Walking The Dog with Emily Dean - Mollie King (Part One)

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

This week Emily and Ray take a stroll with singer, radio presenter and all-round good egg Mollie King.Mollie first found fame as a member of the hugely successful girl group The Saturdays, and she chats to Emily about those whirlwind years in pop, as well as the unexpected paths her life has taken since. Before music, Mollie had been training to become an Olympic skier, and after her time with the band she went on to build a brilliant career in broadcasting. She’s now a much-loved voice on BBC Radio 1, hosting alongside Matt Edmondson.The pair have also just launched a brand new comedy-meets-crime podcast, Matt and Mollie’s Novel Idea, where they take turns writing chapters of a murder mystery together each week. It’s funny, chaotic and surprisingly gripping. New episodes are released every Wednesday.Emily and Mollie also talk about growing up with dyslexia, the heartbreak of losing her beloved dog Alfie last year, and the very sweet story of how she first met her partner, cricketer Stuart Broad.It’s a warm, funny and wonderfully open conversation with someone whose kindness and positivity light up the whole walk - and who Ray instantly adored.Follow Emily:Instagram X Walking The Dog is produced by Will NicholsMusic: Rich JarmanArtwork: Alice LudlamPhotography: Karla Gowlett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was very much like you had a stiletto on at 6 o'clock in the morning on Good Morning Britain. Do you know what I mean? They'd be like, oh my gosh, the girls have got the hit stilettos on. A false eyelash. Yeah. A little good morning. Oh my gosh. This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I went for a stroll with the fabulous singer, radio presenter,

and let's face it, all around Rare of Sunshine, Molly King. Molly was, I'm going to say, enchanted by Ray when she met him. And as Ray was all over her like a cheap suit, I knew they were going to get on famously. Molly, of course, rose to fame as a member of the girl group for Saturdays, so I obviously couldn't wait to hear all about her experiences with them. We also chatted about her early years training to be an Olympic skier and how she pivoted after music into radio presenting. She's now one of my favourite fixtures on Radio One, alongside her co-host, Matt Edmondson, and in fact, her and Matt have also just launched a brilliant new comedy meets crime

podcast called Matt and Molly's novel idea. It sees both of them taking turns every week to write a chapter of a murder mystery novel. Not only, is it hilarious? It's also oddly gripping. I'm dying to know what happens next. So I really recommend you give that a listen. Episodes are out every Wednesday. I genuinely adored Molly. She was so incredibly open with me chatting about her struggles with dyslexia when she was growing up. The heartbreak she felt when she lost her dog Alfie last year. And on a happier note she also told me all about meeting her partner cricketer Stuart Braun and the little thing he did before their first date to make sure it went well it's one of the most adorable things i've ever heard in fact molly and i got on so well i kind of didn't want our chat to end so

after we left the park i insisted on giving her a lift right to the door of radio one i think embarrassingly i might have even said love you by mistake when she got out of the car but you know what i defy anyone not to love this woman because she's frankly a total diamond. Really hope you enjoy our walk. Here's Molly and Ray Ray. He's very good. You wouldn't worry about him being in the road. No, he's really, he's got no interest in. I've made him very dependent so he doesn't want a life outside of me. Yeah. Come and look at him go.

I mean when you say look at him go Molly. There is it. Oh baby, you're right there by my feet. Come on Ray. What a sweet. Well, you follow me and Molly? Come on darling. Come on, come and have some chats. Come on.

He's rather slow. Oh, that's great though. Oh, do you think so? Well, I'm trying to slow down in general. I need to hang out with Ray Ball. I feel like I pace, I'm like, do, right, got to do that, and it's like, Molly. Just chill out, girl.

Chill out. Are you quite a sort of frenetic person then? You seem very chilled out. Do I? Yeah. Oh, my God. I mean, that's a real compliment. I'm going to take that.

I'm very much like an overthinker. I like to be busy. I don't like being, like, quiet. I don't like a lot of downtime. But I feel like I'm quite sort of like get up and go, but it does mean that I can be quite an overthinker and all that side of things. But no, I need to hang out with Ray more.

Ray has got a very chilled energy. Yeah. I mean, sometimes it's frustrating because you just want to be going somewhere fast. And they sold me alive when I got a dog. They'll be waking you up at six for food. He lies in until about 11. He's like, this isn't what I signed up for. I mean, that's the dream, though.

He's got the attitude. Like, he's just left a spa. Yeah. He's just had a 60-minute massage. And he's now just going to cruise on for the rest of the day. Let's put him down. He is living the dream. Molly, thank you so much for joining us on this podcast today.

I'm so thrilled. And I had a good feeling about you. And then as soon as you walked in, the way you greeted Ray with genuine joy, I thought this is going to be an enjoyable experience. Oh, no, thanks so much for having me. And for, hi, darling, letting me cuddle Ray so much. He's just an absolute babe. Can you see what he does?

He just, oh, he's doing a little weird. Yeah, yeah. Come here, Ray. When you've got to go, you've got to go, though, haven't you? This is the thing. Oh, what's he doing? He's a kind of a leaf hanging. Ray, you've got to walk a bit faster, darling.

