Madeleine Bunting is a regular broadcaster for BBC Radio.
She has written five series of Essays for Radio 3.
2021, The Meaning of Ritual
With the decline of faith and deference in western societies, what rituals do we still need or use. Tracing the history of ritual over thousands of years, Bunting interviews a wide range of people to explore how we make up, invent rituals and what meaning they hold in daily life. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m0012pnd
2020, Home Sweet Home
A series of 5 essays exploring aspects of our love, loss - and fear - of home. The series examines the many dimensions of what we call home, from an Iron Age hut to the home button on our smartphones.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g3lq
2018, Are You Paying Attention?
Looking at the impact of digital technologies on patterns of attention, the series examined some of the ways attention has been manipulated in the past as well as considering the psychology which lies behind it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09sqvc2
An essay summarising the series was published on the New York Review of Books website. https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/03/15/disarming-the-weapons-of-mass-distraction/
2016, The Crisis of Care
Based on a wide range of interviews of people whose work is defined by care, it reflected on why this essential human activity attracts so little recognition and is so poorly understood.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0741jl8
2014, The Retreating Roar
A personal reflection on the decline of Christianity. It was shortlisted for Lambeth Palace's Sandford Prize.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04148hr/episodes/player
'Stirring, thought-provoking stuff'
The Spectator