- 24 minutes ago
The One Show - Season Episode 79
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:12Hello and welcome to the start of your week on The One Show, live on BBC One and I play
00:16it with Roman Ken. And Alex Jones. Now Sebastian Sarway might have made the headlines with
00:21his record-breaking sub two-hour run at the London Marathon yesterday. What a ridiculous
00:26time. Unbelievable. But we also wanted to say a big well done to everyone who took part,
00:30including Sophie Rayworth, who was here last week talking about it, and of course, our very
00:34own Clara. Well done, Clara. Oh, my heroine. Well done, Clara. And one of our guests tonight
00:38shows no sign of slowing down. Dame Maureen Lipman will be here as she prepares to celebrate
00:43her 80th birthday and hit the road on tour all in the same week. Yeah, she's starring in
00:49a brand new all-singing, all-dancing play about a woman who's so full of joy she bursts into
00:54song everywhere she goes, just like Alex Jones. It's packed full of famous songs, including
00:59the Hollywood classic singing in the rain. We sing. And speaking of movie magic, Grammy
01:04and Tony-nominated singer Josh Groban will be sharing his favourite film soundtracks for
01:09his new album, featuring everything from The Lion King to The Godfather. And completing our
01:14line-up is the Don of Radio 2. Jeremy Vine, he'll be keeping us all on the edge of our
01:19seats
01:19with his latest murder mystery novel. And he'll be revealing which Hollywood star he's
01:24already got his eye on as his dream leading man. Also coming up ahead of next week's anniversary
01:29of VE Day, former Royal Marine Commando JJ Chalmers is put through his paces in the Scottish Highlands
01:35to find out how one house became not only the birthplace of the commandos, but also the inspiration
01:41behind special forces all around the world. Yeah, lots in the show tonight. But first, water
01:46pollution is something that's once again in the news today, as the High Court has been hearing
01:50the UK's biggest ever environmental pollution claim involving three rivers along the Welsh-English
01:56border. The state of our waterways is something that Joe Crowley knows all too well after numerous
02:01investigations over the years. And recently, he's been finding out how some new technology
02:06could make a real difference.
02:10From testing the Thames to rewilding helping to filter rivers, the One Show has tracked water
02:16pollution, a concern recently reflected in the drama Dirty Business.
02:20Some things are changing. There's better monitoring of wastewater releases into rivers and more
02:25investment going into sewage works. But with only a third of the UK's rivers in good ecological
02:31health, according to the Rivers Trust, there's still a long way to go.
02:35In the last two decades, we've looked at everything from pollution to protection. Since 2019, Lancashire's
02:42River Ribble has improved through community action and habitat restoration. Work on Sheffield's
02:48River Don has turned one of Europe's most polluted waterways into a salmon breeding site for the
02:53first time in 200 years.
02:55And in 2024, we joined Olympic rowers testing the water for sewage on the River Thames, uncovering
03:02high phosphate and nitrate levels. This prompted new safety guidance and national action to protect
03:08our rivers. But across the UK, the situation remains fragile.
03:13All in all, we're seeing really poor health in our rivers. You know, in England, only about 15% of
03:23them are in good health. In Scotland, still only two thirds of the rivers are actually healthy.
03:28In Northern Ireland, it's only about a third. And Wales, only about 44%. So we really need concerted effort
03:37to fix our rivers for all of our benefit.
03:41Simon became worried there was a serious problem with the stream near his Suffolk home.
03:46We suddenly noticed there was a total absence of wildlife here and that the fish had gone,
03:54the plants in the stream had gone.
03:57Did you have any idea of where it had come from or what might have happened?
04:00Yeah, as a medical student, I'd done a toxicology course. So I sort of had a feeling that there was
04:06a toxic effect that had been at play here in the stream. But this was a theory rather than a
04:13fact.
04:14But one company is hoping to help in situations like this by using high-tech,
04:19unique sensors to detect pollution. So Matt, what is this? Talk me through it.
04:25It's a very small self-contained unit that can be deployed very easily in the rivers.
04:29The cost of river monitoring varies widely, from hundreds of thousands for large-scale fixed
04:35sensors to between £2,000 to £3,000 for ones like Matt's.
