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BBC World Service

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 the BBC, our journalists interview amazing people every single day. And on The Interview, we bring them to you.
 
It’s your one-stop-shop to the best conversations coming out of the BBC, with the people shaping our world, from all over the world.
 
Get in touch with us on emailTheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

HARDtalk

‘A lot of the fantasy that I have read is unsatisfactory for me because it's not interested in psychology, it's not interested how people think or feel’

Katie Razzall speaks to renowned British author Sir Philip Pullman as he publishes his latest, and final book in the series, The Rose Field.
 
He’s best-known for writing the award-winning ‘His Dark Materials’ - a series of novels beloved by children and adults alike all over the world. The books follow the adventures of the two main characters - Lyra and Will - across a series of parallel universes, where Pullman blends magical storytelling with physics, philosophy and theology.

Pullman was a part-time English lecturer when the first instalment in the series was published thirty years ago. Tens of millions of copies have been sold across multiple continents, and the stories have been translated into 40 languages.

The commercial and critical success spawned a follow-up series, The Book of Dust, which came out nearly a decade ago. The 79-year-old has now picked up his pen to publish this latest and final instalment.

Although loved all over the world, the stories have also attracted controversy for their criticism of religion. Pullman, who once described himself as a ‘Church of England atheist’, is outspoken on a number of modern-day issues - such as politics, free speech, and indeed faith - with his views regularly influencing his writing.

Thank you to the Culture team for their help in making this programme.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producers: Ben Cooper and Roxanne Panthaki
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Sir Philip Pullman. Credit: Massimiliano Donati/Awakening/Getty Images)

Sir Philip Pullman: fantasy can be unsatisfactory

‘We’re living in an era of a massive lowering of trust’

Shaun Ley speaks to Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world.

He talks about how to trust in a digital age, the pressures facing open‑knowledge platforms and his new book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last, where he shares the lessons that transformed Wikipedia and could transform our relationship with information too.

Jimmy Wales co founded Wikipedia in 2001, it was built on the principle that knowledge should be free and created collectively. With over 300 language editions, it’s the largest free knowledge resource, relying on donations by online readers. 

He reflects on how Wikipedia is navigating an era of misinformation, political pressure, and declining public trust in institutions.
 
From accusations of left-leaning bias by conservative voices and scrutiny from authoritarian governments, to the challenge of keeping a global, multilingual platform accurate and inclusive, he explains how Wikipedia’s unique open-source model, powered by thousands of volunteer editors, continues to hold the line on transparency and truth.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Shaun Ley
Producer: Farhana Haider
Researcher: Meaghaen Reid
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Photo: Jimmy Wales. Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP)

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia co-founder: We’re living in an era of a massive lowering of trust

‘I am not done. I have lived my entire career a life of service and it's in my bones and there are many ways to serve. I have not decided yet what I will do in the future beyond what I'm doing right now.’

Laura Kuenssberg speaks to Kamala Harris about her turbulent 2024 presidential campaign where she ran against Donald Trump. 

She was thrust into the race just 107 days before the election, after the incumbent President and Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden, abruptly withdrew following a disastrous debate performance. 

She has now revealed in a new book the emotional and political turbulence of that whirlwind campaign. She opens up about the sting of electoral defeat, and her candid thoughts on Biden’s decision to step aside. 

When it comes to Donald Trump, she doesn’t hold back, calling him a ‘tyrant’ and a ‘fascist’. She also shares her vision for the Democratic Party’s future - and doesn’t rule out running again. 

Thank you to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg team for their help in making this programme.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Laura Kuenssberg
Producers: Melanie Abbott, Ben Cooper and Joseph Cassidy
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Kamala Harris Credit: Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)

Kamala Harris on her 107-day presidential bid

‘To isolate Israel or to punish Israel will be the most irresponsible and unacceptable step to boycott Israel, for example. I think it's a huge mistake, because what we need is a dialogue.’

