EP269: Scraping the Barrel #53 – overprotective vs opportunities

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:19 Hello and welcome to Scraping the Barrel on this wonderful Monday afternoon. Well, it's not a Monday afternoon, it's whenever you listen to it, actually.

Mark 0:02:26 I was going to say it's Friday, actually.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:28 Well, actually, We have done it on purpose. I said to Mark, let's do this last night. And then I said, actually, can't finish on a Thursday because The Traitors is on Thursday and Friday. So we've watched both episodes and come up to the pub room. I know we're not a telly reviewing pod.

Mark 0:02:47 Or actually, there's, there's quite a good podcast all about The Traitors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:51 Yeah, I know, but it's not like us doing it. It's better. It's better.

Mark 0:02:55 Well, it's Ed Gamble, so it's much better.

Natalie Cassidy 0:02:57 No, I like Ed.

Mark 0:02:59 Yeah, it's better for me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:00 He's quite good at podcasting, funnily enough.

Mark 0:03:02 He knows what he's doing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:03 Well, he's been quite successful in the past, ironically, with James Acastor.

Mark 0:03:08 And also you've got Romesh and Rob Beckett.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:10 They're all in there, all the podcast people.

Mark 0:03:12 So while, while they're all in the Traitors thing, we thought we'd do a podcast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:16 I think people will love it.

Mark 0:03:17 Yeah, perfect.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:18 So what do you think about There being so many comedians in it?

Mark 0:03:24 It doesn't make it funnier, is all I'd say.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:29 Wow. Okay.

Mark 0:03:32 It's true.

Natalie Cassidy 0:03:33 No, because they're not there to do their stand-up, are they? But I do wonder why they've been chosen. There's a lot, right? I just wonder what goes through the producer's heads, that's all. It's not Last One Laughing. You've got Miranda Hart, you've got Joe Lycett, you've got Joanne McNally, you've got Rob, you've got Romesh. It's a lot of comedians, personalities. Yeah, that's true.

Mark 0:03:59 Yeah. So you, you, if you're trying to make a programme like that, you kind of want certain people to be in it, and, you know, so I get it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:09 Yeah, yeah.

Mark 0:04:10 And also, what are the biggest shows in the last 2 years?

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:13 anything that's— well, last one laughing.

Mark 0:04:15 Okay, so maybe when we're now drilling down into the conversation, yeah, it's true, we're sort of working out what's going on there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:22 Yeah, no, you're right.

Mark 0:04:23 More importantly, Richard E.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:25 Grant.

Mark 0:04:25 Yeah, so when he said, I'm a traitor, yes, my initial reaction as a viewer was, oh, it's quite funny actually, he sort of said he's a traitor and he's— and he's a traitor. But then I'm a bit confused because—

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:41 No, he did that on purpose. He did it as a mistake.

Mark 0:04:44 No, I know that. Or he's saying that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:47 You didn't know that at the time. You said to me on the sofa—

Mark 0:04:49 No, because I don't believe it. It's nonsense.

Natalie Cassidy 0:04:52 Right.

Mark 0:04:53 When he said that, you cannot tell me that was something that he's done. He's done that deliberately. And he didn't— it's nonsense. Honestly, it's nonsense. Do you reckon? Don't wind me up. He'd said it the way he said it, there is no way. And then a bit later on he's like, oh no, oh actually I didn't mean to say— and then they've—

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:12 Okay.

Mark 0:05:13 I think what's happened there is he said it as like a, oh, I'm gonna say I'm a traitor just for a laugh. Yeah, I'm a bit cocky and a bit excited about being a traitor. And then later on some intervention has happened And he's gone, oh no, I did it by mistake.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:31 Okay.

Mark 0:05:32 Because now that is all that anyone's going to talk about, the fact he inadvertently said he was a traitor. I don't believe it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:38 Okay, it's interesting.

Mark 0:05:39 I don't believe it. The bloke's an actor. I know it was appalling.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:43 Yeah, but do you not think he was so excited? No. Ah, that's good.

Mark 0:05:47 Unless he's gone into it and never watched it and just didn't realise the ramifications of saying I'm a traitor. I don't believe for one second he's not watched it though.

Natalie Cassidy 0:05:58 No, I, I—

Mark 0:05:59 But also, I've got to say as well, right, he's gone in, he said that. If he had said it by mistake, why is it later on that he's, he's going, oh, by the way, so the reason I said I was a traitor is I was so overwhelmed by the fact that I was in the traitors and, and I'd manifested I wanted to be— absolute— what are you doing? Shut up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:21 I know, but I, I love him so much. I don't really think he knows what he's doing, which is why he's comedy gold.

Mark 0:06:26 Anyway, there's a lot of people listening to this that don't watch The Traitors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:29 That's not true.

Mark 0:06:30 There are a lot of people.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:32 Let me tell you one thing.

Mark 0:06:33 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:34 The first night of The Traitors— Oh my. This is why I get so excited about The Traitors, okay? 'Cause people say live telly doesn't work anymore. Right, okay. Appointment, sorry, not live television, sorry. Appointment to view television doesn't happen anymore. Don't, don't, this is gonna wind me up as well.

Mark 0:06:48 Please don't wind me up about this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:50 8.9 million people sat down.

Mark 0:06:52 You're winding me up so much about this now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:06:55 8.9 million people sat down on their sofa.

Mark 0:06:58 Okay, I've gotta, I've gotta say this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:01 Go on.

Mark 0:07:02 Just gonna say this now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:03 Go on.

Mark 0:07:03 Because I know most, thank goodness, because our listeners are normal people, they're gonna get this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:09 Yeah.

Mark 0:07:10 The same people that understand what Heath Robinson means.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:12 Oh, hang on a minute. Stop there. Stop right there.

Speaker D 0:07:15 Heath Robinson. Say again? Heath Robinson. No, I ain't got a clue. I'm 48, I ain't got a Scooby bloody doo who Heath Keith Robinson is.

Speaker I 0:07:29 Just catching up on the pod and I came across one where you said that my face is a little bit scary, especially She's brilliant.

Mark 0:07:46 Mia Atkins.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:48 Mia always sends a video of her with a filter on, which is brilliant.

Mark 0:07:52 She sent me like 15.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:53 Oh, it's brilliant. She's brilliant. Why are you doing that? She won't send anymore if you're like that.

Mark 0:07:58 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:07:59 They're fantastic.

Mark 0:08:00 Yeah, they're great, Mia. They're a bit weird, but yeah, quite great. Yeah, do one without the weird filter maybe one day. That'd be nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:06 No, I'm not finished. Okay, Nat, who the fuck is Heath Robinson? Haven't a Scooby-Doo—

Mark 0:08:12 Hang on, are we like 4 weeks in now and finally you've got some people that don't know? Because we had about 400 people agreeing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:19 But I'm now collating. Oh, well done. You mentioned it.

Mark 0:08:22 Well done.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:22 Who the fuck is Heath Robinson? Haven't a Scooby-Doo who Marcus is referring to. On another note, Christmas has come to Fortnum and Mason. Woohoo, Christine. Christine from Fortnum and Mason.

