Off The Telly - Is Margot a good name for a spider?

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things on and off the telly. This week they catch up about Bake Off (Channel 4) and Heartstopper (Netflix), plus they have a chat about why they both decided to wear woolly clothes when it's 20 degrees outside. They also chat about the telly their kids are watching at the moment and why Jo's fear of spiders has come up this week.What they can’t stop watching, what they definitely aren’t going to bother with, new releases and comforting classics – TV is timeless and no telly is out of bounds. As well as having a natter about what’s on TV, they share backstage goss from the world of telly, whilst also cracking up about the more humbling moments in their lives. Self-confessed TV addicts and stars of two of the biggest shows on our screens, EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey, Natalie and Joanna are the perfect companions to see what’s occurring on and off the telly. Timecodes for shows discussed this week are:18:06 - The Great British Bake Off 24:29 - HeartstopperGet in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to 03306 784704.Hosts: Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page Producer: Georgia Keating Executive Producer: Richard Morris Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Production Co-ordinator: Becky Carewe-Jeffries Sounds Editor: Arlie Adlington Music by MCassoOff The Telly is a BBC Studios Audio Production for BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts in here and there. Well, do you think we need to introduce ourselves and say who we are? Because we haven't even said who we are, have we? People might have been listening and if they are, it's because they listen to our podcast. But just in case you don't and you are someone new to it. Well, that's true. Yeah. I'm Joanna Page. And I'm Natalie Cassidy. And we do a podcast where we chat about what we've been watching on the telly, but most of the time we basically have a moan. It's a bit of a therapy session, really. I'm so hot. You're wearing a brown woolen hat. It's my favourite hat. I'm wearing, right, the thickest brown woolen jumper.

That jumper is a jumper that would come out for me if it was really frosty and I was going on a very long walk. Me too. I'm bloody sweltering in it. I chose to wear this today because when I left the house, it was freezing cold and it looked like it was going to rain. I've also got my big puffer as well. I'm wearing thermal socks and boots and I'm sweating behind my knees. It's 20 degrees outside.

I couldn't even, isn't it 22? I think it's 22 degrees. And I can't take the brown jumper off because I'm wearing my mother's grey jumper, which I've stolen, right? If I'm on camera now. I like that. It's nice, isn't it? If I'm on camera and you can actually see me.

Mum, I've stolen this from you and I'm wearing it now. And I might end up revealing it for the whole of the show because I might end up being too hot. We've got aircon in here. It's Sue, isn't it, your mum's name? Sue, yes. Poor Sue. She's got your t-shirt here. It's a really nice t-shirt. It is. It is nice. It is nice.

She's got quite a stowlet. Good taste, your mum. I steal quite a lot of her clothes. Do you? I like it when she comes to stay or when I go down there and I go up to her bedroom and I just have a rummage through absolutely everything. And then it's normally thermal vests and pants and stuff and then I'll sort of, or nighties

and I sneak them into my suitcase Well do you know something, that really angers me Why? Because Eliza nicks my stuff and it pisses me off Really? So you're like Eliza in my eyes. I am, but then Eva has become like me because I am wearing these nice

flowery-ish boots. Really nice. And she started wearing them so she's started nicking my stuff now. So it's the circle of womanhood, isn't it? Yeah, I just would prefer my stuff not to be touched, if possible. So we're all in brown

wool today like a mother's I think it's, you know, maybe Gilmore Girls has rubbed off on us Jesus Christ It's kind of the autumnal feel But as much as it's autumnal, it's actually warm today And I don't want any more warm days Oh, I do I do now

If I was dressed appropriately, I do Oh, I don't Are you over it now? Yeah, yeah, no, bring on the cold Yeah Bring it on I've just. Are you over it now? Yeah, yeah, no, bring on the cold. Yeah. Bring it on. I've just booked firework tickets.

Have you? Yeah. Oh, nice. So, yeah, Halloween not long, you know, not far away. Oh, my God. Which we said, we're going to do something for it, aren't we? Yes. Do some spooky stuff. Oh, my God, yes, we've got to.

