Shows / The Interview
The Interview
Conversations with people shaping our world, from all around the globe. Listen to The Interview for the best conversations from the BBC, the world's most trusted international news provider. We hear from titans of business, politics, finance, sport and culture. Global leaders, decision-makers and cultural icons. Politicians, activists and CEOs. Each interview is around 20-minutes, packed full of insight and analysis, covering some of the biggest issues of our time. How does it work? Well, at…
Episodes
- The Interview
Dr Njoki Ngumi: Can art change Kenya?
Zeinab Badawi is in Nairobi to talk to one of Kenya’s most ground-breaking cultural figures, Dr Njoki Ngumi. She abandoned a promising career in medicine to…
- The Interview
Sergei Guriev: Is Moscow outmanoeuvring the West's sanctions?
What will it take to end the war Vladimir Putin has initiated in Ukraine? In military terms, Russia now seems intent on a grim campaign of attrition in the…
- The Interview
Tsai Ming-yen: Could Putin’s strategy be a template for China to follow?
While the West says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must fail, China holds back. Stephen Sackur speaks to a top diplomat from Taiwan, Taipei’s representative to…
- The Interview
Nikita Mazepin: Sanctions on Russia 'are cancel culture'
Stephen Sackur interviews former Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin, who was fired from his F1 team after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He and his billionaire…
- The Interview
Dmytro Kuleba: Is diplomacy at a dead end?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba. Horrifying evidence of atrocities has emerged from towns around Kyiv recently vacated by…
- The Interview
Claude Joseph: Can Haiti be saved?
Haiti is one of the world’s most broken nations, and internal fractures are tearing the country apart. Last summer, the president was assassinated, and the…
- The Interview
Maria Butina: What is Russia achieving in Ukraine?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Maria Butina, a pro-Putin member of Russia’s state Duma. Where does Vladimir Putin’s self-styled 'special military operation' in…
- The Interview
Mairead McGuinness: How far will the EU go to support Kyiv?
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine united the EU in shock and outrage. But four weeks into the war, with Ukrainian cities besieged and civilians suffering…
- The Interview
Ilya Ponomarev: A former Russian MP on fighting Putin
Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Russian parliament who is fighting in Ukraine – against Russia. Ponomarev has long said he…
- The Interview
Francis Fukuyama: The end of the end of history?
Sarah Montague speaks to the renowned US political scientist Francis Fukuyama. Thirty years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed and communist governments fell…
- The Interview
Tobias Ellwood: How should the West stand up to Putin?
Russia has launched its most deadly attack on western Ukraine so far, striking a military base just 15 kilometres from the Polish border. This is being seen as…
- The Interview
Jonas Gahr Støre: Easing Europe off Russian energy
Europe's dependence on Russian energy sits uneasily with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Moscow is financing its invasion through revenues from such exports. One EU…
- The Interview
Jonas Gahr Støre: Easing Europe off Russian energy
Europe's dependence on Russian energy sits uneasily with Putin’s war in Ukraine. Moscow is financing its invasion through revenues from such exports. One EU…
- The Interview
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya: Is the fate of Belarus tied to the fate of Ukraine?
With the world focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s easy to overlook one other key element of Vladimir Putin’s Greater Russia strategy: Moscow’s ever…
- The Interview
Michael Carpenter: Is this a new age of conflict?
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine represents the biggest seismic shock to European security since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US, NATO allies and…
- The Interview
Arseniy Yatsenyuk: Former Ukrainian PM
Stephen Sackur speaks to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Russia’s invasion hasn’t delivered Moscow a quick decisive victory, but it is…
- The Interview
Andrey Kurkov: Putin's attack on Ukraine's identity
Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov. He was born in Russia, writes in Russian and now fears for his life at the hands of Russian troops…
- The Interview
David Miliband: President of the International Rescue Committee
Stephen Sackur speaks to David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee and former British foreign secretary. Hour by hour Vladimir Putin…
- The Interview
Iván Fischer: The power and joy of music
Stephen Sackur speaks to the renowned Hungarian conductor and composer Iván Fischer. Much of the world is transitioning from locking down to living with…
- The Interview
Leonid Volkov: How strong is Putin's grip on Russia?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Leonid Volkov, a prominent figure in Russia’s anti-Putin opposition. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine represents a gamble by the…
- The Interview
Ingrid Betancourt: Can Colombia defeat corruption?
