Richard Has The Perfect Show For Prince Harry

0:00The Rest is Entertainment is presented by Octopus Energy. Now, one talent can make a career. Three usually gets you an official title. Yep, and that official title is a triple threat. You'd call triple threat anyone who can act, sing and dance. Now, these days, three can seem almost modest. The same person might write, direct, produce and have another career on the side. J-Lo would be a triple threat, huge music career, started as a dancer, huge acting career as well. It's an amazing talent to be able to have. And now drinks mogul as well. Is she? You have to be the mogul now. I think the mogul is always the third thing now.

0:37So she's a quadruple threat. Yeah, I sing, I act, and I have a lifestyle portal. But that phrase, all singing or dances, it escaped entertainment and now it's used for anyone and anything that does several jobs very well all at once. Which is a pretty fair description of Octopus. It's the UK's largest energy supplier, one of the country's biggest installers of heat pumps, solar panels and batteries, and it runs a major electric car leasing business for good measure. I mean, that's a quadruple threat, isn't it? Yeah, that's a quadruple threat.

1:39Hello and welcome to this episode of The Rest is Entertainment with me Marina Hyde And me Richard Osman, hello everybody, hello Marina Hello Richard, how are you? Yeah I'm okay, how's your week been? It's been pretty good thank you, there's obviously some big news that we will be talking about today Yes I saw when Megan was coming back and then it was suggested that she might be in a certain show directed by a certain person And I thought, oh, I know someone who'll be interested in this. So will we talk about Megan and the acting career and what happens next? What happens next? We're also talking about Mr.

2:10Brightside. Mr. Brightside. It's about to pass an extraordinary milestone, which I will mention later. So I thought it's worth taking a look at where it came from and quite why it's become such a permanent fixture in the nation's consciousness as well as on the nation's radios. And we're also going to talk about a sort of fracka that is developing between some YouTubers and the BBC as a result of some plans that the government have. I mean, there's a lot of stuff we like talking about there. There's a lot. There's plenty there. Shall we begin with Meghan and Harry returning to the UK? And particularly the media side of that.

2:45Last week, it was announced that having made their home amongst the Lotus Eaters of Montecito, Harry and Meghan would in fact be returning to our toxic shores. They haven't loved it here previously, but they are going to be coming back. Their children are already enrolled in school for September. And they're going to make their life here for a bit, period, unspecified. So first of all, let's talk about what they left behind in a way, because I think that's quite interesting. Just a quick rundown. The state of the deals they left, remember they had a Spotify deal, which sort of flamed out after$20 million and one podcast.

3:21Netflix paid up to$100 million. They didn't actually pay the full 100 million because they didn't deliver on so much content because people did not want to watch the global activism and polo documentaries. But they loved the one about Meghan and Harry and their story, which I'm sure we'll be coming back to later. As ever, her company is a little bit of a black box. We don't really know how well it's doing. We know that Netflix has pulled out of it. They were selling it in some of their bricks and mortar stores. Is that the As Ever, her lifestyle company? That's the jam and the candles and the rosé and that jazz.

3:51But as I said before, Netflix still have a first look deal with them, and they will keep in with them, I feel absolutely sure, because when their lives blow up again, and if their lives blow up again, they have a proven compelling story which can be retold if it gets another chapter in one way or another. Yeah, they're big stars. They're big names. Yeah, but why, okay, so why the return? There was obviously masses of speculation, but then the first story on Friday came that she was in advanced talks for an acting role. That was in an Australian publication. And the second story came via Deadline, the Hollywood Bible and Variety, saying that she was in talks to appear in The Gentleman's Putative Season 3.

4:36Which we've spoken about many times before, the Guy Ritchie series based on his own movie. Now, if you're asking me what I like about the story, Richard, I would have to say it's absolutely everything. everything. I said to my friend Giorgio on Saturday, if she ends up in that Guy Ritchie bullshit, I will literally get Stendhal syndrome. You know Stendhal syndrome. This is named after the French writer who went to Florence in the sort of 19th century and he looked at the Giotto frescoes and you get sort of palpitation. When you're in the presence of great art. It's too beautiful. It's too beautiful.

