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490 episodes — Page 3 of 10
28/04/2023
Andrea Catherwood is joined by Colin Paterson, Head of Audio, BBC Wales and the West of England. Colin explains why Saturday Live and other Radio 4 programmes have moved to Cardiff and responds to listeners’ comments.Writer Al Smith gives an insight into how he writes the storylines for the award-winning Radio 4 drama Life Lines, set in an ambulance control room. And in our Vox Box this week, a monarchist and a republican discuss The Today Debate: Do we need a Monarchy?Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
21/04/2023
Andrea Catherwood is joined by Julia McKenzie, Radio 4 Commissioner for Comedy and Entertainment. Julia lifts the lid on how she commissions comedy, reveals new shows coming up on Radio 4 and responds to listeners' comments.Also listeners give their views on the BBC's coverage of the monarchy in the lead up to the coronation of King Charles III.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
14/04/2023
The chilling investigative BBC podcast A Very British Cult is top of the podcast charts for the second week running, Andrea Catherwood is joined by presenter Catrin Nye to explore its success and and we hear what listeners have to say.Glaswegian Bhangra aficionados Hardeep Singh and Bobby B pay homage to Archive on 4’s The British Bhangra Explosion in the Vox Box.And BBC Ireland correspondent Chris Page discusses reporting from his home turf in a week when Northern Ireland has been in the news with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the visit of President Joe Biden.A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
07/04/2023
Andrea Catherwood is joined by Michael Blastland and Sir Andrew Dilnot, authors of a review commissioned by the BBC to investigate if its coverage on government spending was prone to bias. They discuss the results and we hear listeners' views.As the jazz programme disappears from BBC Radio Scotland and new programmes for classical and piping feature fewer live sessions, we hear what musicians and listeners have to say. Professor Simon McKerrell, head of Media and Music at Glasgow Caledonian University, tells Andrea about the impact on the wider music community. One thing that annoys Lord Blunkett is the sound quality or lack of it on BBC Radio News programmes. Radio 4 Controller Mohit Bakaya responds to his and listeners' concerns.A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio
31/03/2023
The programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience
24/03/2023
Presenter Josh Baker and Senior News Editor Jonathan Aspinwall join Andrea Catherwood to respond to listeners’ comments on I’m Not a Monster: The Shamima Begum Story podcast.Jeff Smith, Head of Music at Radio 2, answers audience concerns and gives an insight into the station’s music policy. And Jeremy Bowen, International Editor BBC News, discusses his report for the Today programme on the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
17/03/2023
Andrea Catherwood and Chief Executive of UK Music Jamie Njoku-Goodwin discuss how the audience will be affected by BBC plans to axe the BBC Singers and reduce staff posts in BBC orchestras in England.Radio 4’s Antisocial presenter Adam Fleming and producer Lucy Proctor talk about the programme and respond to listeners’ comments.Refugees Andriy and Olga are in the Vox Box to give us their take on how the Today programme covers the war in Ukraine.And we hear a selection of listeners. comments on the issues of impartiality and independence at the BBC.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
10/03/2023
Andrea Catherwood is back with a new series of the programme that holds the BBC to account on behalf of the radio audience.Matt Deegan, Creative Director at Folder Media, gives the lowdown on Ken Bruce’s departure from Radio 2. And Feedback Special Correspondent Rob Crossan takes a look at how Ken’s parting shots compare with DJs of the past.Simon Webb, BBC Head of Orchestras and Choirs, responds to listeners' comments on plans to scrap the BBC Singers and reduce staff posts with English orchestras.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
23/12/2022
Listeners get the chance to speak directly to the Radio 4 Controller, Mohit Bakaya, as he joins Andrea Catherwood to answer questions and comments from the audience.We hear about your highlights and lowlights over the past year and we get a sneak peak at Mohit's plans for Radio 4 in 2023.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
16/12/2022
BBC News International Editor Jeremy Bowen joins Andrea Catherwood to talk about his experiences reporting in Ukraine and respond to listener comments on how the BBC is covering the conflict.Listeners give us their views on Mishal Husain’s interview with RMT leader Mick Lynch on the Today programme.We hear from Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Paul Cornell, writers of the new Radio 4 drama Splinter Cell: Firewall, set in the world of a best-selling video game.And Mohit Bakaya, Controller of Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra, responds to listeners’ questions and comments on the schedule changes at Radio 4 Extra.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
