Elizabeth Day Podcast

Big Zuu is a double Bafta winning TV cook who presents Big Zuu’s Big Eats on Dave. His former guests have included Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan and Mel B. He's also a grime MC rapper who has released four albums. He joins me to talk about the impact of his upbringing - his mum arrived to a West London council estate from Sierra Leone when she was pre…

SPENCER MATTHEWS! I confess, I enjoyed this conversation SO MUCH. It's not just because I'm an unabashed viewer of Made in Chelsea from the early days.* It's also because I've watched Spencer transcend his (decidedly not great) reality TV persona to become a successful entrepreneur, broadcaster, husband and father. I've always had a soft spot for h…

I can't find the right words to do enough justice to Yusra Mardini's story. I think it's best that you just listen to the episode. Suffice it to say, she's one of the most impressive people I've ever met. Yusra grew up in Damascus. When war broke out, she and her sister embarked on a perilous journey to Germany to seek asylum. En route, they nearly…

TW: miscarriage; infertility. Oh Alex Jones, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Like many of you, I already felt I knew Alex before I met her. She is one of the most trusted and famliar faces on our TV screen as co-host of BBC's The One Show. But in person, she was EVEN lovelier than I could have imagined: warm, funny and totally genuine.…

We're back for a brand new season. Well...you didn't think we were ever GONNA GIVE YOU UP did you? (See what I did there?) My childhood self is utterly thrilled that we get to open Season 16 with the legendary Rick Astley. The singing superstar who gained worldwide fame in the 1980s with hits such as Never Gonna Give You Up and who is now being dis…

TW: discussions around suicide The period between Christmas and New Year can be tough for many. That's why I wanted to bring you an episode designed to help you feel less alone, where my guest talks openly about his own mental health and his desire to make others take care of theirs. Roman Kemp has presented the Capital FM breakfast show since 2017…

All this week, I'll be dropping the recordings of our How To Fail live shows, held at Shoredtich Town Hall earlier this year. On our final night, we welcomed Craig David to the stage and we were treated to a beautiful, vulnerable conversation (with added singing!) Craig brought such generosity and open-heartedness to this event, both with me and wi…

All this week, I'll be dropping the recordings of our How To Fail live shows, held at Shoredtich Town Hall earlier this year. Today it's the turn of the very lovely Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The kitchen disco queen joins us to talk about being dropped by her record label, being rubbish at drawing and the challenges of juggling all the different aspects …

TW: eating disorders All this week, I'll be dropping the recordings of our How To Fail live shows, held at Shoredtich Town Hall earlier this year. Now, I know we shouldn't have favourites. Having a podcast and labelling one of your episodes as your 'favourite' is akin to choosing your preferred child. But, sod it, this is one of my favourite conver…

All this week, I'll be dropping the recordings of our How To Fail live shows, held at Shoredtich Town Hall earlier this year. To kick off, I asked back one of our most cherished guests of all time: the inimitable Mo Gawdat. As regular listeners of How To Fail know, Mo first appeared on this podcast way back in season four. His interview blew my min…

Dame Sheila Hancock is one of our most esteemed actresses: her 1966 Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane earned her a Tony nomination and on TV, she has appeared in everything from Dr Who to Kavanagh QC, in which she starred alongside her late husband, John Thaw. She has also been a semi-regular contestant on the BBC Radio 4 panel game Just a M…

TW: discussions around suicide, infertility and miscarriage Trinny Woodall has been part of my life for years - even if we had never actually, well...met. Like many of you, I was riveted by the success of the makeover TV programme she presented with Susannah Constantine, What Not To Wear. Later, I would start buying Trinny London products and becam…

Today, in a special bonus episode, I have the joy of bringing you one of my favourite people - the broadcaster, journalist and now charity boss, Jo Elvin. She's an Australian powerhouse who I've been lucky enough to work with over several years (first when she was the editor of Glamour, then later when I became a columnist for You magazine under he…

TW: discussion around suicide, body dysmorphia and disordered eating. For my season finale, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to interview one of the most amazing people I know. Conveniently, that person is also my husband, Justin Basini, so it was pretty easy to co-ordinate diaries. As well as being my husband (arguably his mos…

I am obsessed with today's guest and I'm not even going to pretend otherwise. Geena Davis, the star of such seminal movies as Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own and the underrated classic, The Long Kiss Goodnight, TURNED UP AT MY ACTUAL HOUSE to record a witty, warm and fascinating conversation.* We talk about her feelings…

Lorraine Kelly has been on our TV screens for the best part of 40 years. Born to working-class, teenage parents, she turned down a university place to join the local paper and then BBC Scotland as a researcher. By 1984, she was TV-AM’s Scotland correspondent. Today, she’s at the helm of the eponymous Lorraine show live every weekday morning. In a s…

Tom Daley is an Olympic gold medallist diver, a three time World Champion and the first ever British person to win four Olympic diving medals. He's also, for the purposes of this podcast, just such a lovely, joyous person. He joins me to talk about diving failures, choking at the Rio Olympics, anxiety, body image, the curse of perfectionism, parent…