Substantial Helen

Meg Daly uncovers her family’s hidden history of slavery in Jamaica. In this programme, we hear from local Jamaicans who helped Meg in her search for her ancestry and their family connections with slavery. Meg and her family also speak of the profound shame they now feel over the ... Show More

Stories from an Irish entertainment family which travelled the roads of the country over several decades. Stories like the man who died on stage; the man who refused to die on stage and the lack of virgins in Glenties! (2025)Narrated by Kevin SullivanProduced by Ronan KellyAgnes’ ... Show More

In 1986, a Limerick man called Terry Madigan came up with a plan to raise money for his local GAA club and community that everyone thought was crazy. Terry wanted to create a world record for the longest game of GAA football ever to be played. It would be 60 hours of football - n ... Show More

<p>Ireland voted in two ground-breaking referendums in the last five years. The same sex marriage referendum and Irish abortion referendum have changed the lives of many women in the country forever. And the campaigns continue. The Irish people are expected to go the ballot again ... Show More

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell is best known for playing the wise cracking Michelle in Channel 4’s Derry Girls, the comedy series about a group of teenagers growing up in 1990's Northern Ireland. Jamie-Lee has swapped the school uniform for a prison uniform for new drama Screw on Channel 4, ... Show More

We have music and chat from singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone who has been named as runner up of the BBC Sound of 2021.Helen Lewis, staff writer at the Atlantic and Melissa Melewski lecturer in American politics at The University of Sussex discuss the role women played in this ... Show More

The poet Carol Ann Duffy - who served as the first woman poet laureate between 2009-2019 and has won numerous awards for her poetry including the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes - joins Emma with a poem which feels particularly apt in the current circumstances, as we en ... Show More

Helen McCrory shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would want to take with her if cast away to a desert island. Helen McCrory OBE is one of the most versatile and critically acclaimed actresses working today. On screen she has played Anna Karenina, Cherie Blair (twice), H ... Show More

As the Ukraine conflict rages on, questions have arisen over what the endgame is for Russian President Vladimir Putin. There have been continued reports of rape and violence being used against Ukrainian civilians by Russian soldiers. Durham-born Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the ... Show More

<p>Throughout history, women have been fearlessly taking up arms and waging war, but the stories of female fighters tend to be forgotten. That is changing, with more female warriors taking centre stage in films and TV series. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women committed to bringin ... Show More

Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall is now at the heart of the royal family. In her ascension day message which begins a year of celebrations to mark seventy years on the throne, the Queen said that once Prince Charles becomes King, her sincere wish is that Camilla will be at his sid ... Show More

<p>Née à la fin du XIIIe siècle, dans une famille de la noblesse irlandaise, Alice Kyteler est connue pour être la première personne, en Irlande, à avoir été condamnée au bûcher pour sorcellerie. C'est la raison pour laquelle elle quitta l'Irlande, sans doute pour se réfugier en ... Show More

<p>Grace O'Malley, or Gráinne Mhaol, has become an Irish folk hero, a woman who led a crew of men and galley ships and stood up to the English occupiers in Ireland. But it's her legendary meeting with Queen Elizabeth I—a moment of diplomacy—in England that has fascinated historia ... Show More