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Cast Iron Productions

124 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago -

Established in 2011 Cast Iron’s mission is to make life enhancing, important, informative, inspiring, imaginative and memorable productions.

The company is an affiliation of producers, directors, writers, composers and engineers. We work with experts and artists in all fields and collaborate with recordists in far flung places, to bring the voices and sounds of the world to bear.

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Episodes

Tate Modern - Exploding the Canon

November 03, 2020 17:45 - 43 minutes - 99.7 MB

Since its inception, Tate Modern was set to move beyond the canon of western art history into the relatively uncharted waters of the global contemporary. This programme was set to celebrate Tate Modern's 20th anniversary, but was stalled by the lockdown, during which time the role of museums and galleries in a pandemic world have been in the spotlight and Tate has been entreated to decolonise and to deal with its patriarchal past. For Director Frances Morris, there is an urgency to ensure Tat...

Dyslexia: Language and childhood

October 06, 2020 00:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MB

Dyslexia: Language and childhood by

Dyslexia: Into adulthood

October 06, 2020 00:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MB

Stella Sabin hears from dyslexic people across the world who reveal the challenges of growing up and working with dyslexia, and from experts at the cutting edge of dyslexia research. Reading and writing are fundamental tools in most societies, necessary for even the most basic of tasks. For the dyslexic this can cause an agonising disjuncture from an early age. Many dyslexic people will recall the difficulties of decoding words, the horror of the spelling test, the forgetfulness, and the sha...

The Topping Tooters Of The Town (produced with Just Radio)

April 07, 2020 08:49 - 27 minutes - 44.5 MB

'These are the topping tooters of the town, who play "Lilliburlero" to my Lord Mayor's horse through the city.' In an exhilarating programme, William Lyons (musician and specialist in performance and Renaissance music) celebrates the music of the Waits - a professional band of musicians who played for civic and ceremonial occasions in major towns across the country until 1835. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Carlos Gardel: Tango To The New World (Part 2)

March 03, 2020 15:13 - 26 minutes - 60.6 MB

Tango dancer Fabian Salas explores the nostalgia and drama in the music of Carlos Gardel. He is the most famous figure in Tango and yet, the story and music of Argentina's national hero is barely known outside Latin America. A hundred years ago, Gardel recorded Mi Noche Triste (My Sad Night), and for listeners who are Argentinian or Uruguayan, the song can stop time. Produced for The BBC World Service

Carlos Gardel Tango To The New World Part 2

March 03, 2020 15:13 - 26 minutes - 60.6 MB

Carlos Gardel Tango To The New World Part 2 by

Carlos Gardel: Tango To The New World (Part 1)

March 03, 2020 15:13 - 22 minutes - 52.6 MB

Tango dancer Fabian Salas explores the nostalgia and drama in the music of Carlos Gardel. He is the most famous figure in Tango and yet, the story and music of Argentina's national hero is barely known outside Latin America. A hundred years ago, Gardel recorded Mi Noche Triste (My Sad Night), and for listeners who are Argentinian or Uruguayan, the song can stop time. Produced for The BBC World Service

Carlos Gardel Tango To The New World Part 1

March 03, 2020 15:13 - 22 minutes - 52.6 MB

Carlos Gardel Tango To The New World Part 1 by

Albrecht Durer Printing Press Native

September 20, 2019 13:42 - 43 minutes - 99.6 MB

Albrecht Dürer - the artist who depicted the stout Rhinoceros (1515) or the Young Hare (1502) or the Self Portrait in the image of Christ (1500) - was the first truly international artist. No artist before him had been a famous name around Europe in his own lifetime. What brought him that fame was the print: reproducible art sprung from brand new technology. Dürer was someone who we might refer to today as a "printing press native". While Michelangelo was covering the vast ceiling of the Sist...

Albrecht Durer: Printing Press Native

September 20, 2019 13:42 - 43 minutes - 99.6 MB

Albrecht Dürer - the artist who depicted the stout Rhinoceros (1515) or the Young Hare (1502) or the Self Portrait in the image of Christ (1500) - was the first truly international artist. No artist before him had been a famous name around Europe in his own lifetime. What brought him that fame was the print: reproducible art sprung from brand new technology. Produced for BBC Radio 3

The Syrians and the Kindertransport

September 20, 2019 13:24 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MB

Ruth and Lia were smuggled to Britain as Kindertransport refugees in the 1930s. Louai and Murad fled Syria three years ago. Nikki Tapper hears their stories in Birmingham. Produced by George Luke A Cast Iron Radio production for BBC Radio 4

The Empire Strikes Black

September 20, 2019 12:49 - 27 minutes - 63.5 MB

Journalist Hugh Muir travels with Sir Simon Woolley, head of Operation Black Vote, to Buckingham Palace, where he is to receive his knighthood from HM The Queen. It’s a journey that lays bare the dilemma, the joy, the soul-searching and the agony of being honoured for services to the British Empire, for anyone whose family history is one of oppression, slavery or violence as a consequence of the Empire. When Sir Simon heard he had been selected for a knighthood, he felt elation - then anxiet...

