Podcast · Society & Culture

Saturday Live

by BBC Radio 4 · English · Society & Culture

Join Adrian Chiles for a Saturday morning full of remarkable people with extraordinary stories.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 57 min
Latest: 10 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

10 Oct 2026 · 57 min

Tinie Tempah, Sara Davies, Gareth Malone and the Inheritance Tracks of Nigel Planer

Adrian Chiles is joined by three guests who have made a success in business, music and broadcasting. The musician Tinie Tempah has in recent years flexed his talents across the industries of fashion and property. But music remains at the top of his priorities with a new album - The Night's Not Dead - and a UK/European tour, more than sixteen years since finding global success in the industry. Entrepreneur Sara Davies was a student at university when she launched an idea for the crafting industry that went on to become a multi-million pound international business. Sata has a new book out…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

3 Oct 2026 · 56 min
Charlie Higson, Billy Monger, Rebecca Coxon and the Inheritance Tracks of Nick Mohammed
Adrian Chiles is in the company of a talented trio on today's programme: Charlie Higson, writer, actor and comedian has enjoyed great success in television, not least with The Fast Show. And as a novelist the writer of the much admired young James Bond series has now published his first work featuring the grown up 007. Billy Monger holds the world record at Ironman as a double amputee, this after going back to motor racing following the calamitous crash which changed his life at the age of 17. Now he has an eye on the 2028 Paralympic Games. And Rebecca Coxon’s life was changed after…
26 Sep 2026 · 56 min
Clare Balding, Lucy Worsley, Dr Liz O'Riordan and the Inheritance Tracks of Lucy Porter
When it comes to bringing history to life on television Lucy Worsley is queen of the realm; she’s written a personal history of the Queens and Kings whose lives she’s almost lived through her work. Clare Balding’s one of the most respected and well-loved broadcasters in the business, bringing the biggest sporting and ceremonial events into our homes, as well as writing a series of best selling books, her latest being a first novel for adults. Dr Liz O’Riordan has at least two crowning achievements to her name. Firstly, qualifying as a doctor and becoming a breast surgeon. Secondly,…
19 Sep 2026 · 57 min
Eric Idle, Caitlin Moran, Rob Brydon and the Inheritance Tracks of Jim Al-Khalili
On the programme this week are Caitlin Moran, Eric Idle and Rob Brydon. Caitlin’s here to talk about - how to be hopeful in a world gone mad. For more than half a century Eric Idle’s refuge from the mad world of comedy, music, film and fame has been a little place in Provence. And his latest book is a love letter to it. And Rob Brydon is in a happy place having found hope, peace and contentment in his work, not least in writing about his cat. Also, we have a listener on the Isle of Wight offers thanks to the young man who pulled him out of trouble when a swim went very wrong one day last…
12 Sep 2026 · 56 min
Alexei Sayle, Alice Roberts, Kevin Fong and the Inheritance Tracks of Sian Brooke
Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday morning programme full of remarkable people with extraordinary stories. Academically we’re in very good shape today. Dr Kevin Fong has degrees in medicine, astrophysics, aerospace engineering and he’s a fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Kevin has spent his working life in high-risk, high-performance teams and he's written a new book called Minute Six which charts his experiences. Professor Alice Roberts warmed up for her degree in medicine with a BSc in Anatomy and went on to get a PhD in palaeopathology. And while Alexis Sayle might not…
5 Sep 2026 · 57 min
Mel Giedroyc, Alan Cumming, Eric Ngalle Charles and the Inheritance Tracks of Carlos Gu
Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday Morning programme: Alan Cumming has always had a lot going on, in theatre, in Hollywood, as presenter now of one of the biggest shows in television. And yet he stays close to his Perthshire roots as Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s artistic director. In search of Mel Giedroych’s roots, we travel south to Leatherhead in Surrey where her new novel is set. Like Alan, Mel has an enormous range of work on stage and screen to her name. And Eric Ngalle Charles is a poet and writer whose life story is something to which no work of fiction could do justice:…
18 Jul 2026 · 57 min
Alan Davies, Trainspotting the Musical, Life After a Ruptured Brain, and the Inheritance Tracks of Adrian Lester
Today we’re in the company of three luminously talented people who’ve survived seriously dark periods to shine brightly in their fields. More than thirty years after Irvine Welsh’s debut novel caused a sensation, he tell us how Trainspotting The Musical was a natural next step. Alan Davies’ career has been going strong for more than thirty years too. There's a lot going on in his new memoir - the story of his stand-up comedy told in the context of the trauma he went through as a child, and his cancer treatment in middle age. And Clemency Burton Hill was an accomplished classical musician,…
11 Jul 2026 · 57 min
Sara Cox, Ben Okri, Chris Terrill and the Inheritance Tracks of Nisha Katona