04:39The system will automatically take a sample of the water and from that sample we can look at
04:46something called eDNA, which is environmental DNA, which can tell us what bacteria is present,
04:51but it can also tell us from a forensic point of view what the main source of that pollution was,
04:56whether it was agricultural or human or natural. Matt's colleague Kat tells me the system has
05:02already had success, identifying pollution from a nearby farm. We've had ammonia levels trigger the
05:10sensors and then we've analysed the eDNA. The analysis identified the source as being from pigs. The next
05:17step was to narrow down the exact location of the spill. Because we have 14 sensors over the catchment,
05:24we could pinpoint those hot spots. So we then found a movable pig unit and was just going straight into
05:32the river. Wow. You've sensed the pollution, got the evidence, you know it's coming from pig farming and
05:38you can go and have a web with that farmer and solve the problem. Exactly that. Fortunately for Simon,
05:44some of Matt's sensors were put into his local stream and they were able to give an idea of what
05:49was causing the issues. We found that there are fluctuating high levels of ammonia which are
05:55toxic to wildlife, but there are other sources of pollution. We have a sewage plant up the valley,
06:04but we also have a number of things going on in the local agricultural community. So for the first time,
06:10you're getting a true picture of what's going on. Yes. And true pictures are complicated. It's not a
06:13simple villain, which is what you suspected it might be. That's right. Our rivers are precious,
06:18but incredibly vulnerable. And the more we can all work together and use new technology to monitor
06:24what's really going on, the more likely it is we can achieve clean rivers for us all to enjoy and
06:30protect
06:30for many years to come.
06:34Oh, thank you, Joe. And the Big River Watch survey is taking place this week. So if you'd like to
06:39get
06:39involved, more details can be found on our website, bbc.co.uk slash The One Show.
06:44Yeah. Time now to say hello to tonight's guest. It's Radio 2's Jeremy Vine, singer Josh Groban,
06:49and all-round National Treasure Day, Maureen Litmer.
06:56Welcome all three. Well, the thing is, love is in the air. We have to say congratulations. Maureen,
07:01since we saw you last, you've got married. I did. And Josh has got engaged. Yes, I did.
07:06Oh, yeah. There we are. I recommend it. You did a smart thing. Absolutely. I've got it for you.
07:12Yeah. Come on, Jeremy. Here's your news. Yeah. He's pregnant. He's pregnant. Okay, yes, that's it.
07:20Oh, my goodness. We'll be chatting to Josh and Jeremy very soon, but we are starting with Maureen,
07:28who's heading out on tour all over the UK with a brand new play called Allegra. Now,
07:33it's a comedy about a woman so joyful that she bursts into song at every possible opportunity.
07:39Maureen, tell us more about Allegra then and playing her, because she sounds like a lot of fun.
07:44It will be one day. Yes, it will be probably in Aberdeen. It'll be incredible fun.
07:51She's relentlessly happy and it drives everyone mad. And they really want to sort of bring her down and
07:57make her more like everybody else. And she thinks nothing of going into the the Indian restaurant and
08:04doing a rendition of everything's coming at roses. And so that's that's what I'm living with.
08:09I have to sing. I have to dance. And I have to speak all at the same time.
08:16But you're a triple threat. This is fine. I am. I am a quadruple threat, actually,
08:20because I can't really do any of them, but I'm having a good go.
08:23And it's lovely because, you know, we're living in a world of of vitriol and nastiness.
08:31And here comes this woman and she's just, you know, I find joy every day.
08:37And and and she's batty. I mean, you would call her probably neurodivergent if you had the vocabulary.
08:45And everybody's just, you know, there's a policeman, there's a brother, there's a carer.
08:50And they're just trying to sort of keep her level, but she can't. And so she she's got an orchestra
08:57in her head.
08:58And so this is what we're taking around the country to cheer everybody.
09:02It sounds brilliant.
09:03It sounds so much fun. Are you a little bit like Allegra at home? Are you singing around the house
09:07all the time?
09:08Well, my late husband used to say, if she's not singing, get out of the house, because I do.
09:15I sing and I don't even know I'm doing it in the back of Texas and things.
09:20And people are always saying, you know, you're very happy today.
09:22And I say, why, why, why do you think I'm happy? I'm as miserable as sin.
