The Reunion (radio series) BBC radio discussion series about historic events in modern history
Radio show
The Reunion is a radio discussion series presented by Kirsty Wark which reunites a group of people involved in a moment of modern history.[ 3] [ 4] It has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since July 2003, with 163 episodes presented by the first presenter, Sue MacGregor .[ 5]
The series brings together four or five participants, sometimes from opposing sides. The first episode reunited the team behind the world's first IVF baby, Louise Brown .[ 1] Other examples include Robben Island prisoners in Cape Town , South Africa, representatives from Labour and BBC to discuss the Hutton Inquiry ,[ 6] perpetrators and victims of the Brighton hotel bombing , and maids of honour from the 1953 Coronation .[ 5] The panel discussion is interspersed with archive audio and narration of the event by the presenter.
MacGregor announced that the series of 2019 would be her last.[ 5] Kirsty Wark was appointed as the new presenter in May 2020, and her first episode, bringing together participants in the Black Wednesday exchange rate crash of 1992, was broadcast on 16 August 2020.[ 4]
The format for The Reunion was conceived by the series producer David Prest and is owned by Whistledown Productions, who license the programme to BBC Radio 4. The programme won a gold award for the Best Speech Programme at the 2007 Sony Radio Academy Awards [ 7] and was also voted radio programme of the year at the 2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards .[ 8] In a Radio Times poll in February 2019, The Reunion was voted the 27th greatest radio programme of all time.[ 9] [ 10]
The Reunion has inspired two feature films. Made in Dagenham (2010) was based on an episode broadcast in September 2003 featuring the women machinists who went on strike at the Ford factory in Dagenham in 1968. The film's producer Stephen Woolley heard the programme, and his company, Number 9 Films , optioned the script from Whistledown Productions, who became consultants to the film and were credited as Associate Producers.[ 11] Misbehaviour (2020) was similarly inspired by a particularly tense 2010 edition of the programme that brought together the women's liberation protesters who disrupted the 1970 Miss World competition , with former tournament host Michael Aspel , Mecca employee Peter Jolley, and that year's Miss World, Jennifer Hosten .[ 12]
Programmes
No
Broadcast date
Title
Guest
Sourch
1
27 July 2003
First "Test Tube Baby"
[ 13]
2
3 August 2003
Chariots of Fire
3
10 August 2003
Concorde
4
17 August 2003
Iranian Revolution
5
24 August 2003
Festival of Britain
6
31 August 2003
Margaret Thatcher's 1979 election campaign
7
12 September 2003
Ford Dagenham equal pay strike
8
19 September 2003
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
9
8 August 2004
Britain's hydrogen bomb tests
[ 14]
10
15 August 2004
First women vicars in the Church of England
11
22 August 2004
Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
12
29 August 2004
Raising the Mary Rose
13
5 September 2004
1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum
14
12 September 2004
Terrence Higgins Trust
15
26 December 2004
1960s supermodels
16
24 July 2005
1980 Summer Olympics
17
31 July 2005
Not the Nine O'Clock News
18
7 August 2005
Abortion Act 1967 campaigners
19
14 August 2005
Child Internees in Japan
[ 15]
20
21 August 2005
Today newspaper
21
28 August 2005
Siege of Sarajevo
22
4 September 2005
Twyford Down protest
23
11 September 2005
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
24
2 April 2006
Gulf War
25
9 April 2006
Serious Fraud Office
26
16 April 2006
The Family
27
23 April 2006
England at the 1966 FIFA World Cup
28
30 April 2006
Wedding of Charles and Diana
29
3 September 2006
Privatisation of British Rail
[ 16]
30
10 September 2006
Robben Island
31
17 September 2006
TV-am
32
24 September 2006
Marchioness disaster
33
8 April 2007
Last Debutantes , 1958
34
15 April 2007
EastEnders
35
22 April 2007
Milton Keynes
36
29 April 2007
British Antarctic Survey
37
6 May 2007
Brighton hotel bombing
Anthony Berry , former Conservative MP (Deputy Chief Whip)
Eric Taylor, former North-West Area Chairman of the Conservative Party
Jeanne Shattock , wife of the Gordon Shattock , Western Area Chairman of the Conservative Party
Muriel Maclean , wife of Donald Maclean, President of the Scottish Conservatives
Roberta Wakeham , wife of Chief Whip John Wakeham
Patrick Magee , Irish republican
Jo Berry , daughter of Anthony Berry
Harvey Thomas, political advisor
Douglas Hurd , former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
38
26 August 2007
Royal Opera House
39
2 September 2007
1976 Race Relations Act
[ 17]
40
9 September 2007
British veterans of the Korean War
41
16 September 2007
NME Writers
42
23 September 2007
Bhagwan Rajnees
43
6 April 2008
Bletchley Park code-breakers.
