Standard Issue Podcast

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

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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. 

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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.

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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 project, valuing our elders, and the changing face of the East End.

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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 wild women sidelined by history, and going a bit feral herself. She’s chatting to Mick about all of this and more, in this Monday episode.

And if you’re Marlborough way, you can see Mick chatting to Sus

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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.

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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 always be the modern pentathlon!

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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? And also, can a human survive a pancreas explosion? 

A bonus treat for any Metallica fans listening: Mick’s put some song title Easter eggs in there for you. Happy hunting!

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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.

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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 all – and what part plants and nature can play in all of that. 

We Will Be Forest is translated by Livia Franchini, published by Whitefox and out now.

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