Tina Hobley | Extraordinary Life Stories

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0:44According to Indeed data, Sponsored Jobs have four times more applicants than non-sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a$75 Sponsored Job Credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. I think about all wasted energy and time in my 20s and 30s where you were just so self-conscious and so trying to fit in. If I had one regret it was that I didn't discover that earlier. Some of the people I've met that are the most alive have faced a real trauma or near-death experience so tell me about where you got to coming out of that experience on the jump. I hit 50 I just couldn't take it in quick enough you know I want to do everything I want to do it faster louder, bigger.

1:27Sort of being out of action with these ailments from the jump probably did something to me that thought I'm going to be so grateful when I get my time back. I'm not going to waste a minute. Take me back to a younger version of Tina. I was incredibly shy. My mum took me to the GP and she thought there was something wrong with me. So he said try role playing, find a drama class. Through role play, the doctor was right. Tina Hobley thank you for joining me thank you John great to be here tell me who is Tina Hobley ah she is a mother a mother of three that's her number one job and then I think she's hard working and I think she is a lover of life I love that and someone that feels lucky to be alive a little bit Every day.

2:20Every day I feel lucky to... not through any circumstance particularly, I know what you're thinking, but no, I think just lucky every day to have another... my granddad used to say, another day above ground. And I think that's fabulous. And I feel that. I don't know if it's just... I think I've felt it for the last, I don't know, 10 years. So lucky to have, you know, my health, my great kids, my wonderful husband, everyone around me is well at the moment and I'm just grateful I'm in that space grateful to feel that I love that it's a lovely way to live and you've got that whole energy from the minute you came in and the minute we started talking yeah I asked that because some of the people I've met that are the most alive and that exude life and live it to the max have faced kind of a real trauma or near-death experience so tell me about where you got to coming out of that experience on the jump and your resilience?

3:16Well, it wasn't a near-death experience, not at all. I mean, it was a long recovery, not physically, but mentally it was a long recovery because it took a lot of my confidence away, more than physical ailments, which took about two years to get better, but it was the confidence that took a long time. But really apart from that, I think I'm just so grateful and appreciative of life this wonderful life that we have I've got opportunities I've got time I've got love and people to do these adventures with and I think adventures life adventures has been my the last five years anyway throwing myself into things that I might have not bothered with in my early sort of 40s.

4:11But as soon as I hit 50, I just couldn't take it in quick enough. You know, I want to do everything. I want to do it faster, louder, bigger. And I think perhaps having a setback of time, having sort of been out of action with these ailments from the jump probably did something to me that thought I'm going to be so grateful when I get my time back. I'm not going to waste a minute." So things you might have said no to. That's the point. So you flipped it to a yes and sort of... Everything's a yes. ...fake more challenges on. Everything's a yes. So what... When it's appropriate. But my wake up in the morning, I go, today, I'm going to say yes to everything.

4:50And that's kind of how I... Is there a limit to what you say yes to? To adventure, no limit. Is that... So is that an adrenaline junkie kind of scenario? Have you always been... I've always loved that. Yeah. Hence even being on the jump, right? No, I've always loved adrenaline, anything, but I've also, I'm just curious now. I think we've got this wonderful world we live in. I want to get out and see it and take my kids with me. And I've got a group of women that I do a lot of adventure, kind of, I started climbing, rock climbing about four years ago. And I suddenly got addicted to that. and I got addicted to being with this tribe, these incredible women that are all of my age and were all slightly like I was feeling, a little bit.

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6:45Having an adventure with like-minded people who wanted to get out of their comfort zone and do crazy stuff and that's what i've been doing for the last five years i love that yeah outside of obviously work yeah family take me back to a younger version of tina were you the the girl that was kind of singing with the hairbrush there's a performing element of how you've gone about your career was that so because you've got such a great energy there's there's a there's a real kind of yeah not just a positive vibe but actually you know you want to get up and do stuff yeah yeah but channeling that as a youngster no were you putting that into sport were you Were you trying to put it into entertainment?

