Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - 82: Fringe Benefits & Erotic Gardening

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Should Zoe go full fringe? And should Jo really be lending that famously soothing voice to… erotic gardening fiction? This week, Dig It asks far more questions than it answers. Watch or listen now.You can find out more about Elizabeth Honey and The British Flower Movement here: https://britishflowersmovement.co.uk/ GET IN TOUCH📧 Email us: [e-mail]📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp: https://wa.me/447477038795SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER👉 https://digitpod.substack.com/subscribeKELLOGG’S CLUB BREAKFASTJo is headlining a one-off breakfast rave for over-50s at The Lower Third in London on Saturday 18th April, starting at 09:00. There are 200 free tickets available (ticketed but free - registration required): https://Kelloggs_ClubBreakfast.eventbrite.co.ukDIG IT x FOTHERGILL’S – SOW & TELL SEEDSWe’ve teamed up with Fothergill’s to bring you our very own Sow & Tell seed packs - featuring cosmos and cherry tomatoes.Become an annual member of The Potting Shed to receive your seeds plus a Dig It tote bag:https://digit.supportingcast.fm/Check out amazing seasonal highlights at https://mr-fothergills.co.uk/ GET IN TOUCH📧 Email us: [e-mail]📱 Text or Voice Note: 07477 038795💬 Or tap here to send a voice note or message on WhatsApp:⁠ ⁠https://wa.me/447477038795SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS🌍 VisitScotland — Discover Scotland in spring, from the dramatic coastline and castles of Aberdeenshire to the ancient landscapes of Orkney. Start planning your own escape at www.tripadvisor.co.uk/scotland🌿 Ancient + Brave — Support your daily routine with Ancient + Brave Wild Collagen. Just one scoop in your morning drink, completely neutral in taste, and designed to support joints, energy, and recovery. Get 20% off your first three subscription orders, a free ritual scoop and £5 off your first order at www.ancientandbrave.earth/planet using code DIGIT5CREDITSExec Producer: Jonathan O’SullivanProducer: Samantha PsykAssistant Producer: Eve JonesTechnical Producer: Oliver GeraghtyVideo Editors: Cameron Laird and Jack Whiteside

Coming up on Dig It's. Our very own Zoe Ball has been featured on Anton Decks podcast. Oh dear. It's from April 1994. Are you ready for this? Oh, Lord. He just drove over all the pots for the daily tubers in. And I was like, what the hell?

Stop it. What is going on? He was like, what, what? You crushed my tubas, idiot. I've got a huge bush out the front. I've heard. Hang on. I've never seen it.

But I thought that one has recently been tended. I've had a word of myself. All of that right after this. One ice coffee? 99 cents, please. For real? No way. Mmm.

Hmm. One ice coffee? 99 cents, please. For real? No way. Mmm. What a deal. Your new morning groove.

Ice coffee from McDonald's any size for just 99 cents till 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary cannot be combined with any other offer. But-da-ba-ba-ba-ba. Hey, good morning. It's Wednesday. It's time for another dig it. Zoe, how you doing? Thank goodness you're here, Joe.

That's all I can say. Do you know what our diggers don't see is the mad dash rush of both you and I. Our fantastic team are online. They're all ready to go. And then there's this crazy sort of 20 minutes when you and I come in and out of shot with various bits of makeup, children, props, notepads. It's absolute carnage. But by the time we go on air, we, we,

look like, you know, it's serene and it's all calm. We should show the sort of Benny Hill music speeded up. Ditt d' d'dl. D'allel. D'Adle. D'A D'A D'Alemble. I always forget the flowers. I was running at the last second with the flowers. I'm just like, oh, just remember to buy them. I'm going to have them on shot. I know. I feel for these tulips, they've been shoved into a very small space. But anyone who's worried about their welfare, don't worry, they will be moved after the recording of this ball. They've like shoved into a small. Get in there. Great. Make a My hair's gone disaster as well, Joe. I'm having a hate my hair week.