Joining Adrian this week on Saturday Live, BBC Radio treasure and bestselling author Sara Cox. She just taken over BBC Radio 2's breakfast show but has found the time to write a brand new novel, 'The Truth of Us' that is published on the 16th July. We have the Booker Prize Winning Author and poet Ben Okri, he is a giant amongst writers, a master storyteller with a fascinating life story of his own to tell. And Chris Terill has more than 200 documentaries under his belt, awards galore, and a long career worthy of a documentary in its own right. Plus, the inheritance tracks of the chef and…
4 Jul 2026 · 57 min
Ralf Little, Mark Foster, Katriona O'Sullivan and the Inheritance Tracks of Clare Grogan
Joining Adrian Chiles on this week's programme is Mark Foster, for a good while the fastest swimmer on the planet. We have author and psychologist Katriona O’Sullivan, a woman raised in poverty in Coventry, who went on to get a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin. And the remarkably gifted Ralf Little, who we know as an actor but might equally have been a doctor or a footballer. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the singer-songwriter Clare Grogan. Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producers: Catherine Powell and Imy Harper Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy
27 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Paul Merton, Professor Lady Sue Black, David James and the Inheritance Tracks of Mark Billingham
Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday morning programme. On today's programme: Paul Merton’s been at the top of his game for BBC One's Have I Got News for You and a familiar voice here on BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute. He is about to take his Improv show with his wife Suki Webster to the Edinburgh Fringe this August. They’ll also be taking the show back to The Comedy Store in London from November through to December. Professor Lady Sue Black - Baroness of Black Strome – is a world‑renowned forensic anthropologist, celebrated for her pioneering work in forensics and human identification.…
20 Jun 2026 · 56 min
Ruby Wax, Social History, Memoirs & Music, plus the Inheritance Tracks of Lorraine Kelly
Joining Adrian Chiles on this week's programme is Professor of social history, a writer with a first class degree from Cambridge and a TV legend with a masters from Oxford. Ruby Wax is as well known now for her work in mental health, but she’s been looking back at some of her biggest interviews to see what she can learn about herself as well as her subjects. Professor Carl Chinn is a social historian, proud son of Birmingham and great grandson of a Peaky Blinder. Sathnam Sanghera’s written novels, an acclaimed memoir, acclaimed histories of the British Empire. Now he’s exploring the meaning…
13 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Danny Robins, Sushi, Family Secrets, and the Inheritance Tracks of Nat Sciver-Brunt
Three great guests on the show, as per normal. One of them’s all about the paranormal, one is a legendary entrepreneur, and a lifelong journalist whose greatest story turned up in her own family. Danny Robins is a man with an uncanny ability to explore the supernatural in a way which delights sceptics and believers alike. Sharon Ring worked on Fleet Street in newspapers and magazines for more than three decades before finding the full story of her mother and uncle’s childhood in Nazi Germany. And Simon Woodroofe had a great career in music and television behind him before he got round to…
6 Jun 2026 · 57 min
Victoria Pendleton, Training Dragons and the Science of Stars, plus the Inheritance Tracks of Russell T Davies
Adrian Chiles is joined by three hugely successful guests - all shining stars in their fields. Victoria Pendleton won it all as a track cyclist, a quite astounding athlete who dug so deep, physically and mentally, in her career, and also in navigating her life after cycling. Cressida Cowell is the writer and illustrator behind - amongst other things - the incredibly successful How to Train your Dragon series. So we have a sports star, and a star author, and in Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell we have someone whose work enabled the discovery of a new kind of star, a discovery which changed…
30 May 2026 · 56 min
Tom Fletcher, Russell Kane, Poetry in Nature, and the Inheritance Tracks of Katie Razzall
Adrian Chiles with a pop star, a comedian and a writer, but there’s a lot more to each of them than that. Tom Fletcher was starring on the West End stage at the age of 10. 30 years later he’s been back there writing the music for Paddington - The Musical. In between he’s squeezed in popstardom with the hugely successful band McFly. Bethany Handley grew up loving life in the great outdoors of Monmouthshire and she has written a memoir, My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors. And with Russell Kane there’s an awful lot going on. Terrifyingly clever, award-winning comedian, writer,…
23 May 2026 · 57 min
LIVE at the Hay Festival - Hugh Bonneville, Martha Kearney, Matt Haig, and the Inheritance Tracks of Prue Leith
