Janet Ellis, Nina Myskow, Charles Foster, Sarah Kendall

Midweek

Libby Purves meets veterinarian and barrister Charles Foster; presenter and writer Janet Ellis; journalist Nina Myskow and comedian Sarah Kendall.

Sarah Kendall is an award-winning comedian and writer. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales in Australia, she is a regular cast member of Clare in the Community on BBC Radio 4 and a frequent guest on the Now Show. A Day in October, her new show, takes audiences back to a pool party she attended in 1990 with disastrous consequences. Sarah Kendall: A Day in October is at the Soho Theatre, London.

Charles Foster is a writer, traveller, veterinarian and barrister. A keen naturalist, his new book explores what it's like to be a beast: a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox and a swift He lived life as a badger for six weeks, sleeping in a dirt hole and eating earth worms, he came face to face with shrimps as he lived like an otter and he spent hours curled up in a back garden in East London and rooting around bins like an urban fox. Being a Beast is published by Profile Books.

Janet Ellis is a television presenter, actor and writer who is best known for presenting the children's television programmes Blue Peter and Jigsaw. A former actor, she recently attended a creative writing course and her first novel, The Butcher's Hook, is a gothic thriller set in Georgian London. The Butcher's Hook is published by Two Roads.

Nina Myskow is a journalist and former editor of Jackie magazine which launched in 1964. She's editor-in-chief of Jackie the Musical which starts touring in March. Jackie the Musical revisits the heady days of the 1970s and 1980s, and tells the story of a 50-something divorcée who revisits her stash of well-thumbed Jackie magazines for the same reason she first read them nearly 40 years ago - advice on how best to navigate the opposite sex. Jackie the Musical previews at the Gardyne Theatre in Dundee before touring the UK.

Producer: Paula McGinley.