Strictly's Secret Weapon

15 Oct 2025 · 37 min

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In short

Podcast Notes: The Rest Is Entertainment - Episode: Strictly's Secret Weapon

Episode Overview In this episode, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde dive into the world of television, particularly focusing on the challenges and insights surrounding reality shows and the latest entertainment news. They tackle listener questions and discuss topics ranging from The Rock's recent movie flop to the intricacies of producing performances on "Strictly Come Dancing."

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Key Themes and Discussions

  1. The Rock's Recent Movie "The Smashing Machine"
  2. Financial Concerns:
  3. The film grossed only $6 million against a production cost of $50 million, raising concerns about its future.
  4. Discussion on the industry's expectations for indie films and how marketing plays a significant role in box office performance.
  5. Implications for Stakeholders:
  6. Concerns for A24 (production company), The Rock, and director Benny Safdie's reputations.
  7. Indications that while flops are undesirable, they do not necessarily jeopardize careers, particularly for high-profile stars.
  1. Movies Starring Wrestlers
  2. Top Three Films:
  3. 3rd: *The Wrestler* (Mickey Rourke)
  4. 2nd: *Rocky III* (featuring Hulk Hogan)
  5. 1st: *The Princess Bride* (with André the Giant)
  6. Discussion on how wrestlers transition into acting roles and the unique skills they bring, such as comic timing and presence.
  1. Inside the Editing Room of Reality TV
  2. "Dragon's Den" Insights:
  3. Lydia and Amelia share their experience pitching on the show and raise questions about the editing process.
  4. Osman explains that reality shows often involve extensive editing to create a narrative that resonates with the audience.
  5. Narrative Construction:
  6. Editors work to weave together the true events of the pitch with an engaging storyline for viewers.
  7. Importance of creating tension and pacing to keep the audience engaged.
  1. Strictly Come Dancing Production Insights
  2. Dave Arch's Role:
  3. Discussion about the challenges faced by Dave Arch, the conductor of the Strictly band, in adapting songs for performances.
  4. The complex collaboration between dancers and musicians to ensure smooth transitions and performances.
  5. Song Selection Timeline:
  6. Songs are typically chosen the Sunday before the show, with a collaborative effort throughout the week to finalize arrangements.
  1. Audience Engagement and Show Dynamics
  2. Potential Version of "The Traitors":
  3. A listener proposes a cut of the show where the audience is unaware of who the traitors are.
  4. Richard and Marina discuss the pros and cons of this idea, emphasizing that knowing the traitors adds depth and tension to the viewing experience.
  5. Dramatic Irony:
  6. The power of dramatic irony in keeping audiences engaged, as it enhances the storytelling aspect of reality competition shows.

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Key Takeaways

  • Industry Flops: Even high-profile actors like The Rock are not immune to movie failures, but this doesn't necessarily threaten their careers.
  • Importance of Editing: The editing process in reality TV is crucial for storytelling, shaping how viewers perceive the events and characters.
  • Musical Adaptations in Dance Shows: The complexity of adapting music live for performance showcases the skill and collaboration needed between musicians and dancers.
  • Drama and Engagement: Understanding the nuances of character dynamics (like in *The Traitors*) enhances audience engagement and enriches the entertainment experience.

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Closing Thoughts This episode of *The Rest Is Entertainment* provides a fascinating look behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, illustrating the challenges and creative processes that shape television and film. Richard and Marina's insights not only inform but also entertain, making this podcast a valuable resource for fans of pop culture.

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Transcript

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2:18Hyde and I'm Richard Osman hello Marina hello Richard how are you yeah very well very well enjoyed the I don't know if they're going to keep in that version of the intro but uh very much enjoyed it quite something it's hard isn't it saying the same thing every week 200 yeah but maybe like 100 nearly the questions and answers so that's it's you know oh yeah we're catching up yeah have you got a question for me yes you know what I have several I actually got two questions which is sort of on the same subject. We talked about The Rock and his movie The Smashing Machine. Neris Morgan asked, the opening weekend for The Smashing Machine grossed just$6 million.

