Off Air... with Jane and Fi - A cheery potato bottom for the weekend! (with Larry Lamb)

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Welcome to the Home Economics Laboratory, otherwise known as the kitchen. On the menu is: Cheery Albert Bartlett bottoms, oxygen bars and elasticated waistbands. Plus, actor Larry Lamb discusses his campaign with Asda to help loneliness this Christmas and the final episode of Gavin and Stacey. Our next book club pick has been announced! 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' by Joanna Cannon. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: [e-mail] us on Instagram! @janeandfiPodcast Producer: Eve SalusburyExecutive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm glad you put the email down because you've covered up the very large buttocks which were proving to be a bit distracting. They were. The Albert Bartlett bomb was proving to be very distracting. This episode of Off Air with Jane and Fee is sponsored by John Lewis Money. Fee, is there anything you can't find at John Lewis? No. As well as all the great bedding, kitchen kit, beauty from brands that we all know and love, you can pick up cosy cashmere Christmas decorations and even essentials for your pet. How about a new collar for Nancy?

Well, and some sparkly pieces to wear to all those festive get-togethers. Well, quite. They even do money too, Jane. They really do have it all. At John Lewis Money, in-house experts and trusted partners work together to offer money products for real life. From the John Lewis Partnership credit card to insurance and travel money, they can help you think outside the bank. To find out more, search John Lewis Partnership credit card. That's the spirit. Credit subject to status. 18 plus years. UK residents. TNCs

apply. John Lewis PLC is a credit broker. New Day Limited is the lender. This episode of Off Air with Jane and Fee is sponsored by Norwegian Cruise Line. Have you ever thought of taking a cruise? Well, it's crossed my mind. Tell me a bit more about it. Well, with Norwegian Cruise Line you can travel to iconic locations across Northern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Greek Isles, unpacking only once and exploring multiple European destinations in one holiday. They offer exclusive go-local shore excursions as well as an immersive program of onboard experiences. I can't lie I'm intrigued by up to 21 dining options on a single ship. Well Jane their fleet has so many

unique bars lounges and restaurants they also have fantastic entertainment shows facilities on board you wouldn't be short of things to do. Plan ahead to discover your dream Europe 2025 cruise. It's certainly one way to beat the winter blues. Experience more at sea with Norwegian Cruise Life. For more information call 0333 222 6513. Contact your travel agent or visit ncl.com Welcome to the podcast that gets emails. Thank you. This is the podcast that gets emails entitled potatoes that look like a bomb

from Jenny. Thanks Jenny. Here it is. It does look like a bomb. Do you want? That is a perfect bottom, isn't it? It's a very, very shapely bottom. She just says, Janefee, I'm really enjoying the rude veg section of your podcast, both your descriptions and the accompanying photos on Insta. Imagine my delight then when this corker turned up

in my bag of Albert Bartlett's. Delighted I can join in. Thank you Jenny, honestly it did make me laugh. And it shouldn't and it's pure Albert. Honestly, I don't know why you've got a bit of a cop on about this. I think, you know, for now, for now vegetables are the stuff of life. I'd like to think that if we were working and both you and I would have been peasant class 200 years ago I would have been in service and you would have been in service too we we would have been in the kitchen scrubbing vegetables having a laugh

having a laugh if something came out of the parsnip bucket that looked a little bit testicular you and I would have been for now finar-ing our way, wouldn't we? So I think it's absolutely fine. Yeah, we would have been very small housemaids or scullery, parlour ladies, something of that description. Albert Bartlett's are the red potatoes, aren't they? Yeah, I don't really use them, do you? Well, I have bought them. I don't know why you would pick them over other spuds. So if anyone has a... I mean, perhaps Jenny, you can get back in touch and explain why you went for the bag of Albert Bartlett's.

Are they particularly good for chipping, baking, mash, roast? So I know that some people really do swear by the Maris Piper. I find it a bit too fluffy. I don't really like it. Well, what brand of potato am I buying when I buy the pack of baking potatoes? Is that Maris Piper or is that King Edward? We're not together all the time. We are. We should be. And I think I've suddenly got back into baked potatoes.

Have you? Well, now I've been converted to the air fryer. You can't do a baked potato in an air fryer. No, exactly. I can't bear the thought of putting the oven on for like two hours a night. I know what you mean. Because the idea that you can do a baked potato in the oven in less than about an hour and a quarter. You can't. Complete mugs can. It is. You can't. It's a fool's errand. Well, you just can't get through the skin, can you? No, you really do need and I'd whack it up to 200 if you can and stick it in there for a good hour and a bit. I really would.

