Standard Issue Podcast

It's Emmy time again and this month we're chatting about the good and bad choices made this year. Which is also an excuse to talk about The Penguin. We've also been watching King of The Hill, Only Murders in the Building, I Fought the Law, Hostage, The Newsreader, King & Conqueror, and Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A freedom of speech special awaits you this week, as Hannah and Jen debate the rights and wrongs of opinions expressed on the killing of Charlie Kirk, as well as the rights and wrongs of hammering nails through your penis. There's added joy from some nuns on the run and - finally - some good news for Keir Starmer and the families of the 97 victims of the Hillsborough Disaster. We also bring you the latest in women's sport and some very strange noises from Hannah's neighbour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's a young man to do when he can't stop murdering women he fancies? Blame his mum, obviously. The malign power of mothers is just one of several themes raised by the  genre-defining Hitchcock classic and discussed by Mick, Hannah and Jen. Hold onto your shower curtains, it's time for some piercing violin.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Art historian, curator and broadcaster Kate Bryan is on a mission to wrest control of the art world from asymmetric haircuts and aloofness, and put it firmly back in the hands of us all. In her new book, How To Art, which is illustrated by David Shrigley, she sets about doing exactly that. Jen chats to Kate about entering the art world from a working-class background, how to talk about art even if you don't really know what you're talking about, and why snobbery is so rife in the art world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's silly turned up to 11, as Mick catches up with brilliantly bonkers comedian Harriet Dyer, who describes her standup as a fizzy blancmange of whimsy. Delicious.  Harriet's currently on her biggest UK tour to date with her show Easily Distra…, but found some time to chat to Mick about mental health, getting trapped in cupboards and what she's like at parties.  Tickets for Harriet's tour can be found here: harrietdyer.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a much-lauded off Broadway run, Maia Novi's play about the time she was involuntarily held in a mental health facility has arrived in the UK. The Argentine writer and actor speaks to Hannah about Invasive Species, inner monologues, ambition and the advice Michaela Coel gave her. Tickets for Invasive Species are here: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/invasive-species-q1qt More info about the Standard Issue membership club is here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mick and Jen are on Bush Telegraph duties this week and, unlike it does for Sabrina Carpenter, the idea of men doing more housework is not getting them going. In other news, can you kill someone with menstrual blood? And was Angela Rayner right to resign? Plus, Jenny Off the Blocks returns with all things women's sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "gay cowboy movie" certainly opened the door for a lot of other films, but how does it fare 20 years later? Hankies at the ready as we take another look at  the small story, big landscape romance that was robbed at the Oscars. Don't @ us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Medea has been popular since antiquity and continues to endure today. Not least because big names want what's undoubtedly one of the meatiest female roles in theatre. Meatiest in its most gruesome sense, as Medea is most famous for killing her children in order to get revenge on her faithless husband.  Or at least that's the headlines. It is, of course, more complicated (if no less horrifying) than that, so our Mick was delighted that author, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes' latest novel, No Friend to This House, is her take on the Medea story.   They talk Medea as witch and midwife, Medea as refugee, the power of love, the dangers of motherhood and why Medea has proven so endlessly fascinating to storytellers and story listeners alike.  No Friend to This House is published by Mantle on Thursday 11 September, but available for pre-order now. And you can find out where near you Natalie is touring by following her on X @officialnhaynes and on Insta @nataliehaynesauthor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It took clinical psychologist, trauma therapist and complex trauma survivor Dr Ingrid Clayton years to understand how she had reacted to abuse within her home as a young person. But what she later understood to be a relational-trauma response known as “fawning” also helped her to make sense of her behaviour and relationships in the years that followed. And now that work informs her book, Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves. Jen chats to Ingrid about why we sometimes lean into situations that make us feel unsafe, the long-term impacts of this behaviour, and why we should revisit the narrative around trauma responses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Robbie Williams, but he's a chimp! But is there anything more to Michael Gracey's biopic jukebox musical drama about the British pop phenomenon? Are there any