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Woman's Hour: Elizabeth McGovern, Pat Cullen, David Carrick, The Wife of Bath

17/01/2023

Elizabeth McGovern, Pat Cullen, David Carrick, The Wife of Bath

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Elizabeth McGovern, Pat Cullen, David Carrick, The Wife of Bath

The Downton Abbey actor on her new stage role as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Elizabeth McGovern was Oscar nominated for her portrayal of Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime and, by the age of 21, had played leading roles in Once Upon A Time In America followed by The Handmaid’s Tale and The Wings of the Dove. She is probably best known though for playing Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey.  She is now on stage starring in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  The actress and musician joins Jessica to discuss her varied career so far and what drew her to the role of Martha.

A misconduct hearing today will formally dismiss David Carrick from the Metropolitan Police, after he admitted twenty-four counts of rape and multiple sexual assaults. Carrick was finally stopped when one woman reported him in October 2021.  Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, has apologised to Carrick's victims, and says the force is currently also investigating 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims involving about 800 of its officers.  Jessica is joined to discuss by Shabnam Chaudhri, who served as an officer in the Met for 30 years.

Tomorrow will see the start of a second round of strikes by the Royal College of Nursing. The RCN says that this will be the biggest walkout so far, affecting 55 trusts in England - that's 11 more than last month.   They are calling for a pay rise of 5% above inflation, with inflation currently sitting at 14%. The government says the demands are unaffordable and pay rises were decided by independent pay review bodies. NHS staff in England and Wales - including nurses - have already received an average increase of 4.75%.  The union says that there will be a further two strikes in February in England and Wales, unless there is movement on pay by the end of this month. Pat Cullen is the General Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, and joins Jessica.

Today marks the 250th anniversary of the UK in the Antarctic following the first voyage of James Cook in 1773. In contrast to Cook’s all-male crew in the 18th century, the UK’s current polar leadership includes several women. What is it like to be a female leader in this field? Jessica Creighton is joined by Jane Rumble, the Head of Polar Regions Department at the UK Foreign Office, Professor Dame Jane Francis, the Director of the British Antarctic Survey and Captain Milly Ingham, the Captain of HMS Protector, The Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship to find out.

One of literary history’s favourite characters – Alison the Wife of Bath – from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is re-examined in a new book by Professor Marion Turner from Oxford University.  Marion tells Jessica how the lusty life story of the medieval Alison who married five times has inspired other writers from Shakespeare to Zadie Smith.

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