I don't know what to do with it. My daughter has been laughing at me a lot because I keep trying to buy these. They're effectively toupees online that give you a fringe, okay? Okay, I'm going to put my glasses on to study you in this. Some of them are quite good. Some of them are terrible because I'm behind them online, so I'm trying to match my hair color. Like this. Baby toupees.

This, yes. So effectively what you do is you put it over your own hair here and then it gives you a fringe. I've actually got a photograph of me in this one. I can't put it on now because I'll just look like someone who's two-paced slipped. I won't make you do that, yeah. You know when you see people and you're like it's just slightly slipped. But they're actually quite good. Unless you do that, it's going to look terrible.

I knew you do it. I knew you do it. But. Let's have a look. Oh, you look like you're 14. No, you look like you're doing live and kicking. But this is what I want. I want to look, no, I want to look younger.

No, it's just whether I cut a fringe back in or not. If anyone has grown their hair out like this and has recently cut their fringe back in and felt great again, will you let me know, diggers? Because it is that age old, age old thing, in or out? I'll send you the picture of me in this one. It looks quite good, but I don't know if I'd be brave enough to wear it out. I think I might go the wig route, you know. That's what Joan Collins did for years.

Barbara Windsor. Dolly. Can I bring back the wigs? each week, see if you can tell if my hair's real or a wig? I don't know. Do you know, we are, we are absolute peas in a pod. I'm going to the hairdressers this afternoon, five o'clock, I've got an appointment to do my fringe, like because it's, I'd had it crore, I'm now hiding under my fringe, but I've had a little tiny, wispy fringe cut in a while ago and it's now growing back. And so I'm going to have that chopped a little bit. And I'm Joelle, who does my hair, is always

like, are we going full fringe this time? Are we going to do it? Is this the time we're going to do it? And I've been having the same debate about whether I, I go chunky fringe or whether I keep it a wispy fringe. Oh, yeah. So I'm doing that today as well. So our hair is obviously in sync. We both think of our hair and then chop it and grow it. I think it's often a seasonal change.

As the seasons change, I always am like, right, I want to change my hair. And it's always that thing of don't do anything drastic. Just, you know, you know what works. But at the moment, I keep looking at Nicole Kidman and Kylie Minogue thinking, I want my hair like that, that kind of shaggy, Fringe. I want some hair pieces. That's what Coco's got. Coco's got the wolf cut and it looks so good. Oh my God. Yeah. And she doesn't think twice about doing it. Like she's like, oh yeah, cut me fringe. It's fine. Whereas you and I are going, oh, I'm going to buy a wig, a two pay fringe to see whether it works. But also at her age, she, you know, she's young. She looks fabulous. She will look great whatever she does her hair. And the wolf cut does look so good. Well, let's look forward to the pod next week. If you listen to us, you might want to check out our socials feed so you can see if we have both end up with fringes next week or if I'd do something really drastic.

If you're loving Dig It So Far, why not hit follow or subscribe? And that way you'll get brand new episodes as soon as they're out. I just want to mention a lady that I met on the train yesterday. I was waiting on the platform. This really such a cool woman came up to me and actually we're on the train platform. and she was like, I know you hate this, but I just want to say I really love Digget. A, why would I hate anybody saying that? I'd love hearing from people saying that they enjoy the podcast.

So it's really nice to meet her and know that she likes following our lives and what's going on. And she's the same kind of age, I think, as me probably. And she mentioned the arthritis. And she went, it's just really good, the stuff to relate to. And our families, she likes all that. And she went, and also I've got arthritis in my fingers. So when you were talking about that, I really related. So the pair of us on the platform, and Milton Keynes, yesterday,

holding our fingers up. It looked like we were entering some kind of wonky vegetable competition in the village hall because our fingers look like wonky carrots. Right. And it's the first time I've met another woman who's got similar kind of thing as me

where your fingers just go in different directions. They're really knobbly. And she was saying, you know, you mentioned about how you feel embarrassed about your fingers and how you hate them and I do as well. And it was just so nice to meet another person