facts in it? And will you look at that cast: Steve Pemberton! Alison Steadman! Damon Herriman! Jonno Davies (who? what?). It's (oddly) Hannah's pick, (poor?) Yosra's second watch and (warning) may contain Mick singing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Returning from a BT hiatus, Mickey and Hannah take a rifle through some of the daftest stories of the week, including AI failures, ball pits, watered down beer, rumours of Trump's death and odd book choices. While in Sexism of The Week, it turns out everything has been fixed in our absence. Oh no wait, it hasn't. Shame. Chloe's story about The Salt Path is here: http://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there anything Meryl Streep and/or Shirley MacLaine can't do? It's a question we return to, as we settle down with Mike Nichol's 1990 dramedy, based on Carrie Fisher's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. But to what extent is it based on Fisher's real-life relationship with her mum, Debbie Reynolds? How well does it reflect issues around addiction? And, another question we return to: what is Roger Ebert even on about? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A century after their birth, the Mitford Sisters continue to fascinate and appal in equal measure. As a new play about them, The Party Girls, opens at The Marlowe in Canterbury, Hannah chats to playwright Amy Rosenthal about why their stories still resonate, sisterhood and the frivolity of evil. Tickets for The Party Girls are here: https://showtours.co.uk/the-party-girls-tour-dates/ More info about becoming a Standard Issue supporter is here: Standard Issue Podcast | creating a magazine for ears, by women for women | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fairy tales have long been a source of life lessons and observations. Adding to that tradition and brimming with female power, Wild Folk: Tales From the Stones, by writer and illustrator Jackie Morris and stained glass artist Tamsin Abbott, is officially one of the most beautiful books in our Mick's possession. She chats with Jackie and Tamsin about the power of stories, the collaborative process, finding just the right sky and that aforementioned female power.  Wild Folk isn't as easily available as it should be, but you can – and should – get it from www.sevenfables.co.uk. Also, give Tamsin a follow @tamsintheshed and ditto Jackie @jackiemorrisartist, both on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Featuring a couple of bona fide bangers by Irving Berlin, this Fred and Ginger bonanza, in which misunderstandings, misidentification and miscommunication slows true love's flow, was the pair's most successful film. But will the ‘idiot plot' be too frustrating for words? Can Mick deal with the sheer amount of tap dancing? Why is Hannah screaming and refusing to look at the screen? And what am “Venice”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, fashion model and counsellor-turned gender equality campaigner Karen Dobres, found herself on the board of her local football club Lewes FC, despite never having had an interest in the sport. But she discovered a passion for the women's game and The Rooks made headlines as the first football club ever to pay its men's and women's team players equally. Her new book Pitch Invasion: My Story as a Feminist on a Football Club Board charts her time on the board. Jen caught up with Karen to chat about the book, the thorny topic of equal pay in football, the power of the sport to change hearts, minds and culture, and why football matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hold Fast, the latest series of the BBC World Service's Lives Less Ordinary podcast, tells the extraordinary tale of the Avontuur, a 100-year-old sailing cargo ship which left Germany heading for the Caribbean in early 2020. What happened next could never have been predicted, as the world was gripped by a global pandemic and the 15-strong crew found themselves unable to disembark for 188 days. Hannah was delighted to chat to producer Christina Hardinge and composer Noémie Ducimetière about making a truly immersive podcast series about an incredible story of survival and teamwork. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month's Outside The Box is a podcast of two halves. First up, Mickey and Hannah are chatting about Department Q, Untamed, Bookish and Parenthood. Then Jen arrives, and she and Hannah discuss Unforgivable, The Gone, Too Much, The Gilded Age and 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story. Yes, that is a whole lot of telly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A pig herding sheep? A kids film getting loads of Oscar nods? A main role containing just 16 lines of dialogue? Join Hannah and Jen as they discuss these and other unheard of (unherd of?) things, after watching an understated farmyard classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017 Katy O'Neill Gutierrez was keen to get outdoors with her newborn daughter. When she searched for local mum and baby groups that combined a love of the outdoors with meeting other new parents, she couldn't find anything that fit the bill, so she decided to start her own. What started as a few friends meeting in North London for a walk with their babies turned into Blaze Trails, which now has