Main content

Start the Week Episodes

  1. 19/01/2026

    Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

  2. The arts and health

    Adam Rutherford and guests explore the connection between body and soul.

  3. Animals and Meaning

    Naomi Alderman with Justin Gregg, Peter Fretwell and Marianne Hem Eriksen

  4. Poetry - reading, writing, editing and translating

    Nick Makoha, Miles Leeson and Karen Leeder.

  5. The Dark

    Shadows in art, photography and poetry: Adam Rutherford's guests discuss darkness.

  6. Histories, emotions and identity

    Lyndal Roper, Masud Husain and Hannah Durkin.

  7. Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues

    Tom Sutcliffe looks to the stars with Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Paul Davies and Caroline Smith

  8. Genes and hands: mapping character and health

    Alison Bashford, Matthew Cobb and Charlotte Houldcroft with Adam Rutherford.

  9. Digital Futures and Information Crises

    Cory Doctorow, Naomi Alderman and Oliver Moody with Tom Sutcliffe.

  10. Saving Tigers, Green Crime and Cli-fi

    Jonathan Slaght, Juhea Kim and Julia Shaw in conversation with Adam Rutherford.

  11. Storytelling: Jeanette Winterson, Rory Stewart and Soweto Kinch

    Jeanette Winterson, Soweto Kinch and Rory Stewart, with Tom Sutcliffe.

  12. Crossing genres with Wayne McGregor

    Wayne McGregor, Anne Enright and Tanika Gupta talk to Shahidha Bari.

  13. Maps – lost, secret and revealing

    James Cheshire, Jerry Brotton and Jenny Uglow, with Tom Sutcliffe.

  14. Endangered languages and vanishing landscapes

    Mandana Seyfeddinipur, Klaus Dodds and Sverker Sörlin, with Adam Rutherford

  15. Yanis Varoufakis on Greece’s civil war

    Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis and historians Paul Cartledge and Mary Vincent.

  16. Steven Pinker on common knowledge

    Steven Pinker, Aleks Krotoski and David Edmonds, with Adam Rutherford.

  17. Contains Strong Language Festival, Bradford

    Saima Mir, Andrew McMillan and Catherine Clarke at the CSL Festival in Bradford.

  18. Afghanistan and the DRC

    Lyse Doucet, Michela Wrong and Ashleigh Percival-Borley talk to Shahidha Bari.

  19. Arundhati Roy and maternal inheritance

    Arundhati Roy, Lea Ypi and Sarah Howe talk to Tom Sutcliffe.

  20. Sanctuary, refuge and exile

    Tom Sutcliffe talks to Marina Warner, Oliver Basciano and Fergus Butler-Gallie.

  21. The Idea of Genius

    Adam Rutherford talks to Helen Lewis, Francesca Wade and Dean Van Nguyen

  22. Hidden spaces and dangerous places

    Tom Sutcliffe talks to Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, Danny Dorling and Adele Zeynep Walton.

  23. The uses and abuses of the atom

    Shahidha Bari talks to Frank Close, Tim Gregory and Baroness Natalie Bennett.

  24. Hay Festival: exposing the secrets of rubbish

    Tom Sutcliffe at Hay Festival, with Chloe Duckworth, Sarah Gabbott and Saabira Chaudhuri

  25. Mathematics, Symbiosis and Japanese art

    Adam Rutherford discusses art, maths and creativity with Marcus du Sautoy.

  26. History: private, personal and political

    Tom Sutcliffe talks to Tiffany Jenkins, Geoff Dyer and Lanre Bakare.

  27. Smell – the underrated sense

    Adam Rutherford with Jonas Olofsson, Ally Louks and Alan Chalmers.

  28. Advocating for nature

    Tom Sutcliffe with Robert Macfarlane, Monica Feria-Tinta and Patrick Galbraith.

  29. Christianity and British society

    Shahidha Bari with Bishop of Newcastle Helen-Ann Hartley, Bijan Omrani and Lamorna Ash.

  30. Impunity and fighting for justice

    Tom Sutcliffe talks to Philippe Sands, Kenneth Roth and Lina Sinjab

  1. Previous
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. …
  8. 27