That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Gethin Anthony

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Game Of Thrones star, Gethin Anthony, joins Gaby for a chat about all things joy. He talks about his brilliant career, dealing with his Diabetes diagnosis, working on one of the biggest TV shows ever - and - the things that bring him joy. Gethin is an incredibly warm and joyful person, and we hope some of his sparkle rubs off on you when you listen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gethen. The reason I'm laughing is because literally about 20 seconds ago, you said it's that singing thing. Gethyn, welcome to the podcast. And if you would like to sing on the podcast, you're more than welcome. Okay, thank you. I will surprise you with a lick of something at some point. Oh, will you?

Sure. You know, isn't that that cliche thing? Oh, well, all actors, they can really sing, and all wealthy people they can really sing. All Welsh people can really sing. So it's in the blood. But singing and dancing, as it turns out, are two of my favourite things to do, but I do them less and less in life. Sorry, just rewind.

Go, go. Right. Singing and dancing are your two favourite things to do in life? They bring joy. It's so, like, they're dancing, the physical release. It's in an innately healthy thing to do, even when you're doing it, you know, having late nights or drinking. But the dancing is what makes those things fun, I guess, when you're young and sort of sustainable, is that you're physically dancing so much.

And then singing is just something of always the, especially singing as part of a group, is a community building thing. It's indescriable to me, but I love doing it. But then I also have this deep, I guess, inner child that was somewhat embarrassed at his singing on his own. And so I have a fear of singing on my own that I, should and have got over in certain sort of professional context. But anyway, yeah, but I do love it. When you were a child, you were singing, because we talked about that.

But as an adult, the fear of singing on your own, it's because of you're worried about being judged. Always, and as an actor, a performer, you're constantly judged, and yet your biggest fear is being judged. Yeah, I mean, and I think the thing about singing specifically, and actually managing acting in that thing as well is, like, really, I guess the idea is that you share. yourself through the role.

I used to think very clearly that it was hiding that the idea was to hide yourself and present something else, but really there has to be a fusion of you bringing something through the text and the character and the story that you're involved with. You have to bring yourself to it, which is terrifying, actually, when you start trying to do it and failing at that as well. Why would you fail at that?

Well, I mean, because you just get in the way of yourself. I mean, I think that's the... There are many things that can get in the way of you sharing yourself in an authentic way and I think I've probably practiced those over the years for different reasons and the craft is to try and develop a quick way

to avoid doing that and usually it's just following the craft rehearsing, preparing and in the work you find actually a release to just be there and present and inhabit and be rather than perform but the thing about singing and I think I remember learning this that it's a different part of your brain

that operates your singing register than your speaking voice. Right. And so there's a different emotional connection to really, you really are, you can't sing and not open yourself. You kind of have to open yourself to sing. And when you're doing that with people

in concert or in harmony or, you know, together, then, of course, that's a hugely bonding experience. It can be, you know. And I'm really heartened, you know, I, for life, you know, moving me around the place and work and all that things. And I've never, I haven't been part of a choir or a choral group or a, or just a group of people singing for a long time. But I took it just before COVID actually, which was sort of well timed in a way. But I went and sang with a couple of choirs in London, just did their taster sessions.

And one of which was the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, which was a really, a very emotional experience for me because it was a very accepting. they're incredibly talented singers but you can go along and sing along with them and anyone can go and sing with them if you're male and Welsh well this is the thing I think they're open to you know because I have that thing of being

English and Welsh I was born and raised in England I have Welsh parents and I'm very sort of proud of that heritage and feel it very deeply especially in rugby but you know I think I contacted them and said you know, can I come and just join a session? And they were just, of course. You know, they...

I love them. But I think, I think if you, you know, if you're serious about singing, they're an incredible choir and you have to really, you know... So this was pre-COVID, so would you go back now and do it? Well, funny enough, yeah. I mean, the only reason I didn't sort of go for more sessions or, you know, I mean, they are a serious, serious choir and they go on tours and obviously make recordings. I suddenly was needed to be in another country to do some work for nearly a year.

So that sort of put an end to that. Was that Game of Thrones then then? No, that was a show called Manhunt. Right, okay. Manhunt deadly games. So I had to go to Pittsburgh. But actually, yeah, it's funny the things that come up in conversations like this because I was thinking about the other day.