44
13 April 2008
National Lottery
45
20 April 2008
D.C.Thomson comics
46
27 April 2008
Strangeways Prison riots of 1990
47
4 May 2008
Withnail and I
48
24 August 2008
Transglobe Expedition
49
7 September 2008
Hitler Diaries
[ 17]
50
14 September 2008
Windsor Castle fire 1992
Chris Watson, project manager for the restoration of Windsor Castle,
John Thorneycroft , former head of English Heritage's Government and Royal Buildings
Hayden Phillips , former Permanent secretary of the Department of National Heritage
Pamela Lewis , restorationer
Dickie Arbiter , former Queen's press secretary
51
21 September 2008
Construction of the Channel Tunnel
52
21 September 2008
The Navy Lark
53
5 April 2009
National Theatre
54
12 April 2009
Hillsborough disaster
55
19 April 2009
Brit Art
56
26 April 2009
Thalidomide scandal
57
3 May 2009
Beirut hostages
58
23 August 2009
Kerry Packer and the World Series Cricket 1977
59
30 August 2009
1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia
[ 18]
60
6 September 2009
Iranian Embassy Siege
61
13 September 2009
Nelson Mandela Release
62
20 September 2009
Stonewall
63
4 April 2010
London Marathon
64
11 April 2010
Brideshead Revisited
65
18 Apr 2010
Maze Prison
66
25 April 2010
Dunblane school massacre
67
2 May 2010
The Tonight Programme
68
22 August 2010
Millennium Dome
69
29 August 2010
Hurricane Katrina
[ 19]
70
5 September 2010
Miss World 1970
71
12 September 2010
Kindertransport
72
19 September 2010
Play School
73
6 March 2011
UNHCR Bosnia
74
13 March 2011
Comic Relief
75
20 March 2011
Brixton Riots
76
27 March 2011
British Rock and Rollers
77
7 August 2011
Barings Bank Collapse
78
14 August 2011
Courtauld Institute
79
26 August 2011
Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster
[ 20]
80
28 August 2011
Boys from the Blackstuff
81
4 September 2011
Hunting Ban
82
11 September 2011
Les Miserables
83
1 April 2012
1948 Olympic Games
84
8 April 2012
Greenham Common
85
15 April 2012
HMS Sheffield
86
22 April 2012
Globe Theatre
87
29 April 2012
Hong Kong Handover
88
19 August 2012
60s Girl Singers
89
26 August 2012
Ugandan Asians
[ 21]
90
2 September 2012
Poll Tax
91
9 September 2012
Dolly the Sheep
92
16 September 2012
Big Brother
93
7 April 2013
Doctor Who
94
14 April 2013
King's Cross fire
95
21 April 2013
Coronation Maids of Honour
96
28 April 2013
The Centre for Alternative Technology
97
5 May 2013
Hutton Inquiry
98
18 August 2013
Goodness Gracious Me
99
25 August 2013
Lib Lab Pact
[ 22]
100
1 September 2013
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
101
8 September 2013
Jersey Occupation
102
15 September 2013
Spare Rib magazine
103
25 December 2013
The Fast Show
104
6 April 2014
UK miners' strike (1984–85)
Kim Howells , former research officer for the South Wales NUM
Mel Hepworth , labour
Barbara Jackson, organiser
Ken Clarke , former health minister
Bill King, Bedfordshire Police
105
13 April 2014
Four Weddings and a Funeral
106
20 April 2014
Life on Earth
107
4 May 2014
Omagh Bombing
108
17 August 2014
Berlin Airlift
109
24 August 2014
Sun Newspaper
[ 23]
110
31 August 2014
Independence of Zimbabwe in 1980
111
7 September 2014
James Bond
112
19 September 2014
New Labour
113
25 December 2014
Wallace and Gromit
114
5 April 2015
Spycatcher
115
12 April 2015
Fastnet Race Disaster
116
19 April 2015
Hit Factory
117
26 April 2015
Far East Prisoners of War
118
3 May 2015
Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream
119
16 August 2015
Guantanamo Bay
[ 24]
120
23 August 2015
Food writers
121
30 August 2015
Foot-and-Mouth Disease
122
6 September 2015
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
123
13 September 2015
Birmingham Six
124
3 April 2016
Nuclear Submarines
125
10 April 2016
Disability Campaigners
126
17 April 2016
UEFA Euro 1996
127
24 April 2016
Maastricht Treaty
128
6 May 2016
Arrest of Augusto Pinochet
129
21 August 2016
Yorkshire Ripper Investigation
[ 25]
130
28 August 2016
Glastonbury Festival
131
4 September 2016
Launch of Private Eye
132
11 September 2016
Contaminated Blood
David Watters, director of the Haemophilia Society
Colette Wintel , hepatitis B and hepatitis C patient
