Off Air... with Jane and Fi - Awaiting the arrival of my pink ombré plastic tree

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Fi is in the building!! This is not a drill!! She joins Jane back in the studio to discuss washing your duvet, the lack of catheters in TV shows and encounters with Sting, naturally. Plus, former Harry Potter stuntman David Holmes discusses the accident that changed his life and his new documentary 'The Boy Who Lived'. If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: [e-mail] Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfi Assistant Producer: Eve Salusbury Times Radio Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

VoiceOver describes what's happening on your iPhone screen. VoiceOver on. Settings. So you can navigate it just by listening. Books. Contacts. Calendar. Double tap to open. Breakfast with Anna from 10 to 11. And get on with your day. Accessibility. There's more to iPhone. Well, because Eve's just discussing what happens when she takes her mini plaits out and she said her hair goes all crimpy.

Yeah. Is the still on sale such a thing as a crimper? Did you have one? No, such a thing as a crimper did you have one no i didn't have a crimper but people just have straighteners these days don't they they've gone in completely the opposite direction aren't they but there used to be a thing didn't there which was like a kind of i mean it almost looked like a serrated straightener so it's like a toaster. Yeah, but it had the little Vs in it to crimp your hair. And it basically just properly, properly fried you. It's like putting your hair in a Breville machine, isn't it?

It's actually like toasting a sandwich but using your hair instead. I wonder whether they're still out there for the retro look. Somewhere in my mum's attic will be my old crimper. This is your mum who you referenced on the show today because she has never gone for the Swedish duvet. No, I can't remember. I think she calls it a Swedish quilt. She doesn't call it a duvet, Jane.

Okay, a Swedish quilt. I do remember very long conversations in our house in the 70s about whether as a household we were going to go towards duvets. And the first people who adopted duvets, I mean, it was almost like the swingers had arrived in the neighbourhood. It was so risque, the idea that you'd just sleep under this kind of cotton wool-filled quilt and nothing else changed. No, well, it was very daring and risky.

I think people feared that all kinds of germs might get... Well, actually, sometimes I do wonder. I'm not sure I've done as much washing of my duvets as perhaps I should. What are the rules about how often you should wash the duvet itself? I really don't know. No, I think I've just chosen not to investigate that particular area of my life. Don't email about this subject because I think I might be shamed to discover that, in fact, you should have them done three or four times a year or something.

But you need to go to a special laundrette, don't you? Because you can't do them at home. No, although people say that you can do them at home if they're not high tog, if you put tennis balls in. Oh, my God. I mean, you'd have to take a week off work just to... No, I can't do that. That's where I was last week, Jane.

Yeah, well, you said you were ill. Illness was a confection. I was actually just sorting out my Swedish quilts. Does anyone still have sheets and blankets? I'd quite like that to be answered. Yes, if you are, and if you've got Brentford Nylons that are still doing the business for you. Wonderful static as you just get in or out.

But then our 90s were also made of nylon, so it was quite a frisson back in those days. You could be that proud outlier who's still living the retro life. Like me with my satellite television at home. We've got a couple of email specials coming up later on in the week because it's the COVID inquiry here in the UK. And Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, is going to be making his appearance

at the inquiry. It's quite important that we hear every word he's got to say for himself. He was the man in charge. Lots of decisions were taken under his watch that need to be scrutinised and examined, and they will be by Hugo Keith, Casey, who's leading the charge at the inquiry, which does mean that on our programme, we won't have big guests on Wednesday and Thursday, which means that there won't be a big guest on the podcast. So emails are go-go. So I think we're probably just going to be slightly slight

on the emails today and tomorrow ahead of that. Yeah, although I would like to appeal to people to tell us what they think of the COVID inquiry, because I know it's supposed to be about... No, I'm fine, thank you. Are you all right? Yes. The COVID inquiry is meant to be about how we deal better

should we be faced with a pandemic in the future. But it's turned into a political drubbing, isn't it? And we had, both of us, I think, would acknowledge we had rather fortunate COVID pandemics, didn't we? We didn't lose anybody close to us. It was miserable, of course it was, but we were very lucky. But there would be people listening who, unfortunately, did have desperately difficult situations.

