Sentimental Garbage’explicit

In this very special episode, comedian Alexandra Haddow joins us ahead of the live tour to talk about what she wants to dig out of the Sentimental Garbage can. Catch us on tour together with https://www.fane.co.uk/sentimental-garbageLIVE TOUR DATES:LONDON: 02 JUN 2024 - HACKNEY EMPIREBRIGHTON: 07 JUN 2024 - BRIGHTON DOME CORN EXCHANGESALFORD: 15 JUN 2024[...]

Hello! This podcast was recorded courtesy of FANE in January 2024 with Dolly Alderton at the Bloomsbury Theatre. Want to come on tour with us? We're playing:LONDON: 02 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - HACKNEY EMPIREBRIGHTON: 07 Jun 2024 - 19:30 - BRIGHTON DOMESALFORD: 15 Jun 2024 - 20:00 - THE LOWRY, SALFORD QUAYSGLASGOW: 16 Jun[...]

The season finale and we’ve finally got the grand dame of podcasting on to talk about the Bravo hit that launched a million franchises. Elizabeth Day is an author whose latest book Friendaholic is out now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author of Green Dot Madeleine Gray is here to talk about society's fascination with The Other Woman. From Anne Boleyn to Monica Lewinsky, from Camilla Parker Bowles to Glenn Close, we investigate why these women are so endlessly interesting to us and whether they are our key to decoding society's most shadowy figures. We're also[...]

Musician and jingle-maker Harry Harris makes his SG debut by talking about One Hit Wonders! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bring the Kleenex lads, this is an emotional one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A true champion of the sweaty yet charming premise, How To Lose A Guy takes all the mid-noughties rom-com tropes and rolls them into one. A woman's magazine! An advertising campaign! A bet! An article! Friends! We discuss Kate Hudson's comedic gifts, the death of the bubblegum romcom and whether women's magazines even deserve a[...]

Blackhead squeezing, earwax removing, blood, guts, fluids. We're talking about how an exponentially growing beauty industry has also created a Yucky industry, where we watch Dr Pimple Popper before bed and Naked Attraction before we go to sleep in hotel rooms. Nicola Dinan joins us to talk about "yuckycore" and where it came from. TW:[...]

Style Queen Lauren Bravo joins us yet again for a deep dive, and a eulogy for, the noble skinny jean Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, we all watched the documentary, but WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? Caroline and Dolly take a deep dive into the rich, thick, expensive fabric that is Robbie Williams' pop career. And yes, we do talk about Swing When You're Winning. Playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gx0XURxXE8RtEJXlVPdId?si=1e54995d032d4526 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been the Roman Empire for all tween girls for over 100 years, so for this year we investigate: what is it about the Anastasia myth that we just can't let go of? Caroline and Ella attempt to examine the real story versus the many false ones that grew around it, touching on Anna Anderson,[...]

Writer of Really Good Actually and creator of Sky’s Smothered joins us for a definitive ranking of every relationship in Love Actually Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone's favourite public transport-cum-coma romance that is, somehow, also a Christmas movie. Sam Sedgman joins us to talk about his enduring love of both Sandra Bullock and trains in general.Sam Sedgman is a children's author whose next book The Clockwork Conspiracy is out Feb 2024.Join the Sentimental Garbage mailing list for priority ticket access here:[...]

Returning Cindy horse Jof Owen talks to us about the woman who broke all records and changed pop music forever. It's time for a potted history of Shania Twain! With jokes, Wotsit similes and wild theorising about Lyme disease Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austentatious star Cariad Lloyd takes us through the 1995 BBC Pride & Prejudice classic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

what a superbly featured room and what excellent boiled potatoes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, the Sentimental Australia trip wasn't just a figment of our collective imaginaton, here's the proof. Radio and TV star Myf Warhurst joins Caroline on-stage at the Wheeler Centre's Spring Fling for a Sentimental live show that includes dissections of The Secret Garden, Baz Luhrman, novelty hair-slides, Wolford tights and menu-splaining in restaurants. Hosted on[...]

Our Sweet Valley sweetie Jess Pan returns with the rom-com that changed the definition of what a rom-com could be. My Best Friend's Wedding gave us an anti-hero worth rooting for, a 'Gay Best Friend' that goes above and beyond the usual clichés, and an early Paul Giamatti role that makes you sit up and[...]

You paid a whole dollar for that? Richard Makin joins us to talk about the queer touchstone and eternal sleepover movie Romy & Michele's High School Reunion. In his words "this movie is to me what Pretty Woman is to them". We discuss high school, bullies, our inner Heather Moonys, the Simpsons DNA that runs[...]

You either know everything about Caroline Calloway, or nothing at all. This episode is for everyone in the first category. Author Diana Reid comes into the studio to get balls deep in mid 2010s influencer culture, the politics of young friendship, digital media trends of yesteryear and the first person essay economy that reigned over[...]

Padam, padam, we feel it and we know. The doyenne of Aussie pop culture and co-host of the Shameless podcast Michelle Andrews joins us for a chat about the southern hemisphere's premier pop icon Kylie Minogue. We cover a lot here, but it's not a biography – for that we recommend Michelle's three-part series on[...]

In preparation for Caroline's Australian book tour, Aussie friend of the pod Kate Young joins us to dissect Strictly Ballroom. We talk about why Strictly Ballroom is "Dirty Dancing for nerds", 90s Australian cinema, and our efforts to beat the snakes. Kate Young is the author of several cookbooks as well as the forthcoming novel[...]

