Standard Issue Podcast
Standard Issue is a podcast by women, for women, covering everything from interviews and news to film, opinion, and humour. It champions women's voices and features a variety of engaging content. The show is packed with insightful discussions and entertaining segments.
Episodes
Outside The Box October '26
In this month's round-up of the best and worst TV, we're watching Slow Horses, Blue Lights, WAR, Below, Winter and The Reluctant Vampire. You are welcome.
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Rated or Dated: Dragonheart (1996)
Jen's picked Rob Cohen’s family fantasy adventure starring Dennis Quaid as a disillusioned knight and Sean Connery as a good-hearted dragon, which was ahead of its time in terms of visual effects. But what about its treatment of women? Will Hannah approve of its interpretation of history? And why is Mick crying?
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Wolf mother Natalie Lagstrom on wolfie family
You know the idea of an alpha wolf, dominating the pack and OBVIOUSLY male... Total wolfshit, mate. Wolves are matrilineal families who work, play and love together a lot like humans. Our Mick was delighted to learn even more about wolves in this chat with Natalie Lagstrom, owner, head behaviourist and team leader at Watermill Wolves, head of the not-for-profit charity Project Wolfheart, and bona-
Helen Thorn is always carrying tissues
Next year, our Jen is running the London Marathon for the Samaritans. It's her second time round the 26.2 mile block, although some 18 years after her first one, her knees ain't what they used to be. And who better to talk to about knees, Vaseline, always having tissues to hand, and finding joy as a middle-aged, woman marathon runner, than Standard Issue favourite, Helen Thorn*
Flicking #78: The Naked Gun
Relentless silliness, sight gags, wordplay and sheer chaotic comedic energy? Too right it was Mick’s pick for Flicking this month. And so she and Yosra are chatting about last year’s The Naked Gun reboot, in which Liam Neeson steps into Leslie Nielsen’s shoes as gumshoe lieutenant Frank Drebin… Jr. But is there still a place for old-school comedy in today’s film landscape, or is it more about nost
The Bush Telegraph: Freed from desire
Where does the word 'whore' come from? In this week’s Bush Telegraph, Mick’s wondering if Saturday Night Live guest host Shane Gillis knows (no), cares (no) or has any comedy chops whatsoever (no). For Jen, it’s medical misogyny o'clock again, with new research suggesting autoimmune conditions are, in fact, not just in our pretty little heads. Plus, there’s good news for victims in rape
The Banality of Evil, with Julia Pascal
Hannah Arendt's most famous expression - the banality of evil - might be well quoted, but the woman herself is less widely known. Her time in the Gurs internment camp in France is the subject of a new play by Julia Pascal. Hannah talks to the playwright and director about life for women in camps, the importance of critical thinking and why Arendt's work is as vital as ever.
* Tickets for Th
What’s the point of pubes? asks Judy Wearing
It seems there’s scarcely a person alive, male or female, who doesn’t have some kind of hang-up about their hair. Whether we have too much, not enough, whether it’s the right colour or texture, we’re all obsessed and who can blame us? After all, human hair is fascinating, or at least that’s what author, educator and evolutionary biologist Judy Wearing
thinks.
Jen chats to Judy about her new book
Liz Hyder is a teller of tall tales
Award-winning author Liz Hyder’s new book, The Teller of Tall Tales, is aimed at young adults but a total delight for grown-ups, too. Because we never grow out of stories: telling them and, well, being them.
Mick chats to Liz about old-school folk and fairy tales with a modern sensibility, heavy awards, telling tales, second person narratives, the privilege of writing for the young adult au
Rated or Dated: This Is England (2006)
Brace yourself for a tension bellyache as Shane Meadows’ violence-smeared, working-class coming-of-age drama gets Rated or Dated. This Is England firmly marked out Meadows as the voice of working-class realism and introduced a host of brilliant British character actors to the screen. But 20 years on from its release, and more than 40 years on from its 1983 setting, is it still horribly, terrifying
Anything to add, Penelope?
Amelia Bullmore is about to star in Margaret Atwood's stage adaptation of her book The Penelopiad. So Hannah grabbed the chance to chat to the actress about The Odyssey and the price its women pay, as well as learning the guitar for Riot Women and, if you're a Standard Issue supporter, an early misunderstanding about the makeup bus.
