Off The Telly - What shall we watch? Guilty Pleasures

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

What are we watching? Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page chat about all things telly.In this bonus episode they hear from listeners about their favourite guilty pleasure watches, including Virgin River, Doctors, Star Trek and many more. Plus Joanna chats about her time playing Queen Elizabeth I on Doctor Who and why Natalie definitely doesn't want Joanna to copy something she did as Sonia on EastEnders.In Off the Telly, Natalie and Joanna talk about what they can’t stop watching, what they definitely aren’t going to bother with, and what you’re all watching at home. From new shows to comfort telly to guilty pleasures, there’s no judgement here. What’s kept us all glued to our screens this week?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 your weekly viewing habits.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 Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister 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. This is our second bonus episode where we spend a little bit more time hearing from you guys at home and we can find out exactly what you've been watching. Now a few weeks ago, we heard about your favourite comfort telly, which was lovely. And this week, it's all about guilty pleasure telly.

We asked you to send in your voice notes about what your favourite guilty pleasure telly is. Basically, what you like to watch but might not necessarily be everyone's cup of tea or that highbrow. and as you know by now there is absolutely no judgment here before we get into guilty pleasures joe do you remember that time we talked about the box of delights yes in our comfort telly episode we have had so many listeners get in touch to say they love it just as much as you oh my god and

that is a huge part of their christmas traditions let's have a listen to this voice note from lisa oh my god there you go you're not on your own hi girls um this is lisa i was just about to message you over something completely different with a an amazing recommendation that I've found. And then I've gone all ridiculous and giddy and silly because Jo has just mentioned The Box of Delights. Oh my God. Which has got to be one of my favourite ever programmes. From the moment it aired, when I would have been, I think about 12, because I think it was 1984

that it first came out. I have just been completely in love with it. I'm obsessed with it. We have it on every Christmas. The music is just fabulous. So I hope I get this right. I think it's Healy Hutchison's Carol Symphony. Yes, yes.

It's just beautiful. But there are lots of us out there. There's even a Facebook group about Box of Delights. Oh, good God. Absolutely wonderful. And if you've never seen it, you must, must watch it. Great for the children. Absolutely fantastic.

Oh, Lisa, that's amazing. I am so excited to know that there are other people out there and that there's Lisa who just knows exactly what I'm talking about. There's just something so magical about it. Well, there's a Facebook group. Get yourself on there. I'm going to. I'm going to. I can't believe it. There's something so dark and scary and magical

and I just love it. I can't wait to watch it. I love it. It's brilliant. It's just the whole music and the atmosphere and the snow and the wolves and Robert Stevens. And I absolutely freaking love it. I'm definitely going to watch it this year. That's for sure.

Right. Let's hear some of these voice notes about guilty pleasures then, shall we? Good morning, you two. Love listening to your podcast. It's lovely. It's like sitting with a couple of friends over a cup of tea. So my guilty watch is Virgin River on Netflix. Everybody else, like, raises their eyebrows,

so I don't watch it with anybody else in the house around. And, yeah, I just sit there and just binge watch a couple of episodes and it just takes you away to the hillsides in wherever in America. But it's lovely, really lovely. Bye. Oh, that's so nice. Isn't it funny, you know when you've recommended a show or it's your guilty pleasure and then you've gone, oh, James, I want you to watch this because I love it

and I feel so stressed then because it's my thing and I love it and I'm making him watch it. And then what if he doesn't like it? That's right, and you're desperate for them to watch it. Or, you know, if they turn away, you go, no, you watch it. Watch it. Yeah. Pay attention.

I want you to watch it. It's like, say, right, say I'm watching something and it's my guilty pleasure and I absolutely love it, right? I'll be eating my food on my lap, on the sofa as I do, and I will be like that and I'll be looking up all the time, and I won't take my eye off it because I'm in it. And it really annoys me if I said to him, you have got to watch this, we've got to watch it together,

because he's so slow anyway, right? And he will look down, and he'll cut his food, and he's still looking down, he's looking down, he's cut that, he's moved it around, he's lifted it up, he's put it in his mouth, and then he looks up. And I'm like, Jesus, you've missed practically the entire backstory of everything. You've missed the whole lot. It's pointless. Let the poor man eat his

food. But this is why we can't watch stuff together anymore because I'm like, look up, look up, look up. You're missing it. Look up, look up, look at the screen. And that's how he has to watch TV with me. I want him to be in it the same as me and don't even get me started on subtitles with him. He just can't go there.

