Two Mr Ps in a Pod(Cast)

This week, the lads look back on one of the hottest teaching weeks in recent memory and the media backlash that followed as schools across the country battled impossible classroom temperatures. Lee shares his frustration with the criticism aimed at teachers, discusses why schools are constantly expected to solve society's problems and explains why the real conversation should be about supporting w...

LO: To wonder how anyone is supposed to teach in this weather! This week, the lads are recording in the middle of a sweltering heatwave and wondering how on earth anyone is expected to teach thirty children in classrooms that feel more like greenhouses. With temperatures soaring, an England World Cup campaign underway and the ever-present threat of an Ofsted call, it's a survival guide for teacher...

This week, the lads are back with a big chat about the proposed under-16 social media ban and whether it actually solves the problem or just shifts it somewhere else. Lee and Adam talk through phones, attention spans, online safety, loneliness, youth clubs, boredom and why children need better alternatives than just being told to “go outside” like it’s 1998 and Snake on a Nokia is the height of en...

This week, the lads are back after half term and counting down the final few weeks until the summer holidays. Adam opens up about leaving his latest role and finding himself in that strange in-between stage of weighing up new opportunities, signing up for supply work and figuring out what comes next. Two new features this week. First - THE BIG QUESTION from a listener focuses around the Department...

This week’s special guest is the brilliant Richard Coles, joining the lads for a wide-ranging chat that somehow manages to cover children’s books, pop stardom, religion, reality TV, school life, funeral disasters and losing a speedboat in Ibiza. Richard talks about releasing his very first children’s book - https://amzn.to/3S51Q6j after already writing more than a dozen books for adults. He explai...

Back for episode 250 and it’s the last one of the half term. SATs are finally done, but before anyone starts skipping into summer like they’re in a feel-good montage, the lads quickly remind everyone that the final half term is anything but calm. Reports, sports days, transitions, residentials, productions and the emotional roulette of finding out next year’s class all get a mention. Lovely. Peace...

Back for episode 249 and the lads kick things off right in the middle of SATs week, with the usual frustrations around testing, pressure and the yearly debate over whether SATs are helpful, pointless, stressful or all three at once. There’s also some pre-show nerves creeping in ahead of the biggest live podcast show they’ve ever done at The Lowry, with family, friends, colleagues and even headteac...

Back for episode 248 and it kicks off with the realities of the summer term: SATs, GCSEs, mocks, revision timetables and that slightly terrifying moment when you realise your children are suddenly much older than your brain has agreed to process. The opening chat turns into a proper reflection on parenting, growing up and those little moments that make you realise time is absolutely flying. There’...

Back for episode 247 and it starts exactly how you’d expect… with absolute nonsense. A new lookalike shout lands for Adam and it might be one of the worst yet. Not even close to flattering, not even accurate… just unnecessarily savage. From there, it spirals into that familiar territory of people wildly overestimating themselves, which sets up the first thread perfectly. We get into “Jay from The...

Back for episode 246 and it starts with a bit of chaos… a virtual recording and a guessing game as Mr P challenges Adam to work out where he is in the UK using only yes or no questions. There’s also a quick tour plug (that definitely wasn’t meant to be a plug…) with updates on upcoming live shows, including the huge Lowry date and the next run across the UK. From there, it’s straight into a blind...

Back for episode 245 and straight into the summer term chat, the lads kick things off reflecting on the Easter break… or what we all pretend is a break. Adam shares the reality of a family holiday abroad. Meanwhile, Mr P embraces the complete opposite approach and does absolutely nothing, other than going all-in on a serious binge of Game of Thrones with the boys, reliving iconic moments and quest...

This week, Lee sat down with the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to discuss the government's Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper and the SEND consultation. I thought we would have had a lot more time than we actually had, which meant a few questions I had prepared from the 1,000+ questions submitted weren’t asked. And probably not being able to go back on every ans...

Episode 244 starts with Adam having an absolute stinker of a morning after waking up to discover he's been a victim of fraud with some going on a shopping spree, before drifting into a chat about nights out, drinking culture, getting older, and the strange pressure people put on you to “join in” even when you’re perfectly happy not drinking at all. From there, the episode takes a funny turn into s...

