That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Lucas Jones

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

**please note, there's a bit of fruity language in this episode!**Gaby welcomes the actor, writer and filmmaker Lucas Jones to the podcast, whose debut poetry collection - I Still Believe in Miracles: Poems to Find Meaning in Difficult Time - was published in January 2026.Lucas reflects on his many different channels of creativity, first sharing his poetry on social media, the connections and solace that his words have provided, as well as memorable  encounters with Mark Hamill and Stephen Spielberg.We also hear about the two women who are fundamental to Lucas' joy. Including his mum Sharon, who helped shape him through her love and kindness, and makes a beautiful guest appearance.

Lucas Jones, it's really, really lovely to see you again. It's always lovely to see you. So when we met a few weeks ago on the radio, I left and I immersed myself in all of your poems. Oh, wow. You are a remarkable person. You're so going, Gabby. That's so lovely to hear.

I loved coming on your show that. They had the best time ever. I was talking about the whole home. It was like, what beautiful space you've created there and what authentic place does exchange positivity? Yeah, there's so much. negativity around at the moment. Yeah.

And your poems, I mean, we'll get on to the poems if we may. Yeah, cool. But your poems feel that they come from so deep within you and get what everybody's thinking and help everybody. Were you like that as a child? I think I was a bit, actually. Apparently when I was born, my name means light. And my mom says, the story goes, and she would say,

because she's my mom, obviously, that the midwife took me and went, oh, there's just something about them, isn't there? and from the beginning, apparently, apparently, which is a lovely thing that I've grown up here in. Who knows whether that's like self-proposizing in that now people do set to me go off, which is so lovely, I'm so grateful, and thank you for the lovely things you just said as well.

I think I was also raised with that. When I think about that, I think my mum telling me that story is her sort of manifesting that in the world of being like, you can do really lovely special things. You can be a light onto people, I mean. Not the I'm saying I am, I've never said about myself, but being up.

And you are. And you can't set of yourself. I think you can. I absolutely think you can. Because what you put out, is what you'll get back. So I hope you get light back. I do, yeah. So when did all the writing, because obviously you're an actor as well?

Yeah. But when did the writing come to you? Was that when you were little? Yeah, I think the first one of I wrote a poem, I was like seven, I think. And I was sort of rhyming words for something like a cat. And it wasn't my best work. And I was like, yeah, it was literally, you know. It was literally that, it was literally that. But I remember getting the sense of like, oh, this is like a really fun game to play.

My brain seems to be able to process the world in that way quite naturally. I find words and putting words together and trying to find the exact thing to articulate the exact feeling, a really fun game. So it was never sort of a conscious, oh, I should get into writing. It's just always what I did. I was in a band for like seven years as well. So when I was making music and my lyrics, I just sort of spent every... It's all the same thing, aren't there?

All the same. Acting, to me, it's all the same. Yeah, I completely agree. Being creative. I think creativity is just like a force within us. I think that's nature. I do think that's nature. And I think given your circumstances, your nurture brings it out in different areas.

So if you're given a guitar when you're a five-year-old and you're a creative person, that might be the thing that you just fall in love with. And that's why I'm also like sometimes sad to think about the children that are raised without the encouragement towards creativity. And not everyone is a creative, actually. To be fair, there is a thing that people talk about where everyone's creative. Everyone has a level of creativity in what they do. But not everyone is that thing, that sort of like obsessive. creative thing. Some people are obsessed with mathematics and some people are obsessed with sports.

Thank goodness, because we need all of those. Thank goodness. Yeah, exactly. I do awesome this by a design the same way that the ecosystem is perfectly tuned to self-sustain. I think there's a set number of architects and a set number of creatives. I mean, I think everything is probably, like the human body, everything is a macrocosm of the microcosm of our individual beings. So I do think there are a set number of artists, which is why I think if you are that thing, you have to be that thing. Like it's sort of your duty, I believe. Well, I'm not, I want you to think about this.

Well, no, it's just interesting because recently we heard our new prime minister talking about bringing creativity. Ah, ha ha, yes, back into the school. And sports back into school. Yeah, yeah. And drama back into schools and music. And, you know, there was a wonderful charity I met, which you'd love them. But they work with young kids and they teach them music.