2:55That's very bad. Who should be the most concerned about their future in Hollywood? The Rock, A24 or Benny Safdie, the director? And John Sharp says, to celebrate the premiere of The Smashing Machine and Dwayne's surefire Oscar win, what are your top three films starring wrestlers? I love both these questions. Okay, first of all, just to deal with the thing first, $6 million? this is a sort of a movie about a man dealing with his you know demons and drug addiction and it's an indie movie yeah six million is fine for this type of movie unfortunately it cost fifty million dollars which is problematic to say nothing of the marketing that doesn't include the marketing and it shouldn't have cost that much money why did it cost fifty million dollars just because of the director and the star it's not it's not purely they had a lot of locations that obviously the talent is significant I can't remember what The Rock got The Rock maybe got four or five million for this and Emily Blunt will have got a lot and Benny Safdie wrote and directed and sometimes when someone is a writer and a director and in charge of everything it rather slows down the process so anyway whatever it shouldn't have cost that much it costs what it costs and then they did have this issue with you know an American presidential campaigning they call it the October surprise something that kind of comes out late and changes the race when Taylor Swift said I'm putting my movie into my sort of album launch party into things that same weekend that was not great but actually there will be a postmortem on this definitely for A24 I think what we found out here is that they thought that MMA fans would come out and there are a lot of them but they haven't and they might Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts maybe they should have known that because the Iron Claw which was actually even better received critically they didn't get anywhere near the awards conversation which is what they want we'll see what happens with Sidney Sweeney's playing a fighter in something called Christie um that's not afraid but that's going to come out and we'll see what that does she's put on a certain amount of pounds for this role so yeah okay so in terms of who does who's who should be most worried the rock don't worry keep going I mean he's not going to love it what's happened here and you can see he doesn't love it but in a way it actually ties into so it actually works for him in some ways which is I'm not always just about big blockbusters that knock it out of the park.

5:06I'm also about art. And one thing that a flop says is art. You know, one thing that... He keeps telling us that he's sort of transformed into other people. That's a transformation too far for him. He's going to be a lot happier next year when he's got like the next Jumanji and he's going to be a lot happier with that. And he can go back and this can all be a bad memory until he decides to do it again, which he will do. But having said that, think about that fourth best actor spot because you've got probably locked on you've got Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet which is the other Safdie brothers movie we haven't seen yet, Marty Supreme, Michael B.

5:39Jordan for Sinners and you've got George Clooney for Jay Kelly which again people haven't seen yet but that is going to be a real fight for that fifth spot if anyone if you think he's giving up now no way okay if and if he gets nominated even that's a whole different thing okay so so he doesn't have anything to worry about. If he were the Oscars by the way you might think about nominating The Rock because you know you want you know you want ratings right? You want people to yeah well again they didn't come out to see the movie so why should they see the Oscar ceremony of The Rock in? I suppose so There's certain things weird If it's him or you know J.K.

6:09Simmons you just think who would you go for? So Benny Safdie he got the best director at Venice I do think we should talk about film festivals and what are they actually for at a certain point remember this got a sort of 17 minute standing ovation in The Rock cried blah blah this is probably their most expensive movie and they may say to each other, why have we done this? We're probably going to stay out of the fight game for a bit. Yeah. Because we've had a couple that haven't got, if he doesn't get nominated or whatever it is. Benny Safdie, as I say, got best director, I think, at Venice. So I would have thought he would be thinking.

6:42So the most worried, what, Benny Safdie, of those three, but nobody's very worried, okay? No one likes a flop. No one likes a flop. But these are three people who can probably take the nod. This wouldn't be a flop if they hadn't spent so much money on it. It should be a fine movie. But given they did, it is a flop. Darren Aronofsky, the wrestler which Mickey Rourke was in, took a lot longer to get to that sort of money, and he nearly got Best Actor for that. So, whatever. Which brings me on to the next bit of the question, Best Three movies starring wrestlers. I've adapted this question to say movies wrestlers are in, because there are not that many movies that are actually starring wrestlers.