I was like, oh, I should just go along. Just go. See if I can tag along at another session. It's very funny because singing is something. I mean, I passionately love it. And I'm lucky that I've done it on stage. But if somebody said to me now, right, can you go and do a musical again tomorrow? But then when I got out there, it would be yes.

Because it just, like you say, it opens your soul. But it is that people have so much fear about being judged when they sing. I mean, I can't dance, but I jump around the streets with complete strangers and I don't mind. But it is about being people being judged. And it's interesting when I said that, I suppose, all of you. actors put themselves out there all the time and do you read your reviews?

I have done in the past I have done in the past and I think I wouldn't make a habit of it now. I sort of keep abreast of like how things are going for a project you know especially if it's one close to my heart you know it's nice to know or just read you know it's a good thing to keep tabs on a little bit

but as far as that specifically reading reviews especially when you're doing a play is just a no-go because you're still doing it. A film's one thing. You made it a year and a half ago. You might even have opinions about the project yourself.

But when you're, you know, the whole sort of opening week review thing, no, no. I mean, I did when I was, yeah, very young and I wouldn't do it again. No. And every actor says, no, I don't read the reviews

and every actor, of course they do. Yeah, on some level, as I say, and also sometimes you can't sort of avoid them because people send them to you. Not horrible ones, not bad ones. Well, I mean, I think I've definitely, they come to you other ways where you're, you know, yeah, I don't think, I've only ever been sent like a really horrible one, but I've definitely been sent a kind of like, well, there's no need to share that one about the whole thing. Do you know what I'm just like, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm trying to keep my blinkers on a little bit. Why do people do that?

I don't know. Probably, probably because out of a really good place of just trying to share an enthusiasm for what you're up to, probably. You hope. Yeah. Yeah. I like the way you're being positive about these people in your life. Okay, it's funny because we started where I thought we were going to end on the singing thing. But I mean, it's so lovely because you came onto my radio show

and you were coming in for seven minutes or something. And you stay for ages because I just wanted to talk more and more to you. Because you've just, you love what you do. And I think you're properly the sort of person that I love spending time with because you do have this innate joy for life. Oh, well, that's a really lovely thing to hear. And I really mean that from the, yeah, from the bottom of my feet up, because I do, I think I do.

I do have this kind of whatever life throws at all of us at any time. There's a underpinning it all. There's a, you've just got to put a smile on it and get through things. and became, and I've definitely gone on a journey with that. I mean, the one thing that's certain is that we all change, and I think I've changed in many different ways over the years, and some of them was to very much hide myself and hide myself from my own kind of joy, really,

or connection to just, you know, having a positive attitude. And I think that's okay too. But I hear you, because there are too many people who, and I talk about it all the time, so apologies. And in my book, I just say, I used to apologise for being happy all the time. Now I know I don't have to apologise. You don't have to.

And you're saying the same thing that you felt, I'm positive. Oh, I shouldn't be. Oh, because what will people think? Yeah. Well, it's that. And it's also very infectious meeting you. I mean, I think you. No, this is about you.

I'll pick up on that. But if you'll allow me, like there is an element of well as of it being, that kind of energy being infectious. and it's a wonderful thing to be around people who bring it out in you as well. So I thank you for that. And then, but also, yeah, then there's a realisation, well, I can, if I'm just who I am, then I'll just maybe bring it out in others or, yeah, you know, it's just a... Did your diagnosis of having, being diabetic, did that change you?

Do you think that was part of the change? changing you. I definitely it's something I looked back until I was diagnosed in 1999 when I was about 14 or 15 and so I was right in the middle of big school and sort of just starting to tear at life and then this thing was sort of introduced into

my life and I look back on it and I can't remember and I may be wrong you know I may be misremembered I can't really remember any other sort of feeling or action then okay right we'll just get on with it and and that's amazing which I'm sure I was difficult to other people because

because I was probably learning how to be a diabetic and also the other thing I should share about me being a joyful person is I'm also at times, you know, slightly irritable and there are parts of that that have to do with living with a condition that kind of is so up and down with your metabolism and your hormonal balance and things like that, you know, if you're having a sugar low, you can get a bit cranky and all sort of irrationally abrupt.

