Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball - Strictly, Bake Off & The PM Tackles Menopause

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up on Digit. I was thinking about how television has become. It's almost like this sport at the moment. So when it comes to strictly, obviously everyone's being very, very critical of everything to do with it. It's really uncomfortable. You know when you just have one of those weeks?

Starting point is 00:00:13 I think it's the full moon. They hardly slept last night. My tent's jaw is back. This is like therapy diggers. Did you see Andy Burnham talking about how the menopause needs to be taken more seriously? Music to our ears, to be honest. Because at the moment, the training I think the doctors get

Starting point is 00:00:28 is just not enough. All of that. right after this. Hello, Diggers. Hello, Joe. Hi. How are you this week, darling girl? I'm okay, except everything.

Starting point is 00:00:45 It's been quite a challenge. Actually, getting here to talk to you today. You might see that I look a little bit different because my camera's not been charged up. You know when you just have one of those weeks, we've discovered we've got a water leak. So we've had to have someone out, a specialist to come and try and detect a water leak. Turns out it's in this flat where I do the podcast from. So everything has been taken out and not plugged in properly. So my camera's a little bit different to how it should be.

Starting point is 00:01:10 But it's because of this wretched water leak that we're trying to find at the moment. It's been one of those weeks. I think it's the full moon. Do you? Because I just suddenly had like all my girlfriends were having terrible weeks with various different dramas. I had Nell had something going on. I'd been really overwhelmed. I sometimes get overwhelmed.

Starting point is 00:01:32 I don't know whether it's an ADHD thing. I don't know whether it's a menopause thing. because you don't know what's what anymore or whether, you know, we're just like, there's so much, and I don't know which way to turn. And sometimes that happens a night. And then I looked at the window, I'm like, it's a full moon. It's a freaking full moon. We've all gone mad.

Starting point is 00:01:49 Everything's happened. I don't know, is it one of those phases? I sometimes look and think that does seem to answer a lot of stuff, because usually after the full moon has been, then everything seems to calm down again. Yeah. I don't know. Or maybe it's just life because it's so full of. all the time. No, I completely feel you. I hardly slept last night. I'd love to know from other

Starting point is 00:02:12 diggers at the moment. And I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like I've got hay fever at the moment. Yes, sniffly. I've got it in the daytime. Then I go to bed at night. I'm actually really dreading going to bed at night because I know I'm going to have a terrible night. And I wake up at about four or five in the morning and I cannot breathe. And I'm just so full of snort. And then I sneeze. Like, I have about five or six sneezes. I have to get up, get out and try and clean. And clear it all away. And then I get back and I'm just aching. I feel like I've got flu or something. I keep getting this where I feel like I'm about to get flu and then it doesn't seem to come. So you're like thankful. But is this? Yeah, what is it? Is it like, are we run down? Is it flu that's coming? Are we battling a cold? Is it hormones?

Starting point is 00:02:57 I'm allergic to tree pollen in May. So I get it then. All the summer I'm fine. And then this is the first time in September. And it might be because of the weather because everything's so wonky. Yeah, warm. It really feels like an allergy, just the aching and the kind of slight feverishness. So I looked it up the other day. I was like, well, what pollen is it at the moment? And tree pollen is very low. Grass pollen is low. Wheed is a little bit high. And ragweed, apparently, is what is high at the moment. And I've never heard of ragweed in my life. I don't even, I've looked it up. I know what it looks like now, but I don't think I've got any here. But if any diggers at the moment can shed any light, or if you're feeling the same kind of way, I'd love to know because I'm feeling so miserable with it at the moment. Like I say, just dreading going to bed because I know I'm going to have a terrible night's sleep. My thing is my jaw, my tense jaw is back. Excuse me, just moaning. So the minute I get into bed and I've tried changing my pillow, I've tried sleeping in a different position. But I almost feel like the minute my head hits the pillow, my jaw just locks.

Starting point is 00:03:57 And I've been watching youth, the new Sharon Hogan. And in it there's an amazing seat where her jaw just locks in the middle of a really awkward family. dinner. I was like, oh my God. So I'm sort of like, and relax my jaw before I go to sleep. I don't know. There's obviously something seasonal is going on, a little bit wonky. Did you get a retainer in the end? I had a retainer. I mean, I don't laugh at me. I had a retainer. I got so confused by which week I was on, then I'd lose a week. Then I'd have to go back, but then I couldn't tell if I've gone back to the right one. So now what I'm doing is totally not wearing any of my retainers, but I've still got the knobs on my teeth that hold the retainer in place.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Oh, no. This is Invisaline we're talking about. Oh, God. I've not worn the retainer for probably now three or four months. So I've either got to start it or I've got to go and get the knobs taken off my teeth. Oh, I don't know. I'm so hopeless. There's just all these things of like, I'm just not getting anything done.

