Like This, Love This

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Lawther is an actor who began his career in a David Hare play which saw the London Critics Circle name him Young British Performer of the Year as well as being selected by BAFTA as one of 2015’s Breakthrough Brits. He has appeared in films such as The Imitation Game, Goodbye Christopher Robin and The French Dispatch. He’s no stranger to the small screen having starred in The End of the F*cking World, Black Mirror, AndOr and Alien:Earth.Alex has also written and directed his own films - the most recent of which, Rhoda starring Emma Darcy and Juliet Stevenson, was selected for the BFI London Film Festival in 2024. Alex’s title choices take us from a film that inspires his own filmmaking ambitions, a podcast that shared an insight into other artists, a TV show about a Spanish tour-de-force and a book that tells a life story in an entirely new and innovative way.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beth Rigby was the first woman to be appointed as Political Editor of Sky News back in 2019. She has interviewed everyone from the current prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and many of his predecessors to the former England footballer Gary Neville, Hillary Clinton and Dame Kelly Holmes. But this time, she’s on the other side of the microphone as she sits down with Lucie McInerney to discuss her favourite stories. Beth’s story choices start off in Naples with a dark, addictive TV show that won’t allow for double-screening - unless you speak fluent Neapolitan. We are back in London for her book choice which again tells a dark tale of psychological manipulation set in the Victorian era. Her preferred podcast was a global sensation when released almost ten years ago and dives into the real life story of a clockmaker from Alabama whilst her movie choice is a previously-discussed British classic which again tells a story about men. Over the course of our conversation, Beth did reassure us that she is a feminist but that perhaps her choices reflect her ongoing pursuit of understanding of the opposite sex. As well as her regular appearances in person on TV and through the medium of the written word on the Sky News website, Beth also hosts the political podcast Electoral Dysfunction with former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, and Labour grandee Harriet Harman. It’s a wonder she gets a chance to sit down - never mind get through the amount of box sets she seems to!Enjoy!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Like This, Love This, Lucie McInerney is joined by actor, comedian and Amy Poehler devotee, Hayley Morris. After a childhood spent writing and filming sketches with comedy heroes: her dad & her brother, Hayley started her own YouTube channel in 2009. At first it didn’t exactly attract big numbers…and by at first, we mean for about a decade. But she stuck at it and finally she cracked it. Starting with her first sketch about intrusive thoughts, Morris started to build her online audience and hasn’t looked back since. Now she has more than 9 million subscribers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram and she is going from strength to strength, writing and starring in her own short films and she even wrote a book: Me vs Brain: An Overthinker’s Guide to Life. Hayley’s choices took us right across the United States, from Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Upstate New York with a stop off in Texas as we talked about a pair of funny women in an unusual working partnership, a podcast from her hero, a film about impact the arts can have in the most unexpected of places and a book about women making it in man’s world. Her dedication and perseverance is echoed in the stories that appeal to her and we had a great time learning about just how similar to her hero, Amy Poehler, Hayley actually is in real life.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack Edwards, the Internet’s Resident Librarian, is one of Britain’s biggest book influencers. He started posting online regularly when he first went to Durham University to read English Literature. As the first of his family to attend third level, he had no idea what to expect and thought that sharing his experience might help others.From there, he published a guide to life at university and - through his love of books & reading - has grown his online following to almost 4 million subscribers across platforms. He recently launched Inklings, his online book club which sees him interview authors, actors and directors about their required reading. He has recently interviewed Guillermo del Toro, Cillian Murphy and Gillian Anderson, to name but a few. Jack is a passionate advocate for those who do not have access to the rooms into which he is now regularly invited through posting on his various social media accounts or by asking event organizers to stream talks and interviews online. Jack’s story choices are as diverse as his own reading interests, but empathy lies at the heart of everything for him as well as championing stories from new voices and voices of those less heard. His book choice is a debut novel from a poet which examines addiction, loss and grief, his movie choice is a modern classic focussed on the human need for connection and love, his podcast retells some of the world’s oldest stories and his TV show is an Irish gem that shows how the best of storytelling is born of conflict.Enjoy the episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!🔗 LINKSCheck out Pearl’s new book here: https://www.pearllowe.co.uk/products/faded-glamour-in-the-city Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felicity Ward is a comedian, actor and writer who has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz, Russell Howard’s Good News and Mock the Week. Earlier this year, she participated in Australia’s Dancing with the Stars making it all the way to the finale and last year, she starred as Hannah Howard, Australia’s answer to David Brent, in a new version of The Office.She has long been a mental health advocate after channeling her experiences into a stand-up routine about her experience of dealing with anxiety and depression. She subsequently presented her own documentary on the topic, Felicity’s Mental Mission, in 2014 and hosted a BBC audio series, Appisodes, which sees her try different smartphone apps in an attempt to solve her mental health issues. Her story choices range from a podcast of couples working through the toughest challenges of their relationship, a TV show which Felicity insists is the perfect studio comedy, a book which insists we all need to lighten up and a classic comedy about a couple of con artists on the French Riviera in the 1980s.