Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Ellis-Bextor hosts a podcast where she interviews busy working mothers about how they balance career and family. As a singer and mother of five, she shares her own experiences while exploring the challenges and joys of motherhood. Each episode features candid conversations with inspirational women who discuss their personal and professional lives.
Episodes
Episode 185: Becky Barnicoat
Becky Barnicoat is a cartoonist who has recently published the paperback version of her memoir ‘Cry When The Baby Cries’. It’s a cartoon depiction of new motherhood and it makes me laugh out loud. Sleep deprivation; the tricky time-consuming bedtime routine; the body after birth with deflated stomach and huge boobs; and perky youthful-looking parents pre-birth compared to the same couple with thei
Episode 184: India de Beaufort
India de Beaufort @indiadebeaufort is a British actress who lives in Los Angeles. She is also an influencer who shares my passion for vintage and antique clothing. I love her natural flowing posts because the strands of her life will be woven in as she’s snipping a dress with a scissors while wearing it! India has an 8 year old son Crosby. She shared with me how she had terrible postpartum de
Episode 183: Siobhan Priest
Siobhan Priest - or Shiv - appears as @thefiremum on Instagram and I love seeing her posts about her life as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade.Shiv started her working life as a model and continued in that job when she became a single mum to her daughter, at the age of 24. However she says she was always looking for a helping role in life. Firefighting appealed from an early age but it
Episode 182: Louise Boyce
Louise Boyce aka @mumastillgotit is a content creator, author and model.She has 3 children aged 13, 10 and 6, and she has developed a huge following for her fun and largely positive take on motherhood, which she makes fun of, in her online reels. She told me how she started modelling at the age of 15 and became bulimic to reach the weight goals set by the industry at that time.After she had h
Episode 181: Dr Sian Williams
Dr Sian Williams is a journalist and broadcaster and author. She trained as a trauma assessor while working at the BBC and is a registered counselling psychologist. She presents the fabulous Radio 4 series and podcast ‘Life Changing’ which I totally recommend.She has 5 children, the eldest being in their 30s, the youngest 17. Sian told me about having her glorious and unexpected first so
Episode 180:Helen Dukes
Helen Dukes is an entrepreneur and DJ, and mum to 2 daughters, 11 year old Anya and 19 year old Lottie . She is the founder of Disko Kids, a clothes and accessories brand that I love for its roots in music, festivals, sparkles and fun. It also has at its heart a deep connection with charities such as Winston’s Wish. This child bereavement charity helped Helen navigate the death of her pa
Episode 179: Anna Lunoe
Anna Lunoe is an Australian DJ, singer, songwriter and producer. She lived and worked in LA for 8 years, performing at festivals such as Coachella.She’s now back in her hometown of Sydney, and has an 8 year old daughter and a 6 year old son and I caught up with her after she’d spent the night in Sydney Zoo for her son’s birthday. I loved her idea of 2 night reset away, alone, every few m
Episode 178: Fran Cutler
Fran Cutler is famous for organising wild parties attended by A-listers. Things really took off in the 90s when she started organising parties for Oasis albums with Meg Matthews. She’s a self-confessed technophobe and she’s using this fallow Glastonbury year, to write a memoir which she promises will be both salacious and funny.She brought up her daughter Mercy on her own, after the father le
Episode 177: Jamie Genevieve
Jamie Genevieve is a Scottish make up artist and entrepreneur. I follow her on Instagram and am so impressed by the brand she’s launched. Some of her products have now become my make up staples. We talked last month about how she started out as a makeup counter girl, loving demonstrating makeup and selling it, moving onto YouTube herself and then launching her own brand Vieve.Jamie has a litt
Episode 176: Nicole Appleton
Nicole Appleton is a singer and a mum to Gene aged 24, and Skipper who is nearly 6. She first came into our lives in the 90s when she and her elder sister Natalie were members of the hugely successful band All Saints. Together, the Appleton sisters have just brought out a new single ‘Falling Into You’ and it’s gorgeous. Very much their classic, warm and optimistic selves. She and I talke
Episode 175: Dawn Williams
Dawn Williams is a mum of three and an Olympic weightlifter. She is also a campaigner for exercising throughout cancer treatment to get the best possible chance of recovery. And this is all before we even touch on her full-time job in life sciences. Dawn and I met by chance on a train when I was travelling to a gig. We got talking and I knew I wanted to share her amazing story with you.In the
