Ruth Madeley was born in Westhoughton, near Bolton, and studied English and creative writing at university. She always wanted to work in the entertainment industry and thought that her path lay in scriptwriting. She was born with spina bifida and, as an ambulatory wheelchair user, Ruth just didn’t see herself represented on screen

However, a work experience placement at the BBC led to an unexpected audition. And Ruth fell in love with acting, the moment she joined the set. 

In 2016, she was BAFTA nominated for her leading role in Don’t Take My Baby, a factual drama about a disabled couple’s fight to keep custody of their newborn daughter. And the stage and television roles that followed, include the Russell T Davies drama Years and Years.

Most recently, Ruth is back on our screens in the BBC’s biggest drama, Doctor Who. A show that’s just celebrated its 60th anniversary, with three special shows.

In this conversation, Ruth chats to Jon about her unexpected move into acting, the roles and the writers who've had a big impact on her career, and her own role as a spokesperson for inclusivity.

Related links:

Whizz Kidz

Ruth's documentary for Channel 4: Disability & Abortion

Jack Thorne's Snowcast interview

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Dan Schreiber was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Sydney, and moved to England at the age of 19.

Once here, Dan was hired as a researcher on the BBC panel show QI. And it was a job that Dan was born to do - one that combined his love for facts and comedy.

In 2008, Dan launched The Museum of Curiosity on BBC Radio 4 and, after that, came No Such Thing As A Fish - a hugely popular podcast that's clocked up more than 500 episodes and been downloaded 470 million times.

Last year, Dan turned his forensic brain to the fringes of history - taking a voyage into the world of the weird with his book The Theory Of Everything Else. He believes that, if you dig deep enough, nearly everyone holds a batshit belief. And he now encourages people to open up, and share their own, in We Can Be Weirdos. A chart-topping new podcast in which Dan speaks to scientists and historians, as well as guests from the world of entertainment.

In this fun and freewheeling conversation, he chats to Jon about his unconventional childhood, the mentors who helped shape his career, and the weird stories that get his brain whizzing.

Related links:

Kary B Mullis

The Ghostbuster: Dan Aykroyd and His Close Encounters 

Dan's forthcoming children's book

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Liz was born in France, grew up in Ireland, and studied biochemistry and wildlife biology at university.

She has since travelled the world studying animal behaviour. And her documentaries include Drowning in Plastic, Galapagos and Should We Close Our Zoos? Liz is also part of Our Changing Planet, a seven-year-project for the BBC, visiting vulnerable habitats - to chart changes and the fight to save our most threatened ecosystems.

Her latest BBC series - Liz Bonnin’s Wild Caribbean - returns to the region that shaped her childhood, and inspired Liz to explore the natural world. Along the way, we meet rare dolphins, enormous crocodiles, brightly coloured birds, and giant spiders. As well as the conservationists showing ingenuity and determination in their efforts to protect native species and habitats.

In this interview, Liz chats to Jon about how she ended up with her "dream of a job", some of the incredible - and endangered - wildlife she has encountered along the way, and the conservationists whose passion and work help her remain positive.

Related links:

Liz pictured at the Caroni Swamp & with the Union Island Gecko

Liz's website

COP28

What Planet Are We On? with Liz Bonnin (a podcast series)

Secrets Of The Jurassic Dinosaurs (another documentary available on the BBCiPlayer)

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Waad Al-Kateab is a BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker. Born in Syria, Waad left home at 18, to study at the university of Aleppo. 

In 2011, she began shooting video on her phone, while attending pro-democracy protests. Waad went on to document the next five years in Aleppo, capturing life, loss and emergency care in the besieged city - as well as the birth of her first daughter Sama.

Waad wanted the world to know what was happening and, when Channel 4 News shared her reports, they were seen by millions. When she finally had to leave Aleppo, Waad began turning hundreds of hours of footage into the 2019 documentary, For Sama.

Now based in London, Waad campaigns to raise awareness of the crimes committed under President Assad’s regime - as well as the global refugee crisis. And, in her new film, We Dare To Dream, she turns her lens on five incredible athletes, as they strive for a place on the Refugee Olympic Team.

Related links:

We Dare To Dream trailer

Cyrille Tchatchet II

Kimia Alizadeh

The latest news from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

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Carol Morley is an acclaimed filmmaker, whose work includes short film, documentary and drama. 

She was born in Stockport, and spent her teens enjoying the Manchester music scene, before moving to London - where she studied Fine Art, Film and Video, at Saint Martins College.

Her 2000 documentary, The Alcohol Years, showed a fearlessness and an early interest in identity. Carol’s since been described as "part-psychoanalyst, part-detective, part-social historian". And her films involve a lot of passion, research, tenacity and experimentation with form. 

Her latest release is called Typist, Artist, Pirate, King. It stars Monica Dolan as Audrey Amiss, an artist Carol believes should be widely known. And who she brings vividly to life, in a fictional road trip to Sunderland (accompanied by a psychiatric nurse played by Kelly MacDonald).

In this interview, Carol reflects on her childhood, processing the loss of her father to suicide, her path into filmmaking, a brilliant teacher - and a few of her creations, including Dreams of a Life.

