Benjamin Zephaniah was the author of the first poetry collection I ever owned. For many of us, he was the chronicler of our youth: a novelist and poet who made language exciting and funny and told stories full of action and hilarity. I was so excited to get to speak to him for today's episode, and he didn't let me down. We talk about his failure as a 'gangsta' - and his early brushes with the law (he served a prison sentence for burglary) as well as what being incarcerated taught him. We talk ab...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 5 min
TW // eating disorders I'm biased but oh my goodness, I love this guest and this episode SO much. Ahead of Refugee Week, which runs 20-26th June, it is my honour to welcome the poet Warsan Shire to the podcast. Warsan was born in Kenya to Somali parents. She migrated with her family to the UK at the age of one and her powerful poem Home - which opens with the line ‘no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark - has become the unofficial anthem to raise awareness of the refugee crisis. ...
Jun 15, 2022•58 min
Look, anyone who knows me knows of my love for reality TV. And anyone who knows anything about reality TV realises that when you get the chance to interview a bona fide Real Housewife, you jump at it. Which is why today's special bonus episode is with Caroline Stanbury. Now, if you're not versed in your Bravo TV herstory or your pre-Selling Sunset heritage, you might not have heard of Caroline. She first appeared on our screens in 2014 as one of the cast members of the (sadly) short-lived Ladies...
Jun 10, 2022•49 min
My sound engineer Chris is a lovely man, but he is not easily impressed. After an interview, if Chris says 'yeah, that was good' I know I've struck GOLD. Today's episode garnered TWO SEPARATE 'yeah that was good'(s) from Chris which is why I know it's a very special one. And of course it would be, because my guest is the truly wonderful Michael Rosen. He is the author of more than 200 books, including some of the most beloved children’s stories of all time. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is one of h...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr
Natasha Brown is the author behind one of my favourite novels of recent years. Assembly runs to 100-pages and has already been compared to Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway. It was shortlisted for both the Folio and the Goldsmiths Prize, as well as being named the Foyles Bookshop Book of the Year. It tells the story of an unnamed Black British woman working at a bank in the city, who is confronted with the numbing aggression of racist encounters and systems as she confronts a life-or-death decision....
Jun 01, 2022•57 min
Todays' guest is Jarvis Cocker: musician, writer, broadcaster. He was the frontman of Pulp, one of the most successful 90s Britpop groups whose hit, Common People, turned Jarvis into a star at the age of 32. He joins me to talk about the vagaries of fame, his failures in acting and academia, abandonment by his father, being raised by a household of women and the impact this has had on him, as well as divorce, co-parenting, clearing out the loft and why ephemera is an important part of our cultur...
May 25, 2022•48 min
Ugh. Today's guest is just SO GOOD. Minnie Driver, actress, musician and writer, was nominated for an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting and later starred in TV shows such as Will & Grace and Starstruck. Her (brilliant) debut book is called Managing Expectations and is described as a ‘tell-most memoir’. In her own words, it’s about how things not working out actually worked out in the end. She joins me to talk about her failures in acting, her failure to get an agent or to perform a convinc...
May 20, 2022•1 hr
We're back, baby! And I thought I'd open this new season with a bona fide SUPERHERO. Because that's just how we roll. My guest today is Simu Liu - the first Asian superhero in the Marvel cinematic universe and the star of the 2019 movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He also appeared in season 4 of Selling Sunset, where Chrishell tried to sell him a house (arguably the real achievement, amirite?). Simu was born in China. His parents were products of Mao's Cultural Revolution and ende...
May 18, 2022•46 min
TW: This is an episode in which we talk about violence, loss and grief. This bonus episode is one of the most special, moving encounters I've ever had while doing this podcast. It was prompted by an incredible book I read while I was away over Christmas - a book unlike any other. But to explain how it came about, I need to take you back a few years. On 31st October 2015, 20-year-old Morgan Hehir was walking home after a night out with friends when he was viciously attacked by a group of stranger...
Apr 27, 2022•58 min
So many people have requested this guest and now I'm beyond thrilled to oblige! Yes, that's right it's author Candice Carty-Williams whose first novel, Queenie, became a publishing sensation. Queenie won the 2019 Book of the Year at the British Book Awards making Carty-Williams the first Black author to do so. Now, her second novel People Person is about to be published, a TV adaptation of Queenie for Channel 4 is in the works and she’s writing an original drama for the BBC. She joins me to talk...