Quite a few relatives are in the public gallery watching every single word for that reason. So tell us, is it delivering for you? And if you're living outside the UK, some countries have long since cleared up, cleared up their Covid inquiries. Did you find this sort of thing helpful? And I know I thought it was interesting the other day when Michael Gove raised the whole issue of Covid being manmade and was just completely. No, we're not here to discuss that, Mr. Gove.

And I would frankly, I would quite like to know where Covid came from, because it's still with us in varying forms. And we are hugely living with the impact of it. So, yeah, I am sorry, but I would quite like to know how it started and why. Anyway, that wasn't, again, wasn't meant to be what the COVID inquiry was all about. So, yes, you're right. We haven't got, we just haven't got time in the next couple of days for too many emails, but we will have loads of time later in the week. Yes, yeah. But thank you very much because it's a wide range of topics as ever. Soporific compliment comes in from Please Keep Doing It. That's just the last sentence in the email, it's not your name.

Last week you read out an email from a listener whose earliest memory was of waking in the night to her parents arguing and you went on to make thoughtful points about how painful this may be waking in the night to the sound of conflict and as someone who is a child experienced this far too often i concur and like your lovely other listener it's taken a long time to deal with the lasting effects but i also agree wholeheartedly with all of the listeners who frequently fall asleep to your podcast, given the above. I wanted to point out that this really is the highest compliment. To talk with each other in a way that makes us feel so very safe that we can actually let go and fall asleep really is a wonderful achievement.

And I'm going to hang on to that because it doesn't matter which way you look at that. It's always a little bit weird. It's one you've got to wrestle with slightly, but we will take it and thank you very much. And sleep tight. Yes, and do sleep well. Yeah, do sleep well.

Seriously, do sleep well. I had an anxiety dream. Well, a couple actually last night. One, I'd lost my passport. I mean, that happens all the time. I'd forgotten my passport. And the other one, I was, young Eve was involved. Sorry, sorry, no, no, sorry, sorry, sorry.

That just makes me laugh, Jane, because... I don't go anywhere. You don't go anywhere. So the anxiety dream that you've lost your passport, you're anxious about something that's never really going to happen. Well, twice a year I do. But I always go away with other people. So generally speaking, I hand my documents over to people,

to other people. I'm just too silly. Have you got a lackey? I always take my PA. And in the other dream, Eve was shouting at me in the studio to keep talking about Columbia. And I just wanted to say that I had too much hoovering to do,

which I think is my subconscious saying, Jane, give up work and become a housewife. Yeah, why not? Well, honestly, I think a lot of people, it would make a lot of people very happy It would certainly cheer up my house No, don't do that Hello to Jenny, who says

I was very proud to hear you talking Of our esteemed President of Ireland Who's incredibly popular And as you said, an erudite yet approachable figure A couple of years ago My aunt gave me a tea cosy for Christmas And I don't have a teapot But we have found an appropriate place for Michael T. Higgins on top of our Christmas tree.

I have attached a photo, which I hope brings you some joy. And there is he's a very short chap, but he's got lovely, fluffy out, sticky out, fluffy white hair. And he just looks very friendly. And I know he's an academic of some standing in the Irish Republic and indeed elsewhere. But he makes an absolutely brilliant fairy on top of the Christmas tree. Do you put a fairy on top of your tree? Oh, we have a star. Yeah, I have a star. A great big furry star.

Oh, no, ours isn't furry. It's spiky. Have you got your tree up already? No. Why? When do you go for tree? Oh, no, no, I don't either. I'm waiting for the arrival of my pink feathery ombre plastic tree this year. Oh, yes, that's right, yes.

I suppose I will once again flirt with the idea of an artificial tree and then be dragged down to the garden centre and me made to get a fresh whatever they call them. Yeah. I want you to call it a fresh water tree, but it's not. A fresh pine tree. A fresh pine tree, yeah. I'm expecting exactly the same kind of disappointment and vague rebellion in the household,

but I'm just very much hoping that it stops the kittens weeing. That's all I've gone for, really. Admittedly, it doesn't need to be pink. Are they still at it? Yes. OK. I thought it was just Barbara. Or a woodpile.