5:06You're fainting with joy at the beauty of it. As a story, it would be overwhelming for you. And potentially as a piece of art. As you know, I yield to no one in my admiration for the gentleman. in yes um it's can i i'll just throw my um uh two penneth which is god i think it's a really good move she's she's an actor do your acting i i really i really think if you're something just do that do the thing that you're good at it's for you know the whole world of it when you do something that you don't do when you're when you're like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole people will always be cynical of that and it's quite hard you can't ever quite be yourself if you do the thing you train to do and that you are good at you can just be yourself and people will judge you in that way so i to me megan joining the gentleman uh would be perfect for her it would be i think it would be amazing for the gentleman now it's come out that the gentleman have said oh no this was just a chat between guy richie and megan this is not official netflix know nothing about it yeah i want to get into the weeds of that in a minute by the way i do too uh but i think we perfect for the gentleman you literally call her she's a character you wouldn't call her the duchess because that's too old for her you call her the princess or princess she's the daughter of a murdered vegas mob boss who's come over to england for revenge and to and to find some money that someone's taken off her i mean it's great for her because she does the thing that she's good at don't you make her yeah like you like invert invert the trope so she's the actual princess and she's got this feckless useless husband and that's that that's her or she's a princess of somewhere and maybe we'll get into that role.

6:40I think even for Guy Ritchie, that's too on the nose. But I definitely think you would call her princess. There is no way someone, a Cockney character in that show is not at some point calling her princess. It is an impossibility. It's nailed on. But remember, first of all, season two of The Gentleman airs on the 3rd of September. So this is incredible publicity. Not that it needs it. I think the last one when it came out, was it was like the fourth biggest series worldwide in the first half of 2024. He's obviously open to people who have alternative profiles. Maya Jarmas in the new season. I mean, Vinnie Jones, right from the very beginning, you know, Guy Ritchie's career, he's good at putting people on screen who you wouldn't necessarily think of being on screen.

7:25And by the way, you do think of her as being on screen because she's an actor. Okay, yeah. The show, though, itself, it's about an aristocrat. If you haven't seen it, it's about an aristocrat who inherits his stately home and discovers that his late father has been allowing it to be used as a drug farm. I have to say, we can talk about the type of roles in a minute, but it is difficult. It is different, okay? I know it's just acting, but you cannot have her kissing Theo James in this. No way. I mean... You don't think? Literally, to everyone, it would be like Prince Harry is getting cucked on streaming right now.

8:01Yes, I suppose so. I appreciate that it's just acting. Yes. But this is what happened with Grace Kelly, you see. She couldn't be kissing Cary Grant anymore. When Grace Kelly got married to Prince Albert in Monaco, she had to give it all up because you couldn't then be seeing, like, you know, a minor European royal kissing Cary Grant. And I have to say that some things change, but others don't. I think it would be very, very problematic. Maybe there could be tension, maybe there could be whatever, but I don't think you can have that. Yes, I think you're right. I think there would be a no-kiss clause in this contract.

8:32I think there would be a plot line where someone does try to kiss her and she pushes him away and says, I'm married and you don't want to meet my husband. There'd be like some kind of thing. Incredibly on the nose. Ironistic. Yeah, yeah. I agree. I think it works for everyone, this. Yeah. I really do. I think it's like it works for Netflix. 100%. It works for Guy Ritchie. It works for Megan. It works for people who love The Gentleman and people who don't love The Gentleman. It doesn't matter. Oh, yeah. Everybody's watching this. Yeah, everyone's happy. Okay. So let's get into the weeds a little bit more.

9:01Tina Brown then wrote a comment saying... Who is it? She's the former editor of... Former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Super, super well-connected. Super well-connected. She's got a great sub stack, which is called Fresh House. She's very, very good. Having said that, she said, I believe that the role... She said the role has been withdrawn due to pressure and backlash. Okay. Much as I love her, I do not buy that at all. That is not how TV works. There's no backlash. This is great backlash. Yeah. Netflix aren't going oh my god Netflix don't want reviews yes okay Guy Ritchie somehow cares about backlash okay don't worry about it yeah literally if by backlash you mean the usual suspects on social media have their exactly normal opinions about everything then I mean that's I'm afraid the rest of history you're going to have backlash for everything but actually in terms of actual human beings people are like huh oh that's interesting I'll watch I'll bite okay so then today I noticed we're recording this on Monday morning now there have been lots of experts have now come out and said, oh, I think it was leaked to make her seem in demand, which is, okay, maybe, because that is actually quite a clever thing to do.

10:09Because what you are saying by that is, oh, she's available. It's like when in Harry Met Sally, when Carrie Fisher's got all the Rolodex of available men, and one of them gets engaged, and she just turns the corner over, because she might at some point be turning it back. What we're saying here is, she is on the market again. If you would like to offer a role in anything from EastEnders to The Gentleman, then, you know, she is taking calls. And as you say, season two of The Gentleman is about to start on Netflix. It kind of works perfectly for everybody. Yeah, anyone saying, oh, she's overstepped the mark here and leaked it?

