Everything Is Content - Emma Appleton - Everything In Conversation

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

It's the penultimate episode of Everything is Content for 2024! Sadly Beth was travelling this week, so Oenone and Ruchira lead this very special extra episode. This week, the girls are in conversation with *the Emma Appleton*. You might know her as the lead from Dolly Alderton’s BBC adaptation of her memoir, Everything I Know About Love, but she’s now leading Paramount’s new rom-com series The Road Trip, based on the book of the same name by bestselling author Beth O’Leary. The six part series starts with a wedding trip to Spain which takes an unexpected turn for Addie (played by Emma) and her sister Deb, when they're forced to share a campervan with Addie's ex Dylan, his friend Marcus, and a stranger Rodney.  Here at EIC headquarters we can confirm the series is a gorgeous look at relationships in your 20s, navigating life and what happens when it all goes wrong. The Road Trip will be available to stream on Paramount+ from 26th December 2024. You can follow Emma on instagram @emmajappleton.Please do let us know if there are any other guests you'd love to hear from, you can message us @everythingiscontentpod on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

i'm richara and i'm manoni and this is everything in conversation sadly beth is traveling this week so we'll be leading this week's very special extra episode we're so excited to share our incredible interview with the emma appleton you might know her as the lead from dolly alderton's bbc adaptation of everything i know about love but she from Dolly Alderton's BBC adaptation of Everything I Know About Love, but she's now leading Paramount's new delicious rom-com series called The Road Trip, based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Beth O'Leary. We were lucky enough to get screeners for the series, and we can confirm it's such a gorgeous look at relationships in your 20s,

navigating life, and what happens when it all goes wrong. The series follows Addy and her sister who are forced to road trip with her ex-boyfriend Dylan and his best friend Marcus and a complete stranger Rodney all the way to her best friend's wedding in Spain. A quick rundown for anyone who isn't familiar with Emma, she was born in Whitney, Oxfordshire and began modelling as a teen. In 2016 she appeared as Pixie in the short film Dreamlands, followed by her TV debut in BBC Three's thriller, Cleek. More recently, you might have seen her in Netflix's The Witcher and Disney's miniseries, Pistol, a Danny Boyle series on the lives of the Sex Pistols.

Before we jump into the conversation, do give us a follow on Instagram and TikTok at everythingiscontentpod. And without without further ado here is Emma Appleton. Thanks so much for joining us we're so excited to chat to you. Thank you so much for having me I honestly feel like so honored when I get invited on the podcast I'm like I've made it. Oh my god stop. I'm actually so happy. Don't be ridiculous we're so excited to have you how have you been i'm good i'm good i mean it's the end of 2024 it's been a wild time i don't know if anyone else's 24s has been mental is this like a collective thing that we're all going through it's almost like everything's retrograding i was like when does it stop oh that makes me feel so much

better every my whole life's just turned upside down I've moved so many times I've had a breakup I just lost my sense of being yeah I was just I was just thinking like when is Anoni going to share that her year has been absolutely wild it's just been like me and my friend talk about it we're like it's a bin fire but then out of like you know the ashes we rise totally this is what I'm hoping 2025 is my year but I have been saying that since 2020 I was like 2020 is going to be my year I thought you meant like you were like leading up like 2025 is going to be my year it's just five years time like I'll get there no in 2019 I was like oh my god I'm so about to like this is gonna be amazing year it's just five years time like I'll get there no in 2019 I was like oh my god I'm so about to like this is gonna be amazing 2020 it's gonna be my year and I had all these

plans then obviously it's covid and then every year since then it's just been um well I have to say if this is your flop year this is a hilarious flop year you have a huge tv series that's coming out yeah yeah on boxing day which is like the, the best day for something to come out. Because what does anyone else do between Christmas and New Year? You just, like, eat cheese and don't want to talk to your family anymore. No. Binge a rom-com series. That's exactly what people do, right?

Yeah, binge a rom-com series set in sunny Spain slash Bristol, just to, like, keep us humble, like, keep us grounded. Yeah, so it's been great. I mean, like, it's been a weird year of, like, like first half of the year I was out of the country I was filming the TV show I was you know just having a lovely time I went to Mexico I went to LA I was like I need to just like not get on the plane and sit still and then the rest of the year was just like what about this curveball and what about that and you're like we're okay year was just like, what about this curveball? And what about that? And you're like, well,

okay, can we just like have a, have a chill out now? No, I feel that completely. Wait, before we get into it, we want to ask you, this is everything is content.

