19th October 2023: A series of revelatory hallucinations that Philip K Dick experienced in 1974, radically altering his view of belief, time and history, were the inspiration for his quasi-autobiographical novel Valis which was published in 1981. I joined Matthew Sweet and other guests on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking to try to get to grips with this challenging novel and its place in PKD’s life and work.
29 June 2023: Together with writer Una McCormack and specialist in existential risk, SJ Beard, I joined Matthew Sweet on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking to trace the history of dystopias and what they tell us about the fears and preoccupations of successive generations.
15th September 2022: Karel Čapek’s 1922 play The Makropulos Affair about a famous singer who has lived for over 300 years was adapted into an opera by the composer Leoš Janáček and premiered in 1926. I joined Matthew Sweet and other guests on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking, to explore the quest for endless youth in literature, film and myth as a new production of the play opens in Wales.
2nd Dec 2021: Along with John Wyndham biographer Amy Binns, novelist Tanvir Bush and veteran BBC broadcaster Peter White, I joined Matthew Sweet on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking to discuss Wyndham’s classic, The Day of the Triffids.
19th March 2020: I joined presenter Matthew Sweet, along with Mark Honigsbaum (historian of epidemics), Lisa Mullen (literary scholar), UNESCO’s Riel Miller and philosopher Rupert Read to think about the future on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking.
23rd August 2018: I took part in a live edition of BBC Radio 4’s Open Book on Literary Criticism, broadcast from the Edinburgh Literary Festival.
5th October 2017: I engage in a lively discussion with Matthew Sweet about Bladerunner 2049 and film adaptations of Philip K. Dick’s work, on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking.
13th March 2017: I join presenter Robert Beckford on BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Belief to discusses the role of religion in science fiction with Aliette de Bodard, a writer with an interest in the interplay between science fiction and religion, and Roz Kaveney, a writer, poet and critic.
6th August 2016: As part of BBC Radio 3’s Proms Extra season I joined eminent science fiction novelist Stephen Baxter to talk with fellow New Generation Thinker Will Abberley about H.G. Wells’ life and work, especially the astonishing contemporary relevance of The War of the Worlds.
18th June 2015: I joined Rana Mitter on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking to talk with Laurie Sansom about adapting Muriel Spark’s novella The Driver’s Seat for the stage at the National Theatre of Scotland, and to offer my thoughts, along with fellow New Generation Thinker Laurence Scott, about the first episode of Channel 4’s Humans.
28th Oct 2014: I and my colleague Steve Connor joined Matthew Sweet on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking to discuss ‘Silent Partners: Artist & Mannequin from Function to Fetish’, an exhibition showing at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
30th Aug 2014: In the first of two Cambridge 105fm Bums on Seats Cambridge Film Festival Review Specials I contributed strong views on the new Woody Allen release, Magic in the Moonlight and more positive thoughts on the literary whimsy of Sylvain Chomet’s Atilla Marcel.
21st June 2014: Review of Belle, Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow. I joined host Toby Miller and fellow guests on Cambridge 105’s film review show to catch up with the summer blockbusters.
26th May 2014: New GCSE English Reading Lists. On her excellent first breakfast show for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, I joined Kate Lamble to discuss the recently proposed changes to the English GCSE reading list.
14th May 2014: Science Fiction Theatre. On my first visit to BBC Radio 3′s flagship arts and ideas programme under its new name, Free Thinking (what was Night Waves), I chat with Philip Dodd and drama critic Susannah Clapp about science fiction theatre. Is it on the rise, and if so, why? Does theatre need to define itself against SF cinema and the special effects it is now capable of? Or does it need to stretch and develop itself technically by rising to the challenge of staging SF narratives in and for the 21st century?
22nd November 2013: On the 50th anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley, I popped in to The Culture Studio, BBC Radio Scotland, to chat with Janice Forsyth and SF author Kim Newman about Huxley’s life and work, and to consider just how far are we now actually living in the world he imagined.
October 2013: Science Fiction and Surveillance: Zamyatin’s We. David Aaronovitch, Sean O’Brien, Matthew Sweet and myself get free thinking about Zamyatin’s phenomenal dystopian novel We and its continued relevance to contemporary issues around surveillance, security and freedom. Recorded live at BBC Radio 3’s annual Free Thinking Festival at the Sage Gateshead.
September 2012: Discussion on The Book Cafe, BBC Radio Scotland. Novelist Catherine Simpson and I discuss the controversial topic of maternity and creativity.
July 2012: Feature on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Book Cafe. My collaborator Dr Christine Knight and I talk to Clare English about our plans for the What Scientists Read project.
May 2012: Review on The Book Cafe, BBC Radio Scotland. I review Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison’s new novel Home.
