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 26, 2016 • 23min
MARTIN SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament
Last week all 28 leaders of the EU were holed up in buildings in Brussels for hours into the night, trying to strike a deal that would keep the United Kingdom in the European Union. The British people will have their say on what they came up with in a referendum in June. If they vote to leave the EU what will it mean, for the UK and for Europe more widely? Sarah Montague is in Brussels to talk to Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament. Could Britain’s vote tear the whole Union apart?
Feb 24, 2016 • 23min
Former Director of the CIA - General Michael Hayden
Stephen Sackur talks to General Michael Hayden, who was director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and prior to that Director of the US National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005.(Photo: General Michael Hayden, CIA director, 2006 - 2009. Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Feb 22, 2016 • 23min
Kyriakos Mitsotakis – President of New Democracy, Greece
From Brussels, Zeinab Badawi speaks to Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his first major interview since being elected leader of Greece’s main conservative opposition party, New Democracy. European Union leaders are demanding Greece do more to tackle the migrant crisis, and insist Athens pass tough economic reforms if it wants more bailout funds. Does the party he now leads share responsibility for the economic mess that Greece finds itself in?(Photo: Main opposition New Democracy party leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)
Feb 19, 2016 • 23min
Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Poland - Krzysztof Szczerski
Does Poland’s recently elected conservative, nationalist Government represent a threat to European values of freedom and democracy? The European Commission is investigating that after controversial media and court reforms prompted critics to condemn the 'Putinisation of Poland'. Krzysztof Szczerski is the foreign policy adviser to the Polish president. How will a newly assertive Poland play its hand in Europe?(Photo: Krzysztof Szczerski on Hardtalk)
Feb 17, 2016 • 23min
Bassma Kodmani, Syrian opposition negotiator
After five years of bloodletting and suffering the Syrian war has a new, potentially game-changing dynamic. The combined forces of the Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian backers are pushing back the rebels in the north and west of the country; a mooted truce appears to have been brokered on Russia's terms and seems unlikely to halt the military push. Stephen Sackur speaks to Bassma Kodmani a representative of the so-called moderate rebels - is the only realistic choice in Syria Assad, or Islamic State?
Feb 15, 2016 • 23min
Fahd al Rasheed
Stephen Sackur speaks with Fahd al Rasheed, CEO of King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah Economic City is a vast construction project on the Red Sea. It is supposed to become one of the world’s biggest ports with a population of 2 million – a new global city for Saudi Arabia. But could the kingdom’s economic problems see this dream turn to dust?
Feb 12, 2016 • 23min
Søren Espersen - Deputy Chairman, Danish People’s Party
The Danish People's Party is seen by its critics as xenophobic and by its supporters as the home of true Danish values. Hardtalk speaks Søren Espersen, the Party's deputy chairman.(Photo: Søren Espersen)
Feb 9, 2016 • 23min
Director of Europol - Rob Wainwright
Stephen Sackur speaks to Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol, the EU's joint policing agency tasked with enhancing Europe's response to major cross border security and criminal threats. So-called Islamic state has the intent and the capacity to mount major terrorist attacks in the heart of Europe - does Europe have the right tools to effectively counter the challenge? With the EU's record on external border security and intelligence sharing patchy at best, is Europol just a sticking plaster on a gaping wound?(Photo: Europol Director Rob Wainwright speaks during the Global Counterterrorism Forum, The Hague,2016. Credit: Jerry Lampen/AFP/Getty Images)
Feb 8, 2016 • 23min
Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation
Zeinab Badawi speaks to Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), from the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah. The OIC represents the world's 57 Muslim nations. With large parts of the Muslim world torn apart by sectarian strife and with acts of terror perpetrated by Muslims across continents, what can he do or say to combat the challenges?(Photo: Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation)
Feb 5, 2016 • 23min
Prime Minister of Norway - Erna Solberg
Norway takes its commitment to international diplomacy and humanitarianism very seriously. The oil rich country is one of the world’s wealthiest with a reputation for humanitarianism so it is not surprising that it is co-hosting a donor conference in London to boost aid for Syria's long suffering people. But the government is receiving criticism for its own stance on migration and asylum issues. Erna Solberg is Norway’s prime minister. Is she putting populism above principle?(Photo: Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg addresses delegates at the Supporting Syria Conference, London, 2016. Credit: WPA Pool/Getty Images)