We've decorated the whole of the house. Sorry? Honest to God, right. I'd only just got back from Cardiff and the kids straight away said, can we decorate the house for Halloween? So I said, go on then. So I went in the garage and I got our bits and bobs out

that we'd had, you know, last year. And then my mum took them down to the supermarket to go and get some more stuff. They came back. In the front garden, I'm not even joking, we've got a web which is coming down from one of the top windows, a web which comes all the way down onto the grass

with a spider this big on it. When I first got back into the house and they'd come back from the supermarket, the spider was this big, right, and I'm terrified of spiders. And they kept coming up to me and just sort of going in my face with it like this. And I got really busy with them.

For the listener, this big is probably a horizontal four-year-old. Yeah, it's huge. It's huge, right? And it's awful because I'm their mother and I'm always so gentle and so lovely. But when they come up to me with a spider, right, I start talking to them like they're adults. And I'm like, well, just stay away. Just stop it, all right? Just stay away from me. Just stop it. And I get really head-to-head.

But you know it's not real. But yeah, so they decorated the whole of the Ruddy house now for the next month. Every time I walk through the hall, I've got a skeleton in a cage shouting at me because it goes off with a bloody censor. But also it's kind of like, you know in London Zoo, you can go there and do that thing with spiders and tarantulas if you're frightened of them.

And you go into the room and you can do it. Why don't you do that? Fuck that, I'm not doing that. Why? I'm basically doing it in my own house. Because the longer, they say that if you spend over 20 minutes or something, then your panic, you know, starts to go. It's a phrase for it. Yes, it's exposure name for it yes it's um

it's exposure therapy that's it they'll show you pictures in books and then they'll show you a video because i can't even look at them on the telly and then they might then eventually bring one into the room and keep it in a cage in the corner then they might then put it on the table and by the time you've been in there all bloody day with it you're like i'll shove it on my hand because you're used to it well i've had this, before they put the web up, on the little sofa we've got right in the hall, sat on there. It takes up the entire ruddy sofa, sat

on there for about a week. And I got used to it by the end. I was kind of like, oh, there you go. There it is. Just chat to it. Give it a name. Yeah. Yeah. What can we call it? What should we call it? I quite like Margo. Oh, that's a lovely name, Margo.

But is that a spider's name? Yeah, it could be. Margo. Margo. Margo looks good. But I mean one of the dogs in the future, Margo. So let's think of Heather. Margo.

Thinking of names that I always wanted to call the children. Heather looks smart. She bought four pairs of wellies today. Vivienne. Vivienne. Iienne. Vivienne. I always liked Vivienne. Vivienne always reminds me of Rick Mayall. Oh, does it?

Yeah, Vivienne. Vivienne. Vivienne. I'm going to call it Vivienne. Do that. Yeah. For some reason, I've just got a vision of the spider going into a shoe shop

and buying four pairs of shoes. I don't know why that is. Sort of wellies walking about in your house. See, look, you know, even the thought of that, right, of it, I am actually visualising it walking with shoes on now through the hallway that has just, up my arms now, has just given me a... Yeah.

Maybe we should do exposure therapy for me, but for kind of those sort of crime dramas. That's true. I just don't want to watch anything to do with serial killers. Well, you're not going to be very good with the exposure therapy. Did you see what I sent you?

No, what? I added you in something on Instagram. What? It says people that find crime drama relaxing are psychopaths. Oh, my God. Do you know what I've been watching this week? I got into bed the other night and I said to Mark, why don't we, you haven't seen Changing Ends.

Because Changing Ends is right up our street. Yes. I know you think we're sad and we've just watched comedy. No, Changing Ends was brilliant. It was brilliant. But I said, you haven't seen this yet and I think you'll like it. So we went back to number one and we watched the first one and I really enjoyed it because I knew what was happening.

I said, oh, this is a good bit. This is a good bit. And he really liked that. So I think we're going to, because I didn't watch all of that and I think we're going to watch that now. That's our bedtime treat, Changing Ends. Oh, that's really nice. The Alan Carr thing, if everyone remembers.

But it is just really feel good and so 80s. And I just think it's really clever. The palette, the colours, the music. I just really like it. It's nice and it reminds us of when we were younger in that age and stuff. It does. I've been still completely and utterly obsessed with Bad Sisters. I have now finally finished the first

series bloody hell it's good it's great i wanted to send sharon hogan a message and i thought oh there's no point because she won't end up reading it or whatever you should and i wanted to send a message to just say i can't even put into words just how amazing i think that just was yeah it was wonderful what amazing performances from all of the women. What brilliant roles. I mean, Jesus Christ, it was fab. Incredible, wasn't it? It was brilliant. Can't wait for the next series.

