The Rest Is Entertainment - TV Secrets Revealed!

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Race Across The World is back on our screens but what production secrets make the show work so well? Alan Carr’s Interior Design Masters, if all goes wrong who puts it right? Plus intimacy in films, what is the role of an intimacy co-ordinator? Those and many more of your questions answered by Marina Hyde and Richard Osman on The Rest Is Entertainment. Twitter: @restisents Instagram: @restisentertainment YouTube: @therestisentertainment Email: [e-mail] Producers: Neil Fearn + Tom Whiter Executive Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another edition of The Rest Is Entertainment, the questions version of the show. Questions and answers. Remind us again who you are. I am Marina Hyde. Thank you. I'm Richard Osmond. How nice to see you again. Very nice to see you. On the last show, we were worried that you were getting iller. Do you think you're iller now than you were?

I think I'm not fully recovered. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Okay. Well, listen, let's make this, we'll do like a five minute. Make me sing for my supper. We'll do a five-minuter. Yeah. Yeah. Can I start with you? Please.

Listen, I hate to ask you this question when you're ill. Peter, thank you Peter, asks, without being crude, I love a question that starts with without being crude, without being crude, in a sex scene, are the actors essentially dry humping each other, or is it carefully angled to avoid even doing that? Peter, I mean, I like you that you say without being crude and then you're immediately crude. I don't know quite what else Peter could have been and actually in a lot of these scenes there isn't really much else that they can do other than that. As you've said, there is a sort of thin gauze. It depends how much you're seeing. The way these things are done and nobody likes doing them, these days when you see relatively pretty explicit sex

scenes, there's not a lot they can do. They've got a thin gauze, they've got a closed set, sort of minimal crew, but they do now have intimacy coordinators. Now that's really only taken off in the last five or six years because it used to be the producer who would negotiate between the directors and the actors and their team what they will and won't do. And obviously that way, quite a lot of people felt pressurized into things. Because the producer or the director are the people who've given you the job in the first place so you feel like... And the actors felt pressure. And actually I spoke to a producer about this specific

question and he said, it was so shocking. I was once on a set. We didn't realize until afterwards, but essentially a sexual assault happened and the director had bought in champagne. The actress was really nervous about doing the scene. The director bought in champagne really early in the morning and only afterwards did she say in the makeup trolley, something happened to me. This does not happen anymore now

in a world where you have intimacy coordinators. There are nudity riders. This is huge. Nudity riders is a whole new thing. That's the name of my band. Nudity riders, absolutely. And which bits of your body you'll show, how much you will or won't show of that piece of the body. Something like euphoria, HBO's Euphoria, which has obviously got masses of sex in it. They can have huge numbers of nudity riders per episode and someone has got to go through and do every single one of those. And it's a sort of legal document,

so it's quite a big deal. The idol, oh dear, rest in not much peace. I mean, episode three of that is genuinely one of the worst things I've ever seen. I've strongly advised getting all the way to episode three just to see if you wanna see one of the worst things you've ever seen. Anyway, but they will have a lot.

And actually, it's so specific that sometimes they'll say, oh no, no, no, they can only hook up in the front seat. They can't hook up in the back seat because you haven't signed off on that. So it's very, very regimented now. And this is designed to sort of put protections in for any of the poor ones. And I must say that in general, what is regarded in the industry is a lot better, but you have much more clothes set that I mean, I was filming something the other week, and it really was a sort of comedy moment. But because it involved a sort of, I mean, I was filming something the other week, and it really was a sort of comedy moment, but because it involved a sort of, I suppose, an illusion of intimacy or something,

it was a much smaller set, much fewer people allowed in. If you're working on a good production, you're looked after. And it's 100% one of those things. There's an awful lot of things, you know, the boxes you have to tick these days in TV, but intimacy coordinators is the one thing that universally you talk to any actor,

they're all delighted with it. It's, you know, it's a simple process, a coordinator comes to both of you, you say where are you happy to be touched, where are you not happy to be touched, you talk it through without the director, without anyone who's directly employed you. And all actors I think are like, gosh I'm glad this happened because this is not how this is supposed to be. Although I sort of finally interview with Damian and Liz Hurley, who of course I'm slightly obsessed with like all people. This is Liz Hurley's son who's recently directed her in some film, actually quite specific apparently. And they said, did you have an interview? He said, no, we don't need any of that.