Right. And the kids can't afford the instrument. and so this charity then gives them an instrument. This is the most precious thing to them. These are kids who come from very deprived backgrounds. And suddenly they've got an outlet. Somebody cares. They can use music to show their feelings.

You can say to a child, here's a pen and paper, do what you want. There are some paints. You'll learn more about that child through that. Or go up on stage and act. Go and say, write a poem. All of those things. They were blocked for so long.

Yeah, absolutely. It was also, I think, a really bad strategy to try and dissuade people from creativity for a million reasons, even economically, I think. I think it's a complete undermining of how much cinema film. Like, for example, this is a kind of boring inside a baseball film thing. But, like, for example, there's a tax credit you can get for making films in this country because they know that every one pound they give you towards your film. Or they, you know, tax credit you get for your film. People generally spend seven pounds to, like, go to the cinema, get some popcorn. get a drink afterwards, like it's good for our economy.

So that on the more boring, simple, like strategic level is a bad idea. But then on a sort of soul level, you know, me the whole work, like, they'll try encourage an artist to retrain and get into IT and things that we're going to serve this sort of gray dystopian future that we have been sort of hurting towards. And every single one of us, every single one of us, I don't care what your interests are, has been a situation where art saved your life. I firmly believe that. Whether you've been in hospital, bored and recovering, you've watched a film on your phone.

The thing that really moves me in, I have a poem about this, is like, there are people who have only stayed alive because Endgame was coming out, or because the next Spider-Man film's coming out, or these things seem like fun, trivial entertainment things are life and death for some people. And I can't see how we can undermine that. I can't see how we can pretend that it isn't magic and that it isn't real magic. I totally agree with you. Totally agree with you. all is and books, you know, another thing. People say, I don't read books, but I listen to books.

Great. That's the same thing. It's people buying your poetry book, listening to you saying it, that's the same thing. There's beauty in all of that. Let's go back actually to the acting cycle, as you're talking about films. So you've done loads of acting work. Is writing films now something you want? I just sort of got from what you were just saying, is that what you, does that next? I've been working on it. So yes, the film that I make in the moment called Mystery Forever Zandric, miss you forever, Zadryk, because I always rattle through everything I say, so fast and on and I've picked up, and I've been right for like three years. And that's kind of always been, it's so funny actually, because that's always been what I've been doing.

Like, I've always been acting, I've always been writing, I've always been writing, I've always been in making music, I've always been writing, music and so and so forth. And just so happens that of all of those seeds I've been planting, most recently the poetry one, suddenly like really sprouted. And that's so beautiful and I'm so grateful. But it's funny because, to me, that's just one of the things I do, if you know what, mean. And kind of like we're talking about before with the creativity thing, I think I've always just been, what has been available to me, there's a really beautiful quote at one time by an artist,

and I forget which I said it, so if I don't remember, I'd love to know. But they were saying, you can take my paintbrushes and I'll write in pencil, you can take my pencil, I'll write in crayon, you can put me in a cell and I'll spit on my finger and drawing the dust. That is what I'm going to do as an artist, right? And I think that's kind of what basically my life's been, really. I mean, like, wherever I am, whatever tools I have to create, I'll just do that. So there's a guitar and I'll play the guitar, there's a piano, I'll play the guitar. If there's a pen and paper around on my phone, it's not that I'd write poetry. And I'm so grateful that I've been able to do things.

But I also, I wonder what you think about it. Because I feel like, unless you come like a very, very sort of maybe like wealthy family or that kind of thing, you come to quite a lot of sacrifice to think making art because no one paid you for a long time. Yeah. And you have to side hustle all over the place. doing what you love to do. Yeah. I totally hear you.

I'm always in two minds about encouraging. On the one hand, I'm always saying everyone needs to, I think, peer into themselves and extract the art they have within them if that's what you feel moved to do. If that's what you feel that you want to do, if you have that in you, don't squash it. I think that's the thing. But obviously, we all have to pay the bills. Yeah. But you can go and work in a coffee shop and still write.

Yeah, and if you love it. Still make the music. Still audition. still paint your paintings. So you can do all of those things. And hopefully, you've got to keep hope. I believe, I mean, I know you do because you've written about all that. But hope and dreams and desires are all such important things.

