Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth

Akshata Murty, entrepreneur, philanthropist and wife of the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is our guest today. And it's particularly interesting to listen to this episode in light of the resignation of Keir Starmer yesterday (Monday 22 June 2026): what is it really like to be married to a prime minister? What are Akshata's memories of the day, in the pouring rain, that Rishi Sunak announced the fateful 2024 election? Did she f...

Our guest today is the hugely successful author of twisty, suspenseful, page-turning, gripping novels - such as Tell No One, Fool Me Once and Deal Breaker - Harlan Coben. Here, Harlan talks to Gyles about his childhood, spent in a very ordinary all-American town in New Jersey, which had secrets and rumours lurking beneath its cookie-cutter exterior. He talks about his family - his inspirational father who died too young, and his mo...

We're in New York City, so we need glamour, class, poise, elegance, talent and wit; and we're pleased to say we've got them all... because our guest today is Christine Baranski. Star of The Gilded Age, The Good Wife, Sybil, Mama Mia and guest star in Big Bang Theory, Christine Baranski is a gifted actress with an impressive body of work across stage, television and film. In this brilliant and in-depth conversation with Gyles, she t...

Graydon Carter, the celebrated magazine editor, is the second guest in our New York series. Carter edited Vanity Fair for 25 years and transformed the magazine into the must-read glossy for the intelligent, the curious and the culturally-savvy. He talks to Gyles about his vision for Vanity Fair and why it was such a success, about the four elements you need to put together a good story, and about the famous Oscars Party. He talks a...

Leading up to the 250th anniversary of American independence, Rosebud is giving you a series of interviews recorded in New York City. Our first is with the sharpest observer of New York life - the wit, conversationalist and writer, Fran Lebowitz. In this brilliant interview, Fran tells Gyles about her family, who moved to the US from Russia and Eastern Europe to escape the Jewish pogroms. She talks about her happy childhood, cyclin...

The writer, satirist and urban explorer Will Self talks to Gyles about his childhood, his career and his life now. From his boyhood as "little Willy", the apple of his mother's eye, who was both enfolded and smothered by her love; to his adolescence when he began smoking, drinking and experimenting with drugs earlier than most; to his student days when his good looks meant he found it easy to get women into bed... this is an absorb...

Matt Haig, the international best-selling author of books such as The Midnight Library, Reasons to Stay Alive, and his new release The Midnight Train, is our guest today. And this is one of our most in-depth and fascinating ever discussions of mental health and the true nature of depression. Matt's observations are genuinely illuminating, and full of hope and advice for anyone who has experienced despair. Matt also talks about shop...

We're lucky to have the talented actress Anne-Marie Duff (St.Joan, The Magdalene Sisters, Shameless, Bad Sisters, The Virgin Queen) as our guest today, taking Gyles back to her happy childhood in a tight-knit community in West London, where she lay in bed hearing the sounds of piano from the local pub wafting in through the windows, and heard her father singing love songs to her mother. She talks about being a shy and bookish child...

It's 1975 and new father Gyles Brandreth is multi-tasking, like any young parent. One day he's feeding the ducks in Regent's Park with his new baby, the next, spearheading the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Common Market. He's also planning his next Oxford Theatre Festival, learning to play bridge, and being interviewed by the Mail. Plus Gyles and Harriet chat about their favourite day of the week, and snoring. Enjo...

At Rosebud we know how lucky we are to meet and talk to so many talented and fascinating guests. And this week we are especially lucky, as our guest is one of our greatest living actors: Ralph Fiennes. In this conversation recorded at the Haymarket Theatre (where Ralph is currently appearing with Miranda Raison in the David Hare play Grace Pervades), Ralph talks to Gyles about his childhood. He talks about his parents - the writer ...

Our More Rosebud guest today is the Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel De Souza. Dame Rachel advocates for children in parliament, and on May 8 published a major survey of 1 million children in the UK - entitled "The Big Future". The children she's surveyed are especially those who are hardest to reach, living away from home, with disabilities, or in care – and the survey provides an urgent and definitive state ...

Our guest today is Sir Lenny Henry, the pioneering comedian, entertainer, actor and campaigner, who tells Gyles his story, and it's an impressive one: from the streets of Dudley in the West Midlands, to winning New Faces at only 16 years old, to an acclaimed run as Othello at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Lenny brings his childhood home to life - his mother, a gifted preacher who came to the UK from Jamaica, and whose formidable pe...

Rosebud has been on its first international road trip, to New York City. In this episode, Gyles and Harriet chat about their trip... about how they gossiped for 15 hours straight on the flight over, about being guests of the Queen at the New York Public Library and seeing Pooh Bear, Kanga, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet and the new Roo, and about Anna Wintour giving Gyles an unexpected compliment. In the second half of the show, Gyles talk...

Jeremy Corbyn MP is our guest on this May Day morning. Now an independent MP and the leader of Your Party, Jeremy has been in Westminster for 43 years - for 41 of those as a Labour MP. He was leader of Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, and fought two general elections in 2017 and 2019. He talks about this to Gyles in this episode, and about the bitter divisions and recriminations that followed the final defeat. He also talks about hi...

It's the second of our guests this week with a royal connection: India Hicks. India is the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten - the last Viceroy of India who oversaw the transition to independence, and his fascinating wife, Edwina Mountbatten, who was rumoured to have had a love affair with Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. India tells Gyles about this, and about her experiences of the day Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979. In...

Today - Tuesday 21 April 2026 - would have been Queen Elizabeth II's 100th birthday, and we're marking the occasion with two regal Rosebuds. Our guest in this episode is Major General Alastair Bruce, the former Army Reserves officer and governor of Edinburgh Castle who is now a respected royal expert and commentator for Sky News. Alastair talks to Gyles about his family, and how they got to know the Queen and Prince Phillip in Malt...