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4. The Dark Side

Poet Lemn Sissay examines where he let himself do the wrong thing, and how he'd attempted to make amends. From 2016.

Batman was an orphan; Lisbeth Salander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, was an orphan; Superman was an orphan and a foundling. Cinderella was a foster child. Darth Vader - well, they can't all be winners.

Taking a comic and poetic angle, Lemn Sissay compares reality against the treatment of children raised in care, orphans and foster children in popular culture. Because it surely says something about how we view them that we create so many for fiction?

No-one, really, believes they are doing evil.

Anakin Skywalker did not become Darth Vader because he liked being bad, he did it because he believed his pregnant wife was in danger - and so began his journey to the Dark Side.

In this final, and possibly toughest, episode, Lemn examines his bad choices; where he let himself do the wrong thing - and how he has attempted to make amends.

When must you let go of your memories and live?

Written and performed by Lemn Sissay.

Producer: Ed Morrish

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2016.

8 months left to listen

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 28 Dec 202423:00

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Broadcasts

  • Mon 24 Oct 201611:30
  • Thu 2 Nov 201718:30
  • Thu 9 Nov 201707:30
  • Thu 9 Nov 201717:30
  • Thu 9 Nov 201722:00
  • Fri 10 Nov 201705:30
  • Wed 27 Nov 201922:30
  • Thu 15 Jul 202107:00
  • Thu 15 Jul 202117:00
  • Fri 16 Jul 202105:00
  • Sun 23 Apr 202323:30
  • Sat 28 Dec 202423:00