Woman's Hour - Weekend Woman's Hour: Melanie C, Breast reconstruction delays, Sarah Finch

Episode Date: April 25, 2026

Melanie C has been a household name for the past three decades, since the Spice Girls burst into the charts with Wannabe and went on to become the world’s biggest ever girl group. She says her new solo album Sweat is a chance to bring together all the different aspects of herself, from pop star to superstar DJ, teenage raver to being fit in her 50s. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her latest album, body image, and finding confidence in her 40s and 50s.At the height of the Covid pandemic, hundreds of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer had mastectomies without reconstruction - procedures that would usually happen at the same time, but were paused because they were considered non-essential. Many women were told they would be able to have reconstructive surgery once the restrictions lifted. But five years on, some are still waiting: living with pain and discomfort, and unable to move on with their lives. Joining Nuala McGovern are journalist Rosie Taylor, who has been speaking to the women affected, and Alison from StockportOn Monday, Sarah Finch became the European recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, for her work against oil drilling in Surrey, with the Weald Action Group. Their long legal battle led to a landmark judgement on fossil fuel emissions. The Goldman Prize, often referred to as the ‘Green Nobel’, honours grassroots environmental activists from around the world. For the first time since its inception, all six prizes were won by women. Sarah joins Anita to discuss what the award means to her. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4. Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast. Hello and welcome to the programme. We've got a shorter edition today, so coming up, we'll be finding out why six years on from the COVID pandemic, many women who underwent mastectomies for breast cancer are still awaiting breast reconstruction. And we hear from Sarah Finch, who's just become the European recipient, of the Goldman Prize, often referred to as the Green Nobel for her work against oil drilling in Surrey with the Wheeled Action Group.

But first, Melanie C. She's been a household name for the past three decades, ever since the Spice Girls exploded into the charts with wannabe back in 1996. That's dated us. They went on to become the world's biggest and best-selling girl group. Melanie has also gone on to enjoy a hugely successful solo career and her ninth studio album, Sweat, is out on May 1st. It's described as a love letter to those heady and formative days,

an invitation to party, to find community on the dance floor, and joy in a dark world. The latest single is called Undefeated Champion. My prediction, that's a summer banger. I started by asking Melanie about the inspiration behind the lyrics. This one, it's a little bit of a theme for me, and I think most of us, especially women, there are so many knocks we experience through life.

And I think we just have this superpower that we get up and we carry on. And I really wanted to get that into a song and make it really positive and inspiring. Can we talk about some of your Knox? Yes. Because you, particularly since 2022, when you wrote your memoir, you've been very vocal about some of the things that you've been through. Yeah. In an interview you published a few years ago, you called Fame, Treacherous and Hard. Do you still feel that way?

And tell me what that was about. Yeah. You know what? I think it is at times. I'm 52 now and I think that landmark of reaching 50 changes a lot. I think 40's a big one. A lot changes then, but 50 even more so. And when I was a younger person, I think I was much more vulnerable and impressionable.

And that was probably at the time when it was the hardest because it was spice girls. You know, my life changed unrecognisably. I was reading all of these opinions that people had of me. The tabloid media in the 90s was incredibly cruel, and it was hard to navigate. So, yeah, I think I said in that article that fame is wanted by the people who were probably the least able to deal with it. You know, because we do have this insecurity.

We do need this affirmation, and it's dangerous. You were so young, you were 20. I think, you know, like everything, there's a, there's positives and negatives. You know, there's no one else on this planet who knows what it's like to be a spice girl apart from the five of us. And going through that together was really important.

We had each other's backs. We, and we also, we self-policed as well, you know, because it is a tricky time and a tricky space to find yourself in. So at least we had each other to like, you know, maybe rain people in and look after each other. But also there's the dynamic within the band. And that can be like,

really stifling. And I think, you know, like anyone, whether it's a work environment, a family environment, we have these relationships, don't we? We behave a certain way in certain company. And I think I am quite shy, you know, which people are always surprised by, because sometimes I've been more comfortable jumping up on stage at Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 people than I would be walking into a room full of a few people. And I think a lot of performers are like that. But within the band, there was big voices, there was big personalities. And because of my shyness, I think that made me maybe step back even more so. Yeah. But you were doing the high kicks. I was doing the high kicks and the high licks.

