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Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

Radio 4,721 episodes

Episodes

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The Idea of Genius
Adam Rutherford talks to Helen Lewis, Francesca Wade and Dean Van Nguyen
16 Jun 2025,41 mins
Hidden spaces and dangerous places
Tom Sutcliffe talks to Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Danny Dorling and Adele Zeynep Walton.
09 Jun 2025,41 mins
The uses and abuses of the atom
Shahidha Bari talks to Frank Close, Tim Gregory and Baroness Natalie Bennett.
02 Jun 2025,41 mins
Hay Festival: exposing the secrets of rubbish
Tom Sutcliffe at Hay Festival, with Chloe Duckworth, Sarah Gabbott and Saabira Chaudhuri
26 May 2025,42 mins
Mathematics, Symbiosis and Japanese art
Adam Rutherford discusses art, maths and creativity with Marcus du Sautoy.
19 May 2025,42 mins
History: private, personal and political
Tom Sutcliffe talks to Tiffany Jenkins, Geoff Dyer and Lanre Bakare.
12 May 2025,41 mins
Smell – the underrated sense
Adam Rutherford with Jonas Olofsson, Ally Louks and Alan Chalmers.
05 May 2025,42 mins
Advocating for nature
Tom Sutcliffe with Robert Macfarlane, Monica Feria-Tinta and Patrick Galbraith.
28 Apr 2025,41 mins
Christianity and British society
Shahidha Bari with Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley, Bijan Omrani and Lamorna Ash.
21 Apr 2025,42 mins
Impunity and fighting for justice
Tom Sutcliffe talks to Philippe Sands, Kenneth Roth and Lina Sinjab
14 Apr 2025,41 mins
Untangling fact from fiction
Adam Rutherford with Phil Tinline, Rosie Holt and Adam Kucharski.
07 Apr 2025,41 mins
Delusions of grandeur and freedom of speech
Tom Sutcliffe with Grayson Perry, Lionel Shriver and Fara Dabhoiwala
31 Mar 2025,41 mins
Abdulrazak Gurnah on family and resistance
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Samantha Ellis and Jason Allen-Paisant with Shahidha Bari.
24 Mar 2025,41 mins
Lockdown and the Covid generation
Tom Sutcliffe and guests discuss the impact and legacy of Covid lockdown
17 Mar 2025,42 mins
How political ideology affects the brain
Adam Rutherford with Leor Zmigrod, Iain Dale and John Rees.
10 Mar 2025,41 mins
The Great Auk meets Victorian explorers, and zombie ponds
Tom Sutcliffe with Tim Birkhead, Kaliane Bradley and Mark Nowers.
03 Mar 2025,41 mins
Community and industrial decline
Adam Rutherford with Sam Wetherell, Yu Jie and Jack Thorne.
24 Feb 2025,41 mins
Writing and rewriting history
Tom Sutcliffe with Tom Holland, Moudhy Al-Rashid and Gus Casely-Hayford.
17 Feb 2025,42 mins
Wages for Housework – then and now
Shahidha Bari with Emily Callaci, Rosie Campbell and Victoria Smith
10 Feb 2025,41 mins
Manufacturing and sustainability
Tom Sutcliffe with Tim Minshall, Bernie Bulkin and Fiona Dear.
03 Feb 2025,41 mins
Climate Crisis: truth, lies and compromise
Adam Rutherford with Mike Berners-Lee, Joe Murphy and Marianne Brown
27 Jan 2025,41 mins
Music and movement; mind and body
Tom Sutcliffe with Daniel Levitin, Nwando Ebizie and Sara Veale
20 Jan 2025,42 mins
Socrates, optimism and racism
Adam Rutherford with Agnes Callard, Sumit Paul-Choudhury and Keon West
13 Jan 2025,41 mins
Human intelligence and imagination
Tom Sutcliffe with Naomi Alderman, Michelle Aroney and Adam Zeman
30 Dec 2024,42 mins
Animals – up close and talking
Adam Rutherford with Simon Armitage, Amorina Kingdom and Christian Rutz.
23 Dec 2024,41 mins
Acoustics, music and architecture
Tom Sutcliffe with Fiona Smyth, Trevor Cox and Jess Gillam
16 Dec 2024,41 mins
Security threats and future prospects for Britain and the EU
Shahidha Bari talks to Sir Alex Younger, Armida van Rij and Ross Clark.
09 Dec 2024,41 mins
The story of British art - from cave paintings to landscapes
Tom Sutcliffe with Bendor Grosvenor, Susan Owens and Lucinda Rogers.
02 Dec 2024,41 mins
The high street
Adam Rutherford with Annie Gray, Vicky Payne and Angela Hui.
25 Nov 2024,41 mins
Rise and fall of the political fixer
Tom Sutcliffe with Peter Kosminsky, Lucy Hughes-Hallett and Stephen Bush.
18 Nov 2024,42 mins