A historical archive of Jo Wheeler's audio productions for a range of Radio Indies
2020/2021
Beijing: Beyond the Masks
Over a year after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the headlines in China, Liyang Liu explores the hidden impacts on people in her home city Beijing. Liyang discovers things have changed in more subtle ways beyond the masks in this mega city of over 20 million people.
BBC World Service: July 2021
LISTEN NOWThe Man in the Balaclava
Ashley Coulston is a convicted triple murderer, but was he responsible for far more carnage? Wherever Coulston went, a pattern of unsolved crimes followed, including those of Australia’s infamous ‘balaclava killer’ who has never been unmasked.
Audible / 7 Digital Creative
LISTEN NOWDebutante: Race, Resistance and Girl Power
They're wearing ball gowns, they're debutantes... and they're black. The debs' ball is a controversial colonial export but can it be empowering too? Australia's most celebrated young playwright Nakkiah Lui and actress Miranda Tapsell put on their hats and gloves to find out.
Audible / Pipi Films / 7 Digital Creative
LISTEN NOW2019/2020
Borderliners
A new poem by Hannah Lowe exploring the life of her Jamaican Chinese father and grandparents.
BBC Radio 4
A Dream Vision for Our Times
Chaucer’s Dream vision poems are surprisingly relevant today.
BBC Radio 4 / Just Radio
The Deported
Three people who were deported to Nigeria after many years in the UK.
BBC Radio 4 / Somethin’ Else
LISTEN NOWHauswork: Women of the Bauhaus
The women of the Bauhaus art school.
BBC Radio 3 / Just Radio
LISTEN NOW2018
The Last Poets at 50
Politics and rhythm of New York spoken word collective.
BBC Radio 4 / Just Radio
Claudia Rankine: On Whiteness
Poet Claudia Rankine on the ubiquity of dyed blonde hair.
BBC Radio 4 / Just Radio
Africa’s Big Philanthropy
Alan Kasujja on how some of the richest are giving their money away.
BBC World Service / Just Radio
LISTEN NOWIslands on the Front Line
How these remote Pacific Islands are experiencing climate change.
World Service
LISTEN NOWChina's Generation Gap
Haining Liu in Beijing explores the gap between old and young in China.
World Service / Just Radio
LISTEN NOWJourneys in Afrofuturism
The resurgence of afrofuturism in arts and music.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
LISTEN NOW2017
Lonely in Lagos
Wana Udobang in Nigeria talks to people about loneliness.
World Service / Just Radio
LISTEN NOWShanghai City of Youth
A series about young people in China's most populous city.
World Service / Just Radio
LISTEN NOWA Song for Syria
Syrian refugees and their musical instruments in Lebanon.
World Service / Just Radio
LISTEN NOW2016
Blue Canvas, The Artist Miles Davis
A look at how the jazz musician became a painter.
BBC Radio 4
LISTEN NOWTennant Looks Back at Osborne
On the 60th anniversary of John Osborne's Look back in Anger, David Tennant explores the biographical back story to the play.
BBC Radio 4 / Bite Media
LISTEN NOWThe Boda Boda Boom
Alan Kasujja explores the rise of Uganda's motorbike taxis.
World Service
LISTEN NOW2015
Ginsberg in India
Following in the footsteps of beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Jeet Thayil retraces his journey through India in the early 1960s.
BBC Radio 3
LISTEN NOWSarah Lucas at the Venice Biennale
With exclusive access to record with Sarah Lucas as she prepares for this year's Venice Biennale we present a rare and intimate radio portrait of one of Britain's most influential artists.
BBC Radio 4
LISTEN NOWChina's Football Revolution
Clive Anderson visits China to find out how football is transforming the country.
BBC Radio 4 / Just Radio
LISTEN NOW2014
Dr Hepcat and the Hepster's Dictionary
Lemn Sissay looks back at singer and bandleader Cab Calloway's dictionary of jive talk, which documented the musician's slang of 1930s Harlem.
Radio 4
LISTEN NOWThe Black Liberace
Record producer Joe Boyd remembers his time working with the great New Orleans pianist James Booker; the best one-eyed, gay, junkie piano player New Orleans ever produced…
Radio 4
LISTEN NOW2013
Johnny Cash and the Forgotten Prison Blues
Danny Robins explores the overlooked prison gigs of the Man in Black, featuring newly unearthed sound archives.
Radio 4 / World Service / Unique Broadcasting Corporation
PLAY PART 1 PLAY PART 2Radio Academy Award Silver Winner, Best Documentary
"An ear-opening radio documentary about a very gritty subject done with a deft and musical touch, exploring previously little known aspects of a musical legend."
JUDGES, RADIO ACADEMY AWARDS
Fear and Trembling in Copenhagen
Philosopher Nigel Warbuton looks at the strange world of the father of existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard.
Radio 3 / Just Radio
T.S Eliot's India: Many Gods, Many Voices
Poet Daljit Nagra reveals the little known Indian side to T.S Eliot, and looks at how the author of The Waste Land nearly became a Buddhist.
Radio 4 / Brook Lapping
The Archive Hour: Collar the Lot
Actor Tom Conti explores Italian internment in World War II, and visits the Isle of Man where is own father was interned.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
2012
The Piano in Five Pieces
Five essays about the piano by Alastair Sooke, Wendy Cope, Susan Tomes, Luke Jerram and Stuart Isacoff.