And actually, yeah. And I think also there was maybe a bad habit where in this current cultural climate, we've sort of conflated artistic or creative or passion fulfillment with monetizing that and making it. It's like, you. You can be obsessed with art. Everybody wants to be rich. Yeah, exactly.

Not everybody. That's just, no. I know you're saying. It seems to be all about money. Yeah. We have this thing where as soon as someone has this passion or something, there's immediate sort of capitalist idea of like, well, it's time to turn that into business. And it's really okay.

If you love plays and you want to write a play and get a bunch of your acting mates and put a play on above your pub theatre and make no money doing it, watch you have a job that keeps your life. You might be happier even, actually, than trying to fulfil this. this endless, endless pursuit of, but I'm not quite at the level yet. I'm not quite at the level yet. I think everyone experienced that at some point. There's something insidious about the monetization of your passion and your love that can be. Yeah, that's very interesting. Do you what I mean? So when for you, I mean, you're massive across socials. How did the tip happen? Where did

that moment come from? The full story is quite wild, actually. I was in that very cliche sort of starving artist stage in my life where I was like living in a studio flat in South London. had been paid for two months and was actually hungry and not in like a fun kind of sexy way in like a kind of scary no food yeah skinny actually skinny way and being like

I remember being like I already like transferring like one pound from one account to another count to try and get that choosing to be past a source of it but you know like it's not fun so many people go through 100% 100% and it's weird because there is a bit of romanticised elements of that where like even as I'm saying I'm sort of aware of the mythology of that sometimes

like now it's going well so it's kind of fun I don't know, it's tricky, it's tricky. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Yeah, genuinely. Absolutely. But I was in that space, and I'd written, like, a small poetry PDF, like a couple years earlier, just kind of for fun. And I had this idea of, like, if I could just print this thing

and sell like 100 copies, get them self-printed, so I published, I might get my rent. That was basically the thinking. Get some friends, family, like a tiny following of, like, 3,000 people. Actually, I said that at the time. I was very proud of the 300 people. So I started, like, thinking, now,

I'll fucking shift these books, I'd get my rent paid. And then I started putting these poetry videos out. online, like reading the poetry to camera and someone bought one. So I started doing a bit more regularly. And within about three months, it had gone pretty crazy viral. Initially, negatively. Three months. Well, so... That's interesting. That's fast. It was funny that because Yin Yang of life sometimes, because I'm really, I can't help but constantly be aware of the, like, you always have to pay this price for the positivity, I think. I just think that might be a rule of the universe because the first way it went viral was like really negatively.

Like, it was like getting clowned on super hard. Oh, no. Oh, like hating it. Like, hey. it. But then within that, there was like a bit of people, actually think it's quite interesting. Just ignore those ones. Well, it was, it was fascinating because I, how do I feel about that now? With like three years hindsight, I think I kind of get it, because it found a bit more creatively

engaging, because it was quite odd, negatively going a vowing away. But within that, there was people who are actually really, like, really enjoyed it. And then that kind of continued for a bit, and I'm just very stubborn and very, like, kind of enjoy that bit of a fight like that, I guess. So I started, like, doubling down and making it even weird and even more strange. And then I put one out from the book for

the first time went like positively viral and people are like, oh, actually this might be something to do this. And then like, Jesse Jay shared it. And then that was like another sort of step up. And then a bunch of people I really respect started like commenting and messaging and that was really lovely. And then it kind of, yeah, bit by bit from there, bit by bit from there. And just consistently putting things out. Do you feel a responsibility now? Yeah, I do actually. I do. And I'm right as we're talking about in the process of working out how I feel about that. Because I think if you create from a place of knowing that's going to be perceived, sometimes you kill the thing immediately. So now that I know why I'm writing another book

moment and when I'm writing things, knowing that the last was like a bestseller, which I'm thank you for, my God, knowing that it's going to be read now, for sure it's going to be read. It does change. It is frightening. Yeah. Of course it's frightening. Knowing this is going to be perceived. So the only way I can, the only answer I have to that is to sort of address that it's being seen and be quite meta about it. And that's really fun. But In terms of responsibility, I think... You are, and I know it's a heavy load, and I don't mean it as a heavy load, but you are saving people. You know, and I was looking at comments under some of your posts, you know, just I wanted to get a feel of what you were giving people.

