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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
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 while onstage.
Are they trying to do say anything as long as it gets a laugh? Are there subjects they would never do jokes about and is it important they are liked?
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
25 May 2026
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 'All Greek', and should we end the Mexican stand-off?
And when you look back on Beatles lyrics, are they Getting Better?
18 May 2026
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.
11 May 2026
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 how it’s changing.
4 May 2026
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 – inclusive and respectful yes, but can they make others feel left out? And is the word 'Toxic' so poisonous it should be decontaminated?
27 Apr 2026
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 years, and have we got better at tolerating accents we don’t like?
21 Apr 2026
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 Richie Brave, journalist and commentator Inaya Folarin Iman, and academic and author Dr Kehinde Andrews help us navigate what has been described as the world’s most offensive word.
13 Apr 2026
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.
6 Apr 2026
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 do victims justice.
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
30 Mar 2026
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?
Broadcasting legend Sara Cox wonders why no-one describes men of a certain age.
Plus: “circling back”, “touching base” and “being at the coal face” - the Aussie comedians exposing office trash talk…
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
24 Mar 2026
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: 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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
17 Mar 2026
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 saying Man Overboard all at sea?
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
10 Mar 2026
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 the word you’re looking for isn’t vagrant - it’s homeless…
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
3 Mar 2026
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 problematic Beatles lyrics...
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
3 Mar 2026
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 case for the prosecution be a rap lyric?
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 Sandell
For the BBC:
Content producer: Lauren Ferguson
Commissioning Executive: Will Cooper
Managing Editor: Julie Cullen
Lead Commissioning Editor: Richard Maddock
2 Mar 2026
COMING SOON: Don't Say A Word
Nicky Campbell navigates us through the grey areas of what we can and can’t say.
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