Jane Horrocks, Frances O'Grady, Iran, French women

Actor Jane Horrocks joins Krupa Padhy to discuss her new Radio 4 drama about her relationship with the singer-songwriter and actor Ian Dury. Jane had been looking back at her early adulthood, coming across old love letters from Ian and her own diary entries which inspired her to create the drama about their tumultuous one year relationship.

We speak to Frances O'Grady, the outgoing General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress who leaves after a decade in the job. She talks to Krupa Padhy about the current wave of industrial action across the public sector, the highs and lows of the job and her plans for the future as she prepares to join the House of Lords as a Labour Party peer.

Following ongoing nationwide protests, the Iranian government has intensified its crackdown. Two men have been executed since the beginning of the month, and local human rights activists say at least 328 people have been killed and nearly 15,000 others have been detained, as of last month. One of those arrested at the weekend is Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s best known actresses. Krupa is joined by Saba Zavarei from the BBC Persian Service and Dr Rowena Abdul Razak who teaches international history at the London School of Economics and specialises on Iran.

When you hear the phrase 'the French woman' what comes to your mind? Maybe you think of a sexy accent, fashionable clothes, perhaps the word 'chic'? With the return of Netflix's Emily in Paris we wanted to look at the stereotype of the French woman. Do these ideals hold or is it, to borrow a French word, just a cliché? To discuss Krupa is joined by the Director Charlotte Seegers whose film She's French explores these ideas, and also by the UK based French journalist Marie Le Conte.