168: Giovanna Fletcher tells Pete some home truths

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1:37Welcome to Staying Relevant, the podcast that is normally hosted by two best friends, but one of those best friends, Sam Thompson, is on vocal rest after vocal surgery. We are all over the moon. I'm going to be honest with you, I'm quite hungover because I was celebrating Sam not being here. we've replaced him with someone far better someone I've known for a long time and someone I love very much we've got Giovanna Fletcher in hello

2:05as always this episode will contain swearing if you don't like it go f*** yourself prepare yourself for this this is Monday's episode so it's the main episode which you'll be able to catch on Josh and Kira's YouTube channel from 5pm and then we'll be doing a bonus episode which comes out Thursday audibly which you'll be able to watch on Josh and Kira's YouTube channel from 5pm on Sunday, which means you can catch us on a...

2:31Make sure you rate, review, do all that sort of shit. You know the score by now. Firstly, I apologise. Why? For being hung over. I know you've seen me in some horrendous states before, but I'm quite good these days. When you were saying that to me, I can't believe it. How many times have you drunk this year? I think it's twice. That is incredible. I know. When I told you this this morning, you went, so you're not drinking yourself to sleep anymore? What, it was that? Yeah, pretty much sums it up. So, yeah, but I do apologise. But I'm so happy you're here. Thank you for doing this. I mean, I suppose we should probably start with how you and I know each other.

3:09Yeah. Had we ever met before the Treks? No. I don't think we had. So I am a patron for Copperfield, the breast cancer awareness charity. And the thing that I do for them is these Treks called Copper Treks. Yeah. And every year I go off with a bunch of amazing humans, a bunch of Trekkers who have fundraised, a lot of whom have had a breast cancer diagnosis. Some haven't, but they just want to raise money for Copperfield. And part of that is that we grab a bunch of celebs and get them to agree to come on these Treks with us and be captains. So the big group is cut down into four groups, and each group has a different captain attached.

3:53And you first came along to the Sahara. Yes. In 22. Is that when it was? Yeah, I think it was 2022. Yeah. So I knew about Copperfield because I interviewed Chris. Yeah. On another podcast I had called Just a Little Prick, which was a tattoo-based podcast. And I always said to her, listen, yeah, I'd be up for doing some things. And then Vicky has been doing Copperfield treks for, what, 10 years? Yeah. Is that right? Is it 10 years she was saying? She did Iceland 10 years ago and then had a big gap until the Sahara. Oh, yeah. So I did it with Vic and then met you there. And it was, I mean, that was an interesting one, the Sahara, wasn't it?

4:33Basically, these treks, I always say this to people. I think I get more out of them than, you know, the people that, you know, we're supposed to be there as captains. I get more out of it than they do. I never expected it to be what it was. Yeah. I also think a large part of that is because of the charity being so incredible and because Chris was so incredible. Chris had breast cancer. She had signs of breast cancer at 22. She had symptoms that were just ignored because she was 22. And the doctors just kept saying, it's hormonal. Don't worry about it. Go away. Basically, go away. She went traveling.

5:14She went to China. and then eight months later she came back. There was still a pain. Things weren't right. So her mum dragged her up there for the third time. And her mum demanded that she got seen by a breast specialist. So she hadn't even been referred. She saw a breast specialist and was told it was breast cancer. A week later she was told it was stage four. So instantly that is, you know, you are treatable, not curable. So you're looking at prolonging your life but not saving your life. And Chris being Chris, she decided that that wasn't good enough. And she wanted to put something in place to help other people be more breast aware.

5:55So I think there's always that thing in the back in mind. Had I have pushed, had I have thought, well, maybe this could be something, you know, what would the outcome be? Had she not gone to China?

6:07So, so Copperfield was born and it was born out of fun. you know it wasn't this because it's a breast cancer is a big serious topic right but it's something we shouldn't be scared of so they used to go to festivals and they used to paint faces and you know they uh carry giant tits around yes yeah like just just like be loud and proud get people talking and let people know the signs symptoms because i don't know about you but i always assumed that it was old women that it was always a lump well i never knew that men 400 men a year in the UK a diagnosed breast cancer yeah I never and I think that's the thing like you know weirdly enough um that's probably the the biggest surprise for me when I started getting involved with Copperfield is that obviously you hear the big say you hear breast cancer and you think it's going to be this kind of quite a sad yeah it's the opposite it's a celebration like those treks are honestly some of the best memories I've ever had that's what I mean so with with Copperfield they have this it is a part of atmosphere it is a celebration of life right so when you come along thinking right i'm going to be i'm going to be the captain i'm going to be strong for these people no no no they end up looking after us absolutely well i can remember meeting you for the first time in the airport and knowing that you just were going to exceed my expectations because someone had decided that we should we had to we were told that we had to have sort of wrap around glasses in case there was a sandstorm.

7:34And you led us all to the Sunglass Hut. Matching. Matching sunglasses. And I thought, I think you're going to fit in here perfectly. Do you know what? The first one that I did, I was really nervous because it's mostly women that are there. And it's a big, I mean, what was it, 120 on the Sahara? Yeah. Didn't really know much about it. Obviously, I knew Vic was doing it, but, you know, with the kind of captains, what happens is you split up into different groups. Yeah, you don't have them for support in the day. No, you don't have them for support. And it's a bunch of people you don't know. Yeah.

