Queer politics • sex • culture
Outcast World is a queer politics, sex and culture podcast hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and podcaster Graeme Smith, alongside rotating guests and co-hosts including the Cosmopolitan and Gay London Life writer Topher Taylor and Loud Brown Gays host Nick Charles. It offers progressive political takes rarely heard in a podcast world dominated by right-wing reactionaries.
Each week features an eclectic mix of guests. Journalists, comedians, academics, authors, activists and artists appear alongside cult internet figures like the late Sophie Anderson, queer stars from the BBC’s groundbreaking I Kissed a Boy, and familiar faces from global reality franchises including Married at First Sight and TOWIE. The show also features authors of some of the biggest-selling queer books of recent years, leading UK queer academics, and comedians such as Manchester comic Dan Tiernan. The Independent noted, the line-up is “eclectic”.
Reactive, candid and often funny, the show unpacks UK and US politics, sexuality and culture through discussion and debate. While rooted in a queer perspective, its cultural analysis and political commentary resonate well beyond LGBTQ+ audiences.A gold winner at the British Podcast Awards and nominated for Best Interview Podcast in 2025 — alongside Louis Theroux and The News Agents — Outcast World has been recommended by The Guardian and The Independent, and was named a must-listen queer podcast by The Independent.
Now entering its fifth year, with listeners around the world including a strong US audience, it has established itself as a trusted space for frank, progressive queer focused conversation.
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Welsh queer comedian Leila Nevabi drops by. Welsh-Iranian comedian, writer and rising theatre menace Leila Navabi joins Outcast World for one of the funniest and weirdly moving chats we’ve had in ages. You’ll probably know Leila already from writing on Bad Education, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, or from voicing Claire in Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. She’s also become a major name on the UK live comedy circuit, supporting comics including Nish Kumar and Jessica Fostekew whil...
Amy Spalding & Gareth Valentino are talking to Graeme about REFORM UK, the GREENS and their new podcast. As Reform UK surges, the Green Party continues to grow and Labour struggles to hold its coalition together, the episode explores why more young gay men appear to be drifting towards right wing politics online — and what that says about masculinity, social media, identity and the modern culture war. Topics include Nigel Farage, Reform UK, Green politics, Labour’s decline, queer identity, d...
The BBC made history with I Kissed A Boy and I Kissed A Girl . Then they cancelled them. In this episode of Outcast World , Graeme Smith is joined by Gareth Valentino and Amy Spalding, two of the standout names from those shows, now launching their own podcast It Started With A Kiss. What starts as a conversation about queer TV quickly turns into something else. We get into what it actually felt like to come out on national television, the reality of sudden visibility, and why those shows matter...
This week Topher is back on, and on the last episode we found out about "felchgate". The perfect Valentines Day treat where a regular hookup was given a treat from a donor. If you know you now. The DL bad boys can be the kinkiest sometimes. This time it's news on one of his all time faves, fresh from a decade in prison taking Topher on a cute date in Soho. And we're talking about The Baftas Incident. Did we need to pitch people with disabilities and people of colour against each other? After a w...
Graeme and Topher meant to record a serious episode but then got side tracked on a half hour series of glorious tangents. The best of which is right at the start: Valentines day has been and gone....What did you do? Topher had a date pop round and he had a very specific request ... (googles F3LCHING....) It's one of those episodes. Enjoy. Everything you do online is tracked, fix it in two minutes, get up to 75% off NordVPN on outcastworld.net -----------------------------------------------------...
You may already know Carl Cashman as the Liberal Democrat politician who keeps making headlines for being ridiculously in shape and unapologetically shirtless on Instagram. The “world’s hottest politician” label follows him everywhere. But what happens when the internet crush turns out to be smart, likeable, politically ambitious — and fully aware that the gays love him? Recorded live in front of an audience at the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Gallery in Fitzrovia, London , Graeme sits down with the 34-yea...
Drag has never been more visible, but for many performers it has never felt more complicated. In this episode of Outcast World, Graeme Smith speaks to Crystal about what it’s really like to be a drag artist in 2026. They talk about the idea of “quiet quitting drag”, the rising pressure on LGBTQ performers, and why staying visible now comes with real personal and professional risks. Crystal joins the show while still involved in an ongoing legal dispute with Laurence Fox that is due back in court...
We’re joined by Kevin Guyan — one of the UK’s most compelling thinkers on queer life, power and systems. Kevin is a leading academic at the University of Edinburgh and the author of Queer Data and The Rainbow Trap , two books that have become essential reading on how LGBTQ+ lives are shaped, sorted and managed by institutions. It’s about data. Not as numbers, but as power. Kevin asks the question most of us never think to ask until it’s too late: what actually happens when queer people are count...