* Tickets for The Penelopiad are here: https://w
Tully Kearney and Melanie Woods are variously excellent
Paralympic athletes Tully Kearney and Melanie Woods are used to be recognised for their performance in the pool and on the track. And now they’re being recognised for their overall contributions to sport, with nominations in children’s charity Variety’s biannual Disability Sports Awards. Jen caught up with them to find out more about their careers, having mental fortitude, helping others get into
Standard Issue Birthday Podcast (PREVIEW)
It's 12 years since Standard Issue was founded by the boss, Sarah Millican. To celebrate, and just for the ears of our Patreon supporters, we got together to get the party started with a shuffle through our Spotify playlists.
This is a preview. To hear the whole podcast and enjoy the other many benefits of membership, click here:
Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by wo
The Bush Telegraph: She said, they said
This week Mickey takes a look at the case of the Cornell Seven, as well as what this year's PM, Andy Burnham, has planned for a better Britain. Which may happen. At some point. Meanwhile, Hannah's venturing back into the world of sport, and there's some dispute over which is the cutest of the world's most newly discovered species.
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Rated or Dated: Sid and Nancy (1986)
Alex Cox’s biopic of punk-rock’s "ill-fated lovers" Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, was met with critical acclaim upon release and in the years that followed. But has it romanticised a relationship in which a woman wound up dead? Does it glamorise heroin? And in what other ways has it done poor Nancy dirty?
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Laleh Khadivi explores Female Life on Planet Earth
Iranian-American author Laleh Khadivi’s latest novel, Female Life on Planet Earth, centres on a mid-life woman, Heti, who comes up against some new information about her recently dead mum that questions everything she thought she knew about her. Or does it? From there, Laleh explores how an individual woman can be a multitude of women, and the distinctively female ability to regenerate.
She
Grace Harper Brighouse on Dependence
In 2013 director Grace Harper Brighouse began work on a film about her dad Richard’s dying dog, in a bid to heal their fractured relationship. Over the course of filming, tragic events unfolded within the family, changing the nature of the film and the discussion about Richard’s long-standing drug addiction. More than a decade later, the finished film became her debut feature documentary Dependenc
Outside The Box September 2026
In this month's Outside The Box, Jen and Hannah have been busying themselves watching Slow Horses, Youth, The Blame and Vigil, plus they look forward to the annual Autumn Drama Drop.
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Rated or Dated: The Fisher King (1991)
A romance/fantasy/drama/comedy, there's a lot going on in Terry Gilliam's New York-set classic. But does the story of grief, guilt and forgiveness still have something to say today? Hannah and Jen tuck in.
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Diane Page on whether the rainbow is enuf
A hugely important work when it first ran on Broadway, it’s taken 50 years for Ntozake Shange’s seminal choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf to get a major revival in the UK. Overseeing that is director Diane Page, who’s brought it to The Yard Theatre, Hackney, for its grand reopening.
Jen catches up with Diane to find out more about the play, why it’
A deeper look at Beryl Cook
Painter Beryl Cook divided the art world when she burst into the public consciousness in 1976. This year, she would have celebrated her 100th birthday, so Hannah grabbed some time with Hilary Bracegirdle, writer of new biography, Beryl Cook: Life and Art, and Teresa Cook, Beryl’s daughter-in-law, to find out more about the artist's life, work and legacy.
You can grab a copy of Beryl Cook: Life
The Bush Telegraph: Influence and effluence
This week, Hannah and Jen are talking about a Hyrox horror, Carers UK's new report, unrest in the countryside, a drug hoping to stave off Alzheimer's, bad behaviour at Flushing Meadows (no pun intended) and, inevitably, Sydney Sweeney's tits.
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Flicking #77: Weapons
2025 was a big year for horror, with the genre not only having some big releases, but also taking home some big awards. Including an Oscar for Amy Madigan for her role in Zach Cregger’s supernatural mystery horror, about a community left questioning WTF is going on when all but one child from the same classroom disappears at exactly 2.17am, running into the night like demented penguins. Hannah, Yo
Dr Siggie Cohen on being the parent
Many parents are moving away from the more authoritarian ideas of previous generations. But is it possible so-called “gentle parenting” has passed the point of being useful? Dr Siggie Cohen, a leading child development specialist, Instagram sensation, and author of new book You Are the Parent: Becoming the Calm Confident Leader Your Child Needs, thinks there is another way.