more than 60 groups across the UK meeting regularly. Jen chats to Katy about the significant impact of the organisation on the mental health of its members, combatting loneliness in new parents, barriers to getting active, and why equality can be so hard to come by in family life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When BBC journalist Melissa Hogenboom happened across a study looking at attitudes towards male and female breadwinners, it made her wonder what other power imbalances we see play out in our everyday lives and how they affect us. This inspired her fascinating new book Breadwinners: and Other Power Imbalances That Influence Your Life. Jen chats to Melissa about those inequalities, the value we place in different tasks, the point at which those values become entrenched, and why they hate the word “bossy”. Breadwinners I published by Canongate and available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was smash hit city for Michael J Fox in 1985, with Rod Daniel's fantasy-comedyTeen Wolf following hot on the heels of Back to the Future, but did they have enough people in their hair and make-up department? Should 33-year-olds be at school? And how easy is it to accept a werewolf on your basketball team? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jo Hamilton was one of the most high-profile victims of the British Post Office Scandal in which she, along with hundreds of other innocent subpostmasters, was wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls caused by faulty accounting software. The scandal is quite rightly considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British judicial history – with the Government also very heavily implicated.  Jo's treatment at the hands of the Post Office had a devastating impact on, well, her whole world and that of her family. She went on to be a founding member of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance and one of the 555 litigants in the successful group legal action of Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd. Her criminal conviction was overturned in April 2021. If you've seen ITV's remarkable four-part drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Jo is played by Monica Dolan.  And so when she heard Jo had written a book, Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?, Mick jumped at the chance to talk to Jo about what happened, how it's changed her, and what still needs to happen in order for justice to be served.  Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton?: The Post Office Scandal and My Extraordinary Fight for Justice is published by Blink and available from all good bookshops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian Jessica Fostekew is going back on the road with her new show Iconic Breath, including short runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and at London's Soho Theatre. She chats to Hannah about still giving a shit, inherited traits, weightlifting, and guessing how old children are.  Tickets to Jess' Edinburgh show are here: ⁠https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/jessica-fostekew-iconic-breath⁠ And for the rest of the tour here: ⁠https://www.plosive.co.uk/events/jessica-fostekew-iconic-breath-tour-2026?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaeEOPT83EkJgQV4yVP68nYdyMzG6LkvUYfmigUxzV8a07a0OIu9RiwBU8e7Qw_aem_fRrrXp35p2e844kQG4z2tw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colman Domingo got an Oscar nod for his portrayal of John “Divine G” Whitfield in Greg Kwedar's film based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme (RTA) at America's Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison. Domingo is just one of a handful of professional actors starring alongside real-life alumni of RTA, a programme which gives them a sense of purpose and a close-knit group of friends. Yosra loved it when she saw it on its UK release last summer, but will Hannah and Mick feel the same? Could there even be tears in Dunleavyville?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lou Butcher, better known as the Topless Runner, has been running marathons naked from the waist up since having two mastectomies after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She chats to our friend Hazel Davis about health anxiety, body confidence, the politics of being bare chested and her memoir, Going Topless.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fictional mystery without a solution masquerading as a true story is Australia's best film, you say? We do. Well, Hannah does anyway. But what does Mickey make of Peter Weir's dreamy boarding school drama/horror on a first watch?