BBC Radio 4

Toast

No. of episodes

37

Latest episode

2026-09-29

Where can you listen?

The BBC business journalist, Sean Farrington, explores amazing products and brands that somehow ended up... toast.

In each episode, Sean examines another great business idea, hearing how it started, what it offered and why it became successful.

He hears first-hand from people who were there at the time, gathering compelling tales of what went on behind the scenes.

Archive audio, industry experts, and fans of the brand are often in the mix as Sean charts its rise to dizzy heights before discovering where it may have faltered.

Alongside him, offering wise and wry observations is the serial entrepreneur, Sam White, who has no advance knowledge of which business is to be covered.

At the end of each episode, based on what she has just heard, Sam must come up with her own conclusions as to why the brand or product disappeared and what we can learn from its story.

From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked and discovers how sometimes they manage to live on in a different form.

If you have a good idea for an interesting Toast topic then tell us about it - email [email protected]

Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.