How did the company behind the revolutionary BlackBerry smartphone lose its grip on the handset market?The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates with special guest, Sir Stephen Fry, who has remained 'faithful' to the BlackBerry brand. Alongside them is the entrepreneur, Sam White, who at the end of the show has to reach her own conclusions on why BlackBerry handsets disappeared, based only on what she has just heard and her own business acumen. The first BlackBerry device freed business executives from their desks, allowing them to easily write, send and receive emails from almost anywhere. But that was not the only thing that made the BlackBerry, and its later iterations, extraordinary. The actor, comedian, author and broadcaster, Sir Stephen Fry, also used to be a tech blogger and wrote in glowing terms about BlackBerry devices...until they took a turn for the worse. Stephen explains why he was disappointed by a brand he loves and how he still hopes it might make a return. Jim Balsillie was a co-chief executive officer at Research in Motion, the company that created BlackBerry, and offers his insight into how it quickly became a $20billion business and why he felt compelled to resign from such a tremendously successful venture. The entrepreneur and tech blogger, Kevin Michaluk, witnessed how BlackBerry handsets soared and then sank. He's made a successful career out of building "spiritual successors" to them but can his attempts to bring them back under the original brand prove successful? The podcast version of this episode, available on BBC Sounds, includes a bonus interview at the end with Sir Stephen Fry on how he feels about technology and social media today.Produced by Jon Douglas / BBC Audio North
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The Sliced Bread Christmas List 2025
The team has gone through 30 episodes over the past year, and carved out five potential present worthy products that may well be heading down a chimney to you this Christmas. (We wanted to give you plenty of time to include them in your letters to Santa.) Greg Foot will share with you the key points from experts we’ve spoken to on Nail Polish & Gel Nails, Chopping Boards, Lip Balm, Smart Scales, and Sleep headbands. (The information in this episode was correct at the time of recording.) And as always, all of our investigations start with YOUR suggestions. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807. PRESENTER: GREG FOOT
PRODUCER: KATE HOLDSWORTH
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Cough Medicines
Are cough medicines any better than just taking honey and lemon?When Listener Sally sent in a croaky voicenote to our Sliced Bread Whatsapp number (07543 306807 - put us in your contacts!) we knew we had to tackle this one. Sally didn't think the medicine she used for her cough did very much, so she joined presenter Greg Foot and Jacky Smith, Professor in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester, to get some answers.Each episode Greg investigates the latest ad-hyped products and trending fads promising to make us healthier, happier and greener. Are they really 'the best thing since sliced bread' and should you spend your money on them?If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] or send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM
PRODUCERS: SIMON HOBAN AND GREG FOOT
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Car Shampoos and Coatings
Are special shampoos and coatings any good at cleaning and protecting your car? They're all over Instagram: washes, foams, and ceramic coatings in a rainbow of coloured bottles that promise to give your car that showroom shine. For listener James - a driving instructor - the question is whether they're worth the money, or if an ordinary bottle of washing up liquid will do the job.
To find out Greg is joined in the Salford studio by materials scientist and vehicle coatings researcher at the University of Manchester, Dr Beatriz Mingo, as well car expert and TV presenter Tim Shaw.
Each episode Greg investigates the latest ad-hyped products and trending fads promising to make us healthier, happier and greener. Are they really 'the best thing since sliced bread' and should you spend your money on them?
At Sliced Bread, we're hungry for your suggestions so we can keep making fresh batches! If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.
RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM
PRODUCERS: PHIL SANSOM AND GREG FOOT
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Fake Tans
Listener Julie has been reaching for the fake tan every spring to add a "bit of colour" to her legs, but after much trial and error with foams, lotions and gels, she got in touch with Sliced Bread to ask what is actually IN fake tan? How does it work - and is there a particular kind that might suit her best?Greg Foot is joined by Consultant Dermatologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester Dr Jean Ayer, as well as Cosmetic Scientist and Science Communicator who runs the blog LabMuffin Dr Michelle Wong, to find out. Each episode Greg investigates the latest ad-hyped products and trending fads promising to make us healthier, happier and greener. Are they really 'the best thing since sliced bread' and should you spend your money on them?At Sliced Bread, we're hungry for your suggestions so we can keep making fresh batches! If you’ve seen an ad, trend or wonder product promising to make you happier, healthier or greener, email us at [email protected] OR send a voice note to our WhatsApp number, 07543 306807.RESEARCHER: PHIL SANSOM
PRODUCERS: KATE HOLDSWORTH AND GREG FOOT
While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers. In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist Sean Farrington examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did people back it? Why did they get burnt? Some of the world’s most successful businesses have also brought us some of the world’s most remarkable failures. So, what led them to be toast? And what can we learn from their stories today? Sean unpicks all the early optimism, hype and ambition. He learns about the tremendous success of a brand before hearing how it faltered, with help from expert commentators and people who were directly involved. How do they view things now and what, if anything, could have been done differently? The self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, is alongside him, analysing the missteps that changed a brand’s fortunes and reaching her own, often instructive, conclusions. From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked. Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in January, 2026. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds. For this brand new series of Toast, episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode on BBC Sounds first, a week earlier than anywhere else.Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4.
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