Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh - Season 8 - Episode 01 - video Dailymotion

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Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh - Season 8 - Episode 01

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00:00:00With their supersonic vision, razor-sharp hearing and aerial acrobatics, there can be no greater sight in the sky than

00:00:08our birds of prey, but you'll be lucky to see one like Smirnoff here, other vodkas are available, unless you're

00:00:14in the Urals, a five-year-old Ural owl, known for its long wedge-shaped tail and deep, relaxed wingbeats.

00:00:23I'm keeping very still and hoping that I'll have all my fingers when you've finished. Very chatty, apparently. Well, you've

00:00:29come to the right place. It's time. Full of your weekend.

00:00:58The Wildest

00:01:07Waking up on a chilly morning to see the work of Jack Frost out in the garden, the tiny shards

00:01:14of ice glistening in the winter sunlight.

00:01:17Winter gardens, bejewelled and decked in frost, sun-pierced, misty mornings, a glorious time of year and a glorious show

00:01:27for you this morning.

00:01:28Coming up, she's the socialite with a roving eye and a flair for the dramatic.

00:01:33Lady Felicia Montague swaps her manner for ours.

00:01:36Nancy Carroll on her latest Kembleford capers and frightening us all this Christmas in The Room in the Tower.

00:01:43And from Mary Poppins to South Pacific to the musical Hair, she's starred in them all and to think she

00:01:50wanted to be a nun.

00:01:52Patty Boulay, back on the road in an all-singing, all-dancing, one-woman show.

00:01:57And our resident Chicken Whisperer's back with a New Year project decided by you at home.

00:02:03Carpenter Rob Bent brings the fun factor, creating a chicken obstacle course.

00:02:09Words you never think you'll say.

00:02:11An award-winning writer, foremost politician and chart-topping broadcaster, Rory Stewart on swapping politics for podcasts.

00:02:20And who's hot trot in the world of dressage?

00:02:23We go behind the scenes at the British Dressage National Championships as one young rider sets her sights on a

00:02:31coveted winner's rosette.

00:02:38Now, I'm very pleased to say that the dawn chorus has been broken once again by the sounds of chirpy

00:02:44celebrities chatting away.

00:02:45Welcome to the barn, Patty Boulay, Rory Stewart and Nancy Carroll.

00:02:50Welcome to you all.

00:02:51And there's a great connection here, which to me is obviously, but for you, Rory, Scotland, the connection with Scotland.

00:02:57I mean, because you were an MP for Penrith and the Borders up there for ten years.

00:03:02Yes, and I'm a Scot, and my mother's in Scotland, my father was in Scotland.

00:03:06And we had a massive family funeral with kilts and bagpipes and coffins being carried.

00:03:12And we danced a 52-some reel around, which my father demanded in his will as the final stage of

00:03:19his funeral.

00:03:20You see, you know how to do it.

00:03:22Rather than moroseness, it's celebration of a life.

00:03:27Yes.

00:03:28Do you make sure you keep going back?

00:03:30There's that connection.

00:03:32Very, very much.

00:03:32And one of the problems with small boys is that they keep outgrowing their kilts.

00:03:36I've got an eight-year-old and a ten-year-old.

00:03:37So there's a perpetual recycling of second-hand kilts through all the families in Scotland.

00:03:42Otherwise, you'd spend a fortune.

00:03:45Yeah, exactly.

00:03:45Patty, Scottish connections at all with you?

00:03:48The people are really lovely.

00:03:49Because when my career first started, like in the 70s, I toured Inverness, you know, Bonesse, name it.

00:03:56I was everywhere.

00:03:57Aberdeen opened the new, what's it, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Aberdeen.

00:04:03And also, I had, oh my gosh, the funny thing was somebody asked for an autograph after the show.

00:04:11And, of course, I had just only three years been in England.

00:04:15So I wasn't quite used to the accents.

00:04:17Yeah.

00:04:18And I said, okay, what's your name?

00:04:20Do you want your name?

00:04:20He said, mm-hmm.

00:04:21I said, what's your name?

00:04:22He said, Jih.

00:04:23Jih.

00:04:24I went, okay.

00:04:25Do you want to spell that?

00:04:26He said, Jih.

00:04:27Okay.

00:04:29We went on like this for ten minutes.

00:04:31Somebody said, Jimmy!

00:04:32Jimmy!

00:04:34I thought, oh, great, okay.

00:04:37But I do, I just love, I love Edinburgh.

00:04:39And I've done the military tattoo.

00:04:42Oh, the tattoo?

00:04:42Yes, I did the tattoo, yes.

00:04:44Many years ago.

00:04:45I did that as a scout.

00:04:47Oh, gosh.

00:04:47That long ago, in a campfire blanket, because it was perishing.

00:04:50But I've never forgotten it.

00:04:52But you must have toured up there, presumably.

00:04:54I did the Edinburgh Festival when I was at university in the 1870s, I think, maybe.

00:04:59But it was, and I remember the first slot we ever had was 10.30 at night.

00:05:03We were right up by the tattoo.

00:05:06It was great.

00:05:06And then we'd stay up all night, because no one ever came, of course, at half ten at night.

00:05:11We were at the wrong end of town, but it was wonderful.

00:05:13The other thing that struck me about all three of you is, in different ways, you've all had to be,

00:05:18I was going to say victims, and it probably is victims, of auditions.

00:05:22And going up, putting yourself out there to get something, whether it's theatre, which is an obvious audition, but also,

00:05:30Rory, for you auditioning.

00:05:32I mean, I imagine going to audition to become a selected candidate to stand for parliament must be a bit

00:05:38daunting, isn't it?

00:05:39Well, it's terrifying, and famously, some MPs go around and are rejected by sort of 20 or 30 different constituencies,

00:05:46and you're in a little short list of six, and there's this terrible sort of looking at the other five

00:05:52people, and then you stand up, and generally, you're in front of the party faithful, who are usually, if you're

00:05:57a Conservative, much more right-wing than the normal public, or if you're Labour, much more left-wing than the

00:06:01normal public.

00:06:03And you have to develop these. I was trained by a man who said to me that, you're going to

00:06:08be asked whether you want to leave the European Union, and obviously, I'm a big Remainer, and you're going to

00:06:13be asked about the death penalty, and I'm against the death penalty, but you have to sound ferociously right-wing.

00:06:17So what he trained me to say is, I'm in favour of the European Union, but if they ever tried

00:06:23to abolish the Queen, I would be marching on Brussels.

00:06:26LAUGHTER

00:06:28You only needed the one statement there, and it covered all bases, really.

00:06:33But are theatrical ones as terrifying, Patti, I mean, when you're auditioning for a role?

00:06:37Well, actually, you know, I hate auditions.

00:06:40The last one I had was for Bird Woman in Mary Poppins, and it wasn't really like an audition.

00:06:48It was, I went to meet Cameron McIntosh, who you had on the show, and I was suited and booted.

00:06:56Believe me, I looked gorgeous.

00:06:57Had my hair done, my nails were this long, high heels, six-inch heels, and I had this meeting with

00:07:04Cameron, and I thought, that's a wonderful man.

00:07:06Nice to meet him.

00:07:07Got home and said, they want you for the Bird Woman.

00:07:10And I went, are you kidding me?

00:07:11I mean, I couldn't have looked more glamorous.

00:07:14What makes him think I'll look good in rags?

00:07:18But, no, honestly, that was really the best audition.

00:07:22Nancy, auditions.

00:07:24Oh.

00:07:26Yes, the colour's draining from your face.

00:07:28I don't think they get any easier.

00:07:29I would even say, in some ways, they get harder, because you know what's at stake.

00:07:35And you...

00:07:36It's so funny, because I have a mixed relationship with preparation as well,

00:07:41because sometimes I think, if you over-prepare, you're so overly zealous about,

00:07:46I need to sort of tell you everything that I've learned.

00:07:49I've worked so hard because I wanted so much.

00:07:51Please.

00:07:53But then you have to sort of perfect this, yeah, maybe, sort of attitude.

00:07:58But it's such a weird dichotomy, because inside you're like, please, please, please.

00:08:02Yeah.

00:08:03Just do that.

00:08:04I'd give you any role.

00:08:06I think it gives a lovely humility to actors, because you're so used to this.

00:08:10Precisely.

00:08:11To the element of chance and rejection, in a way that you can be less smug, maybe, than Elon Musk.

00:08:16You don't feel, it's all down to me, I'm all a genius.

00:08:19Unless well off.

00:08:21Unless well off.

00:08:21Unless well off, indeed.

00:08:23It's interesting embracing the level of worry and what rejection leaves you with physically,

00:08:31that we have to embrace that as part of our journey.

00:08:34Do you know, on a Sunday, there used to be something called the Brains Trust,

00:08:37that my parents used to make me sit down and watch.

00:08:39Well, it didn't make me, but I would go to a room and they'd watch it.

00:08:41Oh, gosh, this is so awful.

00:08:42This is so much better.

00:08:44So, welcome to the Love Your Weekend Brains Trust,

00:08:47particularly if you're a young actor.

00:08:48This is sage advice, or a young politician, an aspiring politician or actor.

00:08:53Now, look, help yourself.

00:08:54There's this glorious array of food here.

00:08:57Delicious pastries, cakes and what have you.

00:08:58And reading between the lines, what I really mean is line your stomachs,

00:09:02because there are drinks coming at the end of the programme.

00:09:03And Tom Sergi has got his 2026 predictions,

00:09:06so there's bound to be something that you've probably never had before in there.

00:09:09Still ahead, and filling the air with the fragrance of spring in winter.

00:09:13There's no end to this man's talents.

00:09:15Flores time in Lycett gets creative with mood-lifting blooms

00:09:19to banish those January blooms.

00:09:22Plus, we've a gang of ruthless hunters heading our way.

00:09:25The chickens are about to take cover.

00:09:26Winter birds of prey swoop in for a visit,

00:09:30including a bald eagle.

00:09:32I don't know, they're softies, really.

00:09:33I'll be putting that theatre to the test right after this.

00:09:36Lady Felicia, I can tempt you either to a toasted tea cake

00:09:39or to one of Mrs. McCarthy's award-winning scones.

00:09:43OK, I'll have one of the scones.

00:09:45It's tactful, that, isn't it?

00:09:46Yes!

00:09:47Have a scone.

00:09:48Well stuffed with a strawberry jam.

00:09:50Thank you very much.

00:09:50There we are.

00:09:51Well, anybody else for one of these?

00:09:52I'm very excited about the pink thing.

00:09:53Oh, fondant fancy.

00:09:55Oh, I'll have one of these.

00:09:58Thank you, yes.

00:09:59I'll go for the Battenberg, as ever.

00:10:02Here we are, ready to hand.

00:10:03Cheers.

00:10:04Cheers.

00:10:05Nice to be with us.

00:10:19The way a crow shook down on me the dust of snow

00:10:24from a hemlock tree

00:10:25has given my heart a change of mood

00:10:28and saved some part of a day I'd rood.

00:10:31Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

00:10:34illustrates how a small, unexpected moment in nature

00:10:38can lift a person's mood.

00:10:40As I hope will this.

00:10:42Tom Sergi and the latest drinks trend

00:10:44set to shake up the alcohol aisles in the year ahead.

00:10:47And a new year means a new project for our resident carpenter.

00:10:51Rob Bent returns to the scene of his greatest build

00:10:54as he takes on the next stage of the epic Chick Inn renovation.

00:10:58I believe this one involves a platform and a swing.

00:11:02The mind boggles.

00:11:03Time now for birds of a very different type.

00:11:06And the eagle-eyed among you

00:11:08will have noticed that some common garden birds

00:11:10have temporarily disappeared from our skies,

00:11:13migrating south in search of warmer climes this winter.

00:11:16In contrast, several species, such as birds of prey,

00:11:20are now more prominent,

00:11:22particularly those well-adapted to colder environments.

