Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake

Comedian Helen Lederer on evolving attitudes toward neurodiversity, how alternative comedy has developed since the 1980s, and how her definition of happiness changes with age.Helen and Gordon also get into social media and entertainers' relationships with reviews, working with great comedians like Harry Enfield, and why her candid new memoir Not That I’m Bitter proves “you can be funny about sad things”.

Comedian Jason Byrne on varying degrees of honesty from family and different audiences, the list of eccentricities he’s noticed of his Scottish and Irish fans he’s met from world tours, his new show for Edinburgh Festival, and how his late father’s wisdom has helped shape an award-winning one-man play. The pair also get into Jason trying to connect his brand of comedy to children, health, heart disease and being awake during six (yes, six!) stent installs, mental health coping strategies, growing up in Dublin, and what it’s like meeting up with old mates who’ve no filter and no fame.

Paralympian and TV presenter Ade Adepitan (now an honorary Scotsman according to Gordon!) reflects on his life and career. Particularly on his surreal experience of visiting an all-white South-African community of Orania for a documentary, and the life-affirming, outlook-changing feat of spending nearly seven hours crawling to the peak of live volcano in Nicaragua.The pair also get into the rise of extremism, the difficulties that come with navigating hostile environments, and how Ade’s background in elite sport helps him find focus when his anger rises in some of these environments. Ade also touched on his love for ‘home from home’ Edinburgh, the pros and cons of considering a career in politics, and the power of accepting who you are.

Actor Danny Mays on working with Michael Douglas on new period drama Franklin and the process of auditioning for and being offered the part of Ed Bancroft. Danny talks through all the different wigs wardrobe had him try on, “One of which I thought I looked like my nan, Molly!”, and living in Paris during filming. The pair also get into being bothered about fame, having performances cut from movies, working with Daniel Day Lewis, and how starring in just one episode of BBC drama Line of Duty was a “game changer” for Danny.

“What does being in the establishment actually mean?” He’s the best-selling author and screenwriter famous for his Alex Rider series. ‘Close to Death’ is the fifth instalment of Anthony Horowitz’s ‘Hawthorne and Horowitz’ series, in which he appears as a character. He told Nihal Arthanayake all about it, whether or not he thinks he’s in the “establishment”, and what small things in life wind him up the most.

“In that second my life changed”. Broadcaster and DJ Adele Roberts was in the best shape of her life when she found out she had bowel cancer in October 2021. Suddenly she was plunged into the world of cancer treatment, including having a stoma. Less than two years later Adele crossed the finish line of the London Marathon in her best ever time, also breaking the world record as the fastest ever woman to run a marathon with a stoma bag. Now she’s written a book about the last few years of her life and how it's changed her.

"The food I was eating was linked to my behaviour". He kept us fit during lockdown with his PE with Joe sessions on YouTube. Now Joe Wicks has a new book out. He told Nihal Arthanayake all about it.

I’m used to doing scary things”. Film and stage actor Gillian Anderson - best known for her roles in The X Files, Sex Education and The Crown – speaks to Nihal Arthanayake about her latest role is as Emily Maitlis in the Netflix film ‘Scoop’ - a dramatisation of the BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew.

He’s best known for playing Doctor Who, a young Prince Phillip in The Crown, and Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon. Now Matt Smith is starring in a new production of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. And has he ever thought about teaming up with some of his celeb friends to buy Blackburn Rovers, a club he has loved since his was a lad?

“Whatever I’ve experienced doesn’t need to define me”. DJ and producer Jax Jones talks to Nihal Arthanayake about making music with the likes of Raye, mentoring, and why he’s not sure he wants to reconnect with his biological father.