Last season, we opened the season on Weddings, where we talked about planning, hen parties, dresses and the cultural expectations of being a bride. Now we've had the wedding, what have we *learned*? Maid of Honour and longterm friend of the pod Ella Risbridger comes back to discuss the wins, losses and lessons of...Caroline's wedding.[...]

We're coming back off break to offer our opinions on the most formative Sentimental Garbage there is, Barbie. Caroline and Jen talk about their early memories of Barb, Greta Gerwig's new movie, the hunk-to-hero trajectory and the ascendancy of Ryan Silly Gooseling. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue is available everywhere now. Jen Cownie's Wild[...]

Hey everyone! Caroline's been on tour with The Rachel Incident so the Straight Up girls have kindly agreed to allow their podcast to feature on the Sentimental Garbage feed. It's a really fun episode where we talk about all kinds of pop culture, including Sex and the City, Fleishman is in Trouble, Brooke Shields, and[...]

An ancient, deathless vampire attempts to woo a young woman. And also, we talk about about Twilight. Maisie Peters album, The Good Witch, is out now! Caroline O'Donoghue's book The Rachel Incident is out now also Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*SPOILERS FROM 48 MINS ONWARDS*Friend of the pod Dolly Alderton returns to interview me about The Rachel Incident, the latest novel from Caroline O'Donoghue (me) Order The Rachel Incident: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clare-Caroline-ODonoghue/dp/0349013551/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LAN076BK3XQ&keywords=the+rachel+incident+caroline+o%27donoghue&qid=1687367028&sprefix=the+rache%2Caps%2C477&sr=8-1https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-rachel-incident/caroline-odonoghue/9780349013558https://store.virago.co.uk/products/the-rachel-incident Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom McInnes is back for the ultimate test of this podcast's entire premise. Namely, can two people have an incredibly long and feelings-y chat about a three minute pop song from 1983? Let's see x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a big week to be a Taylor Swift fan, so we're back for a second go of Midnights with Jen Cownie. We talk the bonus extras, the great ironies of “The Great War”, the Blake Lively fan fiction on “Bigger than the Whole Sky”, real Paris vs American Paris, and much much more.[...]

We talk disordered eating, body image and diets through the prism of pop culture, with Hanna Flint, the author of Strong Female Character. Is there such a thing as a "responsible" way to depict an eating disorder? Can we ever forgive Richard Curtis for what he did to Martine McCutcheon? And can we fairly say[...]

The 1990s answer to Hard Day's Night was Spice World: The Movie, 92 minutes of pure joy that also provides Baby's First Blueprint to how fame works when you're a young woman. We talk about Wannabe as the Kennedy Assassination for millennial women, the subtext of the Spice Girls songbook, the insane cameos, the incredible[...]

Could Joe Alwyn's departure from Taylor's life be the skeleton key to understanding Midnights, Taylor Swift's murkiest album? Jen Cownie returns for a track-by-track study that, she believes, tells the story of a woman who is breaking up with herself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Filmmaker and author Emma Forrest on her lifelong relationship with Cher. We talk noses, outsiders, plastic surgery, Mermaids, Moonstruck, I Got You Babe, the Sonny years and much much more. This is a really good one. Emma Forrest's new book, Busy Being Free, is available everywhere now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Novelist Ore Agbaje-Williams joins us for a childhood favourite that almost threatens to fall down behind the couch: the straight-to-video Cinderella, starring Brandy, Whitney Houston and Whoopi Goldberg. We talk about the baffling charm of this adaptation, the star-power of the cast, the new Little Mermaid, the endless drudgery of the 'representation' conversation, childhood desires[...]

Curious about what Sentimental Garbage sounds like live? Journalist and author Emer McLysaght joins us to talk Taylor Swift, 10 Things I Hate About You, roast dinners, social media activism, Karens vs Aislings, Adrian Mole, Phoebe and Paul, and why aren't our ex-boyfriends online. Thank you to Cúirt Festival for recording this for us, particularly[...]

Whether it's prestige HBO dramas or Below Deck, there's no doubting that we're more obsessed with – as well as empathetic towards – the extremely wealthy than ever. But as the 1 per cent expands and extreme poverty becomes more common than ever, do we have to ask ourselves: is all this rich person content[...]

Today we're picking through our most complicated cake feelings with novelist and author of the Little Library Cookbooks, Kate Young! This episode is sort of about cake and sort of about gender representation, realising you're gay, and growing out of your "mum" phase. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

WAKE ME UP INSIDE! As a reformed fan-fiction head and ex-moderator of an Evanescence forum, Jessica Moor epitomises everything that was great and weird about being online as a teenager. We talk about the power of Amy Lee, how enormous "Fallen" was, being a wannabe goth girl, the lost art of forums and the infamous[...]

The Von Duchess is back as we recap noughties fashion and why we're seeing such a huge resurgence of it. As with all Irish guests, we talk confirmation money, regional skirt lengths and the Celtic Tiger, but also get to global trends: Von Dutch caps, logo-fever, new money anxieties, post-9/11 fashion and how we all[...]

This week Caroline is joined by one of the greatest novelists of her generation to talk about Dirty Dancing, Sylvia Plath, and whether Adam Driver is hot. Curtis is the author of American Wife, Rodham and the forthcoming Romantic Comedy. Caroline is the author of several books and really wants you to pre-order The Rachel[...]

Gaming used to be for everybody, like Lego. But somewhere around the early noughties gaming became extremely gendered, with first person war shooters dominating mainstream gaming and “girl” games arrived. We talk The Sims, Harvest Moon, Pokemon, Stardew Valley, tv and movie franchise games, horse riding games, a little bit of Zelda, and a little[...]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Otegha Uwagba is finally on the podcast and we're having a far-reaching and slightly rogue conversation about girlboss feminism, being a bad bitch, the aftermath of MeToo and how we complain. We also cover Elizabeth Holmes, Nicki Minaj and the girlboss bitches of pop culture. Baroness Von Schrader: we salute you. Otegha Uwagba is the[...]

