Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined each week by a special guest who brings with them three terrors from their childhoods that 'scarred' them for life. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and access to the members forum - sign-up here - https
Come and See Scarred For Life LIVE with special guest Rhys Thomas - Sunday 18th October at The Bedford - London - if you can't make it in person, buy tickets for the livestream! Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup This week on Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence welcome back writer, paranormal psychologist and Uncanny star Evelyn Hollow! Evelyn returns with her brand new book, Hollow's Hauntology , a fascinating compendium of mythical creatures, monsters and paranormal phenomena from around the world. From the origins of vampires and the…
Come and See Scarred For Life LIVE with special guest Rhys Thomas - Sunday 18th October at The Bedford - London - if you can't make it in person, buy tickets for the livestream! Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup In another of our special Halloween mini series during the month of October, we’re joined by legendary British horror author Ramsey Campbell , one of the most acclaimed and influential voices in modern horror fiction. From Lovecraftian cosmic horror and classic ghost stories to psychological terror and the unsettling darkness hidden inside…
Come and See Scarred For Life LIVE with special guest Rhys Thomas - Sunday 18th October at The Bedford - London - if you can't make it in person, buy tickets for the livestream! Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup What would happen if you took a group of ordinary people, dropped them into an abandoned American town with no running water, no electricity and barely any food, and told them to survive for 28 days? That’s exactly what happens in Channel 4’s Apocalypse , and this week on Scarred for Life , we’re joined by producer Jo Harcourt-Smith and…
Leigh Francis — the man behind Keith Lemon, Avid Merrion and Bo’ Selecta! — joins Scarred for Life to talk about the things that genuinely scare him, the films that shaped him, and the strange experiences that have stayed with him for decades. Leigh reveals his three scars: The Exorcist, frogs and long division . From watching The Exorcist as a child and being terrified by its demonic themes, to a childhood encounter with a frog that left him with a lifelong fear of amphibians, Leigh explains where some of his biggest fears came from. He also talks about growing up obsessed with films,…
Come and See Scarred For Life LIVE with special guest Rhys Thomas - Sunday 18th October at The Bedford - London - if you can't make it in person, buy tickets for the livestream! Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup Filmmaker Jed Shepherd joins Scarred for Life for the first of our special Halloween deep dives during October into the horror industry — and we explore the strange films and TV shows that scared him growing up. Jed is the writer of HOST, the lockdown horror phenomenon made almost entirely through Zoom, which went from a prank between friends…
Comedian, writer and podcaster Alasdair Beckett-King joins Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence on the Scarred for Life podcast to talk about the films, books and television that left a lasting impression on him as a child. Alasdair reveals three very different childhood scars, beginning with the unsettling 1970s animated series Murun Buchstansangur, before moving on to a disturbing playground story inspired by Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory and, finally, one of the ultimate childhood nightmares: Return to Oz. We get into what makes Return to Oz so genuinely creepy, from the Wheelers and Princess Mombi…
You love him and we do too, so much so that we asked him to join us LIVE on stage in London. It's the monstrously funny, devilishly handsome and soon to be de-possesed - Rhys Thomas! *CROWD GOES WILD* Come and join Dave, Andy, Producer Nikki & special guest Rhys Thomas for scars, scares and severed heads at Scarred For Life LIVE - Sunday 18th October 4pm - The Bedford - London OR, if you can't make it in person, you can buy tickets for the livestream event. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cheerfulearful/2352831 There will be plenty of interactive fun, a chance to meet the your hosts and…
Come and See Scarred For Life LIVE with special guest Rhys Thomas - Sunday 18th October at The Bedford - London - if you can't make it in person, buy tickets for the livestream! Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup This week on Scarred for Life , Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by returning guest Lisa Bowerman for a nostalgic deep dive into the classic British TV programmes and theme tunes that soundtracked our sick days, school holidays and afternoons on the sofa. From Bod, Crown Court, The Sullivans and General Hospital to Rooms, Farmhouse…
What makes a film soundtrack genuinely terrifying? And why can a few notes of music stay with us for decades? This week on Scarred for Life , we’re joined by legendary film critic Mark Kermode and writer Jenny Nelson , authors of Surround Sound: The Stories of Movie Music , to explore the strange, powerful and sometimes downright disturbing relationship between film, music and memory. Mark and Jenny discuss how film scores can create fear, tension and atmosphere — from Bernard Herrmann’s iconic Psycho score and the unsettling theremin sounds of The Day the Earth Stood Still , to Pino…
Why are some places more frightening than the monsters that live inside them? This week on Scarred for Life, Andy Bush, Dave Lawrence and Nikki Druce take a deep dive into the horror of liminal spaces, unsettling buildings and locations that are more creepy than comforting. From the eerie office corridors of Severance and the endless yellow rooms of The Backrooms, to the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill, La Cabina, the Psycho house and Portsmouth's infamous Tricorn Centre, we explore why mazes, empty buildings, brutalist architecture, strange corridors and familiar places that suddenly…
