Weekend Woman’s Hour: Natalie Fleet MP, HIV prevention, Trisha Goddard, Older surrogacy, Comedian Rosie Jones

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Natalie Fleet is the Labour MP for Bolsover whose path into politics has been far from typical. From a very young age, teachers told her she was destined for university – something almost unheard of in her Nottingham mining town. But her future took a different turn, when at fifteen, she became pregnant by an older man. At the time she had thought they were in a relationship - but as she grew older, Natalie says she realised she had been a victim of grooming and statutory rape. She's now speaking out to give a voice to those she feels have been made to feel they should be silent, and joins Anita Rani in the studio.

Only 3.1% of PREP users in England are women. That's Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, a drug that reduces the risk of being infected with HIV. Many women don’t know that PREP exists, or don’t consider themselves at risk. Yet women accounted for 30% of new HIV diagnoses in England in 2023. This week, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has launched pilot programmes to increase women's access to PREP. Anita was joined by Dr Jenny Whetham, Consultant and Joint Clinical Lead, Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, Brighton and Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation to discuss.

Trisha Goddard rose to fame as a TV journalist. She was the first black TV presenter in Australia and is best known in the UK for her eponymous TV show which aired on ITV and Channel 5 in the late 90s and 2000s, earning her a reputation as the British Oprah. She joined Anita to talk about her career, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother and why she chose recently to go public with her diagnosis for stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

BBC journalist Sanchia Berg and fertility lawyer Beverley Addison joined Nuala McGovern to discuss the recent cases of older couples becoming parents via surrogacy.

Comedian, actor and writer Rosie Jones joined Nuala to discuss her first sitcom, Pushers, which she stars in and co-wrote. She plays Emily in the Channel 4 show, who has very little left to lose after having her disability benefits cut when she loses her job - she finds herself building an illegal drugs empire. Emily isn’t your average street-dealer though - she’s sharp, funny, highly educated and has cerebral palsy. What better disguise could there be for criminal activity than to be entirely written off by society?

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Rebecca Myatt

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.1	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,
0:13.5	moments and movements, stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
0:21.7	means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.5	We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now
0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:36.1	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:39.9	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:44.0	Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.
0:49.1	Hello and welcome. Coming up some highlights from the week,
0:53.7	Tricia Goddard, the Queen of UK Daytime TV in the late 90s and early 2000s.
0:58.8	You may have seen her more recently in the Celebrity Brigg Brother House,
1:02.0	speaking very frankly about living with stage 4 cancer and becoming a journalist.
1:06.9	Mum was a fighter. People say how come you chose journalism.
1:12.3	She'd listened to the radio, shows like this one back in the day. God, she'd be proud.
1:17.4	And she'd shout at the radio. No, you can't see that at all. Yeah, she'd shout.
1:22.5	My parents would literally paint placards in their front room. They were very, very active politically.
1:29.7	The government is reviewing how to enhance public guidance on surrogacy after a couple in their
1:35.0	70s recently became legal parents of a surrogate baby. They'll be 89 when the child is 18.
	...

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