Remembering Bonnie Tyler

More from How To Fail With Elizabeth Day All episodes →

1. 

   S20 · E178 · 12 Aug 2026 · 58 min

   Mel Giedroyc - I Lost My Biggest Fan When Mum Died

   Mel Giedroyc is a comedian, writer and TV presenter who has been entertaining the nation for over 30 years. Hired in 1996 as a writer for French and Saunders (alongside best friend Sue Perkins), Mel’s career took off and she went on to co-present hit Channel 4 series Light Lunch and Late Lunch, and then the Great British Bake Off. Since then, Giedoryc has written a Sunday Times bestselling novel and fronts the podcast, Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake. Now she returns with a new book, The Comeback, a funny, big-hearted novel about second chances set in a community. In this hilarious and…

2. 

   S20 · E177 · 5 Aug 2026 · 49 min

   Prime Minister Andy Burnham - ‘I’m a better politician for having failed.’

   Andy Burnham is the first Prime Minister on How to Fail. Past leaders have run scared of doing a podcast with ‘fail’ in the title - but not this one. As he says in this conversation: ‘if you’ve not succeeded, you have to understand why it happened, and what you’re going to do about it.’ Wise words from a global leader. Burnham is now our 7th Prime Minister in 10 years, having won a decisive by-election in Makerfield and having received nominations from 94% of Labour MPs in an unopposed leadership contest. In this exclusive episode, recorded at No. 10 North, Andy talks about growing up, how…

3. 

   S20 · E176 · 29 Jul 2026 · 55 min

   Nikita Gill - Everyone Wants to Be Heard But No One Wants to Listen

   Before becoming a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, and one of the most widely read poets on Instagram, Nikita worked as a cleaner and carer while sharing her poetry online. She moved from New Delhi to Britain in her early twenties to study for a master's degree at the University for the Creative Arts, and felt she ‘disappointed’ her parents and faced repeated rejection and misogyny in the process. In this episode, she tells Elizabeth about her unusual childhood at sea, growing up in places marked by contested borders, where bomb scares at school felt routine, and the many obstacles…

4. 

   S20 · E175 · 22 Jul 2026 · 57 min

   Miquita Oliver - I Drank Half a Bottle of Wine Every Morning

   Miquita Oliver is a podcaster, TV presenter and all-round brilliant woman. She was just 16 when she burst onto our screens co-hosting Channel 4’s cult music show Popworld alongside Simon Amstell. Twenty-five years later, she’s still one of Britain’s most distinctive broadcasters and interviewers. She co-created Miss Me?, with Lily Allen, and now co-hosts it with musician Jordan Stephens of Rizzle Kicks. You may also know Miquita from the acclaimed BBC series The Caribbean with Andi and Miquita, in which she and her mother, Andi Oliver, travelled to Antigua to reconnect with their family,…

5. 

   S20 · E174 · 15 Jul 2026 · 58 min

   Richard Bacon - ‘I Was Betrayed By My Best Friend’

   What connects Barack Obama, a tabloid sting and Love Islander Alex George? Have a Blue Peter badge if you were thinking of Richard Bacon... While the broadcaster and producer is perhaps best known for the time his Blue Peter contract was terminated - following a tabloid reveal of his cocaine use - there is so much more to the man. His storied time in television led to him founding a production company and creating numerous TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic. He credits this restless creativity to his ADHD, a diagnosis he only received later in life. We discuss how neurodivergence fuels…

6. 

   S20 · E172 · 8 Jul 2026 · 54 min

   Charlie Mackesy – ‘Grief propelled me into work that saved me’

   In this episode, I sit down with bestselling author‑illustrator Charlie Mackesy, whose work – The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – has become a global touchstone for kindness, vulnerability and hope. Yet Charlie’s path was anything but straightforward: he grew up feeling inherently at fault, shaped by the pressures of competitive schooling and the emotional weight of carrying the painful stories readers now share with him. He talks about failing his driving test four times and the devastating loss of his best friend, Jamie, in a car crash – a grief that propelled him to London and…

7. 

   S20 · E171 · 1 Jul 2026 · 54 min

   Anastacia – All My Songs Have Been Good Therapy

   Anastacia has released eight albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has collected a total of 227 gold and platinum certifications and counts Elton John as one of her biggest fans. In 2000, she released "I'm Outta Love", her debut single, which quickly topped charts worldwide and paved the way for her first album, Not That Kind. This year sees her embark on a major arena tour to celebrate that album’s 25th anniversary. In this episode we talk about her experience with breast cancer - she underwent a double mastectomy in 2013 after being diagnosed for the second time, dealing…

8. 

   S20 · E170 · 29 Jun 2026 · 45 min

   Mel Giedroyc and AJ Odudu on Body Confidence, Midlife Reinvention and Female Friendship

   Welcome to the FIRST EVER How To Fail Roundtable - a format we enjoyed so much we might just keep it. Today, Elizabeth is joined by broadcaster, actor, author and comedian Mel Giedroyc, and presenting powerhouse AJ Odudu for a candid conversation about body confidence, midlife reinvention and self-acceptance. Brought to you by Dove Whole Body Deodorant, they discuss navigating public scrutiny, aging, personal experiences of the menopause and the importance of friendship. Together, they explore how honesty, resilience and everyday rituals can help us feel more confident and comfortable in our…

9. 

   S20 · E169 · 24 Jun 2026 · 53 min

   Kristin Scott Thomas – ‘Having children allowed me to see where I’d gone wrong’

   In a career spanning four decades, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas has become one of Britain’s most celebrated actors: Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient, The Horse Whisperer, Tell No One and Slow Horses, alongside acclaimed stage work including her Olivier‑winning performance in The Seagull. Yet her path was far from straightforward: discouraged at drama school, she moved to Paris as an au pair and rebuilt her training from scratch. Her childhood had already been shaped by profound loss after the deaths of her father and stepfather in near‑identical accidents. She has now channelled…

10. 

    S20 · E168 · 17 Jun 2026 · 56 min

    Patrick Radden Keefe - ‘Lying Is More Prevalent Than People Think’

    What draws an award-winning writer to the darkest corners of human behaviour? Patrick Radden-Keefe is a New York Times bestselling author and staff writer at The New Yorker. He is known for his acclaimed books, including Empire of Pain and Say Nothing - the latter was adapted into a BAFTA and Emmy-nominated drama series. Radden Keefe’s latest book, London Falling, investigates the life and untimely death of Zac Brettler, a North London teenager drawn into the criminal underworld. In this conversation, Patrick reflects on why he is so fascinated by “the bad guys”, how the extraordinary story…