There's a good boy. There's a good boy. I always say he treats walking like he sort of shop browsing in Zara. He goes, oh, that's nice. Oh, look at that leaf. They got that in a mate. Totally. Totally. Totally. Does he also do that thing where he walks up to a like a shirt that he's like, I quite like it?

And then they don't have that your size. And you're like, but I really like it now. I really like it. He's what I believe they call in the trade a sleeve puller, which is someone who just pulls sleeves and pulls things up but has no intention of actually buying. Look, he's got some pants here. Excuse me, I've got Molly King International Star here. Right, I'm going to have to carry you. Oh, Ray, darling. Molly, I think Ray is a good distraction for you because you must get recognised quite a bit and I think Ray is great because no one,

if you took Ray with you, do you know what I mean? They get so distracted by the dog you wouldn't have to do selfies all the time. I mean, Ray really is a rock star. I said it earlier but I mean, look at that hair. Ray's gone for a similar sort of length hair that I've recently cut all my hair off into like a bit of a bob.

I want it to look like kind of like shaggy lived in bob. And I feel like that's exactly what Ray's working here. Hi, darling. So Molly, I want to hear about your relationship with dogs and history with dogs. Yes. So have you got a dog at the moment? So I had a dog called Alfie. Yes.

Who I had for 15 years. And he passed away just. over a year ago I mean you know what it's like they are they are literally your family and he had been through everything with me at the time I got him I remember everybody saying to me you're crazy to get a dog now because you know they're there are a huge sort of commitment they're not something that you can sort of get half-heartedly and I was like no no this dog is going to be so loved and he's going to travel everywhere with me so yeah I really liked

think that he just had such a fun, exciting life. You know, he just, he came everywhere and, um, he had a real personality to him. He was quite cheeky. He had one of those walks that it's like he thought he was on a catwalk every day. Like, it was a real strut. I really should have taken notes from him because my goodness, when he walked into a room, it was like, oh, Alfie's entered the room. But, um, and is that because he was a toy poodle?

So is that a toy poodle trait? That walk, I often... That walk, it's like, do you ever watch Strictly Come Dancing? Well, do I ever watch it? Some of us are on it, Molly. Oh my gosh, what year? Oh me? Gosh, what year?

Are you on it? I miss it. And now the random woman who worked with Frank Skinner on a radio show and does a dog podcast. Yes, I watched Strictly Come Dancing. You're on it, is what I mean. I was, yes. You were on it, yeah. loved every minute of it.

Semi-finalist. Thank you, God. You know everything. Yes, I was a semi-finalist, much to my surprise. I mean, that was a big surprise getting to the semi-finals. But go on. I was going to say, there's a dance on Strictly called the Chacha that you do. And it's the one that kind of, I think everybody finds it hard

because you're not allowed to bend your legs. So you're trying to sort of waltz around the room with your legs straight. And it's impossible, right? But this is how Alfie walked everywhere. It was like he would just, it was quite poetic actually to see him walk around. But no, he was such a loved little boy and I miss him so much now. Must have been devastated when you lost him. I'm so sorry.

Oh, thank you. No, it just, it really felt like such a big part had gone out of my life. You know, even when you come home every day from work or whatever. And I could hear his little feet tiptoeing, tip-tapping on the floor. And, you know, you get used to sort of jumping on the couch and him jumping up to sit on your lap and things like that. And it just takes time, I think, to... People always say, friends of mine who've lost dogs, say,

and obviously it happens to us all at some point. And friends of mine have always said, it's things like seeing the dog bowl. That's what kind of breaks you suddenly, you know. Yeah. I had to actually put all of that. into another room straight away because you're right

it's exactly that of seeing like the lead by the front door but I do look back at it and think God I was so lucky he had such a good innings and was Stuart Broad your partner yeah husband we should say well to be fiance

haven't got round to the wedding yet I think we got engaged about five or six years ago and I'm like come on Molly I like people that don't get around to the wedding We very much need to. Like, don't get me wrong, I've got the full Pinterest board, I think about it. You know when you're going to sleep at night and you have those kind of happy thoughts of like, right, what am I going to think about here to have a nice night's sleep? I always think about the wedding.

I think it's, I understand that, but I also think, I wonder if increasingly in modern life, you know, that traditional thing of like you meet someone, you know, they propose, you get married, and then you start finding out whether you like each other. enough to have children. It seems to be nuts. It sort of seems to make more sense with it. Oh, I like you. Yeah, I really like you. Let's get a place together. Let's have some kids together. Yeah. You know what? This seems to be working so well.

Let's officially honour it. That seems a little bit more sensible. Don't you think? Well, I, do you know what? Obviously, when he proposed, it was during COVID. So it was tricky to get out and see venues of where we might want to get married. and we viewed a couple. And at that time, do you remember it was around a time

when it was like, right, you can't get up and dance. So any sort of get-togethers, you'd have to stay seated. No ch-cha-cha-cha. No ch-cha-cha. Thank God. But it was very much like guests can't mingle too much. Everyone would have to stay on their tables. And I thought, oh, that's not what I've dreamt of for all these years. I wanted to just feel like a party in the celebration of love.

