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Can I Talk About Heroes?

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BBC Radio 4 - Can I Talk About Heroes?

Poet Vicky Foster looks at how ideas of heroism have impacted on society and her own life.

Is heroism still a useful idea ? How do we create heroes ? Vicky Foster looks at how ideas of heroism have impacted on society and her own life .

Vicky Foster's award-winning Radio 4 Audio Drama Bathwater looked at the effect the murder in 2005 in Hull of the father of her children, a firefighter,  is still having on her family .

In this documentary, Can I talk about Heroes ? Vicky looks at the way society creates heroes, whether the meaning and significance of that label has changed in recent times and if the term is still useful . 

This questioning has been prompted by her own story. Stephen Gallant, convicted of the murder of Vicky's ex-partner,was out on day licence attending a prisoner rehabilitation event  in November 2019 when he tackled the London Bridge terrorist with a narwhal tusk, which caught the attention of the public and the media.  He was quickly branded a 'hero' . 

Vicky Foster talks to Dr Zeno Franco, Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin
Emma Kinder, Victim Support’s Homicide Regional Manager
Jacquie Johnston-Lynch, Head of Services at Vitality Homes Recovery Centre
Mel, a nurse working on a covid ward.

Produced by Susan Roberts, BBC Audio North

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