7:16Yes, yeah, yeah. Okay. In ascending order... No. Yes. ascending which so i'm putting the three first no but that would be descending order so you don't know in numbers yeah but ascending going up to the top the pinnacle of the list okay is that not commonly recognized yeah maybe all right well let's starting at number three number three mickey rorkin the wrestler which it did have real wrestlers in it from wwe and because darren aronofsky wanted to make it and and also sort of much lower circuit wrestling because he wanted to make it real. I love that movie. I thought it was brilliant. Number two, I have Rocky III where Hulk Hogan plays Thunderlips.

7:56Do you remember what, like, this is, you know, the premise of it. I'm not going to spoil it. You're going for that instead of Mr. Mom. Yeah. Okay. Yes, I am. Because Rocky III is brilliant. It's got a fantastic training montage. Not the best training montage, which is obviously the one from Rocky IV, the Cold War one with Drago and whatever. But at the start when Rocky's kind of like, you know, he's got, he's just become a celebrity. He fights Thunderlips. and Stallone said that Hulk Hogan almost killed him because he was so strong and he really threw him. And obviously, I'm going to break some news.

8:26Stallone is quite tiny in real life and Hulk Hogan wasn't. Everyone's tiny in real life. Yes. Well, not the next guy, but funnily enough, at number one, my movie starring. Oh, I know what it's going to be. I know what it's going to be. You do. It's going to be a guy who'd look right down on you. He's seven foot four. It is Andre the Giant as Fezzik in The Princess Bride. Oh, my God. who's wonderful. I'll tell you what, you know what, I didn't love the way the list started, the ascending, descending thing. I love the way the list finished. Yeah. Now, Andre the Giant was a proper wrestler. He'd been a wrestler in Europe and in France and then he came to the WWF and he had sort of big feuds within the WWF with Hulk Hogan, Jake the Snake Roberts, I can't remember who the other ones were with, but he was a champion in 88.

9:13Now, he was seven foot four, so as I say, he would have patted you on your head and floored you with an elbow drop. Wrestling teaches you you really have to be good at timing and his comic timing in that movie is fantastic. Everybody loved him. He was hugely popular. That is number one, that movie, for me. And also, I mean, I absolutely love The Princess Bride. Number one in so many lists as well. In so many. You could have asked me in so many different lists and that movie would be number one. But an absolute bona fide wrestler in a significant role in the movie. And wrestling has really given him something, which is the comic timing is very, very good.

