Off The Telly - What Shall We Watch? Favourite Costumes

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

In this bonus episode Nat and Jo discuss their favourite costumes from the telly, plus they hear from listeners about the costumes that stick out for them. We're talking iconic characters from shows like EastEnders, Sex Education, Ru Paul's Drag Race and The Traitors.Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things on and off the telly. 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.Get 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. Hello and welcome to Off The Telly What Shall We Watch from BBC Sounds. We are back with another bonus episode. We love doing these, don't we? We do. This week's bonus ep is all about your favourite TV costumes. They can be from any show or any character. And we all know how much I love a really good coat, don't we? And a scarf. And a scarf. Don't you?

You just love it. Before we get into this week's voice notes, I want to play this little message from Kath, who can massively relate to you, Jo. Listen to this. Jo, my husband's the same. He's got five pairs of rigger trousers and rigger shorts. All his t-shirts are navy or grey. And if we ever had a ticket to go to Strictly, there is no way he'd have clothes to wear. So I completely empathise with you.

That is just so true, right? Because James now, he's got this velvet jacket. He said he's going to get so much wear out of it. He said, I'm going to be wearing it during all seasons. So we are going to be like in the summer, going to a school prize giving. He's still going to be wearing that ruddy velvet jacket. You might have to treat him, maybe at Christmas,

buy him a nice linen light one. So he's got a couple of different ones thing is right I have the amount of clothing right that I have bought for him over the years and then I thought oh he just doesn't know how to put stuff together he doesn't know what to do so then I said look just think about how David Beckham would kind of dress now or Daniel Craig would in real life that sort of you know that relaxed casual but sexy sort of you know I bought him numerous things and he opens them up for Christmas or birthdays or just in general just goes oh they're so nice I can see what you mean I can put this with this with this

next day comes down khaki shorts navy t-shirt flip-flops if I'm lucky a pair of tracksuit bottoms that's his lot well do you know what? If he's comfortable, I understand it because you know what? When I'm at home, if I'm not working, the clothes that I walk about in are absolutely absurd. I mean, that's true. I wear baggy tracksuit bottoms.

I've got two favourite t-shirts with holes in that are not being thrown away. One's got all hair dye stains at the back. It's a black and white stripy thing. You would have seen me sitting here in it are not being thrown away one's got all hair dye stains at the back it's a black and white stripy thing you would have seen me sitting here in it definitely the other ones again a stripe a nautical stripe because i like one i don't know why but i always wear nautical stripes and that's got all moth holes down the front of it i don't throw it away and i repeatedly wear those with a pair of tracksuit bottoms when i'm at home barefoot well it's true isn't on like a house on fire.

Yeah, because I'm going on and on and on about the fact that he wears that. At least he does wear clothes. Because when I'm home, most of the time, I won't really wash all that much. And I've just got a really furry onesie, which is like a pinky, lilac-y colour with stars over it. And I wear that constantly. And I don't even wash it that much because weirdly with onesies I kind of feel like it's like having a dressing gown and so I wear that permanently but you've

got to wash a dressing gown well I very rarely wash a dressing gown I mean it's kind of like because you only wear it sort of in the morning or in the evening unless I've spilt my breakfast on it I very rarely wash a dressing gown. I mean, if it was really stinking, then I would. And my onesie, I barely wash that. So to be honest, he's not getting that much from my side, really, is he? I mean, a really stinking, lilac-coloured onesie with stars on it and a wife that just doesn't wash.

I mean, God love him. That's not what he signed up for, is it? No, not particularly. I think the washing element of it is the problem. I don't, if you're comfortable in your onesie, I think that's fine. But I do think the occasional shower wouldn't hurt. Yeah, that's true. Maybe if I make an effort and I have a wash and I change the onesie, maybe he might, you know, explore something other than the shorts and the T-shirt. Maybe it might inspire him. Also, we work really hard and we want to be comfortable at home.

So don't beat yourself up about it. But maybe have a little wash every now and again. Yeah. I'll start with the washing and then I might sort of move on a bit then to washing the onesie. I'll do the body first. I think so. I mean, talking of clothes, the whole episode's about clothes. Costumes, right?

