Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: A Good Death

The Essay: A Good Death: Episode 2: Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge

Episode 2

Episode 2: Beryl Bainbridge

A Good Death

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, A Good Death, Beryl BainbridgeClose menu

A repeat of an essay on the art of dying by Beryl Bainbridge, who has just died.

In the next in our series on the art of dying, the novelist Beryl Bainbridge who has just died reflects on how the notion of death influenced both her life and work.

The next in our series of essays on the art of dying is by the distinguished novelist Beryl Bainbridge, who has just passed away. Scheduled before news of her death was known, this thought-provoking piece, looks back at how the notion of dying overshadowed Bainbridge's own life, from her wartime childhood to her adult brush with death, and reveals the hopes and expectations she had for her own demise.

Death is the one subject we shy away from, and in our frantic obsession with prolonging our lives, the notion of 'a good death' seems to have lost its relevance. Yet, the art of dying has been a defining notion throughout history. In these five frank and powerful essays, writers and thinkers ponder the art of dying, and confront taboos around death. They will look at what makes a 'good death' today - is it merely having lived a good life, or is there something intrinsically important in dying well? And, now that our own deaths tend to occur in the sterile surroundings of a hospital ward, rather than at home surrounded by those we love, will reflect on how this distancing from death, and loss of control over our demise, has changed our relationship with dying. With references to the portrayal of death in literature, history and religion, as well as personal reflections on hopes and expectations of death, these essays will give five very different perspectives on the art of dying.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Documentaries

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: History

Religion & Ethics

Series of personal and very powerful essays in which writers ponder the art of dying

Series of personal and very powerful essays in which writers ponder the much-neglected art of dying. They ask whether a good death is about just having lived a good life

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Essay

A Good Death

Episode 2: Beryl Bainbridge

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3