Since around 2020, a lot of queer people were finally let in. Into institutions that had ignored us, sidelined us, or treated us as a liability for decades. Suddenly we were wanted. Asked to advise. Asked to represent. Asked to sit on panels, lead staff networks, front Pride content, help “shape culture”. It felt like progress. It felt overdue. And then something shifted. The tone cooled. The questions stopped being curious and started being cautious. Budgets disappeared. Projects were quietly k...
This week on Outcast World, Graeme and Topher accidentally kick a hornet’s nest on TikTok and Instagram and get absolutely swarmed. Bots, right-wing bedwetters, and people arguing with total confidence that red is actually blue. A proper deluge. Where do they all come from, and why do they all sound the same? There is one bright spot: Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski shares the post on TikTok, which helps restore some faith in humanity. But like everyone else, we’re still drawn to the wor...
We start today's episode with an explanation from Topher Taylor , our cohost and tart with a heart, on why the original podcast recording had to be pushed back... The reason is entirely on brand... A last-minute OnlyFans shoot with a man he simply couldn’t turn down took priority. Sometimes work is work. And we respect the Hustle. Then in today's interview we chat to the gorgeous, charming Kyle Pritchard, who has a soft South Wales accent to die for and after being on reality dating show, The Bi...
Legendary Queer photographer and the man behind the Attitude uncut Kink edition front page, Charles Moriarty joins Graeme Smith to talk about Brock — his new photobook following actor and filmmaker Brock across four unstable years, from early ambition to the completion of Brock’s debut film Test . What started as a DM in 2017 became a stop-start collaboration shaped by distance, lockdown and uncertainty. Charles breaks down how Brock holds multiple threads at once, Brock as subject, Brock as fil...
YOUR BI WEEKLY DOSE OF QUEER POLITICS, SEX AND CULTURE On today’s episode, Graeme and Topher are joined at the start by Nick Charles — Trinidad-born Loud Brown Gays podcaster, music producer, and part of the original Outcast team — for an episode that opens on an awkward realisation: Graeme’s just seen a video on X of someone being bummed, and slowly works out the arse belongs to the man now sitting next to him. From there, the conversation moves into Heated Rivalry — why it’s landing with gay m...
In 2009, Graeme went to LA to work and make TV industry contacts but was exposed to a darker and more underground world than he could ever have imagined. The intersection of tinseltown, people seeking fame and the allure of meth and sex has been the ruin of countless promising careers and Graeme tells Topher about how the career highlight of working filming TV shows in LA, led to the discovery of a dark and destructive world just beneath the surface. Everything you do online is tracked, fix it i...
In this first episode of our sixth season. Hot on the heels of our shortlisting as Best Interview Podcast at the prestigious British podcast awards, the team are back with the global queer group chat. Today Graeme Smth is joined by regular Topher Taylor and fellow queer Irishman in London Charles Moriarty. The theme is our memories of Amy Winehouse, the queer icon and British music icon, taken too young. Charles was the photographer who took the images of Amy that launched the image we remember ...
A brutally honest look at grief, addiction, and finding a way back to life. After almost four years and 130 episodes of Outcast World , the mic finally turns towards its own creator. This week, the show takes a personal turn as The Divorce Social host Samantha Baines — known from BBC Radio London , The One Show , The Crown and Call The Midwife — interviews Outcast World ’s Graeme Smith , an award-winning broadcaster and podcaster, about a story he’s never shared publicly before. Recorded in late...
In this episode of OUTCAST WORLD, Graeme Smith sits down with Jaxon Feeley, author of "Fear Proof" out this week. Jax is here to flip everything you’ve ever believed about fear on its head. Jaxon Feeley is a British TV personality, presenter, speaker and advocate known for his work around trans inclusion, authenticity and mental-health awareness. Originally working as a prison officer, he began his transition in 2021 while still in post and has since leveraged his experience to inspire others to...
He kissed a boy. Then told the villa — and the whole country — he was living with HIV. Adam Williams went on I Kissed a Boy looking for love — and ended up schooling the nation on HIV and therapy. On Outcast World this week, Graeme Smith gets the goss straight from the masseria: Coming out (again) — this time on reality TV and ultimately the entire internet. Therapy, trauma, and trying not to cry on national telly. The truth about undetectable = untransmittable. Dating apps, reality TV edits, an...
Junaid Ahmed is one of the most visible queer Muslims on British television — and he’s doing it on one of the UK’s most-watched reality shows. As The Only Way is Essex returns to ITV2 and ITVX on Sunday nights at 9pm , Junaid sits down with Graeme Smith to talk identity, faith, fame and the reality behind the reality TV. In this candid conversation, Junaid reflects on: Coming out as a British-Pakistani Muslim Navigating fame, faith and family The pressures of visibility in both the LGBTQ+ and Mu...