And it's because your body's telling you to do something about something. Talk to me about diabetes because I mean I think we all think we know about it. We all probably we all know somebody who has diabetes. Oh, we've met somebody that has it or we've read about it, that sort of thing. But just talk to me about day-to-day living with it. I mean, that's a really good question. That's the one that really it points to because it's a chronic condition. It is every day.

And within the sort of diabetes healthcare community, there's things, the phrases that they use like full-time job. having diabetes and... Oh, what the diabetes is a full-time job? And that it's a burden and things like that, which are all sort of very negative-sounding things. But really, to have someone else tell you that, it's sort of a recognition that, yeah, it can be a lot to manage,

but essentially you just have to get on with it. And I remember as a child thinking, you know, there are other things that I could have been diagnosed with that would have been much more life-disrupting. And actually, this is an opportunity to pay attention to help. which I have variously succeeded and failed out as well over the years. But so living with it day to day is a case of you as a type 1 diabetic. You eat food and you inject or yeah, you inject insulin, whether it's via a pen device or pump device,

to match that food so that it is used in the correct way in your body to fuel your body. That's a sort of simple description of it. So what you're trying to do is keep within a mid-level balanced place. And your blood sugar levels will sort of look like this. And a diabetic who's doing... Go up and down on a gentle ripple. Gentle ripple, yeah, of course we're on a podcast, of course. Yeah, sort of a, yes, a shallow wavelength.

Whereas a diabetic who is very well controlled, they will be slightly higher peaks and troughs. Okay. And then on challenging days when you get a cold or if you get a virus that you're unaware of, or if you're just having a bad time of it, the wave can have really high peaks and troughs, and that affects all your other hormones,

which can affect things like mood. So what are the highs and what are the lows then? So, a high sugar will, so let's, for example, if you have a high blood clucose level, it's high than it should be, then that means either that you didn't inject enough to eat the food that you ate or at the wrong time. And what your body then does is it has a higher concentration of glucose in the blood, and that affects lots of things.

And it can really affect you. If you had that over a long period of time, that would really impact your health. Right. Things like, yeah, really, really sort of, they call them complications, you know, it will affect your eyesight later in life. It will affect your capillary health, which can, you know, lead to really, really bad outcomes. So that's a high. and then a low is slightly more immediately dangerous. It can be.

It doesn't have to be. But essentially, if you inject too much insulin for the food that you consume, or you exercise a bit more than you thought you were going to that day and you have a sugar low, that is when the glucose level in your blood is maybe not sufficient for your major organs to do what they should be doing, your brain, all of you. And so that's immediately dangerous,

which is why if you ever see a diabetic, saying give me sugar, give me sugar, and it's confusing because you think shouldn't diabetics be avoiding sugar? That's a type one diabetic saying they're having a sugar low, they need sugar right now to get their body back to just that level base that we all should be at, and then, you know, they can progress. And so do you carry stuff around, you carry sugar with you? I got my jelly babies in my bag right there.

And they're as simple as that. Yeah, for me, and it is different for people, it's different for every diabetic and diabetics. I'll tell you that, but for me, three or four jelly babies and a half of a protein, like a granolory protein bar, will kind of set me back, and then I can look at, you know, what's the next meal and what am I doing in the next couple of hours?

So it is, I have a thing because my lows now have an emotional element to them. I sort of feel like I can get a bit down. That's understandable. Well, they used to bring things like a genius complex. Like when I was younger, I used to feel like a superhuman on the way down. And I don't know. and this is not a medical thing that I've asked anyone, but I was wondering if the fight or flight hormones in your body

because you're sort of crashing are giving you a sort of false energy to go and get the thing you need. That makes so much sense. Potentially, I mean, it's a theory. I should probably run that by the diabetes specialist. But actually, diabetics who are listening to this, who have that, I think, oh, that's me. Or there'll be something go, no, that's not how I feel.

But it's interesting. I met a young lad. Oh, before Christmas. And I think he was six or seven. And he said it's a superpower. And the same way that a friend of ours who's got a young son, who's autistic, really autistic, and he finds everything very difficult. But he's learned that I have a superpower.