Dolly is back and we're talking commitment-phobia, memorabilia, and the noble failures of Julia Roberts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Food writer Laura Goodman joins us this week to talk about the modern phenomenon of snacking and the breakdown of the three-meal day. This is sentimental garbage's first foray into food culture so we end up covering a lot: from rental snacks, to pantry shops to the modern phenomenon of small plates. We also cover[...]

We're carrying on from last week's deep dive into the Gilmore Girls with chats about Jess, Luke, Max Medina and our mystery number one slot. We also discuss Melissa McCarthy's charming but strangely uncompelling storylines, the quiet tragedy of Lane Kim and whether one or both Gilmore Girls suffer from IBS. Thanks for joining us[...]

It's the first of our two-part special on Gilmore Girls! Today we discuss: did Dean storm the capital? Is Christopher a serial people pleaser? Could we correctly term Richard and Emily as 'very a play'? Also class transition, where exactly in WeTransfer that Rory works, and what kind of podcast guest Lorelai Gilmore might be.[...]

Get ready for an incredibly fun and slightly fork-obsessed discussion about Chicago and the process of writing musicals in general. We talk about room songs, corridor songs, The Little Mermaid, and the perfection that is every single shot of this incredible movie. Are you a Cell Block Tango girl or a They Both Reached For[...]

Monica Heisey was an unusually young divorcée and a writer of unusually famous sitcoms when she began writing her iconic break-up novel Really Good, Actually, and we're here to talk about both. Why will Jennifer Aniston always be the heartbreak queen, despite Adele and Taylor Swift vying for the title? Do friend break-ups hurt worst[...]

From earliest childhood, girls are taught to obsess over weddings as the one thing in common we'll ever have with a Disney princess. We talk about women and weddings, the cult of the Chill Bride, and whether wedding cynicism has gone too far. It's a real mish-mash today: we talk Friends, Abigail Again, Emma Bunton,[...]

Whether you're a die-hard Jo fan or an Amy apologist, there's no way to be a woman alive in the 21st century without having an opinion on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. We get into it, discussing all three major film adaptations, plus the now canon March Sisters at Christmas. We also discuss the female[...]

Jen Cownie returns for a tarot-infused culture ramble where we cover tiny dogs, long nails and blue jeans. Also Joe Alwyn and Margaret Atwood get a shout out. If you're hitting Cheltenham Literature Festival this weekend, come find us! Caroline's dates: 8 October: Live Sentimental Garbage with Alexandra Haddow at the Daffodil Restaurant (9.30)8 October:[...]

Author and essayist Sloane Crosley shares her pre-teen love of Enya in the final episode of the season! We talk about music, conflicting nationalities, Zadie Smith's phone, and secret places. Sloane is the author of several books including her latest novel, Cult Classic. This is the final episode for a few months, so in the[...]

Is Kate Moss the fit version of Forrest Gump? We track the career of Kate in a handful of photos, picked by lifelong fan and comedian Alex Haddow. We discuss the fall of the 80s supermodel, the famous shoot for The Face, her era-defining romance with Pete Doherty, her friendship with basically everyone famous ever,[...]

It's time to go back to an era where you hung around a shopping centre all day with no money for no reason! We talk about Avril Lavigne's impact on millennial women, the allure of being "one of the boys", the Girlfriend era, the question of authenticity and Avril's eventual life with the Backstreet Boys.[...]

This week we attempt to cover the entire career of Anne Rice and quickly realise that it's impossible, so this conversation takes some of the most enjoyable twist and turns of the season. Caroline and Siobhán discuss vampires, witches, magic in Ireland, trans rights, women who take up TOO much space, Paul McCartney for some[...]

The bad boy of BBC iPlayer Connor Finch comes on to talk about one of his foremost musical heroes, Lily Allen. We talk about Lily's place in pop culture, her treatment by the British press, what a "London" sound is, the nepotism problem in the arts, and much much more. We don't talk about every[...]

It's Wimbledon week, and both Caroline and Jessica prefer the romantic, fictional rendering of Wimbledon to actual Wimbledon itself. We discuss Kirsten Dunst's slow-building status as a millennial icon, how this script is a perfect rendering of the rom-com formula, the last great era of the sincere rom-com, and the profound emotional effect of sports[...]

The host of Unreal: A Critical History of Reality TV joins us to talk about this quintessentially 21st century art form. Can we talk about reality TV as a monolith? What's worth keeping, and what's worth throwing away? And was I the only person to watch Celebrity SAS? Pandora Sykes is the host of Unreal:[...]

Janina Matthewson returns to discuss Alanis Morissettes 1995 smash hit album, Jagged Little Pill. We discuss Alanis as a survivor and a songwriter, her enormous good brain, and whether she's the Barack Obama of 90s music. Janina Matthewson is the co-host of History is Sexy as well as the writer/producer of Within The Wires. Hosted[...]

Costume dramas are the most dominant way that ordinary people engage with history, so why are we so frequently snobby about them? Dr Emma Southon gives a historian's perspective about the usefulness of costume drama, as well as the pure pleasure of just looking at nice fabrics. We talk Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, The[...]

Jen Cownie is back on to celebrate our 100th episode with a boozy tarot round up of all the things that need Sentimental Garbage tarot readings: when will men embrace pyjamas? Why does it feel so good to cry in public? And when will prosecco liberate herself from its Basic Bitch prison? Jen Cownie is[...]

