Start the Week

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

Radio 4,770 episodes

Episodes

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Napoleon’s marshals and President Trump’s civil servants
Who keeps institutions functioning when power, loyalty and trust break down?
19 Oct 2026,42 mins
Inheritance – from stories to genetics
Secrets, myths and ancient DNA reshape our understanding of the past and present
12 Oct 2026,41 mins
Jon Ronson: men unravelling
Men in crisis, women under scrutiny and monuments in decay.
05 Oct 2026,41 mins
Contains Strong Language Festival in Salford
Simon Armitage, Jade Cuttle and Trevor Cox talk epic adventures, mudlarking and acoustics.
28 Sep 2026,42 mins
Carlo Rovelli: complexity and value
Physicist Carlo Rovelli, poet Lavinia Greenlaw and playwright James Graham.
21 Sep 2026,42 mins
Living with uncertainty
Xand van Tulleken, Lani Watson and Daniel Mason on certainty and doubt.
14 Sep 2026,41 mins
Gordon Brown: The Future Starts with Us
Gordon Brown, Francis Fukuyama and Bronwen Maddox on democracy's future.
07 Sep 2026,42 mins
Life Online: Power, Risk and Resistance
The dangers of life online, and how individuals and societies can fight back.
22 Jun 2026,42 mins
Working-Class Lives: Identity and Political Fractures
Nicola Wilding, Natasha Carthew and Daljit Nagra, with Adam Rutherford.
15 Jun 2026,41 mins
Scientific discovery and misunderstanding
Adam Rutherford talks discoveries with Andrea Wulf, Saira Hameed and Kathryn Paige Harden.
08 Jun 2026,42 mins
Searching for economic solutions
Jeremy Hunt, Mariana Mazzucato and Patrick Foulis join Tom Sutcliffe.
01 Jun 2026,42 mins
Mythmaking at Hay: from Medea to Rasputin
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Antony Beevor, Natalie Haynes and Susan Neiman at Hay Festival.
25 May 2026,42 mins
Farming, food production and rural life
Adam Rutherford talks to Minette Batters, Dave Goulson and Melissa Harrison about farming.
18 May 2026,42 mins
German history
Samira Ahmed with writer Katja Hoyer, art historian John-Paul Stonard & writer Julia Boyd.
11 May 2026,40 mins
Laurie Anderson: Strange and Disorientating Landscapes
Naomi Alderman talks to Laurie Anderson, plus JG Ballard's writing and Nancy Holt's art.
04 May 2026,41 mins
Chemical Reactions
Tom Sutcliffe with chemist Ijeoma Uchegbu, science historian Kit Chapman & Mark Miodownik
27 Apr 2026,42 mins
Why Stuff Matters: Objects, Power and the Past
Mary Beard, Greg Doran and Sophia Adams talk to Adam Rutherford.
20 Apr 2026,41 mins
Challenges and solutions
John Kampfner, Natasha Walter and Nicolas Niarchos join Tom Sutcliffe
13 Apr 2026,41 mins
Zoos, sex and conservation
Adam Rutherford on the origins of zoos and sex.
06 Apr 2026,41 mins
Industrial action: from 1926 General Strike to today
Tom Sutcliffe looks back to the General Strike a century ago, and to the future of work.
30 Mar 2026,41 mins
Growing Up
Naomi Alderman with Booker prize-winner David Szalay, Penny Woolcock and Laura Tisdall.
23 Mar 2026,41 mins
Consciousness and Identity
Tom Sutcliffe with Michael Pollan, Fay Bound-Alberti and Mary Costello.
16 Mar 2026,41 mins
Under the sea
Adam Rutherford discusses the sea with Julian Sancton, Joan Passey and Samanth Subramanian
09 Mar 2026,41 mins
Reading and storytelling
Tom Sutcliffe hears the case for literacy and literature.
02 Mar 2026,41 mins
Thinking about war
Sir Lawrence Freedman on strategy, art curator Rebecca Newell and historian Jane Rogoyska.
23 Feb 2026,41 mins
Breakage and repair
Tom Sutcliffe's guests include Booker Prize-winner George Saunders on his new novel, Vigil
16 Feb 2026,41 mins
Fun and games
Naomi Alderman with C Thi Nguyen, Keza MacDonald and Stephen Bush.
09 Feb 2026,41 mins
Censorship
Tom Sutcliffe talks to the artist Ai Weiwei about censorship and being held for 81 days.
02 Feb 2026,42 mins
Biology, technology and the future
Adam Rutherford asks what it might mean if we can build human bodies and minds.
26 Jan 2026,42 mins
Rethinking politics
Tom Sutcliffe explores how we might reform politics
19 Jan 2026,41 mins