Oh. Oh. He's left a trail of poo. That's his thought of my celebration of love. It's just a little poo there. Ray! Oh dear. He just leaves a little treasure hunt of poos.

They're very inoffensive though, aren't they? They are tiny, tiny, tiny. And I do always feel really sorry for people with these big dogs when I see them clearing up. I mean, it's like a human man as you know. Well, I grew up with a golden retriever called Holly. And when I'm really getting into the chat here about poos, when I then got Alfie, who was the world's tiniest dog, about the same size as Ray, I couldn't believe how tiny,

how tiny the cubes were. Oh, he's got some, Ray. And I wanted to ask, on the subject of dogs growing up, I wanted to find out a little bit more about your... You told your coffee. Charlton, really. And you grew up... born in Lonsworth I read.

Is that right? I was born in... Because I often get these things wrong, these... Yeah, I was born in Roampton, which is kind of between sort of Putney and Richmond, like south-west London. I know it because the Priory Clinic is there. Not that I've been in the Prairie Clinic.

Yes, that's where that is. But I know I've driven past certain things. Yeah. Sort of Richmond and kind of I was associated... Exactly, yes, that neck of the woods. And it was you... Your mum? Me, my mum, my dad, and I've got two older sisters called Laura and Ellen.

We're all really close in age, just two years apart. I'm the youngest. And what did your dad do and your mum do? So my dad was an accountant. Oh, I love an accountant. Do you? I always wanted that for myself. I got like weird showbiz artsy people and they're a bit chaotic.

Do you know, I always used to look at people who had a accountant. And it was like the dream. Really? I mean, he definitely, he has made me very aware of if I'm spending money. Really? I hate spending money. I have to really like something to be spending money. Oh gosh, could he always go, do you need it, Molly?

But do you need it? And you know, sometimes you don't need it, but you do just fancy, I don't know, a new pair of sunglasses, or something. But I've basically grown up with the same thing. basically grown up with that mindset now of Molly, if you don't need it, we're not going to, we're not going to do it. I think everyone who enters the pop industry and subsequently broadcasting and, you know, I think anyone who enters those creative industries, the best gift you can give

yourself is choosing an accountant father. Because it does instill you, I think, with those, you know, you're not, you're much less likely to go off the rails financially. Yeah, I mean, I, it's quite funny because a lot of time more so when I was in the band I guess I would I'd get asked a lot like what's the most even dulled you know and I think they would really want an answer that was like oh I was crazy I bought this or I spent this one night when I was partying or something and I would almost feel a little bit embarrassed as to how boring my answer was I was like oh god I know you want me to say something really wild here but I've just always grown up feeling like I need to be quite careful especially I think in the line of work that I've chosen,

you know, a lot of the time you don't know when your next gig's going to come about. You don't know what your next chapter is going to be. Well, it took me years because I grew up with these sort of slightly mad bohemians who rarely paid tax. It's taken me so long to realise, oh, when my cheques come in, I have to put at least 30 to 40% in an account. Yeah, and luckily, I guess because of my parents, I've always been paranoid about things like tax.

It is kind of, it's just an easier way to live, isn't it? Yes, yeah, definitely. It has meant that I've kind of had this understanding of it. Yeah. But, yeah, my first kind of, I guess, big splurge was I bought my car when I'd got into the band after a few years. And it was one of those little Nissan figuros. Do you know those cars? I think, again, people would be expecting me to say, like, oh, I bought a range.

driver or I bought you know but that's so sensible because insurance would have been oh in a band hello I'm Saturdays and I'm 25 or whatever but then they'd say oh what's the car madam and I'd say oh it's a little Nissan Figaro and they'd go really I'd like yeah yeah that yeah that car you're thinking of yep that's the one that's the first thing I bought but I loved that car it was so cute it had that it was kind of a throwback to the 60s style and it was just adorable It would be like 50-50 is the car going to turn on today? I don't know. That added jeopardy was quite fun.

Am I going to be able to make it to work? But I remember being on a plane once with a friend of mine and we saw Craig David was sitting in, he was an economy or something or maybe it was business club or premium economy or something. He wasn't. And I remember this friend of mine who's very successful saying that shows he's going to going to be fine. And I said, what do you mean? He said, because he's smart enough to know. When the repel companies say, oh, we'll book you first class, Mr David, he's like, I'm paying for that. Totally. And actually, I've got no control over what kind of ticket they've bought. It could be

five times more expensive than the one I'd choose. Yeah. So actually, this is work. It's not pleasure for me. Yeah. I'm going to go to premium economy. Yeah. And obviously, even premium economy is expensive but what I'm saying is that most people would expect someone like Craig David to go first class but he was smart I really thought I always remembered that I thought yeah that's how you know people like bros have spoken really openly about that haven't they how they got into trouble because they just weren't no one educated them yeah actually yes I think everything happens at such a fast pace and I can't yeah I can't obviously speak for everyone's experience no with us you know I was 20 when I got into the Saturdays and it felt like it went from sort of zero to a hundred miles an hour and the last

thing you're really thinking of at that point is about you sort of you know paying your rent VOT registration you're just not really you're more focused on you know what's the next single going to be and the album title and all those kind of things so yeah I was quite fortunate I guess that I had a little bit of an understanding with that that. You heard your lovely daddy. Yeah. And so when you were growing up we've touched on the lab this is a Labrador that you had. A golden retriever yes. They're the best dogs. Oh my gosh the best. They're like the ones you see in the movies and you're like oh look at that dog. Well that to me that is slightly the dream family because you've got the golden retriever classic.