Should we have another voice note? Yeah. I'd say my guilty pleasure is a programme on Channel 4 called Love Triangle. I only started watching it because I saw a snippet of it on Gogglebox, which is also another great show. And there was a guy on there that I went on a Tinder date with many years ago. And he was a complete, I don't know if I can swear, a complete prick when I met him. And he was a complete prick on the TV show as well.

He does not come off well, but I thought, oh, I recognize him. So I watched it because he was on it and got completely addicted. It's a dating show, basically, where people get ensnared in a love triangle it's utter trash but it's so addictive so i would definitely recommend a watch um if you're looking for a guilty pleasure thank you sounds up your street i will now watch love triangle purely for the prick i'm gonna watch it i bet he's still on tinder yeah but he's still there single skulking about. We don't even know who he is.

We're berating him. We don't know him at all. All we know is that he could be a prick. That's all we know. Well, I'll watch it and I'll find out. We will tell you if you're right about that old date of yours. Thank you for your voice note. Oh, let's have another one.

Hi, guys. This is Gemma here at Bedfordshire. I just wanted to say I absolutely love the podcast. thank you for your voice note oh let's have another one hi guys this is jemma in bed for cheer i just wanted to say i absolutely love the podcast me and my friend lauren who actually was on one of your voice notes on your comfort watch episode talk about it every week we love giving each other the lowdown on what we listen to and we are um really obsessed with everything you talk about so thank you so much. I wanted to voice message to say that I do have a guilty pleasure watch, but it's just a clip from a show.

And that is Dancing on Ice. Nat, it's when Todd Carty was on there. And he fell over so badly that he ended up spinning down into the tunnel that you come out of at the beginning. And the cameraman followed it so well and to this day I can watch it and absolutely wet myself. That is peak entertainment and an absolutely guilty pleasure because I probably shouldn't laugh so hard at it but it was so, so funny.

Thanks so much. Keep doing what you're doing. Bye. Oh, it was a classic. It was hilarious. Classic moment. I can still see it now. Me too. I can still see it. And do you know he earned a fortune because he went on different shows just doing that move, didn't he? Yeah.

You'd find him on different programmes and he'd just sort of come on, do that and that would be it. So he earned a good lot of money I think out of being kind of the joke. Yeah. But it was brilliant. It was hilarious. Between him and Gemma Collins falling flat on her face. Jesus, do you remember Gemma Collins went,

oh God, it was horrific. Oh God, can you imagine? Can you just imagine being on the telly and going poof and just falling? Hence why you'll never see me do Dancing on Ice. Me neither. Me neither. Never.

It's just so scary doing something anyway, like a reality type thing like that. But to then go, we're going to make you do one but we're going to make sure that when you do it, you're not even going to be able to walk. No thank you. It's not for me. You're going to have to just slide around

and try and keep your balance. No. There's the likelihood that you will fall flat on your backside. Oh my god, I couldn't do it. I'd be so terrified. Fine on my feet, did Strictly, no problem. Yeah. Just about. I always just think you've got the nerves

of Strictly, but then you're on ice as well. Oh my God. Couldn't, just couldn't, couldn't. Alright, we've got a voice note from Julia. I am an absolute Star Trek whore. Like, I've watched every single episode of Star Trek from the beginning up to all the new episodes, the new series, all of it.

Like, and I literally cannot get enough of Star Trek. I don't know why I love it. I just love it. But I like anything sci-fi, fantasy. My partner, Nick, hates it. Won't sit and watch any of it. So it's quite nice watching Star Trek on my own. And I'll go back and watch old episodes, like a whole season again. I just absolutely love it.

That's my guilty pleasure. Oh, thank you. She's lovely, isn't she? She is. I love her passion for the programme. Yeah. That's all that matters to me. Yeah.

Do you know, someone told me years ago that Star Trek is about more than just space and everything. Somebody was saying, oh my God, Star Trek is amazing. Why, has it got lots of subliminal messages and all that? Yeah, but I think it's all about their relationships and there's loads going on. And it's not just like, oh, you know, Star Wars or you're just out in space or...

It's just, it's a real... I don't know. They said it was just all about the different relationships and what's going on with everybody. Well, I think all of those sci-fi things have all of the story in that we get from a police drama like Blue Lights. That's true. I think, yeah, you're either in it or you're not. Yes, yeah.

And I'm not. I'm trying to think if I'm into any sci-fi things. Never seen Red Dwarf, never seen Star Wars, never seen Star Trek. And I have barely watched Doctor Who Now I like a Doctor Who and I particularly I loved Doctor Who when I was little and I genuinely would hide behind the sofa

and then I remember when we went to Madam Two Swords when I was really small I can still see that now there was a Dalek and he was in the middle of the room and then you had to walk past him to get into the other room and I went absolutely berserk. You were petrified.

