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Woman's Hour: Actor Juliet Stevenson. 40 years after Adrian Mole the legacy of Sue Townsend. Paralympian now dancer Ellie Simmonds

13/10/2022

Actor Juliet Stevenson. 40 years after Adrian Mole the legacy of Sue Townsend. Paralympian now dancer Ellie Simmonds

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Actor Juliet Stevenson. 40 years after Adrian Mole the legacy of Sue Townsend. Paralympian now dancer Ellie Simmonds

Actor Juliet Stevenson. The legacy of Sue Townsend. Ellie Simmonds on Strictly.

Actor Juliet Stevenson on her new stage role. 40 years after Adrian Mole, the legacy of Sue Townsend. Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds on her Strictly Come Dancing journey.

The Doctor’ first opened at the Almeida in 2019 Juliet Stevenson’s performance was described as ‘one of the peaks of the theatrical year’. Now on stage in London’s West End the play has again been highly applauded by the critics. Juliet joins Emma Barnett to discuss playing Dr Ruth Wolff, medical ethics, identity politics, anti-Semitism, media witch hunts and the way institutions protect themselves against criticism.

It’s been 40 years since The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend was published. On New Year’s Day 1981 Adrian lives in Leicester. His parent’s relationship is rocky, money is tight. He is worried about his spots and the length of his penis and he yearns for Pandora a girl from school who is from the posh part of town. Joining Emma are Dr Emma Parker, Associate Professor of English working on Twentieth Century women’s writing at Leicester University and the writer Cathy Rentzenbrink. What does the diary of a teenage boy tell us about the lives of girls and women in the early 80's?

We hear from the Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge who yesterday at PMQ's asked Liz Truss about the charity Mermaids which offers support around gender and identity to children and young people up to 25 years old and is currently the subject of a regulatory compliance case by the Charity Commission. 

Plus Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds talks about her Strictly Come Dancing journey and the impact of the online trolling she's received since taking part in the show.

Presenter Emma Barnett
Producer Beverley Purcell
PHOTO CREDIT.  Ruth Wolff

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