who's going through the same kind of thing. And I just did the usual questions. What have you found that works? She said nothing apart from cutting out of sugar, which she thinks might work. And yeah, and exercise. We both agree that exercise was a really good thing. But basically, there is very little to do and that there are worse things that can happen to you. So you just kind of live with it. But also, it really freaking hurts at times. So Jill, thank you. I just, I loved our conversation. I wanted to hug you, but I was trying to be restrained and cool. But it was

good. It was definitely like a wonky vegetables competition, though. That was what I took away. Oh, bless. It's a meat diggers all the time. I met a really lovely lady who had enjoyed the pod who had lost her husband last year. And do you know what? She was so full of life and joy. And I left the conversation quite emotional thinking about her and her terrible loss. And she was just so lovely and really lovely. And people are coming up now saying, I'm a digger.

I'm a digger. Which is such a lovely thing to be greeted with. So yeah, diggers, we adore you. And I love that our community is spreading and expanding. And that's the thing. It's just finding some, you know, even if it's not everything we talk about, there's always something that we're talking about. People are going, oh, yeah.

Oh, yes. I hear you. I understand. And I love that about our community. A problem shared is a problem halved. And I think that's what we're doing on the pod. We're just all sharing our experiences talking about the things that can sometimes get us down, that sometimes really make us laugh.

And we have built this wonderful community of people. who will feel a little bit better every week just by hearing us chat about this stuff and getting involved in the conversation. So thank you and keep on doing it, keep on sharing whatever's going on. If there's something that's happening to you and going on in your world that we haven't covered yet and you're sitting there thinking, God, maybe it's just me that's got this going on. Tell us, and I can guarantee you now there will somebody else out there going through the same thing and you might feel better for sharing it or you might have a laugh sharing it with us. So show notes is where you always head to to tell us your stories. And do keep approaching us in the street or in the supermarket tickets because we do love meeting you out and about.

Now, we recently read an article about how we're currently, Joe, in a smut renaissance, would you believe? Think Wuthering Heights, which I've still not seen. Bridgeton's been quite racy. Heated rivalry, my goodness, I had to watch through my fingers. I haven't finished it yet. I really must. But sexy film and telly is everywhere at the moment. erotic audio fiction is also a big thing. Did you know that?

No, I did not. Yeah. Now I'm going where and when do you listen to it. I'm obviously stupid question. When do you listen to? I think I'd be definitely not want to listen to erotic audio fiction on the train, but maybe people do. Who knows? I mean, people get their kicks in strange ways.

But it got the team thinking, Joe. Yeah. Our very own, Joe, as we know, is the voice for Couch to 5K. You've helped a lot of people. As we have voiceover royalty in our midst, we were wondering if we could persuade you to read out some saucy fiction. We also might find you a little sideline because you've got so much time on your hands, Joe. You know, this could be an extra little feather to your bow. So we found a lovely extract for you.

to read. Are you up for giving this a go? Oh, God. I can only imagine the conversations that have gone on in the Diggett office and people go, actually, I've quite ordered, who's done the research for this? Who's been going through all the passages and trying to find the right thing for me to read? I'd be very, very interested, Jonathan. That would be... I know, Jonathan gets the blame for everything. And rightfully so. Yeah, oh, I mean, I'll give it a go. In the same way that the minute Monti Don said, hello ladies, last week on the pod and my little

tummy did a flip. You have a very sexy voice. That's why we all love listening to you in the evening at the radio as well, because it's really calm and, yeah. So here we go, Joe. We have an exclusive extract from the latest work of erotic fiction by an author we're calling Ophelia Bush. Can I just say, I think my voice might be calming. I'm not convinced it's sexy. So, God, this is, I mean, I'm blushing already. This could be so embarrassing and I'm cringing.

