New podcast Goodbye To All This launched by BBC World Service

A new podcast, Goodbye To All This, a love story about life, loss and grief and coming back out the other side, is being launched by the BBC World Service.

Internationally acclaimed audio storyteller, Sophie Townsend tells her deeply moving, personal account of her husband falling ill and dying of cancer, and her attempts to cope with life and family and being a widow.

Although it’s Sophie’s story, in many ways it’s also ours, because it’s about what happens when your world suddenly seems to be falling apart.

Sophie’s life in Australia seemed pretty ordinary; no different to those of her friends who she met up with every Friday morning for coffee and a chat and a chance to set the world to rights. But then her husband, Russell – who’d been feeling tired all the time – had some blood tests. It turned out he was ill, very ill, and then everything in their lives changed. In 2012, Russell died of lung cancer.

With deep feeling and dark humour, this is Sophie’s scripted, beautifully crafted narrative podcast, exploring the impact of the death of someone we love. 

Episodes range from the diagnosis, to the funeral, to struggling and often failing. And how are Sophie and Russell’s daughters meant to deal with it all?

Sophie Townsend said: “Marriage, especially a marriage and two young kids, is never perfect. But life was good – busy, exhausting, but good. And then Russell got sick, and everything changed.

“I had to face things that I simply had never imagined I’d have to. But so many of us face these things.

“What I hope my story reflects is something about love, about holding on and letting go. Even when the worst happens, life goes on, because it must. And if you’re lucky, you’ll be held, and kept safe, by the people around you.”

Jon Manel, Podcast Commissioning Editor for BBC World Service English said: “I’m so grateful to Sophie for sharing her story with us all and for creating such a moving, beautiful and important podcast.

“Sophie tells us about what are, some deeply personal experiences but I think there’s much that many of us will relate to. This is a podcast that’s likely to resonate with anyone, wherever they are in world, who has experienced or feared the death of someone they love.”

The first of 12 episodes of Goodbye To All This will be released on 12 October.