8:11It's a bunch of people that are all there for kind of one common goal. But you don't – I didn't know what the vibe was going to be. I didn't know what the mood was going to be. I didn't know how I was going to be. Do you know what I mean? I was just some fucking Wally. Like, I genuinely thought people were going, oh, fucking hell, what's he doing here? and instantly from that airport thing, it was, I don't know, it was like a family. It's really cliche to say that, isn't it? But it's like instant ready-made family. You slot in with each other really, really quickly. So quickly. Yeah. So quickly.

8:45So I've done a couple since. The last one was Iceland. Can we talk about your fashion on the first trek or at least your footwear? You decided to go for fashion walking boots. Well, on two of the treks, Mont Blanc was another one. I had a slight issue. Oh, God, Mont Blanc. Okay, all right. You don't have to cover your eyes. The Sahara, I didn't know. So we get lists, basically. I mean, who treks it? What did we do, 100 kilometres or something? In five days, across the Sahara, and it's nothing like you think it's going to be. Sahara, you just assume is all sand. It's not really. It was rock hard, razor sharp.

9:22It was awful. You're walking on old riverbed as well. So there's shells and bits in there as well. Yeah, it was nasty. And the heat and everything. I didn't really know what I was supposed to be. I'm not the most organised person in the world. So I kind of picked the things that I thought would look all right. They look pretty? Yeah. You look pretty every day? It didn't. Yeah. It didn't help my feet. They were cut to shit after day one. Bleeding through the boots. Literally from day one. But can I say on that? and this is a side of you that I don't think people maybe see a lot you knew that you you before even get on the trek it was never about you and even on the days where you were really struggling and your feet were cut to shit you never let anyone in your team know that you were hurting know that your feet were sore like not even sore they were really fucked ever like there was a day that you were really really poorly and you just came back and you went into your tent and you slept but none of your team would have known I I feel like you you kept all that in because you just wanted everyone to have a great time and to not make the treks about you at all and I just think that is you are such a caring soul and uh and I'm really glad that over the last few years people have actually got to see the people that we know I mean I've always said from that first one I think I said to you after that first one if you ever want me I'll do it yeah the treks first and foremost are raising awareness and it's to do with breast cancer but actually the mental side of um how amazing it is to be around people who understand not for us but for the trekkers yeah yeah always surprises me because everyone has got kind of similar stories similar but it doesn't matter how similar your stories to someone the way you think and feel about that is always going to be completely different and no one will ever fully understand what you're thinking.

11:20But actually to have an opportunity to hold space for people to discuss that as open, without any judgment, without anyone having... It's not even about having a kind of opinion or advice on anything. It's just about listening. And that, I think, is the most important part of those tricks is everyone listens. And also it's that thing of when you open up a conversation when you're walking, you're not having someone eyeball you. you'll literally be like, so what made you sign up? You're just chatting. And it's just the words come flowing out because there are no barriers. Plus, for a lot of people, they might not talk about certain things at home because they don't want to upset their loved ones.

12:00They don't want to upset their mum and dad or whatever. Whereas actually on these treks, you have a very different emotional connection where it's not going to be yours to carry. It's just yours. it's just you're enabling that person to kind of let that thought free. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things that I always find on every trek and every different group that I've had. I mean, it's like a common fucking thing by the end of each week. I'm just an emotional mess with the group that I have because the most beautiful thing is seeing people who have kind of lost themselves because they've been defined.

12:42by something like breast cancer. That's all people then see. Find themselves again by putting themselves through something that is lots of fun, but fucking tough. Also a hard that they've chosen to take on. Do you know what I mean? We all get dealt shit. We all get dealt hard things, but this is a hard that they are in control. They're in control of being able to. It's taking control back. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that happens in so many different areas, which is why the treks are open to everyone. whether you've had a breast cancer diagnosis or not. And I really believe that the Treks find people when they're meant to.

13:16You'll get on the one that you're meant to get on. You were absolutely meant to come to the Sahara. I know that in my soul. I know that you were meant to be there. And I just think, yeah, it's all about timing. Yeah. Talking about timing, you always didn't make it to Mont Blanc. Yeah, OK. All right. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't. I missed my flyer. We were at the airport on Sunday morning and the WhatsApp chats had said meet Costa at nine o 'clock. Everyone had said yes. I'm pretty sure you had said yes. It was about quarter past nine and I phoned you up. I phoned you up. You picked up and you're like, all right, darling.

13:56I went, Pete, where are you? I'm at home, darling. Right. Where are you? I'm at the airport. I'd got the days wrong very unlike me but I got the days wrong I thought it was the day after so I then had to rush I was still waiting for all of your kit all of my kit to arrive because I thought I was having the day after so instead what I had to do was pack a pair of jeans a pair of boots skinny jeans yeah literally got the next flight I could that day I arrived the morning was it the morning of the first day because I think you guys got there that night. I couldn't get a flight. So the next day you were setting off in the morning on the first day trekking.

