Jenny Colgan is a Scottish author who has written more than sixty books, sold fifteen million of them in more than thirty five countries. Her series include The Little Beach Street Bakery, The Christmas Bookshop and the School by The Sea series. She has also written six books in the Doctor Who universe under the name J.T. Colgan.

Colgan won Romantic Novel of the Year in 2013 for Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, the Romantic Novelists’ Association Novel of the Year in 2018 for The Summer Seaside Kitchen and in 2015 she was inducted into the Love Stories Hall of Fame.

Jenny’s four choices are each in their own way staggering examples of excellence in writing as well as exploration and development of character. Her book choice tells the story of friendship, faith and finding yourself whose author has even won an Oscar for his writing, the film she chose is another Oscar-winner this time written by one of Britain’s greatest playwrights, the podcast is sensitive yet forensic exercise in journalism and her TV pick is one of the most extraordinary pieces of writing for the medium.

Jenny also speaks about her love of reading to her kids at bedtime, how the country doesn’t need campaigns to tell us we should read and instead how we need to remind people of the joy to be had from reading.

Jenny’s latest book, The Secret Christmas Library, is available now from all good bookstores.

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This week’s guest Christine Adams has worked as an actress for more than two decades and describes herself as “the hardest working actress you’ve never heard of”. Having left university here in the UK in the early 2000s, Christine first worked - as many young British actors do - in the likes of Doctors, Casualty and Eastenders before moving to the United States in search of more interesting roles.

She started off getting roles in the likes of Stargate SG-1 and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip before progressing on to regular roles in The Whole Truth, Pushing Daisies and Terra Nova. She is currently starring opposite Sir Idris Elba in Hijack, the smash hit show on Apple TV+, and in Malice on Amazon Prime Video with David Duchovny & Jack Whitehall.

Christine’s choices each tell a story of people’s search for belonging and community and reflect her love of people and character. They are fun, insightful and unique - much like Christine herself! The movie she chose stars one of the last remaining stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, her book choice is the first in a modern day saga about a group of people sharing a house in Seventies San Francisco, her podcast is the truth of life on the inside as told by prisoners themselves and her TV show is based on the true story of a woman’s experiences and sexual awakening in the months leading up to her death. All in all, a veritable smorgasbord of excellent storytelling!

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This week I really have a treat in store for you as I speak to Director of Tate Maria Balshaw CBE. Maria was the first woman to take on the role back in 2015 and for the last ten years she has used her position to introduce a broader range of artists to Tate’s various galleries as well as attracting a younger audience through the introduction of Tate Collective which offered free membership to 16-25 year olds and the creation of a £150m endowment fund to secure the group’s financial future.

Prior to joining Tate, Balshaw was director of the Whitworth Gallery in the University of Manchester for over a decade after starting her career in academia. She recently announced that she will stand down from her role at Tate in Spring 2026 so it is a real privilege to speak to her about her career, her achievements and the stories that have resonated with her throughout her life.

Maria’s book choice is a searingly honest and raw account of love in the time of the AIDs epidemic in the UK, the film she chose was made in 1993 but set in the mid-1800s and tells the story of a woman faced with cruelty from all of those around her, the TV show is set on a popular computer game and her podcast choice is a complete departure from the earlier serious themes of the previous titles, ending our chat with some laughter and levity.

Find out more about the Lee Miller at Tate Britain & how to book tickets by clicking this link: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/lee-miller

Enjoy the episode and don’t forget to share & review!

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Alasdair Beckett-King is a comedian, children’s author, animator, illustrator, filmmaker & podcaster - there are many strings to this man’s bow. And he is a man who even looks like he might own a quiver…

He has appeared on the likes of The News Quiz on Radio 4, Mock the Week & 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as well as hosting not one but two of his own podcasts - one about folklore & legend and the other reviewing children’s books with fellow redhead Eleanor Morton. Alasdair has even written children’s books - about a little girl who solves crime disguised as an older male detective, Montgomery Bonbon.

Alasdair’s story choices take us from how the minds of comedians works to the first example of prestige television in 1980s Northwestern America, to a fantastical adventure from 1980s Britain and finally all the way back to Victorian England for what might be the first ever detective novel.

All of his titles reflect his love of imagination and storytelling as well as adventure, mystery and a moderate amount of peril and a large amount of fun!