00:11:26These raptors can frequently be observed

00:11:28surveying the frozen landscape for food.

00:11:30Joining me today with some commonly encountered winter birds of prey

00:11:35and rarer species, typically found within the Arctic Circle,

00:11:39welcome from the English School of Falconry, Carly Inskip.

00:11:43Carly, welcome.

00:11:44Along with your little friend.

00:11:46He's a lovely, handsome boy, isn't he?

00:11:48Bless him.

00:11:49This is a tawny, yeah?

00:11:50He is, yes.

00:11:51He's called Simba.

00:11:52He's now 13 years old.

00:11:54Oh, charming, sir.

00:11:55Thank you very much.

00:11:56That's all right.

00:11:56They have to do it.

00:11:57They don't really.

00:11:58Now, this is one of our native ones.

00:11:59This is the one we hear to-wit-to-wooing.

00:12:02That's correct.

00:12:02Yes.

00:12:03Really, really commonly heard pretty much all across the UK

00:12:06and, for that matter, all over Europe.

00:12:08And is it right that the to-wit-to-woo is two different birds?

00:12:12That is correct.

00:12:13Yeah, you'll usually find when they're calling,

00:12:16it's often one calling first, then the other.

00:12:18Yeah.

00:12:18But it's a male and a female communicating together.

00:12:21So the female calls with a twit, a high-pitched squeaking sound,

00:12:25and the male's calling with a to-woo, the typical hooting noise

00:12:29that we might expect to hear from the owls.

00:12:32So how common are they?

00:12:33I mean, they're the ones we most commonly hear.

00:12:35Are they safe?

00:12:36They're not endangered?

00:12:36They are, unfortunately, an amber-listed species,

00:12:39even though they are our most common species of owl in this country.

00:12:43The problem is a lot of habitat loss at the moment,

00:12:46especially people building housing estates and things like that.

00:12:51But, thankfully, tawnies are really well-adaptable.

00:12:53You'll find them in an environment as beautiful as this,

00:12:56as much as you will in the middle of central London, actually.

00:13:00Really?

00:13:00Numbers at the moment of about 35,000 to 40,000 pairs just in the UK.

00:13:04Well, we'll say goodbye to you, Simba, and meet our next bird of prey.

00:13:09And this is one that you will not see in the skies overhead in the UK,

00:13:14unless it's escaped from a wildlife park, the American bald eagle.

00:13:19Now, this one has got some size and weight about it.

00:13:23Carly, not bald at all, but looks bald, I suppose, because it's white.

00:13:27Yes, and it actually comes from the old English for white, so B-A-L-D-E.

00:13:32Yeah.

00:13:33So their original name, the bald-headed, so the white-headed eagle.

00:13:37So, yeah, he's not bald.

00:13:39He's not going to go bald.

00:13:41Very handsome boy, though.

00:13:42Some beak on it, though.

00:13:43That really is a raptor's beak, isn't it, for catching prey?

00:13:47You've got very much a fish-eating bird here.

00:13:49So the beak, unlike many other birds of prey, which is not blunt,

00:13:54but it's not the main damage-doing end, it's still the talons with him,

00:13:59but the beak is actually serrated like a knife edge to cut through tough fish hides.

00:14:03Yeah.

00:14:04He's perfectly adapted to what he needs to do in the wild.

00:14:06Now, tell us about this one.

00:14:07So he's called McCoy.

00:14:10He's one of our kind of more well-known individuals at the centre by the staff.

00:14:15He's an absolute firm favourite now.

00:14:17About 16, almost 17 years old, actually.

00:14:20It seems to be the larger the bird, the longer they live.

00:14:22That's exactly right.

00:14:23Yes, if all goes well, actually, under human care,

00:14:26McCoy here quite easily could live even 30 to 40 years.

00:14:30So you've got quite a lot of feeding to do.

00:14:32Oh, yes.

00:14:33Oh, yes.

00:14:33And, of course, some of his favourite things are salmon and venison.

00:14:36So, you know, of course, the cheap food.

00:14:38No results for him.

00:14:40No.

00:14:41Thank you, McCoy.

00:14:42An honour to meet you.

00:14:43Welcome to our shores.

00:14:44I know you've been here a long while, but we'll let you go and get another bird.

00:14:47This time, one you can occasionally see overhead.

00:14:52A gerfalcon.

00:14:53It took me ages to work out how to pronounce it.

00:14:55G-Y-R.

00:14:57Gerfalcon.

00:14:57So let's meet this one now.

00:14:59Well, we're talking glamour now, Carly.

00:15:02And this is a female gerfalcon, yeah?

00:15:05Oh, yes.

00:15:06And she's a bit of a stunner.

00:15:08Looks as if she's wearing some enormous, great mink coat.

00:15:11Does her colour change depending on the season?

00:15:14So, yes.

00:15:14So, actually, it will only change with maturity.

00:15:17Yeah.

00:15:17So, in her first year, she still had a lot of white on her, but a lot more dark specks

00:15:23and flecks.

00:15:24And I don't know if the cameras can pick up if I just turn her ever so slightly, but if

00:15:29you have a look on her shoulders, if you will.

00:15:31Yeah.

00:15:31Some of the feathers are more of a brown kind of tone than the dark slatey grey.

00:15:37And they're actually some of her baby feathers that she's still got.

00:15:39So, how old is she?

00:15:40She's only two years old, going on three.

00:15:42So, she's just starting to get her lovely adult colours.

00:15:46So, she's from where?

00:15:47So, you'd find these anywhere in the Arctic Circle.

00:15:51So, whether you're talking like Canada or Russia or even Scandinavia, very much a cold climate individual species, these guys.

00:16:01Is this the one that can live on an iceberg?

00:16:03Essentially, yes.

00:16:05And that's a rarity.

00:16:06I mean, icebergs generally don't support much in the way of life.

00:16:09Well, the enormous ones, as floes do with polar bears, I suppose.

00:16:12In terms of, this is the only falcon which lives on icebergs.

00:16:16Yeah, and they will quite happily take nearly anything that's moving, essentially, while they're flying from perch to perch in

00:16:24their natural wild environment.

00:16:26Again, from the water?

00:16:27They can primarily take out of the air.

00:16:30Oh, right.

00:16:31So, she's mainly going for things like seabirds, whether that be like gulls or, you know, things like your guillemots

00:16:38and things like that.

00:16:40But believe it or not, up to the size of a goose would actually be on the menu for a

00:16:45gerfalcon like her.

00:16:46And that would keep her going for a few days.

00:16:48She's a chunky girl.

00:16:49Despite her size, she's about three and a half pounds in weight.

00:16:51So, she's going to shake.

00:16:53Look at the feathers coming out now.

00:16:54Yeah, a big rowl.

00:16:56Oh, thank you, Flurry.

00:16:58She's just going to stretch for a moment.

00:17:00Just show off that wingspan for you.

00:17:02Thank you for the demonstration.

00:17:03Look at that.

00:17:03Wonderful.

00:17:04We'll let you take Flurry away while we meet our next one.

00:17:07We're back to owls.

00:17:09We're meeting the Ural owl.

00:17:11Quite different.

00:17:12This is the lovely Smirnoff.

00:17:15Yes.

00:17:16Smirnoff from the Urals.

00:17:17Sounds like a character out of a James Bond film, doesn't it, really?

00:17:20So, yeah, she is a Ural owl.

00:17:23So, they get their name from the mountains.

00:17:26But she's basically a cold climate version of the lovely tawny owl that we get in this country.

00:17:31Much larger, as you can see.

00:17:34Just like what we had on the tawny owl.

00:17:36We've got these beautiful eyes.

00:17:37You can see them really well, actually, in the light.

00:17:39The lovely kind of almost milk chocolate brown to the eyes.

00:17:43And the markings are superb.

00:17:45Do they molt?

00:17:46They do, yes.

00:17:47So, she's actually just about finished her molt now.

00:17:51She normally molts throughout the really kind of toasty region of the summer.

00:17:56Yeah.

00:17:56She's not the biggest fan of the summer.

00:17:58A bit too hot for her.

00:17:59Yeah, she's a cold climate bird.

00:18:01Oh, yes.

00:18:02Thank you, Carly.

00:18:03And thank you for bringing your charges, so many of them.

00:18:05Thank you for having us again.

00:18:07We appreciate it.

00:18:07It's a great pleasure, as ever.

00:18:09Still to come, injecting some much-needed joy into the January gloom,

00:18:14Samuel Heissett harnesses the beauty of flowers to fill the post-Christmas void in your home.

00:18:20And she's the award-winning performer who made history when she was the only contestant

00:18:24to get full marks on a certain well-known talent show.

00:18:27Patti Boulay on her amazing life, both on and off the stage,

00:18:31and her recent role as the bird lady in Mary Poppins.

00:18:35She'd have enjoyed it here, wouldn't she?

00:18:36I'll see you for some super-califragilistically good chat with Patti, right after this.

00:18:54Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.

00:18:56Coming up, she chats ghosts, ghouls and gore.

00:19:00Nancy Carroll on her spine-chilling new ghost story concerning a man who has a recurring nightmare.

00:19:06I have much the same thing after one of Andy Clarke's Best of British.

00:19:10And it's the ultimate test of trust between horse and rider.

00:19:14We join the heart of the action of the British Dressage National Championships,

00:19:18where only poise and precision win a place on the podium.

00:19:22Now, my first guest has been dazzling audiences with her distinctive voice for over 50 years,

00:19:28whether on the West End stage in the musicals Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Mary Poppins,

00:19:34or on hit tours with her one-woman shows,

00:19:36celebrating the work of Diana Ross, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin.

00:19:41She's currently embarking on a new UK tour celebrating her career in show business,

00:19:46one that began with her appearance on the 1970s talent show New Faces,

00:19:51and which turned her into a household name overnight.

00:19:56The maximum!

00:19:58The maximum mark!

00:20:03Don't you wonder what God was thinking of?

00:20:16I don't know what in heaven's name made us think that we could ever change.

00:20:31Oh, the people

00:20:36Some people

00:20:40Choose to love

00:20:48Patti Boulay, history in the making, the first contestant with a perfect score,

00:20:53and a very confident performance, that was, on New Faces.

00:20:57Were you called Patti Boulay then?

00:21:00Actually, I went on there because I changed my name to Patti Boulay.

00:21:04Yeah.

00:21:04I was called Patricia Ngozi Ebigwe.

00:21:07Yeah, I see why you changed it to Boulay.

00:21:08Yeah, indeed.

00:21:11Because, you know, I had done about three years in the West End.

00:21:16Yeah.

00:21:17And I ended up in the black mikado playing the part of the union.

00:21:21I saw you in that.

00:21:22The only white person in the cast was Michael Denison.

00:21:24Michael Denison, that's right.

00:21:26You're Derek Griffiths playing Coco.

00:21:28He played Coco.

00:21:28Floella Benjamin was in it.

00:21:30She's played...

00:21:32Was she Yum Yum?

00:21:34No, I played Yum Yum.

00:21:35Patti Sing.

00:21:37And then there was, yeah, it was, yes, many years ago.

00:21:40So you've done that before you did New Faces.

00:21:43I did that before I did New Faces.

00:21:45Gosh.

00:21:46Yeah.

00:21:46So I was soon after that because they released the single of The Moon and I.

00:21:51Yeah.

00:21:51Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

00:21:54Yes, yes, yes.

00:21:54And the DJs couldn't pronounce my name.

00:21:58They would go, that was Patricia, that was Yum Yum from Black Mikado.

00:22:05So I thought, okay, that name has got to go.

00:22:08And then I just stole Boo Lay from, I don't know if you remember Evelyn Lay.

00:22:13Yeah, I do.

00:22:14Her name, Boo to My Friends.

00:22:16Precisely.