Episode 174: Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Rutherford is an American actress probably best known for her starring role in 7 series of Gossip Girl (2007-2012).Kelly's instagram is the most intentional and curated grid I have ever seen, with beautiful quotes interspersed with stylish selfies, many of which are taken in an elevator. It’s very beautiful and peaceful. Kelly has a son Hermes aged 19 and a daughter Helena aged 16, who
Episode 173: Dr Eliza Filby
Dr Eliza Filby is a writer, a generational historian and mum to two children aged 8 and 5.I loved her book ‘Inheritocracy. It’s time to Talk about the Bank of Mum and Dad’ which came out in paperback last year which contains some fascinating stuff about money and the generations of today. We talked about how children often rely on a financial springboard from their parents these days, and how
Episode 172: Monisha Rajesh
Monisha Rajesh is a travel writer who focuses on train travel adventures.She wrote her first book ‘Around India in 80 Trains’ after being made redundant, and she wrote ‘Around the World in 80 Trains’ just after her first daughter was born. My favourite of all though is Moonlight Express, her most recent book which is all about her experiences on night trains. Monisha is a lovely writer, and I
Episode 171: Rachel Reeves
Welcome to a new series of Spinning Plates! My podcast where I speak to working women who happen to be mothers. We are up to episode 171 now, and fast approaching 6 years since I started the podcast with Fearne Cotton in 2020. My first guest of the new series is Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer. She has made history as the first woman in 800 years to hold that title. I spoke to
Episode 170: Amanda Ross
Amanda Ross is a highly influential TV producer who has brought us the likes of Saturday Kitchen which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year, the Richard and Judy show which ran for 9 years, and the book show, Between the Covers, which she is now touring live and presenting herself. Amanda and her husband and business partner Simon Ross, own and run Cactus TV. Ama
Episode 169: Jacinda Ardern
Dame Jacinda Ardern is the former prime minister of New Zealand, who was elected in 2017 and in post for 6 years.In 2018 she became the second elected World leader to ever give birth. Her partner Clarke (often referred to as 'first bloke'!) frequently took on the role of stay-at-home dad. Together they took baby Neve with them to many important meetings, including the UN summit in New York in
Episode 168: Fiona Bell
Fiona Bell is the founder of Their Nibs clothing brand which specialises in night wear. I first came across Fiona’s shop when pushing my eldest son around Ladbroke Grove in his buggy in the mid naughties. And I still think she makes the loveliest pyjamas in the land!Fiona has a 25 year old son Finn and an adoptive daughter Maggie who is 11.We talked about the close link Fiona still keeps with
Episode 167: Lavina Mehta
Lavina Mehta MBE is a health campaigner, a personal trainer, and an author. She came to my notice during Covid when she started doing weekly exercises on YouTube with her mother-in-law.She’s just published her book The Feel Good Fix which is designed to improve your health during menopause, and presents her idea of exercise snacking - incorporating short bursts of activity into your normal day rat
Episode 166: Lara Maiklem
Lara Maiklem is an author and a mudlark. She told me there’s nothing she likes more than kneeling on the banks of the River Thames for 5-6 hours at a time, scanning the mud for tiny treasures which are twice daily being given up by the tide! Lara shares her fascinating finds on Instagram, where I've been following her for a while. Her favourite finds include a Tudor shoe, part of a Roman swor
Episode 165: Julie Samuel
Julia Samuel is a psychotherapist and an author, who is best known as a grief counsellor. She was one of the founders of Child Bereavement UK which has just had its 30th anniversary. She has an agony aunt column for Times Luxury, she has a podcast, and she sees about 15 clients a week, describing that as ‘the heart of me’. She has 4 grown up children and 10 grandchildren aged 18 months t
Episode 164: Janette Manrara
Janette Manrara is a dancer and choreographer who we first got to know as one of the professional dancers in the UK on Strictly Come Dancing, and who now presents its sister show ‘It Takes Two’. Janette is married to fellow dancer Aljaz Skorjanec and together they have a 2 year old Lyra.Janette and I talked about her start in life as daughter of a young Cuban immigrant couple in Miami, and ab
Episode 163: Anya Lautenbach
