In Our Time review – Melvyn Bragg’s first show-less show will have BBC management pinching their buttocks | radio

“When we get to the text, we will try to clarify the difference between utilitarianism and libertarianism…”

This kind of thinking became normal after eating cornflakes on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday morning. The shock this time was the voice: not a mature, nasal Cumbrian sound, but a smoother, deeper, youthful North Oxford accent. This was Misha Glennie’s first appearance, having replaced Melvyn Bragg as host of University of the Airwaves, in Our Time.

Next week’s edition is a deep dive into the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, the world’s deepest ocean depression, which is formed by forced tectonic plate layers. The topic might have been a good place to start for Glennie, who said it was the 2008 edition of Bragg-era tectonic geology that sparked his fascination with the form and his desire to fill the seat if it became free.

But perhaps the BBC was afraid of metaphorical implications – as Glennie was navigating the Bragg Trench, the deepest chasm at Radio 4, after retiring last year after a 27-year stint.

So there was logic in starting instead with John Stuart Mill’s 1859 philosophical treatise On Liberty. As a journalist and broadcaster, Glennie has covered the rise and fall of authoritarian regimes, especially in Eastern Europe. The lines between freedom and tyranny are a hot topic in the era of Putin and Trump, with the US president now the de facto commander-in-chief of Venezuela and looking to rule Greenland, Canada and Cuba.

However, listeners may have felt the tension on the management floors of Broadcasting House when the conversation got closer to the actual freedoms being taken away by politicians. Glennie didn’t want to start his career in “our time” with a second $10 billion BBC lawsuit from the 45th/47th president.

The second slot on the show began with a chaotic run into the Today Program at 8.45am, with Nick Robinson asking Glennie how the first show went. This seemed to upset the interviewee, whose mumbled response indicated that he couldn’t say yet because he hadn’t come out. (Radio 4 has confirmed that the episode was pre-recorded.)

The new host’s first academic triangle was Helen McCabe (University of Nottingham), Mark Philp (Warwick), and Pierce Norris-Turner (Ohio), an American inclusion indicating a greater desire to reach the series’ large international audience.

Aside from the identity of the presenter, not much has changed — which is the safest and perhaps most logical approach as a streaming franchise transitions. It was a thoughtful 42 minutes, and particularly revealing of the growing belief that Mill’s wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, was a major co-author. A potential omission was real-world application and similarities. Although there are occasional references to “tyrant,” “government,” and “fanatical” ideology, no names or places are mentioned. It is impossible to know whether the focus will be the same against a litigious White House occupant.

As young academics often encounter a senior interrogator, In Our Time has always felt like a university seminar. Bragg’s personality oscillated between nervous professor and enthusiastic student, depending on the closeness of the subject to his own knowledge.

In his debut, Glennie sometimes looked like a freshman taking on the leadership of a popular honors class, but it showed an appropriate modesty about the scale of the challenge.

Bragg has developed many catch phrases – from “Can you break that down for us?” To the occasional “yeah, I’m not actually thick” when unpacking thoughts became too difficult. Glennie was very polite, and would approach a disagreement with a chuckle: “That’s a different matter!”

Next week: Tectonic plates. As everyone who runs the BBC now realizes, the In Our Time succession comes at a time when the supporting classes beneath the establishment are collapsing, and perhaps collapsing. A new general manager and head of news is needed after Tim Davie and Deborah Turness resigned over Panorama editing that led to a lawsuit against Trump. There are no hosts on the Keystone TV series, Strictly Come Dancing, at the moment and the premium radio franchise has just gained a new host.

In Our Time is sure to be mentioned during the current negotiations with the government over a new charter for the BBC. Glennie certainly cannot be accused of glossing over his position – the biggest risk in revamping BBC funding – but he needs access to greater records of approval and disapproval before he can claim bragging rights.