- 36 minutes 10 secondsSimon Brodkin, Elly Griffiths, Ahir Shah, Cara Dillon, Truthpaste
Stuart Maconie is joined by comedian Simon Brodkin, known for his character Lee Nelson and his stunts, slipping past security to prank the likes of Donald Trump, Seb Blatter and Theresa May. He's out on tour with a new show, Unleashed. Ahir Shah won the Edinburgh Comedy award in 2023 for his show Ends. His new show, Golden is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche and Gerald Manley Hopkins. Best Selling Crime Author Elly Griffith's The Killing Time is the second in her new Ali Dawson series.
And there's music from Cara Dillon and Truthpaste.
Presester: Stuart Maconie Producer: Jessica Treen
19 September 2026, 5:15 pm - 36 minutes 46 secondsJay Rayner, Sindhu Vee, Helen Rebanks, Laura Veirs, Arab Strap, Stuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie is joined in the Salford studio by the food critic and broadcaster Jay Rayner, who tells us about the worst thing he's ever done for money. Helen Rebanks, author of the best-selling book The Farmer's Wife, on not discussing bluetongue and Herdwicks with Whoopi Goldberg, and comedian Sindhu Vee on the perils of a four-a-day mango habit.
There's music from Portland-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and Falkirk's own Arab Strap.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Elizabeth Foster
12 September 2026, 5:15 pm - 37 minutes 21 secondsJanet Street Porter, Isy Suttie, Christopher Chung, Altered Images, Jordan Rakei
Clive Anderson's guests include the broadcaster and journalist Janet Street-Porter who is celebrating her 80th birthday by hitting the road. In 'Janet Street Porter is Still of The Leash at 80', Street-Porter is revisiting the highs and lows of her long and unusual life and career, settling scores and telling truths.
Comedian writer and actress Isy Suttie is the latest to take on the Taskmaster. As she tells Clive, she's no stranger to a dare - was this good training for the TV show?
Christopher Chung is best known for playing the deluded MI5 tech specialist Roddy Ho in Slow Horses. As the acclaimed spy drama returns for a sixth series, Chung is also starring as the romantic lead Roddy Ho wishes he was in a new adaptation of Miles Franklin's 'My Brilliant Career'
And music is from Altered Images who are on tour playing their hit 1981 debut album 'Happy Birthday'. Clare Grogan tells us why now is the right time to look back. Looking forward is Jordan Rakei, whose new album 'A Safe Place to Be Wild' is out in October. He joins us in the studio to perform a track.
Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Jessica Treen
5 September 2026, 5:15 pm - 35 minutes 41 secondsSophie Duker, John Kearns, Len Pennie and Paul Leonard-Morgan, Clive Anderson, Jenni Fagan, Kanan Gill, The Real Kyle McCarren
Join Clive Anderson for a party at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Taskmaster winner Sophie Duker spins great comedy from terrible encounters in her latest show Hot Beef Injection.
Comedian John Kearns brings Tilting at Windmills to the Fringe - monk cap, false teeth and all.
One of India's biggest stand-ups Kanan Gill will be chatting about how his show Not This Again changes during worldwide tours.
Writer and poet Jenni Fagan makes satire out of life after death in her book The Delusions.
Plus music from poet Len Pennie and composer Paul Leonard-Morgan who've collaborated on an album called Delusions, and the cast of The Real Kyle McCarren.
Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Caitlin Sneddon Production Co-ordinator: Lauren Stewart
29 August 2026, 6:00 pm - 32 minutes 39 secondsRosie Jones, One Man Musical, Damien Warren-Smith, Kirsty Mann, Legendary, Clive Anderson
Join Clive Anderson for a party at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Rosie Jones will be chatting about some of her favourite things (like gravy) and her least favourite things (like internet trolls called Darren) in I Can't Tell What She's Saying.
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins sees clown Damien Warren-Smith attempt to bring every single book in the collection to life like never before.
And comedian Kirsty Mann shares how buying a derelict house changed everything she believes in, in her very own real-life ghost story Corpse.
Plus music from One Man Musical which turns the spotlight on a musical theatre icon, and Legendary which explores Chinese mythology and queer legacy.
Presenter: Clive Anderson Producer: Caitlin Sneddon Production Co-ordinator: Lauren Stewart
22 August 2026, 6:00 pm - 36 minutes 26 secondsAndrew Hunter Murray, Dilly Carter, Hannah Byczkowski, David Eagle, Chris Brain, Daisy Peacock, Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Kiri Pritchard-McLean presents Loose Ends from the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield. She's joined by author and broadcaster Andrew Hunter Murray who tells us how to write novels with the aid of a spreadsheet. Professional organiser Dilly Carter on unboxing a skull, comedian and Traitors star Hannah Byczkowski on crying into Claudia Winkleman's arms, and comedian David Eagle on negotiating a climate change protest at his wedding. There's music from Yorkshire singer-songwriter Chris Brain and Sheffield's own Daisy Peacock.
