Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala return for a second series of investigations into the products that have changed the world. Coming to BBC Sounds weekly from 20 July 2023.

All Consuming hosts Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala talk to presenter Greg Foot about the return of Sliced Bread, his Radio 4 series which explores promising sounding wonder products and sees whether their claims stand up to scrutiny.

You can listen to the series by searching for Sliced Bread on BBC Sounds.

From an illusive science fiction dream in the 1980s, to very real headsets in homes across the world today - virtual reality is making a genuine impact on our lives and social interactions.

Amit Katwala and Charlotte Williams immerse themselves in the virtual world to find out where the innovative technology is leading, checking in on today’s prototypical “metaverse” and VR’s growing influence on art, entertainment and science.

We hear from Dr Alastair Smith about VR’s revolutionary uses in the study of psychology, Dr Trudy Barber sheds a light on the social connections forming inside the metaverse, while interactive experience director May Abdalla invites us into the world of her award-winning VR project, Goliath: Playing with Reality.

Presented by Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala

Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala trace the sometimes shocking truth behind the history of the light bulb, following its evolution from carbon spitting hazard to energy efficient LED.

We hear from media historian Markus Krajewski about how a cartel of companies conspired to limit the lifespan of light bulbs in the first known example of ‘planned obsolescence’. Nobel prize winning physicist Hiroshi Amano talks to us about how his discovery of the blue LED light has changed the world, and we speak to Tom Bramell whose job is to to look after a lightbulb which has been on for 121 years.

The average cost of a funeral in the UK is just over £4000 - and can be a lot more. Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala explore how social and financial pressures are changing the way we do funerals, as more and more people turn to cheaper greener alternatives.

They trace the history of the funeral and its many associated traditions with funeral historian Dr Helen Frisby, and unpick so-called funeral poverty with Lindesay Mace from Quaker Social Action. Dr Kate Woodthorpe from Bath University explains the birth of the Funeral Director and Dan Garrett, the CEO of Farewill, discusses how the industry is adapting to changing attitudes to death and the big rise in "personalised funerals".

Presented by Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala

Batteries are everywhere in modern society. They’re in our phones, laptops and cars, or inside the classics - like torches, portable radios, or TV remotes. They’re inside drones probing deep beneath the ocean or providing juice to the Mars rover.

In an electrifying episode of All Consuming, Amit Katwala and Charlotte Williams explore the history of the energy storage devices that changed the world.

We check in with the curator of contemporary Science at the Science Museum, Dr Sophie Wearing, to learn about the unlikely origin of the term “battery” and the early uses of energy storage. We also we get up to speed with Electric Vehicle Batteries with the Faraday Institution’s chief scientist, Sir Peter Bruce. Battery recycler Sam Haig deconstructs lithium-ion battery recycling and, to get the bigger picture, we hear from pumped-storage hydro expert Alex Campbell.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Amit Katwala and Charlotte Williams explore the world of e-cigarettes and vapes, tracing their extraordinary growth and asking whether they’re life savers or something more insidious.

We hear from Time journalist Jamie DuCharme, author of the book Big Vape, about the rise and fall of the e-cigarette firm Juul who recently paid out over $430 million after being accused of targeting teenagers with its advertising. Shaun Yendalls, the owner of two vape shops in South London, explains why his staff actively try to stop people buying his products and Scott Butler from Material Focus details the massive environmental impact of the new fad for disposable vapes.

Presented by Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala

In recent years our supermarket shelves have undergone a transformation. Sections once devoted solely to meat and animal products have been partitioned to include a new plant-based category, with everything from spins on classics like tofu and seitan, to modern products like Quorn and the lab-designed Impossible and Beyond burgers.

In this episode of All Consuming, Charlotte Williams gives you something to chew on in a surprisingly meaty topic - examining the plant-based product revolution and its potential environmental benefits, and finding out if “vegan” is a dirty word.

Charlotte meets author and entrepreneur Thomasina Miers to discuss dialling back on our high-carbon diets, checks in with vegan-accredited farmer Laurence Candy, learns about the health and environmental benefits of plant-based alternatives from Dr Chris Bryant, and breaks bread with vegan YouTube superstar Gaz Oakley.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala explore how Britain went soft on toilet paper.

1-ply, 2 ply, 3 ply, quilted - there’s a lot of choice when it comes to choosing what toilet paper to buy. But soft toilet tissue is a relatively new invention. Our lavatorial habits have evolved over time and author Sophia Gholz gives us the lowdown on how pottery, magazines and corn cobs were all at one time used for the mundane but necessary task of keeping ourselves clean.

For many people, the smell and feeling of a specific British brand of paper is etched into their collective memory. Dr Alice White of the Wellcome Collection explores official resistance to putting soft paper in schools and hospitals.

Consumer psychologist Dr Paul Marsden is also on hand to explain why toilet paper is often the must-buy product in times of national emergency.

And marketing consultant Paul Duncanson gives a behind-the-scenes account of one of the most enduring - and successful - toilet tissue advertisements ever produced.

Producer: Candace Wilson

Much has been written of Vinyl’s resurgence - it’s the format that refuses to die, electrifying fans young and old across the decades. But, we’ve often forgotten about the Lennon to vinyl’s McCartney - the venerable turntable.

In this episode of All Consuming, hosts Charlotte Williams and Amit Katwala get into the groove to find out why turntables just keep spinning us around. We unearth the history of recorded sound, including the French invention that drew audio waveforms and predated Edison’s phonograph and get up to date with the latest stats on vinyl’s revival.

Amit meets Audiophile researcher Marc Pearlmann to consider the claims that vinyl on high end turntables “sounds better” than CDs, we check in with Wolverhampton record store owner Claire Howell, meet veteran turntable manufacturer Roy Gandy and Charlotte gets a lesson in DJ-ing from a very special guest...

Producer: James Tindale