Maureen Lipman, Kate Ferdinand, Power Lister Rimla Akhtar, Women ambassadors

In her latest stage role Dame Maureen Lipman plays Rose in a one-woman memory play with its Jewish heroine sitting Shiva – mourning for the many dead, and moving through Jewish twentieth century history. On stage alone for two hours, her performance has already sparked two sell out runs in London and Manchester, and now she’s back in the West End for a month. Maureen joins Anita live in the Woman’s Hour studio.

Blended families are created for all sorts of reasons. Because of break-ups or the death of a parent, through fostering or adoption. Kate Ferdinand married the former footballer Rio Ferdinand in 2019, four years after his first wife Rebecca and mother of their three children, had died. Now Kate has written How to Build a Family, the book she wished she'd had when she started out being a step mum.

Woman’s Hour Power List Leader Rimla Akhtar joins Anita to talk about her ground-breaking work in the world of women’s sport. She was ranked by Forbes and The Independent as one of the most powerful women in international sports, and was awarded an OBE in 2021 for her contribution to diversity and equality in sport.

What is it really like to be a female ambassador? A new Netflix show, The Diplomat, has got people talking about the role. It stars American actress, Keri Russell, as a new US ambassador to the UK, parachuted into the role in the midst of a crisis. It debuted at No 1 on Netflix’s weekly global Top 10 list. So, we wanted to know - is the life of a real diplomat as exciting? What do they get up to? We are joined by former ambassadors Jules Chappell and Laura Clarke to find out.