Presenter: Kiri Pritchard-McLean Producer: Elizabeth Foster
15 August 2026, 5:17 pm - 35 minutes 51 secondsLiam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands
Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.
The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.
Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.
Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.
And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.
Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Anthony McKee Technical Producer: Davy Neill Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden
8 August 2026, 5:15 pm - 35 minutes 33 secondsMari Wilson, Fiona Allen, Olly Smith, Natalie Wildgoose, Tristan Gooley
TV presenter and wine expert Olly Smith's written a novel - Death by Noir - a crisp murder mystery set among the vineyards of Sussex.
Smack the Pony star Fiona Allen's taking a solo show - White Lies - to the Edinburgh Fringe, all about the fibs people tell to get out of socialising...and their dire consequences.
Tristan Gooley, author of The Hidden Seasons, tells us about 'shooting star' season, what to learn from a single tree and how to navigate using grass as a compass.
Music from Mari Wilson who sang Just What I Always Wanted in the 1980s and has her first new music out for a decade. Plus a song from rising star of lo-fi folk Natalie Wildgoose.
Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Olive Clancy Assistant Producer: Lizzie Foster Technical Producers: John Cole and Kelly Young Content Assistant: Sam Nixon
1 August 2026, 5:15 pm - 34 minutes 59 secondsChris Chibnall, Ayoade Bamgboye, Wendi Peters, The Anchoress, Later Youth
Kiri Pritchard-McLean is joined in Salford by writer and Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall who has turned his hand to crime novels, first with Death at the White Hart and now The Parkwood Murders.
Comedian Ayoade Bamgboye is fresh off the first season of Saturday Night Live UK and she's wrapping up the tour of her hit Edinburgh show Swings and Roundabouts, which earned her the best newcomer award at the festival in 2025, before heading back to the festival this year with a work in progress show.
Wendi Peters played Cilla Battersby-Brown in Eastenders and Dr Nina Bulsara in Doctors. Her latest role is in the new BBC One crime drama series The Hairdresser Mysteries.
Music is from The Anchoress, AKA Catherine Ann Davies who is soon to release a new album As We Once Were, her much anticipated follow up to her critically acclaimed 2021 album The Art of Losing, and Later Youth AKA Joe Dudderidge.
Presenter: Kiri Pritchard-McLean Producer: Jessica Treen
25 July 2026, 5:15 pm - 36 minutes 56 secondsRuthie Henshall, Tez Ilyas, Mica Millar, Joe Pasquale, Dave McCabe
West End star and Olivier Award winner Ruthie Henshall has a new memoir and as you might expect it's very glamorous and full of tales about the cast of Cats, Les Mis and Crazy for You. It also tells the story of her secret five year relationship with a young Prince Edward, how the now-King of England mixed her first martini and Princess Diana encouraged her to belt out a show tune after dinner.
Performer and all-round master entertainer Joe Pasquale is making his Edinburgh Fringe debut this year - before now he's always been too busy presenting The Price Is Right or competing in Dancing on Ice or winning I'm a Celebrity. Find out about his show - 11 and a half Angry Men.
The comedian Tez Ilyas, star of Man Like Mobeen and The Tez'O Clock Show is also heading for Edinburgh and then out on tour with his new show - Tez Things I Hate About You. He's entered his "uncle stage", he says, and thrives on deinfluencing.
Plus music from soul singer Mica Millar and from The Zutons front man Dave McCabe, now solo.
Presenter Kiri Pritchard-Mclean Producer Olive Clancy Assistant producer Lizzie Foster Production co-ordinator Pete Liggins Technical producers Amy Brennan and Kelly Young
18 July 2026, 6:00 pm - 37 minutes 28 secondsNigel Harman, Daliso Chaponda, Nikki Smith, Liana Flores, Ibibio Sound Machine
Stuart Maconie is joined by Nigel Harman, best known for playing lovable rogue Dennis Rickman in Eastenders, he's also much in demand as a panto villian. Trained in musical theatre, he also started in Shrek the Musical and his latest stage role is playing Bruce Bechdel in a musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel's memoir 'Fun Home' at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Daliso Chaponda describes himself as a 'comedian, writer and antisocial commentator' and has been touring the country with his latest show Topical Storm. A regular on Radio 4, Daliso tackles not the actual news, but look at news itself. Thriller writer Nikki Smith began her career in finance, and only turned to writing in 2017. Since then she's more than made up for lost time, publishing five best selling books and she's just about to publish book number six, 'The Last Place You Look'.
Music is from Liana Flores who had a viral hit with Rises The Moon in 2022 and has since released her debut album and toured round the world and Ibibio Sound Machine
Presenter: Stuart Maconie Producer: Jessica Treen
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