challenges in medicine today is to understand things like dementia. We’re all living longer but our mental faculties and processes deteriorate. What can we do to look after our brain? If you don’t use it, you lose it. The brain is like a muscle that has to be maintained. Keeping your mind active is important. Maintaining a large social group of friends and keeping your mind exercised is useful to help stave off things like dementia. When it comes to intelligence, is brain size important? The ant’s brain is so tiny it can’t hold the hundred billions of neurons inside. Among different humans however, that won’t have any effect. Is there anything mysterious about the brain? Some people might think it’s bleak but I find it beautiful that all of our emotions, our thoughts, memories and feelings, are just electrical signals in the brain. To me, it’s wondrous – something so simple and logical as an electrical spark going between two neurons. Multiply that trillions of times and you end up with the wonder that makes us human. How does the human brain compare to AI? Our brains have trillions and trillions of connections between our neurons. AI doesn’t have that many connections, or the artificial version of them, so can’t have the same complexity of the human brain. AI can learn how to mimic language, do calculations and spot tumours in images that the human eye can’t recognise. AI can do things a lot better than us. But those are very individual tasks. General intelligence is something that requires much more complexity than AI has at the moment. In 2018, as president of the British Science Association, you delivered a lecture on the challenges and opportunities that comes with AI. What’s changed since? We’re only talking seven years ago but people weren’t talking about AI back then. My message was: “AI is coming at us very quickly. We have to be ready for it. We have to engage. What are the bad things about AI? What do we need to be careful about?” We still don’t know what the future brings. Things are changing very quickly. ChatGPT and large language modules suddenly burst on the scene, and they’re changing the world. Are you optimistic about our future use of AI? Some see it as an existential threat that, before you know it, robots will take over the world and we’ll all be turned into paperclips! I’m not a complete doom-monger. We need to be mindful of what we want from AI, and to make sure that it’s there to help us solve problems. I think that one day AI will become conscious, will be sentient, self-aware. There’s nothing magical about the human brain - once AI is running on a substrate that is complex enough, then consciousness, like a dimmer switch, will gradually come on and become brighter. At some point, maybe not in our lifetime but probably sometime before the end of this century, AI will become self-aware. It doesn’t mean that AI will be human or like humans. They won’t think like us. They’ll be nothing like us. It means that they have a sense of themselves. They can imagine themselves. And at that point it becomes dangerous? This is the big unknown. We want to make sure that in the stages of getting it towards consciousness, we build in certain morals. Humans have developed traits, empathy and compassion and kindness, possibly through evolution. I don’t want to do something to you that I wouldn’t want you to do to me, because that’s detrimental to me. So we co-operate. But we’ve learned that over millions of years of evolution. AI doesn’t have those millions of years of evolution. So we have to build that into it, the good traits that we want from AI, rather than an AI being a complex psychopath. Is reliance on AI damaging our brain power? We’re getting to the stage, not necessarily with AI but with technology as a whole - it’s not just making our lives easier, but making our lives poorer. If children are having shorter attention spans because they’re used to social media, TikTok or short YouTube videos, they’re losing the ability to concentrate for longer periods of time. There is a concern that technologies are getting to the point where they’re useful but also have a detrimental effect, and may be detrimental to our mental health. Some of my students prefer to watch a recording (of my lectures). They say, “It’s useful because I can watch five minutes, take some notes, go back and listen to it again.” They’re less practised at focusing and concentrating for long periods of time. Secrets of the Brain airs Monday 29th September on BBC Two at 9pm. All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am. The series is co-produced by The Open University. Add Secrets of the Brain to your watchlist on the <a id="OWA8b702c45-bee9-94e4-f018-57518e78041b" title="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/download-the-app/?af_xp=custom&pid=website&c=editorial_content&is_retargeting=true&af_reengagement_window=30d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-outlook-id="449c28d9-909e-4aab-b6b8-153454f55d5e" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="0">Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more. Check out more of our Documentaries 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.
To mark VJ Day 80, Fiona Bruce focuses on some touching family treasures
Add Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special to your watchlist For Fiona Bruce, who is presenting an Antiques Roadshow VJ Day special on BBC1 (Sunday), the personal artefacts on display are “like a lightning bolt through to the past”. They include a baby shoe carried as a good luck charm by a soldier through the jungle, and a chess set made by a prisoner of war. It follows several AR war specials, including a VE Day edition in May. Why are these objects — belonging to the families of those who served in the Second World War — so poignant? As well as reminders of individual bravery, the items are often “humble and personal”, says Bruce. “When we think of conflict, it’s about hardware, death and destruction; you don’t think of a soldier carrying around one of his baby’s shoes in his ammunition pouch.” Soldier Jack Jennings made a chess set from balsa wood while a PoW on the Thai-Burma Railway (known as “the Death Railway”). “Somewhere in all the cruelty and starvation, someone was trying to reclaim some of their individuality and humanity,” says Bruce. “We know what desperate privations those men suffered.” She ends the programme with a moving message: “To all those who endured years of suffering and captivity, soldiers and civilians, and those who gave their lives — you are not forgotten.” It’s a powerful statement: “This is a period of the war many people know very little about. I hope this is our small way of paying tribute and sharing what we know about that time, so we don’t forget.” SHERNA NOAH Chindit bush hat, training manuals and medals Ernie Wainwright. Contributor: Anthony Wainwright (son) The Chindits (a unit of British, Indian, Nepalese and Burmese troops in the Burmese jungle) endured what’s been described as some of the most intensive hand-to-hand combat ever faced by the British military. A gruelling six months left Ernie Wainwright three stone lighter, toothless, and with typhus. Whenever his son Anthony asked about the war, Ernie would get out his bush hat — a sweat-stained memento more prized than any medal. “Dad was incredibly proud of the unit, and the hat had strong significance,” says Anthony. Ernie’s experiences had long-term effects, too. “He’d had to be very quiet in the jungle, so he crept around everywhere. He’d wake up at the click of a finger — if you overslept, the column would move on without you.” Baby shoes Stanley Spriggs. Contributor: James Spriggs (son) In pride of place in the family museum in James