Be sure to catch Alasdair on tour across the UK from next month - tickets & information here: https://www.abeckettking.com/gigs/

Enjoy the episode!

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Aurie Styla is not just a comedian: he’s also an actor, a broadcaster, a podcaster, an event host & producer and a designer. As well as creating several of his own award-winning stand-up shows, he also wrote on the BAFTA winning series of The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan, appeared on Radio 4 shows like Newsjack, The Now Show & The Infinite Monkey Cage and even Richard Osman’s House of Games. He is an avid gamer, hosted his own show on BBC Radio London as well as several of his own podcasts - so he is no stranger to a podcast studio!

In this week’s episode Aurie talks about the work ethic he has picked up from his mum and how he is now actually trying to unlearn some of it so he can do a better job of unwinding. We also delved into his love of the hip hop legend Busta Rhymes, how he thinks he could have withstood life in Shawshank prison in the Forties & Fifties and his love of the Star Trek universe. He also explained how important his faith is to him and how he came to love Christianity in his own way as an adult - independent of his mother’s influence and not just going to church because she brought him.

Head to https://www.auriestyla.co.uk/ to find out Aurie’s upcoming live show dates

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Desiree Burch is an American comedian who has called London home for over a decade. Having studied in Yale, she worked in New York whilst trying to get her comedy career going, she worked as a phone sex operator and even a dominatrix - whilst still a virgin.

After moving to the UK, Desiree worked herself silly and got her comedy career going - particularly after winning the Funny Women award in 2015. Since then, she has appeared on QI, Have I Got News For You, Richard Osman’s House of Games, Live at the Apollo and Would I Lie to You? She has tried her hand at acting with a turn in supernatural fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale and even a role in Netflix Christmas film alongside Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes.

Desiree’s choices are magical and fantastical, gripping and energising - each with their own sense of community and purpose. She loves witches and women and the magic of life. All of the stories are, at their core, a journey of self-discovery with the ultimate destination of people finding their voices and telling their own stories on their own terms.

Enjoy the episode!

And Desiree has the second leg of her tour, The Golden Wrath, kicking off at the start of February - so get your tickets here before they’re gone!

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Diana Vickers first rose to prominence when she auditioned for The X Factor at the age of just sixteen. With Cheryl Cole as her mentor she finished the show in fourth place. She landed a record deal with RCA once the show had finished, released two albums and finished up 2010 as the label’s biggest-selling domestic artist.

After The X Factor, Diana landed the lead role in Jim Cartwright’s The Rise & Fall of Little Voice kickstarting a career in acting which has seen her play Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, star in The Duck House in the West End (a drama about the parliamentary expenses scandal) and appear in multiple other television shows, on the big screen and numerous other stage productions.

Diana revealed herself to be a total romantic - though not a hopeless one! Her choices focus on all kinds of love: the platonic to the romantic, passions to obsessions and everything in between. It’s a whirlwind trip of an episode, starting off in 1920s Paris before a batch of love stories from all over the world followed by a jaunt to modern day New York finishing up back in the 1980s Big Apple.

Diana is a truly wonderful, positive, lovely person who manages to warm even the most cynical of hearts - so enjoy the episode!

Don’t forget to check out Diana’s latest single Pretty Boys wherever you listen to music - as we say in the show: it’s a bop!

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Pearl Lowe is a creative to her core: she started her career in music as singer and songwriter fronting the bands Powder and Lodger before switching to fashion, textile & homewares design.

She has set trends for decades from her tea dresses that exploded in popularity from the Nineties all the way through her signature interiors style which she has dubbed ‘faded glamour’ and now written three books under the title - even down to where she lives. Back in the early Nineties, as a young single mother, Pearl moved to Primrose Hill with her best friend years before it became synonymous with the likes of Sadie Frost and Kate Moss. Later she moved to Somerset, only to find her local town named as the best place to live and one of the UK’s coolest locales.

Now back in London for the first time in two decades, Pearl joined us to talk about some of her favourite stories: we started off with a classic sitcom that embodies the hedonism and acerbic humour of the Nineties, a podcast hosted by one of Britain’s best-loved presenters, a visually sumptuous but macabre film that tells a story of a woman’s journey to enlightenment and a book that taught helped Pearl to understand herself better than ever before.

Enjoy!

🔗 LINKS

Check out Pearl’s new book here: https://www.pearllowe.co.uk/products/faded-glamour-in-the-city

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