On this week's Outcast World , Graeme Smith is asking the big question: should we finally ditch the dating apps? Author and broadcaster Daniel Harding joins the show to talk about the impact of his best-selling book Letters To My Younger Queer Self , and his new project hitting the streets to find out how queer people really feel about swiping, hookups, and love in 2025. Then, it’s music time with UK Eurovision girlband Remember Monday , back with their summer anthem Happier and a Desperate Hous...
Outcast World goes live from Manchester Pride 2025 with Graeme Smith and Nick Charles right at the heart of the action hosting a podcast and radio show from the site on the afternoon of Graeme's stag doo in the city! As well as speaking to some modern Manchester queer icons and old school pop legends, we're essentially hosting the entire podcast outside on the street whilst getting ready to go "out out". For one of the last Big Pride's of the season we're headed back up North. Singer and Manches...
“This feeling I was nurturing… was punishable by death.” This week on Outcast World, Graeme speaks with writer and doctor Majid Parsa, author of The Ayatollah’s Gaze — a compelling story about growing up queer in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We explore forbidden desire, the underground queer scene in Tehran — full of joy, glamour, and danger — and what it means to party knowing your social gathering at home with friends could be raided at any moment. Majid opens up about gender performance, sta...
This week we’re going full cultural yin and yang. First, Harry Eric Derbidge ( The Only Way Is Essex , ITV2 & ITVX) spills on the brand-new TOWIE season kicking off this Sunday at 9pm – expect sun, sea, and classic Essex drama. Then, we swap spray tans for sculptural blooms with Hamish Allan Powell , the Instagram-famous florist making waves in high-end floral design. This conversation comes from The BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Podcast – for all things ART, QUEER.CULTURE. From reality TV to floral fan...
Kuan-wen Huang is a queer, Taiwanese comedian, writer, and actor based in London. He’s appeared on Comedy Central , BBC , and Channel 4 , and has become a standout voice on London’s comedy circuit. Now, he’s bringing his brand-new one-man show Andrews Are The Worst to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In this episode of Outcast World , Graeme Smith sits down with Kuan-wen to talk about heartbreak, hookup disasters, Fringe burnout, and the suspicious pattern that every villain in his life seems to b...
The Church of England just met to decide the future of LGBTQ+ people in the Church — again. Still no equal marriage. Still no full acceptance. Still a fight. This week, Graeme speaks to Phillip Baldwin — a gay man, HIV-positive, and one of the few openly queer members of the Church’s General Synod. From inside the Church’s governing body, Phillip takes us behind the scenes of a system still struggling to recognise LGBTQ+ lives with dignity. It’s a raw conversation about faith, identity, and what...
What happens when you gather some of the most fabulous, fearless minds in queer media around a breakfast table? OUTCAST WORLD takes you inside the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! Breakfast Club — with legendary Attitude Editor-in-Chief Cliff Joannou front and centre. Cliff is a defining voice in queer journalism — shaping the stories, covers and controversies that have marked a generation. In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about: 🌈 The power and pressure of queer media 🗞️ How Attitude st...
In this episode, Graeme Smith is joined by Stu Oakley and Lotte Jeffs — co-authors of Do Ask, Do Tell , the bold, funny, and radically honest new book that lays queer life, love and culture bare. Stu is a film publicist who’s worked on Star Wars , Harry Potter , and Jurassic World . Lotte is a genderqueer journalist, novelist, children’s author, and former ELLE editor. Together, they’re also the co-hosts of the award-winning podcast Some Families — the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ parenting show. In Do A...
This episode dissects the media storm surrounding Bob Vylan's controversial Glastonbury performance, featuring GB News reactions and a comparison to other recent cases involving inciting hatred. Hosts discuss censorship, the power of art, and the influence of propaganda and algorithms on public perception. The conversation expands to cover Kneecap's political stance, Irish history, and the importance of spaces like Glastonbury for challenging dominant narratives.
As the Glastonbury Festival heatwave rolls on, the political outrage is just warming up. Graeme and Nick Charles unpack Kneecap 's headline-grabbing set and the pearl-clutching reaction from MPs and a media desperate to censor a culture they don’t understand. Did The 1975 let us down with the announcement mid set they didn't want to do politics.. to only then go and sing a load of inherently political songs. There's also Bob Vylan and the stage chants that got police attention. Are we all compel...
Reality star Jordan Burrow won hearts on I Kissed a Boy —the BBC’s flagship queer dating show hosted by Dannii Minogue —but his story goes beyond the groundbreaking global hit show. In this episode, Jordan opens up about using his platform to start real conversations: from coming out in a remote rural village, his love of football and sports, to his bold message on the biggest billboard in Manchester UK , dedicated to his dad during Men’s Mental Health Week. The powerful image, featured in Attit...