9:46I saw a quote from him where he said, children either run towards me or run away from me, Andre the Giant said. He was so wonderful. He was Samuel Beckett's chauffeur, briefly. Yes, yes. Yeah, he's had a very interesting career. He was an amazing person and really interesting. This is a very good question because I watched this episode. Lydia Miller says, my sister Amelia and I appeared on Dragon's Den last night. And that was, this was last week. Pitching our business, Stephen and Deborah invested. it uh amelia and i were in the den for over two hours being questioned by the dragon so my question is what actually goes on in the editing room are producers creating a narrative first and then fitting the footage around it kind of like they're writing a scripted episode do they storyboard character arcs and get those approved before editing please shed some light for me your show is the bomb oh thank you you guys nice hello lydia and amelia i watched it as well it's it's i mean you can see why people invested in them they were very very good what they've got is a platform um to help people particularly women get back into work after a long period out of the workforce uh it's called ivy and they wanted 75k for a three percent stake in the business they were the pitch was incredibly charming and personable they were very very good one of the all-time great starts for a pitch because they sort of started personalizing they go i want you to imagine somebody called carol so carol has a career in marketing she's done incredibly well she decides to take some time out um she has three children uh and then finds she can't get back into the world of work and then they go and two of those children are here now i think oh carol was your mum oh my god the carol woman was that was your mum what i was immediately thinking was they're gonna love you because you've given them an organic reveal that you've brought in you're like tv people already Lydia and Amelia because you've brought your your pitch contains a reveal within about you know 40 42 seconds so you have literally saved the editors probably half a day there of going how do we get across that it's them that it happened to their mum have we got an interview with them where they say the reason we're doing this is because of our mum or can we get Peter to say what was the inspiration behind this which they would have to do otherwise because you're Lydia is quite right they're building a story so the thing that's happened in the den is true which is they bought in this business plan and the reactions of the dragons were what they were and the investment they got is what it is but that story has to be told to viewers in a way that firstly we want them to get an investment so either we love their business plan or we love their story so you have to get that across and secondly understanding how that investment comes about and also putting some jeopardy into the idea that maybe they won't get i slightly love the question because saying we were in there for over two hours and i reckon their thing was like 16 to 17 minutes guys only you can tell us what really happened in there and then you can maybe sort of retrofit what they did afterwards but i thought it was perfect because two very um personable charming people who are very very on it come in and ask for not a huge amount of money you're not going to get 17 minutes out of that unless you can create as all tv fiction writers will tell you tv eats plot and really you know to get 17 minutes out of something it's actually it's actually 20 minutes the first yeah it gets each one is like you go 60 minutes 16 minutes five minutes which is the or sometimes two and a half two and a half which is there's a couple of food who came in and then this final one which was which was 20 just just over 20 minutes As you say, that is actually, that's the length of a sitcom.

13:23So you might have been in there for two hours, but actually getting 20 minutes out of two hours is, I mean, that's more than you would expect to get out of two hours. You'd expect to get maybe five minutes out of two hours. So to get 20 minutes is going at some. So both of us went back and watched it. You've got your great reveal at the beginning. Brilliant. They would have loved you for that. For anyone who wants to, you know, bring along something like that, because that really works. And also, they're not even, you know, the vision mixer is cutting to the dragons. then they're not pretty much not having to put an editor there'll be little bits they've clipped out here and there but you have done such a huge amount of work for them that otherwise they would have had to do that is something that they would have had to do which is why do i care so you've told us absolutely why we care this is your mum okay got it we are absolutely on board i mean listen the pitch might still be terrible but we are on board we want you to succeed then they said well we're actually still in the active testing you guys said we're still in the active testing phase we've only been going a month then listen to the music because then the music suggests peril like okay oh okay then you're seeing the cutaways to everyone going oh i see okay maybe this isn't as good as it sounds if you watch american reality tv if you or something that's kind of made in america where even if it's shown here something like the hell's kitchen now it is deafening the music yeah british reality tv producers don't really like music they have a bit like this and it's very subtle in dragon's day in america like no you can't have a single sentence without this incredibly kind of portentous music being layered on top of it as then and also by the way the second that's you know someone when they said how long have you been in this only a month you would then cut to a master interview of emilia or lydia shot after it's going and that was the point they asked about timing and we had to say oh my god it's only been a month i'm looking at them like uh a media's look at them as well we're thinking oh my god we've blown it here and then just in case just in case you can't work out from their faces which they don't do it yeah thank god they don't do it because it's so you have to be your own you know have to gloss your own appearance then suddenly there was an intervention from joe wicks and it was like oh i see that's nice he really likes he was the gas dragon that week um and then it was like oh hang on a second you could see everyone he said i loved you i and also i like people who I love quitters because they both left their jobs to do it and that was a nice line and so you saw the others smiling and then you're thinking oh hang on and then there's some hopeful music so you're like hang on have they got this in the bag so again I mean Lydia's absolutely right there is a narrative that has to be written here and with all reality shows the thing you have to remember is the editor knows the ending so the editor knows where we're headed the editor knows that we are going to be pleased at the end because they know the beginning which is oh we like these two and we like this story we know the end which is they are going to get money so in between those two things i have to think of a series of things firstly there are five different dragons all of whom have slightly different takes on what this is and all of you have to be edited in you can't sort of you know just because tuker decides he wants to be out you can't just go oh let's forget tuker it doesn't matter let's just say old tuker was out so you have to edit all of those things in to tell that story you also as you say i know what's going to happen which is they're going to make the money i have to inject some jeopardy into it that suggests they might not get the money because as a viewer you know i thought so that has to be in there and then it happens that the offer they get is quite a complicated one because everyone pretty much wants a piece of it uh apart from the but you know i think peter and tuka both go out early but everyone else wants a piece of it and then they have a negotiation as to what different pieces of it they want and this is be where the two hours is there would have been lots and lots of extra discussions about all sorts of things and the editor has to go what does the viewer actually need to know here what are the final terms i know what the final terms are which are you're going to get this percentage you're going to get this percentage you're adding a little bit extra steven for for this so i know that i know what wasn't involved in the final uh conclusion so anything that doesn't get involved in the final conclusion i can lose all these other kind of minor little points i can lose all of that because i'm heading towards one particular place which is steven put some money in deborah put some money in steven offers something extra a little else sarah slightly gets gazumped those are the only things i that's the story i need to tell because that's the conclusion and with that edit you saw okay so if steven gets to be the it becomes slightly steven's story so steven at first looks very skeptical oh it's you vote you're only going every month then he says well hang on scaling a social network is like chewing glass again if you're in the edit you love that because it's very very evocative you two did a response to it which was like well we can chew glass we can chew glass which is the perfect response okay great so you understood you understood how that would work as part i mean he understood later on by the way when when he is then thinking when other people are in he's kind of going oh but listen i can chew glass for you i can yeah i can do that all he wants to choose so much glass i've already Yeah, they actually left too much of the phrase chewing glass in because it was so evocative.

