Before The Lights

Dave and George are joined by long-time friend of Before The Lights Christian Cooke for a catch-up that covers some series ground. From "mastering" chess for a role to the extremes Christian put himself through to direct and star in 2023's Embers, they explore the highs and lows of his mental and physical health throughout his career... which also includes the time he punched a marble table, twice...

Dave and Josh sit down with Oscar nominated screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns to explore the challenges of balancing mental and physical health when your job involves sitting at a desk on your own... a lot! Along the way they also uncover a Scottish sporting dynasty, an unexpected alter-ego and the secret behind Krysty's mum tweaking the ending of her ground-breaking film 1917. Follow us on Instag...

This week Dave and George are joined by Tom Glynn-Carney for a career-spanning chat that can generally be plotted out by a series of extreme haircuts. From The King ("doormat mullet"), to House of The Dragon ("the blonde face-lift") and beyond (eg Rialto's "bleach blonde barnet") Tom says it's a miracle he's still got hair after a career of transformations. The episode also gives 2019's Tolkien an...

This week Dave and George are joined by award winning screenwriter Jack Rooke, who quickly derails the show into a slightly more fitness-oriented version of Loose Women. Along the way they discuss Jack's ability to embrace "cocking up", the importance of testing jokes outside of traditional writing rooms and new found approach to fitness. There's also, of course, time to find out why Jack ended up...

Greg James joins Dave and George to reflect on his recent 1,000km cycle for Comic Relief and how the team at Before The Lights helped him achieve something he'll "never do again". With Greg "only just feeling normal" after the challenge, the conversation leads from Greg coming up with the idea for Radio 1's Longest Ride through to the moment he crossed the finish line with the help of training sec...

We're joined by Éanna Hardwicke live at Everyman cinema to discuss our work for his role as Roy Keane in Saipan. Along the way we cover and how the film isn't "just a football movie", going method on a 5-a-side pitch and how the "Roy Keane attitude" helped him keep the diet of a top athlete. He then joined us back in our studio for a deep dive on his career so far, swimming etiquette in Cork and...

For our final episode of 2025 we’re joined by Alison Oliver to discuss her career so far including roles in Saltburn, Conversations with Friends, Task and beyond. Dave and George explore how she keeps exercise part of her routine on and off set, rarely using her real accent at work and stepping back into the world of Emerald Fennell for the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights.  She also...

This week we welcome stand-up, writer, actor and one half of a GQ Man of the year Mary-Beth Barone. We discuss her time working on and off screen on hit TV show Overcompensating with co-star and Ride podcast co-host Benito Skinner (aka Benny Drama), and how she keeps her mental and physical health in check while balancing writing, touring and acting. There’s also time to delve into, one of the mos...

This week’s podcast guest Alex Fine has built up a pretty ridiculous CV. He ticked off American college football player, professional bull rider and personal trainer before turning his hand to acting. Along the way he’s picked up some wild stories from horse-riding at Paris Fashion Week to misjudged combat lessons, which have all shaped his outlook on training and looking after his mind and body....

Solly McLeod’s filming schedule means he's only had two weeks at home this year.  So why not spend some of that precious down time reminiscing about scythe training, throwing up during his first training session and almost cutting off his thumb the day before an audition?  Solly, Dave and George also discuss what he's learned from being on set with the likes of Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bul...

Ruaridh Mollica joins Dave and George to discuss the journey from getting "absolutely shredded" during his degree to stepping into the world of acting and eventually joining the Marvel Universe. They cover some pretty big topics including how Ruaridh can't take training seriously, his early drama work in Blackpool tourism adverts and planking for way too long on stage with his Clarkston co-stars J...

In a slightly different episode of the podcast, we’re introducing you to one of the experts from the world of wellness who visit Before The Lights who host various events our members. Dave and Josh are joined by Lilly Macfarlane, owner of yoga and sound healing studio The Space, to discuss the benefits of regularly focussing your mind and see the benefits first-hand in a fully guided session....

