Effie Gray and John Ruskin looked like the perfect Victorian power couple: she, bright and brilliant; he, the era’s leading art critic. But behind the portraits was one of history’s strangest age-gap marriages. Unconsummated, uncomfortable, and the sort of story that would make Gen Z turn away in horror.

This week on The Way They Were, Gráinne and Chantal team up with one of Britain’s best stand-ups, Ian Smith, to look at the grottiest couples we've ever looked at on the show.

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Now this is a right royal mess. Before it all went spectacularly wrong. Before Epstein, before the exile, before the Palace decided Prince Andrew should probably just be Andrew: there was “Randy Andy” and Fergie. The cheeky, chaotic couple who briefly made the monarchy look like a Jilly Cooper book. From their whirlwind courtship and tabloid scandals to the toe-sucking! This was a love story that had it all. In fact maybe it had a little too much! 

This week, comedian Michael Clarke (Crybabies, Everything Is News) joins Gráinne and Chantal to dive into the doomed romance of the Ex Duke and Duchess of York.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This episode was recorded prior to the recent revelations about Prince Andrew’s formal removal from the Royal Family and Sarah Ferguson’s overly pally prison letters to Jeffrey Epstein.

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This week on The Way They Were, we’re catching up on all the heartbreak, hair dye, and high drama of the celebrity world. Lily Allen’s West End Girl has landed, a sharp, funny, furious record that lays her split from David Harbour bare. We talk through the fallout, the shock, and the pussy palace.

Elsewhere, Ariana Grande’s got 'new' hair but no ponytail. What does it mean? Finally we’re checking in on a few of our favourite couples: JoJo Siwa and Chris Hughes (Gráinne’s not convinced they’ll make it) and Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman (Chantal suspects there’s a touch of the 'David Harbour' about him).

For extra episodes, ad free versions and early releases why not join our ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠? You'll even get a shoutout on the show and a chance to chat with Gráinne and Chantel in our gossip room!

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This week on The Way They Were, we’re diving into the breakup that everyone’s talking about: Pop Princess Lily Allen and Stranger Things star David Harbour. It was the lockdown love story that looked like a rom-com London girl meets Hollywood nice-guy, until it all went a little bit strange. 

Now Lily has a new album out which is going to set the record straight about the hottest romance to come out of the global pandemic. Gráinne and Chantal are joined by the wonderful Rosemary Mac Cabe who shares her own insights on transatlantic love affairs, David's secret Raya account and we do a deep dive on their carpeted bathroom. 

For extra episodes, ad free versions and early releases why not join our ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠? You'll even get a shoutout on the show and a chance to chat with Gráinne and Chantel in our gossip room. ⁠⁠patreon.com/TheWayTheyWere

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This week on The Way They Were, we’re diving into the breakup that everyone’s talking about: Pop Princess Lily Allen and Stranger Things star David Harbour. It was the lockdown love story that looked like a rom-com London girl meets Hollywood nice-guy, until it all went a little bit strange. 

Now Lily has a new album out which is going to set the record straight about the hottest romance to come out of the global pandemic. Gráinne and Chantal are joined by the wonderful Rosemary Mac Cabe who shares her own insights on transatlantic love affairs, David's secret Raya account and we do a deep dive on their carpeted bathroom. 

For extra episodes, ad free versions and early releases why not join our ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠? You'll even get a shoutout on the show and a chance to chat with Gráinne and Chantel in our gossip room.

⁠⁠patreon.com/TheWayTheyWere

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This week we step back in time to the 1940s to meet the literary it-couple: Truman Capote and Jack Dunphy. Truman was the sharp-tongued genius and Jack existed in his shadow. So how did the socialite and the introverted novelist make it work for so long?

This week, Chantal and Gráinne are joined by the brilliant Jen Ives to unpack the devotion, destruction and divine madness of Capote and Dunphy’s decades together. Expect post-war passion, very posh best friends like Lee Radziwill and the Queen Mother, plus an emotional affair with a killer on death row.

For extra episodes, ad free versions and early releases why not join our ⁠Patreon⁠? You'll even get a shoutout on the show and a chance to chat with Gráinne and Chantel in our gossip room. ⁠patreon.com/TheWayTheyWere

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Sometimes the gossip gods hand you something so big you have to drop everything and run straight to the mics. . . Several days after the event (sorry we had a busy week)

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Over. Finished. Kaput. Was it the hair? The cowboy boots? The fact she's constantly working? This week, Gráinne and Chantal react to the breakup of Australia's greatest love.

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She was Hollywood’s “most agreeable” girl, he was cinema’s golden boy genius. Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles looked like the dream couple – but behind the glamour it was all drama, long distance, and the inability to separate work from pleasure. This love story from the golden age of Hollywood even features brilliant cameos from Hedda Hopper, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Judy Garland herself.

Gráinne and Chantal take a trip to 1940s Hollywood with the fabulous ⁠Kevin Bennett⁠, host of ⁠The Big Smoke Variety Show⁠, in this very special episode of The Way They Were – as requested by our brilliant patron Lady K! Plus, we take a closer look at Charli XCX’s star-studded wedding and the Dawson’s Creek reunion.

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A whirlwind romance that burned bright, fizzled fast, and left the tabloids confused as to what just happened. Ashton and Brittany gave us chaos, comedy, and a very short-lived love story. This week, Gráinne and Chantal are joined by Chris De Rosa, cohost of Fixing Famous People, to relive the highs, the lows, and the red-carpet PDA of one of the naughty's best celebrity pairings. We may even get some special insights from Chris's conversations with the afterlife…

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She was the Vicar of Dibley and he the king of Comic Relief. Together, they were the King and Queen of British comedy. Dawn French and Lenny Henry were the nation’s funniest couple but behind the gags and the glitter, their marriage had ups, downs and an unforgettable night out with John Sessions.

This week on The Way They Were, Chantal and Gráinne are joined by broadcaster, campaigner and author Natasha Devon to unravel the love story that made us laugh, broke our hearts, and proved that even legends can’t always make it work.

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