Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Dame Edith Sitwell | 20160929 | Ian McMillan introduces poet Dame Edith Sitwell reading in an archive recording from 1947 Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 02 | Cecil Day-Lewis: An Italian Visit | 20160930 | In a broadcast from 1949, Cecil Day-Lewis reads from his poem An Italian Visit. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 03 | Louis MacNeice | 20161003 | A recording from 1949 in which Louis MacNeice reads his poems Snow and Prayer Before Birth Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 04 | TS Eliot | 20161004 | Archive recordings: TS Eliot reads The Journey of the Magi and part of The Four Quartets. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 05 | Dylan Thomas | 20161005 | A 1950 archive recording of Dylan Thomas reading his poem In the White Giant's Thigh. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 06 | Edmund Blunden | 20161007 | 20161006 (R3) | Edmund Blunden reads his own poem Concert Party in an archive broadcast from 1957. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work |
| 07 | Siegfried Sassoon | 20161006 | 20161007 (R3) | A 1955 archive recording in which Siegfried Sassoon reads three of his own poems. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work |
| 08 | John Betjeman, William Empson | 20161010 | Archive recordings from 1958 made by poets John Betjeman and William Empson. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 09 | Jenny Joseph, Edwin Muir | 20161011 | Archive recordings from the late 1950s made by poets Jenny Joseph and Edwin Muir. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 10 | Walter de la Mare | 20161012 | An archive broadcast: Walter de la Mare reads his poems England and the Little Salamander. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 11 | Sylvia Plath | 20161013 | In an archive recording first broadcast in 1963, Sylvia Plath reads her poem Daddy. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 12 | RS Thomas | 20161014 | Archive broadcast from 1965 in which RS Thomas reads his poetry at the Edinburgh Festival. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 13 | Stevie Smith | 20161017 | Archive broadcast from 1965 of Stevie Smith reading her poem Not Waving But Drowning. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 14 | Philip Larkin | 20161018 | Archive broadcast of Philip Larkin reading his poem The Whitsun Weddings. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 15 | Adrian Mitchell | 20161019 | Archive broadcast, with Adrian Mitchell reading his poem Nostalgia - Now Threepence Off. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 16 | Vernon Scannell | 20161020 | Archive broadcast in which Vernon Scannell reads his poems Dejection and A Case of Murder. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 17 | Ted Hughes | 20161021 | Archive broadcasts by Ted Hughes: part of The Captain's Speech and also The Mackerel Song. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 18 | WH Auden | 20161024 | Archive broadcast from 1972 of WH Auden reading his poems a Lullaby and Song of the Devil. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 19 | Dannie Abse | 20161025 | Archive broadcast from 1971 of Dannie Abse reading the first two parts of his poem Funland Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 20 | Seamus Heaney | 20161026 | Seamus Heaney talks about and reads his poems Digging and The Ministry of Fear. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 21 | George Mackay Brown, WS Graham | 20161027 | Recordings of George Mackay Brown and WS Graham reading poems about loss and memory. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 22 | Geoffrey Hill | 20161028 | An archive broadcast from 1979 by Geoffrey Hill, who reads a selection of his poems. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 23 | Douglas Dunn and Michael Longley | 20161031 | Archive poetry readings from the 1970s, from Douglas Dunn and Michael Longley. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 24 | Iain Crichton Smith | 20161101 | Archive broadcasts of Iain Crichton Smith reading his poems in Poetry Now in 1976 and 1981 Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 25 | Charles Causley | 20161102 | Archive broadcast in which poet Charles Causley reads his work On Launceston Castle. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 26 | Christopher Reid, Craig Raine | 20161103 | Archive recordings, with readings by poets Christopher Reid and Craig Raine. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 27 | Elizabeth Jennings | 20161104 | A 1983 recording of Elizabeth Jennings reading her poems Thunder and a Boy and In a Garden Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 28 | James Fenton | 20161107 | An archive broadcast from 1983 in which James Fenton reads his poem Prison Island. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 29 | Sean O'Brien and Mick Imlah | 20161108 | Archive recordings from the 1980s in which Sean O'Brien and Mick Imlah read their poems. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 30 | Kamau Brathwaite | 20161109 | Archive recording by Kamau Brathwaite, who reads his poems Calypso and The Emigrants. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 31 | Wendy Cope | 20161110 | Archive broadcasts from 1988 in which Wendy Cope reads three of her poems. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 32 | Fleur Adcock | 20161111 | Archive recording from 1985 by Fleur Adcock, who reads two of her poems. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 33 | Tony Harrison | 20161114 | Archive recording of Tony Harrison reading his poems Them and Us and On Not Being Milton. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 34 | Grace Nichols, John Agard and Fred D'Aguiar | 20161115 | Grace Nichols, John Agard and Fred D'Aguiar read their work in 1982 archive recordings. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 35 | Jo Shapcott | 20161116 | Archive recording of poet Jo Shapcott reading from her collection Electroplating the Baby. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 36 | James Berry | 20161117 | Archive broadcast: James Berry reflects on his life as he reads a selection of his poetry. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 37 | Carol Ann Duffy | 20161118 | Archive recordings by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who reads two of her works. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 38 | Thom Gunn | 20161121 | Archive recording by poet Thom Gunn, who reads from his work The Man with Night Sweats. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 39 | Lavinia Greenlaw and Kathleen Jamie | 20161122 | Archive Radio 3 recordings by poets Lavinia Greenlaw and Kathleen Jamie. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 40 | Peter Reading | 20161123 | Archive recording by Peter Reading, who reads an excerpt from his poem Three. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 41 | Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean | 20161124 | Archive readings by Scottish poets Norman MacCaig and Sorley MacLean. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 42 | Simon Armitage | 20161125 | Readings by Simon Armitage, including excerpt from his poem Goalkeeper with a Cigarette. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 43 | UA Fanthorpe | 20161128 | Ian McMillan introduces an archive radio broadcast from 2000 by poet UA Fanthorpe. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 44 | Gillian Clarke | 20161129 | Archive broadcast by poet Gillian Clarke, who reads her works The Beginning and Flood. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 45 | Paul Durcan | 20161130 | Archive recording in which Paul Durcan reads his poems Diarrhoea Attack and Sign of Peace. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 46 | Liz Lochhead | 20161201 | A specially commissioned poem by former Scottish national poet Liz Lochhead. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 47 | Robert Crawford | 20161202 | Scottish poet Robert Crawford reads his poems The Tip of My Tongue and Credo. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 48 | Jean 'Binta' Breeze | 20161205 | Jean 'Binta' Breeze reads her poems The Month of March and The Fifth Figure. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 49 | Gwyneth Lewis | 20161206 | Ian McMillan presents an archive broadcast by former national poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work | |
| 50 | Paul Muldoon | 20161207 | With Paul Muldoon reading his poem The Loaf from the series Work in Progress in 2001. Ian McMillan presents archive recordings of remarkable poets reading their own work |