Spriggs’s shed, assembled after the death of his father Stanley in 2002, sits a pair of baby shoes — one significantly more discoloured than the other. James wasn’t even born when his dad went off to fight; while Stanley was waiting to go into Burma in 1944, his wife sent him one of their son’s shoes as a lucky charm. Miraculously intact, after surviving in an ammunitions bag through months of monsoons, the shoe was reunited with its partner when Stanley returned home in January 1946. This is James’s earliest memory: “I was three, in a dingy blacked-out station full of steam engines and soldiers, and suddenly told, ‘This is your dad’. I later saw in a family photo that he’d lost five stone due to malaria and, unlike me and my mum, he had a suntan.” Chess set Made by Jack Jennings. Contributors: Carol and Paul Barrett (daughter and son-in-law) Jack Jennings taught his daughter Carol to play chess using a set he’d crafted himself while he was a PoW in Thailand; their final game together was three years ago, when he was 102. “He loved to play — and he loved to win,” she says. But Jack was plagued by nightmares all his life and only began to confront his past after attending reunions and publishing his memoirs. “When my sister and I were growing up, he hid it all from us. We’d rifle through his drawers and read his wartime letters to Mum.” When Jack died at 104, he was believed to be the last surviving PoW who’d worked on the Thai- Burma Railway. The previous year, BBC News reported from his 103rd party. Carol says: “By then, he’d got a lot of pleasure from being a bit of a celebrity!” Rangoon gazette Thomas Ruddle. Contributors: Pete and Andy Ruddle (sons) When Pete and Andy Ruddle found a 1941 copy of the Rangoon Gazette among their late father Thomas’s belongings, they were struck by its bold declaration: “Japan at War with Britain & US”. Pete had it framed and hung it up. But the significance of its date, 8 December 1941 (one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor), eluded them until they brought it to Antiques Roadshow. Thomas was based in Burma with the RAF Signal Corps and, as far as the brothers can piece together, was a wireless operator. “He was a 19-year-old boy in the middle of the war, then he came back and carried on as if nothing had happened,” says Andy. “He never spoke about the war at all. I wish I’d been able to talk to him about it.” Japanese flag Walter Taylor. Contributor: Mark Taylor (son) On the advance into Burma and Mandalay, Walter Taylor, a gunner with the 19th Infantry Division — the “Dagger Division” — saw this Japanese flag tucked into the tunic of a dead soldier. Adorned with messages in Japanese by the village priest, including what are thought to be words of goodwill, to Walter the flag was poignant. After he returned to civilian life, it became “a vehicle to express his feelings about the war, which he wouldn’t otherwise easily divulge”, says his son Mark, who treasures an account his father wrote about his time in Burma for his family. Walter joined the Army at 17 and wrote that he had seen “man’s actions at their worst and best”, and said, “My profound hope is that in your lifetime you may never know total war." Interviews by ROBIN PARKER
From providing data-driven analysis to feeding them bananas – the LTA team are key to the success of our British players
Add Wimbledon to your watchlist Toby West – Lawn Tennis Association’s Senior Performance Analyst (Women’s Programme) Describe your role… I provide data-driven insights to optimise match strategy and gain a competitive advantage. New technology offers tracking of ball trajectories, player movements and shot placements, providing precise data on serve speeds, spin rates and court coverage. How crucial is your work to players’ success on the court? Elite-level tennis is now heavily data-driven, margins between victory and defeat are razor-thin. The small gains that players may achieve can be the difference between a win and a loss. What’s the stat most players want to know? “Where does my opponent serve on big points?” Understanding opponents’ tendencies with serve direction can give a player an idea of where to set up, and what to expect from one opponent to the next. What a lot of players also value is how their opponents behave under pressure, such as at 30–30, break point or in tiebreaks. Many players have predictable tendencies when the stakes are high, even if their patterns are varied earlier in games. Dan Ellis – Nutritionist What does your work involve? Preparation begins well before match day. We look at what players eat, when they eat it and how much they need to consume, tailoring everything to meet the demands of competition. We also refine their in-match fuelling strategy – selecting foods, snacks or supplements that are high in carbohydrates and easily digestible, helping them avoid discomfort such as bloating, sluggishness or urgent toilet breaks mid-match. Strategies vary depending on the athlete, but common choices include carbohydrate-rich drinks, gels, energy bars, dates and bananas. Why bananas? Bananas remain a popular option when players want a wholefood alternative to their gels or sport drinks – the riper the better, as the breakdown of starch into simple sugars makes them faster to digest and use for energy. What are the challenges? The unpredictability of match timings. Unless a player is first on Centre Court or Court One, their start time often shifts due to longer matches before them or rain delays. This makes it tricky to manage food timing. Rachel Newnham – Performance Lifestyle National Lead How do you help players? We’re a psycho-social team comprising performance lifestyle, performance psychology and clinical psychology. How important is your work to the modern game? A player’s wellbeing is crucial to performance and the need for support with mental health has grown and grown over the past few years. How has your advice changed, particularly with the trolling that some players face on social media? Social media has played an increasingly big part in players’ lives. We help them and their team to navigate the good, bad and ugly that comes with it. Positive use of social media can bring great benefits, so helping players understand how best to use it and support them when they face online abuse is important. What’s your number one tip? We live busy, hectic lives but investing time in your own wellbeing can only ever have a positive impact! Ollie Fawls – Physical Preparation Coach Describe your role? We apply sport science principles such as strength and conditioning, load monitoring, athletic profiling and data analysis to prepare professional tennis players for the physical demands of the sport. How important is your work to players’ success on the court? Our role is crucial, the modern game is more intense. Particularly in the men’s game, you see more all-court game styles at the highest level; meaning players are repeatedly exposed to more high intensity movements and changes of direction. The recent men’s final at Roland-Garros between Sinner and Alcaraz was an advert for this. You can’t be a top professional player in the modern game without being a top athlete. How have expectations of fitness changed? There’s no hiding in the modern game; the physical standards are there for all to see at the top level. What’s your top tip? A general top tip for any aspiring top player or junior is to never waste a warm-up – 15 to 30 minutes each day of targeted exercises and drills to develop yourself as a tennis athlete goes a long way.
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is making a return – great-grandson confirms new drama
James Pritchard has been attempting to bring the detective back "for a very long time".
