Perfect Day with Jessica Knappett - EP 53: Kat Sadler

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Bafta award winning creator of Such Brave Girls, Kat Sadler joins Jess on the podcast this week to talk about her perfect day. The pair talk curses, the smell of theme park rides, the best way to eat McDonald’s, the etiquette of watering someone’s plants, and how to check if you have a  curse. Perfect Day is going LIVE - come and see us in Edinburgh on the 19th August, tickets are available here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/perfect-day-live-with-jessica-knappett-and-endo1000-featuring-special-guest-tickets-1434649307699  Like and subscribe for brand-new episodes every Thursday.  Follow us on Instagram @perfectdaycast. And, why not get in touch? Email us at [e-mail] A Keep It Light Media Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Try them all while you can. For a limited time in participating McDonald's in Canada. The international menu heist. Try them all while you can for a limited time in participating McDonald's in Canada. Alright then. Hello Perfect Dayers and welcome to Perfect Day. You've come to the right place if you are a fan of days. I'm Jessica Knappett and you're about to listen to Kat Sadler's Perfect Day. Kat is the creator and writer of the dark and very very funny Such Brave Girls. It has been praised for its portrayal of womanhood, mental health, dysfunctional family dynamics and she won a bloody BAFTA for it. We've got BAFTA royalty in the house.

We talk Such Brave Girls of course. We talk scary theme park rides. Chips! The etiquette of watering someone's plants. And I find out how to tell if I've been the victim of a curse. So enjoy! This is Cat Sabla's Perfect Day. While we were off mic, I was just talking about my weekend. I was just saying that I went to a party with 10 of my friends. It was quite wild actually. But the theme of the party, one of my friends suggested that we dress up because last year we didn't dress up at all and we were all just sat around in our trackies. And then when we looked at the photos, we were all quite disappointed with ourselves for not following. We were all like, we'd never seen any makeup on. We

looked like trash, but we're having the time of our lives. So we decided we'd have a theme and the theme was a blast from the past. And I was just telling Lucy that everyone else did something really funny. Nobody else works in comedy apart from me and everybody else. There's like absolutely nailed a gag and I did nothing at all. I did nothing funny. I just came as generic nineties and just generic nineties. I looked a bit like, do you remember? No, you're too young. Do you know what Purple Ronnie is? No. Is it a drink? It sounds like a drink. Oh God. What a depressing start to the conversation. It was iconic. It was iconic. A bit like Forever Friends. It was the cartoon motif of the late 80s and early 90eties, which is probably when you were born. It was

when you were born, wasn't it? Fuck my life. Welcome to perfect day. Thank you for having me. I'm sorry for ruining yours. Straighten this. Born in 94 actually. Oh my God. Kat Sadler, born in 94, already produced a BAFTA award winning sitcom. Just a bit. Creator, writer, star of such brave girls, such funny girls. The funniest sitcom on television. Not my words, the words of the Guardian. How does it feel? Are you having the time of your life or is it really anxiety-inducing? Of course it's anxiety-inducing. Of course it is. Yeah, it's a nightmare. Every day is a nightmare. I'm grateful, but I'm in hell at the same time. It's awful. It's a poison

chalice. Also, you're sort of trawling up your past as well, aren't you? You're sort of like going like mining your past. Yeah, I feel like this should be a time period. It's like a walk through memory lane. This is like a terrifying horror cruise through the worst trauma of the past. Now just with my back cracked like, let's go. So yeah, going back through is a perilous journey. With your actual sister. So I didn't realize, I know Lizzie a little bit now. I don't know if you know that.

I do know that. She's very jealous that I'm doing this. I've actually not told her because I'm very scared that she'll be upset that I'm doing this and not her. So we'll keep this between us. Well we'll get Lizzie on at some point as well. But of course, but Lizzie, I just didn't realize until I did a deep dive that you two were actual sisters. So you play sisters in Such Brave Girls and you're actual sisters in real life. Yeah, but we look nothing alike, don't we? It's very strange. You don't look anything alike, really. No. She's very tan. She describes herself as she's got caramel skin, whereas I'm some

pallid ghosts. She got the tan jeans. I'm scared to do 23andMe though. I'm quite tempted to be like, have we got the same dad? What's the vibe? I'd be interested. Oh yeah. I've done that. I've done that and I basically ruined someone's life inadvertently by doing it. How so? Because they found out that they weren't related to their... by my family putting our genes into this database, they found out that they weren't related to

some of their relatives because he was related to my children, but his sister wasn't, if you see what I mean. Oh my God. To be honest though, I'd actually be grateful for something like that because it would give me like a plot for more episodes. I bet you I'd be like hoping. I'd be like disappointed when the results are normal. I was going to ask you because series two is out now, but obviously it will have been a long time ago that you wrote series two and then now you're in that phase where presumably you're waiting to find out if you've got a third series. Are you or do you know and you

can't say? No, I simply cannot say. Okay, so yes, you've got a third series. I cannot say. I will be in trouble with so many people. I simply do not know. Right, right, right, right. Great. Oh, that's good. Yeah, because that was always, that's always the hard bit, isn't it? Waiting to find out and then do you, presumably you're ready to go, you've got more ideas, there's plenty more where that came from.