Accountant dad did your mom work at all? My mom did yeah my mom is completely different to my dad. My mom is like super creative she she was actually was a photographer for a little bit whilst my parents were together and then later on she went to do I guess kind of I call it more like sensible job she was like a doctor secretary so my mum always worked my mom actually at some points was working quite a few different jobs but yeah both of my parents were very hard workers but I always felt that they were around like I it would never be a case of me coming home from school and they weren't there. We were very fortunate in that in that regard that mom could always pick us up and things like that.

I can tell. I don't know what it is, but you can often tell, and it often is to do with how you were raised, when someone comes across as kind of quite well adjusted, that what you do, the minute you meet me, there's just, I don't know, but there's an energy about you, which feels, yeah, well adjusted. And I sometimes think what that's to do with is, having parents who you feel 100% safe with in terms of you're always going to be here for me. I'm free to go and explore and do my own thing but there's safety at home. Completely. That was always my upbringing. I felt so, so safe with my parents and with my sisters.

You know, they are still to this day my absolute best friends and there's nothing that they don't know. They know everything. We're one of those families where we just show. share it all. There's nothing that you sort of hold back. And I think I'm really lucky in that, in that kind of regard, and that, you know, there's not really any judgment. I mean, don't get me wrong, we would howl at each other and like properly belly laugh if one of us did something silly or, you know, went on a date and it went really bad. Like, we would love to hear the silly these stories but it was such a safe space like walking back into the house whether I've been at school or whether I've been at work that just felt like oh I'm

safe I'm at home and I'm with my favorite people in the world and when you were growing up what sort of a kid were you what would people have said about you how would they have described you if I just said oh Wally What's she like? I think there's like two different sides to me growing up. I loved to be like joking around. I think it's the thing of having two older sisters, the youngest one. It's kind of like you can get away with things, can't you?

I would always be like joking, especially with my classmates. I love to make people laugh. But the other side of me, I guess, was that school had its difficult days just only because I'm dyslexic so things like reading were always quite difficult and it meant that school just the sort of system of it and how it worked it was quite hard so I got very used to even at such a young age knowing that I would have to work really hard if I wanted to do well so you know doing things like homework in the evenings my mum bless her would sit and help read things to me just so that I could then go off and write okay if mum's read that to me now I can

go and actually answer the questions. Otherwise, just the reading of it all would take hours, like properly hours. I imagine something like that and kids don't understand. They just feel shame over any difference. Yeah. So I think with something like that as well, that can kind of affect your personality a bit. Definitely, definitely. Because you might become a bit more, a bit shy or less willing to speak out in class or something. Yeah. Yeah. I think it made me, I guess have that kind of element of doubt, which I could see that a lot of my other friends didn't have. The thought of reading out loud in front of my classmates was like the worst thing possible. I was like, please don't pick me, please don't pick me to read this paragraph.

Do you make excuses and things? Oh, always. Did you? You say, I need the toilet. Exactly that. I'd say, oh, I've just got to nip to the toilet and I'd nip out for a wee. And it was actually, that was when I got diagnosed when I was eight with dyslexia, because the teacher would say look she's she's often saying that she needs a weed just when it comes to her turn to have to read and it was just because of anxiety you know I didn't want to read in front of everybody it was good that you were in a school where you had someone that clocked that completely because sometimes teachers are just you know having to it's sort of crowd management sometimes and I think to be it was just you you know if you have a teacher that notices something like that

is just super helpful, isn't it? Yeah, it's so helpful. And I've actually spoken in Parliament a few years ago about the fact that we need more assessors because there'll be so many kids like me and people older, you know, people at university, people out now, you know, who are adults, who won't know that they're dyslexic.

And at least when I knew, it was kind of like, okay, everything makes sense now. I understand why this element of life is more, difficult and I really want to try and help if I possibly can in any way even if it's just talking about it but try and help that change to come about because I would hate to think there would be young kids especially who are struggling and actually if they knew they were dyslexic they'd be able to go oh okay these are the steps I can take to help me learn you know with reading and things like that but it's the good thing I would say about it is that it

has made me very sort of driven. You are quite driven, I can tell. And actually, interestingly, you kind of excelled academically, didn't you? In spite of that. And so I wonder, well, I say in spite of that. But do you think there was a part of you that felt partly driven because of that, you know, that you felt you had to work. People say it about women, don't know, we have to work 10 times as hard as a media

demand. No offence to my lovely producer. Will. Shout out Will. Who is not remotely mediocre. Will's a legend. You know, there are some mediocre men out there. And it's not you either, right?

Oh my God, this is a nightmare. We'll never work again. But, you know, you might have had the sense of, right, I need to really put the hours in here. Yeah. Or do you think you are quite, you're quite driven and ambitious anyway, aren't you? I can tell you on. I think I am.