Agatha Christie's great-grandson James Pritchard has revealed that a fresh dramatisation of iconic detective Miss Marple is in the works, describing the character's stories as some of the mystery novelist's best. The character has previously been portrayed in live-action by Helen Hayes (in two American films), Joan Hickson (in an '80s BBC series) and, most recently, by Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie (in an ITV adaptation of the esteemed source material). That last iteration concluded in 2013, with Pritchard revealing in an interview with Radio Times that he had spent part of the last decade attempting to get another take on the character off the ground. Questioned on the recent competition from 'cosy crime' stories, ranging from The Thursday Murder Club to The Madame Blanc Mysteries and The Marlow Murder Club, Pritchard rejected the term – but conceded there is room for lightness in a detective story. "I hate the phrase 'cosy crime' and I don't think it's what my great-grandmother wrote," he began, "but her books had humour and I don't think everything needs to be as dark as Sarah [Phelps, screenwriter] made it. "[Towards Zero] is a little lighter and I can certainly see us doing more [in that style]." Pritchard went on to tease that Miss Marple could be next on the agenda, ready to once again challenge Hercule Poirot for the title of Christie's greatest sleuth, but didn't offer details on who is developing the project. "I couldn't be more excited," he said. "I've been trying to get something for Miss Marple off the ground for a very long time. For good reasons, Poirot has stolen her limelight since time began. "I re-read all the Marple stories five years ago and I'd forgotten how good they were. Poirot has perhaps three or four of the all-time great Agatha Christies, but if you did a top 10, you'd get at least two or three Marples in there. She's underestimated." Pritchard concluded by musing on his great-grandmother, who he credits for writing "a lot of strong women" – with Miss Marple being arguably the most famous of them all. He added: "She was an extremely interesting woman, because part of her was very shy and retiring, but I think she was also a forceful person. "She would claim not to have been a feminist, but she absolutely thought she was as powerful as any man who she came across. And that’s the kind of woman she wrote about." Agatha Christie's Towards Zero premieres on Sunday 2nd March 2025 on BBC One and iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
"The adrenaline streams through your body!"
Good Morning Britain will be on air live from Washington DC
Add Good Morning Britain to your watchlist Talk us through GMB’s US election plans? Ed Balls and I are flying straight out to Washington DC after hosting Good Morning Britain on Monday 4 November. We’ll be soaking up the atmosphere. Then we’ll be on the ground, presenting the election results programme on the Wednesday morning. You’re used to a 3.40am alarm call. With the time difference, you won’t get much sleep… It’ll be one of those weeks where sleep takes a backseat. There are some stories where the adrenaline and cortisone just stream through your body! What does Ed bring to the show? He’s steeped in politics, a political veteran even at his very young age! He’s not just an expert on British politics – he’s a Senior Fellow at Harvard, so an expert on American politics, too. He’ll bring an experienced eye to our coverage. Of course, you co-hosted the last US election with Piers Morgan… We did the 2016 election and the 2020 election. Piers, as we know, had a very close relationship with Donald Trump, and in 2016 Piers called it for Trump very early on, saying, “Don’t underestimate this man. He’s a winner. He knows how to strike a deal.” He was a lone voice among the media commentariat. People were absolutely convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win it. But Piers stuck to his guns. How have you prepared this time round? I’ve been reading about Kamala Harris and her time in San Francisco, reading about the swing states and when they will announce, about Trump and his court cases, and the briefings on our guests. Good Morning Britain’s early morning timeslot could be perfect — if a result is quickly declared, that is… It could be. But, of course, in 2020, it wasn’t until a good couple of days afterwards that the result became clear. How do you deal with receiving so much social media attention? I’m not going to take on board the criticism of trolls. But you do want to take into account what viewers are telling you about their own experiences. That was particularly important over the course of lockdown and Partygate. What people think about me is so low on my radar. Obviously, you can filter… I choose what to look at, and what not to look at.
Susanna Reid on covering the US Election: 'Adrenaline, late nights and high stakes'
"The adrenaline streams through your body."
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. With the 2024 US election on the horizon, Radio Times spoke with Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid about preparing election coverage and how she deals with social media attention. Talk us through GMB's US election plans? Ed Balls and I are flying straight out to Washington DC after hosting Good Morning Britain on Monday 4 November. We’ll be soaking up the atmosphere. Then we’ll be on the ground, presenting the election results programme on the Wednesday morning. You’re used to a 3:40am alarm call. With the time difference, you won’t get much sleep… It’ll be one of those weeks where sleep takes a backseat. There are some stories where the adrenaline and cortisone just stream through your body! What does Ed bring to the show? He’s steeped in politics, a political veteran even at his very young age! He’s not just an expert on British politics – he's a Senior Fellow at Harvard, so an expert on American politics, too. He’ll bring an experienced eye to our coverage. Of course, you co-hosted the last US election with Piers Morgan… We did the 2016 election and the 2020 election. Piers, as we know, had a very close relationship with Donald Trump, and in 2016 Piers called it for Trump very early on, saying, "Don’t underestimate this man. He’s a winner. He knows how to strike a deal." He was a lone voice among the media commentariat. People were absolutely convinced Hillary Clinton was going to win it. But Piers stuck to his guns. How have you prepared this time round? I’ve been reading about Kamala Harris and her time in San Francisco, reading about the swing states and when they will announce, about Trump and his court cases, and the briefings on our guests. Good Morning Britain's early morning time slot could be perfect – if a result is quickly declared, that is… It could be. But, of course, in 2020, it wasn’t until a good couple of days afterwards that the result became clear. How do you deal with receiving so much social media attention? I’m not going to take on board the criticism of trolls. But you do want to take into account what viewers are telling you about their own experiences. That was particularly important over the course of lockdown and Partygate. What people think about me is so low on my radar. Obviously, you can filter… I choose what to look at, and what not to look at. The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here. Visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
For once, it’s not about race but sexuality, say actor Lennie James and author Bernardine Evaristo as they bring her novel Mr Loverman to life