00:22:16Was the name of her autobiography.

00:22:18That's right.

00:22:19So she was known as Boo Lay.

00:22:21Boo Lay.

00:22:21And my husband, you know, had a meeting with her about making a film about her life.

00:22:26And he came back, was talking about this gorgeous woman called Boo Lay, Evelyn Lay.

00:22:32And I thought, that's a good name.

00:22:34Well, do you know, all these years I never knew that.

00:22:37I'm glad to ask, really.

00:22:38But you came over from Nigeria with the intention of being a nun.

00:22:42Well, actually, I was in the convent.

00:22:45I was a novitiate in Nigeria, the order of the Holy Child of Jesus.

00:22:51And unfortunately, I let slip that I didn't have a calling.

00:22:58I just, I was a seventh of nine children.

00:23:00And my father had decided that I should be a lawyer.

00:23:04And I just, just that didn't appeal.

00:23:06So I thought, if you go into a convent, he cannot have jurisdiction over you.

00:23:12And I happened to let that slip to one of the novitiates.

00:23:15So that got back to Mother Superior.

00:23:17And she called my parents and said, listen, send her away for three months.

00:23:21If she still wants to be a nun, we'll welcome her back.

00:23:24Then they sent me to England.

00:23:26And then I ended up in show business.

00:23:28Yep.

00:23:29I guess you're not going back to the convent now, then.

00:23:32It's a bit late.

00:23:33But I've still got, my spirit is still there.

00:23:35But things like, you know, Jesus Christ Superstar and all that.

00:23:39I mean, the breadth and depth.

00:23:42But you're particularly into sort of the African music as well.

00:23:46I am.

00:23:46There's an album being planned for that, I think, isn't it?

00:23:48Precisely.

00:23:50I've got an album, which I'm writing.

00:23:52It's based on, well, it's Afrobeat.

00:23:55Because I wanted people to dance.

00:23:56But it's also a gospel album.

00:23:58So it has like a gospel feel to it, but also a dance feel.

00:24:04You know, I write the lyrics and the melody.

00:24:08And it's fun.

00:24:11It's something for the audience.

00:24:12I want people to just be spiritually uplifted, really.

00:24:18And Afrobeat does that naturally.

00:24:20Because to me, it is the natural beat of life.

00:24:23You can't help it when you hear Afrobeat.

00:24:25You tap your toes or it's just natural.

00:24:29You've brought your music and you've performed with a wide range of people.

00:24:33There's one person in particular I want to show you a little clip of now that you perform with.

00:24:37It might be thought of as slightly unlikely.

00:24:39But this is Patsy Boulay and Des O'Connor.

00:24:46He's got a very nice face.

00:24:54With a place for every feature.

00:24:58Every feature in its place.

00:25:01Not a commonplace face.

00:25:07My eyes?

00:25:10Clear.

00:25:12How about my chin?

00:25:13His chin?

00:25:15Stubborn and strong.

00:25:17And my ears?

00:25:19His ears are clean.

00:25:21As ordinary is.

00:25:24And how about...

00:25:26His nose?

00:25:27A little too long.

00:25:31Yet it's a gentle face.

00:25:36He was so lovely.

00:25:38He was showing why Des O'Connor was so popular with his self-deprecating take.

00:25:42Eric Morcombe and Wise.

00:25:44Do you remember?

00:25:45He used to take the mickey out of him, no end.

00:25:47And I always treasure, and I've said it before on this programme, Margot Fontaine's dictum.

00:25:51To take your job seriously is imperative.

00:25:53To take yourself seriously is disastrous.

00:25:56It's disastrous.

00:25:56Yeah, and Des was living proof of that.

00:25:59He was.

00:26:00Great sense of humour.

00:26:01Fantastic man.

00:26:02Yeah.

00:26:03So, you're touring with this one-woman show.

00:26:06I am.

00:26:07I've just...

00:26:08Oh, my gosh.

00:26:09Okay.

00:26:09Because I spent a few years before Mary Poppins touring my one-woman shows.

00:26:15First, I started with Billie and Me, Billie Holiday.

00:26:18Because I had done rock, done, you know, opera.

00:26:24I had done different things, but never jazz.

00:26:27So, I thought, who's the best jazz singer?

00:26:28So, I started with Billie Holiday, but I found her music was brilliant.

00:26:32But, my gosh, her story was so dark.

00:26:35Yes, yeah.

00:26:35And so, I thought, how do I get humour out of this?

00:26:38You know, for the audience.

00:26:40Because what I try to do with my audience, make them laugh, make them cry, make them dance.

00:26:46Make them sing.

00:26:47If I can achieve those, fine.

00:26:49And so, with Billie Holiday, I told her story, but from an African point of view.

00:26:56My husband is so English, I tried the jokes on him first.

00:27:00Right.

00:27:01Make sure they work.

00:27:02Just to make sure they work.

00:27:03And that worked.

00:27:04So, I went into Aretha Franklin and comparing my career and life, a joke, with these great, you know, stars.

00:27:13And it worked for the audience because mothers come, they see the show, I'm bringing my daughter because you're saying

00:27:20exactly what I've been trying to tell them, but they wouldn't listen to me.

00:27:24You've had some great surprises in your life, some great treats.

00:27:27I mean, particularly on the Golden Jubilee, with a lovely story about the Golden Jubilee and your part in it.

00:27:33Oh, fantastic.

00:27:34I mean, I actually, it started, it was 2002, early 2002.

00:27:40I was invited by the then First Lady of Nigeria to help with her charity.

00:27:45I saw the devastation that was happening.

00:27:50There were children dying of AIDS.

00:27:52And I thought, I came back and I said to my husband, I want to help these children.

00:27:56There was a particular baby who was a year old and he had full-blown AIDS, but he was dead

00:28:02within two weeks.

00:28:03So, I thought, okay, I'm not stopping here.

00:28:05I'm going to try and help the others because there was about 60 babies in this village.

00:28:09And so, I decided I was going to start my own charity and build basic health care centers and information

00:28:17centers in Africa.

00:28:20And I just thought, this is impossible, my husband said, unless you have a patron.

00:28:25And I thought, oh, who do I ask?

00:28:28He said, well, you could try Sir John Major or Prince Charles.

00:28:31I went, oh, just like that.

00:28:32Okay.

00:28:33And then I thought, okay, over to you.

00:28:37You brought me here if you want me to.

00:28:39And I can't, you won't believe this, Alan.

00:28:42And I finished and I went, okay, over to God, nothing to do with me.

00:28:47And the phone rings and it was Sir John Major.

00:28:49Would I sing at his farewell party?

00:28:52Yeah, yeah.

00:28:53And so, I said, yes, no pay.

00:28:56I just need him to be, I just need him to be patron.

00:28:59Anyway, and this, suddenly he was patron.

00:29:02I found myself organizing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

00:29:063,000 gospel singers with Major Sir Michael Parker.

00:29:10And then, on the night, was Sir Robin Jamborin.

00:29:15Mm-hmm, yep.

00:29:16Okay, he was, exactly, the Queen's.

00:29:18And he came halfway through and said, gosh, could you do something like this for the Jubilee?

00:29:23This is incredible.

00:29:25And I said, yeah.

00:29:26I said, good timing.

00:29:27So, I went out and I said to the choir, I said, listen, we need another 2,000 so you

00:29:32can reproduce whatever you want to do.

00:29:34Give birth, I don't care.

00:29:37But we've been invited to the Golden Jubilee and we did have 5,000.

00:29:41It was wonderful.

00:29:42And I was on the committee.

00:29:45What an honor.

00:29:46Special times.

00:29:47Oh, my gosh.

00:29:48I was on the committee of Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee.

00:29:52We had our meetings at the palace.

00:29:55Oh, God has been good.

00:29:58That's all I can say.

00:29:59Well, your audiences will be good listening to you.

00:30:02Lovely to talk to you.

00:30:03Very nice to talk to you.

00:30:04Thank you very much, Patti.

00:30:06A chance to step into your world now and see the inspiring images you've been taking of the great British

00:30:11countryside.

00:30:12It's time for Walk on the Wild Side.

00:30:15Your dose of nature, sorted.

00:30:18Walk on the Wild Side on Love Your Weekend.

00:30:21Sponsored by WWF.

00:30:24The Wild Side on Love Your Weekend.

00:31:01The Wild Side on Love Your Weekend.

00:31:38The Wild Side on Love Your Weekend.

00:31:54Some incredible shots of Mother Nature in all the finery there.

00:31:58We relish each one, so please do keep sending them in.

00:32:01Coming up, he's been an author, a diplomat, a soldier, a cabinet minister, and still dreams of changing the world.

00:32:07Rory Stewart on his latest foray.

00:32:09This time, a celebration of the beauty of the Cumbrian countryside.

00:32:13And filling the gaps, now the decks are coming down, Simon Lycett with the feel-good floral arrangements to breathe

00:32:18new life into your living room.

00:32:20I'll be back with Simon and his promise of spring right after this.

00:32:36Welcome back to Manor Farm.

00:32:38It might be January, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a tipple or two.

00:32:43Well, five in this case, but who's counting?

00:32:46Clearing the menu board for a new year in the Manor Arms, Tom Sergis had a delivery of the newest

00:32:52drinks set to take off in 2026.

00:32:56It's an exclusive.

00:32:57Still ahead?

00:32:58Blissfully nostalgic and with an air of tranquillity.

00:33:02Barring the murders, of course, bringing a slice of class and sophistication.

00:33:07Nancy Carroll on what's next for Lady Felicia and what's next for Nancy Carroll.

00:33:12Now, it won't be long before we're packing up the tinsel and baubles for another year,

00:33:17leaving behind memories of, hopefully, another wonderful Christmas.

00:33:21And, sadly, their decommissioning also leaves a bare and empty sitting room or other parts of the house that you

00:33:28like to put up your baubles.

00:33:29So, how do we fill the void that's left behind?

00:33:32Well, if you ask my next guest, the answer is obvious.

00:33:35Fill it with flowers.

00:33:37Here with creative ways to inject some much-needed colour back into our homes this January.

00:33:42Welcome, florist Simon Lycett.

00:33:45Brighten us up, Simon.

00:33:46So, I think filling your spaces with stuff, flowers are quite expensive at this time of the year, so you

00:33:52don't need a lot.

00:33:53But it's using lovely natural things, so these gorgeous licheny twigs, which I was using all through Christmas and just

00:34:00love at this time of the year, because they're wintry.

00:34:02And a sign of clean air, too.

00:34:04In Victorian times, all that soot everywhere, branches are wonderfully clean.

00:34:07Now they're not, but it's a sign that the air is beautiful.

00:34:10And I'm using it really just to create a bit of a network.

00:34:13So, you don't need any specific branches.

00:34:16I've got a nice, deep vase.

00:34:18I've put some pebbles in the bottom, which are going to help support my stems.

00:34:22And then, working really sustainably, I've got things like lovely pussy willows.

00:34:27Gosh, do you remember this from school?

00:34:28Yes.

00:34:29And it was your first indication that things would root just in water.

00:34:34Incredible.

00:34:35Particularly willow, with these pre-formed root initials, they're called.

00:34:37And you can just stick these in water.

00:34:39They'll root, and then you can plant them out.

00:34:40Yes.

00:34:40But if you prune them heavily each year, you get this fresh growth, because willows are

00:34:45very vigorous, aren't they, and take over.

00:34:47And I have to use it while it's nice and flexible, like this, so that it sort of gives you

00:34:51a nice

00:34:52bit of a network within your vase.

00:34:53So it's that time that you need to be putting it in water to get some root from it.

00:35:09Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:35:09Just to anchor them together.

00:35:11Look at that gorgeous amber.

00:35:13Do you know what these always remind me of?

00:35:15Agricultural show loudspeakers.

00:35:16You know those?

00:35:17You know those?

