S11 EP1: Stephen Mangan (The Return)

23:51But has it ever come up? It never, ever came up, no. Because we were moving in very rarefied circles. I don't think he'd have known who Ant and Dec were, to be honest. PJ and Duncan at that time as well, to be fair. Exactly.

24:03Josh Widdicombe:Would have been another jump. I mean, how old would they have been in 1996? That would have been about the peak of them as PJ and Duncan, I think. Yeah. Okay, the sort of curtain haircut. I wonder if it's ever happened the other way around. Do you reckon Deck's ever got it? I love the fact, by the way, that you've looked at my entire CV, and the one thing you've picked up is that I work with a director who sounds a bit like Deck. All right. The other question I was going to ask, which did you prefer hosting out of Keeping Up Appearances 30 Years of Laughs, Hello, Hello, 40 Years of Laughter, or Birds of a Feather 30 Years of Laughter?

24:37listen i love doing those shows i'll tell you why because yeah there's a sort of a rush of kind of uh nostalgia yeah of nostalgia thank you of a rush of nostalgia but you get to watch an entire sort of or several series cut down to the hour and a half of their best bits and so it's a treat it's an absolute treat i love doing i'm doing one about the good life next week oh yeah i've not seen these shows you talk with guests i'm the voiceover to a sort of talking head they talk to the cast members who are still around about the making of it, hilarious things that happened on set, stuff that didn't make it into the show.

25:12Maybe there's an unseen footage. Oh, I'd enjoy this.

25:14Josh Widdicombe:I should watch these. I know you're not on to promote that, but I would watch that. One last question from your Wikipedia. I don't know if we covered this last time. If we did, do stop me. You worked with a director called Kian Huntley in 1992. Now.

25:39Josh Widdicombe:in postman pat the movie when you provided the voice of postman pat yes are you okay it's parenting yeah of course ronan keating did the singing voice yes he did have you watched the film i haven't got around to it did you play postman pat i play postman pat yeah in the movie it's like gear shift well he does thing is when i got the job i thought i was hired to do the voice of Postman Pat and the singing voice so when I went into the first voiceover session and they said great news we've got Ronan Keating my face obviously fell because this is the first I'd heard I wasn't going to be singing and the guy said oh didn't you know you weren't going to be in the singing I said no he said well no we'll get rid of Ronan you do the singing you do this I'm sure he didn't mean he was just trying to make me feel better and I was like no you've got Ronan Keating why would you you know so yeah he Postman Pat does sing with a slight Irish accent but that's okay.

26:29In fact, one of my best showbiz moments ever was a screening of Postman Pat in a massive cinema with just me and Ronan, the only two people watching. It doesn't get much more showbiz than that. Why was there no one else there? I don't know. I think everyone else had seen it and didn't want to see it again. They do do that sometimes because I've done the voice of this parrot in a kid's film and they were like, do you want to come to the screening? I was like, oh, I'll come. I was like, oh, I need to do some press. Should I do the press there? She went, oh, you're the only one in the room. I went, what?

26:59I was like, oh, no, I just thought you wanted to go to the screen. I was like, don't book out cinema for me. Just email me the link. I can watch it at home. How badly is sales going? I think that must have been what happened. Yeah. Yeah, it was a great showbiz moment. He does a fine job. I put it on record. He's a much better singer than I am.

27:16Josh Widdicombe:Oh, that's good of you. That's good of you. And from a man so competitive. 2.6 seconds per lap. Obviously, in that situation, you've gone, right, I'm Stephen Mangan. I'm a great voice actor. I can do a bit of singing. I'll just do a bit of singing for Postman Pat. It's not got to be perfect, it's Postman Pat. A little bit annoyed, Ronan's coming, okay? But great guy. But then flip it, Ronan's got to be going, I could do a bit of talking, couldn't I? Do we need Stephen? Do we need Stephen? Has he gone in and that same thing, and he's gone to do the lines? I went, no, no, no, you're just singing.

