Between Ourselves

Tony Little, the headteacher of Eton and Michael Wilkins, headteacher of Outwood Grange, a huge comprehensive school, offer an illuminating comparison between two very different institutions.

The Headteachers of Eton and a large comprehensive discuss their schools and their roles.

Two spouses of transsexuals discuss how they have coped with their partners' gender transition.

Two spouses of transsexuals discuss how they coped with their partners' gender transition.

Yasmin is a British-born Pakistani who has fallen in love with a non-Muslim man. Janet left her husband for a woman. Both have felt huge pressure to keep their relationships secret.

Two women have felt huge pressure to keep their culturally taboo relationships secret.

City traders Roger Hanbury and Charles deRoeper discuss the highs and lows of their heady occupation.

City traders Roger Hanbury and Charles deRoeper discuss their heady occupation.

Circus owners Martin Burton and John Hayes discuss the romance, danger, excitement and difficulties of their profession.

Circus owners Martin Burton and John Hayes discuss the difficulties of their profession.

Olivia talks to two stand-up comedians, probably the UK's first female Muslim stand-up, Shazia Mirza, and doctor, Paul Sinha. They discuss how they got into comedy and if the pigeon-holes they have been put into of being 'Asian', Muslim' or 'gay' are a help or a hindrance to them.

Stand-up comics Shazia Mirza and Paul Sinha discuss the effects of being pigeon-holed.

Olivia talks to two soldiers who were injured abroad. David Hart was sent to Afghanistan in 2003 to serve with his Territorial Army unit. One day he was involved with his regular convoy duties - escorting a bomb-disposal team - when was caught up in a suicide car bomb attack. He suffered multiple injuries, including the near-amputation of one arm.

Albert Thomson was serving in Iraq with the Black Watch in 2003. He was returning from collecting a fatally-injured soldier when he was hit by 'friendly fire' which hit him in both legs. His injuries were so severe his left leg was amputated. David and Albert tell their stories to Olivia and discuss the impact their injuries have had financially, physically and psychologically.

Two soldiers who were injured abroad discuss the impact of their injuries.

Olivia talks to two chefs about their careers: Michael Caines, a Michelin-starred chef who lost his right arm in a car accident, and Irish chef Darina Allen, who runs the famous Ballymaloe cookery school in Cork. They reveal their worst days in the kitchen - involving an undercooked duck and a temperamental French chef with a cold - and discuss how fine restaurants can survive in the recession.

Two chefs discuss their careers and how fine restaurants can survive in the recession.

Olivia talks to two barristers, prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard and defence lawayer Dexter Dias, about whether justice can be bought by getting a good barrister, if their reputation for arrogance is deserved and the cases that still haunt them.

Olivia O'Leary talks to two barristers.

Olivia talks to two personal columnists, Katherine Whitehorn, who wrote for The Observer, and Liz Jones, who writes for You magazine. They discuss when getting personal is too personal, how their friends and families react to being written about and what the changing face of columns in the last 50 years tells us about women's lives.

Olivia O'Leary talks to two personal columnists, Katherine Whitehorn and Liz Jones.

Olivia talks to two women who were raped by men they met on a night out and asks why conviction rates in the UK are so low compared with the rest of Europe.

Olivia O'Leary talks to two women who were raped by men they met on a night out.

Two women who went completely blind in a matter of weeks tell their stories. Julie Coakley was studying art as a mature student when what she describes as 'man flu' laid her low for a couple of weeks. One day she collapsed and was rushed to hospital, where she was diagnosed with meningitis. As a result she completely lost her sight and some of her hearing. At the age of 19, Jill Daley was living in Switzerland, working as an au pair, when complications with diabetes began to interfere with her vision. Very quickly her sight was completely destroyed.

Jill has had 14 years to adjust to her sight loss, while Julie is just two years into her journey. Both discuss the impact that going blind has had on them and their families. Have they been able to embrace the 'blind world'? How have they coped practically and psychologically with this huge upheaval? What have been the biggest challenges?

Olivia O'Leary talks to two women who both went completely blind in a matter of weeks.

Zirak was involved with an organisation that wanted a free Kurdistan. When the group was discovered, two of his friends were arrested and one subsequently died. He started receiving threatening letters and knew he had to leave. He left in 2002 and, from Turkey, was smuggled out in a lorry. When he eventually arrived in the UK, he didn't know what country he was in, and couldn't speak any English.

Mohamed travelled here to study music and became involved with Azeri politics; friends back home were arrested as a result, and he began to realise that he, too, would be arrested if he returned. He applied for refugee status, which was granted extremely quickly - it was just a month before he was told he had leave to remain for five years. He hopes to return home one day.

Olivia O'Leary talks to an Iraqi Kurd and an Iranian Azeri about being refugees in the UK.

The job of the Coroner is commonly misunderstood; they don't conduct post-mortems or attend crime scenes, as Christopher Dorries says 'the average member of the public will see more dead bodies than I do'.

Rather their role - if a death is sudden or unexplained - is to investigate the cause of death.

Together they discuss what their jobs entail. On a personal level, how does continually dealing with death and bereavement affect them? What improvements can the recommendations they make during inquests have in wider society? And what problems do very high profile inquests raise? - One of Peter Dean's most public inquests was that of Myra Hindley, he recalls the special circumstances surrounding that.