But I think if you do that the method, you couldn't really call it a recipe, where you take it out and then you take the spud out of the oven and then you get the filling out and you mix the cheese and everything else in and then you put it back. That makes for a much nicer baked potato. Oh it does, but what a faff. I mean who's doing that? Well, some of us like to. Just make them. Take time. Make the potato the best it can be. Okay. That was our first lesson. It was our first recipe that we ever did in Home Economics. A baked potato?

Yep. With Miss Pope on a Thursday afternoon in the home economics laboratory, which I now call the kitchen. You went to a very, like myself, we were very lucky actually with our education, went to aspirational girls' schools. We were still doing home economics in the home economics lab. It's a kitchen! Yes, it was a kitchen, but I like the way they tried to zhuzh it up for you, because you're a little bit, sorry, not older, you're younger than me. Clearly they decided to make

home economics a little more bearable for women growing up, lest we forget, with a female prime minister. They called it the home economics laboratory. Right, OK. In my day, it was just Home Economics in the school kitchen and you had to have a wicker basket to take in your ingredients. Really? Oh yeah. Oh, I don't think we were that specific at all. Oh God, you had to get a stupid wicker basket to carry the ingredients to the school in. And then of course, whatever god awful mess you'd made was brought home.

Wow. Queen of puddings, I remember making. home. Wow. Queen of puddings I remember making. What's in a Queen of puddings? I think that's got a meringue topping. It was almost impossible to do and I was just useless. But we never got as far as the continental baked potato. That must have been a down south thing. Well, yeah, I mean, and it's all changed again, isn't it? Because I've got a son who really, really lives for cooking and he did food and nutrition GCSE, which I was very envious of. He was doing all kinds of things. You know, he knew how to do choux pastry by

the time he was 30. It was an incredible syllabus, actually. And they really, really learned about what's good for you, what's not and all that kind of stuff. And they had a right laugh doing it. And also, he was in a class of all boys, it was a mixed school, but they had separate teaching for boys and girls. And I just love the fact that whole generations of boys are being taught to cook in exactly the same way that we were being taught to cook in our home economics laboratory. I think they got to the place actually in the, you know, after the turn of the century where they could just go back to calling it a kitchen and be really better than they are.

Yeah, I mean, just acknowledge that it is a kitchen. But I think actually, now I shall say to my children and anyone else who's coming into the house that I'm just going off to the lab to put something together in time for supper. It was next door to the dressmaking room, which I've got very, very fond memories of actually, Jane, because it was right at the top of the school and it must have been in a south-facing classroom. And it got very, very kind of warm and foggy on a Friday afternoon when we were doing dressmaking. you could just and I'm not being disparaging towards people who then make fashion their life's work but you could just kind of let

your brain slightly move down a gear as you learned some blanket stitching. Yes. Under the very firm guidance of Miss Pope. But it's weird as well. She was multi-dimensional. She did dressmaking and the cooking. But it was all in the same kind of wing of the school. So it was just the rest of the school obviously was very, very academic. We were encouraged to be independent young

girls and then you go up to the top floor and you just sink into your domesticity. I rather like that though, the fog of a Friday afternoon, condensation on the window, and the promise of weekend. Oh absolutely. Gorgeous. And just, you know, we're all making skirts and easy, you know, Vogue pattern number ones and stuff like that, doing incredibly badly. I still, I think I felt that I could use a sewing machine way, way past the level at

which I realistically was able to, and I have in the past, made clothes. Have you? I've been very successful. What have you made? I used to make pyjamas for the kids and stuff like that. Did they wear them? No, not really.

No. No. But they probably felt they had to. Well, I mean, there's just an, I think, up to the age of about eight or nine, you're kind of in charge of the wardrobe, aren't you? Yes. Especially a nighttime wardrobe. Well, yes, you are.

But I've always, you know, that battle with a very small child, and I'm not going to say particularly girls, because I only had girls, so I don't know about boys, but where sometimes it was simply easier to give in. And if they wanted to dress up as Snow White to go to Tesco's, who cares? Yeah, absolutely. You know, there was absolutely no point saying, no, I mean, we just, there are so many battles you don't need to fight. Yeah.

I mean, she's not dressed as Snow White today. Yeah. As far as I know. No, I know exactly. And yeah, you do have to choose your battles. Oh, aren't we full of top tips? Aren't we just? But also, I think our kids were enormously benefited from elastication because actually their clothes were just more comfortable than the clothes that we had to wear when we were

kids. I don't remember, you know, I don't remember my two ever having that terrible, you know, that squirming feeling that you used to have when you had to put something, you know, when you had to get dressed in the morning and it was just uncomfortable clothing. Oh, picky cloth. Yeah, nothing stretched. Everything was a bit itchy after the first wash, you know, so our kids never had that and definitely mine went through those phases where they just wore a lot of clothes as well,

did yours? So there'd be leggings and a skirt and a t-shirt with an under t-shirt and a cardigan on top. That's a lot. Yeah, sometimes my younger one insisted on going to nursery in just a vest and quite a sort of what you might call a, I mean, almost like a Navvies vest and then a very, very elaborate gypsy type skirt. Oh, that's, she's got style. Well, no, ridiculous.