Anya Lautenbach is a gardener who I discovered on Instagram as anya_thegarden_fairy. From Poland originally, Anya moved to to the UK 17 years ago and has two boys aged 12 and 14. We talked about the grief which Anya has experienced because of her sister having two sons with a rare genetic condition which turned out to be terminal. Anya explained how every time she had bad news from home,
Episode 162: Jo-Ann D’Costa-Manuel
Jo-Ann D’Costa-Manuel is a charity pioneer. She received an OBE for her years of voluntary work raising the profile of hidden disabilities. She persuaded airlines to recognise green lanyards with sunflowers, as a symbol of a family member flying with a hidden disability. She was also behind the ‘quiet hour’ in supermarkets to help children like her own son, who is autistic, and needs a quiet
Episode 161: Francesca Amber
Francesca Amber is a successful entrepreneur, podcaster and author who turned her life around using manifesting after everything went wrong for her in 2020.She has 3 daughters. Her eldest is 8 years old, and she has 4 year old twins who are starting school this September. In lockdown she lost her beauty business and her income and then had her twins as a single mother. She says she had a sav
Episode 160: Genevieve Turley
Genevieve Turley is a make up artist who posts funny content online, making light of makeup tutorials and not taking her self seriously at all.We talked about how wearing makeup makes us both happy. She told me about her career in the RAF, her IVF journey and her life now, doing bridal makeup and creating comedy content online.Genevieve has two children aged 6 and 7, and after a 3 year renovation
Episode 159: Ro Fielden-Cook
Ro Fielden-Cook is a woman with a heck of a life story. She has 3 sons: twins Alfie and Charlie (aged 15) and Freddie (aged 7).She is the founder of a wellbeing and fitness community ‘The SHE Collective’ which has a holistic approach to giving busy women more life, more confidence and more energy. She had her twins as a single mother as she left University. One of the twins, Alfie, was d
Episode 158: Ranvir Singh
Ranvir Singh is a TV news presenter on Good Morning Britain, who I met on the set of ‘Lorraine’ about a year ago - and I’ve been wanting to talk to her in more depth ever since.Ranvir is a single parent to her 13 year old son Tushaan.She grew up in a very religious Sikh household, having lost her Dad when she was only 9. She was the first girl in her family to go to University, and despite pr
Episode 157: Laura Hamilton
Laura Hamilton is a TV presenter best known for presenting A Place in the Sun. She’s been renovating properties since the age of 19 and has just taken on her first overseas project in Majorca, which she’s filming, to create a guide to buying and renovating abroad.Laura has two children, 11 year old Rocco and 10 year old Tahlia, who she co parents 50/50 with her ex.Laura went back to work 3 we
Episode 156: Cathy Dennis
Cathy Dennis is a singer and a songwriter. I have been a huge fan of hers for years both through her solo music career and I’ve been lucky enough to write with her and get to know over the years. She is a true talent and a champion for music and creativity. She had a successful solo career in the early 90s, and then changed to songwriting in the 2000s, including writing Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You
Episode 155: Jill Halfpenny
Jill Halfpenny has been an actor since the age of 10, first coming to our screens in Byker Grove in 1989, and most recently appearing in the Channel 5 drama The Feud. She has also appeared in Coronation Street, Eastenders, numerous TV dramas, on the West End stage and in Strictly Come Dancing.We shared our thoughts on dealing with downtime as performers, which has its challenges even in a bus
Episode 154: Rachel Kelly
Rachel Kelly is a writer of many books about mental health and wellbeing and has recently published ‘The Gift of Teenagers: Connect More, Worry Less’. She is a mum of five grown up children.Rachel and I talked about the teenage brain and how it’s wired for novelty, connection with peers, and altruism. We discussed how we could be more sympathetic to what teenagers are going through.She also had so
Episode 153: Salima Saxton
Salima Saxton is a writer, an actor and a coach, and she co-presents the podcast ‘Women are Mad’. She has 3 children aged 9, 12 and 15 and she recently caught my attention with her amazing Moth story about a Valentine’s Day announcement by her husband which changed her life. It’s 5 minutes of supreme story telling; you must listen! Salima and I talked about how she grew up with an alcoholic D
Episode 152: Karni Arieli
Karni Arieli is a photographer. Her lockdown project Eye Mama @eyemamaproject asked photographer mums all over the world to share honest pictures of their own experiences of motherhood. She has just had it published as a book. She also makes short films, commercials and music videos and has recently had a BAFTA nomination for a film about the life of a salmon, played by a woman and narra
