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Woman's Hour

Andra Day, Breast Cancer, Autistic Barbie

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New research will bring hope to the thousands of women in the UK living with secondary breast cancer. A simple blood test will be able to tell how well they will respond to treatment, even before it starts. This research could mean being moved to more efficient treatments earlier. Nuala McGovern hears from Dr Iseult Browne, one of the researchers on the study.

The Grammy award-winning American R&B singer/songwriter and actress, Andra Day, made her acting debut with her portrayal of Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Her emotionally raw and transformative performance made her only the second black actress to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress. Her voice first reached a global audience with her anthem Rise Up which earned two Grammy nominations. She joins Nuala to talk about her latest role, as Christine, in the film - Is This Thing On?

An employment tribunal ruled on Friday that the dignity of a group of female nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital was violated because they had to share single-sex changing rooms with a transgender colleague, who was born male but identifies as a woman. BBC's Health Correspondent Dominic Hughes explains further.

Today another episode of our SEND in the Spotlight podcast drops, and this one is all about the local authority's role in the SEND system. They come in for a lot of criticism from some of our guests, who feel they need to go to battle with their council in the attempt to get their children's needs met. Rebecca is a SEND mum who is also a SEND caseworker for a local authority. She got in touch because she wanted to talk about the realities of her job. 

Mattel have just released autistic Barbie. It’s the latest in their range of dolls which have included wheelchair and Downs syndrome Barbies. So how do brands use socially conscious products to appeal to consumers, and how much are they targeting women with issues they care about? To discuss Catherine Shuttleworth, CEO of the marketing agency Get Savvy and Dionne Nickerson, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia join Nuala.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

Hello, I'm Greg Jenner, and good news,

0:09.5

Your Dead to Me, is back for a new series.

0:11.6

Here we go.

0:12.1

Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Mary Beard and Patton Oswald.

0:16.9

I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire.

0:38.6

We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dolion with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down. And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihelina. I'm excited. You're dead to me. The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:43.5

Hello, I'm Nula McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:49.6

Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.

0:53.1

Good morning and welcome to the programme.

0:57.0

Well, we're going to hear about, just as you might have been hearing a little in the bulletin there,

1:04.0

about a new DNA test that can predict how well some patients with breast cancer will respond to various treatments.

1:05.7

We're going to hear all about the details.

1:10.9

Also, Andrea Day, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and actor will be with us in the Woman's Hour studio.

1:12.2

Andrea is in a new movie called Is This Thing On?

1:15.3

It's based loosely on the life of the comedian John Bishop.

1:18.9

I loved it.

1:19.9

It's midlife and marriage in all its glory.

1:23.2

There was also an employment tribunal win for a group of nurses from Darlington.

1:27.4

We're going to hear about the significance of that case.

1:30.5

Plus, is a new wave of products pushing their social awareness credentials and targeted at women and girls, progress or manipulation?

1:39.7

And we'll hear from Rebecca.

...

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