This week Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by the Jobseeker himself - it's Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods. Jason joins Scarred for Life to talk about the things that genuinely scared, disturbed and scarred him throughout his life. From growing up in Grantham and the terrifying stories surrounding the local Hills and Hollows, to the government public information films that traumatised an entire generation, Jason looks back at childhood fears, the threat of AIDS, nuclear war and the strange ways we learn what danger looks like. He also reveals the horror films that have stayed with…
School trips were supposed to be fun, weren’t they? A day away from the classroom, a packed lunch, a coach ride and the promise of something vaguely educational. But for many of us, they came with a healthy dose of fear, embarrassment, danger… and occasionally someone throwing up into a sandwich box. For this Thursday deep dive, Andy Bush, Dave Lawrence and producer Nikki take a trip down memory lane to explore the creepy, chaotic and downright traumatic world of school trips . From terrifying public information films and being trapped on questionable 1970s coaches, to quarries, creepy…
Welcome to Series 6 of Scarred For Life! In this episode of Scarred for Life, we’re joined by legendary comic book writer Garth Ennis, creator of The Boys and one of the most influential writers to come out of 2000 AD. Garth reveals the three things that genuinely scarred him for life: God, Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, and Ridley Scott’s Alien. From childhood fears of Hell to the horrifying idea of evil growing inside ordinary people, and the lasting nightmare of the xenomorph, Garth explains why some horror doesn’t simply scare you — it scars you for life ( He understood the assignment!)…
You've been waiting, we've been hunkering in our bunker and cooking up some brand new episodes for you. Series 6 is shaping up to be a phenomenal series with some amazing new guests and some of your favourites coming back for round two. We'll be back on Monday the 7th of September with our first guest - Garth Ennis - Creator of The Boys, Preacher, and writer of Judge Dredd. One of our favourite interviews we've done to date and Garth has a voice like liquid butter so you won't want to miss out. Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineu To join Scarred Club and…
Season five ends with a mailbag packed full of your messages! From terrifying wrestling entrances and warped kids TV to fire safety posters, spooky theme tunes, disaster movies, and the kind of schoolyard myths that spread like wildfire. We also have a few important announcements from the Scarred for Life world, including details of the next live show at the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival at the Bedford Pub in Balham on Sunday 18th October, plus what is coming next for season six. Get your live show tickets now at: https://www.cheerfulearful.co.uk/lineup To join Scarred Club and get…
In this episode of Scarred for Life , Bush and Dave are joined by actor and comedian Alex Lowe , best known for his turn on Peter Kay's - Phoenix Nights - as the not so talented pseudo Psychic - Clinton Baptiste - and cockney throwback - Barry from Watford . Alex talks child acting, comedy, lost opportunities, working with big names, and the darker edges of performance before revealing three childhood terrors that still haunt him today. From a brutally bleak desert film to terrifying fairground rides and the body horror of The Thing , this is a brilliant, funny, and unexpectedly unsettling…
In this episode of Scarred for Life , Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by brand new producer Nikki Druce of Killers, Cults and Queens and Macabre London to hash out her three scars. From Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War of the Worlds listened to whilst hiding under a sleeping bag, and the terrifying Mysterons from Captain Scarlet including a scary alarm clock, to the relentless dread of 28 Days Later and how a first love turned into a first hate after a late night prank to do with the film, Nikki explains why spooky storytelling, horror, and the weird always held her attention…
In this episode of Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by writer, critic and screenwriter David Quantick, whose career has taken him from the NME and cult British comedy ( Blue Jam, The Day Today, The Thick Of It) to Emmy-winning success on Veep. David talks about the strange overlap between horror and comedy, the power of swearing in jokes, the dark brilliance of friends and collaborators Chris Morris & Armando Iannucci, and the childhood moments that left a lasting mark. His three scars are brilliantly specific and deeply unsettling: a terrifying Star Trek moment in…
This week on Scarred for Life , friend of the podcast Lizzie Hopley returns for a deep dive into the creepiest creepy crawlies ever featured in film & TV. From gentle grasshoppers turned evil in A Bugs Life through to Eel Ear Larvae in The Wrath Of Khan, Lizzie joins Andy and Dave to delve into the depths of the undergrowth to see what creeps them out the most in the fictional insect world. Expect nostalgia, laughs, and a few hairs standing up on your neck as they explore the small world of insects on the big screen. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus episodes, ad-free listening…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by writer, performer and poet Rob Auton. Rob takes us inside his wonderfully imaginative way of seeing the world, from filling buckets with water for thirsty magpies in Peckham to finding poetry in everyday life. Along the way, he explains why he loves shifting the mood of a room, why horror and comedy aren't as different as they seem, and how he collects ideas from ordinary conversations, walks and chance encounters. His three scars are the terrifying wolves from the BBC's adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the…