The pressure that you're talking about that you were under and the scrutiny that you're under because of the fame, you have a teenage daughter. I do. How much do you think your experience with fame as your parenting style? Oh, I think it has kind of in a really specific way that I chose to not have my daughter in the public eye and I think because of my

own experiences with fame I didn't want to make that decision for her obviously I have friends who take a very different approach and I respect that everybody is different but personally for me I didn't want to do that and I feel good about it

She lives what we would call a relatively normal life, not normal compared to my upbringing, might I say. But, you know, she's able to move about quite anonymously, which is what I wanted for her. And I think, yeah, she's amazing. I think the spice girls and kind of the legacy that we've left behind has impacted so many people in so many ways. Like even my daughter and her friends, they are so sassy.

I love it. I think girls are much more outspoken now generally than we ever were growing up. Has being a mum changed your approach to life? Absolutely. She changed everything. I think from the minute I became pregnant, it's a long time ago now, she's 17. I really respected my body, probably for the first time. I think as a young woman, you're always like wanting to be better, right? We aspire to these things, don't we?

And nothing was ever good enough. Again, being a performer, I call myself a failed perfectionist now. Not a perfectionist. But yeah, as soon as I was like creating this life inside of me, I was like, this body is amazing. I'm going to start looking after it better. What's the difference? Failed perfectionist. I love the phrase.

Explain why that's better. Because you can always aim for perfection, but just to acknowledge you're never going to reach it. Yeah. I think that's important. You were given the moniker sporty spice. I love that we are both in track suits today. and you were so physically fit and you were always the one that I felt

I could relate to the most because, you know, you want to be a superhero and, you know, just jump on there with those high kicks. But you've also spoken very candidly about your own issues with body image and eating disorders. I'm looking at the cover of your new album. Yeah.

And, Melanie, you look incredible. You look, it's like Jane Fonda. It's like iconic 80s. Like your body is so strong and sexy. I'm so proud of myself because I have always been fit. You know, I've had moments. I've had problems and issues along the way. But I am sporty, spicy.

I've tried to run away from her, and it's ridiculous because I am her. I love being fit, and I have been most of my life. But I've never been confident enough to show it. And now I make this record in my 50s, and I'm wearing, you know, the most revealing outfits I've ever worn. And I just thought, you know what? I've got to document this before it's too late. And, you know, I also want to say,

because I think it's really important to note, I look incredible on this artwork. I worked really hard to get to that point. I do have a level of fitness always because I'm always touring, you know, DJing, singing live, and I need to be fit. But that amount of, like, precision was, I took two weeks to, like, really hone in on my nutrition and working out, sometimes doing sessions twice a day.

really specifically for that shoot. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Because you're right. Because people, women will look at that, young girls and go, oh, how do I get that? Is there a quick way of being that? I can't look like that every day of the week.

I don't look like that now. But leading up to that shoot, that is the image I wanted to create. And I think it's really dangerous now with Instagram because there are so many people on there that are presenting these images and they're just not sustainable or they're not sustainable in a healthy way.

And I know that because I became a victim of that, you know, way back in the 90s. I wasn't eating properly. I became very obsessive about exercise. And, you know, I had some horrible issues after that and getting well from that. Took a long, long time. So, yeah, I think it's really important to say you can look like that, but not all the time. Even people who are doing competitions, they don't look like that all the time. Boxers don't, aren't at their peak fitness like 12 months of the year.

How do you feel when you talk about the Melanie who was going through? the troubles and eating disorder and, you know, whatever you were dealing with at the time. Yeah. Yeah, I have different feelings. Sometimes it's almost like compartmentalised, but also I have so much empathy for her. It feels strange talking about yourself in the third person, but I always look back to, I released my autobiography a few years ago. And at the time, I was also part of a phone hacking claim. And I had to research, I had to go back over every single article that was ever written about me. And to do that, and it was all done chronologically, and to see the narrative of me as a

young person created by the tabloid media, it really made me forgive myself. Because in many ways, having an eating disorder, and, you know, there was a few years when I've suffered with depression, amongst other things, and I felt ashamed, I felt guilty, I felt like it was a weakness and these were all things I hated about myself. How did I do that? How did I allow myself to do that? Because I am very strong,