No, me neither. Can't wait for it. I don't know why I hadn't watched it before. Yeah, but it's like anything. There's so many things. I mean, I'm terrible. You're really good. You've watched loads in the past. Oh, something because I'm breastfeeding all the time

because Beau won't get off the boob. Oh, yeah, that's true. How is Shishire? It's a fucking nightmare this last week it's been so so hard um and god love her because of the boob or no she's on the boob all the flipping time oh right it's i don't know how one little person can just be like on boob on boob and then be on boob all the time and then when she's not on boob she's screaming at me and then be on boob all the time. And then when she's not on boob, she's screaming at me and doesn't want me to touch her. She's so angry with me for being away.

Oh God, lover, it's really hard. And I'm just spending all of my time with her, like 24 hours a day. I'm carrying her everywhere. I'm clutching her. I'm reading to her. I'm playing with her. I mean, I'm just spending all of my playing with her i mean i'm just i'm just

spending all of my time with her and i know that this is just some you know we've got to ease through this but she's so damn angry i mean my good god she's punishing me i think you should say listen to me sit there beau no i love you but mummy needs to earn some money and you need to get over yourself you don't shout at me i've've never had someone shout at me so much before. You need to say, no, no, no. I'm not going to carry you anywhere. And mummy and daddy work and it's a good ethic. But you're not going to treat me like rubbish.

But she is. She's treating me like shit. It is really hard. It's awful, yeah. She's shouting at me all the time, right? Like yesterday, we got a blinking puncture in the school car park and she was running through the car park. She tried to sort of get to me because James was on the phone to the AA

and then I went to pick her up and then suddenly she was like, I want Daddy, I want Daddy. Wouldn't let me go anywhere near her. I picked her up. She was like a Catherine wheel going off in my arms. Oh, my goodness. So she's half. I love a Catherine wheel. Yeah in my arms. Oh, my goodness. So she's half. I love a Catherine wheel.

Yeah. One of my favourites. I remember my dad pinning one to a fence and I'm sure it flew off. Oh, probably. Sorry, carry on. No, but that's what life in the 1980s was like, isn't it? That they'd always put the Catherine wheel on your fence and then it would start and then it would just go shoot that and shoot off.

Yeah. But, God love her, she's only small. You look at this little person. And I've taken a lot of time off work looking after the kids. Yeah, you have, yeah. And I have been with her, oh my God, every single day of her little life. And then suddenly, mummy just going for six weeks. Yeah, I'd been coming back at the weekends.

But going and filming non-stop. You just think, oh Jesus, she doesn't know. No. She doesn't know I was in bloody Barry, you know, pretending to be somebody else. As far as she's concerned, I just disappeared for six weeks. Well, you can show her Christmas Day. You can point and say, look where Mummy was.

That's where I was. That's what I was doing, Beau. That's where Mummy was. I was prancing around in a denim jacket and drinking shitloads of gin in the hotel. Nice pair of boots on finding yourself again i'm a bit tired oh yeah well my documentary is coming to an end yeah so it's not not long to go how are you feeling about that yeah good it's yeah nearly there now um but i'm looking forward to

battening down the hatches shall we say and getting the decks up and doing some nice bits. Have you found any products yet which you would definitely use yourself, which you're going to take home with you? Yes. I've bought one on Amazon already. Oh, my God. Will you tell me what it is? Yeah, I won't do that now.

Yes, tell me after. Because I feel like I'm actually talking too much about this bloody thing. No, you're not. That's not even on yet. No. No, you're not. And I don't know when it's coming out yet. Well, when it does.

Oh. No, we're not, are we? I hope it comes out at the same time as your wildlife show and we can just do a week of how self-indulgent. Yeah. Let's just talk about our programmes. Yeah. We can be our self-indulgent.

Oh, dear. Shall we see what our listeners are saying? Yes. We've had loads of you agree with us that Gilmore Girls is the perfect autumn watch, like we said last week. Oh yeah. It keeps coming up on my feed. The phones can hear you.