Wow. Something pretty mesmerizing about the whole thing. But yeah, anyway, there we go. We move on. We move on. We move on. Richard, please Richard please can I ask you about oh I love this one Jeffrey Edsdale says is there any reason why contestants on game shows cannot look as well dressed as the host? Yes for example why can't men wear a suit and tie it seems all contestants men and women are only allowed to dress as if they're popping down to the shops. Gosh it's a good question I spoke to the lady in charge of wardrobe on House of Games and lots and lots of other shows, Sharon Smith,

and I was talking to her about it. And so she has done shows for years where members of the public come in and have to be dressed in certain ways. So I said, but I did say, yeah, why, you know, something like pointless, why don't people wear suits and ties? She goes, well, they used to. 10, 15 years ago, people would turn up with lovely jackets and shirts and people would wear ties and all sorts. She said over the years, everyone's got much more casual. She said on most shows what you are told in your briefing is dress as if you were going out for dinner on a Saturday night. That's the sort of general thing which is you know. You get that feeling though, you're sort of having these people invited into your house on a Saturday night. Yeah. And I would like the host to be looking like excuse me you're

professional and you will be wearing the suit and then anyone else to just look like they might be coming round to yours on a Saturday night. Yeah, just, you know, just spaghetti bolognese. Exactly. Yeah. But she said people used to be dressed much smarter. Everyone's much more casual these days. Now there's lots of rules about what you can and can't wear if you come on television.

And certainly if you come on something like House of Games or Pointless or The Chase, any of these shows where, you know where you can go on multiple episodes, you have to bring more than one set of clothes. You can't wear anything white, bright white, that doesn't react well with the cameras. You can't wear anything jet black either, that reacts with the cameras. You can't wear anything with a logo on it, even the tiniest little logo. You can't have a little Adidas logo or anything like that. So if you start thinking about your wardrobe and the things you can and can't wear, you can't have a little Adidas logo or anything like that. So, you know, if you start thinking about your wardrobe and the things you can and can't wear, you can't have anything with a close check or a close stripe because the second you put them on camera, they strobe. There's just something, they literally, you can see it like a heat haze.

And so what you'll see in between shows on any big entertainment show is wardrobe will come out and hold up contestants clothes to camera and in the gallery they're looking to see if it strobes or not and you can see it poor because wardrobe like any like any department in tv they want people to wear great clothes that's all they really want and sometimes you see Sharon coming out on house of games and she'll have like this jumpsuit and she'll be holding it up and you can hear in the gallery, they go, no, sorry, it's not it. It doesn't read. And she's like, oh, come on. No, Sharon, it's not coming. She'll stomp off because that's the thing that she most wanted. So essentially, if you're a contestant on something like pointless, you're bringing, you might be there three days,

you bring six outfits. So if you think about you at home six outfits no black no white no logos no stripes no checks you know suddenly you're sort of three things left yeah exactly but Sharon and her brilliant team you know they'll always have spare stuff yeah around there she said there's one top she said here's an Easter egg for Pointless fans she said there's one top we've had in the wardrobe room for about 10 years. She said I think it's been worn 20 times on pointless by different contestants. She said it's a rust and black covered quite a sheer top that she puts under different jackets. And she said so if anyone really wants to do a deep dive they'll see that top time and time again. So presenters you can sort of wear what you want is the truth but as you say there's a

time again. So presenters, you can sort of wear what you want is the truth, but as you say, there's a, you have to look smart, you know? And you know, we've always worn just jacket and shirt on pointless, but on House of Games now, getting a bit more into knitwear, things like that. But the lovely thing about having wardrobe there is they're incredibly good at knowing what suits you. So over the years, certain things that I've worn on TV, I then wear in real life. Yeah. Yes, you've had a stylist. Yeah, exactly without even thinking about it And sometimes you don't really get to take the clothes home But if for example Say Sharon has bought a shirt to wear on the next series or something and she camera tests the shirt and it fails the camera