Starting point is 00:04:57 But retainer at night might help the tension with the jaw. Might with the jaw. Okay, so what I kind of need to do is look at the retrainers, try and work out, which is number one, because I've confused them all, and start again. Maybe I'll try that at night. Maybe that'll stop with the grinding. Maybe that's what's happening. Okay, I'll try it. But if you're just feeling overwhelmed and tense, then, you know, God knows what's going to help. This is like therapy diggers. This is, I look forward to seeing Joe, so I can offload, offload to all our diggers about this week's problems. What did you think of youth with Sharon Hogan? I loved it. So here is the brilliant Sharon Hogan who bought us pulling, catastrophe, bad sisters, motherland. She's such an amazing writer and producer and actress as well. And this is her latest drama, which is on HBO. You can watch it on Now TV as well. She is a mum, son going off to university, hopeless dad. He's obviously not very good at dadding and has decided to move to Canada with his young lass and appears to be quite a selfish man, aging parents, and she's suddenly like crying because her son's left to go to university. And she's like, great, I can have lovers back.

Starting point is 00:06:12 I can have a life. This is all going to be quite exciting. And of course, that does not go according to plan because son comes home from university, clearly going through his own problems. And suddenly everything is getting on top of her. And she doesn't know what's what. It is that classic thing, isn't it? She's like, what's happening to my body?

Starting point is 00:06:33 What's happening in my life? What is my role? And it's very funny. And also you just see yourself in it like, oh, God, finally, someone's writing about us. Yeah, it's a bit like the podcast, I think. It's just, it's so highly relatable. It's everything that we go through, all those questions that are unanswered. And it's just really nice to see it on a screen so that you go, oh, okay, it's not, it's not just me.

Starting point is 00:06:55 I had her on my show earlier on this week, and she was very strong about saying it's not about, you know, know, women of a certain age, it's about realizing where you are in your life and about trying to pack as much joy into the life that you have left and to, and yeah, to seize the day, but also to appreciate every single moment that we have while still kind of juggling everything and trying to make sense of it all and everything going wrong and being very challenging in every aspect, you know, whether it's work, relationships, parents, is what we're all going through all the time. and it is really, really nice just to see it on screen. There's so many funny scenes.

Starting point is 00:07:33 There's one moment where she's in a sauna, and it's like some kind of Botticelli painting. It's just like, you look at it and you're like, God, bodies are really unattractive. When you see them just be, you know, legs are kimbo in a sauna where everyone's naked, it's like, oh, my God, how does anybody ever have sex with anyone at all? It's a very, very funny moment. I really like the scene where her friend sets her up on a date.

Starting point is 00:07:55 It's like, look, you just need to have sex. And it just, you know, and she's like, I don't know. Just have a date, have some sex. And this guy walks in who's played by Tim McKinnery. And she's like, he's so old. And she says, Jim, are you still working? Like, because she thinks he's that old.

Starting point is 00:08:10 And she's complaining about, look, I know I said I want some penis, but not necessarily old penis in it, which is all really funny. And then she goes home with this guy. She's like, I'm really stressed. I can't do this. And he's like, just lie back. I'm going to do some stuff for you. And she's like, oh, I know, but I can't give you anything in return because I've got

Starting point is 00:08:24 this locked jaw. There's a moment where she might enjoy it. And then she just, everything else comes into her mind about everything else that's happening in her life. And it's like, that is what it's like. Yeah. You know, she can't even experience that little moment of pleasure for her because there's all this stuff in her head. I thought that was hilarious. And also then there's this really hot guy who's an ex-boyfriend who's played by Rupert friend who turns up.

Starting point is 00:08:49 And you're like, oh, this is really good potential? Yeah. But is he going to let her down? I don't know. It's great. She's got this whole thing of like, you know, is he, is. he someone to invest in or is he not? And the texting's going backwards and forwards and she kind of writes text and she deletes them and then he is with another girl at the same time.