14:40I arrived about half an hour before that in a pair of jeans and a vest and a pair of sunglasses and did the first day's trekking up Mont Blanc in a pair of jeans. I looked like Rambo. It was fucking ridiculous. I had no kit. Then we had to start trying to get kit delivered to the mountain for me for the rest of the week. Do you remember that? Yeah. There's been some slightly unhinged methods for me, I would say. There has, but I think your teams always absolutely love you. In Mont Blanc, do you remember the final day, them all sitting around in a circle? No, yeah. They did a little circle. Circle of hell, I called that.

15:17No, no, you didn't. For me, it was... Right, so lots of groups did circles in Mont Blanc and they used those circles to chat about certain things and it was really it felt like quite a spiritual um trek that one but uh in mont blanc they sat you were hunting a circle and you didn't know it was happening but each trekker uh started a sentence with pete is a man who pete is a man who is loyal pete is a man who i hope my kids look up to pete is a man who just your team wanting you to see how brilliant you are and how worthy of love you are which at that point i don't know where you are with that now but you definitely didn't think you were worthy of of of love you there was definitely kind of anything you were you are always amazing at putting other people first and at making sure that everyone feels special and you always especially within that group setting you are phenomenal at that you're an incredible team captain but when it comes to you taking on what you need and what you deserve than knowing your worth as an individual, you're crap.

16:22Especially them. Yeah. I mean, I find all of that, I just find that very difficult. I still do. Does it make your insides shrivel up? Yeah, a little bit. Your testicles going back up in your body. Yeah, which is a good thing because I've got a massive hole in me fucking jeans. I feel very grateful to Copperfield for you guys allowing me to be part of it. Genuinely. You know, we're really grateful to you. And I will always, you know, anything I can ever do. And on that note, it's something we've not really spoken about on this pod before, but how much money have Copperfield raised now? Is it over five for your treks?

16:55The treks now have raised over 7.5 million. 7.5 million. Yeah. And people can donate and do all that sort of stuff even now. It's not just when the kind of treks are on and there are three... There are five treks this year. There are two single days which people can still sign up for. Yeah. There's one in the Peak District in May and one in the Lake District in September. So they are still open for people to come and join us. And then the other treks are in the Jurassic Coast, which is already closed now, and Great Wall of China. But then we've got an alumni trek in Montenegro this year. So loads of trekking.

17:29There's loads of trekking. We call it a trekking season now. What I will say for anyone that's listening to this is go and read about Copperfield, go and check it out, and please support what Copperfield does, because it is incredible. But before we kind of move on from that, I just want to say you, I mean, you say wonderful things about me, what you do and what you mean to the people that are part of Copperfield. And I mean the people that work for Copperfield, with Copperfield, see you as, you're an idol. You're an icon. But for the trekkers and what you give them, every single person, bear in mind these kind of treks, it's, you know, we might be kind of team captains and you've got kind of 30, 40 people, every single person, the days you come and spend, because so let me give you an idea because we're talking like everyone knows this.

18:20So team captains, you know, you'll do like five day trek or whatever. G will go between each team and have a different day. And your presence amongst that team, the atmosphere changes completely, no matter what you do. You always say that I'm there and I'm going to make people cry. But you do. Instantly, but it's not sadness. you make people cry with joy because you are just the epitome of hope, happiness and love. I genuinely mean that. And like it's, you're one of the most incredible people I've ever met. And I genuinely mean that. So yeah. I love you. I love you. Right. Yes. Aside from Copperfield.

19:06Yes. I mean, there are so many things that you do. I mean, effectively every time Sam is off, I have someone who's won the jungle come on this podcast. That's basically what we do. We just have jungle royalty. You've done so many things outside of Copperfield and this is one of the things that I think people, maybe in the Copperfield kind of world, you do so much there, you kind of forget that you have the most incredibly busy life outside of that as well. How you even find the time to do that sort of stuff, I don't know. But you're also an incredible mother.

19:47We have like a thing on this podcast, Sam and I, where we have hypothetical daughters. How's that working out? How old are they? It varies. Oh, okay. It varies. So we've got some kind of hypotheticals that I think it would be interesting to hear an actual parent's viewpoint to how I would potentially deal with these things. interesting you've both got girls as well though I have more boys so I might be useless I think Sam had a girl because I had a girl I mean Sam will effectively if I ever have kids Sam will find the nearest person to get pregnant so that our kids can grow up together that's literally what will happen I don't think he'll have kids until I do just so they can grow up together and ideally I mean if I had a daughter and he had a son they'd get married then I'd definitely be part of the family it's one of them sort of things he's just fucking desperate for.

20:42He's a weird guy. So I have Olive. Yeah. So let's, how old is Buzz now? He's 11, about to turn 12. Right, so let's say Olive is 11, 12. Okay. All right. 11, 12, I feel like is probably the age where you start talking about the birds and the bees. Yeah. Have you had that conversation? Or is that a Tom thing? No, but because they talk about it more in school now. So even in like junior school, they start talking about things to a certain level. so like Buzz would come home and be like so I know about this bit and I know there's a special hug but I don't learn what that special hug is until you're five but I'm not allowed to tell the other two about it yet because they're not old enough so it's like they learn about it in stages so it's the levels okay I like this like what's appropriate like level four I'm finding out about the special hug yeah I like it yeah whereas now yeah it's so funny Sam's still on level four I think it's so funny now though like our kids I don't know we have very not open conversations but we know that I mean we've got a lot of animals we've got a male and a female duck you know we talk about them having ducklings you know so how do male and female ducks special hug?

