PJ Hogan’s 1994 classic, Muriel’s Wedding, launched his own career, as well as those of Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths. But has Jen misremembered the Aussie comedy as a “feel-good” movie? Is Muriel/Marial/Muriel a likeable protagonist? And will Mick and Hannah ever stop laughing about an unzipped beanbag? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Reah Bravo encountered sexual misconduct at the hands of a former employer during her time as a broadcast journalist, she was surprised by the way she handled it. As, she discovered, were many other women in similar situations. As Reah questioned the impact of the #MeToo movement, she set about examining the ways in which women are socially conditioned to not just tolerate abuse but even prop up abusive systems. That forms the premise of her new book, Complicit: How Our Culture Enables Misb...
We often talk about how social media is radicalising men and boys, but it absolutely happens to women and girls, too. In a new BBC3 documentary, America's New Female Right, Layla Wright heads to the US to find out why so many young women are advocating against their own interests. She chats to Hannah about domineering dads, the church, the thrill of clicks, going down a right-wing wormhole and working for Louis Theroux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Who doesn’t love a good night’s sleep? And yet, 40% of us in the UK struggle with some sort of sleep issue. And yes, you guessed it, it affects women more than men. Sunday marks the start of Sleeptember, so Mick grabbed the opportunity to get Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, on the Zoom to talk about those all-important zeds – and why we’ve become so bad at getting them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's Bush Telegraph time again and this week Hannah and Mickey are covering perhaps the widest range of topics ever: Oasis, menstrual blood, coercive control and cutting a whale's head off with a chainsaw. You are welcome. And in Sexism of the Week, Mickey's looking at how life is worsening for women in Afghanistan. We didn't say it was cheery. But it does need talking about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy x2 star in this satirical comedy from 1999, which is a firm favourite of both Hannah and Mick. Pressure. Which Eddie Murphy will steal the show? Will Heather Graham out Heather Graham herself? Will Hannah be able to stop watching the same three minutes of the film to watch all the film? Why is Mick practicing her kung-fu moves? Can Hannah get down from that mid-height platform? And, vitally, has Mick pushed her luck by picking Bowfinger for Rated or Dated? Learn mor...
Adjusting to life on the outside is, for a lot of prisoners, very hard. But there's a wealth of advice on hand from the Life After Prison podcast and in this episode, Hannah chats to one of its co-hosts, Jules Rowan. They talk about what prison is for, who should and shouldn't be sent there, and how Jules has been using her experiences "inside" to help others navigate theirs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tissues at the ready, because Yosra's picked a surprisingly dark Marvel film for this month's Flicking. The final outing for James Gunn's ragtag family of heroes led by Chris Pratt's Peter Quill puts half its focus on Rocket's (hellish, heartbreaking) backstory and the other on saving a Guardian in mortal peril. But does it have enough of its usual irreverent swagger to charm Guardians fan Hannah? And how much sobbing at sci-fi can Mick do in a week? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
Hannah and Mick are finding glimmers of good in the bad news this week, as they celebrate the brave women seeking justice in cases involving sexsomnia (sure, yer Honour) and, separately, mesh complications. And what’s that? Extreme misogyny being recognised by the Government as an ideology dangerous to women and girls? There have never been such times. Like, literally; it’s a new dawn and we’re glad to see it. There’s also critical thinking, beavers, the ghost of Alec Guinness and a rendition of...
Is Wikus a hero, a villain or neither? Is Mickey over her aversion to gore? Does Hannah do a decent Johannesburg accent? Find out in this week's Rated or Dated, as we watch 2009's District 9. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As part of her work as CEO of Girls for a Change, Angela Patton was faced with girls in her community who desperately wanted to spend quality time with their fathers. But in this case, the girls’ fathers were in jail, in a system that increasingly prevented contact time with loved ones. Not one to be phased by a challenge, Angela pioneered the highly successful programme, Date with Dad, which provided just that: an opportunity for the girls to attend a dance with their dads. When director Natali...
So much sport, has there even been any time to watch telly? Of course there has. This month, Hannah, Mickey and Jen are talking about Simon Biles Rising, The Bear, Those About to Die, Slip, The Lady in the Lake, High Country, The Jetty and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, Jen's joined by Hannah to chat about the carnival of sporting achievement that was Paris 2024. They're chatting about gender parity, Team GB winners, Raygun, whether the 100m is over-rated, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and what the hell is Hannah talking about when she says "I've been watching the running up the wall." Plus, if you now feel like watching more sport, Jen's going to tell you what to look out for. * In this podcast, Hannah says that of the nine mothers in Team GB, six won m...
It’s a bona-fide classic in the Rated or Dated chair this week, as Hannah and Mick watch Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins for the umpteenth time and Jen comes at it fresh. Well, as fresh as someone with a four-year-old can be. The songs are bangers, the plot’s ridiculous and surely no one’s comfortable with being told how amazing they are all of the time. And it raises all sorts of questions, although ‘how many times has Hannah been to a wedding with a chimney sweep?’ wasn’t one any of us were expe...
Writer, performer and comedian Bryony Byrne loved playing football at primary school. So why can’t she remember any footballers post 1998? She explores this, as well as gender stereotypes, and female rage, through the spirit guidance of Eric Cantona in her Edinburgh show, Fan/Girl. Jen chatted to Bryony about the '90s, ladette culture, and falling back in love with football through Charlton Athletic. Fan/Girl is at the Edinburgh Fringe until Aug 26 (except Aug 19), 12.10pm, Summerhall Demonstrat...
