In Girl On Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, Pulitzer-nominated journalist Sophie Gilbert underlines how popular culture isn’t an innocuous force. She chats to our Mick about how focusing on how women and girls have been presented in pop culture from the late 1990s through the first two decades of this century revealed modern misogyny has been shaped by a mass culture attuned to male desire and all-pervasive pornography. Girl on Girl is published by John Murr...
Apr 25, 2025•25 min
Once cool, now ick. That could describe so many things from 1995, but in this instance it's Luc Besson's thriller about a prepubescent girl and her assassin neighbour. But could it all have been so different? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 23, 2025•23 min
Two young women walk into a theatre in China in 1935 and so begins a relationship that spans a turbulent period of history and ends with the death of one of them. Hannah chats to playwright and historian Amy Ng about her latest play, Shanghai Dolls, about finding the women behind the legends of Sun Weishi and Madame Mao, and about how we could all probably do with brushing up on our Chinese history. More information and tickets here: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/shanghai-dolls/ Learn more ab...
Apr 22, 2025•27 min
Books are a bit like buses for author Abigail Johnson, who signed a two-book deal after taking a punt on a creative writing course during the pandemic. Fast forward a few years, and Abigail's debut novel The Secret Collector is out now. Jen catches up with Abigail to talk about loneliness, learning from our elders (and indeed youngers), and the best bug that never happened. The Secret Collector is available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 21, 2025•24 min
There's a long weekend ahead and if you want to spend it watching telly, then you do you. Have some help choosing in the form of our monthly chat about TV, in which we're talking about The White Lotus, The Last of Us, After the Party, Dying for Sex, Black Mirror, Black Snow and Black Doves. Yeah, we saw the pattern there too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 18, 2025•32 min
Things are looking very worrying over in America, so of course we're talking about that. But we manage to get in a lot of other stuff too, including workers' rights, good news about bad games, rich women in space, mean girls in tennis and some more dreadful French pronunciations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 17, 2025•32 min
Comedy? Horror? Satire? A full-length Huey Lewis and the News music video? There’s a lot going on in Mary Harron’s big screen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial 1991 bestseller. Will Christian Bale’s much-lauded turn as Patrick Bateman blow Mick, Hannah and Jen away or turn their stomachs? What does a female director’s perspective bring to the exaggerated misogyny? Is any of it actually real? Do you like Phil Collins? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 16, 2025•34 min
Alice Vincent was a music journalist for many years, which had already started to shift how she listened, but then pregnancy and a deep trauma when her baby was very small led to her relationship with sound fracturing. In her new book, Hark: How Women Listen, she explores how she rebuilt that relationship, and also talks to other women about their experiences with sound and listening. Our Mick got on the Zoom to talk about the different way sounds land in female bodies, and how we could all be l...
Apr 15, 2025•24 min
Elsa James’s new exhibition, It Should Not Be Forgotten, explores themes of chattel enslavement and its impact on contemporary Black British life. Confronting Britain’s national amnesia around its role in the transatlantic slave trade, Elsa’s work seeks to bring an alternative perspective on how we engage with the past. Jen chats to Elsa about the exhibition’s themes, sharing history, and facing its discomfort. It Should Not Be Forgotten is at Firstsite Colchester until July 6. Learn more about ...
Apr 14, 2025•30 min
Actor Honeysuckle Weeks has been onstage and screen for more than 30 years and can currently be found touring as Marmee in a new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women. Jen chats to Honeysuckle about how relatable the 1868 novel remains to young women, the tragedy of Jo, and loving Leslie Manville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 11, 2025•23 min
There’s a whole lot of manosphere in this week’s Bush Telegraph, helmed by Hannah and Mick, but maybe, just maybe, there’s a side of justice to boot. Thank Christ? Turns out a lot more Gen Z-ers have turned to God than we thought, so perhaps. Thank dire wolves? Well, now you’re just being silly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 10, 2025•21 min
John Waters’ follow-up to smash hit Hairspray saw the so-called “Pope of Trash” enjoy the first-ever bidding war for his work. But does 1990’s cult classic Cry-Baby live up to the hype? Is it the lol-a-thon Jen remembers? And can Mick and Hannah still bear to look at Johnny Depp’s face? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 09, 2025•22 min
Writer, actor and top woman Brona C Titley was keener than mustard when she was asked to adapt Brian Helgeland’s 2001 medieval action comedy for the stage. A Knight’s Tale the Musical opens at Manchester Opera House this Friday, so Mick got Brona on the Zoom to chat the whys, the hows, and the horses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 08, 2025•26 min
Namulanta Kombo pitched an idea for a podcast to the BBC World Service and the result - Dear Daughter - has become a worldwide success story, garnering a devoted listenership and a bunch of awards. She joins Hannah from Nairobi, to talk about advice, good and bad, and the importance of passing on life lessons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 07, 2025•24 min
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt and adapted from Amy Liptrot’s prizewining 2017 addiction memoir of the same name, The Outrun follows the recovery of young alcoholic Rona, and offers emotional turmoil in dramatic places. How will Mick, Yosra and Hannah cope with that? And it stars Saoirse Ronan. How will Hannah cope with that? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 04, 2025•34 min
Mick and Jen are steeling themselves for the seven bill (sort of) increases rolling out across the country this week, as they chat budget bloopers and a 45p consolation prize. Meanwhile, it’s bleak news indeed as in the UK further crimes are alleged against serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, and across the pond, women in the US are up against infringements on democracy via the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Still, thank God for that new UTI drug, eh? In Jenny Off The Blocks there’s tennis, ru...