7:22I was incredibly shy, like cripplingly shy. So when I was nine or ten, my mum took me to the GP. I remember his name, Dr Cuttle. He was brilliant, thank God. And she thought there was something wrong with me because she said, there's something wrong with this child. She won't go to any parties. She won't have sleepovers. She won't... She's literally by my side the whole time. She even brings her food home from school, lunch food. because she won't tell the dinner lady that she doesn't like it. So I was incredibly shy. So the GP said, there's nothing wrong with this child. She's got to start role-playing.

8:01So he said, find her a speech and drama class, something local. I get her into that. And my mum said, oh, I've tried horse riding, brownies, tap dancing. She just won't go unless I'm there. I can't be with her all the time. So he said, try role-playing. Find a drama class. so my mum found something in a newsagent's window a little post-it note from this lady saying she does private one-to-one speech and drama classes and she was a teacher at Sylvia Young's her name was Mrs Stoker so I started when I was nine privately just going to a house doing little bits of bits and bobs and then I stayed with her till I was 19 the same woman and through role play the doctor was right.

8:46I just could be someone else and grew in confidence and he was a genius really because there was nothing wrong with me. I just needed to come out of myself and when I was acting or role playing or whatever miming whatever I was doing with this little drama group I could just lose my inhibitions and um that's really inspiring because i was a very shy i still am yeah i said that so and i and i am as well but when we're both on camera now and you've had a career that's been very visible yeah so i wonder how much of that that kind of reframing of what was a shy girl that was masking acting if you like yeah then allowed that to be because you're very much yourself now everything you do and let's bring the radio into that and all these channels and you are comfortable with that I want to know if there was a sort of shift and whether that's come through maturity and just kind of some of the things that happened to you or whether there was a nice shift where you allowed that to happen.

9:44Yeah, I think I allowed it to happen. I think the actor, so I was acting for 20 years and that was one stage in my life. And I, again, when I wasn't acting, I still was crippled with the shiners, really. So if you asked me to stand up at a party and give a speech, even my own birthday, couldn't do it. I can relate to this. I couldn't do it. No, I can really relate to this. It's my daughter's 18th birthday. Everyone was giving speeches. It came around to me. My daughter. I couldn't do it. I just stood up and said, I love you. And that's all I could say because there was a crowd and it was just being me.

10:18So when... So the acting I kind of got, I was... When I was given a script, fine. I could be whatever character you needed me to be, especially if it's a super confident one. I loved that more than anything. and then when I sort of I don't know I got slightly kind of lost my love for it so that was 10, 11 years ago and then I found radio which has been like the strangest transition for me for someone who's super shy for them to kept asking me to just be yourself I was like what is that I'm like I can't be myself because I don't really know who that is and who wants to listen to me that's so boring but I found it over the last 10 years I've been doing it.

11:02It's been the best thing for me. I've realised that I've had a chance to just be me and discover who me is. And I just think it's been like the best free therapy ever being on the radio. Who would have thought it? But just thinking you're talking to one person. And I've just grown so much in the last 10 years through radio. Yeah, it has... like exactly what you said, it has been a real sort of enlightening experience. Like, wow, I can actually be myself and I'm being more comfortable with myself. But having come from this super shy child, seeing this progression has been incredible. I don't ever want to let it go, you know, now I've found it.

11:50I love this. So going back to the young girl and that young girl, a young Tina is growing up in a very different world now with social media. I can relate this to my two daughters. Yes, exactly. Right. So they won't post on social media for fear of judgment, but they all would love it. Not necessarily all, but there's any number of them that would have aspirations to be visible, to be seen. Yeah. But they won't because there's an element of bullying and judgment that goes on. So actually there's a few that will rise above that but the majority of youngsters growing up are often not posting that and if one of them does the others that are jealous will kind of almost jump on them and say why why are you doing that and who do you think you are and try and bring them down this is a hard question what advice would you give to them knowing how good it feels to just being yourself and being honest in how you behave but what advice would you give so i've got three children, none of them are on social media.

