Project Possible with Rich Leigh

Richard L. Blake is a psychologist, breathwork researcher and author. This is a conversation that begins with breathwork, but quickly becomes about therapy culture, trauma, resilience and why Richard believes we've fundamentally changed the way we think about mental health. We discuss whether therapy can sometimes make people worse, why family estrangement is becoming more common, the science...

My guest this week is BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award-winning writer and producer Jocelyn Stevenson, whose extraordinary career includes Sesame Street, The Magic School Bus, Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam and creating Fraggle Rock alongside Jim Henson. We talk about the lessons Jim Henson taught her, why he believed children's television could help stop war, the responsibility of creating stori...

Fair warning: this is a solo episode. If the thought of me talking for getting on for 40 minutes with only a loose structure makes you want to jump headfirst into fire, flick back through the other 80+ episodes for one you haven't watched or listened to, or come back on Monday, when I'll have another incredible guest. Since September last year, when I brought this podcast back, I've be...

Courtney Pine CBE is one of the most influential figures in jazz. A pioneering saxophonist, composer and broadcaster, he's spent four decades redefining the genre, sharing stages and studios with everyone from Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Gang Starr's Guru to Kate Bush, Mick Jagger and Bryan Ferry. But you don't have to be a jazz fan to enjoy this conversation. We talk about why h...

Lily Silverton is a mindset coach, speaker and author of Prioritise This. We discuss self-improvement, therapy culture, ambition, loneliness, social media, productivity, work-life balance and why so many people feel overwhelmed despite having more information than ever before. We also explore whether people can become trapped in cycles of self-development and self-analysis, the pressure to become...

Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE is a former British Army Colonel and officer in the Royal Gurkha Rifles. He completed eight tours of Afghanistan and spent seven years deployed in some of the world's toughest environments. He’s also a world-championship athlete, and international musician. This conversation isn't really about war, though. It's about resilience. Belonging. Fatherhood. We discus...

Kirsty Hulse is a speaker, entrepreneur and one of the UK's leading experts on confidence and influence. It looked like she had it 'all. Then, within the space of three days, she lost her husband, her home and her business. In this conversation, we explore how she rebuilt her life after everything fell apart. We talk about why success wasn't making her happy, and what she learned from...

Around 1 in 4 people are estranged from a family member. Tania Khazaal believes we're living through a family estrangement epidemic - and a silent epidemic at that. One fuelled by social media, modern culture, and our growing inability to have difficult conversations. After becoming estranged from her own mother, Tania eventually rebuilt that relationship and now helps others do the same. We d...

Duncan Beiny - better known as DJ Yoda - has spent more than 30 years building a career that makes almost no sense on paper. A hip-hop DJ obsessed with breakfast cereal boxes. A turntablist who creates audiovisual shows from films, cartoons and pop culture. A self-confessed nerd who turned curiosity into a career. In this conversation, we talk about meeting Gang Starr's Guru at 14 years old, l...

Jo Diop and Kush Burman are the winners of the latest series of hit BBC series Race Across the World. Here they are in their FIRST podcast interview since winning. At just 19 years old, the childhood best friends from Liverpool travelled more than 12,000 kilometres across Europe and Asia, racing from Sicily to Mongolia without smartphones, flights or modern comforts, eventually crossing the finish...

Craig Wood is a former British Army rifleman, a triple amputee and ocean adventurer. At 18 years old, Craig lost both legs and one arm after being blown up by a controlled IED in Afghanistan. After weeks in a coma and years of recovery, he was told he’d never sail again. Last year, he became the first triple amputee to sail solo and unsupported across the Pacific Ocean. In this episode, we discuss...

Jaz Ampaw-Farr believes it’s never too late to have a good childhood. An internationally renowned speaker, former teacher, and advocate for resilience and human connection, Jaz has spent years helping people rewrite the stories they were born into. Because she had to do it herself. Jaz grew up surrounded by violence, abuse, neglect, racism, foster care and unimaginable instability. She was homeles...

We're more polarised in the West than ever. It's tearing families apart. Rhett Power spent years working in war zones with the Peace Corps and USAID, witnessing first-hand what happens when societies fracture - and when people stop seeing each other as human. Nearly a million people were killed in the conflicts and genocides we discuss in this conversation - the very real cost of polarisation. Rhe...

