Off the Rails Film, Bella Mackie, Long Covid, #MeToo around the world - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

Jules Williamson has directed her first feature film in her fifties. The premier is tonight. Off the Rails is a celebration of women. It centres round four friends who went Inter-railing when they were 19, who when one of them dies, revisit the same journey later in life taking her daughter this time. It’s a comedy drama with a great female cast - starring Sally Phillips, the late Kelly Preston (in her final role), Dame Judi Dench and Jenny Seagrove. Jules and Sally Phillips join Chloe Tilley to explain how long it took to bring this story to the screen, the messages of friendship and ‘anything is possible’, and why it has an iconic Blondie soundtrack.

The number of young people hospitalised with eating disorders in England has risen during the pandemic, a BBC investigation has found. Data from NHS Digital showed the number of under-20s admitted over the past year was more than 3,200 - nearly 50% higher than in 2019-20. Hospitals are warning they are running out of beds to care for these patients, and waits for community treatment have lengthened as the number of referrals has increased. BEAT estimate 1.25million people in the UK have an eating disorder. The condition can affect anyone at any time, but girls and young women aged 12-20 are most at risk.To discuss the issues Chloe is joined by Professor Sandeep Ranote, Consultant Paediatric Psychiatrist in Eating Disorders.

What has the impact of the ~MeToo movement had around the world? A new book ‘Awakening’: #MeToo and the Global Fight for Women’s Rights contains stories of women around the world who, inspired by the #MeToo movement have worked fearlessly in promoting the rights of women in their countries, sometimes at the risk of their own safety and potential imprisonment. We hear from Fakhrriyyah Hashim who pioneered the conversation on sexual violence in Northern Nigeria and from the book’s co-author, and former president of the Malala Fund, Meighan Stone.How To Kill Your Family is the darkly comic first novel by Bella Mackie. Grace has calmly murdered six members of her family but is serving a prison sentence for a murder she didn't actually commit. Bella joins Chloe Tilley to talk about female rage and to explain how she became steeped in crime and murder as a small child while reading unsuitable true crime with her Dad.

Long Covid is estimated to have affected over two million people in the UK - with the majority being women. The condition is an umbrella term for a whole range of symptoms, from fatigue and brain fog to respiratory, heart and gut problems. But for those hospitalised with Covid-19, post-Covid symptoms can be so serious that a third will require readmission within six months and 1 in 8 will die. In an attempt to find treatments, a clinical trial is underway to test whether two safe and widely-available drugs can make a difference to long-term Covid recovery. A new trial called HEAL-COVID is being led by three female researchers. The lead is Dr Charlotte Summers from Cambridge University who tells Chloe about how people currently in hospital can take part.

Further episodes of Woman's Hour

Further podcasts by BBC Radio 4

Website of BBC Radio 4