They can. It keeps coming up on my feed. There's a Gilmore Girls advent calendar. Oh my God. And it keeps coming up on my feed there's a gilmore girls advent calendar oh my god and it keeps coming up jesus with all different things in it and obviously i haven't watched yeah 15 years of it so i don't want the calendar but yeah it's so weird that we were talking about it and now this keeps popping up on my phone oh my god i did that with my mum once though because i said the phones are listening to us and we put our phones in front of us and then i said right let's just pick different things that we can talk about so we talked for about 15 minutes about the fact that we needed a new watch and then we went on

and the advert started coming up and it was all for watches then i think we started talking about garden sheds we were just doing you know it all comes up because they're listening they are listening aren't they so this message here from sar right, is what I'd like to read out. So here we go. Hi, ladies. I've only just started listening to podcasts and I came across yours in the last week. I'm so glad I did, though,

as I feel I've made two new friends. We could be sitting and having a coffee or a cheeky glass of wine, chatting away about my favourite pastime, watching telly. Except I'm not doing all the chatting for a change. Both of you sound like great fun and you can just tell you really are mates.

Now I'm all caught up and I just wanted to mention a programme that one of your listeners suggested, The Gilmore Girls. This is especially for you, Nat, as Eliza will love it. I stumbled across this a couple of years ago when I suggested it to my daughter, who is now 14, and now we have some girly time and watch something together. We snuggled in bed together with a hot chocolate and a biscuit or four every night and absolutely loved it.

My daughter has actually just finished binge-watching it again. Anyway, I'm gutted I'll have to wait until next week before we chat again, but I'm really looking forward to it. Cheers, Sarah from Buckingham. Oh, that's a lovely message well I funnily enough Sarah I said to Eliza the other night darling there's

a new show I think you'll love it Gilmore Girls and she went I've seen Gilmore Girls oh my god are you serious that was her reaction really has she seen has she seen it I've dipped in oh god I said oh ok I thought we might watch it she went yeah no it's been's saying i've seen it i've dipped in oh i said oh okay i thought we might watch it she went yeah no it's been out for ages i'm in and out of

there i said okay oh my god oh she's so rude to me is she yeah read well we keep getting messages, right, from listeners whose kids are watching sitcoms that might not be completely age-appropriate, like Joanie, with Friday night dinner. And I've got to read out this message, right, from Jen. She said, Hi, ladies. I had to message in and tell you a really funny story

after Nat said about Joanie saying prostitute after watching Friday Night Dinner. My eight-year-old is Gavin and Stacey obsessed. She watches it every day. I always think she doesn't know what any of it means so it'll just go over her head. Until last week

out of the blue she randomly says in the middle of dinner satisfaction with every erection. Just like Smithy on the roof fixing the satellite. We had to have a conversation about how they had grown upwards. And I had to try not to laugh. Absolutely love the pod.

Only thing is I need you to do more. Lots of love, Jen. Can you imagine your child sitting there and suddenly saying satisfaction with every around? Oh, brilliant. Oh my God. This is what I mean. You think it's going over their head

but you've got to be so careful because the next minute they're in school and you love the social services ringing you or something. You will, won't you? It's really bad. I mean, oh my God. Joni, I have actually stopped her

since that comment. I said, I'm sorry, Joni. You've got to watch Age Appropriate. So she's back and I can hear she's watching Rainbow High. Oh gosh, yeah. Which is on Netflix. But that's all quite makeup and American.

Again, that's for her age, but I don't like it. It's all the little girls and they're all skimpy outfits again, loads of makeup and it's all about the hair. Oh, my God. I think, oh, really, get over it. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

And I would rather have just watched Porridge. Yeah, that's true. I'm trying to think of what good things there are for them. You know, in that age range. And she's back to Bluey. Is she? And she's watching Bluey. And again, it goes from one extreme to the other.

Yeah. But it's funny. Yeah. But she did say to me the other day, she said, it was Sunday and I was doing some work at home and doing stuff. And I said, you're right. She was, I was just, I think I did like eight loads of washing or whatever. And I came back in with some washing. I was doing it.

And she went, Bluey's parents really play with Bluey. They spend loads of time together. I said, well, it's a television programme. It's not real. Oh my God. She said, I know. I said, well, I brought the washing in to do it on the table in front of you because I want to be with you.