09/12/2022
Andrea Catherwood is joined by novelist Claire Allan who has been adding her voice to the protests about the proposed cuts to Radio Foyle in Northern Ireland.And Three Counties Local Radio presenter Edward Adoo shares his concerns that the reorganisation of Local Radio in England is going to affect programmes aimed at African, Caribbean and Asian audiences.As the competition in Qatar pushes towards a conclusion, football fan Rob Crossan tells us why the 5 Live radio commentary has been a winner for him at the World Cup.We hear what listeners have to say about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Reith Lecture, the first in this year’s series.And making an impact on our inbox this week was Justin Webb’s interview with RMT leader Mick Lynch on the Today programme. Andrea hears what listeners had to say.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
25/11/2022
The Welsh national football team has made the World Cup for the first time in 64 years. Graham Davies, Managing Editor, Sport at BBC Wales joins Andrea Catherwood to answer listeners’ comments and discuss the challenges of reporting on football and the issues surrounding it at the World Cup in Qatar.The Radio 4 drama Dear Harry Kane by writer James Fritz highlighted the plight of the migrant workers who built the stadiums in Qatar. The play centres around Nisal, played by Hiran Abeysekera, a life-long Spurs fan from Sri Lanka. He travels to Qatar to work on the construction of the stadiums where his hero, Harry Kane, will one day play. But nothing can prepare Nisal for the working conditions he faces. It struck a chord with many of you. Salford flatmates Gabe Brindle and Yonna Rogers are our listeners in the Vox Box. With local radio facing new cuts to programmes, they review BBC Radio Lancashire’s Garry Scott.And comedian turned copper Alfie Moore from Radio 4 comedy It’s a Fair Cop faces a listener interrogation.A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
18/11/2022
Radio 4 series Disaster Trolls investigates how victims of the Manchester Arena bombing and other UK terror attacks have been targeted by conspiracy theorists. Andrea Catherwood puts listeners' comments to BBC Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring and recovering conspiracist Brent Lee.Assistant Editor, BBC Monitoring, Olga Robinson joins Andrea to talk about her work helping News teams report on disinformation and conspiracy theories.Also, the BBC has been receiving letters from listeners since it started broadcasting 100 years ago. Former BBC Producer Colin Shindler has collected classics for his book “I am Sure I Speak for Many Others" and he shares them with Andrea.And we hear what listeners have had to say about BBC Radio coverage of the recent Just Stop Oil protests on the M25.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
11/11/2022
Fi Glover joins Andrea Catherwood for a chat about the end of the Fortunately podcast, and life at and beyond the BBC.In the week of the US mid-term elections, Jonathan Aspinwall, Senior News Editor, and Marianna Spring, the BBC's Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent join Andrea to discuss listeners views on the new series of the Americast podcast.We have more comments from the audience on the planned cuts to BBC Local Radio programmes and, as a former local radio presenter, Fi Glover also gives her view on the matter,And Feedback listeners Eirene Houston and Lesley Atkins are in the Vox Box this week to listen to the Radio 4 drama documentary Exit Game which explores the ultra-competitive world of the professional men’s football youth system.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
04/11/2022
Andrea Catherwood puts listeners’ comments on the proposed BBC Local Radio cuts to Jason Horton, Acting Director BBC England.Jeremy Howe, Editor of The Archers, and actor Maddie Leslay, who plays Chelsea Horrobin, answer listeners’ comments on the big storyline in recent weeks - Chelsea’s pregnancy.We hear audience views on former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage’s appearance on The World at One to discuss immigration.And Radio 3’s Soundscape of a Century, celebrating the BBC’s 100th anniversary, featured music and audio from the BBC Archive. Listeners tell us what they thought of the marathon eight-hour broadcast.A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
28/10/2022
