Loose Ends

BBC Radio 4
  • 4.3 (14)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy

  1. 4D AGO

    Beverley Knight, Keala Settle, Michaela Strachan, Ross Noble, Melvyn Hayes

    Joining Clive this week are the actress and singer Keala Settle, who's starring in a newly re-imagined production of John Ransom Phillips' Mrs President. Presenter Michaela Strachan is heading off across the country with her show Not Just A Wild Life, to celebrate 40 years of her career in television. Comedian Ross Noble joins us mid-tour to delve into his Cranium of Curiosities. Star of stage and screen Melvyn Hayes brings along his new autobiography It Ain't Half Late Mum. And there's music from Beverley Knight, who's about to grace the stage in the West End premiere of Marie and Rosetta. Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Elizabeth Foster

    39 min

  2. JAN 31

    Marcus Brigstocke, Ashley Storrie, Louise Welsh, Stuart Maconie, Rum Ragged, Hen Hoose Collective

    Stuart Maconie is in Glasgow for the city's annual folk, roots and world music festival - Celtic Connections. He's joined by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, whose tour Vitruvian Mango sees him trying to figure out what it is to be a man, and why he feels like more of one when his wife asks him to reach something from a high shelf. Ashley Storrie will be chatting all about the new series of her award-winning BBC show Dinosaur. Autistic palaeontologist Nina is knee-deep in mud on an Isle of Wight dig site, living the dream. Well, either that or she's desperately missing reality tv marathons on her own sofa with some sausage rolls. In writer Louise Welsh's latest novel The Cut Up, Glasgow auctioneer Rilke is once again drawn in to drama, murder and detective work, as he curses his very loyal but very troublesome friends. With performances from Newfoundland folk band Rum Ragged who are keeping the music of their Canadian island home alive. Plus Glasgow-based female and non-binary music collective Hen Hoose share a track from new album The Twelve. Producer: Caitlin Sneddon Production Coordinator: Lauren Stewart Engineers: Andrew Hay, Fiona Johnstone, Sean Mullervy

    37 min

  3. JAN 24

    Nigel Havers, Rosalie Minnitt, Mike Wozniak, Dan Gillespie Sells, Stealing Sheep

    Joining Stuart for this week's Loose Ends are actor Nigel Havers, who tells us about his remarkable shepherd's pies and the sex appeal of Mrs Thatcher. Comedy writer and performer Rosalie Minnitt on how dreaming of cows and seeing moonlit owls doesn't bode terribly well. Comedian Mike Wozniak on how a luxuriant moustache can help balance out an underdeveloped lower face. And there's music from Dan Gillespie Sells, performing a song by his band The Feeling, and Liverpool's electro-pop trio Stealing Sheep, with their track GLO. Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Elizabeth Foster

    35 min
  4. The Charlatans, Stuart Maconie, Jill Halfpenny, Ian Smith, Jess Robinson

    JAN 17

    The Charlatans, Stuart Maconie, Jill Halfpenny, Ian Smith, Jess Robinson

    Stuart Maconie's tiptoeing the line between dark and light in this week's Loose Ends. When she won Strictly Jill Halfpenny got the highest ever score for her sequin studded jive, but there's not a glitterball to be seen in her latest role as the traumatised mum Eve in the dark psychological thriller Girl Taken, which also stars Alfie Allen as the creepiest teacher you'd never hope to meet. Ian Smith is a comedian who mines his own anxieties for his art - be that his Radio 4 series called "Ian Smith is Stressed", the unintentionally hilarious news from his hometown in the Northern News Podcast or his new tour, "Footspa Half Empty". The comic, actor and Dead Ringers impressionist Jess Robinson's very funny and also very sad new memoir contrasts her own twentysomething exploits as a stage ingenue with her Jewish Grandmother's diaries at the same age - Life Is Rosi: Grandma, Me and Our Diaries at 23. Grandma Rosi loved music, boyfriends and having a laugh too but was enduring Germany during the rise of Hitler at the same time. And as they head out on tour, we have performance from The Charlatan's new album We Are Love. Producer: Olive Clancy Assistant Producer: Samuel Nixon Technical Producers: John Cole and Mark Ward Production Coordintor: Pete Liggins