It's what he tells everybody. And actually, I think it's now that people own it and talk about it. Because years ago, people didn't talk about being diabetic. They were sort of ashamed. It was like, don't tell anybody, but... Well, I mean, especially, I think it is, I mean, I sort of, because I got it, I guess, in the late 90s, all throughout my sort of life with it,

it's just becoming more and more, like all health things, really, that we should just be open about and talk about, like, mental health and things like that, have just progressively got more and more talked about. So it just felt to me like an upward swing of just transparency about what we're all going through and sharing, right? So I don't remember, but I can imagine, and I do remember being a bit scared of it before I had it, because I think I met someone when I was like a small child who,

a teenager who had it and was dealing with it very well, but someone had said something that it was a really bad thing to have or something like that. And it is, you know, it's a lifelong condition to manage. And there are sort of challenges with that, but it's completely manageable. And you can do anything with it. I mean, it's interesting that, you know,

the sports stars that have interviewed and the actors and the musicians and they, who just thought, oh, will I be able to, and, you know, you were in the biggest show on the planet, and we're not exaggerating, because Game of Thrones was one of those shows that took the world, which we'll talk about in a minute. That must be so weird that the whole world knows you. But look, you were in a massive show.

Yeah, yeah, and I had exactly that thought. The moment I got it, I remember the week that I got it, I was rehearsing Macbeth, at school. As you do. As you do. And one of the things that happens

when you're doing knows is you can lose weight quite quickly especially if you're a young person you're a child. So I lost weight very quickly and my mum was just like over three days

was like no no doctor now and it got to the third day and like yeah of course your mum's just look at you that funny way and I was a teenager I was like mum I'm fine you know

and I was like I'm going to rehearsal and there was just this one woman and she just refused to let me go to school that day and I just wanted to go to my Macbethbra, but then I got it. And then did that play that summer at the end of a fringe.

And then, but did have that thought of like, oh, but maybe I can't do this as a job. And it's just nonsense, you know. There's pretty much everything you can do. I'm sure there's maybe the odd exception of a career. But acting you can do. You can be on a major set. Oh, exactly.

So do you tell people then, you know, in the middle of Game of Thrones, while there's all the extraordinary things going on, yeah, yeah. Do you say, sorry, hold on a minute. I just have, I try. I mean, basically what I do, I have over the years gotten used to, the best people on set are the third ADs or production assistants. So for people who don't know what an AD is.

Exactly, sometimes called runners. So the people who make the set work, the production assistants who are between the cast and the crew sort of just running around, that's why they were called runners, looking after everybody. And they tend to be incredibly smart people who want to get into the industry and all that kind of thing. incredibly energized and basically I make friends with someone like that early on in a show and just check in

and you know you tell the bosses this is the thing but you try and it doesn't affect the only thing to you tell the company so that if anything like a major incident were to occur that they know because that affects like medical you know but but you know I've never had a diabetes

related thing ever in my life you know but with the production decisions or the ADs or the runners it's basically you just become chummy enough to kind of go when I ask for a Lucas aid it's not because I'm just you know it's like and not being a diva yeah exactly and it's partly my thing about being you know

I don't want to come across as a diva I'm sure I've been a diva but but it's like yeah that's the only reason I would ask you to get me a drink is if in a short space of time which is sometimes necessary for actors because if you're, you know, it's not being a diva if you're sort of literally sort of screwed into a piece of wood unable to move for several hours as I was on Game of Thrones.

I just thought I'd use that as an example. I just want a great example. Look, we've mentioned it sometime. We have to go to Game of Thrones. So when you were on my radio show, the lovely team there, one of them cried. You saw she could not believe that she was. was going to be meeting you face to face.

Is it extraordinary to be in a show that the world watches? Yeah. Absolutely. Unmistakably, it's still kind of hard to get my head around in some ways. Especially partly because I had an amazing time on it, but for me it was, you know, I was at the start of the show in the first two seasons of it. my character was in season one and season two. And at that time, it felt so exciting for so many reasons.

But a lot of those reasons weren't to do with it being what it became this phenomenon. It had the potential to be very successful. But I had no, I don't think any of us had any understanding it could become what it did ultimately become. And then, of course, I saw that happen at a time when, you know, throughout the series, but especially the sort of middle era of it, if you like. I had lots of close friends still on it and I was hearing it. No spoilers for me, but keeping in touch with people. There's still people from the show that are dear friends now.