00:35:18They look like that, don't they, on the top of big pearls?

00:35:20Of course.

00:35:21Now, they're so spectacular, but sometimes, with all the weight of these flowers at the

00:35:26head, the hollow stem can actually kink over on the neck of the vase.

00:35:30Oh, yeah.

00:35:30So a little top tip is just, you know, the canes that come in your pot plants.

00:35:34So I'm just going to snip my stem off, and then I'm just going to insert the cane in

00:35:41there, just gently, snip it off at the right height, and then I've just got a little bit

00:35:46of water in the watering can.

00:35:49This is conditioning in the extreme, isn't it?

00:35:51Pour that in, and then a little bit of cotton wool just inside there, and that will still

00:35:58allow it to transpire and take up water, but it's now going to support that stem beautifully.

00:36:02And you've got another bud coming, so how long is that going to last, Simon, that word?

00:36:05Well, I think they're amazing.

00:36:06In a cool room, they last for weeks and weeks.

00:36:09If you just take one off at a time, they'll grow and flower and grow.

00:36:13These I've had in the workroom to get nice and open for us to see today, but ordinarily,

00:36:18sometimes they're two weeks just to get them open.

00:36:20Goodness.

00:36:21And if you grow them from a bulb, you know, a dry bulb, they're in good Christmas presents,

00:36:27you know, if you've had one given, start it off, don't give it too much water,

00:36:30out comes the flower.

00:36:31But people say, I had an old lady once ask me what, I'm an old man now, just, you know,

00:36:35anyway, an old lady asked me once, she said, how do I get them to flower?

00:36:39It was just a talk in Eastbourne, how flower next year?

00:36:43So I said, well, let it die down, put it in the airing cupboard, and that pre-informs

00:36:47the flower for next year.

00:36:48Oh, does it?

00:36:49And I went back to this same place, oddly enough, the following year, and the lady put

00:36:52her hand up and she said, you know, you said, put it in the airing cupboard.

00:36:55I said, yeah.

00:36:55Anyway, she said, when do I take it out?

00:36:59It's true, actually, too.

00:37:00Anyway.

00:37:00Just for a month or two in the airing cupboard.

00:37:04So, for speed, I've been a bit cheating, I haven't popped a cane up every one of them,

00:37:07but the principle is exactly the same.

00:37:10Up they go.

00:37:11Look at that.

00:37:12A bit of water.

00:37:16Wonderful.

00:37:16It's a nice bit of construction work.

00:37:18A little bit of cotton wool.

00:37:19I love the fact they're all white.

00:37:21It's a lovely color.

00:37:21Aren't they lovely?

00:37:22Especially for the new year.

00:37:23Yes, exactly.

00:37:24A bit of freshness.

00:37:25And then I'm just going to slide that one in there.

00:37:27As you slide them in, just mind the branches, don't slice through the stem or it ends up

00:37:31looking like the spring onion of the Chinese restaurant.

00:37:33Fabulous.

00:37:33Now, you've got another one over here, which I'm very curious about.

00:37:36What are we doing here?

00:37:36So, here I've got some chicken wire, my friend, two-inch mesh chicken wire, and I've got a

00:37:41little bit of saucer.

00:37:42Because you said the wider stuff is easier to get plastered.

00:37:44Exactly.

00:37:45But also you want a nice network that goes right to the bottom.

00:37:48I can't tip it up because it's got lots of water in it.

00:37:50But I filled it with water and then some beautiful sheets of moss.

00:37:54This is stuff that you've raked up from the garden or whatever.

00:37:56Yes.

00:37:57You've got it on your trees and shoves or a bit of woodland.

00:37:59Do not go and nick it from the woods.

00:38:01No, don't be doing that.

00:38:03You've got a friend who's got a bit.

00:38:05Yes.

00:38:07It's weird how sometimes it'll grow in a patch on some brickwork,

00:38:11and I can actually use a paint scraper and get lovely pieces off that way.

00:38:15So, I've created a little hummock of moss, and then your favourite, my favourite, this

00:38:19time of the year.

00:38:20Grand Solidor and Paper White, and both of them gloriously fragrant.

00:38:25And what's joyous about them is you don't need loads to add colour and scent to a room

00:38:30like you would not believe.

00:38:32This is a hint of Easter, isn't it?

00:38:33Well, it sort of is.

00:38:35It's spring at its most beautiful and slightly fantastical.

00:38:41It's that bit of hope that comes in the new year.

00:38:43It's a little close.

00:38:44It's as if you had bulbs plugged in.

00:38:45You don't need many.

00:38:46You just thread them through.

00:38:48And then I'm just going to use some really lovely cornice, which I love, because it's just

00:38:53such a gorgeous, warm colour.

00:38:55And you just add height and thread that in.

00:38:58You don't need to put too many pieces in, however many you fancy, just to give yourselves

00:39:03a lovely little network.

00:39:05And add some height where the tree used to be and that sad empty gap is.

00:39:09And also, if you're growing dogwoods at home like this, when it comes to about February,

00:39:14early March, you can chop them, prune them really quite hard, and this is the young growth

00:39:19that you get the colour on.

00:39:21But left now, just to enjoy during the winter.

00:39:23Joyous.

00:39:24Beautiful.

00:39:25And just thread these in.

00:39:26Make sure they go through to the water.

00:39:28And again, they will last and last, and you can just pick each flower off as the others

00:39:31come out.

00:39:32Does it fade in?

00:39:32It fades, yeah.

00:39:32Smell gorgeous.

00:39:34You need to make sure, again, that the stem aren't being cut by the chicken wire.

00:39:38So just use your finger to poke through and make sure they go.

00:39:41And as you say, you can pick the dead flowers a bit, you can pull them out and put fresh

00:39:44ones in.

00:39:46It's because the dogwoods will stay there for weeks, won't it?

00:39:47Oh, absolutely.

00:39:48Just make sure that the moss isn't siphoning the water out.

00:39:51Would you mist it?

00:39:51Which is why I've sat it on the top.

00:39:52I would give it a light misting, just to keep the moss green, otherwise it goes a little

00:39:56bit dry and dusty everywhere.

00:39:59Isn't that fabulous?

00:40:01You see, every Sunday morning, when everybody else is panicking and, you know, the roast is a bit

00:40:07slow, just to do something like this, and liven up your new year.

00:40:11And it doesn't need many stems, either.

00:40:13No.

00:40:13That's the thing that I love.

00:40:14A few bunches of these.

00:40:15And if you can try and find British flowers at this time of the year, it's really good

00:40:19to support the local growers.

00:40:21And also, they're always much less expensive, and they will always smell lovely and last much

00:40:26longer.

00:40:27Well, I'm just going to waft this scent across to you.

00:40:30Now, go on, breathe in.

00:40:31You see?

00:40:32Works, doesn't it?

00:40:33It does.

00:40:33You look at that.

00:40:34You can actually smell the smell like that.

00:40:35Simon, it's always a delight.

00:40:37Lovely to see you.

00:40:38And Happy New Year.

00:40:39Happy New Year, yes.

00:40:46Time now to enter the dynamic world of equestrian sport, and follow the endeavours of talented

00:40:52young rider, Gracie Cattling, as she prepares to compete in the British Dressage National

00:40:58Championships.

00:40:59We've shown a keen interest in her progress over recent years in this notoriously difficult

00:41:05discipline.

00:41:05So we were excited to take up the invitation to join her as she challenged to win a place

00:41:11on the podium against the odds with her trusty Friesian horse, Vitska.

00:41:19We're at the British Dressage National Championships.

00:41:24This is kind of the pinnacle of the dressage calendar.

00:41:27It's what everyone spends the year trying to qualify for, so to be here is a privilege.

00:41:32I'm here with my horse, Vitska.

00:41:34She's a Friesian mare, and she is, I call her the queen.

00:41:39She is just fantastic, and I adore competing her.

00:41:43As a Friesian, Vitska is definitely the underdog because she's not bred to do this.

00:41:48She's bred to be a carriage horse, so their bodies are very different to what you see

00:41:52in a normal dressage horse.

00:41:54But she has got the best work ethic of any horse I've ever come across.

00:41:59She so wants to do it, and you don't see that very much in a lot of these competitions.

00:42:04I've had her for two years now, and we know each other very well.

00:42:09We gelled really quickly when I first got her, and I think we've both got quite similar personalities.

00:42:16We kind of have a bit of a sense of humour, but at the same time we take our job

00:42:19very seriously.

00:42:23So much work goes into getting here just because you spend all year trying to qualify,

00:42:29and then it's not just the qualifying, it's trying to keep them on the road,

00:42:31to keep them fit and happy and healthy.

00:42:34So to get a horse actually here is an achievement in itself.

00:42:42Okay, let me just check your ear.

00:42:45Okay, can you hear me?

00:42:47Do you want to turn it on?

00:42:48Yeah.

00:42:49Working with my mum is, I really enjoy it, and I think she does too.

00:42:53It's very nice to have someone who tells you as it is.

00:42:57She definitely doesn't hold back sometimes.

00:42:59But we, on the whole, we do get on, we get on really well,

00:43:03and she definitely knows what she's talking about.

00:43:05And it's nice to have someone around that gives you a confidence boost,

00:43:09especially as you're about to go in and compete.

00:43:15So some of the riders here, one of them won bronze at Paris last year,

00:43:20and some of these horses, they're into the millions.

00:43:23So to be competing against such expensive animals on horses that really aren't bred to do it,

00:43:30it's really quite special.

00:43:33I think I have a slight point to prove with the Frisians.

00:43:35I think people definitely sort of look down their noses at them.

00:43:39They see her come out, and she's a bit stompy,

00:43:42and they think, oh, they don't have to worry about that one.

00:43:44And then you kind of pick her up, and off she goes.

00:43:47And we say she's like Concord, the way that she moves,

00:43:50and that's what the judges really love.

00:43:52And I think more and more people are starting to realise that actually

00:43:56they should take them very seriously, because they're getting quite hard to beat.

00:44:04Oh, come on, next.

00:44:06Combination TV Arena, number 466, Gracie Candick.

00:44:21Yeah, we have a time.

00:44:47Well done, Gracie.

00:44:49That was super.

00:44:49It was super.

00:44:51Well done.

00:44:52Fitska did so well.

00:44:53She's currently lying fourth out of about 20 or 25 competitors.

00:44:57There's a few more left to go,

00:44:59so I'm hoping that she stays in the top few and she gets a rosette.

00:45:15There we go.

00:45:16So the last one's in at 69.

00:45:18So you're fifth.

00:45:27Well done, Gracie Candick, number five.

00:45:31I'm so proud of Fitska.

00:45:32She gave 110%.

00:45:34I was really pleased with her, and she couldn't have done any more,

00:45:37and that's all you can ask for on a horse.

00:45:43Oh, well done there to Gracie and Fitska.

00:45:47No doubt many more finishes at the top end of the leaderboard to come.

00:45:50Coming up, in the latest instalment of our chicken run refurb,

00:45:55he's taking things to a new level.

00:45:56Quite literally, carpenter Rob Bent creates a multi-level obstacle course to challenge the brightest of chickens.

00:46:04I'll see you with Rob and our ever-so-agile hens right after this.

00:46:21Welcome back to Love Your Weekend, this chilly Sunday morning.

00:46:25Coming up, Absanthe milkshakes and sweet and spicy margaritas.

00:46:29No sign of dry January on his watch.

00:46:32Tom Sergi with the drinks trends we're all going to be getting giddy about in 2026.

00:46:36Now, imagine our surprise when the shortlist for the Grand Designs House of the Year 2025 was announced,

00:46:44and our epic renovation of the Chick Inn was nowhere to be seen.

00:46:49Unperturbed by this cruel snob, the work continues with the latest leg of the project inspired by you at home.

