Something Of The Night

Episodes

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Josie Walker, Henry Nicholls, Justyn Rees Larcombe20180305Libby Purves presents a new live, nocturnal conversation programme, with a very particular connection to the night and nightlife in all its forms.

In this week's programme actress Josie Walker; science writer Henry Nicholls and former gambler Justyn Rees Larcombe join Libby to talk about their lives after dark.

Josie Walker comes to the studio straight from tonight's performance of the West End musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie. The show is based on the real life story of Jamie Campbell, a teenage boy who wants to dress in women's clothes and wear a dress to the school Prom. Josie plays his supportive mother Margaret, a single parent who brings up her son to believe in himself and stand up to bullies. Everybody's Talking about Jamie is at the Apollo Theatre, London.

Henry Nicholls is a science writer who has written a book about his experiences living with the sleep disorder narcolepsy. Through his story and those of his interview subjects (fellow narcoleptics, insomniacs, dreamers and neuroscientists) the book is a tour of the half-lit world of sleep, sleep-disorder and the brain, seen from an autobiographical as well as scientific and cultural standpoint. Sleepyhead: Narcolepsy, Neuroscience and the Search for a Good Night is published by Profile Books.

Justyn Rees Larcombe is a former gambler who gambled secretly online at night as his wife lay sleeping in the next room, unaware of his nocturnal activities. Eventually, he accumulated £750,000 of debt, not all of which was his own money. His addiction cost him his wife, children, home, job and self-respect. He now runs Recovery Two, a charity which helps people who are addicted to gambling.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Actress Josie Walker meets Libby Purves in this nocturnal conversation programme.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.

Lyse Doucet, Jonathan Bailey, Gary Fildes20180319BBC international correspondent Lyse Doucet; actor Jonathan Bailey and astronomer Gary Fildes join Libby Purves for live, late night conversation.

Lyse Doucet is the award-winning chief international correspondent and senior presenter for BBC World News television and BBC World Service Radio. She is regularly deployed to anchor special news coverage from the field, including Syria, Pakistan and Egypt. She played a key role in the BBC's coverage of the Arab Spring across the Middle East and North Africa and has covered all the major stories in the region for the past 20 years. She is a regular visitor to Afghanistan and Pakistan from where she has been reporting since 1988.

Jonathan Bailey is an actor who stars as John in the York Realist, a play by Peter Gill about the love affair between John, a theatre director, and George, a Yorkshire farm labourer, and the clash between London and regional culture. A child actor who got his first break in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Christmas Carol, Jonathan has appeared in Broadchurch and W1A and his stage credits include appearing in King Lear alongside Sir Ian McKellen. The York Realist is at the Donmar Warehouse until March 24th and then at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield until April 7th.

Gary Fildes is the founder and lead astronomer at Kielder public observatory, a popular visitor attraction in Northumberland. Fired by a love of the night sky from childhood, Gary left school at 17 and went straight into manual labour, working as a bricklayer for over 25 years before turning back to his first love - astronomy. In 2012 he received an honorary Master's degree from Durham University in recognition of his services to astronomy. He founded the Kielder Observatory in 2008.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet joins Libby Purves for live late night conversation.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.

Miriam Darlington, Ken Cheng, Dr Guy Leschziner20180312Nature writer and owl enthusiast Miriam Darlington; neurologist and sleep physician Dr Guy Leschziner and stand-up comedian Ken Cheng join Libby Purves for late night live conversation.

Miriam Darlington is a nature writer and poet. In her new book Owl Sense she sets out on a quest to identify every European species of this charismatic and elusive bird, on a journey that takes her from southern Spain through France, Serbia and Finland, and to the frosted borders of the Arctic. Owl Sense is published by Guardian Faber.

Dr Guy Leschziner is a neurologist and sleep physician who runs the Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals. He explains some of the causes and effects of sleepwalking, or somnambulism - one of the range of sleep disorders known as non-REM parasomnias which include conditions like night terrors and sleep eating.

Ken Cheng is a stand-up comedian who will hotfoot it to the studio from his comedy gig at the British Library. Winner of the Dave Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award at last year's Edinburgh Festival, he has a new series on BBC Radio 4 later this year. Ken Cheng Chinese Comedian is at the British Library on March 12th.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Nature writer and owl enthusiast Miriam Darlington joins Libby Purves.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.

Sam Lee, Marisha Wallace, Adam Kay20180402Folk singer and song collector Sam Lee, singer Marisha Wallace and former junior doctor turned stand-up Adam Kay join Libby Purves for live, nocturnal conversation.

Marisha Wallace is a singer who is sharing the role of Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes and The Shirelles, the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called The Dreams, who become music superstars. Marisha has performed on Broadway in Something Rotten! Disney's Aladdin and toured in The Book Of Mormon. Dreamgirls is at the Savoy Theatre, London.