Episode 151: Paula Radcliffe
Olympic athlete and TV commentator Paula Radcliffe lives in Monaco with her husband Gary, and her two children Isla and Raphael.Paula is a 3 time winner of the London Marathon and held the Women's World Marathon Record for 16 years (2003-2019). I spoke to her just after she competed in the Tokyo Marathon aged 51, her first marathon since retiring aged 40.Paula recently co-hosted a lighth
Episode 150: Daria Khrystenko
Daria Khrystenko fled her home in Kyiv on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine 3 years ago. She, her then 10 year old son, her mum and her 3 cats travelled to Poland where Daria now works with CARE Poland, as a translator and advocate, helping other refugee women rebuild their lives.Daria told me about the day the war broke out, and how she packed and left home in 20 minutes. She explained how
Episode 149: Susie Crow
Susie Crow runs a small business called Let Us Pretend, in which she ‘makes sparkly things’. I have bought wonderful brightly coloured, fringed capes from her which say ‘Happy New Year!’ and ‘Happy Christmas!’ She also makes personalised banners. Originally from Newcastle, Susie now lives in Sussex and has three children and a creative job that she loves. And she is the only person I can thin
Episode 148: Tuppence Middleton
Actress Tuppence Middleton is perhaps best known for playing Lucy Branson in Downton Abbey.She has a little girl with her Swedish husband and divides her time between England and Sweden.I spoke to Tuppence the week before her memoir Scorpions was published. It’s a highly personal book about living with OCD and it really helped me understand the day to day complexities of dealing with OCD and with
Episode 147: Arlene Phillips
Arlene Phillips is a choregrapher who has been at the top of her game for most of her 81 years. She has worked on the choreography for numerous adverts, musicals, film and videos.She has two daughters: Alana who she had early in her career when she was just about to go to Hollywood to make a film with the Village People called 'Can't stop the Music', and then she had her second daughter
Episode 146: Princess Superstar
Princess Superstar is an American rapper and DJ. She and I are ‘Saltburn sisters’ as we both had our songs featured in the film, which gave them their exciting resurgence of popularity last year.Princess Superstar has a 13 year old daughter, who she homeschooled till the age of 11, believing that mainstream school doesn't nurture a child's unique creativity. &nbs
Episode 145: Abbie Ward
Abbie Ward is a professional rugby union player who plays at international level for England and at club level for Bristol Bears.Abbie grew up in Cumbria in a very active family and tried out many sports before discovering rugby which she describes as a love affair she didn't see coming!She is married to former Harlequins hooker Dave Ward, who is also her head coach, and together they have a daugh
Episode 144: Sarah Megginson
Sarah Megginson (@sarahmegginsonmoney) is an editor and personal finance expert from Australia, who has co-written a book called The Power of Two. She has three children (Lila 14, Noa 11 and Jesse 9) and she was a surrogate mother for her friend Lisa’s baby in 2023.Baby Hugo is now 18 months old and Sarah explained to me how he feels like a nephew to her, although she carried and gave birth t
Episode 143: Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano classical singer from Neath. She won Welsh Choirgirl of the Year aged 10, and became more widely known when she sang at Westminster Cathedral in 2003 to mark the Pope’s silver jubilee. Since then she has released numerous classical and classical crossover albums.When we met last week Katherine was heading to the studio to work on a new album. She continue
Episode 142: Cat Sims
Cat Sims @notsosmugnow is a content creator, author and influencer, and mum to two daughters aged 8 and 11. On Instagram she takes an honest look (often with a big dose of humour) at motherhood, the mental load, relationships and more recently, sobriety, as Cat has just celebrated 3 years of being sober.We talked about how doing reels and tiktok is like doing therapy for Cat. She shared how she su
Episode 141: Pixie Lott
Singer Pixie Lott has had a ’crazy, happy time’ this past year: having a baby, bringing out a new album ‘Encino’, and moving into a family home near her mum, dad and siblings. We talked about how we both started in the music industry when we were teenagers and realised we share the same work ethic of ‘just keep turning up’. We also discussed the joy and the worry that comes when we say no to
Episode 140: Anna Williamson