Well, I definitely am, but I think that I got used to the fact of just knowing, okay, this isn't going to come easy. Yeah. Nothing's going to land on your plate. Like, that's never going to happen. So if you want to go and do something, whatever it is, you're going to have to work for it. And that's always been my attitude. There's no, like, oh, poor me, poor me. It's like, no, right, if this is what you want to do, Molly, you know, you're going to have to work hard.

So the teachers must have loved you. I bet you were quite polite. Were you quite respectful? I bet you were. I think I was, but I did often do strange things. Like I'd hand in my homework on like coloured sheets of paper. And they'd like, any reason for this small in? I'd be like, no, no, I just thought it'd be nice to hand you a piece of purple paper.

I don't know. I was just a little bit quirky. And I just don't know. I don't know why. I think, you know, maybe it's down to that thing, you know, at home, it was very much like, you know, can be who you want to be, you know, whatever, whatever makes you happy. And I think that's so important and something I try to continue with my girls. But I think it is just that thing of feeling really safe and secure at home. It allowed me to kind of be who I wanted to be outside.

And with your house, I feel like everyone would have wanted to come to your house, the three glamorous king girls. I love that you're saying that. I don't know, I don't think they're in there I do imagine this kind of blonde family, you know, everyone wanted to hang out with them like the Brady Bunch. And the accountant's done the Brady Bunch. He's done well for, he's provided well for his family. So it's the kind of, it's a lovely house. Um, what were we like? We were quite like, we were sort of, um, quite outdoorsy. Like we used to love playing sports and like we'd get quite stuck in. We weren't sort of the type of girls that would be sitting inside. you know colouring and making jewellery we're more sort of get outside

put your wellies on and just go and get stuck in with sports that's so good I like that that was really fun yeah it's a good way to raise women yeah definitely I mean we had so much fun was it competitive in your house

if you played games completely yeah I'm getting the picture I'm to be Judy Murray on this podcast and can I just say you're not sounding dissimilar to the Murray family. I wish I had his sporting ability.

I wish I had his success. And Judy's, my goodness, what a woman. But she said it was like hell. We still, Christmas Day, if a board game comes out, oh, you don't want to be at that table. If we're playing like Cludeau, it's like, I know it was definitely this one, you know. But yeah, very competitive, very.

But all with like humour. But my goodness, we'd want to win, you know. So whatever it was, charades, yeah, Cludeau, snakes and, you know, it was like, right. I think that's interesting. I'm starting to realise a lot on this podcast that people from successful kind of high-achieving families or who go on to be high profile, they're off and from. There's a slightly competitive environment. Gabby Logan, I mean, that was a sporting household. She had the same.

Okay. Tell you who else had it was James Middleton. who I had on this podcast said that when William came over he was kind of saying, I can't play games with you guys anymore. It's too much. So that's interesting that it's obviously something about that environment. You know, we're not talking about people to be miserable. We're just saying a healthy sense of...

Oh, completely. Yes, exactly. I don't know if it's because we're all so close in age as well. But if you can imagine, it was literally like growing up with your best friends. Like it really was that. We were just always, you know, in and out of each other's bedrooms. And, you know, we would often sort of do homework

together and things. And even with my best friends now as a grown-up, we always have a kind of an element of competition. You know, with Matt, who I've got the podcast with and the radio show, we are best friends. But my goodness, we love a competition. Like we love it. So I think I'm someone that loves a game.

I love a format and I love to get stuck into things. I love a game but not with you. I'm never playing with you, Molly King. I don't know if I should take offence to that. I'll never get out alive. I want to talk about when the music thing happened because presumably prior to that I feel like you were really good at sport.

It was something you were passionate about. And you ended up becoming an amazing skier, didn't you? To the point where you were sort of, weren't you representing sort of Team GB or you were getting involved in sort of major competitions? Yeah, so I started, I went for my first ski lesson when I was six. It was just because we were going on a ski holiday for the first time. My mum and dad had actually met on a ski holiday. So when my sisters and I were old enough, they're like, right, let's go on a ski. holiday it would be a really lovely thing to do and mum was like let's go to a dry ski

slope just so you kind of got the idea of how it works and I had a few lessons at a dry ski slope and the guy that was teaching me was like oh you know you should put Molly in for some more lessons she seems to be really enjoying this so I had more lessons and things just kind of progressed from sort of represented that club and represented the school and And then, yeah, it just kind of... I love the way you talked more. Things just kind of progressed.

Things didn't just kind of progress. You put the work in. You don't get good at that by doing nothing, by not practicing. Yeah, it was... Yeah, I did. I did put the work in. But I loved it. I loved the adrenaline.

Well, you're not frightened. Not at that age. Right. And do you think that's the key that if you do it when you're young, you lose the fear maybe? I think so. Yeah. I think so.

because my partner Stuart now wants to learn because he's never been. Something that Stuart Broad can't do, obsessed. More of England's greatest ever. Well, I don't care. Oh, me neither. Cricketing legend, but where's your skiing? Completely.

