The Thrill of Fear: Felicity Hannah talks to Dr Margee Kerr

Before her life as a financial journalist began, Felicity Hannah could more often be found wearing a top hat, leading tourists round the ghostly streets beneath Edinburgh. She loves sudden startles and that sense of creeping enjoyable fear in person, in books and on screen, but she wants to know why. Why are some humans wired to get a thrill out of fear? Why not all of us?

Felicity talks to fear expert Dr Margee Kerr, sociologist and author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, about what happens in our bodies when we’re frightened, and how, surprisingly, this can help us build relationships and personal resilience. She asks: what’s the difference between the feelings we experience in a haunted house and genuine terror? Why do children love being chased? Is fear really contagious?

Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Sarah Goodman.