Short Cuts

A two-decade long commitment to writing a new Christmas standard, an Icelandic documentary fairytale and the comedian Mark Thomas feature in Josie Long's festive documentary special.

The Night Before …

Josie Long explores the way our collections and accidental archives define us. Diving into a head full of palindromes, love letters, artistic accidents and family recipes.

Featuring the writer Nikesh …

Falling from a great height and last words across a telephone line - Josie Long hears stories of relationships stretched across space.

From the crossover between skydiving, Soren Kierkegaard and falli…

Josie Long hears stories from within hidden worlds - a doctor living in quarantine, the founder of a time travellers convention and a radio DJ offering a lifeline to prisoners.

On The Inside Featuring…

Josie Long hears stories spell craft, poetry and art coming to life.

What can a poet learn from a consultant sorcerer? Ross Sutherland explores the poetic possibilities of spell craft. A fragment of S…

Josie Long hears stories which come out of nowhere. A story of creation, time and disappearance; a writer takes a precarious drive down an icy road imagining the dive into nothing at the edge of her …

What can we learn from the humanity of others? From seeing ourselves reflected in someone else? Josie Long presents stories of role models.

"You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There's…

Secret languages, loving acts of translation and musical instruments with an unrecognised power - Josie Long presents new documentaries about translation.

From the man who introduced a poet to Iran th…

Escape artists, losing control of your body and losing yourself in water - Josie Long takes a twilight stroll across Hampstead Heath while she presents stories of movement.

Pond Featuring Jessica J Le…

A disembodied voice, digital ghosts and the contraptions we build that alter our humanity - Josie Long presents new short documentaries about machines.

We hear from the voice of Siri in the UK about l…

Josie Long hears stories of heartbreak. Difficult love, women encoded in music and rebuilding yourself after you've been broken.

Laura Barton offers a tender exploration of complex, enduring love, Nat…

Josie Long hears stories of duets, the perfect conversational dance and gatecrashing honeymoons. She also talks to the other half of her long-running comedy partnership - Robin Ince.

The poet John Osb…

A memory caught in a childhood drawing and a repeat encounter which offers hope at a point of despair - Josie Long explores the afterimage left by moments that touch us.

We hear from Sion Jair who cli…

Josie Long hears stories of bearing witness - from glimpsing the moment a parent changes to escaping a violent storm.

Witness Featuring Lois Gibson Produced by Andrea Rangecroft

Tornado Featuring David…

Josie Long hears stories of our desire to pause - from dismantling a house which seems stopped in time to the difficulties of watching your child grow up.

The House by the Creek Produced by Sophie Tow…

Defiantly staring down neo-Nazis, unwanted family portraits and a photographer searching for his subject years later - Josie Long presents new short documentaries inspired by images.

Woman in the Phot…

Josie Long presents documentaries where reality takes on a magical aspect - tales of snake-filled American towns, a visit to a shaman and of crashing back down to earth.

The Curve of the Earth Produce…

Personality tests, tests of character and knowing how to cheat. Josie Long presents stories of people testing their mettle.

The writers Ross Sutherland and Joe Dunthorne examine the Sutherland-Dunthor…

Josie Long presents stories of messages sent across borders. Unsent postcards, a last message and the journey for home.

An old handwritten note, in pursuit of a woman who ran away, leads to a town sub…

"We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."

Josie Long presents short documentaries and radio adventures in the spirit of Kurt Vonnegut, shortly before the tenth anniversa…