Eye of the Storm with Emma Barnett

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Each week Emma Barnett meets the person at the heart of a news story to find out what really happened and how their life changed overnight.

BBC Radio 5 live


    • Mar 3, 2020 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 23m AVG DURATION
    • 105 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Eye of the Storm with Emma Barnett

    Kerry Irving

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2020 17:07


    Kerry Irving and Max the Miracle Dog.

    Matthew Hahn

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2020 22:25


    Matthew Hahn talks to Emma Barnett about the moment he stole a safe and how that theft changed his life

    'I was wrongly accused of being "fixer" for paedophile gang'

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2020 16:11


    Wajed Iqbal talks to Emma Barnett about repairing his life after a newspaper wrongly accused him of helping a paedophile ring.

    Ella Dove

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2020 23:12


    Ella tripped while jogging and ended up having to have her leg amputated. She talks to Emma Barnett how coming through the ordeal has changed her life.

    Matthew Hedges and his wife Daniela Tejade

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2019 21:12


    Last year Matthew spent six months in prison in the United Arab Emirates after being accused of spying. Matthew was initially arrested at Dubai Airport in May 2018 as he tried to leave the country and sentenced to life in prison on 21st November, but was pardoned and released 1 week later. He spent most of his time there in solitary confinement.

    Marie McCourt

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2019 23:07


    Marie McCourt speaks to Emma Barnett about the night her daughter Helen went missing in 1988. Helen's body has never been found, and her mother wants there to be no parole for murderers who refuse to say where their victims' bodies are.

    Michaella McCollum: Why I smuggled cocaine into Peru

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 23:58


    Michaella McCollum (pictured, left) was just 20, when she was caught with 11 kilos of cocaine at the airport in Peru in 2013. Along with her Scottish accomplice, Melissa Reid, she spent almost three years behind bars there, before she was allowed to return home to Northern Ireland in 2016. She’s been speaking to Emma Barnett.

    Megan Phelps Roper

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 28:06


    Megan Phelps Roper talks to Emma Barnett about growing up in the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, which preached hatred towards LGBT people and picketed the funerals of dead soldiers.

    Beverley Bass

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2019 20:40


    Trailblazing pilot who was grounded by 9/11.

    Elber Twomey

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2019 19:09


    I lost my family in a crash with a suicidal driver.

    Diane Modahl: Life after being banned

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2019 18:50


    In 1994 the former Olympic athlete tested positive in a drugs test and was banned for four years. She won the appeal - but she and her husband lost everything in the process.

    Rachel Dolezal: How the world reacted to race row

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2019 23:45


    Rachel Dolezal remembers the controversy she faced for identifying as 'transracial'. She tells 5 Live's Adrian Chiles what it was like to lose friends and hit headlines around the world after she was branded a ‘fraud’ for her role as a black rights activist.

    “My donor had obviously been very good to them”

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2019 19:57


    Corinne Hutton on having a double hand transplant after losing her own hands to sepsis.

    Tragic school sports day

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2019 18:26


    Lis Cashin's life changed forever in 1983. She was 13, and she'd been chosen to throw the javelin for her school sports day. But her throw hit her classmate Sammy, who was measuring the distances of the throws. Four days later Sammy was dead. For the last 36 years, Lis has been trying to make sense of that day.

    “I was scammed by my con artist friend”

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2019 27:49


    Rachel Deloache Williams tells Emma Barnett how she lost tens of thousands of dollars to a “friend”, Anna, who turned out to be a con artist on a grand scale.

    Diver who cheated death

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2019 22:07


    North Sea diver Chris Lemons was 100 metres below the surface when his oxygen hose snapped. He wasn't rescued for half an hour.

    'Death Row is the only place I didn’t experience racism'

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2019 41:38


    Anthony Ray Hinton spent 28 years on death row in Alabama for two murders he didn’t do. He was freed in 2015 when the US Supreme Court quashed his conviction. He was a black man arrested by white police officers, tried by a white prosecutor, convicted by a white jury and sentenced by a white judge. He told Emma Barnett, death row was the one place he didn’t experience racism.

    "I was exploited by TV producers"

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2019 27:04


    “I was the last person who should have gone on a TV show.” The thoughts of Caroline Wharram, a Big Brother contestant from 2012 who hit the headlines after being accused of being racist. She tells Emma Barnett she feels the producers of the show exploited a young vulnerable and mentally ill woman. And she now wants reality television to change.

    Twentieth Anniversary of the Columbine Shootings

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2019 24:15


    Clare McDonnell talks to Beth Nimmo whose daughter Rachel was of the twelve students who were murdered in the Columbine school shootings alongside one of their teachers.

    Willy Phillips Junior

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2019 25:17


    Willy Phillips Junior, who in 2010 survived a plane crash which killed his father, talks to Emma Barnett about how he escaped, and how he has only recently overcome crippling fears and anxieties caused by the accident.

    Rotherham Whistleblower

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2019 23:45


    Angie Heal, a former specialist drugs worker with South Yorkshire Police, talks to Emma Barnett about how she helped raise the alarm about the horrific grooming of children and young people taking place in Rotherham.

    Surviving a terror attack

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2019 11:00


    Ahmad Nawaz escaped the Taliban four years ago, when extremists stormed his school in 2014, killing 149 people, including his younger brother. He now lives in Birmingham and campaigns against extremism.

