On the Topic Podcast

This week Alex & Dan kick off their Proud of Pompey series with Terence Carvalho! Terence and his team have been leading the way for the City of Culture bid during 2026 and as a social media presence promoting the city and its residents, he was naturally one of the guests which the dynamic duo of the south coast wanted to have on the podcast. Terence, born and bred in the city, discusses growi...

This week, Alex & Dan ditch the nostalgia beach for some more globe trotting, as they bring you some popular superstitions from around the world! There's the usual ones - Friday 13th, throwing salt (sodium!) or seeing black cats - we talk about their origins and where in the world will you see these things avoided the most. We also then discuss some not-so-common superstitions - from Lemon...

This week, Alex & Dan kick off 2026’s Spooky Season with a strong opener - Cursed Objects Vol.1! There’s some items which didn’t even make the notes as they were too cursed to discuss - but which ones were the dynamic duo comfortable enough to chat about? From haunted and deathly antique boxes, possessed bunk beds - to murderous stone artefacts and spirited vases.... Alex also searches during...

This week, Alex & Dan revisit the iconic islands of Jurassic Park to discuss what it would ACTUALLY take to make it in real life... From buying islands, the greatest scientific minds, to autonomous tour vehicles and corporate away-day suites... the dynamic duo of the south coast discuss the total bill for making one of these wonders of popular culture. They then cast their attention to whether...

This week, Alex & Dan discuss one of the most popular icons of modern conspiracy theories and cutting-edge scientific discovery - the Large Hadron Collider! From finding the Higgs Boson to a new way of explaining our universe, it is doing some truly world-defining work. But is it also opening wormholes to different dimensions, summoning demons - and why are the staff at CERN performing human s...

This week, Alex & Dan discuss one of the viral sensations of 2016, with Niantic's Augmented Reality Pokémon-themed mobile games - Pokémon Go! The game brought together communities of people together, discovering local points of interest, towns and cities! Getting people to "touch grass" was a great way to get your steps in, whilst becoming a new social phenomenon. But what was the cost? From m...

This week, Alex & Dan discuss some of the most mind-blowing reveals, gotcha's and killer one-liners in movie history (mic drop moments!) and thanks to the power of social media - some of yours, too! We discuss complex paternal reveals, prehistoric gargantuan run-ins, to accidental discharges of weapons in confined spaces, sinking ships - and whips! Are you in the market for a replica Juras...

This week, it's a bonus episode as the dynamic duo discuss what's coming up as the jewel of the south coast celebrates its centenary, as well as gearing up for its entry for 2029's UK City of Culture! Canvassing local entreprenuers, business owners, influencers and artists, Alex & Dan plan to capture what it's like to live in Pompey in the 2020's and what it means to the people of the island....

This week, Alex & Dan rush to the departure gates as they board their last flight of Summer Season 2026 - this time, talking about a simpler, more spacious and relaxing time in the air - what flying in the 1990s was really like! From ample leg room, an abudance of luggage space - to as much second hand smoke as you could fill your lungs with - and metal cutlery, lax security and loved ones esc...

This week, the dynamic duo of the south coast of the UK swap Nostalgia Beach for the Hotel Room, continuing 2026's Summer Season! Alex & Dan share some insights into the hotel industry and very quickly regret this new-found knowledge! Why should you never touch the kettle or the coffee machine? The bedding which is discarded on the hotel floor? It's there for a legitimate reason. That...

This week, Alex & Dan kick off the Summer Season over at OTT central, swapping one beach for another - this time, they are leaving the 90s nostalgia and film reviews - and instead discussing some useful tips for travelling abroad! From learning the local lingo to being respectful at the dinner table, from watching where you're walking - to doing as the locals do - there's some handy ti...

This week, Alex & Dan go down to the TWRAD Vault to delve once more into the entertainment industry to bring you some fabled troublemakers from Hollywood in Divas Vol.1!From fights on sets, to a 39-F Bomb tirade - to an actor who turns up on the first day of filming with his own script revisions - and much more! Thanks to the power of social media - we have some of yours too! Sit back and rela...

