Hello, it's Alexi, and you're listening to the slow newscast extra from the Observer.

This is a new thing we're trying out, a bit of time each week to discuss a story that I can't get out of my head.

And although there's a lot going on in the news, the story that's been rattling around my brain for a couple of days is one of our own.

Our series, Foundling, which has gone live this week. If you're an

observer subscriber, you can binge all the episodes at once just by searching for Foundling

wherever you get your podcasts. And I'm delighted today to have the series reporter, Lucy Greenwell,

and the producer, Katie Gunning, here to talk about it. Hi, guys. Hi. I should start off by

saying, this is right, isn't it? We're not going to get into the story itself because it's really

worth listening to on its own. What will be great to focus on is more about the issues that the show

raises, because if you're a foundling, if you're literally found on the side of a

road, how do you piece together your own past? And what about the mothers? That's something I'd

love to get into. But can we, Lucy, can we just start with the word foundling? Like, it's really,

there's something old and mysterious about it, something that doesn't feel kind of comfortable in today's sort of computer says no type bureaucratic age.

Like what is it about foundlings that fascinates us?

I agree, it does sound very old-fashioned foundling.

It makes you think of sort of Victorian era, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.

Workhouses, that sort of thing.

Exactly.

But I think the thing about foundlings is the idea of a baby abandoned and alone vulnerable,

such a vulnerable sort of symbol, I think it sort of scratches at us. It's something primal about our

sense of wanting to protect a baby alone with no sort of umbrella of its parents. And you can see

it throughout sort of literature, this fascination that we've had, Oliver Twist like I mentioned,

...