Well, it's Barbara mostly, but I think Brian sometimes joins in. I know. Now, this comes in from Philippa. A bit late to the party, never mind that, but listening to the podcast in which you were talking about the oh-so-obviously-empty coffee cups putting in an appearance in almost every TV show and film, it reminded me of something else that always grinds my gears.

Sitting on the sofa knitting and watching Julie and Julia again, and still fab, I spotted someone else doing it. Knitting, but doing it like a five-year-old in the foothills of a crafting life. That's a lovely phrase. If actors are taught how to ride horses, chop onions, dance, sing, perform brain surgery, why is it not possible to show someone how to at least look

as if they're an experienced knitter for the teeny-weeny amount of time they're knitting on screen? And no, not even Miss Marple is an exception to the looking like a five-year-old trope. Philippa goes on to concede that the brain surgery may not be all that realistic either. But it's a very good spot. And my other personal bugbear,

which I realised last night whilst watching, I think it was Hidden Assets. It's on the BBC. It's an Irish Criminal Assets Bureau investigation crime caper. It filled some time. Tell me again. It's an Irish Criminal Assets Bureau. So it's about the proceeds of crime. It's some time. Tell me again. It's an Irish criminal assets bureau. So it's about the proceeds of crime.

It's series two that I'm watching. It's quite complicated. Oh, I wouldn't understand it. There's a lot of plots involving forensic accounting. Bloody Elfie. Oh, the evenings must fly by. I'm quite enjoying it. you ever heard a peak of your feet that can take up hours that's gorgeous as a hobby no but i did think because you know

inevitably lots of people uh you know get kiboshed in the process uh but but whenever they have somebody lying in a hotel a hospital bed yes in some kind of trauma. Nobody's ever wearing a catheter. And that is the most normal thing in hospital, for somebody to have a catheter fitted. They never have a catheter fitted. That's a really good point. They always have that, they're always hooked up to that machine that goes beep, beep, beep, beep!

But you never see the bag of wee? No, there's never a bag of wee. I think put the bag of wee in just to be a bit more realistic. Is that also true of Holby City and all those other shows? Yeah, they never have a bag of wee. I think put the bag of wee in just to be a bit more realistic. Is that also true of Holby City and all those other shows? Yeah, they never have a bag of wee. Grey's Anatomy? Nope. They always have a nice bag of clear liquid, a nice bag of blood. A bit of saline. Yep, but they don't have the wee. Well, perhaps

people abroad in really gorgeous glamorous hospital dramas don't wee. It's just not a thing. Maybe. You're right though, I've never seen a bag of wee in Grey's Anatomy. I mean, it's quite a hill to die on and I'm not prepared to go there. But I just thought I'd mention it while we were there. While we were there.

Yes, we've all had catheters fitted. Right, let's talk health. And Tricia says, After hearing Jane say she took a Barocca before coming to work, it reminded me of my husband a couple of years ago. He put one in his mouth because he thought it was just a vitamin C tablet. He made such a fuss because it all kind of... years ago he put one in his mouth because he thought it was just a vitamin c tablet he made such a fuss because it all kind of i was hysterical with laughter and i still bring it up says trisha

oh trisha let that one go you are miserable um honestly your poor husband there put a popped a barocca in his mouth thinking it was just a little something he could just swallow and it all kind of went berserk in his on his tongue and just caused mayhem you swallow and it all kind of went berserk on his tongue and just caused mayhem. You can imagine it, can't you? Because as soon as you plunge it into water, it just, yeah, all that good stuff comes out of it. What it is, I don't know.

Well, quite a lot of it. I mean, just to go back to the catheter, if you'd had a Barocca just before having an unfortunate accident in hospital and they fitted the catheter right away, then that wee would be orange, wouldn't it? Because you have a Barocca and six hours later, your wee is mostly Barocca. It's not even six hours.