Colombians will elect a new President this year, and amid a crowded field, one candidate has reason to view the coming campaign with mixed emotion. Ingrid…
- The Interview
Jamie Raskin, Democrat Congressman, House Committe to Investigative January 6th Attack
Early last year American democracy came under attack from within. Supporters of defeated President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and provoked deadly…
- The Interview
Yuri Vitrenko: Russia, Ukraine and Europe's energy
Russia and Ukraine have powerful ties of geography, history and energy. And when it comes to the geopolitics of the current crisis energy is a key factor…
- The Interview
Kiril Petkov: Is Bulgaria ready to stand up to Russia?
Vladimir Putin knows how to probe for weakness in the West. With his troops building up on the Ukrainian border, Russia’s president is testing the unity of…
- The Interview
Michael McCaul: Is Biden up to facing off with Putin?
Republican Congressman Michael McCaul accuses President Biden of failing to stand up to the challenge of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. After four years of Donald…
- The Interview
George Takei, Actor
Stephen Sackur talks to George Takei, forever famous as Lieutenant Sulu in Star Trek. Interned as a child in the United States for being of Japanese origin, he…
- The Interview
Marine Le Pen: France's future president?
Stephen Sackur speaks to the longtime leader of France's far right, Marine Le Pen. She's hoping to win the French presidency for her party, National Rally, in…
- The Interview
Gabrielius Landsbergis: Tension in Eastern Europe
Russian forces continue to gather close to Ukraine’s eastern and northern borders, and still the world waits to see what Vladimir Putin’s end game is. If the…
- The Interview
Bassem Youssef: Do we expect too much from satire?
Stephen Sackur speaks to comedian and writer Bassem Youssef. He made his name and won an audience of tens of millions with a satirical comedy show during…
- The Interview
Isabel Allende: What does South America's future hold?
The decisive victory by Gabriel Boric, the left-wing candidate, in Chile’s recent elections has reset the button on the country’s political path. He defeated…
- The Interview
Mariana Mazzucato: The space race and our economic futures
What is the galvanising force behind transformational economic change? Capitalism encourages us to look to the raw power of markets as the driver of…
- The Interview
Dominic Lee: China's Hong Kong takeover
Stephen Sackur speaks to Hong Kong Legislative Councillor Dominic Lee Tsz-king, a high profile defender of Beijing’s increasingly tight grip on the territory…
- The Interview
Mohammad Marandi: Iran's nuclear negotiations
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to the adviser to Iran’s negotiators in Vienna, Mohammad Marandi. Time is running out for negotiators trying to break the…
- The Interview
Damian Collins: Can Boris Johnson be trusted?
Stephen Sackur interviews British Conservative MP Damian Collins, who has been working on online regulation. After the stream of revelations about lockdown…
- The Interview
Oleksii Reznikov: An invasion of Ukraine?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov. With more than 100,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s border, a Russian military…
- The Interview
Kathleen Stock: The debate about sex, gender and equality
Stephen Sackur speaks to philosopher and author Kathleen Stock whose views on the immutability of biological sex and the limitations of gender self-identity…
- The Interview
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC: Fighting for equality in British law
Women are still fighting for equality all over the world. Even in long established democracies like the UK plenty of evidence suggests that from the workplace…
- The Interview
Sathnam Sanghera: Confronting Britain's history
Stephen Sackur speaks to author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera, whose bestselling book Empireland takes a critical look at Britain’s imperial past…
- The Interview
Bryan Stevenson: Will equality ever be more than a dream in the US?