10:46Not at all. It just says, I'm available and all sorts of other things will now come in. I have to say, I do think that there is a career angle in this move for her because I cannot see a world in which... I mean, I know there's been all kinds of speculation like the king is very ill and that's why they've come or whatever the reason is. But I think that there has to be a career angle for her to consider it because it's obviously, you know, not her most favoured milieu. Just according to her own testimony. Yes, but it feels like if you're an American actor, actually being in the UK is not a bad place to be.

11:24Because we know how much stuff is getting made over here now because of various reasons. the tax breaks, these huge studios that are being built. And, you know, the trouble with being American in America is so is everyone else. Whereas in the UK, there's fewer Americans. So, you know, it does feel like... And there's only one. Yeah. There's only one Duchess. But, I mean, I could think immediately, I mean, pretty much anything that's struggling to get financed at the moment, or it's just trying to find that final five, 10 % of finance, which is often the hardest thing with a new show, stick Megan in it, you will get that final five or ten percent i mean it's it's it's absolutely she'll have a choice of things to be in my view is stick with the gentleman i think i would love to see that if you're not going to be in rivals be in the gentleman i i don't think she's right for rivals but she could potentially she could yes the gentleman is perfect i it's weird because i always felt and i think i've said it on this podcast before but i always felt that if this timeline had played out differently.

12:21What she could have done is marry him, get the two children. Maybe the marriage doesn't work out and you go back to Hollywood to be Julia Roberts for your forties, which I always thought was a possibility. But in fact, what they did is they made their freedom flight rather earlier and they did it together. So now it's interesting. So many people are saying, why have there been so many stories about them? Why has there been all this stuff? And it's like, the fact is people are everyone says they're not interested in them they are they read that this does more traffic than you can possibly imagine there's a reason that it's at the top of everyone's newspapers it's like saying why do people keep writing about um manchester city and liverpool yeah because most people don't care oh definitely most people don't care but the people who do care really really really really care i agree i do believe that their most compelling story remains their real life one.

13:18And I was thinking about this. I ended up writing about this on Friday in my Guardian column. And I was thinking about, you know, there is something. It's very difficult. They told that story so exhaustively because they did the book and the documentary and they did sit-down interviews with various people. And so there was nothing left to squeeze out of that story. But it slightly reminds me to return to a place that they say is completely toxic and the toxic family and all of those things. It does remind me a little bit of those very high concept sequels where you're like, okay, I understand speed one, the bus can't slow down.

13:53Okay, you've somehow got to contrive to get Sandra Bullock on something else that can't slow down in case of speed two, a runaway cruise ship, so that you can go back to the same money well. And there's lots of sequels that are really high concept where you're like, Yeah. The only way this can work is if we somehow get the characters. I mean, diehards like this, diehard teams like this. So there's a team of writers going, it's going to be brilliant if we get Meghan and Harry back to the UK. It feels an impossibility. Let's work out a way that that can happen. And it's happened. Yeah. It somehow happened.

14:22So that will create a whole load more friction and more things that, I'm not saying this is their plan, but it could become, once again, you could have new stories to tell in the documentary format. If I were them and I'm not, if I was Meghan, I'd be acting because it was there before her royal fame. So it's the thing that she does. That's her trade. And by the way, everyone's discovered suits. Every single person, every Gen A people have watched the whole of suits. And then the question is, what does Harry do? And again, it's hard because when you have that profile and that status that has been conferred upon him and that he wants and doesn't want and all those things that I think a normal human being would struggle with in that situation.

15:09But I think if he comes over here, I saw him on the Joe Marla podcast, and he's very good. He's very good on things like that. And I think you could build a fairly nice media career for Harry where he just appears on television every now and again and is very happy doing that. If I was his advisor, and I can exclusively reveal that I'm not, but if I was his advisor, I'd have him meeting people. There's a bunch of things that he could do. I'd put him on the wheel tomorrow with Michael McIntyre. But he'd be great on the wheel. Michael would look after him. It's not too high pressure. He'd look good if he got something right.

15:45He'd look self-depreciating if he got something wrong. I wouldn't put him on The Traitors or I'm a Celebrity or anything like that. I've got a show for him. Have you? Because I think one thing that really works for him is the Invictus Games and his work with veterans. I've got a show called Harry's Special Forces. is it's like DIY SOS meets Challenge Annika. And it is exactly that thing of something needs rebuilding, a house needs rebuilding, a community centre needs rebuilding. But he does it with a bunch of army veterans. People have been injured in the line of conflict. And they build something and put something together.

