Sophie Darlington is a wildlife cinematographer for shows such as David Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth’. She regularly gets up way before dawn in places such as Sri Lanka or East Africa, and sits for over 12 hours a day watching the animal she’s filming, often for weeks at a time. She says it’s the best job in the world but you come back 'rinsed’.

When her son Louis came along 23 years ago, Sophie had to take a break from her cinematography work for several years, but she returned when Louis was 4 and a half and even took him to live with her in the Serengeti for a year, while she worked.  She also has an 11 year old step daughter now, who she says is 'so cool’.

She is passionate about nature, and she is worried about the effect of climate change on the natural world, having observed worrying trends over the past decades during her cinematography projects.

Sophie says it takes a certain mindset to want to sit for 10 hours in 36 degree heat in a metre by metre hide, or 30 metres up a tree.  She also says that when she comes back from filming she can’t cross a road for a while as she’s so unused to city life.  

Sophie says her purpose is to 'make people give a damn’ - it’s definitely worked on me! X

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io 

Amy Hart is a social media influencer, former reality TV star and podcast presenter.  She appeared in Love Island in 2019 (Richard and I are avid viewers!) and she now has an adorable little baby called Stanley.

 Amy is the only Love Island contestant to have appeared on Question Time and she is a big food bank supporter.

Amy worked as cabin crew before she joined Love Island, which I imagined would prepare her for sleep-deprived motherhood…except Stanley is a very good baby and sleeps through the night!

We talked about how supportive her parents are as grandparents to Stanley.  We also discussed how Amy had frozen her eggs prior to meeting her partner, and how she plans to donate those eggs to people struggling to conceive. 

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io 

Following the iconic dance scene in cult-film ‘Saltburn’, 2001’s smash-hit 'Murder On The Dancefloor’ has recaptured hearts (and the charts) in 2024. The song features in over 300,000 TikTok videos, including one featuring someone you may recognise wearing sequins and antlers. 

“It actually feels really magical, and if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve completely processed it really. It’s a song I’ve been singing for over 20 years. I still love singing it. I love the way people react when I do it live. But for new people to be discovering it, for it to be making new memories with people, is kind of beautiful" 

- Sophie Ellis-Bextor

With its resurgence, we’re excited to announce that 'Murder On The Dancefloor’ is now available to pre-order on limited edition blood red 7" vinyl and as a CD single. The 7" features the track as well as the Jewels & Stone Mix Edit with the CD also featuring the Danny D Remix alongside the Extended Album version. Both are to be released on February 16th. 

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Pre-order the 7" here: https://sophieellisbextor.lnk.to/MOTD_LPWE

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Pre-order the CD here: https://sophieellisbextor.lnk.to/MOTD_CDWE

Gabby Logan is best known as a BBC sports presenter but has also turned her hand to stand up comedy for Sports Relief (2012), to writing her memoir called The First Half, and to ice baths on Freeze Your Fear (2022).  She hosts an excellent podcast called Mid•Point in which she, a guest and an expert explore how to navigate the mysterious territory of middle age.

She has 18 year old twins and is married to retired Scottish rugby union player Kenny Logan.  I spoke to Gabby a few months after her son Reuben had left the nest, with her daughter Lois following suit in a year, and she told me how the house is starting to feel too big.

We talked about her brother Daniel’s sudden death in 1992 when he was 15, and Gabby was 19 - and how she and her family were - and still are - impacted by this tragedy.  But Gabby has a core of positivity and stressed that people can go on to have a good life even when something so terrible happens.

Gabby represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 as a rhythmic gymnast, which Gabby so perfectly described as: where sport meets showbiz.  The brightly-coloured leotards she wore were not a million miles from what I wear on stage now - but she wasn’t too impressed by my opening bid to buy them as a job lot.  I’ll keep working on her!

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io 

Alex Head is the founder of Social Pantry which runs food events with the wow factor, as well as a restaurant, and a cafe.  I first met Alex this Summer where she was rustling up a banquet twice a day, in a tent at Latitude Festival. Two of the banquets featured food from ‘Love.Food.Family’ and Richard and I had the much easier job of meeting and greeting everybody there.

