Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

Health Check

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

No Master Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC Afghan Radio

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Health Check: Do men have a friendship problem?

Magazines & Reviews

GettyImages-1318887457.jpg

2023/09/13 GMT

Do men have a friendship problem?

BBC World Service - Health Check, Do men have a friendship problem?

A discussion on the issues men face with friendship from the Cheltenham Science Festival.

A look at if men have an issue with friendship from the Cheltenham Science Festival with author Max Dickins, evolutionary expert Professor Robin Dunbar, and GP Dr Radha Modgil.

The author Max Dickins was preparing to propose to his girlfriend when he came to a realisation: he didn’t have anyone he felt he could ask to be his best man. It prompted him to write the book ‘Billy No-Mates’, looking at why he didn’t have any close male friends any more, and asking if men, in general, have a friendship problem.

In a special discussion in front of a live audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival in England, Claudia Hammond speaks to Max about his journey.

They’re also joined by Robin Dunbar, a Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford University who’s spent decades researching friendships in humans and other primates, and Radha Modgil, a practicing GP and wellbeing expert whose book ‘Know Your Own Power’ looks at what advice there is for people facing difficulties as they go through life.

The panel look at what psychology can teach us about friendships between men, the difference these relationships can make to our mental health, and the best way of both maintaining the friendships we have and finding ways to make new friends.

Produced in partnership with the Open University.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Dan Welsh

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Health Check

Do men have a friendship problem?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service