Test its strobes or something. Yeah, I can have it. Yeah, okay, then I can take that home So, you know in know, in my wardrobe, I've got lots and lots of very fine checked shirts and things that have failed camera tests. But it's the same with contestants. So many times a contestant will come along that have a series of things and Sharon will say, have you thought of wearing maybe something different

or wear this? And they go, oh God, I would never wear that and their partner will go you know or maybe you'd look nice in that and so like a guy will go okay I'll try it and completely transform what they wear for the rest of their life. It's essentially a makeover show as well. Yeah. I mean just unofficially. Yeah and it's the same with makeup as well.

The makeup department they'll get people in and they'll make people up in a different way because makeup is so personal and also you don't want... And everyone gets stuck in a rut and does the same thing for 10 years. Exactly. Those are the most successful articles about makeup, like are you stuck in a makeup rut? Yes, we all are. Of course I am and for good reason. And so suddenly you change your makeup, someone does your makeup in a different way and it

changes it forever. So the truth is people bring along something they feel comfortable in. There is a huge limitation of what they can and can't wear, but they can absolutely turn up in a suit and tie. It's just most people choose not to. Yeah. I guess it's quite showy. Also, you don't see other contestants doing it before.

So there's that in groups, like, you know, subconsciously you think I won't do the same, yeah. And also I don't wear ties. And it looks like you're trying to be the host. That's what I would feel. Exactly. And we'd be like, who's this guy? Yeah. Who's this guy in a suit? Yeah. Come on, mate. When you're in to be the host. That's what I would feel. Exactly. And we'd be like, who's this guy?

Who's this guy in a suit? Yeah, when you're in your knitwear. Oh, can I say one other thing that Sharon said, which again, this is about how much people care. If you come on Pointless, let's say you bring like three outfits. And she says the thing that breaks her heart is when a couple come in with great clothes, and she says, Oh my God, I cannot wait to see them dressed in these. She said they always win on the to see them dressed in these. She said they always win on the first show and then go home. So it really upsets her. Oh no, she never got to see their outfits. Never got to see the other lovely outfits. Another one for you Marina, I'm so sorry to

ask you about sex and Nazis but that's where we're going so far. It's inevitable. Neil Fraser, listen you have a speciality. Yeah, what can I tell you? People come to know you for things. Neil Fraser asks, having recently watched The Zone of Interest and Operation Finale, in these films do you need to clear the use of Nazi symbology? That's an interesting one. Okay, well this is quite a quick one because it is actually, in this country, it is, and in the US, it's legal to use it for educational and artistic purposes and that's films,

video games, you don't have to clear any of it. In Germany, it is not legal. They have a huge amount of sort of legislation about this and to the point where even modeling kits in Germany, if you're modeling World War II planes or a whole battle scene, they come with that bit scratched out or for the German market, it won't have the swastikas showing.

Even at air shows, things like Finnish planes, which also had swastikas on them, they have to put a tarpaulin over it, so you can't see it. That's quite interesting. I don't know what Neil's planning, but listen, it sounds legal, Neil. Go ahead with it. Can I ask you another very short one then, about filming? This is from Stuart Haddo, Showers, he's talking about, Sex, Nazis, Showers. Three quadrants, now my fourth, I'm sure, in the final half.

Steam must be an issue when filming any sort of shower scene, says Stuart. Does this mean that every time you see someone showering on screen, they're actually enduring a cold shower? Ha ha. Well, Stuart, you're right. It is an issue and they cannot have a hot shower. There are things that you can get anti-fog sprays and whatever, it doesn't really work. So generally it will be a pretty lukewarm shower. If they were having a cold shower, obviously you can't help but draw breath and be sort of squeaking.

So they wouldn't have that, but they would use sort of warmish water, but a vaporizer to create the practical effect because they want to correct the effect of steam. Oh, of the heat. Yeah. So, um, just to create the practical effect always, but also if you're working on something that's quite high budget and therefore they have built a shower for you.