Costumes on the telly and our favourite. Now, I've been really thinking about this and I'm struggling with this because I kind of love, a little bit, because I kind of, I think the way I want to go into it is I was thinking about the shows that I remember watching and going, wow, about the clothes. And the first show is The House of Elliot. Oh, yes. And it was when I was little, The House of Elliot, and it was all about a fashion house. And it was set in the 1920s and it was all about a fashion house and it was set in the 1920s and it was all about the clothes

and making of the clothes and they were all beautiful and used to swish around in these amazing kind of you know fashion house art house kind of outfits and I remember thinking wow that's amazing and I've always had an interest in Vogue magazine and Harper's Bazaar and looking at all of those things. I still look at fashion, you know. But in terms of on the telly, I think as a nation, we have become pretty lazy with what we wear, as we were just saying. And I would love to have lived in the 1920s or 30s where every woman looked immaculate and your hair was set and you always wore a hat and all of it. I just would have loved that because I think now we are pretty basic in what we wear and a little bit boring.

True. I completely agree with you. I remember watching that when I was little and I think it was Louise Lombard, the one who had dark hair. That's right. She had thick dark hair in this very sharp dark bob. I absolutely loved it and then the other actress had the blonde uh really short bob but it was very it was wavy a natural curl to it god it was gorgeous i loved it so sharp and sleek so that was the program i would say that i loved

louise lombard her outfits were amazing and moving on, I have to go to where I know because I can't help it, it's home. And I have to talk about the iconic characters from EastEnders. And I think what makes the characters iconic isn't just their acting style, but if you look back, a lot of it has to do with their costumes and the way they have made their character. So for me, Doc Cotton is an iconic character. And if you were to see her dress, handbag, pinny from the laundrette and wig on a mannequin stand, you would know

that's Doc Hotton. And to me, that's what makes something iconic. The same with Cat Slater. Now, Cat Slater, played by Jessie Wallace, dear friend of mine, it's amazing what she's done with the character it's the permanent red lip and the dripping in leopard print and you know that Kat Slater is coming so I really wanted to just give a big shout out there to iconic soap characters because even down to Jack and Vera

and the glasses with the sellotape and Vera in her outfit you know those certain iconic things that are costume choices really make a character come to life. They do, don't they? Because you don't even need to see the whole character. If the character

was just, you know, just like an outline, you would be able to recognise Peggy Mitchell or Cat Slater or Dot Cotton, just purely from the outline of their hairstyle where they hold themselves yeah, from their silhouette. And you know then that those are iconic characters because you just go, that's Peggy Mitchell.

That's Dot Cotton. You'd just be able to see them, wouldn't you? It's just amazing that costume can do that. My ones are much more sort of modern day. And I absolutely love the show Call My Agent on Netflix. And it's about an actor's agency. It's set in France. And so they're all French actors and it's subtitled. And there's Camille Cotin, that is my French accent there. And she plays Andrea. And she is a top agent. And she's, you know, she's tough and she's brutal. But she's and she's brutal but she's and she's quite scary and she's

very very French but she's got the most amazing thick brown hair that she's had in a range of like when it begins it's just really really long and thick with a bit of a wave to it but effortless because she's French and then as the series on, she gradually has it shorter until it becomes like this completely effortless, gorgeous bob. And she's got a range of different outfits, which she wears in the office, which is so French and chic, but also really sexy

with like a nice sexy pair of jeans with a little, you know, heeled ankle boot and then like a silk blouse within a blazer. And she's always got the most amazing handbags. I searched for one of her big handbags that she had, which was just this massive, huge, big one that she's got all of her paperwork in it.

I went and bought myself exactly the same one because I thought if I buy her handbag, I will become very French and mysterious and sexy and alluring and effortless. That isn't what happened because I just had a baby and I was bloated, tired, constantly hungry, feeding. And that bag was just full of nappies and like a banana and stuff like that. But watching her, I just want to be her. I also was the same with Sharon Horgan's character in Catastrophe. Oh my God, her costumes and her hair. It's like, why can't I have thick hair? Why can't I have thick hair? Jo, I do feel like you love people's hair, but why don't you get some extensions and

stuff to thicken it up? No, I can't. I couldn't deal with it um if i'm in the shower i would like to have a good old scrub and i don't really wear any makeup yeah i if i knew i had things there and if i had to get out of the shower and then i had to look after it don't look after anything when i get out of the shower let it dry naturally or tip my head upside down blast it with a hair dryer bump that's me done don't give me a curling tong the most i'll do is put a bit of concealer under my eyes and some mascara wouldn't make any other effort at all but Sharon Horgan's character in Catastrophe she just had this really quirky mishmash of like fab skirts or a little dress with a bit of leg out with a cracking jacket and then she had these really amazing turquoise boots right and they sort of were ankle boots,

which came down into a heel and they've got a little bit of a pointed toe and they were easy to walk in, but also a little bit of a heel and she just looked so sexy in them. I bought the exact same pair. Did you? Yeah, if you look at me,

when I go on any appearance on any TV show, if you are on Strictly, when I went on to it, when I have to go and do an interview or I go on This Morning, basically, anytime I'm on TV, I always wear those shoes. Most of the time I wear those shoes. Also, I just want to say as well, Saga Nareng from The Bridge.