And people are using the expression, you're saving me. You're helping me with the passing of my child. Thank you for saying these words. You're making me rethink. So it is a responsibility. I think what I'm saying is, please don't make it into... too much of a responsibility because you've got to always be you and genuine

and that's what your writing is. It's so genuine. Thank you for saying that. Yeah, I think I've got a decent balance with that. It's so humbling actually the other day. I was actually a bit of a bad mood, I think I was just a bit tired. Good, like you're a normal person? Sure, yeah. London's pushing a bad mood sometimes. Just being around the place sometimes.

And I was sort of knocking around in Central. And I was going to meet an event and I was like, it was a thing. I was grateful to be invited if I didn't really want to go. One of those things. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know that one. I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was, yeah, very ancillary to the art where he's all, oh, there's just some photos and that kind of thing.

I was on the way in, and I was with Lily, my wife, and I saw a couple, and that thing, you must get this sort of way, but you know, someone sort of wants to come and say hello kind of thing. And so you learn how to sort of, like, invite that in a bit, it's really lovely. So I saw a couple, sort of looking, they're a bit too far away to, like, naturally, you know, encourage her. So we would walk around, and then they found on the other side, and they were like, oh, is it trying to say, this man. And this is one of the things that really moves me when it's like blokes, like proper, like where I grew up from, blokes who don't talk about poetry, came over with his partner, I think. And he's like, yeah, I made you want to say like really weird because my kid died a few weeks ago. And we were at Great Ormond Street. And I haven't been back since.

And I bought your book after he died. And this first time I'm back. And here you are. I would. And I just, you know, like just immediately just, I guess I was thinking about it, just flawed. And all you can really say in situations is that. what's his name? Thank you for telling me that man.

Appreciate you. Love it to me and take care. That's basically all the risk to say about it. Because, you know, to listen for a minute and say thank you. And I was no longer in a bad mood. You know what I mean? Suddenly I suddenly think,

how dare I even? How dare I sort of be a bit grumpy about to get some event because things are going well? And like, when that happens, it sort of strips all the artifice and all the pretense and all the other stuff and you just sort of like, yeah, no, I have, like the responsibility.

We all need a little reminder every so often. Absolutely, I think. Absolutely. And so the responsibility is a beautiful gift, actually. If I have any responsibility, it's just to try and say the stuff out loud that other people might not have the capacity for or, I don't have the capacity. That's not right. Yeah, no, no, no. You know what I mean? Yeah, the time for even. Do you look after yourself? Because you're giving to so many other people. Do you look after yourself? I do. I can tell when I'm not, though. I can tell when I'm a bit too in it, if you know what I mean? I just get a bit. like gray around the edges. And I think actually, if I'm really on, I think I'm in one of those

moments of kind of the last couple weeks. I think I've sort of stopped looking off myself a little bit, which is fine. That's completely, that's the up and down. But you need to, for sure. And I know I need to. And I've also been through like a lot of therapy in the past. And I've got like really good tools. I'm like, and I really love my wife, love my family. She's so lovely. Oh, she loves you so much. She's so. She's so lovely. Oh, so love to say. Yeah, she wants to send a love to date. So how did you to meet? We met on Instagram.

Oh, really? Yeah, we did. So she messaged you? Well, so she, this is the big debate, me. So she followed me in like May 2020, and I didn't see it until like September, 2003, which you'll never forgive me about it because she was sort of like, how could you not? And I was like, I promise you, if I'd seen you follow me, I'd have been like, hey, like day one. And I think she like, is such a 21st century, like, remember about it story.

There's actually a sweeter version, but I come to a second. And I basically saw a bit of her singing on, like, her story because she liked something. I was like, oh, my God, you're an angel, basically. And from then, I just spoke everyday nonstop, constantly. We're up all night talking and that classic thing. But actually, there is a more beautiful romantic story that I should tell when people are says. A month before we met in that book I was talking about that I wrote to Pail the Rint, I was writing a poem in there about the future, which I don't often do.

I was writing about my own future, imagining being in like a happy, loving, safe relationship where I'm fulfilled and joyous. and in this poem it's called some Philthilthel dragon they needed a name for the person I was talking about and because I didn't know anyone called Lily I just used the name Lily Oh, goosebumps again! Yeah, yeah, right?