22:00do you know that a male duck has a like a coiled willy? I didn't he has like a spiral willy. I've not seen my ducks willy, but my another friend, Tase, he told me about ducks having these willies. So a friend of yours has seen your ducks willy? He just knew that this was a thing. So we all ended up googling duck willies. Someone please google me a duck dick. I have to see it now. It's a work laptop. I'm sure it's fucking worse. We'll use his then. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay. All right. So this is probably where we differ then on the parenthood thing. Why? What would you do with the birds and the bees?

22:50Well, I'm just sort of quite black and white, aren't I really? Yeah. I think I just, you know, this is all the information. Okay. So this is, I'm Olive. I'm Olive. 11. Daddy, what people have been talking about sex at school. What is that?

23:11best dad ideally yes when you love someone not always the case but ideally when you love someone you want to be closer to them inside them funny that's gross it is disgusting and you're far too young for this but that's kind of it's it's it's it's a great feeling do I just stick my finger in their ear

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25:46If they're into that, there's lots of different ways to do the same. You know, there's something called foreplay. Right. See, it's harder than you think, right? Yeah, it's really hard. It's really hard. I think I'd just not have them conversations until sort of 15. But also you don't want to turn it into a topic that is embarrassing because it is embarrassing. You don't want to turn it into a topic that's embarrassing and they can't talk to you about it. Yeah. So you have to get over it. You have to kind of, because you also don't want your child to be in a position where something happens and they don't know what that is.

26:21You know what I mean? You want them to be informed, but not so informed that it's inappropriate. see I feel like I should probably just not be involved until I'm 18 in sort of conversations because I just feel like I'd get it wrong so what I'm going to do with hypothetical Olive is if she has any questions I will send her to you I'll tell you what you should do you should go and ask Aunty G come and see the ducks don't let her tell you about that duck's dick though alright so So Buzzy's now 11, 12. Yeah. The rebellious teenager years are going to be starting soon. Yeah. We've already had it. There's definitely been like a hormonal surge where, and actually it happens a lot younger.

27:11Like they get hormonal surges before they even go through puberty. So we've seen it with all of them. There's just this kind of a shift in energy. The grunts start happening. But the good thing now, I think because we talk about puberty, although they think you get puberty which I find just so has he got puberty yet? Oh you get, oh nice, nice, nice Have you got puberty yet Josh? Yeah Josh is 36 But yeah so I think because it's something that we talk about when that behaviour happens you're just a bit like oh but you kind of, we not poke fun at it because we don't want it we never want it to feel like we're poking fun at the child but we can raise awareness that oh it's oh oh is that you know what I mean it's kind of it's not you it's the hormones and I think that's how you keep saying as a parent one of the things that like you know I'm 37 and still single relationships have never been a um particularly successful for me but even just hearing you yet yeah even just hearing you talk about like if I was being 11 12 you and Tom met each other at 13.

28:23Yeah, isn't that crazy? The fact that our son is just, you know. Coming to the age of where you and Tom met each other at that age. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? So you just never know who's going to come into their lives and actually play a massive part in it. I mean, I didn't know you were 13. Didn't you? No, I knew you guys are young, but not 13. Yeah. So.

28:52it's a bit baffling for me. I don't remember even being 13. What is the love story? Tell me the love story. So I started Sylvia Young Theatre School at 13. Tom was already there. And on my first day at school, we were sat in assembly. So you get put in your year groups and alphabet school order. And I was a Falcone then. So Falcone sat next to Fletcher. And our year groups were literally 22 kids. So really small school, 140 people in the whole school. And we sat next to each other on my first day. And I said, and he was like, what's your name? He had these little curtains, this little sort of pinky face, little chubby cheeks.

29:28And he was like, what's your name? I was like, my name's Giovanna, but you can call me G. And he was like, my name's Tom, but you can call me T. And from then. Smooth. Really, really smooth. Really smooth. But we had like a. So that was your first day. So you met on your first day. First day there. And then we dated for two days. Pretty swiftly. Two days? Two days. What, at 13? Yeah. Okay. and then he dumped me for his ex-girlfriend. Oh, bastard. Yeah, went out with her for three weeks and then they split up and he realised... I know, I know, it's really quite... You realised what you'd lost? Yeah.

30:01That must have been a special two days.

30:06We spent two years going, I like you, no I don't, I like you, no I don't, meeting on the stairs at school every day at lunchtime to talk through our relationship, which just meant that we would talk through our relationship, have a hug at the end and then end up snogging for the majority of the lunchtime. and then in year 11 we went out so we spent that year together and at the end of it because we were at a school in London, I'm from Essex Tom's from South Harrow so we ended up splitting up at the end of it and having two years apart but we were still very much a part of each other's lives for that two years and then we ended up getting back together at 18 Did you ever imagine from that that you would be where you are now?

