Rob Askins, Dr Dean Burnett, Mark Lockyer, Ellie Crossley

Midweek

Due to scheduling changes this episode will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 21:30. The full length programme is available online from February 17 2016.

Libby Purves meets playwright Rob Askins; actor Mark Lockyer, neuroscientist and stand-up comedian Dean Burnett and cattle warden Ellie Crossley.

Rob Askins is a writer and playwright. His play, Hand To God, is a semi-autobiographical story about his teenage years growing up in a small Texas town and attending a church puppet school. Hand To God, is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and is at the Vaudeville Theatre, London.

In 1995 Mark Lockyer was forced to abandon an acting career after suffering a breakdown. In his one-man show, Living with the Lights On, he tells of his experience living with an undiagnosed bi-polar disorder and his journey through the medical and criminal justice systems to his eventual recovery. Living with the Lights On is touring the UK, starting in Exeter and finishing at London's Young Vic.

Dr Dean Burnett is a doctor of neuroscience and a stand-up comedian. He teaches psychiatry at Cardiff University and is the author of the science blog, Brain Flapping. His book The Idiot Brain - a Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, examines how and why the brain sabotages our behaviour. The Idiot Brain - a Neuroscientist Explains What Your Head is Really Up To, is published by Guardian Faber.

Ellie Crossley is warden of the Chillingham Wild Cattle, a rare breed of animals based in Northumberland where they have grazed for over 800 years. The herd numbers around 100 beasts, and have remained genetically isolated for hundreds of years. She is the first female to hold the post of warden.