Standard Issue Podcast

John Waters’ follow-up to smash hit Hairspray saw the so-called “Pope of Trash” enjoy the first-ever bidding war for his work. But does 1990’s cult classic Cry-Baby live up to the hype? Is it the lol-a-thon Jen remembers? And can Mick and Hannah still bear to look at Johnny Depp’s face?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer, actor and top woman Brona C Titley was keener than mustard when she was asked to adapt Brian Helgeland’s 2001 medieval action comedy for the stage. A Knight’s Tale the Musical opens at Manchester Opera House this Friday, so Mick got Brona on the Zoom to chat the whys, the hows, and the horses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Namulanta Kombo pitched an idea for a podcast to the BBC World Service and the result - Dear Daughter - has become a worldwide success story, garnering a devoted listenership and a bunch of awards. She joins Hannah from Nairobi, to talk about advice, good and bad, and the importance of passing on life lessons.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt and adapted from Amy Liptrot’s prizewining 2017 addiction memoir of the same name, The Outrun follows the recovery of young alcoholic Rona, and offers emotional turmoil in dramatic places. How will Mick, Yosra and Hannah cope with that? And it stars Saoirse Ronan. How will Hannah cope with that? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mick and Jen are steeling themselves for the seven bill (sort of) increases rolling out across the country this week, as they chat budget bloopers and a 45p consolation prize. Meanwhile, it’s bleak news indeed as in the UK further crimes are alleged against serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, and across the pond, women in the US are up against infringements on democracy via the Safeguard American Voter Eli...

Join us as we get into the groove of a "feminist cult classic". Is that jacket lush? Is Madonna playing Madonna? Is Desperately Seeking Susan a feminist film at all? All the debate is raging here. And Jen's in fancy dress. You're welcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Hallie Rubenhold's non-fiction book The Five found the stories of the victims of Jack the Ripper underneath a whole pile of misogyny and myth-making. She's about to do the same for the women at the centre of the Crippen murder, with her book Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen. Hallie chats to Hannah about the wrongs done to Belle Elmore, by both her husband and his...

At various points in her life, writer and walking enthusiast Annabel Streets has felt a pull towards certain landscapes and wondered if there was a reason for that. In her new book, The Walking Cure: Harness the Life-changing Power of Landscape to Heal, Energise and Inspire, she explores the restorative and healing powers of walking. Jen catches up with Annabel to talk about why we should all be g...

Fiddler on the Roof could win big at this year's Oliviers, with 13 nods, including one for Best Actress for Lara Pulver. She's also about to hit our screens in Paramount's new drama MobLand. Lara chats to Hannah about all this, plus working with Helen Mirren, the cancellation of Maternal and how what the childminder walked in on really wasn't what it looked. * You can listen to Jen's interview wit...

There's fuckwittery, and there's whatever the hell is going on at the highest levels of government in America right now. In this week's BT, Hannah and Jen look at that whole horror show, the chances of another pandemic, a new GCSE, and the dearth of women in brewing. Plus there's rugby and tennis in Jenny Off The Blocks. And, perhaps most importantly, updates from Newport Pagnell's Facebook group....

Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie head up James Mangold’s biographical drama, based on Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir about her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. It was a big deal on its release, so Mick, Hannah and Jen give it a watch to discover whether it’s an astute look at female mental health in a time when women’s rights and standards were very different or, to put it bluntly, dogshi...

The Women’s Six Nations got underway on Saturday, with England eyeing a whopping 29th title in the tournament. And so, Jen jumped on the Zoom to chat to the Red Roses’ top scorer of all time: Emily Scarratt. They're talking about how women’s rugby is doing in the UK and on a global stage, the forthcoming World Cup, and how to take the lows, as well as the highs, when you're a professional athlete....