Related links:

Find Carol's other films at Cannon and Morley Productions

The amazing undiscovered life of Audrey the artist (Carol's article for the Observer)

Her semi-autobiographical novel 7 Miles Out

In The Studio: Carol Morley (BBC World Service)

Muriel Box: Britain's most prolific female director

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Classics professor Dame Mary Beard was a bright child, who was bumped up a year at school, went on archaelogical digs as a teen, and studied classics at Newnham College. After completing her PhD, Mary taught at King’s College in London, before returning to Cambridge - where she remained for nearly forty years.

During her long academic career, Mary has written many best-selling books. When her 2008 book on Pompeii won the prestigious Wolfson History Prize, she became the star of her own BBC television programme. The first of many documentaries, in which Mary's passion for the past is infectious - and which have helped raise her status to that of national treasure.

Mary’s latest series is for BBC Radio 4. Being Roman looks at six intriguing individuals who lived in the heyday of imperial power and it follows hot on the heels of a brand new book Emperor of Rome.

In this conversation, Mary reflects on her brilliant career, the skills to be gained from studying classics, and what we can learn about democracy and leaders (past and present).

Related links:

Meet The Romans with Mary Beard (BBC TV documentary)

Mary's other books

Mary's TLS column A Don's Life

Marcus Aurelius' Meditations

The Boudicca statue on Victoria Embankment

Galen - one of the most famous figures from the ancient world (that you may not know)

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Ava Glass is the pen name of Christi Daugherty. She was born in Texas and worked as a crime reporter before moving to the UK.

A few years after settling in London, Christi was recruited to work in the communications department of the Home Office - tasked with helping the public understand what the intelligence services do, to keep us safe. This wasn’t a straightforward job, given the secretive world Christi found herself in, but it did prove creatively inspiring. And, after selling millions of young adult and crime books as CJ Daugherty, she turned to spy fiction - writing as Ava Glass.

Ava’s protagonist is Emma Makepeace, an operative for an off-the-books British intelligence agency called The Vernon Institute. Emma made her debut in February, pursued by Russian assassins in The Chase. And now she’s back, with a brand new mission, working undercover on a luxury yacht.

Related links:

The latest Ava Glass book: The Traitor

Ava Glass' website

The Guardian interview that crowned Ava "the new queen of spy fiction"

The Night School young adult series (writing as CJ Daughterty)

MI5 head warns of "epic scale" of Chinese espionage at a meeting of the Five Eyes alliance (BBC)

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In November 2019, Steve Gallant was serving a life sentence for murder when he confronted the terrorist Usman Khan.

Steve had been allowed out on day release, to attend a Learning Together event, near London Bridge. Learning Together was an initiative that brought students and prisoners together - and helped change many lives for the better. But on this dreadful day, two young graduates were fatally stabbed. Saskia Jones, and Steve’s own mentor, Jack Merrit.

After his brave actions, Steve was granted a royal pardon. And in August 2021, after 16 years in prison, he was released on parole. When he received the Queen's Gallantry Medal last month, Steve said that his award symbolised change. That you can make great mistakes, but still work hard, and do something useful with your life.

After studying diligently in prison, Steve’s now written a book, titled The Road To London Bridge. He's said that he wants to contribute something constructive to a public debate that seems stuck in its approach, to keeping people safe and dealing with those who commit crime.

Related links:

Steve's website

Own Merit

Jack Merritt & Saskia Jones remembered

London Bridge: Facing Terror (Channel 4 documentary)

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The British-Trinidadian artist Zak Ové was born into an artistic family. After studying at St. Martin’s School of Art, he worked as a photographer and as a director of television and music videos. 

At the age of 40, Zak had an epiphany while filming in Trinidad. Feeling a distance from his subject matter, Zak realised that he wanted to be a “maker” and that sculpture would allow him to express his true voice.

Since then, Zak’s sculptures have been exhibited in the British Museum, at Somerset House, and around the world. His latest is a nine-metre-high sculpture, called The Mothership Connection. 

Part psychedelic totem pole, part space rocket — it’s his largest work to date - and currently stands resplendent in London’s Regent’s Park. 

This interview was recorded on Monday 9th October, just a few weeks after the death of Zak’s father, the acclaimed film-maker Sir Horace Ové. So we took some time to discuss Horace’s considerable legacy, as well as Zak’s own brilliant career.

Related links:

Horace Ové's films

Zak's Moko Jumbies

The Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness

Frieze Sculpture

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Sarah Sands grew up in Tunbridge Wells and cut her teeth on a local newspaper in Kent, before moving to the diary, on the Evening Standard.

She later edited the Standard but not before spending some time at The Telegraph, and re-designing the Sunday edition, with the launch of two new magazines.

In 2017, Sarah moved into broadcast journalism, as editor of Today. While at the BBC, she steered Radio 4’s flagship news programme through Brexit, Covid and a General Election.

But, after three years of early mornings, Sarah stepped away from the newsroom and wrote The Interior Silence. A book which explores the lessons to be found in monastic living, as an antidote to the stresses of everyday life.

She's now followed that book with The Hedgehog Diaries: A Story of Faith, Hope and Bristle. It's a meditation on grief, healing, and the British hedgehog community - in which this prickly mammal becomes a metaphor for hope.

Related links:

In Search of the Queen of Sheba by Sarah Sands

The Felix Project

Julian Sands

Kit Hesketh-Harvey

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