Anna Maria della Pieta. Chances are you’ve heard of Antonio Vivaldi, but you’ve never heard of Anna Maria or her fellow female orphans at the Ospedale della Pieta, which in 18th century Venice boasted the greatest orchestra in the world. Without these ridiculously talented girls and women, The Four Seasons might not exist. Harriet Constable’s debut historical fiction, The Instrumentalist, is the story of Anna Maria, Vivaldi’s favourite student and violin prodigy, shining a light on the women and...
Here at Standard Issue, we love the Olympics - because who doesn't? But we especially love the modern pentathlon, which got underway at this summer's Games on August 8 and continues until the final day of the Olympics on Sunday 11. Jen had the joy of chatting to Team GB modern pentathlete Kerenza Bryson just before she headed out to Paris. Kerenza’s hoping to add an Olympic medal to her haul from the European and World championships, so fingers crossed for that. In the meantime, you can hear Ker...
This week it’s Jen’s pick, ably assisted by Mick, who suggested 1984’s Rocky for kids, The Karate Kid. Why was she was so keen to rewatch that, we wonder. In unrelated news, how will Mick’s crush on Ralph Macchio have dated? How many times can she talk about The Karate Kid Part II? And how will this seminal film of Noonan's youth fare with Balboa fans, Jen and Hannah? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Twenty-five years after making the final of So You Think You're Funny, Juliet Cowan has taken her first show to the Edinburgh Fringe. She talks to Hannah about taking the estrogen goggles off, the rashness of perimenopause, returning to comedy, and her successful acting career, which has included roles in This Life, Back To Life, Back to Black and Pulling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
US comedian Anna Akana’s tagline might as well be ‘hello darkness my old friend’, because she travels into some pretty dark places for her comedy. This included talking about the stalker who hounded her so much she gave up standup for years, her sister’s suicide 17 years ago, and that time her dad ran off to fight in Ukraine. In this episode, she chats to our Mick about making that shit funny, her commitment to expanding how we talk about taboo topics and mental health, and making her UK debut w...
Actor, playwright and civil celebrant Amy Conway's new one-woman show Catafalque opened at the Fringe last week and is soon to head off on a short tour of Scotland. In today's podcast, she's chatting to Hannah about funerals during Covid, the dilemmas celebrants can face and what it was like to write her own eulogy. Tickets for Catafalque at Summerhall are here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/catafalque Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mick and Jen are on Bush Telegraph duties this week and trying not to get seasick as they negotiate the choppy waters of the Seine, remaining buoyed by Flavor Flav’s unlikely appearance in a pool. Meanwhile, there may be tough times ahead for Rachel Reeves, horrors unfold on the streets of Southport, and one woman has tits galore right in her face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hannah's picked one of Jen's faves, so how's that going to pan out? This week, we're watching Ron Howard's comedy about raising kids, that comes with an all-star cast. Does Frank deserve redemption? Does Mickey like the change of pace for Rick Moranis? And is Dianne Wiest the best thing in it? Spoiler alert on that last one - she is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
London's East End has inspired hundreds of books, films, TV programmes and characters. Now, there's a new podcast dedicated to its history, courtesy of writer, actor, and broadcaster Sue Elliott-Nicholls and Immediate Theatre. The Hackney and Newham History Social Club tells stories of the lives of people from the two London boroughs, as well as many who travelled to London to make their lives there. Sue chats to Jen about the warm and wonderful stories coming out of what started as a lockdown p...
Susannah Walker is one of the co-founders of brilliant charity Make Space for Girls, which campaigns for parks and other public spaces to be as welcoming for teenage girls as they are for teenage boys. Because it has implications, not least the question ‘who do public spaces belong to?’ Spoiler: it ain’t women. And so, in Susannah’s new book, The Hard Way: Discovering the Women Who Walked Before Us, she examines women’s place in the countryside, walking ancient tracks, discovering some excellent...
Isa Guha, former cricketer, member of England’s World Cup winning team, and the first South Asian player to represent the country in the sport, has carved out a successful role for herself as a presenter since she retired from the game. Now, through her charity Take Her Lead, she wants to help other young women and girls to get a foothold in the male-dominated arena. She chatted to Jen about the charity, diversity in women’s sports teams, and life as a woman in sports broadcast media. Learn more...
Another roller coaster of a week, so strap in for the Bush Telegraph with Lembit Opik and ... no, away with you... with Hannah and Jen. This time they're talking about Hannah's new career as a freelance White House advisor and Jen's got Track & Trace PTSD. In Sexism of the Week, there's some horrifying figures on violence against women and in Jenny Off the Blocks, there's some questions about violence towards a horse. None of which is good. But there is also the modern pentathlon. There will...
How many women in this week’s Rated or Dated? ZERO WOMEN. Must be a Mickey pick, eh? Correct. But what a pick: 2004’s rockumentary classic/accidental comedy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster from filmmakers Joe Berlinger and the late Bruce Sinofsky. And man, oh emotionally stunted man, does it raise a lot of questions about the human condition. And other questions, too. Such as, which Metallica did Jen fancy? And, how many times has Hannah accidentally seen them live? And, is that Mark Kermode? A...
There are currently 82,000 children in care in the UK. What's life like for them and how will growing up in care go on to affect their lives? Hannah's been on the Zoom with Rebekah Pierre, editor of an excellent new book, Free Loaves on Fridays: The Care System As Told By People Who Actually Get It, to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Italian author Ilaria Bernardini is a big deal in her home country. And rightly so. Her latest novel in English, We Will Be Forest, was longlisted for Italy’s presitigious Strega Prize when it originally came out in 2018, and she’s received a tankload of plaudits for her works for the page and screen. In this episode, Mick’s chatting to Ilaria about the pain, hope and renewal of change, particularly in relationships and events that affect our physical health, the invisible lines that connect us ...