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Beecham is an award winning actress who has appeared on TV and in film for almost two decades. In 2016 she starred alongside George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson and Ralph Fiennes in the Coen Brothers comedy Hail, Caesar! and in 2019, she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Little Joe. Emily has appeared in many TV dramas ranging from Emily Mortimer’s The Pursuit of Love and Lewis to the futuristic Into The Badlands and the more recent King & Conqueror set in the Middle Ages in which she starred with James Norton on BBC One. Emily’s podcast choice takes us on a hunt for acting legend Tom Hanks, her book choice shows us how to gain inner peace, her movie choice is a masterclass in raw emotion from fellow actress Samantha Morton and her tv choice is about three terrible women from a terribly funny comedian. Her story selections show her love of acting, the need for acceptance and resilience and the admiration she has for others in her profession.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s guest Genevieve Turley is a make-up artist and beauty influencer who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media thanks to her hilarious take on the beauty industry online. Having started her career as a nurse in the Air Force, Genevieve turned her attention to her lifelong love of make-up and beauty after having had children.Initially, Genevieve focussed on bridal make-up with Instagram merely a tool for promoting her business. But one day she posted a funny Reel on Instagram and before she knew it, she had gone viral with the Kardashians sharing her post. Now with over a hundred thousand followers on TikTok and well over half a million on Instagram, Gen is a fully fledged influencer. Her choices are as varied as her career but throughout you can see Gen’s love of stories that show both the lighter and darker side of life. Gen takes us from the experiences of women in Vichy France during the Second World War and life on a council estate in the Eighties in England to a Quentin Tarantino-penned romantic adventure and an interview series that examines struggles and how people can benefit from them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actor Taj Atwal has graced stage and screen for over a decade, starting off with appearances in Miranda and Ruth Jones’ Stella. Since then she has gone on to star alongside the likes of Liam Neeson, Monica Bellucci, Lily James & Dame Emma Thompson. Taj has had series regular roles in the BBC dramas Line of Duty and The Syndicate as well as comedies like Hullraisers on Channel 4, Daddy Issues on BBC Three and Trying on Apple TV+ and many more. Her story choices go from a British council estate to a flatshare in North London via the history of Asians in Britain and the podcast that launched the medium into the mainstream. Her choices reflect her wide-ranging career and Taj’s passion and dedication to people and their stories.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen Brister is a comedian and writer who has appeared on some of the UK’s best loved comedy shows such as Live at the Apollo, QI, Mock the Week and BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. She hosts her own podcast Memory Lane with fellow comedian Kerry Godliman as well as appearing on some of the country’s top podcasts such as Off Menu with Ed Gamble & James Acaster, The Guilty Feminist with Deborah Frances-White and Never Live It Down with Vogue Williams.Jen gave a TEDx talk about changing the way we raise our boys in 2018 and published her first book, The Other Mother, in 2019 about life raising her twin sons with her partner, Chloe.Jen’s story choices range from a gritty gang vs cops tale set in Baltimore, Maryland to a movie about the spying and surveillance carried out on potential enemies of the state in East Berlin during the Cold War. She described her book choice as “the funniest book ever written” and her podcast choice is one of the best ever made, setting the standard for audio production for over twenty years.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louisa Young is a novelist, biographer and songwriter who has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Costa Novel Award and the Carnegie Medal as well as winning Audiobook of the Year at the National Book Awards.She has written several children’s books with her daughter as well as a biography of her grandmother, Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Robert Scott. Previously, she worked as a journalist for titles such as Tatler & Marie-Claire as well as The Guardian and The Sunday Times. Louisa is currently writing the next three instalments in the Cazalet Chronicles, the cult series written by her late aunt, Elizabeth Jane Howard. Her eclectic choices take us from 1950s Scotland and London to New York in the 1980s and even to Dolly Parton’s Tennessee. Her love of character, quirks and nostalgia are no surprise given she is a writer and her enthusiasm for each is infectious. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zachary Hart is an actor who graduated from the Academy of Live & Recorded Arts in 2017 and headed straight to the Bridge Theatre in London to perform in legendary director Nic Hytner’s Julius Caesar. And he’s just kept going ever since.He has appeared in many of the biggest shows on TV since his career rocketed into action: from Peaky Blinders on BBC One and The Witcher on Netflix to Masters of the Air and Slow Horses on Apple TV, Zachary’s been there. Our discussion was as wide-ranging as his title choices but often came back to the importance of family and Zach’s laser-like focus on the craft of storytelling, be that through the written word or on-screen. We talked about what he called “The Perfect Film” as well as a TV show he rewatches all the time and a book that showed him a love he hankered after himself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Like This Love This, we are joined by Alison Balsom, a classical trumpet player, music producer and educator, who started playing the trumpet at age seven and went on to graduate top of her class from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.She has since won Young Artist of the Year and later Female Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT awards and Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.This year, she is playing at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall for the second time. Alison’s story choices are as wide and varied as they are interesting and even include an anecdote about Quentin Tarantino being on her first date with her husband - theatre and film director, Sir Sam Mendes.From creativity and innovation across the cultural landscape to new ways of thinking about things: passion and dedication are always at the heart of the stories that appeal to her.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.