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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour: Lena Headey, Women in Iran, Dr Emma Chapman, Hysteroscopy and pain relief, Para-athlete Melanie Woods

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:07.0

If you like listening to BBC podcasts, she felt a crackle of energy, then you might also enjoy a good audio book.

0:13.1

The game's afoot.

0:14.1

Whether it's for your commute or your holiday, I listen to some terrible Spanish radio.

0:18.5

There are loads on BBC sounds.

0:20.7

From contemporary gems to much-love classics.

0:23.3

Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room.

0:26.4

All packed with personality.

0:28.2

With narrators like Julie Andrews, Hugh Bonneville and Andrew Scott.

0:31.6

What kind of a name is that?

0:33.3

Just search audiobooks on BBC sounds.

0:36.2

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

0:40.8

Coming up, actor Lena Heady, who famously played Circee Lanister in Game of Thrones

0:46.2

on her new Radio 4 podcast and audio drama all about an intimacy coordinator.

0:52.8

The 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests transformed daily life for many

0:58.3

Iranian women, despite a government crackdown. But what now for the women of Iran while their country

1:03.7

is at war? How a fascination with radio arials as a child led Dr Emma Chapman to become one of the

1:10.7

most eminent physicists of her

1:12.7

generation. And as the Commonwealth Games gets underway in Glasgow, Scottish wheelchair racer

1:18.3

Melanie Woods joins us. But first, the actor, writer and director, Lena Heady, is best

1:25.1

known for playing Circee Lanister in Game of Thrones.

1:28.4

Her other notable roles include Queen Gorgho in 300,

...

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