Martha Kearney is a titan of news and political broadcasting who these days takes a more relaxed approach to her work, swapping the campaign trail for a nature trail. Matt Haig can do it all, fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books - and we’re all aboard for his latest novel the Midnight Train - but it's Winnie the Pooh that Ian Fletcher, Earl Grantham, Mr Brown…are but some of the much loved characters of Hugh Bonneville - he’s now turned his hand to a children’s book where, as we’ll hear, the most unbelievable stories within it are true! All that, plus the Inheritance Tracks of Prue…
16 May 2026 · 57 min
JJ Chalmers, Ruth Rogers, Matthew Carter & Lawrence Price plus the Inheritance Tracks of Jason Watkins
Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday morning show. Our wonderful guests today include JJ Chalmers, who has been a design-technology teacher, Royal Marine and Invictus games medallist. He is now a regular presenter on Television and Radio. We also have with us a legend of the food and restaurant world, Ruth Rogers. And a couple of podcasting Dads - Matthew Carter and Lawrence Price - who’ve got fellow fathers to come together and share their feelings by offering classes in braiding girls’ hair. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the actor Jason Watkins. Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies…
9 May 2026 · 57 min
Steve Backshall, Natalie Queiroz, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and the Inheritance Tracks of Nick Robinson
On today's programme, Adrian Chiles is with Steve Backshall. The adventurer and naturalist has captivated all of us with his work, but especially children - millions of them - who he’s led wide-eyed into the natural world. Frank Cottrell-Boyce is blessed with a similar gift for capturing the imagination of children, as well as grownups. The esteemed screenwriter is presently the Children’s Laureate. Frank will be appearing on the programme ahead of his appearance at the Children's Laureate Lecture called The Kids Are Not Alright, which is being held on Thursday 14 May at the Royal…
2 May 2026 · 57 min
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Lucy Shepherd, Jonathan Shalit and the Inheritance Tracks of Liz Earle
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall found his calling in the countryside of Gloucestershire and Devon to become a cook on the wild side championing seasonal and sustainable ingredients. Lucy Shepherd is our explorer who has navigated her way from the safety of the Suffolk countryside to the amazon and arctic, including the Cardiff studio. And Jonathan Shalit, who began writing music reviews at school and ended up managing the talents of some of the biggest names in music and show business. Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the beauty entrepreneur and author Liz Earle. Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies…
25 Apr 2026 · 57 min
Lesley Nicol, Joseph Coelho, Tari Lang and the Inheritance Tracks of Laura Mvula
On today's programme, Adrian is joined with a poet, an actor and a woman who has been through a military coup in the 1960s. Joseph Coelho the poet was raised in a tower block in Roehampton. He wrote his way into the role of children’s laureate and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Lesley Nicol, the actress, grew up in Irlam, Greater Manchester and ended up in Downtown Abbey. Some journey that for Mrs Patmore, the cook who, disappointingly, can’t cook in real life. And Tari Lang who grew up in Jakarta and has written a coming of age memoir in the middle of the military coup which saw…
18 Apr 2026 · 57 min
John Robins, Chelsea Flower Show, Exotic Animals, and the Inheritance Tracks of James McAvoy
John Robins is a critically-acclaimed comic with awards a-plenty, and now a blistering memoir "Thirst; worked around Twelve Drinks That Changed My Life. Arit Anderson of Gardeners’ World is on her way to the centre of the gardening world, the Chelsea Flower Show, where she’s creating a special space for those with Parkinson's. Starting with a distressed raccoon she found in a bloke’s garage, Lindsey McKenna’s spent the last 15 years saving two hundred exotic animals. We'll be thanking six burly men who, 27 years ago, lifted up and carried a car containing a heavily pregnant listener of ours,…
11 Apr 2026 · 57 min
Dom Joly, Walter Presents, Worm Whispering, and the Inheritance Tracks of Noah Wyle
“Prankster” hardly does Dom Joly justice. He’s been a diplomat, a linguist, a traveller, a broadcaster, a writer and lots more besides. Walter Iuzzolino is the "Walter" behind Channel 4’s Walter Presents series. A man who probably watches more TV from more countries than anyone else on the planet. Dr Jaqueline Stroud, Professor of Soil Science at Warwick University, likes nothing better than eavesdropping on worms. And we hear the Inheritance Tracks of the actor and star of The Pitt; Noah Wyle. Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Ben Mitchell Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell Researcher:…
4 Apr 2026 · 56 min
Bear Grylls, Music Composition, Flaming Feasts, and the Inheritance Tracks of Lesley Joseph
Today an adventurer, a chef and a composer. From special forces to chief scout Bear Grylls likes a challenge, his latest being nothing less than a successful re-write of the story of Jesus. Our chef is Chris Roberts, aka Flamebaster, whose key ingredients are food, fire and frightening levels of enthusiasm. And our composer is Liz Lane, the sometime child prodigy, who found her gift for composition suited the sound of brass bands down to the ground. All that, plus the rescue dog from Kampala who needed rescuing a second time by a man in a white van on a roundabout in Saffron Walden - and the…