I'm really sorry to my children. and if you're listening to this or watching it, I'm really, really sorry. I'm going to do it for the love of Diggett and the love of Zoe Ball. I will go through this. Think sexy reindeer, okay? Here we go. Oh, God. Hang on, I don't really want to have my gloss on if I'm trying to be sexy.

Slow are the lights, everyone. The head gardener leaned over the raised bed, sleeves pushed high. Forearms dusted with soil as he worked to the earth with slow, deliberate strokes. of his trowel. The garden was bursting this time of year, swollen tomatoes, heavy courgettes, cucumbers hanging thick and glossy from their vines. Good Lord, I murmured, clutching my truck. Everything looks so... Is this sexy in any way, shape or form? I feel ridiculous. It's working for me. Oh, good. He gave a low chuckle. That's what happens when something's been properly tended, he said, gripping the handle of his tool and pressing it deep into the soft, yielding soil.

You have to loosen the ground first, work it gently, get it nice and ready before you put anything in it. I stepped closer, watching him cradle a particularly proud cucumber in his palm. It was long, firm and practically straining at the vine. This one looks rather eager, I said. You should feel how firm it is when it's fully grown, he said. It takes a steady hand to handle something like this. Oh my God. Oh my God.

Oh, my. Oh, my. I'm so humiliating. I'm really sorry, everybody. I'm sorry, children. I feel your pain, but Joe, you did that way too well. Well, I always wanted to read Jack and Ori. I always wanted to do Jackanori.

So maybe this is the closest I'll get sexy Jackanori. Sexy. I know, why do they never do the late-night version of Jackanori? Well, they will now. Well, they did, didn't they? Who was it? Who did it? Tom, who's the guy that everyone fancies?

The de Jekinori. I mean, he did it. Tom? Tom. Hardy did it. That was, that was, he kind of did it for the adults, I think. Oh. No, didn't he do a CBB story, but the adults just fancied him doing it. That's what I meant.

Yeah. Yay. Yeah, that's what I meant. I don't know if it was intentionally sexy. He just is sexy. I don't know. That young lady was fabulous. And Disco Steve, you might want to take some extra bookings because I think Joe's found her niche.

The things I do for Dig It, Disco Steve is in my bad books at the moment because we had a, we had actually had a nice day with some sunshine and did some gardening. And I got the daily tubas into their pot. So there's about 12, 15 of them there or waiting. Parked them, parked them up like by the window, put them close to the window. And then I watched yesterday as he reversed his car and I was like, oh good. just going around and he's avoiding the pots. No, he just plowed straight over the top of them. So he just drove over all the pots with the daily tubers in. He did it. And I was like, stop it. What the hell? What is going on? He was like, what, what, what? He said, you crush my tubas, idiot. It's like a scene out of keeping up appearances. Absolutely hilarious. How could he not

see, why they're not, you're not going to be able to see they're going to be low, aren't they? He's honestly, so were you going to make him repot them later? Yeah. The morning he went this weekend you know what I'm going to do I'm going to mow the lawn and I just pointed the daylust and I was like and when are you going to do the daylies? He went after I've mowed the lawn. I'm that person who goes into the like where the washing machine is where I've got this is the only sort of warm little spot that isn't going to you know be attacked by members of the family and I've got four six I think six daily pots and three of them are doing great and the others I'm looking at and where are you are I'm so sad I go in there I can

a little bit of water, talk to them. Anyway, that will be you when Disco has re, re, re-potted them. I know it's going to be me. I know I'm going to be the one that's doing it. You're going to do it, aren't you? I've got no illusions whatsoever, absolutely. Now listen, our very own Zoe Ball has been featured on Anton Deck's podcast. Oh dear.

They have a feature where Deck reads from his 90s diary during the PJ and Duncan era. And this extract that we've got here is from April 1994. Are you ready for this? This is Deck writing. about shooting a film for the big breakfast. This is your time to blush. Let's take a listen. Zoe Ball was there.

Right. Did we like her? Well, in brackets, I've written, Hello. Can we get Zoe Ball on the podcast? Because someone's a big fan. In Brackens are written, Hello.

