This week’s guest is Patrick Grant - best known for his time as a judge on BBC1’s Great British Sewing Bee since the show started in 2013. But he has also turned around the fortunes of the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons after seeing it advertised for sale in the back of a newspaper, won Menswear Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2010 and has worked with some of the world’s best known luxury brands such as Cartier, Rolls Royce, Christian Louboutin and Alexander McQueen. 

He now owns and runs Community Clothing; a brand which supports local textile manufacturers in Britain. Last year, he published Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish - How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier - his treatise on we all need to turn our backs on fast fashion and the general trend to just keep accumulating more stuff. 

Our discussion reflects Patrick’s dedication to his mission to convince the world to invest in longer lasting pieces from local manufacturers rather than enriching a few billionaire owners of global companies. We also chatted about his idea of a perfect day as well as a cult movie that is considered one of the best British films of all time. 

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Alexandra Haddow is a writer and comedian who sold out her debut show, Not My Finest Hour, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 as well as her follow-up show, Third Party, in 2024 - which she also took on tour around the UK this year. 

Alexandra has opened for comedy legends such as Frankie Boyle, Tommy Tiernan and Bill Bailey and has contributed to Have I Got News For You, The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 and co-hosted the pop culture hit podcast, Sentimental Garbage. She has written for The Guardian, Metro, TimeOut and The Sunday Times Magazine among others. 

In 2023 she won the West End Comedy Club Working Class Bursary. 

When not being an in-demand comedian, she runs her own indie, rock’n’roll, and britpop club night Indie Amnesty which has sold out nights in Glasgow, London and as far afield as Barcelona.

Over the course of our conversation we touched on the joy of seeing women being depicted on screen as they are in real life: as flawed and irritating as well as fun and sexy. Alexandra shared her fascination with learning about the private lives of couples through the podcast she selected as well as how in awe she is of her friend who has written a fantasy novel. 

Alexandra’s choices:

TV Show - Pulling

Film - An Education

Podcast - You’ll Do

Book - Skipshock, Caroline O’Donoghue

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Amaka Okafor is an actor who has starred in Bodies on Netflix, The Responder and The Split on BBC One and the film version of the Take That musical Greatest Day. 

In 2023 Screen International named her as a Star of Tomorrow and she is starring in the upcoming Netflix series Black Rabbit alongside Jason Bateman and Jude Law this September - so it’s safe to say she is going places!

Over the course of our conversation, we spoke about race as it was her love of Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop that made her want to be an actress, the importance of representation and female friendship as demonstrated by her TV choice Insecure and the joy from the unexpected in the podcast Heavyweight. With her book choice Rebecca we explored the protagonist’s tendency to make herself small and insignificant and how that is a behaviour still common among women almost one hundred years later. 

Amaka’s choices:

Film - Beverly Hills Cop

TV Show - Insecure

Podcast - Heavyweight

Book - Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

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Shabaz Ali is a social media sensation with 1.8 million followers on Instagram and 2 million on TikTok. Known by the handle @shabazsays, he judges the rich and famous from the comfort of his own bed all while shrouded in his signature fleecy blanket. His videos achieve many millions of views thanks to his sharp sense of humour and refusal to be cowed by anyone’s fame.  

This success has led to his decision to step away from his previous role as a chemistry teacher to write an Amazon bestselling book about social media and to take to the stage as a comedian with his own tour earlier this year.  

Not content with just two new career paths, Shabaz has also started his own weekly podcast “I’m Rich You’re Poor” - the same title as his book - where he and his best friend Sofia chat about pop culture, gossip, telly and the ridiculousness of social media. 

Over the course of our discussion, Shabaz shared how deeply he cares about advocacy for women and equality as well as the dangers of social media. We discussed his fascination with gossip and how Bollywood cinema has warped his expectation of love.  

Shabaz choices: 

Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 

Movie: Khahaani 

Podcast: British Scandal 

TV Show: Black Mirror…and Friends 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.