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Front Row: Ben Okri, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Michael Berkeley

11/01/2021

Ben Okri, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Michael Berkeley

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Ben Okri, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Michael Berkeley

Writer Ben Okri on his new anthology, A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn.

Ben Okri on his anthology A Fire in My Head: Poems for the Dawn, and writer Nick Stevens on his three-part drama series for ITV, The Pembrokeshire Murders.

Ben Okri published his poem 'Grenfell Tower, June 2017' in the Financial Times a few days after the inferno. On Channel 4's Facebook page it was played more than 6 million times. This is but one of his poems written in response to current events, politics and people, gathered in his new book, A Fire in my Head: Poems for the Dawn. Okri considers the poet's role to be the town crier, and there are poems about that other fire, at Notre Dame, Barack Obama and the Covid pandemic. But, as he tells Samira Ahmed, his collection also includes the personal, love poems and a tender evocation of a new-born's encounter with life, and the wonder of the world.       

A new miniseries, The Pembrokeshire Murders, starts soon on ITV.  It tells the real story of the investigation by Dyfed Powys Police into 2 decades-old previously-unsolved fatal shootings, using advances in forensic science to find microscopic clues that were previously invisible to them. We speak to the writer for the series – Nick Stephens – about writing a gripping story when the outcome is already known.

Composer, broadcaster and cross bench member of the House of Lords Michael Berkeley is tabling a question to ministers about  the issue affecting UK musicians who will no longer be able to viably tour Europe as a result of the recent Brexit deal. He tells Samira about his concerns in light of reports over the weekend that a reciprocal arrangement was offered the British government but was refused.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Simon Richardson

Main image: Ben Okri
Image credit: Mat Bray

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