This week on Scarred for Life , friend of the podcast Lisa Bowerman returns for Part Two of our deep dive into the greatest TV theme tunes ever written. From haunting children's dramas and tear-jerking classics to unforgettable soap themes and library music gems, Lisa joins Andy and Dave to celebrate the melodies that still transport us straight back to the sofa. Expect nostalgia, laughs, and a few surprising musical rabbit holes along the way. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and access to the members forum - sign-up here - …
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by impressionist, comedian, actor and lifelong Doctor Who fan Jon Culshaw. Jon takes us on a wonderfully nostalgic journey through the television, books and documentaries that shaped his imagination growing up. Along the way he explains why fear is really a form of curiosity, discusses his fascination with butterflies, ghosts, UFOs and aliens, and reveals how childhood scares helped inspire a lifetime of storytelling and performance. His three scars are the terrifying Sea Devils from Jon Pertwee's era of Doctor Who, the…
This week, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence open the Scarred for Life mailbag to celebrate the brilliant memories, strange fears and wonderfully weird stories sent in by listeners. From The Tomorrow People , Biker Grove and Fraggle Rock to terrifying clowns, ghost trains, Stephen King and Red Dwarf , the conversation wanders through nostalgic TV, childhood trauma and the odd corners of pop culture. Along the way, they share plenty of laughs, revisit some unforgettable scares and prove once again that everyone has a story that scarred them for life. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy and Dave are joined by comedian, Traitors winner and Ghost Huns co-host Hannah Byczkowski. Hannah explains why she finds horror films comforting, why comedy is the genre she avoids most, and how Ghost Huns has become one of the UK's biggest paranormal podcasts. Along the way there's chat about true crime, tarot cards, haunted prisons, Ouija boards, time slips, and why she thinks orbs are just dust. Her three scars include a memorable childhood encounter with Paul Chuckle, the horrifying moment she woke up to discover a spider in her mouth, and the surreal…
This week, we're delighted to welcome back one of our favourite returning guests, comedian and actor John Thomson. John joins us to explore one of horror's most enduring—and unsettling—icons: the scary clown. Drawing on his own experiences of playing clowns on screen, his lifelong love of horror, and a remarkable knowledge of the history of clowning, John takes us on a fascinating, funny and occasionally gruesome journey through everything from It and Terrifier to the strange psychology of why clowns can be so terrifying. So, if you've ever found yourself unnerved by a painted smile, step…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined by comedian, actor, artist and collector Johnny Vegas. From giant gorillas at the bedroom window to terrifying children's television, Jonny takes us on a wonderfully funny, surprisingly moving trip through the fears that shaped him growing up. Along the way he explains why he'll never watch The Exorcist, reveals his meticulously planned zombie apocalypse survival strategy, shares stories from his childhood in St Helens, and explains how frightening TV programmes may have inadvertently inspired both his artwork and his…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy and Dave are joined by writer, director and producer Alexander J. Newall, the founder of Rusty Quill and the creative force behind the hugely successful horror podcast The Magnus Archives. Alex explains how a childhood obsession with unsettling cartoons, classic horror films and British sci-fi shaped his love of the genre, before diving into the unique challenges of making audiences genuinely afraid in audio, theatre and games. From the eerie existential dread of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons to why immersive theatre might be the most effective horror medium…
In this special episode of Scarred for Life , Andy Bush, Dave Lawrence and returning guest Lizzie Hopley explore some of the most terrifying mothers in film and television. From Psycho and Carrie to The X-Files , The Sopranos and beyond, the trio discuss the mothers who scarred generations of viewers, examining why twisted family relationships remain such a powerful source of horror. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and access to the members forum - sign-up here - https://scarredforlife.supportingcast.fm Send us a voice note on…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy and Dave are joined by actor and sci-fi icon Sarah Douglas. Best known as the fearsome Ursa in the classic Superman films, Sarah looks back on a remarkable career that has taken her from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to Hollywood, via Superman II, Falcon Crest, Babylon 5 and Conan the Destroyer. Along the way she shares stories of working with Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Grace Jones and John Pertwee, reveals how being "cranky" may have helped her land the role of Ursa, and explains why she eventually learned to embrace the…
This week on Scarred For Life, Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence welcome back writer, producer, former child actor, and all-round opinion-holder Gary Russell for a deep dive into one of science fiction's most enduring fascinations: alternative universes. From evil doppelgängers and fascist Earths to Mirror Universes, multiverses and "what if?" storytelling, Gary traces his lifelong love of parallel realities back to childhood encounters with Lost in Space , Doctor Who 's legendary Inferno , and classic Star Trek . Along the way, the team explore why alternative realities continue to capture our…
About Scarred For Life
Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence are joined each week by a special guest who brings with them three terrors from their childhoods that 'scarred' them for life. To join Scarred Club and get fortnightly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and access to the members forum - sign-up here - https
Scarred For Life is a English film & tv podcast from Lock It In Studio. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