00:46:56Just a few weeks ago, our resident carpenter asked for your suggestions on how to improve the inside of our

00:47:02chicken run,

00:47:03and you didn't let us down.

00:47:04Here to share how he's been getting on.

00:47:07Welcome back, Rob Bent.

00:47:08A multi-level obstacle course, Rob.

00:47:11So what was the suggestion?

00:47:13Well, do you know what?

00:47:14I liked every single one of them so much, I decided to do all of them.

00:47:19Every last one of them.

00:47:20Right.

00:47:20This is going to be a full spot, isn't it?

00:47:22And the first one then, top of the list.

00:47:24All right.

00:47:24So we had the suggestion of making like a steps that went around a pole.

00:47:29I went up one on that and decided, let's put it around the tree instead.

00:47:33Right.

00:47:34Now as a gardener and a tree man, I am a little concerned about this going up here.

00:47:38You're not damaging our tree, are you?

00:47:40Oh, no, no, no.

00:47:42Our tree will be fine.

00:47:44I had to do my chiseling out to actually put these into the tree.

00:47:48But because I filled this void with a natural material and not used any glue, the tree should be perfectly

00:47:54fine.

00:47:55It will heal around the timber and in essence absorb it back into the tree and it will be solid.

00:48:00It will be a part of the tree.

00:48:01So just as when you inflict a small wound on a tree, it does heal over.

00:48:05You can watch that cambium layer coming back and joining together.

00:48:07Exactly.

00:48:08And it will seal these in.

00:48:09Exactly.

00:48:09And because we filled the exposed part, definitely heal well.

00:48:14So that's a way up.

00:48:16So they're like hopping, don't they?

00:48:17Yeah, yeah.

00:48:18A little hop on a flap and they'll get up to each step.

00:48:20Okay.

00:48:21And then across to the A-frame ladder.

00:48:24Yes.

00:48:26So they can go up from one side down to the other.

00:48:29And then from this section here over to our stepping stone style timber post.

00:48:37Up from one to another.

00:48:37Yeah, hop all the way down from one to another.

00:48:38This is like a cross between an army training camp at Aldershot and the bottom of a budgie's cage.

00:48:44I hope you're appreciating what's going on here.

00:48:46There's no point walking around it.

00:48:48We're going to have the fittest chickens in the UK.

00:48:51They'll have muscles in places where other chickens don't even have places.

00:48:55Exactly that, Alan.

00:48:56So you're up here, you're over there.

00:48:57And then onto the perch.

00:48:59Yeah.

00:49:00They might get a bit tired during that section there so they can stay here, have a little

00:49:03bit of a rest before hopping onto the next stage.

00:49:05Right.

00:49:06Which we've got is another ladder here.

00:49:08And then last but not least, Alan.

00:49:13A trapeze.

00:49:15Circus chickens we've got here now.

00:49:18So what you've done there.

00:49:19Right.

00:49:20Oh, I see.

00:49:20Two.

00:49:21Two of them.

00:49:23So the route now is up the tree, across to the A-frame ladder, hop over there on this

00:49:29obstacle course, right the way along to the corner, onto the little ladder there, and then

00:49:34onto the first trapeze and then the second one.

00:49:36Now these are really sturdy, what have you done here?

00:49:39Really solid, so as you can see, nice solid bit of timber, and all of these parts I have

00:49:43found dotted around the farm.

00:49:45So we've made the most of everything that's here.

00:49:48And then if you use steel hooks, steel chain, connect to the hooks in here, at the top, chains

00:49:57on, hooked on, simple as that.

00:49:59That'll take the weight of an ostrich, not a chicken.

00:50:02Oh, well, I need to make sure they might want to stay side by side, you never know.

00:50:05Yes, I'd love to come in one morning and see this going gently, and the street chicken's

00:50:10on there going, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

00:50:12I'd love to see that myself.

00:50:14Well, the cameraman's going to stay in here all day tomorrow, running, just to see if they

00:50:18go up here.

00:50:18I think they might need a bit of corn on the top.

00:50:20Yeah.

00:50:21Well done, Rob.

00:50:22Thank you, Alan.

00:50:28In a career of great breadth, my next guest has gone from a deputy governor in Iraq to

00:50:33Harvard professor to member of parliament, and now successful podcaster and author.

00:50:39Welcome, Rory Stewart.

00:50:41Rory, you've always struck me as, A, a very thoughtful soul, but also quite a restless

00:50:46one.

00:50:46I think that's probably right, yeah.

00:50:48Maybe I just can't hold down a job.

00:50:51I don't think that's the case.

00:50:53There's too many jobs to be done, I think that's the thing, really.

00:50:56It's an interesting question.

00:50:58I was talking to my best friend who said that one of the things that he notices about me

00:51:05is that I like risk and I like moving on to the next thing.

00:51:10And so I, as you say, I was very briefly a soldier, I was then a diplomat, then I walked

00:51:15across Afghanistan, then I went to Iraq, then I went to politics, then I left politics, and

00:51:20I quite like, but eventually I'll run out of ideas.

00:51:23But the worry there is, then, that nothing else gets quite finished and quite seen through.

00:51:30Absolutely.

00:51:30I have such, such admiration and envy for people who really see things through, and I notice

00:51:36this even from things I did in politics.

00:51:39For example, when I was the Environment Minister, I was pushing ahead with some programmes on

00:51:43planting trees.

00:51:44I didn't really get very far, and I've noticed ten years later the Welsh Government is pushing

00:51:49ahead with a very similar scheme, and they're getting it done.

00:51:52So, you literally, pardon the pun, sowed the seed, and it germinated some time later.

00:51:57But you've planted a lot of trees yourself.

00:51:59I plant a lot of trees myself, probably not as many as you, but I've planted many thousands

00:52:02of trees.

00:52:02Yeah, but I've planted it longer.

00:52:03You've planted it longer, exactly.

00:52:05I do, I do that, and particularly native trees.

00:52:07Yeah.

00:52:08But having been a real kind of native obsessive, I'm now beginning to become a little bit more

00:52:12imaginative.

00:52:13I'm beginning to plant a few trees from overseas.

00:52:15Well, I think we're having to, because with climate change, regard it as a planting opportunity,

00:52:21rather than, oh, we're losing that.

00:52:22Yes, but look what we can grow instead, and what will thrive.

00:52:25Big sales job on the chestnut-leaved oak at the moment.

00:52:28Right.

00:52:28And anyone who wants to go to Kew Garden can see a fantastic example, wider than it's tall.

00:52:34People say to you, what do you want to be remembered for?

00:52:36You just say, well, just look at that tree over there, and that will be enough memory

00:52:39of me.

00:52:40Well, this is where I'd like you to join me if I could.

00:52:42I don't want to get onto too many campaigns, but I had this fantasy that we could get people

00:52:46behind planting the whole Greenbelt into the largest forests in England.

00:52:50If you wanted a legacy, 300 years' time, you could have this extraordinary forest, good

00:52:55for air quality, good for climate.

00:52:57People from London could go and visit it.

00:53:00Amazing for biodiversity.

00:53:01I've done about 45 acres so far, previous place and this place.

00:53:05I'm sure you have, but I want to...

00:53:07You want more than that?

00:53:08I'm not only enough.

00:53:09I want 500 million trees all the way around London.

00:53:11I'm doing my best.

00:53:12I'll keep going.

00:53:13There's plenty of inspiration in this book, Middleland, Dispatches from the Borders, that

00:53:18you've written.

00:53:18As MP of Penrith and the Borders, really the heart of Britain up there, wonderful in that

00:53:25it's pragmatic, it's practical, but it's optimistic as well, Rory, because it's so easy

00:53:31not to be optimistic in this day and age.

00:53:34I think any time you're feeling gloomy, go to Cumbria, and I tend to feel you cheer up.

00:53:38You just step off the train in Penrith.

00:53:40You breathe in the air, and it's extraordinary.

00:53:43And it's every different sort of person.

00:53:45It will be small farmers living a very, very tough life, but with huge dignity and pride,

00:53:51producing very high-quality food, maintaining this incredible landscape.

00:53:55But it could also be, for example, a retired schoolteacher from Manchester who's volunteering

00:54:00with a mountain rescue and who's also running a biscuit factory and who's also an environmental

00:54:05consultant.

00:54:05And it's Britain at its most sort of lovely, imaginative, positive best.

00:54:11But what is always pervade is the overall, the generalist view, which tends to filter down

00:54:17as something which is negative.

00:54:19Whereas if you look at what the individuals are doing, and all those individuals add up

00:54:23and make something bigger, that is practical.

00:54:26It is working.

00:54:27And what you've done here, and I think what needs to be done more of, is emphasising the

00:54:31importance of self and landscape rather than just nations and landscape.

00:54:37Those farmers, those growers, those gardeners, whatever, are making a difference on their

00:54:41bit of land.

00:54:42And that must count as something, doesn't it?

00:54:44Hugely important.

00:54:45And I think humans and the landscape, remembering that our precious British landscape isn't a

00:54:51wilderness, and nor should it be like an industrial American Kansas farm.

00:54:56It's a deeply treasured ancient thing.

00:54:58Those dry stone walls in Cumbria, and a lot of the book is about things like the dry stone

00:55:02walls.

00:55:03Some of them go back to the Bronze Age and thousands of years of people laying stones

00:55:08on stones.

00:55:09Ten years in politics, too frustrating to stay any longer?

00:55:12Yeah, I mean, it's a terrible job.

00:55:15I would not recommend it to you.

00:55:17I mean, I agree, you're a national treasured, countless people would vote for you, but I

00:55:20would not recommend it.

00:55:21I'm done with that bit.

00:55:22I feel I'll do my bit of land and practical and make a real difference.

00:55:26But you've gone on to be an opinion former, you know, particularly in your podcast with

00:55:32Alistair Campbell, two extremely disparate people in terms of the political spectrum.

00:55:36But you seem to get on like a house on fire, you know, Alistair.

00:55:39We get on very well, but we're very different.

00:55:40We're very different.

00:55:41I mean, and I think part of the trick of it is it's not just different politics, it's

00:55:46very different personalities.

00:55:48I mean, half of the joke is him perpetually trying to challenge me to tell him who the

00:55:53manager of Man City is, or him endlessly talking about the fact he once played football with

00:55:58Maradona while I'm banging on about the politics of Honduras.

00:56:01So it's a weird dynamic.

00:56:06But no, he's an extraordinary person.

00:56:08And the energy.

00:56:09He's a driven man.

00:56:10Driven man.

00:56:10A bit like yourself.

00:56:11I mean, you're definitely driven.

00:56:13I'm driven.

00:56:13I'm not at that.

00:56:14I'm not sure.

00:56:15Not to go watch something that time in the morning.

00:56:17But walking, you are mad.

00:56:19I mean, 6,000 miles in this walk across Asia.

00:56:23That's a lot.

00:56:2420 months you took doing that.

00:56:26I'm envious of you getting the time off to do it.

00:56:29But it was before I had children and family.

00:56:31But it's the most wonderful thing.

00:56:32I walk 20, 25 miles a day.

00:56:34I stayed in 550 different village houses in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal.

00:56:41And I learned so much because later in life, when I was in government or a diplomat talking

00:56:49about Afghanistan, I was often the only person in the room who had stayed in village after

00:56:54village after village.

00:56:55And when people said Afghanistan is like this or that, I could think, well, how can I translate

00:57:00that into...

00:57:01And I had a bit of the books a bit about that with Cumbria.

00:57:04Part of my obsession is that the sort of things you hear people talk about when they're being

00:57:09interviewed on news night, you know, big words, growth, productivity, efficiency...

00:57:15Anybody can say that.

00:57:16And what does it mean?

00:57:18Well, I think the majority of us who watch and hear all these words about, this is what

00:57:23we need.

00:57:23Yes, we know what we need.

00:57:24What you never tell us is how.