Starting point is 00:09:05 I know Florence Welsh was performing at Reading and she's got a song called Buckle and she said, I thought it'd be too old to be writing about this kind of thing, but it's about sending texts and not hearing back. So, you know, you're never too old. It's always going to go on. It happens forever. That never stops. I think Sharon is very hands-on with the music. There's a musical supervisor, but also she's, you know, really, really knows her music. And she's does a playlist for everything that she ever does. And there's a moment at the end of the first episode where her son goes to uni, but then comes back. And she's in bed and she's obviously been incredibly sad. She's missing him, hates the thought of him being away, but then he comes

Starting point is 00:09:41 back and he just slides into her bed. And then Radiohead, everything in its right place comes on. And I was just gone. At that point, I was like, oh, God. But it's an interesting take on parenting older children, which is what we talk about a lot on this show, I think. Nappies and toddler tantrums and all that stuff is really difficult. But then as your kids get older and older and they have their own issues and their own problems, that's when it gets real. And she really portrays that very well, I think, in youth. So I think if you love Diggett, you'll love youth. It's really worth watching. If you're loving Digit so far, then hit follow or subscribe and that way you'll get brand new episodes as soon as they're out. I was thinking about how

Starting point is 00:10:28 television has become. It's almost like this sport at the moment, how a new TV program comes along. and everyone just, and we've touched on this before, but everyone just leaps on it in a scrutinising and so keen to criticise. So when it comes to strictly, obviously everyone's being very, very critical of everything to do with it. But it's just because it's new and it's a new format and everyone wants to have an opinion about it. But you just have to remember at the heart of this, there are lots of people and lots of individuals who will be completely overwhelmed by everything they're reading and everything that's kind of being thrown at them at the moment. I just think it's really uncomfortable. And the same with Bakeoff, I think. Bakeoffs come back and everyone's just like,

Starting point is 00:11:03 oh, let's look at Nigella and give our opinion about Nigella. Why can we not just watch television and enjoy the performances and just let things unfold and be organic and just, yeah, just enjoy it. I thought Nigella was received really well, though, wasn't she? Didn't that all go down? Wasn't she like everyone was rejoicing Nigella? Yeah. No, I mean, I think so, but there are always people who are going to be mean. I've been loving that Alison and Noel have done some really funny interviews together. They did an episode of Dish with Nick and Angela and Allison was talking about her relationship with Dermot being like a brother and then she sort of was egging on that actually her relationship with Noel is very different. She's just so hilarious. I love her so much.

Starting point is 00:11:45 The dynamics between Alison and Noel are hilarious. They're both individually hilarious. Together they are even like next level. And then Paul is always, you know, there he is, being charming with his lovely sparkly eyes and getting his handshake out. And then you bring Nigella and it's like, this is immense. Golden, isn't it? But this week, traitors, I cannot even tell you how by the time this goes out, I think Traders might have started. And the trailers are dropping left, right and centre.

Starting point is 00:12:16 I think Marina Hyde said that apparently there are some major meltdowns on this series of celebrity traitors. between the men. Apparently some of the men meltdown. I mean, I don't know whether that's true. Everyone's discussing me about it. But every time I watch the trailer for celebrity traces, I am mind-blown as to the gifts of the people in that lineup. It's such a good lineup. James Acaster, you've got Rob and Ramesh, you've got Miranda, you've got, it's just next level. Jerry Hall, Ross Kemp, James Blunt. I mean, these people individually are brilliant guests. If you are ask for any of those to be your guest on your show, you'd be like, yes, tick, tick, tick, Michael

Starting point is 00:13:00 Sheen, Richard E. Grant, you know, and then put them in that castle and slowly, you know. Yeah, you'd pay to watch the conversations, wouldn't you? You'd pay to watch the wit that comes from all of them individually. So add a bit of drama in there and physicality as well, because they've got to do physical challenges, which will be really, really entertaining. It's a bit ladditorial. It's like, well, throwing them into some amphitheatre and just going, come on, entertain us and they will. What are they in there? Three weeks and I think it's pretty intense.

Starting point is 00:13:30 And Hannah Frye, Hannah Frye, who's possibly one of my favourite women on this planet, she's in there as well. I can't wait, I can't wait, Joe. Did you see Andy Burnham talking about how the menopause needs to be taken more seriously? I mean, he's ticking so many boxes

Starting point is 00:13:49 at the moment, isn't he? The things that he's turning his attention to. Social care, I mean, you know, everything is going to take a lot of time. But if he's, he's, is genuinely showing some commitment to social care. And obviously that's going to come at a cost, but it drastically needs reforming. So the fact that he's showing some kind of commitment and listening to people, taking time to listen to people is incredibly important. And then talking about the menopause as well, saying it needs to be taken more seriously, which is music to our ears,

Starting point is 00:14:15 to be honest. And I was reading the other day that at some medical schools, there is just one hour of training on menopause over a five-year course. I mean, I think that's probably the lowest it could possibly be. But that should not be happening. Some people are really lucky because it's such a lottery, isn't it? Some people are lucky and have a doctor who is learning and it's like, right, okay, let's test you for hormones. Let's do this. I've also got lots of friends who've gone to see doctors who haven't. They've been like, no, no, you've got nothing to worry about at the moment and haven't tested their hormone levels or haven't suggested HRT or, you know, so it is a bit of a lottery.