And I like to remind him of this, you know. I like to remind him. But sportsmen like to be good at every sport. Of course they do. Of course. That's why they all golf. Oh, don't get me started on. Does Stuart be golfing?

Does he? absolutely loves golf. They love golf. Tell him Stuart, we love you. But as people who love you, we have to say you're getting a bit clichéed, retired sportsman. I'll tell him that. I will tell him. Do you know, I've got your husband's bat, fiancé. Yeah. He appeared on Jonathan Ross's show and I used to really like cricket and he said, oh, I've got a signed bat from Stuart Broad. I keep it in my bedroom. You're joking. Not in my bedroom. Sorry, I'm a separate bedroom, not in my bedroom. But I keep it in case I'm in food. Oh my God, that's great. That's what we should do. You've got the actual Stuart Broad. You don't need the bat.

I still think we need the bats. Very safe having Stuart Broad signed bat by my, by the bedroom nearest my front door, because I feel if anyone broke in. Get the bats. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, completely. So, yeah, he wants to go skiing because he's never been allowed because of kind of insurance and working playing but I do think that learning at this age is way harder than when you're really young you're not so aware of you know all the things that can be scary can go and and when you were younger presumably when you started to get good at this did you think this is going to be a career I'm going to was that the goal at that point I suppose I'm just trying to work out was the desire to sing always there and was there a part of you thinking

that's not really sensible or practical or realistic? So the desire to sing was always there. Ever since I was, I've got a picture of me with my sisters when I must have been about five and I'm in a Kylie Minogue T-shirt. And the T-shirt is so big, it's down to my ankles. It's like a dress on me. But I loved...

Which era? Oh, locomotion. I loved Kylie. Like I... loved her and I still very much do. But that idea of just music and making music and performing and the joy that it gave me, I wanted to give

others. So as much as I... Were you embarrassed to admit it though in a way? Completely. Yeah, I would have been about it. I wouldn't tell anyone when I was young. It's embarrassing to say, you know, when you're a kid as well, it's like saying I, because it's difficult. It's kind of having to say, I think I'm good enough to be on stage. That's exactly it. It's kind of like, oh God, you rate yourself and it's like oh no I really don't but I just dream of this thing I just and I properly dreamt of it did you sing on your own private or did you know I

wasn't from a family that was at all in that world he's a discreet little traveler isn't he it barely know he's there what why does someone need to buy a like that what happened to you we get it you're here you're male oh my goodness yeah I wasn't in a oh well there he goes can I just say whoever his parents are please you should have given him a bit more attention but yeah that must that's I can see that because it's difficult there are some people of course who and you see it in childhood who are like I'm going to be the best I'm going to be oh I yeah I wasn't that I was quite insecure I still am quite insecure as an adult but it definitely

wasn't that I wasn't at like a stage school I didn't have like performing arts lessons I dreamt of that I dreamt of that but it was very much like Molly my parents would say Molly if you want to do that when you're older that's up to you but for now you're going to this school that your sisters are in and you're going to stay there and you're going to do your A levels and then you can decide what you want to do of course aren't they always parents so annoying but I would just always dream of it and I think it would be my escapism like if things were hard at school if I was

finding work hard just dreaming of you know making a music video being in a recording studio that was like my happy place that was just the thing that kept me really excited and inspired and so how did the Saturdays come about was Is that just something? Because presumably, had you sort of made the decision at that point, I love skiing, but this is what I want to do, performing. Yeah, so I was, I was 17 when I got to the point where it was like, right, you either need to step down from Team GB or.

What a dilemma. We've all had it. We've all been there. Okay. Tuesday. Don't. Don't. Step down from Team GB or be one of the most successful girl.

I can't decide. God's sake king. No, what's the line? Sounds really awful now. Molly's dilemma. Molly's relatable dilemma. No, I was 17 and the situation was do I stop school at this point? Do I go to sick form?

Right. Or do I go right? No, I'm going to go and live with the team and I'm going to throw everything in a skiing. And commit to everything to, you know, do a Chemy Alcott, basically. Exactly. Exactly. Yes, I know who she is. You really do know it all. And at that point, I was like, oh, the thing that I'm dreaming of still is this mad pop star dream.

Like, it's the thing that I was just a, it's just what I lived and breathed. It really was. And so I was like, no, I'm going to continue with school. I'm going to get my A levels. So I stopped skiing at that point. And I did my A-levels. I was meant to be going to university. And I decided on the day that you were meant to basically like commit,

I had that feeling in my tummy of like, I feel this sadness of like just saying, okay, I'm not going to give this pop thing a go. I'm not going to go to uni and get a proper job. You know, like my sister had, had sister's done. And I just thought, I can't, I just need to. I just need to give this a go.

