Actor Taj Atwal has graced stage and screen for over a decade, starting off with appearances in Miranda and Ruth Jones’ Stella. Since then she has gone on to star alongside the likes of Liam Neeson, Monica Bellucci, Lily James & Dame Emma Thompson. 

Taj has had series regular roles in the BBC dramas Line of Duty and The Syndicate as well as comedies like Hullraisers on Channel 4, Daddy Issues on BBC Three and Trying on Apple TV+ and many more. 

Her story choices go from a British council estate to a flatshare in North London via the history of Asians in Britain and the podcast that launched the medium into the mainstream. Her choices reflect her wide-ranging career and Taj’s passion and dedication to people and their stories. 

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Jen Brister is a comedian and writer who has appeared on some of the UK’s best loved comedy shows such as Live at the Apollo, QI, Mock the Week and BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. She hosts her own podcast Memory Lane with fellow comedian Kerry Godliman as well as appearing on some of the country’s top podcasts such as Off Menu with Ed Gamble & James Acaster, The Guilty Feminist with Deborah Frances-White and Never Live It Down with Vogue Williams.

Jen gave a TEDx talk about changing the way we raise our boys in 2018 and published her first book, The Other Mother, in 2019 about life raising her twin sons with her partner, Chloe.

Jen’s story choices range from a gritty gang vs cops tale set in Baltimore, Maryland to a movie about the spying and surveillance carried out on potential enemies of the state in East Berlin during the Cold War. She described her book choice as “the funniest book ever written” and her podcast choice is one of the best ever made, setting the standard for audio production for over twenty years. 

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Louisa Young is a novelist, biographer and songwriter who has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Costa Novel Award and the Carnegie Medal as well as winning Audiobook of the Year at the National Book Awards.

She has written several children’s books with her daughter as well as a biography of her grandmother, Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Robert Scott. Previously, she worked as a journalist for titles such as Tatler & Marie-Claire as well as The Guardian and The Sunday Times. 

Louisa is currently writing the next three instalments in the Cazalet Chronicles, the cult series written by her late aunt, Elizabeth Jane Howard. 

Her eclectic choices take us from 1950s Scotland and London to New York in the 1980s and even to Dolly Parton’s Tennessee. Her love of character, quirks and nostalgia are no surprise given she is a writer and her enthusiasm for each is infectious.

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Zachary Hart is an actor who graduated from the Academy of Live & Recorded Arts in 2017 and headed straight to the Bridge Theatre in London to perform in legendary director Nic Hytner’s Julius Caesar. And he’s just kept going ever since.

He has appeared in many of the biggest shows on TV since his career rocketed into action: from Peaky Blinders on BBC One and The Witcher on Netflix to Masters of the Air and Slow Horses on Apple TV, Zachary’s been there. 

Our discussion was as wide-ranging as his title choices but often came back to the importance of family and Zach’s laser-like focus on the craft of storytelling, be that through the written word or on-screen. We talked about what he called “The Perfect Film” as well as a TV show he rewatches all the time and a book that showed him a love he hankered after himself.

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In this episode of Like This Love This, we are joined by Alison Balsom, a classical trumpet player, music producer and educator, who started playing the trumpet at age seven and went on to graduate top of her class from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She has since won Young Artist of the Year and later Female Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT awards and Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

This year, she is playing at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall for the second time. 

Alison’s story choices are as wide and varied as they are interesting and even include an anecdote about Quentin Tarantino being on her first date with her husband - theatre and film director, Sir Sam Mendes.

From creativity and innovation across the cultural landscape to new ways of thinking about things: passion and dedication are always at the heart of the stories that appeal to her. 

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This week’s guest is Patrick Grant - best known for his time as a judge on BBC1’s Great British Sewing Bee since the show started in 2013. But he has also turned around the fortunes of the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons after seeing it advertised for sale in the back of a newspaper, won Menswear Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2010 and has worked with some of the world’s best known luxury brands such as Cartier, Rolls Royce, Christian Louboutin and Alexander McQueen. 

He now owns and runs Community Clothing; a brand which supports local textile manufacturers in Britain. Last year, he published Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish - How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier - his treatise on we all need to turn our backs on fast fashion and the general trend to just keep accumulating more stuff. 

Our discussion reflects Patrick’s dedication to his mission to convince the world to invest in longer lasting pieces from local manufacturers rather than enriching a few billionaire owners of global companies. We also chatted about his idea of a perfect day as well as a cult movie that is considered one of the best British films of all time. 

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Alexandra Haddow is a writer and comedian who sold out her debut show, Not My Finest Hour, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 as well as her follow-up show, Third Party, in 2024 - which she also took on tour around the UK this year. 

Alexandra has opened for comedy legends such as Frankie Boyle, Tommy Tiernan and Bill Bailey and has contributed to Have I Got News For You, The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 and co-hosted the pop culture hit podcast, Sentimental Garbage. She has written for The Guardian, Metro, TimeOut and The Sunday Times Magazine among others. 

In 2023 she won the West End Comedy Club Working Class Bursary. 

When not being an in-demand comedian, she runs her own indie, rock’n’roll, and britpop club night Indie Amnesty which has sold out nights in Glasgow, London and as far afield as Barcelona.

Over the course of our conversation we touched on the joy of seeing women being depicted on screen as they are in real life: as flawed and irritating as well as fun and sexy. Alexandra shared her fascination with learning about the private lives of couples through the podcast she selected as well as how in awe she is of her friend who has written a fantasy novel. 

Alexandra’s choices:

TV Show - Pulling

Film - An Education

Podcast - You’ll Do

Book - Skipshock, Caroline O’Donoghue

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Amaka Okafor is an actor who has starred in Bodies on Netflix, The Responder and The Split on BBC One and the film version of the Take That musical Greatest Day. 

In 2023 Screen International named her as a Star of Tomorrow and she is starring in the upcoming Netflix series Black Rabbit alongside Jason Bateman and Jude Law this September - so it’s safe to say she is going places!

Over the course of our conversation, we spoke about race as it was her love of Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop that made her want to be an actress, the importance of representation and female friendship as demonstrated by her TV choice Insecure and the joy from the unexpected in the podcast Heavyweight. With her book choice Rebecca we explored the protagonist’s tendency to make herself small and insignificant and how that is a behaviour still common among women almost one hundred years later. 

Amaka’s choices:

Film - Beverly Hills Cop

TV Show - Insecure

Podcast - Heavyweight

Book - Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

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Shabaz Ali is a social media sensation with 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 2 million on TikTok. Known by the handle @shabazsays, he judges the rich and famous from the comfort of his own bed all while shrouded in his signature fleecy blanket. His videos achieve many millions of views thanks to his sharp sense of humour and refusal to be cowed by anyone’s fame.  

This success has led to his decision to step away from his previous role as a chemistry teacher to write an Amazon bestselling book about social media and to take to the stage as a comedian with his own tour earlier this year.  

Not content with just two new career paths, Shabaz has also started his own weekly podcast “I’m Rich You’re Poor” - the same title as his book - where he and his best friend Sofia chat about pop culture, gossip, telly and the ridiculousness of social media. 

Over the course of our discussion, Shabaz shared how deeply he cares about advocacy for women and equality as well as the dangers of social media. We discussed his fascination with gossip and how Bollywood cinema has warped his expectation of love.  

Shabaz choices: 

Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 

Movie: Khahaani 

Podcast: British Scandal 

TV Show: Black Mirror…and Friends 

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