Mark 0:08:33 More importantly, Getting back onto the appointment to view television.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:38 Yes.

Mark 0:08:39 Right, okay. So, Traitors.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:42 Yep.

Mark 0:08:43 Great programme.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:44 Unbelievable.

Mark 0:08:47 What we're gonna do, right, got a new episode coming out. It's coming out on Thursday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:08:54 Yeah.

Mark 0:08:55 Brilliant. Okay, right. And do you know what? You're gonna have to wait until Thursday to watch it. Okay, right. What time is it on? 8 o'clock. Right. So go to work. Yeah, good day at work. What are you watching tonight? Gonna watch The Traitors tonight. It's on at 8 o'clock.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:16 Yeah.

Mark 0:09:17 Brilliant. Get to the TV, have dinner. Just gotta think about it now. Gotta make dinner, finish dinner before watching it, or Do we, we eat something in the living room to watch it? But at 8 o'clock, the TV goes on and we watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:34 Yeah. I need to stop you.

Mark 0:09:37 Hang on. Oh, don't stop me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:39 I'm desperate.

Mark 0:09:39 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:40 All right, go on. I'm stopping the words coming out.

Mark 0:09:43 Yeah, just keep it, keep it zipped up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:09:45 Go on.

Mark 0:09:46 So we've got a TV programme. It's scheduled for 8 PM. and we're waiting till 8 PM to watch it. And then more to the point, we're gonna go, oh, we've got this great thing about the traitors, so it's on tomorrow night at 8 o'clock. But do you know what? You've got to wait until 8 o'clock to watch it tomorrow night. And everyone's like, oh my God, that's amazing! What an amazing idea! Oh, it's so radical! Oh, we've got to wait for the time that the TV programme's broadcast to watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:21 Yeah.

Mark 0:10:22 39 years I've been doing that, watching telly. 39 years that's happened. It's only the last year that we've been able to watch anything the moment it's released.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:36 I know, right?

Mark 0:10:37 39 years you've got to watch the telly at the right time. I can't watch the 6 o'clock news tomorrow night now, can I? No. No, I've got to wait till 6 o'clock tomorrow to watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:47 Correct.

Mark 0:10:48 Right. However, nonsense. Don't tell me it's clever. Oh, it's amazing. Appointment to view telly.

Natalie Cassidy 0:10:53 I wasn't gonna say they're amazing. I wasn't gonna say it's amazing 'cause that's happening.

Mark 0:10:57 That's nonsense. What I'm saying is— They're making out, the BBC are trying to make out it's an amazing idea.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:01 No.

Mark 0:11:02 It's nonsense.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:03 No. What I'm saying is, firstly, The Traitors is amazing. There is no other show in which we plan our evening around fully.

Mark 0:11:13 No, I know. Do you know why that is though, Natalie? Because every other programme, You can just watch it now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:18 No, because there's even Strictly.

Mark 0:11:20 No, we plan our evening around that because it's live.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:22 Yeah, Strictly maybe. Okay. Bad example. But there are other things on.

Mark 0:11:25 Tell me a programme that isn't live, that we, that we, it isn't live. There isn't one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:35 Because it's such a good programme though.

Mark 0:11:37 I'm so sorry. It is. Every programme on planet Earth used to go out live. If Ludwig was out, series. Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:45 If a series were going out, we'd say, oh, are we recording it? We would. We'd say, make sure it's recorded.

Mark 0:11:52 If you cast your mind back to when we actually watched the telly, you have to— when Line of Duty came out each week.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:57 Yes.

Mark 0:11:58 We'd watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:11:59 Yes. But I'm saying at the moment, no, for us at the moment, no, at the moment you're not letting me speak.

Mark 0:12:05 Every programme we watch is just available.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:08 Not true.

Mark 0:12:09 True.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:10 There'll be series coming out on that day But it's not something because it— there's spoilers and it's a game and you cannot be behind because everyone's going to tell you about it. You're watching it, and that's the difference. So 8.9 million people watch that on Thursday evening.

Mark 0:12:30 Okay, yeah, I don't disagree with that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:33 So it's about the spoiler element. No, it's a game nonsense because there's dramas. No.

Mark 0:12:38 With spoiler elements. You know what it is? I'll tell you what this is like. This is like Oasis tickets. So if you, if, if you were Oasis—

Natalie Cassidy 0:12:51 I got them, I got them.

Mark 0:12:54 Don't even start me on that subject. Let's not start that conversation. Am I going with you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:00 Yes.

Mark 0:13:00 No, sorry, when you booked your tickets originally—

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:03 Yeah, I didn't.

Mark 0:13:06 Please don't start this, it's not for the podcast. So going back, the conversation regarding the TV show.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:13 Yes.

Mark 0:13:13 Now The Traitors is appointment to view. In other words, it's broadcast at a set time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:19 Yes.

Mark 0:13:19 On a schedule. It's pretty much the only thing other than the news and live sport. Yeah. For obvious reasons. Because of that, it's in the minority.

Natalie Cassidy 0:13:29 Yes.

Mark 0:13:30 Because of that, people do tune in to watch it. Now, there are really good dramas with, with, with twists and turns. Are there? Yeah, there are. And people don't— really put me off now. Sorry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:14:00 I believe genuinely everything you're saying is absolutely true. The one element that you're missing is a bit— because everyone is obsessed with it, you can't afford to miss one and record it.

Mark 0:14:21 I disagree. I think there's other programmes that are so good twists and turns and whatevers. And it's because it's in the minority, it's even— it's catapulted it even more.

Mark 0:14:32 It's the same as Oasis tickets. So for example, if you launched— if you just literally just went, there you go, there's 2027's worth of tickets, help yourselves. Mm-hmm. People would go, oh, bloody hell, I can book a ticket. Oh, it's fine.

Mark 0:14:49 I'll do it tomorrow. need to do it tonight. Oh, do you know what, actually, do you know what, let's wait and find out what we're doing. Let's find out what we're doing next year. We'll give it a couple of months because the tickets are on sale now.

Mark 0:14:58 We'll book them when— and you— and it's all very chilled out and it's all like, oh, you wouldn't sell them because they're very clever. They advertise the slots, so they develop a hype around the slot. And then what happens is when you get— so firstly, you've got the first thing you've got to do is get to the slot.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:19 Yes, there's a queue. And then the slot happens.

Mark 0:15:22 happens, and then it's all like, you've got— you cannot go away now and not buy a ticket.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:26 No.

Mark 0:15:27 But if they'd just made it that you could book tickets from now onwards and it was just a free-for-all, they wouldn't sell. They would sell. Don't pull a face, you know what I'm saying. They wouldn't— they would sell, but they wouldn't sell like they did.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:42 It's the hype.

Mark 0:15:43 And you're right, so you were, you were logged on because you had a slot to buy a ticket. And you couldn't purchase the ticket you wanted?

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:52 No.

Mark 0:15:52 So you just went, oh, um, oh, uh, I'll buy that one.

Natalie Cassidy 0:15:56 Yes. It's got—

Mark 0:15:57 it comes with a coach and a VR that I don't want that, but I'll pay for it anyway.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:00 It's true.