Jen chats
Jane Hill has spunk in her eyes
September is Gynecological Cancers Awareness Month, so Hannah took the chance to catch up with our friend Jane Hill, a writer and comedian who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. Jane’s Substack, Have You Got Somebody With You?, has been chronicling her experiences, so they chat about that, about planning for the worst, going through cancer "alone" and how she got that title for an Edinbu
The Bush Telegraph: News hullabalooboohoos
Spider bites, violent pensioners, a Bill about dying that refuses to die, some appalling headline writing, and bonnes nouvelles de France – Mick and Hannah have braved this week’s news (and the garden), so you don’t have to.
Here’s Mick’s chat with Alessia Camoirano about Britain’s Forgotten Girls
Here’s Hannah’s chat with Professor Clare McGlynn about extreme pornography
Learn more about
Alessia Camoirano uncovers Britain’s Forgotten Girls
Across Britain, young girls from all demographics are being groomed, trafficked and sexually exploited by drug gangs. Authorities have been warned repeatedly about what’s happening to these girls, often known as ‘gift girls’, and yet the same failures continue.
In Britain’s Forgotten Girls, a documentary for BBC Current Affairs, director, producer and journalist Alessia Camoirano speaks to
Rated or Dated: Bandidas (2006)
Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz star in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s "Western" "action" “comedy”, but what will the script by *eyeroll* Luc Besson have them do in this tale of two unlikely bank robbers? How empowering is wet brawling? How many times will Jen, Hannah and Mick say “tits” in this episode? And who on earth is this film for?
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Louisa Treger on Ruth Ellis’s Fatal Love
Ruth Ellis was the last woman to be executed in England, back in 1955, sparking public outcry and becoming a catalyst for huge change in the justice system. Like many, author Louisa Treger had always been fascinated by the story of Ellis’s life and death, which became the subject of her new novel, A Fatal Love.
Jen chats to Louisa about Ellis, how the justice system failed her and
Rated or Dated: Idiocracy (2006)
When Mike Judge showed us a vision of America in the future, nobody thought the future would arrive so soon. Did the social satire predict the rise of Trump? Can a film about dumb people ever really be clever? And what's the worst thing to have taped to your car bonnet?
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Suze Kundu eclipses the bad news with the good
It’s a podcast of positivity, as our Mick has one of her regular catch ups with NASA’s Suze Kundu.
They’re covering all sorts of topics, starting of course, with the recent eclipse and why its study is so important. Then there’s the new discovery that menstrual blood is basically magical, wound-healing elixir to celebrate, as well as some brilliant, inspirational kids who are filtering micr
The Suffrage Detective investigates
Elizabeth Crawford picked up her nickname after decades of work uncovering rare books and collectables related to the suffrage movement. She chats to Hannah about her latest book, The British Women's Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects, lesser known historical heroines, and how merchandising helped the Suffragettes make their mark.
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Rated or Dated: AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
It’s the Spielberg-Kubrick vision of the future no one was sure about at the time, but later got some pretty big acclaim. 2001’s AI: Artificial Intelligence remains a Marmite movie, so how will Hannah and Mick feel about this Pinocchio story of a robot who wants to be a real boy? Where can we get us one of those robo-teddies? And having witnessed Jude Law as a rent-a-pump mecha, will Hannah ever s
At home with Vanessa Feltz – literally
As the star of daytime TV, radio and podcasts for more than 30 years, there’s not much we don’t think we already know about Vanessa Feltz. But there's always more to learn, so now she’s back on our screens with At Home with Vanessa, a new YouTube show filmed in her actual home, with her actual friends, and her actual favourite crisps shipped over from Ireland for the occasion.
Jen
Outside The Box August 2026
In this month's round-up of some of the best and not-so-best things on TV, we're talking about Furious, Possession, Evolution, My Brilliant Career, 100 Years of Solitude, Station 11 and the return of Ted Lasso.