I don't know, it will be interesting trying to figure out what it is because everyone says throw as much as you can at it, don't leave anything unsaid. I've probed in so much into one and two, so I do think like I honestly have no idea what I'm going to try and work out. I left, you know, I left like the episodes, the final episode of season two, I left it on like a big cliffhanger. Like, and so I had an emergency meeting before it went out to be like, can I work my way out of this? Like, is there a solution? So I've got like a kind of a vague solution, but that's it. It's very clever to leave it on a cliffhanger because that sort of means that they, you know, you have to finish off the story really. That's kind of what I was thinking.

It's disappointing for the audience if you don't. Totally. Yeah. Uprising. Are you getting a lot of people getting in touch with you about this series? I haven't started it yet. I'm saving it. I'm really looking forward to it. Do not worry. It's only been out for about two days. Have you been enjoying the sun as you should be? Please, please do. Yeah. But it's all up there to be enjoyed, isn't it? And is it going on to Hulu as well in America? Yes, it actually went up.

The Americans are having a piece. That's good. Having a little slice of the cake. Yeah. It's great. We're not yesterday. No idea how it's gone down. Like not seen anything. No clue. Sort of in a bubble about it. So which is actually quite nice. I'd rather stay in the bubble and avoid everything at all costs. So it's good then. But yeah, it came like yesterday. What's the weirdest sort of feedback you've been getting about it? What a question. I know, sorry, that is a hard question.

Yeah, you actually, yes, you'd have reminded me about, I had one in, after series one, I was in a club on New Year's Eve and I've, you know, I'd been recognized twice like once in H&M and once in this club and this girl came up to me and she was like, oh my God, like, I love your show. My friends couldn't get through it, but I loved it. I was like, okay. There's a compliment in there somewhere. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. I was like, you like it. Thank you. What about these friends of yours? Hmm. What do you think people are really connecting to with it most? Because it is so honest and

it's so personal. And yeah, I bet it's one of those things where, because it's such a personal story, it's so specific. you might not have anticipated that people would necessarily have connected to it because it's so specific, but that is the reason why people do, if you see what I mean. Definitely. Yeah. I think it's certainly not an easy what. It's bleak. It's dark. And it's unrelenting, you know? So I imagine it might be hard. People binge here, and that surprises me because it's like, I don't know how you managed to binge.

Oh, I binged it. But it's so funny. It's got so many, I mean, because you're a joke writer as well, aren't you? That's how you sort of started, is that right? Yes. Yes. That's very kind of you to say. Thank you. Absolutely packed full of jokes as well. The dialogue is really funny. It's a proper sitcom. Like it's not a comedy drama because you say it's bleak and you say it's dark, but actually it is still somehow a sitcom. I don't know how you've done that. I think that's what's so clever about it. It's all of these really dark topics handled really honestly, but lightly. Yeah, well, I think that's very kind. That's what I was trying to do. It's a big ask to

get people to come into their world and then spend six half hours with us. But yeah, I think it does surprise me people manage to work through the morning one night. But that is a big compliment. But yeah, we're a bleak family. Yeah. And quite horrible to resolve. I think there's also this really relatable thread throughout it. The thing that I loved so much was your character asks, I think every episode, I could be wrong, asks the question out loud, who am I? Yeah, yeah. And that's the reality. We all just relate to that. And my favorite is when she goes, I've worked out who I am, she goes to one of the characters, I'm whoever you want me to be. And that's me. I feel like that is who I am. Yeah. My personality is very much based on

whoever I'm speaking to. It's amorphous and it changes all the time. Yeah. I know that feeling. I was with one of my friends this weekend and I just started speaking like her. Like exactly like her. Because I can pick up people's voices and stuff by accident and I just like morph into them. And I just said a line and I was like, I just sounded exactly like you then, didn't I? And the whole group just went, yes, it was so weird. Like, why are you doing that? Why are you just turning into the person that you're talking to? Like literally, physically, it's mad. And we're like, I feel like we're like a tapestry of like people's people we know as mannerisms.

Like I definitely have picked up things from my sister like that she says or like my best friend will say. And I feel like they just kind of make their way into who you are but I definitely see flecks of like other people I'm definitely like absorb that so are you the same? Yeah but you sort of have to have a bit of that I think to be honest don't you? Sounds a bit wanky but you sort of like because you're like talking to you now I can tell that you're like talking to you now, I can tell that you're not exactly like your character who is very downtrodden and you're a slightly less energetic, but much less. She's miserable.

Yeah, she's miserable. She's misery. She's a misery. Yeah, yeah. Where that's much more layered on me that I buried that right deep down actually. She's there, but she's a secret. Oh, it's great. I could chat to you about Such Brave Girls all day, but we have got a perfect day to get through Kat.

We have got a perfect day. I'm very excited. I'm very excited to hear your perfect day. Shall we crack on? I think we bloody should. Let's do it. Kat Sadler, what's your perfect morning? Okay. Yeah. So I have a particular patch of morning, which is like my favorite bit of the day, hands down.