28 Mar 2026 · 56 min
Dilly Carter, Football, Swearing and the Inheritance Tracks Lisa Kudrow
Radio 4's Saturday morning show brings you extraordinary stories and remarkable people.
21 Mar 2026 · 57 min
John Lloyd, Sailing, Punk Rock, and the Inheritance Tracks of Dr Sian Williams
Adrian spends the hour in the company of renowned TV producer John Lloyd, the modest genius mind behind such national institutions as Spitting Image, QI and Blackadder. Also on the porgramme, Kala Subbuswamy who saw no reason why a middle-aged woman couldn't start a punk band, so did just that. And Jazz Turner didn't let her disability stop her sailing solo around the British Isles, and now she plans to take on the world. And the Inheritance Tracks of former presenter of BBC Breakfast and Saturday Live, now a consulting psychologist, and still broadcasting, most notably with the Radio 4…
14 Mar 2026 · 55 min
Nigel Kennedy, Grief, Red Nose Day and the Inheritance Tracks of Adam Fleming
On Saturday Live this week, a virtuoso violinist, a singer with a powerful story of motherhood, love and grief, and the woman who made her fortune working out how we shop. Adrian spends the hour in great company with Nigel Kennedy, Jess Mills and the hugely influential Edwina Dunn OBE. Also today, we'll be hearing from a somewhat out of breath Greg James, pedalling his way from Weymouth to Edinburgh for Comic Relief. And we are treated to a special performance by Nigel and his band - Alec Dankworth on double bass and Peter Adams on the cello. This week's Inheritance Tracks comes from Adam…
7 Mar 2026 · 56 min
Steve Rosenberg, Cut Flowers, Cancer Care, and the Inheritance Tracks of Mike Wozniak
We’re in the company of an eminent foreign correspondent, a no less eminent expert in the field of flowers, and the woman who’s built the most beautiful spaces for cancer care. Our journalist is our man in Moscow - our last man in Moscow, really - Steve Rosenberg. Bringing colour, fragrance and joy to our studio is the queen of cut flowers, Sarah Raven. And we’ll all be scattering rose petals at the feet of Dame Laura Lee for all her work leading the cancer support charity Maggies. All that, plus the Inheritance Tracks of the comedian Mike Wozniak. Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Ben…
28 Feb 2026 · 55 min
Maggie Aderin, Shipwreck Hunting, Sea Shanties, and the Inheritance Tracks of Andy Zaltzman
On Saturday Live this week we’ll be looking up, down and all over the place. Dame Maggie Aderin, space scientist, will have us looking to the skies in wonder before David Mearns, shipwreck hunter, takes us down into the ocean deep as we marvel at his life’s work - and a man never short of a sense of wonder is writer, actor, comedian, sailor and lover of alpacas...Griff Rhys Jones. Also today, we’ll rise from the depths to the surface for some sea shantying from The Longest Johns - and we’ll be getting the Inheritance Tracks of Andy Zaltzman. Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Ben Mitchell…
21 Feb 2026 · 57 min
Jack Thorne, Hostage Negotiation, Family History, and the Inheritance Tracks of Marian Keyes
Today we’re in the company of a billionaire, a hostage negotiator and the most sought after screenwriter in the business. The screenwriter in question is Jack Thorne who’s now turned his considerable talent to a brilliant TV adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Nicky Perfect says hostage negotiation is all about empathy, and less about talking than listening. And we’ll be all ears as she tells us what we can all learn from the techniques police negotiators use. And we’ll certainly be paying close attention to what Welsh born billionaire Michael Moritz has to say to us, about his own story, and…
14 Feb 2026 · 56 min
Mark Steel, Nun at NASA, Funeral Cosmetics, and the Inheritance Tracks of Matt Edmonsdon
Today we have a comedian, a nun and an undertaker’s beautician. Mark Steel says that when there’s a crisis afoot, while everyone else is panicking the comedians in the room are busy finding the funny side. This Mark’s done, with a book about what he calls his adventures in cancerland. The remarkable Sister Libby Osgood, worked for NASA before she became a nun. Quite the career path that. And Jayne Lownds - who brought her expertise as a high-street beautician into the family funeral business. Also today the annual pancake race still being run more than 550 years after it started - and the…
7 Feb 2026 · 57 min
Alexander Armstrong, Cold Cases, Small Prophets and the Inheritance Tracks of Riz Ahmed
Alexander Armstrong on life as a writer, Professor Patricia Wiltshire explains the role of a forensic botanist, Mackenzie Crook unveils the secrets behind his latest show.

About Saturday Live

Join Adrian Chiles for a Saturday morning full of remarkable people with extraordinary stories.

Saturday Live is a English society & culture podcast from BBC Radio 4. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: BBC Radio 4
Language: English
Category: Society & Culture
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 57 min
Latest episode: 10 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id285693232
Rights: (C) BBC 2026

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