00:57:26Exactly.

00:57:27You know, how to do this.

00:57:28And also what the sacrifice is.

00:57:30Yeah.

00:57:31Because it's always suggested as this is what we're going to do and everybody's going to

00:57:34be better off.

00:57:35Of course, the truth is that some people are going to lose, some people are going to win.

00:57:39Well, you never...

00:57:39Consequences are never explained, are they?

00:57:42You've had disappointments in your life.

00:57:44You stood for leader of the Tory party.

00:57:46To be Prime Minister.

00:57:47To be...

00:57:47Against Boris Johnson.

00:57:48Yes.

00:57:48And lost to Boris Johnson.

00:57:50Giving you Boris Johnson as your Prime Minister.

00:57:52Yeah.

00:57:53How did you feel?

00:57:54No, I felt I was awful because I felt he was not going to be a very good Prime Minister.

00:58:02I felt he...what he was doing with Brexit was dangerous.

00:58:07But there's also a sort of bigger thing.

00:58:08In a funny way, you know, if I'd been defeated by someone else, I probably wouldn't have taken

00:58:13it so badly.

00:58:14Yeah.

00:58:15And, of course, the funny thing about politics is it's very brutal.

00:58:18You literally are confronting the fact that the British people are saying, we prefer Boris

00:58:23Johnson to you.

00:58:24It's a bit like being, I don't know, your partner walking out on you for Boris Johnson.

00:58:29That's tough.

00:58:32Do you still have ambitions?

00:58:34I mean, you've done the diplomatic bit, you've done, you know...

00:58:36I'd love another big job.

00:58:38I'd love something where I can really throw myself into building a team, building something

00:58:42from the bottom of it.

00:58:43But do you feel you could...would you go into it feeling that you were able to make a difference?

00:58:48Because I know from talking to you that's the frustration of politics, is not being able

00:58:51to change things.

00:58:52I don't think I could in politics.

00:58:53But clearly, you relish what you do, whether it's getting...you're a restless soul, as

00:58:58I say.

00:58:59Always walking.

00:58:59I remember you doing portrait artist of the year as a sitter.

00:59:02You wouldn't sit, you had to stand for four hours.

00:59:05I've done that programme as well.

00:59:06I took the seat.

00:59:07Did you like your portraits?

00:59:09I did.

00:59:09Particularly one of them.

00:59:11Yeah.

00:59:11Did yours look like you?

00:59:13The one that looked most like me, unfortunately, was my head blown up to this side.

00:59:18And, of course, no-one in the family wants to look at my head that size.

00:59:21Funny you should say that.

00:59:22What?

00:59:22Yeah.

00:59:23My sister finally ended up with mine.

00:59:25She said, I'll have it.

00:59:26What about my sister?

00:59:27Yes, I know.

00:59:28I'm afraid my family are less deferential.

00:59:30The idea of staring at a portrait of me all the time is a bit depressing for them.

00:59:33Yeah.

00:59:33Look, keep fighting for the countryside.

00:59:35Keep fighting for farmers.

00:59:36You're a great champion of the farmers.

00:59:39That's something I would love to do.

00:59:40If I could get behind small farmers, rural life, places like Cumbria, that's what the book's

00:59:44about.

00:59:44That's what I'd love to do in my life.

00:59:46I'm with you on that one.

00:59:47Thank you very much indeed.

00:59:48Thank you again.

00:59:49Enjoy your company.

00:59:49Now then, it's the snowdrop season.

00:59:53Carpets of snowdrops in woodlands, meadows and gardens single the end of winter and the

00:59:59promise of spring ahead.

01:00:01So, who better to wax lyrical about this marvel of nature than our very own marvel, Leslie Joseph.

01:00:08Take it away, Leslie.

01:00:10Why, hello there, Alan.

01:00:13I hope you're up to snow good down there at Manor Farm.

01:00:17Snow good.

01:00:18See what I did there?

01:00:19Welcome, dear viewer, to another luxurious edition of Down the Garden Path, where we're

01:00:26about to meet one blooming, marvellous floral delight.

01:00:29Step forward, the sensational snowdrop.

01:00:35These snazzy snowdrops are our first bloomers of the year, sometimes pushing through snow and

01:00:40frozen ground as early as January or February.

01:00:44How mightily impressive.

01:00:46Their sap contains a natural antifreeze compound that protects them from freezing temperatures.

01:00:53Oh my, the hearty snowdrop is quite the resilient marvel.

01:00:57A well-established snowdrop clump can persist and multiply for many years, often spreading

01:01:05slowly into naturalised carpets.

01:01:08In Victorian flower language, snowdrops often represented comfort, especially after grief

01:01:14or hardship, because they appear just when the world seems bleak, popping out of the soil

01:01:21like the hopefulness of spring bursting to get out.

01:01:25My favourite snowdrop snippet, however, comes courtesy of many Celtic stories, where snowdrops

01:01:31were believed to be favoured by fairies, growing in places where fairy activity was strongest.

01:01:37Oh, I adore all fairies, particularly the tenacious Tinkerbell.

01:01:43I bet she loved a snowdrop.

01:01:45Let's just pause for a moment, dear viewer, to take in these wondrous sights.

01:01:51If you happen to see some snowdrops on your Sunday walk this morning, just think,

01:01:55ah, spring is just around the corner.

01:02:00And that, dearest viewer, is the tale of the snowdrop.

01:02:05And now time to snuggle up for the rest of the show.

01:02:08Over to you, Alan.

01:02:11Thank you, Leslie.

01:02:12You know, during World War II, the US military police were given the nickname Snowdrops by

01:02:17British civilians, because their olive green uniforms had a white cap or helmet and white

01:02:21gloves.

01:02:22It made them look like, yeah, snowdrops.

01:02:25Still there.

01:02:25She's a firm favourite in our TV dramas.

01:02:28Nancy Carroll on everything from sleuthing with the good padre in Father Brown to scaring

01:02:34his alter bits in E.F. Benson's 1912 short story The Room in the Tower.

01:02:39I'll be back with Nancy and more right after this.

01:02:55Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.

01:02:56Still ahead?

01:02:57Will it be red?

01:02:58Will it be white?

01:02:59Or will rosé win out in the trendy wine steaks?

01:03:02Tom Sergi has the answers.

01:03:04He needs 2026 ones to watch.

01:03:07There's cider and cocktail predictions too, so something for everybody.

01:03:11But first, a mild-mannered Roman Catholic priest, a parish secretary with a solid disposition,

01:03:17and a wealthy but bored socialite.

01:03:20Welcome to the wonderfully complex world of Lady Felicia Montague.

01:03:25We're getting her back safe and sound.

01:03:28I've seen enough of this.

01:03:30Isabel.

01:03:30I do have eyes, you know.

01:03:32I saw you both together in the great hall.

01:03:36Oh.

01:03:36Well, there was merely a character exercise.

01:03:39Yes, which I really, really didn't want to do.

01:03:43Isabel, nobody could hold a candle to you.

01:03:47Well, that is reassuring to hear.

01:03:51Mrs. Devine, I am mortified that I gave you the wrong impression.

01:03:55Please, let me make it up to you.

01:03:56It's fine.

01:03:58I can help with the wedding.

01:04:00Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you, Mrs. D.

01:04:02No, there's really no need.

01:04:04Not another word.

01:04:06I may not be a writer.

01:04:08But I certainly know how to put on a good do.

01:04:11And we must all use our God-given talents.

01:04:13Isn't that right, Father?

01:04:16Yes.

01:04:17Well, then it's settled.

01:04:18And we will make it the best wedding that Kembleford has ever seen.

01:04:25How kind.

01:04:32Well, if she says it, then it must be true.

01:04:35Yeah.

01:04:35It will be the best deal ever.

01:04:36Where was the stately home?

01:04:37That particular one is Curtlington House, which we've used on and off, which is amazing.

01:04:43Just hope it doesn't give you delusions of grandeur.

01:04:45No.

01:04:46I want to live here normally.

01:04:48Yeah.

01:04:49But you do get the best frocks, don't you?

01:04:52I love my frocks.

01:04:53They are fantastic.

01:04:54This is that series 13.

01:04:56And you've got another two series commission, so.

01:04:58Yes.

01:04:59Because you're in it almost every episode and then you left for a bit to do other things.

01:05:03Yes.

01:05:03So I did the first four series.

01:05:05Yeah.

01:05:06And then I've dipped in and out when they ask me.

01:05:09Back for various escapades and sort of intrigue.

01:05:13Seems a tight little bunch, a family.

01:05:15It's amazing.

01:05:16And it, I mean, it's extraordinary.

01:05:18I first started, or we started series one, when my son was about nine months old and he's

01:05:25about to be 15.

01:05:27Oh, heck.

01:05:27So that tells you.

01:05:28Yeah.

01:05:29And they're home.

01:05:30And I think those sorts of situations, which are quite like theatrical companies, you

01:05:36know, we, we, they happen so rarely in this business.

01:05:39And so it feels like a real privilege and, and we've just known each other through thick

01:05:44and thin and, and, and we love working together.

01:05:47But you've done something entirely different.

01:05:49Entirely different.

01:05:50Yeah.

01:05:50A ghost story.

01:05:52A scary story.

01:05:53Yeah.

01:05:53Very scary.

01:05:54The ghost story for Christmas.

01:05:56The Room in the Tower.

01:05:57Yeah.

01:05:58Which is based on an EF Benson book.

01:06:00Who did Map and Lucia.

01:06:02I love those books.

01:06:02Yes.

01:06:03But Mark Gatiss is involved in this.

01:06:05Well, it's his baby really.

01:06:06Yeah.

01:06:06He's sort of grown them.

01:06:08I can't remember how many he's done, but they always come on Christmas Eve, 10 o'clock

01:06:12on BBC two.

01:06:14And, um, he's, I mean, he is a polymath in the sort of best sense of the word, everything

01:06:21he turns his hand to, and he adapts these stories and directs them and puts together

01:06:27the cast and crew.

01:06:28And it was such a happy set.

01:06:31And it was, it's a really interesting story.

01:06:34All my bits of it were in one particular place because I'm being told the story retrospectively

01:06:41by Tobias Menzies who plays Roger, who's being haunted in this particular instance.

01:06:47And so we are in the forties, in London, in the Blitz, in an Anderson shelter.

01:06:52Let's see a bit.

01:06:53Room in the tower.

01:06:55Well, I always dream I'm back at school.

01:06:58My old form mistress.

01:07:01Miss Houlihan.

01:07:03Absolute beast.

01:07:05Taught chemistry.

01:07:06Breath like a serpent.

01:07:08Well, I'm stood before her and all together, and I haven't done my prep.

01:07:12Lord knows what that means.

01:07:14Everyone has those dreams.

01:07:15Yeah.

01:07:18But sometimes they're not so easy to explain.

01:07:24Something you want to get off your chest.

01:07:32With my story.

01:07:36I can find no explanation.

01:07:41None at all.

01:07:43It came out of the dark and into the dark it has gone again.

01:07:50What did?

01:07:52Oh.

01:07:53Well, that's a cliffhanger.

01:07:54What did?

01:07:55I don't know.

01:07:56I don't know.

01:07:56When you're doing them, do you get that kind of ghostly fiendling?

01:08:02Yeah.

01:08:03Can it?

01:08:03I mean, we filmed in this amazing old school.

01:08:07But we were in the basement and they turned it into this sort of tube style Anderson shelter.

01:08:12But in order to do all the scenes in one day, we had to stay down there all day.

01:08:17And then basically, at various points, they were doing the noise of sort of doodlebugs.

01:08:22Yeah.

01:08:23Going over.

01:08:24And then the last shot is when the sound means that it's literally over the top of your head.

01:08:31And then they did this big poof of sort of debris and smoke and dust.

01:08:35And with the ghost story and the sort of claustrophobia being down there and then all the dust.