And it's the patch where I've got up, I've made a cup of tea, it's a really good cup of tea. I've taken it back to my bed, which is still warm. Love. And I sip my tea and I scroll my phone. And that's the best bit of my day, like hands down. Yeah, no, we have to say it. We have to say it's why we're all doing it because it's great. Why is your tea so good? What's the tea like?

It's a Yorkshire tea and it's got two sugars, real sugars. Really? Not sweetener. Yeah. No. Real castor. Yeah, it's castor. It's castor. Yeah. And it's two spoons of it And it's oat milk with, it's the blue oat milk, which I know is quite controversial because a lot of people like the barista one, but I like the

adult blue. Okay. And it means nothing to me because I drink cow's milk dropped off by a milkman. That's classy. Do you? You're a little high-loaf. Yeah, I am actually am actually. I am. And I sort of asked you that question so that I could say that. You can tell me. Introducing Taco Bell's $5 steak burritos. From the zesty Chipotle ranch to the decadent cheesy melts, we'd call them rich, but they're just five bucks. New $5 steak burritos.

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What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a Wellgroom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope. But a box fan? Happily yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. What are you looking at on your phone?

It's TikTok and it is a, I've managed to that morning find like the perfect algorithm of like funny like cat videos and then like occasional like bits of slapstick, just like very non-offensive, like funny videos, very short, ha ha ha, nothing scary, nothing that's going to trouble me, like very just nice lobotomy TikToks. Lovely. Does that actually, I'm not on TikTok, I'm obviously aware of it, but does that ever actually happen or do you get a mishmash of cat videos and scary content? Obviously TikTok is a mixture of the most heartwarming stuff mixed with the most harrowing, I don't know how this algorithm's found me, like a piece of media and I'm like, how has

this managed to make its way to my eyeballs? So it's a very risky game. It does feel like that mind sweeper where you don't quite know what's coming next, but most of the time it's good. So terrifying. It's a dopamine, I mean, it's sort of like, it's very clever that, isn't it? Because it sort of crashes your dopamine when you watch something scary and then you have to get it back up. So you have to watch the next video to get it back up again. It would be like a beautiful cat that they've rescued.

It was blind and now it can see again and it was feral and now it's not feral, it's purring. And then you'll scroll down and it'll be like, here's 10 of the worst things that emergency services have ever heard over the phone. Oh my god. Do you know what I mean? It's like, can't escape it. You can't not watch that.

You can't not watch it. You can't not watch it. Because I'm none of that. I'm just watching lovely cat videos. There's a person on there who makes charcuterie boards for birds. And it's like, they do like different kinds of seeds and all the birds come and as the camera sets off and watch that, that's lovely. Stunning.

Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, that's gorgeous. So this is what, an hour? Are we talking an hour? Is this the first hour? Something like that. This is the first hour. Yeah. And in my perfect day, I need to say I like mornings quite a lot. So I feel like my mornings extra long. So I've woken up quite early, but it doesn't feel early. Why do you like mornings so much? Do you know? I think it's just the nice bit of time for all the dark thoughts that in. I feel like

mornings, I'm more like sort of fresh. I'm a baby dear, you know, I'm pure. And then it's lunchtime and then the days are right off, you know, that's when it all starts to go downhill. It's so true. I wish I could remember whose quote it is, but there was something about, you need, it was a writer saying, get up and write as early as you possibly can before your feelings get hurt. That's nice. That's a bit of me. That's exactly it.

I'm like 50 first dates, I can't wake up and I've got an okay balance of serotonin and it just sort of goes like my energy levels through the day. Yeah, it just drops off. I know. I feel exactly the same way. There's just anything. So much can happen, can't it? So much can happen in the day to hurt your feelings. So what's next in the perfect, the very long, perfect morning?

Okay. Then we get out of bed and my best friend's outside and she's got a oolase from Costa for me. And a pastry from one of our favorite bakeries. That's nice touch. And a pastry from one of our favorite bakeries. There's a bakery called Idle Hands in Dunlop in Glasgow. So it's like really rural and like no one's heard of it, but it's the most amazing artisan pastry you could possibly imagine. So what's your connection to Glasgow? She lives in Glasgow. So we've got a long distance friendship, which is a real shame. Can you shout out, should we shout out the friend? Do you want to talk more about this

friend or will she be annoyed? Okay, she'll absolutely love this. She's the biggest supporter I've got. She's called Sarah Jane Judge and she's a doctor. So let's call her Dr. Sarah Jane Judge. Dr. Judge. Yeah, Dr. Sarah. So Dr. Sarah Jane Judge. How did you meet her? We went to uni together, but she was coming back to do a PhD and I was in my undergrad. I got on her lap at a comedy social and asked her to be my mum and she said yes. She's taken it very seriously and she's never stopped since. That's so funny. How often do you actually get to see each other?