09:28Yeah, no, I do. And I sing and I growl.
09:32Oh, yeah. OK.
09:33Yes, I don't know I'm doing it.
09:34Well, that's veering into different territory now, isn't it?
09:39Yeah, we'll get to the marriage later. Yes.
09:42And Josh, with advice like yours, though, you must do a lot of singing in the house.
09:46Well, in fact, we know that you sing in the shower.
09:48I do sing in the shower. Thank you for having me sing in the shower.
09:50That's a pleasure.
09:51During the pandemic, that was a great acoustics for me.
09:54Yeah, I sing. I sing to our dogs.
09:56I sing. Sometimes I'll just be singing around just in a room by myself.
09:59And my fiance will just be like, are you OK in there?
10:02This is just the brain. There's just songs going on in my head all the time.
10:05It goes through your head all night. Yes.
10:07If you have a song, you know, we have Dream A Little Dream.
10:11And it's three o'clock in the morning.
10:13And in my head, I'm just singing.
10:17And I sometimes do a little shimmy as well.
10:21Unfortunately, David is born the same year as I am.
10:24And so we've got the same song, but we have been known to be singing at four o'clock in
10:28the morning.
10:29Wow. Yeah.
10:30Are you far away from the neighbours?
10:31I mean, the neighbours are fine with that?
10:33We don't bother with neighbours.
10:34Fine. Good.
10:35That's exactly it.
10:36But they are on TikTok, Maureen.
10:38People love to see that.
10:39Oh, absolutely.
10:39Yeah.
10:40Maureen, one of the songs, obviously, is, of course, singing in the rain.
10:44I mean, yeah.
10:45I mean, look, we've got some rehearsal footage here, though.
10:47It looks fantastic.
10:48I mean, how are you finding, you know, I guess at this stage rehearsing all the big numbers?
10:54I'm just looking at myself and thinking, you idiot.
10:58No, I love it.
11:00It's a workout, but it is, you know, I'm not...
11:04The last time I did this sort of thing was 20 years ago.
11:07Wow.
11:07And so I'm finding it quite tough.
11:11But I have people around me, I have a very good director, choreographer, Stephen Mears,
11:16and I'm forever hopeful.
11:18I think people will really, it's unusual.
11:22Yeah.
11:23It sounds brilliant.
11:25It sounds like medicine for the soul, Maureen.
11:27Yeah.
11:28You've got quite...
11:28You want to come?
11:29I want to come.
11:30I want to be there.
11:30Yeah, yeah, I want to be there.
11:31I want to hear the growling.
11:32What we've got is in every town we're asking a local choir to come in and sort of sing with
11:39us at the end, you know, it's a kind of pick-me-up feeling.
11:42Congrats on the singing role.
11:43Yeah, that's me.
11:44Yeah, there you go.
11:45That's it.
11:46And we had Hugh Jackman on the show this time last week.
11:49That Australian boy who I once worked with.
11:52That's the Australian boy.
11:52Yes.
11:52Yes.
11:53And you were in Oklahoma, weren't you, with him in the 90s.
11:56Are you still in touch with Hugh?
11:57Oh, yes.
11:58Yes.
11:58He's a very loyal chap.
12:00And in fact, he invited me when I was doing Corrie in Manchester.
12:04He invited me to come to his one-man show, which was phenomenal.
12:08I mean, he is a most exceptional performer.
12:11And I took six people from Coronation Street.
12:13I went shopping in the day.
12:15I went into his prayer circle.
12:17He invited me to come and sort of join in everybody while they had this kind of,
12:22it's going to be a great show.
12:23And then I sat in the auditorium and suddenly he stood, we've got in tonight, I wonder, and
12:29he made me stand up and turn around.
12:31And it was only at the end of the show when Colson, who played the policeman in Corrie,
12:36said to me, did you mean to have that in your ear?
12:39So I said, what?
12:40He said, that roller, did you mean to have it in your ear?
12:44I had a big yellow Velcro roller in my hair all day.
12:48And I was, thank you, thank you.
12:50What a day.
12:51Keeping it real.
12:52Yeah, exactly.
12:53Well, the Allegra tour starts in Brighton on the 12th of May.
12:57Best of luck with it.
12:58Yes, best of luck.
