Saturday Live

Sian Williams and Richard Coles with comedian and writer Sean Hughes, 100 year old Violet Coleman palliative care nurse Katherine Hopkins, and Marc Roberts who had brain surgery while fully conscious. There's a feature on the British Water Tower Appreciation Society, John McCarthy with explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, a Crowdscape from Portsmouth and Tamasin Day-Lewis's Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Richard Coles and Sian Williams talk to cartoonist Martin Rowson, hear from Jess Eaton, an artist who reconstructs road kill as fashion items, speak to Stephen Hook, the Sussex dairy farmer who's the star of a film at the Sundance Festival in Utah, listen to the wonderful warbling of a whistling busker on the London Underground, enjoy the Inheritance Tracks of Radio 4's Charlotte Green who is leaving the BBC after a distinguished career, revel in the quiet spaces of London with John McCarthy and sail into the sunset with Commodore Mark Wiggins as he describes his 200 year old sextant

Richard Coles and Sian Williams with former Attorney General Baroness Scotland, art detective Christopher Marinello who has recently recovered a Matisse that has been missing for 25 years, and Giselle Eagle and Richard Brown who are about to be castaway on a remote island. JP Devlin takes a Daytrip with Arlene Phillips CBE, and Patricia Purvis tells the story of a locket lost and found. John McCarthy goes in search of the bits of Stratford-upon-Avon that aren't dominated by Shakespeare and director Trevor Nunn shares his Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Richard Coles and Sian Williams with businesswoman and lawyer Margaret Mountford, plus an actress who lost lots of weight and then found her work had dried up, the Inheritance Tracks of Madness front man Suggs, a look behind the scenes at 'The Famous' a menswear shop in Cheltenham that's closing its doors after 126 years, a builder whose family company is still around after 422 years, the evocative sound of an Italian coffee machine, Benedict Allen talking to his cousin Charles about their mutual lives in travel and a man who knows a great deal about paper.

Producer: Chris Wilson.

John McCarthy and Suzy Klein with journalist and broadcaster Aggie MacKenzie, Martin Green who was Head of Ceremonies at the 2012 Olympics and Andrew Parker who was 'the human bridge' during the Zeebrugge ferry disaster. Felicity Finch reveals the Secret Life of the Archers, poet Luke Wright offers a festive rhyme, travel writer Adrian Mourby describes Kosice, one of the 2013 European Capitals of Culture, singer Ralph McTell takes us by the hand and leads us through the streets of London, and celebrity astrologer Russell Grant shares his Inheritance Tracks

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to actor and writer Sanjeev Bhaskar who's appearing in a Christmas TV special of 'Outnumbered', hold a poetry prescription surgery to solicit listeners requests for poems about solitude with William Seighart the founder of National Poetry Day, hear from Derek Amato who hit his head in a swimming accident, lost part of his memory and awoke able to play the piano brilliantly, dig the furious sound of the 'fuzz box' in our regular feature 'soundsculpture', listen to the thoughts of soldiers at Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit who are recovering from injuries sustained on active duty, listen to Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson's Inheritance Tracks, thrill to the atmosphere of Hawksmoor Churches in East London, with John McCarthy and writer Iain Sinclair, and jump with joy to John Sessions' imagining Al Pacino at Christmas.

Producer: Chris Wilson.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles with comedian Lee Mack talking about his life before and after he made it as comic and Paul O'Grady on his enthusiasm for home remedies. Paul Hodgkinson walked to all 92 Football League grounds as his sight deteriorated and John McCarthy travelled on Leighton Buzzard's miniature steam railway with travel writer Monisha Rajesh who journeyed round India by train. Michael Sanderson explains why he stockpiles goods and necessities for a terrible eventuality, Ruth Keeling tells why she is never without her Granny's sewing kit and the actor Fiona Shaw chooses her Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Harry Parker.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles meet Pam Ayres, talk to artist Annie Morgan who can't stop painting, etching and sculpting- a compulsion that began after she tried to take her own life by jumping under a train, hear from former Flt Lt Alan Pollock who remembers his time in the RAF- he abruptly left in 1968 having decided to fly his Hunter fighter bomber under Tower Bridge on the river Thames, follow up on last week's discussion about squatting with former squatter Rosie Ellis, find out why on earth J.P. Devlin went to Hackney with Les McKeown of The Bay City Rollers, swoon to Neil Sedaka's Inheritance Tracks and thrill to Benedict Allen musing on the pleasures of 'dangerous' travel.

Producer: Chris Wilson.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles with broadcaster Richard Madeley, and a man who's spent many years pretending to be him and his 'Uncle' Stan Madeley, a woman who believes the secret to happiness lies in the Hawaiian hula dance, a rock and roll history in poetic form from Murray Lachlan Young, a father and son who've revived the sound and style of the original Proms orchestra, a couple who have both been diagnosed with terminal diseases, John McCarthy in Maastricht and the Inheritance Tracks of musician and activist Nona Hendryx.

Producer: Dixi Stewart.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles talk to comic, writer, children's author, winner of celebrity masterchef and fan of noir Danish cop show 'The Killing', Emma Kennedy, hear about former investment banker and farmer Jan McCourt's 'love letter' to the NHS after he narrowly escaped death under the wheels of his own tractor, remember the first ordination of women in the Church of England with the Revered Jane Hayward, squeal as JP Devlin recreates James Bond's wet shave with a cut throat razor, enjoy the metronomic pleasure of a listener's clock built by their father, travel to Maastricht with John McCarthy and listen to Sir John Major's Inheritance Tracks.

Producer: Chris Wilson.