Hosted by Pushkin Industries and BBC Studios · 🇨🇦 CA · EN · 11 episodes
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Every legend has a twist. From pop culture icons to music and comedy greats, award-winning journalists Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi dig into the BBC archive to unpick the story behind the icons who shape our culture.Each week on Big Lives, Kai and Emmanuel take an iconic figure — from musical trailblazers like David Bowie, Amy Winehouse and Tina Turner to stars of the screen like Richard Pryor, Meg Ryan and Jane Fonda — and dissect their lives. Join them as they see these icons in a new light, uncover deep cuts from the BBC's archive, and learn how each legend set the stage for our contemporary cultural landscape. After all, you can't understand today's culture until you understand the icons who built it. Smart, curious, and full of heart.Listen ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Big Lives show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus. Subscribe to BBC on Apple Podcasts and on BBC.com.
Pushkin Industries and BBC Studios hosts Big Lives, a society show with 11 episodes published.
Ziggy Stardust didn’t just land - he detonated. We rewind to David Bowie’s 1972 Top of the Pops breakthrough and unpack the paradox at its core: a “meaningless” persona that transformed culture. Was Ziggy a liberation en
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What happened to the golden age of Rom-Coms? Emmanuel and Kai tell the story of the Rom-Com boom via the career of its biggest star, Meg Ryan. From When Harry Met Sally, to one of the more infamous talk show appearances
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He screamed, shimmered and rewrote popular music and then disappeared from the throne he built. This episode reveals Little Richard’s unstoppable rise, painful erasure, and lifelong battle between the divine and the prof
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What happens when a black icon refuses to make white audiences comfortable? This episode traces Muhammad Ali’s BBC interviews—full of swagger and wit, fury and fallout—to reveal how he reshaped media, protest and public
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Born into a spotlight she never asked for, Liza Minnelli didn’t only survive her inheritance—she made it into her own art. Using BBC archive, iconic performances, and her complicated bond with her mother Judy Garland, we
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Sir David Attenborough turns 100 this year—and no one has done more to shape how humanity sees our planet. But for years, there was one issue he didn’t talk about. Emmanuel & Kai chart the story of how one nerdy rock-col
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LL Cool J didn’t conquer hip‑hop by being the toughest or the slickest, he did it by being unabashedly himself. Kai & Emmanuel break down the charisma, contradictions, and carefully crafted showmanship that turned a Quee
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Amy Winehouse rewrote the rules of modern songwriting by refusing to fake a single feeling. In this episode, Kai and Emmanuel explore the BBC archive and find how a teenage jazz obsessive became a generational storytelle
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Richard Pryor redefined comedy by telling the truth, even when it scorched him. In this raw, riveting episode, Kai and Emmanuel unearth BBC archival tape to explore how Pryor rose from a Peoria, Illinois brothel to becom
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George Michael was more than scandal headlines and tabloid punchlines. He was one of the defining pop artists of his generation. Through rare BBC interviews, Kai and Emmanuel unspool the emotional arc behind the hits: te
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Jane Fonda didn’t just change Hollywood; she rattled American politics, beauty standards, and the birth of modern fitness culture. Kai and Emmanuel dig into the BBC archives to trace how the Oscar-winning “nudie cutie” b
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Big Lives is a show about the cultural giants we think we know - until the archive proves we don’t. Each episode, acclaimed journalists Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi dive into the BBC’s century‑deep vault of interviews,
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Big Lives is hosted by Pushkin Industries and BBC Studios. The show is categorised under society (culture) and has published 11 episodes.
Big Lives has published 11 episodes.
Big Lives regularly covers society, culture, arts. It sits in the society category, with a culture focus.
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Episodes of Big Lives average 44 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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