We haven't prepped you for this, but do you have a piece of content that you've been loving this week? Like a TV show, a film, it could be a meme, it could be anything. Sorry, we should have told you this before,

but. No, this is great. Love being put on the spot. Worked very well under pressure. I've got like specifically this week. Okay, I've been watching a TV show called English Teacher on Disney.

Yes. Love it. So what a little gem. What a little gem. But do you follow Brian Jordan Alvarez on Instagram as well? No, didn't even know who he was oh my god you need he's been so he does these really funny videos anyway but he's

been doing this video to promote the show which is you know that meme song that's like i love your daughter but why do you have to offer her do you know what i'm talking about no but again like me and tech are not friends i need to look i need to go to TikTok. We'll send you after but he's just been doing these videos he's a gay man but in every video he like takes his shirt off and does this dance and just all these straight women in the comments just like I'm so in love with this gay man it's really hard to explain this for Tara without having seen it isn't it? I know what what we're saying is we're gonna have to send you like a page worth of links after this call. I think that's absolutely fine that I'm absolutely okay with that great recommendation

that show is is stunning I still need to get onto it but no thank you for reminding me it was like a really good um post rifles gotta throw that in there like binge because I was after I finished rifles I was like nothing in my life is ever going to be as good as that ever I watched it twice did you yeah I'm such a loser no you're not you're not at all our podcast our listeners everyone loves rivals you're not a loser maybe I want to watch it again who's your number one crush I think it's Rupert Campbell Black but then I did all of them all of them in different ways they're all kind of like given different things you know what I mean I didn't fancy David Tennant's character I have to say oh no I agree with that really some people did angry so well yeah he's he's hideous in that

show but amazing yeah but I love it when they put him in the kind of like the Versace shirt at the pool party I'm like wow this is special swiftly kind of you turning onto your series can you tell us a little bit about the road trip tell us about your character Addy as well yes I will caveat this with I am so bad at pitching shows every time I get a job my friend's like what's it about and I'm like right okay and I start explaining to them they're like okay that sounds quite good I'm like no it's really good trust me I've read the scripts it's amazing I'm just very bad at explaining shows so let's give it a go um it is I play Addy um she is going off to this wedding her sister's her plus one her ex-boyfriend is going to be at this wedding they haven't seen each other for two years um and on the way this happens very quickly so it's like not really a spoiler they quite

literally like crash into each other um and he's with his best friend we also have this character called Rodney he's like an outsider character who's along for the ride um and they're all in this camper van they've got to get to this wedding and there's a lot of secrets there's a lot of uh relationship dynamics which is really really interesting because you've got Dylan Marcus here like codependent best friends and it's really interesting seeing that in like a male relationship as well I don't think we ever get to see that on screen um we've got Addie and Deb who are half sisters so there's a lot of like you know stuff going on there and Addie and Dylan used to go out it's just a lot it's a tangled web of romance and secrets and friendship and and family. And it all kind of comes out over the course of this road trip. And we also get to switch back to the previous timeline

of seeing when Addy and Dylan got together and how that relationship started. And we see Addy in two very different lights. So in the previous timeline, she's a very different person to who she is in the previous timeline she's a very different person to who she is in the present timeline and over the course of the series we find out why without giving too much away so we've been really lucky we've seen a few of the first episodes and we both absolutely loved it yeah it's so it's heartbreaking it's heartwarming it's so british i love anything like really

british obviously the flat share was uh beth o'Leary's last book that got adapted and I loved the adaptation of that I don't know if you watched it but was it a big thing coming into a show that had already done so well like joining this universe that people already love was that exciting was it nerve-wracking yeah I mean everything like I watched The Flat Share and I loved it as well I completely fell in love with the world that Beth creates and her characters are so lovable and charming, but then also very real and honest and relatable. And I think that's like what a good rom-com does best. And I get quite annoyed with people and they're like, it's just like a fluffy rom-com'm like no rom-coms are serious stuff like relationships and feelings serious stuff um so it was just an honor to be honest to get invited in to play Addy and and delve into that world and she's just a dream like she she came on set a few times and you know was involved in the process and she's

just amazing this is I guess a bit more of a philosophical question the series obviously brings together two exes who had this kind of whirlwind romance and I guess one of the key questions is can timing be as impactful as people make out to be? Is there such thing as right love, wrong time? Or, you know, if love is meant to work itself out, will it work itself out? What are your thoughts on that, I guess, prescient dilemma? Such a big question. That's such a great question.

