Rachael Buchanan

I honed my audio production skills making packages for BBC Radio 4’s Today & PM programmes and have worked with some of the BBC’s top correspondents to create rich pieces of storytelling. From originating the story idea & structuring the piece, to gathering material in the field & editing the final package, I am highly skilled in all stages of audio production. I have also worked on longer form, co-producing a documentary for Radio 4’s science slot and I currently produce a podcast series on mental health.

A selection of this work can be found below.

Podcasts

Countng the Earth is a podcast about numbers and nature, presented by journalist Sue Nelson and Alice Hope from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Published once a month, we explore one area of the environment, always through the lens of one number. Working for Boffin Media, on behalf of UKCEH, I research, record, mix and publish this podcast using Adobe Audition and Audioboom.

Hedgelife: 390,000 - Sue and Alice poke around that great staple of the British countryside - the hedgerow - and discover a surprising variety of residents, from mice to molluscs.

Nature for Net Zero: 0 - Sue and Alice visit Heartwood Forest and the Fens to explore how far nature-based solutions like planting trees and restoring peatlands can take us towards net zero.

Behind the Headlines is a podcast about mental health and journalism. In each episode, journalists Hannah Storm and John Crowley of Headlines Network are joined by colleagues from across the news industry who share their experiences, the challenges they have faced and how they have managed their mental health. Working for Boffin Media I record, mix and publish this podcast using Adobe Audition and Aubioboom. It airs once every three weeks.

In this episode, Hannah Storm and John Crowley host a special conversation between ITV Health Editor Emily Morgan and Channel 4 News Health and Social Care Editor, who share their experiences of covering the COVID-19 pandemic and tips for protecting their mental health.

In this episode John Crowley and Hannah Storm speak with Stuart Ramsay, Sky News' longest serving foreign correspondent, about his varied career - from getting shot in Ukraine to how conversations about wellbeing have changed in the industry during his career.

BBC Radio 4

This piece from 2018 looks at the then rising death toll from Fentanyl, an incredibly potent opioid, that was turning up mixed in with heroin or sold under the guise of other, less harmful drugs.

This piece, which I researched, produced & mixed, ran on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme. The correspondent was Jeremy Cooke.

A piece exploring the rising number of life changing injuries.being caused by children swallowing disc shaped button batteries.

This package, which I originated, produced & mixed, ran on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. The correspondent was Medical Editor, Fergus Walsh.

As the gene editing technique CRISPR started to gain ground in 2015, Medical Editor Fergus Walsh & I reported from the Washington global summit that was called to discuss the potential of these new tools & whether limits should be imposed.

This package, which I originated, produced & mixed, ran on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

For the BBC's award winning 'In the Mind' series, Medical Editor Fergus Walsh & I explored some of the new areas of research that were revolutionising neuroscience.

This package, which I originated, produced & mixed, ran on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.

In this piece James Gallagher & I visited Bad Kissingen, a spa town in Germany that aimed to be the world’s first Chronocity - enabling residents & visitors to live in harmony with their body clocks.

I produced & mixed this package, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's PM programme as part of BBC News’ ‘Day of the Body Clock’.

The overall project won 3 science journalism awards & was orignated and produced by James & myself.

Can lullabies work as painkillers? Research at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital aimed to find out if they can have calming & analgesic effects on young children.

This package, which I produced, recorded & mixed, ran on Radio 4’s Today programme. The correspondent was James Gallagher.

Are some psychiatric disorders caused by a rogue immune system? This half hour documentary for BBC Radio 4, that I originated & co-produced, explores the fledgling science of immunopsychiatry. Presented by James Gallagher, co-produced by myself & Andrew Luck-Baker, it was shortlisted for a Medical Journalists' Association award.

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