Caribritish: Children of Windrush (Part 1)

September 20, 2019 10:14 - 27 minutes - 63.3 MB

In the first of a two part series, journalist Hugh Muir examines Carib-British identity through the descendants of Windrush. Seventy years ago, 492 men and women disembarked at Tilbury dock from the Empire Windrush. We have seen the photos and the newsreels. But what happened next? What do we know about the families they built here, the children and grandchildren? Did the Caribbean culture they brought with them endure, or are their children and grandchildren in all ways British? Hugh Muir ...

Barbara Windsor's Funny Girls: Phyllis Diller (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 10:04 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MB

To mark the life of the irrepressible Phyllis Diller, the first female stand up comedian, who died on August 20th this year (2012), BBC Radio 2 returns to a recent documentary, recorded with Diller in her glamorous Brentwood Home in LA, when she was still going strong aged 94. Produced for BBC Radio 2

Living And Present: Laurie Anderson on Performance Art

September 20, 2019 10:02 - 43 minutes - 70 MB

Pioneering artist Laurie Anderson traces the roots of performance art - the most daring and popular of contemporary art forms, which blurs the boundaries of art, theatre and dance. More and more artists are drawing on the live quality of performance in their work: the artist Marina Abramovic was present for three months in New York's Museum of Modern Art for visitors to lock eyes with, silent and motionless; this year's prestigious Venice Biennale Golden Lion prize was given to the performan...

Maiden Voyage: The First Woman In Space

September 20, 2019 10:02 - 27 minutes - 44.5 MB

In 1963 Valentina Tereshkova, a simple factory worker, was sent on a solo mission to space. She became a hero in her country, a legend around the world and an icon of gender equality. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Pina Bausch: Dance For Your Life (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 10:02 - 27 minutes - 44.3 MB

Recorded with dancers in Pina Bausch's Tanztheater company in Wuppertal, former lead dancer for the Royal Ballet, Deborah Bull, pays tribute to this extraordinary artist. Produced for BBC Radio 4

A Body Of Essays : Philip Kerr : The Brain

September 20, 2019 10:01 - 13 minutes - 31.3 MB

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more puz...

Speaking In Tongues (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MB

Speaking In Tongues (produced with Just Radio) by

A Body Of Essays : Thomas Lynch : The Uterus

September 20, 2019 09:57 - 13 minutes - 31.4 MB

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection Reading Room is the setting for a series of 'The Essay' devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our mental and emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be all the more p...

A Body Of Essays : Ned Beauman : The Appendix

September 20, 2019 09:56 - 13 minutes - 31.1 MB

As part of a series of reflections about organs of the human body, novelist and journalist Ned Beauman confronts the idea that the appendix is redundant.

A Body Of Essays : Daljit Nagra : The Lungs

September 20, 2019 09:56 - 13 minutes - 31.6 MB

As part of a series of reflections about organs of the human body, poet Daljit Nagra describes how the lungs are an exchange system, similar to poetry.

A Body Of Essays: Mark Ravenhill : The Gall Bladder

September 20, 2019 09:56 - 13 minutes - 31.4 MB

As part of a series of reflections about organs of the human body, playwright Mark Ravenhill asks whether his identity has changed since his gall bladder was removed.

Contagious Cities: SARS In Hong Kong by Dorothy Tse

September 20, 2019 09:55 - 18 minutes - 41.2 MB

Hong Kong writer Dorothy Tse considers SARS. Produced for BBC Radio 3

A Body Of Essays : Christina Patterson : The Skin

September 20, 2019 09:55 - 13 minutes - 30.9 MB

As part of a series of reflections about organs of the human body, writer Christina Patterson reflects on the skin and her own experience of living with acne.

London And TB. TB Stories by Frances Wilson

September 20, 2019 09:54 - 17 minutes - 41.1 MB

Author Frances Wilson discovers the hidden world of TB in London.