30:42No You know when people say when you know you know and all that sort of like stuff obviously you were so young i can't imagine you would imagine that you'd be married and have sort of duck no i think i think as a young girl i think i was definitely a kid who would like romanticize what that would be and so yeah i guess in that way but whether i actually thought that would be a reality is different i think when we got back together at 18 it felt very very different it felt like when it's like a coming home do you know what i mean like it was just I had no doubt that we were meant to be together and that was going to be for forever like that well fingers crossed forever who knows uh we're 23 years in it's going well so far um but yeah I had I had no doubt that that was uh that was the right we were both were meant to be so I mean obviously like I said you know I'm 37 and still single how how how soon did you know that you loved him?

31:46I knew I loved him when I was 13. When I was 16, 15, I knew that I loved him. I knew that. How? Because the answer to this is always different for different people. Yeah. It's like, how? What was it? I felt very different. Because it's always the kind of, the micro-isms of why people love him. What was it about Tom? Also, we've been together for so long. Our history is so long. We've been in each other's lives for two thirds longer than we haven't been. You know what I mean? So I don't know my life without Tom in it, really. For love and also the fact that love changes as you go through a relationship.

32:28So you might, you know, at the start of the relationship, you've got that lust and that kind of that buzzy need to be together all the time. Special hugs in vogue. Special hugs all the time. But even when you move in together, that changes, right? I can remember us moving in together and, and that feeling of only ever being able to spend small chunks of time together and spending every second of that time together, like having baths together and doing everything together. And then suddenly living with each other and going, when someone leaves the room going, where are you going? You know what I mean?

32:57You have to be able to be separate, but be together. And so I think your love goes through different stages and, you know, the longer you've been together, when kids come in the picture as well, you see them in a different night. so I don't know I mean what is love and what is that feeling it's accepting and loving that person unconditionally if they treat you properly you know what I mean because otherwise you've also got to be you know have self respect as well that love, an unconditional love has to also have boundaries I mean it's mad really like in terms of because you met so young 23 years together kids, ducks house incredibly successful careers you're still both very young and you've lived this whole kind of life together in probably some of your most formative years of going from childhood to kind of teenage to adulthood to then sort of young starting a family, all of that sort of stuff and you've kind of managed to manoeuvre your way through that together because I think that's exactly it the person you are now is not the person you're going to be in 10 years and the person you are now is not the person you were 10 years ago and I think that's probably why a lot of longer-term relationships struggle these days is because people grow apart but you've you've managed to grow together yeah in such a beautiful way there's not many love stories like that yeah also I think we're so scared of change yeah I think you know when we were younger it's that thing of oh god she's changed or he's changed people have to change How can you go through life and go through massive things and stay the same?

34:36Like we shouldn't be staying the same person. We should not stay stagnant. Like I feel like if you do, you're a bit of a dickhead. You have to, but you, you are not the same person that you were four years ago. Do you know what I mean? Like you, you change things happen. Things are thrown at you. You have to adapt yourself to be able to go through certain situations and those things stick with you. I think we have just been really lucky within in, in, in the fact that. for those years a lot of the stuff that we've gone through we've gone through together and yeah we have and also realizing that everything's not going to be great all the time you're going to annoy each other there's going to be periods where it's not even that person that's annoying you you're just so like full of pressure outside but that's the one person that can kind of be the brunt of your frustration and then talking about that so listen yes i listen yes very serious that didn't it um what advice have you got for me in terms of yes this is going to be interesting but basically we ask everyone this yeah it's the same as vicky i mean vicky's very opinionated on my love life um have you got any advice for me in terms of what i should be doing i think well in terms of the person that you should try and find actually yeah let's let's let's do that because vicky had an interesting one what was did we ask vicky that what sort of girl she thinks i'll end up with i know what i think you need oh god i think you need to not that i think you go for the aesthetic because that's also important you need to be attracted to that person you need someone who's I don't have that option anymore we're getting old fucking oh yeah um but I just the pulse these days but I think you you need someone I would love to see you with someone who sees you as you sees you as you in your entirety um and that you are able to be yourself with because I think um there are many sides of you and for a long time especially public facing you've been this person that's kind of, yeah, the party, the kind of, you know, you are the alpha, you're a very solid grumpy man.

36:58I'm a very solid grumpy man. That's probably, that's the nicest way anyone has ever described that. Normally it's just miserable. Solid grumpy man is a better way. Solid grumpy, that's what I'm going to call it now. But that's not who you are. It's not who you are. so I just want you to be with someone who just that you know that you can trust and that you know that you are what you really need to do is know that you're worthy of love because I don't know if you're there yet and you definitely haven't been but you have to let people in because I think you put boundaries up to protect yourself from getting hurt whereas I think when you actually do find someone that you want to let in it's going to be a really amazing thing because I know you're going to be an absolutely amazing partner talking of amazing partners yes we we wouldn't be able to get through this podcast if we didn't mention um mainly because she produces a podcast um paddington yes watch her entire face light up um for anyone listening producer pippa is um paddington's number one fan um the only film she's ever watched our all three Paddingtons.