I feel like a true friendship is one where you see each other very little. So we probably manage to see each other maybe like four times a year, not as much as you'd think. Considering this is true, would you say she's your soulmate? I'd say she's my, yeah. she's my platonic soulmate, yes. And what is it about her that when you found her you were like, bam, this is it, love? She's very funny and very dark and has a real sense of the world, of a sense of belonging in the world. She's one of those people that can make your doctor's appointment and it doesn't stress her out.

Well, that's because she's a doctor. That's because she's a doctor of sociology, but yes, we'll get to that. She's just got this sense, she makes people, she puts people at ease. She's at ease. I'm always drawn to those kinds of people, people who feel the sense of belonging. I don't feel that. I feel like an alien. So when other people make you feel that you can rest, I think that's very attractive to me. Yeah, I do. She's found, she's got peace. She's got peace, she's got a life, she's got a car, you know what I mean? She knows what she's having for dinner. It's all very calming to me.

Yeah, she's a real grown up. She's a real grown up. She's a mum. She's the mum you need. She's a mum. Yeah. She's the biggest kid in the world as well, which is what we're doing with our hour in the morning, which is, I'm seeing it. She's got a pastry, she's got a custard, and we've got her up just in time for the Magic Hour Universal Studios in Florida.

What? What's the Magic Hour Universal Studios? So the Magic Hour is the hour where no one else is allowed into the park. It's just people staying in hotels on the park. So it's empty. So you've done roller coasters. Have you done this? We're doing this. Yeah. I mean, is this a memory? You've done this in real life? It's a memory and we're going back. We've done this a few times and it's like the best. Our favorite roller coaster is the Velocicoaster in the

Jurassic Park world. And it's, we're riding that about 10 times and then one of us is going to throw up. Oh my God, great. I love that you've just like gone straight off to Florida. It's absolutely sensational. So we're riding the, what's it called? The Velocircoaster. The Velocircoaster. Yeah, we're riding the Velocircoaster. Does it go upside down? It goes upside down. You're being followed by like raptors who want to eat your flesh. Like it's a roaring ride. What can I say? It's a fantastic roller coaster. Do you like feeling a bit sick? Like do you like the adrenaline of it? Do you, I mean you must do obviously. I don't know feeling sick, but I love the rush. Like I love

like the feeling of like getting launched. I don't know. It's something about that feeling and kind of being able to scream judgment free. Like, and we're looking at each other and we're giggling. We're having a right laugh. I think it's something, I don't know, it must just be like in a child feels like pure freedom in that. It's something nice like being locked into a ride and then being, you know, thrown around. Yeah, exactly. It's just freeing. Do you go to theme parks in the UK or do they just not really come close? I think we did as kids. My mum's a big theme park fan. So we went to Chessington World of Adventures a lot as growing up and we did do Thorpe Park, but that one's a bit more scary, isn't it, Thorpe Park? But they've got some good roller coasters. Did you do them?

No, I'm not really. I'm very scared of rides actually. Basically we used to have, there's a really quite a low rent theme park in Yorkshire called Lightwater Valley. Okay. That was our end of year treat if we went to every single choir practice at my school. Love that. But for me, that was more of a punishment than a reward because I was just very scared of all the rides and you just had to be brave. And to me, theme parks are just the feeling of like bravada, of like having to pretend. It's like, oh my

God, yeah, really cool. Can't wait to, there's a ride called the Rat. Okay. And you have to get on the Rat and it's, and it's in the dark and then there are sort of red lights everywhere. And a couple of my friends have got stuck on theme park rides. No, really? I just, that's all I think is ever going to happen to me. And I also think I was taken to Universal Studios too young by my family and I found it all so horrifying. Traumatic. What will have that been, Universal Studios? There was a ride called the Earthquake and

I just genuinely thought we were in an earthquake. Yeah, that one's scary. I'll give you that. That is a scary one. And Jaws, I got traumatized on Jaws. They gave me a free toy because I was crying so much as a kid. It was an honor. Heather Allred E.T. was good. I like that. I like Gentle Ride, Splash Mountain. Emma B. E.T. is my favorite. I'm glad you're giving that shout out. Heather Yeah, like lovely. I like a Gentle Ride. I loved going with my kids to Disney a few months ago because I just got to go on all the kid rides and then I re-experienced it and it was fantastic.

Which Disney did you go to? Los Angeles. What would that be? Oh, California Adventure. It was like Pirates of the Caribbean. That's a fun ride. A lot of the rides there were the originals that have been there since like 40s. Before the film, which is crazy, right? Mad. Mad. And like it's so funny that ride because like some of it's quite tone deaf. Like the one in Paris, they've got like three pirates like chasing a sex worker with like holding up their ass. Why is this allowed?

And you can, you sort of sail past the restaurant there where people, you can like eat your lunch in the Pirates of the Caribbean restaurant. Oh, don't I know? I went there for my birthday. Oh my God, that's delightful. I've got candles, the smell of it. You know, you can order from a website, perfumes and candles that smell like the rides because they're quite a specific smell. Like a sewer. Yeah, like old water. Yeah, it's stagnant water. Yeah, so you're just burning the smell of stagnant water in your house. And I'm thinking, Disneyland. Yes, I've got one for you too as well.