27:46Well, in the movie, Pat enters a TV singing competition run by a man called Simon Cowbell. Lovely. Lovely. who also directed you. And Pat's voice is jaw-droppingly good. So it's kind of the centre of the movie

28:03Josh Widdicombe:that he can really sing well. Oh, so the change is actually, it's a lovely plot point rather than just a way of levering in two big stars. It's actually absolutely central to the entire thing. It's an interesting film because it's basically, the film is about that. It's also about hostile corporate takeovers, which I always thought was an interesting choice for a film that's essentially for five and six-year-olds. Towards the post office? Yeah. Does it cover the post office scandal? They bring in. It's got a Fujitsu fax machine in it, I think. The new boss brings in a robot army of postmen who replace all the current postmen.

28:38So we all get sacked.

28:39Josh Widdicombe:I need to watch this. It's a good film. Once the whole post office thing's blown over. Did your kids like it? Did you watch it with them? Yeah. I mean, they came to the premiere and were very confused. They were quite young at the time, especially Frank. and he was very confused because there was a guy there dressed in a big postman pat outfit and i told them i was postman pat but postman was clearly there and it wasn't me i had a similar experience as a child that was quite became kind of family folklore that i was obsessed with postman pat and then my parents took me to meet postman pat like something like that not like that but and it was a big bloke dressed up like a pat and i was terrified and i hated him and i said no big pat and no big pat became a kind of catchphrase because i'd imagined he was going to be like an inch high i was terrified of no big pat i wanted to ask because you you're a huge spurs fam yeah last time you're on you'd managed to convert your oldest son who was 13 then to spurs you went with him yeah your youngest son had become a Liverpool fan because your wife had made him a Liverpool fan did you manage to change him and did you this being the year of Spurs having possibly one of their best events in the history of Spurs winning whatever that third tier Europa thing is oh please finishing full from bottom yeah did you take your children to it and are your children still split between teams?

30:11Well, did I tell the... I mean, because this goes back to their very earliest days. Harry is our eldest. I took him to White Hart Lane when he was eight days old.

30:20Josh Widdicombe:Oh, wow. I put him in the car. And they said, he's not going to make it. He's not good enough. We can see it already. No, I mean, I didn't take him to a game. Just to have a picture. I'm not a monster. Just a picture. So they put the scarf around him. I was carrying a big flag. And there's a picture of me and an eight-day-old baby. Oh, wow. Outside White Hart Lane. That's intense. It is quite a mad time when you've just had a kid. You do weird stuff. You do get a little bit weird. And then when Frank was born, on his eighth day on the planet, I thought I had a compulsion. I had to do it. Into the car, drove him to the ground, picture of him outside the ground, eight days old.

30:54Is your wife with you in these things? She found out what happened with her first son and said, you're not going to do that again, are you? And I said, no. Is she a big Liverpool fan? She's not at all. No, she couldn't care less about football. Okay. So the second time I had to pretend I was going for a walk, into the car, drive to the ground. Picture. Are you getting a stranger to take the picture? My cousin came up with me and she took the picture. So the elder two are both big Spurs fans and I didn't do it with our youngest and that's why I think he has gone to the Liverpool side. She did it to wind me up, but obviously they won the league this year, so that doesn't help my cause.

31:33No. Do you go to the final with them? I went without them, yeah. It was during term time. Oh, fair enough. And I could only get hold of one ticket anyway because I'm this, you know, season ticket holder. Oh, all right. And they don't have a season ticket. So yeah, I went with my cousin and a couple of other people and it was amazing. But Frank is a massive, my middle son. He's got into that kind of, you know, superstition thing. I mean, he's got this big foam hand that he bought outside the ground, which is clearly -

32:00Josh Widdicombe:I thought you were just talking about it, but thank God you said that he bought outside the ground. He just happens to have a very big foam hand, is how he was born. A gear shift into a medical episode. Can we just do a trigger warning here, Stephen? If you are affected by people. Please phone 0800 foam. On your massive phone. But he has to take this hand with him to the ground, because it's his lucky thing. I mean, he's sort of obsessed by it. So clearly it's a knockoff. Daniel Levy's obviously been in touch with whoever makes these foam hands, because I know we're on the foam hand, as they say, Tottenham or Spurs.