12:59Right, we're continuing the musical theme because Josh is here to talk about one of the great
13:04loves of his life.
13:06Apart from his brand new fiancee, Natalie, of course, film soundtracks, he's recorded all his
13:11favourite songs from the big screen for his new album.
13:14So let's take a look at some of the classics that have made the cut.
13:18Can you feel the love tonight?
13:25It is where we are.
13:30You must remember this.
13:35A kiss is just a kiss.
13:39Let the sky fall.
13:42When it crumbles.
13:46We will stand tall.
13:49We'll face it all together at skyfall.
13:54Wow.
13:57Well done.
13:59Greg.
14:00No, Josh.
14:00Nice choice of that, but you made it with a guy called Greg.
14:04Yes, I did, yes.
14:05Who's behind one kid.
14:06Right.
14:08I respond to you.
14:10But he did Wicked, The Greatest Showman.
14:12How did you choose them?
14:14Because there's so many tracks that you could have chosen for this.
14:16The long list when you're trying to think of songs for something like this is very long.
14:19Everybody has a favourite.
14:21We certainly had our favourites.
14:22And honestly, we just sang a lot at the piano.
14:24We would just kind of allow ourselves hours to just say, what about this?
14:28Or let's look up this lyric.
14:29And we would sing stuff.
14:30And, you know, the goosebumps don't lie.
14:32When something feels right and your voice connects with it.
14:34Or if it's a song that even outside of the movie really connects with your soul and it's a story
14:39you want to tell or feels right for right now.
14:41It actually came together quicker than we were expecting.
14:44And then the arrangements would come in and we would say, absolutely.
14:47They were just phenomenal.
14:48I mean, we've got the track list that we can actually have a look at.
14:51Oh, yeah.
14:52There's some fantastic ones in there.
14:54We've got some good ones.
14:55A bit of Ghost Unchained Melody as well.
14:56Yeah.
14:57Oh, yeah.
14:57Unchained Melody with my friend Jennifer Hudson.
15:00Wow.
15:00And they have some amazing collaborations.
15:01My dad is on the album.
15:03It's a really, really fun.
15:05I was going to say, your dad's on the album.
15:08Because your dad plays trumpet, right?
15:09He does.
15:10Yeah.
15:10So my dad was an incredible jazz trumpet player in the 60s.
15:15And then, you know, his parents said to him, you know, look, if you want stability in your life, maybe
15:18they should put that away.
15:19Make that a hobby.
15:20So he went into other things.
15:21But I brought him out 40 years later to perform with me on stage.
15:26We never captured it or recorded it.
15:27And I knew I was doing Moon River.
15:29And there was a spot in the arrangement for a trumpet solo.
15:31And I said, hey, if you really worked on this, do you think you could play?
15:34He's turning 80 this year, this summer.
15:35Oh.
15:35And he rehearsed for three weeks.
15:37And he absolutely nailed it.
15:39Yeah.
15:39How brilliant.
15:40What a moment to have.
15:40My favorite track that I've ever recorded is that one with him.
15:43I totally can imagine that.
15:45But there was one song that you wanted to put on this album that didn't quite make it in the
15:49end, right?
15:50Well, these are all very serious songs.
15:52Yeah.
15:52I've got kind of a dramatic voice.
15:54So, obviously, like, the arrangements kind of drifted towards the dramatic songs.
15:56I wish, and maybe on a cinematic too, some more of the comedy songs could be represented.
16:02I really wanted to do, like, I'm a Lumberjack.
16:04Right.
16:04I wanted to sing a Christopher, like, a Waiting for Guffman song.
16:07Penny for Your Thoughts would be amazing as a duet.
16:09Yeah.
16:10Yeah, I think something from Spinal Tap, perhaps.
16:12Yeah.
16:12There are some really awesome comedy songs that would be fun to do.
16:16And I think that'll be the next one.
16:18Stonehenge on the next one.
16:19That's it, that's it, yeah.
16:20Jeremy, obviously, we know you love music.
16:23Love this.
16:23So, if you were picking something, what would you choose?
16:27I'm worried I'm going to give you a tricky one, because I turned 60 last year.
16:30Happy birthday.
16:31And I thought I would have my neighbours round to the local cinema to watch a film made in the
16:36year I was born, 1965.
