BBC Radio 4 explores Brexit

Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra have commissioned a series of special programmes to reflect and examine the political and cultural landscape in Britain after the Brexit vote, and what happened in the lead-up to the EU referendum.

The commissions will bring to Radio 4’s millions of listeners some of the best writers, thinkers and broadcasters at these unprecedented times, reflecting on Brexit. They’ll explore Brexit from different angles - from how Britain’s creative community can and should respond to the divisions exposed by the vote, to how the referendum came about; from what Brexit will mean to migrants living in Britain, to the problems and opportunities faced by those charged with making Brexit work.

Voices from across the UK will be heard in special Listening Project programming, and leave and remain voters will discuss Brexit in a special Two Rooms episode. Once the programmes have been broadcast on Radio 4 in the coming months, they will become part of Radio 4’s online Brexit collection.

Radio 4 is also working on a drama about the recent political events to be broadcast in the year to come.

Controller Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra Gwyneth Williams says: “Ahead of the EU referendum, listeners heard arguments, analysis, fact-checking and history explored across Radio 4. Now it’s our duty to equip them with an understanding of what happened and why, and explore what the impact of Brexit might be – for culture and the artistic community, for Europeans in the UK, for the civil service, and for British politics. We must continue to bring to our audiences the most thought-provoking arguments and stories, enlightening and challenging, as the future unravels.”

“I welcome and commend to listeners A Point of View: After The Vote, in which leading Radio 4 thinkers including our former Reith Lecturer, the philosopher Onora O’Neill, share their considered responses – they are on air this week and are now part of our Brexit Collection on Radio 4’s website. As will be Martin Wolf, eminent FT columnist, who presents a peak-time morning doc. And in the midst of all this Wole Soyinka provided a much needed reflective pause in his remarkable poem A Moment Of Peace, unpublished and given to me personally to broadcast, which listeners heard on Front Row and can now find in our online collection.”

“We are also already working on a drama about the political events that have unfolded around us over recent weeks which you will be able to hear in the year to come on Radio 4. I can’t wait; who will we cast in the leading roles?”

In How We Voted Brexit, Anne McElvoy tells the inside story of why and how the UK voted to leave the European Union. She investigates why David Cameron made the fateful decision to hold a referendum on EU membership. She hears from both British and European sources about his effort to reach a new deal with the EU which he could present to the electorate. And she speaks to members of both campaigns to learn about the key arguments, tactics and events which led to the momentous result.