Punk rock prom queens assemble, today we're talking about the criminally over-looked and under-loved Josie & The Pussycats. Why was this movies so misunderstood, and why do so many critics refuse to believe that women can do sarcasm? We talk about the amazing soundtrack (RIP Adam Schlesinger), the even more amazing fashion (RIP transfer tattoos)[...]

Do influencers make fame feel less special? Influencers distort our ideas of where wealth and fame should come from, and often provoke our hate-follows in the process. We discuss the power of influence and its humble beginnings in the blogging world, the metamorphosis into big business and a curated lifestyle, the exhaustion of the influencer[...]

Journalist Grace Medford joins us to talk about the endlessly entertaining dress-up box that was the noughties Charlie's Angels reboot. We discuss the giddy fun of this movie, the power of the Diaz/Barrymore/Liu trio, why a "woke" version was never required and a surprise TED talk on the Pussycat Dolls. Grace Medford is a journalist[...]

Before Self Esteem was selling out venues as a solo artist, she was Rebecca Taylor of Slow Club, a band who helped bring British twee to its apex in the 2010s. We talk about glockenspiels made out of Shloer, making cakes for the audience, the backlash against twee, the obsession with babytalk and the way[...]

Usually on the podcast I speak to people about the culture they love that has been unfairly dismissed, but I’m also interested in talking to the artists who created that work. This week we're starting an "indie twee" investigation. This is the movement that brought us tote bags, and ukuleles, and arguably, adult colouring books;[...]

Sarah Griffin is back to worship at the altar of Maeve Binchy and to deliver a new taxonomy about men and the wind. Evacuated from Blitz-battered London, shy and genteel Elizabeth White is sent to stay with the boisterous O'Connors in Kilgarret, Ireland. It is the beginning of an unshakeable bond between Elizabeth and Aisling[...]

We're joined by journalist and long-time Swiftie Marisa Bate to talk about why the most decorated artist of her generation is also one of the most polarising. We cover All Too Well, the Squad era, Taylor's obscene productivity, her endless fascination with love and her talent for imagery and storytelling that continue to captivate us.[...]

Guardian host and producer Leah Green is in the garbage vault this week with 2000's dance classic Save the Last Dance, a movie that has since become famous for having... sort of shitty dances? We talk about music video culture, Step Up, and the ensemble cast of Save the Last Dance that made it a[...]

We're limping towards the finish line of an uneven first season, talking about what we would have done differently, whether Carrie can even be called the main character of this show anymore, and pitch our new TV show, Steve & The City. The three AJLT eps will be spread across April, and then the normal[...]

It's part two of our And Just Like That recap, and we're talking about Charlotte's horrible dinner party, the terrible music choices, our blind adoration of Seema, That Jackie and the emotional burden of the mealy mouthed teacher. The three AJLT eps will be spread across April, and then the normal Sentimental Garbage season will[...]

Dolly Alderton is back, and we're finally getting balls deep into And Just Like That. This is the first of THREE Sentimental in the City episodes covering the reboot, and while the show was famously uneven and a bit cringe in places, we still had a great time. In this episode we cover the first[...]

Nora Ephron is a writer and filmmaker whose fame was huge in her lifetime and has only snow-balled since her death in 2012. Now that her name is on t-shirts, her novel is an established classic, and she's even the subject of fictional renderings ('sup, Good Girls Revolt), is there more to the Ephron legacy[...]

How did a Bukowski-style piece published in 1997 by Elizabeth Gilbert in GQ magazine turn into the quintessential sleepover movie of the early noughties? Author Hannah Woods brings the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly to the garbage truck, and we discuss this baffling film that is nonetheless still stylistically perfect and so much fun to watch.[...]

Whether it's a baked potato in a M&S cafe, a Jane Norman shopping bag, or a limited-range of celebrity dresses at Topshop, there's nothing that gets our hearts racing or our wallets twitching like the high street. Fashion writer Lauren Bravo joins Caroline to talk about the nostalgia of the high street, the evolution of[...]

There is a very clear narrative on Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron's final feature film, and it's this: the Julia Child portions of the movie are heavenly, and the Julie Powell side of the movie is both infuriating and a drag. American Girl In Paris correspondent Fiona Zublin returns to the podcast to defend Amy[...]

Young women's use of the word 'like' has been parodied for decades, but where did it come from, why do we use it, and why is it, like, so goddamn useful? Linguist and host of Sounds Like A Cult podcast Amanda Montell discusses the versatility of one of the most despised words in the English[...]

When Titanic first came out, it made history for the epic scale of James Cameron's filmmaking. But like the ship itself, its reputation started to capsize. The more the movie was embraced by young women and girls, the more it was ridiculed as garbage. Caroline and author Janina Matthewson discuss the legacy of the movie,[...]

The Guardian once compared Maroon 5 to 'rats scavenging through pizza boxes', but to a generation of millennial women, they were as close to sex-positive as indie music was willing to get. Caroline and Cosmopolitan editor Catriona Innes talk about the rise and fall of Adam Levine, the mystery and allure of 'Jane', the fan[...]

According to best-selling author Séamas O'Reilly's family, this is not just the superior Grease film, but a classic movie on a par with Jaws and Scarface. We discuss Michelle Pfeiffer's breathtaking star turn as Stephanie Zinone, the idea of Grease as a genre of film, our hatred of squares, and a lot else. Séamas O'Reilly[...]

