Alan Dein, 60, is an oral historian who makes unmissable documentaries for Radio 4 and the World Service. In 2007, his series Don’t Hang Up, where he cold-called public phone boxes across the world late at night, earned him the Prix Italia, the Prix Europa, a silver Sony award and a gold Third Coast award. The programme that grew out of it, Don’t Log Off, where he interviews strangers via the internet, is now in its 13th series. Dein also makes Radio 4’s Lives in a Landscape, about British people and their lives, and has compiled an LP of East End Yiddisher jazz 1920-1950. “I don’t make shows about ordinary people,” he has said. “I make programmes about people who aren’t usually interviewed.”
Did you know that Don’t Hang Up would be a massive success?
Not at all. I mean, you’re literally fishing. You’re sitting there at 3am, with your hook and line, hoping someone’s going to pick up. And actually, me and producer Mark Berman ended up on [Radio 4 complaints programme] Feedback, with listeners saying they paid for the BBC licence, and they don’t want to hear from these kinds of people, they shouldn’t be on the radio. Even within the BBC, some people loved it, some absolutely loathed it. But they let us continue working on it, and one of the episodes won lots and lots of awards.