Tim Franks speaks to Israeli author David Grossman about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as concerns grow over the increasingly fragile ceasefire.
 
Grossman is one of Israel’s most prominent writers, and since publishing his first novel over forty years ago, his works have been translated into 36 languages. He’s won numerous literary awards over the years, including the Man Booker International Prize in 2017. Many of his works deal with the issues associated with Israel and Palestine.

The 71-year-old is also well-known as a peace activist, and has been a vocal, long-standing critic of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - expressing concern over the direction the country is being led in.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in August, Grossman described Israel’s actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’, lamenting that he had been forced to reach that conclusion by the ongoing military campaign that began following the events of October 7.

Thank you to the Newshour team for their help in making this programme.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Tim Franks
Producers: Ben Cooper and Jack Hunter
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: David Grossman. Credit Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

David Grossman: Isolating Israel is not the answer

‘There are real consequences to our physical and mental health’

Katty Kay speaks to Dr Vivek Murthy, former US Surgeon-General about the challenge posed by loneliness and isolation in the modern world.
 
Dr. Murthy, the first person of Indian descent in the post, was appointed during the second Obama administration. He then returned in 2021, serving until the beginning of this year.

The Surgeon-General’s job is to provide the American public with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. They also oversee the country’s 6,000 public health professionals who respond to national health threats and public health crises.

It was during his second term, under the Biden administration, that Dr. Murthy first started expressing concern about the impact of social media on the mental health and wellbeing of young people. He described the loneliness epidemic of social isolation as a risk to public health akin to smoking and diabetes.

In this interview, he examines the scale of the challenge posed by loneliness and how artificial intelligence, or AI, on the one hand is being used to tackle it, but may also be simultaneously adding to the problem. 
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Katty Kay
Producers: Ben Cooper, Aiden Johnson and Ilyas Kirmani 
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Dr Vivek Murthy: loneliness is public health risk

I am worried about the global economy

Simon Jack, BBC Business Editor speaks to global financial titan Jamie Dimon. He’s the Chief Executive and Chairman of JP Morgan Chase, America’s largest bank, and one of the biggest banks in the world. He oversees more than $4 trillion of assets, and has the ear of world leaders.

He believes we are living in a time of uncertainty, and is concerned about the impact on the global economy. The risk of a serious fall in the US stock market within the next two years is being underestimated, he claims, adding he is far more worried about this than others. 

But he still puts his faith in the American economy, saying it is the best in the world. And while he says the United States is now a “less reliable” international partner, it is thanks to the actions of President Trump that other NATO members have stepped up their spending on defence. Such investment he believes is essential, in a world more dangerous since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Jamie Dimon has been at the helm of JP Morgan Chase for nearly twenty years. Now he has been tipped as a potential US Treasury Secretary, something he says is not on the cards.

Thank you to the Big Boss Interview team for their help in making this programme.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Simon Jack
Producers: Oliver Smith, Lucy Sheppard
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

Jamie Dimon, head of US bank JP Morgan Chase: I am worried about the global economy

I was 15 years old and I did not know who I was

Madina Maishanu speaks to Malala Yousafzai, the global education activist, about the public life that has defined her, and her search for her own identity. 

In a deeply personal interview, Malala Yousafzai reveals the legacy of her teenage years - as the spirited girl who took on the Taliban and nearly lost her life, then the Nobel Prize-winning advocate for girls everywhere to go to school. People think they know you, she says, but I did not know who I was. 

Now, aged 28, she reveals the lasting impact on her mental health and how she’s been helped by therapy and by friendship, putting the loneliness of her teens behind her.

For Malala Yousafzai, the mission of her life remains ensuring every girl has the right to go to school, a goal that has driven her since she was a child growing up in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Critical of the ruling Taliban, she survived an assassination attempt at their hands before fleeing to England to continue her education, ultimately at Oxford University. 