Author, witch and host of Your Magic Michelle Tea talks about one of the most guilt-ridden feminine practices of all: magic and witchcraft. Caroline and Michelle talk about tarot, astrology, belief, having an altar, Catholic childhoods and devotion. Michelle is the author of many books, including Modern Tarot, Against Memoir, Black Wave, How to Grow[...]

"I AM big... it's the pictures that got small." Drag Race UK star Joe Black joins us to talk about the camp Billy Wilder classic that took the best of gothic literature and the best of old Hollywood to make one of the best movies of all time. We talk about the blurred lines between[...]

Mona Lisa Smile was a 2003 movie about women's education in the 1950s, and it was also the first Julia Roberts drama to spectacularly fail. We talk a lot about the negative reception to the film – in some cases, the negative reception from the cast itself. We discuss movies about education, and why no[...]

Coin Operated Boy Tom McInnes is back and we're here to cry about Amanda Palmer. Amanda Palmer is a singer, songwriter and performance artist who first rose to fame in the early 2000s with her band, The Dresden Dolls. After singles like Coin Operated Boy and Girl Anachronism, The Dresden Dolls became a staple of[...]

If I should stay, I would only get in your way. Caroline and Irenosen Okojie get extremely giddy about The Bodyguard, arguably the best date movie of all time. We talk about the tragic history of Whitney, the power of sister relationships in art, and the psychological weight of assassinations within contemporary culture. Irenosen is[...]

How did ANTM become one of the most influential reality shows of all time? Caroline and Juno bond over their shared love of this pioneering reality series, its absurd lens on the modelling industry, and the competitors who have stuck in our brains for well over a decade at this stage. We also find out[...]

It's 1997 and Bridget Jones is navigating New Labour, the sudden death of Princess Diana, and her on-again off-again relationship with the elusive Mark Darcy. Caroline and novelist Ayisha Malik discuss why Helen Fielding remains one of the greatest comic novelists of the 20th century (and yours, Mrs Townsend, are quite good too),as well as[...]

Super Trouper Zoe Terakes has brought Mamma Mia to the garbage dump and is ready to celebrate it for the mad camp wonderland it truly is. We talk about how Mamma Mia rejects patriarchal frameworks, whether or not Sophie is in the middle of twelve steps, our love of Pierce Brosnan, and the high lesbian[...]

Rebecca Taylor of Self Esteem (formerly Slow Club) talks about how Drag Race literally dragged her out of a dark post-break up depression and helped redefine her musical persona. We gush unabashedly about how this show changed our lives, admit to reading the Reddit and confess to drag queen sex dreams. There's also a preview of[...]

We're back with season 8 and TV presenter Muireann O'Connell is making the case for award season red carpets being a competitive sport in their own right. We talk about Joan Rivers and Fashion Police, the questionable feminism of judging professionals on how they look in formal wear, the risks and rewards of the red[...]

There's a whole new season of Sentimental Garbage on the way! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was edited by Caroline O'Donoghue, mixed by Hannah Varrall, with music by Harry Harris and artwork by Gavin Day. Dolly Alderton is the author of two books, Everything I Know About Love and Ghosts. Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of Promising Young Women and Scenes of a Graphic Nature. Hosted on Acast. See[...]

It's the movie!!! And it's... not as good as we remember! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the winter of this content, and we're debating Aleksandr Petrovsky (call me Bob) so hard that it risks ending our friendship entirely. We discuss the Paris episodes, the infamous demise of Lexi Featherstone, the Wizard of Oz journey each of the girls go on, and the astounding fashion of the final few episodes. We're[...]

What does Charlotte do all day? We finally have the answer and it's Judaism. We go hell for leather on Jack Berger, fall in love with Smith the baby chick and discuss the Post-It heard around the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the FIRST class sleeper? Put on your visor and trapeze dress, it's time for the big bag of fun that is season five. We talk about Atlantic City, big wing woman energy, how everyone must open for a dog eventually, the continued comedic genius of Chris Noth, the FINAL act of the MacDougalls[...]

Don't you bring that cardboard baby in here! This week we're coming into Season 4 with tears, and the firm knowledge that CABS ARE BULLLSSSSH*T. We discuss the comic chops of Chris Noth, the confusing friendship of Aidan and Steve, the great When Harry Met Sally drama that never was, and we go very deep[...]

Take your seats, turn off your phones, it's time to settle in for the National Theatre's presentation of THE MCDOUGALLS ARE COMING FOR SUPPER and there will be no intermission. This week we discuss everyone's favourite members of the Scottish-American aristocracy, Aidan and the affair, and the general neglect of dogs in this season. We[...]

It's season two and the hair is great, the clothes are even better, and Mr Big is fundamentally depressing. We argue that season two of Sex and the City is Miranda's Season as twenty episodes of sexual humiliation threatens to break her, until she's given the greatest meet-cute in the show's history. We profess our[...]

This week, we're kicking off our Sex and the City mini-series with our discussion of the character arcs and themes (take a drink) of season one. After a round dismissal of the pilot episode (abso-f*cking-who-cares?) we get right into the meat of The Valley of 20-Something Guys, where we re-enact the infamous taxi scene that[...]

It's the first ever Sentimental Garbage mini-series: a big basket of episodes about Sex and the City! In this mini-series, author Dolly Alderton joins me as we spend each episode discussing every season of the TV show Sex and the City for the great American novel it truly is. This is not an episode by[...]

Sophfronia Scott re-imagination of Dangerous Liaisons set in the Harlem Renaissance is sexy, surprising and so entertaining that we're willing to forgive the baseball references. Author of IF I DON'T HAVE YOU Sareeta Domingo talks us through her love for a book that, despite only coming out in 2017, has already earned a cult classic[...]