Oh my god. It's amazing. I've had a breakdown in April and I got dumped and then one of my other friends drove me to Disneyland Paris so I could have a breakdown at Disneyland Paris. Did it help? It definitely helped. Yeah, I did cry during the fireworks display, but I mean, who doesn't? Yeah, no, they're very moving. Oh my God. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you've had to deal with that.

No, it's fine. No, it's fine. You got to trip to Disneyland out of it. Can't be sad at the happiest place on earth. You know what I mean? That's my logic. But you gave it a good go. Give it a good go, yeah. Challenge accepted. Right. So we're at, are we spending the whole morning at Disney? Is it Disney Florida? Let's say it's a hybrid of Disney and Universal Studios so we can connect over it. So I'd say it's both. There's a magical door that opens between the two.

Wow. Okay, great. And is that bringing us up to lunchtime? Are we having lunch at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride? Where's lunch? Well, I mean, the coveted lunch is obviously Remy the Ratatouille restaurant. That's J Remy. But if we can't get a table there, I'll happily settle for like McDonald's. We'll go over the road to the McDonald's, that's in City Walk and we'll have a delicious, I'm vegan as well, so I'm just having chips. And that's so sad that that's my perfect day lunch, but it's just chips from McDonald's. That's in Such Brave Girls, your character's trying to stall ordering her food. Just everyone knows you're going to get chips. I can't get enough chips. That's my favorite food. If I could have it every day, breakfast,

lunch, dinner, I would. Really? I mean it's bad. I mean you can. But is it allowed? French fries or chunky chips? French fries and specifically French fries from McDonald's, but only the drive-through. For some reason they're better when they're handed out through a window and I'm meeting them in the car. Really? Do you think they actually taste different or is it the experience? Do they get a bit soggy? They're hotter, they're saltier. I don't like soggy ones. I feel like that's a waste of

time. I think they do get a little bit steamed in there. I think you're right. Maybe. Yeah. I'm with you. I've recently got quite back into McDonald's actually, just from having kids and just laziness. It's fantastic. What are you having? I eat meat, so the disgusting stuff. You're having a Big Mac, you're taking a quarter pounder meal.

Yeah, because you get your fries, you get your delicious quarter pounder with your gherkin, and then you've got diet coke on the side. Of course it's diet coke, my favorite drink. Is that your favorite drink? Yeah, I used to get a chocolate milkshake with a McDonald's meal though. If I'm really going for it, if I'm really hung over, it'll be a Choccy milkshake. What about strawberry ones? Not a fan? No. Sorry, but no. You're like my sister. She doesn't like anything strawberry flavored, but I can't get enough.

I don't like anything. I hate all that ersatz flavour other than chocolate because the chocolate feels like a legitimate flavour to me. But strawberry is like, that's made up, that's not real strawberries. That's the opposite of me. I don't like drinking chocolate. I don't like it. I feel like chocolate is for eating. It's not for drinking. So I don't like that. I don't like chocolate ice cream either. What are you having with your chips? A diet coke. I'm having a crisp diet coke and I'm checking it before I take it because

sometimes their fountains off and you get a watery diet coke and that's my worst nightmare. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Okay, so it's French fries and a thoroughly checked diet coke. Should we move on to your perfect afternoon? Perfect afternoon. Okay, now we've gone back. Let's say we're in London, but it doesn't have to be, but we're going to a lovely garden center. Really?

Yeah, a really lovely garden center with a lovely cafe. And I'm allowed to choose any plant I want and no judgment from anyone. I love plants. Do you have a lovely garden? No, I wish. I just got, I just have indoor plants in my, in my little studio. And actually I moved out of that now. I'm actually, I'm sofa surfing at the moment. So my lease ended, I don't have anywhere to live. So I'm sort of going different. So all my plans will go to my mom's house. And she was like, she was like, yeah, yes, fine. I think she thought I was going to add like three or four. And

then God bless Sarah Jane Judd, who drove down from Glasgow to help me move my plants because there was a van's worth. I have at least 60 plants in my studio. That's so impressive. And she had to shift them all. I think my mum's heart sank as they sort of came in the front door and it didn't end. It was just 60 plants and now taking up my mum's bathroom downstairs. I actually can relate to this because my parents went on holiday recently and they asked me to take care of their plants. So I said, yeah, that's absolutely fine. And then they rang me and said, right, well, we're coming around with them. I live 20 minutes away from their

house. And I was like, that's not what happens when you look after people's plants. When you look after people's plants, you go over to their house, which is 20 minutes away and water their plants. Well, then they're like, no, no, we're coming around. And it was exactly the same. I mean, just a car full of plants just unloading into the house. One of them was, I cannot tell you how massive it was. I don't even understand how they got it in the car. And then suddenly my house was just filling with their plants. I was like, why is this happening? Why is this happening though? But they still haven't taken them back. And they keep saying, oh, you haven't brought our plants back, have you? Why is it my job to return their plants

that they offloaded into my house? This is why we're all the way we are. I know. It's a lot of responsibility. I think you might have a few casualties there, Kat. I'm stressed about that. I know. And they're my babies. They've all got names. It's hard for people to look after plants. Most people can't do it. You're a special person if you can do that. I really love to do that. My husband's really good at looking after plants. They die in my presence, unfortunately. But I just look at them. Apparently they absorb negative energy. Oh God.