Gosh, I, what do I believe? I do think timing is really really key I think it can be right person wrong time I think circumstances are like there are so many variables right if we meet someone and feel like a connection or have feelings for someone maybe the circumstances aren't set up for that to you know bloom or like you know blossom at that time uh maybe you're not in a place to like accept that love at that time or to be able to give that love um oh yeah I don't even qualify to answer this the great answer what do you think what are your thoughts on it I think I'm just I

think I'm maybe a little bit naive in the sense that I think things will work themselves out but you also have to fight for it and I think if something is worth it you have to fight for it so I think it's kind of a bit of both if you see what I mean I'm gonna invite some pop psychology which I saw on TikTok the other day which I think is true which is this woman was saying that for men it's timing so they will like date but if they're deciding they're not going to be in a relationship it could be like the love of their life and they'll just be like I can't be with you and then they'll wake up one day and be like I want to get married and so the next person they're with they'll be like I'm gonna be with you whereas women will move heaven and earth to make

space for like the right person it's obviously not true in every case but I do think there is a bit of there's something to that that I think is true yeah I like that that's really interesting I need to get on the TikTok I need to get on the TikTok not for the dances but for the pop psychology and then I'll end up doing dances, obviously. I honestly, I genuinely didn't have it. And I literally in the last week have succumbed. And then it's, yeah, it's don't do it actually, because you will never do anything else again. I'll never work again.

No, sorry. Well, you spoke earlier about like the switching timelines. I was interested because obviously it's so emotionally charged those two different states between Addy and Dylan you're either sort of like falling in love it's very lustful or there's this like awkward tension did you film it in the way that it's shown in the show or did you split it was that if you did do it like that was it quite hard to flip between these two emotional states um it was all split up So we did a month in Bristol, which, oh God, I really need to cast my mind back now because it was this time last year. It was both. We were filming both at the same time, essentially. And was it hard? No, because working with Laurie Davison, who played dylan was so easy and i think we just really really believed in my in our characters really believe where they've been and i think having

those two timelines gave us the ability to it gave us a lot of context it gave us a lot of structure rather than just seeing them in the present day and like saying all this stuff had happened we'd got to play it out so we knew these characters so well so being able to switch back and forth was actually quite it was quite fun because it meant that it wasn't the same all the time so yeah I don't remember it being being tricky actually I have to say as a viewer drip-fed information is making me just gag for understanding over what happens between the pair. I just, I'm just, I cannot understand

how something can go from so good to so bad. I'm just, yeah, I'm desperate to find out what happens. So I can't wait for people to watch it. I think everyone's going to love that, that future going into past tense, going back and forth dynamic to the show. Oh yeah. I hope so. I think it's also so interesting.

Everyone's got like their own narrative of their like breakup or like what a relationship was to them. Right. So it's like, you've all got your truth, but what is also the truth? And like, we get to see that over the course.

Cause I think one episode you'll be like, yeah, Addy, wow, I'm so with you. Like, I feel you girl. And then the next you'll be like,

oh Dylan. And then the next you'll be like, wait, how does Marcus come into this? Like it, I think it, you know, really puts the audience kind of like in the van with them.

Like kind of like, I think Rodney's a really good like lens for the audience, like in the first episode when he's like, why do you hate each other? Because it's like, yeah, what is this tension? What's going on here? Please explain it to us. You mentioned that you and Dylan, sorry, his name's not Dylan in real life. It's Laurie, but Dylan and Laurie, very similar names. I put those names in the same bracket.

The whole cast seems to have this amazing chemistry and energy. Was that like that from the get-go? Did you all just get on really well? Yeah, we really did. I did some chemistry reads with Laurie and with David Johnson as well, actually. That was great. But me and Izzy, who plays Deb, didn't do a we need to be half sisters we met and we were just like yep this works great so massive shout out um to Lauren who's casting director because she absolutely smashed it and China as well China me I'm a director um it just it just works it's like

I feel like chemistry is kind of like a puzzle that either just fits together or it doesn't. And we were really lucky that it did because then we had to go off to Gran Canaria for four months and essentially live together. And we were the only people we saw. It's like Love Island. Kind of like Love Island, but a bit more chill.