Now that we’re into the fourth season of the Before The Lights podcast, it’s been a while since the wheels fully came off during one of our chats but Dee Ahluwalia gave it a good go this week.  We cover some pretty impressive ground from emailing The Rock and passing out in auditions, creating healthy social boundaries on set to help him deliver his best work.  There’s also a chance for...

This week we're joined by model and creative strategist Bella Broekman-Tilbury to explore the world of beauty and her work within the family company Charlotte Tilbury.  Dave, Josh and Bella discuss how the industry is continuing to grow and thrive in environments which haven't been it's natural home, like football and motorsport with an ethos of "women backing women".  Along the way Bell...

This week we welcome Emily Tobin, editor of The World of Interiors, to explore the fascinating relationship between design and how we feel day-to-day. Emily, Dave and Georgia discuss the ways that changes in colour, decor and shape of the spaces we live, work and exercise can impact how we interact with them and our overall outlook on our homes and offices. There's also time to find out why Richar...

We go very literally behind the camera this week with camera operator Ilana Garrard. During our fascinating chat Ilana explores how she got started in her career, the route to becoming the first female steadicam specialist in the UK and how people could follow in her footsteps. Along the way she also discusses her work on the likes of Black Mirror, an upcoming Marvel project and why she ended up g...

Not many people survive a bar brawl with Liam Neeson, enter Conor MacNeill. The Outlander: Blood of My Blood and Industry actor returns to the podcast to discuss making a move into action movies, entering the world of Outlander and starting a production company to give a platform to emerging Irish talent in film and TV. Along the way he also explains how he balances work and wellness... and why he...

This week we're joined by model and Functional Medicine Practitioner Rose Ferguson who explores her journey from the runway to helping people from all walks of life reach their health and well-being goals. Along the way, she discusses how the fashion industry's outlook on keeping models healthy has developed over the years and her work in helping some of the biggest brands in the world as a global...

Welcome to another Best Of Before the Lights. We’ve got some great guests lined up but before those new episodes come out there’s time to dive into the podcast archives and re-live some of our favourite moments. For this batch of highlights we’ve picked out some moments when the world of sport has collided with film and TV; from getting ready to play world famous athletes, to helping Will Ferrell...

Welcome back to another special episode of Before the Lights, where we look back on some of our favourite moments from the show over the last four series.  This time, we’re focussing on something we come across a lot in our line of work; injuries on set. We could have made this episode about three days long but we've cherry-picked stories about wild allergic reactions, rupturing spleens on Ho...

After three years, almost 50 episodes and more and more people finding our show, we thought it was a good time to take a look back at some of the highlights over the last four series of Before The Lights and uncover some hidden gems you might have missed along the way. We're starting our dive into the archives with some of incredible, and at times slightly worrying, stories about nightmare auditio...

Sometimes we say "this episode covered some serious ground", but this chat with Gwyneth Keyworth (Death Valley, Lost Boys & Fairies) might just have covered the MOST ground, or at least the entirety of Wales. From her career start iin Aberystwyth to why she's always two minutes late and early (and continuing) ambitions of being a vampire there really is something for everyone in this conversat...

A Before The Lights podcast alumni returns as Olivia Cooke joins us for a catch up about life on set and stressful house renovations. Olivia Cooke makes her second appearance on the podcast for a catch up about life on the set of Game of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon, keeping healthy in down time and stressful house renovations. The British actor discusses her relationship with body image,...

We welcome our first musician of the series in the form of producer, singer-songwriter and all round bloody lively guy SG Lewis. He joins Dave, George and his actual brother and Before the Lights trainer Josh Lewis for a deep dive into his career so far and where he's heading next. Along the way they discuss the highs and lows of life in music and the journey he's been on mentally and physically t...

You might know Siobhán McSweeney from Derry Girls, The Great Pottery Throw Down, Amandaland, Ru Paul's Drag Race or (soon) Traitors Ireland... Basically, she's bloody everywhere and now she's added the Before The Lights podcast to that illustrious list of career highlights. In this discussion about her time on and off screen Siobhán explores her route to success, being "so proud" of herself after...