So there was that excitement of just seeing your friends like on this thing as the phenomenon that it is. And then now there's this feeling of it being, you know, I had a really close friend. And someone I've worked with text me a week ago and say, I've just watched Game for Thrones. And, you know, well done and it's brilliant and all that kind of thing. And you think it just continues to have a lot of. life and yeah it's it's it's hard to get your head around and I think mainly the the wonderful feeling for someone like me is that you were part of these stories that meant so much to people and of course that has ups and downs as well because people have opinions on things like how it ended and things

like that but um oh everybody's got an opinion exactly yeah exactly but actually basically it's a nice it's a nice thing to have to talk about it especially as you travel through the world like um if you know whether it's for work or even um just you know traveling around in real life in real life yeah I do, yeah, yeah, it's, I do travel to places other than sets and rehearsal rooms, but, but it's something to talk about. And, and I have a relationship with it that is also distant enough that it's not everything, you know. Yeah, yeah. But it was long enough ago and I can have a real, uh, right smile about it all. And just see the, the enjoyment people have for, um, extreme violence in a medieval context. And political, you know.

Is that so interesting? You said that none of you had it, had it. really thought that it was going to be. What is it that makes something such a global smash? Do you think? I mean, I suppose if we all knew, then we would do it. But do you know what, Gary? I have tried. I did, probably about eight years ago.

I tried to go, what was it? What was the chemistry of that? What was the thing? Honestly, I think as far as if you really, if you really think it through, then these books and stories that George wrote over decades, built up a huge following because they and the stories were tested on an audience over a long period of time and millions of people were like we really like those and then sort of in the showrunners and HBO stepped up a production company to say we are going to honor those stories as best we can on television and do it authentically and do it in our own way they had to do that there's no way you could televise every beat of george's stories but we're going to do that as best we're going to do that as best we're going to do that. we can and that's what happened and then everyone who got involved and there's to me there's an element of fantasy and sort of distancing story from reality that is useful especially for a show

to go all around the globe I mean it's clearly get George's writing is clearly rooted in in you and sort of northern European monarchical histories and political intrigue it's clearly rooted in that but he's created a world that you can kind of separate yourself from and project your own, you know, I've had people talk about over the years of fans talk about projecting their own political sort of system onto it, even though it's a kind of medieval, you know, European history. They sort of, the power play and the, and it's a family drama. It's a family drama.

And who doesn't relate to a family drama? And then there's also just the, I don't know, the sugar and spice of it that none of us can, the secret ingredients that none of us could ever, if we could bottle that, we'd all be very, very, successful. Yeah, it's very interesting because somebody, the other day, I interviewed somebody who's on stage in Stranger Things. And then, and

I said to them, when you were watching it on television, did you ever think you'd be doing, you know, all the cliche questions I was asking. And it suddenly, and I sat back and thought, goodness me, that's, it's turned, that was a phenomenon, and Game of Thrones, and there are

a few, I think Downton was. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's completely different, but But Downton sort of took the world by storm when it first came out. And it is that we want to disappear into another world. Because those three, they're not regular date. I love EastEnders and I've never missed an episode. But I don't disappear into their world. But maybe I do.

But also that serves a different function and it serves a different, you know, I've often reflected on shows like EastEnders and things that really are a part of our lives and certainly part of my family's life. or have been over the years and people can watch for seasons and then kind of come back to it later in their life and there's a, it's an acacent part of being part of community. That's different.

It's different than. So yeah, yeah. And it's but it's really vital. And it's sort of, it's the glue, there's certain kind of entertainment and stories that glue the nation together in a different way. But as you say, the escape thing, it's a bit like theme park rides.

Like you want to feel you're going as close to being flying off a cliff. But you don't actually want to be flying off a cliff, which is why stories that take you out of yourself are kind of, I think, helpful. And I think, you know, and then there's, I mean, I like a lot of, to you, yeah, no, I think, yeah, I have nothing more to say. Disappearing into another land. How do you cope with the fame thing? Well, I mean, I have a very particular kind of fame is a. It's a funny word.