It's so wild and I can't really I've told the story for. I have given name is Lily but a stage name's Ava Lily so it didn't twig to me for quite well and then like two months into us today and I was like oh my God I wrote about you and this like two months ago before we ever met and in the poem that person had

we had matching tattoos and then she got that tattoo for real, in real life, based on the poem. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just like magic. What's the tattoo? The tattoos, well, in the poem, it was like of a dragon, but she would want a dragon, so she got my name, but in the same place, which is so sweet.

How crazy, how wild? But also, like, I do feel like if you are open to the magic of the world, that kind of magic stops being crazy, and it becomes sort of like, oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, I think a lot of people use the word manifesting or putting it out in the universe, but I personally live in the moment. You can't worry about yesterday because it's gone. It's gone. And of course you're going to worry about how to pay the bills and everything,

but don't think, oh, it might never happen because it really, really, really might happen. It really might. And you put it out there and you were open to it. And I think we all need to be more open to positive things coming. Because as we started at the very beginning, there was so much negativity and so much bleak, dark stuff out there in the news that we are now being fed 24 hours a day. and any socials you come up with,

and I'm very lucky because I put, you know, my algorithms come back with everything joyful. Oh, good. Yeah, everything joyful. Because that's what, you know, I think what you look for, what you put out, you get back. But if you click on one thing about the negative bad news that's going on and the far right and all of that,

it comes back at you in droves. And I think that's what worries me about a lot of young people, actually people of all ages, you're getting all of that. And then your poem will drop into somebody, you know, on their socials, or somebody will see your book, maybe on a chair, which I love. I love people that just leave books. I think your book needs to be left on benches.

Oh, that's so cool. There's a, this is really, I just thought of it. There's a lovely project. I think it's called the Red Bench Project. Oh, cool. And they put benches at suicide places, famous suicide places. And can you imagine your poetry book being on that bench? I'll get you in touch.

It's goosebumps. Yeah. Yeah. Because it is about saving people. Yeah. But, and about talking, and talking is important. So I think that you get what you put out. And I think we all have to be aware that we all, the good, all the good stuff needs to be louder.

Yeah. All the positive stuff needs to be louder. So that's why I believe that you and Lily were supposed to be together. I do, I really feel that. And I really also feel like, specific at this time, my life, actually all of this stuff happening, me and Lily. It's also not coincidence that things weren't going well in the sense I met Lily. and things have been incredible since. And that's not a coincidence.

She's the angel. She's the angel. She really is the angel. She really is the angel. She really has this quality about this. Like, my mom is so obsess with her. When we first, my mom first met with her. And like, you know, she's an angel.

So obviously mom was just like, you know, and all of her. And then Lily went to the bathroom. And my mom, like, leaned in. And she took my hand and she goes, you can't do better than that. That's exactly what she said. She said. And I was like, I know. I really know.

Like, I really know that. Which is so lovely. And she didn't say it as an instant. stop to me. She said it as like, yes. No, no, I saw that as a positive thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it was... Tell me about your mom.

Oh, she's an angel. It takes one to know, I think. She is like, all of the compassion I have in the world, I think, is my mom. She has this amazing way. Oh, I'll get emotional to my mom. I just love her so much.

She's the kindest, most reliable, most sort of gentle, soft-spoken, sort of shy, but always actually very quietly determined and always actually does do the thing that she's aiming at. She just does it in a very general way. And she just loved that.

Like, I do think the greatest gift the parent can give their child, they're going to fail in many ways, for sure. I mean, God bless her. Like, she had some, she had PMDD when we're growing up. So she had some times that she was really low. And anyone knows about that. All the things come with that. It's a very manic, complicated thing for a child to witness as well.

So that has a bit of impact. And I was like, I'm anxious going to have, and all those other things. But despite all of that, You can remedy all of that if you just love your child. And when things sometimes go fucking crazy, can we someone on this? Yeah, yeah, it's a podcast, it's fine. Amazing.

I'm taking the show, I dot the poem. Yeah, like when things get fucked and things are crazy, you can fix that by being like, I love you, I'm here for you. I'm meadow in the room. If anything wrong with that was my responsibility, I'm looking after you and you're safe. Like that alone can remedy all the other shit that comes of life. And she was amazing at that.

