BBC Witness History

One doctor dies by suicide every three weeks, according to figures from the British Medical Association.

In 2021, Dr Lalith Wijedoru left his role as consultant paediatrician in emergency medicine, to focus on supporting workforce health and wellbeing, including those working in healthcare.

Given rare access to a wellbeing and recovery retreat, we hear emotional testimonies from the four groups of doctors at greatest risk of suicide - General Practitioners, anaesthetists, surgeons and psychiatrists.

Their stories - of workplace bullying, isolation, fatigue and fear of patient complaints - suggest a system in which doctors are made to feel like machines, rather than human beings. The concept of 'moral injury' is also a factor - where a doctor is unable to provide the care they wish to give to their patient, due to lack of resources or system breakdown.

These stories take us to the heart of issues being faced by many or most NHS professionals - and by the ‘system’ more generally.

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Presenter: Dr Lalith Wijedoru

Producer: Amanda Hargreaves

Sound design: Joel Cox

Location recordings: Jon Calver

Executive producer: Dave Howard

A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

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Click here to listen.

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A farmer, a cheesemaker, a philosopher and a scientist take us on a guided tour through a cow.

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Told in five acts, this programme weaves together the voices of our four guides - artist-philosopher Samar Nasrullah Khan, cheesemaker Peter Dixon, farmer Nikki Yoxall and Professor of Animal Science and Microbiology Sharon Huws.

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They take us on a journey from deep in the soil, through a plant, into a cow’s mouth, through her four stomach compartments – home to vast civilisations of bacteria, protozoa and fungi – and, of course, out the other end.

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Part documentary, part creative interpretation, the programme uses field recordings to immerse us in the multi-species communities we encounter along the way.

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Click here to listen.

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For the BBC World Service, Maddy Savage on how Sweden has become Europe's gun crime hotspot.

The UK’s 1977 entry to the Eurovision Song Contest was called Rock Bottom, making fun of the grim political and economic realities of the time.

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On stage, an orchestra conductor was dressed as a city businessman, with a pinstripe suit and a bowler hat.

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Singers Mike Moran and Lynsey De Paul sat at two grand pianos reading newspapers with headlines about Britain's economic mess, before breaking into song. The entry placed second.

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Britain's economic crisis had come to a head a few months earlier, on 28 September 1976. News broke of a run on the pound. Currency markets were in turmoil. International creditors would no longer lend to the UK.

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The country was out of time, and running out of money.

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In this Archive on 4, historian and journalist James Sladden takes us back to that febrile, tumultuous time – and explores why the 1976 IMF crisis still matters today, half a century later.

Producer and presenter: James Sladden
Producer: David Howard
Archive research: Jac Phillimore
Mix engineer: Joel Cox
Executive producer: Carys Wall

With grateful thanks to: Dr Duncan Needham, Professor Kathleen Burk, Mike Moran, Whistledown London studios, and the BBC Radio Archivists team.

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A Bespoken Media Scotland production for BBC Radio 4

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Click here to listen.

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