Lynda Bellingham; Could the CPS do more to prosecute historic sexual assault?

The actress Lynda Bellingham is one of Britain’s best loved actresses, having spent over 40 years on our screens with parts in All Creatures Great and Small, The Bill and as a regular face on Loose Women. She’s perhaps best known as the Oxo mum from the adverts screened in the 1980s and 90s. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2013, writing in her autobiography, she has said she’s told doctors she wants chemotherapy to stop in November 2014. She joins Jenni to discuss how she came to the difficult decision to stop her treatment and how she’s preparing her husband and son’s for life after her death.

Beating Bowel Cancer

Cancer Research UK

Bowel Cancer Research 

If you haven’t caught up with last night’s Great British Bake Off final then look away now…  Fresh from being announced as the competition winner, Nancy Birtwhistle (AKA Fancy Nancy) joins Jenni to talk about her steady progress throughout the competition, her passion for baking and her somewhat spiky relationship with The Male Judge. 

In the next part of series into historic sexual abuse and assault, Jenni speaks to Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions about the role of the Crown Prosecution Service in bringing these crimes to court.  Last year the conviction rate for rape in the UK dropped for the first time in five years, which Alison said “must be addressed immediately”.  That statement was made in June, so what are the CPS doing to ensure that victims receive justice?  And how are they responding to the increase in historic cases of rape and sexual assault?  

What happens when people become ill and cannot contribute to chores around the house? How does this affect the dynamic of a relationship? Jenni talks to Joy and Nick Gravestock, both of whom had a serious illness at different times. How did they cope? And how did their experience of illness change the way they negotiate chores now they are both well again?  

British women do twice as much work at home as men.  They spend on average 133 minutes a day washing, ironing and cooking (figures from the OECD) compared to British men who spend only 66 minutes on the same tasks. There’s also childcare and doing household administration to add on top. How much does the unpaid work that a person does at home impact on the UK’s economy? What about personal finances and your relationship?  Jenni is joined by Dr Pia Schober from the German Institute for Economic Research, Dr Shireen Kanji, Lecturer in Work and Organisation at the University of Leicester and Jill Kirby, a policy analyst.