Christmas Bites

So here it is, Merry Christmas! We have a bumper special episode for you today catching up with 5 glorious guests from previous episodes to see what their Christmas plans and traditions are. We’re dialling into join Vanessa Williams live from the West End, Sophie Ellis Bextor as she rehearses for her New Years Eve TV special, Richard Curtis & Emma Freud tell us all about his new film ‘That Christmas’, Tom Odell is in the midst of rehearsals for his Australian shows, and Nadine Coyle is hot footing it to the airport in a taxi to get home to Ireland for Christmas! We hope wherever you are and whatever you’re doing you all have the loveliest Christmas, thank you for joining us for all of our adventures this year, we’ll be back next week in 2025! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, what’s occurring? We’ve only got Ruth Jones & James Corden - aka Smithy & Nessa - joining us for dinner! The creators and stars of hit and beloved comedy, Gavin & Stacey popped round to tell us all the exclusives about the upcoming Christmas special and final ever episode. After binging the entire 3 series in a week, I have a lot of questions. We found out that James & Ruth secretly started writing the episode years ago, Ruth loves going on a literary cruise, how they boiled eggs in kettles when travelling, that Ruth surprised James at his 40th birthday in Mexico, how Ruth was hypnotised to hate chocolate, that James is loving living back in London, and you really, really don’t want to miss Nessa & Smithy giving us their ‘last supper’! We are so excited to see what our favourite residents of Barry Island and Billericay have been up to for the last 5 years. The Gavin & Stacey finale will be on BBC1 at 9pm on Christmas Day - oh, don’t miss it! X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve got a very special bonus episode for you to brighten up your Monday morning! The fabulous Gabby Logan joined us for lunch and a game of Secret Santa courtesy of Deliveroo. As well as giving each other amazing gifts, we also learned that Gabby grew up in a sporty household, trained as a rhythmic gymnast in her youth, loved trying all the different French foods in Paris for the Olympics, once cooked dinner for Mary Berry, she (fondly!) remembers the bad gift her husband once got her, and tells us all about taking Jessica Ennis to a Barry’s Bootcamp class! Thank you to Deliveroo for the gorgeous gifts, and thanks to their speedy service you can have gifts at your door in as little as 25 minutes! #Ad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s time for a very special live episode with the iconic Chris O’Dowd & Dawn O’Porter, all in aid of the fabulous charity Choose Love. Recorded live at the Union Chapel with an incredible audience, mum rustled up a bunch of gorgeous canapés for our guests and she even brought a vat of her famous chicken soup for some lucky audience members. Chris & Dawn were just brilliant, we learnt about their Christmas plans, Dawn’s acting debut in the TV series Skins, what food was served at their wedding, Chris’ love of breakfast, why garlic holds a special place in their hearts, how Dawn put together the charity Choose Love, and this now marks the 3rd Irish guest this series mum has been able to talk about her Irish passport with! Choose Love does the most incredible work for refugees all over the world, and so far they have raised an incredible £120 million all going directly to those in need. Don’t miss the Choose Love store open on Regent Street in London until 31st December. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have Irish comedy royalty round for dinner, the brilliant Sharon Horgan. Sharon popped to New Cross and brought her two gorgeous daughters with her. Mum made a Salmon en croute, and I made a Pannetone Bread and Butter pudding. We learned all about Sharon growing up in pubs in Hackney and Ireland, living in squats and being fed by Hare Krishna, writing and working with friend of the pod Rob Delaney on Catastrophe, filming Bad Sisters in Ireland and creating Motherland and brand new spin off Amandaland (which we’re very excited for!). Sharon is a total delight, and has co-created some of our favourite series on the telly. Bad Sisters is currently in it’s second series and is streaming on Apple TV+ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a foodie dream today with our next guest, chef and entrepreneur Meera Sodha. Author of the new vegetarian & vegan cookbook ‘Dinner’, Meera joined us for lunch bringing an absolutely delicious freshly baked honey cake with her! We discovered that Meera learned to cook from her lovely mum who grew up in Uganda, how she became a columnist for the Guardian magazine, her varied (and wild!) past careers, setting up her own dating agency 'Fancy an Indian?’