Add Mr Loverman to your watchlist Six years before she was catapulted into the limelight as joint winner (along with Margaret Atwood) of the Booker Prize for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, writer Bernardine Evaristo released Mr Loverman. The ground-breaking novel explores the secret, decades-long love afair between Barrington, a successful – and married – Caribbean-born Londoner and his best friend Morris. In his 70s and with his marriage on the rocks, Barrington wants to end the pretence. Now adapted into an eight-part BBC drama, the sad but funny story – exploring sexuality, love, fear, religion and family – stars Lennie James as Barrington, Sharon D Clarke as his wife and Ariyon Bakare as Morris. View oEmbed on the source website BREATHING LIFE INTO BARRINGTON Bernardine I was a creative writing mentor on a workshop and one of the exercises led by a fellow mentor, who was a playwright, involved passport photographs of all kinds of people laid out on a table. She said, “I want you to pick one and write in the voice of that character and imagine that they’re taking their clothes off in front of a mirror.” I started writing Barrington as part of that exercise. I wasn’t intending to write a novel but he jumped inside me. He was a joy to write. It feels like he wrote himself: “This is what’s going to happen now…” Lennie He’s a very unique version of what’s typically written about West Indian men of that generation. I have no particular problem with stories told about the early days of what we now refer to as the Windrush Generation, but I love that this is not a “No blacks, no Irish, no dogs” story. I love that this tells the story of an outwardly successful black man who is erudite, well-read and successful. Bernardine Yes, when I told people that the novel’s about an older black gay man, a lot of people assumed that he would be impoverished, a victim of racism in a more stereotypical way, and that this would be a story of suffering. But the issue for Barrington is not really race or poverty – it’s his sexuality. People have an idea of the Windrush Generation and the hardships of their early life, but then they have to imagine what their later life is like because we don’t see many stories about that older generation. Lennie For a long time we’ve had to write stories that the people who make decisions understand, even when we’re trying to tell stories about ourselves and our community. I hope this encourages people to write the stories they want to write, and that it encourages the people who make decisions about [commissioning TV dramas] to understand that different stories can be told, and that everything doesn’t have to be issuebased when involving people who look like me. Barrington is a truly complicated, complex and interesting character. It’s very rare that you play a character who is more complicated than you are. He’s also huge fun to play. He gave me license to run riot. I don’t want to play someone I could do standing on my head, juggling. I get to play him between his 40s until his 70s, which is a gift for an actor. Although I was in make-up for close to two hours every morning! CASTING CONUNDRUMS Bernardine I know this is probably a controversial thing to say, but I think roles should go to the best actor for the part. From my position as the writer of the book, I want it to go to the person who can play the part and it’s not important whether they’re homosexual or not. Lennie I think it’s a conversation that we need to have, but as an actor I don’t believe in blanket bans. It was the first question I asked when I sat down with the people from [production company] Fable. “Are you sure you want it to be me?” It’s not something that I’m going to spend a huge amount of time justifying. There are lots of reasons why this version of Barrington was told, in this way. There are, I imagine, certain things I bring to this character that bring him to life. I know it’s going to be an ongoing conversation. But if I felt I was doing a disservice, I would have ruled myself out. This is a character that any actor who could qualify would do his damnedest to play. And that’s what I did. FACING UP TO PREJUDICE Bernardine I like writing about difficult things: bigotry, people in crisis… For the viewer to go through all the moments of homophobia – and internal homophobia – with Barrington is what makes the drama. Did I experience homophobia? I wore the badge, went to the clubs, went on the marches. I was very “out and proud” to use the cliché. I know lesbians who did experience homophobia in a very overt way, but for me it was more that I knew the limitations of how I could, for example, express affection to a woman in public. It was a very homophobic society 40 years ago. It was a very different culture. But the point of writing fiction – and screen drama – is that people overcome obstacles. That’s what makes them interesting; that’s how they grow. Which is why in Mr Loverman, Barrington goes cottaging in a cemetery and is beaten up. Lennie In those moments, where I have to find Barrington’s inner journey… I’ve been in situations where I’ve been surrounded by people who hate me for my race. I grew up in the late 1970s and early 80s, with the National Front, and was part of the Anti-Nazi League. I’ve been chased down the road and had to stand my ground and fight to get out of situations. That fear, that hatred, what that does to you, what that makes you feel about yourself, about who you are and how it restricts you, is something I channelled in those moments. Because it’s different, but similar. The fear was palpable. It was almost like there was no acting required. NO SHYING AWAY FROM SEX SCENES Bernardine When we were discussing the script, I said to the team behind it, “We need to see the physical reality of these two men having sex. Nothing ambiguous.” It was important that it shouldn’t be something that’s hidden, something to be ashamed of. Then, when I started to watch it, I was shocked. I was like, “Are they really going to do that?” And then I was like, “Bernardine, you wrote it [the novel], and you said to them, ‘Put it in’.” And they did! I wanted people to see their physical relationship, to see them having sex, because it was really important to me that it shouldn’t be something that is hidden, to be ashamed of, because it’s taboo. Lennie For a large chunk of this, we’re telling the story of a love affair between black senior citizens. While telling the outward love story, we’re also telling the physical love story between these two men: how they made love at 40 and how that lovemaking is different at 70. That was important. If you’re not telling the story or revealing something about the character through those intimate scenes, there’s no point having them. It’s like a song in a musical. It’s got to move the story along, otherwise it’s pointless. There wasn’t anything gratuitous. And we had an intimacy coordinator who kept us true to the story. We learned a lot. There were also moments that you weren’t necessarily aware would be intimate or exposing because they weren’t sexual and Robbie [the intimacy coordinator] would say, “Do you feel comfortable in this situation?” There’s a sequence when Barry’s in the bath and I was physically exposed [before filming and getting in], that I wasn’t aware of in the beginning. Robbie facilitated the conversation, “It’s very cold. It’s very exposing. Could we get there sooner, so that we cut down the amount of time Lennie is exposed?” It’s things like that. Thank God he was there! <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/08/486554-31899e5.jpg" width="6103" height="3436" alt="Ariyon Bakare as Morris De La Roux, Tahj Miles as Daniel Walker, Lennie James as Barry Walker, Tamara Lawrance as Maxine Walker, Sharon D Clarke as Carmel Walker, Sharlene Whyte as Donna Walker in Mr Loverman" title="Ariyon Bakare as Morris De La Roux, Tahj Miles as Daniel Walker, Lennie James as Barry Walker, Tamara Lawrance as Maxine Walker, Sharon D Clarke as Carmel Walker, Sharlene Whyte as Donna Walker in Mr Loverman" /> TALKING OF GOD… Bernardine I grew up in the Catholic Church and at 15, I escaped. Until then I went to church every Saturday and my first school was a convent school. We had mass every weekday. I can be very critical of organised religion. I think there is some exposing of the hypocrisy of Christianity in the book, but it’s just a little dig. My mum was pregnant for ten years, pretty much. I grew up in a big, busy household [Evaristo is the fourth of eight siblings]. But that childhood – which was Catholic and socialist and with a dual heritage in the white area of Woolwich in south London – shaped me. Family is a strong theme in my work. It’s often something that people don’t pick up, because they’re looking at race, gender and sexuality. Lennie I also grew up in the church – in the Pentecostal Church, which is very West Indian – for a large chunk of my childhood. I used to go four times a week, twice on Sundays. I lived at home until I was about 11, and then my brother and I lost my mum. We went into a kids’ home, and I was fostered at 15. That family has been my family ever since. I had kids quite young and they’ve always been at the centre of everything I do. They give me reason. I’m proud of my career, but family is much more crucial to me.