    36 min

  5. JAN 10

    Alice Roberts, Amir El-Masry, Rob Auton, Esther Manito, Cast

    Joining Stuart Maconie for this week's Loose Ends are Professor Alice Roberts with her book Domination, which takes a deep dig into the heart of the Roman Empire. Comedian and poet Rob Auton is about to tour with his show CAN: The Story of a Man Called Can...he's here to tell us all he can about that. Actor Amir El-Masry is starring in the new film Giant as the boxer Prince Naseem Hamed, and he joins Loose Ends to talk technique, training and working with Pierce Brosnan and Sylvester Stallone. The comedian Esther Manito drops into the studio mid-tour to bring her humorous take on what she calls a "very undignified period of life". And there's music from Cast who are about to release their new album Yeah Yeah Yeah at the end of January. Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Elizabeth Foster

    33 min

  6. JAN 3

    Sally Magnusson, Ray Bradshaw, Grado, Clive Anderson, Nathan Evans x SAINT PHNX, Mairi Campbell

    Clive Anderson is joined in Glasgow by broadcaster and author Sally Magnusson, whose latest novel breathes new life into stories told to her as a child by her Icelandic father. She brings together modern day Orkney and the Norse myth of Hel in The Shapeshifter's Daughter. In 2017 Ray Bradshaw became the first comedian to perform simultaneously in English and in sign language. In his upcoming tour CODA, he returns to tales of his parents and the experience of growing up as A Child of Deaf Adults. Grado has many a feather in his cap - wrestler, Two Doors Down star, presenter - and he is currently brightening up panto season in Jock and the Beanstalk (oh no he isn't!). Plus music from Nathan Evans x SAINT PHNX, and Mairi Campbell. Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Caitlin Sneddon

    35 min
  7. Maisie Adam; Elizabeth Alker; Jing Lusi; Stuart Maconie; Thea Gilmore; Singing In the Rain

    12/27/2025

    Maisie Adam; Elizabeth Alker; Jing Lusi; Stuart Maconie; Thea Gilmore; Singing In the Rain

    There's plenty of festive energy left with Stuart Maconie and guests in the Loose Ends twixtmas studio: Taskmaster champion Maisie Adams tells us how she got in touch with her previously hidden competition-demon on the show, her highly-flammable competition outfit and that nailbiting finish, as well as revving up for a new tour in 2026. ITV's hit drama Red Eye is back for a second season on New Year's Day and its star Jing Lusi tells us about reprising her role as the kickboxing DI Hanna Li. She thinks DI Li would not approve of her penchant for Romcoms and fitness avoidance. And Radio 3's Elizabeth Alker outlines how rock and pop musicians from The Beatles to Radiohead to Manic Street Preachers owe a debt to classical music with tales from her new book Everything We Do Is Music. She also has tales of her rockstar Yorkshire terrier Terry who rules the roost at her house in December and well, all year round really. Plus inspiring music for the turning of the year from Thea Gilmore and from Carly Mercedes Dyer singing You Are My Lucky Star from the musical Singing in the Rain. Producer: Olive Clancy Assistant producer: Sam Nixon Technical producers: John Cole & John Benton Production coordinator: Pete Liggins

    37 min

  8. 12/20/2025

    Gyles Brandreth, Carrie Grant, Simon Evans, Lisa Faulkner, The Unthanks

    Stuart Maconie presents the Loose Ends festive Christmas special, recorded in front of an audience in the BBC's Philharmonic Studio at MediaCity. King of the Christmas jumper, Gyles Brandreth brings his book 'Somewhere, A Boy And A Bear' - a biography of AA Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh. He regales us with stories of Christopher Robin and of a surprising encounter with a Rolling Stone. Carrie Grant tells us all about the book she's written with her husband David, 'Joy To The World', which explores the stories behind iconic Christmas songs, including Stay Another Day, Last Christmas and Gaudete. Lisa Faulkner is returning to the stage for the first time in 21 years, as she's about to star in new stage adaptation of the hit 90s movie Single White Female alongside Kym Marsh. We hear about her upcoming epic tour, as well as her controversial take on the role of Yorkshire Puddings on a Christmas dinner. Comedian Simon Evans takes a break from his current tour 'Staring At The Sun' to talk Coleridge, James Joyce and, of course, Bernard Manning... There's music from The Unthanks as they perform 'The Cherry Tree Carol' and the beautiful winter song 'Hawthorn'. Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Elizabeth Foster

    35 min
See All (470)

Ratings & Reviews

4.3
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    470
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    Loose Ends

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