Andrea Catherwood explores what it’s like to report on an unprecedented week in politics with Deputy Political Editor of BBC News, Vicki Young, who responds to audience comments on the news coverage. Alexei Sayle joins Andrea to discuss impartiality in comedy and listeners give us their views on his Imaginary Sandwich Bar, back for a fourth series on Radio 4. Toby Jones and his brother Rupert are in the Vox Box this week to listen to their dad, actor Freddy Jones’s Desert Island Discs, recently uncovered in a haul of more than 90 lost editions of the programme.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
21/10/2022
Andrea Catherwood explores True Crime on Radio 4 in discussion with Winifred Robinson, the presenter of The Boy in The Woods, and commissioning editor Dan Clarke. As celebrations continue for the BBC's 100th anniversary, licence fee payers air their views on its future. Also, listeners react to that Miriam Margolyes moment on the Today programme and our Vox Box reviewers Cushla and Lee give their thoughts on the World Service Outlook series, Hip-hop, lies and the ultimate prize. It tells the extraordinary story of two Scottish rappers Silibil n' Brains who made it in the music business by living a lie.Presented by Andrea Catherwood Produced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
14/10/2022
In the first programme of a new series, Andrea Catherwood discusses BBC coverage of the Queen’s funeral with Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond and the BBC’s Director of Journalism, Jonathan Munro.Kate Bush’s musical renaissance featured in a recent Archive on 4. We put two young listeners in our Vox Box to review Kate Bush: The Power of Strange Things.And a panel of listeners from across the UK give us their take on the future of the BBC.Presented by Andrea CatherwoodProduced by Gill Davies A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4
26/08/2022
There are 1.4 billion people in China, and one BBC correspondent in Feedback this week, Stephen McDonell, explains how he tries to find out what is really going on in that vast country.Lewis MacLeod of Radio 4’s Dead Ringers explains how he manages to morph seamlessly from Boris Johnson to Donald Trump mid-sentence.And, as he presents the programme for the last time, a listener puts questions from the audience to Roger Bolton on his 23 years at the helm.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
19/08/2022
A BBC correspondent recently returned from Afghanistan, Yogita Limaye, tells Roger Bolton what it's like to report from the country, and what restrictions are placed on her by the Taliban.The former government minister Rory Stewart explains what he is hoping to achieve in his Radio 4 series The History of Argument.And two listeners are up with the lark to listen to Farming Today on Radio 4. Was it worth it?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
12/08/2022
Radio 4 Drama Commissioner Alison Hindell answers comments from listeners, discusses the changing nature of audio drama and responds to criticism of a drama about David Cameron written by his former director of communications. There has been strong reaction to comments made on the Today programme about the Hillsborough disaster, which were not robustly challenged by the presenter.And a husband and wife critique the World Service programme and podcast, Dear Daughter. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
05/08/2022
Can you believe BBC weather forecasters when they link extreme temperatures with climate change?BBC Meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker discusses reporting of the recent heatwave and the linking of it to climate change, as well as answering comments from a listener comparing it to the summer of ‘76.The BBC Scotland Editor James Cook explains how he manages to remain impartial, as the independence issue heats up again north of the border.And Jeffrey Boakye tells us whether he has added to his own playlist as a result of co-presenting that eclectic show, Add To Playlist, with Cerys Matthews.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
29/07/2022
Do the Culture wars have to be fought to the death? Can either side be persuaded to listen calmly to the other’s point of view? That's what Radio 4 is trying to achieve through its new series AntiSocial. The Editor Emma Rippon explains why, and how.Is lunchtime an appropriate time to discuss menstruation on Radio 4? The Presenter of 28ish Days Later, India Rakusen, tells Roger Bolton why she thinks it is. And is there anything to laugh at in community social media? Two listeners give their views on Radio 4’s Welcome to the Neighbourhood.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
22/07/2022
The BBC’s Environment Analyst tells Roger Bolton he is scared about what is happening to the climate. Roger Harrabin, who is shortly to leave the Corporation, gives Feedback a frank and revealing interview about climate change, the way politicians are dealing with it, and the way the BBC covers it.Adam Fleming talks about his new eight part podcast and series on Radio 4 about the origins and downfall of Boris Johnson. Is it too much and too late?And listeners compare live theatre and radio drama.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Alun Beach Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