16:39And there are two really big films, Sound of Music or Fistful of Dollars.
16:43Ooh.
16:44You've got to go Fistful of Dollars.
16:45Oh, yes.
16:46And the trouble is that one is something .
16:49Well, it's a whistle, isn't it?
16:51It is, but honestly, and some of those, was that Morricone?
16:54Yes, exactly, yeah.
16:55It's amazing.
16:55So, I've actually put lyrics to a Morricone song before.
16:59That melody, I mean, we could just, you know, we'll write the lyrics together.
17:02It's a little stock that that clock he has on it.
17:03You're great with the words.
17:04Yeah, yeah.
17:04Okay, all right, all right.
17:05Turn that whistle into gold.
17:07Nice.
17:08It's full of dollars, you might say.
17:10So, that would be mine, I must say.
17:11Hey, what a thought, honestly.
17:12I'll talk to you after the show.
17:13You could do Cinema Paradiso.
17:15I have recorded it already.
17:16Have you?
17:16Yeah.
17:16There were so many great ones we wanted to put on, but some of them I've done already.
17:19So, yeah, that one is also available for streaming.
17:24You have sung on a film soundtrack, though, because you self-believed in the employer express.
17:29And then you performed it at the Oscars.
17:32Yes.
17:33With Beyonce.
17:34That's right.
17:35What was that like?
17:36Oh, my God.
17:37It was so fun.
17:37First of all, she was so sweet.
17:39I couldn't even grow a beard when I did that with her.
17:42I had so much fog.
17:43I love the fact that I've got a Christmas song that has become one of those take-off-the-shelf
17:48-every-year songs.
17:59I love the book, Polar Express.
18:03Yeah.
18:03I love the book in Hollywood.
18:04I love the book in Hollywood.
18:06I love the book in Hollywood.
18:33I love the book in Hollywood.
18:42I love the book in Hollywood.
18:51Brilliant.
18:52Brilliant.
18:52So, it's going to be great.
18:53Very good.
18:53Right, we can find out.
18:57Josh's album Cinematic is out on Friday the 8th of May.
19:00Still to come, Jeremy will be telling us why he's turned a sleepy Devon town into a hotbed of crime.
19:07Just for his new novel, of course.
19:09Yeah, but first, ahead of the anniversary of the E-Day, next week, JJ Chalmers has been on a deeply
19:15personal journey to a place that shaped Britain's armed forces during World War II and beyond.
19:24Hidden away in the Highlands of Scotland is a once secret location that helped change the course of World War
19:31II, the birthplace of the Special Forces.
19:36This part of the world is very special to me.
19:40I remember when I was 17 years old, I visited a memorial just down the road that was to the
19:46commandos of the Second World War.
19:49And it was there that I decided I wanted to try and become a commando myself.
19:54It was a dream I realised in 2006.
19:58I've now been given special permission to film at Inverilet House, where the first commandos trained.
20:07In 1940, German forces were sweeping across Europe and British forces were no match for them.
20:14Almost every time the British Army had stood and fought, it had been beaten by this extraordinary German war machine.
20:23Monty Halls is also a former commando, and he's written a book about Inverilet House and the clandestine work that
20:30went on here to beat the Germans.
20:33The way the British Army had operated was based on very rigid hierarchy.
20:38And what happened at Inverilet is they all got together and said, right, we can't operate like that anymore.
20:43So Churchill, amongst others, had this idea of creating a special training centre to try and create a new type
20:49of soldier.
20:50So were they trying to create an elite?
20:54Yes, they had to create something that was a bit tougher and a bit more ruthless.
20:59These small groups of highly mobile, very effective men who essentially were raiders.
21:07And they drove Hitler crazy.
21:09Training was tough here.
21:11Everything you needed for 24 to 36 hours weighed about 22 pounds.
21:16Right.
21:17And that all started here.
21:18This weight takes me straight back to training.
21:21Wearing our own 22-pound packs, Monty and I want to run in the footsteps of those first recruits.
21:28Right, let's do it.
21:29And see if we've still got what it takes.
21:32The harshness of the terrain, how primal, how raw it was, and what it did to people was really important.
21:38This is a man breaking terrain.