Oh, my God. She's a detective. Skinny jeans, really big, heavy boots. And then she always had like a really sexy, white t-shirt which looks a bit ripped or a bit moth-eaten and then like a black leather jacket and then a long sort of jacket and then this long blonde wavy hair completely sexy effortless a bit masculine those are my faves that is what I want to look like fantastic I love that rundown I like the way you've picked three you know what you want and you know what you like.

Yeah. And that's it really. Should we get into some voice notes? Yes. Let's see what our listeners think. As soon as you said next episode is all about costumes clothing which whatever I was like Gillian Anderson sex education her outfits are beautiful I would love that wardrobe she looks stunning in absolutely every single one and I seem to remember there was like a dark green I can't remember if it was a jumpsuit or a dress, but it was like silky shiny.

Oh, stunning, sort of satiny. But she looked fabulous in absolutely everything. I've never watched Sex Education. It's brilliant. It's fab. I took ages to watch it because it was another one that everyone was talking about. And that kind of puts me off it a bit. I started watching it. It is great. But Gillian Anderson's clothes.

Imagine doing a job, right? Because sometimes you get to buy your costumes afterwards or they might just give them to you. And I mean, imagine doing a job where your costumes are that amazing and you actually get to keep them afterwards. I've never done a job where my costumes are that. I did a costume drama once and they gave me this beautiful evening gown

that they'd made for me. It's in the kids' dressing up box. I've never worn it once. I don't go anywhere. No, I know what you're saying. I mean, talking of costumes, I mean, let's not beat around the bush, but Sonia's costumes are nothing to be desired. Wow.

Bless her heart. I've got the same old jeans, the same old jeggings. I wear tops which are kind of really old-fashioned round neck T-shirts and cardigans. I've got the same beige coat with fur on it. I've had that for ages. But I never wanted to change. They buy me stuff in costume, you know.

They'll say, we've got this new thing and I'll put it on. I go, no, I really like that. I can't have that for Sonia because I like it. She's got no clue and I don't ever want her to have a clue, you know, in what she's doing. And at the moment she's in prison so God knows what she's wearing. Probably quite a nice fetching jumpsuit, maybe. She probably looks better inside than she does outside yeah i agree with you yeah do you know since i've been wearing stacy's costumes now um and i'm i'm

kind of not in the world of having just given birth now um i'm starting to feel a bit sexier and it's influencing what i'm wearing now day to day. Like it has been years since I have worn a skirt or dress above my knee without any tights or anything. I mean, that just does not happen in my life now. I've been putting fake tan on my legs and now in real life, like I went out the other day and I wore a little cute dress, which finished sort of at my thighs. And then I had bare legs, which were a nice brown because I bothered to put fake tan on them. And a little pair of heeled ankle boots. And that's all purely from playing Stacey and just being a bit, you know, sexier.

I'm quite liking it. And James is quite liking it too. Well, that's really good. It's nice. And it's nice to look after yourself and make a little effort. And sometimes we can forget because we're so busy. Life takes over. Kids take over. But I can't tell you the last time I put a bit of fake tan on. I look blue. I'm see-through. Oh, my God. It's like I'm going through a midlife crisis.

But no, it's not. It's good. If I start wearing skirts, right, that finish just underneath my bum and stiletto, say to me, for Christ's sake, Jo, just calm down. You are going through a midlife crisis. Oh, yeah, no. If you're in a pair of stilettos and something that's showing your bum off, I'll say, Jo, come on, what are you doing? I will say that to you as well. You know that.

You will. I'd rather the cheesy sandals back than stilettos. I go from one extreme to another. It's either like, you know, mini skirt and little sexy ankle boots or cheesy sandals. There's no in-between. It's too damn extreme. It's absolutely great. That's why we love you. Shall we

listen to another voice note? Hi, Jo and Nat. It's Claire from Glasgow here and if you're talking costumes, you absolutely have to watch RuPaul's Drag Race. The UK season is about to start again and it is amazing. There's so many fantastic costumes in there and they make some of them themselves. It's great entertainment. I don't think you've covered it yet. I really hope you watch it because it's a great one. What a good shout is that? I mean, some of the outfits that they prepare, they are insane.