15/07/2022
Are BBC journalists enjoying the Conservative party leadership crisis a little too much? Even delighting in the demise of Boris Johnson? That is the suspicion of some Feedback listeners. Roger Bolton puts this accusation to the Today Programme’s Justin Webb, who also discusses impartiality and what it is like to be in the middle of a political maelstrom.Roger Mosey the former Editorial Director of the BBC gives his thoughts on the proposed move of Radio 4 Extra to online only. And why remake T S Eliot’s The Waste Land as a drama, 100 years on?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Alun Beach Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
08/07/2022
Why did Emily Maitlis, the former Newsnight presenter, want to make eight programmes about an American official who died 50 years ago?Roger Bolton asks her about her Radio 4 series which recounted the career of J Edgar Hoover, the man who made presidents tremble and became probably the most powerful non-elected official in the USA. Was he the ‘deep state’ personified?Also, Dr Michael Moseley of Radio 4’s Just One Thing answers a critic who says his advice to eat more oily fish could come at a high environmental price.And in a similar vein, should we be concerned about the future of peat bogs?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
20/05/2022
What is it like being the BBC’s Defence Correspondent during the Russian Ukrainian conflict? How does he work out what is fact and what is propaganda? Jonathan Beale answers listeners’ questions. Listeners also give their views on where inevitable cuts are to be made at the Corporation.And do young farmers find the Archers storylines credible?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
13/05/2022
Should music that accompanies video games be played at the BBC Proms? On Feedback this week the man in charge of the Proms, Radio 3 Controller Alan Davey, will explain why that sort of music forms part of this year’s programme. Also, whether any Russian music or musicians will be taking part. He also responds to listeners’ questions and explains how he plans to get more young people listening to his network.And listeners respond to the censoring of Bob Dylan’s anti-racist classic, Hurricane. Should the N-word ever be heard on the airwaves?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
06/05/2022
Are there some words which should never be broadcast, even if they are used by Bob Dylan in one of his songs?BBC Radio 6 Music has edited the use of the n-word from his 1976 anti-racist song Hurricane, about the imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.In Feedback this week, Sir Trevor Phillips and Marverine Cole give contrasting views about the use of this most offensive of words, particularly in music.And can two non-radio listening music fans be won over by Radio 4's Add to Playlist, hosted by Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
29/04/2022
What is going on in the mind of Vladimir Putin? A new Radio 4 series has been trying to answer that question. Roger Bolton asks the Presenter of ‘Putin’, Jonny Dymond, if he thinks he knows, and puts listener reaction to himNeil MacGregor discusses his latest Radio 4 series The Museums that Make us. What does he think museums are for?And two non-radio listeners are exposed to a French and Saunders radio comedy. Did they enjoy the experience?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
22/04/2022
After almost 40,000 questions over 75 years, is Gardeners’ Question Time in danger of running out of new questions? The programme's presenter Kathy Clugston gives an answer to that, and a range of other listener comments.And what do Radio 4 listeners make of the station’s science programmes?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
15/04/2022
What can the BBC’s latest news podcast Ukrainecast offer listeners which its news programmes cannot? Roger Bolton puts that question to the podcast’s Producer Jonathan Aspinwall, and also asks him if his podcast is one-sided.The Producer of Radio 4’s Lent Talks Dan Tierney explains why we need to talk about dying and, 40 years after the Falkland’s War, what do the Out of Your Comfort Zone listeners already know about a war they can’t remember?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
01/04/2022
Radio 4’s Tom Sutcliffe responds to listener criticism of Front Row's discussion on the views of JK Rowling.The presenter of Money Box, Paul Lewis, talks about the appalling financial frauds his programme has been investigating.And is the musician Gary Barlow a good interviewer? Two listeners give their verdict.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
25/03/2022
