Dr Emma Nagouse

As senior producer of the smash hit BBC podcast You’re Dead to Me since its inception in 2019, Emma has led on the writing and producing of over 170 episodes that span everything from Boudicca to Broadway. With over 100 million downloads worldwide, You’re Dead to Me is one of the UK’s most popular podcasts and in March 2025 was the #1 history podcast in America. It has won “Best Radio Entertainment” at the British Comedy Guide awards for four consecutive years. You’re Dead to Me has also toured live shows around the UK, most recently at The Adelphi Theatre on London’s West End. Emma also led on collaborative episodes with the BBC Concert Orchestra and venues such as the Shakespeare North Theatre.

Between 2020 and 2021 , Emma co-wrote the British Podcast Award-winning BBC Radio 4 show, Homeschool History. In 2025 she produced and co-wrote the brand new BBC Radio 4 history show for children Dead Funny History. Emma also wrote, and provided Voice Over work, for a suite of programmes for BBC Ideas called Forgotten Histories.

As a sought-after consultant across history, religion, politics, and literature with an exceptional track record in story-finding and idea generation, Emma has worked on a range of projects. Most recently, Emma was creative historical consultant for Bastille’s chart-topping 2024 album Ampersand. Her breadth of knowledge and charismatic flair for communicating complex stories and ideas was showcased in the album’s companion podcast, MUSES which Emma co-hosted with Bastille’s Grammy-nominated lead singer Dan Smith.

In 2025 Emma was shortlisted for a Radio Academy ARIA as “Best New Presenter” for MUSES: An Ampersand Podcast which featured among the Radio Times’ “Best Audio” picks and enjoyed sell-out live recordings at Bush Hall, London. A hit with fans, Emma was invited to take part in a Q&A at legendary venue the Town Hall in New York City ahead of Bastille’s sell-out performance of Ampersand. She also won Silver at the 2025 Audio Production awards for “Best New Voice”.

Emma’s PhD thesis explored religion, gender, violence and popular culture and was funded by one of the most competitive scholarships in the UK, and is now in the process of publication with Bloomsbury. As well as her high-profile experience as a public historian, Emma’s academic interests cut across intersectional feminism, gender-based violence, religious texts, art history, popular culture, television studies, politics and literature. Emma also has a range of experience consulting for trade unions (most recently with the University College Union) to develop their policy, advocacy and training around gender-based violence.

As reflected in her work, Emma is most interested in unexpected stories, why and how certain stories are told, and marginalised voices. Emma has been a life-long community organiser and trade unionist. As a trained archaeologist, Emma has excavated sites across the UK and Sweden, while her expertise as an oral historian led her to co-found and chair Sheffield’s Feminist Oral History Archive.

Emma is currently writing two non-fiction books, making podcasts and consulting on a range of academic and artistic projects across history, religion, politics, and literature.

Photo credit: Sean Wakefield