Alex got into catering aged 16 when she was expelled from school in Saudi, just before her GCSEs.  As she says, she was quite naughty.  But she ended up setting up a sandwich-making business to keep herself busy.

Fast forward a few decades and Alex now runs Social Pantry which she describes as a non-shouty and nurturing catering environment where she often employs ex-offenders, to help them create a new life for themselves outside of prison.

Alex and her husband George had a daughter Roxy, aged 3, who was born just before the pandemic, and they now have a one year old son Eddie.

Alex spoke to me about Eddie’s diagnosis of Down’s Syndrome while she was pregnant, and how she and George made the decision to continue with the pregnancy, and what a gorgeous, smiley boy Eddie is.   This I can vouch for, as I love to see Alex’s happy Instagram posts showing Eddie beaming, at the centre of his family.

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io

NEW RELEASES ALERT! 🚨 🥳 💃

Kitchen Disco – Live at the London Palladium is now available in the following formats!

Order now: https://SE-B.lnk.to/LivePalladium

🎶 Exclusive purple 2LP + a signed Christmas Kitchen Disco Print 🎶

🎶 2CD + Exclusive Purple 2LP + A signed Christmas Kitchen Disco Print Bundles 🎶

🎶 Both are available exclusively from Sophie’s official store 🎶

🎶 Plus, brand new blue 2LP - available from all good UK Record Stores 🎶

Sandra Igwe decided to turn a painful experience into purpose. 

When we spoke recently she told me about some of her difficult experiences both during childbirth and afterwards.

These led her to become the founder of The Motherhood Group which supports the Black maternal experience. Sandra has also written My Black Motherhood which demands that Black women are listened to, believed and understood by healthcare professionals.

We spoke about Sandra’s two daughters Zoe and Chloe, and the legacy Sandra hopes her work will leave, for when they come to have children. 

We also talked about her forthcoming third child. I got a bit over-excited about Sandra’s search for a name for that will rhyme with theirs, as I realised ‘Sophie’ is a near rhyme. Sandra kindly said she’ll let me know!

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io

Julia Bradbury is a TV presenter and an author with a passion for the outdoors. 

She has a 12 year old son, and 8 year old twin daughters who she had through IVF.  Her motto to them is: ‘Be good, be strong, be kind’.

We met at Julia’s West London home and talked about how in 2021, she and her husband had the nightmare task of breaking the news of her breast cancer diagnosis to their children.  She also mentioned how 'Fruitfly Collective’ and 'Maggie’s Centres’ can support all sorts of people at these difficult times.  She is thankfully now in remission: working back in TV and writing, but making sure she puts her health first.

Julia talked to me about how she feels we’re all suffering an indoor epidemic at the moment and how she is doing all she can to live in a healthy way.  She shares a lot of those thoughts in the book she has just published called 'Walk Yourself Happy’, which reflects her belief in health through nature.  Even in London, she manages to have her nature fix first thing every morning by sitting on her (very safe) windowsill and getting the morning light as soon as she wakes up.  She then takes further 'nature snacks’ through the day.

I left Julia feeling full of positivity and good intentions, vowing never to eat sugary food ever again!  It remains to be seen whether I manage to change my ways…

Listen now: https://sophieellisbextor.komi.io 

Presenter Helen Skelton has been a familiar and much-loved presence on our TV screens since she presented Blue Peter (2008-2013) and then Countryfile.

Famous for her can-do attitude to life she still has several Guinness World Records under her belt, she’s run a Namibian ultra-marathon (which is 3 marathons back to back), kayaked the entire length of the Amazon, and made it to the finals of Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins… and Strictly!

Helen and her three children now live in Cumbria, near where Helen grew up herself, and they all love the outdoors.

I caught up with Helen at her publisher’s office in London on the day her autobiography ‘In My Stride’ was published. It’s a brilliant read and I love how Helen is someone pretty extraordinary but she has such a generous spirit she makes me feel like I might be able to do some of those things, too. Not sure I’m going to test the theory though..!

Listen now: https://shorturl.at/EIRSV

The digital deluxe version of Sophie’s seventh studio album ‘HANA 花 🌸’ is out now on all streaming platforms! Featuring brand new song Blossom of the Night 🌼

Purchase/listen now: https://SE-B.lnk.to/hana