Black and white Americans have always had vastly different experiences within their country’s justice system. You see it in so many different data sets, from…
- The Interview
Nureldin Satti: Sudan's coup
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Sudanese diplomat Nureldin Satti. It’s surely hard for the people of Sudan to be optimistic about their country’s prospects…
- The Interview
Laurence Tribe: Is the US system of government in peril?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Laurence Tribe, Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard University. It’s a year since pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol…
- The Interview
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Trust in science
Stephen Sackur speaks to Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of National History in New York. He…
- The Interview
Ernesto Araújo: Has Brazil failed to protect its people?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Brazil’s former Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo who was an arch critic of global efforts to contain Covid, calling them communistic…
The InterviewMaria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov: Fighting for a free press
Stephen Sackur is in Oslo to interview the joint winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Both are independent journalists who have defied threats and…
The InterviewJohn Kerry: US Special Envoy for Climate
Can America lead an effective global response to the climate change emergency? At last month’s COP26 summit in Glasgow the chorus of concern from world leaders…
- The Interview
Moeed Yusuf: What will a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan mean for Pakistan?
Stephen Sackur speaks with Moeed Yusuf, National Security Adviser of Pakistan. The Taliban is back in power in neighbouring Afghanistan. US and Nato forces are…
- The Interview
Ken Buck: Big tech and Republican politics
We speak to Republican congressman Ken Buck, a libertarian on issues of gun control and Covid, but a supporter of breaking up America’s big tech giants. Do…
- The Interview
Nicolai Tangen: Can Norway move on from fossil fuels?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway's $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world. Fossil fuels have given Norwegians…
- The Interview
Rana Ayyub: Abuse, intimidation and legal threats
Stephen Sackur speaks to the Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub whose determination to dig deep into the past and present of India’s Prime Minister…
- The Interview
Péter Márki-Zay: Can Viktor Orban be beaten at the ballot box?
Next Spring, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the EU's most controversial leader, will seek a new mandate. His grip on power in Budapest is tight…
- The Interview
Ryan Girdusky: Race and education in America
Scratch beneath the surface of everyday American life and you find an increasingly polarised culture. Donald Trump is no longer in the White House, but the…
- The Interview
George Takei: Growing up in an internment camp
Stephen Sackur talks to George Takei, forever famous as Lieutenant Sulu in Star Trek. Interned as a child in the United States for being of Japanese origin, he…
- The Interview
Ritchie Torres: Is America ready to embrace progressive politics?
Stephen Sackur is in the south Bronx, New York, to speak to Ritchie Torres, a rising star of the Democratic Party. He is the first gay black man elected to…
- The Interview
Pawel Jablonski: Could Poland exit the EU?
Poland is the biggest rebel in the European family, and matters are coming to a head over its latest disputes with the EU. Brussels accuses the centre-right…
- The Interview
Patrice Evra: The flaws in football
Football's global appeal can’t disguise the problems facing the game. Some fans say the sport is being ruined by financial greed, and racism is still to be…
- The Interview
Mike Leigh: Art and the cinema
Stephen Sackur speaks to Mike Leigh, the acclaimed writer and director of films such as Secrets and Lies, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky and Mr Turner. For five…
- The Interview
Prime Minister Albin Kurti: Is he a source of instability in the Balkans?
Kosovo has enjoyed independent statehood for 13 years but almost half the world does not recognise it. Stephen Sackur speaks to Prime Minister Albin Kurti who…
- The Interview
Fiona Hill: What did Trump mean for America and the world?
The Trump Presidency challenged many public officials to make a choice: obey directives from the White House against their better judgment, or take a stand and…
- The Interview
Fatih Birol: Can greenhouse gas emissions be eliminated?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. He believes greenhouse gas emissions can effectively be eliminated…
- The Interview
Bruno Le Maire: Is France looking for a new economic direction?
Stephen Sackur speaks to French finance minister Bruno Le Maire. France is in recovery mode after the damaging impact of Covid but is struggling to deliver on…