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Woman's Hour

Nikki Lilly, Debt, Grief over a pet, Hayley Squires

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The number of abortions recorded in England and Wales has reached a record high, according to the latest government figures from the Department of Health. There were 277,970 abortions in 2023, the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967 - which is 11 per cent higher than the previous year in 2022. Rachael Clarke is Head of Advocacy for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service - known as B-PAS, and tells Anita Rani about the findings.

In 2025 alone she walked at Paris Fashion Week, spoke at the United Nations about face equality and won 'Fashion and beauty influencer of the year' at the the UK and Ireland TikTok awards, all while managing a chronic illness. Nikki Lilly is a Bafta and Emmy award-winner, an influencer and a campaigner and she joins Anita in the studio.

January is one of the toughest times for managing finances - and this year the pressure is hitting harder than ever. In just the first week of 2026, more than 13,000 people turned to Citizens Advice for help with debt. Last January, over 50,000 people sought support, and they expect this year to be even worse. New polling commissioned by the charity over the last six months reveals one in three people in problem debt have gone without essentials like food and women are feeling the squeeze more than men, with nearly 40% of those seeking advice being impacted compared to 31% of men. To discuss, Anita is joined by principle policy manager at Citizens Advice, Emer Sheehy, and personal finance and consumer expert Sue Hayward.

Grief over a pet's death can be as strong as that for a family member or close friend, new research shows. Anita talks to Philip Hyland who led the research on prolonged grief disorder.

Actor Hayley Squires is currently on our screens in the long-awaited second series of BBC spy thriller The Night Manager. Her character Sally Price-Jones is second in command to Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine, as they navigate a dangerous world of international espionage, deception and moral ambiguity. Since her breakthrough in Ken Loach’s award-winning film I, Daniel Blake, Hayley’s won critical acclaim for a host of TV, film and theatre roles. She’s currently also appearing in the hit production of All My Sons in London’s West End.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Corinna Jones

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.

0:05.7

Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked.

0:12.7

But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes,

0:18.2

The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials

0:22.2

from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased,

0:27.9

it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and

0:32.6

podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:40.6

Good morning and welcome to the programme.

0:42.9

It's that time of year where there's loads of great TV, not least the night manager.

0:47.6

It's back 10 years after the gripping first series.

0:51.1

Are you watching it?

0:52.0

I'm totally in.

0:53.1

I'm very excited to be joined by actor

0:55.5

Haley Squires today about being in the new series. Then she was named Fashion and Beauty

1:02.2

Influencer of the year 2025 at the UK and Ireland TikTok Awards. Nikki Lilly also walked

1:08.4

at Paris Fashion Week. One of the first with a facial difference

1:12.3

to do so. She also is a hugely successful YouTube star, and she's achieved all of this while

1:18.0

managing a chronic illness, and she's still only 21. She'll be here to tell us her story.

1:23.7

And Citizens' advice has found that women are more likely to be in problem debt going without

1:28.7

essentials such as food. We'll be discussing the reasons for it and if you have experiences,

1:33.9

please get in search and remember you can remain anonymous. And mourning a pet can be as traumatic

1:39.7

as grieving for human family members according to a new survey. And the grief can last for years.

...

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