Sam Lee is a folk singer and song collector who learnt his craft by immersing himself in the traditional songs and singers within the traveller community. He is performing Singing with Nightingales as part of the Concrete Dreams exhibition at the Southbank Centre in London. For six weeks in spring Sam also hosts nocturnal nightingale walks in the countryside of Kent and Sussex in which he performs with the reclusive male nightingales whose haunting song has inspired musicians and poets for generations.. Sam was inspired by a recording made in 1924 in which a nightingale starred in the BBC's first live outside broadcast, 'duetting' with cellist Beatrice Harrison as she played in her garden. Sam Lee performs at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank, on Saturday 28 April. His nightingale walks start on April 20th.

Adam Kay is a writer and comedian. His book This is Going to Hurt is about his former career as a junior doctor, Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, his diaries provide a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. He describes the long nights on duty as 'sailing the ship alone - a ship that's enormous, and on fire, and which no one has really taught you how to sail'. His experiences range from the amusing to the tragic and end with his difficult decision to give up medicine in 2010. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay is published by Picador.

Producer Paula McGinley.

Sam Lee, Marisha Wallace and Adam Kay join Libby Purves for live, nocturnal conversation.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.

Stephen Hough; Stephanie Street; Stan Todd20180409Pianist and composer Stephen Hough; actor and writer Stephanie Street and Stan Todd, Royal National Lifeboat Institution helmsman, join Libby Purves for live, nocturnal conversation.

Actor and writer Stephanie Street plays Diana Ingram in Quiz, a new play by James Graham. The play investigates the story of Charles Ingram, who was found guilty of cheating his way to the top prize on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, aided by his wife, Diana, and a fellow contestant. Stephanie trained at LAMDA and her theatre work includes Behind the Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre; Shades at the Royal Court Theatre and her own play Sisters at the Sheffield Crucible. She is a founder member of Act for Change which campaigns for representative diversity in the arts. Quiz is at the Noel Coward Theatre, London until June 16th.

Stephen Hough is a concert pianist, composer and writer. His 2014 album In the Night features music inspired by darkness and includes works by Schumann, Beethoven and Chopin, as well as Stephen's own Piano Sonata No 2. He describes pianists as nocturnal animals. 'We have to come to life, to full alertness, after dark. It's not just because our audiences finish their daytime jobs at dusk and we are there to provide entertainment, rather there is something about the dangerous emotions unlocked by great music which needs the mystery of darkness for a full impact.' Stephen is artist in residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with concerts coming up in May and June.

Stan Todd is a full-time helmsman at the Tower lifeboat station next to Waterloo Bridge, London. Nicknamed Stormy Stan for his ability to helm a lifeboat in the fiercest of seas, Stan first joined Brighton Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI ) aged 21 in 1980, and was recruited to the newly-formed RNLI service on the Thames in 2001. Over the years Stan has rescued hundreds of people from the river, with many of these rescues taking place at night. 'It's healthy to feel fear, or you become complacent', he says. 'It's not only yourself you're looking after, but the crew and the casualty's life in your hands. Fear keeps your senses sharp.'. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. Volunteers make up 95% of the workforce.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Stephen Hough and Stephanie Street join Libby Purves for live, nocturnal conversation.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.

Tracy Chevalier, Moses Adeyemi, Jason Watkins20180326Writer Tracy Chevalier; fitness trainer and charity worker Moses Adeyemi and actor Jason Watkins join Libby Purves for live, late night conversation.

Tracy Chevalier is a writer, best known for her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring. As part of her research for her novel, The Last Runway, she took up quilting which led her to the work of the charity Fine Cell Work. Fine Cell Work trains prisoners to do high-quality needlework in the long hours spent in their cells and Tracy commissioned a group of inmates to make a quilt for the show she curated called What We do in Bed. Called the Sleep Quilt, it is entirely stitched and quilted by prisoners in some of Britain's toughest jails. Each of the 63 squares explores what sleep means in prison. For some sleep is a moment of escape for others it means a time of anxious thoughts and a restless night. The story of the quilt is told in the book the Sleep Quilt by Tracy Chevalier and Fine Cell Work, published by Pallas Athene Books.

Moses Adeyemi is a fitness trainer who set up the Silver Line Project which helps vulnerable people cope with their problems through a programme of personal training and coaching. Beneficiaries of the project include people with mental health issues and those in the process of criminal rehabilitation. Moses himself spent time in prison before turning his back on his criminal past and turning his life around. When he was on the wrong side of the law, night time was when he conducted his criminal activities and, during a spell of homelessness, was also when he felt most alone. In 2016 he won SAS: Who Dares Wins, a gruelling reality show in which contestants undergo a training bootcamp process similar to the one used by the British Army's Special Air Service.

Jason Watkins is an actor who is currently playing Ralph in the play Frozen. a psychological thriller about a mother whose child goes missing. He is best known for his performance in the title role in the drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, for which he won Best Actor at the 2015 BAFTA Television Awards. He also played Gavin Strong in the comedy series Trollied, and Simon Harwood in the BBC comedy W1A. Frozen is at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until May 5th.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Writer Tracy Chevalier joins Libby Purves for live, late-night conversation.

Libby Purves presents a live, nocturnal conversation programme.