Oh. But I just thought, what's the point? It's 10 to 9. If we don't leave now, we're not going to get there. That was the thing. Our house could be on the go from 5.30 and still be late for school at 9 o'clock. Because something went wrong at the last minute. I love this from Lorraine about Wolf Hall. And actually, that reminds me, my mum was saying she'd enjoyed Wolf Hall. I think perhaps a bit more than me on Sunday night. But she was talking to a friend and they were marvelling at how, back in the day in Tudor times, how did they make those clothes, talking about dressmaking,

when they didn't have machines and they didn't have light particularly. Well they had women who just hunched over. Who was hunched over. Yeah. And also, what about glasses? Because they didn't have glasses. Yep. So I guess you just had to make the most of your seamstress in her good years.

Incredible. Yep. And in the summer months. But absolutely. And also, I mean, the elaborate brocade, embroidery and all of that kind of stuff. Truly remarkable. And I would love to know more about how they actually did it. Practically, how did they do it? And as you say, if a woman excelled at it, would she have to stop

when her sight inevitably deteriorated? Gosh, it just really did get me thinking. Lorraine just says, I too struggled with Wolf Hall, the first book in the trilogy, but happily not as much as a friend of mine who has admitted she was halfway through before she realized it wasn't about Oliver Cromwell. It made me feel a lot better. There we are. That should make every intellectual listening feel a little bit more at ease with themselves. Excellent. I'm glad you put the email down because you've covered up the very large buttocks which were proving to be a bit distracting. They were. The Albert Bartlett bomb was proving to be very distracting. But we'll put that on the Insta because that's just a cheery potato bottom for the weekend.

It certainly is. I think this is where we're going to break the internet, isn't it, with our vegetables. I so wish. I very much hope so. Anonymity Please, ladies is the email entitled Tit-Tat for Dickheads. How this topic made me smile whilst listening at 4am this morning as my memories of living next door to the numero uno facilitator of Tit-Tac came flooding back. The chap in question who continues to be a very good friend of my husband made a living

out of importing or making many of the products in these freebie catalogues. His wife, a lady of great taste, unlike myself, limited taste and always happy to accept a freebie, refused to have the products in her house. However, all welcome Casamere. I have fond memories of butter butlers, fly trappers, crochet loo holders, waterproof picnic blankets and my favourite but completely unnecessary for me, bra extenders. Little bits of material which were fastened onto one's bra to make them more comfortable following weight gain. A huge increase in sales always took place post Christmas and the teams of peace workers across the town would be churning them out in their thousands. You see that in the 17th and

18th century you were making fantastic very very detailed brocade for kings in the 21st century. Not so much. You are just tacking on some brar extenders with our neighbor running around to collect them take them to his warehouse where another team of ladies and they were all ladies would package and dispatch. Another lucrative product was the oxygenated water which was apparently rejuvenating to both humans and animals and a big hit. Despite my husband, a chemist by training, regularly explaining that this was just water, his friend would not believe it. He used the product himself and continued

to achieve high sales for some considerable time. Happy days. Best wishes as always. Trying to look at the next four years as a circus coming to town and hope that the fallout is as minimal as possible. Difficult I know, but we have to try. What a lovely email. That's fantastic.

And oxygenated water. That made me laugh. Do you remember when some bright sparks brought out cans of oxygen that you could, and there were oxygen bars weren't there? Oh there were for a while. Where you could go in and just sit with a mask on your face and just breathe in oxygen and I mean some people were falling for it. They're probably still there actually. Oh they could well be. It does sometimes make me laugh that everybody these days is so hydrated. I mean my kids just don't go anywhere without their water

bottle. That's true and neither do we, I can't come into the studio without mine. No you've got it there. By the way I went to, I'm looking because you've got your soda stream bottle and you very kindly bought me a soda stream for a recent birthday and it's very much still in use, I just want you to be reassured by that. But the whole point was to stop you buying your disposable every day ones. Okay but just every time I get my replacement canisters which I did this weekend, I think fondly of you. Well that's very kind. Just to let you know. Right, Medical Corner because I've made a tit for myself, thanks to Caroline. Thank you. Hello dearest Fian Jane from me in New Zealand, where you are my favourite blighty voices

while I'm temporarily far from home. I'm writing in after hearing Jane talking nonsense about washing hands with a bar of soap being the new... But you said it so well. I mean, it's just, I believed it. Being the new best way to stop norovirus. May I direct Lady Garvey to the NHS guidance, which says, norovirus, see I'm

so alarmed by it I can't say, Norovirus spreads very easily in public places. If small particles of vomit or stools from an infected person get into your mouth through close contact with somebody with Norovirus who may breathe out small particles of the virus that you then inhale or two touching contaminated surfaces or objects as the virus can survive outside the body for several days. How disgusting! So while Jane washing her hands vigorously before she gets her cheese out of the fridge when she gets home makes good sense it will do bugger all about any particles of virus she breathes in from fellow travelers who are unwell. Right. Since I've been wearing an N95 mask on planes and trains,