32:34They've obviously been threatened with legal action. So it says N17 Club. Sounds like Prime Evolution when they didn't have the rights. They didn't have the rights. N17 Club, it says, come on, you cockerels, which is also not a thing. No. Cockerels? He's convinced that it's helping us to win, you know, all the games that we won last year.

32:57Josh Widdicombe:I think it might be the foam hand. It might be the foam hand. And you say he wasn't there with the foam hand at the one big game that you did win last year. Yeah, okay, I see what you're saying. The stats are... Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, don't worry, I'll take the foam hand with me. Did they watch it and love it though? Is it a big moment for them? Were they not as into it as you, the football? No, it was a big moment because I think it hasn't been easy. If you're 14 and you support Spurs, it's not been an easy 14 years. Not a lot of glory. So I think absolutely it was a totally joyous moment. And my youngest won the league.

33:29So yeah. Yeah, of course. Very happy hour. So everyone was a winner.

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34:31Josh Widdicombe:can we talk to you about fortune hotel because yes this is an easy gig isn't it do you go to barbados or somewhere for a month we go to grenada in november for a month which is wow i hate missing november in this country it's just a delight it's a lovely month it's a lovely month everyone looks forward to november so for people that haven't seen it take us through what fortune hotel is so the fortune hotel is a game show set in this astonishing resort in the caribbean 10 pairs each given a suitcase one suitcase has an early checkout card one suitcase has a quarter of a million pounds in cash in it every night you get to swap cases if you end up with the early checkout card you're going home if you end the whole series with the money you keep the money The first series was really a joy.

35:22I did on Odo on the beach. Yeah, exactly. And there's speedboats and yachts and all sorts of exciting tasks for them to do.

35:30Josh Widdicombe:This is the absolute catnip for TV channels at the moment, isn't it? It's a format that will work internationally so that Grenada all year can have Fortune hotels. Yeah, yeah. Is this from abroad or is it being sold? It's a new format, which is, you know, you'll know working in television is always a bit of a more risky proposition because if it's been done in Sweden or Malaysia or Japan or somewhere and been a success, then you know that it sort of has worked somewhere else and you just have to translate it to this country. But when you're sort of creating a brand new series from thin air, it's always a more difficult thing to pull off.

36:06So the fact that the first series went down so well and was so popular and they were back for a second series is great.

36:12Josh Widdicombe:I bet you couldn't believe your luck when it went well, could you? And you were... What, I have to go back? I bet you've been the most you've ever been interested in the ratings of a TV show. We got a 34-point share. Yeah. I now know everything about TV ratings. Literally looking at my calendar in November, just, you know, blocked off. I know, it's a delight. And how do you sell it to your family that you're off to Grenada for November? Well, I tell you what, the hardest work I did in the whole series was finding somewhere to FaceTime my wife that didn't have a rum shack or a palm tree in the background.

36:51Honestly, it's really hard. Well, yeah, I'll have a rum punch. Yeah, it's really hard work. Was it long days for you or was it quite an easy gig? They're very long days. 12 hour days, six days a week. You are in a, yeah, here we go. This sob story everyone get the violins out let's go i mean the luxury hotel guys it wasn't even functioning as a hotel there was no bar there was no restaurant we had to eat in the staff canteen oh my god it's ridiculous it's a ridiculous gig and it's a long may continue long may continue let me hope in 40 years time i'm coming back to you we're talking about