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The Bush Telegraph: All aboard the bus to Wetwang!
This week, Hannah and Mickey look at some of the week's best and worst stories, including major finds by archeologists, the scandal that continues to engulf Cambridge University, free travel for disabled people in England, and the ongoing "early release" crisis.
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Rated or Dated: The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar’s creepy AF tale of grief and darkness in post-war Jersey cleared a path for the return of old-school horror. But does it stand up when you already know the twist? Is there a fate worse than Keith Allen in your upstairs? And will we ever stop inflicting Nicole Kidman on poor Hannah?
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Susan Calman is not going on a sex cruise
It’s been a while since comedian Susan Calman went on tour: 10 years, in fact. Her brand new show, Tall Tales, kicks off in September, and promises stories, big laughs, a dose of peri rage, and – possibly – some dancing.
Mick got on the Zoom with Susan to talk comedy, weights, cats, anxiety, grief, facing big challenges, sex cruises and serial killers.
As ever, there’s more chat for our £5
Anna Holmes turns the negative into a positive
When it comes to saying no, journalist and author Anna Holmes has form. Back in 2007, she founded feminist website Jezebel, which at the time was a big old flip of the bird to traditional women’s media, and went on to change the entire media landscape. In her new book, The Power of No: A Celebration, she turns ideas around a presumed negative (especially when uttered by a woman
Flicking #76: Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor’s lauded auterial debut about a bad thing that happens to a young woman called Agnes and how she feels and deals in the aftermath, is Yosra’s pick for this month. Billed pretty much everywhere as a black comedy, will Mick and Hannah do any laughing? Is Victor’s telling of trauma authentic? How big is that cat? And how do they all feel about the term ‘traumedy’? (Spoiler: traumedis
The Bush Telegraph: A whole lot of maths
This week’s apocalypse is brought to you by Mick and Jen. They’re chatting about the early release of prisoners, which may require more nuance than ‘from October’, the rise and risks of pervert specs, some lovely cash news for women who invest, and why Jen is sat in a puddle staring at the sun.
There’s fake wives and sexist weather in SOTW, and some joyous shouting of ‘BELLEND!’ And ‘ELIMINATOR!
Rated or Dated: The Go-Between (1971)
We escape a red hot summer to visit, checks notes, another red hot summer in Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter's adaptation of LP Hartley's novel. There's big hair, wild hats, Alan Bates - swoons! - future British sitcom stars and crippling social conventions. What could possibly go wrong?
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Vix Leyton, Chief Petty Officer
Comedian and long-time Standard Issue friend Vix Leyton's latest show – Chief Petty Officer – is on at the Edinburgh Fringe right now. She chats to Hannah about big changes, small pettinesses, the cost of the Fringe (in every sense), and the joys of moving up North.
Tickets and info for Chief Petty Officer here.
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Digging up Buried stories, with Lucy Taylor
Investigative journalist Lucy Taylor is, along with her partner in podcasting and partner in life Dan Ashby, responsible for the award-winning BBC Radio 4/BBC Sounds programme Buried, the third series of which has been recently released. She chats to Hannah about how the dumping of dead animals in a tiny community led to a network of organised crime in the British countryside, and how rural p
The Bush Telegraph: “He would make outrageous claims, like he invented the question mark”
Is there a new grifter on the scene? Hannah’s been nose to the ground around the ever-growing tall tales of Jason Arday, the University of Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor with a very impressive CV. Too impressive? Weeeelllll.
There’s definitely an old grifter on the scene, as Mick’s been nose to the ground around the ever-growing “joke” candidate list for next week’s Clacton-on-Sea’s by
Rated or Dated: Mission: Impossible (1996)
“Wake up, Claire, Jim’s dead! They’re all dead!” Is the subtle way Tom Cruise’s super-cool spy Ethan Hunt tells a woman her husband’s been killed a cipher for the rest of Brian De Palma’s slick and shiny 1996 thriller? How secure is that CIA vault? Where did you get that mask? Is it really that easy to get stabbed through a fence? Mick and Hannah answer these questions and many more, as the first
Susannah Walker is In Her Place
When it comes to women and girls being not just welcome and safe in public places and spaces, but also thought about and designed for, Susannah Walker has credentials and previous.