I obviously took a shine to Zoe Ball that day. Is it a carry-on movie in your head? Oh. How lovely is that? Do you remember this? I don't remember them being at the Big Breakfast, but I did have a crush on deck. On deck?

I had a crush on him for years. I first interviewed them at Biker Grove for the ozone. And I thought, oh, he's such a sweetheart. But hey, what could have been, what could have been, I think that was my skinny era. Your life could have been so, so different. Imagine the pair of you. Well, we would have been quite an odd pairing, I think, but I've always had a soft spot for Dekies

a darling. I'll have to check my diary from 1994 and see if it is equally as what was this, what was his name or was he used to say, hello. Not Nigel Havers, was it? No. Oh, Leslie Phillips. Leslie Phillips. Ding, Dom. Hello. Hello. Oh, Dick, if I'd only known, I would have taken you for a tizer. The crushes you have at the time and you don't ever tell anyone. And so, you know, in our situation, when you interview them or any situation and you meet someone, you're just like, I must not let them know that I quite like them actually. And they never do know.

And that's probably the best way. Who was your biggest music crush when I knew you were going to say that? Well, because the thing is, there were times where I was like, please don't make me interview these people. because if you've got a crush on them, it's so hard because you're trying to be so cool. And then failing now I'd be absolutely fine because I think I've gotten over all my crushes because you get old and you realise actually that, you know,

it's like you can admire people from afar, but there's very few people who would properly make me go weaker the knees now. I just admire them now really more than go, I'm in love with him. Yeah. Which, you know, sort of happened every day then. I was quite fickle. Well, it was a hormonal thing, wasn't it?

I mean, we're dealing with entirely different hormones now. That was a tingle. Now we don't have those tingles so much. We don't have it anymore. It's like absolutely no feeling whatsoever. No, I'm kidding. Right, it's time for sew and tell now. And Elizabeth Honey has put together a display of seasonal British flowers for us. She's the founder of the British flower movement and is really passionate about encouraging people to buy locally grown flowers over imports. Elizabeth has sent in some of the flowers she's championing this spring.

anemones which have soft papery petals with really striking dark centres. They look almost hand-painted and are a nunculus, often called mini-peonies, loads of delicate layers and perfect if you can't wait for peony season. Pianee-nese, I think, is a gardening broadcaster's nightmare, don't you? To say that word. If I was doing, can you imagine if you're doing gardeners world or you're doing Chelsea and you have to say that? In case you say, pee on me. I'd just say, no, I'd see penises all the time.

I love that. I'm thinking of golden showers and you're thinking of cock. I mean, that's absolutely classic. Here's Elizabeth with some of the basic steps if you want to try making an arrangement at home. You only need a few stems of flowers for a beautiful display when you have a narrow-necked vase. A milk bottle is perfect. Choose three or five flowers plus some foliage. Here I've got some eucalyptus and some rosemary, both with a lovely scent. And I've got three flowers here.

Nice, Marie. Good idea. Fill the vase with water and cut the first stem and place it in the vase. Always cut diagonally so the stem can take in as much water as possible. And make sure there's no greenery in the water. Then add your second stem, either making it taller or shorter than the first one. Remember to remove the foliage from beneath the water line. And keep on going like that until you've used up all your flowers. a great and cheap way to have flowers in your life

while supporting our flower growers in the UK. Oh, isn't that beautiful? I never stick rosemary in and I've got a huge bush out the front. I've heard. Hang on. Yes, it's... I've never seen it. That one has recently been tended.

I've had a word of myself. No, but I have got loads of rosemary. So I could use that. That's a really great idea. And I'm really lucky at the end of my road, I've got Go Botanica just by Hove Station and I love the girls who run that is the most amazing florists

they are so fabulous they've got them all over the place they're a really lovely team I adore them and they have such amazing flowers and it's such a lovely thing because you see people come out of Hove Station and pick you know lovely and they do things like they have little jars

little jars that you can take home and then you can bring your jar back so if you don't want to buy a big bouquet because it can be quite a bit of money You can buy something just like Elizabeth's made there, but look, we can make them ourselves. Isn't that gorgeous? So rosemary eucalyptus again smells so gorgeous. How lovely to be shown how to do things.