And I'm just creating a world where I just think the magic I feel, the wonder I feel, when I think of the kindness in my life, when I see something happens someone and I want to interject or say something about it, the voice that's in in my head is my mum's voice. And I think that's in it all. What's her name? Sharon. Sharon, yeah. Sharon. Oh, love your mom. She's blessed. We should have got her. We should have got her on the phone. Have you got her? Have you got her? She might be at work, but let me, let's see if, even she is at work. She'll probably, she'd probably, she'd probably, she'd probably, she'd probably. probably answer still. She must feel so unbelievably proud of you. Oh, she really does. But she always, she never flinched about any of this stuff. Like when I sort of said, oh, Mom, I don't think I'm going to go to university or anything

or go to any higher education. I'm just going to be an actor. She literally went, okay, darling. She just completely believed I could do anything. You believed in you? Let me try and call it around that. It was so fun. Right, come on then, Sharon. Let's see. Come on, Sharon. I've only done this once or twice on this podcast. Which might be your work. Come on, Sharon.

Come on, Sharon. Oh, so if I. Hello. Hey, Mama, you're okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Just at work. Oh, I thought you were, but I'm on her podcast with Gabby Roslyn, and we were talking about you. She said to call you.

Hello, Sharon. Oh, my God. Hello. Hello, Sharon. Hello. Oh, listen, we're recording you now talking. Honestly, I think your boy is genuinely one of the best ones out there. What a good soul.

He gives so much kindness. Oh, thank you. He's lovely. He's always. He's been like that. But he says it comes from you because you've just given such love and kindness. That's lovely. Are you feeling embarrassed enough now while you're at work or taking a phone call on a podcast?

No, it's fine. I'm just kind of hiding in. I love this. And when you listen back to this, you'll think, oh, they really did record it. I'm going to hand you back to your beautiful boy now. Here he is. You're still on a loud speaker, though. You're the best in the world, Mom. I'll let you crack on you there.

I'll give a shout later. Okay. I'm so proud to be. Oh, I'm so proud of you too. You're the best of the world. I love you. Bye, love you. Love you, Mom. Oh, Sharon! Sharo! You know what I mean?

And even, it's like, it's that forever. No matter what's getting on. Hi, darling. Hey, love. I can't even tell you what does my nervous system. You know, like, is this? She believes in you? Yeah, she really believes. She really, and sort of like, delusionally so until it's not, you know what I mean?

I think I can do it. anything. And I don't mean that and it's sort of like an arrogant. Yeah, no, no. I really think I'm like, I sort of, like, if I wanted to be a Premier League football right now, I probably could just get into that. I think you probably could as well, yeah. Did you ever play football? Not too. I could. I was like, maybe not. Okay. I changed my mind. So I'm like terrible like and like didn't enjoy it at all and found it very nerve wracking for some reason. I'm not just respect to the Premier League football players who I know and love and

spent the whole life as being like, how fucking dare you face me? But my point being, I really sort of delusionally believe whatever I can do I can do. And so far, all the things I care to do. They're going pretty well and it took a long time some of those things like 10 years. I'm an active for like 10 years.

But like, but you've done really well as an actor. Thanks, yeah. Thank all the different things you've done. Okay. Up there ranking those things that you've done is the one that you just think when you,

if somebody, you meet someone at a party, they don't know what you do, right, which would be a miracle, but they don't know what you do and you say, oh, I'm an actor

and they go, oh, what have you been in? You know that thing that people do in? Yeah, 100%. What's the one, the one's the one, It's so funny because it's like the smallest part of ever really done. But I was in Star Wars.

Yeah, I know. And I was, oh, my, and I was like 19 and I was playing a droid. So no one even knows I was in Star Wars. And I was like, only it for a bit. And the bit I was meant to be and was kind of cut. And I put by it for a second. I'm like, in the end, I'm an extra basically. Reduced down to like a pop by and I do a look thing.

No, you were supporting artists. I was Sport Niles. So you're very right. Thank you for catching that. You're absolutely right. And shout out to every single sport. That's no way. And I did that for a long time.

Before any actual roles, I was like a Sportinac Net. I was like a Spilberg thing and you see me in the background. If everyone ever wants to like compiler, you've seen Forrest Gump. Yes. You know, like that montage when he's like in every world event. Sometimes I feel a bit like that. I was like in the back of a Spielberg film. I'm like on the news when Grenfell happened because I was helping out that day.

