Woman's Hour

BBC Radio 4
Podcast “Woman's Hour”

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

  1. HACE 15 H

    Dame Tracey Emin, Doreen Soulsby, Dame Maureen Lipman, Young Adult Fiction

    Dame Tracey Emin, one of the most famous artists and leading figures of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s. Hers is a uniquely provocative, confessional style which confronts issues such as trauma of abortion, rape, alcoholism and sexual history. In recent years Tracey has focussed on painting and she has just published her first in-depth exploration of her painted work, simply called Paintings. It coincides with a new exhibition, I followed you to the end, at the White Cube gallery in London, which features mostly paintings that her treatment and recovery from bladder cancer. A man who raped, and stabbed a woman 60 times in Northumberland 27 years ago has been recommended for release by the parole board. Steven Ling was jailed for life in 1998 after murdering Joanne Tulip. Ms Tulip’s mother, Doreen Soulsby has condemned the decision. She shares her story with Anita. Dame Maureen Lipman proposed to her partner, David Turner, as a joke. And he said yes! The two 78-year-olds are now engaged. Dame Maureen joins Anita to tell her the story of how it happened, and why she was the one who proposed. Since this summer, Woman’s Hour has been taking a deep dive into the world of 'genre fiction', the women who write it and the women who read it. We’ve turned the pages of Romantasy; Science fiction; Historical novels; Spy and Thrillers. Today it’s the turn of YA, Young Adult fiction. To discuss the YA genre and what’s in it for women, Anita is joined by Catherine Doyle, co-author of the Twin Crowns trilogy, whose new YA novel, an epic, enemies-to-lovers fantasy, The Dagger and The Flame, is out this month; and Laura Dockrill, author of Lorali and Big Bones.

    57 min
  2. HACE 1 D

    Maternity care, Friends 30th anniversary, Breast implant illness

    Maternity failings at scandal-hit hospitals are becoming more widespread, according to the Care Quality Commission. In a review of 131 maternity units across the NHS in England, 48% have been rated as requiring improvement or inadequate. Anita Rani gets the latest from BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle, and speaks to NHS midwife and author Leah Hazard about whether women can keep themselves safe on maternity wards. On 22 September 1994, the American TV show Friends premiered on NBC. Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross became household names. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Anita speaks to one of the show’s writers and producers, Betsy Borns. Plus, we hear from journalist Emma Loffhagen about why the show still resonates with Gen Z all these years later. Reporter Melanie Abbott joins Anita – she has been investigating breast implant illness. Thousands of women are having their implants removed because they think they are making them sick. We hear from Caroline George who had hers taken out four months ago, and from a doctor and researcher, Prabath Nanayakkara, in the Netherlands who has been running a specific clinic for this for 12 years. He thinks that the UK desperately needs a similar resource. Breast surgeon Steven Thrush will tell us what is happening here in the UK where it seems much harder to get a diagnosis. Stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Lucy Beaumont joins Anita to talk about the next leg of her tour – Lucy Beaumont Live. She’ll tell us about the stories and jokes we can expect on the tour, as well as why she thinks the world of comedy has gone backwards to being male-dominated. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Lottie Garton

    56 min
  3. HACE 2 D

    Saoirse Ronan, Nikki Doucet on women’s football, JoJo, Vaccinations

    Four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan broke into Hollywood at 13 years old with her performance as Briony Tallis in Atonement. She has also appeared as Jo March in Little Women, as the lead actress in Brooklyn and won a Golden Globe for her performance in Lady Bird. She joins Clare McDonnell to discuss her latest role in the film The Outrun in which she plays Rona, a young woman struggling with addiction. Nikki Doucet has been called the most powerful person in English women’s football. She is the newly appointed CEO of the Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd which took over leadership of the two top tiers of women's football from the Football Association this summer. Nikki and her team have big plans to revolutionise the women's game and she joins Clare to tell her about them. The number of children who are fully vaccinated for MMR - measles, mumps and rubella - has fallen to the lowest level in 14 years. According to NHS figures, this year 91.9% of children aged five received one dose of the MMR vaccine and only 83.9% have had two doses. To reach herd immunity – the point where diseases stop spreading - at least 95% per cent of children need to be immunised. Clare discusses the issues with Carly Danesh-Jones, a parent who previously held vaccine hesitancy views and changed her mind, and Dr Vanessa Saliba, a UK Health and Security Agency consultant epidemiologist. It’s been 20 years since the singer, songwriter and actor Joanna Levesque - or JoJo - signed her first record deal at the age of just 12 years old and shot to the top of the pop-and-R&B charts. Her cool-girl appearance and upbeat music with hits such as Leave (Get Out) to Baby It's You earned her millions of fans across the world. She joins Clare to discuss her memoir Over The Influence which delves into the challenges she faced, from her parent’s addiction problems, through to her own struggles growing up in the limelight. Presenter: by Clare McDonnell Produced by Louise Corley

    56 min
  4. HACE 3 D

    Kim Cattrall, Sex offender treatment, At-home cervical screening, Author Sarah Pearse

