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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Doctor Who's Varada Sethu, The first UK womb transplant, Grief and music, Cardiac surgeon Dr Indu Deglurka

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Varada Sethu joined Woman's Hour to talk about stepping into the iconic role of the Doctor Who companion. She tells Datshiane Navanagayam how she went from a guest star to landing the role of Belinda Chandra, why this character feels like her most personal yet, and what it means to her to bring cultural authenticity to the Tardis. With a background in science, classical dance, and Star Wars fandom, Varada brings a fresh energy to the Whoniverse.

Grace Davidson was a teenager when she was diagnosed with a rare condition that meant she did not have a uterus. But, following a transplant using her sister's donated womb, she gave birth earlier this year to baby Amy. Nuala McGovern speaks to Isabel Quiroga, the surgeon who led the transplant team at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, and to Lydia Brain, who is currently on the waiting list for a womb transplant.

Emily MacGregor is a music historian and trombonist. After the sudden death of her father, a jazz guitarist, she found she wasn’t able to bear the sound of music. The very thing that once connected them became a source of pain and silence. In her new book, While the Music Lasts, she explains how she reconnected with her father through the pieces left on his music stand, from tangos to Handel, Cádiz to Coltrane. She joined Nuala to talk about how she learnt to navigate grief and how she discovered the joy of music again.

BBC2’s Saving Lives in Cardiff is back on our screens from tonight. Based in the largest hospital in Wales, University Hospital in Cardiff, the series highlights the weight of difficult, sometimes life and death decisions surgeons make about who to prioritise next. The first episode follows Dr Indu Deglurkar, a cardiac surgeon, one of only 19 women in this role in the UK. She tells Nuala about the pressures and joys of her job.

Have you been watching The White Lotus? The season three finale aired this week and one of the key themes that's had fans talking has been female friendship. It's left us wondering - is three a crowd? In the show the dynamic plays out between a trio of friends Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie, played by Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon, who alternate between loving and loathing one another. So can friendships between three people work? TV critic Rachael Sigee and relationships writer at the Independent Olivia Petter joined Nuala McGovern.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Sarah Jane Griffiths

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Why would anyone want to steal a toilet?

0:05.0

If they think they can get away with it, they'll get away with it.

0:08.0

But this isn't any old toilet.

0:11.0

This is a solid gold toilet, worth nearly five million pounds, stolen from a palace.

0:17.0

A solid gold toilet has been stolen.

0:20.0

Police are trying to flush the robbers out.

0:23.0

It's a tale of security failures, ruthless robbers and missing millions.

0:27.7

Crime next door. The Golden Toilet Heist.

0:30.4

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:34.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.

0:37.8

Hello, I'm Neula McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:42.4

Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.

0:49.0

Hello, and welcome to a selection of standout moments from the week.

0:53.3

Coming up today, the latest Doctor Who

0:55.5

companion, Verada Setu, will time travel to the Woman's Hour studio to give us the lowdown on her

1:01.4

iconic new character. Also, we hear from Isabel Kiroga, one of the lead surgeons in the UK's

1:07.7

first successful womb transplant that resulted in the birth of baby Amy Isabel.

1:13.2

We'll hear what it takes to make history.

1:15.9

In this particular case, Grace's sister Amy donated her womb.

1:19.7

Grace called it the greatest gift of sisterly love.

1:23.6

Also, is three the magic number?

1:26.2

Or could it be that three is a crowd?

...

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