I can't believe they make them themselves, some of them. It's just incredible. It is actually mad. I'm actually going to get some up. Hang on a minute. I went through a phase of just watching it all the time. Haven't you been on it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I did it, but I was so annoyed because I did it but in bloody covid so I was at home in the kitchen saying let's do this let's do that so I never got to go into the studio or anything so I loved doing it but it was um from home on a zoom which was annoying oh my god we should ask if we can go on on like like the judging panel, as a team, as a partnership, you and me. That would be such a good idea. Such a good idea. I'm just getting up some images. I mean, look at some of these. They're amazing. You go straight on. Some of them are fully in rubber with kind of a David Bowie

lightning kind of thing going on. There are mermaids. The wigs get bigger and bigger. The makeup gets thicker and thicker. The jaws are all hanging off. I just think they're incredible. Absolutely incredible. It's fun.

It's joyous. And, yeah, I just love drag. Aside from that as well, they can actually dance and, you know, do stand-up and make us laugh and all of the different, you know, tasks that they have to do. And sing. Yeah. Amazing. Definitely. They're just incredible with the costumes on that. Incredible. great bunch of characters and I love it when they do the roasts and you know just so funny all of that you know the roasting and all the innuendos it's just really good fun really really good fun I just love Claudia by the way we haven't spoke about Claudia's outfits and I know she isn't it's

not a costume on the telly but for me Claudia Winkleman in The Traitors, Claudia Winkleman on Strictly, everything she does, she just oozes elegance and class in a really, I've just shoved it on way. And she does her eyes, doesn't she, and all her hair's everywhere. And I just think for me, Claudia is my style icon when I watch telly. But there's something about Claudia, isn't there, that she might be wearing a gorgeous evening gown or something, but then she'll always do something that's a bit messy or just a bit sort of, you know, it'll just be a bit messier and so it's not so perfect. She's so, so good. Her stylist is a really lovely, lovely lady.

Yeah, she's a genius, really, in what she does. She's very, very good. She needs a big thumbs up, Sinead. To think about, yeah, what she's a genius really and what she does she's very very good she needs a big thumbs up junaid to think about yeah what she's done with like because claudia was amazing anyway but i mean when you think about the traitors half of us tune in just to watch what claudia's wearing and i mean the uproar and the whoa on that first episode when she was wearing that jumper with the smiley faces on the elbows and her gloves and her boots and her leggings I mean the fact well you could do a whole episode just on her outfits just on Claudia Winkleman or as Joanie likes to call her Claudia Winkleson

Joanie has said that when she grows up she'd like to be a presenter and she wants to be like Anton Deck and Claudia Winkleson I said so you want to present live television she's like yes that's what I want to do mummy I said okay let's see what happens oh gosh bless a little heart well this has been so lovely once again a for a little mini catch-up and thank you everybody for your voice notes it's so lovely we couldn't do, for a little mini catch up. And thank you, everybody, for your voice notes. It's so lovely. We couldn't do these episodes without the voice notes. So please, please keep sending them in.

Now, for our next bonus ep, we think we should do one all about your favourite TV heroes. Now, it can be anyone that you think is a hero, from Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley to Diane from The Traitors. We want to hear all about them. Just who do you think is your favourite TV hero? Oh, I love that because it could go anywhere because your hero doesn't have to be a hero as in a Superman hero.

You know, a hero for me could be Gal Platt from Corrie. You know, your hero could be just someone who you think's an absolute hero. Jane MacDonald's a hero. Do you know what I mean? You could have anyone. So I love this episode. Actors, it could be drama, it could be comedy, it could be reality, it could be real life, it could be anything that's on the telly.

What do you think? Oh, this is brilliant. Send us a voice note on WhatsApp. The number is 033-06-784-704. I absolutely can't wait for that. I've already got loads of them in my head. I mean, Diane from The Traitors. Yeah, me too.

She's flipping incredible. Thank you again, everybody, for listening. And we'll be back next Wednesday with more Off The Tally on BBC Sounds. Bye! Bye, darling. Bye all. See ya. 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. secrets, lies, covert operations, the inside story from a real-life agency legend, starring Ed Harris, Johnny Flynn, and me, Kim Cattrall. To hear Central Intelligence and many other great drama podcasts, search for Limelight on BBC Sounds.