Recorded as the slog towards Easter starts to bite, Episode 243 begins with the lads reflecting on that very familiar point in the term where teacher tiredness properly kicks in. There’s talk of spring optimism (or the lack of it), stress breakouts making a comeback, and the general feeling of clawing your way towards the next holiday while pretending you’re holding it together. The episode kicks...

Recorded as spring starts to creep in (even if the weather still can’t make its mind up), Episode 242 begins with the lads reflecting on the strange world of online comments and the fine balance between loving teaching and calling out the frustrations of the system around it. There’s a bit of venting about social media criticism, a reminder of why speaking honestly about education matters, and som...

Recorded on the back of a huge February half-term tour run, Episode 241 kicks off with a proper thank you to everyone who packed out theatres across the country. From Edinburgh on Valentine’s Day through a full week of shows, the lads reflect on near sell-outs, standing ovations, and just how surreal it feels to have a thousand-plus school staff in a room for a night of laughs. There’s also big ne...

Recorded on the very last stretch of half term, Episode 240 is a full-throttle, no-holds-barred pre-tour episode that somehow squeezes in tour hype, wholesome dad moments, pure school chaos, and some of the most jaw-dropping listener stories yet. The episode kicks off with big tour energy as the lads count down to hitting the road, with Edinburgh and Newcastle up first and a final rallying cry for...

Episode 239 is a big one. Recorded straight after another padel match that very much did not go Mr P’s way, this episode starts with sore bodies, bruised egos, and the familiar ritual of over-analysing a loss like it’s a post-match Sky Sports interview. There’s tour admin to get through too, with the February half-term shows now dangerously close, a final push for Liverpool, and the lads officiall...

Recorded deep in the never-ending January slump and straight after another padel game, Episode 238 is classic Two Mr Ps energy: slightly smug from a win, physically knackered, and emotionally hanging on by a thread. The lads kick things off with padel chat, tour excitement, and a last call for tickets as the February half-term run creeps ever closer, with plenty of reminders that a night out laugh...

Recorded in peak January survival mode, Episode 237 is a proper classic Two Mr Ps ramble that somehow starts with tour warnings and ends with… absolute school-based chaos. The lads kick things off with a three week countdown to the next run of live shows, a bit of excitement about trialling full video episodes on YouTube, and a surprisingly long detour into haircuts, beards, and the deeply humblin...

Recorded straight after a padel game and delivered from a slightly overheated garden studio, Episode 236 is very much a classic Two Mr Ps episode: chaotic, relatable, and held together by teacher tiredness and questionable decision making. The lads kick things off with wellbeing chat, winter survival mode, and the small victories that get you through January, before a quick reminder that the live...

Recorded on the first day back after the Christmas break, Episode 235 kicks off with the lads doing what every teacher and school worker is doing right now: pretending they’re “refreshed” while their soul quietly leaves their body. Adam shares a very real festive debrief, with Christmas containing some genuinely lovely moments… and some properly tough ones too, as Max struggles with the change of...

Recorded as Part 2 of the Christmas Special, this episode is basically festive story time with no filler, just wall-to-wall chaos from schools and staff rooms. It kicks off with a rapid-fire run of Christmas related parent complaints, the sort that make you question how we’ve survived as a species. From nativity casting drama to utterly wild expectations of what schools should be doing in December...

Part 1 of the Christmas Special kicks off exactly how most school staff feel by mid-December: exhausted, slightly ill, and crawling towards the finish line like it’s Sports Day in a suit. Adam’s running on fumes, Lee’s been properly hit by the lurgy, there’s a heartfelt bit about how crucial the Christmas break is, even if you’re not a “massive Christmas person”. If you’re sat there thinking you c...

Recorded right at the business end of term, this episode has full “teacher in December” energy: Lee’s full of lurgy, the voice is hanging on by a thread, and everyone listening will feel very seen. The lads chat about the run-in to Christmas, the looming Christmas special, and that strange mix of exhaustion and silliness that only happens in the last couple of weeks of term. There’s a big chunk of...