Terrified. And my dad had to pick me up and carry me through. Terrifying. That's probably why I don't watch it because it sounds very scary for me. It is scary, right? But there's also something just very safe about a Doctor Who. There's a lot of people that love it, don't get me wrong.

I know it's controversial, but it's just not for me. Have you ever seen any Doctor Who? No's a lot of people that love it don't get me wrong, I know it's controversial but it's just not for me. Have you ever seen any Doctor Who? No, not really. When you were small, did you ever? No. Not even Tom Baker? Yeah, Tom Baker. I worked with Colin Baker. Yes.

He was a Doctor Who, wasn't he? Lovely Colin. Yes. I did a play with him. No, never watched it. It's not something we watched in our household. Really? I did, I watched it. It's not something we watched in our household. Really? I did. I watched Doctor Who. Don't get me wrong. I could watch all of them if someone said, do you want to be the assistant? Do you fancy getting in there?

I'd say I'm an avid fan. Watch them all. I grew up with it. I'd love to have posters up. In fact, we've got a Dalek in the garden that we bought in auction. And a phone box. I played Queen Elizabeth I in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who.

And yeah, and so it was with David Tennant as the Doctor. And I'm not even joking, it was only about six weeks after I'd given birth to my first baby. And I have to say, it's possibly some of the worst acting I've ever done. I just remember, I was breastfeeding and so I just remember being wrangled into this corset I could barely breathe and my boobs would get bigger and bigger and bigger did you have to just sit milking yes

yeah I sat there and then I'd get into my trailer at lunchtime take the and do the corset and I literally would just go like that yeah and then for half an hour I'd feed and then I'd get into my trailer at lunchtime take the and do the corset and I literally would just go like that yeah and then for half an hour I'd feed and then I'd like express for another half an hour and then I'd have like a bit of food and then I just go straight on set well all the way through you'll see I mean there's one point when it first begins if you look at it right I need to watch this you've got to see it right because David is like sitting on a picnic blanket and I'm like lying across his lap and looking up and talking to him and my chin is actually touching my boobs because they are

so huge. Well I can't wait for that to be the first Doctor Who I watch featuring Joanna Page and her very large boobs. I look forward to it Well there's the new series out now of Doctor Who so maybe we should cover that one day.

Absolutely. Or maybe I'll just go right back and do a bit of Nostalgic watching. Yes, that's true. That'd be nice. Go back and watch all the oldies. Tom Baker. Oh, Colin Baker, Tom Baker. Mm.

David Tennant. Yeah, I love David Tennant in it. I think David is my favourite. I've seen a lot of clips, obviously, of that Doctor Who, and he does seem super, but he's super in everything, isn't he? He is, he is. Shall we have another voice note? Yes.

Let's have a listen to what Simon's got to say. Firstly, loving the podcast, followed each one so far, and your little bonus one was an absolute treat. Just to let you know my guilty watch, and it's not too guilty, actually, because I'm quite proud of it, if I don't get my daily fix of Loose Women, I absolutely love Loose Women and watch it every day on catch up when I get in from work it just it's it's nice to to listen to little topics that they're talking about and listening

to things from a female perspective but that's that's my guilty watch keep going with the podcast and looking forward to the next episode bye for for now. Oh, thank you, Simon. Did you see on Loose Women, they were interviewing Rishi Sunak the other day, were they? Yes. Standards have dropped. I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe they're interviewing Rishi. Well, it's, you know, election time coming up.

They'll do anything, won't they? Yes. Let's get to the general public. Yes. I thought, look at him sitting there. Was he any good on there? I didn yes. Skits of the general public. Yes. I thought, look at him sitting there. Was he any good on there? I didn't watch him for that amount of time.

I think they had Jane Moore. I think they had Janet. And I don't know who else they had on. Yeah. You should have been on there with him. I'd have asked him some proper down-to-earth questions. Yeah, would have been good. Yes, would have been.

