Filling the Sink

Bruce Springsteen has legions of fans all around the world but 'The Boss' has an undoubted special connection with Barcelona and its people. Filling the Sink captures the atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium before, during and after the gig as Springsteen and the E Street Band kick off their European tour. Music journalist Jordi Bianciotto and concert promoter Gay Mercader recall the American rocker's first concert in Barcelona in 1981 and discuss the bond between Bruce and his fans in Catalonia. This week's Catalan phrase is "portar la veu cantant." Literally, "to bring your singing voice," it means to control, to dominate, or, like Bruce, to be the boss. Presented by Lorcan Doherty with Gerard Escaich Folch. 

FC Barcelona look set to win their first league title since 2019 but off the pitch the club has been engulfed by a scandal over payments to a former refereeing official. A court investigation into the so-called Negreira affair began in March, but club president Joan Laporta believes Barça is a victim of a smear campaign. Cillian Shields joins Lorcan Doherty to dissect the ins and outs of the case and all the furore surrounding it. This week's Catalan phrase is "no treure'n l'aigua clara." It means "to not see things clearly," or "to not clear things up."

To mark the Sant Jordi weekend, Filling the Sink explores some of Catalonia's beautiful libraries and the hidden gems in the collections within. Guifré Jordan visits Catalonia's very own 'Library of Alexandria', the Biblioteca de Catalunya, and discovers its secrets with library director Eugènia Serra. Gerard Escaich Folch chats to Josep Brunet at the oldest public library in Barcelona, Biblioteca Pública Arús, and learns about the freemason and anarchist who founded it. This week's Catalan phrase is 'ser com un llibre obert' – 'to be like an open book'. Presented by Lorcan Doherty.  

The Barcelona-based award-winning Grangel Studio has worked on some of the biggest animated feature films of the last decades, from The Prince of Egypt and Madagascar to Kung Fu Panda and the Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Character designer Carlos Grangel chats to Gerard Escaich Folch about collaborating with top Hollywood directors, never working on sequels, and speaking Spanglish to Steven Spielberg. This week's Catalan phrase is 'tenir la paella pel mànec'. Literally 'to have the pan by the handle', it means to be in control, to run the show. Presented by Lorcan Doherty. 

Filling the Sink examines the legacy of Pablo Picasso on the 50th anniversary of his death. Cristina Tomàs White and Cillian Shields join Lorcan Doherty to chat about the artist's formative years in Catalonia. Maria Choya shows us around Barcelona's Picasso Museum. Artist María Llopis discusses Picasso's toxic relationships with women. This week's Catalan phrase is "quatre gats." Literally "four cats," it means "only a few people." 

85 years on from the Bombing of Barcelona, a new photography exhibition aims to shine a light on the air raid shelters that saved so many lives during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Cristina Tomàs White visits one of the bunkers and meets Manel Bachs, a 90-year- old who still remembers fleeing underground when the air raid sirens warned of Franco’s Nationalist forces approaching along with their Nazi German and fascist Italian allies. Gerard Escaich Folch gets a surprise when he talks to Ana Sánchez, the photographer behind the exhibition '1,322 Barcelona air raid shelters' at La Model prison. This week's Catalan phrase is "fer una passa en fals." It means to make a mistake or a false move. Presented by Lorcan Doherty. 

Nestled high in the Pyrenees lies a unique European experiment – Cerdanya Hospital, jointly financed and governed by Catalonia and France, and caring for patients on both sides of the border. Managing director Xavier Conill explains how the hospital operates and the particular challenges it faces, from registering births and deaths in the right country to attracting staff and patients from both jurisdictions. This week's Catalan phrase is "advocat, jutge i doctor, com més lluny millor." It means "lawyer, judge and doctor, the further away, the better." Presented by Lorcan Doherty with Gerard Escaich Folch. 

On March 5, 2023, a cyberattack wreaked havoc on Hospital Clínic, one of Barcelona's leading public hospitals, causing surgery and appointments to be cancelled and forcing staff to work with pen and paper. Marc Torrens of ESADE Business School explains how ransomware attacks like this work. Jordi Hernández of the Autonomous University of Barcelona tells Cristina Tomàs White the lessons they learned after a data breach in 2021. Plus the thoughts of David López, a cybersecurity expert at IPM, and Tomàs Roy, director of the Catalan Cybersecurity Agency. This week's Catalan phrase is "jugar al gat i la rata," to play cat and mouse (or rat, literally). Presented by Lorcan Doherty with Cillian Shields. 

In January 2023 US-born Catalan woman Maria Branyas became the oldest verified living person in the world and on March 4 she celebrated her 116th birthday. To mark the occasion, Guifré Jordan revisits an interview he did with Maria in 2019. Sam Green, an American filmmaker who recently travelled to Catalonia to record with Maria for his documentary The Oldest Person in the World, tells us why he thinks people find the subject so captivating. This week's Catalan phrase is "és de l'any de la picor." Literally "it's from the year of the itch," it refers to a plague in Catalonia in 1471 and is used to describe something very old. Presented by Lorcan Doherty. 

Filling the Sink travels to a SIE center that helps women affected by gender-based violence to hear the story of one survivor and the thoughts of center director Susana Conesa. Tània Verge, Catalan equality and feminism minister, explains what action the government is taking to tackle violence against women. Lorcan Doherty is joined by Cristina Tomàs White and Guifré Jordan to discuss high-profile sexual assault cases involving footballer Dani Alves and journalist Saül Gordillo and the recent controversy over Spain's 'only yes means yes' consent law. This week's Catalan phrase is "estar-ne fins als ovaris," which means I've had it up to my ovaries or I've had it up to here. It's a modern twist on "estar-ne fins als collons," with collons being a slang term for testicles.