You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.

I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.

I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,

relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.

So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,

and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.

And maybe that's you.

So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.

What would happen if something went wrong?

What would happen if Tommy didn't pull hard enough?

How would Tommy know how hard to pull?

What would happen if Sue saw him coming and shot him?

Beth Rodden was stranded in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Her boyfriend Tommy had just asked whether he should push one of their captors off a cliff so they could escape. It was meant to have been the climbing expedition of a lifetime, but it had gone horribly wrong.

Beth, Tommy and two other professional climbers

had been taken hostage by Islamist militants and forced to walk for miles on end, not knowing

if they'd live or die. But after a few days, they were left with just one of the kidnappers,

a man they knew as Sue. This is Lives Less Ordinary with me, Emily Webb,

a podcast from the BBC World Service where people open up about their extraordinary experiences.

Kill or be killed. That question would have repercussions that would take Beth years to come to

terms with, but in that moment, Beth years to come to terms with.

But in that moment, survival was all they could think about.

At some point, I didn't answer, which I feel like Tommy and I both took for me saying yes.

...