- I joined Andy in London for another live recording of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (or as the cool kids call it, “RHLSTP”, etc.) It was an actor double-header, starting with Adrian Edmondson. When Richard inevitably quizzed him on The Young Ones he reminded us it was filmed in just 14 weeks over 40 years ago. He was on good form, although understandably a little sombre when talking about his relationship with his father, his school days and Rik Mayall.
- Michael Sheen was more upbeat. It’s not often you can sit a few rows away from a charismatic, high-profile film star talking about his knob. There were plenty of jokes with Richard about the effects of ageing, particularly downstairs, topics that were ideally matched to the audience profile. I then miraculously made it across London in just 15 minutes from my theatre seat to the hourly train leaving King’s Cross. Success.
- I found a chip in my windscreen last weekend. On my two-month old car. What could have been stressful was painless and all arranged online: my insurer took a £25 excess and then sent me to Autoglass who arranged a home visit in the week. The man arrived, filled the chip with resin and was gone within the hour. There’s now just a feint mark. Phew.
- I’ve been enjoying Shed Seven’s new Liquid Gold album. They’ve rearranged their best songs from the last 30 years and recorded them with an orchestra. It’s a beautiful thing. They were never fashionable but this album just hit number one in the charts and they’re packing out Brixton Academy in December (can’t wait) so who cares?
- Other highlights while staying in this week: Ludwig, a detective drama where David Mitchell is awkwardly perfect, and the third series of Industry where beautiful young people somehow function in high-pressure finance jobs while on drugs, having lots of sex and seemingly no sleep.
- I have a cold so these weeknotes are late and probably a bit rambling because of the Lemsip. Wee!