37:23Josh Widdicombe:declan donnelly would you be pleased or disappointed if they said we're gonna bolt on another two weeks for celebrity version i mean i don't know i'd have to face that hurdle when it came josh just see if you have the energy left i don't know if i could miss the first two weeks in december because they're another gift in this country the treat of those shows is the people they get on and you know because they don't work unless you're watching people who are interesting you're either willing on or you're hoping don't do well you know the casting is all about and this year they have absolutely surpassed themselves do you hang out with them or do you have to keep a distance we have to keep a distance just because i mean they're even separated in their pairs because they just don't want all the action to take place off camera so all the sort of yes strategizing and and gossiping and you know theorizing they want it to all happen so we can see it so it's all quite carefully monitored and to be honest you know having spent the whole day with them on a yacht they probably want a break from me you know yeah yeah i lie in my in my boudoir when's it on steven it is on in august august the 6th i believe is the first they're showing it two shows a week so it's wednesday and thursday nights at nine o 'clock on itv so yeah it's a belter i've already seen the first four episodes you've made the cut i'm still in it i'm still in it it's an absolute treat and i get a lot of people you know have been asking when it's on because it's been on slightly later this year than last year so yeah i'm excited i'm excited for it to get out there so you've got that going on you've also got your book coming out yeah i've got it here is this your sixth or seventh children's books seventh or eighth maybe yeah seventh or eighth the father saved the universe yeah and i should say it's not just you it's your sister anita has illustrated it yeah yeah how does that go do you ever asked because it's hard working with family or does it work well yeah but she's very easy going i mean we do celebrity goggle box together someone said to me the other day your wife doesn't half like look like you

39:32you're like me well there's parents my sister why would i mean she's basically me with a wig on i mean it's exactly the same how weird to marry someone like that anyway no it works really well Well, because firstly, she's lovely and very laid back. And also, I can't draw at all. I'm absolutely hopeless with it. It's interesting, I host a show about painting on Skye, but anyway. Does she have an issue with that? No, she doesn't, because I think, I mean, that's another story. But the proof of me is not to know anything about art. That's, I've told myself, is the reason I've been employed for that job.

40:04Basically, I do the writing. And then when I finish the writing, I hand it over to her and she does all the illustrations.

40:09Josh Widdicombe:Have you ever said that isn't how I envisaged it at all? I mean, no, occasionally I'll say, like we had a thing, because I'm writing, we've got a Christmas book called Barry Saves Christmas that I've just finished writing. It's about a St Bernard called Barry who saves Christmas. Spoiler alert, Steve. There's no twist there. You can't have him not saving it for a Christmas book. It's really morale. It'll upset everybody. But, you know, occasionally I'll go, oh, something about scale or, you know. But on the whole, 95 % of the time, what she does works perfectly. So I just – this is the fun bit at the moment.

40:45She's sending through pictures every day at the moment. Oh, that must be fun. It's great because I don't think visually.

40:51Josh Widdicombe:I think I've done my bit. And as you know, writing a book is hard work. You've got yourself in a situation where you're knocking out one a year now, aren't you? Is that quite a kind of – Two a year. Two a year. Two a year! It's a bit of a hard you're working in Grenada. Yeah. They stitched me up with that one. I'm not stitching up, but they just appealed to my ego and it totally worked. Because they said, we think you should write two a year. I said, I've really got so much else going on. I'm not sure I can do more than one. They said, most of the top writers do two a year. I said, I'll do two a year.

41:21I'll do two a year. We are competitive, isn't it? Pathetic, isn't it? But actually, there's something about being in the flow of like, you know, thinking of ideas and sitting down every day and doing two or three hours of writing. it's kind of easier if you're just doing it nearly every day throughout the year so yeah i like it's part of your routine habit basically yeah i love writing for that age group because they're kind of old enough to get quite complicated yeah you know ideas but they're still young enough to go with you anywhere you know you want to go with them so yeah the eight to twelve year old kind of age group that they're aimed at and i love writing this christmas book it's quite hard to find a story about christmas that hasn't been done you know santa elves jesus jesus yes obviously so yeah i thoughtst bernard's this year so yeah me and my wife were talking about you the other day

42:09Josh Widdicombe:because you did the voiceover not the voice you narrate this is children's related the funny bones audiobook on the tonys or whatever it's called you know it's probably on all formats yeah and it's a quick old book obviously and we were discussing how quickly you knocking that out What's the process when you've got to record 12 lines? Are you walking in, knocking out Funny Bones, and you've gone within 20 minutes? Or are you reading it the day before? Oh, I'm definitely reading the day before. Six weeks of rehearsal. I'll do some improvised dance, maybe paint a few pictures. Imagine what it's like to be a Funny Bones skeleton.