It's a funny word. Because, you know, I have the privilege of being part of a story that means a lot to a lot. people and most reasons why anyone would ever approach me who I don't know personally is to do with something they care about deeply a story that they've enjoyed it's not about any other reason to you know it's it's the work I've done and stuff like that and it's and it's not you know when it happens to me you know it's not it's not it's not an everyday thing but it you know it's it's wonderful you know it's manageable it's lovely and so I you know and I you know I um it's it I have I know people who have a slightly more famous

and have more exposed in that way and they manage it brilliantly and it brings different challenges. But for me, it's certainly at the moment, it's a really lovely thing and mostly comes up in, in kind of really weird ways sometimes. Do you get that look on the tube? It's the king! It's the king!

I got it in a slightly odd way once, which was I was walking down Oxus Street in a very busy street and an American chap who I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying looked like he was a, you know, he's a really old school Midwestern farmer type, like really stocky, huge guy. But in his, they'd say like later life, 60s,

but you know, big man, big American man. Sort of, I don't know, yeah. Anyway, he just stopped me. And just to sort of set this up, I played a version of Charles Manson in a TV show a few years after Game of Thrones. Which, you know, was, you know, it was showed in the States and here,

but it's not as, you know, talked about as game of thrones, maybe whatever. But I was walking down the street, just doing my Christmas shopping with a shaved face, and obviously I had a really big beard as that character, like a really big and really long hair. I was clean shaved, all bright, probably going off to, you know, yeah, as I say,

just walking up Oxford. Disney Store. I don't know what I was doing. But I just remember this guy, I go, he didn't say, he just stopped dead and went, Charlie. And it stopped me dead because he was like, I was like, I'm in Oxford Street in London,

and this guy has spotted me, like there's nothing like the guy I just played, and he was saying, you're Charlie Manson. And it was like, this is an odd relationship with his character, and, you know, that character. But, like, I was just like,

how have you done that? How have you spotted that out of nowhere? I was like, because you're in London, I was playing, and he was like, I didn't know you were British. And I'm like, yeah, why would you possibly make that connection?

But he obviously saw, I don't know. He just, yeah, that was an odd one for me because I was like, how on earth is you do? I've got a much nicer version of this, which is, um, uh,

I, on my first date, I don't talk about family much, but I think I can get away this one. On my first date with, um, my wonderful wife. Oh,

with your wife? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't, I'm about to say I won't ask any new. No, no, no, no, of course, yeah.

Yeah, um, uh, yeah, we, we were, uh, we were at this lovely music venue and I was just sort of walking her through, chatting about it. And she'd asked questions like,

you're asking like oh because you know it was after game of science that we met and all that kind of thing and she was like oh just did you know and it's like no it never really happens it really you know it really doesn't and and just as i was sort of explaining that this a young actor out of nowhere we were in in l in l a young actor goes get at him and ran down and this young chap was like um just said some very nice things and he was just like i've i've been watching a film you're in called copenhagen and i you know i've been studying you for acting class and all these Amazing things. Like, that has happened once.

But it was on my first date. So I sort of was like, whoever that young man is, I am incredibly great. Did she say, okay, I'll marry you? Yes, that was it. Yeah, yeah, straight up. I love that. That's so sweet. But you seem, I can imagine anyone, even that big, burly, midwestern American,

you're just being polite and nice to them. Oh, yeah. I mean, as I say, look, I have the privilege of it being a very manageable, fun thing at the moment. because it happens with the kind of frequency that it's just like a nice thing. And most of the energy, I mean, all of the energy you've ever got has been positive.

So that's a really lovely thing too. I mean, I've witnessed it. When Lola went to pieces, that was so sweet. I can't let him into the studio. You really can. No, what are you? It was so lovely. Okay, so the next thing you're doing,

Warhol that we've spoken about on the radio, but that's not about Andy Warhol. No, no, it's about a, I guess, a suspense thriller of a kind. It's set in a radio station, and it's about a radio shock jock, really, an American character who's in a London radio station, kind of trying to rebuild his career. And he kind of goes off the rails. And he's played brilliantly by Corey Johnson, who's an actor that,

if you know his work, you know. He's one of those actors who's just done some incredible work over the years. And this is a role that he's just incredible in. And I play this, his beleaguered sort of station manager trying to keep him, keep him on the rails. And it's not a spoiler to say as sort of, yeah, it's a suspense thriller and it has a dark ending. So that's probably, but it also has,

it has this brilliant, there's three stories that we've together that sort of feature some young people trying to win a car in the radio station lot, you know, that kind of touch the car. Oh, yes, yeah, yeah. That's going on. And there's two characters who are living on the streets. And they have this sort of very suspenseful interaction over a sort of an older guy who lives on the streets and a younger guy. Sort of how to be in life.