As the airwaves and social media are flooded with disinformation, how can listeners find out what is really happening in Ukraine, and see through the conspiracy of lies pouring out of Russia? Roger Bolton talks to the BBC World Service’s Disinformation Editor Rebecca Skippage, about the darkening fog of war.Also, John Wilson talks about Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, and how he tries to get to the heart of the creative process.And has the new Radio 4 adaptation of the award-winning TV serial Our Friends In The North made friends with our listeners?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
18/03/2022
Are there some subjects radio comedy programmes should steer clear of? For example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The BBC executive in charge of both The News Quiz and The Now Show Julia McKenzie explains why those topical comedies sought to use humour as the prism for this dreadful tragedy.Roger Bolton also examines the commercial logic behind the BBC’s decision to restrict access to its podcasts.And the Out Of Your Comfort Zone listeners discuss the merits of a Radio 4 docudrama.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
26/12/2021
Adam Fleming is the main presenter of the BBC’s most popular podcast Newscast. He explains to Roger Bolton what he thinks makes it work.The Archers is the most popular programme on BBC Sounds, and Annabelle Dowler who plays one of its most loved characters, Kirsty, talks about the challenges her character has faced in the last few years.And, have any of the Out of Your Comfort Zone contributors actually changed their listening habits since last appearing on Feedback?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
17/12/2021
One of Radio 4’s Factual Commissioning Editors Dan Clarke explains his decision to axe the Film Programme and discusses its replacement Screenshot.He also talks about the new music series Add to Playlist, and why it is broadcast on Radio 4 when so many other BBC networks are devoted to music.And two listeners give their views on another of his commissions Jon Ronson’s Things Fell Apart.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
10/12/2021
The audience for the BBC World Service is booming but misinformation and conspiracy theories are flourishing as well.Roger Bolton talks to the outgoing Controller of BBC World Service English, Mary Hockaday, about those concerns and the increasing threats to the lives of journalists.And Jane Garvey explains how she extracts such frank and intimate revelations in her Life Changing series, which includes a former nun describing how she learned about sex at 60.The Out of Your Comfort Zone listeners assess a 5 Live podcast and series presented by husband-and-wife team, Greg James and Bella Mackie, about love and marriage.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
03/12/2021
Is BBC Radio 2 so concerned about recruiting younger listeners that it is neglecting its loyal, older audience?In Feedback this week, Roger Bolton puts this and other concerns from listeners to the Head of Station, Helen Thomas, and asks whether Radio 2’s remit has changed.And Martha Kearney, Presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, gives the behind-the-scenes story on being interrupted live on air by a fire alarm and obliged to flee the studio.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
26/11/2021
Why did World at One decide to carry a long interview with one of the brothers of Ghislaine Maxwell? WATO’s Editor Natasha Shallice responds to listeners’ criticisms in an interview with Roger Bolton.Also did Radio 4’s You and Yours do enough to fact check the claims made when it put antivaxxers on the air?And two listeners give their verdict on a podcast about the rise, fall and trial of the Fake Heiress Anna Delvey.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
19/11/2021
In a programme broadcast during COP 26, Radio 4’s The Food Programme looked at “how meat and dairy can play a positive role for the future of people and the planet”. Did it analyse the argument or promote it, and did presenter Dan Saladino need to record from inside an abattoir in such graphic detail? He answers these questions and others from listeners.One of the BBC’s key podcast commissioners talks about whether she thinks there is a future for broadcast radio.And two listeners have a sparky reaction to an interview with the film maker Mike Leigh?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
12/11/2021
Is the climate crisis so serious that the BBC should start campaigning about it? As COP26 comes to a conclusion, that’s one of the questions from listeners put to the BBC’s outgoing Science Editor David Shukman.And Feedback tries to seduce two listeners with some unusual classical music on a Radio 3 programme, did it work?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
05/11/2021