12:46Well, the middle one, she likes music, so she's been writing her own music. Very tentatively is now just putting her toes in to sort of show her music range. But personal Instagram posts, no, she doesn't do any of it. My 26 year old came off about four years ago for her mental health. It was driving her crazy. The FOMO thing. So she just took herself away. Her decision. She made a decision. Fair play to her. She just switched it off. Delete. And she's never been happier. That's inspiring. Yeah. So she stepped away from that and she's great. My son, he's 16, no posting interest at all. Maybe he looks at other people but he doesn't post.

13:30But it's not... It's... I don't know. I think that hasn't... I think it's a difficult, difficult road for them to navigate. but only my tiny bit of advice would be the natural you is so much better than the faking it you you know he wants to fake it it's also exhausting i've sort of talking briefly earlier about neurodivergent and and the amount of people i've met that are autistic or adhd and have masked particularly women have masked at school and coming through adolescent years that where they're They're kind of not understanding themselves. They're misunderstood. They're getting into trouble at school for being a bad kid, but they're not.

14:15And this whole conversation I have with them when they finally were allowed to be themselves, allowed themselves to be themselves, and they realize how exhausting and mentally draining it is to not be yourself. I wish I had learned this 30 years ago. Well, this is part of the key why for the conversation is like, it's just like, actually, you exude that. That's the key here. It's like, actually, there's no masking going on here. being yourself and you're putting it out there. It's a work in progress. Of course. But you're... You get so super nervous. Yeah. And you're the pro. You're the one that's done.

14:49There's so much you've done. I know. It's just a thing. It's a real thing. You know, it's... I don't know what kind of condition that is, but to be terribly shy, even when people... You present... Like, I've got so many girlfriends. I had lunch with one today and she said, how can you be shy? I was telling her that I was coming on to chat with you. She doesn't know me like that. She only knows me as quite... presents as confident and fun and outgoing. But there is this other bit that's taken me a long time to go, oh, you know, is she coming out tonight? The shy, insecure one. It's voices in the head, isn't it?

15:29Controlling them, managing them. So that's why I'm going back to the radio. it's really helped me because I can, you haven't got time if you've got a, you know, a two-minute link and all you've got to do is be relaxed because if you're not, it's a terrible link. So you're telling yourself constantly, all you can do is just be yourself. And with that, that voice now, I invite to join me everywhere. Just be yourself. And I wish I had told my younger self that. Just be yourself. So do you think there's a, there's an element of slightly healthy nerves where your daughter's I relate to that as well where your daughter's speech where you you choked because for whatever reason that was overwhelming yes I've I've been in that position and often it's the more personal you know if that was a talk to a brand and potentially being paid to do it and so on you'd have probably put nailed it because that's a performance but when you when you isn't that weird yeah but even when it's with the ones you love and you're like My kids can't believe it.

16:29You know, and they look at old clips and they're like, you were that person and you still say that you're very shy. And I think maybe I'll just take it with me to the grave. I'll always have that little bit of me that struggles with letting go completely, I suppose. Listening to that voice that's saying, oh, you're not good enough. Or, oh, who wants to hear you? Oh, this is boring. What are you talking about this for? you know all those voices that that go with me on a daily basis you know I try and shut them out now no I love this I love this so much because I'm craving authenticity I'm craving honesty that's how you learn right and you exude that um and I want to go back to that resilience piece which which I wonder how much of the mental uh trauma if you like he went through um after the jump And I want to bring in the fact that there's so much rejection in acting.

17:24So we've all seen the sort of showreel, if you like, of what is a successful career. But you must have had countless times where you either just were rejected out of principle, there was something you really wanted and you didn't get it. Yeah. Well, I've got a weird career because I left drama school and I went straight into Coronation Street and that was in Manchester. I'm a Londoner. I found that very strange and I couldn't believe I got that role having never been to Manchester, putting on this terrible accent. I mean it was everything out of my comfort zone, out of my city, putting on an accent that was so far away from me and was terrible.

