People Who Knew Me - Intimacy: 8. Gag Order

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Liza is summoned to an emergency meeting with the producers. As power shifts behind the scenes, she faces a decision that could end her job on the film.In 'Intimacy' Episode 8: Lena Headey as Liza Tom Goodman-Hill as Gary Maisie Williams as Bunny Alison Steadman as Mum Thaddea Graham as Kate Matthew Broome as AlexAdditional voices were: Dempsey Bovell, Tom Glenister, Alice Hoskyns, Mark Kilcawley, James Nicolaou, Paul Panting, Finlay Paul, Nigel Pilkington, Josh Singh Sian, Sam Stafford, Sarah WhitehouseBased on an original idea by: Erika Lust Executive Produced by: Sharon Horgan, Faye Dorn Executive Producer for the BBC: Dylan Haskins Assistant Commissioner for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna Written, created and directed by: Lena Headey Consultant Audio Director: Celia De Wolff Series Produced by: Emma Morgan Story Produced by: Maddie Beautyman and Megan Heverin Production Manager: Archan Mohile Production Coordinator: Marlene Beauquis Smith Production Runner: Tobias Davies Script Assistants: Liis Miik and Jo Troy Casting Director: Lauren Evans Intimacy Coordinator: Robbie Taylor Hunt Recorded at: Sound Node Sound Designer: Martin Schulz Supervising Sound Editor and Mixer: Daniel Jaramillo Recording Engineers: David Crane and Giancarlo Granata Music and Score composed by: Max Perryment Merman Television Managing Director: Rebecca Parkinson Merman Finance Director: Jackie Sidey Merman Television Head of Production: Amanda Wasey Merman Television Finance Manager: Gemma Wilson Legal and Business Affairs: Mark Rogers and Georges Villeneau Artwork Photography: Stevan Keane Behind the Scenes: Michas Vanni

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Lives Less Ordinary is bringing you a special series of extraordinary love stories from all around the world. In India, love at first sight feels more psychotic than arranged marriage. Love stories that break all the rules. We came into our relationship with a lot of complicated pieces. Stories that show that sometimes love is all you need. Lives Less Ordinary Love Stories from the BBC World Service. Listen now. Search for Lives Less Ordinary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

You're about to listen to Intimacy, the latest series of ARC. This episode contains strong language and sexual content. Intimacy, episode 8. Get your laughing gear around these. Bacon bodies today. Morning, yeah. What do you want? Coffee bake coffee.

Two coffees. Right, you are. Liza. Oh, morning, buddy. Was I a twat last night? I feel like I might have been. I was just... Oh no.

No, no, no. Oh, bunny! Oh, God. Sorry, could you just do that over... Over there? I'm so sorry. I just, I came to say sorry, Liza. I remember talking to you and then...

Oh, yeah, no, you were a sweet drunk twat. Yeah, I'm just... I'm gonna go lie down. Yeah, I hope you feel better. Oh, I'm gonna grab that coffee. Oh, what? Now. Have one new message. This does not.

Check, keep your electric on, Liza, or I can get it turned off. All I need is the financial property is very hand-up, flat, or a warm house. Stop making this harder than it has. Bloody Arbitross. Walking night. You know, hey?

Uh, yeah, I'm just hot. Let me take this, take this sweater off. Um, you'll hold that coffee. That's better. Liza, me the boys. How are you? Liza

Hello again Pete Nice to meet you Joe I run Rough Shores We're co-financing When are the female producers Arriving We're here to make sure what happened What happened

Liza you know what happened You told her it was a trauma response She was totally fine She needed a few minutes But you whisked her off in a car Can you take your hand off my shoulder It's off Your breath stinks of moonshine

Let's vote on today's work. We don't want to repeat if what happened. That cost us heavily. Have you spoken to them this morning? Bunny isn't feeling great. Self-inflicted. Uh, Kate, bring the actors in for a walk through. Self-inflicted or were you giving her drink after drink? Feisty! Today, Liza. Can we bring Bunny and Alex to set, please? Boys, you can take a seat at Video Village.

Yeah. Okay. Actress walking. Well, hello. Oh, hi. Hi. You are doing such fantastic work. Oh my goodness, thank you so much. Oh, thank you so much.

