Inspirational Women from the Cellar: Pop Star Turned Horticulturalist, Kim Wilde

On this week's episode we're chatting to one of the most instantly recognisable voices in British comedy. Lucy Beaumont was raised by her mother – the playwright Gill Adams in Hull, she went to school and University in the city and got her first acting jobs at the Hull Truck Theatre. Her comedy breakthrough was almost accidental – her first stand-up gigs were an attempt to conquer her stage fright – she entered the ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ Competition and went on to reach the final. Even after she left Hull – the city features heavily in her work – she made three series of the radio sitcom To Hull & Back, and co-wrote the Channel 4 comedy ‘Hullraisers’ She’s become a regular on our screens on comedy shows like Live at the Apollo, Would I Lie to You? QI, Taskmaster, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and the Bafta-nominated mockumentary ‘Meet the Richardson’s’ - an exaggerated version of her marriage to Jon Richardson. Last year millions watched Lucy get murdered in a Scottish Castle on Celebrity Traitors and she’s currently appearing alongside Johnny Vegas, Lesley Joseph, Shobna Gulati and a cameo from Sir Tom Courtenay in a sell-out 40th Anniversary revival of Jim Cartwright’s play ‘Road’ about 80s life in a Northern Town which has received rave reviews. Her next stand-up tour ‘Bad at Quiz Shows, Good with Weirdos’ will be her biggest yet – and it’s fair to say that right now she’s at the top of her game. Her material has always been autobiographical – she’s shared her stories of Hull, motherhood, and marriage – so I’m looking forward to finding out what this next chapter holds… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on this episode of White Wine Question Tim is Joanna Page, an actor and presenter from Swansea, who was told whilst she was training at RADA that she was not a bad actress, the problem was that she was Welsh… Luckily for all of us she didn’t let these comments hold her back, and ended up leaving RADA early to join the Royal National Theatre and then the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in the star-studded 1999 BBC adaptation of David Copperfield, and then what proved to be one of the nation’s all-time favourite Christmas films, Love Actually. She seems to have a knack of winning roles in some of our most beloved shows, playing the titular Stacey Shipman in the BAFTA-winning series Gavin & Stacey alongside Ruth Jones, James Corden, and Matthew Horne - the final episode was one of the most-watched TV shows of the last two decades, with an audience of over 20 million. She has four children with her actor husband James Thornton, who she starred with in David Copperfield, but in a truly Dickensian plot-twist she didn’t meet him at the time – it took a later introduction to throw them together from drama school friend Maxine Peake So sit back and enjoy this chat with Joanna Page as she discusses that Gavin & Stacey finale, Hollywood's very own Margot Robbie being a fan, and how she feels about nude scenes. If you're looking for more information about the National Lottery Open Week that Joanna mentioned - it runs from 7-15 March, and it’s your chance to unlock some of the UK’s hidden gems. You can show any National Lottery ticket, Scratchcard or Instant Win Game and get free or discounted entry, plus special offers, at hundreds of funded venues across the UK - from BFI Escapes to creative spaces and iconic hidden gems like Dover’s wartime tunnels and the Eden Project’s living clay sculpture. To find a participating venue near you, visit www.nationallotteryopenweek.com Cheers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Time for our final look back at the best couples' conversations from our archive. This week we're heading back to one of our live episodes. After our interview Martin & Shirlie were good enough to stick around and record a special episode answering questions from our audience. You can find the interview in our archive but we wanted to play this bonus episode - Martin and Shirlie were on EXCELLENT form talking about Kemp's Crunchies (not at all what Kate was thinking!), Martin's gardening tribute to his dad, and the film you never knew Martin was involved in! Our 500th episode is coming soon - and we'd love to hear from you. Whether you're new to our podcast (welcome!) or an OG listener - we want to know which episodes you've enjoyed the most. Just drop us an email to [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you. We'll be back on Thursday with a brand new episode. Cheers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Stewart is a true music icon. Born in Sunderland in 1952 his first love affair was with football – dreaming of a career playing for the Black Cats, but a knee injury and his parents’ divorce changed his entire outlook. Music filled a hole - despite a music teacher who described his dreams as ‘idiotic’ it became his passion, inspired by his Dad’s high-tech (for the 70s!) stereo system, a Robert Johnson blues album and some eye-opening teenage experimentation with acid. He signed to Elton John’s record label shortly after leaving school and after several false starts he met Annie Lennox in 1976 and formed a band together called The Tourists – a pre-curser to the significantly more successful 80s project The Eurythmics . In the 45 years since then Dave has done it all – as an artist he’s a Grammy winner, as a producer he’s won multiple Brit Awards, as a song-writer he’s won the prestigious Silver Clef award, he’s won a Golden Glove for composing a song with Mick Jagger for Alfie and in 2024 he teamed up with Joss Stone to write a musical version of The Time Traveller’s Wife. It’s hard to put his contribution to music into context because his impact on popular music is so vast. Let me list just SOME of the artists he’s produced, written for or recorded with: Paul McCartney, Bono, Aretha Franklin, Alison Moyet, Bryan Ferry, Sinead O’Connor, No Doubt, Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Geldoff, Bryan Ferry, & Stevie Nicks. In fact in 2011 he briefly formed a supergroup comprised of himself, Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman. He’s one of the great innovators – in 1998 his album SlyFi became the first album to be released on the internet – it predates Google, and MySpace and Facebook wouldn’t be launched for another SEVEN years. Now in his early 70s he continues to inspire – until Covid he owned and ran a creative members club in London, and through his new venture Rare Entity he continues to push musical boundaries and work with some of the world’s biggest names in music. Enjoy our chat with an icon. Cheers! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Valentine's weekend may have been and gone, but throughout February we're looking back at some of our favourite couples' conversations from our archive. This week it's Strictly Come Dancing's power couple - Janette Manrara & Aljaž Škorjanec. Hear how their romance bloomed on the touring dance show 'Burn the Floor', why they only row once every three years and the best engagement story we've ever had on the podcast. Enjoy the conversation - we'll be back on Thursday with a brand new episode. Cheers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.