Is it not? It's more like half an hour. Is it? Yeah. Okay, we'll go through you quickly, isn't it? Shall we just have the little anecdote about Sting before we go to the main guest? Definitely.

Can we just say that Sting has written some wonderful songs? And interestingly, Tim Rice referenced one of them, Fields of Gold, which I think is a lovely song. I love that song. And less successfully, there was his song about the Russians. Do you remember that? No. It was called, it was very simple.

It was his take on what we all thought was the impending Armageddon that was coming our way in the 1980s. And it was called The Russians Love Their Children Too. Oh, well, that's a good sentiment. Well, yeah, it is, yeah. And thanks to Sting, we managed to stave off that particular war. So well done. I think, yes, sometimes when pop does war in history,

I always think of the, do you remember the video to Elton John's Nikita? Oh, Nikita, you will never know. Which was kind of Checkpoint Charlie, wasn't it, with a very beautiful woman. You weren't quite sure what side she was coming from or going to. Strangely, it didn't feature one of those Russian babushka ladies that we're all familiar with, used to sit in kiosks and sell you overpriced or very cheap fags and the ones that used to

have you ever been to the museum in St. Petersburg which one? The Hermitage oh no, oh actually no I think I have I think you have I have been there was it Dr. Chivago? no

there was a lady selling tickets there. And do you remember they give you apps like a huge ticket that went on for about half a mile in length? It was just very peculiar. I mean, everyone had a job in Russia, but it wasn't always clear whether their jobs were actually very sensible or indeed had any kind of commercial value or point. I think you would have made a very good kiosk woman.

I think I would. Because you'd stop and have a chat with people worth having a chat with and you'd be so rude to people you didn't want to have a chat with. Absolutely. Anyway, how we've got onto this is because you were talking about Elton John's video for Nikita,

which has nothing at all to do with this anecdote about Sting. Oh dear. Hello, Fee and Jane, Jane and Fee. To be honest, my encounter was almost an ambush and it happened way back in 1980 when I was a trainee clinical psychologist. My favourite band were The Police

and I'd managed to buy tickets to go to a New Year concert they were playing in my hometown of Edinburgh. It was absolutely brilliant and I was overwhelmed by my Sting passion. I found out where the band was staying and persuaded my long-suffering, rather sparey boyfriend to come with me to the hotel. You can only imagine the level of my overwhelm when I saw Sting besporting billowing silk shirt and leather trouser. Breathe deeply, everybody. Exiting the lift in the front of the doors where I was quite

tragically begging the doorman to let me in. I went into overdrive and the guy just let me in to get rid of me. I have mixed feelings about the encounter as I did completely demean myself. I abandoned the boyfriend, went straight up to Sting and offered him a drink. He asked for champagne and tequila. What?

Which was pricey and took the wind out of my student grant sales. He then asked me to dance. I was almost deranged by delight at this point and the zenith of my life occurred. It peaked early. I chatted to him and would have done anything he had asked, to my shame. But imagine my disappointment when he said,

maybe you'd better get back to your boyfriend. He's looking a bit worried. I trotted off and that was that I learned that he was grappling with the breakup of his marriage and affair with Trudy at that time and I resented Trudy deeply ever after she seems like quite a nice woman often pondering on how much happier he'd have been with me on the biodynamic Tuscan farm I managed to drag my brush with Fame story out on a regular basis and enjoyed recounting it hugely, even though it is to my, and I think it could have only even though it is to my, I think the word

missing is detriment. Yeah. And I think it could only have been taught by the man in the lift being Bruce Springsteen. Please don't disrespect me. I was mesmerised. Oh, I'm not disrespecting you because we've all been there. Yeah. So the thing that stood out to both Jane and I in that email

was the fact that you offered to buy Sting a drink and he accepted and made you buy him a champagne and tequila. I mean, the cheeky, the cheeky, cheeky Newcastle lad. He must have been making a few quid by then. And also, that drink sounds revolting. It does, doesn't it? I mean, one of those would have knocked you senseless, surely. A couple, and I'd have been absolutely dead to the world.