Say you're James Bond in one of the James Bond movies and you're in a shower, that will have been built on a stage. Therefore it is pretty ventilated. It's enormous and so it's- So if you see Bond showering, he's not in some little hotel room, he's in a massive soundstage.

They haven't got a huge crew, no, because there's so many cameras on things like that. So no, he will be, they will have rigged that up on the stages at Pinewood, I think in that case. I would watch a film, and I think you'd make a lot of money from it, that was split screen, which was the film and a wider shot of the filming. Wider shot of everything is amazing. Actually, well, funny enough, if you like that, then I'm working on a TV show where you might see quite a lot of that. Oh really? Yes, because it's all set behind the scenes at the film studio at which it is set. But I would want to watch the filming of you filming that.

The filming of you filming. Well yeah, you can pull back forever and ever. Funny enough though, I remember the, what was it? We had so many elections. This, the 2017 general election where Theresa May did a lot of events and they would have these events. Where's this going? It was, it was, well, they would have these events. Where's this going? It was, well, you would see these events and you'd see the news photograph of it and it

would seem like she was surrounded by a crowd of people. And then the media became so annoyed that the events were so stage managed and that they weren't at all open to the public. So there would be a few activists who were invited, local Tory activists. And if you saw a tight frame, you'd see Theresa May and lots of people around her you'd think for all the world she was in an open crowd then someone would pull back you know just with their iPhone and take a picture and it would be a massive empty hanger and there would be you could see it was just a completely secure environment and there were some people invited people with placards it was entirely staged it was honestly like a

movie staged you were constantly in these kind of corrugated barns where these scenes were being staged and that whole election was really like that. You didn't really feel you were meeting the public or they were meeting the public at all. But of course, everybody is a camera person now, so they can just pull back and show you what it was actually like. And people became so pissed off about like being shut out of everything that they were constantly posting on Twitter, now X, what it really looked like. And so you did get that thing.

And I think people realized that the whole thing was being controlled beyond all belief. I love that sort of thing so much. I remember doing a red carpet photo once with, I can't remember who it was with, someone I was in a TV show with, and I had to bend down, so I just bent my knees down to be the same height. And then to be the same height and then I saw the photo later and it was a full length one. So it's just me like a kind of 1920s policeman with my knees bent. Yeah, any photo where you pull back on what it actually looks like. Things like red carpets

are fascinating because you sort of slightly always imagine that there's a small bit of red carpet in front of a venue and when there are these huge events like the Golden Globe, sometimes they're in a load of tents miles away, or you just see this massive like miles and miles of this stuff, three different speeds of photographers, who's in the front row of all of this. It's insane. And I think people are really fascinated by that to see what the wide angle shot of it all looks like.

Yeah. Behind the scenes, behind the scenes. Yeah. House of Games is the only show in history where the studio is bigger in real life than it looks on telly. Normally you go on BBC Breakfast or something and it's amazing because it's like, you see the bit that you see on telly and then around it is just sort of people eating sandwiches and you know. Yeah, they defy physics, they seem to go for miles, you know, stretching the distance, but yeah, they are very small when you get in there. Stuart, we got an awful lot from that showers question, didn't we?

Yeah, sorry, that wasn't a short answer at all Okay, I think it might be time to go to a break Welcome back everybody. I'm gonna start with a question for you Richard about race across the world We've had so many questions about race across the world, which as we said on the last episode is out now. It's really good. It's an amazing series. Okay, Simon Pickering would like to know, with Race Across the World back, I've always wanted to know about the logistics of the show. For example, I assume there's always a film crew with each couple. If there are only two seats left on a coach, can they not use it as the film crew wouldn't be able to go with them?

Any other behind-the-scenes info would be great, without spoiling the magic too much. Oh gosh, absolutely. So what you would have on Race Across the World, if people have not seen it, it's a series of couples who are getting from one point to another in this series. It's Japan and Indonesia and sometimes absolutely out in the middle of nowhere having to find transport, having to find lifts and what have you, always on camera. So you're always seeing them. So you can work out that something is going on. They're not literally the two of them filming themselves. The key with that show, as with any show like this, is you try to leave them as alone as you possibly can.