What a month, indeed what a few days, of TV. Hannah's got some high praise for Severance, The White Lotus, Toxic Town and Adolescence, while Jen's been keeping it real with some ITV dramas. And a few BBC ones to boot. Tuck in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a full basket of news from Hannah and Mick this week: oven-ready gammon joints, Streep-Short joy, a pre-tribunal win for some of the BBC’s female presenters, the Met Police covering itself in glory again, and – all together now! – relugolix/estradiol/norethisterone acetate for the endo win. Plus, extra sunshine for our £5+ patrons with Sarah Millican’s Light Relief. Learn more about your ad c...

Garry Marshall’s much beloved romcom made a leading lady of Julia Roberts, and an absolute shedload of cash at the box office. But how romantic and/or funny is sex work, drug addiction and controlling relationships? And would either Hannah or Jen be up for being kept as Richard Gere’s pet? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigative journalist and head of narrative at Stak, Nicky Anderson has been a ballet nut since she was a kid. And the New York City Ballet under George Balanchine? For many, it’s ballet at its pinnacle. But at what cost?  In her new seven-part podcast series, Dancing With Shadows, Nicky explores the history of the New York City Ballet and its influence, with a focus on the dark side of the com...

How do you solve a problem like two people who don't like musicals having to watch one of the world's best-loved musicals? Was it like brown paper packages tied up with string or just Do Re Mi Fa Soooo fucking long? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roisin O’Donnell’s striking debut novel, Nesting, tackles some big issues: domestic abuse, coercive control and the housing crisis in Ireland. We follow protagonist Ciara’s spur of the moment decision to take her two young girls and flee her abusive husband – and the challenges she faces staying away. Roisín chats to our Mick about coercive control, strong women in impossible situations, and spark...

Jemima Rooper has been on our screens since the mid ‘90s, featuring in shows such as As If, Hex, and more recently The Split and Geek Girl. Now she’s at London's Park Theatre as Suzanne in one of France's favourite plays, Farewell Mr Haffman. Jen catches up with Jemima to talk about playing a Nazi, life as an actor from a young age, and being that tricky not young/not yet old age of our mid-40s. F...

Hannah, Yosra and Mick are all big fans of Alice Lowe. But will that translate into loving Timestalker, which she wrote, directed and stars in? Does an excellent supporting cast (Tanya Reynolds, Jacob Anderson, Nick Frost and Aneurin Barnard) get enough to do? And will the fast cuts and repetition leave them confused or swooning? Find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

There has been some good news this week, if you squinted right. So we're saying "no thank you" to the White House bullies and "yes please" to big legal developments, potty training, the pursuit of happiness and teaching boys about positive masculinity. Plus, there's boxing news in Jenny Off The Blocks. You're welcome. You can find out more about the Big Toile Project here. Learn more about your ad...

Margaret Atwood via Harold Pinter? Volker Schlöndorff’s 1990 adaptation of what’s become a feminist classic promises “a haunting tale of sexuality in a country gone wrong”. So there’s that for starters. Will Mick, Hannah and Jen get onboard with Schlöndorff’s vision of Gilead and what happens to the women living in it, or will they, like Pinter, find it all very tiring? Learn more about your ad ch...

Imagine losing it in public, a video going viral and the whole world calling you a bad mother. That's what happens in playwright and actor Anna Morris's new play Son of A Bitch, now at Southwark Playhouse. Anna chats to Hannah about raging in public, viral videos, empathy, and the pressure on women to be mothers. Good mothers. Excellent mothers. You can book tickets for Son of A Bitch here: https:...

Like many new parents, Emily Callaci - writer and professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison - was amazed by the amount of housework that came with looking after small children. Her new book, Wages for Housework, is a history of the fascinating movement of the same name and explores how feminists before her have approached the dilemma of under-valued and unpaid work. Jen caught up...

The women tricked into relationships with undercover police officers have spent a lot of years investigating and campaigning, largely unnoticed. Might a new ITV documentary about their stories finally get them the widespread support they deserve? Hannah chats to one of those women, Alison, and to Lucy Wilcox, the director of The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed to find out more. *...