I'm very determined, I'm very disciplined. But all of these things happened to me. But reading those things with hindsight, I forgave myself because I just thought I, as a young woman, I didn't have a hope in hell surviving this attack that I was getting, that all the spice girls were getting,

that all women in the public eye were getting through that. time. Melanie C there and her latest album, Sweat, is out next week. Not only did we dance together in the studio, I also wore a track suit in honour of her. And if you've been affected by any of the issues discussed, then you can go to the BBC Action Line website where you'll find links to support. Still to come on the programme, Sarah Finch, who's become the European recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize. And remember, you can enjoy Woman's Hour any hour if you can't Join us live at 10 a.m. during the week. All you need to do is subscribe to the daily podcast. It's free via BBC sounds. Bargain. Now, at the height of the COVID pandemic, hundreds of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer had mastectomies without reconstruction. Procedures that would often happen at the same time. But they were paused because they were considered non-essential. Many women were told they'd be able to have reconstructive surgery once the restrictions lifted. But six years on, some

are still waiting, living with pain and discomfort and unable to move on with their lives. Neula spoke to Alison from Stockport, but first, the journalist Rosie Taylor, who's been speaking to the women affected. So this is a story about women who went through breast cancer treatment and had mastectomy's during 2020 and 21 in lockdown. And essentially, they have been abandoned by the system ever since. So when you have a mastectomy, you can choose to have no replacement. You can choose to have implants or you can choose a reconstruction made using tissues from elsewhere in your body and that's normally from the abdomen. And, you know, before lockdown, the normal state of affairs is that if you choose an own tissue reconstruction,

then you would normally be advised to have that at the same time as your mastectomy unless there was a medical reason that you couldn't be there. And these reconstructions are very intense surgeries. It's eight to ten hours. It's a whole day in theatre. So it's a big operation. And obviously, women who want these reconstructors are cancer patients, so it's not suitable for everyone. But most people want to have that immediate reconstruction because it reduces the number of surgeries they have and their infection risk and recovery time and all of that. But obviously during lockdown, although mastectomies that were life-saving were considered essential, reconstructions won. And these women who wanted to have reconstructions were told not to worry,

you will get that delayed reconstruction later on once lockdown is over. But the problem is that this massive backlog built up during lockdown. And the situation now is that current cancer patients who are newly diagnosed with cancer are obviously being rightly prioritised to have mastectomies and having those reconstructions. And as a result, there's just not really very much that has been done about this backlog of hundreds, we think possibly thousands of women who are waiting for reconstructions and who have been basically having to put their lives on hold ever since. Let us bring in Alison at this point.

Alison, thanks for joining us. You know, Rosie talks about life put on hold in a way. Tell me a little bit about how it has felt for you to have to wait. It's not being the best of journeys. I've had other things that have happened during my waiting time. Had I had the immediate reconstruction during the time that I had them set to me, that would be behind six years. it wouldn't be something I was dealing with today.

Moving forward, it's still a massive part of my everyday living. Can you tell me a little bit about how it affects you on a day-to-day level? From getting up out of bed. If people were to stay over or if you're on holiday or you always have to make sure your bras on with your boobinette. You always have to make sure that you're covered up, just going out into different social situations, certain clothes that you would like to wear. you can't wear. Just going to work, my job I go to work.

And I have to go through security measures to access my place of work. Just knowing today may be another day that I've got to say to somebody, it's highlighted. And yes, I've got a prosthesis and hot days. Yeah, sure. Because my understanding is well it can be uncomfortable to wear. It's uncomfortable. It can get really warm, just finding the correct bra that fits.

a comfortable eye bra, just everything. It really does impact your daily life. And I know you were bereaved in the past years as well. Your husband, I'm very sorry for your loss, but you have gone through a lot I feel in these years. I understand as well at one point, your weight was too heavy as well for the surgery,

which also delayed you, which I can imagine just going through this very difficult time. It was like one more cut, so to speak. but have you been given a reason away from extra weight on of why the delay is there? Just to think, as Rosie says, it's an impact from COVID, the list. And rightfully, newly diagnosed people, ladies and men, they need the surgery and we're just basically put down the list. And that's the only reason I've been told.

And of course, I think at my, particularly at my hospital, I think some surgeons have been away for months at a time, which then moves their list towards the list. And that is a key point, though, I think you bring up there, Alison, and let me come back to you, Rosie, that issue of having enough surgeons and having enough theatre space. Yeah, it's a massive issue. Some of the trusts that I've been speaking to

who've responded to my investigation on this, say there's a national shortage of specialist surgeons. But I would also say that it is very trust-dependent and ultimately depends on how much trust leaders actually care about clearing the backlog and care about the well-being of the women waiting on the list because there are places, so at Guyson-Thomas and in London, they really put a lot of resources into trying to clear the list. And they did a kind of, I guess the kind of hit list where they cleared kind of three months' worth of patients

in five days by dedicating resources for doing it. That's incredible. Yeah, it's amazing. So it shows it can be done. I understand with you, Alison, there was another complication. so to speak, that you had been incorrectly referred to a skin cancer clinic in the sense of also your track to being seen or for the reconstruction was delayed yet again? Yeah, I saw my team at the Nightingale and was put on the waiting list to be seen by the plastic

surgeon and it said that it was an urgent referral and I think it was after six to eight weeks I thought, I'll just chase this up and went around. They said, oh, yes, we've got an appointment. We're going to send it out to you. You were very sorry. But then I had another phone call and they said, oh, unfortunately, we actually referred you to a skin cancer clinic. So they had to start the cycle again.