42:49I read it and then go in, and yeah, they don't take long. You're right. Are you doing loads of them in a day? You might, if you're doing like a series, I do the Pip and Posey series, for example, and you might do four or five books in a day. It's counterbalanced that with doing actual adult audio books, which are brutal. Do you do them? I don't tend to do them anymore because they are really difficult. I think they're the hardest thing to do because you are sitting there for eight hours in a studio reading a story out loud, essentially. And I find that after a while, the words just start to swim in front of your eyes.

43:22Also, you're trying to remember what voice you gave a character that appeared six chapters ago. So, you know, last time he might have been talking like that. And then you forgot and suddenly he's talking like that. You know, so at least I get to do voices. My children don't let me do voices when I read. Do they not let you stretch your legs when you read into them? I mean, you think as the children of an actor or two actors that they, that that would be the one thing I could give them apart from, you know, crushing their spirit on a go-karting track. The one thing I could give them would be able to read a story and bring it to life.

43:53But they just, they can't stand it. Stop. No voices, dad. no stop doing it's your dad doing it even though you're doing it well they're like and then the

44:00Josh Widdicombe:witch said and then i can't move and they're like dad stop yeah are any of them following in your and your wife's uh footsteps well they're too young really for that at the moment and you know harry's doing his a-levels next year so oh you only got started at 42 or whatever it was exactly exactly i took the long way around i think it's good for people to do I'm always slightly I mean I know some people are like Tiger Woods and know what they want to do at the age of four but I think it's good for people to get out and do lots of different things and see a bit of the world. They never turn out well.

44:33Those elite sports people never turn out. I did a whole episode on Formula One and I don't think I'd want my child to be a Formula One driver. No I don't think there's a good way to live your life.

44:42Josh Widdicombe:I think all elite sports people are slightly they've had a weird life haven't they? Yeah well that's why someone who like Pat Nevin who read the guardian who was famously you know lambasted in the dressing room are such standouts because or even marcus rashford doing all his charity work and stuff even someone like ian right who's come to football late do you know what i mean a bit more perspective they totally have a different perspective yeah how involved and stressed are you getting about your kids gcse's and a levels or just let them crack on with it or because they don't go board in school do they go but you no no no no i did yeah no they don't having a very different educational experience to you are you involved in it much or just let them crack on or that balance is so difficult because half the point of those exams is for kids to just learn how to tackle something on their own and achieve something that they learn how to put the work in and you know be a success doing it which means sometimes they won't get it right and then hopefully they'll think oh maybe I could have tried a bit harder and you know I don't want to be those parents who's standing over someone every time they do any homework and showing them how to do it because I think that's not helpful but at the same time of course you want to give them help and you want to support I find that really difficult I don't know I mean Harry just did his end of year mocks and really for the first time like he sort of got in worked really hard and it was great to see you can see how much he cared about doing well in them and you're like wow that's amazing you know he worked way harder than I did at that stage and he's sort of very proud of him but I don't know I you always feel you're getting it wrong as a parent don't you those sort of things i think also like there's a surely a feeling of the more you push the more they'll push back right yeah you can't force someone to care yeah about their gcses completely and if you're going this matters and you need to know that your whole life fucking hangs on you getting up it's not even called a c anymore but whatever it's called in maths.

46:39Josh Widdicombe:A four. Yeah, a four. Otherwise, you won't be able to go A-levels and blah, blah, blah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. It's surely in your, not it's in your, it's not in you, but kind of you are who you are, right, to an extent. You are. And also Harry's 17. I mean, he's going to be 18 in a couple of months. He's going to be an adult. Yeah. Are you going to take him for a pint? Well, yeah. I suppose I have to. Don't I? Even though he's been in pubs for ages already with his fake ID.

