‘Shrink to the stars’: exploring therapeutic broadcast talk on BBC Radio 4’s In the Psychiatrist's Chair.

Abstract

In the Psychiatrist’s Chair (BBC Radio 4, 1982–2001) featured extended interviews presented by psychiatrist Antony Clare, in which public figures were invited to reflect on their emotional lives. This article argues that the programme functioned as a hybrid broadcast form, combining elements of therapeutic encounter with the conventions of public service interviewing. Drawing on archived episodes, it examines how format, interviewing style and institutional context shaped the programme’s authority and reception. The article shows how emotionally intimate talk was legitimised through BBC public service values, and how listeners were positioned as ethical participants in the encounter. It situates the series within the history of confessional broadcasting and debates around therapeutic culture, expertise and media intimacy.