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
Hollywood Composer - Hans Zimmer
From his Oscar-winning score for The Lion King, through 12 Years A Slave to a series of superhero blockbusters including Batman v Superman, Hans Zimmer is, as…
- The Interview
Film and TV producer - Tony Garnett
HARDtalks’s Stephen Sackur talks to Tony Garnett, Film and TV producer about his work. Watching TV is something pretty much all of us do for news, sport and…
- The Interview
Zimbabwean Minister of Finance - Patrick Chinamasa
Zeinab Badawi talks to Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwean Finance Minister, long-time cabinet minister and ally of President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe’s economy is…
- The Interview
Former Speechwriter for US President George W. Bush - David Frum
After the worst mass shooting in US history at a nightclub in Orlando, presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are clashing over the causes…
- The Interview
Former Deputy Prime Minister, UK - Lord Heseltine
Stephen Sackur talks to the former deputy prime minister and passionate Remain advocate Lord Heseltine. Britain's referendum campaign on whether to stay in or…
- The Interview
Leader of the House of Commons, UK - Chris Grayling
Stephen Sackur talks to Chris Grayling, the Leader of the House of Commons in the UK and a senior figure in the campaign to leave the European Union. Any hopes…
- The Interview
England T20 Cricketer - Michael Yardy
Stephen Sackur talks to Michael Yardy, former top England one day cricketer and world cup winner in 2010, whose international career ended as a result of…
- The Interview
UK Ambassador to Lebanon (2011-2015) - Tom Fletcher
Stephen Sackur speaks to Tom Fletcher who was appointed British Ambassador to Lebanon at the tender age of 36. Five years on he has just written an operational…
- The Interview
Former world champion boxer Chris Eubank
In March British boxer Nick Blackwell almost died after a bout with Chris Eubank junior. HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Chris Eubank senior who now…
- The Interview
President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur talks to the President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis. They used to call Costa Rica the Switzerland of Latin America; it seemed…
- The Interview
Executive Director, IEA - Dr Fatih Birol
Stephen Sackur speaks to Dr Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency and one of the world's most influential observers of the global…
- The Interview
Deputy Prime Minister Libya, 2011-2012 - Dr Mustafa Abushagur
Stephen Sackur talks to Libyan politician Mustafa Abushagur, briefly prime minister in 2012 and a backer of the unity government. Over the last five years the…
- The Interview
British Labour Peer and Kindertransport Refugee - Lord Alf Dubs
Hardtalk presents a special programme recorded in front of an audience in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in Central London and a guest whose all consuming passion for…
- The Interview
Artist and Musician - Brian Eno
Stephen Sackur talks to Brian Eno, the hugely influential contemporary music maker once styled the ‘brainiest guy in pop’ – except the word ‘pop’ does not…
- The Interview
Shadow Foreign Secretary, UK - Hilary Benn
After the British Labour Party suffered a crushing election defeat a year ago, the shell-shocked party took a dramatic turn to the left. New leader Jeremy…
- The Interview
Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, Germany - Norbert Röttgen
Germany is indisputably the most powerful nation in Europe, but does it have the will and the means to prevent the EU being undermined by division and…
- The Interview
Leader of the Russian Democratic Choice movement - Vladimir Milov
Stephen Sackur talks to Vladimir Milov, founder and leader of the Democratic Choice movement. There are few more thankless tasks in world politics than being…
- The Interview
South African Trade Minister - Rob Davies
South Africa's president Jacob Zuma is on the ropes. In recent months he's been dealt blow after blow - by the courts, by political opponents, even by…
- The Interview
Human Rights Activist - Raheel Raza
In recent years there has been plenty of often heated debate about the relationship between Islam and extremism. Much of the fiercest commentary has come from…
- The Interview
Pakistan's former Foreign Minister - Hina Rabbani Khar
Yet again Pakistan stands accused of playing a double game on terrorism; confronting it at home, while using it as a foreign policy tool in neighbouring…
- The Interview
Professor Robert Reich – United States Secretary of Labor, 1993-97
It is now all but certain that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party candidate in November’s US presidential election. After the latest batch of…
- The Interview
Civil Rights Activist - Rachel Dolezal
As part of the BBC's identity season, Stephen Sackur talks to Rachel Dolezal, the ostensibly black American human rights activist whose life unravelled last…
- The Interview
Former president, World Anti-Doping Agency - Dick Pound
Stephen Sackur speaks to Dick Pound, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency from 1999 to 2007 and veteran anti-doping campaigner. The world of international…
- The Interview
Chairman and founder of JD Wetherspoon - Tim Martin
The battle for Britain's future -- in or out of the European Union -- will be settled In just two months’ time. Advocates of a vote to remain, led by the prime…
- The Interview
IMF Managing Director - Christine Lagarde
In front of an audience in Washington DC, Stephen Sackur talks to Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF. Could 2016 produce economic shocks big enough to plunge…
- The Interview
US Congresswoman - Donna Edwards (Democrat)
The rules of US politics are being rewritten in this electoral season. The Republican Party has been shaken to its core by the rise of Donald Trump while the…
- The Interview
Fahd al Rasheed, CEO King Abdullah Economic City
HARDtalk speaks to Fahd al Rasheed, CEO of King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah Economic City is a vast construction project on the Red…
- The Interview
Musician - John Cale
HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to John Cale, a founding member of the Velvet underground, and a solo artist and producer. In the checkered history of rock…
- The Interview
Composer - Hans Zimmer
From his Oscar winning score for The Lion King, through 12 Years A Slave to a series of superhero blockbusters, including the latest - Batman v Superman - Hans…
- The Interview
Vladimir Chizhov - Russian Ambassador to the EU
The United States is beefing up its military presence in Europe. Hardtalk asks Russia's Ambassador to the EU if the Kremlin can sustain a long-term…
- The Interview