18:35But anyway, there was nice sort of cutaways for all of that. And then at the very end, the cheeky counters to it, they always like if people have a little bit of fight in the conflab at the end. Yeah, you have the going to the wall, which is very, very useful in the edit, because that's the point where the two of you are able to, you know, I think they say to each other, we said, look, 6 % is the most we can possibly go to. So again, we kind of get something there. They come back and counter. I can't think of as Lydia, Countess Stevens. So they deal with it in a very smart, very tough way. But essentially it is, I know you're in there for two hours, but 20 minutes is a lot of television.

19:10The editor knows what happens in the end and has to make that satisfying for a viewer, has to make it understandable for the viewer and has to make it triumphant for the viewer. Absolutely. I think the fact she's asking this question is significant though because maybe it felt far more formless. in the moment and this order has been imposed on it in retrospect. I wonder if that's why Lydia asked that question, but only you can tell us like how long you spent at the wall, how long, I mean, I'm fascinated by it all. And also just as a tiny little coda to this, you know that they heard that they'd got the spot on it when they were on their way back from Glastonbury and they basically had to sort of divert.

19:48Oh no. Yeah, I know. They had 12 hours in a hotel room to just like refine the pit. So it's a real, like they had to rush and do that. And, you know, they put it all together in a kind of last minute. And it was a real... Oh, it was a triumph. It came off. And all of it is nice. And you get the posting afterwards. They all say, look, these two are just super investable. And they are. And so Stephen puts in 50 grand and has got them, like, working in his office. And that was like... And also, I can add that you can work in my office and have this office space. And you're thinking... He can't say office space.

20:22He has to say penthouse. Yeah, yeah. Of course he does. Well, he can sell, can't he? but you're thinking Stephen's thinking great I've got two unbelievably talented people and they're literally on the floor below me so I can just you know Stephen's getting something out of that as well you know but it was great storytelling but what a lovely question to get from somebody who's been in the middle of that process but I hope that you also felt you were properly represented and if you don't then you should have done because you came across brilliantly yeah you really did yeah and thank you for saying that the podcast is the bomb thank you alright shall we now go to a break yes please

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23:14welcome back everybody andy stafford has a question this is a think piece this question i'd be interested in your view um i don't know what i think about it so i'm happy to discuss andy stafford says do you think there is any mileage in producing a version slash cut of the traitors where the audience are also unaware of the identity of the traitors okay the second i heard this question i thought oh like would romeo and juliet be better if you didn't know they were going to die sorry what it's in like probably the eighth line of the prologue richard so it i'm not doing i was looking at my program i was i was i had my maltesers okay yeah right well if you watch it again in the prologue that they're going to die in romeo and juliet yes crazy what's he thinking i don't know you know what it was a hit well yes i suppose so plays or hits business and And this one is a hit.

