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Woman's Hour: Comedian Sophie Willan, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Emma Raducanu, the Unofficial Bridgerton the Musical Afghanistan update

10/09/2021

Comedian Sophie Willan, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Emma Raducanu, the Unofficial Bridgerton the Musical Afghanistan update

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Comedian Sophie Willan, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Emma Raducanu, the Unofficial Bridgerton the Musical Afghanistan update

Comedian Sophie Willan on Alma's Not Normal, Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Emma Raducanu in the final of the US Open, the Unofficial Bridgerton the Musical, Afghanistan update.

In May this this year, the comedian Sophie Willan won a BAFTA for best comedy writing, for the pilot episode of her BBC 2 comedy Alma’s Not Normal. She now has a six part series on BBC2 which begins on Monday night. Drawn from her own experiences, she plays the central character Alma who grew up in an out of the care system in Bolton. We find her eternally optimistic with no job or qualifications trying to get her life on track and follow her dreams.

British teenager Emma Raducanu has reached the US Open final She is the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final and will play another teenager Leylah Fernandez on Saturday.  Chloe discusses her achievement with Rebecca Rodgers who was Emma's teacher at primary school, and Anna Kessel, the Women's Sports Editor at the Telegraph.
                                                                                                         
Sarah Gilbert the scientist who led the team that developed the Oxford Vaccine joins us to talk about her latest award. In recognition of her achievements she’s been made a dame, had a barbie made in her likeness, won GQs “Heroes of the  Year” award and last night was named as the 49th winner of the “Bold Woman” award which honours inspirational women with a track record of success. Sarah talks to Chloe Tilley about the ups and downs of the vaccine journey over the last 18 months and  booster vaccines.

Bridgerton, the smash hit Netflix tv show was binge-watched by millions over Christmas in 2020 - in fact Netflix estimates that by January of 2021, more than 80 million households had watched it. Two young songwriters were so captivated by the series that they decided to write an unofficial Bridgerton musical - over TikTok. 22-year-old singer-songwriter Abigail Barlow and 20-year-old composer and pianist Emily Bear have now composed an entire concept album - The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical - based on the songs they featured in their TikTok videos. 
                                                                                                                   
The Taliban in Afghanistan unveiled their interim government earlier this week with an all-male cabinet, including an interior minister who is on the FBI’s most wanted list. This came weeks after saying they would welcome women in government positions. And on social media, footage appeared showing women protesting those announcements being whipped by a Taliban fighter. Since then the Taliban’s new interior ministry have issued their first decree, banning any protests that do not have official approval. Another senior Taliban official has said that Afghan women will be banned from playing sport. BBC Pashtu Correspondent Sana Safi gives an update.

Presented by Chloe Tilley
Producer: Louise Corley
Editor: Karen Dalziel

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