Today we’re in the company of three luminously talented people who’ve survived seriously dark periods to shine brightly in their fields.

More than thirty years after Irvine Welsh’s debut novel caused a sensation, he tell us how Trainspotting The Musical was a natural next step.

Alan Davies’ career has been going strong for more than thirty years too. There's a lot going on in his new memoir - the story of his stand-up comedy told in the context of the trauma he went through as a child, and his cancer treatment in middle age.

And Clemency Burton Hill was an accomplished classical musician, writer and broadcaster when a catastrophic brain haemorrhage almost robbed her of everything.

Also, thanks are given to a couple of coppers who were on hand when a listener’s homecoming from holiday went badly wrong.

And we have the Inheritance Tracks of the actor Adrian Lester.

Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Ben Mitchell Assistant Producer: Lowri Morgan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Joining Adrian this week on Saturday Live, BBC Radio treasure and bestselling author Sara Cox. She just taken over BBC Radio 2's breakfast show but has found the time to write a brand new novel, 'The Truth of Us' that is published on the 16th July.

We have the Booker Prize Winning Author and poet Ben Okri, he is a giant amongst writers, a master storyteller with a fascinating life story of his own to tell.

And Chris Terill has more than 200 documentaries under his belt, awards galore, and a long career worthy of a documentary in its own right.

Plus, the inheritance tracks of the chef and restaurateur behind Mowgli Street Food restaurants, Nisha Katona.

Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Lowri Morgan Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Joining Adrian Chiles on this week's programme is Mark Foster, for a good while the fastest swimmer on the planet.

We have author and psychologist Katriona O’Sullivan, a woman raised in poverty in Coventry, who went on to get a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin.

And the remarkably gifted Ralf Little, who we know as an actor but might equally have been a doctor or a footballer.

Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the singer-songwriter Clare Grogan.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producers: Catherine Powell and Imy Harper Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday morning programme. On today's programme:

Paul Merton’s been at the top of his game for BBC One's Have I Got News for You and a familiar voice here on BBC Radio 4’s Just A Minute. He is about to take his Improv show with his wife Suki Webster to the Edinburgh Fringe this August. They’ll also be taking the show back to The Comedy Store in London from November through to December. Professor Lady Sue Black - Baroness of Black Strome – is a world‑renowned forensic anthropologist, celebrated for her pioneering work in forensics and human identification.

David James is a football pundit and a former England international. His career as a goalkeeper has taken him from grassroots sport in Welwyn Garden City to the international stage and World Cup tournaments.

Plus we'll have the Inheritance Tracks of the best selling crime author Mark Billingham.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producer: Imy Harper Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Joining Adrian Chiles on this week's programme is Professor of social history, a writer with a first class degree from Cambridge and a TV legend with a masters from Oxford.

Ruby Wax is as well known now for her work in mental health, but she’s been looking back at some of her biggest interviews to see what she can learn about herself as well as her subjects.

Professor Carl Chinn is a social historian, proud son of Birmingham and great grandson of a Peaky Blinder.

Sathnam Sanghera’s written novels, an acclaimed memoir, acclaimed histories of the British Empire. Now he’s exploring the meaning of one of his heroes - George Michael.

Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the broadcaster Lorraine Kelly.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producers: Catherine Powell and Imy Harper Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

If you have been affected by any of the details discussed in today’s programme you can find information for help and support in the UK at bbc.co.uk/actionline

Three great guests on the show, as per normal. One of them’s all about the paranormal, one is a legendary entrepreneur, and a lifelong journalist whose greatest story turned up in her own family.

Danny Robins is a man with an uncanny ability to explore the supernatural in a way which delights sceptics and believers alike.

Sharon Ring worked on Fleet Street in newspapers and magazines for more than three decades before finding the full story of her mother and uncle’s childhood in Nazi Germany.

And Simon Woodroofe had a great career in music and television behind him before he got round to keeping the promise he made to himself to make his million - Yo Sushi being the business which made his name. He's just released his memoir: Yo! Man: Rock n’Roll, Robots and Reinventing British Dining.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant producer: Catherine Powell & Ribika Moktan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Adrian Chiles is joined by three hugely successful guests - all shining stars in their fields.

Victoria Pendleton won it all as a track cyclist, a quite astounding athlete who dug so deep, physically and mentally, in her career, and also in navigating her life after cycling.

Cressida Cowell is the writer and illustrator behind - amongst other things - the incredibly successful How to Train your Dragon series.

So we have a sports star, and a star author, and in Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell we have someone whose work enabled the discovery of a new kind of star, a discovery which changed astronomy forever.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producer: Imy Harper & Ribika Moktan Productions co-ordinator: Josie Hardy Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Adrian Chiles with a pop star, a comedian and a writer, but there’s a lot more to each of them than that.

Tom Fletcher was starring on the West End stage at the age of 10. 30 years later he’s been back there writing the music for Paddington - The Musical. In between he’s squeezed in popstardom with the hugely successful band McFly.

Bethany Handley grew up loving life in the great outdoors of Monmouthshire and she has written a memoir, My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors.

And with Russell Kane there’s an awful lot going on. Terrifyingly clever, award-winning comedian, writer, children's book author and now Shakespearean actor.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producers: Ribika Moktan and Sofia Popova Production co-ordinator: Josie Hardy Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Martha Kearney is a titan of news and political broadcasting who these days takes a more relaxed approach to her work, swapping the campaign trail for a nature trail.

Matt Haig can do it all, fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books - and we’re all aboard for his latest novel the Midnight Train - but it's Winnie the Pooh that

Ian Fletcher, Earl Grantham, Mr Brown…are but some of the much loved characters of Hugh Bonneville - he’s now turned his hand to a children’s book where, as we’ll hear, the most unbelievable stories within it are true!

All that, plus the Inheritance Tracks of Prue Leith.

Presenter: Adrian Chiles Producer: Ben Mitchell Assistant Producer: Lowri Morgan Researcher: Jesse Edwards and Josie Hardy Editor: Andrea Kennedy

Adrian Chiles presents Radio 4's Saturday morning show.

Our wonderful guests today include JJ Chalmers, who has been a design-technology teacher, Royal Marine and Invictus games medallist. He is now a regular presenter on Television and Radio.

We also have with us a legend of the food and restaurant world, Ruth Rogers.

And a couple of podcasting Dads - Matthew Carter and Lawrence Price - who’ve got fellow fathers to come together and share their feelings by offering classes in braiding girls’ hair.

Plus the Inheritance Tracks of the actor Jason Watkins.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan and Lowri Morgan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

On today's programme, Adrian Chiles is with Steve Backshall. The adventurer and naturalist has captivated all of us with his work, but especially children - millions of them - who he’s led wide-eyed into the natural world.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce is blessed with a similar gift for capturing the imagination of children, as well as grownups. The esteemed screenwriter is presently the Children’s Laureate. Frank will be appearing on the programme ahead of his appearance at the Children's Laureate Lecture called The Kids Are Not Alright, which is being held on Thursday 14 May at the Royal Institution in London.

And amazing storytellers though Frank and Steve are, even they might struggle to do justice to the tale of what Natalie Queiroz has been through. Her work campaigning for the victims of crime has earned her a well-deserved MBE.

Also, we'll hear the Inheritance Tracks of broadcaster and journalist Nick Robinson.

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Assistant Producer: Ribika Moktan Researcher: Jesse Edwards Editor: Andrea Kennedy

And if you have been affected by any of the details discussed in today’s programme, you can find information for help and support in the UK at bbc.co.uk/actionline.