Mar 23, 2022•58 min
I'm launching a BRAND NEW PODCAST, hosted with my best friend (and professional therapist) Emma Reed Turrell. Best Friend Therapy launches on 28th March. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts and hit the subscribe button now to make sure you never miss an episode! Two best friends. One therapist. Zero filter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2022•2 min
Yes, it's the one and only Top Boy himself: Ashley Walters. As Dushane, the East London drug kingpin in Netflix's hit show Top Boy, Walters is our favourite kind of antihero - and it’s a role he’s about to reprise for the fourth series. He joins me to talk about his own upbringing in Peckham, South London, an only child raised on a council estate by his mother, Pamela, and what it was like combining that reality with a burgeoning love for acting which sometimes felt like a double life. Plus, his...
Mar 16, 2022•55 min
Yes, it's the SEASON FINALE so you bet I'm going to use CapsLock. And for our final episode of Season 13, I speak to the cooking legend that is Delia Smith. But if you're expecting a chat about her failure to poach an egg in 1986, you're very much mistaken. Because, at 80, Delia has just written a new book about the meaning of life. Called You Matter, it's an insightful inquisition into what it is to be human. She joins me to talk about human evolution and where it's leading us, as well as why f...
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Rangan Chatterjee is one of the most influential doctors in the UK and has pioneered a different kind of approach in healing the sick. He believes almost everyone has the ability to transform their health and their happiness through making small, sustainable everyday changes. It shouldn't be revolutionary - but it is. And it's a message he's taken to TV, radio and his own hit podcast, Feel Better, Live More. He joins me to talk about how why happiness is like a 'three-legged stool', why self-com...
Feb 23, 2022•1 hr 9 min
I'm so excited about today's guest. Self Esteem has been providing me with my preferred soundtrack for life, the universe and just about everything since the release of her BRILLIANT second album, Prioritise Pleasure, last year. I'm not the only one who's obsessed - it was the Guardian's album of the year and earned her a Brit Award nomination. If you haven't yet listened to her soaringly beautiful anthem, I Do This All The Time, then do that right after you've heard this. Promise? Ok, then. Reb...
Feb 16, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Munya Chawawa is the comedian who repeatedly went viral during the pandemic thanks to his hilarious social media videos. His parody of the Shaggy song, It Wasn’t Me, in which he satirised the former health secretary Matt Hancock’s extra-marital dalliance, has been viewed over a million times on YouTube. He's also a presenter on the Channel 4 show Complaints Welcome and was nominated for a 2021 MOBO Award for Best Media Personality. Munya joins me to talk about Zimbabwean discipline, the art of s...
Feb 09, 2022•57 min
TW // eating disorders and discussion of racist experiences Oh be still my beating heart, because today's episode is with one of my favourite people on this planet! She is Andi Oliver, TV presenter extraordinaire, beloved cook and restauranteur, and my sister from another mister. On screen, you will see her presenting Great British Menu, the Sky Arts Book Club (with yours truly) and an array of acclaimed documentaries, including her most recent: The Caribbean with Andi and Miquita. Andi came to ...
Feb 02, 2022•1 hr 9 min
*TW // brief mention of childhood abuse* Alan Cumming is a highly acclaimed actor on both stage and screen. He's played everything from Hamlet to a James Bond villain - and, of course, the political spinmeister Eli Gold on seven seasons of The Good Wife. His latest memoir, Baggage, was published last year and was described as 'wonderful, witty and wise' by Nigella Lawson. He joins me to talk about his self-stated failure to have children, his failure to see Kate Bush live and - bear with me - hi...
Jan 26, 2022•52 min
Today's guest is Steven Bartlett: millionaire by 25, Sunday Times bestseller by 28, the youngest ever Dragon on Dragon's Den by 29. He's also the host of The Diary of a CEO podcast, which recently reached the number one slot on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And all this before his 30th birthday. Honestly, I'd have to hate him if I didn't think he was so great. Steven joins me to talk about his first business failing, a relationship break-up, toxic masculinity, his failure to tap into his femi...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 3 min
We’re back for a brand new season and PINCH ME BECAUSE I TRULY CAN’T BELIEVE I’M WRITING THIS but… Our first guest of 2022 is… The one, the only… Brené Brown. I’m a huge admirer of Brené’s work, much of which laid the groundwork for the formation of this podcast. She has spent the past two decades researching and changing the global conversation around courage, shame, empathy and vulnerability. She is a professor at the University of Houston, the the author of five number one New York Times best...