Mark 0:16:01 If you'd log on to the website and you didn't have a slot, you just go, I want that, that's the ticket I want, I'll buy that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:09 But they are in very high demand.

Mark 0:16:11 They're in high demand. because of the slots, because of the time.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:17 No, it's an interesting theory.

Mark 0:16:18 And it's the same with Traitors. The viewing figures are devised around— it's because it's— you can only watch it in this window. It's the same thing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:32 That's what I'm saying, that it's not like a drama, darling, because it's a game.

Mark 0:16:36 There are dramas, there are dramas which have been like whodunits. Yes. No, I'm not talking about this year. No, you're not. I'm talking about over the last couple of years. Line of Duty. Yes. There are dramas Yes. Where we have made a point of tuning in because of that, that night it's that drama.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:52 Yes.

Mark 0:16:53 We've done that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:16:54 Yeah.

Mark 0:16:54 We've watched Very Simple. We've watched, we've watched Inside Number 9. It's an independent episode. It's an anthology. Every week is different. And we've chosen to tune in on the night it comes out. Chosen to tune in the night it comes out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:12 Yes.

Mark 0:17:15 So all I'm saying is, I am not for one second saying that Traitors isn't popular because it's a good show. It's an amazing show. It's really good. We enjoy watching it. But the fact that it's available only when it's transmitted initially—

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:32 Yes.

Mark 0:17:33 Speaks volumes. And it's because all of our content now on television is deliberately being fed to the iPlayer or to an on-demand service. Yes. Because, because it's generally perceived that people consume television now on demand.

Natalie Cassidy 0:17:49 But that's what all I was saying, and I think you'll agree, I love to see it. I love to see 8.9 million because people do watch telly. So for the people that say, ah, no one watches telly anymore, It's a, it's an art that's going. It's for the elderly. The youth don't do it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:12 It was proven, people, if, if something is good enough and something is capturing the country, you can still do appointment-to-view television. And that is not the same, that is not the same as saying having Last One Laughing out for 3 episodes. It's not the same. It's absolutely what you said, because you've got to watch it tonight. Because in the morning when I put the radio on and someone's talking about it, I'll know what's happened.

Mark 0:18:42 But sorry, can I just say, yeah, that that has existed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:48 I know, but it hasn't— but that's the only programme that has captured that for a very long time.

Mark 0:18:55 Agreed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:18:56 That's all I'm saying.

Mark 0:21:24 If we go back 15 years ago, yep, fewer channels.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:27 Yes.

Mark 0:21:28 Therefore you're more likely to watch the shows that are on television.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:30 Yes.

Mark 0:21:31 Because television is naturally smaller, what's being transmitted is less. So the odds are if you had an office of 30 people, you've watched channels 1 to 5.

Natalie Cassidy 0:21:42 Agreed.

Mark 0:21:43 Right now, not as likely. Because people don't watch as much telly, uh, it's all been diluted. There's lots of channels, there's lots of different mediums to watch. There's people that just watch YouTube, absolutely, whatever it might be, or Netflix, Netflix or on demand or whatever. So you firstly diluted everything down.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:04 Yeah.

Mark 0:22:04 Everything. Now we watch Clarkson's Farm, we get to the credits, the next one starts, correct? It's all like that now. So that's only, that's only the last 3 or 4 years.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:17 Can I just say something about that? So Clarkson's Farm is extremely popular. Yeah, it's won awards, it's huge, but there aren't spoilers on it. You're not desperate to watch it before someone else tells you about it.

Mark 0:22:30 That is one of the exceptions of the rule where if that was— if they had the balls to only release that on a Monday and it was a weekly show, it would work and it would get really good figures.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:44 Yes.

Mark 0:22:44 People would wait. Hmm. Because believe it or not, that is how it used to work.

Natalie Cassidy 0:22:51 I know.

Mark 0:22:52 Now it's only in the last couple of years that you've been able to watch the whole thing. The Crown was one of the first things that did that. You could— The Crown launches for— Crown did really well.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:02 Yes.

Mark 0:23:02 You could watch a couple of episodes ahead each time. It was always like 2 or 3 episodes. Yeah, 2 or 3 episodes ahead. But I can't remember what series it was. I remember the series where all of a sudden it was all available. Yeah, this is mad. We can watch it all. We can watch it all in this week. It's crazy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:15 Interestingly, what happened?

Mark 0:23:17 We didn't watch it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:18 We didn't watch it, did we?

Mark 0:23:19 No. But because the majority of programmes now have shifted so you can see it on the iPlayer, I mean, even EastEnders you can watch on the iPlayer in the morning.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:29 I think that's terrible. Sorry, I do.

Mark 0:23:33 Is that what you say?

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:34 That's just me.

Mark 0:23:35 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:35 You should have to wait for EastEnders.

Mark 0:23:38 got the minority, other than the news and sport, as I said earlier, the minority of programmes are, as you call it, appointment to view.

Natalie Cassidy 0:23:48 Yeah.

Mark 0:23:49 Now therefore, may I say, like, this is a bit of a controversial, controversial thing to do. If I was starting a new TV show, if I made it appointment to view and it had some kind of hook and it was half decent, I'd have an edge now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:08 Are you making a drama at the moment, or just hypothetically speaking?

Mark 0:24:12 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:12 Oh, I thought maybe you'd have me in it.

Mark 0:24:15 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:16 No. Fair enough.

Mark 0:24:17 But I'm just saying now, I believe because The Traitors has got this— The Traitors is, is doing this massive thing about you can only watch it when it comes out. And I'd have to find it hilarious because it was 2 years ago.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:29 I know, but it is a great show. And it wouldn't work for everything. That's what I'd say.

Mark 0:24:35 It worked for everything for 75 years. Yeah. So I dunno what you're talking about. Fair enough. I, I'm really sorry. I disagree.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:43 We can agree to disagree. It's what podcasting is about. We've got a debate going on. It's spicy for a Monday. It's great.

Mark 0:24:50 I'm, I'm confused. You're older than me and you're, and you're actually just, it's mad.

Natalie Cassidy 0:24:53 Here we go. Earlier on, Mark said to me, listeners, Romesh come on, right? And it said Ramesh, 48. And I went, God, he looks good, doesn't he, for 48? Mark said, well, you're not far off that, are you? You're closer than I am. I'm not a fucking— I'm 42.

Mark 0:25:13 That's 42 or 43. You're more than 42, definitely.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:18 I can't remember.

Mark 0:25:19 Yeah, I think you're 44.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:21 No, don't wind me up.

Mark 0:25:23 I think you're— no, you were born in '82, '83.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:25 '83.

Mark 0:25:27 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:27 Where are we?

Mark 0:25:28 7, 10, 17.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:30 I'm 43 now. Am I?

Mark 0:25:33 7, 27, add 6.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:36 Yeah.

Mark 0:25:36 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:37 I thought I was 42.

Mark 0:25:39 Yeah. And you're in your 44th year.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:41 However, no, you're not. No, I'm not.

Mark 0:25:44 You're in your 43rd year.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:45 Am I 43 or 42? I just— You're not 42.

