If I were to only recommend one podcast, this would be it.
Fortunately is the gold medallist in the audio Olympics. The finest in the Waitrose pod aisle. The one you'd take with you to your desert island - and without a doubt, the disc you'd rescue from the waves. Fi and Jane are there for your good times, your bad times and everything in between. If you haven't yet tuned in, you're in for a real treat.
Fortunately's official home is Radio 4 and you may have heard Fi Glover on the Listening Project and Jane Garvey on Woman's Hour. But here they step out of their programme personas and into the BBC piazza (or "pizza") for a hilarious conversation between themselves and with a star guest.
That's its magic! Two *very* funny women sitting outside the nerve centre of news, chatting away and hollering after famous presenters as they walk in and out of Broadcasting House.
In the early days they used to say Fortunately's remit was "stories told when the microphone's turned off", which gives you a flavour of its relaxed and behind-the-scenes tone and style. Broadcasting exclusives are mixed with witty one liners and entertaining anecdotes about everyday life: Fi and Jane will often munch on a slice of millionaire's shortbread while discussing their recent Pilates class, M&S shop and domestic disasters.
If you want the ins and outs of the French Revolution, Melvyn's got you covered on In Our Time. This is the place for Ikea trips, skincare regimes and signature dishes.
To get you started, here are five gems from the Fortunately archives... *includes spoilers*
Episode 18: Horoscopes with Radio 1's Greg James
If you're a Fortunately first timer, this is my recommended starting place. Exclusives from the get-go include Kirsty Young bringing homemade chutney to the Woman's Hour Christmas party, Fi's dinner with Meryl Streep, and the career-launching springboard that was Radio Garvey. Once in the glitzy studios with Radio 1's Greg James, chat meanders onto "ramshackle immorality" on 5 Live desks, broadcasting to an entirely absent audience in hospital radio days and Greg's moisturiser of choice: Hawaiian tropic after sun. If that's not an enticing prospect, frankly I don't know what is.
Episode 31: Classic! With Clemency Burton-Hill
There's nothing better than the magical run up to Christmas and this joyous episode with Radio 3's Clemency Burton-Hill delivers the goods. We get the latest on Jane's turkey crown and Fi's bacon lattice, and together they come up with "Garvey's cut the crap app" as a way of busting through any unwanted Christmas commercialism. The days of festive bleach are numbered. Once past the minefield of illegitimacy and double-barrelled surnames, Clemmie reveals what she gets up to in the studio while playing a long piece of classical music (spoiler: definitely *not* reading Caitlin Moran) and the pod ends with everyone's favourite carol... It's funnier than you think.
Episode 40: Inner Curls and Contrarians with Emily Maitlis
Everything is made better by Newsnight's Emily Maitlis and the anecdotes in this episode are nothing short of legendary. We hear about Emily taking her "sleek city whippet" into Zara, which Jane rightly identifies as a quality page five lead for the Daily Mail; hide-and-seek mishaps in Topshop involving her son and a woman in a bikini; and the unbeatable revelation that she has her hair styled, three nights a week, by a former Albanian army general called Jo. Who knew Fortunately was the home of investigative journalism?
This episode also includes one of my all-time favourite quotes from Jane about the BBC's Fiona Bruce (affectionately called here"Fi Fi La Bruce"): namely, "she'll run if she sees an antique in the distance". I still laugh today.
Episode 82: Early Morning Movements with Ritula Shah
Radio 4 star spotting aplenty in this brilliant edition with The World Tonight's Ritula Shah. Fi spies Evan Davies - likened to a "young gazelle" - running at speed through the pizza and notes it's "only fear of crime that'd make us run at that speed". He's followed swiftly by Sarah Montague who they call over and try and tempt into a Radio 4 flash mob. A sight we'd love to see. If you're a radio fan, this episode is filled with hilarious stories of student and local radio. There are memories of negotiating a 60-foot mast on top of a radio car, having only previously driven cautiously in a Fiat Panda; the art of crafting a radio package from an otter rescue centre in Evesham; and staying overnight in an £8.50 a night B&B to cover East Anglia's dried flower industry. A delight from start to finish.
Episode 83: Ready for Tingles with Clive Myrie
Hot on the heels is Clive Myrie, who Fi and Jane soon discovers should be hosting a cooking channel, never mind BBC News. The 'tingles' come from his memories of reporting live on the election victory of Barack Obama and he goes on to speak powerfully about suffering racist abuse from viewers and the dangers of false equivalence. But moments of seriousness are mixed with much hilarity as Fi questions Countryfile's use of "Sunday night jeopardy" when covering stories of dry stone walling; is sceptical about the idea of leaving your fortune to pets a la Karl Largerfield; and endorses Jane's "do it yourself with a pin" strap line for their child-rearing consultancy business. As you can tell, Fortunately is the home of conversational curve balls.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
With 152 episodes and counting, a Fortunately feast awaits you - and there's a high chance you'll come away investing in a peacoat or winter mac and referring to all M&S ready meals as "Clare Baldings".
Unsurprisingly, the pod has a devoted fanbase and - two shows and one live stream later - I 100% count myself a Fortunately fangirl. New episodes even feature "correspondence corner" where listeners can now pen Fi and Jane a line and it's equal parts moving, random and downright hilarious.
All that's left to say is, if you're twenty-something year old Erin from "deepest Wales" who enjoys nothing more than a night in with Radio 4 and Agatha Christie, we're soulmates and I'll no doubt see you at the next Fortunately Live.
Comments