"Working for the resistance, you just had to get on with it"
Selma van de Perre fought the Nazis and survived the concentration camps. Now 102, she has a remarkable tale to tell
Add WW2: Women on the Frontline to your watchlist. When Selma van de Perre takes a daily walk in the small garden square outside her London home, she goes unnoticed. But as a former wartime resistance fighter, 102-year-old Selma has an astonishing tale to tell. “When I look back, I think, ‘How could I? It’s unbelievable,’” she says of her daring exploits, under the nose of the Nazis. “I’ve asked myself why I didn’t just stay in a little room, like many people in hiding, and try to survive the war that way? I’m pleased that I could do something.” That’s quite an understatement. During the Second World War, Selma (née Velleman) undertook dangerous missions, carrying false identity papers around her Netherlands homeland, to Belgium and France. To survive, she concealed her Jewish identity, dyeing her hair blonde and adopting the identity Margareta van der Kuit, or Marga. “I had to be that person completely,” she tells me. “I was so scared that I was going to talk in my sleep.” Selma’s exploits as a courier, carrying a large suitcase with illegal newspapers, pamphlets, as well as fake identity cards, money and food stamps for people in hiding, feature in the new Channel 4 documentary WW2: Women on the Frontline. The three-part series explores the daring and sometimes unwritten histories of the female pilots, guerrillas, journalists and spies of the conflict. Selma, like many women in the film, lived an ordinary life before war broke out. A happy child, her Jewish identity had “never been an issue” in her homeland and she dreamt of landing a job in an upmarket Amsterdam department store. When Germany invaded the Netherlands, everything changed. “We couldn’t go as Jewish teenagers to cinemas with our other friends. You had to give up your bike and your watch,” she says. Her beloved father, a variety performer, was sent to Auschwitz, although Selma didn’t know that at the time. “They said they were workcamps. We thought that for years, though people started to be curious, because no letters came back. We didn’t know Auschwitz existed.” Selma decided that her mother and younger sister Clara must go into hiding. She found a host but was unable to pay for her own board and so, aged 20, she was left alone in Amsterdam. “To stand on your own feet so suddenly was terrible. I had to grow up straightaway.” She moved between houses, evading capture and at times, “wandered the streets like a nomad”. After meeting members of the resistance, a few months later, Selma joined up. Her most dangerous mission involved infiltrating the German headquarters in Paris, to collect papers from a contact. Those papers helped to save the lives of Dutch resistance fighters being held and tortured at the notorious Fresnes Prison in the city, where British spies were also held. Other stories of heart-pounding bravery include stealing papers from the pocket of a German officer who began flirting with Selma after taking a shine to her at a bus stop, and invited her to his home for tea. The papers could be used to enter a prison and free resistance fighters being held there. In June 1944, not long after her 22nd birthday, Selma was arrested. Interrogated daily, she didn’t let her real name slip and was sent as a political prisoner to Ravensbrück, the women’s concentration camp, in north-east Germany. The Nazis gassed between 5,000 and 6,000 prisoners at the camp and killed thousands more – the exact number is not known. Selma was beaten until she lost consciousness and carried out forced labour at the Siemens factory. After eight months of terror, Selma was brought to Denmark when the camp was liberated by the Red Army in April 1945. But that was not the end of her ordeal. Selma almost died when Allied pilots bombed the Red Cross trucks, thinking they were full of German soldiers. As a former member of the resistance and a Holocaust survivor, she says, “Life just after the war was very difficult. I did a lot of crying and I couldn’t sleep. If I slept at two o’clock in the morning, I’d wake up very shortly afterwards with nightmares… I hadn’t been able to deal with it beforehand. Working for the resistance, you just had to get on with it.” Even after getting her first taste of freedom, she was petrified to say her real name aloud, keeping it from friends. “I swallowed it, I didn’t dare say it.” Selma would later learn the appalling news that her father, mother and sister had been murdered. Her father was killed at Auschwitz and her mother, 53, and 15-year-old sister were murdered at Sobibor, the Nazi extermination camp. Knowing what they went through has left a devastating hole in her life: “It will stay with me until I die. My own experiences don’t seem to worry me that much. What happened to my family worries me much more.” Selma moved to England where she would marry Belgian journalist Hugo van de Perre, have a son (now in his 50s), work for BBC Radio Netherlands, study an anthropology and sociology degree and become a teacher. “I worked a lot, kept my mind and my body busy, mentally and physically… I have learnt to use my brain and my body to try and survive.” She revisited Ravensbrück several times to tell students her story and she wrote the international bestseller, My Name Is Selma, at the age of 98. “I did it myself,” she tells me when I ask if she dictated the words to a writer. “I wrote it on the computer, which was marvellous, because a few years ago, you’d have to do it all on the typewriter!” Today she lives alone (Selma’s husband Hugo died in 1979) and in the days before her interview she had been to painting classes and parties. “Although I can’t see very much any more, I enjoy programmes like Countdown. It’s very good for my English, too,” she says. “Up to a few years ago, I played golf and tennis. Now, I go for walks in the afternoon, just round the square where I live. I sit down in the sun if there is some. It’s very nice. The days fly by. When people say they don’t want to get old, I say, ‘If you’re healthy enough, it’s very good.’ A woman of incredible courage, how would she like to be remembered? “For doing the things I believed in,” she says. Does she have any words of advice? “Don’t hurt other people, stand up for things, and do – don’t just talk.” My Name Is Selma: the Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor by Selma van de Perre is available from Bantam Press
Fred Sirieix on Olympian daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix: "She's in with a real chance of a medal"
The maître d'hôtel gushes about his daughter in a new interview.
