Shall we talk about death?

Matthew Bannister is marking twenty years of Radio 4’s Last Word by looking at how our attitudes to death, dying and the way we memorialise our dead have changed. In this episode Matthew reflects on how the audience reaction to the announcement of his mother’s death set him thinking about how our attitudes towards death and dying have changed over the last twenty years. Matthew visits a death café in Sussex where the conversation covered subjects such as direct cremation, funeral costs and end of life plans. And Jimmy Caulty of The KLF speaks to Matthew about his plans to create a ‘peoples pyramid’ made of bricks containing the ashes of those who have died.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Production coordinator: Jesse Edwards
Studio mixer: Dyfan Rose
Editor: Glyn Tansley