Yeah. Sting, what were you thinking? It's got top notes of naff and bottom notes of bombast. I don't want anything to do with it, Jane. Although I'd buy that perfume. OK. In fact, I think I might be wearing it. But do you know what?

I think everybody, actually this might just be revealing about myself, but doesn't everybody have somebody who they've looked at from a distance and they have genuinely thought, you know, if you'd only been with me, life would have worked out so much better for you. And maybe Sting, he might listen. Somebody close to him might, because we've had encounters, we've had emails from Chris Martin's family.

We have, that's very true. I mean, the whole six degrees of separation thing. There'll be someone listening who knows someone who knows someone who knows him. Yep, you never know, he might have a regret. Is he still, even now, preparing an evening cocktail for him and his lady friend? Is it Trudy still? I think it is

still Trudy. They've been together a long time. With the tantric possibilities lying tantalisingly ahead for later in the evening he'll pep himself up with a champagne and tequila. What kind of dance, what did you dance to? I'd quite like to know. I'd like to know more.

Yeah. Just a few more details. That's a lovely, it's a cracking anecdote. And it goes right to the top of our anecdote charts. It does. I also would quite like to know what happened to the rather sparey boyfriend. What happened to him? We married with the kiddies.

Right. Should we go into the big guest, Jane? Yes. Right, here we go. It's an interesting one today. It is with David Holmes, who was a stuntman on the film set of Harry Potter for about ten years, standing in for Daniel Radcliffe whenever an action scene on a broomstick or diving in the depths of a loch was beyond the capability of Mr Radcliffe whenever an action scene on a broomstick or diving in the depths of a loch was beyond the capability of Mr Radcliffe and David had been doing the stuntman work for the best part of a decade so he went to work one day on set he was only 25 years old he was doing a stunt that he had done

many times before it was one of those sudden pull back through the air ones where a pulley is attached to a harness worn by the stuntman and then it suddenly dropped and it gives that effect that we've seen so many times as viewers of somebody kind of you know being pushed back through the air. Blown backwards. Yes. Nothing you can do about it. Massive gust of wind or explosion or whatever but this went so badly wrong for David because the pulley's weight was too much and he was pulled back against a padded wall so hard that he broke his neck instantly and he's lived with that spinal injury he's paralysed from the chest down ever since his condition is also slowly getting worse and he's losing the sensations and strength in

his arms too he's now just 40 years old but he doesn't regret his choice of career at all and he says that he was very happy to take the risks so that you and I on our comfortable sofas at home could be amazed. And he tells his story in a new documentary on Sky. It's called The Boy Who Lived. And it's made with Daniel Radcliffe, who is one of David's closest friends. And in fact, David's friends play an enormous part in his life. Several of them are his professional carers, as well as his mates. And we started off the interview by asking David if he had been fearless,

even as a child. That is true. Unfortunately, my poor mum, I put her through the wringer. I was first day at school climbing lampposts because I didn't want to go into school. And yeah, thankfully she found the right sport for some small boys to go to, which is not only the world's best childcare,

but we was able to like build on what is a foundation of gymnastics. So yeah, I was always able to push as a gymnast and yeah, you know, you get hurt trying things and it going wrong, but it was something I was able to always overcome. And yeah, fear's something I lean into. I think you're only living when you're nearly dying. And yeah, I've had a lot of near death experiences, but I'm still alive, still living.

So tell us what then happens that little journey well not little journey um the big journey that you took to find yourself on the set of harry potter living as you say in the film your best life at quite a young age yeah i was so lucky what a gift i was given um the opportunity to be exposed to the film industry, you know, it was left a lasting impression of me at the age of 14. The fact that as a young stunt performer you were treated like a fellow

artist and an adult and then you go through that, you know, stage door, the airlock into fantasy world. I spent a summer at 14 years old, you know know in rubber spacesuits and on the inside of a spaceship riding robots diving out the way of explosive pyrotechnics everything a young man could hope and want for and I just fell in love with the machine and then

it taught me at that age that I was going to progress my gymnastics career into the stunt industry. And that was all I ever wanted to do. And I still see joining the stunt register as the biggest achievement of my life. So it's so clear watching the film that your enthusiasm was absolutely true for the job that you were doing. But you were very young as well. And you had this terrible accident that completely changed your life. Did you ever feel, or perhaps you felt since then, that the adults in charge of that set, I don't know, maybe enthusiasm for granted a bit didn't take care of you enough?