Like I'm sort of all over the place throughout history. It was pretty funny. But anyway, I digress. And I was on the Star Wars set. So you tell people Star Wars. I think that's what I grew up. I grew up on like the magic of the world through Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. And being on that set,

I'm like seeing, I saw Mark Hamill on the set and I just, I couldn't even look at him. And I'm not usually like that, but I just thought, I can't, I can't get to that. Did you say hello, Mark? I didn't actually. Sometimes I wonder if I should have, but... Did you say hello Stephen to Steven Spielberg? He's like a not real person from my experience.

I'm like, I only saw him briefly. This is 2016, Ready Player 1. And I can't tell if I've exaggerated the story over the years. It was definitely something like this, right? He arrived to set. It was a huge set. 300 people, they built the whole town. It was insane.

It was a spill-back set. And he pulled up in, like, there were like three blacked-out cars all in line. He stepped out the middle one. And this bit's definitely true. The second his foot hit the ground, he stepped out, the whole set went silent. Like, 350 people silent, nothing. And everyone sort of looked down, like, the sort of sheepish, no one wants to look at him. And not because he was trying to intimidate him.

He just has that thing about him. I think he had a cigar. And he took a token of a cigar, then disappeared into a tent. And then everything carried on. It was the weirdest thing in the world. Like, not even communicated that. It was so strange. It's like actual power.

You can feel the power. Yes, you could feel the energy. I went to a screening and I had to do. And I was interviewing some of the cast. And I'm giggling about this. I've never told this story. And I was standing next to this very lovely woman. And she said, oh, hi.

I went, hi. And then she was talking. And she said, oh, what do you do? I said, oh, I'm a TV host, a radio host. And I interviewed the cast for this film. so I'm coming in. I said, apparently Stephen Spielboy is going to be here, which I'm really excited about. And she moved back and she went, this is my husband, Stephen.

This is Gabby. And I, honestly, I just went, you are Stephen Spiel? But I became really very English and really, I was, oh. And he just turned around, he shook my hand. And then I turned around to my husband and went, I just, I don't know. He is one of those people, isn't he? He's just, well, he sort of built so much of our idea of magic in the culture, hasn't it? He really has.

I love magic. Oh, I love magic. We live on magic. That's what films do. That's what poetry does. Do you know what? I hope you don't mind, but is there any way you could do a poem for us again? Absolutely.

I just, Will, who's working on this show is suddenly who's sitting there just saying, oh, yes. Let me grab a poem. Then wherever you go, do people say, can you read a poem? They actually don't so much. Really? It's just me. No, no, no, no. I love it.

In this context, yeah, in this context, for sure. If you're on the train and somebody recognize you, do they ask you to? People are really, really, are they shy? They're really meek and lovely in general, actually, I think. And maybe that's a poetry audience. But people generally sort of come up and they'll be like super respectful, super, super polite. I'm really apologetic for even quote-unquote bothering me, which they never are. They're like making my day most of the time.

And they say something really personal really quickly. I was going through this and then they're like, thanks much. And then they're like, it's this really beautiful. I'm usually ones of like trying to get inside a bit more. I'm happy to, you don't mean like a little exchange. Poem? Yeah. Here's my book.

Any want a poem? Anyone want a poem? Yeah, I've got a book. I don't want to. I don't want to. Is anyone that you'd like to hear? Whatever you choose. Okay, let's go.

I'm sorry for that thing that ruined your life. You're right, it's not fair. You were being so nice, from recycling stuff, watching podcasts online, and still, that person you never fucking died, still broke your heart, still cried at the light, still up on your amic, still down on your mind. Well, I'm sorry, there's your apology.

No. Come on, there's still time to step out of those shoes and into the light, where you realize today isn't the summer. your life. Today is just a brick that makes up a house. It's more of a click than the whole big bang. You'd feel so sick if the phone now rang and heard your someone was in some crash and they're too far gone and they're not coming back. You'd fall to your knees and kill anything for 20 more minutes to hold them again. Well, it's kind of like that, but you're the one driving.

You're the one here with a chance to keep trying and failing and laughing and hurting and crying and making it matter for all this surviving and making it worth it the pain of this life. And you have two choices. I'll lay them out here. Be hurting love or be hurting fear. That's the buying of life. It hurts while you're here. And you notice that those are receipts, not tears, for the price you'll pay them to live sincerely. So I'm sorry for that thing that ruined your life. But then they're just sort of fucked up your night.