Mark 0:25:50 I'll tell you why I know you're not 42. 'Cause I'm 40.

Natalie Cassidy 0:25:53 Fine. Yes, that's right. And soon you're 41, and then there's 2 years between us.

Mark 0:25:58 Yeah, well, it's not as easy. 3 years. Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:02 But I genuinely thought I was 42. I quite like that. You get to an age where you don't really remember how old you are.

Mark 0:26:08 Well, trouble is you've forgotten it around the wrong way, haven't you?

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:11 You've— never mind.

Mark 0:26:11 You know, I remember the year that I thought I actually lost the year. That was the best.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:16 I know you've spoken about that.

Mark 0:26:19 It was brilliant.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:20 Well, you're 41 in 3 weeks, just so you know.

Mark 0:26:25 And what, what are we doing for my 41st?

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:27 I think we're both working our knickers off, which is a shame. I'm doing a little job. Not sure if I'm back that day or not yet. It's one of those we have to see. Okay.

Mark 0:26:40 But yeah. Okay, right, brilliant. And, and I'm, I'm— what am I doing?

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:46 Working.

Mark 0:26:46 This time last year, we're going to Wales. Lovely. I really enjoyed that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:49 And our lovely hotel stay.

Mark 0:26:51 Oh yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:52 So nice.

Mark 0:26:53 That was nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:54 It was lovely. That's why they're special.

Mark 0:26:57 What are special?

Natalie Cassidy 0:26:59 Sort of the big birthdays, because you have to plan around it. I wouldn't call it a big birthday. Okay.

Mark 0:27:06 It's not really a big birthday, is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:07 What, 40?

Mark 0:27:09 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:09 Roro might have something to say about that.

Mark 0:27:12 Oh my God. I mean, is he— I mean, when's the next party?

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:17 Well, we've had the brunch Saturday. It was fantastic. There was a little cake that came.

Mark 0:27:21 That was not for her birthday.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:22 Oh, I know, but we celebrated it then, isn't it? Shut up. Yeah.

Mark 0:27:25 Shut up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:26 That was gonna be the last celebration.

Mark 0:27:27 That, that, you winded me up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:29 No. You're making that up. As we said, spoiler alert, everybody. Not a spoiler. Sorry. It's traitors. It's in my head.

Mark 0:27:36 It's not a spoiler alert. It's, it's happened before this has been out.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:38 Yeah. We haven't had the, the brunch is tomorrow. But, yeah, we have made— No, it's not tomorrow.

Mark 0:27:43 It's Tuesday. The brunch was last Saturday. So what are you talking about? It's not, not really. It's, it's the same sort of concept as what we've just been talking about for 15 minutes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:51 That is true.

Mark 0:27:53 Because you can't just go, oh, there's a year's worth of Life of Nats to download and listen to. You have to listen to it on a weekly basis.

Natalie Cassidy 0:27:59 Wouldn't it be good though? Yeah, but people do find it.

Mark 0:28:01 Wouldn't it be good? Oh yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:02 People discover it and they, they catch up or they listen.

Mark 0:28:06 Okay. Well, maybe there's someone, someone listening to this right this very second. How's this for a thought?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:11 Go on.

Mark 0:28:11 Someone, I reckon, in the year 2050 has found this and they're listening to me speaking right this second. No. So if that's you and it's 2050, hello. I'm probably not alive anymore, but nice to— nice to you to listen.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:24 Hopefully you will be, babe.

Mark 0:28:27 2050?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:28 Maybe 65.

Mark 0:28:29 Sorry?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:30 About 75 or something.

Mark 0:28:32 My maths tonight is terrible. 50, 65.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:36 Phone Carol. Sorry? Phone Carol.

Mark 0:28:42 Phone Carol.

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:43 Vorderman.

Mark 0:28:44 Anyway, what have you got coming up pod-wise? Have you got any special guests coming up? Um, anyone important?

Natalie Cassidy 0:28:50 I've got someone really special coming up, right? My problem with special guests is I always worry if it's not in the can, I don't want to say it.

Mark 0:28:58 No, um, no, that's fine. You say you don't need to say it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:03 No, but there's actually 2 really— But we can play a game though, can't we? Really good ones. Okay.

Mark 0:29:08 Well, coming up, there's some good guests.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:09 2 super guests. Obviously family always, but 2 little guests that I feel people will be like, oh my God, that's great. 2 super ones. Really good.

Mark 0:29:22 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:23 Do you wanna have a little guess?

Mark 0:29:24 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:25 Play a game. Yes or no game.

Mark 0:29:26 Uh, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:27 We do guests each. 1 or 2?

Mark 0:29:31 Sorry?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:32 We do the— me, I can't—

Mark 0:29:35 Can you speak English? What are you talking about?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:38 You need to— right, I've got to think of the first one is what I mean.

Mark 0:29:41 First what?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:42 First guest in my head.

Mark 0:29:44 Guest or guess?

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:45 Guest.

Mark 0:29:46 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:47 Because I can't— you can't guess for both of them. Does that make sense?

Mark 0:29:51 No, it doesn't. And, and what you're saying, it literally doesn't.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:55 Well, if you say, are they female?

Mark 0:29:57 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:29:58 It needs to be for one.

Mark 0:29:59 Oh my God.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:02 See what I mean?

Mark 0:30:03 No, not really. Is it bedtime yet? I'm so tired.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:06 Right, I'm thinking of one guest. Here we go.

Mark 0:30:09 Right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:10 Have a little guess. You've got 5 questions.

Mark 0:30:14 Is it a male? No. Um, are they off the telly?

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:25 Yes.

Mark 0:30:31 So it's a female and they're on the telly. Have they just produced a book?

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:35 Yes.

Mark 0:30:38 All right, okay. Well, if I get it— I can't say the name though because you'll get annoyed. All right, is it—

Natalie Cassidy 0:30:49 Yes.

Mark 0:30:51 Oh, okay. Right, next guest. Is it a male? Yes. Does everyone in the country know who they are? Are they famous, in other words?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:02 Quite famous, yeah.

Mark 0:31:04 Quite famous male, quite famous. Um, are they on the telly?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:09 Sometimes, yes.

Mark 0:31:11 Sometimes?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:14 Yeah.

Mark 0:31:14 But is being on the telly not their primary thing?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:18 No. Okay. Is it? Yes.

Mark 0:31:24 Amazing.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:25 You did really well there.

Mark 0:31:27 No, that's quick, wasn't it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:28 Yeah.

Mark 0:31:29 Is he going to be in this room though? No. So how's that going to work? You're gonna go to him?

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:37 We're gonna do a Patreon about it, don't worry.

Mark 0:31:39 Okay, but we can talk about it now because we've been quite elusive because no one knows who we're talking about. We can, because thankfully this isn't live.

Natalie Cassidy 0:31:48 Yes.

Mark 0:31:49 I'm gonna push it now, and we've got a very good person editing it who will know how far to, to take it, won't they? So when you go and see this person, yes, they're not going to be here. No. You've got to go to them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:02 Yes.

Mark 0:32:02 Okay. Uh, do you think it'd be quite high security?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:05 I would imagine so, yeah.

