The Interview

“I was born in Coleraine, then I moved to Wales and then I moved to Ireland. It's very complicated and I feel there's a strange sense if you grow up somewhere different from where you were born. That's just true of everyone. If your accent doesn't match your name - as in my case - I think you walk alongside all your life a kind of ghost-self in that there's always a sense of ‘who would I have been if we'd stayed?’”
Katie Razzall speaks to acclaimed writer Maggie O’Farrell. The 54-year-old has been a published author for more than 25 years, with her books translated into more than 40 languages.
O’Farrell shot to wider international fame following the award-winning screen adaptation of her 2020 novel Hamnet, a story about the son of the English playwright William Shakespeare.
She’s now publishing Land, her sweeping new tale centred around an Irish map-maker working for the British army at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland in the mid-19th century. Between 1845 and 1852, at least one million people died due to starvation and disease, with a further two million people fleeing Ireland to escape the famine.
The book is about colonisation and devastation, set against a backdrop of families left to die of starvation on estates owned by British aristocrats and landowners. Drawing on her own family history during that period, it’s O’Farrell’s most political work yet - and as she explains, its themes still resonate with the world today.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, author Sir Salman Rushdie, and comedian Eric Idle. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producers: Ben Cooper and Roxanne Panthaki
Editors: Farhana Haider and Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Maggie O’Farrell. Credit: Getty)

“I feel numb. It feels unreal to me, having been in Sudan all my life. I have never imagined that it will turn into a war field, it looks like a nightmare. At first that it is just days or months or even a year, but it went on and it kept escalating. Even our homes are no longer habitable. One of my sons went back to have a look and he said you wouldn't even find a spoon for your tea.”

James Copnall speaks to Aisha Musa, one of the civilian figures who helped lead Sudan after the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
After popular protests led to Bashir’s fall, Sudan’s presidency was replaced by a Sovereign Council made up of military and civilian representatives. Aisha Musa was one of only two women appointed to the body, an unprecedented position of influence for a woman in Sudan.
But hopes of democratic change collapsed with the outbreak of civil war in 2023 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Aisha reflects on working alongside the generals responsible for Sudan’s civil war, what it would take to rebuild democracy and her frustration at UK visa restrictions for Sudanese refugees.
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Volodymyr Zelensky and António Guterres. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: James Copnall
Producer: Osman Iqbal
Editor: Farhana Haider
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Aisha Musa Credit: Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“This is a calling. It's bigger than anything in your life as an individual. If you found the thing that you were put on this planet to do, and a lot of people are put on this planet and they don't know, it's such a gift to find it.”
Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus speak to global music icon Chaka Khan about her life and career.
Born Yvette Marie Stevens in the US city of Chicago in 1953, her big break came at the age of 20 when her band Rufus signed its first record deal. With her powerful vocals and striking stage presence, she quickly caught the public’s attention.
The band enjoyed commercial and critical success in the years that followed, before Chaka decided to go it alone around a decade later… a decision which transformed her life and career.
Worldwide hits such as I’m Every Woman and I Feel For You followed, as well as collaborations with legends like Whitney Houston and Prince, multiple Grammy Awards, and an induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
As a new musical telling her story begins its run, the 73-year-old has a lot to reflect on.
Thank you to the Sidetracked team for their help in making this programme.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, and artist Tracey Emin. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenters: Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus
Producers: Ben Cooper, Gráinne Morrison and Christine Czerniec
Editor: Damon Rose
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Chaka Khan. Credit: Getty)

“Most of Africa is rural, and although urbanisation is taking root now, the systems that deliver financial services to women are still eluding them.”

Leanna Byrne speaks to microfinance pioneer Dr Jennifer Riria about her life, career, and personal mission to improve the lives of women in some of Africa’s poorest communities.

Having started life in a poor, rural village in Kenya, Dr Riria worked her way up to develop and run one of the biggest microfinance institutions for women in Africa.

Microfinance is a banking service providing small loans and more, to people with low income who might lack access to traditional banking. It’s aimed at fostering self-sufficiency, financial education, and entrepreneurship in developing areas.

Her focus is not limited to finance. She also draws on her experiences of teaching at university, and consulting for UNICEF, the UN children’s aid agency, in order to progress women’s development in education and leadership.

Thank you to the Business Daily team for their help in making this programme.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Botswana’s president Duma Boko, entrepreneur Emma Grede, and astronaut Jeremy Hansen. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne
Producers: Ben Cooper, Ahmed Adan and Amber Mehmood
Editor: Damon Rose

Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Jennifer Riria. Credit: Getty)

“This is a war. We will treat it as a war, and first thing that we want is the war to end. We want peace. We want a better life for our people, especially for our youth.”
Caitriona Perry speaks to Ecuador President Daniel Noboa about his hard-line military crackdown on violent criminal gangs, which has involved measures that human rights groups warn could pose a risk to civil liberties.
President Noboa, who is one of the world’s youngest leaders, has warned about the levels of crime faced in Ecuador. He claims that due to its location between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest producers of cocaine, it has become a major location for drug-trafficking gangs.
He talks about the attempts that have been made on his life, and the threats his family have faced. He calls on the cooperation from other countries to help fight international crime organisations.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Volodymyr Zelensky, Azar Nafisi and Julia Gillard. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Caitriona Perry
Producer: Ellyn Duncan, Chloe Ross and Cordelia Hemming
Editor: Farhana Haider
Get in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Daniel Noboa. Credit: Getty)