24:07I'm never absolutely sure. When I watch a TV programme and they have like a big thing and then it goes three months earlier. I'm like, oh, I don't know. Yeah, that's annoying. I agree. But you know what? It often works. Well, that's dramatic irony. If we know. And that's dramatic irony. Sorry, and The Traitors is an absolute prime example of dramatic irony is that you know more, the audience knows more, and it really adds tension, it adds comedy. Let's go back. The Mole, which is a show, a similar-ish show, okay? they didn't tell people which is another format they didn't tell people there were clues hidden in the episodes and the editing both visual and verbal clues all editions kept it that way wherever they had them all people who were involved in that said it made it hard because so much is then on the edit and you have to create suspicion with the edit and also Stephen Lambert himself the head of Studio Lambert who makes The Traitors has said he thought that that was maybe a drawback to that one and actually he thinks it's great that um you know more and that you you don't you're not watching a show where you feel like you're being lied to in the edit um and you know you're given all the information he acknowledges that when it um was the original format which was um in holland it was a hard sell for the people who originally came up with it because they were like i'm sorry what you give it all away by just saying who the traders are right from the start and they're like no no that will be like the real that will be the good bit yeah the round table is the dramatic heart of the show they've obviously made the tasks much better and they've done that principally by making them hilariously gothic and camp which i love but you want to watch the round table now without our knowledge of who the traitors were that experience would be significantly diminished why would you diminish it by not letting us know by the way um andy is right there is a part of that round table that would be improved and there's one part of that round table which is we would see the person get up and say if they're a traitor or not a traitor and in traditional game shows that's a that's a big big big moment but what you gain on the swings there you do definitely lose on the roundabouts because even when you have that reveal you know that you are going to see the people seeing that reveal as well it's essentially like watching a football match and you know you you to watch a football match you do you do have to hear from both sides you do need to know what tactically is happening and the show is much improved by hearing the traitors talk about what's just happened and you know what their tactic is and how they feel like you know i can't believe that alan said all done uh you know out loud to me just all of those little things so instinctively it feels like you shouldn't know because guessing games are very very important but this is not a guessing game this is a this is a strategic game show and to watch a strategic game show you need to hear the strategy i agree so think about what it gives you dramatic you know we as we've always said you know you're the traitor is a strong position because it allows you to control the game think it's often think about these things as though they were fictions and it really helps you understand what's happening because people trying to control events often good people trying to control events or good people doing bad things you know at one level it can be walter white in breaking bad and events have a way of going beyond your control or it can be alan carr having a meltdown over the lily pollen murder it's It's like, you know, sometimes good people have to do bad things.

27:31And knowing that that's what's happening really gives you something. And drama is often a quest. And when I'm talking about drama, yes, I'm talking about fiction, but I'm also talking about what they're trying to create here. It's definitely a quest in this. And it helps you in drama to know what will happen if the hero or anti-hero, because it's kind of an anti-hero show, what will happen if what they want and what will happen if they don't achieve their goal. drama comes in the conflict and all the stuff about drama comes things that basically prevent or divert the hero from reaching their goal and they may attain it in the end or they may not but it helps to know that they're trying to reach that goal and it helps to know who the hero is helps to know yes absolutely and it helps to see how they're becoming diverted and it helps to know what will happen if they don't get that yeah and we know all of those things one of the key driving points of the entire format and the entire show is seeing the powerlessness of the faithful and just seeing them desperately try and find something and seeing how hard that is for them.