18:12It didn't do any justice to the city of Manchester and I got that job and then I got at the BBC after that. So basically I've only had three or four jobs but they've been for years and years. So to answer your question, the rejection thing came when I decided to leave the BBC. I kind of lost my love for it, I really did. And I always thought if I had turned into an actor that I didn't like and I didn't want to work with, it was time for me to go and I did turn into that actor that I didn't like. So when I stepped away. I think I had two auditions, maybe three, but everything had changed in 20 years.

18:51I hadn't auditioned for 20 years. So the world was completely different and I was terrified. So I was, I think I went to an audition, which was the last one, which was 10 years ago, where I called my agent before I went in and I said, I can't do it. I actually can't go. I'm like crippled with I just can't I can't can't do it and he said I think it's time you just take a break and that was it and I haven't gone back I couldn't I just like you said that's quite unusual because I know other people certainly in the acting world that have had brutal years out of work but there's still people that you and I have heard of that have had so there's a there's a longevity bit there for you there's a there's that's a two-way thing as well there's a loyalty thing, isn't it?

19:37Well, exactly. I kept the job because I was scared about going out there and auditioning again. That longevity, like every time the contract came up, I was like, yes, I'll take it. But I was also scared, that little girl was scared about going out there and having the rejection and facing all that. So I didn't. I just kept signing another year, signing another year. So basically, I had three jobs in 20 years. But what's so interesting is that that resilient piece is there. There's someone sitting here with me now that will take on a challenge and will push yourself out of what is the comfort zone because the comfort zone that you clearly got into was a 10-year role with Holby City for example um would have become very known to you the people you know and that's I've been there in that context but it's also not the healthiest place to be because you're not growing you're not pushing yourself so you it feels like you've flipped the narrative now where you're saying yes to all sorts of things that will push you.

20:34Yes, not so much career-wise. I still have... that's work in progress because I'm loving my radio time. I love it so much. It gives back... it feels like it gives back as much as I give in abundance. I wanted to be there for my kids. I worked all the way through my eldest, so I didn't want to miss a thing with the other two. I didn't want to miss a sports day. I didn't want to miss the play. I didn't want to miss it. That was it. I didn't want to work away and I didn't want to be touring. So I sort of said, well, I just, like I said, I stopped, completely stopped auditioning as that. Therefore, you're not acting.

21:11And then I think I've just found this time for me, you know, this adventure thing about loving life. I just can't get enough of it. I need to have that space to do that. You know, life's so precious. I've got to get the balance right. And at the moment, I feel it is, but I feel maybe, as I was coming in today, I thought, isn't it weird? A couple of people have mentioned different projects that are coming up, and I've never thought about it for the last 10 years. I'm like, oh, that's not for me. But maybe, now that I've got everything in place and I feel more balanced, I might re-look at the right opportunities, putting my foot back into it.

21:54Maybe. I'm still not there yet. I don't know. Am I right in saying that you're building a habit here of putting yourself out of your comfort zone and seeking new challenges that undoubtedly is allowing you to entertain that you can then go into something that is building your own confidence back up and validation if you like to go back into it. Is there something, if you can imagine almost the magic wand scenario, that you would really, really like to do that you haven't done yet? Whether you bond over streaming binge-worthy videos, watching sports recaps, video gaming, or by unplugging altogether, the 2026 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid helps keep you connected throughout your journey.

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23:18I think if an acting piece, role, my son said something when he was little and I thought this is so funny, his friend asked him, is your mum famous? Was your mum on the telly? And he looked at him and he went, no. Oh, she used to be. She's just a mum now. And I thought, wow, I'm so honoured to be just a mum. I was really touched by that. But But they're older now, he's 16, he's my baby. They're not needing me, unfortunately, as much. So I only recently, John, even before I knew I was coming to chat with you, I've been thinking, I wonder, I wonder if I've got another stab at something. Have I got the love for it and the want and can I gear myself up to go and try and find it basically.