But it needs doing yeah well blue his parents are really fun and they play i said it's not real oh my god this week we just had to catch up on the new series of bake off on channel four and we finally got round to watching heart stopper on netflix which so many of you at home have recommended to us. Well, Bake Off. Yeah. Obviously, in my household, Bake Off has been very popular. Yes.

Whenever I put it on this series, Joanie is asleep within 10 minutes next to me because she's just really tired. And heartbreakingly, Eliza is a bit, oh, so boring. Oh, my God. Is that a new thing? Yeah, it's very new, yeah. Oh, no. But she says that, but she's watching it. Oh, well, that's good.

So I feel like she doesn't want to say she likes it anymore, but she is watching it. Yeah. And I said, you were on it, darling. You're part of the Bake Off family. Yes. So you can't, you know, you were on it. You can't turn your back on it it don't turn your back on it

and I love it so what do you think about it so far then the new series so far so good I've watched a couple I've got it was bread week and caramel week which I've dipped into I'm very upset that John's gone home

he was really lovely he went home after bread week. His bagels didn't rise. Do you know what I love about the Bake Off? Yeah. I love the fact that it is solely about the bakes. Yeah.

And I know they've got characters. Obviously they've picked people which are good for telly, but there is no judgement on anyone and it is purely about baking and everyone is focused on the baking they're disappointed if their muffins don't rise or their bagels don't go right or their bread soggy or whatever it is and that for an hour i sit and watch and i'm fully invested if someone is crying over a custard tart, I'm with them. I'm there.

And that's why I like it because it is a very gentle, easy show. And I know that I'm a boring person, Jo, but it's what I like. You're not. I love it. I like it that they start fresh each week. So even if you had a cracking week last week,

if you're rubbish this week, you could still go. Yes, you're right, actually. I mean, they don't keep anybody there for personality or because they were good a couple of weeks ago. It's like that week is the week that counts. And if you don't come up with the goods, you're out. That's it. Yeah.

Which is quite heartbreaking sometimes. Well, it is. But I love it. Eliza had a cracking day before she went out. Yeah. She did brilliantly well. And then she had pastry and I love it. Eliza had a cracking day before she went out. Yeah. She did brilliantly well. And then she had pastry and she fucked it. Oh.

But there's just nothing like catching up in a cold night, putting on the bake-off. Oh. Just the music. I think they're perfect. It's just perfect. And I love Alison. She really brings life to the show. Yeah, she's funny.

She's so fun. She gets involved. She's picking up people's pots. I, she's funny. She's so fun. She gets involved. She's picking up people's pots. I like all of that. Yeah, me too. It is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Paul hasn't given out too many in a handshake so far.

Hasn't he? A couple. A couple, but he's not gone over the top, which I like. Yeah, me too. Because they should be earned. You know, it means something. Yeah. So Mike, the farmer, is amazing.

He just wears really lovely clothes. He's quite flamboyant, but means something. Yeah. So Mike, the farmer, is amazing. He just wears really lovely clothes. He's quite flamboyant, but he's a farmer. But he's just got a real lovely way about him. And he's got a real rapport with Noel. And he did a cake the other day and he was splashing on the icing or whatever. And he said, this is a load of Pollocks, which I really liked. I could see him on the telly. Yes. I feel like he's got quite a funny sense of humour. You liked. I could see him on the telly.

Yes. I feel like he's got quite a funny sense of humour. You know, someone could pick him up. Yeah. But they do have some brilliant characters on there and everyone is doing really, really well. And it's just a feel-good watch. You can't beat it. Is it as good as all of the other series?

Is it definitely worth tuning in? Yeah, they're all the same to me. They're all brilliant. But isn't it nice, though? You know when you want to be a bit cutchy? It's the sort of thing that you can go on the internet and just pick any of the episodes, put it on, and I'm quite happy to sit down and watch it.

