Programme Details

The civil disobedience of Fathers4Justice and the David Blunkett affair have thrust the subject of fatherhood into the headlines. And this year, scientists went so far as to create a fatherless mouse from the eggs of two female parents. Fatherhood is a source of much anxiety in the twenty first century. One in five British children does not have a father at home. Should we be concerned? Or should we take heed of cultures where fatherhood takes different forms and an absent father is not necessarily frowned upon? On Night Waves: Undercurrents Philip Dodd is joined by Michael Rosen and Ann Widdecombe, whose new novel deals with fathers. Join them as they examine the evolution of the father, the origins of our perceptions of fatherhood, and what these might become in the future.

Night Waves: Undercurrents, live at 9.30pm here on BBC Radio 3.


Presenter: PhilipDodd
Producer: Kirsty Pope



Additional information:
1) Father Figure by Ann Widdecombe will be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson
2) Manliness and Masculinities In The Nineteenth Century by John Tosh is published by Longman