This is a podcast about siblings. 

For most of us, our relationships with our brothers and sisters are the longest lasting of our lives, sometimes spanning 80 or 90 years. 

Sibling relationships come before friendships or romances, and usually outlive any links with our parents. Incredibly, you can share as little as 37.4% of your DNA with your brother or sister, or as much as 61.7% – meaning you could be more like cousins… or more like twins.  

Relatively talks to siblings about the connections they have with each other as adults, as well as what it was like growing up together. Expect nostalgia, honesty, revelations – and lots and lots of teasing.

 

“This is a sweet programme that reveals a lot about its interviewees: as, of course, we can’t be anything other than real with our brothers and sisters... I can’t get enough of hearing how families work, and Carr coaxes everyone to talk as honestly as they can. Lovely stuff.”

- Miranda Sawyer, The Observer, Jan 2020

What we do.

We also ‘go there’ on the tricky questions, asking: what impact did birth order and roles in the family have in shaping their relationship? Who’s the baby? Who is the ‘clever’ one? The ‘irresponsible’ one? Where did these labels come from, and how have they mattered?

A sprinkling of sibling science adds some academic umami – what research is there on the importance of siblings and how it shapes us as individuals? What can the experts tell us about sibling rivalry? Or how our relationships with our brothers and sisters provide a training ground for other relationships all through life? 

Host Catherine Carr has worked in radio and podcasts for over 20 years. She is the middle child of three, and created this podcast to finally get some attention…

“…most enjoyable as a evocation of the forgotten textures of ordinary life in childhood... peering into the childhoods and family lives of the famous...” ★★★★

- James Marriott, The Times, Jan 2021