Apr 03, 2025•28 min
Join us as we get into the groove of a "feminist cult classic". Is that jacket lush? Is Madonna playing Madonna? Is Desperately Seeking Susan a feminist film at all? All the debate is raging here. And Jen's in fancy dress. You're welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 02, 2025•30 min
Historian Hallie Rubenhold's non-fiction book The Five found the stories of the victims of Jack the Ripper underneath a whole pile of misogyny and myth-making. She's about to do the same for the women at the centre of the Crippen murder, with her book Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen. Hallie chats to Hannah about the wrongs done to Belle Elmore, by both her husband and history, and why most true crime sucks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 01, 2025•25 min
At various points in her life, writer and walking enthusiast Annabel Streets has felt a pull towards certain landscapes and wondered if there was a reason for that. In her new book, The Walking Cure: Harness the Life-changing Power of Landscape to Heal, Energise and Inspire, she explores the restorative and healing powers of walking. Jen catches up with Annabel to talk about why we should all be getting outside, the mindblowing new findings about the different benefits of different landscapes, a...
Mar 31, 2025•24 min
Fiddler on the Roof could win big at this year's Oliviers, with 13 nods, including one for Best Actress for Lara Pulver. She's also about to hit our screens in Paramount's new drama MobLand. Lara chats to Hannah about all this, plus working with Helen Mirren, the cancellation of Maternal and how what the childminder walked in on really wasn't what it looked. * You can listen to Jen's interview with Jackie Honess-Martin about Maternal here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr5qeoaEwC8 Learn more a...
Mar 28, 2025•23 min
There's fuckwittery, and there's whatever the hell is going on at the highest levels of government in America right now. In this week's BT, Hannah and Jen look at that whole horror show, the chances of another pandemic, a new GCSE, and the dearth of women in brewing. Plus there's rugby and tennis in Jenny Off The Blocks. And, perhaps most importantly, updates from Newport Pagnell's Facebook group. The Atlantic mentioned is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administ...
Mar 27, 2025•31 min
Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie head up James Mangold’s biographical drama, based on Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir about her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. It was a big deal on its release, so Mick, Hannah and Jen give it a watch to discover whether it’s an astute look at female mental health in a time when women’s rights and standards were very different or, to put it bluntly, dogshit, uninterrupted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 26, 2025•30 min
The Women’s Six Nations got underway on Saturday, with England eyeing a whopping 29th title in the tournament. And so, Jen jumped on the Zoom to chat to the Red Roses’ top scorer of all time: Emily Scarratt. They're talking about how women’s rugby is doing in the UK and on a global stage, the forthcoming World Cup, and how to take the lows, as well as the highs, when you're a professional athlete. Tickets for the Women's Six Nations are available online now. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Mar 24, 2025•23 min
What a month, indeed what a few days, of TV. Hannah's got some high praise for Severance, The White Lotus, Toxic Town and Adolescence, while Jen's been keeping it real with some ITV dramas. And a few BBC ones to boot. Tuck in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 21, 2025•47 min
It’s a full basket of news from Hannah and Mick this week: oven-ready gammon joints, Streep-Short joy, a pre-tribunal win for some of the BBC’s female presenters, the Met Police covering itself in glory again, and – all together now! – relugolix/estradiol/norethisterone acetate for the endo win. Plus, extra sunshine for our £5+ patrons with Sarah Millican’s Light Relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 20, 2025•19 min
Garry Marshall’s much beloved romcom made a leading lady of Julia Roberts, and an absolute shedload of cash at the box office. But how romantic and/or funny is sex work, drug addiction and controlling relationships? And would either Hannah or Jen be up for being kept as Richard Gere’s pet? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 19, 2025•25 min
Investigative journalist and head of narrative at Stak, Nicky Anderson has been a ballet nut since she was a kid. And the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine? For many, it’s ballet at its pinnacle. But at what cost? In her new seven-part podcast series, Dancing With Shadows, Nicky explores the history of the New York City Ballet and its influence, with a focus on the dark side of the company and the culture and legacy created and left by Balanchine. Mick got her on the Zoom to talk abou...
Mar 17, 2025•29 min
How do you solve a problem like two people who don't like musicals having to watch one of the world's best-loved musicals? Was it like brown paper packages tied up with string or just Do Re Mi Fa Soooo fucking long? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 12, 2025•25 min
Roisin O’Donnell’s striking debut novel, Nesting, tackles some big issues: domestic abuse, coercive control and the housing crisis in Ireland. We follow protagonist Ciara’s spur of the moment decision to take her two young girls and flee her abusive husband – and the challenges she faces staying away. Roisín chats to our Mick about coercive control, strong women in impossible situations, and sparks of hope. If you or anyone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, the freephone, 24-hour National...
Mar 11, 2025•26 min
Jemima Rooper has been on our screens since the mid ‘90s, featuring in shows such as As If, Hex, and more recently The Split and Geek Girl. Now she’s at London's Park Theatre as Suzanne in one of France's favourite plays, Farewell Mr Haffman. Jen catches up with Jemima to talk about playing a Nazi, life as an actor from a young age, and being that tricky not young/not yet old age of our mid-40s. Farewell Mr Haffmann is at Park Theatre, London, until April 12 Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Mar 10, 2025•22 min