Anna Williamson is a presenter, podcaster, author, psychotherapist, relationship counsellor and life coach. She told me how she suffered with poor mental health in her 20s and after the birth of her first child. These experiences really shaped her and helped form one of the best marriages in her professional life: being a psychotherapist on Celebs Go Dating ( which happens to be one of my fav
Episode 139: Lliana Bird
Lliana Bird is a writer, broadcaster and co-founder of the charity Choose Love. She describes herself as a butterfly flitting from flower to flower. She was also the longest employed female DJ - for 16 years - at Xfm and then Radio X as it is now called.Lliana and her partner Noel Fielding have two girls, Dali and Iggy, aged 2 and 4, and Lliana told me how their house might be described
Episode 138: Sara Pascoe
Sara Pascoe is a stand up comedian who I particularly love. She now has two little boys after a long period of trying for a baby, including IVF. She spoke honestly to me about how she can remember being in a liminal head space for a long time while trying for a baby, and acknowledges she was 'horribly spiky' about parenthood before she had her boys, realising now that it was se
Episode 137: Holly McNish
Hollie McNish is a poet who tours the country performing her poems. She says the whole of the UK is full of amazing theatres and bookshops.I love Hollie's writing, the way she looks at motherhood, and how she always stand up for her small person, which I feel is empowering for them both. I was delighted when she offered to read one of my favourite poems of hers during our chat.Hollie told me how s
Episode 136: Steph Douglas
Steph Douglas is a mum of three who founded the gift company Don't Buy Her Flowers ten years ago. I’m a repeat customer of the website when I want to send a friend some TLC if they don’t live round the corner. Steph explained how the idea for her company came about when she received 8 well-meant bouquets following the birth of her first child - and felt she now had something else she had
Episode 135: Ashley James
Ashley James is a presenter and DJ who first made her name appearing briefly in Made in Chelsea. On instagram @ashleylouisejames has a huge following amongst 25-35 year old women and she frequently posts about being a mum of two little ones, and about other women's issues. Originally from the North East, you would never know that from Ashley's accent. She told me about her extraordinary
Episode 134: Sister Bliss
Ayalah Bentovim - known as Sister Bliss - is the woman behind Faithless, which she created in 1995 with Rollo Armstrong, Jamie Catto, and the legendary Buddhist rapper Maxi Jazz.Maxi died in 2022 and Ayalah talked to me about how she’s managing to keep him as part of the show, as they prepare to go on tour for the first time in 8 years.We also talked about how she took her son Nate on tour as a ba
Episode 133: Reshmin Chowdhury
Reshmin Chowdhury is a sports broadcaster who’s had a love of football since she was a little girl. Growing up in a large and close Bengali community, she told me her childhood memories are of being the only girl, surrounded by boys, watching football on TV. Reshmin’s drive to break into the world of sports presenting was very strong - much to the surprise of her teacher Mum and accounta
Episode 132: Nine Tame
Nina Tame is a counsellor and a content creator. I started following her on Instagram because I love the way she educates non-disabled people in a light-hearted way. Nina was born with spinal bifida, and has four children. Her third child was also born with spina bifida. His arrival helped Nina accept her own disability much more, and also helped her own mum come to terms with her complex fee
Episode 131: Joanne Hardcastle
I first came to follow Joanne Hardcastle (@hardcastletowers) when she was a contestant on the fourth series of Interior Design Masters, which is one of my favourite TV shows. Joanne's husband Tim encouraged her to apply for the show and she says it was the first time she had ever put herself first, and she loves her new found 'me-time'.Joanne lost her mum at the age of 17 and had a strong urg
Episode 130: Kirsten Lane
Kirsten Lane is a freelance music supervisor who negotiates the deals that make it possible to put music into films, TV and adverts. She was the music supervisor for Saltburn and so that is how we met. She is now part of Murder on the Dancefloor’s journey and helped make its inclusion in the film’s soundtrack possible, naked dance and all! We talked about the importance of music in changing t
Episode 129: Anne Twist
Anne Twist is a first time writer and a long-term philanthropist who has two very succesful grown up children. Her eldest is podcaster and writer Gemma Styles, and her youngest is the singer, Harry Styles. I spoke to Anne, not long after she’d become a grandmother for the first time, which sounds like a very special feeling indeed. She’d also just published her first children’s book