Peter Jones , head of the Newcastle Haemophilia Centre;
Janette Johnson , relative of the AIDS and hepatitis C patient
133
23 September 2016
Tate Modern
134
2 April 2017
Vietnamese Boat People
135
9 April 2017
Libyan Embassy Siege
136
16 April 2017
Women of Punk
137
23 April 2017
Challenger Disaster
138
30 April 2017
Climbie Inquiry
139
13 August 2017
First all-female Round the World Yacht Crew
[ 26]
140
20 August 2017
Wapping Dispute
141
27 August 2017
Eighties Fashion Designers
142
3 September 2017
Solidarity
143
10 September 2017
Northern Rock crisis
144
1 April 2018
Battle for Basra
145
8 April 2018
Enfield Poltergeist
146
15 April 2018
Kyoto Protocol
147
22 April 2018
Baader-Meinhof
148
29 April 2018
The Young Ones
149
12 August 2018
The Rise and Fall of the SDP
[ 27]
150
19 August 2018
Auschwitz Survivors
151
26 August 2018
Murder of Georgi Markov
152
2 September 2018
Chickenshed Theatre
153
9 September 2018
Sierra Leone Civil War
154
7 April 2019
French Resistance
155
14 April 2019
Parliamentary Expenses Scandal
Heather Brooke , FOI campaigner
Andrew Walker, head of House of Commons finances
Ann Cryer , former Labour MP for Keighley
156
21 April 2019
Gulf War Aircrew POWs
157
28 April 2019
Scottish Parliament
158
5 May 2019
Pioneering Women Newsreaders
159
18 August 2019
York Minster fire
[ 28]
160
25 August 2019
Death on the Rock
161
1 September 2019
When Rugby Turned Pro
162
8 September 2019
Alder Hey Organs Scandal
163
15 September 2019
Cats - The Musical
164
16 August 2020
Black Wednesday
165
23 August 2020
Collapse of British Leyland
166
30 August 2020
Bid for London 2012
167
6 September 2020
GM Crops Debate
168
13 September 2020
Virago Press
169
24 December 2020
Strictly Come Dancing
[ 29]
170
30 December 2020
The COVID-19 ward
171
4 April 2021
Finding Richard III
172
11 April 2021
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
173
18 April 2021
Litvinenko Poisoning
174
25 April 2021
The Romanian Orphanages
175
2 May 2021
Madness
176
13 August 2021
Same-Sex Marriage
177
20 August 2021
The Day Today
178
27 August 2021
Tiananmen Square Protests
179
3 September 2021
Pioneers of Women's Football
[ 29]
180
10 September 2021
Trial of the Mangrove Nine
181
24 December 2021
Love Actually
182
1 April 2022
Boxing Day Tsunami
183
8 April 2022
McLibel Trial
184
22 April 2022
Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics
185
29 April 2022
Dale Farm Evictions
186
6 May 2022
Silver Jubilee
Dickie Arbiter , veteran Royal commendator
Hugo Vickers , Royal biographer
Mary Pearson, daughter of the Martin Charteris who was the Queen's Private Secretary
187
19 August 2022
Grange Hill
188
26 August 2022
London Occupy
189
2 September 2022
Deep Blue v Kasparov
[ 29]
190
4 September 2022
Island Records
191
1 October 2022
Maidan Uprising
192
2 April 2023
British Runners of the 1980s
193
9 April 2023
The Good Friday Agreement
194
16 April 2023
Sharpe
195
23 April 2023
Abu Ghraib
196
5 May 2023
Eurovision Song Contest
197
18 Aug 2023
Jerry Springer: The Opera
198
20 Aug 2023
Lockerbie Bombing
199
27 Aug 2023
Final Years of John Major's Government
200
3 Sep 2023
Spitting Image
Peter Fluck , co-creator
Roger Law , co-creator
Jon Blair , producer
John Lloyd , producer
Ian Hislop , writer
Nick Newman , writer
Louise Gold , puppeteer
Chris Barrie , voice artist
Steve Nallon , voice artist
Charles Denton , Central Television commissioner
201
15 Sep 2023
BLK Art Group
202
29 Dec 2023
Band Aid
203
12 April 2024
That's Life!
[ 30]
204
14 April 2024
1996 Mount Everest disaster
205
21 April 2024
Passion of Port Talbot
206
28 April 2024
Bush v Gore 2000
207
10 May 2024
London Olympics : Super Saturday
208
23 August 2024
Blair government's first 100 days
209
23 August 2024
2012 Paralympics
210
1 September 2024
Clutha Helicopter Crash
Mary Kavanagh,
Robert Jenkin,
Nancy Primrose,
Jim Murphy , shadow secretary of state
Alan Crossan,
Patrick O'Meara,
211
8 September 2024
Fall of the Berlin Wall
References
External links
Programmes
Comedy Drama and fiction Entertainment Factual News and current affairs Religious Other
Other