Ruby Wax talks to Amol

Radical with Amol Rajan

BBC

Society & Culture

4.5 • 919 Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ruby Wax began her career as a classically trained actor. She’s also starred in sitcoms, made documentaries and done celebrity interviews. Now she’s best known as a mental health campaigner. In this bonus episode she opens up to Amol about her difficult upbringing, the highs and lows of her career and the art of the celebrity interview.

Details of support with mental health are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Regular episodes of The Today Podcast with Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson drop on Thursday mornings. Subscribe to The Today Podcast on BBC Sounds so you don’t miss an episode and you can also listen any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”

Amol and Nick are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before and was also ITV’s political editor.

The senior producer was Lewis Vickers, the producer was Hatty Nash, the editor was Louisa Lewis and the executive producer was Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Jeremy Morgan and digital production from Charlie Henry.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on.
0:06.9	Which is where Newscast comes in. We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears.
0:14.8	It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though.
0:17.5	Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds.
0:21.6	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:25.3	Hi, it's Amol here in the Today Podcast studio.
0:27.6	This week, Nick has been up in Liverpool for the Labour Party conference.
0:31.1	Dedicated listeners, and I know many of you are,
0:33.5	will have heard all about his interview with the prime minister in our last episode. And after
0:38.0	recording that, he had to go and speak with the health secretary, Wes Streeting for his political
0:42.9	thinking podcast. And I was joined by the actor, comedian, pioneer and mental health campaigner,
0:49.7	ruby wax, who dropped in to tell me about her moment of the week.
0:54.9	But there was so much more that I wanted to ask her about, and that is what you are going
0:58.5	to hear in this bonus episode of the Today Podcast.
1:01.8	Do enjoy this weekend treat from me and the whole pod squad.
1:05.6	Let's do it.
1:06.1	Yeah. I've kind of spent my lifetime researching the next 45 minutes because I've watched
1:24.4	every one of the programs you've ever made.
1:25.9	The only thing I've not seen, Ruby, is your show. Because I've got four young kids, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to see it. What's the basic idea for your show? Well, I don't write fiction. So this is really true during lockdown. I was thinking, you know, this is desolate. So I decided when I get out, I'm going to change my life. I'm going to get depth. I'm going to find meaning. You know, it was like the beginning of the alien. Very similar. I've often compared you to Homer's Odyssey. Yeah, always. And so I thought, go out there and see, find meaning. So I lived in a Christian monastery. There was a nun who I loved, who reminded me of Mrs. Doughtfire.
2:02.8	And she took care.
2:03.4	She was the mother I should have.
2:04.6	That's my favorite role that Robin Williams ever played.
	...

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