Absolutely. And I do love Bread Week, and I need to watch that. I dipped in, but breads I love, because I would love to make more bread, Jo. Well, do you know what, right? I think it's quite easy to make bread like you know not to make it amazingly and really you know get the good bread but to get a basic recipe you're right because i was looking on instagram the other day right and a thing video

came up and it was about somebody making bread and i thought well actually putting all the recipes to get you know all the ingredients together and then actually getting the dough and then waiting for it to like rise a bit or whatever you do prove prove prove prove prove what does that even mean proving what what is proving is it just getting bigger yeah it's allowing the yeast to work right and you're proving i'd like a proving drawer would you well yeah but i mean is it just a drawer that you just put it in yeah no you no, you prove it. If you're at home and you make bread, which I've done, you cover it in cling film or what have you.

Yeah. And leave it in its tin, but it's quite small and you think, what's going to happen there? And then you put it somewhere warm. So I usually sort of put it on a tea towel, cover it in the cling film, a little bit of oil on the cling film so it doesn't stick because it's going to rise.

And you put it near a radiator. Come back to us later, Bob Junko. And then do you put it in the oven then? No, you have to re-knead. It depends what recipe you can re-knead. Then you have to prove it again. So it does go on, but I've always wanted a bread maker machine. Well, I thought that, right.

But if you do get a bread maker, isn't that just sort of not like... You're not doing it all....the enjoyment of doing it yourself? Because if you just put it in a machine and then it all kind of just comes out. Yeah, but you can do it overnight. An old friend of mine used to wake up in the morning and you can smell the freshly baked cheese, cook it overnight. You know, I think that we could just...

I wish that I could get my life sorted to a point where I could just incorporate things like that, right? So, like, I just do my own bread. I just bake with the kids, right? Because that's just something that we do each week and I manage to fit it into my week and everything just goes smoothly. No, I know what you mean. Why can't you know? Why can't that ever happen?

Because there's just a lot going on all the time. When's all of this other stuff going to stop going on so we can just bake bread? We might not have any beans or pennies to bake the bread. True. If things stopped. Well, everything stops when they all go to university and then I'll be baking bread for myself and James. Yeah.

So when can we watch Bake Off? It's on Tuesdays. Tuesdays at 8pm, Channel 4. Or watch it on the app so our next thing that we talked about was heart stopper which is on netflix and we do actually have a voice note about it before we start hi nat and joanna this is holly from new zealand i'm british but i live here i've just discovered your podcast and I'm obsessed and the show that I would love to make a shout out to you is Heartstopper I am a very passionate supporter of LGBTQI plus

and I have a 12 year old and a nine year old and I think it's just one of the most important shows that's been made and I just really wish that I had watched it when I was growing up. I'm an 83 baby like Nat and a massive, massive Kevin and Stacey fan. Thanks so much from New Zealand, guys. Take care, bye. Oh, that is so true, isn't it? Yeah. It is true.

Television's come a long, long, long way. Lots and lots of people would have loved a show like Heartstopper to watch. God, they would have, wouldn't they? So many. Oh, my, well, my first thought was, oh, good God, can you imagine being that age at this time? Yes. I mean, you know, like all of your emotions,

your thoughts, your feelings, discovering yourself. Yes. Starting to date, going out with people, things going wrong and dealing with that on a phone and text messages. I know. I was like, good God, I mean, my God, that would have finished me off. Oh, my God.

It is very stressful, isn't it? It's so different now. So stressful for them. It is so, so different now. Eliza has been watching Heartstopper. She's watched series one, series two. I said to her we were doing it this week and she went, what are you doing that for?

I said, pardon? Why are you doing that for? I said, pardon? Why are you doing that? You're a bit old for that. I said, that is really rude. I said, and I'm going to really love it, and I'm going to watch it all. She went, okay, you won't. And then I watched one and went, this is really lovely, but I'm too old. I know, me too.

I started watching the first one, and I was like, oh. And then I thought, oh, my God, but I can too old. I know, me too. I started watching the first one and I was like, oh, and then I thought, oh my God, but I can't watch any more of this because I'm just far too old. Well, I jumped into series three. Oh God, is there three series? There's three. The third one's out at the moment

and I thought I'd jump in because as I mentioned last week, lovely Adam D is a dear, dear friend of mine from EastEnders, costume designer and he was costume designer. And he's had such acclaim for all of the palette and the costumes. I thought, I really want to see his work. And I jumped in and I watched Ep 1.

