Last Word

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

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

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Factual: Life Stories

Radio 4's weekly obituary programme, telling the life stories of those who have died recently

BBC Radio 4 LW

Last Word: Gita Mehta, Matteo Messina Denaro, Irma Brenman Pick, John Stevenson

Gita Mehta, Matteo Messina Denaro, Irma Brenman Pick, John Stevenson

BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Gita Mehta, Matteo Messina Denaro, Irma Brenman Pick, John Stevenson

Matthew Bannister on an author, a mafia boss, a psychoanalyst and a scriptwriter.

Matthew Bannister on author Gita Mehta, mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, psychoanalyst Irma Brenman Pick and scriptwriter John Stevenson.

Matthew Bannister on

Gita Mehta, the author who set out to reveal the truth about India to the West. Her friend the theatre director Sir Richard Eyre pays tribute.

Matteo Messina Denaro, the Italian mafia boss who boasted he could “fill a cemetery” with his murder victims.

Irma Brenman Pick, the psychoanalyst who investigated the emotional reactions between patient and therapist.

John Stevenson, who wrote some of the best loved episodes of Coronation Street. Sally Wainwright shares her memories of working with him.

Interviewee:  Sir Richard Eyre
Interviewee: Barbie Latza Nadeau
Interviewee: Daniel Pick
Interviewee: Margaret Rustin
Interviewee: Sally Wainwright

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive used:

Gita Mehta interview with Charlie Rose: The complexity and diversity of India,  Charlie Rose website, 12/05/1997;   Paperbacks: Gita Mehta interview about her book Karma Cola, BBC One, 29/04/1981;   Gita Mehta documentary, Dateline Bangladesh, 18/12/2014; Gita Mehta interview, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, 02/07/1990; News report: Falcone killed in bomb explosion, BBC News, 23/05/1992; News report:  Anti-Mafia Judge murdered, BBC News, 19/07/1992; Matteo Messina Denaro arrested, The World Tonight, Radio 4, 16/01/2023; Ken Barlow Finds Out About Deidre’s Affair, Coronation Street YouTube channel, uploaded 21/01/2015; Hilda Ogden unveils her new "muriel " , Coronation Street, 1976; Rovers Return scene, Coronation Street, 11/09/1978; Reg’s Waterbed Floods His Apartment, Coronation Street YouTube Channel, uploaded 30 May 2017; Brass opening scene,  ITV, 21/02/1983; Ken gives Raquel French Lessons , Coronation Street Facebook page, uploaded 19/08/2020;

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

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Last Word

Gita Mehta, Matteo Messina Denaro, Irma Brenman Pick, John Stevenson

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4