I have not caught a single sickness, including on the 35 hours of flights between the UK and New Zealand. N95s are the masks you see being worn on film sets and by athletes, they're usually white. They are called that because they are certified to filter 95% plus of the air you breathe. Okay, I mean that's is that a claim or a questionable claim or is that fact? Anyway, on the question of soap type antibacterial liquid is better

than bar soap in fact as it's easier to use and carries less opportunity to pass infection from person to person. Warm water is best as it increases lather but cold water will still do the job. Right, I think now we've got the message. I think you probably know by now, never listen to a word I say, certainly not when it comes to predictions or medical tips. I note that you left out the sentence, so Jane would do well to listen to Fee. Is that painful for you? I genuinely didn't see that. Or did I? My sight isn't as good as it used to be.

Eva's laughing in the corner. If I were a Tudor seamstress I'd have been laid off. Yeah, I just really, really, really want to go back to wearing a mask on public transport with pride this winter. Because when you find out about all of the germ stuff then it just makes perfect sense. Why are we all not doing that? It would just stop the spread of so much stuff. I don't understand it really. Well I'm kind of with you but there was a sort of machismo around not wearing a mask wasn't there? Yeah well I don't want to buy into that do you?

No, no, not a shred of interest in it. We're still quite cross about that man being elected president of the United States and we're not going to stop talking about it. No, we're not going to stop talking about it. We're not going to stop being pissed off either. No, and because leopards don't change their spots, or if this particular leopard is going to change his spot then that is a story, a real, real story. But I think, you know, we're just going to wait and see what happens, aren't we?

Christmas presents is the subject of Deborah in Northamptonshire's email. No grandchildren here, but we stopped exchanging presents years ago in favour of each family member choosing one tree present for themselves to a predetermined value which now depends on how rich I'm feeling. This means everybody gets something they want and removes all the stress and expense of buying lots of gifts." So that's like a kind of open secret Santa, isn't it? And that seems incredibly sensible. And Deborah's family used to do a pound shop dash so everybody knew that they were getting something of the same kind of price. Deborah then goes on to say I was

interested in the computer server heat swimming pool story. My late father worked in the computer industry from the late 1950s and never lost his concern about the need to minimize computer storage which was literally a huge matter in the days before the microchip. I remember visiting his workplace in the mid-1970s and a single computer took up a hall the size of a school gym. That is a period of time that so many people have probably never knew existed. But it must be, clearly, it was true. When replying to an email, Dad would always delete the original text as this saved memory.

All those emails have got to be stored somewhere and storage capacity as finite was his view. And he could foresee a day when storage of computer data was going to be a problem, although to be fair, he didn't foresee that a heating a swimming pool might be part of the solution. Thank you very much indeed for that. Deborah then goes on to say that we don't need two spaces after the full stop anymore. They were necessary for clarity in the days of typewriters and early printers, but we've all been using proportional spacing for the best part of 25 years. Now, blown my mind!

Speak for yourself, Deborah. Absolutely. World blown. Sorry, play that one past me again. We've been using proportional spacing for the best part of 25 years now, so two spaces are no longer needed. I don't suppose the senior and executive secretarial diploma which Deborah took in 1988 exists nowadays, but if it did, the tutors would be teaching a single space after the full stop, just as they were teaching the then newfangled open punctuation when I learnt to type. Sometimes

we all have to just go with the flow. You wouldn't want to look old fashioned now, would you? Well, Deborah, I do. I'm pretty sure, I'm just trying to think, when I'm typing away, do I bother to do... Do you know what? I might have just slipped into proportional spacing, Deborah, without even realising I've done that. That's incredible, isn't it? The cloak of modernity has just wrapped itself around me. I didn't even know it was on the peg. You are wearing a very nice jacket.

Well, we're both having to wear quite a lot of clothes because we've moved places in the office and we've moved to under the air conditioning vent. It's freezing. It is preposterous how much of an impact has had on us. We sat in that place which we really liked for about a year, 18 months. Yes. Yeah. And you wouldn't have thought that would... I mean you don't even know that you're used to something and that it's making you feel comfortable until it's wrenched from you and you have to move... we've moved about two metres down a room. But I've also moved to the other side of the desk because I wanted a better

View of the river because the river the view from this building is unbelievable. It's such a treat clear day. It's just gorgeous But now I'm slightly regretting it because I do I feel discombobulated. I'm facing I'm just facing the wrong way now Jane Really facing the wrong way. It's like I'm driving a car on mainland Europe. That good? Facing the wrong way. It could be the title of quite a long poem. Do you want to write it? Yeah, or it could be the title of my memoir.

