Raphael Rowe: Finding Light After 12 Years of Darkness
On The Mend
High Performance
4.9 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2023
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week's episode of On The Mend, Matt is joined by the journalist, presenter, author and podcaster Raphael Rowe.
Raphael was wrongly convicted of a crime in the late 1980s, and spent 12 years in prison. During that time, he never gave up trying to prove his innocence and never gave up hope, even in the darkest of times.
Since being acquitted and released, Raphael has gone on to work for the BBC as a reporter on Radio 4 and regularly appears on The One Show. He hosts 'Inside The World's Toughest Prisons' on Netflix and his own podcast, 'Second Chance'.
He talks to Matt about his time in prison (and in solitary confinement), how exercise and yoga helped him get through the days and how he eventually got the authorities to listen to his appeal.
His memoir 'Notorious' talks about some of his darkest times and questions the justice system in the UK, which he also touches on in this episode.
They also discuss hope and the power of having the mental strength to get through hard times.
You can hear more from Raphael on his own podcast, Second Chance
And you can read more about the Raphael Rowe Foundation, here
If you have been affected by anything you have heard in this episode, there are some links to organisations who might be able to help you below.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want to know who's coming up next? Hit follow wherever you get your podcast and you'll be the first to find out. |
| 0:20.3 | Hello and welcome to On the Mend. |
| 0:21.9 | I'm Matt Willis and in this series I'm going to be taking a look into the world of mental health, addiction and recovery and how people get through hard times. |
| 0:29.9 | My guest today is the journalist, broadcaster and podcaster Raphael Rowe. |
| 0:37.8 | Raphael was arrested for a crime he didn't commit in 1988 |
| 0:41.4 | and he spent nearly 12 years in prison. |
| 0:45.0 | On the 17th of July 2000, he and his co-defendants were acquitted and released. |
| 0:49.8 | During his time in jail, he studied journalism |
| 0:51.6 | and in 2001 he joined the BBC as a reporter for Radio 4. |
| 0:56.0 | He now regularly appears on The One Show, hosts the world's toughest prisons on Netflix, which I advise you to watch, |
| 1:01.3 | and he has his own podcast called Second Chance. |
| 1:04.1 | In this episode, we talk about his time in prison, taking drugs in jail, |
| 1:07.8 | what got him through some of his darkest moments and his journey to recovery |
| 1:11.1 | since being acquitted. It's a really honest, eye-opening but hopeful chat. I hope you enjoy it. |
| 1:23.4 | Hi Raphael. How are you? I'm very well, Matt. Thanks for having me on. Man, thanks for coming, Matt. I really, really appreciate it. So how are you feeling today? I'm tired, actually, but tired in a good way because I've just been away on a holiday with the family and didn't do any work whatsoever. So I'm kind of recharged. You know, when you get recharging, you're sort of 100% and then you come back and you've got to think about work, you're drained almost instantly. So, in a good mood, but a little bit tired. |
| 1:49.4 | I find that. I find that when I kind of take my foot off the gas, especially on holiday, I've just |
| 1:53.9 | been a holiday as well. And I come back and I feel like I've left so many things by the wayside |
| 1:59.3 | that sometimes I can become so overwhelmed by what happens next. |
| 2:04.0 | And actually, it's no different than any other day before I went holiday, |
| 2:07.0 | but I'm just kind of like finding ways to deal with it differently. |
| 2:10.8 | It's like catching up, isn't it? |
| 2:12.1 | That's what I find. |
... |
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