Episode 128: Rachel Jackson
Rachel Jackson is a jewellery designer whose work I particularly love. We even collaborated with on a necklace design once. She discovered her passion for her career while solo travelling in South America where she made a good friend Ali in Brazil and then spent 2 months living with his mum Cinderela (yes that really was her name!) who taught her how to make jewellery. 6 weeks afte
Episode 127: Natalie Cassidy
Natalie Cassidy is familiar to us all from EastEnders where she's been playing Sonia since the age of 10!When we met she told me about her love of growing up on a TV set, where age meant nothing and her best friend was June Brown, who was 50 years older than her!Natalie is a mum of two daughters, Eliza and Joanie. My heart melted when she described how she and her husband Marc met w
Episode 126: Natasha Khan aka Bat for Lashes
Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and a mum to a three year old. She has just brought out her 6th album and this one is inspired by the birth of her daughter and is called The Dream of Delphi. She was pregnant in LA during Covid and the album recalls how she reconnected with nature during that time, reflecting the landscape of
Episode 125: Vicky Gill
Vicky Gill is the Wardrobe Lead for Strictly Come Dancing, amongst many other things! We first met when I appeared on the show in 2013. She is passionate about merging fashion and performance. I can vouch for the fact that she is supremely talented at making costumes that people can dance in - and her sparkly leotards are still part of my onstage essentials today. But as a mum of th
Episode 124: Michelle Ogundehin
Michelle Ogundehin is best known as the head judge of Interior Designs Masterclass on BBC 1. It’s a programme I am utterly addicted to, and I was therefore delighted to have been asked to join as a guest judge for semi finals week, this week (TX 23/4/24). I have been a fan of Michelle’s expert eye when it comes to interiors for a long time, having devoured every issue of Elle Decoration published
Episode 123: Heather James
Heather James is best known to us all as the mum of Deborah James, the beautiful bowelbabe, who I interviewed for Spinning Plates 3 years ago. That was the year before her premature death at the age of 40, from bowel cancer.Heather explained how she is grieving but working. Not only working in her day job as a gymnastics teacher, but also doing everything that Deborah would have continue
Episode 122: Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield is a New Zealand-UK singer and songwriter who started out in the business at a similar time to me. Another shared link is that we are both currently on a new adventure with songs we brought out originally in our early 20s! How's that for a coincidence? We've each been on an unexpected and exciting journey with our old songs... both because of recent films. The fi
Episode 121: Trinny Woodall
Trinny Woodall is the CEO of the beauty brand Trinny London - she's an entrepreneur, businesswoman and author. She became a household name in the late 90s when she teamed up with Susannah Constantine to present the TV makeover show What Not to Wear. Last year she published her book Fearless about how to find your style and boost your confidence. She has a 20 year old daugh
Episode 120: Michelle Kennedy
Michelle Kennedy is a tech entrepreneur and businesswoman. She is CEO of Peanut App, and mum to two young children, Finlay and Nuala.Michelle started her working life as a corporate lawyer and became interested in tech when she worked for Badoo and then Bumble. She set up Peanut after she gave birth to her first child and felt lonely and isolated. Peanut is an online community for w
Episode 119: Kelly Hoppen
Kelly Hoppen is an interior designer who is renowned for working with big celebrity names and is known for her signature neutral palette.Kelly started her business aged 16 and a half, just afer her father died unexpectedly, and she told me that the feeling she wants to create for her clients is the one she had from her grandmother's home where she remembers learning to crochet and having tea.Kelly
Episode 118: Sophie Darlington
Sophie Darlington is a wildlife cinematographer for shows such as David Attenborough's 'Planet Earth'. She regularly gets up way before dawn in places such as Sri Lanka or East Africa, and sits for over 12 hours a day watching the animal she’s filming, often for weeks at a time. She says it’s the best job in the world but you come back 'rinsed'. When her son Louis came along 23 years ago, Sophie h
Episode 117: Amy Hart
