The Interview Verb

This Verb could change the way you think about dreams, it might change your perception of your own doctor, or your perception of those who become extremists. That's because the writers who join Ian McMillan this week all interviewed people to enrich the texture of their work, and the concepts at the heart of it.

Steven Moffat is a writer and television producer - celebrated for his writing on Doctor Who. He is joined on the programme by Dr Peter Dong (Peter runs a research programme in particle physics at the Large Hadron Collider) to explore a story called 'Going Dark' - which Steven wrote for the collection 'Collision' published by Comma Press. 'Collision' was edited by scientists Rob Appleby and Connie Potter - and brought together a number of writers who were keen to produce stories inspired by research linked to the CERN laboratory, liaising with scientists working on different projects.

Polly Morland's 'A Fortunate Woman' (Picador) has been described as a 'compelling, thoughtful and insightful look at the life and work of a country doctor'. Partly inspired by John Berger's book focusing on a doctor in the same valley ( published in 1967) - Polly spent many hours walking and talking with the current doctor and listening to local people to produce an intimate and detailed picture of the importance of GPs' capacity for telling and holding stories.

Arji Manuelpillai's new poetry collection is 'Improvised Explosive Device' (Penned in the Margins) and is full of inventive and powerful metaphors that help us understand violence, extremism and compassion. He interviewed those affected by extremism to inform his poems, and to understand the political and personal impact of language.