I mean, for ages I was just stuck with the supermarket flowers that are around. And then once my flowers in the garden grow, then I can actually put them into vases myself. There's a really great business that's opened up near us called Chapel and Co. And they're just supplying all the little villages around me with some amazing flowers, something a little bit different from supermarkets. But it's just so nice to be shown how to cut your flowers, how to arrange things, and different things like eucalyptus and rosemary to put in the vase to make things look better. Exactly. Because when you get a seasonal flowers and you get like friegers and they smell really lovely. But there's often not a lot that will smell really nice.

So the idea of putting rosemary and eucalyptus, that's such a lovely thing. And a very lovely thing to have for your weekend. And also they make really nice gifts. You know when you go around to someone's house or a friend of yours having a bit of a rubbish time. I always think it's such a lovely gift just to take, you know, even a jam jar. I keep all my jam jars in the cupboard for, I don't know why I keep them because I don't do anything with them, but I'm like, oh, we could do that with my jam jars and put some flowers in.

My peonies have just started coming up. I've never tried growing renunculus. Have you tried? No, I haven't. No, no, there's something I haven't got in the garden. They are beautiful. Can I also say, Elizabeth, because we're proud, happens to be aunt to, she's auntie to our very own Ollie who works on the podcast and we love you, Ollie. And so does your auntie, very much indeed.

It's a great time of year. I mean, we say this every week, but it's just, it's ramping up. It's getting better and better. At the moment, everything's coming up in the garden, but you can see the gaps and you can, it's that kind of time to step back, have a look and see where you need to buy something new and put it in. So I've got a ridiculous shopping list at the moment. I've got a load of sweet peas, which I've ordered, which I can't, can't wait to get in the ground, eventually in pots. But then I need some giant Annabels. I need some pianists. I need some ornamental poppies. Trailing rosemary. I put some of those out last year. And they are just coming out now.

And if you get the blue one, it's just beautiful. Really nice to underplant when you're doing a container. So it's just like, oh, I'm fizzing with ideas and energy and creativity at the moment in the garden. It's a really, really wonderful time. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting in the garden this weekend, actually. Fingers crossed if it stays. Every time I go to go out there, we pours the brain. I'm like, no, I just want to dig.

Please let me dig. So fingers crossed, yeah, that will happen soon. It's time to do our crate digging for this week. So this is stuff that we are particularly enjoying, stuff that we're loving, either reading or listening to. And a bit of vinyl that I would like to bring to your attention is from Ray. And it's an album called This Music May Contain Hope. I mean, this should be our mantra, shouldn't it?

This is everything that we need at the moment. We just need some hope. but this is such an ambitious and epic project. It's huge. It's bombastic. It's an odyssey. She obviously speaks from the heart always. Like when you watch her on stage,

I remember seeing her at Glastonbury plane to about 20 people and she just poured her heart out to everybody. She's so honest and her voice is incredible. I love Nightingale Lane, which was a recent single of hers. She's teamed up with Hans Zimmer as well on the record. And it's just great. It's really good. And you have to give it a lot of time.

You have to have an open mind. And at the end of it, you might feel a bit bambooz. but in the same way that we had Rosalia doing Lux, it's really lovely to have artists at the moment being massively wildly ambitious and showing us what they're capable of. So that's what Ray has done with this album. It's really good.