Amy Hart is a social media influencer, former reality TV star and podcast presenter. She appeared in Love Island in 2019 (Richard and I are avid viewers!) and she now has an adorable little baby called Stanley.Amy is the only Love Island contestant to have appeared on Question Time and she is a big food bank supporter.Amy worked as cabin crew before she joined Love Island, which I imagined wo
Episode 116: Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan is best known as a BBC sports presenter but has also turned her hand to stand up comedy for Sports Relief (2012), to writing her memoir called The First Half, and to ice baths on Freeze Your Fear (2022). She hosts an excellent podcast called Mid-Life in which she, a guest and an expert explore how to navigate the mysterious territory of middle age.She has 18 year old twins and is
Episode 115: Alex Head
Alex Head is the founder of Social Pantry which runs food events with the wow factor, as well as a restaruant, and a cafe. I first met Alex this Summer where she was rustling up a banquet twice a day, in a tent at Latitude Festval. Two of the banquets featured food from 'Love, Food, Family' and Richard and I had the much easier job of meeting and greeting everybody there.Alex got into caterin
Episode 114: Sandra Igwe
Sandra Igwe decided to turn a painful experience into purpose. When we spoke recently she told me about some of her difficult experiences both during childbirth and afterwards.These led her to become the founder of The Motherhood Group which supports the Black maternal experience. Sandra has also written My Black Motherhood which demands that Black women are listened to, believed and understo
Episode 113: Julia Bradbury
Julia Bradbury is a TV presenter and an author with a passion for the outdoors. She has a 12 year old son, and 8 year old twin daughters who she had through IVF. Her motto to them is: 'Be good, be strong, be kind'.We met at Julia's London West London home and talked about how in 2021, she and her husband had the nightmare task of breaking the news of her breast cancer diagnosis to t
Episode 112: Helen Skelton
Presenter Helen Skelton has been a familiar and much-loved presence on our TV screens since she presented Blue Peter (2008-2013) and then Countryfile.Famous for her can-do attitude to life she still has several Guinness World Records under her belt, she’s run a Namibian ultra-marathon (which is 3 marathons back to back), kayaked the entire length of the Amazon, and made it to the finals of Celebri
Bonus Episode: Janet Ellis
This is an extra special bonus episode in partnership with the lovely team at Clarks. Thanks to Clarks, I have brought my mum, Janet Ellis, back for this special shoecentric chat! We talked about the excitement of buying your child’s first pair of shoes, and we happily admit that we very much share the sentimental gene, as we have kept all our children’s ‘firsts’. My mum even has them on
Episode 110: Dilly Carter
Dilly Carter is an expert in decluttering who presents the TV show 'Sort Your LIfe Out' alongside Stacey Solomon. Born in Sri Lanka, she was adopted and then brought up in the UK, and is very positive about the cards she was dealt. However, her childhood home was chaotic, with her parents at work all hours, and when Dilly was 11 her mum was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. During her chi
Episode 109: Charlotte Hawkins
Charlotte Hawkins presents Good Morning Britain where she proudly helps set the news agenda for the day and quizzes the people in power on the TV viewer's behalf. She also has a lifelong love of music and presents a show on Classic FM.Charlotte talked about how she and her husband tried without success to have a baby and were just about to set off down the IVF route when Charlotte unexpectedl
Episode 108: Alice Roberts
Professor Alice Roberts is a TV presenter and biological anthropologist - in her own words, she looks at old bones and tries to construct the person's history from their skeleton, and she loves the link betwwen the living and the dead.Her pink hair hints at her less traditional and more playful side, also illustrated by the amazing story that as a junior doctor she did some of her paediatric ward
Episode 107: Laura Lee Dockrill
Laura Lee Dockrill is an author of both adult and children's books. She went to Brit School, she's married to the love of her life, musician Hugo White, and her best friend is Adele.After giving birth to her son Jet, Laura suffered severe postpartum depression which saw her waking up alone in a psychiatric ward on her first Mother's Day. One of her books based on her experience is called
Episode 106: Helen Pankhurst
Helen Pankhurst is a writer and a scholar who works for women's rights. Her grandmother Sylvia and her great grandmother Emmeline were both suffragette leaders, and Helen carries her family name with pride. We talked about how Helen kept her family name of Pankhurst when she married, and about how she and her husband shared both their surnames with their children, in a clever way t