I think you could easily look at life that on that skeptical lens um i will happily say that um as a studio and my peers in the stunt industry they're all invested in me and my career and my safety and the part of the stunt industry is pushing the boundaries of what stunt action is and we were just trying to build on a wise stunt that I'd done a million times over and uh yeah I mean of course my mum instantly was trying to find hate and blame and all that lot but the fact is I you know I did a risky job and I have to own up to that responsibility and in stunt industry you shouldn't be going to work unless you understand the full risks of the job and then when I went into hospital I met real

victims you know people that were there from terrorist attacks or hate crimes that are now living with, you know, a devastating life changing spinal cord injury. And it soon helped me own up to and take the responsibility of the job that I did. But, yeah, trying to find hate and blame and then, you know, wanting to drag it out through a legal system. I had the studio turn around and said, look, we've got an insurance policy. There's going to be a process. You're going to be all right. And all you've got to do is focus on your recovery right now. And that took all of that load off of me.

So holding on to that hate and blame and like in life, you're either a victim or a survivor. I choose the latter on that front and on all aspects and even with my deteriorating neurology i still have friends that have less function than me with their spinal cord injury um and i can scratch my face you know i can brush my own teeth i can still wash myself like to a degree you know, and it makes me be very present, very thankful, and, yeah, it's a hard journey, but you know what? There's got to see the silver lining.

Do you find it at all difficult to describe to people what actually happened that day? Not really. difficult to describe to people what actually happened that day not really I think it's um it's just you know the dark chapter in what is the giant book of my life and I think you know like leaning into it and focusing on it I'm right now in the process of writing a book to it and focusing on it I'm right now in the process of writing a book um I've got a pending book deal coming with a publishing agent and uh it was hard to write that bit but and even before I wrote it I actually wrote myself a prompt to say you know like this next bit's gonna be hard be kind to yourself only tackle it when you're ready. And then, you know, I wrote that day. And then I've always been at the gift of being able to sort of, you know,

use humour to overcome the horror. And it's funny because we had to cut out the best joke of the year from the documentary. The director and the editor just didn't think it fit in the narrative but we were at leafs and studios and i was back looking at where the stunt department was and uh i was with daniel and we were looking at the stage door and uh i was just seeing like my last footsteps that I took able-bodied the last door I opened before going in to do that stunt rehearsal which put me in this position nowadays and you know it got a very real at that moment and my superpower was that I was able to go oh hang on a minute there are the

toilets there that every morning and I'm gonna swear here and it's a bit inappropriate but I remember just saying on camera I was like I think I had my last up there um and it just yeah I know right it's dark but it just helped levitate what was really something emotionally quite difficult and uh that's a superpower I've been able to apply throughout my whole journey. And I still do today. You know, living with a broken neck, just being alive, right? Google the odds of what it is to be alive right now. Every one of us as a human being has won the lottery 10 times over.

You couldn't even write that number in your lifetime, like because the amount of zeros in it so to be alive with a broken neck with you know to be alive in a country with a functioning healthcare system to be alive in like the world in the 21st century where breaking your neck is a survivable thing you've got to count your blessings and um yeah i today the world's blessing is beautiful light and the trees are dropping their color and you know just good to be present and my journey teaches me that like you know yesterday my body was different to what it is today and time is not a healer but that kind of you can either sit there and dwell on that or you

