Sidney Poitier

Matthew Sweet and guests consider the career of the Bahamian-American actor (1927-2022)

• 45 mins

Kingship and ceremony

Anne McElvoy looks at royalty, pomp and glory in opera, ancient Persia and Tudor England.

• 45 mins

Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe

Shahidha Bari hears about two inspirational medieval women mystics who wrote about faith

• 44 mins

Mountaineering, Lizzie Le Blond, sport and science

Rachel Hewitt has been researching the pioneering Irish climber Mrs Aubrey Le Blond.

• 45 mins

Agoraphobia

More than just a fear of going out - the history & lived experience of a phobia explored.

• 45 mins

Zimbabwean writing

NoViolet Bulwayo's We Need New Names on stage plus "enfant terrible" Dambudzo Marechera

• 44 mins

Rocky Horror and camp

Shahidha Bari is joined by Louise Creechan, Joan Passey and Paul Baker

• 45 mins

Essex

Looking beyond the stereotypes of the county that's often described as 'much maligned'.

• 45 mins

Mermaids, Caribbean tales and copyright

Shahidha Bari looks at sea creatures and a Caribbean re-telling of The Little Mermaid.

• 44 mins

Linda Grant and Jewish history

Julia Pascal, Rachel Lichtenstein, Linda Grant and curator Alex Cropper + John Gallagher

• 45 mins

Sneezing, smells and noses

From Montaigne on sneezing to losing the sense of smell & historians using their noses.

• 45 mins

The Troubles in Northern Ireland

As an Imperial War Museum show opens, Anne McElvoy and guests discuss art and the Troubles

• 45 mins

Europe

Ece Temelkuran, Ben Judah, Misha Glenny and Timothy Garton Ash with Rana Mitter at Hay

• 45 mins

Nature Memoirs

Rana Mitter looks at fens, flatlands, wild swimming and a little-changed Bulgarian valley

• 44 mins

Michel Piccoli

Matthew Sweet on the French actor who worked with Buñuel, Varda, Ferreri and Godard.

• 44 mins

Yellowface, AI and Asian stereotypes

Novelist R F Kuang, Dr Kerry McInerney, Ghislaine Boddington and MIT's Daron Acemoglu

• 45 mins

Adam Smith

From the East India Company to Silicon Valley: the big ideas in his tercentennial year

• 45 mins

Ideas about health

Gavin Francis on Thomas Browne, Polly Morland on John Berger, Matt Smith on mental health

• 45 mins

Portraits

As the NPG re-opens we look at portraiture in art, photography, documentary & oral history

• 45 mins

Glenda Jackson and Filming Sunday Bloody Sunday

With the death of Glenda Jackson announced here's a conversation she recorded last year

• 44 mins

Life, art and drama in the kitchen

Sarah Kent, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Melanie Williams and Angela Hui join Matthew Sweet

• 45 mins

The Sorrows of Young Werther

The book of the Sturm und Drang generation: Anne McElvoy explores the ideas behind it

• 44 mins

Diva

As the V&A opens an exhibition about performers, Naomi Paxton discusses what makes a diva

• 44 mins

Gut instinct

From gut feelings in your stomach to the language of disgust: Matthew Sweet hosts

• 45 mins

Boyhood to manhood

Chris Harding with Luke Turner, Jeffrey Boakye and Lisa Sugiura discuss growing up now

• 44 mins

Julian the Apostate

We examine Rome's last pagan ruler via Ibsen's drama to apostasy in contemporary politics

• 45 mins

Dystopian thinking

As Kay Dick's They opens at MIF, Matthew Sweet and guests trace the history of dystopias.

• 45 mins

New Thinking: Writing the NHS

Dr Kim Moore and Dr Kim Wiltshire on how hospital staff have been helped by writing

• 37 mins

New Thinking: Design and health

From sleeve design to stroke patient recovery and solving malnutrition

• 32 mins

New Thinking: health inequalities

Health projects using Caribbean folk traditions, wild swimming, museums and the blues

• 29 mins