When she and Imogen Clark co-founded the not-for-profit Make Space For Girls back in 2021, her eyes were opened to a whole load more issues to address when it comes to women and girls in public places and spaces.
Working the algorithm with Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Like it or loathe it, social media is a huge part of our everyday lives. That's the topic sociologist and journalist Kathryn Jezer-Morton grapples with in her new book, The Story of Your Life: Social Media, Storytelling and the Branding of Everyday Life, in which she attempts to uncover the deeper truths about how what we see and share on social media is rewriting the ways we make sense
Outside The Box July 2026
In this month's guide to the best and worst TV, we're watching Cape Fear, Katie Price: Nothing To Hide, Ann Droid, Jesy Nelson; Life Changing, The American Revolution and I, Jack Wright.
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Rated or Dated: Point Break (1991)
Kathryn Bigelow’s “wet western” action-thriller has something for everyone: Keanu Reeves’ face if your Jen, Gary Busey in general if you’re Mick, and a dog being thrown at a person during a high-speed foot-chase if you’re Hannah. But will this wang-heavy surfer-bank-robber classic stand the test of time? And we did all know it was directed by a woman, right?
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Emma Linley-Clark on why 40 years should have been enough
On July 28, 1986, estate agent Suzy Lamplugh went to work as normal, preparing to meet a client. She was never seen again and no trace of her has ever been found. Suzy was declared legally dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. In response to her disappearance, her parents Paul and
Diana set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, and over the last 40 years, the Trust has been responsible for vital work
Cathi Unsworth: Proud to be Goth
Writer and music journalist Cathi Unsworth’s compilation for Ace records, Dressed in Black: Goth Divas From the Dark Side 1941-2025, shines a light on the women who laid the sonic and cultural foundations for Goth. The album is a dark joy and an excellent companion to Cathi’s 2023 book, Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth. And the perfect excuse for our Mick to get Cathi on the Zoom to chat what
The Bush Telegraph: Wait… Andy Burnham?!?
The UK has a new Prime Minister, and you’ll never bloody guess who it is. Mick and Jen talk about the King of the North’s brand new office, as well as some legislative heel-dragging around surrogacy and some Marie-France van Heel-dragging by the usual suspects. There’s good news on shadow-banning, cat-finding and, in JOTB, filming female athletes. Also in JOTB, does anyone have any VAR on the lack
Addie E. Citchens on the sins of the father
Addie E. Citchens’s debut novel, Dominion, received A LOT of award nods. And rightly so: set in the Mississippi Delta, it’s a powerful story about powerful men doing powerfully bad things. But Addie puts her focus on what the women who love them have to do to survive them – and how far those women will go to protect them.
Mick chats to Addie about how the patriarchy shapes all of us, t
Bravo Glasgow, with Eilidh Doyle, Ellie Simmonds and Beth Tweddle
After stepping in at the 11th hour to save the event, Glasgow will host The Commonwealth Games when they kick off on July 23. Jen jumped on the Zoom with former GB athletes-turned TNT Sports pundits, Eilidh Doyle, Ellie Simmonds and Beth Tweddle, to chat about the importance of the games, competing in your home nation, and what they’re looking forward to wat
Flicking #75: Die My Love
A Lynne Ramsay film? It’s been a while… The director’s psychological drama slash postpartum nightmare garnered loads of praise for lead actor Jennifer Lawrence and got a fair few awards nods. But what will Team Flicking make of it? Hannah’s got her ‘I heart Lynne Ramsay’ banner out, Yosra’s prepped for the big bleak, but not sure it’s all about the new mumming, and Mick’s real worried about that d
Jenny Off The Blocks Special: We're doing alright at sport
England in a World Cup semi-final, a Brit in the semis at Wimbledon and Unions Jacks all over the F1 drivers' table, that's a busy few weeks of sport. In a special episode, Jen and Hannah talk about what's going well and what's not, as well as hydration breaks, VAR and other World Cup dramas.