This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine. When Channel 4’s First Dates star Fred Sirieix first realised his daughter Andrea had set her sights on diving, the French twinkly-eyed maitre d’s instinct was to protect her. Fittingly, he found inspiration in one of his other great loves: food. "Life is like a pie. There are many slices, and if you have just one big slice, which is diving – if, God forbid, you get injured, then that’s all you have," he told her. "You can dive, we’ll take you left, right and centre. But you’ve got to dedicate just as much time to school." The hard work, both at the pool and in the classroom, has paid off for Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. Fred’s duckling – "mon caneton", "mon bébé", he coos – is now in Paris, aged 19, with a real chance of securing an Olympic medal. Sirieix, who moved to the UK at the age of 20, has been unveiled as a BBC studio guest for the Games. Will discussing his daughter’s dive in front of millions of viewers feel awkward? "I'll be at the pool, watching Andrea, not working," he says, sipping a cappuccino. "I don’t want to comment on my daughter diving. It’s too close to my heart. I’ll be speaking and commentating post-event, when everything’s done. I want to enjoy it. Regardless of what happens, there will be tears." A Commonwealth and European champion, World Championship silver medallist in 2023 and team gold medallist in 2024, Andrea could become the first female British diver to make the Olympic podium since 1960. "She’s in with a real chance of a medal. She’s in the shape and form of her life,” Sirieix says. "She is dedicated to the sport." Andrea’s diving career began with a stroke of luck. When she was eight, Crystal Palace Diving Club came to a talent-spotting day at her primary school in south-east London, putting pupils through their paces with some flexibility and strength exercises. "She was a sporty little girl, and they said, 'You’re doing great. Do you want to come for a trial?' So she went and she loved it. Who doesn’t like jumping into a pool? I do, and I’m 52!" Her success was rapid. Last year, she and Lois Toulson made history by winning Britain’s first World Championship medal in a women’s event, taking silver in the 10-metre synchro. In 2022, she won European gold. In 2021, when Andrea was just 16, she was the youngest member of the Team GB diving team in Tokyo, and came seventh in the 10m platform final on her Olympic debut. "She was competing and winning in competitions from the age of 12 and 13, becoming British champion when she was 15," Sirieix says. "Nobody saw her coming. She beat girls who were 18, 19, 20." It has, the I’m a Celebrity… contestant admits, "been quite a rollercoaster" when you’ve "suddenly got an athlete in your house – somebody who thinks and breathes like a champion". "All they [divers] think about is diving, and they want to win." Are there any downsides? "If you want her to go on holiday or away for a weekend, it’s not going to happen because she’s training. You say, 'Just one day?' No, she can’t! But I understand. I don’t insist. It’s something I tried at the beginning, but even then, she was fully dedicated." Andrea has paid tribute to her parents – the couple have separated and Sirieix lives with his fiancée – for "dropping everything for my sport", and described her mum as her superhero. Sirieix dismisses the idea that he made sacrifices for his daughter to pursue her dream. "If you have to get up early and take them diving, that’s what you do. I don’t think it’s a sacrifice at all," he says. "If somebody deserves a medal, it’s her little brother, who was dragged to the pool, sitting in the stands to watch his iPad, or play with other kids he didn’t know. He’s the real hero of the story. But Mum and Dad, they don’t deserve a medal. This is what parents do. You look after your kids, give them all the opportunities you can." Not every parent, however, flings themselves off a 10-metre board "to see what it was like"... albeit feet-first instead of head-first. "I was black and blue," Sirieix recalls of the experience in 2021. "My legs, my bum… completely bruised. I’m not going to do it again unless somebody pays me! "Andrea was on the ground, shouting, 'Daddy, you’ve got to relax, stop being scared. I can see your heart beating in your chest!' I felt my heart just pumping like this," he gesticulates extravagantly. "It was so scary." A year later, Andrea herself developed a "fear of diving" – a mental block that made her scared of taking on even the easiest of dives - and she was close to quitting. Sirieix says the family responded with "support and love". "There was no pressure, no expectations." Having "spent weekends in clubs, drinking with my mates" when he was his daughter’s age, Sirieix is passionate about the benefits sports can bring – "focus, resilience, and having a goal". "There are lots of kids missing out," he says. "How are we going to give more opportunities to our kids? Were Andrea not at that school and that talent-spotting day hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t be where she is." And that’s a long way from the days when he took Andrea to nursery in a Cinderella or Snow White dress, almost every day. "She said, 'I want to wear that, Daddy.' I used to dress her up like that! The woman at the nursery was rolling her eyes… But she was three years old. When is she going to do that again? That was a beautiful memory." Sirieix has lived in the UK for 32 years, longer than he lived in France. His book, Seriously British, to be published in September, is described as a love letter to Britain. So, will his loyalties be torn in Paris? "I'm not officially British, but I feel British," he says. "I will be supporting Team GB. Obviously, I’m a bit biased, because my daughter is part of Team GB, and I’ve met many of the athletes. "But I’m also proud to go back to my home country and showcase France to the Brits. I hope the French put a Games on that are just as good as the Brits did in 2012. I was in the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, and I felt so proud." Sirieix had been to see Andrea and Lois practising the day before our chat. "Their synchronisation was really good," he says. "Andrea’s diving has gone up a notch. It’s beautiful because I have seen the evolution over the years, and now it’s the best I’ve seen. The quality and consistency of the dives is incredible." But he says Andrea knows winning isn’t everything: "When she wins, she commiserates with the losers, but, in the end, she celebrates. When she loses, she says well done to the winners, and she has a little cry. And an hour later, that’s it. It’s gone. "That is the spirit of the Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin, when he restarted them, said, 'What’s important is taking part.' You’ve got to enjoy it, and she’s really enjoying it." It’s safe to say that her father is, too. The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is available to buy now – subscribe to Radio Times here. Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
"Who doesn’t like jumping into a pool? I do, and I’m 52!"
First Dates star Fred Sirieix jumped off the high board for the love of his daughter Andrea – and when she steps up to dive in Paris, he says there will be tears
When Channel 4’s First Dates star Fred Sirieix first realised his daughter Andrea had set her sights on diving, the French twinkly-eyed maitre d’s instinct was to protect her. Fittingly, he found inspiration in one of his other great loves, food. “Life is like a pie. There are many slices and if you have just one big slice, which is diving – if, God forbid, you get injured, then that’s all you have,” he told her. “You can dive, we’ll take you left, right and centre. But you’ve got to dedicate just as much time to school.” The hard work, both at the pool and in the classroom, has paid off for Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix. Fred’s duckling – “mon caneton”, “mon bébé” he coos – is now in Paris, aged 19, with a real chance of securing an Olympic medal. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2024/07/GettyImages-1987891380-8f2ba70.jpg" width="3966" height="2644" alt="DOHA, QATAR - FEBRUARY 05: Andrea Spendolini Sirieix of Team Great Britain competes in the Women's 10m Platform Final on day four of the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships at Hamad Aquatic Centre on February 05, 2024 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)" title="Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships - Day 4: Diving" /> Sirieix, who moved to the UK at the age of 20, has been unveiled as a BBC studio guest for the Games. Will discussing his daughter’s dive in front of millions of viewers feel awkward? “I’ll be at the pool, watching Andrea, not working,” he says, sipping a cappuccino. “I don’t want to comment on my daughter diving. It’s too close to my heart. I’ll be speaking and commentating post-event, when everything’s done. I want to enjoy it. Regardless of what happens, there will be tears.” A Commonwealth and European champion, World Championship silver medallist in 2023 and team gold medallist in 2024, Andrea could become the first female British diver to make the Olympic podium since 1960. “She’s in with a real chance of a medal. She’s in the shape and form of her life,” Sirieix says. “She is dedicated to the sport.” Andrea’s diving career began with a stroke of luck. When she was eight, Crystal Palace Diving Club came to a talent-spotting day at her primary school in south-east London, putting pupils through their paces with some flexibility and strength exercises. “She was a sporty little girl, and they said, ‘You’re doing great. Do you want to come for a trial?’ So she went and she loved it. Who doesn’t like jumping into a pool? I do, and I’m 52!” Her success was rapid. Last year, she and Lois Toulson made history by winning Britain’s first World Championship medal in a women’s event, taking silver in the 10-metre synchro. In 2022, she won European gold. In 2020, when Andrea was just 16, she was the youngest member of the Team GB diving team in Tokyo, and came seventh in the 10m platform final on her Olympic debut. “She was competing and winning in competitions from the age of 12 and 13, becoming British champion when she was 15,” Sirieix says. “Nobody saw her coming. She beat girls who were 18, 19, 20.” It has, the I’m a Celebrity… contestant admits, “been quite a rollercoaster” when you’ve “suddenly got an athlete in your house – somebody who thinks and breathes like a champion. All they [divers] think about is diving and they want to win.” Are there any downsides? “If you want her to go on holiday or away for a weekend, it’s not going to happen because she’s training. You say, ‘Just one day?’ No, she can’t! But I understand. I don’t insist. It’s something I tried at the beginning, but even then, she was fully dedicated.” Andrea has paid tribute to her parents – the couple have separated and Sirieix lives with his fiancée – for “dropping everything for my sport” and described her mum as her superhero. Sirieix dismisses the idea that he made sacrifices for his daughter to pursue her dream. “If you have to get up early and take them diving, that’s what you do. I don’t think it’s a sacrifice at all,” he says. “If somebody deserves a medal, it’s her little brother, who was dragged to the pool, sitting in the stands to watch his iPad, or play with other kids he didn’t know. He’s the real hero of the story. But Mum and Dad, they don’t deserve a medal. This is what parents do. You look after your kids, give them all the opportunities you can.” Not every parent however, flings themselves off a 10-metre board “to see what it was like”... albeit feet-first instead of head-first. “I was black and blue,” Sirieix recalls of the experience in 2021. “My legs, my bum… completely bruised. I’m not going to do it again unless somebody pays me! “Andrea was on the ground, shouting, ‘Daddy, you’ve got to relax, stop being scared. I can see your heart beating in your chest!’ I felt my heart just pumping like this,” he gesticulates extravagantly. “It was so scary.” A year later, Andrea herself developed a “fear of diving”– a mental block that made her scared of taking on even the easiest of dives and she was close to quitting. Sirieix says the family responded with “support and love. There was no pressure, no expectations.” Having “spent weekends in clubs, drinking with my mates” when he was his daughter’s age, Sirieix is passionate about the benefits sports can bring – “focus, resilience, and having a goal. There are lots of kids missing out,” he says. “How are we going to give more opportunities to our kids? Were Andrea not at that school and that talent-spotting day hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t be where she is.” And that’s a long way from the days when he took Andrea to nursery in a Cinderella or Snow White dress, almost every day. “She said, ‘I want to wear that, Daddy.’ I used to dress her up like that! The woman at the nursery was rolling her eyes… But she was three years old. When is she going to do that again? That was a beautiful memory.” Sirieix has lived in the UK for 32 years, longer than he lived in France. His book, Seriously British, to be published in September, is described as a love letter to Britain. So will his loyalties be torn in Paris? “I’m not officially British, but I feel British,” he says. “I will be supporting Team GB. Obviously, I’m a bit biased, because my daughter is part of Team GB, and I’ve met many of the athletes. But I’m also proud to go back to my home country and showcase France to the Brits. I hope the French put a Games on that are just as good as the Brits did in 2012. I was in the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, and I felt so proud.” Sirieix had been to see Andrea and Lois practising the day before our chat. “Their synchronisation was really good,” he says. “Andrea’s diving has gone up a notch. It’s beautiful because I have seen the evolution over the years and now it’s the best I’ve seen. The quality and consistency of the dives is incredible.” But he says Andrea knows winning isn’t everything: “When she wins, she commiserates with the losers, but, in the end, she celebrates. When she loses, she says well done to the winners, and she has a little cry. And an hour later, that’s it. It’s gone. “That is the spirit of the Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin, when he restarted them, said, ‘What’s important is taking part’. You’ve got to enjoy it and she’s really enjoying it.” It’s safe to say that her father is, too. Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix competes (with Lois Toulson) in the 10m synchro on 31 July and in the 10m platform, which begins on 5 August
"I’m not in the stands going, 'I wish I was there'"
Rebecca Adlington won two golds at Beijing 2008 and two bronzes at London 2012, and will now be part of the BBC commentary team for swimming events
Is it difficult watching and commentating on swimming rather than competing? I had my time in the sport and I loved it. I’m not in the stands going, “I wish I was there.” But I do feel nervous for the competitors because I know what they’re going through. What can we expect from Paris 2024? We’d all fall off our chairs if GB’s Adam Peaty doesn’t get a medal, but there is always someone unexpected, too. That, for me, is what makes it. How do you prepare for your pundit role? My old coach, Bill Furniss, is the GB head coach at British Swimming. I’ll speak to him and other coaches for stories about the human side of the athletes. And I always try to make sure I’ve got all my outfits ready a couple of weeks beforehand. I know it sounds pathetic, but I want to feel good. You retired in 2013 at the age of 23. Do you still swim every day? I wish! I go once a week on a Sunday morning and do 2km. I don’t go fast, I use it as an opportunity to put my phone away and chill out. It’s nice because I loved the sport, not necessarily the racing. Have you taught your children to swim? My eight-year-old is fully swimming. My three-year-old has armbands on, but he won’t listen to me. I try. I’ll say, “I told you exactly the same thing as your swimming teacher!” You’re passionate that kids must learn to swim... Yes. In a pool it’s warm, you’re in swimming gear, you’ve got your goggles on and you can stand up or get to a wall. It’s different if you’ve fallen into a river or a lake, or you’re fully clothed. It’s vital the access is there. Too many pools have closed in the UK since Covid. Should the government step in? Council buildings that cost £25 million to set up are not the future of swimming. No council can afford that. We’ve got to be more creative with venues across the country, whether it’s in hotel pools, in gym pools, in school pools. What wider impact does lack of access to pools have? It’s going to have a knock-on effect with the Olympics. We’re really strong now and I think we’ll pick up lots of medals in Paris, but we’re going to see fewer in the future, maybe after the LA Games in 2028, because pools have shut.
Fawziyah Javed's mother on why she wanted murder trial shown on Channel 4's The Push
Fawziyah Javed was 17 weeks pregnant when her husband killed her. Her mother tells Radio Times why she wanted his murder trial shown on TV.