Yeah. But, you know, there are insurance things and stuff like that. So they have what's called a follow car, which will be a fair way behind them, but will always be within sort of five or 10 minutes. And in the follow car, there's a medic, there's security in case of trouble, there's of course spare cameras and spare you know batteries and all that kind of stuff for the crew so you've got the follow car that's always there in case of trouble. It's a bit like being in the Royal Family, at a respectful distance. It is very similar to being in the Royal Family, that must be a fun gig, driving in that followed car.

Or a Prime Minister who wants to bicycle to work and they have to have the full protection squad going around them. But it's allowed the illusion of thinking that they're a free individual. Yeah, exactly. Oh, look at this majestic Canadian countryside and there's a big van at the back. So you've got that and each pair has got a two person crew with them. They've got a PD, which is a producer, director. So that's someone who's shooting the thing, but also thinking of what's going on as well. And you've got an AP, which would be an assistant who also has a camera, which can be you.

So you've got two cameras at any given time. Now with them, anytime they do get a lift or get on a bus, they have to have at least one camera operator with them. So you're absolutely right, if they get on a bus and there's only two seats they cannot get on that bus, there has to be three seats. Fine without four, that's fine. One of the poor, the AP I'm guessing, has to go and sit in the trail car or maybe the PD. Anyway, either way you have to have three, but they can't ever help, you couldn't ever catch a lift with the with the train car or anything like that. So the PD and the AP will always be in whatever form of transport they're in,

unless there's only one seat in which case one of them will go in that follow car. But there is a car nearby, but they would never unless there's a problem. The couple would never ever see that car. They're just in a very, very tight unit of people. And that's why it's such a great show because it feels very natural. They're obviously embedded very much and they're constantly on camera. So they're catching all sorts of stuff.

There's also not unexpected, you know, given that camera crew have to be with the couple the whole time. And yet if you watch the show, there's some extraordinarily beautiful shots of the countryside, which is one of the reasons we love watching it. There is a GV crew which they will-

GV General View. General View. So they will know the course that our couple have taken. They'll get a note from the PD saying, we went here, we went there, we got this car, we were in this train station. They will do the exact same trip. And every time there's like a beautiful mountain,

they'll send a drone up. Or get the fancy stuff. Yeah, exactly. Or just little things of the bus station, just anything. So they will give that stuff that you can drop in. So it's the real trip that the people did, but they have a bit more time to curate a shot and make the thing look more beautiful. Everything is done to make the trip as genuine as possible.

So they're not getting a single bit of help, but they're- Which is why it works because you can always tell if anything's been done, as you say, two or three, even on the formats in the morning, bargain hunt or whatever, if you're being made to do things a third time, the joke or whatever it is, you can always hear. You can always hear, whereas on this one there's people behind it but hopefully who will never be needed. It's a great question, we've got loads of questions about Race Across the World, maybe we'll get onto others in future weeks. It's a brilliant show if you've not been watching it.

Marina, Andy Rogers asks, with Interior Design Masters back, love Interior Design Masters by the way, it got me thinking about the homes and businesses who hand over their rooms to shows like this. What happens if the makeover is awful? Does the production company pay to put it right? Oh, well, I believe we have a very special guest audio on this matter. Hi Richard and Marina, it's Alan Carr here. Yes, sometimes the people who own the shops or the hairdressers or the hotel room really hate what they've done. And what we do is we go back, we paint it back to how it originally was so no one is offended. Thank you, Adam. That's our first guest. That is our first guest and fantastic. I have to say that in the old days of things like

changing rooms, they just left you with it. I think you probably had to sign the release form. And by the way, I think they often, no offence to the designers in that, but there was a lot, because there was always that incredible time pressure element. They had to like glue gun and staple gun, a lot of stuff. And people were left with these things. I remember once reading an interview with a woman who was so horrified by what her neighbors had sort of wished upon her in one of those shows that she thought, right, I'm gonna have to research how to put this back myself. And she got so into it that she discovered her passion and then she ended up becoming an interior designer. So you know, something good came out of her,