Contagious Cities: TB in London by Frances Wilson

September 20, 2019 09:54 - 17 minutes - 41.1 MB

Author Frances Wilson discovers the hidden world of TB in London. Produced for BBC Radio 3

Contagious Cities: Polio In New York by Dava Sobel

September 20, 2019 09:52 - 17 minutes - 41.2 MB

Dava Sobel journeys around New York, seeing the city in the light of its polio epidemic in 1916. Part of the Contagious Cities series. Produced for BBC Radio 3

Polio In New York by Dava Sobel

September 20, 2019 09:52 - 17 minutes - 41.2 MB

Dava Sobel journeys around New York, seeing the city in the light of its polio epidemic in 1916. Part of the Contagious Cities series.

A Body Of Essays : Annie Freud : The Kidneys

September 20, 2019 09:51 - 13 minutes - 31 MB

In an ongoing collaboration with BBC Radio 3, the Wellcome Collection's Reading Room is the setting for a series of Radio 3's 'The Essay', in this case devoted to the bodily organs. 'Body of Essays' invites five writers to ruminate on a different organ of the body. This strange proposition has a mysterious allure: the organs are hidden, buried from view, and yet are at the very core of our physical functioning as well as our emotional world. Suctioned together in dark flesh, the organs can be...

No Ideas But In Things : The Poetry Of William Carlos Williams

September 20, 2019 09:51 - 27 minutes - 11.1 MB

William Carlos Williams is known as a revolutionary figure in poetry but, in comparison to his friend Ezra Pound and American writers including TS Eliot and Gertrude Stein, who sought a more exciting environment for creativity in Europe, Williams lived a strikingly conventional life. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Art Disrupted: Damien Hirst And Co (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 09:47 - 27 minutes - 44.5 MB

This programme explores the various forces at work that would ultimately lead to the storm of Damien Hirst and co. We'll hear from Jon Thompson and Michael Craig Martin, who taught many of the artists at Goldsmiths, Hirst himself on his own beginnings as an artist, his recognition that London's art world would have to change to accommodate him and his friends, his views on his work and his idea of the role of the artist today. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Art Disrupted Damien Hirst And Co (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 09:47 - 27 minutes - 44.5 MB

This programme explores the various forces at work that would ultimately lead to the storm of Damien Hirst and co. We'll hear from Jon Thompson and Michael Craig Martin, who taught many of the artists at Goldsmiths, Hirst himself on his own beginnings as an artist, his recognition that London's art world would have to change to accommodate him and his friends, his views on his work and his idea of the role of the artist today. We hear from Nick Serota on the role of Tate, Louisa Buck on the ...

Peter Brough: His Master's Voice

September 20, 2019 09:46 - 56 minutes - 130 MB

By James Maw and Tim Sullivan. Rob Brydon is ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews in a new play that tells the true story behind one of the most successful radio shows of all time. With Fenella Woolgar as Peggy Brough. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Illuminating the Stage

September 20, 2019 09:45 - 43 minutes - 99.7 MB

"Without light there is no space". Robert Wilson With glowing lights dispelling the dark of the season, Fiona Shaw explores theatrical lighting. Produced for BBC Radio 3

When You're Gone You're Gone

September 20, 2019 09:45 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MB

English composer Jocelyn Took leads a poignant and engaging piece in which she explores what happens when we die. With especially composed music and compelling recordings of local shop keepers and friends, an Irish mystic and, not least a conversation she had with her mother, before she died last year, this programme will captivate believer and non believers to ponder. Originally aired: Between the Ears, BBC Radio 3

Un-forgetting Julius Eastman

September 20, 2019 09:45 - 27 minutes - 38 MB

Experimental vocalist and movement artist Elaine Mitchener remembers the life and music of the brilliant New York composer-performer, Julius Eastman, whose work, she feels, has been wrongly overlooked. Produced for BBC Radio 4

UNESCO : 70 Years Of Peacekeeping

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 27 minutes - 62.9 MB

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and Syria has been condemned as a war crime by UNESCO - the 'intellectual' agency of the United Nations. But aside from issuing statements, what can this organisation achieve? Produced for BBC Radio 4

The Raft Of The Medusa

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 56 minutes - 130 MB

Set in the near future. After months of continuous rain all coastal areas of the UK are flooded. Bella and Jude are marooned on their farm, and their supplies are getting low. Simon Armitage and film-maker Richard Heslop were inspired to collaborate as a tribute to the film maker Derek Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994. Produced for BBC Radio 4