Go for it. Hi. Oh, morning, Alex. You're okay? Why wouldn't I be? Well, because of the thing. The thing? I haven't stopped thinking about it.

Well, you should. It's a shit thing to carry around. Right. Just be a decent man, Alex. It's pretty simple. I'll just wing it, Gary, please. I don't need a rehearsal. Well, that's the spirit.

And breasts will be seen. Still good. Yeah. Yeah. We talked about that already. All right, good. Anything else? I just want to acknowledge

that running this scene over and over. What is it now, Liza? Everyone is game to do their job. Well, then what do I know? You go ahead, Gary, not yourself out. He's just doing his job, Liza. And I'm just doing mine, Alex. Good, then let's rehearse.

I want to love you. And I can't. Don't fret about loving me. There's sure to be a bad nut in a bus. Hey, uh, the man. Man babies. We're having a good look on the monitors. Oh, shit. Also, you're on fire today. I love it.

Thanks. Charm lies a disarming smile. Hey, gentlemen, this isn't the place to sit. It's a close set. Bonnie's naked. And cut. Yeah. What's the problem? I'm just asking that they don't sit here. They don't need to watch the monitors. Oh, oh yes. Golden Rule. You need to be off the set.

Yeah. Sorry, chaps. Sorry, chaps. Gary Stone said where everyone is respected. Totally agree. We're not versed in this intimacy language. Apologies. Sorry. Why don't I show you guys to Gary's trailer? Oh, yes. Yeah. And Kate, show them the teaser I threw together, would you? Yep.

Oh, don't forget. We've got a meeting in the trailers at lunch. Liza, you two. Of course. See you then. Thank you for honouring the request. I think I just moved. up the scoreboard. To the fry eggs and one of the pouch. All right. Takeaway or plate?

Takeaway. I've got a meeting. Oh, you must be very important. Lou, not right now. I need to keep my heat on. Come in. Just flirt a bit. Half-hearted hair flick.

That doesn't make you a bad feminist. Hi. Oh, nice trailer. Very, very large. Have a seat. Thank you. We need to talk to you, Liza. Yeah, I'm listening. One thing I hate is losing money.

I agree, it's the worst I hated. Because of you, we lost half a day. You don't just shut production down because an actor's having an emotional moment. But the bigger problem is there's a story. We've had several inquiries from the press about toxic behaviour, specifically the incident where Bunny was grabbed by the throat. Someone has sent footage to the press and it doesn't look good.

You can imagine the headline, Gary Stone allows toxic, We have no other option but to counter with the truth. Our intimacy coordinator had a careless lapse of judgment. But I didn't have a lapse in anything. I didn't know that was his plan. We paid you to prevent this kind of thing from happening. You failed to do your job.

I'm not going to lose the entire production because of a careless mistake. Sorry. Did I miss anything? I was on a call with the editor. You weren't giving the actors the proper attention. Your mother is here, isn't she? I imagine that you're not That's quite distracting. I wasn't distracted. I was doing my job.

It was him. Gary, he didn't warn anyone. He just did what he wanted regardless. He is the director, Liza. Well, then what? You're just going to slap his wrists and tell him he's a bad director. What's he doing yet?

Tell them, Alex. She knew about the plan. Gary told her. Liza was... You are a terrible actor, Alex. Alex heard it all. For what? The imaginary conversation we never had.

A conversation was had. between Liza and your dad. That happened, Alex? Yes. Wait. Gary's your dad? I am. Right, we'll speak to you, Agent Liza.

The loss we incurred is considerable. We'll send a final check, not your entire salary, in exchange for an NDA. What, that's it? That's it. Oh, let you gather your thoughts for a moment. What? Sorry, they just asked me to escort you to the door.

Oh, of course. I'm so sorry, your mom's already there. Yeah, I bet she is. Liza, shit. The gossip is rife. They fired you. Yeah, yeah, they did. Oh my God.

Did you know Alex was Gary's kid? Both of you knew. I'm really sorry. He had me sign an NDA. Yeah, shit, I knew to. Alex told me at the party, but I was so drunk. I wanted to tell you. It's...

