Weekend Woman's Hour

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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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Woman's Hour: Weekend Woman's Hour: Dawn French, Shirley Ballas, Violinist Esther Abrami, Pelvic Pain

Weekend Woman's Hour: Dawn French, Shirley Ballas, Violinist Esther Abrami, Pelvic Pain

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Weekend Woman's Hour: Dawn French, Shirley Ballas, Violinist Esther Abrami, Pelvic Pain

Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Shirley Ballas on her new book.

Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Shirley Ballas on the menopause and her new book: Murder on the Dancefloor.

Dawn French has been making people laugh as a writer, comedian and actor, for more than 30 years. Her celebrated shows include French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley, and Jam and Jerusalem. She joins Emma Barnett to discuss her new book about the hilarious gaffes that she has made in life, as part of her one-woman mission to celebrate what it means to be gloriously, messily human, rather than striving for Instagram-style-perfection.

It’s one of the things we’re most embarrassed to talk about – pain when having sex. This is something that Professor Katy Vincent, academic gynaecologist, and Dr Lydia Coxon, researcher in Pain in Women, are hoping to change. They join Emma alongside BBC presenter Sophie Law to talk about an open panel they held to try and get women to talk about their pelvic pain, and address the taboo around talking about periods, sex and women’s pelvic health.

'My Boyfriend Lives with with My Husband,' was the intriguing headline of an article in the Guardian newspaper recently. While Caroline and the children she shares with her husband Niel live in Cheltenham, Neil is living with Caroline's boyfriend in Scotland. Both Caroline and Niel describe their unconventional family living arrangements to Emma, they explain how it came about and why it works for them.

The new BBC drama series The Reckoning has started on BBC One. It tells the story of Jimmy Savile, who for decades was one of the UK’s most influential celebrities forging friendships with politicians and royalty and raising millions for charity. But after his death in 2011, it transpired he was also one of the country’s most prolific sexual predators, abusing hundreds of people, many of them children. The series, which stars Steve Coogan as Jimmy Savile, explores how he was able to hide in plain sight and use his celebrity status, powerful connections and fundraising activity to gain uncontrolled access to vulnerable young people. Sam Brown was abused by Savile from the age of 11. Her story is depicted in episode 3 of the series, and she speaks to Emma.

Violinist Esther Abrami was handpicked by Julian Lloyd Webber as one of 30 under 30 to watch, and she is the first classical musician to win the ‘Social Media Superstar’ category at the Global Awards. With more than 400,000 followers on TikTok, Esther joins Emma to discuss her new album, Cinema.

Shirley Ballas is best known for being one of the judges on BBC Strictly Come Dancing and her stellar career in Latin dance that earnt her the title, ‘Queen of Latin’. She joins Krupa Padhy to talk about Strictly, the menopause and her new book, Murder on the Dancefloor.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Hanna Ward
Studio Manager: Tim Heffer

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Weekend Woman's Hour: Dawn French, Shirley Ballas, Violinist Esther Abrami, Pelvic Pain

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