28:30And if you did not know who the traitors were, that would also be you as a viewer. You kind of think, I sort of don't have enough information to be going on here and I'm not going to find out that information until episode 12 or something like that. It's just you lose so much by not knowing. You lose so much of the joy of the gameplay. And traitors is only one thing and it is gameplay. that's all that's happening here. Heroes and anti-heroes. There is nothing else happening but gameplay and if you are only seeing half the gameplay you're not seeing the game so it feels like we would like you know feels like it would be a fun intellectual exercise to be able to watch a whole series not knowing who the traitors were and it would be a fun intellectual exercise for sure but it would only be a fun intellectual exercise having watched it knowing who the traitors were in other series.

29:19And I have to say just as a tiny little coda to all of that your question which suggests that you know you could just produce a cut the other way oh my god it's like okay the level of intricacy and it's no mean thing to make it takes months to make it would be an entirely different program it would take you months because to create a cut and it is a brilliantly edited show is the work of months and so to say could you just knock me off one while we don't know it's like yeah have you got six months yeah this is a lovely question from Stephanie Shrubb. On Strictly this week, Ellie and Vito danced to a version of Elton John's Your Song, which had been specially rearranged to be in three, four time to fit their waltz.

29:59I'd like to know how far in advance the songs are selected. And if the original track needs more than a simple edit, what do the couples rehearse to? My God, genuinely, the whole, so Dave Arch, who runs the band on Strictly, and is like a genius. He's a conductor. He's got like a million credits as well. So he's like, sometimes people go, So, oh, Dave Archie is the Strictly guy. He is a lot more than that, but Strictly is a thing that he's obviously known for in the public eye. It is one of those things you think, oh, I hope that's kind of simple. I hope that's fun for Dave and his incredible band and his incredible singers.

30:31It genuinely sounds like one of the toughest jobs in show business. So you will be getting, essentially, what the songs will be on the Sunday. So Dave will have that on the Sunday. So he'll know roughly what the songs are and his band will know what the songs are and some songs they'll know, some songs they won't um they will also know what dances those songs are going to be for so they'll have an idea of you know timings and this out of the other it is then a sort of back and forth across the whole week they've just spoken about this extensively uh it's a back and forth across the whole week of exactly what the dancers want exactly what dave thinks works in time you know in terms of what you can edit out of a song how you can shunt a song together so they will be essentially the stars they are definitely not rehearsing to the final track it's a it is it is a back and forth and it's only on the the friday i think that they have the first rehearsal where it's dave's final version of the track and the dancers dancing to that song as well so it's one of those things where it is just a dance uh between the two sides of these things but because dave is so brilliant and because his musicians are so brilliant because his singers are so brilliant Dave can be more flexible than the dancers can be essentially what the dancers want has primacy in terms of here's the choreography here's the thing I need it to be here's the length I need it to be I need to not have that middle eight I need the need it to be a different time it's so complicated I don't know how they do it I need the chorus to repeat especially at this stage when you've got this many happening I just you've got that many happening exactly you know and listen most of you he's got this incredible band who can play everything and anything but they also they're going to be doing this live and they don't have a huge amount of rehearsals and anything you get wrong is immediately apparent to the dancers and is an immediate issue to the dancers Dave Arch even says even you know I've been in this 20 years and I still have sleepless nights he says especially like on a Friday night I literally will have a sleepless night because I'm aware of all the things that can go wrong but it is a testament to the skill of musicians who played everything forever and it is a testament to the producers to be fair who were between the two the choreographers and the band and just making sure that everyone is kept in the loop at all times but if there is any sort of dispute then the musicians will have to come over towards the dancers apart from you know if there's something that physically cannot be done but everything will be done to make sure the dancers have the things that they need because they're the ones who are practicing all week but dave has to be incredibly flexible in what he does and how he does it and i genuinely when you you see it and you hear it and it's it feels seamless absolutely phenomenal i i literally it will give me a sleepless night if i even try and think how they do it dave asleep this night and he knows he knows how it's done but it makes me think because he looks so jolly at the beginning of the episode and the band you know you know belting out these amazing songs and you know this and just the again with strictly so many people at the top of their games there and dave arch and his band what they do and that the incredible gang of singers he has as well it's really really really difficult what they do and you would never notice you would never ever spot how hard they are all working all the time and the things they've had to do and the compromises they've had to make half an hour before sometimes it's you know it's It's tiny little tweaks going right up to the last minute.