01:08:41And it was sort of, it was actually really terrifying.

01:08:45And it's a, it's a, I mean, I'm, I'm terrified of ghosts.

01:08:49I'm terrified of those.

01:08:50I can't watch horror films or anything like that.

01:08:53Have you ever encountered one then?

01:08:55I've had things happen to me.

01:08:57I was doing a Midsommar Murders and we were somewhere near Oxford and we were in this old barn.

01:09:03And there was a window at the top of where the hay was kept above these stables.

01:09:08And the owner of the house said, we've always had it repaired, this window, but every morning it's open.

01:09:13So we did, we realized that there's some, there's a presence up there that just wants the window open.

01:09:17So we go into this stable and, and the director was like, oh, it's not very nice in here, is

01:09:23it?

01:09:23It's very dang. Let's just get the scene done and go.

01:09:26So there was an outer door and I go to the inner door and it's locked and I can't go

01:09:31in and I can't.

01:09:32And they said, cut.

01:09:34And I said to a lovely director, I said, I think it's because you were rude about the space.

01:09:39So she went in, she went, I'm really sorry.

01:09:42I didn't mean to be rude.

01:09:44If you'd let us film here, we'd be really grateful and we'll be out of your hair, you know, quick

01:09:48as you like.

01:09:49So then we go back, we do the scene and I go to open the door and it's open.

01:09:53Oh.

01:09:54Oh, er.

01:09:55I know!

01:09:56I know!

01:09:57Let's change the mood completely.

01:09:59Yeah, sorry, sorry, I went off on one.

01:10:00And talk about the crown.

01:10:01Oh yes.

01:10:02Because Anne Glen Connor was sitting where you are a few weeks ago.

01:10:05She was lovely.

01:10:06She's divine, I've met her quite a few times over the last few weeks doing this, that and the other.

01:10:11And then literary festivals and things.

01:10:14And there she was.

01:10:15And you played her in the crown.

01:10:17She was Princess Margaret's lady in waiting.

01:10:19Let's look at you being Anne Glen Connor.

01:10:23Oh well, I didn't bring any trunks.

01:10:25That was stupid.

01:10:26No it wasn't.

01:10:26Yes it was.

01:10:27I just said it was.

01:10:28It can't be stupid.

01:10:30I don't possess any trunks.

01:10:32It's not just stupid.

01:10:33That's absurd.

01:10:36Oh.

01:10:42You know, she's so complimentary about Princess Margaret, who was known to be a tricky soul,

01:10:47bless her heart.

01:10:48But Anne is just, says she was just the best friend to have at your side and that kind of

01:10:54thing.

01:10:54Did you meet Anne before you did it?

01:10:56Yes, yes, yes.

01:10:57Richard Tervison, who played Colin Tennant in The Crown, he and I went to meet her at her

01:11:02house and she was so glorious.

01:11:05Yeah.

01:11:05And I think quite anxious that Peter Morgan should include their friendship and include

01:11:12her kindness.

01:11:14She was, yeah, fantastically generous with her time and, but talked a lot about how loyal

01:11:20she was and how, like for example, when their third son was in a plane crash, she rang Princess

01:11:27Margaret in the middle of the night and within no time at all.

01:11:32The American ambassador had flown him from Belize to Miami and he was on an operating table.

01:11:37So she effectively saved his life.

01:11:39Talking of friendships.

01:11:41Yeah.

01:11:41We had a friend of yours on a little while ago and he left you a message and his name

01:11:47is Roger Allen.

01:11:48Ah.

01:11:50Nancy.

01:11:52Nancy Carroll.

01:11:55Try and stay calm and stay in your seat.

01:11:58Happy New Year.

01:11:59I'm here too, just to ruin it.

01:12:02So you are.

01:12:03I love you.

01:12:04Bye.

01:12:07There you are.

01:12:08Roger Allen.

01:12:08Ah, that's so glorious.

01:12:10I'm Inspector Sullivan.

01:12:11Yes.

01:12:11Tom Chambers.

01:12:12Oh, how lovely.

01:12:13That's very gorgeous.

01:12:15We've got a show clip with you two working together because Murder in Provence you did

01:12:18together.

01:12:18Yeah.

01:12:18What a nice place to film, to film a series.

01:12:21Oh, it's amazing.

01:12:22In Provence.

01:12:22Yeah, yeah.

01:12:23Did you enjoy it?

01:12:24It was far too much rosé.

01:12:25Yeah.

01:12:26Well, let's see if it shows, shall we?

01:12:28We are Murder in Provence.

01:12:29Judge, how's your weekend going so far?

01:12:32You're about to spoil it, aren't you?

01:12:34Give me the scoop.

01:12:35I tell them you're a bit like a detective.

01:12:37And hugely more important.

01:12:39Obviously.

01:12:40One blow.

01:12:40That's all it took.

01:12:42How long is this going to take?

01:12:44That's up to you.

01:12:46She's left there.

01:12:47She hasn't got any shoes on.

01:12:48Ha!

01:12:49Sante.

01:12:50Love and death fanged right up against each other.

01:12:56The advantage of glorious scenery.

01:12:58A glorious co-star with whom you get on exceptionally well.

01:13:02And very watchable plots.

01:13:04It was wonderful to film.

01:13:05Future projects.

01:13:06You're about to fly off to the States.

01:13:08Yes.

01:13:09I'm about to go and do...

01:13:11I play the head of MI5 in The Diplomat.

01:13:14Oh, my goodness.

01:13:15I know.

01:13:15You see, that is one of our...

01:13:17Mrs T, my favourite series.

01:13:18Yeah.

01:13:18If you've not watched The Diplomat, three series have gone...

01:13:22It is...

01:13:22It's amazing.

01:13:23The best thing since the West Wing, I think.

01:13:25Yeah, well, it's the same team.

01:13:26Very similar team.

01:13:27It's...

01:13:27I'm such a small cog in an amazing machine, but I'm so happy to be there.

01:13:33They're just brilliant.

01:13:34It's Deborah Kahn has written it, who, of course, wrote so much of The West Wing.

01:13:37And it's...

01:13:38I think it's so fast and it's so multi-layered and the acting is so beautiful.

01:13:42And current, you know, in terms of the madness of politics.

01:13:48But also, sort of, relations between the two great states.

01:13:53I...

01:13:53Yeah.

01:13:53It's a great privilege to be part of and I'm very excited.

01:13:56You're not confining yourself, though, to the large screen and the small screen.

01:13:59We're going to see you back on the stage again at The Young Vic.

01:14:02Yep.

01:14:02At The Young Vic in February, from February to April.

01:14:06I'm doing an Arthur Miller play...

01:14:08Gosh.

01:14:08...called Broken Glass, directed by Jordan Fane.

01:14:12Which is...

01:14:14It's a really, really interesting play set in 1938.

01:14:17And it's about a woman living in New York, played by Pearl Chandra, who reads about Kristallnacht.

01:14:26Mm-hm.

01:14:27And overnight becomes paralysed from the waist down.

01:14:30So, it's about trauma, really.

01:14:34And empathy.

01:14:35But it's...

01:14:35It's a six-hander.

01:14:36And it's about this sort of relationship between, I suppose, the psychological effects

01:14:43of reading about something happening far, far away, but also perhaps things that have

01:14:51happened to you that sort of sit in your body that something else is triggered by.

01:14:57Mm-hm.

01:14:57It's just incredibly interesting.

01:14:59And I love Arthur Miller as a writer.

01:15:01It's the first time I've ever done an Arthur Miller play, so...

01:15:03Lovely to talk to you, Nancy.

01:15:05Lovely to have you with us.

01:15:07You'll stay for a glass of something or other.

01:15:09Yes.

01:15:10We're not all sure what, because they're all new off the shelf.

01:15:12Yeah, something pink.

01:15:12And Tom says these are for 2026.

01:15:14Yeah.

01:15:15I hope they're drinkable.

01:15:16That's all I can say.

01:15:17Bless you.

01:15:17Lovely to see you again.

01:15:19Now, before we indulge ourselves in today's Best of British, it's time to revel in the beauty

01:15:24Britain has to offer in today's Ode to Joy.

01:15:26As soon as you think was gonna have to break down,

01:16:57Ah, no, well, that was Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, courtesy of I Travel Drones, and set to a piano

01:17:03concerto by, who else? Mozart.

01:17:05Coming up, his forecasts rival Carol Kirkwoods for accuracy.

01:17:09So what's in store for 2026? Tom Sergi gets us giddy with the drinks trends. We're all set to be

01:17:15quaffing in the months to come. I'll be back with Tom, Patti, Rory and Nancy right after this.

01:17:34Welcome back to Love Your Weekend.

01:17:36And best of British time now, and our attention turns to our drinks cabinets, which may be looking a little

01:17:42depleted after the merriment of Christmas.

01:17:44Thankfully, 2026 looks set to be another bumper year for the UK's premium alcohol drinks market.

01:17:51So what should we be stocking up on in the year ahead? Here with his pick of the tipples trends

01:17:57set to take off this year.

01:17:59A man's finger is always on the pulse. Let's just hope it's his own.

01:18:03Welcome, drinks expert, Tom Sergi. That was a bit cheeky.

01:18:07It was great. It was perfect. Ideal. Ideal. And probably very apt. It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?

01:18:13And here we are. We find ourselves in the new year, and I'm over the moon once again with my

01:18:18segment.

01:18:19I get to talk about drinks trends. These are the things that I think we should all be drinking in

01:18:232026.

01:18:24Do you just make this up then, or do you keep your eye on that?

01:18:28Nobody else's idea of what we ought to do, just yours.

01:18:30Quite. And if enough people come and tell you that this is what's happening, that's what's happening.

01:18:34Oh, Rory knows all about that. He's a politician. I mean, that was a bug.

01:18:37Well, quite exactly. Learning from the best, surely.

01:18:39You are the smiling wolf.

01:18:40I am.

01:18:42So one category, I think, of drinks that's going to be huge this year is functional non-alcoholic drinks.

01:18:49These are drinks that are completely non-alcoholic but have botanicals and other ingredients in them

01:18:53that emulate parts of the sensation alcohol gives you.

01:18:56It might give you a bit more energy. It might give you a gentle sensation of calmness or euphoria.

01:19:02Things like L-theanine, which is in tea and gives you that gentle kind of euphoria.

01:19:06Lots of cups of tea might give you.

01:19:08Caffeine, which is famously quite good at picking you off.

01:19:11You know, ashwagandha, damiana, and a great example of this.

01:19:14Well, you're making these names.

01:19:15Has anyone heard these words before?

01:19:17Ashwagandha.

01:19:18Yeah, as if they know.

01:19:20Which is an act of tea.

01:19:21Tea, tea, tea.

01:19:22Coffee.

01:19:23I like coffee.

01:19:25Do you like the taste of this one?

01:19:26I like this very much.

01:19:27It is intriguing.

01:19:28I like it.

01:19:28No, I'm very good.

01:19:29If I was going non-alcoholic, I'd go with this all the way.

01:19:32It's like a gin and tonic, right?

01:19:33Exactly.

01:19:33Yeah.

01:19:34It's bitter.

01:19:35It's bitter.

01:19:36Yep.

01:19:36But I love the bitterness.

01:19:37And the problem usually with non-alcoholic drinks is they're incredibly sweet.

01:19:40Yes.

01:19:41Whereas this is actually quite nice.

01:19:42This is a bit like a slightly milder bitter lemon.

01:19:45There's a good touch of that.

01:19:46Exactly.

01:19:47Isn't there?

01:19:47This is called Botanical and it's by Smiling Wolf who are a functional spirits brand.

01:19:52And it's doing a lot of exactly that, what you want from a gin.

01:19:55It's packed full of juniper.

01:19:56There's loads of citrus.