Chairman, Intelligence and Security Committee, UK - Dominic Grieve MP
The suicide bomb attacks in Brussels are unlikely to be the final operation mounted by the so-called Islamic State on European soil. France's President…
- The Interview
Architect - David Adjaye
Can architecture inspire people to think and behave differently? Hardtalk speaks to David Adjaye, one of the most sought after architects in the world today…
- The Interview
The Foreign Minister of Finland, Timo Soini
Nationalist, anti-immigrant parties have made inroads in a host of countries in Europe, for example Hungary, Denmark and Finland. In Finland a right wing…
- The Interview
OSCE Secretary General - Lamberto Zannier
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has its roots in the cold war - it was a unique platform for dialogue between the West and the Soviet…
- The Interview
Sevgi Akarçeşme, Editor in Chief "Today's Zaman", Turkey
Journalism in Turkey is a precarious business. Earlier this month the country's biggest selling newspaper was forcibly taken over by the government, a host of…
- The Interview
Lebanon's Education Minister - Elias Bou Saab
The fallout from the conflict in Syria is threatening to destabilise one of the Middle East's most delicate nations - Lebanon. It hosts around 1.3 million…
- The Interview
Greek Minister of Labour and Social Security - George Katrougalos
For more than five years the words Greece and crisis have been inseparable. The question is not what crisis, but which crisis. Greeks are simultaneously…
- The Interview
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs - Meglena Kuneva
The European Union and Turkey have drawn up the outline of a deal which might stem the flow of migrants from Turkey to the West. But it will require EU states…
- The Interview
Vice President of Panama - Isabel De Saint Malo De Alvarado
For a tiny Central American nation Panama packs quite an international punch - it has the Canal, a key asset to international shipping and it has a financial…
- The Interview
Selim Yenel – Turkey’s Ambassador to the European Union
120,000 migrants and refugees made the sea crossing from Turkey to Greece in the first two months of this year, outstripping the number for the first six…
- The Interview
Former US Democrat Congressman - Anthony Weiner
American politics currently has more unlikely story lines than anything you might see in New York’s Broadway theatre district. The rise of Donald Trump is one…
- The Interview
Janet Napolitano, former US Secretary of Homeland Security
Word leaders are all grappling with similar problems these days: how to counter terrorism, enhance security and manage national borders, whilst at the same…
- The Interview
MARTIN SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament
Last week all 28 leaders of the EU were holed up in buildings in Brussels for hours into the night, trying to strike a deal that would keep the United Kingdom…
- The Interview
Former Director of the CIA - General Michael Hayden
Stephen Sackur talks to General Michael Hayden, who was director of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 and prior to that Director of the US National Security Agency…
- The Interview
Kyriakos Mitsotakis – President of New Democracy, Greece
From Brussels, Zeinab Badawi speaks to Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his first major interview since being elected leader of Greece’s main conservative opposition…
- The Interview
Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Poland - Krzysztof Szczerski
Does Poland’s recently elected conservative, nationalist Government represent a threat to European values of freedom and democracy? The European Commission is…
- The Interview
Bassma Kodmani, Syrian opposition negotiator
After five years of bloodletting and suffering the Syrian war has a new, potentially game-changing dynamic. The combined forces of the Assad regime and its…
- The Interview
Fahd al Rasheed
Stephen Sackur speaks with Fahd al Rasheed, CEO of King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah Economic City is a vast construction project on…
- The Interview
Søren Espersen - Deputy Chairman, Danish People’s Party
The Danish People's Party is seen by its critics as xenophobic and by its supporters as the home of true Danish values. Hardtalk speaks Søren Espersen, the…
- The Interview
Director of Europol - Rob Wainwright
Stephen Sackur speaks to Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol, the EU's joint policing agency tasked with enhancing Europe's response to major cross border…
- The Interview
Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation
Zeinab Badawi speaks to Iyad Ameen Madani, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), from the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah. The…
- The Interview
Prime Minister of Norway - Erna Solberg
Norway takes its commitment to international diplomacy and humanitarianism very seriously. The oil rich country is one of the world’s wealthiest with a…
- The Interview
Senior Saudi Interior Ministry Official - Major General Mansour al-Turki
The oil rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing uncertain times. Its monarchy, wedded to a conservative brand of Sunni Islam, is locked in a struggle for…
- The Interview
Chair of the National Bank of Greece, Louka Katseli
Sarah Montague talks to Louka Katseli, chair of the National Bank of Greece, about whether Greece's banks are strong enough to help spark a lasting economic…
- The Interview
Former UK Foreign Minister - Jack Straw
After the lifting of all sanctions relating to Iran's nuclear programme, President Hassan Rouhani said a 'golden page' in his country's history had begun…
- The Interview
Chief Executive Cuadrilla Resources - Francis Egan
Stephen Sackur speaks to Francis Egan, head of Cuadrilla, the company wanting a "shale gas revolution" in the UK. Can they win enough support to bring Fracking…
- The Interview
Former CIA Intelligence Officer - John Kiriakou
Stephen Sackur talks to John Kiriakou, the former CIA agent who played a key role in anti-terror operations after 9/11 and later went public with the truth…
- The Interview
France's Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Desir
Stephen Sackur talks to Harlem Desir, France's Secretary of State for European Affairs. Has France drawn the right lessons from the recent attacks on Paris?
- The Interview
Henry Rollins - Musician and Writer
Henry Rollins got into punk rock as a curious kid in 1970s Washington DC. He first found success as lead singer with the band Black Flag and went on to form…
- The Interview
President of the Conservatives for Britain Group - Nigel Lawson
The British referendum on whether to stay in, or leave, the European Union may well be held this coming summer. It will be a vote of momentous significance for…