If it doesn't work, fine. But at least I'll know I've given it a go. And I knew how, obviously I know how hard it is to do it. And I knew then. That takes balls, though. Because most of us end up, to be honest, the first part of my life, a lot of it, you know, when you look back on it

and I think a lot of it was following the script that I felt I should be doing, which is, you're a nice, girl that should get an English degree at a good university and then maybe get a job in publishing or something suitable. You know, it's only when you look back with hindsight that you see how you're just following a slight template. So have the balls to do that at your age, that takes, I suppose it takes a strong sense of who you are, you know, that's authenticity. It's like, that's your gut you acted on, wasn't it? It was my gut. And I had to follow it. And I just said to

myself if it doesn't happen within a year absolutely fine I'll know at least I will know I've given this a go and I ended up getting into a band with some friends there were four of us and we gigged up and down the country for two years basically doing any little festivals we could do basically just performing anywhere we could we would write all our own songs it was completely DIY we'd drive ourselves to gigs and we just try to to get our faces out there and get known as a band really. And after gigging with this band for two years,

I got a message on MySpace. Do you remember MySpace? From somebody who worked at Polydor, who said, look, I've seen you gigging for years. And was it an A&R person? It was an A&R guy, a guy called Jordan Jay, who's wonderful. And he said, look, we're putting together auditions for a band.

I bet you couldn't believe it was. when you saw that. Well, do you know what the funny thing is? I actually said to him, I was like, do you know what? I thank you so much. I was like, I can't do this, so I'm in this band. I'm not going to do that to my friends. And he was like, okay, like, do your thing.

And I was like, I can't do that to these girls. Because we've been gigging for years together. So when did you decide that you could do that? So six months, about six months later, it might have been a bit longer, about six months later, one of the girls in the band said, I think I'm going to step away from this now. And he went, yes.

It was hard, though, because we kind of knew this isn't really going anywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As much as we had tried. But did you assume that maybe the Polidore guy had gone elsewhere at that point? Oh, completely. I knew the band had been put together. It was a different band. So they had been formed and they had been put out and it actually hadn't worked.

He then contacted me again and said, look, in hindsight, that band actually wouldn't have been right for you. but we're auditioning again for another band. And I was like, oh my gosh. So maybe by being loyal, you did the right thing. Yeah, I did. Because you ended up with the right people. Completely. So he said, look, come to these auditions.

So I went to these auditions that were, it was also advertised in the stage newspaper. Do you remember that? I wouldn't have liked that if it was advertised in the stage news. Because I think, hang on, I've been asked along in a bespoke way. I've been invited and all these randoms are turning up. And I'm sorry, do you want me in this band or not? I would have hated that stage advert would have really pissed me off.

He's made it to not exclusive enough. Yeah, you wouldn't have been happy. I turned up and there were hundreds of girls. You would have been fuming, wasn't you? Was there a cue? There was, yeah. Oh, I don't. Like up the stairs.

You know, like when you see in like those old, like fame music video and things like that, just like hundreds of girls there queuing. and we went through quite a few different rounds. Did you see any of the girls? Yeah, I saw Una and we started talking about jeans. I remember I loved her jeans and she was like, thanks so much. And we were chatting. I think we were the only two that were at that first audition round.

So I think there were five rounds. And Una and I, I saw her at the first round. I saw her again at the second round. and then I think it was the third or fourth round where then I think Rochelle and Frankie and Vanessa came in. I remember thinking, oh, I haven't seen you guys before

and they came in later. And did it definitely feel right? Just that, I bet it. When you know, you know, it's like a relationship, isn't it? It is, it is. It just felt like the minute, the minute that we had all these auditions and we were put together,

it was quite funny. We were told, right, this is the final round of auditions, girls. you're going to come to the record label to Polydor. And so we got there and we're waiting downstairs in this like, you know, beautiful, amazing reception. And we're looking around and we're thinking, hold on a minute, there's only five of us here.

Like, this is weird. So we kept saying to each other, do you think it's us? Or do you think there's more girls upstairs already? Or what do you think's happening here? And we went upstairs to the label head's office, Colin Barlow. And he was like, right, girls. So this is what we're planning.

This is what we think that the next few weeks and months are going to look like. How you're going to start recording? Is that you're going to blah, blah, blah. We were like, sorry. Have we got the job? Are we in the band? And they were like, oh gosh, sorry, yes, it is you guys. We were like, this poor guy, has never heard five girls scream so loud.

Can you imagine if he'd have said, oh no, it's just four of you. Sorry, Molly. One of you's got a go, yeah. We didn't tell you. We've called in all five, but I'm afraid you are going home. what an amazing it was it was completely amazing and was your dad I imagine because your dad was obviously around at that point and was he was it helpful having him involved just in terms of looking over your contract and it's a whole new world isn't it so it is yeah my dad didn't

really get too involved um with that you know because you had a manager presumably yeah and dad was very much like, as was mum, both of them were like, you know, we don't know this world. Right, right. They weren't the kind of parents that were there like, let me have a look at this. They were very much like. They weren't Chris Jenner's. Yeah. So they were very much like, gosh, you know, we don't know how this works.

