You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about the

podcast I work on. I'm Dan Clark and I commissioned factual podcasts at the BBC.

It's a massive area but I'd sum it up as stories to help us make sense of the forces shaping the world.

What podcasting does is give us the space and the time to take brilliant BBC journalism

and tell amazing compelling stories that really get behind the headlines.

And what I get really excited about is when we find a way of drawing you into a subject

you might not even have thought you were interested in.

Whether it's investigations, science, tech, politics, culture, true crime, the environment,

you can always discover more with a podcast on BBC Sounds.

You're listening to BBC Sounds.

So having just knocked me, Nicky, you can start the podcast today.

Well, I was just honest, wasn't it?

You said you had nothing funny to say pre-POD.

There's nothing new there.

That's a good lad.

There we are.

Welcome to the pod.

The basic principle is meant to be that I can tease something funny out of you being our resident

comedian. Yeah but normally yeah but you get the running order through and it does

sometimes say funny chat, funny pre-chat I'm thinking what what's your plan to here? In packets Nicky to script.

No. No it's no laughing matter six nations very serious stuff as well because

James Hook is here Mickey

...