The Interview
BBC World Service
Conversations with people shaping our world, from all around the globe. Listen to The Interview for the best conversations from the BBC, the world's most trusted international news provider.
We hear from titans of business, politics, finance, sport and culture. Global leaders, decision-makers and cultural icons. Politicians, activists and CEOs.
Each interview is around 20-minutes, packed full of insight and analysis, covering some of the biggest issues of our time.
How does it work? Well, at the BBC, our journalists interview amazing people every single day. And on The Interview, we bring them to you.
It’s your one-stop-shop to the best conversations coming out of the BBC, with the people shaping our world, from all over the world.
Get in touch with us on emailTheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
We hear from titans of business, politics, finance, sport and culture. Global leaders, decision-makers and cultural icons. Politicians, activists and CEOs.
Each interview is around 20-minutes, packed full of insight and analysis, covering some of the biggest issues of our time.
How does it work? Well, at the BBC, our journalists interview amazing people every single day. And on The Interview, we bring them to you.
It’s your one-stop-shop to the best conversations coming out of the BBC, with the people shaping our world, from all over the world.
Get in touch with us on emailTheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 23, 2017 • 23min
Professor Mohammad Marandi - University of Tehran, Iran
What is the Iranians' response to criticisms from Trump over its missile testing, and is it fuelling terror and conflicts in the Middle East? Zeinab Badawi speaks to Iranian academic Mohammed Marandi from Tehran, a staunch supporter of the leadership in Iran. Amidst his pronouncements on foreign policy Donald Trump has ratcheted up the rhetoric on Iran, calling the nuclear agreement with Tehran the 'worst deal ever negotiated'. He's expanded US sanctions on Iran after it tested a missile in January.
Feb 21, 2017 • 23min
Joint leader, Zionist Union, Israel - Tzipi Livni
Sarah Montague speaks to Tzipi Livni, the joint leader of the Zionist Union opposition in Israel's parliament and a former Foreign Minister. For decades many have assumed that the only way there will be peace in the Middle East is when the Palestinians have their own state. But President Trump has made it clear that America is no longer wedded to the idea, whilst Tzipi Livni has in the past stated her support for “two states for two peoples". Could one state where Jews, Muslims and Christians are all treated equally, have a greater chance of delivering peace?(Photo: Tzipi Livni speaks at an election campaign press conference in the northern Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram, 2015. Credit: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
Feb 20, 2017 • 23min
Chief Sports Writer, Sunday Times, UK - David Walsh
Stephen Sackur speaks to Irish sports journalist David Walsh, who was convinced that cycling’s untouchable champion Lance Armstrong was a drugs cheat long before the sport revealed the scale of his deceit. Armstrong is history now, but doping continues to devalue elite sport - maybe it is a problem no amount of truth telling journalism can fix. It is the job of the journalist to speak truth to power, but can defying conventional wisdom and the powers that be often mean the profession can be a lonely place?(Photo: David Walsh, chief Sports writer, Sunday Times, UK in the Hardtalk studio)
Feb 17, 2017 • 23min
Film Director – John Madden
Stephen Sackur speaks to John Madden, an Oscar winning director whose latest film is set in the murky world of Washington politics. The Academy Awards are upon us and Hollywood is awash with speculation, spin and self-importance. But this year, with Donald Trump in the White House and in a deeply divided America, real life has thrown up a melodrama which makes the movies look tame. Is Hollywood accurately reflecting the times we are living in?(Photo: Film director John Madden. Credit: Getty Images)
Feb 15, 2017 • 23min
Deputy Finance Minister, Germany - Jens Spahn
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Jens Spahn, a rising star in Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. With so much focus on America's new president, it's easy to forget Europe is facing its own period of prolonged uncertainty. Brexit negotiations are about to begin, the Greek debt crisis is going through another convulsion. It is also a year of key elections, most particularly in the continent's dominant economy, Germany. Is German politics going to reshape Europe?
Feb 13, 2017 • 23min
Actor and Humanitarian Activist – Forest Whitaker
Zeinab Badawi speaks to humanitarian activist and one of Hollywood’s best known and versatile actors, Forest Whitaker. One role for which he won numerous accolades including an Oscar for best actor was his portrayal of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. But how far is he concerned that his portrayal of Idi Amin played into racist stereotypes of Africans and their continent?
Feb 10, 2017 • 23min
Director of Competitive Enterprise Institute - Myron Ebell
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Myron Ebell, who led President Trump’s transition team on environment policy and has long been an advocate of radical reform of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The Trump administration seems intent on a radical reset of America's energy and environment policies. The implications will be profound on everything from fossil fuel production to climate change policy. In America's new politics will the interests of big business consistently overshadow environmental concerns?Image: Steam and exhaust rise from a power station, Credit: Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
Feb 9, 2017 • 23min
Director of Competitive Enterprise Institute - Myron Ebell
In America's new politics will big business consistently trump environmental concerns?
Feb 7, 2017 • 23min
Former Mexican President 2000 - 2006 - Vicente Fox
Stephen Sackur speaks to the former Mexican president Vicente Fox, whose strongly worded Twitter responses to Donald Trump have caused a storm on social media. The new US president has wasted little time delivering on his signature campaign promises. He has already ordered the construction of the contentious wall along the US-Mexican border. The US congress will fund it, but ultimately, Mr Trump says, Mexico must pay. Can Mexico afford to provoke the new US administration?(Photo: Former Mexican President Vicente Fox gestures while speaking during an interview with AFP, 2016. Credit: AFP)
Feb 2, 2017 • 23min
Singer and Actress - Petula Clark
Stephen Sackur speaks to Petula Clark, a much loved child performer during World War Two. Getting to the top in show business is hard - staying there is much, much harder. Few stars can match the sustained success in music, film and theatre as her. She went on to have a host of hits in the UK, France, the US and pretty much everywhere else. She has worked with legendary names from Fred Astaire to Serge Gainsbourg, and she is still singing and touring. So what makes her tick?(Photo: Petula Clark performs at the Songwriters Hall of Fame 44th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner, New York Marriott Marquis, 2013. Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