38:11She recently went to the theatre to watch Paddington and booked it again during the interval. We now have sort of, very excited about you coming on, because she thinks we're going to get some sort of inside gossip on Paddington. She has asked me to ask if there's an opportunity for her to ever meet Paddington. It's my hero. That's so cute. It's also, it is cute, but it's sort of borderline pathetic, isn't it? No. It's a little bit. It's a little bit. Also, can I say, the soundtrack is coming soon. Oh, I know. I've got it on pre-save. She's joking. That's just going to be on next door all the time.

38:49So what is Tom's involvement in Paddington? Tom wrote all the music for Paddington the Musical. The whole thing? Yeah. All the songs in Paddington are Tom. The music, the lyrics. Because I think, obviously, everyone knows Tom for McFly. But the amazing thing about Tom, our generation know Tom for McFly. People under 20 know Tom as a children's author. Well, this is why he's got so many levels of so many different things. I mean, it's almost like everything he touches turns to, he's not got the Midas touch. He's just brilliant at everything. He's very annoying. Must be quite fucking annoying, actually.

39:25It's really annoying. But yeah, so it's an incredibly successful children's author. How did Paddington come about writing the, has he done kind of, you know, the full play? He's done bits before. like he does a lot of work with Michael Gracie who um created the Great Showman uh him and Michael have worked together on a few different projects um and uh so I guess he he and we went to theatre school so we know that world uh but actually it was a um one of the producers put Tom Ford for Paddington and so he met the team and it was five years ago so he's actually been working on it for such a long time um that's always it's always funny isn't it like you know people when they see something like Pendant Come Up, they don't realise how long things like that have been in progress.

40:07Same as like TV shows or people just think sort of one day and you start filming next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What goes in and the amount of years of work. So five years he's been working on that. Yeah, yeah, it's been a long old time. And actually now is a bit of a weird time for him because it's up. Once you get a show lock, so once a show's in previews, so before the official opening, a show goes into previews so they can see what's working, what jokes are landing, what songs might be too long um you know what technically is working what's not working and uh but there's a point before a week before opening where there's a show log so there are no changes from that point uh from that point and especially after opening tom's involvement with palington creatively kind of stops i mean he's he's given everything to it and now it's time to let your like we're having a kid now it's got to fly right it's just you've just got to leave it alone so actually I think Tom now is a period of mourning because actually Paddington isn't is he feeling a bit lost he is he's got Paddington up all over his office he's yeah well I mean how how amazing must it be for for your kids to have like it's so funny that I don't know if our kids really get it you know I mean I think they've been surrounded by us doing things they met They haven't met Parrington.

41:29They haven't met Parrington. I don't think so. They went to a workshop, though. So the kids actually saw it. So before it was up on stage, they did this amazing workshop, a working workshop, where it was sort of put on stage in its rawest form. So the kids actually saw it up on its feet before I did. So, I mean, I will admit, I watch Strictly when they perform. Oh, yeah. what is it? Is it a person? So you've got Artie in the suit playing the physicality of Paddington. So there is a person in it. And then you've got James off stage who is the voice, but also controls Paddington's face. So the person in the suit isn't the voice.

42:22Yeah. It's done incredibly on stage because you also, So James comes on as him and then Paddington. So you're very aware that James is Paddington's voice. James and Paddington have a connection. Right. It's just really, really special. So, because Paddington sings with Tom. Yeah. Or sung with Tom. So is that James singing? Yeah. It's Paddington singing. But yeah. no it's it's it's it's it's i'm too hung over for this mind fuck i'm going to be honest with you it's two incredible actors working together to bring paddington to life it's it's something that's taken so much time to get right um there were there were loads of conversations i know that happened around how they do paddington because obviously that is so integral to how to the success of paddington you know how it makes people feel like we've both said that when Paddington comes on stage, like when you first see him in the theatre, you just bawl your eyes out.

43:24It's just such a magical moment. We've spoken about Paddington on the pod before. Have you? Yeah, very, very briefly. And I said, I'm not a big fan. I find him quite drudgy based on what I know. Do you? Well, because I don't know a lot about, but I remember Paddington like when I was a kid, obviously like everyone does the marmalade sandwiches and all that sort of stuff. But But then she started telling me about Paddington because I also didn't know this about Pippa, that she was a fucking sort of weird super fan. Then she started telling me about Paddington glare, is it? Paddington hard stare.

44:02Hard stare. And then showed me a clip and it was someone not being polite. And I just found him very judgy. I don't think he would appreciate that. I don't think we'd get on. But to get a hard stare, you have to be quite a bad person. so I yes so I just feel like I'd be we'd be having a stare off I want you to go see it if Penet was sat there we'd just be sat there staring at each other because I can hard stare the fuck out of anyone alright we'd just be having a hard stare off so yeah I just don't know but having and not really listening to Pippa because I don't really listen she's just got a bit weird about it but for someone who I think you know whose opinion I trust sorry Pippa Honestly, the next day, so even the first time I saw it, obviously I wept in the theatre.