Fawziyah Javed was 17 weeks pregnant with her first child when she was murdered on 2 September 2021. A “beautiful soul” with a contagious laugh, the lawyer was pushed off Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh by her husband two days before her 32nd birthday and fell 50ft to her death. Today, her mother Yasmin is broken by the death of her only child. The notion that the passing of time could one day soften her pain is proving cruel and false. “It’s getting harder and harder,” she says, tears falling. Talking about Fawziyah is difficult, but Yasmin wants to tell her daughter’s story to highlight the blight of domestic violence, hidden behind so many front doors across Britain. “If I can tell people how much this has destroyed me and my family’s life, his actions – it can make a difference,” she says. “If it can happen to Fawziyah, it can happen to anyone.” Fawziyah “was very clever, very articulate, independent and strong. She knew her rights as a woman.” And, Yasmin adds: “She helped convict him." Shortly before she died among gorse bushes on the Edinburgh beauty spot while on a mini-break with her husband, Kashif Anwar, Fawziyah told a female police officer what had happened. “He pushed me,” she said, because she’d tried to end her relationship with him. In pain, with multiple injuries, she asked whether she was going to die, whether her baby was going to die, and why Anwar had treated her the way that he did. Anwar, 29, an optical assistant from Pudsey near Leeds, claimed he had slipped and bumped into his wife after taking a selfie, causing her to fall, but in April 2023 he was found guilty of murdering Fawziyah and causing the death of her unborn child. His trial at the High Court in Edinburgh was filmed, with Fawziyah’s family’s support, for Channel 4’s two-part documentary, The Push: Murder on the Cliff. Despite Anwar being sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars, Yasmin says it’s her family in Leeds who are serving the real life sentence. “He’s in prison, but he’s still alive. He’s living, breathing and allowed phone calls and visitors. We’re the ones with the real life sentence. We’ll be in pain and grief and in darkness until our last breath.” Anwar’s abusive nature wasn’t obvious at first. He and Fawziyah first met when she accompanied her mother to an appointment to buy new glasses. Their relationship began after they met each other again, and Anwar told her she was the kind of woman he wanted to marry – which they did on Christmas Day 2020. He came across as “very charming, very charismatic, polite and well-mannered,” says Yasmin, but “he was a Jekyll-and-Hyde character”. Anwar soon became possessive, abusive and hot-tempered. View Green Video on the source website Fawziyah collected evidence of her husband’s coercive and controlling behaviour, which formed the pillar of the prosecution case at the trial. It was revealed that she’d told police that Anwar held a pillow over her face and punched it repeatedly, and on another occasion had knocked her unconscious in a graveyard. In one call, at Ramadan, which she recorded while staying at her mother’s house, he told his wife: “You’re a disease in everyone’s life, the sooner you’re dead, the sooner you’re out of my life, it’ll be better.” On average, two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales, according to the charity Refuge. One in four women will be impacted by domestic abuse and leaving can be the most dangerous time for a victim of domestic violence. For Yasmin, it is “heart-wrenching” every time she hears of a woman murdered by a partner or ex-partner. “It’s not just her life that is taken; many, many lives are taken and destroyed.” In The Push, Fawziyah’s magnetic personality shines through. The documentary plays footage from her phone, showing the 31-year-old laughing, beaming. Rightly, it doesn’t focus on Anwar, who declined to take the stand at his trial and who, the judge said in his sentencing statement, had showed no remorse. Fawziyah was a solicitor working in employment law, but she also mentored vulnerable children and helped the homeless. In a short space of time, she gave so much. “Can you imagine if she had been allowed to live, how much she would have done?” says Yasmin. In Edinburgh, Fawziyah was buying time and planning to return to her parents’ home, where she would raise her child, her mother says. But when Yasmin messaged her daughter on 2 September 2021, there was no reply. At 5am the next day, police knocked on her door to tell her that her daughter had died. With her only child and unborn grandchild taken from her, Yasmin says she doesn’t have a life. “I’m just existing. I’m in pain every single waking second of the day. If I’m really honest, I just want to go to sleep and never wake up. But I can’t go down that road. I have to keep pushing through. It’s just about pushing through time. “She was everything: our life, our heartbeat, the glue that kept the family together. She was the centre of our world. My only child. She was more than a daughter. She was my best friend.” The Push: Murder on the Cliff airs on Channel 4 on Sunday 3rd March and Monday 4th March at 9pm. Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. 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BBC commentator John Murray on World Cup 2022, Gareth Southgate's strongest XI and FIFA controversy
Radio Times caught up with BBC commentator John Murray ahead of his work at the Qatar World Cup 2022.
The World Cup has arrived and TV crews are touching down in Qatar ahead of the biggest sports tournament on the planet. The global media's lenses are fixating on the Gulf State nation, more so than ever before, with the BBC among the broadcasters set to roll out extensive live coverage in the weeks to come. Stalwart commentator John Murray is a key part of BBC 5 Live, set to paint pictures of the beautiful game into British households via radio airwaves. We caught up with Murray prior to the tournament for his thoughts on England, what Gareth Southgate told him about his strongest team and the very notion of hosting the tournament in Qatar. For more World Cup features check out: World Cup 2022 kits ranked | World Cup 2022 TV schedule | World Cup 2022 fixtures | Best players in the world 2022 How do you prepare? JM: Normally we’d have more time. I’ll be watching teams, like Iran, that I don’t watch week-in, week-out. Covering England, I try to remind myself of the recent history but also the long history. I’ve been re-reading Bobby Charlton’s biography that goes back to the '50s! Who will win the World Cup? JM: At the moment I’m leaning towards Brazil or Argentina, maybe France. Will England and Wales make it through? JM: I’d like to think that they’d both but it’s a funny group I think with Iran and the United States. There are an awful lot of unknowns in that group. Anything can happen. Does Southgate know his best team? JM: I speak to him on a regular basis and I’ll frequently ask him this sort of question and he’ll always say, “If the match being played tomorrow I’ll know exactly the team I’d pick”. Which player will emerge as a superstar? JM: I think England’s chances will be massively enhanced if they get the most out of Phil Foden. What do you make of the FIFA statement about focusing on the football? JM: I was thinking back to the time when the envelope was originally opened and I felt at the time, I don’t feel this is right for a whole variety of reasons. And at that stage we didn’t know a fraction of what we do now about all the political aspects of it, the human rights issue. Once the football begins… there will be the usual drama we get with football tournaments but that doesn’t mean to say we should lose sight of the issues that are involved and surrounding this. Across our programming on 5 Live, also within the sports programming and football commentaries, we want to make it clear that we are aware what we are in and we know what we’re getting into and we are keeping our eyes wide open. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.