Mark 0:32:07 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:08 We can't do that.

Mark 0:32:11 No.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:12 We can't.

Mark 0:32:12 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:12 It's too much, darling. We've had a huge amount of the same video which went viral on Instagram, and people really do think of us. I can't tell you how many people have sent me this video.

Mark 0:32:24 3?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:24 No.

Mark 0:32:25 4?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:25 No, quite a lot.

Mark 0:32:26 5?

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:27 Over 20 people.

Mark 0:32:28 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:32:30 Over 20. Irish fella breaks world record for fastest time to eat a full vionetta. Rory Finlay ate a whole vionetta in 1 minute 15.30 seconds, setting a new Guinness World Record. I have to say, what do you think about that? They're not that big. 1 minute 15.30 seconds. I think you could beat it. Imagine if you became a Guinness World Record holder.

Mark 0:33:00 So I, I've got to say, right?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:02 Yeah.

Mark 0:33:03 I know it's a bit of a, you know, not wanting to sort of like, you know, what's the expression?

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:10 Rain on my parade?

Mark 0:33:11 Yeah. I've not had a Viennetta for about 5 years. You liked them though. I did, yeah. I like a Viennetta. We spoke about when the podcast started. Yeah, I've not actually had one for quite a long time. Um, could I eat one in that time? Probably. Ice cream. I genuinely think, yeah, I'm gonna buy some. Many of them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:30 No, but I think if we bought it, yeah, we should have a go because wouldn't it be brilliant if you could become the Guinness World Record holder? No, it wouldn't.

Mark 0:33:38 I actually— it is almost making me feel like I'm going to be sick, so no.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:43 Okay, fair enough.

Mark 0:33:45 But nice though, nice people think of me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:33:46 But they have, they thought of you an awful lot.

Mark 0:33:49 Yeah, but, but unfortunately, I'm sorry to say, I've not actually had a Viennetta or part of a Viennetta for quite a long time. I hate to say it. In fact, I actually had some ice cream earlier.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:04 You did?

Mark 0:34:04 But other than that, I've not had ice cream for quite a while.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:07 You did have a Maxi Choc.

Mark 0:34:09 Oh, I did, because Tim bought one. Yes, I did. There was a few brought around for me. I mean, they don't exist anymore, but I've still got— I've got 3. I've got the last 3 in the world in my freezer.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:20 We think.

Mark 0:34:23 Quite likely. Mm.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:26 You're tired, darling.

Mark 0:34:26 I'm so tired.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:27 Oh, bless you. We're nearly there. That's why we scrape the barrel. It's brilliant though that you're with me and you support me. I have to say, Hiya, I'm listening to you and your beloved scraping the barrel and you're making me bloody hungry talking about that curry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:34:41 Could you please, please, please, please, please share Mark's curry recipe because it sounds divine and I'm on the way to the supermarket here in New Zealand thinking, my goodness, I need to make a good curry, but I always make a shit one. So if you would be so happy to share the recipe, that would be amazing. So then I can wow the hubby with it. That'll be awesome. Love the pod.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:02 Love all of you and the nieces, you and Mark and your brother. I'm a massive fan in New Zealand. Keep it up. Love you guys. Bye, Sandy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:12 Sandy, let me tell you now, the vat of curry that was made 2 days ago, it— you know when they do MasterChef? And they're like, what we're gonna do is you've gotta go into a kitchen and we are now feeding 100 people and they have to scale up the recipes and they're like in a massive warehouse. And that's what it was like here. How many? Well, I can tell you how many he froze.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:36 12 portions of curry you froze after eating it.

Mark 0:35:40 There was 2 portions consumed.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:42 And 12 frozen.

Mark 0:35:44 12 frozen. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:45 Unbelievable.

Mark 0:35:46 So how many portions did I make?

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:48 14.

Mark 0:35:49 Very good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:50 I'm not a dickhead.

Mark 0:35:51 Well, you have a way of talking about it to say.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:54 Are you gonna tell Sandy your recipe?

Mark 0:35:56 Yeah, it's chicken.

Natalie Cassidy 0:35:58 Yep.

Mark 0:35:59 So you get some onions first. Just do a couple of onions. Put 'em in. It depends how many are we making it for? Tell me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:07 I think for Sandy, she said her husband. So I reckon let's make it for 4. They might freeze 2 portions.

Mark 0:36:13 For 4. 1 large onion.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:14 Yeah.

Mark 0:36:15 Dice it, fry it. Little bit of garlic.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:18 About garlic in a curry.

Mark 0:36:19 Yes, Natalie. Yep, garlic in a curry.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:23 Listen, Sandy.

Mark 0:36:23 A bit of fresh garlic deliberately. I mean, any curry paste will have garlic in. Yep, as I'm sure you know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:30 Ask Tony. Yep, continue.

Mark 0:36:33 Did you put garlic in your curries?

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:34 Yeah, I think so. I can't remember.

Mark 0:36:36 So why are you questioning the garlic?

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:37 Not sure.

Mark 0:36:38 Okay, so do you want the recipe, or should we—

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:42 I think you honestly I think it's a lot giving it out.

Mark 0:36:46 No, it's not.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:48 Save it for the cookbook.

Mark 0:36:49 One onion.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:50 Save it for the cookbook.

Mark 0:36:51 Sandy asked for the recipe.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:53 I know.

Mark 0:36:54 I'm not gonna text it to her, so I'm gonna say it's one onion.

Natalie Cassidy 0:36:57 Whack it on Patreon.

Mark 0:36:58 Little bit of garlic. Fry that up, fella pepper, chop the pepper. Doesn't matter what pepper it is. Red pepper.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:06 Pepper in a curry, guys. It's a really good recipe.

Mark 0:37:09 Do you know how many people now are screaming for you to stop interrupting me because they were trying to write down a recipe?

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:13 It is true.

Mark 0:37:14 I can see people now have their pen and paper in their hand thinking, carry on.

Natalie Cassidy 0:37:17 It's just Sandy at the moment. Pepper. Pepper.

Mark 0:37:24 Bit of chicken, but I don't cook the chicken. Don't brown the chicken. Don't do anything with the chicken.

Mark 0:37:31 Just mix the chicken in with the onion. And now turn the heat down massively because we're gonna cook this curry all day. Obviously, if you're gonna eat it within the next hour, cook the chicken. But if you've got a bit of time on your hands or you're at home, turn it down, down to like the lowest power level now on your hob. So we've got our onion, our garlic, our chicken, and a bit of curry paste.

Mark 0:37:59 If you're using a traditional jar of curry paste, not sauce, paste, just like a quarter of a jar for 4 people. will be perfect. No more than that. Choose what you want. So for our house, we use, we use a korma.

Mark 0:38:12 You can buy a korma, but you could— I would personally use madras, but because of the kids, we do korma. Then I reckon for 4 people, 2 tins of tomatoes, maybe 1, 2 tins probably. And then for 4 people, we probably don't need any water, but maybe dashable. Just now start looking at it thinking, is there enough for 4 now? If there isn't, a dash of water would be fine.

