Val McDermid

Ahead of their 50th anniversary tour, Squeeze members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook chat to Colin Murray about their intense tour schedule, how they’ve improved their craft with time, their unlikely influences, the re-defining of ‘hit’ tracks, and what they think of Brit Pop. The pair also get into their most surreal moments and biggest mistakes of the last 50 years, and their favourite acts to support on tour, including Bon Jovi, REM and U2, plus performing with Dave Grohl and Elton John.

“It’s not thick skin, it’s scar tissue.” Doctor-turned-comedian and writer Adam Kay on why he left his medical career and if he’ll ever return to it, attitudes towards the NHS and its staff, his new-found passion of writing for children, and what he thinks of the TV adaptation of his best-selling book This Is Going To Hurt. Plus he waxes lyrical over the band he’s seen “more than his family”, Pulp!

Former Beautiful South and Housemartins member Dave Hemingway on being raised in the Hull bar scene, how The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper is responsible for his love of music, and his audition process to join The Housemartins (nobody believed him!) The pair also get into regional music scenes in Northern England, gigging with Oasis and Blur, and supporting REM at Glastonbury in the 1990s, and what it’s like touring the country again today as a self-funded band.

“I went straight out of a civil war and ended up hanging out with most of the current Tory cabinet… a very strange place to be”. Comedian and writer Dom Joly on his Lebanese heritage, geo-political comedy, and his dark sense of humour. Joly also discusses AI, being pigeon-holed, his infamous prank show Trigger Happy TV, and his new book The Conspiracy Tourist which saw him travel the globe to investigate and understand some of the world’s most dangerous and hilarious conspiracy theories in a ‘post-truth’ political space.

ABC frontman Martin Fry on his love of late footballer George Best, starting as a music journalist before finding success in performing, the music scene in Sheffield, seeing James Brown at a convention, recording with Smokey Robinson, and how his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis aged 27 made him see a “different side to humanity”.

“A book is the most interactive form of entertainment there is”. Crime writer Val McDermid chats to Colin Murray about keeping her characters authentic, time management techniques, TV adaptations, imposter syndrome, using Scottish colloquialisms in her writing (her American publishers asked for a glossary!), judging the Booker Prize, and advice for budding writers. Oh, and getting a kiss from Blondie’s Debbie Harry!

Musician Howard Jones chats to Colin Murray about his Welsh heritage, migrating to Canada and how a near death experience involving vegetables gave him the courage to pursue a career in music.

Lead vocalist of Shed Seven, Rick Witter, chats to Colin Murray about fan connection and commitment, the band’s music getting better with age and experience, having agency in their art, and falling out with record labels.

Lead singer of Ash, Tim Wheeler, chats to Colin Murray about the band's latest album Chase the Night and their upcoming tour. The pair also get into how the band has survived over two decades with the original members, hiding the struggle when acclimatising to fame, being featured in Kerrang and being a ‘pin up for teen girls’, and what it’s like having a fashion editor mogul for a mother-in-law.

Comedian Mark Watson on the underrepresentation of the city of Bristol. Do we hear the accent enough and how have they not had a football club in the Premier League?Mark and Colin also get into problems with comparing themselves to more successful people, having a small, loyal following over being a household name, being ghosted by a production company, their shared fascination with sports stadiums, and why Mark decided to write a book about ‘car crash’ stories from his stand-up career.