01:19:57And it starts as a gin and then it's de-alcoholized completely.

01:20:01And then they add in these extra botanicals and things.

01:20:03And so you can kind of have a non-alcoholic drink but get some degree of sensation.

01:20:08There's a flavor in there.

01:20:09It's kind of like a flower or something.

01:20:13There's a lot of different herbs in these.

01:20:15And the back labels of all of these functional things, they are huge.

01:20:17Because lots of what they try and do is they try and blend botanicals to exact quantities to give you

01:20:23an exact sort of sensation.

01:20:25But I think probably things like juniper, things like oris root, things like lemon is a big, big element in

01:20:30there.

01:20:31And that classic juniper-y kind of, you know, forward note.

01:20:34Just a note on, that bitterness is really quite important because most alcoholic drinks have a sensation that is in

01:20:40that wheelhouse.

01:20:41You know, they've got that little bitter character.

01:20:42Alcohol itself is quite a bitter, bitter character.

01:20:45And there's a degree of placebo effect here.

01:20:47A really important part of the six o'clock pour a glass of something is to emulate and feel a

01:20:52lot of the same sensations.

01:20:54And the placebo effect will carry you a really long way.

01:20:57You know, wouldn't you, if you poured it?

01:21:00If somebody else poured it for you, they'd be like, yeah, great, loving this.

01:21:03But when you don't, yeah, no, it's just me kidding myself.

01:21:07It's quite ridiculous.

01:21:08You've got to get the imagination going.

01:21:10Now, we're back in booze.

01:21:12We're back in the safe territory of booze.

01:21:13Now, beautiful, beautiful Georgian estate down in Somerset.

01:21:17You have the Newt.

01:21:18And this is, this comes from the Newt, and it's from their orchards on site there.

01:21:22Just off dry.

01:21:23That's good.

01:21:23A little bit medium.

01:21:25Quintessant cider.

01:21:25Interesting served in a wine glass rather than in, there's often too much.

01:21:29If you have a pint of cider, it's too much.

01:21:32But it really, it feels a bit more special like this.

01:21:35And also, you're confident that you could get down that.

01:21:38And it's refreshing.

01:21:39Absolutely.

01:21:40The ABV is lower, you know, so you're looking at sort of just about sort of six or seven

01:21:43percent ABV.

01:21:45It's five and a half.

01:21:46So, you know, you can get away with having a few more glasses of this than you could a

01:21:49glass of wine.

01:21:50But the great thing about apples is they've got this extraordinary complexity.

01:21:54They give you a little bit of tannin and bitterness.

01:21:55They like grapes with great wine.

01:21:58They can give you all kinds of different sort of flavour characters and create this wonderful

01:22:01flavour journey.

01:22:02And premium cider is going to be a hallmark of 2026.

01:22:07Do you drink cider ever, Rory?

01:22:09No.

01:22:09Never.

01:22:10I might start.

01:22:11Yeah.

01:22:11I might start.

01:22:11Patty?

01:22:12I do.

01:22:13I have a teaspoon of, well, cider vinegar.

01:22:16Yeah.

01:22:17And hot water, yeah?

01:22:19Yeah.

01:22:20Lance?

01:22:20So this is not often.

01:22:24What I think is really kind of exciting about this is it's a demonstration of British cider

01:22:30really premiumising.

01:22:32We have cider in this country that is usually just lots of water and sugar with a little

01:22:35bit of concentrate.

01:22:36This is the opposite.

01:22:37This is 100% pressed apples and there's a big distinction.

01:22:40It tastes sophisticated.

01:22:41It's good.

01:22:41It's lovely.

01:22:42I like that as well.

01:22:43It's lovely.

01:22:43Next one.

01:22:44Now, moving into something a little bit pinker, a little bit more colour going on here and

01:22:47from an amazing label with a beautiful smiley face on the top of the bottle, which is

01:22:51great.

01:22:52This is the Heretics and it's a beautiful new rosé called Cantillon that they make and it's

01:22:57grown in Essex.

01:22:58So this comes from the Crouch Valley Estuary, you know, in Essex from a beautiful vineyard there

01:23:04and it's Pinot Noir.

01:23:06So it's 100% Pinot Noir fermented in oak.

01:23:08So you get this textural, creamy richness to it.

01:23:12Loads of that lovely berry Pinot Noir flavour.

01:23:15And the trend here is we know English wine's a good thing.

01:23:20It's an exciting thing.

01:23:21But we're living in an age now of microscopically small, really exciting producers to go and

01:23:26explore.

01:23:26So my big thing here is get out there, find brands you've never heard of before, go and

01:23:31look at people making tiny quantities of really exciting, experiential things and you

01:23:36can find them.

01:23:36People often think they're sweeter when they're darker.

01:23:38There's no indication of sweetness at all from its colour.

01:23:41No.

01:23:42It's just more time with the skins, more flavour, more texture, more intensity.

01:23:46It's a great food wine.

01:23:47Do we like that?

01:23:47I really like it.

01:23:48You really like it.

01:23:49Rory?

01:23:49It's nice.

01:23:52I thought so.

01:23:53I think it's very nice.

01:23:55It's a very nice wine.

01:23:57I don't think it's maybe quite as complex and exciting as you think.

01:24:01But fair enough.

01:24:04Entirely fair enough.

01:24:05I completely accept your position.

01:24:07But I love it.

01:24:09And I think the thing with English wine is everything's happening in quite a small space.

01:24:14It's freezing cold here, famously.

01:24:15And the ripeness levels we get here are very small.

01:24:18It takes a very long time to ripen the grapes.

01:24:20And the result of that, like Norwegian strawberries, little tiny things, is the flavour is huge.

01:24:25But the acidity and the tension is big as well.

01:24:26For me, the flavour is too huge.

01:24:28I like my rosés a little lighter than that.

01:24:31Fair enough.

01:24:32Probably a winter rosé, I suppose.

01:24:34It's just pure subjective palate.

01:24:36That's a bit...

01:24:37It may be the oak, because I really went off oak chardonnays.

01:24:41Yeah.

01:24:43You get the oak on the nose, certainly, don't you?

01:24:45The exploration of wine really is about sometimes finding things that you don't like as much as you do like

01:24:50and going, do you know what?

01:24:51I've learnt about that.

01:24:52I like it.

01:24:52So there you go.

01:24:53We have two more to do.

01:24:54Here we go.

01:24:55It's on.

01:24:56We've got a tumbler.

01:24:57We've got a tumbler, and I've made you a margarita.

01:25:00It is a classic.

01:25:01Oh, well.

01:25:03Picante.

01:25:04So a little bit spicy, tiny bit spicy, tiny bit coriander-y.

01:25:08I hope everyone likes coriander.

01:25:09Wow.

01:25:10It's lime, it's agave, and crucially, it is...

01:25:12Oh!

01:25:13Oh!

01:25:15Wow.

01:25:16That's good.

01:25:17That's terrific.

01:25:17I love the spiciness.

01:25:18That's exceptional.

01:25:19That's very nice.

01:25:21That is.

01:25:22What's the hot bit?

01:25:23The hot bit is literally chilli.

01:25:25So I've muddled a tiny bit of red chilli, a tiny bit, with just, no, literally, proper

01:25:30fresh chilli.

01:25:31Seriously, it's brilliant.

01:25:32Muddled down, just a tiny bit, and with coriander, and then I've shaken it with lime and agave.

01:25:37And crucially, this.

01:25:38This is called Quarta, and it is their Blanco Agave Spirit Drink, which is essentially tequila.

01:25:44It's made with agave, brought over from Mexico, made over here, but it is, instead of being

01:25:49distilled and then diluted to 40% alcohol, as it usually would be, it's brought down to

01:25:5415% alcohol.

01:25:55So the trend here is mid-strength drinks.

01:25:58Drinks that, spirits that would usually be full strength, brought down to a lower strength.

01:26:02You can have three of these for the same amount of food.

01:26:05But you don't feel as if it's large strength.

01:26:07It really is a good hit.

01:26:08I love this.

01:26:08It's terrific.

01:26:09And the chilli helps make you feel that she's got some.

01:26:11I love the chilli.

01:26:11Exactly.

01:26:12That was my first, I love the chilli.

01:26:14I went for the chilli first, and that was it, kicked it off.

01:26:17Nice to put that one down.

01:26:19Very good, Quarta, we like you.

01:26:21The other trend here is swicey, sweet and spicy.

01:26:24Yes.

01:26:24It's a thing.

01:26:25And such a complete contrast to this next afternoon, which has come from only Fools and Horses.

01:26:30This is.

01:26:30It lacks only the parasol to make Del Boy a happy man.

01:26:35So, look at that.

01:26:36Wow.

01:26:37You're never quite sure about my elaborate garnishes.

01:26:39As I always say, garnishes should either threaten to poke you in the eye, sort of thing, or they should

01:26:43compliment the drink.

01:26:44And this is sort of in the eye-poking direction.

01:26:46So, what I've done here is there is a massive trend.

01:26:50The martini last year was huge.

01:26:51Minimalist drinks, very elegant drinks was a big thing.

01:26:54What you're finding now is the opposite of that.

01:26:56The desertification of cocktails.

01:26:58And I think we should get behind it.

01:26:59So, what I've done here is I've created, essentially, a mint choc chip milkshake, but with, crucially, absinthe.

01:27:08And so, this is an absinthe and mint choc chip milkshake.

01:27:12So, you've invented this.

01:27:14This is your invention.

01:27:15Have you tasted this, Rory?

01:27:17I've been working very hard in my kitchen on this.

01:27:19It's an amazing combination of being stuck in a sort of seedy French cafe and eating mint chocolate chip with

01:27:25my sister.

01:27:26I think it's sensational.

01:27:27It's made with this beautiful London-made absinthe.

01:27:30The devil's botany here.

01:27:31They're absinthe regardless.

01:27:3362% alcohol.

01:27:3562% ABD.

01:27:3662%?

01:27:37What?

01:27:38I'll be speaking in Nigeria then.

01:27:39Oh, my God.

01:27:40Now you won't be able to hear what I understand what I'm saying.

01:27:42It's got proper wormwood in.

01:27:44The stuff that got it banned in Europe, but not in the UK.

01:27:46And it's now legal.

01:27:47It's fine.

01:27:47And the colour, the colour comes from chlorophyll.

01:27:50It's exclusively from natural botanicals.

01:27:53It's all bad in Europe because you were going for it.

01:27:57Extraordinary.

01:27:58The last time I tasted anything like that, it came out of a petrol pump.

01:28:03Outrageous!

01:28:04No, it didn't taste nearly so nice, but it was like, what?

01:28:06But Jude's ice cream, who actually is made just around the corners.

01:28:10It's beautiful Hampshire ice cream.

01:28:11And it's entirely, that is entirely plant-based.

01:28:14So, the drink, despite it being creamy and delicious, is actually completely...

01:28:17...vegan, should you want it to be?

01:28:18One of your favourite vegan.

01:28:19Other than that, actually, frankly.

01:28:22Wow.

01:28:22Goodness me.

01:28:23Did you trip the side off an aerobar?

01:28:25I did.

01:28:25Having overdosed yesterday, you know, you know, today I'll be much more circumspect.

01:28:29Crikey.

01:28:31Mercifully, that's it for today's show.

01:28:32Thanks to all my guests, to Patty, Rory and Nancy.

01:28:35And, of course, Tom, I think.

01:28:37Yay!

01:28:38Come on.

01:28:39Join me next week for some more barnside banter.

01:28:44Until then, I leave you with some words from Mae West.

01:28:46When I'm good, I'm very good.

01:28:50But when I'm bad, I'm better.

01:28:53You make your own mind up on that one.

01:28:55Cheers, all.

01:28:55Cheers.

01:28:57Oh, there you go.

01:28:59Come on.

01:29:23You

Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh - Season 8 - Episode 01

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