It's called This Music May Contain Hope. So I'm going to shove that in the crate and hopefully you'll dig it. And I wanted to mention also Flee's album. He's got an album out called Honora. I think that's how you say it. And it's a jazz project that he's done. And again, you know, it sounds pretty bonkers,

but actually it's a really lovely listen. It's something to have one in the background as you, I don't know, make up or crumble or whatever. He's done a cover of some of the good bits, Frank Oceans, thinking about you, which is really beautiful. He's teamed up with Nick Cave and done a cover of Wichita Lineman, which is beautiful. So it's just a really nice jazz experiment and it's flea experiment and it's flea from red hot chili peppers. Like everything is so unlikely, but it works. It really, really works. And I don't have the record here to show me, but I recommend you go to the record shop and you buy it yourself.

I'll be doing the same thing. Do you know what? My lovely local record shop, resident records that I love in the lanes in Brighton, they asked me to DJ on Records Store Day. And I was like, I'm too scared. I can't do it. I was like, I'll do anything else you want me to help. But I just can't do it, Joe.

I wish I could DJ. I mean, it's ridiculous. My job is to be a DJ, but not a DJ as in that you do when you go out. Yeah. When I'm doing a radio show, we've got a playlist and I might pick some things, but, you know, and I love talking about the music, but when it comes to actually choosing which record you put on when, how long I leave it on for, what I'll play next. Because my brain is so ADHD, I'm always like, oh, no, I don't want to play that anymore. I want to play this. And then I'll play this and I don't play this and I want to play that. And I just thought the idea of going into my favourite record shop and never being able to go back in again after completely clearing the place, DJing. But I wanted to say thank you to them for inviting me because I was really touched. For crate digging this week, I have two offerings for you. A sexy stential from Robin. I have always loved Robin and the music she makes and the feeling that she gives us.

And I will never forget that amazing footage of, was it in New York, the two platforms of people who'd been to see her and they're all just singing, dancing on your own and dancing in the, oh, she is such an amazing lady. She went out. She's had a baby. It was a great article this week about how she, I think her ideal baby daddy was added. driver. I'm re-watching girls. Oh, yeah. I was thinking,

you can see where that's come from. Obviously, not his character in girls. And she's had a baby and she's made this fantastic album. Dopamine has been on a loop in my head for so, so long.

And she's one brilliant pop star, sexy lady, writing her own rules, working with some amazing people. So I'm absolutely loving this. And actually the track, Existential is quite bonkers. It's quite out there.

But that is joyous. And another artist that I'm really loving is Lauren Order, who is I think British French. And her album is fantastic. It's one of those albums that I actually love from beginning to end. Because I'd heard Praxis on the radio quite a lot. And then also loving, yes, she's just Magnificent. And I first heard it. I was like, Lauren order, as in the television drama.

But no, it's Lauren and it's order A-U-D-E-R. I'll get the vinyl this week from Resident Records. I'll pop in and I'll put a picture up of it. So there too that I'm loving this week. And I also wanted to say thanks to one of our diggers. He sent a couple of books. Great pocket guide to houseplants, which if you are like me and underwater over water, never sure if you should cut dead leaves off or not.

This is really fabulous. Tells you all about the plants that are good and easy to grow, what they might be lacking. And also the good slug guide, which is wonderful. And after our great chat with Monty, it's absolutely pretty fascinating as well, the biology of a slug. So thank you very much to the fabulous digger

who sent these books in. Our diggers send us loads of wonderful things all the time. don't always get to mention them. So if you are the digger who sent us those two books, thank you very, very much indeed. I'm thoroughly enjoying them. I went out and looked at my aliums because I was seeing how my garden was growing and already all these tiny, tiny snails just munching their way through the leaves. I was like, no, I swear that you were green and healthy, like the last time I looked two days ago and now there's just kind of white and munched upon. And as I lifted them up, I was like, all right, there you are and just

patted them all off all these little tiny snails. I'm sure they're back there now. But they're out there and they're having a lovely time feasting on all the plants already. There you go. That's gardening for you. There's gardening for you. What can you do though? You've got to live, haven't you? In kind of, you know... Live and let live. Live and let live, as Monty would say. So excellent. But anything you're looking forward to, there's so many great albums coming out. There's lots of people doing amazing performances. There's lots of... I went to see Storn away at the Royal Albert Hall and they were so fantastic. They brought lots of nature with them