So we hope you're in good hands and, you know, let's see how it goes kind of thing. And did it feel, Molly, very whirlwind? It must have felt. Because when it first starts happening as well, I imagine, did it. it go very quickly all that like very quickly really like being styled and you've got a team of people around you haven't you suddenly you've got you've suddenly got you know stylists who come in and they're styling you not not like your day-to-day wear it's more things like your stage costumes and you're all you're all you know you're all wearing the

same dress and you're all wearing your tights and your heels and it felt like oh my goodness me this is this is nuts and you know this was a very different kind of world, I can't kind of stress that enough. I remember a makeup artist coming in and she said to me, she says, how do you like your makeup? And I was like, I have no idea. Like I just wore concealer in the, and a bit of mascara and some Vaseline. I was like, I really don't, I don't know. Like, please like, whatever you think, you know, things like wearing fake eyelashes and having my hair tonged and. And bear in mind as well, we should say that was the era. when that was all huge.

Yeah. In that now, I think, you know, it's possible to have the kind of career that you had and, you know, be paired down. That wasn't an option for, you know. It was very much like, get dressed up. Yeah, exactly. It was the sort of here come the girls' boots here, I call it.

You know, it was like that was a very aspirational look. It's how we all wanted to look. Yeah. You know, but it was high glam. It was kind of club glam. It was. It was like we were going to a nightclub. There was no Billy Elish in a hoodie.

No, it was very much like you had a stiletto on at six o'clock in the morning on Good Morning Britain. Do you know what I mean? They'd be like, oh my gosh, the girls have got their hit stilettos on. A false eyelash. Yeah. Oh my gosh. You know, that's the bit I feel most sorry for performers is when they have to do. And we love the morning shows.

Don't get me wrong. Love you and all who's sailing you. But when they do it less now because they realize it's a bit weird. Like they wouldn't have that on Jimmy. they go, and the death toll has just risen. Now with their new single, and then you cut to the girls with the clattering stilettos. It's so weird.

And everyone's just woken up and they're in the studio. It's so awful. Everyone's at home like brushing their teeth and there's us like six inch stilettos, literally. It's like, what's going on here, girls? But you had to work. It was pretty grueling, I imagine, just in terms of you give over your life to that.

Yeah, you do. And you do need to. You know, you need to give it your everything. It is a dream job. And I never, ever took that for granted. Like, I never ever did. But it's intense. You know, you get used to the fact that if somebody,

you know, if a friend of yours is getting married, you're probably not going to be at the wedding. You know you're probably not going to go on holidays. But you're living the dream. So it's not like, again, you're not sitting there going, oh, poor me. It's an amazing job. I look back at it now and think,

my goodness what a time what was the hardest thing about it molly what was the thing you were you weren't expecting in terms of just navigating fame I guess yeah I think that I didn't and I still don't have a very thick skin so if somebody does say something as much as I would love to sit here and say to you oh I can shake it off and it doesn't get me down it does and I think that you know friends and family can say to me you know stop thinking about this now Molly come on but I think it's when it's things that you're insecure about yourself anyway when you see others kind of pick up on it and point it out and when you

say others do you mean sort of back then particularly newspapers it was it was still a different era then in terms of the way women particularly could be written about yeah I think yeah it was different but I think yeah and just any kind of of that negative criticism right I'm I'm I think I just I wish that I could be a little bit more like oh whatever I'm confident enough of myself that I know you know I've got friends who are you know who work in this industry as well and and I admire so much just how strong they are and how confident they are that they are that they they're confident enough in themselves to go, well, I know that's not true.

I know that I'm good at this and I'm good at that. But I feel like sometimes it will really knock me. And I'm like, come on, Molly. Come on, woman. Do you know what, though? I think that is amazing. When people say I don't care what people think, I think congratulations, but also, by the way, I think you might be a sociopath.

Because that is almost sociopathic in some ways. There are people that genuinely don't care. Yeah. And I have, I wish I could be them, but then I wish I could be them because I think there is maybe kind of an empathy or sensitivity chip missing a little bit. Because that's normal for human beings. We're programmed to want to fit, you know, to want to work within this framework of this society. And when you feel, oh, that's a, throughout that person doesn't like me. Yeah.

That's a normal response, I think. that is like reassuring to hear it because it's still something now that you know I guess I want to please and like you say it's about that fitting in thing and I think it all probably comes back to school and feeling a little bit different from my friends who could do you did you think with the Saturdays as well because I imagine being in a girl band there's something lovely about how it's an experience you go through to that's utterly unique to you, that no one else will ever understand that. And that's unique to every band, isn't it?

Yeah. Only you guys lived that. Yes, completely. But on the other hand, also, it's interesting what you're saying. There's also things where you might feel negatively compared to each other, because a lot of that goes on as well. It's, you know, so... I mean, I didn't ever feel that comparison with the other girls, and I would I hope that they didn't either.

You know, we were so tight. And we still are now. We've still got a WhatsApp group. We were literally speaking on it, I'd say three, four days ago. Isn't that lovely? We would, I guess, we were each other's best friends and still had that closeness now. But even if we haven't spoken for six months,

you know, you pick up the phone and it's like your sisters. There's none of the polite, awkward conversation. How have you been? It's straight into the thing. We don't listen. Why haven't you picked up my call? I've been calling you for three days. You know, it's that kind of thing, which I love.

And I think that is just what you get from having experienced something quite intense together. I really hope you love part one of this week's Walking the Dog. If you want to hear the second part of our chat, it'll be out on Thursday. So whatever you do, don't miss it. And remember to subscribe so you can join us on our walks every week.