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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Interview series. Broadcasters talk to the people whose stories interest them most

Series of interviews in which broadcasters follow their personal passions by talking to the people whose stories interest them most

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One to One: The Thrill of Fear: Felicity Hannah talks to Dr Margee Kerr

The Thrill of Fear: Felicity Hannah talks to Dr Margee Kerr

BBC Radio 4 - One to One, The Thrill of Fear: Felicity Hannah talks to Dr Margee Kerr

What’s the difference between fun fear and real terror? Felicity finds out.

Why do we enjoy haunted houses and ghost stories? When is fear fun and when is it just frightful? Journalist Felicity Hannah asks sociologist and fear expert, Dr Margee Kerr.

Before her life as a financial journalist began, Felicity Hannah could more often be found wearing a top hat, leading tourists round the ghostly streets beneath Edinburgh. She loves sudden startles and that sense of creeping enjoyable fear in person, in books and on screen, but she wants to know why. Why are some humans wired to get a thrill out of fear? Why not all of us?

Felicity talks to fear expert Dr Margee Kerr, sociologist and author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, about what happens in our bodies when we’re frightened, and how, surprisingly, this can help us build relationships and personal resilience. She asks: what’s the difference between the feelings we experience in a haunted house and genuine terror? Why do children love being chased? Is fear really contagious?

Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Sarah Goodman.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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