And I just love it. I didn't know that it was from a graphic novel. No, that's right. I'm so stupid, obviously. I've just not looked into it. But I love kind of the slight animations. Yeah. And it starts and they're on a beach. And I have to, I'm just not looked into it. But I love kind of the slight animations. Yeah. And it starts and they're on a beach.

And I'm probably being biased, but I was really looking at the costumes and I thought Adam has done an absolutely stellar job here. Yeah. And I loved the relationships. I thought all of the actors were brilliant. I really didn't think there was a weak link. And they are all really young. Oh my God,

they're all so young, aren't they? But they're all fantastic. Really good. And also you think about having a part, taking a part, and it being about love. Yeah.

And then being young and doing that and acting with people. You know, it's really difficult actually. It is, isn't it? I find it difficult at my age now

to be in relationships with people on the telly and i feel can i be bothered to do it and they've you know i think they've really done well and it looks really great and it just had a real it gave me a really feel good feeling and a tingling because the one i watched was about Charlie and Nick and it concentrated on all the different couples. Yeah. But it was about them saying, I love you. It was about Charlie plucking up the courage to say, I love you. So throughout it, he's watching him on the beach

and he's watching his boyfriend. And Joe Locke, who plays Charlie, has this amazing quality of kind of, he's really fragile and very, very very sweet and it kind of pours through the telly you just want to hug him i just wanted to mother him yeah i really did and i just thought oh you're this boy he just needs a hug and i just want him to be my son yeah um and he he comes out and he says he loves him and he's in the shower and he runs down the road and it you know what it is a bit cheesy in a way but it just gave me goosebumps and it just i just thought it was perfect actually and

i think well done to all of them because what a brilliant show and i'm really pleased eliza's watching it and love she loves it um and i just think it's really good for the teenagers to watch something which is feel good and about finding yourself and being confused and not too sure who you are or being really sure of yourself. And there's just such a lot to navigate at that age. I just think this show's perfect. I thought it was so good because I started watching episode one of series one.

And it was really nice because it was like Charlie and Nick again. And it was was really nice because it was like charlie and you know nick again and it was just really nice it's sort of starting and it going straight in with you know charlie and that he's trying to navigate this well kind of relationship with this boy who's not ready to come out or anything and he's got his troubles and charlie's trying to deal with that and then obviously charlie then meets nick and is starting to fall for him and I thought oh my god this is really good to like go boom straight in there because normally that would have been you know like a heterosexual sort of relationship that is kind of you know absolutely and I thought oh my god isn't this really nice for something of this age range and you know people are discovering themselves and stuff to just go straight in with

you know this is going to be, you know, a gay relationship and it's, you know, he's navigating what's going to happen. Is he going to end up with Nick? What's going to happen? Yeah. And I just thought, oh, this is really lovely. Very, very much so. Yeah, I just thought, oh, this is fab.

This is great. Well, Tara and Darcy played by Corinna and Kizzy, Corinna Brown and Kizzy Edgel, I believe you say, or Edgel. Kizzy Edgel or Kizzy Edgel. They play Tara and Darcy and they're in a lesbian relationship. They're really, really happy. But Darcy is kind of staying with Tara in this and Tara really loves her.

Keeps saying, I love you so much, I love you so much. But she wants her own space. Yeah. And that kind of, she's just sort of moved in and not left and she's like, maybe you should go and stay at your your nan's and that it's really awkward but they get through it and i think god god these youngsters are really sorted i know it's just a program yeah but they're all chatting to each other and they're really sorted yeah it's nice that there's something like that for you know that age it's really good because when i was younger round about that age

there was absolutely nothing at all like that on Telly. Grange Hill. I mean, not that I ever saw. Yeah, the closest that you got was Grange Hill. And I mean, I just thought Grange Hill was brilliant. But I just think it's a fantastic show. I think the actors are, you know, they're all so brilliant. I think it's well worth watching.

And I know that Eva, she's 11 now, so I'm going to leave her a bit longer before, you know, I introduce her to it. But I know that she, she's 11 now, so I'm going to leave her a bit longer before I introduce her to it, but I know that she'd absolutely love it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, Eliza really loves it and highly recommends it. I personally think it's great. I just don't think I'm going to continue it and that's me being honest purely just because

I just think it's a program for Eliza. Yeah. I think it's brilliant. Yeah. But I've got the Bake Off to watch and a load of boring old shit. Yeah. You're going to be doing Bake Off and boring stuff. Well, Eliza was right then when she went, what are you watching that for?

