The second series of Lucy Eaton's Hear Me Out podcast, in which stars of stage and screen are interviewed about their career and discuss a favourite piece of writing, opens with episodes featuring Joanna Vanderham, Sir Richard Eyre and Sanjeev Bhaskar, all of which are available now. A new episode will be released every other Monday from 10 October onwards with future guests including Toby Stephens, Nick Mohammed, Tim McInnerny and Jack Thorne.
Host Eaton is an actor who appeared in BBC1's Staged alongside David Tennant and Michael Sheen and also her brother and the show's creator, Simon Evans. The first series of Hear Me Out included Claire Skinner on Harold Pinter’s Moonlight, Adrian Lester on Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, Denise Gough on People, Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan and Mark Bonnar on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
This second series sees the guest list extend beyond actors to directors and writers, as Joanna Vanderham discusses The Promise by Aleksei Arbuzov, Sir Richard Eyre talks about King Lear by William Shakespeare and Sanjeev Bhaskar discusses East is East by Ayub Khan Din.
Highlights include Richard Eyre’s impromptu reading of an original poem about the butterflies on the first day of rehearsals, Ted Lasso’s resident “bad boy” Nick Mohammed recalling his student theatre days with a mixture of adoration and humiliation, Joanna Vanderham sharing the emotions of having a new monologue written especially for her, Sanjeev Bhaskar explaining why Charlie Chaplin was so remarkable and Jack Thorne condemning our desire to read into every minuscule choice that a writer makes.
Eaton said, “we had the most remarkable response to the first series. Theatre aficionados and newcomers alike seemed to really connect with the conversations we were having and with the stories within the plays that my guests wanted to explore. And different listeners all had a different favourite episode, individuals connecting with different guests and speeches.
"With the second series, I wanted to build on the great success of the first by branching out to other creatives within the theatre and film industry. I’d already decided to record with director Richard Eyre and writer Jack Thorne, but when Sanjeev Bhaskar suggested discussing a Charlie Chaplin speech from The Great Dictator, I was hesitant. It wasn’t theatre! But then I quickly realised that this was the natural direction the podcast should go in; as long as we’re celebrating great writing and creativity, I’m excited to make the show.”
Hear Me Out is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.com and all major streaming platforms. Filmed clips from the episodes can also be found on YouTube @PodHearMeOut. Lucy can still be heard discussing the first series on the BTG podcast in 2021.