    NHS Whistleblower

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2019 16:29


    Peter Duffy, the NHS surgeon who was accused of racism and 'forced out' of his job after raising concerns about three Asian colleagues. Peter, once voted doctor of the year, said the experience completely destroyed his career and devastated his family life.

    Steve Brookstein

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2019 17:19


    The winner of the first ever series of the X Factor.

    Andy Grant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2019 21:03


    A man who survived being blown up in Afghanistan, and refused to let it ruin his life

    Mark Oaten

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2019 27:43


    The former Liberal Democrat MP who was at the centre of a tabloid sex scandal.

    The inspiring legacy of Jane Tomlinson

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2018 24:46


    Mike Tomlinson remembers the incredible life of his wife Jane Tomlinson, an amateur English athlete who raised £1.85 million for charity by completing a series of athletic challenges, despite suffering from terminal cancer.

    Bataclan survivors

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2018 21:33


    British couple Tony Scott and Justine Merton-Scott survived the horrific attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris on 13 November 2015. They tell Emma Barnett what it was like - and what it was like revisiting the city three years later.

    'I spent 25 years in prison for a murder I didn't commit'

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2018 25:49


    In January 1977, Annie Walsh was murdered in her Manchester flat. Four months later, neighbour Robert Brown was arrested. Within 36 hours he'd signed a confession - a confession which he says was beaten out of him. After spending 25 years maintaining his innocence in prison, the Appeal Court ruled his conviction was unsafe and he was released. Robert tells Emma Barnett his story, and explains why he is now trying to change the criminal justice system.

    Karen Downes

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2018 20:57


    Karen Downes, whose 14-year-old daughter went out with friends in 2003, and has never been seen since, tells Anna Foster about how she's coped with life after that moment. She describes in honest detail the impact on her and her family life - including the moment she stabbed her husband.

    Rogue trader

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2018 24:54


    Kweku Adoboli, the trader jailed for the UK's biggest financial fraud, tells Anna Foster why he's now fighting deportation to Ghana, the country of his birth which he left aged 4.

    Mid-Staffs whistleblower

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2018 23:06


    Helene Donnelly, the nurse who revealed the scandal at Stafford Hospital, tells Anna Foster what prompted her to become a whistleblower, and what it was like to face the backlash and the bullying.

    Utøya Attack Survivor

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2018 21:06


    Lisa-Marie Husby loved her summer trips to Utøya Island - until the day Anders Breivik turned the idyllic retreat into the scene of a mass murder. She tells Jim Taylor the story of her escape, as a new film is released showing how the massacre unfolded in real time.

    Pilot accused of lying

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2018 20:37


    Tracey Curtis-Taylor on being accused of being a fraud. She flies a vintage biplane around the world, but was accused of lying about flying solo. In 2013, she flew a 1940s Stearman from Cape Town to West Sussex, taking eight and half weeks, to recreate Lady Mary Heath's solo journey in 1928.

    The first woman to accuse Larry Nassar

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2018 26:25


    Rachael Denhollander on exposing the greatest sexual assault scandal in sports history. The American lawyer and former gymnast was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor, of sexual assault. Rachel's statement led to more than 260 other women coming forward with their stories and as a result, Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 125 years in jail.

    Paul Conroy

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2018 22:20


    War photographer Paul Conroy on his final assignment in Syria with reporter Marie Colvin before she was killed by an airstrike in Homs in 2012. Paul made it out alive - just - after being caught up in a rocket attack. His story is the subject of a new documentary - 'Under the Wire'.

    Hated for 'buying' twins

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2018 26:13


    In 2001 Judith Silett was branded Britain's most hated woman. She and her then husband had paid a US agency £8,200 to adopt twin girls from America. The press accused them of buying the children. Judith tells Anna what really happened - and why she still has no regrets despite the children being returned to the US.

    Youngest person to swim the Channel

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2018 20:15


    Tom Gregory on swimming the English Channel aged 11 in 1988. He became the youngest person to swim the 32-mile crossing and it took him 32 hours. He still holds the record and has written a book about his experience to mark the 30th anniversary – A Boy in the Water.

    The Bosnian Anne Frank

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2018 25:04


    Zlata Filipovic, whose childhood diary, written during the war in Sarajevo, became a bestseller. Thousands of civilians were killed as hundreds of shells bombarded the city each day. But Zlata and her family survived. And they survived thanks to her diary.

    Tiger Mom

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2018 24:00


    Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, on being a tough parent. Her memoir outlines her strict "Chinese" style of parenting which saw her daughters Sofia and Lulu follow a strict routine of studying and violin practice with no time allowed for TV or sleepovers.

    Dancing Man: Sean O'Brien

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2018 17:17


    Sean O'Brien, also known as 'Dancing Man' was fatshamed when pictures of him dancing were posted online by strangers. However his story took an unusual turn when musicians and stars turned out to support him including Moby, Pharrell Williams and Ellie Goulding.

    Surviving jumping off a bridge

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2018 18:26


    Michael Josephson on surviving his suicide attempt, where he broke nearly every bone in his body by jumping off a 60-foot high bridge. 20 years later, he has an MBE and a multi-million pound business.

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