can use it to to ground you and to to be thankful for where you're at and I'm thankful that right now I've got independent breathing speech and swallow I'm just about to have one of the best salads in the world from my favorite sandwich shop yeah, I'm looking forward to that with your day accessibility there's more to iPhone we're in conversation with David Holmes this afternoon a stuntman on the Harry Potter films who suffered a catastrophic paralyzing injury on set when he was in his 20s one that left him paralyzed from the chest down now he decided not to pursue a legal case against the studio, but it has looked after him financially since the accident. And he also asked his friends and family never to yearn for a recovery for him,

but rather to join him in being happy for what he could do in life. And I asked him if, looking back on that, he's amazed at that wisdom coming from his younger self. He was, after all, only in his 20s when so many opportunities simply disappeared. Yeah, but seeing your pain in your loved one's eyes, like that's harder. That's harder than seeing it yourself. You'll know that through your own journey in life. Like just seeing them seeing you struggle, you know, downloads on your own journey in life like just seeing them seeing you struggle it you know downloads on

your own struggle it just you know adds on top so to be able to and again I'm blessed with the mindset that I've got and that's because I had a foundation of the you know the hard lessons of gymnastics and the love of my family and the the men that all loved me and the people in the stunt community that loved me to being who I was as a stunt performer and the you know my fellow people you know potter family that all contributed to my career and watched me grow and put up with me as a 17 year old with you know all the bravado that I had at that age. That moment, that accident, it made a man of me and it made a man of all of the men in my life and my friends. And it was a real pivotal moment where we all realised that,

oh, you know, like we are fallible, we are mortal and we are, you know, like life can change in a moment. mortal and we are you know like life can change in a moment so um make the make the important decisions take the risks and uh you only get one go at this right not rehearsal you can sit there and be miserable and it's hard and i know mental health is something that now we are really trying to realize in you know that it's really important for all of us um but I've just been really blessed that I've just you know I have to admit to myself I'm quite strong and I'm really lucky to have that strength but that comes from a foundation that of the people that invested in me so it's important that we do that for the younger generation below us yeah I know

that Daniel Radcliffe initially wanted to direct the film that's being made and I have read a piece where he says that actually he couldn't do that because he was really rubbish at it is that true um well uh there you go I'm gonna not swear on this one, but we're going to get the whole story started when I wanted to turn the camera and the lens onto my friends in the stunt industry. So me and Daniel started the podcast series Cunning Stunts and he gave me his time and we sat and we filmed and we gave and done audio recordings of a podcast series.

The actual format that we shot it in was very much, you know, a communication, even the camera angles, it wasn't for like documentary based. Daniel always wanted to turn the camera to me and I was always reluctant. I always wanted to highlight, you know, the friends that I have in the film industry and the people that are taking the risks for storytelling um because we don't get Oscars and we don't get

BAFTAs so it's important to me the amazing stories that I used to laugh at and hear and the the myths of the stunt industry and the big gags that people talk about and performed um I wanted people to hear those stories so um but Dan was always like listen Dave your story is a big story and then we then Dan and myself realized that it was you, we were trying to take too big of a bite and we really need someone that had a director's hand. And we brought on Dan Hartley, who is someone that we grew up with in the Potter films. He was a video assist and was part of the Potter family

from the very beginning. Dan Hartley had already made his own film, which wasn't a documentary, but was very successful. And it was a very organic process. We've got Vanessa Davies, Amy Stairs. Vanessa was the publicist on the part of films. And I spent many hours up in her publicity department flirting with all the ladies up there and uh amy was the base runner on harry potter and we all formed the unit under one production company and then we then took the the idea of some of we pre-shot some footage and self-funded some footage and then we were able to join with the amazing team at lightbox and then we sold the idea

and the concept over to HBO and then they got behind it and said it was an important story that they wanted to be involved in. And now we've come to where we are today, where it's out in the world. And if I look at my phone right now, there will be hundreds, thousands of messages from people that my story and this film has touched and people that live with the spinal cord injury that see themselves in their own journey and people that are going through stuff themselves and are just inspired by the strength and the love that we've shown that's in my life and And, you know, like that narrative of it takes a village to raise a child.