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Rated or Dated: Legally Blonde (2001)
This fish-out-of-water comedy-cum-bubblegum “feminist” smash, starring Reece Witherspoon as pink-loving sorority princess Elle Woods, made a killing at the box office, spawned a whole Legally Blonde world, and inspired girls to go to law school. But 25 years on will it make Mick, Hannah and Jen bend… or SNAP?
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Welcome to Utopia/Dystopia* (*Delete as applicable)
Eleanor Drage is one of the UK’s leading AI ethicists and gender studies researchers, working at the University of Cambridge. Her first book, What If We Got AI Right? How to stop catastrophising and build an ethical future, is released this week, so Hannah grabbed the chance to find out more.
* You can pre-order Eleanor's book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-if-we-got-a
The making of an icon, with Beatriz Garcia-Velasco
In her short lifetime of just 47 years, Frida Kahlo was a relatively little-known artist. Now, she's a global icon. And while her actual work is hard to come by, her image is not.
Tate Modern's Frida: The Making of an Icon explores how Kahlo's iconic status came to be and her enduring influence on generations of younger artists.
Co-curator Beatriz Garcia-Velasco,
Nicky Denson-Elliott is a professional feminist
Nicky Denson-Elliott knows that a high tide lifts all boats. She first came to our Mick’s attention because of her current campaign to replace ‘hysterectomy’ with ‘uterectomy’ in NHS patient materials (you can sign the petition here), but it quickly became apparent how many different projects Nicky's got going in order to raise that tide for all boats. And by boats, we mean women.
In this e
The Bush Telegraph: Leathery arses all around
Mickey and Hannah bring you a veritable rogues gallery this week: Farage, Trump, Infantino, a vigilante cat shaver. Shall we go on a 2,400-mile rowing trip to get away from it? Sure. But don't forget to pack your vaginal oestrogen!
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Rated or Dated: Escape to Victory (1981)
Hollywood giant John Huston directs Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and – wait – Pelé, in this sports-war drama, reimagining the 1942 “Death Match”. But how bad can a prisoner of war camp be when all you have to do is dick around playing football? How solid is the history? And can you really do that with a sub?
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Havoc and hysteria, with Rebecca Wait
Author Rebecca Wait makes a return visit to the podcast to chat to Hannah about her latest book Havoc, a dark comedy about a mystery illness that breaks out at a girls' boarding school in 1984. They chat about Cold War anxiety, hysteria and, of course, Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Grab a copy of Havoc here
Or Suzanne O'Sullivan's The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness her
A not-dying art form, with Leyla Nazli and Lisa Logan
This summer marks the 19th year of the Arcola Theatre’s seminal Grimeborn festival, a season of new and reworked operas.
Jen chats to the Arcola’s executive director, Leyla Nazli and Lisa Logan,
the composer behind new work After My Breath, about bringing opera to Dalston, why people find the art form intimidating, and those comments by Timothée Chalamet.
The Grimeborn Opera Festival runs from 1
Get Ahead of Being Dead, with Evie King
After her first book - Ashes to Admin - was published, a lot of people got in touch with Evie King to tell her they'd been inspired to get plans in place for the end of their lives. If that's what she could achieve without trying, she thought, why not write a book to help people through the whole process? Hannah chats to Evie about Get Ahead of Being Dead, wills, funerals and why the hard conversa
The Bush Telegraph: Watch out, beavers about!
Is too much screen time really the scourge of the under-twos? And exactly how excited should we be that the first ever female Labour Prime Minister is Andy Burnham, a man who isn’t even Prime Minister yet? Jen and Mick tackle these hot button questions and more in this week’s flirt with the news, which also includes another heinous rape trial, legitimately great news for young women, and Greg Cots
Rated or Dated: The King & I (1956)
No-one's going to argue that Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical doesn't have issues, but does it still have things to recommend it? Is Anna an early feminist? Does it contain a banger? Is The Small House of Uncle Thomas a masterpiece? And why was young Hannah so fascinated by Yul Brynner?
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Rachel Fairburn is a class act
Working-class, feminist comedian Rachel Fairburn has long been a guaranteed good laugh on the comedy circuit, and a must-listen on All Killa No Filla, her smash hit true crime podcast with fellow standup Kiri Pritchard-McLean.