21:41You're not exactly selling the idea of running up this hill to me.
21:45No.
21:46Recruits were trained in unarmed combat, explosives and radio communications.
21:52And they had to be fit.
21:55These boys, it's got a lot worse than I thought it was going to be.
22:01But, we made it.
22:03This was the perfect area to transform men into soldiers and then soldiers into commandos.
22:10But also, women as well.
22:12Trained up here.
22:13And they were taught survival up here and how to move through country-side with that big scene.
22:17How to operate in remote areas, live off the land, all that stuff.
22:20Key skills.
22:21Feet at the bottom.
22:22Let's go.
22:23The Special Operations Executive sent agents behind enemy lines to spy and disrupt the enemy through diversion and sabotage.
22:33The men and women who trained at Inver Islet had an outsized impact on the war.
22:39One of their original instructors was Duncan Chisholm.
22:42He was in France during 1940 as a sniper.
22:47Then, he escaped Dunkirk and within a matter of weeks he was instructing field craft at Inver Islet.
22:54So, I guess, the arts of camouflage, navigation and survival in the wilds.
23:02So, he was a gamekeeper and I guess all of these skills came very naturally to him.
23:09So, he had skills that predated the war, you know, from growing up in a world like this.
23:16Yeah.
23:17How proud are you of his service?
23:20Incredibly proud, yeah.
23:22The whole family are incredibly proud of everything that he achieved in his life.
23:28I hadn't truly realized how important Inver Islet House was to the outcome of the war.
23:33And it's been a privilege to honor the memory of those who fought seemingly impossible odds and won.
23:42Ah, it's such a fascinating story.
23:44In Monty Hall's book, Churchill's Killing House,
23:46the origins of World War II's legendary commando fighting force will be out on May 7th.
23:52And big thanks as well to JJ.
23:53Absolutely. Right.
23:54Talking of Goodreads, Jeremy has been delving into the world of murder mysteries once again.
23:59And after the success of his last book, his leading character, Edward, a radio DJ, of course, turned amateur detective,
24:05is back.
24:06So, what mystery is Edward solving this time then?
24:10This is called Turn the Dial for Death.
24:12A man is found, a doctor is found dead in a forest in a linen suit, lying on his back
24:18with a kind of wound in his chest from a crossbow bolt.
24:21And his wife is the obvious suspect because she bought the crossbow.
24:25But she has the perfect alibi.
24:27She's in the cinema watching a Marvel film.
24:29The trouble is, she doesn't like Marvel films.
24:32And she goes to Edward and says, you've got to clear my name because everyone thinks I'm guilty.
24:37And that's it.
24:38That's the start of it.
24:39There you go.
24:40I know you've said this before.
24:41I think last time you came in, you were saying that obviously you get really inspired by Agatha Christie, of
24:46course.
24:46But there's certain rules of hers in her writing that you want to follow as well.
24:50Yeah.
24:50I mean, Agatha was the greatest.
24:52I think we think she might have sold four billion, three or four billion.
24:55Crazy.
24:55It's almost as many as the Bible.
24:57And her rules have recently been put together by somebody very clever who said, play fair was the main rule.
25:02You can't have the murderer suddenly appear just on page 209 for three paragraphs and then reappear at the very
25:08end.
25:09But that said, she did the best genre twisting thing ever, which is when she created the unreliable narrator.
25:16And I won't say which book it was, but the guy who tells you the whole story through his own
25:20eyes, but he's lying.
25:21So she created a lot of the framework for this.
25:24She was truly amazing.
25:25You died when I was 11, you know, 1976, extraordinary woman and still, still the greatest.
25:33Yeah.
25:34Well, it worked for her, the rules.
25:35The rules were 66 books.
25:37I read them as a teenager.
25:39My first was when I was 11, Hercule Poirot Christmas, and then I was just hooked through my teenage years.
25:43And now she's got this incredible revival going on, you know, it's incredible.
25:47And you've been counting down to the release on TikTok with some brilliant videos.
25:51But the one we liked most is you smelling the new books.
25:56Oh, yes.
25:56This is embarrassing.
25:58Well, it's true.
25:58If you ever...
26:00Oh, God.
26:01I haven't seen this thing.