Ciao bella! It's our second Maeve Binchy-cast of the season, with returning guest Sarah Maria Griffin. It’s the dawn of the Celtic Tiger in early nineties Ireland, and Nora O’Donoghue, or Signora, is returning home after over 20 years away. Having spent her youth in Sicily, in love with a married man, she has returned[...]

Get your Kelly bag and your load-bearing beams ready, this week we're talking about Diane Johnson's Le Divorce with real-life American Girl in Paris, Fiona Zublin! Isabel Walker is a young, bored film school graduate who has decamped to Paris to help her older sister Roxy, with her second pregnancy. Upon her arrival she discovers[...]

Merry Christmas everyone! Usually this time of year, you’d be in your childhood bedroom, re-reading the books that got you through primary school. This year, a lot of us can’t go home this Christmas, but there’s still every reason to revisit the books that made life better when you were nine. It might even make[...]

Best-selling romance novelist and Yorkshire lass Milly Johnson talks to us about her biggest writing inspiration, Catherine Cookson. If you haven't read Cookson's books, you've almost certainly seen one of her many, maaaaaaany costume dramas that have been adapted for TV, probably while sick with chicken box circa 1998. We discuss Cookson's first novel, The[...]

It's the best-selling fictional oral history about your favourite 70s rock band that never existed! This week, Caroline and writer/musician Tom McInnes deconstruct last year's big sun lounger surprise hit, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. We talk about the advantages and shortcomings of the unusual format, the competing narratives of the[...]

Don't even act like you don't know her. This week we talk about the diva of all divas, Mariah Carey with author of The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney, Okechukwu Nzelu. Stay tuned for Tommy Mottola, that TRL appearance, and Mariah's surprisingly incisive takes on mental illness and cycles of abuse. Hosted on Acast. See[...]

We're back after a long break with our first Jackie Collins episode, with the one and only Jessie Burton! Jessie's debut novel The Miniaturist became a global bestseller and has since been followed up with the highly feted The Muse and The Confession, along with The Restless Girls, a novel for children. Here she talks[...]

Scenes of a Graphic Nature has been out for over a month, so Caroline and Ella are talking about it! We say this is an 'all spoiler' edition, but in practice there are actually very few spoilers and a lot of discussion of grief, working together, how it feels when a book comes out, how[...]

This week we're talking about food, friendship and the cult favourite of Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. Brian Eno once said that everyone who bought The Velvet Underground's first record went on to form a band, and the same can be said of Home Cooking and people who went on to write cookbooks. We talk[...]

CONTENT WARNING: frequent, graphic mentions of suicide We're back after a short break with more Covid-appropriate reading material, and what's more pandemic-y than The Virgin Suicides, a book where everyone dies and no one leaves their house. We talk about bad faith readings, Lolita, Sylvia Plath, the 'we' voice, suburbia, and Jeffrey's talent for smells.[...]

My second book is out on audio and ebook today, here's me talking about it and doing a reading! Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O'Donoghue https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WN4QNYN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1Audio narration by Esther O'Moore Donohoe https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Scenes-of-a-Graphic-Nature-Audiobook/1004001509?qid=1592504228&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=2B3Z57HX8WY3E9XPZPXW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No new episode this week, but here are some fiction recommendations that you might be interested in given the current political climate:Heads Of The Coloured People - Nafissa Thompson-SpiresKindred - Octavia E ButlerSong of Solomon - Toni MorrisonNudibranch - Irenosen OkojieSuch a Fun Age - Kiley ReidProperty - Valerie MartinThe Wedding Date - Jasmine GuilloryGirl,[...]

This week we're talking about 1989's smash-hit debut The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. We talk debut novels, immigration literature, why so many women find Amy Tan in their teens, mothers and their daughters, food and how it travels, and why we're still obsessed with Waverly Jong. Lillian Li's "The Love Hate Joy Luck[...]

This week on the Corona Cast, Caroline and Ella discuss the ultimate smart lady holiday book (she's going to Split) American Wife! American Wife is a 2009 novel inspired by the life of Laura Bush, former First Lady and wife of George Bush junior. Here, we know her as Alice Blackwell. Beginning in the mid-west[...]

CONTENT WARNING: rape, fat shaming, homophobia, literally all possible triggers a person could have. This week it's another special edition of Sentimental Garbage, where we talk about the novels that are getting us through the corona virus! Today we’re talking about VALLEY OF THE DOLLS by Jacqueline SusannWhen twenty year-old Anne Welles moves from New[...]

It's week two of the Corona Cast, and we're still stuck in our bedrooms. What better time to get into supernatural YA classic, Margaret Mahy's The Changeover? Ella and Caroline talk about going back to adolescence, magical admin, morally ambiguous witches, suburban New Zealand, forgiveness, the extremely good film adaptation, and "changing over" from girl[...]

Welcome to our Corona Cast, a series where I invite my favourite people (mostly Ella) to record remotely on their favourite books, regardless of genre, sentimentality, or garbage-y content. Today, we're doing Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido. Katherine is an eighteen year old first year university student who, after meeting the[...]

Hold steady everyone, there’s a WAR ON! Joining Caroline O'Donoghue is author, cook and currently in love with a set of twins, KATE YOUNG and today we’re talking about The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley published in 1984. Every summer, a group of young cousins – Oliver, Walter, Calypso, Polly and the much younger Sophy – gather[...]

Nothing says Christmas like freezing to death in your country estate while your sisters commit themselves to fascism and/or Marxist theory! Caroline O'Donoghue and returning guest Ella Risbridger discuss the Mitford sisters, the political climate (yikes) and why we will never stop loving Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo. The Pursuit of Love -[...]

