Woman's Hour

Academy Award-winning actor Helen Hunt is currently performing in the RSC’s production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. She joins Nuala McGovern to discuss what it’s like being back on a UK stage in her latest role as Russian aristocrat and matriarch Madame Ranevskaya.
A rape trial has collapsed after the alleged victim used AI to help prepare for her answers in court. The case at Lewes Crown Court was called off after the complainant, referred to only as C, admitted using an AI chatbot. The barrister acting for the accused, argued that a fair trial was impossible. The Court of Appeal ruled that such practices amount to 'witness coaching' which is prohibited in the UK. Barrister Harriet Johnson, specialising in violence against women and girls, discusses the significance of the case.
Last month, two reports into maternity services in England were published. Donna Ockenden’s review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Baroness Valerie Amos’s investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. These reports raised important issues about maternity services in England but what impact have they had on the morale of those working in this area - particularly midwives? Nuala is joined by author and midwife Leah Hazard, Claire Ashton, a midwife practising in Wales, and Safia Saad, a student midwife and founder of Fund Future Midwives UK.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Prime Minister Andy Burnham to bring in emergency legislation to stop the early release of hundreds of prisoners. She held a press conference while we were on air, along with rape survivors who are concerned their perpetrators could be let out early. The BBC's home and legal correspondent Dominic Casciani joins Nuala.
Labour MP Samantha Niblett wants sex education to continue throughout our lives, not just at school. She discusses her campaign and the controversy over displaying sex toys in Parliament.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

The new Reform police and crime commissioner for Norfolk, former detective Colin Sutton, has said that releasing women from prison ‘would be a kind of a radical, outside-the-box way of creating more prison space’. He joins Nuala McGovern along with Andrea Coomber, the chief executive of The Howard League for Penal Reform.
We follow up with BBC Journalist Catrin Nye whose podcast, Swingers, highlighted the story of Ruth, a woman who said she had been pressured into having sex with over 100 strangers. Since its release, 50 women have come forward with their own stories. Catrin tells us the latest.
Author Wendy Jones recently observed that seven of the top ten fiction paperback novels on the Sunday Times bestsellers list featured a woman who had been murdered. Nuala talks to authors Saima Mir and Lesley McEvoy about why dead women are a central theme in fiction, and why those books are so popular.
A new cycling app "Sofa to Saddle" wants to get one million more Brits peddling by 2028. Olympian and world medallist cyclist Lizzie Deignan and Cicely Lloyd, from Brighton’s Multicultural Women’s Cycle Club, discuss how the barriers to more women cycling can be overcome.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Melanie Abbott

Actor, writer and director Lena Headey is best known for playing Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. She has created and stars in Intimacy, a new BBC Sounds audio drama and podcast which follows intimacy coordinator Liza Simmons, whose professional life revolves around creating safe spaces and navigating consent on film sets. When a dream job on a big movie production takes her to a Greek island, long-buried secrets resurface and force her to confront a troubled past. Lena talks about this new series and life after Game of Thrones.
As the US and Iran continue exchanging fire, Anita Rani talks to global affairs journalist Tara Kangarlou and researcher at King's College London Dr Ahou Koutchesfahani to ask how life for women in the country has changed since the war.
How can we explore distant stars, buried water on Mars, or witness the first moments after the Big Bang? And what can we see without having to leave our back garden? Dr Emma Chapman an award-winning radio astronomer based at the University of Nottingham, and a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin research fellow, is joined by Clare McDonnell to discuss the radio universe, the upcoming Perseid Meteor Shower and a partial solar eclipse.
Could using conscious sedation transform the experience of hysteroscopy? Around 70,000 women undergo this womb procedure every year, but campaigners say many are still left in severe pain with too few options for pain relief. Clare talked to Dawn Lord who says her hysteroscopy left her traumatised, and to Irina Stankeviciute, a hysteroscopy nurse who has helped pioneer a new conscious sedation service aimed at giving women more choice and control.
The Commonwealth Games began this week in Glasgow, and Clare was joined by wheelchair racer Melanie Woods who will be competing.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Annette Wells

As an immersive version of Grease opens for the summer in London, Anita Rani welcomes Didi Conn, who played 'Beauty School Dropout' Frenchy in the original 1978 film.
Can you imagine running an entire country on just a few hours of sleep? Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, who has referred to herself as 'Japan’s Iron Lady', says she often functions on zero to three hours a night. Whether it's long work hours, caring responsibilities, new born babies, pain, anxiety or hormones, women can struggle to get sleep, so we wanted to look at how much is enough? And does it differ between men and women? Anita is joined by Dr Kat Lederle, sleep scientist and chronobiologist.
The Church of England's Interim Commissioner for Independent Reviews, which investigates cases of historic sex abuse, has published their first report and it's about one woman’s experience and how her case was handled, or rather mishandled, by those in charge at the time. Jane Chevous has waived her anonymity to speak to Woman's Hour. She alleges that she experienced rape, plus spiritual and psychological abuse by two clergymen. Anita speaks to Jane and the BBC’s Religion Editor, Aleem Maqbool.
The Commonwealth Games netball tournament gets underway next week, with all four UK nations set to be involved. England will be hoping to challenge for the medals once again, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will all be looking to make their mark on one of the sport's biggest stages. Anna Carter, a former player and coach for England, who now runs Elite Netball Academy, gives Anita her take.
This weekend, all around the world, thousands will congregate to recreate Kate Bush's iconic debut single music video. Known as The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, for those who take part, it's a truly special occasion. But how did it start and why is it so important for those who take part? Anita speaks to Georgie Sworder, one of the women who originally inspired the event, and Belinda Burton, who will be organising her own 'mass wuther' in Sydney.

A BBC investigation has revealed that a police officer, Alan Greer, who took his own life in May was a violent rapist who carried out a spate of sexual attacks and attempted murders of women over at least 14 years. To find out more about women's confidence in the police, Anita Rani speaks to former Met Detective Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri and Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women coalition.
As the US and Iran continue exchanging fire, Anita talks to global affairs journalist Tara Kangarlou and researcher at King's College London Dr Ahou Koutchesfahani to ask how life for women in the country has changed since the war.
Georgia Hall won the Women’s Open back in 2018 - one of the four British women to have ever won a golf major championship. She has since gone on to compete around the world, winning countless titles and cups and was awarded an MBE in 2019. Georgia recently returned to professional golf after giving birth in February, and now sets her sights on another win at the AIG Women’s Open, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, right here in the UK.
What started as documenting the transformation of her own mouldy rental flat has turned into an award-winning mission to help some of the most vulnerable people. Content creator Bea Elton, known as Clean with Bea, has gained millions of followers by documenting her free extreme cleans in homes affected by poor mental health and financial hardship. She restores properties that could otherwise cost thousands of pounds to clean and discusses the link between our living environments and wellbeing. Anita talks to Bea about why her videos have become such a social media phenomenon and the lives she's helping to change.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Corinna Jones