34:03But genuinely, you have to take your hat off to everyone involved there. It's so phenomenal. The production on it is so phenomenal. The sets, the costumes, everything about it is the sort of apogee of what you'd want to be working on. He wrote the theme tune to GMTV, Dave Arch. Paul Farah got in touch, the guy who wrote the chase theme. Yeah, he's one of the great TV composers. yes and said he'd really enjoyed all the whole chat about it and said but yeah no control so it's as well as being the theme for the chase it's also the theme for the nightly news in the philippines and romania so the chase theme tune is so i like that yeah if you're if you're in a romanian hotel room and suddenly going oh the chase oh no it's the news oh and paul farrow also so he helped us out with um some stuff on the um on theme tunes and he said something about the Fawlty Towers theme tune and now he's in John Cleese's new book which is all about Fawlty Towers but talking about the theme tune so that's nice lovely yeah right I think that about wraps us up for today I very much enjoyed that and we'll be back with a bonus about reality TV impresario monster hilarious figure Mike Darnell and other than that we'll see you next Tuesday see you next Tuesday

35:28This episode was brought to you by Sky. Skyglass is the new television from Sky, the kind that makes your old telly feel like a dress rehearsal. This is the big screen premiere right there in your living room. Because it's not just about pixels and settings, it's about the experience. Skyglass has auto-adjust, which cleverly adapts to whatever you're watching. And the built-in Dolby sound makes dialogue sharper, footsteps nearer storms louder take the secret world of sound on sky nature frogs croak like brass sections bats click like castanets and even the hush between feels designed for surround sound it's less like nature recorded more like nature remixed and then there's david attenborough his voice warmer than central heating turning baby caimans and prowling hyenas into shakespearean characters that's when you realize sky glass doesn't just show tv it was built to collaborate with it the unsung producer behind every great scene visit sky.com requires relevant sky tv subscriptions broadband recommended minimum speed 30 megabits per second 18 plus uk channel islands and isle of man only and doug here we have the limo emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with liberty mutual fascinating it's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

36:49Uh, Lemu? Is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need at LibertyMutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Savings very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts. Alistair Campbell here from The Rest is Politics. Now, we've just released a series on one of the most controversial and consequential people of the past 50 years, Rupert Murdoch. I think you can argue that he is the most consequential figure of the second half of the 20th century. He holds power longer than anyone else in our time.

37:23And it's meaningful power. It's phenomenal power. Power without responsibility, the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages. This is where he becomes not just a newspaper owner, he becomes a major newsmaker. Fuck, Dacre, publish. There is always a premium on bringing him gossip. I don't know what you mean by downmarket and upmarket. That is so English class-ridden snobbery when you talk like that. How you get it doesn't make any difference. Actually, to be perfectly honest, whether it's true or not doesn't make much difference. There is a massive, massive scandal brewing. This was industrial, illegal activity.

38:02And that, I think, is what really cuts through to the public and thinks you people are really, really bad. I would just like to say one sentence. This is the most humble day of my life. There is no Donald Trump without Fox News. His dream was always to elect a president of the United States. The bitter irony is that that turned out to be Donald Trump. On the end, he detests. He is conquering the world. There's nothing less than this methodical, step-by-step progress to take over everything. to hear more just search the rest is politics wherever you get your podcasts

From the publisher

Is Dave Arch the most stressed man in British telly? Should the Rock be sweating about his latest flop? Could you cut a 'blind' version of The Traitors?

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