Rupert Campbell Black is back, he's fighting for a TV franchise in rural Gloucestershire (????) and he's in love with an Irish teenager! This week bestselling Irish author Cathy Kelly joins us to talk Jilly Cooper's Rivals. Here, the vast cast of characters are condensed into 800 page epic that shows us that Jilly doesn't[...]

Why DOES Mummy Drink? This week we're talking about the Gill Simms blog-turned-literary sensation WHY MUMMY DRINKS. WMD tells the story of Ellen, a mother of two who drinks too much, swears too much, and probably likes her kids when she's not aggressively despising everyone around her. Bestselling author of Lies Lies Lies Adele Parks[...]

Regular guest and deep friend of the pod Ella Risbridger is back, but this time to talk about poetry! In her anthology SET ME ON FIRE, Ella gathers some of the best, weirdest, sexiest poetry that she could afford and dedicated it to MEEEE!!!!! We talk about our long and bitter arguments about poetry, why[...]

Is this the only Sentimental Garbage to win a Pulitzer? This week we talk to writer, editor and spiritual bottom Phil Ellis about Andrew Sean Greer's LESS, the funniest and sweetest novel to ever win a major literary prize. We talk about love, the struggles of freelance life, ageing while gay, being friends with your[...]

This week is the anniversary of our first episode, so what better way to celebrate than with the MOST requested book on our list - yes, I've received your emails, and we are doing Riders. Jojo Moyes talks to us about her horsey beginnings in Hackney, and we discuss Rupert Campbell Black, the world of[...]

Grab your bucket and spade and your flask of ginger beer, because we're taking a trip back to 1930s Bognor Regis! Today we're talking about RC Sheriff's The Fortnight in September with Backlisted's own Andy Miller. We talk family holidays, unreasonable fears of Clapham Junction, and why it's so rare to read good books about[...]

Rev up your motorcycle and buckle in for your drink driving accident because the Sweet Valley twins are here and a trail of death and destruction usually follows them. This week we talk to author of I'm Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come author Jessica Pan about her childhood in conservative Texas, high[...]

This week, we're exploring Sarah J Maas's insanely popular A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES series with Litwitchure maven Jennifer Cownie. This fantasy-retelling of Beauty and the Beast lets us explore horny pagan rituals, blind worms, Stockholm Syndrome, exquisite sexual tension and why NA (New Adult) fiction has become so huge with adult women. Spoiler:[...]

We're back for season 4 with Caroline Kepnes, the bestselling author of YOU, to talk about the book that made her lock herself into an ice-cream shop. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough is a sweeping inter-generational epic that focuses on a love triangle between an old woman, a little girl and a Catholic priest.[...]

It's the last episode of the season, and we're rounding it off with one of my favourite books of all time The Signature Of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, with one of my favourite people of all time, artist and photographer Gavin Day. We talk about swashbuckling dads, rivalries with Kew Gardens, how historical novels[...]

CW: addiction, anorexia, bulimia. They tried to make her go to rehab... and frankly, it was a good idea. This week we're talking about the most anticipated book ever on Sentimental Garbage, Rachel's Holiday. Marian Keyes' modern classic tells the story of Rachel, a deeply insecure Irish ex-pat who has developed a coke addiction while[...]

What came first, the music or the misery? We invite podcaster Alan Maguire on to talk about Nick Hornby's classic High Fidelity, discussing relationships, break-ups, Jack Black's animal magnetism, performing your relationship for other people, the world of record shops, the biting insight that still makes us cringe in recognition, and whether we can cancel[...]

To celebrate the release of the audiobook of Caroline's book, Promising Young Women, writer, podcaster and now audiobook star Tessa Coates comes to talk to us about Carrie Fisher's Postcards From The Edge, as well as discussing the unnervingly unsupervised world of audio books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ready to pair your Yves Saint Laurent smoking jacket with your $3 batik shorts? We're joined by publisher and writer Wei Ming Kam to talk Crazy Rich Asians, the blockbuster book series that launched a thousand think pieces. We discuss the pure heaven that is Astrid Leong, foodie culture in Singapore, identifying with British colonialism[...]

CW: Suicide. This week we're joined by author, historian and bookseller Emma Southon in the rather fitting setting of my hotel room to talk about Mhairi McFarlane's WHO'S THAT GIRL?, an extremely funny romcom about Edie, a 30-something copywriter who falls in love with Elliott, the movie star she's been sent to ghostwrite a memoir[...]

We're live from Body & Soul Festival in Ireland talking Maeve Binchy's classic CIRCLE OF FRIENDS. This 700 page epic about a single academic school year is probably the most frequently spotted book on Irish shelves, and with good reason. We talk upwardly mobile Catholics in 1950s Ireland, the specific pains of being a Big[...]

Hold onto the precious jewel trapped in your dachshund's stomach and get ready for a whirlwind post-war fairytale that will make you hum the entire Anastasia soundtrack. We talk to YA and children's author Laura Wood about A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS, a novel so profoundly magical that we both start crying by the end. After[...]

Gird your loins! This week wrestling podcaster and author of the I HEART series Lindsey Kelk is here to relive all your worst memories of being an entry level employee. We're talking about Lauren Weisberger's debut THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, a book that we will readily admit is not as good as the film. We[...]

If you want to read about the Tudors, you want to read about the SEXY Tudors, and The Other Boleyn Girl is the sexiest of all. Returning guest and author of Midnight Chicken Ella Risbridger comes by to talk about masque balls, women in history, sexual awakenings, sisters and why historical fiction is so much[...]