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah is happily child-free so she was glad to grab some time with author Helen Taylor to chat about her new book Childless By Choice, which is part memoir, part cultural history. They talk about "crazy cat ladies", societal pressure, misconceptions and the pressing question of who is going to look after us when we get old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a big one this week, as Mick and Hannah watch possibly the most cult of cult films: Richard O'Brien's stage show turned Jim Sharman's screen show, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. So many questions. Has there ever been a hotter Curry than Tim? How might the modern youth view it? Did Hannah sing along? And what's Mr Peanutbutter's favourite berry got to do with anything? We see you shiver with… you know. Mick mentions a couple of interesting articles, which you'll find here: https://www.them.us/story/yes-rocky-horror-picture-show-is-transphobic-transmisogynist And indeed here: https://www.bigissue.com/culture/theatre/rocky-horror-at-50-a-place-for-the-marginalised/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian and storyteller, actress and broadcasting star, Desiree Burch is also a perimenopausal woman with plenty to say about it. Mick got on the Zoom to talk about Desiree's new show, The Golden Wrath, as well as the ups, downs and big bag of goo that is a woman's midlife.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, Zelda Perkins broke an NDA of more than 20 years to speak out against Harvey Weinstein. Since then, she's tirelessly campaigned to end the misuse and abuse of NDAS – non-disclosure agreements – used to silence victims. Her campaigning included setting up Can't Buy My Silence in 2021, and Mick chatted to her about that at the time.  Earlier this month, the Government announced it will ban NDAs designed to silence victims of workplace harassment and discrimination, a change that will be implemented through amendments to the Employment Rights Bill. A week later, the Lords passed it. This is a huge victory for Zelda – and the many brave people who have broken NDAs – after tireless campaigning, so obviously Mick got her back on the podcast to talk about the whats, whys, hows and what's next. For the full interview, get involved with our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/StandardIssue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Schumacher's sci-fi psychological horror exploring the boundaries between life, death and redemption was chock-a-block with early 1990s Hollywood's hottest property. But who gets redeemed and why? What happens when Bacon meets ham? And for the love of God, why won't someone turn on a light? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2024, alongside Steph McCall and Olympic athlete Rose Harvey, Natasha Edwards co-founded BOLDLI running club, a response to safety concerns around women runners. Now, BOLDLI provides resources to help women gain the confidence to run when and where they want, and this year they've teamed up with the Altra Kielder Marathon to launch the Stay Out There: She Runs Free initiative. Jen was tickled pink to catch up not only with Natasha but also with former world, European and Commonwealth champion, Paula Radcliffe – you heard us! – who is also backing the initiative. They're talking about why groups like BOLDLI are so needed, life after competitive running, and that time a bloke tried to catch up with Paula. You can find out more information about the Altra Kielder Marathon here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karis Kelly's award-winning play Consumed is about to tour the UK, so Hannah grabbed the chance to chat with the playwright about Northern Ireland in the arts, mother-daughter relationships, religion, superstition, OCD, trans-generational trauma, blood on stage and a lot more. Tickets for Consumed can be bought here:  https://painesplough.com/productions/consumed/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sally Gardner has had a long career of writing for children, for adults, and for everyone between. She chats to Hannah about her latest novel, The Bride Stone, growing up in London's Gray's Inn and about her belief that being dyslexic helped rather than hindered her writing career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready for our close ups? Maybe not, but tuck in anyway as we watch Gloria Swanson's glorious swansong in Billy Wilder's dark comedy about lost fame, madness and how to arrange a funeral for a chimpanzee.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adventurer, award-winning travel writer and Director of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Jean McNeil knows a lot about the world and our ever-more threadbare connection to it.  She chats to Mickey about her latest book, Latitudes: Encounters with a Changing Planet, a front-line witness account of the impact of climate change, and about her travels to and writing about remote, inhospitable places. Which started with being raised in one. And the fact Jean trained as a walking safari guide? Well, that's (big) catnip to our Mick.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During her career as a midwife, Dr Laura Abbott – now an associate professor in research at the University of Hertfordshire – became interested in the plight of women who gave birth in prison, or were separated from their babies by incarceration. And so she founded the Lost Mothers Project: a research project exploring the effects of mandatory separation of babies from women with Criminal Justice System involvement. As the Lost Mothers Project prepares to take its findings to Parliament, Jen chats to Laura about the vital work being done, an increased awareness of the England and Wales prison system for women, and why change needs to come now. You can find out more about the work of the Lost Mother's Project, including Scenes From Lost Mothers, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second series of crime drama Karen Pirie is about to arrive, so Hannah grabbed some time with its star Lauren Lyle to talk about why Karen's not like other detectives, but a lot like most women her age. They also chat about Toxic Town, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and women who "do". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd and a genuinely beautiful school building, Robert Zemeckis's time travel comedy blockbuster continues to be a cultural touchstone. At the time, it dazzled at the box office and with critics alike. But 40 years on, how does it fare with Mick, Hannah and Jen? Do the inevitable time travel plotholes matter? How much did the young Jen fancy the young Fox? Does Mick own this 1980s smash on DVD? And, perhaps most importantly, what in the Doc Brown is going on with Hannah's hair?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oddbody is Rose Keating's debut short story collection, an anthology of bold and unsettling tales inspired by her love of horror – and the genre's intersection with the female experience. In this episode, Jen gets inside the weird and wonderful mind of the Marian Keyes Young Writer Award winner, as she and Rose talk about how the body horror genre lends itself to the lived female experience, the inherent comedy of horror, and the horror (the horror!) of eggs. Oddbody is published by Canongate and is available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Esther Freud first shot to fame with her debut novel, Hideous Kinky, back in 1992. Her tenth novel, My Sister and Other Lovers, reunites readers with sisters Lucy and Bea, and astutely captures the realities of being a sister and having a sister. Spoiler: as much as pop culture would like us to think it, a sister is not a built-in BFF.  Our Mick chats to Esther about sisters, siblings, parents, the slippery nature of memory, and love in its many forms. My Sister and Other Lovers is published by Bloomsbury and out now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Talalay's 1995 take on the much-loved comic series Tank Girl had so much promise, but does it live up to its "truly feminist" hype? Who gets to decide? And how will a jazz-loving kangaroo-man help or hinder these efforts? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah's joined by playwright Iman Qureshi and director Hannah Hauer-King to chat about their play about the members of a lesbian choir, The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs. They chat about disability on stage, the search for community, and joining a uniquely British genre. * The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs is on at the Kiln Theatre until July 12. You can find tickets here: https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-ministry-of-lesbian-affairs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theatre maker Jess Andrews found herself exploring the murky world of dating apps after she and her husband decided to join the polyamorous community. The experience inspired her to create her one-woman show I Met All My Friends on Dating Apps, which is now touring. Jen chats to Jess about misconceptions around polyamory, why no one's having a great time on dating apps and how we might fix some of the problems within it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This animated sci-fi adventure, adapted from Peter Brown's much-loved books and written and directed by Chris Sanders, got a fair few Oscar nods, even if it missed out on an actual statue. But how will the tale of futuristic, task-oriented robot Roz, thrust into mothering gosling Brightbill amid the natural world's chaos, fare with Mick, Hannah and Yosra? And what's Bullseye got to do with it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a conspiracy to stop us watching a feel-good film about pensioners? Who was younger than Hannah when it was filmed? Whose legs does Jen envy? How high are Mickey's socks? We answer all these questions and more as we watch Ron Howard's sci-fi comedy drama about old people fighting age with the help of aliens.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month's Outside The Box, Hannah and Jen are chatting about The Rehearsal, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Beth, The Better Sister and The Last Anniversary.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Announced as the new associate artistic director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre back in November 2024, Tinuke Craig is keen to show just how broad the theatre's programming can be. A production of Noughts and Crosses, based on the Malorie Blackman young adult series, and directed by Tinuke kicks it all off. Jen chats to Tinuke about bringing Noughts and Crosses to the stage, giving young actors a break, and the wet panic of British Summertime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where John Hughes first dared to tread, many – so very many – teen movies have followed. Starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson as five VERY DIFFERENT American high school kids thrown together in Saturday detention for various misdemeanours, does the Gen X cult classic pass muster with Mick, Hannah and Jen? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices