Nicky Campbell navigates us through the grey areas and red lines of what we can and can't say, and how we keep up.Don't Say A Word is a Factory Originals and 6Foot6 production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live.Host: Nicky Campbell Producers: Fiona Cotteril, Ben Sutherland, Lewis Borg-Cardona. Sound design and Audio Mix: Ben Firth Music:Kirsty Campbell-Ritchie, Kate Robbins, Lyndon Livingstone at Razorshop Productions, Sam Parker, Amanda Harkett, Nicky Campbell, Mark Adams, Remi Harris. The track "A Better World" is performed by Jubba White. Editor: Mark SandellFor the BBC: Content producer: Lauren Ferguson Commissioning Executive: Will...
Latest episodes
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56 min ↗
Me, Myself and Mics
Four stand up comedians join Nicky and an audience at the Crossed Wires festival in Sheffield to talk about how much of their own lives and stories they share with their audiences…
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32 min ↗
Thoughts, prayers and Chinese whispers
The language and terminology of the gender debate navigated and explained.What politicians hear on the doorstep and what they say to sound human.Is 'Double Dutch' the same as being…
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37 min ↗
The Deep State We’re in
A Middle East conflict lexicon, red pills and blue pills- how the language of conspiracy theories has been influenced by The Matrix -and FFS!- why swearing is good for you.
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33 min ↗
The Icks Factor
Whitewash or celebration? The “Michael” movie is reviewed.Plus: from breadcrumbing to ghosting via the Ick - The A to Gen Z of the language of love, attraction and rejection, and h…
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28 min ↗
Pronoun or against?
Why Love Thy Neighbour meant something very different in the 1970s, and how American series like the Cosby Show made our tv screens a lot less racist.Plus, the debate over pronouns…
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38 min ↗
Live and Let Diary
Are “Blackface” and “Whiteface” equally offensive? Michael Gove tells us how not to let words get you kicked out of the Commons, how Samuel Pepys got voted out of school after 350…
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31 min ↗
The N-Word; Don’t Say It or Sing It, but can you reclaim it
A considered exploration of the N Word: is it ever acceptable to say it or sing it, and why do some want it reclaimed while others want it banned for ever?Guests including 1Xtra’s…
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36 min ↗
Punch Ups and Punchlines
Does who you make jokes about depend on whether you are punching up or down? Where are all the working dads? And it’s like -we like- filler words.
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34 min ↗
A spoonful of censorship
A word from our censors… Has Mary Poppins suddenly become offensive or have our tastes changed?How writing about sex has become more revealing, and why “taking advantage” doesn’t d…
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44 min ↗
Which hunt is this?
Don’t say the wrong words: how a German warplane nearly brought down one Liverpool comedian, and remember the good old days when witch hunts actually meant hunting witches?Broadcas…
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35 min ↗
Suffering fools & making an impression
Making an impression - but are there rules on who you can and can’t mimic? Have you got a problem with “problematic”, and the obituary writers who don’t suffer fools gladly...Host:…
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38 min ↗
All that Glitters is not on the radio
Are there double standards on the radio: why won’t you hear Gary Glitter any more, but you will hear Michael Jackson?Also, is Seinfeld funny or problematic - or both?And help! Is s…
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33 min ↗
Winning battles, losing wars...
Hey DJ, here are some requests: don’t play that, or that, and definitely NOT that!Why “battling” cancer isn’t always the right way to look at it, is it ever ok to ban a book, and t…
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32 min ↗
The Elephant Man never forgets…
A tale of two eras: should Charles Dickens be cancelled? Should a disabled character always be played by a disabled actor? And paperback re-writer Stuart Maconie forgives some prob…
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32 min ↗
A right laugh, a wrong laugh?
How do you decide a right laugh from a wrong one? Why it might be a problem asking where someone is really from? Join us for a brainstorm to decide if that word is ok and can the c…
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4 min ↗
COMING SOON: Don't Say A Word
Nicky Campbell navigates us through the grey areas of what we can and can’t say.