Is the BBC’s journalism impartial? The Government doesn’t think so, which is tricky for the Corporation as it negotiates the next licence fee settlement.The BBC has now produced a ten-point plan to improve matters, Roger Bolton examines it with a member of the BBC Executive Committee, Rhodri Talfan Davies, who is also the BBC’s Director of Nations.Roger also hears from the BBC broadcaster Stephen Nolan on why he is investigating his own employer, and why he is frustrated with the Corporation’s non-co-operation.And was a Radio 4 programme called White Mischief, truly mischievous? Listeners give their views.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
29/10/2021
Is the country over the worst of the latest surge in Covid cases, and is there an end in sight to the pandemic? If anyone at the BBC knows the answer to these questions it is surely Health Editor Hugh Pym. Roger Bolton asks him for reassurance - will he get it?Radio 6 Music’s ratings are going up, so why is the station changing its presenter line-up?And can a cricket and crime podcast attract two radio listeners, one of whom doesn’t listen to any BBC radio?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
22/10/2021
After ten years of programmes is there still life in The Life Scientific? Presenter Jim Al-Khalili joins Roger Bolton to discuss the programme and science coverage in general on BBC radio. Feedback has been copied-in to an email from the BBC’s Director General responding to a listener critical of Today’s Nick Robinson. Discover what Tim Davie had to say about the interview in which presenter Nick Robinson told the Prime Minister to ‘stop talking’.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
15/10/2021
'Stop talking!'; that is what Nick Robinson, as presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, told the prime minister on air last week. Was this a necessary tactic or a piece of typically pompous presenter rudeness?In the first Feedback of the new series, listeners give their reactions, and Matthew Parris discusses whether the political interview is now dead in the water.And the commissioner of comedy for Radio 4 defends Richard Osman’s the Birthday Cake Game, after complaints from listeners. Roger Bolton asks Sioned Wiliam will it get recommissioned, and how did she decide on who was to be the new presenter of Just a Minute?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
27/08/2021
Do people exist as more than through their memory? If you lose it, do you cease to exist? That is the question Sir Jonathan Miller wanted to explore shortly before his death.This week, his son William talks to Roger Bolton about the Archive on 4 programme he made about his polymath father - Jonathan Miller: Lost Memories - and why he wanted to carry on investigating memory after his father’s death. Rory Cellan-Jones is soon to leave his job as the BBC’s Technology Correspondent. He explains how he translates complicated stories for a mainstream radio audience.And two listeners review 5 Live’s Your Call with Nicky Campbell. Will they be ringing back?Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
20/08/2021
It would appear that leaders of western governments have been caught napping by the speed of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, but was the BBC also taken by surprise? Jamie Angus, Senior Controller, BBC News Output and Commissioning, answers listeners’ questions on the coverage of events.Also, Matthew Syed talks about his Radio 4 series Sideways, which eschews conventional thinking.And two listeners try out the dazzling - or is it daunting - world of podcasts.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Alun Beach Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
13/08/2021
The BBC’s departing New York correspondent, Nick Bryant, thinks America has stopped being great. Is this perhaps why he is going? Nick discusses audience comments on the BBC's reporting of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and America in general. Should Radio 4’s Front Row have devoted most of a programme to an interview with Sarah, Duchess of York? Some listeners thought the interview about her first adult novel, a Mills and Boon romance, should not have featured on the arts programme at all.And did Radio 4’s Open Country get lost in Windsor Great Park? Two listeners give their verdict.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
06/08/2021
Are a third of us, from both sides of the political spectrum, attracted by authoritarianism? That's a claim made in Radio 4’s The Spark. Roger Bolton asks its presenter Helen Lewis about that claim, and about the sort of sparks she is seeking to create.The series producer of Radio 4's Sunday Worship, Philip Billson, discusses the decision to make an edition of the programme commemorating the anniversary of last year's catastrophic explosion in Beirut.And the Out of Your Comfort Zone listeners get lost in tech speak.Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir ShahA Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4