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
May 22, 2013 • 23min
Sir Alan Parker - Film Director
Sir Alan Parker is one of Britain's most experienced and successful film directors. His work ranges from the stomach churning realism of Midnight Express to the feel good entertainment of Bugsy Malone and Fame. He has never cared much for film critics and has always held strong views on the future of the film industry. In this digital age, are movies as central to our culture as they used to be?
May 17, 2013 • 23min
Alan Johnson – UK Home Secretary 2009 – 2010
The British public appears increasingly alienated from mainstream politics and politicians - a phenomenon which can also be seen in other mature democracies. Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Johnson, who held a series of cabinet posts in the last Labour Government. He is that rare breed, a politician who grew up in poverty and worked his way up from the bottom. Has today’s professionalised class of politicians lost touch with real life?
May 15, 2013 • 23min
Thomas Drake – Former Senior Executive, US National Security Agency
When it comes to national security does the need for secrecy override the public's right to know? It is a hot debate in many democracies, none more so than the United States where the Obama Administration has gone after leakers and whistle-blowers with unprecedented ferocity. Stephen Sackur speaks to Thomas Drake, a former intelligence official inside America's National Security Agency. His unhappiness with things he saw led him to leak information to a reporter. He ended up prosecuted by the government he had served. Did he deserve the trouble he got?
May 10, 2013 • 23min
Zainab Bangura - UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict
Zainab Bangura, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, says that for too long wars have been waged on the bodies of women. Over the past two decades the list of war torn countries where women and children have been subjected to systematic rape and sexual abuse has grown shamefully long, from Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Syria. HARDtalk asks - how can the most vulnerable be protected?(Image: Zainab Bangura, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Credit: Reuters)
May 8, 2013 • 23min
Pravin Gordhan – Finance Minister, South Africa
South Africa has been told by the old colonial power, Britain, that it doesn't need development aid any more. Shaun Ley speaks to Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister. His national development plan seeks to raise more people out of poverty through economic growth. But his party, the ruling ANC, is facing an election, its union comrades are no longer playing ball, and growth has slowed. In reality, has the country Britain describes as Africa's economic powerhouse stalled?(Image: Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan(left) and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble(right). Credit: Reuters)
May 3, 2013 • 23min
Lord Patten - Chairman of the BBC Trust
Almost three hundred million people across the world consume BBC content every week. But does the BBC deserve your trust? After going through a prolonged internal crisis marked by serious internal failings HARDtalk speaks to the ultimate overseer of the BBC, Chairman of the BBC Trust, Chris Patten. He insists it's the best broadcaster in the world. Stephen Sackur asks if you should believe him.
May 1, 2013 • 23min
Lord Browne – Chief Executive BP (1995 – 2007)
He made his name and fortune in the oil industry and in the process became one of Britain's best known business leaders. John Browne was BP's boss for 12 years. He expanded and diversified one of the world’s fossil fuel giants. Now he's back in the thick of the energy debate backing a company eager to develop shale gas production in the UK. His career has been defined by the search for fossil fuels and economic sustainability. Can we have both?
Apr 29, 2013 • 23min
Jonathan Miller – Theatre and Opera Director
Jonathan Miller has had a career of mind-boggling diversity and creativity that defies an easy label. He is best known as a director and producer of opera and theatre, but he is also a writer, performer, sculptor and photographer. He trained in medicine and sometimes seems more fulfilled by science than his life in the arts. Stephen Sackur asks why, after five decades as a dominant figure in British cultural life, he never seemed entirely at ease with his country or its culture.
Apr 26, 2013 • 23min
Ioannis Kasoulides – Foreign Minister of Cyprus
Cyprus is enduring the agonies of a financial and economic meltdown. But here's the really bad news for the Cypriot people - according to international economists their darkest days have yet to come. The islands economy is about to shrink dramatically, overseas investors are fleeing and the current Government is struggling to come up with a survival strategy. Stephen Sackur speaks to Cyprus's Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides. Who and what will save Cyprus?(Image: Cyprus Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Kasoulides (right) shakes hands with Foreign minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt. Credit: Associated Press)
Apr 24, 2013 • 23min
Carlos Gutierrez - US Secretary of Commerce 2005 – 2009
The United States is a nation built by immigrants, but immigration is also an issue which has created deep divisions. As the United States Congress prepares to debate a plan that would offer a pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, America’s conservatives face a question – are they ready to embrace their country’s new demographic reality?HARDtalk speaks to Carlos Gutierrez, a former Republican Secretary of Commerce. America is changing fast; can the Republican Party keep up?(Image: Former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (left) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Credit: Associated Press)