The D.O.C. may be one of the most influential figures in hip hop history. Your favourite rapper's favourite rapper. Many have said that hip hop would look very different without them - but in the case of The D.O.C., none could disagree. A foundational force behind the rise of West Coast rap, he helped shape the sound of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and gangsta rap itself. He received a Grammy Lifetime...

Vanessa Ruck, also known as The Girl On A Bike, is a motorcycle racer, adventurer, speaker and content creator. After being hit by a car while cycling home in 2014, Vanessa was told her injuries were “just bruising.” In reality, the years that followed involved seven surgeries, chronic pain, PTSD, and the complete loss of the life she once knew. Today, she races motorcycles across some of the toug...

In this episode, I sit down with record-breaking endurance adventurer, former Royal Marine and author Mitch Hutchcraft. Last year, Mitch completed a world-first 13,000 kilometre journey from the English Channel to the summit of Mount Everest. Allow me to break the absurdity of that down for you: He swam the Channel. He cycled across 18 countries. He ran hundreds of kilometres through India, and th...

Jason Smith is a fitness coach, cover model and the founder of Fit in Midlife. At 49, Jason was drinking 2 to 3 bottles of wine a night, struggling with his health, and convinced his best years were behind him. He felt stuck, isolated, and like life had quietly passed him by. Then something unexpected happened. A simple post online triggered a complete shift in how he saw himself… and what was pos...

Set on the gritty streets of Manchester, APNAS follows a British Asian Mancunian pulled into a dangerous criminal world by his notorious uncle - and a brutal rivalry with his cousin pushes everything to breaking point I sit down with Ashley Chin and Darren RL Gordon, the co-directors of Apnas - a movie that launched with HUGE hype, with millions of people talking about it before it was even releas...

In today's episode, I sit down with Paterson Joseph. You’ll know him as Johnson from Peep Show, but his career goes far beyond that. The Beach. Green Wing. Dr Who. Julius Caesar. Vigil. Wonka… nobody could ever accuse Paterson of playing the same character twice. We talk about what success actually means after a long career in acting, why he’s never chased fame, and how he measures success on his...

I was lucky enough to sit down with adventurer, long-distance athlete and all-round inspiration Karl Hinett. At 18 years old, Karl was deployed to Basra as an infantryman. During a riot, his tank was attacked with petrol bombs. Trapped inside, he was engulfed in flames. He describes it as feeling like he was underwater, in fire. Karl suffered burns to 37% of his body and was given a 20% chance of...

Today, I sit down with Jack Bazalgette, Artistic Director of Cheltenham Music Festival and founder of Through the Noise. Cheltenham Festivals are internationally renowned, and have been bringing household names and new talent to audiences since 1945. We talk about how music shapes us, why classical music isn’t “uncool” but perhaps badly marketed, and how Jack went from nearly being expelled at sch...

Professor Tim Spector is one of the most cited scientists in the world and a leading expert in gut health, nutrition, and the microbiome. In this conversation, we break down why much of what we’ve been told about food is wrong - from calories and dieting, to why two people can eat the same meal and have completely different biological responses. We talk about the connection between the gut and the...

Karishma Vijay had £7 left, a collapsing business, family pressure, and everything to prove. Now, the 29 year old founder of beauty brand KishKin has won series 20 of The Apprentice UK, and the £250,000 investment that comes with it. In her first and only major podcast interview since the win, Karishma opens up about anger, ambition, rejection, resilience, beauty standards, Lord Sugar, and the lif...

Dr Susie Bennett researches suicide in men at Glasgow University. She is one of the world's leading experts on the topic. In this episode, I wanted to understand why the biggest killer of men under 50 is still themselves. This isn’t a conversation about empty slogans or easy answers. We get into what suicidal pain actually feels like, why “men need to talk” often isn’t enough, and how isolatio...

Matt Binge is the founder of Food Review Club - a platform he's built to become one the UK's most popular food critics, with millions of followers, hundreds of millions of views, and a relentless output of content. On the surface, it’s food reviews. Travelling the country, finding hidden gems, eating great meals. But it was never just about the food. In this conversation, we get into what really d...