Introducing Big Lives with Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi

Big Lives is a show about the cultural giants we think we know - until the archive proves we don’t. Each episode, acclaimed journalists Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi dive into the BBC’s century‑deep vault of interviews, performances, and forgotten tape to rediscover the humans buried beneath the headlines. Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor, Amy Winehouse and more: the people who shaped modern culture, but were flattened into punchlines, scandals, or single defining images. New episodes release on Mondays, starting March 23.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin culture is moving fast, but its foundations are deep.
I believe that to understand today, you need to understand
the icons who built it. I'm Kyrie and.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm a Manuel Jochi, and we're super excited to bring
you big lives from BBC Studios and Pushkin Industries.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Each week, we take one cultural icon and dive into
the BBC's century deep vault of interviews, performances and forgotten
tapes to rediscover the legends buried beneath the headlines.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
We're talking legends like Jane Fonda.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Well, it's changing the system from the ground up. Is revolutionary.
And then I'm revolutionary to.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Muhammad Ali, I'm not just a box so I'm Edger Katie.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I can talk all week on millions of subjects to
Amy Winehouse and we.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Want to go on stage.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I like to stress as slutty as possible because it makes
me dance. But for some reason, to George, there's someone
standing there waving their genitals out.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
You don't think that they're an officer of the law.
These icons are folks who too often become memes, punchlines,
or a single photo that can't unsee.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
We go through over one hundred years of archive tape
for the BBC to put the nuance back in. The contradictions,
the jokes, the mistakes, the surprising bits, the gut lost and.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
The archive transports us. It keeps proving that these icons
that we flattened into one liners, but they actually live
these big, chaotic, brilliant lives.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's like a vicious circle. They love you, then they
hate you, then they feel sorry for you said I
love you again. Join us and learn how each legend
sets the stage for today's culture.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Big Lives begins on March twenty third and releases a
new episode every Monday. You can subscribe to Pushkin Plus
to listen to Big Lives ad free, and as a
Pushkin Plus describer, you actually also get bonus episodes for
audio books and binge's from other pushkin hosts.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Fine Pushkin Plus, the Big Live Show page on Apple
podcast or at pushkin dot fm, slash plus, and hey,
thanks for your support.