Rachel’s new show, Vexy Beasts, moves her into the ‘character comedy’ bracket, as she introduces hairdresser Leanne, fighting for her salon’s life while spilling the T on
Sex Talk with Emma-Louise Boynton
In her new book, Pleasure: The Reclamation of My Body, journalist and broadcaster Emma-Louise Boynton interrogates the societal forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel pleasure. Jen chats to Emma about Emma's own story, the impact of the male gaze and digital culture on women’s pleasure, why gendered ideas around sex and pleasure are doing us all a disservice,
Outside The Box June 2026
Planning on spending the weekend on the sofa with all the fans pointed at you? Here are some suggestions on what you could watch at the same time. This month, we're talking about Two Weeks in August, The Four Seasons, Rivals, The Witness, The Burroughs, Widow's Bay, World War Two with Tom Hanks and what we make of World Cup coverage so far.
* Hannah's chatting about why she thinks The Pitt's Dr R
The Bush Telegraph: Live from the kitchen
It’s feeling swampish in the UK this week, but spare a thought for the poor old Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool over in Washington DC. It seems Donald J Trump can think of nothing else. If the leader of the free world is distracted, the leader of the UK is... well, to be decided/Andy Burnham following Keir Starmer's resignation. There’s sexism live from the ITV kitchen, Hannah's found some elderl
Rated or Dated: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Steven Spielberg’s swashbuckling, whip-cracking, quip-cracking archaeologist Indiana Jones’s first adventure was beating the Nazis to the lost Ark of the Covenant. Will film picker Mick keep her big love for the film and its flawed hero under her fedora? Spoiler: NO! But what will Jen and Hannah have to say about the breakneck Oscar-nabbing adventure film that launched a thousand adventure films i
Clio Wood is fighting social media’s silencing of women
Ever wondered why a female health campaigner writes ‘seggs’ instead of ‘sex’, or uses an emoji instead of a medical term? Turns out social media platforms are systematically censoring medically accurate content on topics such as menstruation, fertility and menopause – often misclassifying such content as “adult” material and limiting its reach. It goes further, with femtech entrepreneurs also find
Enjoying the ride with Christina Pallanch
As the saying goes, you never forget how to ride a bike. But how easy is it to teach a small person something you can’t remember not being able to do?
Following the UK launch of children’s bike brand Woom, Jen jumped on the Zoom with senior marketing manager Christina Pallanch to talk about modelling an active lifestyle for our girls, carving out time to stay active as a mum, and top tips for pic
Flicking #74: The Ballad of Wallis Island
Charming, melancholic, funny and ever-so British, Tim Key and Tom Basden’s tale of two men stuck in the past and on an island is Hannah’s pick for this month’s Flicking. How does Carey Mulligan fit in? Is Basden really that grubby? And why is Key making Mick and Yosra cry so much?
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The Bush Telegraph: Let’s ban banning things
Hannah and Mick can’t say FFS loud enough as The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill returns from the dead for another round in Parliament. And just how good an idea is the blanket banning of social media for under 16s? Or indeed the blanket banning of anything? Still, in good news, reading is up, the Wombles are back, and women get two personality choices courtesy of The Times. How generous.
Rated or Dated: The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
The second film in Jim Henson’s much-beloved franchise, contemporary critics said 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper failed to live up to the expectations set by its predecessor, The Muppet Movie. But were those reviewers mad? Can it top Hannah’s love for The Muppet Christmas Carol? What has Jen’s daughter written in her notes? And what has Mickey got on her feet?
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Martina Laird on Driftwood
Set in Trinidad in 1956, Driftwood is the debut play of actress Martina Laird. She chats to Hannah about why Trinidad's history is England's history too, The Little Mermaid, and the night they sat really near each other in a theatre.
* Driftwood is on at the Kiln Theatre in London. More here: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/driftwood/
* Details on how to become a member of the supporters' club
Kate Mason on the not-so-beautiful game
When Roberto De Zerbi was made Spurs' new manager, his previous public support for player Mason Greenwood – who was in the past accused of various sexual assaults, although all charges were dropped – made the headlines.
As a Spurs fan, journalist and broadcaster Kate Mason wrote about her take on this for The Athletic. She chats to Jen about how clubs deal with accusations of misconduct, the opti