The Neglected Sense

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 27 minutes - 63.4 MB

We may fear going blind, deaf or dumb, but few of us worry about losing our olfactory senses. And yet more than 200,000 people in the UK are anosmic - they cannot smell. Produced for BBC Radio 4

The Glass Piano (produced with Just Radio)

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 30 minutes - 41.4 MB

Writer and poet Deborah Levy considers the true story of Princess Alexandra Amelie of Bavaria, 1826-1875 who at the age of 23 was observed awkwardly walking sideways down the corridors of her family palace. When questioned by her worried royal parents, she announced that she had swallowed a grand glass piano. This is a magical tale on the one hand and a partial history and analysis of mental delusions on the other. Produced for BBC Radio 3

Singing The Stones

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 27 minutes - 63.5 MB

Kirsti Melville hears from indigenous people about the importance of the ancient rock carvings and songlines in Murujuga or the Dampier Archipelago in Australia. Produced for BBC Radio 4

A Column For Infinity

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 43 minutes - 100 MB

Brancusi's sculptural series in Targu Jiu, South West Romania, is a powerful memorial to the First World War, culminating with the Endless Column - he called it "a column for infinity". It is one of the great art works of the twentieth century: its simplicity, directness, and modularity helped to define the fundamental principles of modern abstract sculpture. Here, the writer Patrick McGuinness travels to the site to piece together the story of Brancusi's important work and its significance i...

Ella Fitzgerald: A Glorious Noise

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 27 minutes - 63.7 MB

Acclaimed singer and Ella Fitzgerald devotee, Mara Carlyle, examines the life and vocal magnificence of the most beloved of jazz singers - marking the centenary of her birth. Produced for BBC Radio 4

A Glorious Noise: Ella Fitzgerald

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 27 minutes - 63.7 MB

Acclaimed singer and Ella Fitzgerald devotee, Mara Carlyle, examines the life and vocal magnificence of the most beloved of jazz singers - marking the centenary of her birth. Mara visits Harlem to trace Ella's ascent from humble origins to becoming one of America's greatest stars, exploring the voice that transformed her fortunes and changed the face of jazz forever. She's joined by a host of singers including opera queen Jessye Norman, Dianne Reeves, Emiliana Torrini, ESKA, and her own aun...

In Search Of Yves Klein

September 20, 2019 09:44 - 43 minutes - 100 MB

Yves Klein is best remembered for his use of a single colour, Yves Klein International Blue, but his theories, extravagant performances, and his radical conceptions have largely gone unacknowledged. Emerging as an artist after three decades of war and destruction, Klein's work and ideas are characterised by a jubilant 'breaking-free' from the clench of the early 20th century-- by optimism, exploration and a desire to experience life beyond the physical world - the "immaterial' as he called it...

Making Art With Frances Morris: Sophie Calle

September 20, 2019 09:43 - 27 minutes - 63.5 MB

Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, meets French artist Sophie Calle in her studio in south west Paris. The studio is a cabinet of curiosities, with an incredible array of intriguing objects including stuffed animals, one of which, the head and shoulders of a giraffe, represents the artist's mother - while a tiger is her father and the zebra, her cat Souris. Produced for BBC Radio 4

Making Art With Frances Morris: Miroslaw Balka

September 20, 2019 09:43 - 41 minutes - 95.3 MB

Polish artist Miroslaw Balka gives Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern, an epic tour of the small, cramped spaces that are his studio, store and home in Otwock, near Warsaw. Produced for BBC Radio 4

George Ellery Hale: Prince Of The Sun

September 20, 2019 09:42 - 26 minutes - 61.2 MB

A celebration of the amazing work of the little known astronomer (the world’s first astrophysicist) George Ellery Hale. He covered the peak of Mount Wilson with a constellation of instruments for observing the sky. His first objective - to study one particular star, our Sun. Hale’s monumental discovery in 1908 – that the Sun generated powerful magnetic fields - has been a source of inspiration for the world’s astronomers. Produced for The BBC World Service

Doing Goya Justice: The Curator's Story

September 20, 2019 09:42 - 43 minutes - 100 MB

Xavier Bray is a curator on a nail-biting journey to put together the greatest exhibition of portraits by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya, which opens at the National Gallery later this year (2015). Produced for BBC Radio 3

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His Master's Voice
1 Episode