Facing the wrong way. I think you could do better than that for your memoir, love. Regular correspondent Maria is back with some support about many people's struggles with Wolf Hall. A couple of years ago, I bought a copy. By the way, this isn't to say that we absolutely recognise that Hilary Mantel was a genius. It's just that some people, including myself, we just couldn't get on with the book. A couple of years ago, says Marie, I bought a copy with the intention of reading it while on a weekend break in Chichester. How lovely. I've only been there a couple of times, but it's on a weekend break in Chichester. How lovely.

I've only been there a couple of times but it's rather a lovely place isn't it? It's very civilised. I found the style of writing quite impenetrable, Sir Marie, and slightly annoying. But actually, it did come in handy. The hotel bedroom was hot and stuffy and the window wouldn't stay open because the sash cord was broken. I ended up wedging Wolf Hall in the gap and being a weighty tome it totally did the trick. What a result. There we are you see. So well worth making the outlay for the book because in the end it did you right. Excellent. I am going to save your email Naomi the head teacher who champions colourful bright school coats for tomorrow but I'm just going to tease you with the fact that we will be mentioning Windalsham Village Infant School quite a lot, because it's a really fantastic email and because your PS's name dropping

our school would be quite the media coup. So that's news from Windalsham Village Infant School coming your way tomorrow. Very excited to hear that. We have got a guest, it's Larry Lamb, we'll hear from him in a moment, but just to say thank you very much to Emi for the very interesting intel. As she said, I saw this and thought of you and it's a story I'm assuming from either the internet or a local newspaper, the headline being, Woman Loses Engagement Ring in Garden garden finds it 13 years later on a carrot. And it is indeed bound around one of those very familiar orange root vegetables. And the lady herself is posing with the carrot in the photograph.

We don't know how her relationship worked out, whether the loss of the engagement ring meant that the relationship itself was over or what's happened to it. I wish I knew more more but thank you very much indeed, Emmy. I think that's our top carrot story of the week. Oh it certainly is. So a tiny little baby carrot just grew through the ring and then when they pulled it up obviously the ring came with it. I mean that's just the stuff of serendipitous genius, isn't it? And what was she doing? Was she digging up her carrots, her carrot crop? She must have, well, just thought, what on earth has happened here?

Incredible. Yeah, really remarkable. Anyway, sorry, I'm slightly awash and agog because Fia and I have been to an art gallery already today. We have. A very long day. Of which more later? In the week or is it next week?

TBC. TBC? Oh, I see. Right, okay. But can I just say it was one of life's enormous pleasures to just spend even half an hour in a gallery on our own. But crucially with someone who knew what she was talking about. Yes, with Laura Freeman from The Times. The brilliant Laura Freeman from The Times. And yes, we will put this podcast out, it'll come

your way relatively soon but it was a lovely experience you're right, going to an art gallery just in the quiet and the rather glorious sunshine of nine in the morning and Tate Britain is a particularly lovely building. Isn't it? Yeah. I'm not a regular there Jane, I have to confess my lack of... Well I'm going to go more often now, I really am because I just felt better for the whole thing. This episode of Off Air is sponsored by the National Art Pass. Now Jane, there's nothing I like better than a trip to a gallery or a museum on a rainy afternoon.

And let's be honest, we get quite a lot of those in the UK, don't we? I do feel that looking at a bit of art is more than just kind of looking at a bit of art, if you know what I mean. I think it can really stay with you long after the visit, kind of feeds the soul. Yeah, you're on to something there because scientific research suggests that regularly looking at art could help you live longer, plus lots of other well-known benefits to boost your wellbeing and help reduce stress. So why not get a National Art Pass? It gives you free and half price entry at hundreds of museums and galleries and only costs £59.25 for an individual pass. And there's a reduced price

for under £30 and you can also purchase plus one and plus kids add-ons. Free or half price entry and a chance of living longer, I am sold. The National Art Pass. See more, live more. Get your pass at artfund.org forward slash off air. Right, let's bring in our guest, actor Larry Lamb. Many of us will be spending part of our family Christmas, yes, I've said the word Christmas, slumped in from the box, absolutely a gog at the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. But we do need to remember all of us