You know Candice Bergen, even if you don't think you do: you've seen her reject Carrie Bradshaw as Enid, the editor of Vogue, and you've seen her try to blow up a Miss America pageant in Miss Congeniality. But there's more to this actor than you might think: she was born into Hollywood royalty, as[...]

Today we're talking to Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, a book that stands out on Sentimental Garbage for neither being sentimental nor garbage. In fact, it was very well reviewed from the moment it came out. However, this book has more in common with chick lit than you might expect. We[...]

We’re going back to school this week with YA author Holly Bourne for our first ever live show at London Book Fair. We’re talking about Louise Rennison’s teen classic Angus Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging. We chat about preteen desires, trying to trap boys, the private lives of girls, writing for a young audience and the[...]

Today we’re talking to YA hero and sex writing genius Sarra Manning about her 2009 adult debut Unsticky. We talk about everything from life in the magazine world, to orgasms, to the importance of happy endings in chick-lit novels. Don’t forget to listen to our main episode about the book with Jeanne SuttonMusic by Harry[...]

This week it's indecent proposals, being broke in media, and having grandly un-feminist wanks to deeply inappropriate men with Sarra Manning's Unsticky. Ex-magazine journalist and romance novel aficionado Jeanne Sutton talks us through this deeply underrated 2009 book that was also Manning's debut as an adult novelist. We talk a lot about how the media[...]

This week we’re talking to the author of the newly-minted The Sisterhood, Daisy Buchanan, about Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess! Workaholic Samantha Sweeting is a brilliant contract lawyer working for the highly pressurised firm Carter Spink. When she accidentally loses millions of pounds in a stupid admin error, she escapes by boarding a train from[...]

Joanne Harris has been talking about Chocolat for literally 20 years, which is why we're so flattered she came and talked to us even MORE about it. We talk about motherhood, magic, giving advice to writers, how to use research in your writing and the experience of being an "overnight success".Music by Harry Harris, artwork[...]

Pancake Tuesday has just gone and we’re kicking it off with the most Lent-en book in all of chicklit: Joanne Harris’s megahit Chocolat! Food writer and novelist Amy Jones joins us to talk about the first book that helped her resolve her relationship with God, and we discuss food, sex, magic, womanhood, having a mother[...]

Warning: fans of Frances Mayes' 1996 travel memoir Under The Tuscan Sun won't find a lot of meaningful discussion of the book here, because neither Caroline nor our guest Rose McGowan liked it very much. Instead, we talk about Italy, Rose's childhood in a religious cult, her experience writing her book BRAVE, the relationship between[...]

*CONTENT WARNING*: FIRST UP, there's discussions of rape and child abuse throughout that some people might find off-putting. SECOND: this is a book where half the enjoyment comes from the many nutty twists and turns, so definitely read it before listening if you can. *END OF CONTENT WARNING* This week we're talking to author of[...]

To launch season 2, we embark on an ambitious journey to work out just what makes Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir so brilliantly enthralling. We discuss what she learns about soul mates, how religion is snuck into the memoir and why women seek success early in life.Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at[...]

This episode of Sentimental Garbage is pretty blue so maybe don’t listen with kids in the car. This week we’re talking sex, lies, class and Oxford University with Louise Mensch’s 1995 debut Career Girls. Film critic and Oxford graduate Helen O’Hara defends this x-rated read about the all-powerful Rowena Gordon and Topaz Rossi who engage[...]

Caroline chats to Jill Mansell, author of Millie’s Fling, about snacks, how it feels when people are “ashamed” to read your books in public, and her past as a clinical neuro-physiology technician.Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced by Hannah Varrall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ready for chick-lit Middlemarch? Today we dive into Jill Mansell’s Millie’s Fling with author of the forthcoming Midnight Chicken & Other Recipes Worth Living For, Ella Risbridger. When 25 year old Millie witnesses the famous romance novelist Orla Hart about to throw herself off a cliff, she strikes up a friendship with Orla that changes[...]

Bridget Jones drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney and dresses like her mother - and somehow became a global multi-million dollar franchise in the process. This week, we talk to Bridget super-fan and writer of the Sofia Khan series Ayisha Malik. As well as discussing Bridget's indomitable spirit and how the character became[...]

After talking all things Watermelon with Lucy Vine, we grabbed Marian Keyes on Skype to tell us more about her debut novel. We discuss feminism in the 1990s, growing up in a big family, and how she became the indisputable queen of chick-lit.Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and produced[...]

This week is full of firsts: we're discussing Marian Keyes' first book, Watermelon, which also happens to be the first chick-lit that our guest Lucy Vine ever read. We get into the Walsh sisters, emotional abuse and why all debut novels are exactly two months long. We also grab Marian herself on the phone to[...]

After speaking to Lauren Bravo about The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, we tracked down the author of the book, Eva Rice, to talk Take That, Julian the Loaf and why the 1950s are such an intriguing time period to set a novel in.Music by Harry Harris, artwork by Gavin Day. Recorded at Acast and[...]

Writer and author of "What Would the Spice Girls Do?" Lauren Bravo talks about Eva Rice's 2008 smash-hit The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, a book that's part Nancy Mitford, part Dodie Smith, and entirely delightful. The book is set in 1950s London, and follows Penelope, a shy 18 year old girl and heir to the[...]

Welcome to Sentimental Garbage, a podcast celebrating chick-lit and the so-called guilty pleasures you’re done feeling guilty about.In series 1, author and journalist Caroline O'Donoghue talks to writers Lauren Bravo, Lucy Vine, Ayisha Malik, Ella Risbridger and Helen O'Hara about some of their favourite chick-lit novels, and gets a chance to ask authors Marian Keyes,[...]