So it could be doing like, apparently if a plant dies near you, it's because it's absorbed any bad vibes that you have. So maybe it was, you had a curse and it saved you from the curse, you know? Don't, because I actually do believe in curses. Me too. Me too. Sometimes, I'm not joking, like a few days ago, I said something to somebody and I felt her putting a curse on me. What? How? The way she looked at me and her eyes darkened and I thought, oh no. I felt it and I thought

this woman, this woman, she's got no reason to be because there's nothing to be jealous of, but this woman's jealous of me. And her eyes darkened and I honestly felt like she was trying to put a curse on me. Oh my God. Well, you know what you've got to do, right? Stand near a plant and watch it die. Stand near a plant and watch it die, but in the meantime, take an egg and roll it across your body, up and down. And then you need to crack it open in a glass of water, room temperature water. And if it's cloudy, that means you have been. That's our way of testing. If you've been customers.

Was that you and Lizzie made that up? No, it's a thing. Google it. I'm just. I'm a bit into that stuff. I've been doing my research on how to remove a curse. What kind of curse do you think you've got a curse on you currently or you have had them in the past? I think I like to do my research just so I'm prepared for if it happens. I'm sure I've got a curse on me. I think everybody is born with a specific curse, I think. Like my curse is that technology never works in my presence. Like it just never works. Like it just, I'm

just someone who can never, every program I've got will crash. I can never set up any TVs. Like, like Lizzie's curse is that like, I'm trying to think what hers is. She's got one that she, what, my mom's one is bad cue karma. If there's a line of cues and you have to choose which one to join, her one will always be the slowest. Do you have any curses in life? Oh my God. I feel like mine is like travel. Okay. Yep. Not all the time, but like, and it may have lifted recently, but there was a time where like I just couldn't leave the country without something going wrong.

Yeah. I can believe that. That's a good curse. Airports, delays. It just felt like it was just getting out of hand. And trains and all that sort of stuff. There was a time when I used to get on the train and I'd be like, I don't think I'm going to get home. And it happened time and time again, because I always am on the train from London to Leeds. And there was this one time where I just kept getting, I mean, and it is real, but we just kept getting climate changed. And I went to New York and then it flooded really badly and we had to fly out of a different airport. And then I was getting the train from London to Leeds and it flooded again. It was like the flood. Oh my gosh. And I had to stay overnight in a town called Grantham.

How was that? It was actually amazing because I just got to have a night in a hotel and there was like nothing, you know, it's just sort of like this weird thing happened where it's like there's nothing to do and you just have to sit in a hotel and it was kind of nice in a way to not be. I love that liminal space, like no purpose, just drifting. That's quite nice. I do quite like a bit of that. I like it on a mega bus. You know when you're on a mega bus but have a long journey and you just dissociate for like seven hours and no one can judge you? I do quite like one of those.

I like staring out of the window on trains. Anyway, we're going on a tange, which is as it should be, but let's get back to your perfect afternoon. And garden center. What are we getting in the garden center? Is it a limitless budget? Emma I'd love that. A limitless budget. And I'm a big fan of the dangly ones. You know, the ones that you put them up high and they dangle down. So I've got a few of them and one of them is reduced because it's got a bit of something dodgy on it. But I'm going to nurse it back to health and it survives.

That flash forward now and it has survived. It's thrived even. But I got it on a big discount because it was wonky. So I've got one of those. I filled my boots with all these lovely weird flowers. And then we've gone to the cafe and it's got the most delicious cake and I'm having a big old slice of that with another cup of tea. It's like a Victoria sponge, you know, something and it's sunny and there's birds chirping in the distance. That's, yeah, I'm having a lovely sunny little slice of cake.

It does go hand in hand, doesn't it? The sort of the horticultural vibe and like a nice slice of cake and a cup of tea. They know what they're doing in those places. They do. Yeah. And I'm honestly, I feel like as I've, I don't know what it is, the more stressful my life gets, the more I'm turning to like real old people stuff. But I watched every second of the Chelsea flower show this year. I caught it all up on iPlayer. I didn't even like, you know, catch it when it was on. I, I saw it out to watch it back to back. Wow. It's amazing, isn't it to start your day with TikTok and then you're in a gut. It's very, it's unexpected. Yeah. I can tell you multitude, what can I say?