16:20At the same time, he's showing these guys from the army, these veterans, and they're putting their skills out there for employers as well. It's lovely. It's feel good. I like it. I would watch it. Harry Special Forces is a good name for it as well. don't you think? Oh, I know you've got the whole concept. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that feels, so Harry, if you are listening, I think he listens. Oh, no, I'm being told he doesn't. But perhaps Meghan will listen and come back to him. But Harry's special forces, that feels like a hit. I love Harry's special forces. What else could she be in? Well, I mean, kind of any, I mean, she's an actor.

16:50Yeah. You sort of be in whatever someone writes next, right? I mean, because she just does what she does. Harlan Coburn, come on, a drama. The January drama, please. she'd be great in that do you know what and knowing Harlan as I do he would be so bang up for that everyone would be by the way yeah he did a book last year with Reese Witherspoon who as you know has got the biggest book club in America and her press release said said oh I couldn't believe it when he agreed to do it and I miss his heart and I go yeah I'm shocked Harlan I'm shocked you agreed to do it it's a good book it's a good book the one show I think that Harry definitely couldn't do that would be funny would be Who Do You Think You Are because it'd be like Now, we have gone back four generations.

17:33We found something quite surprising. Your great-great-great-grandfather, any guesses? I don't know, was he a king? Yes, he was a king, yes. And three generations before, what do you think your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was? Was he a European king? Yes, that is who he was. That's like kind of the best and the worst episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Ever, right? But I would, I think, stick them on, would I lie to you? I think, you know, just make a comment. No, I lied to you. No, because his stories. Oh, I'd watch that. I mean, I've watched all of this. This is the point.

18:07Everyone's saying they're just getting over their skis and their whatever. No, people will want to watch it. And 8 % of people have a definite opinion on Harry and Meghan already, right? I would say in the country. I don't think it is. Have a very, very, very strong opinion one way or the other. 4 % one way, 4 % the other way. you've still got 92 % of people who are like oh yeah well if he's doing something interesting I'll watch it if she's in something do you think? I tell you what is interesting is that what happened in America is they went off them and there is a perception that they took a lot of money and didn't deliver I mean they did go out to deal in the most brutal entertainment market in the world and if you fail there everyone fails but they failed quite significantly and people said things out loud about how badly they failed and I think there's a sort of sense that they didn't have some kind of huge...

19:00I saw people saying, oh, well, I mean, you know, they were never even at the Met Gala and like, oh, my God, I don't even know if they wanted to go. But the things that Americans regard as, you know, the imprimatur of having made it, they didn't do some of those things and maybe they didn't do them because they can't in their position or they didn't decide against it or thought it was controversial or whatever it is, but there is a perception in America that they have failed at that sort of highest entertainment level. Yeah, and once you have that reputation, you do have to go back and regroup.

19:28But honestly, I just think one appearance on the Taskmaster Christmas special and all is forgiven. Bake Off. I don't know about Bake Off. I don't know about Bake Off. No, it's the Sled Bake Off. Oh, I know you're talking about Sled Bake Off. Okay, yeah. It'd be really weird if he turned up on the regular Bake Off. He could do it. He could do it. She couldn't do it. Yeah, I think, honestly, The Wheel, What I Lie to You, Taskmaster Christmas special, That's why I'd have him on. And Harry will go and pitch Harry's Special Forces. It'd be absolutely huge. Everyone wins on Harry's Special Forces. Harry's Special Forces is a fantastic show.

20:03I would definitely watch that. Meghan on The Gentleman. Harry on Harry's Special Forces. Before you know it, the entire narrative is rewritten. Like I'd give a toss about anyone's narrative. You know what I mean? It's absurd that people have to live in public, isn't it? It's so crazy to have an opinion on people. It's mental. But none of us can help it. Shall we go for a break, Richard? Yes, and after that I'll be talking about one of the most peculiar chart stories in British chart history. I'm talking about Mr Brightside. I said that already, it's not a spoiler.

20:37This episode is brought to you by Lloyd's Rewards. Now, a big mistake that people make is leaving the cinema as soon as the credits roll because there might be a bonus scene right at the end. Yeah, absolutely. There might be one in the middle. Yeah, you never know. In Marvel's ones, there used to be a mid-credits scene, and then there'd be an end-credits scene. I remember the first one I really remember, well, too, I remember Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where he tells you to go home at the end, but also Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds, where they would do bloopers. It just feels like a secret little glimpse into a different world.

21:08Yeah, and it doesn't quite have to be over. Yeah, exactly, and it's just a lovely little added bonus. You've done everything, you've made your show, you've given everyone everything, it's just a lovely little extra. Which is also the idea behind Lloyd's Rewards. Extra value appearing inside something you were already doing anyway, your daily banking. From shopping to streaming, you can bank on Lloyds to help your money go further. It's rewards like this that make 14 million people bank on Lloyds. Search Lloyds Rewards in your app. Eligibility criteria, terms and conditions apply, retailer offers and cashback amounts may vary.