Thank you to Madina Maishanu and Yousef Eldin for their help in making this programme.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Madina Maishanu
Producers: Yousef Eldin, Lucy Sheppard and Farhana Haider
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media

(Image: Malala Yousafzai Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb)

Malala Yousafzai, global education campaigner: I did not know who I was

The world will have to listen to Africa

Waihiga Mwaura speaks to Botswana’s President Duma Boko about his plans to reinvigorate the economy, taking greater control of the country’s diamond reserves, but also diversifying its mining and other sectors. Currently facing hefty tariffs from the US, he claims to be close to securing a tariff-free deal for Botswana’s diamonds at least. 

But President Boko also has a vision of a reinvigorated Africa, a continent that works together to become a formidable economic force, where its own people reap the benefits of its rich resources. Africa, he says, is rising. 

Duma Boko, a human rights lawyer who was educated at Harvard, helped to create the party he leads, the Umbrella for Democratic Change. His victory in the 2024 presidential election, at his third attempt, finally ousted the Botswana Democratic Party from power after almost 60 years. 

Thank you to Waihiga Mwaura, Kasra Karimi and Priscilla Ng’ethe Koinange for their help in making this programme.
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Waihiga Mwaura
Producer(s): Lucy Sheppard, Kasra Karimi and Priscilla Ng’ethe Koinange 
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Botswana's President Duma Gideon Boko addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S, Credit: 
Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters)

Duma Boko, President of Botswana: the world will listen to Africa

Born in 1956 in the Swedish capital, Borg’s lifelong association with tennis began when his father won a full-size racket at a local table tennis tournament, which he gave to the young Borg.

By the age of 14, he had joined the professional tennis circuit, and just a few years later, had won the Italian Open at 17 and the French Open at just 18. Having risen to international prominence in 1975 when he helped Sweden win its first David Cup, Borg became a household name in the years that followed for his distinctive playing style that helped him win Wimbledon five times in a row.

At the peak of his playing career, his on-court rivalry with the American John McEnroe became the stuff of legend, with the pair’s 1980 Wimbledon final considered by many to be one of the greatest matches ever played. This was later immortalised in a 2017 movie.

After unexpectedly retiring in 1983, Borg struggled with life after tennis, battling alcohol and drug abuse. He subsequently returned to the sport in the early 1990s for a couple of years before hanging up his professional tennis racket for good.

He tells Tim Muffett about his journey to the very top of the sport, the challenges of stepping away, and his recent battle with prostate cancer.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Tim Muffett
Producers: Ben Cooper, Nadia Dahabiyeh and Nick Smith
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Björn Borg of Sweden prepares to present the trophies on Court Philippe-Chatrie, Credit: Tim Clayton/Getty Images)

Bjorn Borg: I’ve always been a private person

Justin Rowlatt speaks to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright about his belief that the threat from climate change is exaggerated. It is a view shared by the American President, Donald Trump, and one that has seen subsidies to the renewable energy industry, worth billions of dollars, cut by the US administration. 
 
Secretary Wright is highly critical of the transition to sustainable power, describing it as unsuccessful and costly, and instead believes the solution to emissions lies in nuclear fusion. He has drawn the wrath of the international scientific community with his controversial challenge to climate orthodoxy, including his claims that there have been no increases in extreme weather events across the globe.
 
Chris Wright was nominated by President Trump as his Energy Secretary in November 2024 after a career in the energy industry and is an outspoken opponent of global efforts to combat the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. The US President has described climate change “as the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”
 
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
Producer: James Bryant, Miho Tanaka and Lucy Sheppard 
Editor: Justine Lang

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Photo: Chris Wright. Credit: Will Oliver/EPA/Shutterstock)

Chris Wright, US Energy Secretary: The problem with climate alarmism

Stephen Sackur speaks to the British novelist Alan Hollinghurst, author of Our Evenings and the Booker Prize-winning The Line of Beauty. Over four decades, how has his writing and his view of Britain changed?

Alan Hollinghurst: How has Britain changed since the 1980s?

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