And ultimately, it was June then that I was seen by the plastic surgeon team. I mean, I have to say, you know, the actual teams that I have met up with, the plastics, my consultant, they've all been amazing. It's just the waiting list. Yeah, so and I believe you do have a date now, correct? Is it? No, I don't have to say. I've had a phone call to say that it would probably be September.

Okay. I don't say. My life's on hold. From June onwards, I can't book anything. My life's on hold till. Yeah, God, that's difficult, isn't it? It's a sort of limbo. What do you think it will mean?

And I'm going to say when. I'm going to be optimistic here. when you have the surgery? I'm obviously apprehensive because as Rosie said, it's quite a big surgery. It's going to impact me a lot that the recovery. I've got lots to think about. I'm 63.

As you say, my husband passed away. He was a massive part of my last recovery. It's navigating how I'm going to move forward. But it's something that I definitely want. I've had a long time to think about it. And it's something that I definitely want to go forward with. And just to get a bit of me back. And do you think family and friends or people around you understand?

I would say family and friends have been fabulous. I have some people that only last week it was said to me by a colleague, well, it's elective surgery. It's not elective. It's part of my cancer journey. As my consultant said, it's kind of coming to the end of a long journey and navigating my way through. that part of it, to reclaim me.

What about that, Rosie? You know, Alison's telling us of a comment almost saying it's cosmetic, elective that you're deciding on it, some might see it as cosmetic. How have women told you how they see it? I mean, I think that's really shocking what Alison is told by a colleague, but there is this misconception that this is an aesthetic procedure. I don't think that's the case at all. The women that I spoke to say this is not about how they look.

It's about putting themselves, their bodies, lives back together after going through cancer, it's the full stop that they need on their cancer recovery. And obviously not everyone chooses it, but there's been some research by the charity breast cancer now and they found that out of women who do choose reconstruction, nine out of ten of them, say it's an integral part of their recovery process. Essentially can't feel like they've recovered and moved on and they're able to kind of process what happened to them and grieve what happened to grieve the loss of their breasts or breasts and move on with their lives until they've completed that process and had the reconstruction that they're looking

for. Rosie Taylor and Alison speaking to Nula there. And a spokesperson for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust where Alison is located told us, we sincerely apologise for the administrative error that led to Ms Wilson being incorrectly referred to the skin cancer clinic and for the distress this caused her. We understand how important reconstructive surgery is to recovery and emotional well-being following breast cancer, and we treat all our patients based on clinical priority. We have since introduced a new electronic referral system which prevents errors of this kind. And NHS England says, we apologise for the delays in Alison's care. Staff are working incredibly hard to bring down the longest waits for patients, and NHS England is supporting the most challenged

hospitals to ensure patients continue to see reductions in waiting times right across the country. Now, on Monday, Sarah Finch became the European recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work against oil drilling in Surrey with the Weald Action Group. Their long legal battle led to a landmark judgment on fossil fuel emissions. The Goldman Prize, often referred to as the Green Nobel, honours grassroots environmental activists from around the world. For the first time since its inception, all six prizes were won by women. Well, I spoke to Sarah from California,

where the awards were held and asked her how significant it was to see an all-female winner list for the first time since the prize was founded in 1989. I thought it felt very fitting because we know that women and girls are very often the most vulnerable to climate and environmental problems and also the first ones to roll up their sleeves and get on and tackle them. So it felt entirely natural that it would six women, six amazing women, or five amazing women plus me being honoured.

So humble. How did you react when you found out you'd won? I assumed it was a hoax. If it seemed so unlikely to get a phone call to just say, oh, you've won this huge prize. So, yeah, my first thought was somebody was winding me up. And then my second thought, when I sort of realized it was actually true, was a kind of deep imposter syndrome. I thought, it must be a mistake.

Why did they pick me? But I sort of came, I mean, I'd have no doubts at all that the legal victory that I won over fossil fuels, you know, totally deserve surprise. But what's uncomfortable a little is being recognised as an individual for that, because it was always a very group endeavour. I bought that case sort of in my name, but on behalf of the Weald Action Group, and the Weald Action Group were behind it and engaged all the way. And I think that's something that the other winners also felt, you know,

sure you have leaders and there are some very inspiring individuals out there, But change is usually brought about by movements rather than individuals. Yeah. So let's get on to the reason why you won the five-year legal battle to stop drilling for oil in Surrey. Tell us more. How did you find out about this proposal in the first place? And what made you want to fight it? I was already very engaged in campaigning on environment and climate issues in different ways.

