Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Freedom Of Speech | 20221130 | 20230106 (R4) | Best-selling Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives the first of four 2022 Reith Lectures, discussing freedom of speech. She argues that it feels like freedom of speech is under attack. Cancel culture, arguments about `wokeness' and the assault on Salman Rushdie have produced a febrile atmosphere. Meanwhile autocrats and populists have undermined the very notion of an accepted fact-based truth which lives above politics. So how do we calibrate freedom in this context? If we have the freedom to offend, where do we draw the line? This lecture and question-and-answer session is recorded in London in front of an audience and presented by Anita Anand. The year's series was inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt's four freedoms speech of 1941 and asks what this terrain means now? It features four different lecturers. In addition to Chimamanda, they are: Freedom of Worship by Rowan Williams Freedom from Want by Darren McGarvey Freedom from Fear by Fiona Hill Sound Engineers: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Best-selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's BBC Reith Lecture on freedom of speech. |
| 02 | Freedom Of Worship | 20221207 | 20230113 (R4) | Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, gives the second of the 2022 Reith Lectures, discussing faith and liberty. In his lecture, he cites Lord Acton, the 19th Century thinker on freedom, who said that religious freedom is the basis of all political freedom. Williams addresses this with reference to South Africa and today's controversies around the abortion debate. He argues that for religious believers, freedom of worship must mean the freedom to express conviction, not just the freedom to meet. The lecture and question-and-answer session is recorded at Swansea University in front of an audience. The presenter is Anita Anand. The year's series was inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt's four freedoms speech of 1941 and asks what this terrain means now. It features four different lecturers: Freedom of Speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Freedom to Worship by Rowan Williams Freedom from Want by Darren McGarvey Freedom from Fear by Fiona Hill Sound Engineers: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production Coordinators: Brenda Brown Rowan Williams delivers his BBC Reith Lecture on faith and liberty |
| 03 | Freedom From Want | 20221214 | 20230120 (R4) | Author and musician Darren McGarvey gives the third of four BBC Reith Lectures on the theme of liberty, addressing 'Freedom from Want.' McGarvey argues that the present system isn't working for many but that it is incumbent on citizens to confront that and rise to the challenge of what inequality means. Individuals, he says, need to take personal responsibility and reject the apathy which many working-class communities experience. The lecture and question-and-answer session is recorded in Glasgow in front of an audience. The presenter is Anita Anand. The year's series was inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt's four freedoms speech of 1941 and asks what this terrain means now. It features four different lecturers: Freedom of Speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Freedom to Worship by Rowan Williams Freedom from Want by Darren McGarvey Freedom from Fear by Fiona Hill Sound Engineers: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Author and musician Darren McGarvey, delivers his Reith Lecture on 'Freedom from Want'. |
| 04 | Freedom From Fear | 20221221 | 20230127 (R4) | In the last in a series of four lectures examining what freedom means, the foreign affairs and intelligence expert Dr Fiona Hill gives her BBC Reith Lecture on Freedom from Fear. Dr Hill is one of the world's leading experts on Russia, and served as director for European and Russian affairs on President Trump's National Security Council, and in senior intelligence roles for both Presidents Bush and Obama. She will talk about the fear she felt growing up as teenager in the Cold War and living with the threat of nuclear war. Then, she says, the culture of fear was about the Soviet Union, a largely unknown enemy. 40 years later, have we come full circle? She also analyses Russia's war in Ukraine, and what it means for the world. The programme and question-and-answer session is recorded at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC in front of an audience. The presenter is Anita Anand. The year's series was inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt's four freedoms speech of 1941 and asks what this terrain means now. It features four different lecturers: Freedom of Speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Freedom to Worship by Rowan Williams Freedom from Want by Darren McGarvey Freedom from Fear by Fiona Hill Sound Engineers: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Foreign affairs expert Dr Fiona Hill gives her BBC Reith Lecture on Freedom from Fear. |
| 05 | The Four Freedoms Discussion | 20221228 | The 2022 Reith Lecturers discuss what FDR's Four Freedoms mean now. Anita Anand is joined by the four lecturers: best-selling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams: writer and campaigner Darren McGarvey: and foreign affairs expert Fiona Hill. Together they reflect on where the major themes of their lectures overlap and differ, amidst the threats to freedom in our contemporary world. The lecture series was inspired by Franklin D Roosevelt's State of the Union speech of 1941 in which he outlined four freedoms which are vital to democracy - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Sound: Neil Churchill Production coordinator: Brenda Brown |