And it's a beautiful kind of. That in itself, it's just a beautiful scene. It's spread across the whole film. And they sort of, the three things come together kind of as a sort of treatise. Oh, it sounds really good. So this is a movie? It's very funny when you just mentioned about Beligard's radio management, the team behind the glass just sort of they gave that look of,

oh, we've had to cope with those sorts before. Oh, my way. So, Edson, you're talking about homeless people because the other thing that I know you want to talk about is Groundswell. And for people who don't know about Groundswell, you taught me about Groundswell. And I think it's really important to talk about and I love that you're going to be working with them now some more.

So explain what Groundswell is about. Groundswell is this amazing organisation that they do everything possible to assist people who are experiencing homelessness get out of that situation. One of the things at the centre of their work is finding and treating people who are experiencing homelessness or living on the streets or sleeping rough. Any people in that situation finding them and getting them to the healthcare they need. Because obviously it doesn't, once you think of this. this thought, it's really hard to unthink. But of course, people who experience homelessness are having all of the same healthcare challenges as the rest of us and more. And so their ability to access them is majorly challenged by the situation they find themselves in for, we all know, a variety of reasons that can affect anyone at any time.

So grounds will do this amazing thing. They have a find and treat team. They have caseworkers who all have had experience of, homelessness themselves. So the other thing about groundswell is it's an organisation that employs people who have had that experience empowers them to then go and change the lives of others.

Meeting them has been a humbling at privilege, but it's amazing work that they do. Yes, I'll be learning more and more in the coming years and just spreading the word about them, basically. I'm so pleased that you have. And obviously, bring it back to where we started with diabetes.

There are plenty of people on the streets. It's not a lot of people. a life choice, as some people say. It's not a life choice. Being homeless. But, you know, there'll be people with their own health issues. Exactly. Precisely. And we talked about it briefly on your show, but it's that thing of, you know, diabetes is

just one of the examples because, you know, it enabled me, enabled me to connect the doctors. Like, I know how much. The NHS is amazing. We are so lucky to have it. We're lucky. And specifically the people who work within it. And I use their resources so regularly. I need to, you know, to manage this condition, which is fine and it's an amazing thing.

But it takes a bit of work. It takes a bit of organising, making sure you make appointments and things like that, and managing the equipment and the medication. Having an ongoing condition like diabetes, if you're on the streets, is just exponentially harder. And there was an example, one of the caseworkers, forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but told me about a, someone who was experiencing homelessness at the time and keeping their insulin refrigerated by, keeping it in a bag in a canal because that was the only option they had to keep it cold. Because you have to do that. And that is one example.

And of course, the other examples are the caseworkers sitting with people through their chemotherapy sessions. Right. I guess the reason to be joyful there is they are doing that. Someone's doing that. And having met Dennis and Adrian and Sharon and Trayon and Trayoran. and Tracy and all of the team, as I said, it was incredibly humbling. But there are people out there doing this work and we can help them by spreading the word or obviously making a donation if you're able to.

That's, you know, like all charitable organisations, that's always going to be helpful. I didn't know about groundswell until you told me about them and I'm really pleased that we can talk about it on here as well that we can get the word out there. Gephton, you are a joy. You really are. You've just got so much good that you want to put out there. and it oozes out of you. Ouse.

Can you say something oozes out of sight? Joe and Ed are giving me a look through the glass. They're laughing. Can you say something oozes? You can say somebody oozes. Yes, I can say you ooze. I'm very comfortable with oozing. May I say, it's, you know,

something I learned in my job is that you're really all you're looking to do is be a mirror. And so I honestly mean it, it's been a, a wonderful pleasure to meet you because you... I'm shush, this is about you, Geffenest to me. The king. Thank you very much.