When Iain Lee went on I’m a Celebrity, he never expected to come out and be ambushed by 190 selfie-demanding school kids. The broadcaster and presenter joins James O'Brien for a frank and funny interview, discussing the ups and downs of his career, his challenges with mental health, and of course, what went down in the jungle.
Even as a young child, Paris Lees knew that she didn’t feel right in her body. In a bold and revealing interview, Paris takes James O’Brien on a journey from experimenting with tights and make-up, a reckless adolescence selling sex and spending time in prison, to becoming the first trans woman to feature in Vogue.
Nimco was seven when she was taken to Djibouti to be cut. In an unflinching interview, activist Nimco Ali takes James O’Brien on her incredible personal story, from fleeing her native Somaliland as a child refugee escaping civil war to finding her place on the FGM frontline, fighting to bring the practice to an end.
If there’s one thing Gary Lineker is not going to do, it’s ‘just stick to football’. The broadcaster joins James O’Brien for a boundless interview, from his time at the top-flight of football to dealing with the corruption rotting its core, to facing the fire and fury of the right-wing press for simply speaking his mind.
Politics is a brutal game, and few politicians know this as well as Nick Clegg. The former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Liberal Democrats leader gives James O’Brien an in-depth and revealing interview, covering his years in coalition with the Conservatives and his relationship with Prime Minister David Cameron, the Lib Dem massacre at the 2015 election and subsequent decline of the party, and his belief that Brexit can, in fact, be stopped.
Few British psychologists can also boast a successful career in the NBA, but John Amaechi can. In this enthralling and thoughtful interview with James O’Brien, John recounts his struggles growing up black, nerdy and exceptionally tall in 1980s Stockport, a chance encounter with a stranger that led him to pursue basketball, his decision to come out after leaving the NBA, and the realities of being a gay professional athlete.
In 2012, at the end of their tether, Jack Monroe wrote a blog detailing the depths of the bitter poverty they had fallen into. After going viral, the post catapulted Jack from the brink of despair and into the spotlight. In a raw and exploratory interview, Jack takes James O’Brien through struggling to making ends meet, the realities of austerity in Britain, identifying as a non-binary and preferring the pronoun ‘they’, and their legal battle with Katie Hopkins.
After almost drowning at the age of four, Scroobius Pip developed a stutter. Not only did it not stop him from becoming a successful rapper, spoken word poet, actor and fellow podcaster, he believes it was directly responsible for all of it. He joins James O’Brien for a fun and thought-provoking interview that will leave you believing that you too can do anything, just as long as you put your mind to it. To hear more from Scroobius, search your podcast client for Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip.
The first sitting MP to appear on Unfiltered, David Lammy has represented the people of Tottenham for the best part of two decades. In that time, he has been privy to some of the most extraordinary moments and developments in British politics. In this incisive and impassioned interview with James O’Brien, David Lammy shares the impact of his father abandoning his family at the age of 12, the terror of being subjected to ‘stop and search’ by the police, his anger at the failures of Grenfell and the chaos of Brexit, and how, despite everything, he manages to stay optimistic.
In a laugh-filled look behind the curtain of comedy, stand-up legend Richard Herring takes James O’Brien through his partnership with Stewart Lee, climbing the greasy pole of comedy, the various disputes and fallings out that come with collaboration, and how the pair of them managed to get away with some of the most outlandish television ever commissioned. Comedy fans will not want to miss this interview.
As the Nazis closed in on Prague, a six-year-old Alf Dubs was carried away from his native Czechoslovakia on the Kindertransport rescue operation that saved 669 predominantly Jewish children. In a remarkable interview with James O’Brien, Lord Dubs talks about the modest bravery of Nicholas Winton, the man who organised the rescue, growing up in Britain with a love of politics, the horrors he witnessed in the Calais Jungle, and spending his life fighting for the rights of refugees even through to this day. Thank you to Help Refugees for their assistance on this episode.
He’s best known as Luke Skywalker, but who was Mark Hamill before he picked up the lightsaber? The Star Wars legend joins James O’Brien for a very special interview, exploring his early love for show business, being cast by George Lucas in the first Star Wars movie, the wild space ride that he, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher were all launched on, and passing the torch to a new generation of heroes.
Most authors never have a bestseller. Even fewer come to define an entire decade. Trainspotting, both the book and the film that followed it, was a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s, catapulting writer Irvine Welsh into literary infamy. In this unflinching interview with James O’Brien, Irvine talks candidly about the drug-fuelled hedonism of the ‘80s and ‘90s that he both participated in and distilled into stories, how he pulled himself out of a vicious heroin addiction, the whirlwind of success that followed Trainspotting, and his unbridled passion for tennis and Andy Murray.
In one of the funniest Unfiltered interviews to date, James O’Brien meets the whirlwind that is comedian Russell Kane who, as you’re about to discover, has a lot to say. The pair cover everything, from Russell’s relationship with his rough ’n’ tough father, to his unique passion for watches; from the stresses and pressures that success put on your relationships, to the realisation that his working class upbringing was going to hold him back, but he wasn’t about to let that happen.
Arguably the best rugby union referee in the world, known for his witty one-liners and no-nonsense attitude, Nigel Owen’s career highs came with some unimaginable lows. In this vulnerable and moving interview with James O’Brien, Nigel shares his struggle as a young man in rural Wales coming to terms with his sexuality, surviving a suicide attempt at the age of 26, and his journey of self-acceptance that led him to the top of his game.
You know comedian Shappi Khorsandi from Live at the Apollo and her legendary shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, but Shappi was learning how to make people laugh well before she picked up the mic. In this funny, fascinating, and at times emotional interview with James O’Brien, Shappi shares the story of her family fleeing Iran in the face of revolution, the uncovering of an assassination plot against her father and the paranoia that revelation instilled in her family, and her struggles adapting to life in Britain. But like any good comedian, Shappi manages to find the funny in almost all of it.
Before he was Plan B, a young man called Ben Drew was growing up in London’s Forest Gate. With a guitar and the music of Smokey Robinson to work with, Ben set about becoming what he is today: a chronicler of our times. In this enthralling interview with James O’Brien, Ben shares his story, a story that is inextricably tied to his music, experiencing violence at home from a young age and losing friends to crack and heroin, and how he channelled those stories into songs, breaking into the mainstream, and coming home to share the positive power of music in the community that shaped him.
More than almost any other Unfiltered guest so far, you know exactly who Jamie Oliver is. Except, you don’t. In a revealing and impassioned interview with James O’Brien, Jamie takes us back to being a young boy in Essex working in his parents’ pub, not only discovering his passion for food, but his passion for what food can do. The Naked Chef saw Jamie become a household name overnight, and while he may have sold a few cookery books off the back of it, his fame enabled him to pursue the thing that he’s best known for: trying to make a difference.
In her time working with and for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Michelle Lyons was witness to nearly 300 executions, and though she watched hundreds of inmates be put to death, she’s one of the most cheerful people you could ever meet. In this extraordinary interview with James O’Brien, Michelle takes us into the execution chamber, into the lives of the inmates that she came to know, and the personal, professional and moral conflict she was forced to grapple with.
Rapper, poet and scholar Akala joins James O’Brien for a scintillating interview, in which they discuss two issues that run to the heart of modern Britain: race and class. In a breakneck hour of conversation, Akala picks apart many of the modern myths around gangs, street violence and black youth, looking at the ways these are perpetuated in the media and who benefits from perpetuating them, as well as looking back to the Windrush generation and the institutionalised injustices that led to the recent crisis. It’s an education.