Starting point is 00:14:49 And it's also such a huge, it's such a huge important time in a woman's life, you know, that we do. needs more understanding, don't we? And we do need to help our doctors understand as well so that they can. Yeah, it's not a criticism of the doctors at all. It's the whole system, but all ages, women's health definitely needs to be looked at. It's unreal. It is so difficult, isn't it? It's really difficult. Yeah, I know. And I really do feel for all the health teams because they're so Oh God, under siege, yeah. Understaffed and overworked. But fingers crossed, you just have to hope that everything can be looked at and yeah. Yeah, that the changes will come. Eventually, the changes will come. let's hope. I'll tell you what I did do this week and I don't know whether I've just fallen into

Starting point is 00:15:32 that trap of reading too much on the internet. But I don't know if everyone else is sort of getting fed those things of have a wind up torch. Get a wind up radio by some tinned fish. And I was on an aisle and I was like, I bought some tinned fish. Can you not do that again, please? Don't read those things. So I don't need to buy any tinned fish. Okay, cool. But this is how it affects you. I did see the social reckoning, which is Aaron Salkin, who I love. He's such a brilliant filmmaker. He's the guy who created and wrote the West Wing. He wrote The Social Network, which he won an Oscar for the screenplay. I've interviewed him before. He's such a smart, brilliant guy. And he's done a follow-up called The Social Reckoning. And this time we sort of, we come forward to,

Starting point is 00:16:21 and it's all about the amazing Wall Street Journal, investigative journalist, Jeff Horwitz manages to team up with a Facebook engineer who is called Francis Howgan and she starts to see some sort of behaviour within Facebook that she's starting to question and so she teams up with him to teach him more about what's going on and then it runs sort of concurrently they've got you've got Jeremy Strong playing Mark Zuckerberg and he's he's so brilliant yeah he's so Apparently he went full method the whole time. So even like in the treat truck, he was just being Mark Zuckerberg. You kind of come out in the cinema and think, oh God, shall I just get rid of all my socials?

Starting point is 00:17:08 It's a brilliant film. It's a brilliant film on a dramatic level, on a performance level and also see more of the story about what was happening within Facebook. But I'm going to interview Mikey Madison. She won an Oscar for Anora and she's being better things, which I completely loved. And my favourite, Carmi from The Bear, Jeremy Allen White. So I'm really excited to meet them both. I've got to be really cool.

Starting point is 00:17:37 It's like, I'm meeting Carmi. He's not really Carmi from the Bear. You talked to Beck last week. Yeah, I did. You had Sam Smith on your radio show and you had Beck. And can I just say, I save all your shows up. And then I listen to them when I'm driving home or, when I've got like big journeys or where I've got time on my own where I'm not working.

Starting point is 00:17:56 And I love it. I get to hear my friend being brilliant. I was talking in my studio to my producer and this was before I interviewed Sam and I was saying, I've got a picture of Sam kissing my head at the Brits many, many years ago and I can't find it. And I spent the whole night looking for this photograph. Googling the places where I might have done the interview, where it might have happened, could not find this picture at all, at all at all. I spent hours trying to look for it. went to bed at night. I was interviewing Sam the next day. Welcome in the morning. You know when you

Starting point is 00:18:25 reach for your phone and I reached my phone and I pulled it up and my main picture on my phone was that photograph of Sam kissing me on the head and I was like, what the fuck? Oh my God. I mean that really, really freaked me out. Yeah. It is quite freaky how our phones are listening to us and what do we do about that? I know. I sometimes see those videos where it teaches you how to make your phone more private and occasionally I write down all the steps and then I forget to do it. I wonder if our diggers have had similar things. Yeah, but it'd be really nice to hear from you if you have. But at least you found the photo.

Starting point is 00:19:01 I know. I was over the moon. I got the photograph. That was great. And then we recreated it. It was really lovely. But yeah, it was so lovely to talk to Sam. I hadn't seen Sam for many, many years.

Starting point is 00:19:11 And they were so honest and warm and lovely. And it was great. And then Beck, again, just, you know, someone that I remember introducing on Top the Pops back in 1990. or something like that with Steve Lamack and then seeing the artist that he has gone on to become. And I think he's probably gone through quite a tough time lately. And I think this album is a reflection of that. It's quite morose, quite melancholic.

Starting point is 00:19:33 And he was saying that he's really excited about performing it on stage. He's going to do the whole album. And I was like, oh, God, I think you're going to be reliving a lot of heartbreak on stage when you do that. But he was like, no, this is it. I just made this album for myself. And that's what I'm going to play. We're very lucky we get to speak to some amazing people.