Mark 0:38:38 Tomato puree. Then you want 100, 150 ml of yoghurt, um, 100 to 150 ml of double cream. Stir it all together on a low heat, and I cook that on like power level 1 all day. So when you have— when you eat it, the chicken just falls apart.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:00 Yeah. It does.

Mark 0:39:01 So it's like a slow cooker, but that's roughly back of a fag packet.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:06 People are now screaming, what other spices are in it? 'Cause it's a curry.

Mark 0:39:10 Well, because I bought a curry paste. Mm. That's all been done for me. You can put a little bit of, what did I put in the other day? Oh, I forgot the name of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:21 What I would say is our kids are not massively, they wouldn't eat something that had loads and loads of spices in it. So this curry is perfect because the kids absolutely love it. So for families, this curry is perfect.

Mark 0:39:37 If it was you and me, I'll be getting a madras sauce and I'll be putting loads of other stuff in. Name me some spices that I—

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:44 Coriander seeds.

Mark 0:39:45 That I did chop fresh coriander.

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:47 Oh, you did?

Mark 0:39:47 Chopped. Yeah. Yeah. What's the other one? The garam—

Natalie Cassidy 0:39:53 Garam masala. Right. But that's in the paste. But that will be in your paste anyway.

Mark 0:39:57 I put a teaspoon of that in. Yeah. Yeah. I put in, what else did I put in? I put a little bit of stuff. Do you know, I'll be honest.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:04 You sort of chuck it all in when you're doing it, don't you?

Mark 0:40:06 I'll be honest with you, right? Just go on BBC Good Food. Chicken tikka masala.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:11 Yep.

Mark 0:40:12 For 10 people. Look that up. Just do the korma instead of the tikka masala.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:17 Brilliant.

Mark 0:40:17 That's basically the recipe I do. Although that's for 10 people.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:20 Well, there you go, Sandy. Hopefully that, that's helped you.

Mark 0:40:24 Probably not.

Natalie Cassidy 0:40:24 Let us know though. Send us a voice note.

Mark 0:40:26 Good luck. And just make sure you cook the chicken through.

Natalie Cassidy 0:42:54 We had some wonderful messages regarding Panino Panini. A lot of people— it was a good talking point.

Mark 0:43:05 100,000 people looked at the video.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:07 Big video. Yeah, went big. You said Marco, lovely Marco Centore from sound.

Mark 0:43:14 I thought it was Centauri, but yeah, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:15 No, it's Centore because it's C.

Mark 0:43:17 He's gonna annihilate me for that. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:19 It's definitely a C. They all like that.

Mark 0:43:21 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:22 Um, but lovely Marco. You said he started listening to the pub because of it.

Mark 0:43:26 Well, he said he might listen to the podcast because of it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:28 He won't.

Mark 0:43:29 Yeah, I miss him.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:31 I miss those people from work.

Mark 0:43:33 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:34 How's Dave?

Mark 0:43:35 He's right. Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:36 I really, really miss the crew from EastEnders. I really do.

Mark 0:43:44 Yep. That's probably because they don't seem to mention you.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:47 No, I really miss seeing Marco, for instance.

Mark 0:43:50 Or Giuseppe. Giuseppe enjoyed it as well. He said you had a good accent.

Natalie Cassidy 0:43:55 Did he? That's nice. Grazie, Giuseppe. Ci vediamo presto. Ciao.

Mark 0:44:02 I had to tell him the story of the minibus.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:08 Oh, did you? Yeah.

Mark 0:44:10 So I didn't sound like an absolute asshole. Like talking about how you're— when I said don't do Italian, I had to explain why I said— was saying don't do Italian.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:18 When he listens to that, he'll say, what are you talking about, Mark? It's not that bad.

Mark 0:44:22 No, he actually said the accent's really good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:24 Yeah, Laura, there we go. Yeah. So moving on.

Mark 0:44:30 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:31 Uh, Joanne Perrotta. Oh yeah. She said thanks for the follow. following people now, are we following ladies on Instagram? Is that a new thing, or— No, no, no. Fair enough.

Mark 0:44:45 If you follow— if you go on camera_mark on Instagram, give me a follow, send me a message, I'll follow you within reason, as long as, you know, it's, it's, you know, polite and not, not rude.

Natalie Cassidy 0:44:57 Thanks for the follow. I do naff all on social media, so don't expect any exciting content. I've got this for you though. I'm just recently back from Salerno in Italy, and their speciality ice cream is a bit of you, I reckon. It's gelato in a brioche. I can't explain how good the brioche was. It's like a Maxibon on steroids. I'll send you a picture. Have you ever had an ice cream in a brioche? Because that is a very, very Italian thing, and it is delicious.

Mark 0:45:27 No, but I'll tell you what I have done.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:28 What have you done?

Mark 0:45:29 Ice cream in a Yorkshire pudding.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:33 Fucking hell.

Mark 0:45:34 Which is actually what gave me the idea.

Natalie Cassidy 0:45:36 I can't have that, Mark.

Mark 0:45:39 We had a roast dinner and Alex was over, Eliza's boyfriend, and there was some 2 Yorkshire puddings left over. And I said to Alex— were you over there? I said to Alex, watch this, do you want ice cream in the Yorkshire pudding? He was like, yeah, right?

Mark 0:45:52 I mean, he's normal as well. So I took the Yorkshire puddings and what I did very cleverly was I put like I put 'em in the microwave for 5 seconds each. Then I put a scoop of ice cream in and then put 'em in for 10 seconds each. So the ice cream started to melt into the Yorkshire pudding and the Yorkshire pudding starts to soften. I'm sorry.

Mark 0:46:10 It's quite nice.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:10 I'm sorry.

Mark 0:46:11 Same as a pancake, innit?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:12 I know what you're saying and you're right. The ingredients are absolutely baker's ingredients. But for me, putting a sweet substance within a Yorkshire pudding is sacrilege. Don't do it. It's not for me.

Mark 0:46:27 It was lovely.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:27 It's disgusting actually. No, it's, I, I, I do it.

Mark 0:46:30 it more often.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:32 Would you put ice cream in a Yorkshire pudding after eating Yorkshire puddings with a roast beef?

Mark 0:46:38 I had one Yorkshire pudding in that meal. Why? Who are you looking at?

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:42 My listeners. Right. Okay.

Mark 0:46:46 Just to say, like, there's about 4 people who watch this.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:48 Fine. No problem.

Mark 0:46:49 And you're looking at them.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:50 I'm listening to them. I'm looking at them and I want their opinion.

Mark 0:46:53 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:53 Everyone matters. All right.

Mark 0:46:55 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:46:57 Disgusting.

Mark 0:46:58 What about the, uh, 95% of people listening to this? What you got to say to them?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:01 07788 20 19 19. Is it okay to have a roast dinner and with the leftover Yorkshires that you've had with your gravy, put ice cream in?

Mark 0:47:13 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're completely making that up now.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:15 No, I'm not.

Mark 0:47:16 I'm talking about— can I just be clear though?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:17 No.

Mark 0:47:18 We're talking about— sorry?

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:19 You'd had Yorkshire puddings with gravy for your dinner. And the leftovers you had with ice cream.