that not everybody gets the chance to squash up on the sofa with their relis. New research commissioned by ASDA shows that 10% of older people say they don't expect to speak to anybody over the Christmas holidays. Some say they might go to the supermarket to speak to somebody, others say they're going to rely on a pet. Now this is one of the reasons why ASDA has set up chatty cafes across the land. The idea is you can just turn up and spend a pound, that's all, for unlimited tea, coffee or soup and the cafes are open in Asda from now until the end of the year. Larry Lamb, who plays Mick Shipman in Gavin and Stacey, was at the launch of the Basildon Cafe this week. Thank you very much for

doing this. I hope I haven't kept you waiting. Not at all. Anything to hear your voice, Jane? Oh, Larry. Okay, well I'm already enjoying the interview. Let's carry on in this thing. I love your voice. It's just somehow so soothing. Really? Okay. Yeah, I love it. Oh, that's really kind of you. We include all this in the interview so everybody else can hear it. Yeah. Actually, I love it. Oh, that's really kind of you. We include all this in the interview so everybody else can hear it. Actually, Larry, we'll talk about a few other things as you can imagine, but let's just talk about the campaign that you're involved with because we've just got to accept the fact that for so many people the so-called happiest time of the year is actually really

tough, isn't it? Oh it's terrible I just was along with a load of people yesterday at the Asda out in I was going to say Billericke but it's not exactly in Basildon and there was a you know several elderly people from clubs and all the rest had come together for a launch of the of the as does chatty calf system and It was just fascinating to talk to them and there was one old boy there really lovely man And I we wouldn't we were Natter and I said did you do you have any mates you meet up with and he just looked To me said no, I'm it. I'm the last man standing Yeah, I don't have any mates left and I said, I don't have any mates left. And there are so many people lonely. And I mean, these statistics like one in ten over 60 fearing they'll speak to nobody over Christmas.

It's terrible. That feeling of dread as we approach Christmas. It's very, very real for all too many people, isn't it? And for all the commercialization and the glitter and tinsel. I know. And in fact, go on. Sitting and watching the telly with families, you know, loving families and you're sitting alone at home, you get up in the morning, you're on your own. You go, you know, maybe

in the summer. There's statistics support the fact that, you know, like one in ten older people going to a supermarket just to find somebody to talk to. Yeah. You know, lives are just so complicated now and so many people move away, the old people get left there, they're on their own, then they lose a partner and then they really are on their own. They don't have any real focus for their lives because their focus was their work or their partner's work. You know, and I go swimming every morning and meet up with a bunch of guys down the

cafe later on and we, you know, sort out the world. But there's a focus there for us. It is the swimming. And so, you know, it is a lack of focus because for so many their life is their work and then their work's gone. It's hard. It is hard, it's really hard and it's an issue that we don't really want to confront too often I suspect. So the idea of the ASDA Chatti CAF is that you can simply bowl up there, it won't cost you much and

you will be guaranteed company. It'll cost you a pound. Yeah, it'll cost you a pound. It's like what they call their winter warmer and they have somebody on duty there, a community champion who's there to make sure you don't just sit there on your own and people are mixed up and moved around and you come and talk to these people. So it's like it's a community effort and I admire it greatly and they said would you be you know would you be interested in helping to promote it and of course I am of that demographic I'm pushing 80 you know so but I'm lucky I've got I've got support with a warm loving extended family and

And the thought of being absolutely alone. I mean it's it's yeah, it's it's upsetting. I find yeah It is and you I know you've already talked about your swimming You're still physically fit and you want to keep it that way But of course not everyone has that bonus either, do they? No, they don't, they don't. And in many places there's not the facilities to help them. You know, and it's so sad because you know this wonderful expression this old boy said to me, yeah, you know, he said don't ever forget old age ain't for sissies. And you know, there you are just when you're least able to deal with things in many ways. You know, you're confronted with all sorts of things going wrong with the mechanism,

you know, like an old car, it starts to break down, bits go wrong, you've got to get them sorted out. And then, you know, like you're at the weaker end of your life with things that you know demand a lot of concentration, a lot of energy and you're just not ready for it. It's tough. I've got to be honest though, it was quite cold first thing this morning Larry. Have you swum today? Yeah, swum at seven o'clock this morning. It was ten degrees in the water, which has gone down a couple of degrees.

Right, okay. And you'll keep that up all winter? Yeah, yeah. Got down to one degree last year. What are you wearing? I wear a swimming hat, but one that's got a liner to it, so it's insulated. And then when it's really cold, I put proper swimming gloves on and swim booties. I look very attractive. I'm sure you do. It's very fetching, I have to say. But yeah, but you know my body's fine, it's just my extremities are what suffer with the cold. It starts off with a hat and gradually works.

I'm on my way to the gloves and the boots now because at the end of the day you get out and your fingers are so numb you can't get dressed. It's a bit of a tough one. I'll live vicariously through you Larry if don't mind, because I won't be doing it myself. Just reading about you, I did recall Triangle and I'd forgotten you were in Triangle, Larry. For younger listeners, Triangle was a very glamorous BBC soap set on a ferry that chugged between, you'll have to remind me, Harwich, was it Harwich, the Hook of Holland and Zeebrugge? I'll tell you it's funny that one because what happened, it was all done with a Danish line that ran out of Denmark.

So basically we went from Harwich to Esbjerg in Denmark and then we went down to Amsterdam and then we went back to Harwich. So it was a triangle. And that went for three years we did that back in the old days when they would have a soap opera that ran for 13 weeks. And so each winter we went we went back to the North Sea you know well through it wasn't winter it was the late autumn up to Christmas and we did it for three years it was wonderful and a lot

of laughs well yes and including for the viewer Larry you were the Purser, weren't you? No, I was the chief engineer. Right. And Kate O'Mara, who Kate O'Mara was the star of the initial series, she was the Purser. And my old mate Michael Craig was the captain. And yeah, it was quite a job. It was a job that everybody loved but the critics really piled on and it never got any positive reviews but people looked back with it, looked back to it and it was a decent bit of telly. I enjoyed it. Yeah, no look I certainly watched it and I do remember reading Clive James review of triangle remains one of the best bits of

writing I think I've ever come across I've got to check that one out because I could imagine him really going to town well yeah I mean I did you did you actually go to see oh yeah oh did we yeah, we was all shot on board that ferry because the BBC got a very good deal. You know, they had 60 people, the crew and everybody else, and so they got 60 cabins and all the positions for the cars, the trucks and everything else. So it was like a traveling studio and they got the whole thing for the cost of the cabins and the cars, which was a lot less than they would have to pay for putting it in a studio somewhere. It was a very good deal all round.

And of course, at that time of the year, the ferry wasn't so busy because the weather was so bad. So we were on it in terms of the weather at the wrong time of the year. Yeah. But in terms of the budget on the right time of the year. Yeah, okay. God, did we get some storms. No wonder. Traveling to the likes of Barry Island doesn't hold much fear for you.

So, um... It doesn't faze me at all. No, well, it wouldn't after that. You've been in all sorts of shows, but the one that you are now most closely associated with, well EastEnders obviously, but is Gavin and Stacey. And actually, as we're talking about family life, and that will be, I know, at the center of my family's Christmas, because we will all gather to watch that programme. And I guess that takes us back to the earlier part of our conversation about those people who might well watch it, but they'll be on their tod. I mean, what should we do? Those of us who

are able, should you invite someone in that you don't know, just go the extra mile? Even if they say no, at least you've invited them. Exactly. I mean, I think that's what it's all about. I mean, it's a case of just sort of stretching it a bit. It's something about the Brits. I think it's something to do with being an island people. You kind of have your own little space and it's your castle. You don't tend to open the door.

I mean, other places I've lived in are a little bit more open to bringing in people from the community, you know, it's just it's just I don't know just Broaden your broaden your outlook and just figure well, what would it be like to be stuck on my own right now? I went all this love and all this family this family joy going on and I'm not a part of it It's it's it probably needs a really good TV drama. I think you know something like this Yeah, you know covering you know getting to get a really good actor to play some Because I think it affects men it affects men more than it does women. Women have this ability, this instinct to get together and chat.

Men can be a little bit standoffish. It's like, oh no, I'm just going to sit and watch the telly. I don't want to go out. Because for so many of them, so many of them, times are changing, but so many of them have lived a life where they are the breadwinner and then they're retired and so suddenly the focus has gone right out of their lives. And their friends, their friends have been, you know, part of their work and then all of a sudden they're on their own. Yeah it's really grim. Yeah. When the idea of Gavin and

Stacey was put to you, I mean I don't know whether your agent rang you up and said look you've got, you know, know whether your agent rang you up and said, look, you've got, you know, there's a chance of you being in the show and it's about this. A young man from Essex meets a young woman from Barry Island and well that's it really. That's it. And you were… Yeah, that's it, simple as that. I mean it is, it's basically the whole thing is rooted in love.

That's it. Two young people talking business on the phone on a regular basis realise there's something clicking on the phone and they decide that they're going to meet up and each of them will bring a friend along. And that's the keystone to the whole thing. So it's all about a couple falling in love and gradually an extended family building out from that. And to me, you know, that I find, I find is, is the real attraction to it.

It's people with families like that relating to them because they're similar. And then people that don't have families like that sort of yearning for it, you know, because it's all about a loving family. And yeah, and it's about two slightly unlikely families getting together and getting on. But yeah, with that sinister business about the surnames being the same as serial killers. Nobody seems to understand or recognize at all. Well I've just mentioned it Larry. I've never met anybody that picks that up, Weston and Shipman, at all.

