Last Word

Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently

Radio 4,891 episodes

Episodes

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Dick Cheney, Yvonne Brewster, Mary McGee, Peter Watkins
Matthew Bannister on a US politician, a theatre director, a campaigner and a film-maker.
07 Nov 2025,28 mins
Prunella Scales CBE, Gillian Tindall, Roger Smith, Anthony Grey
Matthew Bannister on an actor, a writer, an outdoors champion, a journalist
31 Oct 2025,28 mins
SPECIAL EDITION: Prunella Scales
Matthew Bannister talks to Samuel West about his mother Prunella Scales
31 Oct 2025,21 mins
Raila Odinga, Bill Colley, Baroness Rosalind Howells, Sister Marion Irvine
Matthew Bannister on a Kenyan politician, a boat builder, a campaigner, a nun'
24 Oct 2025,28 mins
Peter Gurney, Diane Keaton, Peter Hall, Angela Bond
Matthew Bannister on a bomb disposal expert, an actor, a winemaker and a theatre manager.
17 Oct 2025,28 mins
Patrick Bradley, Dame Jilly Cooper, Sara Jane Moore, Dame Patricia Routledge
Matthew Bannister on an electoral officer, an author, an attempted assassin and an actor.
10 Oct 2025,28 mins
Dame Jane Goodall, Tony Harrison, Lord Menzies Campbell, Danny Thompson
Matthew Bannister on a primatologist, a poet, a politician and a bass player.
03 Oct 2025,28 mins
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, John Stapleton, Mary Elizabeth Dodd, Claudia Cardinale
Matthew Bannister on an architect, a TV presenter, a physiotherapist and an actor.
26 Sep 2025,28 mins
Robert Redford, Barbara Harvey, Rosa Roisinblit, Stuart Craig
Matthew Bannister on a film star, a historian, a campaigner and a designer.
19 Sep 2025,28 mins
The Duchess of Kent, Giorgio Armani, Valerie Pearlman, Rick Davies
John Wilson on a duchess, fashion designer, judge and a singer.
12 Sep 2025,28 mins
Joe Bugner, Ann McManus, Angela Mortimer Barrett, Frank Strang
John Wilson on a boxer, a writer, a tennis player and an entrepreneur.
05 Sep 2025,28 mins
David Richardson, Doris Lockhart Saatchi, Dame Annette Brooke, Byron Rogers
John Wilson on a broadcaster, an art collector, a former MP and a biographer.
29 Aug 2025,28 mins
Terence Stamp, Stephanie Shirley, Kay Dunbar, Eric Midwinter
John Wilson on an actor, tech pioneer, literacy festival founder, a polymath
22 Aug 2025,28 mins
Jim Lovell, Biddy Baxter, Razia Jan, Iris Williams
Matthew Bannister on an astronaut, an editor, an educator, a singer
15 Aug 2025,28 mins
Dame Stella Rimington, Sylvia Young, Sir Jamie McGrigor, Joan Anderson
Matthew Bannister on an spy boss, a drama school founder, a politician and a craze starter
08 Aug 2025,28 mins
Dame Cleo Laine, Hulk Hogan, Margaret Boden, Tom Lehrer
Matthew Bannister on a singer, a wrestler, a cognitive scientist and a satirist.
01 Aug 2025,28 mins
Ozzy Osbourne, Connie Francis, Jacqui Browne, Douglas Chamberlain
Matthew Bannister on two singers, a campaigner and a cardiologist.
25 Jul 2025,28 mins
Sir Ian Blair, Jennie Street, Dr Anna Ornstein, Muhammadu Buhari
Matthew Bannister on a police commissioner, a farmer, a psychoanalyst and a president.
18 Jul 2025,28 mins
Lord Tebbit, Daphne Boden, James Leprino, Sir Francis Graham-Smith
Matthew Bannister on a politician, a harpist, a businessman and an astronomer.
11 Jul 2025,28 mins
Courtney Griffiths KC, Sara Venn, Nina Kuscik, Mohammad Hussain
Matthew Bannister on a barrister, a gardener, a runner and a soldier.
04 Jul 2025,28 mins
Michael Lachmann, Pik-sen Lim, Leon Krier, David 'Syd' Lawrence
Matthew Bannister on a director, an actor, an architect and a cricketer.
27 Jun 2025,28 mins
Sir Geoff Palmer, Barbara Holdridge, Kim Woodburn, Sly Stone
John Wilson on a scientist, an entrepreneur, a reality TV star and a musician.
20 Jun 2025,28 mins
Brian Wilson, Frederick Forsyth, Uriah Rennie, Edmund White
Kirsty Lang on a musician, a writer, a referee and an author.
13 Jun 2025,28 mins
Valmik Thapar, Nancy Blaik, Norma Meras Swenson, Dr Stuart Farrimond
Kirsty Lang on a conservationist, a charity fundraiser, an author, a science communicator.
06 Jun 2025,28 mins
Alan Yentob, Richard Garwin, Dr Joy Schaverien, Anne Merriman
Matthew Bannister on a BBC executive, a physicist, a psychoanalyst and a doctor.
30 May 2025,28 mins
Hannah Deacon, Andrew Norfolk, Dame June Clark, Martin Graham
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, a journalist, a nurses’ leader and a businessman.
23 May 2025,28 mins
Sir Tom Farmer, Elaine Wynn, Sue Stapely, Joseph Nye
Matthew Bannister on a businessman, a casino owner, a solicitor and a political analyst.
16 May 2025,28 mins
Jane Gardam, Sir Roger Birch, Mike Peters, Francoise Hampson
Kirsty Lang on an author, a chief constable, a musician and a lawyer.
09 May 2025,28 mins
Virginia Giuffre, Rosy Bremer, LJ Smith, Wizz Jones
Matthew Bannister on a campaigner, an activist, an author and a musician.
02 May 2025,28 mins
Pope Francis, Paddy Higson, David Sassoon
Matthew Bannister on a pope, a producer and a designer.
25 Apr 2025,28 mins