So find some good sleep and a comfortable bed because we're up in the morning. There's a long day ahead. And I know that you're thinking some wounds are too grave and some graves are too deep to ever be saved. But I'll hold you to that when the birds stop singing. If you're listening now, then the phone's not ringing. So the crash so far must have not happening is still just driving and not yet crashing. It's in your hands. You choose what happens. I'm sorry for that thing that ruined your life.

The longer you let it, the sooner it might. God, are you right? Oh, thank you so much. But you, I just, it's right in here. It's right in here. Will, are you all right? It's quite something to it. Thank you so much.

Oh, my word. It's very great for you than read this. Listen, congratulations on the book. Congratulations on everything. When's the film? Are you still filming the film? We haven't started filming the film. We're in that pre-production, raising money, fun stage where, like, it's all exciting, but also, like, very hard work.

So it's really exciting and positive, but we're in that stage. Well, so when the film comes out, then we can celebrate. Oh, 100%. I'd love to. So when your next book comes out, we'll celebrate, you are so stuck with me in your life now, Lucas. I'm so grateful. I spoke to my mom. That's a small crowd of people.

Sharon, me and Sharon. You and Sharon, right. Now, we always ask, I don't know if you have something, but we always ask, if you can tell us or bring something in that brings you true joy, something that really makes you feel joyful. I do. I brought, it's really random, actually. It can be random.

We have had the most incredible things that people. It's tricky actually, because I'm not a super like things person. I'm not like a big objects guy. I don't have much. So I was thinking about this. And I found this camera that I got from a charity shop like 10 years ago. A real camera. A real film camera.

Conica C-35, which I think someone might. I'm completely wrong, but I think it's from the 60, the things like 64. And it was four pounds in this charity shop because they thought it was broken. And they didn't know that it just needed a new battery and needed like a batch that don't make any more, but you can use it here and a day battery and pop it in that place. And that works. This works like a dream still. And it's, you know, how many years old?

And it's just been with me in all the places that have meant the most men. I love New York. New York's, please take a look. Yeah. New York's my favorite place in the world. It is, yes. It's a heavy piece of machine. It's like, it's so analog and so beautiful.

The focus is so hard in it. So hard to take good. photo with it. So when you do, you feel like really earn it. And I took it to New York. I went to this like, I love New York. All my favorite film was in New York. And before I met Lily, I was planning to move there. The Lily was like, I don't live in New York. I was like, me neither. And so I took this on like a little solo trip to New York. And I decided I wasn't going to take any photos on my phone for once and just get off my phone. I'm just going to take two roles of film and I'm going to use that on the camera and that's it and that'd be my memories.

And because I wasn't that well educated in this yet, like destroyed one role of film. I lost that. And the second role survived. And it just like, it means so. much to me, that little role of film. So I take this with me everyone now, and Lillei went to Paris, and all the trips I've been on that me and the most of me have been seen through this camera. And you print them off, you print them. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, yeah. What do you do? What do I? To defeat the first one, I just said, you should keep my phone at the end, digitise me from my phone. But I need to do something with them. Have it still. Get some, like, the old-fashioned from my parents' house, we cleared out all their photo

albums because my late mom used to put photos in albums and she used to write who was in the photos. She died many, many years ago. So I couldn't ask her, but now I know who these people are because it's written underneath. And I know you can get them all printed off. You can get them all AI done everything. But actually printing them and handwriting because that's my mum's actual writing. And actually those, my daughters were saying, you know what, we should do those. And I think, you know, like people are going back to vinyl.

Yeah, exactly. I think that, do that. That's such a good idea. And then write poem in the back about how it made you feel about writing the names of the people and the places. That's so lovely. Because before my grandparents' path, I remember sitting in their house and doing the exact same thing, going through their photographs. Oh, that's such a lovely idea. Yeah, I will do that.

I'm going to do that. I'm going to make it that my thing. I'm going to keep this camera as long as it will survive and do that exactly. It will. Yeah. As will you and Lily, give Lily a big kiss from me. Lucas, you are magical. You are a truly, truly special.

So you're somebody that has enlightened and helped so many people. Just look after yourself as well. You're so kind. So much love. Thank you. Love to you.