sort of hideous, I don't know, fake medieval dining room makeover or whatever it was. Yeah, it's always worth listening to Laurence Llewellyn Bowen on things like that and some of the stuff you got away with over the years. By the way, if you haven't been, I know we don't really do recommendations on this show, but I'm gonna go on out on a limb

because we're crazy, right? You can do, it's freeform. Do exactly what you like. Do exactly what you like. Do exactly what you want. It's a sandbox. Yeah. Now here's what I think about the next election. No. Interior Design Masters, I absolutely love and Alan is an amazing host on Interior Design Masters. I'm not saying it because he very kindly recorded the thing for us, but he's such a brilliant host on that. He's

such a brilliant host on everything he does, Alan. His sitcom, by the way, on ITV is also brilliant. Everything he touches turns to gold. And the thing that Ingrid is watching and absolutely loving at the moment is the show where he and Amanda Holden do up properties in Italy, which I saw the first episode of. I missed the last couple. And funny enough, our lovely producer Neil who asked Alan to record that for us, he was talking to Alan about the Amanda Holden thing and he said, Alan said, he often just sits back in the sunshine because he's worried about his nails, he said, Amanda Holden absolutely gets stuck in, she's very much the sledgehammer wielder amongst those two. He says, I love it, he said, I sit there in the sunshine and she's in there in coveralls, you know, knocking

down a supporting wall. Like any great TV marriage. It just works. It just works. And the woman's doing all the work. Yeah. But he's such a great presence on our TV screens. And lovely.

And indeed now in our podcast. Now in our podcast. Thank you, Alan. Let's get him on every week. Let's ask him a question. It doesn't matter what it's about. If you've got any other questions for Alan Carr. We will be the go between.

But I thought every time I meet someone famous now, I'm going to see if there's a question It doesn't matter what it's about. If you've got any other questions for Alan Carr. We will be the go between. But I thought every time I meet someone famous now, I'm gonna see if there's a question. Related to it, yes. Yeah, that's the thing to do. But yeah, interior design master's an absolute cracker. Marina, another question from Neil Collins. Neil asks, with the Formula One forcing a move

of some Channel 4 shows and at times the football on BBC, who decides when schedule changes are necessary in this day and age of streaming and multiple channel services? Ah, okay, well, if it's something like, we're not going to have gladiators this week because it's the Six Nations that's happened, you know, a couple of months ago or whatever it was, those schedule changes are almost quite obvious. What I do think is more interesting is major deaths for whom the news coverage is interrupted for. And on the BBC, they have something called category one deaths. And those are the King, Camilla.

This is the current category one people, Prince William and Prince George as the heirs heir. Those are the only four for whom they run regular preparedness exercises. Now in the old days, you could listen to someone like Jeremy Paxman who has written about this, Peter Sissons wrote about this. Every six months, the whole of BBC News would have to rehearse the equivalent of the Queen dying or in and actually or the Queen Mother dying as it was back then. And they'd all have to come in every six months on a Saturday and

do the whole war gaming of it. And carpox would have to stand in for Buckingham Palace because of course they can. What would have to stand in? A carpox. Oh a carpox, okay. Because they'd have to have a sort of, it would have to be a remote location, things were being sent in, so you'd have to check that all the systems and also the chains of command worked and they did this for real. Nowadays they do it all via text messages and there are various different chains of

command but they regularly do this and you have to answer certain things. How many people would be in that chain of command? A lot when you consider going down to all the different people who would be farmed out to the various different locations. Now, a few, not that long ago, well, a few years ago, some other BBC reporter got wind of this, but failed to understand that someone saying that the Queen was dead was actually just, they were doing a war game, and tweeted that the Queen was dead when she wasn't, and then said it was a prank. It was a whole sort of thing. I've obviously just thought, oh, strange to know when else has tweeted this. I'll put this out. I mean, I