Starting point is 00:19:49 It's daft really. It's not really work. No. It is fun. Yeah. Even though it can be terrifying. I always say never meet your heroes because sometimes it's absolutely terrifying. And sometimes they're lovely. Maybe, again, Diggers, maybe you've met someone who's either been one of your heroes and they were fantastic or they're one of your heroes and they really, really didn't live up to your expectations. Maybe you met them on a bad day or on a good day and you've got a lovely story to tell. We're going to take a quick break for some ads, but you can listen. to these episodes early and ad-free by subscribing to the potting shed. Yearly subscriptions get a free Dig It tote bag and Father Gill's sow and tell seeds.

Starting point is 00:20:32 Just click the link to subscribe in the show notes. Right, time for break. Generally, we just love hearing all your stories diggers. And we had some of the diggers in the wild stories come through recently. And Laura's been in touch to say, I've just watched the most recent episode where a digger ran into another digger in a bookshop, which made me smile heaps. I live in the sticks in North Wales. so that really isn't something that happens out here. It's not something you'd expect.

Starting point is 00:21:00 However, my auntie did message me a while back when my message got read out about chocolate thieving squirrels. I remember this, do you? Yes, I do. And she said, I bet that was you. And neither of us knew that the other listened. She lives so many miles away, and it gave us both a virtual warm hug

Starting point is 00:21:16 that we were listening to the podcast. So it really does go to show just how far the dig it community reaches. Thank you both and the team for making me feel a part of something. That is wonderful. That's so nice. That was Laura. Oh, that is gorgeous. We've also had some heartfelt comments about your kids going off to uni.

Starting point is 00:21:35 Mel says, we're not empty nesters. We're bird launchers. I love that. Yeah. No, that's a really good thing to remember. That made me cry when I read that the other day. It's like, off you go, fly free. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:49 But you can come back to the nest anytime you want because it'll still be here and I'll be here with snacks and warm hug. and whatever you need. That's so beautiful. And Jill said, be a lighthouse, not an anchor. That's another really good one to remember. I actually felt very bad about when we spoke last time, and I spoke about Coco, and I said how I was upset already at the thought of her going away, and I thought I shouldn't have said that on the podcast,

Starting point is 00:22:12 because it's a little bit of what I feel, and it's probably my raw honesty, but the overwhelming feeling I have is that I want her to go to college, and I want her to have the most fun. She's incredibly sociable, and I know she'll have an amazing time. And I just thought I shouldn't have said that on the podcast because, yeah, I'm a little bit upset, but more than anything in the world, I just, I want you to go and I want you to fly and I want you to have an amazing time and I'll always be here for you. And yeah, it kind of really brought, just made me think about what we say on the podcast and how we need to be careful with what we say. So I wanted to explain that and just say, I might have said that. And that is a truth, a bit of the truth, but more than anything, of course I want my kids to go and have a brilliant life.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And we all do. We all do. We do. On that subject, Claire says, took my gorgeous daughter to Liverpool uni this weekend. Oh, that's going to be a good uni. Cried a river since leaving her on Saturday. Stopped just in time to go back to work today, but can't talk about it with anyone yet as it just sets me off again. Good to know, lots of other diggers are going through the same thing. I thought I was being overdramatic. Yeah, that's what I said to Coco. I was like, I'm really, really sorry I overshared. But I did it because I thought it might help other people and that's what this podcast's all about and she completely understood that. Kina's been in touch and she shared her live and kicking memories. She says, my friends and I came to be in the live and kicking audience. It must have been around 1999, 2000, when we were around

Starting point is 00:23:40 15. Zoe was on as a guest wearing a t-shirt that said, Woody in the style of Madonna's Rocco T-shirt and Emma Bunton sang, it was brilliant. Oh, that must have been when Woody was really small. Union. Oh, do you know what? It was joyous. Just so lovely to see Jamie. I haven't seen him for, I couldn't even remember when I'd last seen him. And Jamie and I took Chris Bellinger, who was our lovely exec producer who I talked about. We took him for dinner beforehand. And so the three of us had such a lovely catch-up, some funny memories about when we'd run into Liam Gallagher at the Halcyon Hotel one lunchtime. And just all these funny stories that, you know, you only remember when you start talking with everybody again.

Starting point is 00:24:26 And then we went to meet all the gang at the party. And it was such a good gang of people who showed up. We'd all been worried about not recognising each other. But of course, the minute you're in the room, everyone's 30 years older. But you're like, I must thank my friend Simon, who had got loads of video messages from people who couldn't be there. In fact, our friend Nick had sent a video message from Australia. But then he turned up.