47:07we've got to do a sort of you know uh sacrificial not sacrificial what's the word like yeah god i've lost the plot as well how about we'll shut all the windows in this room for the sound

47:18Josh Widdicombe:it's like 700 degrees can i ask on that yeah go on how are you like um with obviously you say as with any 17 year old you know he's been in pubs and stuff are you a you do this you don't do this or you the same with that as you are with education in the sense that you're going I'm just going to let it happen and see how it plays out because that's a really difficult one for parents I think it's really difficult it's like he's out and about you know you have to learn how to cope with the world you can't keep someone in cotton wool and then expect them to be a fully functioning adult you have to let them get out there and and navigate slightly tricky situations but of course you don't want them to be in a situation they can't handle or that becomes dangerous so it's really tricky and i live in the center of london so obviously there's all sorts of big ben excitements and dangers out there that's a mad decision what living in london how central are you steve without giving you yeah zone one yeah in my head you are you you're living in soho living in trafalgar square just as a canadian embassy but you want you need to let them spread their wings and go out there and yeah and navigate the world and and learn how to deal with people I think that's basically what school is dealing with people, some that you get on with, some you don't like, some who wish you well, some who don't wish you well.

48:37And you're kind of trying to they need those skills, how to deal and to recognise who is good news and who might be bad news. And that's all part of the things they're trying to learn. Well, central London is quite a stressful place to learn that, you know, because that is like for teenage boys, all that's going on. And like, even if you live in the most nicest part of London next to it can also be a very rough part and there's gang stuff going on and that. You must be quite worried about going out to, you know, fake IDs or going to pubs and staying out buses and. Yeah, or clubs, you know, you start to go to clubs and yeah, it's a big thing.

49:11And yeah, you just have to trust that they, you know, are savvy enough to, you know, navigate it. But at the same time, me and Lou, we're always encouraging them to come back here. If they're going to be doing anything, we'd rather they did it in this house than anywhere else. So there's always quite a lot of his friends around here and at ours. We want it to be the house that they come to and are comfortable doing that. And so in order to do that, you can't be over their shoulder, what are you doing now, what are you doing now the whole time? You have to give them a bit of freedom. And like I said, he's going to be an adult in a couple of months.

49:46Do you wait up for him still? Are you waiting up for him or are you getting to sleep? Has he got a light he has to turn off when he gets in? He does have to bolt the door. And yeah, I mean, his Uber account, we obviously get him, if he's coming back late from somewhere, we'll make him get an Uber back. Lou has got him on Find My Phone or whatever so she can see where he is. But yeah, of course you worry. You really worry. and you know he might go off to university next you know september and he'll be in a different city and speaking to my mates you probably worry about them less when they're in another city because you don't know the specifics yeah you don't know you're not waiting for them to come back you're kind of like well right well he's i'm not going to hear from him anyway now but it's really stressful i can't tell you how sorry it will it just i think every parent would say the same it's just one of those things you're you know yourself at that age you think you know yeah you know everything and you know your way around and of course you don't but you have to learn and we were all in situations that might have been a bit iffy at times but you know you learn from that hopefully and your fingers crossed that something he doesn't come across a situation that that he can't handle so but yeah i'm incredibly stressed now just talking about it he's still asleep next door i want to run in and give him a cuddle oh don't ever leave this house again is that generation a big drinker they're not drinking as much the younger generation that seems to be the betrayal but i don't know how true that is i tell you what that generation it does seem to be really into which we wouldn't know they're really into politics both my 17 and 14 year old will sit around and talk politics and they're so clued up and i think it's partly reform household yeah massive massive i think it's because politics has been so interesting the last few years.

51:30You know, we had lockdown and we had Trump and we've had Boris Johnson and Brexit.

51:33Josh Widdicombe:I think they probably feel like also that the world's a bit more fucked than we felt. When I was, I mean, obviously, now we've learnt your age, obviously, who was your Prime Minister? Churchill or was it Clement Hadley? Harold Macmillan, yeah. Harold Macmillan.

51:49Lord Rotherman.