Radio 3 / Just Radio
Soho Stories
Audio app exploring the rich history of London's Soho, presenter Barry Cryer.
National Trust / Phantom Productions
A Foreigner Everywhere
Paul Farley explores the poet Elizabeth Bishop's Brazil years.
Radio 4
The Wire: Father, Son And Holy Ghost
A new play from award-winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah about a young, radical pastor whose rising church career is under threat.
Radio 3
Architects of Taste
Ian Kelly explores the art of food and architects of cookery.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
2011
The Sleep Diaries
Poet Paul Farley mixes science, history and the arts to explore the mysteries of sleep.
Radio 4
"A lovely series… about sleep that draw on poems, history, science, personal experience and proper research to weave together little dreams of what it's like… Paul Farley… is a familiar presence on Radios 3 and 4, and Jo Wheeler, his producer, serves him well"
GILLIAN REYNOLDS, DAILY TELEGRAPH
The Truth About NGOs
Alan Little explores the NGO sector in India.
World Service / Just Radio
The Poetry of Aran
The poet Daljit Nagra explores the poetic appeal of the Irish Aran islands.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
Atomic States
A look at the history and future of the nuclear industry with Richard Black.
World Service
Music Weekly podcast: Little Dragon
Podcast presented by Alexis Petridis.
The Guardian
The Swedish Invasion
Comedian Danny Robins explores the current Swedish cultural invasion.
Radio 4
Science fiction, and the age of astronomy
Podcast presented by Alok Jha.
The Guardian Science Weekly
The human era, and war without tears
Podcast presented by Alok Jha.
The Guardian Science Weekly
A Thousand Kisses
A new play by Frederic Raphael about the Roman poet Catullus.
Radio 3
2010
One Planet, 2050: An Earth Odyssey
Richard Black looks at solutions to environmental issues.
World Service
Minimum Wage
Guardian podcast, with Jon Henley.
The Guardian
English Words, Indian Lines
Daljit Nagra explores Indian poetry in English.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
The Mary Whitehouse Effect
Joan Bakewell looks at 50 years of moral outrage.
Radio 4 / Just Radio
Couples
A series of essays by Oscar-winning writer Frederic Raphael.
Radio 3
Final Demands
The second sequel to Frederic Raphael's The Glittering Prizes.
Radio 4
The Essay: Chopin
A celebration of Chopin's bicentenary presented by Piers Lane.
Radio 3
2009
Child of the State
Poet Lemn Sissay explores his childhood in state and foster care.
Radio 4
"This excellent listen… was surprising at every turn and left a lasting impression on those who listened to it"
SONY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST FEATURE
Elvis: Movie King or Celluloid Sellout
The forgotten movies of the King of Rock n Roll.
Radio 2/Just Radio
Bal Bazaar 'Between the Ears'
with award-winning poet Daljit Nagra.
Radio 3
Hitchcon '09
Douglas Adams panel show at the Royal Festival Hall
With Clive Anderson
The Movie that Changed my Life
Honor Blackman discusses movie classic All About Eve.
Radio 2
Bonjour Monsieur Aznavour
Series about legendary French singer with Petula Clark.
Radio 2
Chopin's Neighbour
A look at the life and work of overlooked romantic genius Alkan.
Radio 3
2008
Tulips in Winter
Drama on 3 with Timothy Spall.
Radio 3
The Archive Hour: 50 Years of Ban the Bomb
Presented by Matthew Parris.
Radio 4
2007
W.H. Auden Centenary programme about the poet's love of music.
Presenter Alexander McCall Smith.
Radio 4
"Masterly, entertaining. By far the best of all the programmes I have heard celebrating W.H Auden's centenary… clear, precise, elegant, illuminating… archive in exact and well-chosen amounts.
The choice of recording was exemplary, the script beautifully written and spoken. I have seldom spent half an hour in more rewarding company. Complaints? Not one."
GILLIAN REYNOLDS, DAILY TELEGRAPH
Fish for Life
Investigative series about the global fishing industry.
World Service
Fame and Fortune
Frederic Raphael's sequel to The Glittering Prizes with Tom Conti and Miranda Richardson. Radio 4 Chloe, by Mike Stott. With Alison Steadman.
Radio 4
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
2008
Iain Burnside
Themed weekly music strand.
Radio 3
Clive Anderson's Chat Room
Topical comedy series.
Radio 2
Opus Dei, presenter Roger Bolton.
Investigation into controversial religious order.
World Service
Naked Ambitions
Exploration of the glamour industry.
1Xtra
Mean Girls
Investigation into young women and violence with access to New Hall Prison.
1Xtra
PRODUCTION MANAGER/AP
2007/8
On the Blog
Two series of sitcom starring Caroline Quentin.
Radio 2
2006
The Real Thing
by Tom Stoppard, directed by Trevor Nunn.
Radio 4
2005
The S.J. Perelman Story
presented by Woody Allen.
Radio 4
'Til the End of the Day: The Kinks Story
presented by Chrissie Hynde.
Radio 2
Jam Yesterday
By Peter Nichols, starring Warren Mitchell.
World Service
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
By Douglas Adams, starring Simon Jones.
Radio 4