Oh, nice. More water parks actually we went to like aqualand quite a lot did you i used to when i was little i always used to go to those aqualands in spain that's like my favorite guess what you can do it as an adult as well like never even never even considered that that was still available to me to do. There was a day where Angus Imrie drove me and Izzy to Aqualand and we were on the way there listening to Robbie Williams. And I was like, I think this might be the best day of my life. Oh my God, it sounds like heaven. Truly heaven. We had like pasties, we had coffee.

I was like, life, it's really good right now. That sounds so good. One thing I have to ask you about is everything I know about love our fans our listeners us as people adore that memoir by Dolly Alderton and I wondered what was the experience of doing that like what was it like working with Dolly bringing that best-selling memoir to life but also portraying Maggie which is a younger version of dolly in the book yeah it was a wild time i had also not heard of dolly when i got the audition through and my agent was like it's dolly auditions project this is massive i was like who's dolly why is this so

you're like the only millennial woman. How did you escape? What were you doing? I live under a rock. Like I'm not on the TikTok. I don't know who Dolly Alderton was. I don't know what I'm doing with my time. I'm just watching labels. That's what I'm doing.

But yeah, it came through. And then my friends were like, do you know how serious this is? I was like, no, literally no. But I think that kind of helped in a way because I was like this is a beautiful story I then obviously read the book I met Dolly I was like this woman is incredible um and again it was just so fun very similar to this project like different projects but it was joyful and everyone really got on you get to play characters that are real and relatable and messy and you know very true to life and I got to you know be respectful to Dolly's work but then also it was a departure from the book into a TV series

and like Maggie was a slight departure from Dolly's then I got to bring what I do to it and my thoughts and, you know, my feelings. And so it was just a really fun, joyous collaboration that I feel so lucky that I got to be a part of. In the road trip, similarly to in Everything I Know About Love there is this thread of kind of like everyone at this age when you're getting to late 20s early 30s everyone starts to be doing very different things some people are getting engaged getting married having

babies other people are going through breakups or like career changes did you relate to Addy in any of these aspects was she someone that you found easy to embody with her kind of like figuring out who she is throughout the the thread of the story oh that's a great question I've never really thought about it but I think yeah I also love what you just said by the way about like people are doing so many different things right now in I'm guessing Muslim marriages but I'm in my early 30s and it's really great to see what life can look like at this age in so many different ways because there is not just one way to do it and I feel like for a long time it's felt like if you're not hitting

these milestones you are failing essentially um and now more than ever I feel like at my age I'm like really figuring myself out I'm like when does it end when when have I figured it out it turns out never yes um but Addy does yeah Addy goes on this massive massive like introspective journey and I think when we first meet her she's she's in this huge state of flux she's incredibly untethered she does not know where she's going with her life and yeah I think it's that thing like right now you're like I should have had this figured out like when I was a kid I looked at 30 year olds and I was like you've got it sorted and I'm in my 30s I'm like wow everyone is just faking it till they make it but there's you know a lot of a lot of freedom in that to be like it's okay that I'm still figuring out and I don't know

where I'm gonna end up but you kind of can't think that far ahead no I can't where I'm at right now everything's too up in the air I literally can't think past further than like next week because otherwise I want to have a panic attack and we don't need to right sometimes i'm like just do the day just do the day just put a wash on and do your taxes emma no let's not talk about taxes they're really sorry because my accountant just messaged me i hate my accountants as i know i don't hate them i hate i hate having to talk to them when they email me they're like hello all I've got to do is sign something I don't want to open the email they're like I know if you've seen this and then it's like my inbox is going like receive 14 days ago reply I'm just like ignore I don't want to know it's awful but that's what adulting is and then what I have to

do is I have to like bargain with myself because I'm a child I'm like right if you do this email with your accountants you're allowed to go and get like a cake from really delicious deli down the road I have to like bargain with myself you're allowed to watch five again I did that with I had to go on a run this morning and my bargain was if I go on my run I'm allowed to buy a vape there we go see and it works right and it worked what flavor did you get my cherry eyes yeah there we go you got it done you got it done that's all that matters that's all that matters this is adulting one thing I really wanted to know as well is how do you how do you decide on a role what about a character a story draws you in and makes you want to you know take up that script take up that project it's weird right because I've never really expected any of the roles that have come my way