It's fine. I'm really sorry I didn't say anything. They just... I understand the silent gag order. Yeah, it's pretty tight. guys to be honest yeah just four more weeks of this and then I don't know if I'm gonna do it again I think I'm gonna rescue dogs in Bali sounds dreamy well I'm gonna miss you Liza thank you for everything I'll miss you too Bonnie you're

Liza would it be impossible for you to believe this wasn't anything I did sorry they've just sent me the NDA I feel like a real dick asking you to sign this will you even have a flat to go back to mom please be quiet it. I'm really sorry. They told me not to leave until you signed. What happens if I don't sign it? I don't know, actually. Um, refusing to sign a legal document probably isn't good though. We should get on the boat, yeah? Uh, yes, yes. They've got you both on a flight out of Athens tonight. It's a pretty tight schedule. Uh, let me help you on, mom. No, I'm fine. I'm not 80. All right, well, let the strapping Greek boat driver help you. Oh, yes. Thank you.

Sorry, just you're not signing. No. Okay, well that is a balsy move. Oh that's me. For the record, I fully support my daughter. Okay. It's been a real pleasure, thank you so much. Couldn't have done it without you, Kate.

Bye. Bye. What did you do? Do you think you could maybe try not to say a word for five minutes? I can't. I can't be quiet. Your life is a shambles, Liza. I came out here because I was worried about you. You came for a jolly mom. Oh, yes, but. Oh, you worry me. You're my daughter. I care about you.

It keeps me up at night wondering how you manage. Michael is a shit stain. Oh, but Liza, how did you let this fall apart? It was all starting to look up. I need you to just listen. I've never said this out loud. I was raped, Mom, by Gary 25 years ago. Liza! No, you're not allowed to say anything.

You just hold it for me, hold the weight of it just for a second. So tired of it. You shouldn't have carried that alone. I felt safer to keep it quiet. I can help. I told it for you. I don't want any more for silence. Oh, was it on that film?

Yeah. You never told me. Well, I just thought it was the pressure of being an actress. I'm so sorry. You were only... What? 22. Oh, can I hug you?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, that feels nice, Mom. Are you wearing you? Deutrant. Oh my God, it's been a stressful fucking day. Yes, of course. I understand.

It's just you're of an age. Hormones. It's either laugh or shove her off a moving boat. Honestly, I'd miss her, and she'd probably haunt me anyway. Also, I don't have time to go to prison. I have a life to save. I need to resurrect this soul of mine. At the risk of repeating myself,

Our boat driver's name is Apollo. Fun fact, it means to destroy. Greek mythology is my new life code. The phoenix. This legendary bird dies in a show of fire and combustion, only to be born again from its own ashes. Will she rise? The fucking lately.

Lena Heady as Liza. Tom Goodman Hill as Gary. Meesey Williams as Bunny. Alison Stedman as Mum Thadier Graham as Kate Matthew Broome as Alex Additional voices by Dempsey Bevel

Tom Glanister Alice Hoskins Mark Kilcali James Nicolaou Paul Panting Finley Paul Nigel Pilkington Josh Singh Sion

Sam Stafford Sarah Whitehouse Based on an original idea by Erica Lust Executive produced by Sharon Horgan and Fay Dorn Executive Producer for the

BBC Dylan Haskins. Assistant Commissioner for the BBC Lorraine Bukafuna. Written, created and directed by Lena Heady. With additional direction by Celia DeWolf. Series produced by Emma Morgan. Story produced by Maddie Biederman and Megan

Heverin. Production manager Archon Mohele. Production coordinator Marlene Boki Smith. Production runner, Tobias Davies. Script assistants Lee Smick and Joe Troy. Casting director, Lauren Intimacy Coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt

Audio production and post-production by Sound Node Sound designer Martin Shultz Supervising Sound Editor and Mixer Daniel Haramizio Recording Engineers David Crane and Giancarlo Granata Music and score composed by Max Carriamette

For a full list of credits go to the episode description For further support on any of the issues raised in this series go to BBC.com.com forward slash action line. Intimacy is a Merman Television Scotland production for BBC Sounds.

Lives Less Ordinary is bringing you a special series of extraordinary love stories from all around the world. In India, love at first sight feels more psychotic than arranged marriage. Love stories that break all the rules. We came into our relationship with a lot of complicated pieces.

Stories that show that sometimes love is all you need. Lives Less Ordinary Love Story. from the BBC World Service. Listen now. Search for Lives Less Ordinary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.