She was absolutely 100% right. Absolutely right. It's too hip and too cool for me. So you can binge all three series of Heartstopper on Netflix. Did you know that Olivia Carman was in it? No, I didn't. I've not got that far. Well, I've probably skipped it over.

Oh, maybe. Well, there you go. Yeah. One to watch out for. Brilliant. Do you know what I've been watching this week? I watched an episode of Alma's Not Normal, which is on BBC iPlayer. Oh, yeah.

And series two's come out. Yeah. But I missed it the first time round. Yeah. And it's really, really good. Funny, heartwarming, sad in places. She's amazing and she's written it and done everything. Has she done the whole thing?

Sophie Whelan, yeah, she's done it all. Because the last series, I've not seen an episode all the way through. I've always just turned on and I catch bits of it and I just love her voice. She's got a brilliant voice. You can't stop listening, can you? It was just, oh my God, she sounds,

she's just lovely, isn't she? Yeah, she's brilliant. Well, funnily enough, we've actually got a voice note from a listener with a recommendation for that. Hi Beth I'm Ali from Newcastle and I really really want to recommend to you Alma's Not Normal and so it is written and stars Sophie Willan who I just genuinely think is a genius she's an incredible northern working class lass who is care experienced and she brings all of these experiences into her writing

and just creates probably one of the most perfect comedies I've ever seen in my life. It has me laughing and crying in the same episode and series two has just come out and I genuinely think it's one of the best things that I've ever watched. So I actually can't recommend it highly enough. Love the podcast.

Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks so much. There you go. See, I told you so. Yeah. i think we should do that next week yeah shall we i think you'll really like it right i'm gonna start she's so clever and i just sit and i watch it and again i go why can't i write something i bet you could mind why have you ever sat down and tried to write something but you haven't really i bet you haven't are you should we should yes yeah i should when should i do that when it brims up my arsehole or when i've got a frying pan in each hand or i think that you should try and write when you get to um when literally as soon as you finish

doing your documentary, the minute that they call wrap on it, I think I'm expecting you to sit down straight away and start writing. All right. Maybe that's what I need, though. Yeah. I need someone to tell me to do it

because I've got quite a few ideas in my head. Yeah. So I do need, and I have, people have said to me, I've been for meetings, you know. Yes. I've got ideas and I want to write. And they've gone, brilliant but you need to write something i know and i go i'm going to do that they go really come back to me when you've got something i can't wait and i haven't done it yet so i do need to get my um ass in order with that um also thank you to everyone who's

answered our call out for voice notes about your favorite scary telly or most memorable spooky stories. Keep them coming and we'll drop a bonus set on them around Halloween. Yeah, please keep sending us voice notes on WhatsApp about your spooky stories plus anything we've discussed on the pod or anything you'd like to say about the telly. The number is

03306784704. Oh, that was was really lovely it was so good to see you darling i feel like it's a therapy session just getting everything off our chests to be honest just getting it out there yeah to be honest talking of chest i can't wait to get home and peel this jumper off because i'm absolutely sweating well i'm thinking how are we now going to get because we've like acclimatized now to the aircon in here i. We are going to then leave and be hit by like how warm it is outside again. We could grab a quick drink and tonic before getting in the car. Shall we just do that? Well, let's see.

I've got a blocked nose and I need something. All right, well, let's see. Right, I'll see you all soon. See you soon, everyone. See you next week. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Off the Telly is hosted by Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page. The producer is Georgia Keating. The commissioning editor is Rhian Roberts and it's a BBC Studios audio production for BBC Sounds. Hello, Russell Cain here. I used to love British history, be proud of it. Henry VIII, Queen Victoria, massive fan of stand-up comedians, obviously, Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor.

That has become much more challenging, for I am the host of BBC Radio 4's Evil Genius, the show where we take heroes and villains from history and try to work out were they evil or genius. Do not catch up on BBC Sounds by searching Evil Genius if you don't want to see your heroes destroyed. But if, like me, you quite enjoy it, have a little search. Listen to Evil Genius with me, Russell Cain. Go to BBC Sounds and have your world destroyed.