Jan 12, 2022•58 min
We're back! Season 13 launches on 12th January. Subscribe now to be the first to hear new episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jan 06, 2022•2 min
This one comes to you straight from my heart. Clemmie Burton-Hill is one of my closest friends. She is also one of the most accomplished and brilliant people I know - a gifted violinist, a wonderful author, a talented actor, a peerless broadcaster, a fantastic mother, a wildly loyal friend. But in January 2020, her life changed forever. Clemmie suffered a brain haemorrhage and a massive stroke. She underwent emergency surgery and spent 17 days in a coma. When she regained consciousness, it was t...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 6 min
With love from me to you on Christmas Day. This might not be the Christmas you expected or wanted or felt like you deserved but you're not alone. Here's to another day passing, and to the next day being full of possibility. -- Whatever you're going through, a Samaritan will face it with you. They are there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 116 123 for free or email jo@samaritans.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Dec 24, 2021•6 min
Oh what a truly lovely bonus episode I have for you today! I'm so delighted that I get to welcome the one and only Holly Willoughby onto the podcast. As the co-presenter of ITV's This Morning, she is a combination of daytime TV icon, national best friend and highly infectious giggler (if you need a boost, just YouTube this). But she's also now a BESTSELLING AUTHOR - her book Reflections was published last week and swiftly shot to the number one slot on Amazon. And she recently launched her own l...
Nov 03, 2021•1 hr 2 min
For the final episode of this season of How To Fail, I bring you the author of one of my favourite books of recent years. She is Meg Mason and her novel, Sorrow & Bliss, was the novel of the summer, lauded by everyone from Ann Patchett to Gillian Anderson via Olivia Wilde who was pictured reading it while on a yacht on holiday with Harry Styles. True facts. Meg, a New Zealander who lives in Sydney, wrote a quintessentially British book that was at once utterly tender and riotously funny, abo...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Well this one was quite intimidating, to be honest. My guest this week is Baroness Hale of Richmond, one of this country's finest legal minds. She was the first woman President of the supreme court, the youngest and first female commissioner to be appointed to the Law Commission and has been dubbed the Beyoncé of the legal world owing to her popularity among young law students. But you might just know her best for her spider brooch, which she wore in 2019 while delivering a stinging ruling findi...
Oct 13, 2021•56 min
Today, I welcome the inimitable Stanley Tucci. His talents are legion: he's an Academy Award nominated actor whose credits include everything from The Devil Wears Prada to The Hunger Games and Julie & Julia. He's also a notable foodie, and the presenter of the Emmy-award-winning Searching for Italy and a beautiful memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food, which is published on Thursday. And, of course, he's the negroni-making Instagram sensation whose lockdown cocktail skills launched a thousand ...
Oct 06, 2021•1 hr 2 min
[TW: eating disorders] Oh but how I *love* today's guest. Ruby Tandoh is the former Great British Bake Off contestant who went on to write cookery books, a manifesto for eating what you want (Eat Up), a column for the Guardian and pieces for the New Yorker, among other prestigious publications. Her new book, published next month, is called Cook As You Are and contains 100 original recipes accessible to real home cooks, no matter their age, budget, ability or background. She joins me to talk abou...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr
Today my guest is the excellent Phil Wang, stand-up comedian and soon-to-be published author. As a comic, Wang has appeared on a host of comedy panel shows including Would I Lie To You? and 8 out of 10 Cats. During the pandemic, he became the first UK comedian to tape and release a Netflix special at a sold-out London Palladium. His new memoir, Sidesplitter: How To Be From Two Worlds At Once examines his dual identity as the son of a white British mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. He joins ...
Sep 15, 2021•53 min
Dame Jacqueline Wilson is the beloved children’s author of over 100 books and the creator of one of the most memorable characters of all time: Tracy Beaker. But it wasn’t until her 40s that Jacqueline became a bestseller. Now, at 75, she remains as indefatigable as ever. Her latest book, The Primrose Railway Children, a reimagining of E. Nesbit’s children’s classic, is published next week. She joins me to talk about her failure to be practical, her failure as an actress and her failure to be hea...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 3 min
