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The journalist Rose George visits a salmon farm in Norway, encounters 'cleaner' fish, and ponders the future of aquaculture more generally as the world's appetite for fish dinners remains. Dorothy Atkinson reads.

Rose George reminds us that Samuel Coleridge thought of fish as nothing more than ‘slimy things’ in the water. In her new book she observes that today, we see fish mostly as food, and she invites us to reconsider, to think beyond our dinner plates and to go out and wonder at this glorious species and the oceans they inhabit. As our appetites for fish grow and the health benefits of these watery dwellers are widely disseminated, George asks where our lunches, pet food, supplements and garden fertilizers in the shape of fishmeal are going to come through. As fish stocks continue to diminish and artisanal fishing practices are dwindling George asks hard questions. We'll hear about the impact of over fishing; the plight of the Senegalese fishing industry; the question of fish farms, and also a celebration of fishwives, along with stories of the heroic fisherman who saved lives during the world wars and continue do so on our most perilous seas.

Dorothy Atkinson is the reader. She is acclaimed for her work in theatre, film and television. She has appeared in several films by Mike Leigh most notably Mr Turner. She is well known for playing Pauline in the sitcom Mum. Recent work includes Ludwig, Joan, Saltburn, Without Sin, Pennyworth, Harlots and Call the Midwife.

Rose George is the author of A Life Removed: Hunting for Refuge in the Modern World (long-listed for the Ulysses Reportage Prize), The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste (Portobello, 2008; shortlisted for the BMA Book Prize) and Deep Sea and Foreign Going: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Brings You 90% of Everything (Portobello, 2013; winner of a Mountbatten Maritime Award), and Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Mysterious, Miraculous World of Blood (Portobello, 2018).

Rose writes frequently for the Guardian, New Statesman and many other publications, and her two TED talks, on sanitation and seafaring, have had 3 million views.

Abridger: Katrin Williams
Producer: Elizabeth Allard