This week, join Alex & Dan down on the beach to discuss the 38th MCU film and 4th solo outing from Tom Holland's Spider-Man, hot off the heels of their most recent On the Go episode to and from the cinema doors! Discussing Dan's stage name (if you've followed us for a while, it might be of no surprise!) and the overall state of the MCU, this is a spoilerific review of the latest wa...

This week, the Dynamic South Coast duo return to the not-so-mean streets of Old Portsmouth to the cinema and back, to bring you their honest thoughts on the latest film from everyone's favourite wallcrawler and friendly neighbourhood Arachnid - Spider-Man: Brand New Day! It's the 38th film from the MCU, the 4th in Tom Holland's solo outing and already during the first domestic weekend...

This week, Alex & Dan kick off the next few Marvel-related episodes with a recap on what Sony has done with their Spider-verse - and why they are churning out lacklustre films within the 5 year 9 month window... From a $9Bn franchise piggy-backing off the MCU, to films which struggle to break even at the box office, Sony have well and truly made their money back from the Marvel sale in the 90s...

In this week's episode, Alex & Dan discuss idioms and their origins. You probably use some of these common phrases every day, and you don't even realise it! If you've got skeletons in your cupboard , well, you quite literally did for educational purposes. But you might just get caught red handed ... When was the last time you broke the ice ? Probably not sailing in the 1800's, but perhaps at a...

This week Alex & Dan bring you another public service announcement, this time in the form of educating the masses on the topic of law! As we know, law-abiding citizens themselves, they warn you of the dangers of getting your Moose drunk, making funny faces at dogs - to not practicing your archery and thinking twice before you next pay for your drive-through using your phone! A lot of this is i...

This week Alex & Dan swap the beach for the rabbit hole as they discuss some of the world's most secret societies... well, at some point they were! From religious philanthropists to protectors of those who ransacked nations in the middle ages; to secret annual meetings where the fate of the world is decided - to the elite college members meeting on an island, maintaining hundreds of year&#...

This week, Alex & Dan delve into the world of the silver screen, discussing BTS from some of the biggest films in modern cinema! Ditching the green screen for practical effects, some of the most inconic scenes and responses from actors are genuine due to their on-set surprise! Practicing a bottle flip doesn't seem to be worthy of a mutli-million dollar blockbuster budget - and someone rent...

This week and hot off the heels of a past episode, Alex & Dan make a break for the Nostalgia beach, as they discuss some of the things which were banned from their school playgrounds... and some of yours, too! From spinning plastic toys destined for a window or someone's eyes - to more plastic cards and collectibles which ended up being taken by the school bully. If that wasn't enough,...

This week, Alex & Dan go back to the books to find you more creepy and odd stories from Urban Myths and English Folklore in this fantastic follow up to 2020's Volume 1! In that episode, they discussed the issues with Big Cats, Men in Black, Chupacabra's, eery sounds of banging drums in times of war - and lots more! In this episode, it's turned up a notch; from odd robotic-like colo...

This week we go down to the Pop Culture Beach and open the vault - and it's an absolute belter! Just in time for the Volume 2 coming up in the next week, Alex & Dan talk through their favourite Urban Legends and Myths and where it all started back in the Summer of 2020, with the dawn of the new podcast / channel direction. As was in that week, this week Alex & Dan discuss the Rat-man o...

This week, the dynamic duo of the south coast are swapping the Pop Culture Beach for the nearby public house - because, you guessed it - it's birthday time! You know the drill; it's Ask Me Anything time and for another year, you did not dissapoint! From Smoked or Unsmoked Bacon (it's an important topic!), some of our favourite Thunderbirds episodes, what TV series we'd like to star...

This week Alex & Dan take to the internet to uncover a dark theory of one of the most iconic and much loved children's series of the 90's - the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers! Whilst many of us have fond memories of tight lycra-clad teenagers kicking butt and taking names in mega-bots, there's a subsequent sad tale to tell this week as it's often not a happy ending for those...

This week, Alex & Dan once again get nostalgic as they make their way down memory lane to the 1990s! There were some crazy going's on during that decade and they've got so many to share, they've slapped a volume 1 on it! From racing home from school to spend the evening with friends on web chat forums downloading music (ahem), to the origins of some of your favourite childhood toys...