The Cultural Crunch

By Tim Allen

Welcome to The Cultural Crunch - I'm Tim Allen and this is my new podcast. It's a place for conversations with interesting people from the world of arts and entertainment - writers, musicians, dire

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· Arts

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How many episodes does The Cultural Crunch have?

The podcast currently has 5 episodes available.

The Cultural Crunch episodes:

June 27, 2026 Glastonbury The Movie
Robin Mahoney has spent a lifetime working in film and television and has an infectious enthusiasm for his craft.
We first met in the summer of 1993 when he was gathering a crew of fresh young creatives to make a film about a music festival on a farm in the Somerset village of Pilton. Glastonbury The Movie went on to become the definitive document of the festival before it became the internationally famous cultural phenomenon that it is today. It also captures British youth culture at the end of the analogue age, free from camera phones and corporate hype.
It's a fallow year on the farm so while the festival is taking a break Robin decided to mark the 30th anniversary of his film with a UK- wide cinema release. We met up again to reminisce and celebrate this very special film.

Photo: Tim Allen and Robin Mahoney in his Hackney home-studio.

https://glastomovie30th.netlify.app/
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41min
June 01, 2026 Chelsea Flower Show
In this special edition of The Cultural Crunch I took my roving microphone for a day out at one of the most glorious events of the English summer season - The Chelsea Flower Show. There I met designers and creative teams behind some of the gold medal-winning gardens. I discovered that ancient woodlands are making a much needed comeback and how a charity that aims to end food poverty has collaborated with a green-fingered genius to create a haven of tranquility. I began by taking a behind the scenes tour of one of the most talked about gardens at the show, a beautiful fusion of art and nature that will soon find a permanent home outside Tate Britain.

Photo: Tim Allen and Honor Reekie in the The Tate Britain Garden
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27min
May 13, 2026 Carol Decker
Carol Decker became internationally famous in the late eighties as the singer with the big hair and even bigger voice in T'Pau. Along with her song-writing partner and then boyfriend Ronnie Rogers, she was responsible for a string of hits including Heart and Soul and Valentine, but it was China In Your Hand that went on to define the band. It spent five weeks at the top of the charts in 1987 and remains one of the best loved songs of that era. Carol and Ronnie's relationship didn't last and the original line up imploded as the the eighties gave way to the nineties, with T'pau struggling to find their place in the new musical landscape. But this is a tale with a happy ending. Now happily married to other people, Carol and Ronnie have reunited in song. They have a new album out Be Wonderful and are currently touring the country once again.
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44min
May 05, 2026 Zeb Soanes
Zeb Soanes has one of the most recognisable voices in the country. He trained as an actor, then went on to have a twenty five year career at the BBC as a continuity announcer and newsreader. He was one of the very few broadcasters trusted to deliver the shipping forecast, as much a part of the bedtime routine for millions of night-owls and insomniacs as it is a lifeline for seafarers and fishermen - public service broadcasting in its purest form.
Now he's a presenter at Classic FM where his soothing tones are being put to good use in Relaxing Evenings each week night from seven. Zeb's found time to return to his theatrical roots and has been treading the boards in a touring production of Mark Burgess' play Two Halves of Guinness. It's a one man love-letter to the great Alec Guinness in which Zeb plays more than thirty characters including Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations, all eight members of the unfortunate D'Ascoyne family in Kind Hearts and Coronets, George Smiley and of course Obi-Wan Kenobi.

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39min
April 28, 2026 Nick Heyward
Nick Heyward found fame as the singer and songwriter with Haircut 100 - a band who shone brightly but all to briefly in the early eighties. They scored four hit singes; Favourite Shirts, Love Plus One, Nobody's Fool and Fantastic Day, from one brilliant album Pelican West which reached number two in the charts in 1982. Nick's solo hits included Whistle Down The Wind, Take That Situation and Blue Hat for a Blue Day. In 2023 the band reformed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pelican West and have now been together longer than they were the first time around. In a candid conversation Nick tells me how three school friends from South London went on to form a chart-topping band, he reflects on the highs and lows of pop stardom and reveals how the pressures of fame took a toll on his mental health. With a new album Boxing The Compass and a UK tour in full swing, Haircut 100 look set to become your new favourite band all over again.
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46min

FAQs about The Cultural Crunch:

How many episodes does The Cultural Crunch have?

The podcast currently has 5 episodes available.