because Brian is obviously a massive ornithologist so we had like birds song I was thinking I hope Chris Packam is here he would love this and at one point they turned the whole the whole of the roll out of whole blue and played underwater like whale music whilst they had to reset for something

and it was really cute because some people were going like that pretending they were swimming and it was such a beautiful sing song whenever they do Josephine and Zorbing the whole black I mean there's something about those boys harmonies that reduced me to tears. I think I cried about three times. I kept like turning to my mate going. Sorry. Sorry. But there's just something joyous. And they had a Mexican

wave going. And my mate who was with me doesn't really do audience participation and just kept looking. I was like, it's right. You don't have to join him with a Mexican wave. But it was actually really joyous in the Royal Albert Hall. It worked. So well, I love that band. They've got a new album coming out much later in the year. I think it's in September. You can pre-order it now. So Stornoway, I adore you. You are. magnificent. I don't have you looking forward to is the right idea, but the landmarks half marathon, London landmarks half marathon. Oh, Joe. Looming. And I just, I'm going to say this here now. If you are doing the run and you see me. And if I'm walking, don't judge me because it was

something that I took on. And I wanted to do it because I've done it as a family. I've done it with my friend Amy. I've done half marathons with them. And we've had such a good time and it's been great. And I just felt like I needed something to motivate me to do some exercise. And I was trying to recreate what it was like before. And I hadn't taken into account how busy life is now and how everything's changed and how I'm physically not quite as fit. So it's been quite stressful just having it loom over you when you're like, oh my God, I really need to go out and run. But I'm just so exhausted. I can't do it.

So I'm kind of coming to peace with the fact that I might have to walk the half marathon. But that's okay because I'm doing it. And that's fine. I'm doing some exercise. So if you are doing the half marathon, if you see me at any point, don't judge me. but just give me a gentle pat on the shoulder or shout my name out and encourage me to get around because that is happening and I will do that and I will report back. I'm really proud of you for going and doing it anyway.

Honestly, I, because I would simply say your body, if your body's not up to it, you don't have to do it. But you are determined to do it, but you can just walk it. So bravo, my friend. And yeah, I hope it goes okay. And don't do yourself any damage, okay? Walking like a snail. I definitely won't. I know.

I'm also doing the, I've got the Olivier Awards in the evening because that was something that I really wanted to do. They asked me to work on them. And I was like, oh my God, yeah, I love theatre. And so I'm doing the half marathon in the morning and then I'm doing the Olivier Awards in the evening working for Radio 2 for that. So it's going to, it's a big day.

Will you be wearing a heel? No, I'm imagining not. Massive swollen feet crammed into heels. Let's see. I have no idea at the moment, but let's see. Do you know what? You may well surprise you're. yourself and have a double, double whammy of a joyous day because even the atmosphere of a half marathon

will be incredible and you'll feel so proud. And then you'll get to go and be sort of surrounded by the fantastic Ritzy Glitzy Showbiz World. Is E P, is Elaine Page going to be there? Just getting a special award, I think. Right. Okay. If I managed to get a selfie with Kate Blanchet, I would die a happy woman. That's, that's, that's, that's, someone else would have to suggest it. I can't possibly go up to I think it will be hard to tell who is who in a selfie of you and Kate Blanchard. You are similar in ways, your lovely cheekbones and your... I just love her so much. She wears amazing clothes as well.

I mean, not the judge of woman by, you know, she's a really talented actress and activist, but she also wears really amazing clothes. She is the full package. Anyway, that's on the horizon. If you see Brian Cranston, send him my love. He won't know who I am, but I will. I know who I am, but I love him. I'll embarrass myself and do that for you anyway.

That's fine. Thanks, Sonny. All right, have a nice few days. Good luck with it all, my darling. Cheers. Bye. Love you. Digit is a Persefonica production.