4.2 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
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The Lionesses have made history by becoming the first England football squad to win a major trophy on foreign soil, they successfully defended their European title in Basel last night. The match went to extra time and penalties - Clare McDonnell got reaction and reflection from guests including 5Live commentator Vicki Sparks, BBC Sport correspondent Katie Gornall, chief executive of the Women's Professional League Nikki Doucet and star player Lucy Bronze's mum Diane.
The BBC has found that five women who were exploited by so-called grooming gangs in Rotherham as children say they were also abused by police officers in the town at the time. One woman says she was raped repeatedly in a marked police car, and threatened with being handed back to the gang if she didn't comply. The BBC's Ed Thomas brings us the story and Clare hears from Professor Alexis Jay who is the author of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse and Zoë Billingham, former His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary.
Actor Michelle Collins, best known as Cindy Beale in the BBC’s EastEnders, makes her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Motorhome Marilyn, a dark comedy inspired by Michelle's real-life encounter with a woman Cindy saw in LA. The play reveals the toll of living in the shadow of an icon, exploring failure, ageing and the heartbreaking cost of unattained dreams. Michelle joined Datshiane from Edinburgh to talk about her debut.
Hattie Williams lost her mother when she was 18 years old leaving her feeling anchorless and needing to embark on a self-exploratory journey to recover some stability. When she experienced motherhood, she felt that she had achieved that. She told Anita Rani how these experiences inspired her first novel, Bitter Sweet, which she wrote on her maternity leave.
Sara Pascoe is a comedian, and her children don’t sleep, her kitchen won’t clean itself and her husband “doesn’t want to be in it”. Sara’s new show - I am a Strange Gloop – is on a UK tour. She stumbles stunned to the stage from the soft play area, with battle-hardened tales to tell on the front line of motherhood.
Nicola Benedetti is a Grammy award winning violinist and ambassador for classical music. She is also director of the Edinburgh International Festival, which begins on Friday. In October she’s due to embark on her first solo tour in more than ten years. She joined Clare to discuss the repertoire, and how she will combine solo performances with storytelling, and share a selection of shorter works.
Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Corinna Jones
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0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
0:05.3 | Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
0:10.1 | Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast. |
0:17.0 | Hello and welcome to the programme. |
0:19.4 | Coming up, some of the highlights from the week just gone. |
0:22.8 | In case you've been living under a rock, the lionesses made history by becoming the first England football squad to win a major trophy on foreign soil by successfully defending their European title in Basel. |
0:36.2 | We'll hear from Lucy Bronze's mum, Diane. |
0:38.5 | Did she know her daughter was playing with a broken bone in her leg? |
0:42.4 | That's how tough the lionesses are. |
0:45.3 | EastEnders actor Michelle Collins on making her Edinburgh Fringe debut in a one-woman play, |
0:50.2 | Motorhome Marilyn, based on a woman she met seven years ago in LA. |
0:55.4 | Hattie Williams on her debut novel Bitter Sweet on themes of losing her mother when she was 18 |
1:00.2 | and suffering with depression. |
1:02.7 | Comedian Sarah Pascoe on how parenthood has banished her from the centre of her own life, |
1:07.9 | but also given her a wealth of material for her latest tour. |
1:11.3 | Now, it's been called the greatest achievement in the history of English football. |
1:16.2 | The lionesses lifted the UEFA Euro's trophy for the second time in a row. |
1:21.2 | The first time England has ever won not on home soil. |
1:25.4 | The group of women who make up Serena Vigman's sides silenced the doubters |
1:29.4 | and came back from the brink time after time showing such grit and determination throughout. |
1:34.9 | Let's listen to this clip of Lucy Bronze. I've actually played the whole tournament for a fractured |
1:39.4 | tibia but no one knew and then I've just hurt my knee today on the other leg. |
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