Woman's Hour

Shrink Solves Murder is the first novel by the artist and psychotherapist Philippa Perry. She talks to Anita Rani about her new book and protagonist Patricia Philipps, who like Philippa is also a psychotherapist. However the similarity ends when Patricia turns sleuth after one of her patients turns up dead.
Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green in north London yesterday, in an incident police are treating as a terrorist incident. The attack took place in an area with a large Jewish population and comes amid a wider rise in antisemitic incidents across the UK. The government’s independent adviser on terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, has said attacks targeting Jewish people now represent "the biggest national security emergency" in almost a decade. To talk more about the impact on families, children and communities we are joined by Debbie Fox, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, which represents the largest Jewish organisations in the UK.
The NHS says there are around 6,000 children born each year in the UK with genetic conditions so rare they remain undiagnosed and unnamed. This group of children, known as SWAN children, Syndromes Without A Name, have complex medical needs. Ten years ago Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity funded the world’s first nurse specialising in this area at Great Ormond Street. They have now secured a second post. We hear from SWAN nurses Anna Jewitt and Lucy Michaels along with Tali Drumgoon, the mother of Roscoe who is undiagnosed and who's under the care of the SWAN nurses at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Simone Pennant, the founder and CEO of The TV Collective, has just been presented with the 2026 BAFTA Television Craft Special Award at this year’s ceremony. It was in recognition for her outstanding contribution, championing diversity within the screen industries. She joins us to discuss her work and what it means to receive the award.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Andrea Kidd

Dame Maureen Lipman joins Chloe Tilley to talk about Allegra, the joyful new musical play that begins a nationwide tour just two days after her 80th birthday. She tells us about playing a woman who finds happiness in a world that can't quite handle it, and the physical demands of singing and dancing eight times a week.
A University of Cambridge study has found that socioenvironmental stressors - such as racism or poverty - may influence the body’s ability to function healthily in pregnancy - they say it could help to explain why black women and their babies face significantly higher rates of complication than white women. We hear from the lead author of the study Dr Grace Amedor.
Is it time to retire the term 'bouncer'? We hear from Satia Rai, CEO of the International Professional Security Association, who will tell the largest gathering of the security profession in Europe this week that we should ditch it in favour of 'guardian' to help women on a night out feel safer, and to attract more women into the job. We also get the view of Tee, a female door supervisor at a Birmingham bar.
And we've heard today that Afghan women footballers will be able to play international matches from as early as June, after FIFA have said they will recognise the women's national team. The players haven't been allowed to play any official competitive internationals since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Mahjooba Nowrouzi, senior reporter from the BBC Afghan service, discusses the significance of the decision.
As Lena Dunham’s new book Famesick debuts at the top of the bestseller charts, we discuss the art of memoir and how tricky it can be for women’s stories to navigate the line between emotional honesty, ‘oversharing’ and self-protection. Chloe is joined by bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink, whose memoirs include The Last Act of Love, and Sarah Gwonyoma, book reviewer and founder of @whatsarahreadnext.
Presenter: Chloe Tilley
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry

King Charles and Queen Camilla are on their four-day state visit to the United States. Today King Charles will address the US Congress. But at the same time, survivors of the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the family of one of his most prominent victims, Virginia Giuffre, have urged the King to meet them during his state visit. A round table featuring Epstein survivors is planned ahead of his meeting to Congress. Joining Chloe Tilley is India McTaggart, royal correspondent for the Telegraph.
This week, a significant change to abortion law in England and Wales is expected to receive Royal Assent - meaning it will become law. An amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill will remove criminal liability for women who end their own pregnancies. But while supporters of the bill believe this is about preventing vulnerable women from being prosecuted, critics argue that it risks reducing safeguards and say the change hasn’t had sufficient scrutiny. We hear from Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and historian Dr Jessica Cox from Brunel University.
Millions of Indians have been voting in elections across five states in a set of contests. We'll look at why the number of female voters in India has significantly increased in the last few decades - outnumbering male voters in the last general election - and how the female vote is changing politics in India.
Single-use plastic waste was found on 97% of the beaches surveyed by the Marine Conservation Society in the UK and Channel Islands last year. But one woman who's passionate about changing that is Sammie Aplin. Sammie, who is known online as The Plastic Coast, is a nurse who spends her spare time combing beaches, searching for plastic waste which she uses to create colourful artwork. She joins Chloe to share why she wanted to do something about it.
Presenter: Chloe Tilley
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

£30m is being invested in the games industry in the UK, mainly to help develop ideas for the next big games. But will this government funding benefit women, in an industry where just 16% of leadership roles in UK studios are held by women and women-founded studios receive less than 3% of total investment? Nuala McGovern is joined by Marie-Claire Isaaman, CEO of Women in Games, and Kirsty Ridgen, CEO of FuturLab studios and Deputy Chair of the UK Video Games Council.
The use of illegal, unregistered children's homes in England has surged by more than 370% in five years, according to a new report, Hidden Children: An investigation into Unregistered Children’s Homes, published by Commonweal Housing and written by Public First. To discuss some of the reasons behind this, the implications and what can be done, Nuala is joined by Fraser McLean, Policy and Communications Manager for the charity Commonweal Housing and Rebekah Pierre, Deputy Director of the charity Article 39, who fight for children’s rights in England.
Sheer fashion – that is clothing with a see-through element - is having a moment. Actors Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts have all worn it recently. And all of these women are over 50. So, what’s the appeal? And is there judgement of women of a certain age wearing ‘invisible clothes?’ Nuala is joined by Deborah Joseph, former editor of Glamour magazine and Kassia St Clair, a cultural historian to talk about the latest trend for see-through materials.
'Men's health to get 60% more new funding than women's' - that's a headline in the Times newspaper today, comparing the women's health strategy, published by government earlier this month with the men's health strategy that was launched last November. Rosie Taylor is an independent investigative journalist reporting on women's health in the UK who worked on this for the Times and she joins Nuala.

Melanie C has been a household name for the past three decades, since the Spice Girls burst into the charts with Wannabe and went on to become the world’s biggest ever girl group. She says her new solo album Sweat is a chance to bring together all the different aspects of herself, from pop star to superstar DJ, teenage raver to being fit in her 50s. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her latest album, body image, and finding confidence in her 40s and 50s.
At the height of the Covid pandemic, hundreds of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer had mastectomies without reconstruction - procedures that would usually happen at the same time, but were paused because they were considered non-essential. Many women were told they would be able to have reconstructive surgery once the restrictions lifted. But five years on, some are still waiting: living with pain and discomfort, and unable to move on with their lives. Joining Nuala McGovern are journalist Rosie Taylor, who has been speaking to the women affected, and Alison from Stockport
On Monday, Sarah Finch became the European recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, for her work against oil drilling in Surrey, with the Weald Action Group. Their long legal battle led to a landmark judgement on fossil fuel emissions. The Goldman Prize, often referred to as the ‘Green Nobel’, honours grassroots environmental activists from around the world. For the first time since its inception, all six prizes were won by women. Sarah joins Anita to discuss what the award means to her.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Dianne McGregor