Mark 0:47:25 You're completely—

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:27 Did you do that or not?

Mark 0:47:28 I, I did not do that. You are making it sound like I've taken a Yorkshire pudding off a plate covered in gravy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:34 No.

Mark 0:47:34 You're deliberately phrasing it like that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:36 Sorry, I beg your pardon. No, they're, they're plain. Clean. Yes.

Mark 0:47:38 Clean Yorkshire puddings with an hour gap between the meals. Yes.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:41 But you would—

Mark 0:47:42 So you've got a standalone Yorkshire pudding that's not been near a plate, near beef, near gravy. Correct. Agreed. You are talking about Lots of different ingredients and then throwing ice cream into the hat. This is standalone.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:54 Yes.

Mark 0:47:54 Forget the roast dinner.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:55 No, I can't.

Mark 0:47:56 If I was to go, right, okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:47:58 Because 2 hours before you'd had a Yorkshire pudding with gravy, and then an hour later you change it up. I actually don't think I did.

Mark 0:48:04 I don't think I did. You did.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:05 I can assure you did. You did.

Mark 0:48:07 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:09 That's my problem.

Mark 0:48:10 Right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:12 But I'm looking forward to the response. Let's see, because you're right, it's flour. Milk and eggs.

Mark 0:48:19 You haven't gotta tell me.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:20 Same as pancakes. I know you're good at that stuff. It is exactly the same. But for me, the shape of it—

Mark 0:48:28 Go on YouTube now. It's savoury. Go on YouTube and type Yorkshire pudding or ice cream.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:32 I know people have jam with it. I've seen it.

Mark 0:48:34 Okay.

Natalie Cassidy 0:48:34 They have rice pudding on it. They smash Nutella in it. For me, a Yorkshire pudding is a savoury item. That's all I'm saying.

Speaker K 0:48:44 Hi Nat and gang, I have just finished listening to episode 52 of Scraping the Barrel, and you and Mark have asked for some voice notes, so here is a voice note for you. I am 25. I'm currently in a job that I don't really want to be doing. I have a childcare qualification but no longer wish to be in childcare for the way Ofsted is going, and every time I try and get a new job somewhere else, My parents kick off, and it's like, how do I stop feeling guilty about the way my parents feel towards a job if I feel comfortable doing it? Um, but yeah, they just— yeah, I can't afford to live in the area either, so I'm looking at moving up north.

Speaker F 0:49:31 So, oh yeah, I sort of—

Speaker K 0:49:33 what advice do you have for a parent that is far too overprotective of their child?

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:38 I thought that was such a good message. And thank you. We always love voice notes, and we don't really get a lot of advice questions, so I thought it was really good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:47 So I am very overprotective of the children.

Natalie Cassidy 0:49:53 I think they are always looking out for you, which is really annoying. If you are not happy in what you're doing, then you're absolutely doing the right thing. And if the job comes up which is more simple, maybe you're overqualified for it, it actually doesn't matter as long as you're getting up and and you want to work and you want to earn money, I think you're doing really well. In terms of moving up north, because prices down here are really high, you are not my child. So I'd say I understand it, I get it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:27 You want to live within your means and be able to earn money, and I get it. But as a mother, I'd be heartbroken if my child wanted to move up north. But I understand it. And, and I, I, I'm very interested to see what Mark says. I completely understand where you're coming from.

Natalie Cassidy 0:50:45 You sound like a very sensible human, but your mum and your dad, they love you. They don't wanna lose you. They want what's best for you, and they're very protective. That's what I'd say.

Mark 0:50:55 It's very difficult to answer that really, because I don't really, I don't fully understand the means in which this young lady is in.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:05 No.

Mark 0:51:05 So for example, you know, are there other options if you don't go to that job? You know, I don't, I don't know.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:15 If Eliza turned around and said, Daddy, I want to move up north because it's really down here, that just the cost of everything's terrible, and I move up there, the first thing I would do and you would do is look into it and go, how can we help her stop her doing that?

Mark 0:51:29 Because both of us wouldn't want her to do that. Which is kind of my point, because I don't really know what the circumstances are. Because if there's— I don't know if there's any justification behind that in as much as they can go, well, you don't need to because we can help you, we can keep you down here, we might be able to— you might be able to live with us rent-free, you might be able to— I don't know what the circumstances are.

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:49 No.

Mark 0:51:50 So that's, that's—

Natalie Cassidy 0:51:51 There's a thousand circumstances. Yeah, but I, I, I—

Mark 0:51:57 given the circumstances that we've been given Yeah. I would say, yeah, it is really hard. It depends on if you see, if you want a vocation.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:07 Yeah.

Mark 0:52:08 Which care is, and that is, that is an option for you, then yeah, that's, that's the job you want to do. And if you need to move, it's no different to people like 20 years ago that I worked with now. 20 years ago, they wanted to work in television. Yes. And one of them might have been in Newcastle and they might have had a local TV station, or they can move to London and they move to London. Or I work with someone who used to— I used to work with someone at TLS who was from Whitby.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:39 Yes.

Mark 0:52:40 He's moved down from Whitby to be in London because—

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:42 Opportunity.

Mark 0:52:43 That's the job. To do the job, you've got to be in London. But now that's changing. Oh, that's changed massively. Nowadays you're not allowed to travel. Nowadays what they've done is they've moved the whole industry to different random places. Don't even get me started on that.

Natalie Cassidy 0:52:58 I know, but it's really good though, darling.

Mark 0:53:00 Is it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:01 Yeah, it's not good for you, but it is good regionally for people that— it's good for the north.

Mark 0:53:06 Hang on, hang on. That's not right.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:07 No, no, no, no, I'm just saying it isn't good for you because you live here.

Mark 0:53:11 I'm not saying it— I'm not— I wasn't— that was not weighted in my perspective.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:16 I don't know about that.

Mark 0:53:17 It's, it's massively affected the industry for the worse. The quality of programming is worse. So I'll explain why. So if you've got a TV show, let's, let's, for argument's sake, we— I'll just pick on BBC Breakfast.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:30 Yes.

Mark 0:53:31 BBC Breakfast used to be based in London.

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:33 Yes.

Mark 0:53:34 Let's be honest, most people on BBC Breakfast, you want your politicians. Where, where are they always going to be? In the middle of their— when they're working?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:43 Well, if Burnham has his way, they'll be in Manchester soon, won't they?

Mark 0:53:46 No, let's be honest, let's go back to— They're in London, right? They're in London at the moment. And, and generally speaking, if you've got, if you've got like a celebrity junket going on, where are they? Where are they?

Natalie Cassidy 0:53:58 London.

Mark 0:53:59 Right. Okay. So we've gone to— what we've done is we've gone, okay, we're going to do it in Manchester. We're going to take a feed of a London background.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:09 Yeah.

Mark 0:54:10 And stick it on the back wall.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:11 I know.

Mark 0:54:13 But we're going to do it in Manchester. Well, I've got one question for you. Why? Because now if you've got any high-profile guests, I know, they can't be on it now because they've gotta go to Manchester.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:26 Yeah.