Starting point is 00:24:51 He turned up. He'd come all the way from Australia. to see, I think he had to come back for other stuff and he turned up and it was just so wonderful. To talk about things that happened, to laugh at things we'd forgotten about, to see friends who've all gone on and done so brilliantly in their own worlds, talk to people who've now retired and the different things they're doing. And it's also quite sad because television has changed so much and there's a lot of my friends who work in television who, you know, there is a lot of work around.

Starting point is 00:25:22 entertainment television, kids television has changed a lot and how we watch television has changed. So lots of people have retrained. Lovely of Bonn, who is one of the PAs. She now does therapy and somebody else was doing, you know, massage and just seeing where everyone's gone in their lives and talking about their kids who are now all really grown up. And lovely to see Treve and Trevor Simon and Ben and Jez from Men in Trousers.

Starting point is 00:25:44 And it was lovely. There were quite a few key players missing, but we talked about them and we shared. And it, just to remember, It was so weird to be back in a room with people I hadn't really worked with for 30 years and immediately pick up where we left off of like, this is why it was the best job that we ever had because it was so much fun. So if you were ever thinking about celebrating something, you know, nostalgic, you know, do it, get to get. It was actually having lunch with my radio

Starting point is 00:26:16 one breakfast team that prompted me because they were like, you must be coming up for a big anniversary for live and kicking and I thought yes I need to organise this party so you organised it I organised it and I'm so glad I finally got it I have to say thank you to Simon and Jamie for helping me with that because I'm pretty hopeless with admin and thanks to Bunga 90 this brilliant 90s themed bar

Starting point is 00:26:38 in Common Garden if you need somewhere to go on a night out it is so fun if you love the 90s they play 90s music there's a karaoke area you go through a video shop to get into the bar it's so brilliant so Yeah, I loved it. Did you recognise everyone? This is always my fear when you have reunions that you're like looking at people going,

Starting point is 00:26:57 I know, I know you, but. Well, everyone kept saying I'm so and so and you're like, I know who you are. Because actually, there were loads of people there that, you know, I did totally recognise the minute you walked in. In that situation, you become the person that you were there. I mean, you're always the same person, but they knew you from then. Like, there's no, it doesn't matter what's happened to you in your life or who you are now, what's what's gone on.

Starting point is 00:27:19 You all revert back to being that 20. year old or 15 year old or 25 year old, whatever, and the roles that you played then. Everyone reminded me of really funny moments like kids would call up and they'd play grab it rabbit or loot the fruit and we'd had live rabbits in one week and there was a great story about how the camera band down and the rabbits were rutting and Julian had just had to put his arm into the shot to pull out the rotting rabbits. Oh my God. Or live kids TV.

Starting point is 00:27:44 All the bits that went wrong and, you know, calling people. It'd be the wrong caller or saying the wrong thing or. Oh, it was just, yeah, the memories of the carnage and chaos of doing live Saturday morning telly was, but with an amazing team was, yeah, it was great. And you looked amazing as well, you look fantastic. I saw the photographs and you look so good. I love you, got a really lovely suit on, which suited you so well. It was very, very cool.

Starting point is 00:28:07 Yeah, you look great. Oh, bless you. Thank you. I made an effort. I got dressed up. I don't go out much to get dressed up these days, you know. Listen, diggers, we'd love to hear from you, please. Don't be shy.

Starting point is 00:28:17 Send us anything that you can relate to that we've been talking about. we would love to hear from you. You can either give us your name or you can be anonymous. It doesn't matter. Send us your messages, your dilemmas. Maybe you'll rants if something has really, really, really annoyed you. Then just, it's cathartic. Get it off your chest. Send it to us to our Instagram. It's at DigitPod. Or you can email if you like or you can WhatsApp us. Details are in the show notes. Time for a quick break, but crate digging and autumn gardening is up next. Joe, can I thank you for introducing me to the world of Pelagoniums? Because Because I never knew what pelagoniums were.

Starting point is 00:28:57 I used to get a bit confused. And now I recognise them. I've got one at home. And when you rub the leaves, it smells of sort of chocolate lime or something. And there's ones I pass on my way to work that are in someone's window boxes. And every time I see them, I'm like, they're pelagoniums. And then I rub the leaves and I have a little smell and they're really lemony.

Starting point is 00:29:16 Yeah. When they flower, they're so beautiful. I will definitely get more. So thank you, Joe. This is the great thing about sharing. when you find something that you like and then someone else goes I might look that up and see what that is

Starting point is 00:29:27 because now I recognise them everywhere and they're stunning. The reason I know about them because I'm like you I used to get confused between geraniums and pelagoniums and then I think the nursery, Crammeda nursery in Northampton that I go to is closed now for the winter

Starting point is 00:29:42 but they sell the most amazing array and it's almost like walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory like you go up and you rub the leaves and you're like what is this one? Oh it's orange fizz. Oh this is lemon sherbet. this is chocolate, like you said, you can't believe that you can smell that from the leaves, but you absolutely can. They're amazing. And then the other really good thing about pelagoniums

Starting point is 00:30:01 is that they flower like forever. My geraniums and my pelagoniums are just, they're carrying on because it's been warm and it's been sunny. But as long as you keep kind of watering them and then deadheading them, they'll go on forever. And they seem invincible. They don't need too much water as well. So yeah, for next year, we will be banging on even more about pelagoniums. But I'm glad you like them as well. It's funny walking out and the garden and Seb the gardener has come and he's doing a little bit of edit and pulling some things out and he's put in my smoke bushes gone in the ground and da-da-da-da but there's I'm like oh wow the geraniums have come back and there's so many things that have come back again because

Starting point is 00:30:38 we've had a tiny bit of rain so there's a little bit more life very low to the ground there was a rose that had looked so so sad and it'd been cut right back and there were six red roses on it Like I sort of looked away. I'm like, how lovely. So it's that last little bit of magic before we get into autumn, autumn. I'm looking out to my garden now. The colour in the garden is gorgeous.

Starting point is 00:31:03 Like the anemones have been amazing and the roses and the pelagoniums. It's all beautiful. I've decided that I've got to do my troughs because lots of them are all empty at the moment. All the big tubs that I've got are completely empty. So I went out the other day and I did a trough. And obviously once a goth, always a goth.

Starting point is 00:31:18 And I just went for the darkest pot. things. So can I just ask you, Joe, we're seeing this lovely trough, which is like a lovely old metal trough, and I've done this, you can pick them up in junk shops, you can get them at garden centres, you can get them at salvage yards and stuff, and you have to make sure they've got holes in the bottom for drainage. But when you're planting that up, what's gone in layer-wise? Do you have to put stones at the bottom? Do you just put soil in? Do you know, I would, I'd like to know the secret to having these successfully, because I've had this for about three or four years now, and I don't think I've mastered the art properly. This year, I'm going to put tulips in, and I am going to layer it.

Starting point is 00:31:51 But last year, I put a rose and a honeysuckle, and it was just disastrous because it's been so hot and sunny. I could not water it enough. Couldn't keep them alive. Could not. So that is going to have pelagoniums in next year. But this year, I've just, for the winter, it's fine. So I've just gone really got some euphobia, really dark, dark green and then red euphobia at the back. And then some lovely hellebores in the middle, just to give that lovely kind of dark, dark. dusky pink intensity at the middle and the front of the trough. So it looks very Gothic, which I really like. So that would do me for now, but I've got so many other tubs to plant up. So I could do with some autumn and winter gardening tips, which is what we're going to get right now. We have the RHS

Starting point is 00:32:32 gardening charity who are calling on gardeners to rethink the traditional spring rush. You know, when everyone rushes out and they're like, oh, it's it's March or April and I must plant everything. Actually, autumn is incredibly important. So we've got Lee Hunt, their principal, horticultural advisor who sent us this video to explain more. With the droughts and heat wave this summer, a lot of gardens are thinking about what do we do with our gardens in the future? Well, the simple answer is to grow the right plants in the right place or choosing plants that thrive in your garden. And thankfully autumn is a brilliant time to plant. Traditionally we'd have planted in spring, but autumn's becoming a brilliant time to plant. We have a longer season, so warm soil, we've often

Starting point is 00:33:15 had the rain by October and that means the roots can get down, the plants can get established and by next year's potential hot dry weather they should be better able to withstand the conditions to come. It's good to plant a tree in fact any kind of plant in autumn because they can all potentially do some local cooling through shading and also they plants release moisture and that acts a bit like a natural air conditioning unit that will cool you in a heat wave and by planting an autumn they'll take advantage of the winter rains they'll get more established they'll become more resilient and more able to withstand any drought and heat waves next summer. Other benefits include you can buy bare root plants these are often cheaper and they don't often