(!), how she started writing cookbooks with the help of a smoothie company, and the fabulous story of how she met her husband (it’s like a Netflix romcom). Plus, she really gives Nigel Slater a run for his money with her incredible ways of describing food. Meera’s new vegan and vegetarian cookbook ‘Dinner’ is available to buy now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have Irish acting royalty joining us this week - and my new best friend - the fabulous Saoirse Ronan! We managed to grab lunch with Saoirse in the midst of promo for 2 incredible film projects, Steve McQueen’s Blitz & her very own The Outrun. Fresh from her viral appearance on Graham Norton, Saoirse told us all about growing up between NYC and Ireland, her iconic mum Monica, her love of Vegemite & Barry’s Tea, how she met her husband, being on film sets from a very young age and all about the joint love her family have for John Travolta. Plus, mum surprises us all this week with an epic version of the story of Skimbleshanks, who knew she was hiding that talent?! And who needs her on a new audiobook reading?? We absolutely adored having Saoirse join us, you really won’t want to miss either of the films she is currently starring in - The Outrun is available to buy & rent now, and Blitz will be released on Apple TV+ on 22nd November. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have our favourite Bostonian comedy actor joining us for lunch at mine, and what a treat it was! Mum was over the moon to have the ‘dazzlingly handsome’ Rob in front of her, and - over an absolutely delish Nigel Slater peach and poached chicken salad - we heard all of his hilarious and heartwarming stories. He told us about meeting his wife at a summer camp 20 years ago, joining an olive oil club with his next door neighbour, working with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the horrendous food poisoning he got from a dodgy oyster, and we’ve found another Table Manners guest with a penchant for a cold water swim! Rob is not only a fabulous actor, but also a great cook apparently - we’re coming round for a chicken noodle soup soon! Rob is currently staring in Bad Monkey which is available to stream now on Apple TV+. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the pod this week, we welcome the legendary Gary Barlow! In between early morning studio sessions and tour rehearsals, Gary stopped by my house to share some brilliant stories — from his days on the road with Take That, where he and the band indulged in the infamous “King Naan” curry competition, to the comforts of home, like his mum’s classic chicken and mushroom pie. On the menu is a recipe I’ve never made before, from the Sunlight & Breadcrumbs recipe book by Renee Erickson & Sara Dickerman - mum is obsessed! Scrambled eggs with radicchio, parmesan and balsamic with @dustyknucklebakery focaccia and for pud, the banana bread from the Table Manners cookbook.Gary opened up about his journey into winemaking, his love of good food, wine and the perfect juicer (he loves a daily shroom smoothie). He even let us in on his rider staples and reminisced about listening to music with King Charles. Gary’s new ITV series Gary Barlow's Wine Tour: South Africa starts from 11th Nov. ‎Join us for a one off special live recording with Choose Love at The Union Chapel in Islington on December 2nd - more information here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’m a housewives fan - well, if I’m being honest, I have been religiously loyal to Beverley Hills and now the reboot of NYC, however I knew this would be a biggy for any Real Housewives fan. So I put in the work of consuming 13 series of RHONYC to learn about the one, the only Countess Luann. And goodness me, I’m glad I did!There’s many firsts on this episode: having a Countess on, having one of my friends come over to listen, and also having to nip out mid recording for a daughters school choir performance due to our dear Luanne being rather tardy (‘the traffic was awful’ – that’s the effect of a housewife!)The iconic singer, model, etiquette pro, author & TV personality came over to New Cross looking fabulous in, well, of course Jovani! I fed her some boiled chicken (more delicious than it sounds) & mum made a strudel.She told us all about her friendship with Tilda Swindon, her love of caviar on a potato, her parents regimented sex life & whilst I had to pop out, Luann chatted to mum about growing up as a family of 7 (!) in Connecticut. This was a wild one but a GREAT one! Enjoy!Luann’s upcoming show ‘Countess Cabaret’ comes to the UK in February – tickets are on sale now. you don’t want to miss it. It was Chic, C’est la Vie, C’est Bon x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.