51:50Josh Widdicombe:You were just livid about rationing, weren't you? That was the main thing. I was just excited by the arrival of the steam train. Yeah. You had a lovely time though. You got evacuated to a nice family, wasn't you? You did, yeah. You've got a lovely time down there in the country. I think, you know, there's a lot going on where you'd probably be a lot more fired up as a 17-year-old than we were when... Well, I think, you know, if you're cynical about politics and going, look, nothing ever changes, everything stays the same, nothing ever happens. If you were 14 or 13 when lockdown happened and because of a disease, the entire society was changed.

52:24Everything was completely revolutionised. And suddenly, just because the government decided it was going to be different, it was different. You go, well, hang on a minute. If you can do it because you think there's a virus going around, why can't you do it for other reasons? So I don't know. Just to confirm, did you think there was a virus going around, Stephen? I did. Yeah, I did. Okay. That and climate change, all a hoax. I like it hot. Yeah. Grenada's fucking beautiful. Why don't we want more of that? Why don't we? I'm not denying it. I think it's happening and I'm loving it. Personally, I can only talk with personal experience.

53:01I'm not a denier, but I'm enjoying it.

53:07Climate enjoyer. I'm an enjoyer, not a denier. It's been 30 degrees for 10 days in a row. Personally, loving it.

53:18Josh Widdicombe:Stop with the electric cars, guys. I don't want to go back. Yeah. Before our final question, just to say, the fart that saved Christmas is out, but your second book of the year, The Father to Save the Universe, and then Barry. The Father to Save the Universe. Barry Saves Christmas is out in October, and the Fortune Hotel is coming in August. I don't know when this is going out. In August. August the 6th, yeah. Stephen, final question. We asked you it last time. We need to check if the answer has changed, but also the format's developed to a point where we don't just ask the negative. It's not just Fortune Hotel that changes the format.

53:50Josh Widdicombe:Here we go. It's not just Fortune Hotel that tunes things up. five years on we've made a few changes basically what's the one thing about your partner that frustrates you as a parent now last time you said it was she will give the kids a snack before dinner and they won't be hungry at the right time which frustrates you is that still the case and then the second part is what is the one thing she does as a parent the positive thing that you think oh my god they're amazing i'm so lucky she's their mum she still will give them a bit of a snack before dinner so yeah she won't listen i think the thing that's great about her and that is also she's always just way ahead of any she sees a situation coming way before i do and she will go i think this is going to be an issue that's going to be an issue and i'm like no it won't then of course a week later i'm like oh yeah you were right and i still haven't learned that lesson just to listen to her she's way more emotionally literate than i will ever be what kind of situation oh just if someone's having a problem with school or you know they're unhappy or the you know a certain like period in their you know exams or yeah something's coming up that's going to be an issue she just is way way on top of i think you know is that the time difference between the uk and grenada or is that

55:06i think that definitely is part of it you know because they're already at lunchtime when i haven't got up yet he's crying down the phone on a wet school run and you're on a lounger again well i'm sure they'll be all right won't they kids are kids i don't think that'll be a problem will it he's shoving shit in his lunchbox yeah but you know it's hygiene i was at borman school it's way worse not now i'm having a manicure

55:33Josh Widdicombe:steven thank you so much for doing it's a joy to speak to you absolute pleasure gents thank you

55:40Stephen Mangun. What a lovely bloke. He's a good guy, old Mangun. He's a hard worker, isn't he? Jokes aside, that Granada thing sounds like a good gig, but he's banging out two books a year, the guy. He doesn't stop. Good on him.

55:52Josh Widdicombe:56, he looks incredible. That's great. You do need that little bit of competitive energy to do the job he does. If you're, you know, I can write two books. I'll do this. I'll do that. Yeah. I can watch someone draw a portrait. I can have a breakdown when all my kids leave home and I realise I'm working Granada. Oh, bless him. I felt like we'd really cut into it. We waited until the end of the episode when he was all hot up in his attic room with no windows open and started telling him about his son growing up and being 18 in London. Oh, I'm sorry, Stephen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm sure he'll survive living in his central London house and going to Grenada for a month in November.

56:24Josh, until next time. See you later. Bye-bye.