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22:17Welcome back, everybody. Now, before we get on to Mr. Brightside, our bonus episode this week is the continuation of our The History of James Bond series, which I'm loving. And this one is all about finding Sean Connery, which is quite a tale, I would say that. I mean, we're finding another Bond at the moment, but finding the first Bond has its own wrinkles. If you want to become a member, it's arrestorsentertainment.com. You can sign up there, add free listening, all of that. But Mr. Brightside, I'm going to take you back to the very early 2000s. We're in Las Vegas. It's a young bellhop at the Gold Coast Casino called Brandon Flowers.

22:53And he's in a synth pop band called Blush Response. Now, Blush Response, I think we've got what it takes to make it. They make two decisions. Firstly, they're all going to move to LA. Secondly, they're going to dump Brandon Flowers, which has got to go down as probably one of the worst decisions in music history. So Brandon Flowers, he's 20 years old. He's walking home from work. Someone walks out of an Oasis gig, gives him a ticket. He goes in to see the encore, which is Don't Look Back in Anger. And he's an Anglophile anyway, Brandon Flowers. But he comes out of that going, what I need is a guitarist.

23:27That's what I need. Finds an advert for a guitarist called Dave Kooning. And the two of them meet up. They get on very, very well. Start writing songs. They go, you know what? We're going to lay one of these songs down. and this is the very very first recording of the very very first song that brandon flowers and dave kooning wrote it may be familiar

24:00and that is uh that's brandon dave and a drum machine the very first time they ever did it's instantly recognizable the lyrics have not changed a jot now first of april 2021 mr brightside makes chart history it becomes the first song in british history to have been in the uk charts for five years 260 weeks it done even now no one has matched that there's not a single song that has matched that this week it's about to have its 520th week in the top 100 meaning 10 years in the charts there's still not another song that's done five years and Mr Brightside has had 10 years in the UK chart it's just become this behemoth but even Brandon Flowers says it feels like it's not part of me anymore it belongs to other people so it's a very very very first thing they wrote Dave Koenig had already written the riff Brandon Flowers had he'd woken up one night with like a worried about something and he went down to a British pub in Las Vegas called the Crown and anchor and it's still there if you want to go there it is opposite of a crawfish restaurant and a 24-hour massage parlor uh and a foot spa as well is that he goes down there sees his then girlfriend kissing another man goes home writes the lyrics to mr bright side which as i say have not changed a jot from that moment to this you will notice as well by the way he only it only has one verse i was about to say they don't even change between the first and second he does the verse then he does the chorus then he goes i should probably do another verse i'll just do i'll just do exactly the same exactly the same thing uh and laid it down i say that's that's the first ever demo and at first sort of no one really liked it had a very slow start mr brightside um brandon flowers did an amazing tracks of my years with burning k on radio 2 this week to support his new album which i'll also talk about later because it's brilliant so they laid down that song no one Everyone's interested.

26:00They go to a studio. They go to another studio outside Vegas. They sort of do various versions of it. By the way, the song you hear now is the very, very first version that they did in the studio. Everyone after that tried to re-record it and re-record it and make it different. They stuck with that first one. America was not interested at all. No one wanted to buy it. And then in the UK, a tiny independent label called Lizard King heard it, liked it, and pressed 500 copies of it. 507 inches of that song, which if you have one, by the way, are worth an awful lot of money now. Again, no one was all that interested.

26:37Then Zane Lowe started playing it on Radio 1, Texas back, Zane Lowe, isn't it? You know, the era you're in when you're talking about Zane Lowe. So Zane Lowe starts playing it, Steve Lamax starts playing it, and the UK start falling in love with Mr. Brightside. They signed to Ireland, they put the record out again, it does nothing again. They then have a hit with Somebody Told Me. They then re-release Mr. Brightside, which is a few years old. Now, again, the very first thing they wrote, the very first thing they ever recorded, goes to number 10 in its first week. It has never been in the top 10 since.

27:09It's been in the charts for 10 years. It has never actually been in the top 20. Again, it had one week at number 10. Same in America. Number 10, never gone higher up than that. but in the meantime it's set so many extraordinary records some of which I'll go on to but it's people love it or hate it right where do you stand on Mr Brightside? There's so much about it that's really interesting that it's a song sort of about being in your own head and yet it seems almost engineered to be sung with absolutely massive people when you're wasted at like two in the morning. There's something that it sort of defines that millennial anxiety in a way and spiralling.