24:11And I think... I think maybe I could... I could have another go there. I can definitely feel that. I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, I think... Work in progress, but I think I've got everyone settled. The kids are settled. They... I feel so empowered with the radio. That's been so incredible for me. You love that, don't you? Yeah, I love it. You really love it. Yeah. The... The kind of mental... The adventure stuff that I love. So the adventure side of things is a physical, you know, I can imagine you like... Fear, fixing my fear. But that's mental. Yeah. So going back to the recovery period, that must have, because that person here wants to be climbing mountains and, you know, clearly jumping, doing crazy things.

24:55Yeah, I do. But when you couldn't do that, are you now a little bit like a cork out of the bottle that was suppressed, you were held down? It was awful. But not being able to... How did you get through that? That's probably the question that's burning away because that could have crushed a lot of people. I went about it the wrong way asking earlier about kind of near death, but that when you're stopped from doing something and you can't do something, that's really what I mean. But someone that's been shackled, held back, which you absolutely were with your injuries. But that person that thrives off doing all that, how did you get through it?

25:28I had to not rush things. I think I'm so impatient. I just had to just think, okay, listen, I wasn't dealing with cancer or anything, you know, where you're really looking at a big battle. This was not nothing like that. This was just a few broken bones. Nothing. But for Conte, your body got shattered.

25:51Considering I'd never had any injuries before, to have multiple injuries did set me back a bit. And it wasn't so much the physical thing, like I said earlier. It was mainly just going, oh my god how long is this recovery you know how long is it going to stop me from doing what i wanted to do so i think what happened when i got them the radio were brilliant through all that time and i worked all the way through that but the adventure stuff came how can i put my body and my mind somewhere so extreme uh to face my fears and do it anyway that as soon as this girlfriend of mine said, would you like to come and join us on this adventure that we do?

26:33There's eight to ten women, all like-minded. We are going to scale, abseil, jump off and we're going to just really just see what our bodies can do and our minds. And I just embraced it and I'd like to do more of that. You can't even come alive every time you talk about that. Yeah. On the basis of that thread. They're so strong, much stronger than we think physically and but mentally, abseiling off a hundred foot cliff is physical but it's all about the mental strength and you know sleeping in a cave or no tent and you know doing all the stuff I never thought I would do and even my kids are like mum you were like wearing high heels and now all you wear is like climbing boots and I get so excited about going past an outdoor shop you know I'm not interested in any sort of fashion shops anymore.

27:24It's all about, ah, what sleeping bag is this? Or, you know, carabiners or... Gucci's been replaced with a... Harness. ...Trek. That's brilliant. And a rucksack. I'm obsessed. Really obsessed. So that's been a really weird transition and a beautiful one. And I embrace it and I would like to do... Perhaps I'll do... And I am talking about this. I'd love to do perhaps adventure, TV. That's what I'd love to do, really. Yeah, I can tell. That's the marriage, right? Yeah, you've got the love, the passion for it, and then bring it. Yeah. Outside of what would be a challenge, outside of the sort of the climbing the peak, if you like, what about that sort of constant fitness?

28:04You look like you keep yourself really well. So there's a... No, no, I've not been to the... So there's, of course, the climbing and the things you do will do, but are you someone that prioritizes a morning routine? Are you someone that makes sure that you value your everyday fitness, if you like? I got told at drama school that I was good, but I wasn't consistent. And that's how I see my fitness. I'm good when I do it, but I'm not consistent. I know consistency is the key, right? Hey, we all struggle with this, by the way. Yeah. So you're not the morning routine. I'm a morning person. So if I don't get it done in the morning, don't hit the gym or I'm the same.

28:43I cannot do it. So how... Are you trying to do something? I'm trying, yeah. Yeah? But I'm a crazy walker, so I could... Like, if you said, what would I love to do? I'd say, come on, let's do a 20K walk. I'd much rather do a walk than meet you in the gym. Yeah, I get that. You know what I mean? I like to be outside, yeah. In the rain, in whatever conditions. That mental fitness that goes... So I get the, some people go to the gym to look good, to have a physical presence. I find a lot of the reason I'll go to the gym or go for a walk or go for a run is for clarity of mind. Me too. I get super depressed if I don't.