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It’s been 30 years since the playwright Dennis Potter sat down with Melvyn Bragg to record one of the most memorable interviews of the last century.

Potter, weeks away from dying of cancer, shared his unforgettable reflections on seeing the world anew in this last phase of his life. His comments on the ‘nowness of everything’ and the ‘blossomest blossom’ on the pear tree outside his window were a revelation to the many thousands of viewers who were touched and changed by this landmark interview.

Oral historian Sarah O’Reilly delves into the rich archive of notable ‘last interviews’ that followed in Potter’s wake. Clive James, Diana Athill, Jenny Diski, Steve Hewlett and Nicholas Dimbleby are just a few of the public figures who recorded powerful and moving conversations at the end of their lives, dramatic performances that live on in the public imagination. These encounters set out to record and make sense of their speakers’ experiences of navigating illness and dying, creating road maps towards ‘The End’ which embrace and celebrate life.

Looking at the growth and proliferation of the ‘last interview’ over time, Sarah asks what motivates people to speak about this intimate aspect of their lives, and what are the messages they want to leave behind. What does it feel like to interrogate the dying, is there a toll on those who take part, and why do we want to hear these dispatches from the edge of mortality?

With insights from Damian Barr; Mary Beard, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Brennan, Rachel Cooke, Brian Dillon, Jonathan Dimbleby, Michael Erard, Michael Grade, Kathryn Mannix, Eddie Morgan, Alexandra Pringle, Nick Robinson and Julia Samuel.

Writer and Presenter: Sarah O’Reilly
Producer: Melissa FitzGerald

A Zinc Audio production for Radio 4