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Lively and diverse conversation with weekly guests

Libby Purves

Robert Powell

Mike Rutherford

Catherine Weate

Harry Shearer

Paula McGinley

Midweek: Robert Powell, Mike Rutherford, Catherine Weate, Harry Shearer

Robert Powell, Mike Rutherford, Catherine Weate, Harry Shearer

22/01/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Midweek, Robert Powell, Mike Rutherford, Catherine Weate, Harry Shearer

Libby Purves meets actor Robert Powell and musician Mike Rutherford.

Lively and diverse conversation as Libby Purves meets actor Robert Powell, musician Mike Rutherford, voice coach Catherine Weate and actor Harry Shearer.

Robert Powell is an actor who is known for his TV and film appearances in projects ranging from Doomwatch to Holby City and the Italian Job to The Thirty Nine Steps. Nominated for a BAFTA award for his role as Jesus in Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth, he has appeared on stage in Alan Bennett's Single Spies and Keith Waterhouse's Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell. This year he plays Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in a new production of Black Coffee, her first play. Black Coffee is currently on a UK tour.

Mike Rutherford is a musician and songwriter. He is a founding member of rock band Genesis and wrote the lyrics to many of the band's songs including Turn It On Again and Throwing It All Away. He formed his band Mike + The Mechanics in 1985. In his memoir, The Living Years, Mike writes about his career in music and his relationship with his late father. The Living Years - A Tale of Two Generations is published by Constable.

Catherine Weate is a voice and dialect coach who has trained students and actors around the world. She has just launched the Real Accent App with her business partner Gavin Howard. For their first project the pair travelled across the US to record ten regional dialects and created a tool to help actors tackle auditions for American parts. The Real Accent App: USA is available on the Apple iTunes App Store.

Harry Shearer is an actor, comedian, author and musician. He is best known as the voice of Mr Burns in The Simpsons and Derek Smalls in the mocumentary film This is Spinal Tap. In his latest project he reprises his role as former US President Richard Nixon for TV series Nixon's The One. The series is based on thousands of hours of recordings made by Nixon in the Oval Office between 1971 and 1973. Nixon's The One is broadcast on Sky Arts 1.

Producer: Paula McGinley.

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