I've never been someone to be like and I want to do this and I want to play this because I'm like again I don't know where I'm gonna end up like I don't know what direction my career is gonna go and I've never really like planned anything so everything that's kind of come my way I think I feel a deep connection to some characters than others and I think um that's definitely been the case with characters I've got to play um I'm really fascinated by just like the human experience in general why people do the things they do um I'm always quite into like an outsider character there's just like a feeling of like fascination like who is this person why are they like this how do they operate in the world and where's that journey gonna go

there's like an intrigue it's like when you meet someone in real life and you're like you're interesting I want to get to know you kind of feels like that for a character um and I really what I also really enjoy is trait and characters is when they're quite misunderstood and then me being able to understand them how do I then get an audience to understand and like feel some empathy for them within the road, there's this like class divide, which is actually quite like a common trope in love stories, which is quite enjoyable in that you've got Addy, who's a teacher and she's working in this big summer house

and it turns out her love interest's ex-girlfriend owns this like big massive villa. Did you have fun playing with that kind of like upstairs, downstairs sort of dynamic? Yeah, because I think it's a really common thing that maybe doesn't get talked about that much. I think maybe there's a bit of stigma or a bit of shame involved. It's something I've experienced in my life.

So I could like kind of draw on that. I think it's something that we don't want to be, that we typically be like, no, that's not there. It doesn't really matter. And it really can. So yeah, I think it was just like an intriguing thing to portray. And I think for, how do I do this without giving anything away? With Dylan's character,

he's not always super truthful about where he's come from and that's really interesting in itself I don't know if I'm just giving away a massive spoiler no no no that's okay no you're good you're so good I also just want you to tell our listeners is there something that you want them to take away from this series or from your character before they go watch it and binge it and enjoy it as they obviously will um yes please go watch it and binge it immediately uh when it's out um I think for me the overriding thing that uh of Addy's story is like even if you feel alone you're not and there are people that like love you and support you and you just have to kind of like

reach out to them like pick up your phone and call your mates ask them how they are because then that like benefits them it benefits you I think that's quite a nice thing um like if there's anything taking it right to 2024 if there's anything this year is showing me it's like support networks and connection is everything so yeah maybe i hope you people watch it and be like i'm just gonna call my mates i agree but there is something really fun to feel really sorry for yourself not reach out to anyone and then be like oh my god no one's talking to me that's quite that's the most toxic reply you could have given an only sorry just like just sometimes wallowing is like actually quite enjoyable and then you should

what you said was right yeah i mean i'm not saying i always do that sometimes i do the really toxic wallowing thing as well i just love that balance i just love that emma gave some like proper philosophy and like a really nice ending and then only was like yeah but i love to be the victim too you're like i just want want to call TikTok, leave me alone. Get off my back. Also, Boxing Day is, and we've spoken about this before, is the perfect time for it to come out because I don't know, Richira hadn't heard this, but you know that's the gooch of the year.

The perineum. What? Between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. Thank you. Thank you for that reaction. Thank you. It's that reaction thank you it's the gooch it's the useless stretch I know you did just I know I didn't come on it's the perineum it's the bit between these two exciting parts Christmas Day and New Year's Eve okay I think it needs workshopping I think it needs to be worked on I don't know like I don't have any ideas right now but I'll think of some

that's so funny no okay I just feel like it's a lost week that's what I mean yeah it's a stop pushing it do you know what you know what I'll be between the 26th and and New Year's and I'll be like I get it now it'll dawn on me I'll be like, I get it now. Yeah, yeah. It'll happen. It'll dawn on me, I'll be like, yeah. Well, I can't wait. We've only got three episodes. We don't get to binge anymore, unfortunately. So we're going to have to wait with everyone else

till the 26th, which I cannot wait for. Me neither. Thank you so much, Emma. We've loved talking to you. Thank you. It's been such a pleasure. I love the podcast. Thank you so, so much.

Yay. Thank you., so much. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Okay. I love Emma. What a fun chat. I love her.

She was so great. And now I just, I'm desperate to watch the rest of the series. Me too. Thanks so much for listening to us this week. We hope you loved the episode too. As always, remember to follow us on everything is content pod on Instagram and tiktok we'll see you as always on friday you