Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

When Charlie Higson was 18, his mother died, his father moved to Hawaii and he decided to become someone else entirely. He dyed his hair, renamed himself Switch and threw himself into the punk scene in Norwich, where a chance friendship with Paul Whitehouse would eventually help change the face of British comedy. None of it was planned. In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien sits down...

This episode includes discussion of sensitive topics, including addiction and alcoholism, that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening, and feel free to pause or step away if you need to. John Robins has spent much of his life making people laugh. But behind the award-winning stand-up, broadcasting and podcasts was a relationship with alcohol that he spent years tryin...

Eric Idle has spent a lifetime finding the funny side of almost everything. Long before he became one of the defining voices of British comedy, he was a boy shaped by loss, separation and a brutal education. His father died when Eric was just two years old, and at seven he was sent to boarding school in Wolverhampton, where discipline could be violent and laughter became something more than entert...

Tony Hadley went from borrowing £20 in the pub while appearing on Top of the Pops to fronting one of the biggest bands in the world. Then came the fallings-out, a bruising court battle and a journey from packed arenas back to playing small clubs. Through it all, one thing never changed: he refused to give up. Tony joins James O’Brien to tell the extraordinary story of Spandau Ballet - from a worki...

He famously argued that liberal democracy marked the end of history. Now, with war, populism and authoritarianism reshaping the world, Francis Fukuyama asks whether liberal democracy can still win. In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien speaks to the political scientist and author about the ideas, accidents and encounters that shaped his life. Fukuyama reflects on growing up in a highl...

Jay Rayner has eaten some of the best meals in the world - and written some of Britain’s most memorable restaurant reviews. But the story behind the critic is even richer. In this candid conversation, Jay joins James O’Brien to talk about the unlikely path from a famously unconventional childhood to becoming one of Britain’s most recognisable writers and broadcasters. There are school expulsions,...

From watching Tony Blair win a landslide from inside his living room to imagining a world where Hitler won the war, Robert Harris has made a career out of getting closer to power than most. In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien meets the bestselling author behind Fatherland, Pompeii, The Ghost and Conclave. Robert recalls his working-class Nottinghamshire childhood, a mischievous schoo...

Alexei Sayle has spent a lifetime finding humour in anger, absurdity and the systems that shape us. Raised in Liverpool by fiercely committed communist parents, his childhood was filled with politics, protest marches and unusual cultural influences - from Soviet cinema to family trips behind the Iron Curtain. In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien sits down with the comedian, writer an...

Before she became the creator behind Chicken Shop Date, Amelia Dimoldenberg was a relentlessly ambitious child from Marylebone, dreaming of editing Vogue , joining S Club Juniors and taking to the stage in Cats . In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien sits down with Amelia to trace the unlikely journey from a youth magazine in North West London to one of the most distinctive interview...

Beloved TV doctor, children’s author and NHS paediatrician Dr Ranj Singh tells James O’Brien the extraordinary story behind the smile - from the collapse of the life he thought he was supposed to want, to the painful process of working out who he really was. He speaks candidly about growing up in a traditional Indian family, the pressure to follow a respectable path, and the emotional cost of spen...

As the magnetic frontman of James, Tim Booth has spent more than four decades turning raw emotion into some of Britain’s most loved music - from Sit Down and Laid to a run of acclaimed new records. Tim joins James O’Brien to trace the unlikely journey that led him to the band: a difficult childhood, the brutality of boarding school, a life-changing Patti Smith album and a chance encounter with thr...

From growing up on a Gloucester council estate to becoming one of Britain’s best-known culinary success stories, Tom Kerridge has built a career defined by resilience, risk and an enduring belief in people. Tom joins James O’Brien to discuss his unlikely path into hospitality, from washing up in country house hotels to the intensity of London’s leading kitchens and the creation of The Hand and Flo...

What makes someone run towards places most people are desperate to escape? Long before Ravi Singh became one of Britain’s most remarkable humanitarian figures, he was a child caught between worlds: born in Singapore, raised in a Punjabi village, and brought to Britain at 11, where he encountered racism, loss and dislocation almost as soon as he arrived. Years later, he would go on to found Khalsa...

