Jo Whiley's big interview of the night came from Russell T Davies, promoting his new memoir The Queerest of Folk, and he opened with a genuinely jaw-dropping family story. He told Jo that his parents, both fluent French speakers and big names at Swansea Rugby Club, were once asked by the Foreign Office to help distract a Romanian defector at a dinner party in the 1960s so secret service men could grab him from the bushes. "My mother was the femme fatale," he said, adding that a Christmas card still arrives from the Foreign Office every year.
The conversation turned serious when Davies told Jo that since including trans characters in his drama Tiptoe, he is "daily called a paedophile and a groomer" on X. He said it had reached the point where he had asked himself "do I feel unsafe in my own house?"
Davies also spoke movingly about watching his husband die at home, and how he later wrote the same searching eye movements into Colin's death scene in It's a Sin. Asked about the ongoing speculation over who will take on Doctor Who next, he was clear: "that's nothing to do with me, I'm not going to do it for a third time," though he said he'd be watching with everyone else.
Elsewhere, Clive Myrie popped up for Radio 2 Book Week to champion A Christmas Carol, recalling he and Jo started out together at Radio Sussex. Jo also premiered James Emmanuel's new single Living and Winning, and played Sleeper's comeback track End of the World ahead of their 2027 album.
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