26:01But when they send you the books and you sort of sniff them, it's a moment, I can tell you.
26:07The smell of books is incredible.
26:09If I've ever found unconscious, you can just say, look, I mean, he OD'd on one of his own books.
26:13No doubt.
26:13It's roses, it's carnations, it's geraniums, it's every flower.
26:17It's incredible.
26:18The smell of your own book.
26:20I mean, am I getting this to you?
26:22Yeah, absolutely.
26:24You suddenly went blank.
26:25I can see how much you're enjoying it.
26:27That's it.
26:27But the thing I'm most excited about is that obviously your first book, such a huge hit.
26:32Talks of a TV adaptation.
26:34Exciting.
26:35And not just on top of that, the cast is so key, but there's a certain actor I know that
26:39you've really got in mind.
26:40Well, your brilliant producer was saying to me, who would play, I almost said you, but of course, Edward, the
26:44presenter, is not based on me.
26:46He's slightly paranoid, insecure, and always worried that a younger person is going to replace him.
26:50So that's definitely not me.
26:51Not you.
26:53But I think Jason Isaacs is so good, White Lotus.
26:56Yeah.
26:57Are there any crabby old women in it?
26:59There he is, look at that.
26:59Yeah.
27:00Well, I've got a, yes, I have got a role.
27:04Crabby old women.
27:10Her name is Barbara Sinker.
27:12You're just casting each other in everything.
27:13Yeah.
27:14He is a brilliant singer as well, actually.
27:17Who regularly appears at the Clock Tower Cafe.
27:20Ah.
27:20It's perfect.
27:20Or does he?
27:22Yeah.
27:23It's perfect.
27:24And dispenses clues.
27:25Yeah.
27:26But you were in Father Brown, Maureen.
27:28Do you like a murder mystery and trying to solve it, or did you skip right to the end of
27:32the script just to see who does it?
27:33I just read my bit, and I had looked at the clothes.
27:37They were nice.
27:38I'm not someone, with respect, who cares who done it.
27:42Really?
27:42I did have a period where I read Agatha Christie constantly, right through, and then I realised there was no
27:47character in it, unlike your book.
27:50Well, that's funny you say that.
27:51I mean, yeah, Death on the Nile was 55,000 words, I think, which is the realest achievement, because most
27:56people who wrote that now would write it twice as long.
27:58But, yeah, I think that it's like a crossword.
28:02That's the joy of it.
28:03It's like sitting down with a crossword and you're trying to solve it.
28:06Do you write backwards?
28:07No, although I did meet someone the other day who starts, who writes the whole book without, with only the
28:11crime, and then decides in the last chapter who the killer is, and then writes backwards.
28:16But I think I start with the crime, and you've got to start by giving somebody a question and a
28:21puzzle to solve.
28:22Yeah, and to drop the clues and the hints, you need to know the pattern, surely.
28:26You need to know where it's going.
28:27I think so.
28:27I think you've got to know where it's going.
28:29Yeah.
28:30I mean, the first job I had was on the Coventry Evening Telegraph, and I had to, I thought, I'm
28:34going to be investigating all these crimes as a young reporter.
28:36And I basically ended up just reporting on the theft of my own car.
28:40It was stolen every few days.
28:42I think that's how I...
28:43Got a picture?
28:44Well, there we are.
28:44Someone said, you've got this picture.
28:46So, basically, in those days you could buy...
28:48My car radio was always being stolen, so I bought a detachable radio, which I walked around with the whole
28:53time.
28:53And then the car was stolen, so I only had the radio.
28:57Wow.
28:57So, that was my start of a life in crime.
28:59No, this is your proper career in crime.
29:03Yeah, exactly.
29:03Jeremy's new book, Turn the Dial for Death, is out now.
29:06And that's all we've got time for tonight.
29:08Thank you very much to our lovely guests.
29:09Yes, we'll be back tomorrow with Sir Lenny Henry for his first stand-up tour in 16 years.
29:14Luther's star Warren Brown and Michelle Ogundahin from Interior Design Masters.
29:19We'll see you there.
29:20Bye-bye.
29:20Bye.
29:22Bye.
29:23Bye.
29:24Bye.
29:26Bye.
29:27Bye.
29:27Bye.
29:29Bye.
Comments