    The actress Kim Cattrall has starred in films and on stage, but is probably best known for TV series Sex And The City. She is now in a new audio drama, Central Intelligence, which tells the story of the CIA from the perspective of Eloise Page. Eloise joined on the agency’s first day in 1947 and became the highest ranking female officer. Kim joins Clare McDonnell to discuss Eloise, her passion for radio, and the enduring appeal of Samantha Jones. In sentencing Huw Edwards, the former BBC News presenter, for accessing child sexual abuse images, the magistrate said that he did not pose a risk to the public or children, and that an immediate custodial sentence was not necessary because the evidence showed he could be rehabilitated. Edwards must now attend 25 sex offender treatment sessions. We look at how these treatment programmes work and how effective they are proven to be, with Deborah Denis, CEO of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Professor Belinda Winder, Research Director of the Centre for Crime, Offending, Prevention and Engagement at Nottingham Trent University. The number of women taking up NHS cervical screening test invitations has been declining for the last 20 years. Healthwatch England did research with women who were reluctant to accept NHS invitations for screening and found that 73% would do an at-home test instead. A trial done by King’s College London earlier this year found that if self-sample kits were available on the NHS, 400,000 more women would be screened per year. Chief Executive of Healthwatch England Louise Ansari and Dr Anita Lim, lead investigator of the King’s College London trial, join Clare to tell us more. Sarah Pearse is the best-selling author of the Detective Elin Warner trilogy. She recently released the last novel in the series, The Wilds which includes themes of coercive control and was written with advice from the charity Refuge. She talks to Clare about the role fiction can play in highlighting issues of domestic violence and coercive control.

    57 min
  5. HACE 4 D

    Sandi Toksvig, Breast cancer study, Carrie Hope Fletcher

    Writer, comic, theatrical impresario, TV host and weekend chainsaw wielder Sandi Toksvig joins Clare McDonnell to talk about Friends of Dorothy, her first adult novel in 12 years. When Stevie and Amber move into their new home, they are surprised to find that the old woman they bought it from, a cantankerous and outrageous 79-year-old called Dorothy, is still living there. Today marks two years since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran. She’d been arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly and died in police custody. Her death sparked nationwide protests and the birth of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. BBC Verify journalist Reha Kansara talks to Clare about her new reporting on the women who continue to speak out and the horrific consequences they are still suffering. The Breast Cancer Now Generations Study was set up in 2004 to help understand the causes of breast cancer. This 40-year landmark study – which this month reaches its halfway point – is following over 110,000 women to understand why breast cancer develops. Woman’s Hour has been following the project from the start, checking in every decade. Clare is joined by co-leader of the study Professor Amy Berrington and participant Amanda Jones. The trailblazing ballerina, Michaela Mabinty DePrince, has died at the age of 29. A war orphan from Sierra Leone, she was brought to the US by her adopted family and made her way to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Dutch National Ballet, and even performed alongside Beyoncé. We hear an archive interview with Michaela when she spoke to Woman’s Hour about her life and career in 2015. Carrie Hope Fletcher is an author, singer, West End star – and now a new mum. She’s about to start a brand new tour around the UK, called Love Letters, which will feature musical theatre favourites and love letters from the audience. She joins Clare to talk about the tour, what it’s like being a musical theatre mum, and why she's chosen not to put photos of her child online. Presenter: Clare McDonnell Producer: Maryam Maruf Editor: Olivia Bolton Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant

    55 min
  6. HACE 6 D

    Weekend Woman's Hour: Tracy-Ann Oberman, the SEND system, Sarah Owen MP

    Tracy-Ann Oberman has reprised her role as Eastenders’ Chrissie Watts. She talks to Nuala about stepping back into this character after almost two decades, and her recent adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In it, Tracy-Ann plays a female version of the Jewish character, Shylock, and sets the action in 1930s London during the rise of Oswald Mosley, the antisemitic founder of the British Union of Fascists. We look back at Tuesday's special programme, live from the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London, looking at the support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – or SEND as it’s often known in England. Nuala heard from guest panellists including Kellie Bright, an actress in EastEnders but also a mum to a child with SEND, Katie, who is 17 and says she was completely failed by the SEND system, Marsha Martin, the founder and CEO of the charity Black SEN Mamas and the Minister for School Standards, Catherine McKinnell. Visual artist Bharti Kher’s new exhibition, Target Queen at the Southbank Centre, features supersized bindis reimagined from their microscopic form to the macro size worn by the goddess, transforming the brutalist building into a powerful feminine force. Bharti joins Anita to discuss the exhibition. The newly elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Labour MP Sarah Owen, joins Anita Rani on the programme to discuss the remit of her new role and what she hopes to achieve. A new play, The Lightest Element, which has opened at Hampstead Theatre, explores the life and career of astronomer Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, the first person to work out what stars are made of. Anita is joined by actor Maureen Beatie, who plays Cecilia, and the playwright Stella Feehilly.

    57 min
  7. 13 SEPT

    Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, Adoption breakdown, Visual artist Bharti Kher, Fawzia Mirza

    The Chief Executive of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre has stepped down. It follows an independent review which found the centre failed to protect women-only spaces. It was commissioned by Rape Crisis Scotland - after an employment tribunal found the centre in Edinburgh had unlawfully discriminated against an employee - who believed sexual assault victims should be able to choose the sex of those supporting them. Anita Rani hears more from Lorna Gordon, the BBC's Scotland correspondent. Karen Maguire received an out-of-court settlement from South Lanarkshire Council last year after her adoption of a two-year-old boy broke down. She won the payout after her lawyer argued that the council had failed to provide her with sufficient background information on the child and did not support her during the placement. Karen tells Anita why she has decided to speak out. And Anita also hears from Dr Polly Cowan from Scottish Adoption and Fostering, who has separately carried out research into child adoption breakdowns. Visual artist Bharti Kher’s new exhibition, Target Queen at the Southbank Centre, features supersized bindis reimagined from their microscopic form to the macro size worn by the goddess, transforming the brutalist building into a powerful feminine force. Bharti joins Anita to discuss the exhibition. Director Fawzia Mirza joins Anita to talk about her feature film debut, The Queen of My Dreams. Set across Karachi and Canada, the film follows Azra, a queer aspiring actress who clashes with—and ultimately reconciles with—her conservative Pakistani mother. Partly inspired by Fawzia's own life, it explores the bonds between mothers and daughters and how gay brown girls can also have an epic Bollywood-style romance. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

    57 min

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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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