HARDtalk

Hardtalk (styled as HARDtalk) is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.

It is broadcast four days a week (Monday to Thursday) on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World. Until early 2005, the host was Tim Sebastian, whose famous, and sometimes controversial, style of tough questioning brought a huge world audience to the show.

Since 2006, the show has been presented by Stephen Sackur, who was previously the BBC's correspondent in Washington and Brussels and who is an experienced interviewer who has grilled U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is occasionally replaced by several other well-known BBC presenters such as Zeinab Badawi, Carrie Gracie and Sarah Montague. Other occasional presenters have included Jon Sopel, David Jessel, Lyse Doucet, Nisha Pillai and Noel Thompson.

Hardtalk has featured some of the best known personalities in the world, who have subjected themselves to Mr Sebastian's or Mr Sackur's grilling. Guests have included the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, South African President Thabo Mbeki, popular musician Boy George and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

Hardtalk Extra, a variant of Hardtalk, first aired in 2004 and was devoted to the world of arts and culture, with a particular focus on authors. The programme was usually presented by Gavin Esler or Mishal Husain. Guests included writers Paulo Coelho, Anita Desai, V.S. Naipaul, and Salman Rushdie, actress Angelina Jolie, and the actor Christopher Reeve.

Extra Time was another programme from the Hardtalk team, presented by Rob Bonnet and broadcast on both BBC World News and the BBC News channel, featuring people from the world of sport, including professional tennis-players Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick.

There are two South-Asian versions of the above: Hardtalk India and Hardtalk Pakistan.

External links

• HARDtalk at BBC Online