Mark 0:54:27 Or, okay, let's take another example. Let's choose a popular panel show.

Natalie Cassidy 0:54:32 Yes.

Mark 0:54:33 Quiz show. Let's go and do it in Glasgow. Okay, we're doing it in Glasgow because we've got a facility to do it in Glasgow. Yeah. We've got staff who do it in Glasgow. But the talent— okay, we've, we, we're recording 3 shows a day and we need 12 people a day. A month in, we're running out of people now in Glasgow. We're a bit short. So what do we have to do? We have to get people up from where?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:00 London.

Mark 0:55:03 Okay, and where was the show made originally?

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:04 London.

Mark 0:55:05 Right, so we're now taking the people up there.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:07 I thought it was to do with sort of regional fairness. Hang on a minute.

Mark 0:55:10 Well, hang on. We then fly the person up.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:13 Yep.

Mark 0:55:13 Okay, so we paid for the person—

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:16 Train or train.

Mark 0:55:16 Or train. Paid for them to go up. We've paid them to get in a hotel. We pay for them to be there for the day. We pay for them to stay in hotel again. We pay for them to travel back again, all with the idea that it's better because we're now making these TV programmes regionally.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:34 Yeah.

Mark 0:55:36 I'd love you to explain why that's beneficial.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:38 I have no, I, I can't explain that to you, I'm afraid. Okay. Because when I got offered things that are in Glasgow, I really have to think about it. And I think though that could take me, if that was in White City, it's, it's an afternoon or an evening.

Mark 0:55:53 Yeah.

Natalie Cassidy 0:55:53 Now it's 2 days and I'll, I'll often say no.

Mark 0:55:56 Now don't get me wrong because there'll be people listening to this going, this is, of course you're saying that because you work in London.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:04 Well, it's true. I get it.

Mark 0:56:06 Yeah, fine. But let's, let's now look at the TV industry sort of 30 years ago, 40 years ago, where we had a Scottish region, we had a— we had Manchester.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:17 Yes.

Mark 0:56:17 We had Granada. Yeah. Manchester as well, for independent channels as well as we had in Birmingham, we had independent channels.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:23 Absolutely. I remember BBC Birmingham.

Mark 0:56:25 And we had— we also had, uh, ATV.

Natalie Cassidy 0:56:27 Yep.

Mark 0:56:28 So, so we had, you know, there's lots of regional telly 30, 40 years ago.

Mark 0:56:33 Not my fault, but, but then there was this mid-period where there was nothing, and then all of a sudden when everything was sort of whittled down to just being in London because everything else had closed, yes, all of a sudden there's this like knee-jerk reaction to suddenly make it regional again. Now all we're doing is emulating what had always been done before. It's nothing new. I know. And my argument is moving BBC Breakfast I don't really care, to be honest, but I don't work on it.

Mark 0:57:02 It's got no interest of mine. I just think it looks— it's just ridiculous. But moving something like that to Manchester, or moving a popular quiz show just to Glasgow, yeah, it doesn't make any sense. However, I would love programmes to be made in Manchester as they are, and programmes to be made in Glasgow. There's nothing wrong with that.

Mark 0:57:28 That should be promoted. That should be happening. But make your own ones that can be made regionally. Like, if you're making a show in Glasgow, don't do a show where you've gotta fly people from London. It's crazy.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark 0:57:43 But you can do Mrs. Brown's Boys. That works. That's always been in Glasgow. You can do that in Glasgow because the whole cast stay there. They rehearse it for a week, they record it, and then they rehearse the next episode, and then they record it, and it works.

Natalie Cassidy 0:57:58 Yeah.

Mark 0:57:58 The whole cast stay there. There's no one flying up and down the country or flying in from— that's fine. But don't move TV programmes that have been based in London for the sake of making a point of moving it out of London and being anti-London, because it's not good for your licence fee payer. It's not good.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:18 No.

Mark 0:58:19 The costs.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:19 No, it's true.

Mark 0:58:20 It doesn't make any commercial sense. You wouldn't do it in any other industry. What industry would do that? No, you don't. You don't. If you happen to be making— if you're at McVitie's, you're making biscuits.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:33 Yeah. You don't—

Mark 0:58:34 and you— and it happens to be like in a—

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:36 Whatever, Harrogate.

Mark 0:58:37 You don't suddenly go, we're going to Cornwall.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:39 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark 0:58:40 We're gonna be inclusive to Cornwall, so we're gonna go and make them there. And then everyone's got to move now. You've all gotta relocate, all your families.

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:47 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark 0:58:49 We're gonna make biscuits down here now. What other industry would do it?

Natalie Cassidy 0:58:53 No idea.

Mark 0:58:55 So actually, I'm quite defensive on that subject because it isn't sensible and it is to tick boxes and it's an absolute waste of people's money. When we're talking about the BBC, it's a waste of licence fee payers' money. When we're talking about commercial telly, it just doesn't make any sense. But that's why the commercial telly doesn't really do that. You know, they've started to try and do it because they got a bit of funding and a bit of grants and a bit— now they're like, no, it's mad, it doesn't make any commercial sense whatsoever, so they don't do it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:25 But you are right, regional places can make great telly.

Mark 0:59:31 Absolutely, they can. Probably the best.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:33 Yes.

Mark 0:59:34 But don't feel the need to relocate a successful programme, which is probably only successful because of the people that it gets. And the reason it gets those people is because of where it's based.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:45 Yeah, because it's easy. Because if you then move it and you can't get the people.

Mark 0:59:48 I mean, there's shows that we've watched where you know it's made. You can immediately tell when it's not made in London by the quality and the variety of the people that are on it.

Natalie Cassidy 0:59:59 Oh, I thought you said it was quality of the programme. I thought we're gonna have everyone here.

Mark 1:00:03 No, I'm being absolutely honest.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:05 We can have every region absolutely hating us.

Mark 1:00:08 There is nothing wrong with it. And do you know as well, never before in the last 5 years There are so many good productions made regionally which are self-sufficient. I'm not for one second saying that— this is the thing, let me be clear— I am not for one second obviously saying that shouldn't be happening.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:28 No, I know that. When it's a startup. Oh, we talk about it all the time.

Mark 1:00:31 My conversation, my, my opinion is of productions that have been moved.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:37 Yes.

Mark 1:00:38 That is all I'm talking about. When the production has been moved. Not if it started somewhere. Good luck to it. That's, that's what should be happening. Don't move production. Well, most people have switched off now because they're like, this is quite boring.

Natalie Cassidy 1:00:55 I don't know. I think people will like it. I've really enjoyed today. I think it's been really insightful. I think we've had a little bit of telly talk, which we don't do often. No, we've had an opinion. I think it's been really, really good, actually. 07788 20 19 19. Let us know what you thought. It's nice to have a little change up, isn't it? Do some different bits and pieces. There's quite a lot of different bits and pieces coming soon. I can't wait for you to see what's coming. I'll speak to you very, very soon. Listen, follow, subscribe. Mark, thank you so much.

Mark 1:01:29 Thank you.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:30 Love you.

Mark 1:01:32 Easy.

Natalie Cassidy 1:01:32 See ya.