Yeah. You started your day as a teenager essentially and you've ended your day, or you're ending your afternoon as an 80 year old woman. Yeah. I've got the lifespan of like a bug. Like I'm an ass. And I'm alive and then at the end of the day I die. I do think though there's something really comforting about being into old people things. And it does make you think, oh, it's not going to be so bad getting old because I like this shit already anyway. God, yes. And you know what else? Like another part of my perfect day is I'm going to John

Lewis cafe and I'm eating like a little bit of like shortbread with some sugar on top. And I'm doing a little bit of work in there because that's one of my secret favorite places to write in London is like a John Lewis cafe. Yeah. Because there's no one there that you're never going to get. No one's going to come up to you. Oh yeah. You've not got industry types swarming around. No industry and also you kind of reminded about life. Like you can eavesdrop on conversations where they're just chatting about something really dull and it's like that's the stuff of life. Like they're not stressed, you know, they're relaxing. They've bought whatever

they needed to from John Lewis. I just love it. I know what you mean actually. I find a John Lewis very comforting. They're always very quiet, aren't they? I think in the past life I must have been a moth because I'm always drawn to like bright lights and there's something about the light in John Lewis is very comfort, very safe. Like lovely seat in the window, I'm making eye contact with like an old man who's reading a newspaper in the distance. Like I'm back to typing on my laptop. It's just something about it. It's so, I don't know, give in to the institution of it or something

about it. It's just nice. I know. And it is a kind of British established. It's like an M&S. I really, really missed M&S when I didn't live in England. Me too. And you know what? They've closed the M&S cafe in Soho and I've been distraught. Have you, Kat? Yeah. I'm in Soho and I've been distraught. Have you Kat? Yeah, I've been lost. I'm sorry about that. Yeah, that's sad. Do you get, the way you get inspired, do you get reminded of things and you see like an

old man reading a newspaper, does it like trigger memories and then you're like, oh, I could write about that thing or that thing or do you, are you now at the point where you've mined so much of your past that you're inventing stuff? I'm at the point where I've got to go and live life. I've put it off long enough. I've been in the mines for two years and now I say, I better get on with it then. I feel like I've got to go and like, you know this, but when you make something or whatever, you give up pretty much every element of life that you have because you're just in the office every day working. I'm such a workaholic,

I can't put it down. I did put off a lot of living. Now I feel like curtains are coming down on that. I've got to go and do some stuff. I'm trying to make plans again now. Putting my head up above the soil to be like, what's going on? What's everyone doing? Are we having sex? Guys, that's kissing like, yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. No, I really do know that. But I sort of went the other way when I was writing mine because there was so much, I knew that I needed material and I was like desperately frantically going in search of material and putting myself in frankly quite dangerous situations just to get material.

Just like really going for it. Oh me too. It's self harm isn't it? Me too. Yeah, yeah. This site seems like it might be an episode if I keep going down this weird corridor. Definitely. It definitely helps like reframing a lot of like shit things that happen to you if you can just reframe it like, well, it's material. So like, it's worth it. Like I've

been able to sort of like get through a lot of shitty things because it's like, well, it's worth it because I'll put it in the show. It's so therapeutic. Is it? Do you find it? Oh, hang on. You've gone mute. And as if to prove that curses are in fact real. Kat's headphones just stopped working. We couldn't hear her. She couldn't hear us. And then her microphone stopped working and we've had to go away and come back. We're here again, but curses are real. Curses are real. Curse is a real one. I need an egg and I need to pass

over my body stat because I'm telling you this is my fundamental curse and it will never go away. Please go and get an egg. The number of final draft documents that quit on me that halfway through the script as well. It's honestly, it's paralyzing. Yeah. Do you ever have the fantasy of taking your laptop or just lobbing it out the window and watching it land on the road? Do you ever fantasize about that? No, that's not a fantasy for me. That's a nightmare. Why would I want to break my laptop? What are you talking about? Just the satisfaction. I just watch it and I'd watch a car run over it and I just smile

that would spread across my face as I know that I'd won over technology. Yeah. No, that is how you win. That is how you win over technology. Do you, do you not, do you not backing up your backup here, Kat? You're not learning? No? No. I think also part of the curse is that I'm, I'm not very good at remembering to do the things that you need to do. Like I think I'm quite lazy. I like a Google doc because then you can't lose it because it's online. Yeah, very good. Okay, let's after the John Lewis Cafe, are we kind of at the end of the afternoon here? Can we move on to your perfect night?

End of the afternoon. Yeah, we can go to night. Okay, let's do it. Cat Savala, what's your perfect night? Yeah, we can go to night. Okay, let's do it. Cat's Sava, what's your perfect night? So ultimately, it's sort of based on my mood. So I guess let's say I'm in like a fun mood where I want to see people. Because if not, I must say that my perfect evening is having plans that then the other person cancels. Because then you have none of the guilt and you can stay at home and do whatever you like. So talk about relief. The relief. Yeah, exactly. So if I'm not feeling social, that's my perfect evening and I'm making a big bowl of pasta with nothing

on it beyond some delicious vegan cheese, which I know sounds rank to you, but it's delicious to me. And a big thing of salt. And I'm chowing down on that with a Diet Coke, judgment free. And I'm watching something like a house renovation show. I'm obsessed with this show called The Great House Renovation on iPlayer, which nobody's watched, but it's absolutely fantastic. The great house renovation, is it like a sort of grand designs type? Or is it the inside of the house? It's inside of a house and it's all in Ireland. And it's like, this lovely, lovely architect comes in and helps a couple who have bought like a derelict piece of history and they renovate it. And he gives them advice as they

go. Then they have a big party at the end where they invite all their friends around and they have a look at the house and say, isn't that nice? Honestly, it's my favorite show. Is that your dream? If we're getting to series 10 of Such Brave Girls, are we buying a big house renovate? Is that your dream? I think I'd be too scared about ghosts. I don't know, I'm too spooky for those kind of things. I love historical things. I'd love to live in an old building, but I think I would be worried. Some of these houses are like old castles and it's like, you just know some dark stuff's been happening in there. I don't want to take that on. I don't want that.