On a wider scale, with the new Coroners and Justice Act coming into force, will there be greater pressure to hold inquests in secret? And will the appointment of a Chief Coroner for the first time lead to better funding and therefore a better and more consistent service offered to bereaved families? Peter Dean is damning in his criticism of one of the areas he represents (South East Essex) claiming that mismanagement has led to cancelled viewings of bodies and delayed funerals.

Join Olivia O'Leary to get in the inside track on the unique role of the Coroner on Between Ourselves.

Christopher Dorries is the Coroner for South Yorkshire West. Peter Dean is the Coroner for Suffolk and South East Essex.

NB: In response to Peter Dean's comments, the following statement was issued by Essex County Council:

Essex County Council is committed to making the Coroners' Service as efficient and focussed on the needs of bereaved citizens as possible. In order to achieve this, the County Council is looking to work with its partners with the aim of achieving a more unified bereavement service, thereby ensuring that the needs of the bereaved can be met speedily with as little intrusion as possible. There have been delays in progressing referrals from time to time but there are no current problems in this regard.'.

Olivia O'Leary is joined by two coroners, who discuss what their jobs involve.

Producer: Sara Conkey.

Olivia O'Leary talks to gay ministers Martin Reynolds and Clare Herbert.

British society has a reputation for being intolerant towards children - they should be seen but ideally not heard. And according to sections of the media, the reason that Britain is Broken is because unruly and badly brought up children are running wild, ignored by hopeless parents. So what has gone so badly wrong with our approach towards children? How can it be improved? Should we send our children to day-care, or remain at home during their formative years? What kind of upbringing drives children to commit horrendous crimes, like the Bulger killers? On Between Ourselves today we are joined by two child psychologists who discuss all of this. Laverne Antrobus has worked on TV programmes like 'The House of Tiny Tearaways', ITV's 'This Morning' and BBC Four's 'Who Needs Dads?', she's an author, and works as an educational psychologist at the Tavistock clinic in London. Oliver James has written best-selling books including 'They F*** you Up' and 'Affluenza'. He's also appeared on 'This Morning' putting into practice his theory of 'love-bombing' as a way of coping with challenging children.

Olivia O'Leary talks to child psychologists Laverne Antrobus and Oliver James.

Amanda was a prodigy who went straight from music school to national and international success but the pressure took its toll and she reached a crisis point where she had to reassess her entire career.

Geoffrey was also a success at music school whose subsequent career was on an upward trajectory. But, dramatically, he entirely lost his voice and his career shattered.

Together they discuss the hugely demanding world of opera: the nerves, the backstage humour, the on-stage antics and the difficulties of being constantly on the road.

Olivia O'Leary talks to opera singers Amanda Roocroft and Geoffrey Dolton.

Frederick Veal is in his late 40s, and was only diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome five years ago. He said the diagnosis made sense of his entire life: of the difficulties, the strange habits, the problems holding down a job. He gives a frank and fascinating description of his early life - an obsession with spinning, sensitivity to noise (he could hear humming coming from electric sockets), head-banging. Since his diagnosis he has been able to learn certain coping techniques which make life more bearable.

Ben Delo found out he had Asperger's at the age of 11, when he bugged his parents' telephone calls. This early diagnosis means he began the process of learning and copying many of the idiosyncratic, nonsensical, but necessary social habits that the rest of the world take for granted; things like shaking hands and making eye-contact.

Asperger's Syndrome is named after the Austrian psychologist who first described it, Dr Hans Asperger. It's at the milder end of the autism spectrum and those with it have difficulty with social interaction, with reading social situations, with communicating.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

An illuminating discussion between two people who have Asperger's Syndrome.

What's it like having everyone from Maggie Smith to Madonna, plus accompanying film crews, invade your family seat? Do you agree to place lit candles under oil paintings to keep the director happy?

Is it a necessary evil or a genuine pleasure to throw open your grounds and home to the general public? How else to make ends meet when the maintenance bills and heating costs for these old, cold, stone houses are so high?

Olivia O'Leary discusses how best to run your Stately Home on this week's Between Ourselves.

Producer: Karen Gregor.

The owners of two of Britain's finest stately homes in discussion with Olivia O'Leary.

Dawn Richards is the mother of naturally conceived triplets, Emily Carlisle had twins following IVF. They join Olivia O'Leary in the Between Ourselves studio to discuss the joy and the sheer hard work of raising multiples.

Emily's delight at discovering she was having twins was followed by a series of unforeseen events which entirely changed her experience of motherhood.

Dawn describes the confusing moment she and her husband discovered they were having triplets. Following a difficult pregnancy and an emergency birth, three tiny babies were brought home. Through a haze of sleepless exhaustion Dawn changed 15 nappies, and prepared 15 bottles of milk a day.

When the first few months are over, the toddler years bring fresh challenges for parents of multiples:

If you're brave enough to risk a trip to the park, who do you decide to chase when one child runs to the duck-pond and the other towards the road?

And the most basic of needs - how does a mother of multiples go to the loo? According to Emily, with at least one small child sitting on your lap. Or have a shower? With three small faces pressed up against the glass.

And would Emily or Dawn have more children? Join them on this week's edition of Between Ourselves to find out.

producer: Karen Gregor.

A mother of triplets and a mother of twins in discussion with Olivia O'Leary.