44:51Like, it's incredible. And obviously there's the pride of Tom and stuff. I was going to say, you've got a slight emotional fucking investment. But there is that, right? Kind of seeing this on stage and just being like, look at what you've been a part of and what you've created. Because I had been working, so I hadn't seen any of the workshops. I'd seen clips of bits that were filmed in rehearsal, but I hadn't seen it. So that was really, really magical. but the actual musical itself, the whole, it is so just magical. It's magical and it comes with such meaning and depth, but it's Paddington, right?

45:25So it's delivered with such a gentle touch that makes it, it doesn't, it's a story that is really needed right now, but it doesn't punch you in the face. It kind of just sits on your heart. The next day, Tom was leaving for work and he came to say goodbye and I was in my office. And I was doing something. And I just had to say to him, I just want to say that I'm so proud again. And I just bawled out, like bawled my eyes out again, thinking about what I'd seen the night before. I mean, based on your glowing review. Yeah. I'm going to go, I'm going to, if I can get fucking tickets, because it's like fucking sold out every night.

46:08Is that fucking good? I'm going to go and see it. I want you to message me after and let me know. I'll tell you what, you can come with me. Okay. All right? You fucking can't. I'll be there. She'll be there anyway. She's booked every night of it. But, yeah, I mean, listen, that must be amazing for Tom and he's done so well and the success of it is, you know, it's incredible. I mean, it's like, it's been a huge success. Theatre is something that you, is very close to your heart as well. Yeah. I mean, I remember last year during the Blanc thing, you called me when you were on tour. Yes. Yeah. And you were telling me about your schedule, and I was like, what?

46:53You were calling me from wherever you were. I think I was in Manchester when I called you. Yeah. So it's just about the trek. So I've got to get back for the kids. I know I've got to go. How the fuck are you? What are you doing? What is it about theatre you love? ah i i love it i love being on stage so a lot of the time i'm doing straight plays but i did jamie the musical a couple years ago and i love that as well it's just a very different energy with a musical you're kind of uh the music is there and you better be on that fucking train if not you've missed it it's not gonna wait for you um whereas with the play it's the fact that for that two hours you literally just get to be with whoever's with you on stage and nothing else exists other than this and it's i just love it i love that it's instant i love that with theater there's uh the live aspect of it means that really anything could happen i love i love when things go wrong i love when something happens and maybe the other it catches another actor of guard and you just see their kind of the fear and panic the fear the panic maybe if there's i love all those little bits that you're not meant to um meant to laugh at or i just love the i don't know the community of it the the the company aspects the fact that it's live the audience are right there it's responsive you know straight away um is theater for me is just simply delicious i love it good word is there is there have you and tom ever done anything together tom has a book called the christmasaurus um which so when he writes children's books sometimes he uh will um alongside there'll be music uh because he can't just write a book he has to write little songs as well so for the christmasaurus there was a whole album that went with it and we put that on stage um which was so much fun because we took over hammersmith apollo for like three weeks over christmas and in it was so me and Tom were in it um Carrie his sister who's a phenomenal actress and she's like a mega in the West End uh Matt Willis Harry Judd so the the five of us just got to spend Christmas together and be a part of this show that uh yes we'd slot into characters but we were actually ourselves as well so we were ourselves but every now and then I'd come along and be another character is there anything like like I mean I when you sit and kind of go through and we haven't even got time to go through everything that you and Tom have done individually, but also as a couple, there are so many layers to you, the whole kind of family aspect.

49:35Even Buzz now, like you were saying, it's honestly wild. You've got to be one of the... My family are shit. We've got no talent. We don't fucking do anything. It's like you've fucking stolen it from everyone. Your entire family's nicked all the talent there possibly could be. We're all shit. But is there anything that is like a dream role? Is there anything you haven't done? I'd love to do a comedy. TV or theatre? Theatre. I'd love to do something like an Alan Akebourne play. And I'd love to be back in the West End. I did 222 in town at the end of 21 and just loved it. And even though we had...

50:18Was it Omicron? that round of COVID. We had a whiz. We had that round, which meant that - I was very drunk doing COVID. Really? There was nothing else to do, to be honest with you. Well, being in theatre during that time was wild. So we went through a stage where everyone had masks on and then all the masks were gone. Like literally, theatre was still happening, but it was allowed to happen at 50 % for some of it. I broke my ankle during that show, on stage, mid-show. Yeah. And what did you do? Carried on. What? No business. It's like show business. You broke your ankle on stage and carried on?

50:53Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, gee, fuck. It's just fucking... It's such a you fucking thing, isn't it? I can't let the audience stand. You've broken your fucking ankle, woman. What do you mean? There was this part in the scene where I sort of storm on. I go to the back of the stage, get a hammer. I've got a cross. I get a hammer out of the shed that's at the back of the stage. and I'm meant to walk across these French doors and it's meant to look like I knock my knee on the thing. So I'm meant to suspend my weight on my right foot, swing my left leg up. I put my weight on my right foot, but my foot is rolling.

51:36And so I put my weight on it and it carries on rolling. And I'm like, thankfully my next line is, ow, fucking hell, I hate those fucking doors, which I did. I delivered, it was possibly my best delivery ever. Yeah, yeah, I can imagine, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stephanie Beatrix was on stage and she literally just looked at me and was like, something's happened. The guy playing, my husband was just not aware. So we just, I just - Typical husband. Yeah, so I just kind of carried on. I knew that I had to get to the sofa to deliver the next part of the scene, got to the sofa and I'm doing this scene with him, but in my head, I'm just going, I don't know if I'm going to be able to walk.