Starting point is 00:34:00 have a plastic pot so that reduces your plastic so good for sustainability. If you've got perennial plants as well you can lift them, split them into smaller clumps and replant and so you get more of them and it's a perfect time to do that. And once the rains arrive, if you want to still water in the soil, put some mulch on once it's rained, because that will go in, it'll hold it a bit like a sponge in the soil for you next year. I don't want to be misunderstood. Spring is a good time to do something. So with lavenders that would get killed by winter wet, plant those in spring. But there's this change that's come where we can do so much more in autumn to get good establishment and ensure that they do survive. better next year if we have a drought. Oh, Lee, that was so helpful, isn't it? Yeah, really good advice. Yeah, I went to a garden centre the other day. It's Nicholson's, which is close to me, and they had so

Starting point is 00:34:56 much stock in. So it's a really exciting time to go to a garden centre and just choose. I think go out and look at your borders and look at your garden and decide where the gaps are. You can have a look now and everything's quite clear at what's not working and if things need dividing or moving around or where you might want to put something different because I know you've been doing that in your garden and this is the time to do it. It's still quite warm and nice outside and we haven't had any frost yet. Yeah, I've got a few pots that have had things in that just they've had hydrangees in and they just can't get enough moisture. So I think there'll be ornamental grasses will go in there next year and, you know, the gower, bee blossom or whatever, just plants that I know

Starting point is 00:35:33 that will survive a bit better. But it's so fun. I just love going out there and sitting whilst all the birds, because all the birds are coming back. I'm not feeding them yet, but at some point, I see this is that thing we'll have to find out from the professionals. Should we, should we feed the birds? What should we feed the birds? And should we not feed the birds? That's for another episode. We'll look into it. Oh, I also bought massive ferns. They look good in pots. That's, I used to think they were quite boring, but I bought a really, really lovely massive fern. Just put it in a silver tub and it looks so great against the silver of the tub. So yeah, ferns are good. You don't really have to do much to them. They just keep on going throughout. And then you can put them in your borders when

Starting point is 00:36:12 it gets to spring. of gardening, Joe. I did actually go to, popped into Resident Records in Brighton, which I absolutely love. I picked up a whole load of albums that I haven't had a chance to listen to, including Bonobo, Julia, Jacqueline, and Ibibio Sound Machine. I will listen to them before next week, but I did buy this, which is, it's called Mother Earth's Fantasia. Music for plants for people who love them, okay? Full, warm, beautiful mood music, especially composed to aid in the growing of your plants. As you can see, I have quite a few houseplants here.

Starting point is 00:36:47 So I'm going to put this on this week, and I'm going to see if it indeed helps the growing of my plants. I thought this is fantastic. I'll let you know what it's like, but I just saw that. I caught my eye and I thought, I'm a plant lover. I do tend to kill a lot of houseplants. So I'll let you know if it helps. Okay. Fantasia.

Starting point is 00:37:05 I'll come back to you on that. Okay, lovely, good. I've got no music, but I have a film to recommend. went to see bad apples the other day. Have you seen or heard this? Sertia Ronan's in it. Oh, I love her. And oh my God, it's so good. You know when some films come out and then they're just a bit below the radar because there are other bigger films out and they get all the attention? Yeah. And Cass was going and just said, oh, go see this film, what do you reckon, looks it up. And it just said, a teacher is dealing with a challenging pupil, locks him in a cupboard and then finds it a little

Starting point is 00:37:36 bit too difficult to release him or life is easier without him. And I was like, yeah, I'm in for this. I'll come and watch this. And it's kind of, it's a dark comedy and it's genius. Honestly, I love it. You go on such a journey. There are so many twists and turns. But you know, when you just can't quite believe what's happening next, I freaking loved it. So yeah, go and see that film. Bad apples. I also saw Verity, which is based on the Colleen Hoover book. I think it was her first novel. And it stars Dakota Johnson, who's a very young author. She's a crime author. And then she runs into someone, Jeremy Crawford, who's played by the fabulous Josh Hartnett. And he is married to another author who's a very successful crime author.

Starting point is 00:38:24 And they want Dakota Johnson's character to come and basically be a ghostwriter for this famous author because something has happened to her. And so then you have this very strange psychological drama. And it's kind of like fatal attraction, that sort of, you know, psychological drama of, is he good? Is she good? Who's bad? Who? And it's all very ambiguous. But it's quite fun. I quite enjoyed that. Verity. If you just want something light and proper entertainment and escapism and the three of them, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartner are really good in it. So there you go. I'm going to check out bad apples. Brilliant. Yeah, do, do. All right, that's it. Celebrity traitors. We know where we're going to be tonight. Well, I'll be after I've done my. show. I'll be watching back on IPlayer. I'll be texting you going, oh, m g. Well, by the time that this goes out and we next meet, we'll know. In our turret, we will know who the traders are. Yeah. Can't wait. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching, Diggers. Take care. Lots of Love. Digit is a Persefonica production.

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