just have to, as we've said it before, it's always possible not to post. Yes, always possible. That's a big one for me, if not to post. But funny enough, Peter Sissons, they were rehearsing the Queen Mother's Death for so long and he would have to have a special suit made, all this sort of stuff. But even when it happened, you probably don't remember the story, but Peter Sissons, who was a newsreader at the time,

one of the main BBC newsreaders, he wasn't wearing a black tie at the moment. He announced the thing. This story went on for weeks and weeks and weeks, people bashing the BBC for the fact that he hadn't had the black tie on at the moment he said it. But so, as I say, those are the category one deaths and those are the people for whom the news programming

will be automatically interrupted. But so my point was like, sorry, you're telling me that if Prince Harry dies now, you are not interrupting the news programming for it, because I think you are. Yes, you may well be, that is editorial discretion, and that would be a call for Tim Davey, something like that.

But if you're interrupting all programming, one of the things that is interesting is that when things like happen with Princess Diana's death and people, you know, there's a really interesting mass observation paper about Princess Diana's death, which is called United in Grief, question mark. Because as the newspapers get saying every day, the nation is united grief well you know by the second day a lot of people were recording the BBC complaining like why is EastEnders are not on why have you stopped everything this is

absolutely ridiculous we don't want this and all those sort of memories of how these things were at the time a lot of people people always complain about scheduled news it really annoys people and things moved for the death of Prince Philip people were really really angry about it it's a fine line of like what people actually want to see and what they say they want to see you know that's all I wanted to be very respectful no I don't want East Enders Bump for this. Yeah well people would complain with the pointless wasn't on because of Prince Philip but then you have to look back at the folk memory of the BBC and go they are absolutely hammered because Pete the Sissons

wasn't wearing a black tie so they're probably going to err on the side of caution on this one. There's nothing you can do and there's plenty of other things on. Yeah so Alexander Armstrong isn't category one. No, but also the serving US president if in my view assassinated I personally would be, but again this is all discretion and of course they would interrupt programming but the ones that's not protocol I still remember to this day when the Iranian embassy siege when they had a news flash on that it was just unbelievable No, that was absolutely grippy. Now Ben McIntyre has written a book about the SES Iranian embassy siege

Which it might be the book that is most laser guided to my interests of any book ever written in my parents village lives The person who was third through the window really my son became pen pals with him that is most laser guided to my interests of any book ever written. In my parents' village lives the person who was third through the window. Really? My son became pen pals with him. It's absolutely fascinating. And he writes these wonderful letters saying things like, you know, my son would write to me, you know,

what's your favorite gun? And he would write back things with these brilliant euphemisms. And I can't remember what particular one, but he says, I would prefer this for close work. And I love the idea of close work. Just sounds like it's a form of embroidery. What it actually means is shooting someone in the head very quietly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. That's cool. That is. Yeah. Listen, not cool to kill people. No, no, no.

That's a cool pen pal. Let's not get into it. Yeah, it's a great pen pal. So your son's pen pal is a killer. That's a... Yeah. You're comfortable with it. All of them are. All his pen pals are. He's one of the few who's still at large for this one. Yeah, okay we move on. Oh I think it's nice though in this age that your son has a pen pal. Yeah pen pals, I mean you know slightly research one but if you would like to be our pen pal please write, sorry that was a terrible link wasn't it, but please write in, yeah thank you, write in to us at therestisentertainmentatgmail.com with many of your brilliant questions and we'll endeavor to answer as many as we can,

but there are so many of them. When you say pen pal, is it like pen and ink letters? Yeah, actual letters, yeah. Because we don't have a postal address that people send things to. I was fourth in, in the Iranian embassy siege. You were, through the window. When it came up, I thought I'm heading straight up to London.

Do you know what, I want a piece of this. So up I went. We should get a postal address. That would be nice. I wonder if the questions will be different. They're all in Derby. All the PA boxes for the Chris shows. Let's talk about that another day.

That Derby megastructure. Yeah. Where TV goes. On that pen pal bombshell, shall we call it a day? Let's, and we will see you next week for the main show. Looking forward to it ever so much. Take care, bye bye. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]