52:15I don't know if I'm going to be able to stand up and walk across the stage. But I did. And I can remember being at the side of the stage and James Buckley was in the play with me. Friend of the pod. We love James Buckley. I love James Buckley. We love him. We love him. But he came over to me. He was like, you're all right, G? I went, James, I think I might have, I think I've broken my ankle. He went, just breathe, G. Just breathe. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So I went back on stage, finished the show. Because at that point, we only had like half an hour left of the show. And I was like, I was just thought, let's just do it.

52:47And I still had the adrenaline going. And I knew that if I took my boot off, that it wasn't going to be great. And yeah, all the actors came with me to my dressing room straight after the show to see what would happen as soon as I took my boot off. And sure enough, it just sort of swelled up. I mean, that's dedication to the cause, that really is, isn't it? I had two weeks off and then I came back with an air boot, which is phenomenal. It's just... I honestly I love spending time with you but it's but no I'd love to I'd love to I've kind of got what I mean so that was a massive tangent but I've found myself in a space where I'm doing a lot of psychological thrillers which I love I love because I absolutely hate psychological thrillers I hate being scared right but being in them is a lot of fun yeah um because I think I am someone who's genuinely scared um yeah I cannot watch scary things I've got like a ban oh it's like home for me that really anything serial killer crime like thriller anything that is sort of yeah i mean i fall asleep to that shit you're on edge i mean you are on edge yeah it takes takes me off edge um yeah i love that sort of stuff i think because i do it a lot i'd quite like to go down the route of i'd like to laugh a little bit okay well maybe that you know you're you're a good friend of mine and I would like to piggyback on some of your success so obviously Sam and I do these stupid little tours and you know we did the O2 last year we're going to be touring again we're always looking at trying different things okay I think what should happen is you and Tom we're going to commission you to write us a two man play Sam has always wanted to get into acting okay I will have to play a solid grumpy man because I can't be anything other than that.

54:40But Sam has got a lot of variety. Has he? He once did, you know, he tried to get on Hollyoaks for a little while because, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Instead they went with Curtis Pritchard. That's Trish. That could have been Sam Thompson, guys. That could have been Sam Thompson. Fuck, I wish it was. So, yeah, maybe we could, you know, do something together. What do you think? Yeah, let's talk. Yeah, that face told me everything I needed to know. on that note I think we'll fucking leave it there thank you you do all the writing of your things you know you do like what what kind of story do you want me to create for you well I mean it depends you know we're not the best actors it would be something fairly close to home so maybe if you sort of have like one sort of sad miserable guy who'll probably die alone and he's sort of excitable puppet Sam would actually could play like an animal I think would be better okay just have him as a puppy the whole way through Just have him as a dog.

55:34One man and his dog. There we go. Pete Wick, Sam Thompson, Sam's the dog. Yeah, okay. So we just put him in a little outfit and it'll be our adventures. Maybe the puppy opens something up in the grumpy old man and actually he gets a new lease of life because he's opened his heart. Someone the other day actually described Sam and I to me as the old man and Russell from Up. yeah I can see that can you see that? I presume I wasn't Russell G I love you I genuinely do thank you so much for being here today you're just the best the best you're the best you're the best hope you've still got those walking boots do you know what if I come again because we don't know can't give anything away I might just try and think different I might just go for a completely different kind of fashion element this time actually do you not remember Mont Blanc I did a day barefoot you did but there was also that local guide and that's the only reason I was doing it I started having a cock off with the fucking guide because he went oh I'm going to do it barefoot and everyone was going oh he's amazing look at him he's barefoot fucking I can do that but also he does that all the time so the soles of his feet are probably like leathery anyway do you know what I mean mine are not very soft but yeah I just love you love you see you trekking soon this has been a Staying Relevant production

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58:35Wayfair, every style, every home. Saturday, September 26th, two of combat sports' most dangerous strikers collide, Bare Knuckle. Liverpool's own Darren the Gorilla Till goes to war with Cuban powerhouse Yoel Soldier God Romero. Plus, the Bare Knuckle Middleweight Championship of the World is on the line when the reigning champ Dave the Redneck Mundell defends against undefeated British challenger Jack the Meat Cleaver Cullen. BKFC 94. Till vs. Romero. Watch it live only on DAZN. Sign up now at DAZN.com. Hello Relevanters. We wanted to let you know that you can hear exclusive bonus episodes of Staying Relevant every month on Amazon Music.

59:18We are going to be playing Snog, Marry, Avoid, one of our favourite games, all with fictional characters. so prepare yourself for Sam to snog Woody from Toy Story and for me to marry Pocahontas and possibly the genie from Aladdin we don't know yet we were sort of like undecided on that one that's an avoid for me that one genie I don't know I quite like it listen to monthly bonus episodes exclusively on Amazon Music and enjoy ad-free listening on Amazon Music for all episodes of Staying Relevant with your Prime membership