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

Words and Music

Drama

Music: Classical

A journey of discovery, weaving music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

A weekly journey of discovery, weaving together a range of music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

Words and Music 

Words and Music: So Emotional

So Emotional

BBC Radio 3 - Words and Music, So EmotionalClose menu

Iain Glen and Brid Brennan journey through the seven universal emotions.

A journey through our seven universal emotions in the company of readers Iain Glen and Brid Brennan.

There are seven universal emotions:  happiness, sadness, anger,  fear, disgust, surprise and contempt. Readers Brid Brennan and Iain Glen take us on an emotional roller coaster with words ranging from the 17th century lusciousness of Milton to the high impact sparseness of 'insta-poet' Rupi Kaur.

Our emotional journey begins with the laughter of a four year old, Judy Garland bidding us to 'Get Happy' and Jack Underwood's touching portrait of Happiness. But sadness has a beauty of its own and Milton hails Melancholy, while the 14th century mystic Margery Kempe immerses herself in the misery of Christ's suffering. No one does misery like Morrissey so The Smiths are here to tell us: Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. Dylan Thomas and Elvis Costello deliver some explosive anger, while Dorothy Parker and Lulu have a surprise for their disappointing lovers. Roald Dahl's truly disgusting description of Mr Twit's beard will put you off extravagant facial hair for life, while Henry James and Benjamin Britten deliver the fear-factor in the spine-chilling Turn of the Screw. Our emotional journey ends with the chillingly inhuman contempt of Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho and a look back to the medieval practice of fasting to fine-tune human emotions.

You can find a collection of discussion programmes exploring different emotions recorded at the 2019 Free Thinking Festival in a collection on the programme website 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07vq5kw 

Readings:
Jack Underwood: Happiness
Aatish Taseer: Extract from The Twice Born: Life and Death on the Ganges
Milton: Extract from Il Penseroso
John Clare: I Am! 
Margery Kempe translated by Barry Windeatt: Extract from The Book of Margery Kempe
Rupi Kaur: What is Stronger than the Human Heart? 
Dylan Thomas: Not This Anger
Charlotte Brontë: Extract from Jane Eyre
Ted Hughes: Crow Blacker Than Ever
Roald Dahl: Extract from The Twits
Sara Teasdale: Fear read by Iain Glen
Henry James: Extract from The Turn of the Screw
Dorothy Parker: Surprise
Bret Easton Ellis: Extract from American Psycho
Translated by Hetta Howes: Extract from Speculum Sacerdotale


Producer: Georgia Mann

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Words and Music

So Emotional

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3