Well, it takes a village to survive a spinal cord injury. I have a very big village of love and support around me. And that's why we were able to make this film, why I was able to be as vulnerable as I am, as I was on camera. And the knock-on effect that it's had, it's just been just massively humbling. And to be able to then direct that into raising money for the hospital or hopefully going on to more creative projects

in the future. Yeah, I just consider myself a very unique journey, but a very lucky journey. And yeah, we're only here once so let's make the most of it david holmes and you can see that documentary it's on sky and it's also available on now tv and it's called the boy who lived and i think he makes so many good points in that jane that it does take a village to survive a spinal cord injury. And the thing that I was really struck by watching the documentary,

and I really would hard recommend it to people, as you'd say, the friendship that surrounds him is obviously so genuine. Can you imagine if that had happened to you at the age of 25? Whoever you were really good friends with at the time... Would they have stuck around? Would they have become your professional carers? He has live-in carers. Yep, yep.

So he needs to be helped with everything 24 hours a day. So it's a real testament to love and friendship and also just, as he is so keen to point out, not regretting a choice that you made where you knew what the risks were. Of course, he didn't imagine that this would ever happen to you. But just getting on with the fact that it has. And I know he didn't take legal action. That's probably very complicated, but he didn't.

But so he doesn't have to work. I mean, rightly. So the studios looked after him. And they'll look after him for the rest of his life. Yes, but he decided not to go for, I mean, what would it have been, some kind of a criminal prosecution. So he said that people around him who loved him, his mum in particular, did feel the need to be angry with somebody,

but he said, no, I'm just going to get on with my life as it is. So he's really remarkable. I enjoyed chatting to him. Well, I really hope that his, well, it sounds like his mates will stick around for him. And just a huge admiration for someone who, it's such positivity. And he did, we had to bleep out the word, didn't we?

Yeah. You know, he's lost a lot. You know, he's lost. He has lost an enormous. I didn't think it was going to be that word, Jane, but yes. He's lost an enormous amount. I actually really admire him for saying that. Yeah.

Because we sort of dance around all this sort of thing, don't we? And we shouldn't. No, not at all. And to him as a 25-year-old guy, and you see him in the documentary, he said he was just having the most fantastic young adult life. He was a stuntman. So at the age of 18, he was given a cheque for £65,000

and he said it was just sex, drugs and rock and roll. I was just having an absolute blast. So, yeah, watch it because it's not... It's just a really interesting first-person experience told really well and without inviting you to... He doesn't want your pity, he doesn't really want your kind of vicarious curiosity, he wants to tell you his story.

So, yeah, I'd hardly recommend it. And the documentary's called The Boy Who Lived, and it's on Sky. It is, or Now TV. Deborah Meaden is our guest tomorrow and then later in the week, as V said, we are having email only podcasts here on Off Air.

And actually, thank you for people who've already written about Christmas. Lack of celebrations in some cases, mild dread in others. We'll take all of those because that's an obvious talking point for this week isn't it? How long do you think you could talk about Columbia for? It's slightly tricky because I...

How much do you know? Well, Marks and Spencer's do their coffee. I've seen it. You know it's a country, it's not Columbo. Columbo, no, it's the fella in the... I'm sure he wasn't seedy, but that Mac, it was a horrible Mac. And that's why I've never been to Columbia, because of Columbo's Mac. Join us tomorrow for more insightful observations about geopolitics.

Goodbye. You did it. Elite listener status for you for getting through another half hour or so of our whimsical ramblings. Otherwise known as the hugely successful podcast Off Air with Jane Garvey and Fee Glover. We missed the modesty class. Our Times Radio producer is Rosie Cutler, the podcast executive producer. It's a man,

it's Henry Tribe. Yeah, he's an executive. Now, if you want even more, and let's face it, who wouldn't, then stick Times Radio on at three o'clock Monday until Thursday every week. And you can hear our take on the big news stories of the day, as well as a genuinely interesting mix of brilliant and entertaining guests on all sorts of subjects. Thank you for bearing with us, and we hope you can join us again on Off Air very soon. I'm Breakfast with Anna from 10 to 11. And get on with your day. Accessibility. There's more to iPhone.