Have you seen a ghost? Not yet, but sometimes I fear that it's coming for me. Sometimes I think I have, but I don't know. It's some of the things that you just never know, do you? But I've got no real stories to tell you, have you? Do you feel ghosts when you're in buildings? Sometimes you feel like a presence, don't you? Or like the vibes are off, you know? Yeah. But then I don't know, that's my own mind being like making things up to stress me out

even more. I don't know. Well yeah, because you've got such a vivid imagination. I think that's it. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. I don't know either. No, I've never seen one, but I was recently told a ghost story. I do love a ghost story. I was also recently told a ghost story by someone who was, it was really unexpected. The person who told it, like he really wasn't the sort of person to believe in ghosts. He really was like a massive skeptic before it happened. Like proper down to earth northern lad. And he just was like, he said he was sitting at

a party that was in one of like these old houses. It was a wedding and he sat down in a chair and a little girl tapped him on the shoulder and beckoned him into the next room. And so he thought like she'd lost her mummy or something. And he followed after her. And then when he went into the room, she was nowhere to be seen. So he was like really confused. And he went downstairs and he was like, was there a little girl? And they were like, oh, you've seen the little girl. The staff were like, oh, right. You've seen the little girl. Oh my God. That is terrifying. And I love it. It gives me goosebumps. Like, oh, right. You've seen the little girl. Oh, my God. That is terrifying.

And I love it. It gives me goosebumps. It scares me. I can't get enough of it. I know. It's so dangerous as well. Cause like I live alone as well. So like, and I love this book. Do you listen to uncanny that podcast? Yes. I love uncanny. Anything like that. Like I, it's like, it's a bit like shark, like it's dangerous for me, but I get this weird fascination with it. I can't get enough. I just love it. It's like my secret thing. So I love listening and reading about it. And then I just think, well, I'm never going to sleep again. So good luck to me. That's the price you pay. I know the Uncanny ones are so, have you watched the TV show as well?

Too scary for me. I can't do it. Too scary. I'm such a scaredy cat. There's this amazing documentary on YouTube that you should watch called Ghosts on the Tube. That's like about people who drive the tube, telling their stories of times they've encountered ghosts in the underground. It's actually amazing. Definitely watch it. Oh my God, I'm definitely going to watch that. I think it's called Ghosts of the Underground. I'll send it to you after. Because they seem very normal. They're like normal, kind of older men who wouldn't be scared of anything telling you about ghosts that they've seen. It's really good.

Oh my god. So because we ask, usually our last bonus question is, do you have a perfect recommendation for the week that you've experienced this week? So are we going with Ghosts of the Underground? Ghosts of the Underground, yeah. I'm going to double down on it. I think it's going to give you the creeps in the best way. It's just funny characters. Like some of the men that are talking are real, real characters. Oh my God. I love it. Yeah. Hat, Sadler, we'll leave it there because it's, you know, we've taken up quite a lot of your time and you're busy. You've got, you've got a lot of writing to do presumably. Don't make me go, but yes.

Good luck. You've got your pants to get back to. You've got a house to find. I mean, a flat, you need a new flat. You've got a lot, you've actually got a lot to do. Okay. Yeah, no, no. It's a girl actually. Yeah. But yeah. Okay. Fine. I'll have to face it. So thank you so much for coming on Perfect Day. It's such a delight to talk to you. And best of luck with the launch of series two. Everybody listening, if you haven't watched it, you've been in for a treat. Cause you've got two series to binge now. Thank you for having me. This is lovely. Thank you.

Wasn't that a goodie? It was a goodie. I asked Kat, by the way, just after we came off mic, whether she'd ever tested out her egg curse theory. And she replied that she hadn't because she was vegan and she felt guilty buying eggs. So do let me know if you've ever detected a curse with an egg. There's not enough people getting in touch with hosts of podcasts to tell them that they have or haven't been detecting curses using eggs. Remember to watch Such Brave Girls, which is out now on iPlayer and Hulu. And if you didn't know it yet, you can buy tickets to see a live recording of Perfect Day at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on the 19th of August. Follow the link in the show notes, OK?

From Yorkshire with love, I'm Jessica Knappett, wishing you a perfect day. How do you know if you're worrying too much? How can you mend a broken heart? Does peaking at school ruin you for life? I'm Susie Ruffall, a stand-up comedian and someone who has always experienced anxiety. And I've written a book, Am I Having Fun Now? Considering some of life's big questions. Featuring bonus insights from the likes of Charlene Douglas, Sarah Pascoe, Elizabeth Day and Dolly Auditon. Am I having fun now? is out now in Hardback, eBook and Audio.