Full Disclosure is taking a short break, but we’ll be back very soon with brand new episodes. Until then, why not dip back into the archive! There are some brilliant episodes to catch up on, including conversations with Jonathan Pryce, Billy Idol, Grace Dent, Sadiq Khan, Dawn French, Irvine Welsh, Hugh Laurie, Jon Ronson, David Harewood and Brian Cox. And that’s only scratching the surface! Full D...

Baroness Beeban Kidron has lived several lives in one. Award winning filmmaker, Hollywood director, crossbench peer and one of the earliest and most persistent critics of Big Tech, she has spent years sounding the alarm about the digital world long before the rest of us caught up. In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Beeban to trace the path from a radical North London...

Cressida Cowell is on of the most beloved children's authors, selling millions and millions of books worldwide, including 'How to train your dragon' which is now a global film franchise too. In this episode of Full Disclosure with James O'Brien, Cressida tells us about her loving childhood with summers spent on Little Colonsay in the Inner Hebridies - a small, inhabited island that her environment...

After Andy Burnham's landslide win against Nigel Farage's Reform party in Makerfield, we thought you'd love to hear his interview with James O'Brien again, first released in 2022 Dubbed 'King of the North' at the height of the pandemic, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham speaks to James about why he sees the country of his birth as containing 'two Englands'. After growing up in a cathol...

This episode includes discussion of sensitive topics, including addiction, that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening, and feel free to pause or step away if you need to. DJ Fat Tony has spent a lifetime turning chaos into charisma. Long before he became one of the most recognisable figures in British nightlife, he was a kid from Battersea learning, far too young, h...

Nina Conti has built a career out of saying the unsayable, turning ventriloquism, improvisation and audience interaction into something far stranger, deeper and more daring than anyone expected. From early struggles with shyness and self-doubt to creating a completely original form of performance, Nina’s work has always lived somewhere between chaos and control, invention and instinct. In this epi...

Russell T Davies has spent a career changing what British television can be, moving from children’s drama to fearless queer storytelling and one of the nation’s most enduring cultural institutions, Doctor Who. Whether reinventing Saturday night television, capturing the emotional truth of the AIDS crisis in It’s a Sin, or turning the anxieties of modern Britain into gripping drama in Years and Yea...

Fern Britton spent decades in Britain’s living rooms, mastering the art of making live television feel warm, effortless and intimate, even when life behind the scenes was at times anything but. From breakfast TV and Ready Steady Cook to bestselling novels and a new chapter in Cornwall, Fern’s career has been defined by reinvention, resilience and an instinctive understanding of how to connect. In...

He is one of Britain’s most high-energy comics, but Russell Kane’s story begins far from the world he now inhabits: on a council estate, in a home shaped by discipline, class tension and a rigid idea of masculinity. What followed was not a straight line to success, but a series of reinventions powered by anger, ambition and the discovery that books could open doors his upbringing never knew existe...

Before she became one of Britain’s most trusted psychotherapists and writers, Philippa Perry had already lived many different lives: boarding school child, dyslexic misfit, debt collector, McDonald’s manager, art student, Samaritan volunteer and a blooming therapist. In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien sits down with Philippa to trace the winding path behind her public voice on rela...

Before she became the entrepreneur behind Kardashian-founded brands Good American and Skims, Emma Grede was a kid from Plaistow with severe dyslexia, few qualifications, and a fierce belief that she could build a bigger life for herself. In this episode of Full Disclosure , James O’Brien sits down with Emma to trace the story behind her remarkable rise- from helping raise her younger sisters in Ea...

Before he became known to millions as Jack Whitehall’s gloriously dry and impeccably mannered father, Michael Whitehall had already lived several lives: socially ambitious schoolboy, drifting young journalist, unlikely prep school teacher, theatrical agent and producer to some of the biggest names in British entertainment. In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Michael to...