So, yeah, I don't know who the other women were, but, yes, I was like, oh, my God, Rishi's on. Amazing. Yeah. Oh, and now we've got another voice note from Rachel. This is really embarrassing and a bit sad. I like to watch Escape to the Country, and while I'm watching it, I like to follow where they're going and on right move put in my sort of you know if I

was to sell my house put in the max price and then I sort of like to imagine where I can live oh this is really sad I've just realized and then recently to make it might make it exciting I've added flats into the mix and it's amazing the amount of beautiful flats in sort of almost stately homes that you can buy. Just beautiful. And so I like to watch that, especially if it's raining outside, no idea why. And ideally with a packet of pickled onion,

monster munch. So I like to do that. And then also where we live a lot of the escape to the country's come down here and so there's a there's a house not far from us and whenever we passed it I go see that house over there that was on escape to the country and they bought it it's not getting annoying at all I am still married at the moment but I'm not sure it will last for long well, that sounds like my perfect afternoon. I love Escape

to the Country. I love the theme tune. It just makes me feel just all happy and I spend nearly every day on Right Move going, oh, right, okay. I'm going to live here now. I'm addicted to Right Move. Love it. I don't know if I've seen Escape to the Country.

Oh my God, How can you not? It's like a rite of passage. It's something you should be doing now. Don't have a go at me. I can't believe you haven't seen Escape to the Country. It's amazing. I never have the television on in the daytime at my house. It's early evening.

Never on. It's so good, right? They have a couple and then you know they might be living in southeast london and they've decided right okay we this is our budget and we want to go and live in the cotswolds and so then they go around and then they show them different a bit like location location location yes from city to country all the time yes oh i would love it oh my god you'd love it and then like Rachel, she adds flats into the mix. I add land into the mix. Oh, so you can build your own.

I'll be building my own place. Yeah, yeah. Love it. Love it. I can just waste away when the baby's sleeping. Entire afternoons doing that. It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Rachel. I am there with you.

Brilliant. Let's have another one. You asked about our TV guilty pleasures. Well, mine, I'm so embarrassed I can't even tell you what my name is. Mine is Doctors on BBC One. I save it on my watch list and every night when I get home from work, I make a cup of tea I sit on the sofa and I watch that day's episode of doctors on a Friday I find it quite difficult because when I

get home it's not been on the telly so there isn't an episode to watch I just love it it's such an easy watch it reminds me of when I was at school and you'd get home and you'd watch neighbors it's that kind of just easy watching and what i really like about it is it's a medical drama i love them sometimes if i find myself out of sort of a first aid incident i actually think that i know how to do first aid and then i have to remind myself actually it's because i've watched so many tv dramas she won't be watching Doctors for much more. I know! It's going off air.

When's it finishing? Very soon, I believe. Real shame that, because it was a real fantastic ground, creative learning ground, if you like, for new writers, directors, actors, you know. It's a real shame that Doctors is going. I feel sad about that. And I think as as well if you've got a medical show i swear you do pick things up with it was it right did you as sonia cut someone's throat i did and put a big pen thing in sonia performed a tracheotomy

with a biro yes i remember that and you know down to that and i've had this conversation with james that if one or the other of us because i do it on myself as well was choking i think i would know what to do purely because of you and sonia i don't really want that on me i don't i don't want to think that you are going to get your knife and say, pass me the bit, James, and perform that on anybody. Please don't. Please don't put my name into the mix. I'll be choking on a crisp, which I'll obviously be eating on the sofa in front of the telly.

Or in bed. I'll be slapping my chest and I'll be like, I'm trying to signal, Biro, Byro! Sonia! Byro! And then I'll perform a tracheotomy on myself and probably my last living thought will be your face in my head. And then I'll turn round and it'll be

in the paper and I'll look at it and there'll be scenes, bloody scenes all over the thing and I'll think do you know what, at least she went in the way that she used to watch telly in a really gory scary way, horrific way Oh my god

Oh well that's it, that is it from us and our second bonus episode of Off The Telly. What shall we watch? Oh, gosh, we honestly love hearing from you guys. So thank you so much again for sending us so many voice notes and messages. We've got another call out for you. Please do voice note and message us your favourite childhood telly. All the things that you loved and that you remember and that meant so much to you, your favourite childhood telly. All the things that you loved and that you remember

and that meant so much to you, your favourite childhood telly. Let us know what it is. The number is 03306784704. Thank you again for listening and we'll be back next Wednesday with more Off The Telly on BBC Sounds. Bye! 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. I'm Dr Michael Mosley and I want to let you know about my new immersive BBC Radio 4 podcast series Deep Calm It's all about how to tap into and activate a remarkable

system that we all have hardwired inside of us, our relaxation response. And it's been developed to be listened to at any time you want to really unwind. We'll discover simple, powerful, scientifically proven techniques to activate this relaxation response and encounter incredible mechanisms that work to help you

rest, restore and find stillness. From the breath to the fractal patterns of nature. I hope you'll subscribe on BBC Sounds.