Andrew is a school refuser. He hasn’t done a full day of school since 2019.   "He will just refuse to get dressed. He will hide under his bed. And if you physically try and get him out of the house, he is not a violent child in any way, but he will hurt you to get away from the situation." His parents are trying to pursue their careers but, even if they can coax him through the school gates, they often get a call an hour later to pick him up. Everyone has tried to understand why he won’t go. He has recently been diagnosed with autism which may be a factor. But Andrew can’t tell them. And no-one knows the answer or is suggesting a solution. Andrew has been blissfully happy in lockdown without the option or pressure of being made to go in. What will happen when restrictions are lifted and schools open again? Narrator: Grace Dent
Producer: Sarah Bowen

He Won't Go To School

A series documenting the untold dramas of 21st-century Britain.

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

The Jago is one of the few black-owned clubs left in Dalston, East London. When Kwame took it over in 2018 his idea was to make it a space for community – whether giving grassroots musicians and DJs a place to start nights or providing a food bank for local residents. But as the cost of living starts to bite, a noise complaint that could cost thousands to resolve makes Kwame wonder whether he can afford to keep the club open while staying true to his values. Produced and presented by Emily Dicks

Can Kwame keep his club open?

Zoe’s not entirely sure how to make sense of the last couple of years. But she’s going to give it a go.   This is her story of the good, the bad and the ugly everydayness of life with Long Covid. Via life-saving phone calls, cloud-gazing park walks, homeschooling squabbles, summer holidays that don't feel like summer holidays, and lots of lying in bed.  And now it's December 2022, over two and a half years after Zoe first got ill. Life is not all Christmas chocolate boxes and Ding Dong Merrily on High. It’s still really hard sometimes. But it is getting easier. There is singing and music-making again. There is hope. Programme image by Zoe's daughter Clara, age 9. 
Produced by Becky Ripley.

Life After Long Covid

Richard Gamble believes God has given him a mission: to build a huge national monument, made from a million bricks, each representing an answered Christian prayer.  It seems an impossible task for a sports chaplain who has no experience of construction. And yet over the past eight years, he's managed to pull together a project team, raise thousands of pounds and launch a global design competition with the Royal Institute of British  Architects (RIBA). But before a single brick can be laid, they need to secure a site to lay it. Richard hopes lie in the Edmistons - a family multimillionaires and evangelical Christians, who own extensive land in the West Midlands. Will his hopes be realised? Will he find a home for the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer? Producer: Becca Bryers

The Prayer Wall

Over the coming weeks, the Untold follows three individuals as they experience the cost of living crisis this autumn.  We hear from a barrister in Manchester who is stepping out on strike action for the first time. We visit a pawnbroker's and her customers as they part with their belongings to pay the bills; and a father praying for a coal mine to open in Cumbria and provide jobs for his community to rely on. Producers: Sam Peach, Sarah Bowen and Neil McCarthy

Three Sides of a Crisis: Part 1

Continuing three parallel stories of the cost of living crisis. Join a striking barrister, a miner hoping to work again and the customer of a pawnbroker's as they make ends meet.

He Won't Go To School

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