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
Jan 13, 2016 • 23min
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak
Bosnia and Herzegovina is due to officially apply for membership of the European Union. But 20 years after the Dayton Agreement, which ended the bloody civil war of the early 1990s, significant obstacles persist. Youth unemployment is the highest in Europe and ethnic divisions remain in place with the Serb dominated region of Republika Srpska often threatening to declare independence. Stephen Sackur speaks to Igor Crnadak, the foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Can his country stay intact and navigate the road to full EU membership?(Photo: Bosnian Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak, 2015. Credit: Attilla Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)
Jan 12, 2016 • 23min
Mayor of Jerusalem - Nir Barkat
The Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, has grand plans to turn Jerusalem into a world city but is his vision far removed from the reality on the ground? He talks to Stephen Sackur about his aspirations.(Photo: Backdropped by Jerusalem's Old City Ottoman walls, Jerusalem's mayor Nir Barkat speaks during a joint press conference 2015. Credit: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
Jan 11, 2016 • 23min
FGM Activists - Fuambai Ahmadu and Nimco Ali
Depending on your point of view you can call it female circumcision, cutting, or more graphically female genital mutilation. But whatever the label it's become a hugely contentious practice in countries across Africa and beyond. Stephen Sackur speaks to two guests with first-hand experience - Fuambai Ahmadu is co-founder of the group African Women are Free to Choose, and Nimco Ali is co-creator of the Daughters of Eve movement. Should FGM have a place in the 21st Century?(Photo: Left to right, Fuambai Ahmadu and Nimco Ali)
Jan 8, 2016 • 23min
Nigerian Novelist and Poet - Ben Okri
Stephen Sackur talks to internationally acclaimed novelist and poet Ben Okri. How free are Africa's storytellers to explore the richness and diversity of their continent?(Photo: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images)
Jan 4, 2016 • 23min
Neurosurgeon Dr Henry Marsh
Imagine you are a patient, about to undergo brain surgery. If it goes well it will save your life; if it goes wrong you could end up paralysed or dead. Of course you want to believe your surgeon is infallible, a superhero - but he is not; he is all too human just like you. That simple truth emerges from the extraordinarily honest writing of one of Britain's leading brain surgeons, Henry Marsh. He gives rare insight into the mind of the doctor - is it reassuring or troubling?
Dec 30, 2015 • 23min
Ballet dancer, Sylvie Guillem
For more than three decades the ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem has performed as principal dancer at most leading ballet establishments, redrawing the boundaries of the genre. But at the end of this year she will be giving her last performance in a worldwide farewell tour. She will undoubtedly go down in ballet history as one of the greatest dancers of all time - but she is famously been dubbed 'Mademoiselle Non' for being too assertive. Zeinab Badawi speaks to her about that as well as the poisonous rivalries in the world of ballet and her activism to save the planet.(Photo: Prima ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem of France delivers a speech at a press conference in Tokyo. Credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)
Dec 28, 2015 • 23min
International Rugby Union Referee - Nigel Owens
Zeinab Badawi speaks to Nigel Owens, the Welshman who refereed the Rugby World Cup final and is one of the most respected professionals in the game. It has not been an easy journey to the top of the game for him - as a gay man in a macho sport, he has suffered depression and contemplated suicide. How has the world of rugby embraced him and what is making the sport so popular today?(Photo: Referee Nigel Owens. Credit: Matt Lewis - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
Dec 25, 2015 • 23min
Richard Leakey - Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service
Stephen Sackur talks to Richard Leakey, the Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Africa's wildlife is one of the wonders of the natural world, but the fate of the continent's elephants, rhinos and big cats is now desperately uncertain - illegal poaching could see these great species disappear from their African heartlands. Will the fight for Africa's endangered wildlife have a happy ending?(Photo: Richard Leakey (L) gives a press conference organised by Wildlife Direct, in Nairobi, 2014. Credit: Tony Karumba/AFP)
Dec 23, 2015 • 23min
Writer, Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is an Irish writer whose intense, lyrical novels have won him awards, acclaim and most importantly millions of readers around the world. There are recurring themes in his work - loss, mourning, exile which might suggest a dark, brooding presence. Stephen Sackur asks how close that is to the real Colm Tóibín?(Photo: Colm Tóibín in the Hardtalk studio)
Dec 21, 2015 • 23min
Hollywood Actor - Burt Reynolds
Hardtalk’s guest is Hollywood actor Burt Reynolds. He turns 80 next year. Why does he say that although he’s made around 100 films he’s only proud of just a handful of them?(Photo: Actor Burt Reynolds accepts award during Spike TV's Guys Choice. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
