The Romesh Ranganathan Show

From comedy beginnings to renowned actor and West End star, Sheridan Smith joins Romesh for a wide-ranging chat about confidence, acting and carving out a career that spans stage and screen.

They talk about imposter syndrome, developing characters and working together on the West End show Woman In Mind. Plus, a hip hop gift and a rather disappointing 50 Cent impression from Romesh.

A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen.

00:00 Intro
00:32 Romesh Admits Being Jealous
02:30 The Audition for Take That
05:33 Gifts
08:50 Mark Owen's Dream Trip to Graceland
10:02 "Heimscheißer"
12:40 Take That's Circus Tour
20:00 Take That's Early Career Regrets
21:22 The Take That Annual Fact File
24:53 Gary Barlow's Star Trek Fandom
27:33 If Not Music, Then What?
32:03 Take That's Favourite Films
33:42 Netflix Documentary
37:17 The Pressures of Songwriting
40:04 Howard Donald on His Role in the Band
42:50 The Most Unusual Present from a Fan
44:37 The 90s
48:47 Misquoted: "Beards Can Get a Bit Sweaty"
53:32 "We Weren't a Boy Band"
57:10 Future Ambitions
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Romesh is joined by mum Shanthi Ranganathan for another episode of strong opinions, unexpected confessions and classic family chaos. From learning Spanish and declaring her love for Take That, to unpacking fan obsessions and answering listener questions, Shanthi once again proves she’s the star of the show.

A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen.

00:00 Intro
01:19 Shanthi learns some Spanish
03:38 Shanthi’s a Take That fan
05:10 A team question
07:05 A fan obsession
08:55 Romesh’s seduction
11:20 Is Romesh Crawley’s golden boy?
18:39 A final question from the listeners

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Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and Howard Donald sit down with Romesh to talk about the ups and downs of Take That – from their crazy beginnings in the 90s to the reboot of their legendary Circus Tour. They talk about the band's audition process, the pressures of songwriting, and Gary Barlow's not-very-popstar passions: Star Trek and interior design magazines. Plus Romesh admits to a 30-year-old act of jealousy.

A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen. 

00:00 Intro

00:32 Romesh Admits Being Jealous

02:30 The Audition for Take That

05:33 Gifts

08:50 Mark Owen's Dream Trip to Graceland

10:02 "Heimscheißer"

12:40 Take That's Circus Tour

20:00 Take That's Early Career Regrets

21:22 The Take That Annual Fact File

24:53 Gary Barlow's Star Trek Fandom

27:33 If Not Music, Then What?

32:03 Take That's Favourite Films

33:42 Netflix Documentary

37:17 The Pressures of Songwriting

40:04 Howard Donald on His Role in the Band

42:50 The Most Unusual Present from a Fan

44:37 The 90s 

48:47 Misquoted: "Beards Can Get a Bit Sweaty"

53:32 "We Weren't a Boy Band"

57:10 Future Ambitions
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Romesh and Shanthi play a chaotic game of “Would You Rather?”, take aim at coffee snobs (George Clooney included!), and reminisce about iconic old TV adverts. Things go off the rails with dirty genie wishes, awkward gift-giving dilemmas, and an embarrassing misunderstanding about the ingredients of a popular energy drink.

A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen.

00:00 Intro
01:45 Red Bull
02:48 Favourite Adverts
07:11 Shanthi on Coffee
11:00 Would You Rather...?
17:41 Genie Wishes
22:10 Advice on Motherhood
28:08 Gifting Dilema
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Writer of Adolescence, Skins and This Is England, Jack Thorne joins Romesh to talk about the global impact of Adolescence and working closely with Stephen Graham. Jack opens up about social anxiety, imposter syndrome and how appearing on Desert Island Discs led to his autism diagnosis. They also discuss incel culture, kindness online, shifting power in the TV industry, Jack’s love of E.T. and work life balance.

A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen. 

00:00 Intro

00:55 The reaction to Adolescence

01:30 Jack’s relationship with Stephen Graham

02:55 Working with Brad Pitt

04:10 Talking about incel culture

08:25 Finding kindness online

09:40 Critics’ response to Adolescence

12:24 How invested audiences became

14:15 The real-world impact of the show

16:50 Parents’ reactions

18:19 Romesh’s mum’s question

20:40 Romesh’s gift and Jack’s love for E.T.

25:40 Jack’s obsession with the NFL

30:33 Romesh on work ethic

32:20 Work life balance

35:22 Imposter syndrome

42:05 How the TV landscape is changing

43:20 What Jack wants to do next

49:57 Desert Island Discs and autism diagnosis

54:36 Misquoted
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