The Fangirl Diaries

The adventure continues! We chat Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix as well as the film releases coming out in the early 2000s. Books 4 and 5 are our favourites and who can blame us? Maddie loves the structure and stratagems of The Triwizard Tournament and Alicia always wants to hang out at Grimmauld Place to cheer up Sirius and make all the battle plans!

1997. Where it all began. Alicia and Maddie read a little book about The Boy Who Lived and were irreversibly changed. Today's pod is all about the early years of Harry Potter (The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and the Prisoner of Azkaban). we discuss the Trio, Quidditch, Hogsmeade, the Basilisk and the start of what became THE defining fangirl obsession of our childhoods.

Winter is coming! And as Autumn draws in, we've dug out our top fantasy box sets and settled back down with Jon Snow and Robb Stark. Top of the List? Long-time favourite and definite obsession - Game of Thrones. We re-live our twenties, looking back on the most gasp-worthy moments across a two-part episode (we have a LOT of thoughts on Game of Thrones). It scooped the top prize in our 'badass' category and re-conditioned the way we watched 'appointment TV'. Both of us still carry the trauma f...

Our album reaction! We obviously had to listen to The Life of A Showgirl as soon as it dropped but we have....mixed feelings...As long-term Swifties, we count down our favourite (and least favourite!) tracks, remember albums past and can't help ingulding in some wedding speculation!

*SPOILERS* "I love you! I will always love you! I think you know that..." And we LOVE this show! We're recording on Season Finale day as we have to face saying goodbye to Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah. We react to Belly's final choice, recap the show's HOTTEST moments, best music picks and theorise about the magic of Cousins and the sheer genius of Jenny Han. What will we do with our Wednesdays now??

“I was in love … like out of my mind in love. What was I supposed to do?” Season 2 takes a TURN people! Susannah is dead (we were shook!), Laurel has been sidelined, who knows what's happened to Cleveland, Conrad is spiralling and Jeremiah is on the uppppp. Oh and Cam Cameron is back. We looks at the three acts of Season 2, the brief snatches of Bonrad, the 'Aunt Julia Problem', and then the dawn of the age of Jellyfish. Maddie gives her predictions for Season 3 and we chat about the series's...

Oh boy. Where do we even start? The answer is with Maddie's meticulously crafted spreadsheet (not joking), categorising all her favourite musicals, their overall "score" and we look back on a genre that gave us so many obsessions. On the list are Hamilton, Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, Spring Awakening, Wicked, Les Miserables and oh so many Andrew Lloyd Webber masterpieces...

“I don’t want you to need me. I want you to want me.” Woooooooo and here we go!! It's all happening to Belly on Cousins Beach! Maddie is a new The Summer I Turned Pretty inductee and Alicia is on (another) re-watch. For those of you in the trenches of Season 3 right now, we're doing a full retrospective of Seasons 1 and 2 (see next episode!) looking back at why this show delivers the perfect formula, the perfect script and a certain magic that has us all hooked. Alicia is Team Conrad, Maddie ...

It's taken us roughly twenty years, but we HAVE to discuss Moulin Rouge - because we can can CAN! We disagree, for the first time, about The Thermometer Level, rate our top 3 songs and discuss the film that spawned 1000 prom night themes. Also, Nicole Kidman WAS doing bejewelled bodysuits before Taylor Swift...

It's time for a TV classic this week! With Alicia a long-term fan and Maddie embarking on her first foray into life with The Crawleys, it must be Downton Abbey! We chat through our favourite plot lines, the unforgettable characters, the tragic deaths (some necessary, some truly UNNECESSARY) and the best Lady Violet put-downs.

It's the end of our Buffy Mini-series! And the most controversial seasons yet - 6 and 7. These mark the shift, both to a different network and to a very different (darker) tone for the show. We discuss The Trio, Dark Willow and the many tragedies of season 6 before wrapping things up with The Potentials, The First and Buffy's final fight. Whether you're a Spuffy shipper, a long-term Buffy nerd or simply watching along with us for the first time - we hope you've enjoyed the ride!

Bless my soul, Herc is on a ROLL... and we love it!! Looking back to 1997, we revisit what makes this Disney film one of our all time heroes. What's the best part? Meg's dress? Hades' flaming hair? Or the soundtrack to which we still know every. single. word?

Join Alicia and Maddie as they take you on a tour of New Zealand to visit all the places that Peter Jackson and crew scouted to film the epic 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

"Glorificus! Your terrifically smooth one, Your creamy coolness, Your Most glamorous yet tasteful one, Oh..." If Clare Kramer is here as Buffy's best ever Big Bad then it must be Season 5! A team favourite: The Scoobies Willow, Xander, Tara and Anya all mysteriously yet conveniently accept Dawn (aka The Key) as one of their own in the battle to save Sunnydale from yet another Apocalypse ("How many apocalypses is that for us now? At least six..."). Giles gets his Magic Shop, Xander gets a twin...

"Players: the time for talk is over!" Or in the case of this podcast - just beginning!! We've had the Season 3 Finale and we're here to dissect it all. From the tragedy of Alexander to the mystery of Claudia Winkleman's fringe...welcome to THE TRAITORS!

We've only waited TWENTY SOMETHING YEARS for this!! Finally the Wicked movie has been released so we took a long-awaited jaunt to see it together after Maddie booked ahead...that's what makes her so nice. Join us as we discuss the all-star performances, transport by bubble and some very emotional cameos...

"Giles has a TV! He's shallow - like us!" Season 4 is ready for a deep-dive and the Scooby Gang have started at UC Sunnydale! Riley is on the scene, Spike's back and Giles is...well, still fired. We chat about The Initiative, Hush, and the introduction of Tara as our Buffy obsession continues...

"If you're a bird then I'm a bird too!" Iconic or non-sensical? Either way, we recap some of the most famous quotes, kisses and costumes from 2004's The Notebook. Not a Nicholas Sparks fan? Where WERE you in the 00's? His romance novels and films were the stuff of every millennial's sleepovers...especially ours! Join us on a trip back to Charleston, South Carolina, with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as the film celebrates it's 20 year anniversary. God, we're old...

Buffy and the Scooby Gang get ready to graduate in Season 3 of the 1999 hit show. We re-cap the season and run through our favourite fights, the best couples, the most shocking moments (Faith and Xander, anyone!?) and try to contain our excitement that Spike is BACK (yes, yes, and Angel...)

"There you are. I've been looking for you." It's....ACOTAR! And we're coming at this from a slightly different angle this week. One the one hand, we have Alicia, the mega-fan, future wife of Rhysand and Sarah J Maas devotee. On the other, we have Maddie who has...let's just say...mixed opinions about all things Prythian. We talk Tamlin, Amarantha, TV adaptations and try to ensure Maddie gets on the bandwagon for Mist and Fury!