The Essay Episodes Available now
Raasay—Islands
4/5 Kenneth Steven on Raasay, an island close to Skye and once home to poet Sorley MacLean.
Rum—Islands
3/5 Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on on Scottish island life.
Hoy—Islands
2/5 Kenneth Steven explores Hoy, the only place of cliffs and mountains in the Orkney islands.
Iona—Islands
1/5 Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on Scottish island life.
Daisy—The Meaning of Flowers
5/5 Fiona Stafford discusses the daisy, an almost indestructible, pest-resistant flower.
Magnolia—The Meaning of Flowers
4/5 Fiona Stafford discusses magnolias, which are among the oldest plants in the world.
Rose—The Meaning of Flowers
3/5 Professor Fiona Stafford discusses our millennia-long understanding of roses.
Lily—The Meaning of Flowers
2/5 Professor Fiona Stafford explores our contradictory relationship with the lily.
Sunflower—The Meaning of Flowers
1/5 Fiona Stafford explores the meanings and importance to us of the sunflower.
Donald Sturrock on the events that made the man and writer—Roald Dahl at 100
5/5 Dahl's biographer Donald Sturrock recalls meeting the storyteller in his writing hut.