But that does hint at a darkness doesn't it? Well no, I think it's definitely, that's a Ruth Jones and James Gordon gag. That's what that is. I think it's just purely and simply they're thinking, right, we've written this story about all these people, all these two loving families and underneath the family's surnames are the surnames of two notorious serial killers. I bet there's millions of people out there still don't get that. Well, they'll be reminded now.

I think it's just this wonderful dark irony that those two would cook up. Yeah, okay. Well, Ruth Jones is just, I mean, I've interviewed her a couple of times. She's such a brilliant woman. Isn't she? No, I mean, she's she? I love her books. I think obviously this is a work of genius. And you and Alison Steadman are the dream married couple. Do you get on?

Yeah, we do. It's really funny. And we only really live a little way from each other in London. But we never see each other. She's always off working. I'm off doing something and then all of a sudden, you know, one will send a little text to the other one and a little hello, a birthday, something happened in their lives that you hear about and then we get

back together and it's like we never separated, like we are this couple, you know, it's lovely. It's a really wonderful working relationship yeah and you are you are an entirely believable older married couple I'm gonna say yeah she's completely the opposite of that character in real life I cannot imagine anybody being less like Pam than she says Well, what is it she says? Oh Mick, I just love all the drama. Is that what was that? Yeah, that's it. Because that's the opposite of Alison. Like, let's keep it quiet kids, like nice and quiet.

Yeah, okay. Well, that's why she's just so brilliant. We've talked a lot about family and obviously families at the heart of Gavin and Stacey, but your childhood wouldn't necessarily have led you to a happy family life in later life, would it really? I mean, yours is a triumph really. Yeah, it certainly is. It certainly is, I tell you. It's like, here we go and I'm having a wonderful time playing this role with this group of people and it's such a lovely thing to be a part of, you know? And to be a part of some iconic program, to be a part of the cast of an iconic program that's a basic, it's a comedy, you know? It's not some drama where I'm playing a nasty person.

I love it. Are we going to be satisfied by the end of the Christmas? I think you're going to be more than satisfied. I mean, you know, having read this thing over and over and then watched it all and and being a part of it and the scope of this one and a half hour film of it is just extraordinary. I mean, the way they've managed to tie up all these little loose ends and bring them all together and everything.

It's a very, it's a very joyous, inclusive, at times very emotional piece. And that we did, you know, for a change, logistically, it worked out that they could actually have us on the very last day of filming. We were filming the end of the show, which never happens. And so, you know, the emotion just bubbled up on the way to that day. And then on that day, you know, gradually it was like, okay, well, it's like it's all over, you know, here we go. We're all going off. And then the first assistant director shouts out, okay, that's it. That's a wrap and that is the

end of the final episode of Gavin and Stacey and everybody was in each other's arms, all the crew, everybody. I mean it was just a wonderful, wonderful thing, the grand finale. But what about that fishing trip and Uncle Bryn? Well you see, on Christmas night you'll find out all about that. But will we? You'll find out all about that. And that's all he's saying. That was actor Larry Lamb, one of the stars of course, and there are many of Gavin and

Stacey, which is a sitcom which I think I'd find it a struggle to explain it to people outside the UK who'd never seen it. It shouldn't work, it really does work, it's completely mad and most of the main characters are named after very well-known serial killers. I mean, it's, yeah, you see, I can't really go there. No, and it's such a, I think it's one of the most fantastic, heartwarming, lovely, funny, piss-taking... Yeah, heartwarming, but a bit sinister at times.

Pieces of British television, because it has, it's got that underbelly of sinister. Yeah. I think we do really well. But a couple of notches down in the scripting or the casting or whatever, it would have been truly abysmal. It's that weird thing, isn't it? It is just over the cusp. So I think it's brilliant. But it could have gone very badly wrong. So they've just started... They've put lunch out, haven't they? We're in the studio. My olfactory senses are telling me.

Is that... That's mashed potato. They've put a bit too much water in, haven't they? That is, mash gets smashed. It's quite watery. I don't think they've put a bit too much water in haven't they? That is mash gets smash, it's quite watery. I don't think they've used Albert Barletts. Maybe not. Oh gosh, that is really coming through very strong. Oh my god, it really is. Right, we're back in the, what was it called it your school? The domestic? Home Economics Laboratory.

That's right. It's all gone full circle today. Thank you for putting up with this. We don't know what it is, but we love doing it and we're very glad you're a part of it too. It's Jane and Fee at times.radio. Congratulations, you've staggered somehow to the end of another Off Air with Jane and Fee. Thank you. If you'd like to hear us do this live, and we do do it live, every day Monday to Thursday, 2 till 4 on Times Radio. The jeopardy is off the scale and if you listen to this you'll understand exactly why that's the case. So you can get the radio online on DAB or on the free Times Radio app. Off Air is produced by Eve Salisbury and the executive producer is Rosie Cutler.