Standard Issue Podcast

Dench, McKellan, Atkins, (Richard E) Grant! Who doesn’t love a bit of Tim Sullivan’s weepie ‘90s romcom? Hmmm, maybe Mickey and Hannah. Maybe even Jen herself. But can its sublime cast or Simply Red save this week’s offering?

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For her debut novel, Helen Bain chose one of her heroes as her focus: poet, author, arch-confessionist and genius, Sylvia Plath. The Daffodil Days spans a year and a half in Plath’s life, during which she and husband Ted Hughes head to Devon seeking the idyll of country living. 

During that time, Plath completed The Bell Jar, gave birth to a son, Nicholas, and wrote the poems that would be posthumously published as Ariel. But she also threw herself full-heartedly into the Devon life, and it’s this and what it tells us about Plath, which Helen so beautifully explores in The Daffodil Days. 

She chats to Mick about Plath, female genius, daffodils, hope and bellringing.

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Despite very little experience in feature filmmaking, director Isabel Daly teamed up with writer Issy Brett and actor/writer/producer, Carys Glynne, to make Washed Up, their debut feature film on a shoestring budget. The delightful story of a Cornish artist who accidentally falls in love with a selkie premieres at this year’s BFI Flare, the British Film Institute’s annual LGBTQIA+ film festival.

Jen caught up with Isabel to talk about filmmaking, queer representation in film, Airbnb culture, and the joy of a 90-minute movie.

Washed Up screens at BFI Flare on March 25 and 28 and tickets are available now.

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Kirk Jones’s biographical drama based on the true life story of John Davidson, the man who taught Britain about Tourette Syndrome, is currently no 1 in the Netflix UK charts. It bagged lead actor Robert Aramayo the best actor gong at the recent Baftas, an awards ceremony that led to the film having a fourth act no one was expecting. 

Hannah picked it as her next Flicking choice waaaay before any of that occurred. She, Yosra and Mick chat about this frank, powerful, gut-wrenching and funny account of a man still bringing much-needed awareness to a still misunderstood condition. 

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Turns out we all just need to be a little more Linford, a little less Peter. Just one life lesson from Mick and Jen’s look at the news this week. There’s also the issue of savings versus compensation, former politicians you probably do not want to find in your mate’s bathroom, an important Mumsnet report into medical misogyny in Sexism of the Week, and news on the Iranian women’s football team in Jenny Off the Blocks.

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Long regarded as the peak of American indie filmmaking in the 1990s, John Sayles neo-western/murder mystery has a cracking cast and asks a huge moral question. Hannah thinks it's way ahead of its time but will Mickey and Jen agree?

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When she turned 40, journalist and author Poorna Bell decided she’d had enough of being told her best years were behind her – not least because she was seeing so many older women absolutely killing it in their various and varied arenas. With that in mind she set about looking at the rules set for women by society, questioning how and why they’d come to be, which in turn became the basis for her new book: She Wanted More: Reimagine your future and live by your rules.

Jen chats to Poorna about why society writes off older women, our fears around ageing, and the art of not giving a shit.

Want to support us and enjoy additionalcontent? Of course you do. And you can: patreon.com/standardissue.

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A “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Superbowl halftime show caused a huge furore and changed the course of Janet Jackson’s career for decades, while her fellow performer, Justin “Trousersnake” Timberlake thrived. Multidisciplinary artist Paula Varjack’s play, Nine Sixteenths, examines the impact of the infamous “Nipplegate” incident.

Jen chats to Paula about the play, the forces of racism, sexism and ageism that conspired to derail Jackson, and the hypocrisy that underlines pop culture.

As ever, there’s more available for our £5 and above patreons, and you can become one of those by visiting patreon.com/standardissue.

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Sure, the news is all about the Middle East, but what else is going on? Quite a bit. In this week's Bush Telegraph, Hannah and Jen talk about how "baby brain" is actually good for women, the Telegraph's literally unbelievable school fees story, good news about homelessness in Wales, and sexism in the workplace. And in Jenny Off The Blocks, there's ice hockey, tennis and football. 

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Fava beans and Chianti all round as Mick’s picked Jonathan Demme’s Oscars-dominating 1991 psychological horror. Or is it a thriller? Other questions addressed include: how’s Hannah feeling about Scott Glenn; does the film have feminist credentials; what’s with the stereotyping, and how much ham is simply too much ham for Jen’s mum Cath? Fffffffffffffff. Etc.

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