And one day I read in the local paper that there was planned for an oil development. near my home, which came as a huge shock. Partly at that time I didn't realise that even was sort of onshore oil and gas production. And climate change was something I'd seen as a kind of national and international policy issue, not a sort of physical issue on my doorstep. So, you know, I was kind of paralysed by it.

I didn't know what to do. And for several months, I did nothing. And I kept thinking, oh, I should really perhaps look into this oil proposal, but I realised it was one of a number of proposals. At that time, there was a kind of influx of fracking type methodologies which made it feasible or theoretically feasible to extract oil and gas from the wheel. And so there were lots of other sites popping up and lots of other people campaigning against them. And so I quickly met others. And together we kind of went through a journey of understanding the onshore oil and gas industry and what we could do to stop it. So there was

a lot of years of campaigning against that site before the legal case even started. You were campaigning against it, but was there local support for the plans? Would they have brought jobs to the area, for example? Oh, no, virtually no jobs. A very small site. There were residents who weren't opposed to the site. It was quite a divisive issue because we had some very active campaigners against it, and some of the local residents perhaps thought they'd rather have.

a quiet life than have campaigns against an or site on their front door. But as time went on and the impacts became clear because they got two sequential permissions for test drilling, which caused a lot of disruption, lots of heavy tanker traffic, air pollution, noise, etc, locally and then even earthquakes. So as it went on, residents became more and more opposed to these plans. And it was a long and complicated road, but in June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in your favour saying that permission for the oil development was unlawful as it failed to consider the full climate impact

of burning oil from new wells. Just to explain what that's meant and for other similar development plans. Tell us more. Yeah, the whole point of our case was about the fact, we argued that the permission, the eventual permission for full-scale production for 20 years of oil production at that site

was unlawful because when they made the decision, the council didn't look at the climate impact, of actually burning the oil. They looked only at the environmental impacts of the production site itself, which is quite small. And initially we thought this was just perhaps a one-off error,

but we quickly realized it was the norm and that fossil fuel sites, much bigger than Horse Hill, were being routinely permitted without any consideration of the full climate impact. And it just seemed absurd. The only point of producing these fuels is that they can then be.

be burnt and that will inevitably affect the climate. So that was the crux of our case. They hadn't done a proper environmental impact assessment because they hadn't looked at the biggest environmental impact, which is the burning of the fuels. What would you say to people who believe that we should exploit our local oil deposits to prevent, you know, fuel cost spikes caused by wars in the Middle East, like the one that's happening right now? Well, the thing is, we have exploited our local fuels. The gas in the North Sea is pretty much all gone. And And what's left is oil, and that is exported. And then we may buy some of it back at world prices,

but there's no such thing as a local market in oil and gas. It's entirely a world market, and the prices are set outside of our control. So what will give us real control over our prices and our energy security is exploiting our renewable resources. Sun and wind are things that can't be owned by foreign companies. They're everywhere. They're not sort of limited to particular geographic regions. So the real solution is to ramp up renewable energy

as well as doing insulating homes, etc, upgrading homes with solar and heat pumps. You won the case, you've won the Goldman Prize, and you've also managed to pocket $200,000, which is the prize. So how are you going to spend it? Well, I will give a chunk of it to the wheeled action group and other causes close to my heart. And I'm still thinking about the ways that I can use the rest in order to support and increase my own activism.

Sarah Finch there talking to me on Friday's program. That's it for this week. Coming up a Monday, the UK government recently announced a funding boost for the video games industry. We'll be asking whether it'll benefit women in an industry where only 11% of leadership roles in UK studios are held by women.

Do join Noola at 10am on Monday and enjoy the rest of your weekend. That's all for today's Woman's Hour. Join us again next time. Hello, I'm Tyler West. And I'm Alfie Watts. And this is The Detour, the official companion podcast to race across the world. This is the post-episode checkpoint where you'll hear the latest chat around each episode from us and our race superfan special guests.

Plus, I'll be joined each week by a resident travel expert, Alfie. That's you, ma'am. I'll be revealing my optimal way to travel through each leg, including visits to all of those unmissable detours along the way. And we'll also have some not seen anywhere else exclusive content at the end of every episode, I cannot wait. The detour will land straight after each episode of Race Across the World. You can watch on EyePlayer or listen on Sounds where you'll also find extra bonus content. We'll see you then.