Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett

Edd Hedges is a stand up comedian. He grew up in a small village, and was bullied throughout his childhood by a neighbour named Brett.

Edd had come back to the village one evening to perform a charity gig. After going to bed at his parents’ house, Ed was awoken when someone was banging at the door. That person turned out to be his bully, who had just murdered two people, one of whom was Brett’s mother. Brett himself was ...

Victoria Pendleton has suffered depression and grief since becoming an Olympic cycling champion. She's come out of it a stronger person, still on the lookout for a challenge.

Having won her second Olympic gold medal at her home games in London in 2012, Victoria retired from cycling as a national hero. But she kept chasing sporting challenges, competing in horse racing then trying mountaineering. An unsuccessful attempt to climb Ever...

Oonagh Cousins was one of Britain's best rowers, and was awarded a place on Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But after having Covid and being unable to fully recover, Oonagh lost her place in the squad.

Oonagh now lives with Long Covid, which impacts roughly 2 million people in the UK. Having her Olympic dream taken from her by this illness has made her reflect on her own identity and the experience of sufferers of similar condit...

As Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting vows to bring the UK back into the EU Emma asks - do we really want to have that fight again? Or is it fair enough if many of us have changed our minds? Would you dob your child in to the police? The Government is bringing in harsher penalties for the parents of children who commit crimes, saying it's time to remove the influence of "parents who can't parent". Is it all the fault of Mum ...

Weather presenter Ruth Dodsworth's ex-husband was jailed in 2021 for coercive control and stalking her. Even though he is now free, he was given a lifetime restraining order stopping him from contacting Ruth or their two children.

At times he would contact her up to 200 times a day while she was at work, but Ruth was unable to tell people the truth about her relationship. It took one extreme night for the police to become involved. ...

We’re doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News – a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us talking. On this episode - what the hell is going on in our politics - have we all become addicted to the psychodrama of leadership battles? As headlines ring out about 'basketcase Britain', one of those calling for Sir Keir Starmer to go tells us why the chaos of...

Comedian John Robins talks about how he stopped drinking booze and why he’s happiest alone. He had his last drink in 2022 but only accepted he was an alcoholic after he had quit.

John is known for his Edinburgh award-winning stand up shows and podcasts like How Do You Cope? and partnership with Elis James. He’s just written a book, Thirst: Twelve Drinks That Changed My Life, which chronicles his lifelong relationship wit...

We're doing a new thing on Ready to Talk: News - a short series of three episodes where we find the news stories that really pique your interest and get us all talking.

On this episode - why are some in middle class Britain swiping things from supermarkets and then bragging about their five-fingered discounts? While the former New York Police Chief tells us crime is crime and should be tackled, the man who used to advise Jeremy Cor...

Author Sally Gardner’s addiction to shopping has cost her £700k. She has only just discovered this compulsive behaviour is side effect of drugs she’s been prescribed for 20 years.

Sally is a Carnegie Medal and Costa Children’s Book Award-winning writer who suffers from a debilitating condition called Restless Legs Syndrome. To combat it she has taken drugs called dopamine agonists for two decades. When her children...

Lindsey Burrow’s husband Rob was her childhood sweetheart before he became an England rugby league star. After he got motor neurone disease she became his carer for the final years of his life.

Lindsey continued her work as a physiotherapist in the NHS, and looked after their three children, as Rob's condition deteriorated. She has now written a book, Take Care, chronicling her time caring for the husband she describes as "a h...

Shaheen Hashmat left her family home aged 12 feeling she needed to escape, fearing a forced marriage. Initially she kept in touch, until deciding to become totally estranged in her twenties.

By cutting contact, she lost the identity and sense of belonging that comes with family. She describes it as the worst kind of break up, one that left her questioning everything. Who am I without them? How do I trust my own decisions? And how d...

Deepa Paul grew up in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country where she was expected to meet one partner and stay with them for life. She followed that path, entering a monogamous relationship with her husband. But a small moment shifted everything. While selling furniture on an online directory, Deepa found herself exposed to a world of different sexual preferences and lifestyles. It challenged what she had been taught...

Will Adolphy followed male influencers to figure out how a real man should look, feel and act. Now he helps men and boys escape the influence of the online manosphere. Throughout his teens Will Adolphy became increasingly isolated from his family, focussing his time on online gaming. Later he became more deeply drawn into the masculine digital culture that has become known as ‘the manosphere’, becoming so obsessed wit...

On New Year's Day, Jess Davies woke up to discover an image of her in a clingfilm bikini had been created by Elon Musk's AI tool Grok and posted to X. She discusses how she has gone from working as a glamour model to campaigning against online image abuse. Jess shares how her first experience as a victim of image abuse occurred when she was just 15 when a private photo of her was shared around her hometown. She explains how this ...

Ric Renton shares how reading the dictionary in prison aided his writing career. Following a school life, he describes as “absent” and a violent childhood involving drugs, Ric requested a dictionary to read cover to cover while in prison. Twenty years later, he has written and starred in plays and is a writer and actor in the BBC drama Waiting For The Out. With the latest reoffending rates stating that over 40% of a...

Lottie Clarke shares her husband's story and explains why she thinks UK law on assisted dying should change. The couple were happily married for 19 years, but were apart at the moment he died. After being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, James Clarke wanted to retain control at the end of his life. He eventually travelled to Switzerland where assisted dying is legal. Lottie believes they could have had a bit more time togeth...

Fashion writer Billie Bhatia talks about her experiences of living in a bigger body, fatphobia and the cultural, social and personal impact of weight loss jabs. Billie talks to Emma about dating, navigating the fashion industry and shares her thoughts on the body positivity movement as well as Serena William’s controversial weight loss drugs advert at Super Bowl 2026.

A recent study by University College London researchers, es...

Dame Tracey Emin discusses love, feminism, and making art after losing her bladder to cancer, ahead of the opening of her largest ever exhibition. Emin is one of the UK’s foremost visual artists, having risen to fame in 1990s. In 2020, she was diagnosed with advanced squamous cell carcinoma on her bladder. One specialist gave her six months to live. Four weeks later, a seven-and-a-half-hour surgery removed her bladder, uter...